Callings!

When our friends got married a few months before us, they mentioned that their ward wasn't too friendly -- everyone seemed satisfied being paired off in their own little couples and it was hard to get to know people. I had heard that was common among married student wards, and I was worried because I knew it could be hard to maintain friendships once you got married. I shouldn't have feared, though, because our ward has been AMAZING, and we have awesome callings to boot!

El-ahrairah is the Sunday School secretary, so he's in charge of taking roll and keeping notes for meetings and all that good stuff. I thought our ward was pretty progressive when they invited me to join their Sunday School presidency meetings! I guess it's not that big of a deal, but it's been really fun to think of each other's callings as our callings, and to be an active voice in those meetings.

Speaking of our callings, mine is chair of the activities committee! That's what they said when they called me to it, anyway. When I asked if it was for Relief Society or ward activities, they clarified that it was Relief Society activities chair ... but that I'd be helping out with ward activities too. In the Church leadership handbook, I'm technically the Relief Society Meetings Coordinator. At any rate, I plan fun stuff for our ward to do! I currently only have one committee member, but we'll get more soon. I've only been in this calling for like two weeks, but it's already been super busy! There are a lot of activities in this ward, and I hope I'm up for the challenge. I mean, the last birthday party I threw only had like 5 people come; I'm not sure I'm enough of a social person for this calling. I'm a good organizer, though, so I'll just need to get some really peppy people on my team, and we'll have the best activities ever. This has already been the most time-consuming calling I've ever had, so we'll see how it goes! At least it helps me get over my shyness; lots of people know my name now, so it's nice to feel like one of the go-to people in the ward (even though we've only been here two months!).

Oh, and one of the first things I did was try to find out who in the ward had food allergies/dietary restrictions, because I'm learning a lot about that at work. Evidently I still have a lot of people to learn about because today I tried to give normal chocolate chip cookies to a person in our ward with celiac disease. Oops. (I knew that peanut butter cookie recipe would come in handy! Next time, next time.)

-Owlet

Thoughts on Hope

You know, as El-ahrairah have begun our life together, I've often wondered about what thing(s) will be our Big Trial. There are so many people around the world that deal with Big Trials. What will ours be? Infertility? Accident? Chronic illness? Depression? There's no end to the possibilities -- and I don't ponder them in a doom-and-gloom kind of way, I just wonder.

And maybe worry a little bit. As the circle of people that I care about grows, or grows closer as it did with marriage, the stakes are even higher. But I came across the "The Power of Hope" Mormon Message today.

If you haven't see it, basically it's a bunch of nice photos voiced over by a talk by Dieter F. Uchtdorf. I found it on the Nie Nie Dialogues blog; the author of that blog has definitely had a Big Trial herself. (You might have heard of her -- she was in a plane crash and was burned on over 80% of her body.)

As I watched it, I thought about how hope has always been my favorite of the faith-hope-charity trio, perhaps because it seems like the seed. You don't need to do much to hope, although it can be very hard. To me, faith requires action, as does charity, but hope is the smallest -- the instigator. It's a thought that grows into the other two. It's what you have when there's nothing left.

My favorite quote from Elder Uchtdorf's talk is this: "And to all who suffer—to all who feel discouraged, worried, or lonely—I say with love and deep concern for you, never give in. Never surrender. Never allow despair to overcome your spirit." I recently read Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World, a nonfiction book about a 1914 expedition to Antarctica. The author often mentioned that the men of the crew very nearly gave into despair, but their leaders spoke and acted with determination and optimism. The crew knew that all they had left was hope, and so they held on to it when everything else was lost. And every single one of those men returned home alive.

Pretty good book.

Those things that haven't even happened to me yet -- my Big Trial that's yet to be -- they can hardly be prepared for. I mean, it's not like you can have an emergency plan for every possible crisis. But I realized that the best way to prepare for the unexpected is by increasing my understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Its infinite applications means that it's kind of a universal preparation plan. And that's comforting to me.

