Last Day of School

I had my last day of school on Wednesday and my beautiful class gave me a bouquet of daisies! They were squished because I kept squeezing them so tightly - I cried. What awesome kids!

Utah Choice and Entertainment Awards

So Utah had their first annual "Choice and Entertainment Awards" event at the Salt Palace.

It was black-tie and very fancy. Whit and I were special guests. Apparantly, Danny Thompson got the entire idea for the whole event while sitting in the audience of the Ms. Wheelchair Utah pageant last November. He loved my opening speech and how the entire MWU pageant even came about and he thought, if she can get this event started then I can do one, too! This is Whit, me, and Danny here:

It was really well done. They had a whole "celebrity" red carpet walk where people came in and were interviewed and photographed. Don't we look legit?

There were also many celebrities there - David Archuletta, Miss Utah, local and famous actors, like the guy from the Matrix. Sports people including Shawn Bradley. Lots of radio people. TJ Fredette performed. Here I am with his backup dancers - I fit right in...

After the event they interviewed me because the inspiration for this event was my speech at the pageant last fall. It was fun to be interviewed, but I believe all the credit goes to Danny Thompson and his initiatives. Yay for pro-active people!

In Stores Now...

We went to Deseret Book in Layton Hills Mall to buy my talk on CD that was just published. We were so excited, but once we saw it, we were both too shy to make the purchase. So we just took pictures in the most discreet manner possible...

I used to sit outside Deseret Book in my car and tell myself over and over that one day I'd "be" in there with something. Anything. A book, CD, whatever. I thought that once I saw something of mine for sale in that store, I'd have a sense of completion. But now that the day has come and gone, I don't feel anything like "completed," more like an overwhelming sense of "getting started."

Spoke in Spokane

Rochelle is the most dynamic person I’ve ever met. She heard my interview on the Mormon Channel and wanted me to come speak for her girls camp this summer. It wasn’t approved by the Stake President, so she decided to create her own Women’s Conference! It was nuts – she organized a huge event in a month and flew me and Whit out to Spokane. We had a blast staying in her mom and dad’s bed and breakfast, the Inn at the Lake…

It looks like Zorro's house. Ole!

The breakfast was awesome - this is the "first course."

A little un-staged, light reading by the massive fireplace...

This is Blane and Virginia Coffey, they own it. We weren’t even out of our car yet when Blane ran outside to meet us. Best experience ever. Check it out at http://innatthelake.com/

We got to stay a few days and made our way to the Newport Museum where Whit was put right to work in the "Ice House."

The museum was awesome. I got some work done...

taught a class...

made some waffles...

and still had time to be creeped out by strategically placed mannequins.

We had a little bit of geography trouble when we were there at the museum. Newport is about an hour from Spokane and 4 minutes from Idaho, but we're not sure if they know that...

This picture says Newport, Washington...

but this one says Newport Idaho.

And we're not sure why these flags were flying right outside. I guess when it comes to nationality in Newport, close enough is good enough!

They had an awesome outdoor area and we went inside this cool caboose -


and what all-American (and part Canadian) caboose would be complete without, yep, that's right - Fusees and torpedoes!

We're still not sure what fusees do.

But we didn't have time to figure it out because we were off to the First Annual Spokane Women's Conference!

Rochelle and her sisters and mom (and husband) did the best job decorating and putting together the cutest boxed lunches. They even had Rollos covered with cute paper and my motto: When life gets too hard to stand, just keep on rollin'!

(Rollin' and Rollos...get it, get it?)

It took me a minute.

Whit was up first and was amazing. He makes it hard to follow him because he doesn't mess around - he was juggling 5 balls and having the women in a trance with his good looks and charm -

even making them mimic his every move...

Then me.
Do you like cheese? I do.

I like to see pictures of myself doing stuff like this. It keeps me humble. My sister told me once that I'd be pretty if I stopped doing weird things with my face.

I guess beauty is overrated.

