Mission farewell pics

Hmmm, so these pictures came off my phone and even though I rotated them in the file, they are uploading sideways.  So I guess you will have to move your head or your screen sideways.  Sorry.  Sideways pictures are better than no pictures I guess.  If anyone knows how to fix this please feel free to let me know!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 The nephews

 Goofy shot with Auntie

 4 out of 5 looking at the camera...not bad!

 Sisters!

 

 Kiz and mom and dad

 Mom and Kiz

 Ready to be a missionary!

 

 

 

 Mom has more pictures for me to put up so I'll get that coordinated soon.  Watch for your face to show up!

 

Random Ramblings

It has been a while since I have posted and they have gone and changed it up, it took me a minute to figure out how to create a new post. Well since it has been quite a while since I have posted I'm going to do a random list of the going ons in my life as of late...

1. I went to Ottawa in February to surprise my friend who had just got home off her mission and I LOVED IT! (sorry no pictures I don't know how to get them on the computer with my moms camera) I never thought that this prairie girl would like a city out in eastern Canada, but I did. There was so much to do and it is such a nice city, even in the dead of winter, I look forward to going back when its warm out and -4 doesn't feel like -35, that part I didn't so much love. All I can say is you haven't lived til you have eaten a Beaver Tail. Mmm makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

2. My 5 year old nephew comes up with the darndest things to say. Last month I went up to watch Kell and Cliffs kids over night so they could make a flying trip down to SA for a funeral and while I was there me and Rhett (5 year old nephew) were sitting at the kitchen table eating lunch and he informed me that his older brother Zane had a birthday coming up soon, which he did. He then informed me that he was going to be turning 9, which is correct, and then he said "yup he's turning 9 which means he's almost a parent." It was a very enlightening moment in my life, I didn't realize that 9 was the magical age to which you becoming a parent. I apparently missed the line up on that one cuz 9 was a LONG time ago and I'm still not a parent.

3. During Easter break my BFF's family ditched her and went to Vegas so I stayed with her most of the time while they were gone. 2 of those days we decided to have pinterest days and baked a lot of stuff. I realized that baking is actually kind of fun and that maybe my future husband and children won't be deprived of goodies.

4. Sometimes I wish the path in life that my Heavenly Father would like me to follow could be mapped out on like a cheat sheet that you could look at once ever 2 or 3 years just to make sure you are on the right path. I feel like I am in limbo lately and have NO idea what I'm supposed to be doing. It gets a little frustrating sometime.

5. I have realized not to judge things that you have not yet tried. Like for instance...I put off getting pinterest for so long. Kelsey (my bff) would always have these great idea's and when I would ask her where she got the idea her response would be pinterest...I wanted to punch her in the face most times cuz I thought this was the stupidest waste of time you could do, however while with her over Easter she convinced me to sign up and now I am addicted. I love it, you can get some pretty fantastic ideas on that site. Example number 2...skinny jeans, I hate skinny jeans, have fought buying a pair for years, swore I would never own a pair, then I bought a really cute pair of boots and needed to buy a pair so I could wear my boots with them, cuz I like that look, so I bought a pair and I LOVE THEM! I should have converted years ago. I want to get myself another couple of pairs. They are just darling with so many things. This was an instant love, as soon as they were on my body I knew I was converted.

6. I am running out of random ramblings so my last random is that I'm going to Utah next week with my BFF Kait and I'm super excited. I get to go to the Salt Lake Temple. Since being endowed I have only been to the the Cardston Temple and I am so excited to go to another Temple to enjoy the beauty of another House of the Lord.

Stay tuned maybe something excited will happen in Utah and I will have fun stories to tell

- Kinsey

26...? Alright lets roll with it

Well its official. I am old, I even have a wrinkle in my forehead to prove it. Turning 26 is kind of cereal (spelling..? no idea how to spell that word hopefully you all know what I'm trying to say) but anyways back to turning 26, it just sounds so much older than 25. I am officially into my mid 20's. Where has the time gone? It seems like yesterday I was in high school slacking off with my friends, not having a real care in the world other than my oh so important social life. How does time go by so fast?

Its been a fun birthday, probably one of the best in a while. Yesterday I went out to mom and dads for bday dinner which was yummy, we had my favorite hamburgers, potato salad, cesar salad and chips with carrot cake for dessert. Mmm my mouth is watering just thinking about it, and come to think of it, I didn't even take left overs home...well enjoy mom and dad. So Alisha and my adorable nephew Paxton came out to celebrate as well, and as a surprise to me Kell and her three boys were on their way down from Sylvan Lake to surprise me for my bday, sadly a stupid snow storm had to damper that plan and they ended up staying at my aunts house in High River for the night. Of course because its my bday it had to snow, hardly NO snow all winter, but for my bday mother nature had to put in a speacial request. Thanks for that.

