I wish I had a picture of her, but I can't figure out an unawkward/appropriate way to get one.
This is as close as it's going to get, her hair is a lot curlier than this though.
I found this online, for the sake of the blog, it'll have to do
I've spent every Friday morning for the past two semesters with Patsy Peterson. She has short blonde curly hair, pretty blue eyes, and has the perfect "grandma" stature. She works in the baptistery in the Rexburg temple at least every Friday morning, and she simply brightens my day.
Rexburg, ID Temple: Isn't it pretty?
I can't even really put a finger on why I adore her so much. I just know that I do. She has the softest, sweetest voice and always greets me with a big smile. She does whatever she can to make my visit to the temple as enjoyable and comfortable as possible. And whenever I leave she always expresses her gratitude for my coming and for taking the time out of my "hectic, busy college life schedule" to do work for those who can't do it themselves. She says it so sincerely and it really helps me to remember why I come to the temple.
Every single week without fail, I see Miss Patsy and without fail she guarentees that I don't leave with out a smile on my face and a better appreciation for the temple.
So when I grow up, I hope that one day I can work in the temple and help others have the same experience that Patsy Peterson help me to have each week.
This is a blog post simply to say that I am too busy to blog! The end of the semester chaos is upon us already I'm afraid. The fact that I had a jam packed 4-day weekend does not help the situation either (Had lots of fun and got NO homework done) Alas, enjoy the following pictures from my lovely 4th of July weekend:
My mom and dad and sisters came up on Friday afternoon
After they arrived, they quickly scoured my closet and each picked out one of my shirts to wear for the day, not bad eh?
We attempted rollerblading around town, and saw much of this :)
And my dear ol dad was able to save my bike and got it up and working again. Thanks for the tools Kyle!!
We finished off the night at Sammy's where I introduced the rest of the Rust's to my favorite dessert Pie-shakes (actually, i decided I don't really like them anymore, go figure) and we enjoyed our favorite band, Harper's Harping, rock out.
We were all about Rigby lake on Saturday, the weather was perfect!
Glenn Beck paid us a visit... no big deal
We watched the fireworks in Driggs that night. Best. show. EVER!!!
Sunday was the GREATEST! I had the possession of the car :) Something I haven't had in AGES
After some incredible meetings, we headed off to Grandma Foster's in Ashton where we reunited with our beloved Boltons.
And ate the most delicious food!
We brought along Abigail, Blake and Colleen
Photo courtesy of Ally Bolton :)
I couldn't believe how big Daniel had gotten!
We all had a great time... some perhaps a little more so than the others ;)
After stuffing ourselves in Ashton, we came back to Uncle Kevin's in Sugar City and bee lined to the freezer
And there was much rejoicing
Monday morning started off with the parade, a walk in the park and duck feeding at Nature park
I don't have pictures from the next part of the day, but we went to Uncle Kevins and had the most amazing bbq ever. Brats (sp?) with mushrooms onions and peppers, hamburgers the size of my face, watermelon, dutch oven bean deliciousness and much more. Oh. my. goodness. SO Good. And then we (or at least I) fell asleep (or perhaps a food coma) on Uncle Kevin's floor and slept until the family left. They dropped me off in Idaho Falls while they continued to home.
I met up with these lovelies at the temple
And this lovely as well. We also went to ANOTHER BBQ in Idaho Falls and had more yummy food!
And then it was firework time. Look close and you can see the cutest construction worker couple that sat in front of us. I love them!
After the firework show we sat on the street corner and played with sparklers!
And then we got really tired and slept while the boys got the other fireworks ready.. ok this is totally staged, we didn't sleep :)
And then we enjoyed fireworks round two. We got home at about 2 am due to traffic.
Pretty much it was a great weekend and holy cow, the Fourth of July is my new favorite holiday. Seriously BBQ's and Fireworks (I have a new found LOVELOVELOVE for fireworks!(Katy Perry may or may not have soemthing to do with this)) and Family and America, does it get any better than that? Probably not. Except for the fact that I probably consumed enough calories to last me ... oh at least the rest of my life... but it was worth it, and running starts back up.. right now!
Hope you all had a happy 4th as well!
Love, Noelle
P.S. This post took me way longer than I expected, oh well :)
Can I please just take a second and tell you about one of my more recent "Favorite Things"? This is something I'm pretty passionate about.... so pay close attention. This may or may not change your life forever.
