SugarSugarSugarSugarSugarSugar

I've been home from school for almost a full week now.  In this past week, I have consumed more sugar than I usually eat during an entire semester. The treats seriously just keep coming and coming. The doorbell never seems to stop ringing. And mmmm dang are they good.

This year, our family is doing mom's famous "citrus" rolls again. She makes dozens of pans of these glorious rolls and I'm pretty sure at one point I ate a whole pan all to myself in one day. They're that good. Especially fresh out of the oven.

Me and Beebs helped deliver them this year, but almost nobody was home when we went! Where are you people on Friday afternoons?

Anyways, all these goodies got me thinking, and asking myself the following questions.

1. At what age, or point in life, do you get in on this whole treat giving thing? I'm assuming that to recieve them, you probably should give something in return... but is this something that newlyweds do? Do they hit the ground running by starting up some neighborhood treat giving tradition that they carry on year after year from here on out? Or do they wait til they have kids of their own so that they can send them up to the door to drop off the treats? What about older single adults who live on their own? Do they give treats?

2. When I do start giving treats, whenever that is... what on earth will I give? Now, we've gotten some great stuff, but let's face it, some of it is better than others. But is that what's going to matter to me? The quality of my gift? Or is it more of a "thought-that-counts" type of thing.

Some of my favorites are the sample platters. The plates that have 3 or 4 different treats. A couple cookies, couple pieces of fudge, some homemade caramels. Maybe I'll do that?

Do people do fruit-baskets anymore? I remember in YW's we'd put together baskets full of fruit and nuts to give to people at Christmas. I remember thinking that that was so boring. But after eating nothing but sweets day in and day out, oh man, I'd love it if the next caroler brought us a basket of fruit!

3. I've decided that all baked goods are best when they come straight out of the oven. Rolls are fluffier, cookies are chewier, brownies are gooier and bread is softer and more moist and just plain out better! However, when these treats arrive at your house, chances are they aren't fresh out of the oven. They're probably not still warm... but that's ok! Because I have discovered the beauty of the microwave + holiday treats. Throw that cookie, cinnamon roll, slice of bread in the microwave for 10 seconds and voila! You've upped it's deliciousness factor ten-fold.

4. Each time the doorbell rings, and as I excitedly accept another plate of goodies, I am filled with such love and gratitude for the people who drop them off. I know that it's tradition and EVERYONE does it, but just knowing that they not only took the time to make these delicious goodies, but they thought about our family and chose to deliver them to US -  That makes me feel so good!  There are some good people in this world, and many of the great ones live within a walking distance of my house. They're awesome and I'm grateful for the opportunity Christmas goodies gives me to be reminded of the wonderful people I have grown up with!

5. My oh my. How grateful am I that Christmas comes BEFORE New Years? Somebody was thinking with that one. Hello sugar detox, you are greatly needed.

I'll Be Home for Christmas.... Eventually...

It usually takes a good solid 9 hours to drive from Rexburg, ID to Overton, NV. However, this time around, it took me almost 3 days!

My original plan was to leave Rexburg at 5 am on Saturday morning and arrive home later that day. I was going with someone on the ride board who was charging me way too much.

So when Eric called me at midnight on Thursday night asking if I wanted to make use of his extra ticket to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert, I happily obliged. However that meant staying up til 4 am cleaning and packing and trying to finish up exams and projects. I woke up at 7 on Friday morning to finish the cleaning and packing and we left Rexburg a little after 9. That was the start of my "Change Of Plans" and from that point on, I was flying by the seat of my pants. I knew that Eric and his family could get me as far as Salt Lake, but I had no idea what I was going to do from that point on. But I wasn't too worried about it. 

So to Salt Lake we went! We made a few stops along the way:

Idaho Falls: To pick up Eric's dad and sister

Ogden: Where I was introduced to the wonder of "Smith and Edward's", an army surplus store that had everything from dancing cardboard pigs to dental tools.

Salt Lake City: We went and had thee most amazing cheese-steak sandwich at a little hole-in-the-wall "Moochies". Followed directly by a trip to Costco for samples galore!
Bountiful: Eric's grandma's house to change into concert dress and then back to 

Salt Lake: Where we were treated to dinner at "The Mandarin". Oh my goodness, amazing Chinese food!

