We thank Thee, oh God, for a Prophet

So President Hinckley's work is finally finished. Man, what an amazing prophet and leader. I feel so cool to have grown up under his guidance and leadership. I have loved him as my prophet. He has influenced my life in a number of personal, life-changing ways.
I remember being a senior at BYU, sitting in the Marriot Center listening to President Hinckley deliver the talk in which he first introduced his B's. What was even more incredible about that talk was that as part of it, he prayed to Heavenly Father in behalf of all the young people of the church, and it was like he was giving us a blessing. I remember almost being nervous to hear the prophet speaking man-to-man with God. I knew beforehand, and certainly afterward, that this was something President Hinckley did often. It really was amazing.

President Hinckley taught me to be grateful, to work hard and that despite the fact that all of us are pretty good people, we can and should do better. I remember his repeated counsel to "stand a little taller." He taught me to be bold and confident in sharing the gospel--that our message should be "share with me the truth you have and let me add a little to it." He reminded me that surely our Heavenly Father does have a sense of humor.

Finally, (but not last nor least) because of President Hinckley, I have become more confident in my ability to recognize when the Spirit is bearing witness of truth. For a number of years now, I have been working on developing a greater testimony of Joseph Smith and his work. Specifically, I have been worried that had I lived in Joseph's Smith's time, I may not have believed his claims. After having prayed about this for some time, and after having heard President Hinckley speak on a particular occasion, the impression came to me that just as the Spirit had witnessed to me that Gordon B. Hinckley is in fact a prophet of God, so would it have witnessed to me of Joseph Smith. Yeah....

There's likely a pretty cool reunion going on up there. I bet sister Hinckley put on her prettiest robe...

We will all miss him.

It doesn't get better than this.

This year (or last year, rather) Brian gave me one of the most wonderful Christmas gifts I have ever received. He gave me a trip to visit my sisters and mom for a weekend. I flew to Vegas last Thursday and then my mom and I (and Danin) drove up to Utah where all of my sisters and my sister-in-law live. For the love--it was seriously the coolest weekend ever. I could have just driven around all weekend with my mom, talking and listening to cool music, and that would have been cool enough, but it got even cooler than that. The highlight of the weekend was Friday night. We went to P.F. Changs for dinner and then to an improv show in Salt Lake and then we spent the night together in a hotel. Man, there is seriously nothing greater than hanging out with my family, and especially with my mom and sisters. You wouldn't believe the juicy conversations we had. At dinner, we had secrets and confessions pouring out all over the place. Ok, Ok. I'll tell you a few of them, but you are going to have to guess for yourselves whose secret is whose (just so that i'm still invited to the next mom and sister reunion). Somebodies have been seriously tempted to get tatoos, somebody really wants to wear a bikini, somebody is a little drawn to the idea of getting high, somebody really wants a belly button ring, somebody else had one, someone else used to drink coffee... I know!! Scandalous!
Its funny because I remember my mom and I talking about whether we should bring our scriptures with us for our night in Salt Lake, and we both decided not to. But don't you worry. There was plenty of spiritual food that night--as always. We talked about the concept that love is a gift of the Spirit and that when we sin, we literally lose the capacity to feel love. Hmmm...so interesting.
I also had an enlightening conversation with Sarah on our way back to Orem. I know I've said it before, but I learn so much from her and I rely on her so much for understanding of the gospel. She really does have such a mature, sound understanding of the true gospel. And so do my other sisters... When did my my little sisters stop running around in tutus and gini gowns and start going to college and talking about adult stuff and teaching me about the gospel and becoming so interesting and fun? I must not have been looking. I mean, are you aware of how creative and hysterical my sister Laura is? Chels--you have definitely met your match. And my sister Audrey knows the words to all kinds of funny rap songs and she can beat her boyfriend in boxing. (Laura and Seth swear that she is a closet thug.) Does it get cooler than that?
And my mom is just a given. She's pretty close to brilliant--especially when it comes to the gospel and being a good mom.
And Kat might as well be blood related because she is so fabulous. On Saturday after lunch, we were all leaving and Sarah asked Kat if she wanted to come with us, and Kat said that she was going to do her own thing. Sarah asked what she had going and Kat said that she was going shopping, but that she liked to shop alone. Her honesty and frankness are so refreshing. I love it.
Anyway, the weekend really couldn't have been more wonderful. I can't wait until next year.

What I think

What do I think? I think it is so cool that Melissa Sundell is my friend. I think it is even cooler that she came to visit me. Some people do not make good company--do you know what I mean? Melissa is not one of those people. She was content to observe the craziness of my ordinary days, she cooked us dinner, she talked to my kids, she let me take a nap, she went with me to a church thing, she ate chocolates and watched movies with me, she helped me with my make-up, she talked with and listened to me, and as a bonus, she did some seriously cool art work for my kids' rooms. Man, she's cool.

What else do I think? I think that New Year's Eve used to be super fun and exciting when I was young. I remember getting so excited to put on my new Christmas clothes and trying my best to look cute in order to go to the New Year's dance or party or whatever. I always had my heart set on getting some action on New Years Eve. (Hmmm...that's retarded. Who was I kidding?) But anyway, even though I always spent the entire night worrying about my sweaty pits and wrecked hair, and even though I came home actionless year after year, I still always had fun. My new outfit was always enough to sustain me.
New Year's Eve when you are married (and especially when you have kids) is lame. Lame, lame, lame. It is seriously the crappiest holiday ever. Every year I hope for a cool party and a cool outfit, and every year it is the same thing: no cool party, no cool outfit, and no energy to do cool things anyway. I do, however, always get action.
(Jen and Tim-- We had a great time with you guys. You were the only unlame thing about our New Year's Eve. Thank you for saving us.)

I think one more thing. I think I am super grateful for treadmills. I really have a pitiful imagination. But man--put me on a treadmill (and give me some cool music), and my imagination seriously runs wild. No, not THAT kind of wild. The kind of wild where I imagine myself being really cool and running in a really cool race where Brian and the kids are cheering for me the whole way. And today while I was on the treadmill, I was listening to "Tonight I Need Your Sweet Caress." I know. It's hard to imagine any song more powerful. Oh, yeah. I was running, baby. Three miles? No prob, Bob.