-Owlet

Date: Exploring Salt Lake City

For the long weekend (Pioneer Day/24th of July/Days of '47/Pie and Beer Day), El and I had a little excursion to Salt Lake City! Even though we've lived in Utah for a few years, we've never really adventured in that part of the woods.

We started out in Liberty Park where we enjoyed some fair food, including funnel cakes which I LOVE. Best funnel cake I ever had. Then we went to the Utah Folk Arts Museum, which was ... interesting. After a short nap on the grass, we headed to Temple Square, where we toured the Conference Center and got to look at some original paintings that they don't normally include in their tour!

And then we went to City Creek Center for some shopping. We got a map of the mall, which is broken up into four quadrants. So, naturally, we believed that there were four sections to the mall laid out at the intersection of two streets. Bu we were completely baffled when we would try to walk to one of the sections to the north and would end up in a totally different section, to the east or west! It kind of felt like we were being unknowingly teleported.

Until El took a closer look at the map and realized the top two quadrants weren't north, they were the second level of the mall. Oops! We had a good laugh about that.

That evening we enjoyed some amazing fireworks; we were so close to the edge of the park where they were being set off, I had to cover my ears for part of it. Which kind of made me feel like a five-year-old, but whatever.

Saturday we hiked Ensign peak and had an awesome lunch at Pei Wei. (El got a delicious caramel chicken dish. Highly recommended.)

And we got to meet up with my former roommate and her new husband Steven (they got married a week after us!) at the Hogle Zoo! My favorite things at the zoo were the sea lions, the burrowing owls, and the Dippin' Dots. El-ahrairah liked the sloth. We joined our friends at their home for dinner, Bananagrams, and Farkle before heading back to Provo.

So all in all I think it was a pretty good trip. Next time, I'd like to maybe check out the planetarium, and El-ahrairah wants to tour welfare square and Gilgal Garden. Let us know of any other cool things to experience in Salt Lake that you'd recommend!

-Owlet

Car solutions!

We have had a lot of exciting car-related things happening lately! And it's the good kind of exciting, too.

First, we got our car registered! We had to replace some tires and lights :/ because we didn't pass the safety inspection the first time, but now we're legal! We've got a Utah license plate and everything, and we don't have to do it again for another year. And I'm definitely going to make sure we do it on time, because I know someone who put it off for a few months (she has a good excuse, she just had her first child and everything), and she recently got a ticket for it that could run from $1,000 to $2,000! :[ There are a lot of other things I would rather spend two thousand dollars on.

So yeah! That's great!

The other awesome this is that I'm learning stick shift! I haven't been driving our car at all because it has a manual transmission, and I haven't gotten around learning it until now. El's a great teacher and very patient. I'm not hating it nearly as much as I thought I would, either. It's like a video game (El-ahrairah calls it an art). It's actually a lot easier than I thought it would be ... although so far I've only driven around in circles in a parking lot, so it might be too early to tell.

-Owlet

Mistborn: Our first book review!

I've an idea. I will work on reading books that El recommends, and El will work on reading books that I recommend. We'll then post a book review with each of our thoughts. In the end, you get to read about a good book from two different perspectives and we get to grow closer together through books! I can't think of anything better in the world. (Cheesecake is a close second.)

I'm excited to announce that our first book review will be about Mistborn: The Final Empire, the first book in the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson.

Mistborn, Brandon Sanderson, 2007, 541 pages, 4.4 Goodreads rating

The gist of it: In a fantasy world where society is plagued by extreme social and economic inequality, ruled by a mysterious and powerful tyrant, a teenage girl with abilities she doesn't understand is caught up in a heist-scheme led by a charismatic and rascally leader. Intricate magic systems provide structure for this heist-turned-rebellion story.

El-ahrairh: I just finished the third book of the Mistborn series last week, and it's now my favorite series. The first thing I want to talk about is what got me interested it in the first place—its unique idea of what would happen if a hero went on an epic quest to save the world, and lost. That's kind of the setting. Next, there's the well thought-out but also exciting (video game-esque) magic system that allows for thrilling fight scenes. One thing that makes it exciting is its rationality—because it predictably follows its established rules, there are no deus ex machinas and you can admire and sometimes even follow the characters' creativity in solving problems. The characters themselves are  complex and follow a believable progression. And finally, religion and belief plays and important role in the characters and plot, which is something I really like. All in all, fantastic books. 

