Rich

I am rich. Tremendously rich. Perhaps one of the richest people in the world.

"How can that be?" you may ask. "You do not live in a mansion. You do not have fancy cars. You live in a small one bedroom apartment and drive car that doesn't even have air conditioning or a functioning CD player. How could you possibly call yourself one of the richest people in the world?"

And I would reply that I am rich because my small one bedroom apartment gives me all the warmth and shelter that I need. It is full of good food to give me energy and keep me healthy. It is even neat, clean, and comfortable. My car runs well and takes me all the places I need to go, and many other places that I want to go. My husband has a job that provides for all our material needs.

I am rich. I have been blessed with a healthy body that allows me to pursue the things I want to. I can walk, hike, run, bike, jump, ride a horse, wrestle, climb, paddle, shoot a basket, kick a ball, swing a racquet, lift weights, and dance.



I have ears to hear sweet sounds with, eyes to see the beautiful things in this world with, a nose to smell wholesome scents with, a voice to talk and sing with, and a mouth to eat with. I even have hands to work with and to help others with. I use these blessings to pursue talents I am blessed with and love.


Even more importantly, I am rich because I have many wonderful and supportive friends. They call me. They visit me. They email me. They read my blog or otherwise keep contact with me. They have brought cheer to my existence in the past, they bring joy to my life now, and they will continue to bring me comfort and satisfaction through the rest of my life. They have been and will continue to be superb examples to me.*





I also have a good and wonderful family that loves me. I cannot begin to describe how rich they had made my life and what a blessing they are to me. Especially important are my fantastic parents who have sacrificed so much and worked so hard for the benefit of me and my brothers.











I am also especially grateful for my amazing husband. I am continually astonished by how perfect he is for me. He is a great support, comfort, companion, friend, partner, and example. Words are not sufficient to express my feelings for him.


I am rich. I have a knowledge and understanding of the gospel that gives me hope and helps to pull me through tough times. I have scriptures and the words of prophets to counsel, guide, and comfort me. I have a Heavenly Father who loves me, listens to me, answers me, and provides me with all my other riches.

There is no question that I am tremendously rich.


*In doing this I realized how few pictures I actually have of most of my friends. So please don't be offended or worry if your picture isn't here! However even if I did have pictures of everyone, I probably couldn't reasonably fit them all here anyway.

Happy New Year!

The Monday after Christmas we flew out to California to visit Nate's family. We had a great time there giving and receiving more gifts, spending time with Nate's family, relaxing, eating too much yummy food, watching movies, and playing lots and lots of games. We played Phase 10, Rook, the family's new Wii, ping pong, The New Yorker Cartoon Caption game, Pictionary, Pit, tag, a dice game, the couch game, and the sign game. To the top right is a picture of Nate's dad opening a copy of Nate's thesis, and below are some truffles we made while we were there.



Nate's sister, who also lives in Utah, and her family were in California at the same time we were, which made things even more fun. We went down to the Sacramento River that Wednesday, walked around, and watched our nephews throw rocks into the water. It was rather chilly that day, but we still had a lot of fun.







While we were at the river, I also ended up taking some engagement pictures for Nate's brother Jonathan and his fiancee Karris, which was fun. They didn't even turn out too bad for my first shot at engagement pictures.





After a fun week, we flew back to Utah arriving late Sunday night. So, now it is back to the usual routine, but we are definitely grateful that we had such a wonderful break.