So a couple months ago, I went with some friends to visit two lovely, elderly people. One of whom was named Alice. While chatting with Alice, our discussion led to WinCo (a grocery store in Idaho Falls, ha exciting conversation yes?) I told her that I loved WinCo and she of course agreed and mentioned that WinCo was great because they carried Steel Cut Oats. I nodded and agreed, "Yes, yes, that is great!" Truth be told, I hadn't the foggiest idea what steel cut oats were. Yet, for some reason, that snipit of conversation stuck in my mind for a long time. So they next time I went to WinCo, I thought to myself, "Alice seems to be a pretty smart lady, I'm going to take her word for it and check out these steel cut oats." So I bought myself a small bag of steel cut oats.
The biggest mistake of the night was that I only bought a small bag. THEY ARE AMAZING!
So I don't know if these have been around for forever and I've just been out of the loop, but if you don't know anything about them, keep reading....
Here's what they look like. Mmmmm
Steel Cut Vs Rolled Oats
I'm a big believer in oatmeal, it's my favorite quick, cheap, healthy breakfast. I think it tastes good too. However....
Steel Cut Oats
What Are They: Unrefined whole grain groats that have been dried and cut into two to three pieces by steel, rather than being rolled. Nutrient Information: Rich in B-vitamins, calcium, protein and fiber. Taste/Texture: Nuttier, chewier taste and texture and they aren't mushy at all, like rolled outs tend to be. Toppings: I like to put in a tsp of honey and call it good, unless I have berries or bananas on hand, in which case those go in for sure. My roommate just introduced me to the idea of putting in a tablespoon or two of ground flax seed as well, you can't really taste it, but it ups your nutrient value and I find that it's more filling that way too.
But you can put in whatever you want: Milk, brown sugar, raisins, almonds, cranberries... whatever!
If you haven't yet, try them! I promise after one bite you'll be saying, "Ohhhh so this is what oatmeal is supposed to taste like!"
Oooo this picture gets me everytime
Disclaimer: After trying these you'll probably never go back to eating your good Ol' Fashioned Rolled Oats, so you'll probably have a pantry/food storage containers full of them. Not to worry, those kind of oats are still good for use in oatmeal cookies, I can't really imagine making cookies out of steel cut oats cookies... hmmm but I just might have to try that one out!
So I've kind of, sort of been falling behind on my blogging assignment...whoops! I think of things to blog about all the time, but do I write them down?? No. Do I forget them almost as quickly as I think them up? Yes! Am I going to work harder at being better at this blog thing? Yeah man! In the mean time this random post'll have to do to fill my post quota.
Sock Tan Lines
Today, I realized that I have sock tan lines, yeahhhhh!!! This excites me because:
1. It means that the sun has shone long enough in Rexburg to add a little color to my skin and
2. I have spent a sufficient amount of time enjoying that sunshine outside while doing things that would require me to be wearing shoes i.e. playing tennis, running, bicycling, pulling weeds etc. Meaning I got a tan from doing more than "laying out" wahoo!
Road Signs
Today, I also went on a nice run. It's a four mile loop that I have run with my roommates. It's out in the beautiful back country full of fields and a gorgeous view all the way around. A lot goes through my mind while I'm out running. It's a good time to think. I really like to plan out my life and kind of evaluate myself and make sure I'm at where I want to be at.
For the past couple of months I've been thinking long and hard about my future and where exactly I want to go with it. While I was running this was weighing heavily on my mind, and I was just really confused about what step I should take next, or what direction I should be heading.
Just as I was about to give up on this issue for the moment, and give up my running and start walking, I saw four road signs up ahead.
This is neither the road nor the signs that I saw, but I didn't have my camera with me on my run (silly me) so this'll have to suffice.
The first sign reminded me of a phase of my life I went through when I was 17.
The second one immediately clicked in my mind with a phase I went through when I was 18.
The third sign was actually kind of humorous the way it represented a phase I went through when I was 19.
The fourth sign represented a phase I went through at 20 and had just finished up.
All right in a row and all seeming completely applicable to my past.
There was one more sign a little further up the road. This was one that I didn't have a time of my life to relate to. Not yet at least, but it was definitely something that could be the next phase in my life.
As all this was clicking in my head I kept on running (uphill during all this might I add). Finally the road leveled out again and I looked up to find the next road sign only to see that I had reached the temple, my last "road sign" if you will.
I'm sure this is pretty confusing to read, especially since you know neither the particular road signs nor what I correlated them too, but let me just say that it was SUCH an eyeopener and an answered prayer for me. I had seen those signs dozens of other times, but today I saw them completely differently and gained so much because of it.
So if any of you are in Rexburg and want to accompany me on a four miler I'd be happy to point these signs out to you and explain myself with them, it'd just take too long and be too confusing to write here :) So get out those running shoes, and let's go!
