I Love...

Playing the Piano


I don't often get a chance anymore to just sit down and play the piano whenever I want. (Mostly because I don't have a piano or even a place to put a piano if I had one.) :D But I love playing when I get a chance. Right now I'm actually taking piano lessons once a week for school credit, and it's nice to have a reason to find a practice room during the day while I'm at school and play the piano. It's so therapeutic for me, and I love to be so involved with something beautiful as I play music. When I was still at home and in high school there were some days where I would play the piano for as long as 2 hours, just because I enjoyed it.


Interesting fact: A couple of semesters ago I had four callings in my ward-- Relief Society pianist, Sacrament Meeting pianist, Choir accompanist, and Sunday School Pianist.

I Love...

The Rexburg Temple



Today is the dedication of the Rexburg Temple. Kent and I are going to watch it broadcast to a chapel in one of the buildings on campus. I'm so excited to have a temple here! It will be such a sacred and holy place, where we can go often to learn the things of eternity. Last night we went to a Temple celebration--children from stakes all across our temple district performed songs and dances that told the history of this area and celebrated having a temple here. The dedication is going to be wonderful. President Monson and President Eyring are dedicating it today in four separate sessions. It's going to be wonderful for Kent and I to have a temple literally only 1 mile away. We can see it from our parking lot. It's so beautiful up on the hill.

A few interesting facts about it:

• The temple artwork and detailing is themed around wheat. All of the beautiful stained glass windows have a wheat pattern in them, the upholstery on the chairs is wheat patterned, the carpet in the Celestial and sealing rooms has been hand-etched by a local artist in a beautiful wheat design, and the moldings in the stair railings have pictures of wheat. There's actually a beautiful wheat field just east of the temple that makes some great pictures.
• President Hinckley was very involved in the construction process. He had a special hand in every detail of it. This temple was prophesied by Wilford Woodruff back in the 1880's when the saints from Logan were asked to settle the Snake River Valley. President Woodruff came to cheer them up because they were suffering from the harsh climate (think lots of snow!) and he told them that one day there would be a temple here.
• This temple has the largest sealing room of all the temples around the world. I think they said that it can seat 115 people.
• The Celestial room and the sealing rooms are all lit by incredibly beautiful chandeliers of genuine Austrian crystals.

I wish I had pictures of the inside to show you. It's the most beautiful building I have ever been in. A lot of the woodwork is actually pear wood, which is a very unique color and grain, and there's also a lot of beautiful marble tilework in the floors. It's definitely fitting for the House of the Lord. It has been such a wonderful experience to watch the temple be built. From groundbreaking until dedication I've been living in a place where I can see the temple from my front window, and I love it!

I love...

My Cutlery Set


Kent thinks that I have an unhealthy attachment to a set of knives, but he's never tried to cut raw chicken breasts with cheap and dull knives. When we registered at stores before our wedding, I made sure to register for three or four sets at each place, and I got one! I love using my knives. And no, I don't have any dangerous tendencies. I just like to cook.

I love...

Things that are small

When we were shopping with our wedding money and gift cards, Kent noticed how everything I got excited about was a small version of something. I will admit, I have a fettish for small things. Not things that are supposed to be small, like paper clips and buttons, but things that are usually big, but have a smaller version, too. I think it comes from all the cute little toys I had when I was growing up; Polly Pockets, Littlest Pet Shop, etc.

A good example is the teeny tiny cheese grater we bought at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. It's so cute! It's about 1 1/2 inches tall. Not very practical, but so cute. I also love to see little toys, like the dollhouses that have mini replicas of kitchen appliances, furniture, etc. When I'm shopping, I love to stop and look at the baby shoes; I think they're adorable!! Especially the shoes that are modeled after adult shoes and are just made tiny.

A Week of Love

I stole this idea from my cousin's blog. There's a week left until Valentine's day, so for every day I'm going to post about something I love.

I love Melona Bars

This is a Korean ice cream bar that we discovered a few years ago. My uncle introduced them to us when we were in Hawaii. (There seems to be a Hawaii theme with me lately...I'm really wishing it weren't so snowy here). :D Anyway, Melona Bars are the best treat I have ever, ever had. They are ice cream that tastes like honeydew melons. We found a little Korean store in Logan that we buy them from, but they aren't quite the same as they are in Hawaii. There are ten bars in each box, and when we're on vacation, our family goes through three or four boxes of them. They're that good.

Something warm...

I am tired of looking at the snow pictures every time I pull up my blog, so I decided to look through my files and find some warm pictures I've taken. Just because it is nice to remember that there really are such places in the world. :D

These are the condos my family stays in when we go to Hawaii

This is where we live

This is Rexburg, Idaho...a place some fondly refer to as "Iceburg." And we still don't get a single day off of school. Ever. The local school districts have been closed for the past week because it's too cold for the buses to start, but since us college students are still breathing, we can walk to school, so BYU-Idaho never closes. Ever.

The snow is very pretty, but there's so much of it. And it's very, very cold. I had to buy myself flowers the other day because I needed some sunshine. I love to see the cheerful daisies on the table!

Snow even up to the first floor windows!

I took this from inside the car. Yes, there is a road ahead of us. The tricky part is making sure you stay on it.

Our beautiful temple!

We keep watching for the day that this bike is completely buried.

They don't know how to plow the parking lots here.

We found this cool ice sculpture of the Rexburg Temple outside of a local restaurant.

I just thought I would also post a few pictures of our little home. We're very happy with our first place, and it's been fun to try and decorate it, although I can't wait until I have more time and resources for that kind of stuff. :D

Note to self.

Just for future reference: Cooking shortcuts can be good, but sometimes...they're not.

I'll just say I'm really grateful to have a husband who's a good sport and ate dinner tonight anyway. :D And from now on, when it says to use a crockpot, I'll use a crockpot. And substituting ingredients is probably not a good idea, either. But no guarantees on that one.