salem mud volleyball tournament 2009

matt and his friends participated in the annual mud volleyball tournament where rob is from. matt did it last year and was SO excited for the tournament. they made it to the finals and were able to take 3rd place. i know they would have wanted to win the whole thing, but they were happy they got their beloved t-shirts. after every game they won, they would run into a huddle and jump on top of each other in the mud and it seemed like they were probably enjoying it a little TOO much, a little awkward...anyways, i had the miss the final game because my sister was flying in from dallas and i am so excited she is back in utah!

pioneer day

For july 24, Utah's Pioneer Day, the skeltons, andrew, matt and i went shooting. it was a good area along the mountain by utah lake. there were other people there too, celebrating the day by shooting up bottles and other random targets. matt decided to make an old watch a target and was able to shoot the face off, completely off, what's left is a perfect hole where it used to be. we had fun trading off the rifle, shotgun and pistol. i was not expecting the kick that the shotgun gave though. i'm excited to go again, we really like shooting and i would like to get more comfortable handling a gun. as long as they are in the house, i better be able to handle one!

they're here!

David was nice enough to be the photographer during the rafting trip and mailed us a copy off all the pictures, he did a great job. there were so many pictures that i tried to be creative with displaying them. here's a little video of one of the best (and most intimidating) rapids of the trip...you can see that we almost flip.

more pictures...

roses are yellow, hydrangeas are blue

we've been married for two months and it has flown by! matt brought me these yellow roses (my favorite) on out first month anniversary and then he brought me this beautiful hydrangea the day after our second month (as a surprise, he says i shouldn't expect them, because then it wouldn't be a surprise, but i probably will). he is very sweet and thoughtful and i am so lucky!

floating the provo river

matt and i spent last saturday floating the provo river and eating a little bbq afterwards. the provo river was packed! it was me, matt, andrew, becca, and adam. to begin, the water was FREEZING and the river was moving quite a bit faster then i had remembered with rapids i have never seen before. we had our rafts, blow up mattresses and pool mats but this would not be enough...after crashing into the first bridge at the very beginning of the river, adam and becca's blow up mattress popped, so the extra pool mat was given to them and eventually adam spotted a pretty nice innertube logged into some branches on the river and they each had their own floating device, then the second bridge came and we slammed into that, where matt and i's raft that we had bought the day before could not avoid the nails and did not make it, so adam took what was left of our blown up raft and generously gave us his innertube. matt and i layed on each side of it, but because matt is heavier than me and kept my side out of the water and so he had to endure more of the cold water than i did. during all this, andrew had a pool mat that we had brought that only half of it could stay inflated. besides all that, it was an adventure trying to hang on to one anothers rafts while avoiding rocks, trees and brush. there were a couple of times i was on the outter edge and had to cover my head with my arms to protect me from tree brush. even though it took awhile afterwards for our bodies to recover from the water and banging our limbs against rocks, it was so much fun, and i can't wait to do it again when we are more prepared. we ended up going to kiwanis park for our bbq where lindsay and scott joined us. the girls talked and the boys played frisbee and threw around a football. we had had fun eating hamburgers, brats, and talking til sun down. the pictures above are from while we were drivng through the canyon. it is so beautiful during the summer. and there are a few pictures of the boys and me and matt at the park.

remembering jerusalem

i can't believe that it has already been a year since i was at the byu jerusalem center. i REALLY miss it and i am so lucky to have had that opportunity. there is so much i can write about, but i think i'll have to break it up and include only a few of the hundreds of pictures i have each time i post about this amazing experience.



this is the jerusalem center. the huge building on top of mount scopus overlooking the mount of olives. this was my home for 2 months, where classes and church were held and where i ate and slept (when not on field trips). it is a beautiful building with huge windows so that no matter where you were in the center you had a view of the holy city. everyday we could hear the islam call to prayer 5 times a day, including the 4 am call to prayer that would usually wake me up, it is loud! but you eventually get used to it and kind of enjoy it. hearing muslims and jews say their prayers almost sounds like they're singing a song. it was a safer than i had expected, people think that because it is in the middle east and a religiously hostile city that we would have to be cautious, but the people were very tolerant of us american mormons.



one night, we all went to the western wall the night before the sabbath (we had church on saturdays like the jews). the wall was divided so that women were on the right side and men were on the left. it was a really neat experience. men would dance and sing together, as well as the women, like a celebration and were really enjoying themselves. we took part of this and they were very friendly and inviting to have us join them. people would pray aloud and place written prayers in between the stones and cracks of the wall. when you walk up to touch the wall it is custom to walk away facing the wall, so you are walking away backwards.



the dome of the rock on the temple mount was beautiful. i could not believe how much detail and color was used to decorate the exterior, it is incredible and breathtaking to see it up close. this is where muslims believe muhammad ascended to heaven with the angel gabriel and the jews believe it is the place where abraham prepared to sacrifice issac, was well as the place of holy of holies during the time of solomon and herod's temple.



the garden tomb is located outside the city walls. it is outside and feels like a little oasis with lots of plants and a gravel pathway leading to golgotha and then to the garden tomb. it was very peaceful to be there and away from streets and city. it's hard to describe the way it feels to be there, because besides bethlehem and visiting the places where it is believed Christ was born, this is the holiest of all the sites i will ever visit. the tomb represents the Crucifixtion and Resurrection of Christ. it is empty because Christ had risen and overcame death. He died so i may repent of my sins and obtain the gift of everlasting life. He is the Son of God, my Savior and Redeemer. I am so grateful to have the Gospel and to know the Plan of Salvation/Happiness.

since the byu jerusalem center opened, it has been promised that latter-day saints will not proselyte and teach the Gospel. so we could not speak about the Gospel or our religion with any palestinian/israeli even if they asked. i know eventually this will change and i cannot wait for day when the Gospel can be taught here.



golgatha adjacent to the garden tomb. can you make out the skull-like eyes?



the holy sepulchre. when comparing the garden tomb and the church of the holy sephulcre, they are polar opposites. as you can see from the pictures. a church was built around the holy sepulchre and it is decorated a great deal. while waiting in line to enter the holy sepulchre i could feel the excitement of those around me who had travel so far to see it. an older woman behind me was actually pushing me along to make sure she wouldn't miss the chance.





the garden of gethsemane. this was another very special place to be, the place where Christ was last with his Apostles before He was arrested. the neat thing for us was that there are two gated areas. one for the public to tour with much older olive wood trees that were gated off. so the public could only walk around them and not through the garden and then this area that i am pictured in. this area that i am in is a garden of older and newer trees, the gate is locked and we would have to ask the gate keeper of the other gate to let us in and out. this was a priviledge for us to have this privacy in the garden, to sit and read the scriptures for as long as we wanted. i think that because people in jerusalem respect mormons, the jerusalem center, and our faith, they are willing to allow us in this private area for jerusalem center students both in the past and in the future.



i am so lucky to have add the chance to explore and learn more about the culture and history of this city. i cannot wait to go back with matt.