October through photos

Since I haven't updated my blog in way to long I have decided to update it with all of the pictures from the month of October. A lot of things have happening and now I am documenting it.

We started off the week with General Conference and the Manteca Street Fair.

Tony has been waiting for this park to open and it finally did. He had a great time.

At the fair there were blowup rides.

He had fun on those too.

Later in the month I went on a hike with my sister, dad, and Tony. I took this picture just randomly but I have to say it is an extremely beautiful.

We hiked along this river.

The second to last weekend in October I went with my mom and Charity and Anthony to the Del Osso Family Farm and went through the corn maze

We had a really fun time finding our way through the maze. What made it even better was that we went when it was dark and we didnt use a flashlight which make it just a little bit on the creep side.

I made decorations for our door out of paper.

My sister did pretty much the same thing but decorated her whole apartment

You can find her blog post about it here.

All of us dressed up on Halloween

Caleb and Alyssa were nerds, Tony was Spiderman as always, and I was a cowgirl.

Only one of the cutest couples on the planet.

Tony being Tony =D

I spent most of Halloween carving a lot of pumpkins. I think we ended up with a total of 14 pumpkins. I didn't carve all of them but I did gut most of the them, which in my opinion is the worst part.

Caleb's witch

I did this one. Part of the month fell off so I put it back together with toothpicks.

I did this one. The design was going to be a lot better than this but I broke the carving tool so I had to do it with a giant knife.

Alyssa's pumpkin. Isn't it cute???

Half of the pumpkins all lined up.

Those same pumpkins at night all lit up.

I did this one.

These are leaves. You can't really tell but it looked pretty cool.

Bats.

Fun at Six Flags

As a family we got Six Flags season passes this year and we went all the time. It was a lot of fun and their is more than just roller coasters to enjoy. It was nice because if you were getting tired from walking around the park we could go to a show and enjoy a different part of the park. One thing that I didn't like that much is how busy it always seemed to be...but I guess there is always a perk to everything. Here are some pictures of our time at Six Flags. We would often go with the Larsons as they also had season passes.

In front of the Six Flags sign

The front gate

Some of the Roller Coasters. I believe the ones that are in this picture are Medusa, V2, and others that I cant remember the name of.

Medusa. One of the best roller coaster ever! We went to Six Flags when it was raining one day and with the speed of this coaster the rain drops felt like pebbles hitting your face as you went by. I do have to say that besides the rain that was probably the most fun I had at an amusement park

Kong. This ride isnt as fun when it's not raining.

Tony LOVES Six Flags a lot!

In the Aquarium

Shouka the Killer Whale

The Dolphin Show. Yes that is a person in the air. Those two dolphins flung him in the air.

Driving

I have had my permit for about a month and a half now. I really didn't start driving until a couple of weeks ago. I first started learning how to drive on our stick shift and I have to be honest it didn't go so well. The first time I drove it was ok. We started out i a parking lot where I could learn the basics of getting the car moving. Then we went to some country roads out behind our house so I could drive for a longer distance. Also I could proactice shifting. I was doing pretty good until we came to the end of a road and I had to turn around. My mom though I could do it but I freaked out and almost ran into a fence. I was traumatized from this experience and made my mom drive the rest of the way home.

We then went out a few weeks later and lets just say this one did not go well at all. We were once again in the stick shift in a parking lot and I did ok the first time but every time my mom would tell me to shift I would freak out and just not do it. I think I over thinking it or something I don't know. I eventually got overwhelmed after the second time of driving and just quite and broke down and started crying. I think this break down was a mixture of a lot of things. The first being that I expected a lot out of myself and when I didn't meet that expectation I got really upset. I also felt like a lot of people expected a lot out of me. At this point I felt like I was dissappointed everyone and myself. Another reason is that I was really overwhelmed. I had so much to think about, the brake, the gas, the clutch, the gears, and so much more. I just couldn't take it all in. I definitely do not think that trying to first learn to drive on a stick was a good idea. I was having to remember to do way to many things at once. I would never remember to put the clutch in because I was still trying to figure out the whole braking thing. Seriously, way to much to think about for a new driver.

So we put the car away and got out the van. The van is automatic and I did much better on it. Not so much to think about all at the same time. I have been driving a lot and instead and hating it like i used to I love it and cant drive enough. I am now jump at an opportunity to drive somewhere. I have recently started driving on the the freeway and ya its a little scary but im getting used to it. Im mostly afraid of how fast im going.