Broken Bikes
And to finish this post off, I have a sad story. Remember the story of my beloved bike? Well, I took my bike out on Saturday morning to help with a service project and then to visit my friends at the Homestead. It was a beautiful morning and a great bike ride. Then first thing Monday morning I hopped on my bike to ride it to Spanish class because I was running late and that blessed bike gets me there in no time! Except this time, my poor little bike could hardly even putter forward. I wish I had pictures, to demonstrate the damage done, but they're just too, too sad.
Refer to this diagram to better understand the damage done :)
The handle bars were pushed completely down backward towards the frame, the forks were all twisted and mangled, when I leaned the bike over-a ton of dirt came out of the handlebars, the front skewer and the front rim were in awful condition and the front wheel was barely hanging on. It was sooo sad!
I have no idea what happened to it between the time I left it on Saturday to Monday morning. I'm guessing that somebody borrowed it and had a bit of an accident on it. So I hope whoever it was is in better shape than my bike!
Our lovely Miss Aldean Smith passed away last week. We met her about six months ago while visiting one of Rexburg's rest homes. We fell in love with her immediately!
After hearing her tell us about how she decorated the shelves all by herself about 5 times in one sitting, we realized that she probably had dementia...
She had two sweaters, a PeptoBismal pink one, and a dark sparkly blue one.
She'd always wear 3 or 4 different bracelets and she'd tell us the story behind each one. So we decided to make her a rainbow one and give it to her, but when we'd ask her wear she got the rainbow one she'd get kind of confused and make something up.
She loved to touch our hair and our clothes, she often complimented our appearences. After her passing, I found out that she was known for being an amazing seamstress and made clothes for her sisters and nieces. Maybe that's why she loved touching and looking at our clothes?
She'd always tell us that we were "As nutty as a fruitcake" or that we were "Tupid" haha
We loved having "let's see who can smile the biggest" contests with her
She hated it when we blew in her face... whoops :)
She loves her mother and talked about her often
She beat boxed..da duh da duh.. see the following clip:
She loved to "kick us out" and pretend to smack us... she was a little bit violent :)
And that's Aldean for ya. We sure do love her and will definitely miss her!
Last Saturday, June 18, Kim and I celebrated "Fitness Day". Just because we can.
This is Said Kim and myself
For Fitness Day we wanted to participate in fitness, support fitness, watch fitness events etc... so here's what we did :)
> I ran a 5k (about 3.1 miles) while Kim supported her Sister-in-law at her Volleyball game
> We helped set up the "5k Wellness Walk: Commit to be Fit" at the school, sponsered by the wellness center and the Food Services Student Board of Directors(That's me)
> We watched Claire and Hannah dominate in their soccer game
> We cheered on the 100+ people who came to participate in the 5k Wellness Walk and hydrated and fed them after they finished.
>Bike ride around town
>Bike up to watch the baseball games
> Swam laps for about an hour
By then we were pretty tuckered out and were needin' some good "Fitness Day" food. Here's what we came up with:
Tomatoes
Bell Peppers
Garden Noodles
Mixed with Spinach and Onions
All mixed in and cooked with eggs.
We called it our Fitness Frittata. And it was delicious! And that ladies and gentleman, was our Fitness day. It was great! However, to top it all off, we went to Sammy's and got one of these bad boys:
Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcake Shake. Guilt-free, we deserved it!
So here's the thing, Saturday wasn't even National Fitness Day, we just made it up, so don't worry you didn't miss it :) You can have your own and go fitness crazy as you "Commit to be Fit", be sure and let me know how it goes!
Love, Noelle
P.S. I'll be in Logandale for the month of August and will be needing some running/work out buddies :) Start training, and I'll see ya in six weeks!
Do you remember that slogan/cereal/commercial from our younger years? I remember hearing "Gotta Have My Pops" and thinking, "not me, corn pops are gross!"
However, today, I can't help but catch myself thinking, "Gotta Have My Pops!" Not the corn pops cereal of course, I was thinking more along the lines of this particular pops:
Pops, Popsi, Poppo, Father Dearest.... Dad Just a few of the names I've given to this lovely man
Being Father's Day, there has been much talk in my apartment and at church as to why we each love our dad's, and why we each happen to have the greatest dad on earth. However, I've been thinking about it a little bit differently. Today I have considered and thought about the evidence that I have to prove that my dad loves me.
Let me tell you, I could write a book full of proof that I have that my dad loves me, for which I am so grateful. Maybe one day I will. Stories, experiences, conversations, quiet deeds, lessons, acts of service etc.
Even though I'm hundred of miles away from my dad on this father's day I am so grateful to have him in my life! I love him quite a lot, and I know one thing for sure,I've gotta have my pops!
