our covenants and transformation

I have made covenants with God. When I was baptized I promised to always remember Him, to take His name upon me, and to keep His commandments. In return, I was promised the gift of repentance and to be forgiven when I make mistakes. I was promised that I could have the gift of the Holy Ghost to help me each day.

I have made covenants in the temple. I have promised to keep the laws of obedience, sacrifice, the gospel, chastity, and consecration. I made covenants when I was married to Eric.

Yesterday I was thinking about each one of my covenants and how as I have tried to honor them blessings have come into my life and I have changed because of them. They do not restrict me--they help me to become so much more than I could on my own. They are transforming me.

Our covenants have the power to transform us. As we strive to honor our covenants we can become people of compassion, patience, hope, joy, light, love, and purpose. Striving to remember and keep our covenants brings us closer to Jesus Christ and to our Heavenly Father and allows a power to flow through our lives. Our covenants help us to become and to do so much more than we ever could on our own. 

My covenants help me to become close to my Savior.

As I keep my covenants, I can expect miracles in my life. And I see them!

beautiful art

We spent some time in the church history museum, and I took a few minutes to walk around the art exhibit by myself. 

I have no art education, but I do know what I like and how looking at something makes me feel. These were some of my favorite pieces:

I love the colors, the overall feel, and then the longer you look the more details you notice. I especially love the hidden words.


I really love the layers of this. And all the meanings associated with it.




I think this one is profound, entitled "sense of oneness." But sometimes we build barriers and have tunnel vision in our own lives so we don't see the life of the person next to us.


This one first got me just because I love books so much.


But I LOVE this caption. We each have a story. We would do well to read each others narratives more often.


This picture of Jesus is amazing! It's so beautiful. I really like the expression in his face...do I see a bit of excitement to come again to us?


Unique beauty in each butterfly....we each emerge from our chrysalis different yet strikingly lovely.


It is such a simple house, but the story behind it is powerful. It is entitled "The house where the spirit was strong."


Of course I loved this family hug!


The boy trusting his mom and the mom trusting God. Their arms clinging each other. Powerful.


This one is so peaceful and lovely.


This one was hugs and so cool!


This last one is entitled prayers. I think it is powerful.

I so enjoyed the time I had to explore the musuem.

Kyler becomes a missionary

One of the most special days for our family was the day Kyler was set apart as a missionary for the church for Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  

This man was so ready to put that tag on and give it his all to God for the next two years.

Our stake President spent a few minutes talking to us and let anyone who wanted to share a few words do so. Then Kyler was given a blessing to set him apart as a missionary. After the blessing, I got the honor to place the tag on him.


So excited to be New Zealand bound!

He placed his pin in the stake office to represent where he will be serving.

We are so proud of him and so excited for all he will do as a missionary!

He spent the the next two weeks living the missionary life at home in the home mtc. So many classes and zoom meetings and study sessions. Including a crash course in mandarin. 

Then he started packing his room up. He started without telling me and when I saw I asked him to stop because my heart wasn’t ready. His room has become one of my favorite rooms in the house because it was all his personality and life all over the walls. I wish I had a picture with all the pictures and papers he already took down. And before he moved the desk in and some things around. But these pictures give us the idea.

Kyler spoke in church the week after he was set apart. 

My favorite part of the talk was when he shared his why for serving. He talked about a day when he was feeling really down and was laying in his closet and how he prayed and then he knew he was a Son of God and loved him and knew him and he had a purpose.

We were so grateful for everyone who came to hear him speak and joined us for lunch or the open house afterwards.











Time with his dog at the end of the day. Millie was a hard one for him to leave behind.

Never a serious face, but always one of my favorite people.

And so we had a legit, official missionary!!

girls camp: Look Up

I got called as the second counselor in YW in February. It was just a six month calling for me until our whole presidency was released, but during that time I got to help organize a girls camp for just my group of girls. I am so grateful that I got to be part of that. I worked with an amazing group of women and men to carry out the camp, and the girls are truly a special group of people. My heart was bursting with peace and joy by the end of camp. I felt so much closer to my Heavenly Father, my Savior, and to this community of people I get to be a part of.