However not all the fun was lost due to the storm, Kell and the boys braved the snow/ice covered roads and made the rest of the journey this morning so Kell could come out for bday dinner with me, Lish and mom and then out to a movie. We went to The Vow. I LOVED IT! So all in all its been a really good bday.

So I have been reflecting back on this past year and since I am now 26 I want to share 25 things that I have learned/discovered this year hopefully I can come up with that many...

1. the beginning of this past year I really learned that boys suck and that I really need to start looking for a man, it may be hard to find, but I have faith that they still exist and I will succeed in finding me a good one.

2. I have more patients than I thought. Certain situations at work showed me this.

3. I am really good at my job, its been a tough year but because of it I am a dang good dental assistant.

4. I absolutely LOVE being an aunt.

5. Going along with number 4...I am a really good aunt, now I'm not trying to toot my own horn here, but when I go to visit my nephews, no matter what they are always really excited to see me. I get big hugs and excited stories and when I go up to see Kell and the boys I even get a countdown of how many sleeps til Auntie gets there, and then the question begins when is auntie going to be here about a million times on the day of my arrival. I'm loved and its great.

6. I am independent woman. I have truly realized that I don't need a guy in my life to make me feel complete.

7. I have the most amazing friends.

8. the Temple is truly the house of the Lord. I was able to go through to receive my endowment last March and I have tried to make it to the temple at least once a month since then and it has been a huge blessing in my life.

9. never say the phrase..."I never want that calling..." in regards to a church calling because you will get it.

10. Being an FHE "Ma" hasn't been as bad as I was expecting it to be

11. I love teaching relief society, never thought I would say that, but it is always a really good experience

12. Zumba is a blast! I have only done it 1 times, but I had so much fun doing it, I am going to buy the DVD's and make Zumba a daily part of my life.

13. My dad is my hero. I have always had a good relationship with my dad, but I have felt for some reason over the past year it has become a great relationship and I have learned that my dad is truly my hero, he is there for my no matter what.

14. I really like shooting guns. I went on a date a while ago and we shot guns and it was a TON of fun

15. Standing up for what you truly believe in can sometimes be hard, and sometimes you loose friends doing it, but at the end of the day being true to yourself is better than having crappy friends.

16. Sometimes things happen in life that I may not agree with, but there is nothing I can do about it so there is no point in worrying about it.

17. I'm really bad at blogging. I have good intentions of blogging at least once a month but it never happens.

18. My life if actually kind of boring, hence I don't ever blog because I have nothing to blog about...

19. My nephews are hilarious...case in point, or point in case...not sure which way it goes, anyways funny numro 1. some background, Kell was talking to a friend about all the weddings they are coming down to SA for this summer and Zane pipes in..."Ya and if Aunt Kiz (that's me) gets lucky she will get married too..." haha thanks Zane I know it was said with love. Funny numro 2. Rhett and Kell were picking out my bday card for this year, Rhett really wanted to find one with my bday number so he asked "how old is she turning" kell told him 26. Rhett..."hmm there aren't any with that number...there's one with a 50...is that close..?" gah! 50?! really haha I laughed when Kell told me the story.

20. you know your getting old when...people you use to babysit are starting to come into YSA. Its weird they are still 8 and I'm still 20.

21. I have an absolute solid testimony that my Saviour lives, that he loves me and that he is always there for me no matter the situation. It is amazing to have this testimony in my life.

22. Reading your scriptures daily really does make a difference in your life, as well as praying daily. My relationship with my Heavenly Father has become very real and very important to me.

23. I don't know what I would do without my family. They are so amazing and I couldn't ask for better.

24. going to a movie by yourself is actually not as bad as I thought it would be.

25. Wow I made it to 25. I have honestly discovered and learned this past year that I love me for me and if people don't well then they don't need to be in my life.

Turning 25 I thought my life was over, but I learned a lot and I am grateful for the experiences that I had. It wasn't always easy and there were a lot of tears, but I have high hopes for 26 I feel like it is going to be a great year. Stay tuned, maybe I will become less boring this year and actually post more.

- Kinsey

Maze

I had a really neat experience this past weekend that I want to blog about, more for myself so that I remember it, but feel free to read on.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to go to a baptism of a girl who was getting baptized into my ward. It was a really neat experience, and to make it better she asked me if I would give a talk on the Holy Ghost. Of course I said yes, however, she asked me Friday if I would give the talk and the baptism was Saturday. I was a little nervous with giving this talk and wasn't quite sure what I was going to say. I had been thinking about it all day and didn't have much going through my head. Most of the baptisms that I have attended are for 8 year olds and I didn't want this talk to come across to this girl who is 21 that I was talking to a child.

