this i believe

last month i read this book for book club... This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women. which was based from a radio program on NPR.

i really loved reading it. basically it's a collection of essays written by people from all walks of life. teenagers, receptionists, college professors and movie directors. even einstein. one of the things i loved about it though, was that they were all so different. although maybe some of the basic beliefs were the same they each had a different way of expressing it. and then there were some that were just completely different (than my own beliefs). but, there's something to say about letting people just say exactly what they believe. pure, honest, raw feelings. that come from experience. which comes from just living life....

so it got me thinking about what it is that i believe...

of course, i immediately think of my religious beliefs. my belief in God. my belief that i belong to Him. He is my Father. but then i was wondering why? why do i believe that? what makes me believe that i truly am His child.

i believe that because of experiences in my life. not only do experiences help me to make sense of it..but they help me to feel His love. i feel it when i am sad in the form of a silent moment of peace and comfort. i feel it when something starts to make sense in my mind in the form of clarity and understanding. i feel it when i am looking back at the past in the form of gratitude. i feel it when i am connecting with someone in the form of friendship and love. all these things create experiences that remind me that i am loved in big ways and small ways and sometimes even sideways by Him, who created me. and i am not just another pawn, what happens to me matters. it matters to me and it matters to Him. so i trust.

and you know what else i believe?

people need to be reminded of this. often.

sometimes i forget that. i forget that i have the power to strengthen and lift others...
which makes me sad that i keep to myself so much of the time.

now tell me people, what do you believe?

camp lizzie

i just LOVED having the little dudes at my house every morning at 7:30 {ish} and playing with them all day until 4. we did so much and had great fun though i'll be the first to admit there were moments of "errrrrr" and "ahhhhhh" and according to steve, way too many "no's"....but heck!

i never said i'd be good at this.

nevertheless our week was jam-packed with laughs, smiles and big big hugs.

we played blocks in our jammies.

we went swimming everyday. even if we never dared to leave the steps.

we drew chalk pictures on steve's nice clean driveway.
we took naps. very badly needed naps.

we played hide and go seek.
we went on time-out.

we watched movies and ate popcorn.
we jumped on steve!

and we went on little walks.

we had such a blast! and then i woke up on saturday morning and realized...they aren't coming anymore...i was so sad.

i miss their little voices, their giggles, yousef's active imagination, and ammon's tight hugs.

there were so many times during the week that yousef had me rolling. he's such a silly and clever little boy...

and now i leave you with some of my favorite yousef quotes:

i told yousef, please don't touch the tv because steve likes his tv very clean with no finger prints on it. so he took his hand off quickly and said "oh, okay." a few seconds later he looked up at a picture of steve and i by the tv and said "steve's looking at me...he looks grumpy."

both ammon and yousef were sitting at the bar eating lunch and ammon wanted to get down. he couldn't because our chairs are high. so i noticed yousef give him a little push as i was trying hurrying over to help him. ammon fell to the ground but was okay. i said "yousef you can't do that to ammon, he's too little he needs an adult to help him get down, okay?" i must have sounded mad because he just looked at me and then said "you hurt my feelings." i totally started laughing and walked over to him to try and explain that i wasn't mad but i couldn't even talk i was laughing so hard. then ammon hit his head on the corner of the chair and started crying and yousef sighed and said "now what?!"

but my all-time favorite was this..."lizzie, when i have my next birthday, i'm going to marry you. and then when ammon turns 14 he can marry you too."

awww..i miss...

my posse

my very talented sister is teaching arabic classes at BYU and well since i have yet to find a job, i volunteered to watch these little dudes during the days all week long.

they call it "Camp Lizzie." i love it.

i don't know who will be more worn out by the end me or them. :)

my day

i love june 11th. it's my favorite.
and steve just made my day the best.

first i awoke to this little birthday box outside my house.
2 little elves must have dropped it off. 2 little elves that i used to live with. :)

then steve gave me some sweet gifts. too many to even name. but one...one was a book with tickets to LAGOON inside!! my steve took the day off to spoil me and take me to Lagoon.

i am the luckiest.
but before we went off to the glorified (and over-priced) fair he made sure i had a yummy breakfast. my favorite breakfast, in fact. eggs benedict! soooo goood.
we got there and rode a few of our childhood favorites.
then it started to rain. like down pour. so we waited out the rain in poineer village checking out all the historical museum stuffs. this actually turned out to be so awesome...since obviously neither one of us had spent the time to check it out during the stake Lagoon days of our youth.

well after the rain delay, we started really hitting up the rides in true teenage Lagoon fashion. unfortunately after a few spinny, twirly, whirly rides like this...
and this
and this

we felt like this...

so we decided it was time to bid Lagoon adieu.

nevermind the tummy ache. i still had such a great day.

thanks lover.

Italy

the wait is finally over...here are some pics from Italy for your viewing pleasure. steve took about 500 pictures. literally. so these are just a few of my favs.

Roma

the Colosseum

the Arch of Constantine (not the Arch of Titus)

part of the Forum

Marcus Aurelius equestrian statue

Martime Prison - where Peter and Paul were held

the Pantheon

the Sistine Chapel

St. Peter's Basilica

outside St. Peter's

me threathening steve outside the Castel Sant'Angelo

the Colosseum at night

views from the top - on the Victor Emmanuel Monument

Venezia

standing on the Rialto Bridge

cruising the Grand CanalSt. Mark's Square

Cinque Terre

hiking through the 5 towns

watching the Giro D'Italia time trial. we saw Lance Armstrong (above).

w-o-w!

Firenze

view of Florence

Pointe Vecchio

a fake David

Santa Croce Church

for more pics and more details check out steve's blog here.

loved this trip so much. Italy's got to be one of my favorites places. and being there with steve. that was my favorite too.