After finishing a semester at BYU, I got to come back to my Kaysville home and be with my family until I left for my mission! For my mission prep, I got to go through the temple for the first time in the Provo City Center Temple! I then had the opportunity to go through the temple multiple times after that in multiple temples. I've gotten to go through the Salt Lake City Temple, the Logan Temple, The Ogden Temple, The St. George Temple, and my favorite temple: The Bountiful Temple. Out of all of those temples, when I stepped into the Bountiful Celestial Room I was speechless! That temple has been my temple this past year and this temple left me with a special feeling so this temple is so far the number one candidate for where I'm getting married :) I also got to go to the temple with my parents, my grandparents, my brother Zack and sister Carley to do baptisms for our ancestors through family search. These moments in the temple with my family I will treasure forever.
In addition to spending time in the temple, I have had the opportunity to help my mom coach Centennial Jr. High! I've been able to coach the JV girls once a week along with assisting my mom with her Varsity Girls. The girls have called me Coach OJ (Olsen Junior). I have loved coaching these girls along with cheering for them during their games! I have been able to grow close to these girls in just 6 weeks and I will never forget this experience coaching. There's something special about being a coach that you cherish. As a coach, you are the girls role models, their example, and their friend or pretty much mom. I love my girls! Go Thunder!
During this time with my family we've spent time harvesting our garden in addition to preparing for Brooke's wedding! It's been fun celebrating a lot and seeing so many people especially before I go! On September 18th I had my mission farewell and was so blessed to have so many people come out and support me! I had my NH friends (Nashua Stake) that I haven't seen in a year come up from BYU to wish me farewell! I had family, coworkers from the Creamery, friends from BYU, friends from Track, friends from Utah State, and so many loved ones come and support me! It was a special moment being able to share my testimony to all of them! I was able to throw a little crepe party to go along with my Europe theme along with providing Greek crepes. I am so excited to go out and serve!
Finally, a lot of my time has been running and preparing for my first marathon! I had the opportunity to spend the weekend with my parents in St. George as we went to the temple, went to the Tuacahn Theater to see the Hunchback of Notre Dame, and to run the St. George Marathon! I have been training so hard for this race and my goal was under 4 hours! I not only wanted to finish the marathon, but to have something to fight for as I ran. The race was HOT but thanks to the endless supporters we were given popsicles, rubber gloves filled with ice, and lots of water and gatorade. I was so thankful for all the supporters along the sidelines as I fought hard through the heat and the pain! The race had a lot of downhill in addition to some steep uphills. I was able to race at a steady pace and still feel good once I reached 13.1 miles so I fought hard! The first 23 miles of the race were all in the canyon and the final 3.2 were in the city. I was fighting to get into the city and once I reached 23 miles, I hit my wall and had to switch off walking and running. After turning the final turn, the final stretch felt like forever but I kept running. I wanted to finish strong! Once I crossed that finish line, I collapsed into a helpers arms who carried me to the sprinkler room. I then received my medal and collapsed on the grass! I did it! I ran a MARATHON! And not only that, I got a time of 3:54.07! I beat my 4 hours and ended up taking 3rd place in the 15-18 age division! (Out of 15 girls, not 3). It was incredible and I had my parents there to run in with me. This was the first of many marathons.
Provo City Center Temple
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| When I was in Primary when I was about 4 years old, I put together a time capsule for when I went through the temple for the first time. I remember always asking my mom when I could open it like when I was 12 when I did baptisms for the dead for the first time. I finally got to open this capsule when I was 18 as I went through the Provo City Center Temple. In the capsule I read a note my mom wrote to me and got other things like a white handkerchief and a lifesaver. |
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| I had my grandparents and some family members like Paul and Rachelle and Brooke Cory there to go through with me. It was special to feel of God's love for me as I went through the temple. |
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| After going through the temple, we all went out to eat at Brick Oven Pizza. |
Salt Lake City Temple
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| My mom and I went to the Salt Lake City Temple together and did a session. In addition we had a photo shoot for my mission. I got pictures with my Libri I Mormonit and my Albanian Flag. |
Family Memories
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| I went to my cousin's farewell. Maddie is going to be an amazing missionary and Washington is so blessed! Who testimony is so sweet and special! She has been working as an ordinance worker in the temple and her testimony of the temple has strengthened mine. |
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| We got to go to church with my grandparents. |
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| I got to go to the temple with Carley to do baptisms |
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| Carley and I had matching dresses so we had to have a photo shoot |
I got to go to the temple with my mom and with Zack. After Zack and I went, we went out to lunch at Kneaders.
