Summer Update!

I haven’t written for a while since don’t have my weekly religion blog assignment!  My next classes start up in just over a week.  I’m taking a required Family Foundations course and a Business orientation one.  That’s a total of 3 credits, which will be nice since Jasper will be born in just a few weeks!  I had to change my major to Business again since BYU-I decided to discontinue the English online degree program.

Jasper’s due date is just 53 days away!  Here’s a picture of her adorable face from her 20-week ultrasound.  She's almost 33 weeks now!  And she is SO CUTE!!!  :)

Jasper's 20-Week Ultrasound

My mom and Melanie are throwing a baby shower next month on the 29^th, so I got registered for things at Target.com!  It was lots of fun checking out all the cute baby clothes and things. :)  Click here to view my registry!

We moved from Provo just over a month ago.  We live in Sandy now!  Brooke & Taylor moved to Sandy too, so we’re all renting a 5-bedroom house together!  It’s fun.  Michael started teaching Social Studies a couple weeks ago.  I reactivated my 24 Hour Fitness membership and really enjoy swimming lately!  I’m also 10 miles closer to work now, which is awesome!  It only takes me 15 minutes to get to work and I love it!  It’s also nice because I go southbound to work, whereas MOST commuters go north, so I don’t have to deal with the awful traffic as much.  Same with going home!  However, traffic around the Point of the Mountain often has its way of being sluggish for some reason.

We’ve had a hot summer!  It’s starting to cool down gradually, which is nice!  Autumn will be here soon and I can’t wait!  It’s my favorite season.  I love the smell of autumn, the golden sunshine, the colorful leaves, etc.  It’s great!

General Conference!

I'm watching General Conference right now with Brooke and Taylor.  We're watching it live on www.lds.org - second session of the day with one hour left!
This morning's session had some exciting news!  There will be a SECOND temple built in Provo!  Last year the Provo Tabernacle burned down and it's going to be rebuilt as a temple!  That is incredible! 
The other new temple locations are as follows:
Durban, South Africa
Kinshasa, Congo
Star Valley, WY
Barranquilla, Colombia
Paris, France
There have been some wonderful and inspiring talks given this morning and afternoon!  I've noticed there has been quite a focus toward the youth of the church.  As well as priesthood and temple ordinances, family history work, raising families, the importance of scripture study, spiritual priorities, and wise time management.  Richard G. Scott was the first speaker this morning and I really enjoyed his talk about scriptures and their importance.  He said that we can face difficult challenges using the scriptures and that they are a type of handbook for God's children.  They bring not only peace, hope, and restoration, but also physical healing.  I liked a question he asked: "Do you use ALL of the standard works, including the Old Testament?"  He also emphasized the importance of charity and that without charity, we have nothing.

After this conference I'm going to get a hair cut.  I'm looking forward to that - it's time for a new 'do'!  I'm going to have a fun colorful extension thrown in as well.  I hope it turns out alright!  :)
After my hair cut, Brooke and I are going to my place in Provo to hang out while Taylor is at Priesthood session in Orem with family.  Then once that is over, he'll come pick up Brooke!  And by the time I get home, Michael will most likely be finished with work at the BYU Testing Center.  Bless him, he has to miss both sessions today while he works, poor thing!  He'll catch up with them online though.  We came up with the most perfect Family Home Evening plan the other day!  There are 4 main sessions of conference - 2 Saturday, 2 Sunday, as well as the Relief Society and Priesthood conferences.  And there are 4 weeks a month, and sometimes 5 - so we're correlating those sessions with weeks.  Each Family Home Evening [Monday nights], we will listen to and discuss a conference talk from the most recent conference.  If it's the first Monday of the month, it'll be from the first session [Saturday morning], and if it's the 3rd Monday, than 3rd session [Sunday morning], etc.  And on the occasion of a 5th Monday, we will alternate a talk from Priesthood or Relief Society!  And that way we will be able to utilize these talks and keep them fresh in our minds even after conference.