NEW YORK

I have A LOT of great things to blog about, but I want to stay in order.

Thanks to my sister for flying me out, and my mom for making the trip happen, we three got to go to upstate NEW YORK in July!

It was such an incredible trip, and one I'll never forget!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We took red-eye flights and got to Albany, NY early in the morning (then somehow made our standby flights to Rochester).

The Hill Cumorah Pageant was probably my favorite part. It is a musical about the stories in the Book of Mormon, and it really brought the scriptures to life for me! I left with a desire to study and understand the scriptures better. I highly recommend the show to anyone- LDS or not. 

The top of the Hill Cumorah, where we believe the Book of Mormon was buried until Joseph Smith was led to find them.

The Smith family's home.

We ran into Sister Harline...

 and Sister Astorga...

They were both such darling, powerful missionaries. It was so fun to run into them!

Another favorite part of the trip was the Sacred Grove, the area where Joseph Smith prayed and saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. The spirit was so strong here and what a blessing it was to be able to walk around in the grove for myself. 

We got to go to the Palmyra temple too, one of the few (only?) temples that has clear windows so you can look out into the Sacred Grove and Hill Cumorah. Luckily we were able to get in because it was supposed to be by appointment only. 

We realized that my mom was holding the camera upside down...

Our faces zoomed in- lol

The last day in Palmyra it poured! But it was still so warm!

Grave of Alvin Smith

Luckily, while it rained we planned on going to Grandin's printing press where the first Book of Mormon was published. The church has done a great job at preserving it.  

We got to visit our cousin Amanda who lives in Rochester. Amanda's husband Charlie goes to school at Eastman School of Music and he gave us a tour of the beautiful Kodak Theater. Amanda and Charlie are so cute and happy in New York and I was so happy to see them. 

Our last stop was Niagara Falls.

Idk...

Chelsea and Amanda got to walk over to Canada, but my mom and I forgot our visas...doh. But we had a fun time taking glamour shots instead.

Isn't she cute?

 Thanks for such a memorable trip, Chels and Mom. 

You two are the two most influential women in my life and I'm so lucky to have you two. 

Thank you!!!

Lake Powell and Colorado Fires

It seems like half of my blog posts are either about Lake Powell or a fire in Colorado. So without further ado...

Bobby took an 8 hour long test, then drove 9 hours through the night to get there. Is he a maniac? Yes.

Sun rising in AZ or UT.

Out here in the open...mmmm....motorboatin'

Cliff diving! I wish I would have gotten a pic of the cliff I jumped off. It was roughly 50 feet. The highest I've done in a long time!

 Don't you just want to kiss them?

Sisters.

My caption for this on instagram was "Why am I the albino sister?" Not so bad in the pic, but they are like seriously indians when they get in the sun.

I also went to Wahweap with my girlfriends earlier this summer which was so fun! We are only 4 hours away from Wahweap...but of course we got lost and it ended up taking us like 8 hours to get there. 

We had to go find the house boat on the pier when we got their late at night, and it was seriously creepy.

A HUGE thank you to the Jacksons for taking and feeding us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just remembered I have no pictures of the fire because I could never get a good shot....but my family was on pre-evacuation, so we packed up, and I took a pic of our most valued things in our house-

We were obviously tight on space because we could only pack what could fit in our cars. So I asked Kylee why she was bringing a lampshade-

She said it had meaning to her because it was once in my room. Precious. 

Also these girls celebrated my half birthday :) Cute girls.

Summer Schedule

Guess who can fly for free this summer???!!!!?!??!?!?

Thanks to CheCheWaa!

Me in LAX just waiting for an open seat.

And only 25 more days until this happens...

I don't know who is more excited, Chelsea or Keith or me.

If only I could find a champagne colored (modest) dress...

New Happenings

First and foremost, thanks to everyone who helped us move out of Glendale and into Gilbert. Probably none of you strong men read my blog, but if you did...

Our move took about 45 minutes to pack the Uhaul, 1 hour to drive to Gilbert and 15 minutes to move into our temporary house. Let's not forget all the packing and cleaning I did ALL BY MYSELF that took me an entire exhausting week straight, but that's another story.

So we are officially Gilbert residents! 

We are living in a friends house while they are gone on rotations until August. It is a beautiful house in a prime location and I can already tell I'm getting too attached.

Here is Jamie Hilton's blog of her house so you guys can see pictures:

http://conradandjamie.blogspot.com/2013/02/living.html

I think we're really going to like it here.

BUT I'm really going to miss these guys

And this girl

And this fisherwoman

And this desert dancer

 And this face

And this plant

And a lot of other faces that I just don't have funny pictures of. 

I thank my Heavenly Father frequently for putting us together at this place and at this time of life. 

I could not have made it through medical school without you girls.

Now I better stop before I ruin my makeup. 

Big week

Bobby is done with 'medical school' in terms of him sitting in class, listening to a lecture. Can you imagine?! He's been in school since he was 4, and today was his last day! Goodbye desks! So long note-taking! Sayonara syllabi!

He will study for boards until July, take boards then begin the portion of medical school called rotations, where he will be seeing patients and working with doctors.

At the hospitals he'll introduce himself as:

Student Doctor Robert Rampton

He did stellar on his finals as usual. 

I started a new job!

Front desk of a family practice. 

Hopefully it'll help in future years if Bobby becomes a family practice physician. 

If not, it'll just pay the bills. I'm hoping I can find a good balance between nursing school and this job. I'm also still volunteering at the surgery waiting desk, and I'm hoping they'll work with my schedule. 

Also, Mesa Community College sent me...

Relieved to not be commuting to GCC.

Heartbroken to leave my nursing girlfriends.

But NAU sent me...

I have never gotten a scholarship before and I just feel so grateful to S.B. "Ott" Morrow and H.B. "Hank" Warnock. I realize that nothing is free and that somebody worked so that I could have this money to go to school. They have never met me, but I feel so indebted to them and so very grateful. 

I hope to one day pay it forward. 

Last but NOT least,

we celebrated my beautiful mother this Mother's Day by getting to talk to her favorite boy.

My favorite non-husband, non-dad boy too. He is so happy and the BEST missionary, I just know it. He is serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for two years, one year to go. He says it's the best thing he has ever done, being a servant for the Lord. I am so proud to be his sister. 

Shout out to google plus!!! We got to "hangout" with the Ramptons too which was so fun.

I also went to Lake Powell this week. I'll blog about that fun when I get pictures. 

My babies

I'm not going to lie, sometimes working in primary in church is really challenging. I'm sure Bobby could tell you I've complained a few times.

BUT

I love the kids in my ward, especially the ones in my class and the ones I babysit. And this is one major perk about being in primary...

(And I threw in a few from Kylee, who I would teach if she were in my ward. Also my favorite.)

Kylee has started calling Bobby "Mr. B" :)

Dear Jesicka, i love you. and your the best babysiter in the holwe, world. and i love when you babysite us it it So So Awesome when you are here. love, auri

Dear Jessica and Bobby I Love yow gls an miss you and than you for the ceard gam I playd it today. And I Love the wii game you werr a bytrfl brid prettyer then thes fliwer. I Love you. Bay Kylee

This is on the back of a letter from Michael on his mission in Costa Rica. 

"Sorry about the math."

This is me.

My current class and co-teacher. Aren't they the cutest?