Well I went about my day with this in the back of my mind. I had been planing on going to a bbq and then to the corn maze with a bunch of friends, so I went even though I knew I needed to get this talk written, oh and I had a lesson to plan for Sunday. (yes I am a procrastinator I have known about the lesson for a month) So off to the bbq I went, once there I wasn't sure if I was going to go to the corn maze, but I did and boy am I glad I went. While I was going through the maze I had HUGE inspiration for my talk. It was amazing! So I want to write down how I used my maze experience for my talk...

I started off by talking about he differences between the Power of the Holy Ghost, and the Gift of the Holy Ghost. For those of you who don't know the difference I will quickly explain. The Power of the Holy Ghost is the witness of the truthfulness of the Gospel to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints that one receives while investigating the church. The Gift of the Holy Ghost is what you receive after you have been baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints by the laying on of hands by the proper Priesthood authority, which gives you the Holy Ghost as your constant companion throughout your life to help you and guide you as long as we are keeping the commandments and living how God has asked us to live. So keeping this is mind I am going to tell my experience of the maze and how this applies.

Me and my friends walked up to the begining of the maze and there were 2 seperate entrances. Once was a maze where you could walk through and come to certain "check points" where you would be asked a question, and upon answering the question properly would guide you through the maze to the end. The other entrance on the other hand you were left to your own instincts and guessing skills as to which path to take. So of course looking at the 2 options me and my friends chose the path of guessing. Well I will tell you I have been to a few corn mazes in my life and this one was SO hard. We were lost forever. There were so many dead ends and loops that lead you in circles. At one point one of my friends ran a head and came back and yelled hey guys this is the path you want to be on, so we would head that direction. Well at the end of the maze there was a large tower that if you stood on the top you could look down and see the proper path to come down. As we made our way through this maze we were starting to get to the point that we could see the tower but weren't quite sure how to get to it. So we continued on. There was one point where we were close enough to talk to the guide standing on the tower and we thought we had picked the wrong path to go down so we had started to turn around when tower guy yelled down to us, "are you sure you want to go that way?" which got us thinking, mmm maybe...so we turned around and starated back to where we came from and he gave us a little bit of guidance as to where to go. Well we finally made it to the tower and most of the people we had gone with were already at the tower and were helping guide us where we needed to go.

Now you might think, how does this relate to the Holy Ghost. Well let me explain. For me the side of the maze that I went through is like going through life with only having the Power of the Holy Ghost. We wander through life with no direction and no help, but ever once in a while we get a little help by the Holy Ghost saying, "ya hey come this way, this path will lead you to where you need to be, which is having the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in your life, which will lead you to true happiness. And we may follow that prompting for a while and then forget about it because it can't be with us all the time, but then some time goes by and we may be looking into the church again and maybe start turning away from it again, but we have the Power of the Holy Ghost saying, "are you sure you want to turn away from this?" and in the end if we make it to the tower, we have listened and have made the choice of baptism.

Now on the flip side of things I liken the other side of the maze to those of us who have been baptized as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and those check points in the maze are the Holy Ghost guiding and directing us down the proper path and helping us along in life. Now sometimes as baptized members we may find ourselves in the other maze walking aimlessly along not knowing what to do because we have lost sight of the Holy Ghost, but thankfully there is what we call repentance and through this we are able to have the Holy Ghost as our constant companion back in our life taking us back to the maze with help and check points.

I have such a strong testimony of the Gospel and I know that the Holy Ghost helps and guides me in my life. I am so thankful for this blessing in my life. I am also thankful that I was asked to give this talk at the baptism because if I hadn't I wouldn't have ever had the neat experience that I did through this maze. It brought a whole new outlook on the Holy Ghost into my life.

- Kinsey

kids sometimes

Wow 2 posts in 2 ways this is a new record for me! So this past Sunday my sister Kelly came down from Sylvan Lake with her 2 kids to go spend some time with her in laws out in Taber, she first stopped at mom and dads in Cardston and spent the night there. So I headed for Cardston right after church so I could be there with them. Well I arrived before they did and was met by some very excited nephews when they finally arrived. Of course one of the favorite things to participate in at Grammie's and Pa's house is the trampoline. After 3 or 4 times of my sweet little Rhett coming into the house saying "Auntie are you going to come jump with us yet?" I finally caved and went to jump. Here is where the story gets good. So we are jumping around and Rhett (who is 5) says...

Rhett - Auntie look there's the temple

Me - Your right Rhett there it is

Rhett - My mom and dad were married there (said matter of factly)

Me - Yup they were, are you going to get married there Rhett?

Rhett- When I'm big

Me - Sweet, am I invited?

Rhett - Sure...I guess if you want to you can come

Me - Well thanks Rhett I'm glad I can come. So Rhett who do you think is going to get married first...Me or Zane (Zane is 8)

Zane - Pfff ME

Me - Speechless and feeling like I just got stabbed in the heart. Thanks Zane.