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| On Zack's birthday we celebrated Brooke's bridal shower! I love these guys! |
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| Everyone piled on the swing at family dinner. |
Harvesting the Garden
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| My mom and I went out to pick tons of peaches and vegetables. I am however scarred from seeing so many worms, earwigs, and snails. The food is delicious however! |
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| Our harvest! |
Nicole Sears came to stay with me! It was fun seeing her after a while!
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| I got to send Zack off to Homecoming! This will probably be my last time sending him off to a dance! This kid's a stud. |
My Mission Farewell
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| My Nashua Stake friends came to my farewell! Charles, Anna, Claudia, and Rachel. I beamed when I saw them walk through the doors. |
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| The Lunts came to my farewell and I was so blessed to see Rachel! I love her so much as we have grown up being the greatest of friends! |
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| I LOVE MY TAYLOR DAVIS! She honestly is my best friend. She is always there for me. She is the smartest, sweetest friend I could ever ask for! Saying goodbye to her will be so hard! |
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| This si my sweet friend Kate Cliff! I instantly grew close to her as we were coworkers at the BYU Creamery! I love her! |
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| On home games, the VB girls and coaches all get together and have breakfast before they have school! They never fail to bring my Orange Juice for coach OJ. I love these girls! |
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| As I've been home and available during the day, I have been doing a LOT of babysitting! I have gotten to babysit the Call girls and Bailey wanted to do my makeup. I thinks it's a good look. |
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| I got to babysit these 2 girls Bailey and Afton and we got to make cookies together. |
General Conference Women's Session
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| My dad got to get us tickets to see the Women's conference at the Conference Center! It was a special experience going with my mom and Carley. We got to hear from President Uchtdorf and see President Monson! As he entered the room, the entire room was filled with such a powerful spirit you know that he is a prophet of God! He was so sweet to wave to us all and blow kisses to us as he left. It was a wonderful experience and afterwards, we went out to eat at Pizza Pie Cafe together. |
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| I got to spend a weekend with Rachel! |
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| True blue ;) |
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| I drove up to Logan to spend time with my grandparents and to say goodbye to Amber. I love her so much and saying goodbye was so hard! I can't wait for her to go out and serve her mission and be there for her homecoming! As I left I called out "I love you Sister Berry!" She has been such an incredible friend to me and was one of the firsts to reach out to me as I moved to Kaysville! |
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| I got to get together with Chelsa one last time as we got together and went to Farmington Station to eat at Zupas and watch the fountains. Neither of us had phones so we used her laptop to take selfies in front of the fountain. |
St. George
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| I got to go through the St. George Temple with my parents. |
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| Before I went to St. George I went to a Davis Cross Country Meet to cheer on my team! I love these guys it was hard to say goodbye! |
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| This is how we felt after running 21 miles... |
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| My race stuff laid out the night before! We had to get up early to catch a bus to take us to the starting line in the canyon. |
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| I took 3rd place and got a plaque made out of Red Rock! I went over to see my time on the results and saw that I took 3rd in my age division. I went over to the awards tent (I apparently missed the awards ceremony) and asked them, "Do I get a reward for winning 3rd place?" Then they said "Yeah" and handed me a plaque! It was the best! |
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| I got to run the marathon with my parents, well maybe not "with" ;) |
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| The night after our marathon we went to Tuacahn to see one of my FAVORITE broadways! There were a lot of runners there so I liked to consider all of us hunchbacks at The Hunchback. |
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| This theater is GORGEOUS! I want to come back! |
October 6 was my 19th BIRTHDAY! For my birthday, I had my extended family come over and take me out to dinner! They made me birthday apple crisp for my birthday cake (my favorite food) and we all spent the evening together! It was wonderful! Also for my birthday, when I went to volleyball practice, 2 of my girls, Elle and Ruth, made me the cutest birthday card with treats inside saying things like, "we love you to 'pieces'" with reese's pieces there. Now I can finally serve my mission!
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| WOOOO I'm looking good bright and early! |
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| I got to see Nolan and Cami! |
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| Saying goodbye to the Schroaders! |
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| Saying goodbye to my grandpa! |
The Stokes Family had our Sunday night family dinner together! It was so nice to see everyone and to be able to say goodbye!