Owlet: I am so much in love with this trilogy. In fact, I dressed up as the main character for Halloween last year. Someone ought to ask the Board a question about it so I can post pictures there!

I'd like to point out that this is the kind of book that would be easy for me to judge--negatively--by its cover. I'm more a YA fiction kind of girl, so this high fantasy stuff isn't really "me." Yet, even with my initial misgivings, I was instantly and seriously hooked. The magic system is well thought-out, but the author manages to explain it without becoming dry. Sanderson also employs a dynamic cast of characters that not only relate to readers but also engage in complex relationships, witty banter, and overall believable dialogue that doesn't leave the audience in the dust. In particular, I was impressed by Sanderson's ability to write the teenage girl; he doesn't stray to the extremes that most female protagonists are forced into. Vin is independent, yet vulnerable. She keeps up with the guys but surprises even herself when she becomes fond of the world of ballgowns and high society. She makes mistakes, and not little ones either--not ones that the author just threw in to make sure his character was humanly imperfect--but ones that drastically affect the entire trilogy's story arc. Her awesomeness is why I chose to dress up as her for Halloween, and is a large part of why I highly recommend the second and third books as well (The Well of Ascension and The Hero of Ages). 

*I would rate the content PG-13 for violence and brief mild language.

-Owlet

Date: Hiking, flowers, and the temple!

Last month we celebrated our 1,000 hour of being married! El-ahrairah and I enjoy celebrating the little things :) I hadn't realized that it was coming up, so El-ahrairah completely surprised me when he picked me up from work with a bouquet of fresh flowers in the front seat! He did such a great job of choosing them. Yeah, I get that flowers just die anyway, but they really make me feel special and loved. I think gifts might be my secondary love language, if you believe in that stuff.

They match our table so nicely!

What's more, my "primary" love language is words of affirmation, and the flowers came with this adorable note from my sweetheart:

1 hour after marriage, we enjoy taking photos outside the temple
10 hours A.M., we enjoy our first dance at our reception.
100 hours A.M., we enjoy a lovely restaurant on our blissful honeymoon.
1000 hours A.M., we enjoy a restful sleep after going to the temple (tonight)
10,000 hours A.M., we enjoy a summer vacation to Vegas.
100,000 hours A.M., we enjoy a riveting FHE lesson by 6 year old Hazel on animals
1,000000 hours A.M., we enjoy a family reunion at the original cabin with Great Great Grandpa Symons and 147 of our descendants among the attendees.
10,000,000 hours A.M., we enjoy a day on our latest experiment--an entire planet of dancing mushrooms.

(Also some other mushy stuff I'm not going to post here. :D )

(Dancing mushroom is part of an inside joke. You should ask El-ahrairah about it sometime. Long story short, it's code for "love.")

Then we had plans to go to the temple--we try to go roughly every other Friday--but it turns out that the Provo temple is closed for cleaning (which unfortunately shows you how long it's been since the last time we went). So we had a nice little walk around and enjoyed the flowers.

Then, after making dinner, we headed up the canyon to go hiking. We hiked to Bridal Veil Falls. Which actually wasn't very strenuous or interesting of a hike, but the falls were nice.

Finally, we stopped at The Chocolate, a dessert cafe, to use a gift certificate we got from my former roommates. Thanks guys! We got a trifle cup for me and a cazookie for El-ahrairah. And they were both awesome! In particular, the cazookie was HUGE, and we got to have two cookie doughs in it: chocolate chip and white chocolate chip macadamia nut. And then there was a big scoop of vanilla bean ice cream on top. It was like the most amazing thing ever.

A cazookie (or pazookie, depending on who you ask) is a warm, half-baked cookie on the bottom of a shallow circular pan topped with vanilla ice cream. See also: heaven.

And I only have partially-eaten pictures of it because ... yeah.

-Owlet