Zane - Laughing

At this point I tackled and tickled this child. Gotta love nephews. This is also the nephew when the last time I asked him if he thought I was ever going to get married said...mmm eventually. I can tell he has a lot of faith in me and finding a husband. Oh and he told me when I do get married I shouldn't have too many kids. I should only have 2 or 3. Any more than that is too many. Haha what a kid.

So I guess the moral of the story, stop asking my nephews opinion on my marriage status or I will be at least 39 before I'm going to be married!

- Kinsey

What the...

Ok how is it that in this part of the world (being Southern Alberta) does summer FLY by...yet winter lasts F.O.R.E.V.E.R? I hate it! I have yet again blinked and another summer is gone. It has been a good one though. I have been able to spend a lot of time with family. Its the most I have probably seen Kelly and her kids in a short span of time since they moved up to "Central Alberta" and it has been awesome. I have loved it! I miss them too much through the year when I only get to see them for a few days every 3 or 4 months. Her and the kids came down in July and it just so happened that I had most of the time off work so I was able to spend a lot of it with them. We went to Waterton one day which was the coldest day of the week and resulted in us sitting in the back of mums SUV for a very rememberable picnic. We tried to go down by the lake to let the kids throw rocks but every time we attempted it the wind Gods did not like this idea and the wind would pick up so hard that we could barely walk into the wind it was crazy. Also while they were here we did July 1st parade in Raymond and then BBQ in Cardston, Grandma Robinson turned 80 and we attended her birthday bash. Let me tell ya getting all her kids, grandkids, and great grandkids in a picture was quite the feat but we did it and the only person I think we were missing was my brother in law Cliff. He had to work and couldn't come down. That pretty much sums up July.

August I moved into Lethbridge. Mom and dad found some renters for their house so I got the boot, so into Lethbridge I went. Its been really nice to not commute every day. The first week of August I went up to visit Kell and the kids which was a blast! I wish I had had longer than a week. I finally for the first time since they moved up there got to go to the BEACH! Rhett told me before I got there that they were going to take me, and Kelly told me they ordered nice weather and sure enough we had nice weather and went to the beach. It was a lot of fun. Me and Kell also got to have some solo sister time which was a blast as always. She is definitely one of my favorite people in the whole world. I wish we lived close enough that I could see her every day.

That has been my summer thus far. I will attempt to put a few more pictures up however my sisters have not been putting their pictures on Facebook so I can't steal them off there and I don't have a camera so I don't take pictures. When they finally put them on I will post pictures.


These are my 4 nephews playing at the park.

hmmm...

Well blogging world it has been too long since I last posted. So to get myself caught back up I'm just going to give a quick over view of whats been going on in my life since lets see...mmm NOVEMBER. I can't believe it has been that long since I last posted. Lots has happened.

So lets start from there things that have happened since November

1. Christmas - I know I know who wants to go back and think about Christmas however I had a really good one. It was my first Christmas not spent at home in Raymond. Me, mom and dad went up to Kelly and Cliff's and spent it with them and the boys. Christmas is always so much better with little children around. The excitement is always so fun to watch.

2. I turned 25 - This was actually a really hard thing for me to come to grips with. I may have cried a little bit. Turning 25 just seemed so old, one of the only things I kept thinking was... I am now closer to 30 than 20 what a depressing thought (no offence Kell since you did turn 30 this year), and I am not where I thought I would be at 25 which made it all the harder to turn 25. I have since come to grips with it and am really enjoying this year of my life so far.

3. I went through the temple and received my endowment. It was the best experience of my life and I am so glad that I made the decision to go through. It has definitely showed me that my Father in Heaven truly loves me and knows me. There were so many things that happened in the temple that made the experience amazing that I know Heavenly Father put in place for me.

4. My nephew Zane got baptized. This actually happened the day after I went through the temple. It was such a good weekend. It is crazy to think that I have a nephew old enough to be baptized. Time flies by.

5. I went down to Utah with my best friend Kelsey for Conference. It was so fun to road trip with her down there. We stayed with her aunt and uncle and it was pretty much a whirl wind trip. We headed down on a Friday and came home on Sunday. Crazy I know, but your only young and single once right?

6. Mom and dad moved to Cardston and I am currently living in their house in Raymond by myself until it sells. I am really enjoying living on my own its going to be a little difficult to live with roommates again when the time comes.

8. I am currently working on getting a second job to help get myself out of debt and to save money either to go back to school, or to go traveling. I think I am leaning more towards traveling, but we will see what happens.

Well thats about all thats new in my life. Hopefully I will be a better blogger and actually write fun stuff on here in more detail.

-Kinsey