Now that I know the basics of driving im hoping to get back in the car sometime soon and try the stick shift again. I think now that the other stuff im pretty used to ill be able to focus more on the clutch and the gears. Fingers Crossed. We'll see how it turns out!

Proud to be a Mormon

Im writing this post mostly because I've recently been seeing some antimormon things on the internet. I also really wanted to write down what being a Mormon means to me and for those non-lds folks out there, what it is exactly I/we believe. Every week I'm going to choose a new topic to touch on and maybe it'll help someone or myself understand.

First off I want to start off with of my least favorite assumptions. This is something that when ever I hear it I get a little frustrated because the answer is so obvious...at least to me. This is the assumption that Mormons are not Christians. When I hear some say this I always think that it's ridiculous that anyone could believe that but then I have to remind myself that most people have not ever been to a church meeting or even met a Mormon so I have to calm myself down. Now let me explain what we really believe. The obvious answer the this question is that yes, of course Mormons are Christians. The actual name of our church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The name "Mormons" is a nickname for the people of the church. How we got that nickname I have no idea, it may have to do with The Book of Mormon but I really have no idea. Back on topic though, Christ is right at the center of our religion. If you ever go to one our meetings you will immediately see that Christ is pretty much the center of all that we believe. In my opinion I feel that one of the reasons in this misunderstanding is that we don't have crosses on our building, nor do we wear crosses. I have to be honest as a kid I didn't understand the reasoning behind this but as i've grown older I feel that i have a little better perspective on this. Now correct me if I'm wrong (because im still learning also) but I think that the reason that we don't have crosses is because we rejoice in the resurrection and the fact that Christ is a living being today. We believe that Christ was resurrected after he was crucified. Sure a lot of other religions believe this as well but we believe that he is still living and teaching today. This subject is something that I'm still trying to figure out for myself, like I said im still learning and I will always be learning. I don't know.

Something that people question us on is the reason why we don't drink, smoke, etc. We have been given a commandment called the Word of Wisdom. In this commandment it states that we are not to partake of substances that are harmful to our body. It lists many things including drugs, alcohol, hot beverages, and others. It also states what we should partake of. It also states that we are to go to bed early and arise early. We believe that our body is like a temple. Since our bodies are an amazing gift from God we have been commanded to treat it with respect and to not put harmful things into it or on it. An image that I have always had in my mind is that you would never go up to a temple, or any other beautiful building, and write all over it, or destroy it in some way. At least I wouldn't. This is what I think of as my body. If i wouldn't destroy the temple than why would I destroy my body? One thing that is very unclear in the subject is that many think that we are forced to abide by these rules. We are never forced to do anything. It is ultimately our choice to do what ever we want. When we came to earth we were all given free agency to do anything we pleased, whether it be good or bad. Heavenly Father (God) gave us the Word of Wisdom as a guideline on how to treat our bodies but it is ultimately my choice to abide by them.

Now, what does being a Mormon mean to me? It means a lot of things. I guess I'll have to start with how it has affected me in my life. I have no idea where I would be if I didn't have this amazing church in my life. It honestly scares me to wonder what I would be like without the church. I am so grateful and feel so blessed every day for having been born into the church. Being a member has greatly affected my life. It's helped me make certain decisions. I have chosen not to swear and to dress modestly. I have had to stick up for myself with this but I dont know how I could've done with my testimony of the Gospel. I live my life the way that I live it so I can become a better person. I live my life because I know that I am a daughter of my Heavenly Father. I have struggled a lot with finding a testimony. My testimony is definitely still growing and it grows everyday. I haven't any amazing experiences of feeling the spirit tell me the church is true but when I pray I always get this overwhelming feeling that this is right. Being a member of the church is something that just feels right. That is enough right now for me. I know that the church is true and try to believe and understand everything that is taught to me. I have to admit that I honestly don't understand everything that I hear. I don't know why I some of the things I do. I don't know all the answers. One thing I do know is that God has a plan for me and if i stay faithful and strong He'll be there for me. I don't know why I have to go through the things that I have to go through but I do know that God has a greater plan and eventually I'll understand it all. I don't know but I'm just going to keep enduring through it and hopefully I make.

There are so many ways that being a Mormon has affected me. Way to many that I can't list them all. I know that I wouldn't be the person I am today with out the church. I am who I am today because of all the things that I have been taught.

Having those little reminders that it's all going to be worth it and feeling that warm fuzzy feeling of the spirit bearing witness of something Gives Me Hope and keeps me going everyday.

"Testimony—real testimony, born of the Spirit and confirmed by the Holy Ghost—changes lives." -M. Russel Ballard