We ended our trip with some burgers and house fries (with parmesan and parsley!) at Rusty Roof in Spokane. Here we are with the owners - they handmake the icecream for their shakes and stuff each day. Try the huckleberry. So, so good.

...see more pictures on my facebook!

Roosevelt Ramp

Last night I spoke to Relief Society sisters from the Roosevelt, UT stake. We drove 174 miles (one way) through many canyons, across bridges and rivers, past lakes, and through deserts. We went through a box of granola bars, a package of Pepperidge Farm goldfish crackers, two liters of water and 4 CDs...

and it was all worth it when I saw THIS:


Yes, you are looking at the first ever custom-built stage, complete with code-meeting ramp. The wood was freshly cut and it smelled like, well, freshly cut wood. The freshly-cut wood smell of awesomeness.

I was able to be close to the sisters and still high enough so that I could see them all. I wish I could have packed it into my car and driven it the 174 miles home with me.

San Mateo

I spoke in San Mateo, CA last weekend for a couple of Tongan singles wards. It was awesome. We flew in Friday and saw some sights and went to China town to get some Chinese candy for my seminary class (which took FOREVER to find!).

On Saturday we went to Muir Woods National Monument and saw some baby redwood trees. Enormous. Seriously huge. I even rolled inside one with a hollowed out trunk. It was crazy.

We were going to pay the $5 to get in, but as Whit handed the lady our money, I saw a wheelchair symbol next to the words “Interagency Pass – Free.” As I sat in my wheelchair, barely able to see over the counter, I spoke with the lady. Our conversation went like this:

Me: What’s an “Interagency Pass”
Lady (leaning over the counter to look down to me): If you have a permanent disability, then you and whoever is in your car can get into national parks for free.
Me: I have one of those.
Lady (looking skeptical): Is it permanent?

And we got in free!

We also went to the Oakland Temple. There was a huge parking lot and it was FULL - even though it was raining. I asked a temple worker inside if it was always so busy and she said that this was a slow day. She blamed it on the rain.

On Sunday we went to a dinner with some leaders from the Tongan ward. It was decorated so beautifully! The table was round and had a beautiful skirt on it and the plates were blue and green and yellow and all mixed and matched. We were served Tongan foods that I’ve never even heard of and I loved every bite. We had: Egg Potato salad (sounds normal, but very different), spinach and meat stuff that was super good, sweet potatoes (my mouth is watering when I think of them), some steaks, a chicken and rice noodle mixture with vegetables, some red punch, and some official Tongan drink that had coconut milk with apple shreds, peaches, and coconut flakes (freshly grated).

I was so full!

Whit and I were sitting up on the stand, but before we spoke, the two wards each sang a song. The first ward sang “Come Thou Fount” and the second ward sang “I Believe in Christ” – my favorite! Their music was so beautiful; I really haven’t ever heard a choir sing like that before. After our talks there was a dessert table with all kinds of treats – I had pineapple pie. And pictures!

Truck Look

I have that "truck" look. You know that feeling when you're hanging onto the back of a moving pick-up truck and you step down every fifteen feet or so, so it kind of feels like you're flying? And you've got to hang on because, well, you've just got to.

I think everyone feels like that every once in a while. Like when life keeps moving so quickly and no matter how bad you want to slow down, things just keep coming up and the truck keeps a steady speed of much-too-fast, so you hang on tighter and do what you've got to do, stepping down every fifteen feet or so.

My truck has been driving fast this whole month of March. By the end of this month, I'll have spoken 14 times in three states and taught 11 seminary classes. I just have a few talks left, a plane ride, and a couple classes and then - on to APRIL!

My best moments in March so far are as follows:

1. Making 500 elementary school kids be dead silent.
   
2. Getting a great note right after a talk. Now we're email buddies.
3. Getting a hand-made card from some YW in WY (ha! YW is WY backwards!).
   
4. Having a YM hug me three times with tears.
   
5. Having a lady hug me so tight after a talk that I couldn't breathe.

Things like this make hanging onto the back of the truck worth it :)