Endure to the end....

Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life
-2 Nephi 31:20

This week has been crazy. And it's only Wednesday. Yesterday, I was lamenting to Jennifer about all of the things in the past couple of days that had really gotten me stressed out / worked up. I finished the laundry list by telling her, "...and I got into a fight with Sarah..." She just started laughing - hysterically. Her laugh is completely infectious and I in turn laughed hard.

Now, a little background....Sarah is an instructor (I say instructor, because she is not a professor, she does not have a PhD) of one of the classes that we are taking this summer. She is younger and has a certain attitude about her - basically, she is a know-it-all. Maybe she bugs me because I am kind of like that. You could tell her that the sky is blue and she will say, "No, it's not" just because she is ALWAYS right. Anyway, I won't go into details, but she had made a change to a quiz that we were going to take in class. I decided that I had a concern regarding this change, so I thought I would go down to the front of the room to ask her about her my concern. Jennifer told me, "Don't bother...you know what she is going to say." I proceeded to the front of the classroom and asked Sarah my question in a hushed tone to which she yelled (yes, YELLED) "No!" Sarah then proceeded to make comments to me like, "Well it is just common sense that you wouldn't be able to do that." I continued to argue with her, in an equally elevated tone, with a captive audience of about 50 people. She eventually became flustered, said "I am not going to argue with you" and semi-gave in to my request. I felt slightly vindicated and totally degraded.

After thinking about it for the past couple of days, I continue to get kind of angry about something so unimportant. Everytime I get angry, Jennifer has a way of making me laugh about it. Although, Sarah is definately going to get a page in "The Burn Book." I was thinking about the idea of "enduring to end." I guess I should have just let the issue go and had a love of God for all men (including Sarah), but sometimes it is just hard. Enduring to end is applicable to every part of your life - from the smallest to the largest aspects. Sometimes I struggle with wanting to give up when something gets to hard - Jennifer is so good at helping me to put things into perspective and see the bigger picture. We have so many things going on in our life right now, I sometimes forget what the big picture is. The big picture is of course - progress. Progress toward achieving our goals - both temporal and spiritual. Jennifer and I tend to set some lofty goals, but we always manage to achieve them - together - by enduring to the end.

So, the message for the week - endure to the end. Even when you don't want to. Even when its hard. Even when you are dealing with a particular individual named Sarah.

Going to the temple and we're.....

Yesterday was a big day for us!!! After we got out of class we headed to the Albuquerque Temple for the first time!! It was exciting for us as we had gotten our temple recommends (Limited Use Recommends since we were only baptized a month or so ago) and were able to enter the Temple. We went with our pals the Pinons and met a new couple (to us!) the Brady's. We had a lot of fun and it was a real blessing to go and have the experience. We are planning on going back each month or so!

After that we headed to the Flying Star Restaurant for something to eat....We were there for a few hours just getting to know one another (well the Bradys and us) and we had a complete blast. We laughed so hard and just enjoyed our time out with the Pinon and Brady families. It was such a blessing to find such positive and uplifting friends who share our same interests!! So at like 9:45 pm we headed back home and just relaxed after our BIG day out!!!

New obsession

So I think Justin and I have a new "Show obsession" ...... we started watching the Search for the New Elle Woods on MTV!! If you haven't seen it check it out....it is a bunch of girls/women wanting to star in Legally Blonde the Musical. The current "elle woods" Laura Bell Bundy is leaving and so they are looking for someone new to be in the lead. These girls dance/sing/act or attempt to!!! ahhhh television candy!!

Another Survey.......

5 things on my to do list :
(1) Finish homework
(2) Finish assessments the day I do them
(3) Redo calendar in the office
(4) Clean the master bedroom/bathroom
(5) Organize my side of the closet (...again)

5 things to do before I die:
(1) Go to Italy
(2) Learn how to play the violin
(3) Go to a Notre Dame football game in South Bend (and have good seats and good snacks!)
(4) Write a book
(5) umm....umm....figure out what I love doing in this life and do it...without care to cost/time/whatever!!!!!

5 snacks I enjoy:
(1) Chips and Salsa
(2) Strawberries
(3) Ice cream
(4) Hard candy
(5) Lemons

5 places I have lived:
(1) Fort Sumner, NM
(2) Austin, TX
(3) Rio Rancho, NM
(4) Las Cruces, NM
(5) Las Vegas, NV

5 jobs I have had:
(1) Therapist
(2) Secretary
(3) Worked at the library in the summer
(4) Restoration of old/historical newspapers (perhaps the weirdest job ever...but fun!)
(5) Worked at a Youth Center


5 things you didn't know about me:
(1) I'm an only child
(2) I once put gum in someone's hair on purpose
(3) I've been to an Enrique Iglesias Concert
(4) Justin and I had our first kiss at the elementary playground (it was a starry night - we were sitting on this tunnel thing...)
(5) I'm allergic to smoke (Listen up all ye smokers!!)


5 things I'd do if I suddenly became a billionaire:
(1) QUIT MY JOB SUCKAS!!!!!!!
(2) Travel travel travel
(3) donate money to charity and tithe :)
(4) Give my mom and Justin's parents a little spending cash
(5) Buy our dream home


5 things going right in my life now:
(1) Marriage
(2) Spiritual walk
(3) Making new friends
(4) School
(5) Time management (Not perfect but MUCH better than I usually do!!)