Temple Square: It was raining a bit, but we were still able to walk around and enjoy the lights on temple square for a little bit before going to quite possibly the best concert I have ever been to in my entire life. I cannot wait for it to be put on TV so that I can watch it again and again. It was seriously incredible!!

 After an awesome day with the Hillam's, my old Riverton roommate, picked me up from temple square and we spent the night talking, laughing and remembering the amazing summer that we had spent together just a few months earlier. Bridgette is seriously the best and she deserves her own blog post, and one day, it will come :) We woke up, ate some breakfast and squealed in delight as we looked outside to find that Riverton had been attacked with LOADS of snow. So much of it! So we went out, shoveled the walk and had a grand time building a snowbride!

At this point, I had found a ride from Riverton to home, but wasn't super thrilled because they were charging almost triple what I usually pay for gas and they were leaving at an inconvenient time for me. So I called up my sister Natalie and asked if she had room in her car. Sure enough, they had one more spot!

So on Saturday afternoon, Bridgette drove me to Thanksgiving point, where I hopped in with Alexa and Dallin Seely (our childhood friends since FOREVER) and my siblings Travis and Natalie.

So off to home we go. Or so I thought.

We had a quick stop in Provo to spend some time at Alexa and Dallin's sister's house and to play with their five adorable nieces.

Our next stop was in Cedar City, Utah.  I was thinking we were just filling up for gas... little did I know that we'd end up going to see "The Hobbit", cooking ourselves a fantastic dinner of breakfast burritos (at midnight) and staying the night right there in  Cedar city.

We looked awful :(

But had so much fun!

 We woke up on Sunday morning and got ready for 11:00 church at a nearby chapel. We picked a keeper of a ward for sure! 80% of the ward was over the age of 80, so us Rust kids felt like we were right back at home in our Overton 2nd ward. The meetings were fantastic! Awesome talks, teachers, lessons and everyone was so friendly!

We even got invited to attend lunch at one of the ward member's house! Blog, meet Jewel Pitcher Skousen, our great-cousin-in-law and wife of Cleon Skousen!

Her son-in-law, Glenn Kimber, sat by Travis in Priesthood where he discovered that we were Skousens! So they invited us over to meet Mrs. Cleon Skousen and then offered us lunch!

Top: Glenn and Julianne Kimber, Jewel Skousen, Rust kids
Bottom: Dallin, Me, Sister Skousen, Travis, Alexa, Natalie

It was so fun to sit and chat with Sister Skousen about Cleon and about our family lines.  Oh man, we ate SO much. We had waffles and they just kept coming and coming and coming! It was an awesome way to spend our Sabbath and to kick off our final leg of the journey home.

We finally got home at about 6:00 pm on Sunday evening. Yes it took three days, but my goodness, they were three of the best days I've ever had! The fact that they were spent with awesome people and that I didn't once have to worry about homework, tests, projects or speeches was just icing on the cake!

Llamado a Servir

It's here it's here it's here!

I am officially and excitedly preparing to enter the mission field after going back and forth, up and down, inside and out for the past several years on this decision.

To go or not to go. The question was always on my mind, and always being asked. The summer before I turned 21, I decided I was going to go home, start my papers and then leave as soon as I could. It kind of seemed like something I needed to "check off the list". However, I just couldn't do it! Everytime I would pick up the phone to schedule an appointment with the Bishop, I just didn't feel right. So the papers were not started and I decided then that the Lord probably didn't want me to go on a mission. I was ok with that to be honest :)

It wasn't but a month or two later when Peru and my internship with the church came into the picture. I decided that I was going to spend a whole semester in Puylucana, Peru serving the most wonderful Peruvian children and then the semester immediately following that in Utah doing a paid internship with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Looking back, I can see exactly why the Lord didn't want me to start my papers at that time. I needed those experiences. They shaped and challenged and changed me for the better. I am much more fit and eager to serve the Lord  because of those incredible experiences and although those were some of the hardest months of my life, I will ever be grateful for them.

Then it was back to school and back to making plans for education, internships and more adventures that I wanted to accomplish before I got married. I seriously had it all planned out. A semester of school, a trip to Ghana. Another semester of school and then working as a special trip leader who takes a group of 17-19 year olds to Fiji and Tonga to do Humanitarian work for 3 weeks at a time. On weeks I wasn't doing that, I'd be an EFY counselor. After a summer of that, I'd head back to Rexburg for one last semester, secure a job working for either the LDS church or a non-profit organization and live happily ever after.