Our theme was "Look Up" and the scripture we focused on was D&C 6:36 "Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not."

Each day had a different focus. Day one was to "Look Up to Him for Direction and Answers". Day two was to "Look up to Him to know who I am." Then our last day was focused on "Look up to Him when life gets hard."

Our first day, we met at the church then we stayed local for the day. I gave an opening devotional with an overview of the theme. We had a scripture class to teach us too look in the scriptures for help and answers. We also had a class on first aid, went to the temple, worked on mats for the homeless, ate our meals, went to a rock climbing gym, had an evening devotional, and ended the night with a glow dance party. We packed so much into that first day! And then sent everyone home to sleep in their own beds.

We spent the next two nights at the cabin of one of our families in the ward. Our days were still full but not as packed as the first day. We did crafts, more devotionals, had a class about different personalities, hiked, and went to the lake to paddleboard. In between there was plenty of hair braiding, game playing, and a complete lack of sleep. 






The culmination of our experience was a friday night faith walk. I am amazed that we brought it all together! The concept was to walk along a path that represents different times in our lives. We would stop along the way and listen to different speakers.

Here is the outline I wrote:

Speaker 1:

Look to the Light of Others Around Us

-”Oh, how we need each other.” -Marjorie Hinkley

-we have people around us to support us–parents, family, leaders, class presidency, prophets/apostles 

-we are not alone

-there is so much good in this world

-examples of how other people have helped you/strengthened your testimony/brought you closer to the Savior

Walk along a well lit path lined with lanterns and twinkle lights etc.

Speaker 2:

Let Your Own Light Shine and Light the Way

-Once we know who we are, we walk confidently forward doing good.

-We can use our talents and time to bless others

-we find ourselves by losing ourselves in the service of others

-the worth of souls is great, how much joy in bringing even one soul closer to christ

-use our light to point others to christ

Give each girl a flashlight and let them use their own light to follow the path. Collect flashlights when they reach the next speaker.

Speaker 3:

Do the Things that Bring Light into Your Life

-Keep the commandments

-The Lord loves effort

-stay faithful when life gets hard

-The Lord is in the details, look for his light

-draw close to christ and invite the spirit into your daily life– pray, study scriptures, go to church, uplifting music/media, choose people who uplift

-recognize your blessings and the light

-discern between good and evil, look for the light

-Go back to what you know

Small lights dispersed with lots of space in between along the path. Each light is labeled with one thing that brings light (prayer, scripture study, etc).

Speaker 4:

Look to Him when Life Gets Hard

-trust in the Lord

-hand it over to Him when it is too much

-some trials in life feel very heavy and dark

-we may not see the light of others, or our light goes dim, or it’s hard to find the light so we must have hope in Christ

-cling to Christ

-faith in every footstep

Blindfold each girl. Follow a rope along the path to get to final destination.

Girls arrive, keep blindfolds on and escorted to seat. Music is playing. 

When all the girls arrive, Bishop asks the girls to take off their blindfold and Look Up.

There is a picture of Christ displayed.

Speaker 5:

Look up to Him and closing remarks then lead to testimony meeting

-“Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.”

-always look to Christ

Group hug after our testimony meeting!!!






These women are incredible. Each of us has a different personality, strengths and weaknesses, but it felt like magic how it all came together. Such synergy! The contribution and the role of each person was absolutely perfect. I kept thinking, "wow, I'm so grateful this person is here" and could name the reasons for each one of them. I felt such a strong sense of unity in working together for these girls. I've been a part of a lot of girls camps and this feeling doesn't always happen so I was incredibly grateful to be a part of this experience. I felt the hand of the Lord guiding the details of camp. It was His inspiration and guidance that made camp the great experience that it was.