Man, I had it all planned out. My resume and portfolio were flawless, impressive and simply gleaming! I was excited and ready to go.

 Then I consulted the Lord about my plans. . . and then I watched General Conference. I am passionate about doing Humanitarian work. PASSIONATE. I'm always looking into places that have the greatest need, or different organizations that really need my skills and abilities. So when Elder Nelson explained that serving a mission is one of the greatest forms of humanitarian work that we can do on earth, I was sold. I knew right then that a mission was what the Lord had in mind for me as my next great adventure and oh man was I excited!

The "papers" process took about a month ( a month too long if you ask me!) and it was a roller-coaster of a month. Second-guessing myself, cute boys coming out of the wood work asking me on dates left and right, fear, doubt, excitement, love, joy. It was tough, but each time I would pray and read my scriptures, I felt the strength, confidence and desire to keep moving forward with my papers, one step at a time.

Until they were in!

Those 3 weeks waiting for the call were brutal! Knowing that in a manner of days, a piece of paper would arrive in the mail, announcing where I would be spending 18 months. 18 MONTHS! It still kind of blows my mind to think about that.

And on December 6, 2012, that little piece of paper finally came! Here's the video of me and Natalie heading down to the mailbox to see if it was in there. I had checked the two weeks before and even twice earlier that day, so I wasn't positive that it would be in there.

I couldn't believe that it had actually come. We walked up to the temple, just Natalie and I, and tried to make sense of what was going on and what was about to happen. I had talked to lot's of  returned sister missionaries about the moment when they opened their call. I had watched dozens of videos of bawling, screaming sisters opening their call. They all told me that when they read their letter, they all "just knew" that that was exactly where they were supposed to go. They said they felt such peace and such joy! I was soooo excited to finally have this moment of my own. So I opened it. And I read it. And guess what. .  . I didn't feel anything! I didn't feel like they told me I would. To be honest, the first thing that came to my mind was, "wait, are we sure this is MY call? This can't be MINE." It was so weird. I didn't scream. I didn't cry. I just read it, called my mom and dad and then headed back to class.  It took a couple hours for the shock to wear off and for the excitement to sink in. So if that happens to you, don't worry about it! 

 As the day went on, reality hit, in a good way. I am SO excited to serve. SO excited to be able to serve the people in the New York New York North mission in the Spanish language. SO excited to be a formal representative of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

 I have a full semester before I leave for the MTC and am excited for that time that I have to prepare. I've signed up for classes like "World Religions", "Mission Prep" and "Spanish 102". It will be an amazing and trying time for me I'm sure, and I can't wait!

Away in a Manger

This song has SO much special meaning to me. Yes, my name is Noelle. Yes, I love "The First Noel". However, lately, I've been thinking that "Away in a Manger" makes the tippy when it comes to my favorite Christmas carols.

That third verse gets me every time. When I was 18, I got really, really sick and went through really rough time. It was August, so I'm not sure why or how I heard "Away in a Manger", but I did and absolutely fell in love with the third verse.

"Be near me Lord Jesus; I ask thee to stay.

Close by me forever, and love me, I pray."

I remember silently singing those two lines to myself over and over as I laid in my hospital bed, pleading with the Lord to stay close to me. Those lines brought me so much comfort and so much peace and I still can't sing this song without tearing up ever so slightly.

The last two lines of that exact verse have recently taken on new meaning in my life and have become equally close to my heart. I went to Spanish stadium singing a week or two ago and sang this beautiful hymn in Spanish. As I did my thoughts turned to my ninos that I loved and left in Peru.

"Bless all the dear children, in thy tender care,

And fit us for heaven to live with thee there."

It breaks my heart when I think a bout how I may never see my ninos again. How I may never get to hold them, help them, feed them, clean up their cuts and scrapes,  wipe away their tears, sing and rock them to sleep, tell them how great they are.

I will have no idea if Aurora will continue on in  her education and really make something of herself.

 I'll never know if the Marco's polio will get worse and worse.

I'll never know if the seed we planted in Kati's heart will grow and if she'll ever become a member of the church.

 I'll never know their successes, their trials, their achievements, and there is not much that I can do about it.
All I can do is plead with my Heavenly Father to "bless all my dear ninos, in His tender care, and fit us for heaven that I might be reunited, and live with them there."

Knowing that I will see them again, ( and actually understand what their saying ;) brings me so much joy!