This weekend was prom! I love it when I go to church dances and people ask, "So...what do you do in Joseph City?"
The question really doesn't surprise me. The only 'entertainment' we really have is a swimming pool that isn't open until summer break and the elementry playground. So what do we do? Well, my date before the dance answered that pretty well.
First off, we climbed into my date's pick-up truck that had one door that couldn't open from the inside. Some of the weathered upholstery was even creatively screwed in and his iPod was somehow plugged into the tape player.
Then it was off to the badlands to shoot at eggs, rotten oranges, tumbleweeds, and loose change!
The girl I was doubling with actually managed to hit a quater and warped it pretty badly. So when we just about demolished everything, we hopped back in the truck and drove to a local gas station to see if we could actually spend it (getting gas being a sidenote).
We could. The lady gave us a strange look, but we managed to giddly split two bite-sized LaffyTaffys, hardly believing our luck.
Oh, and on the way there, we saw a well-known citizen pulled over trying to roll a monsterous log off the road and hopefully into his own truck.
Turns out the log belonged to my family because we had chopped down the dead half of our tree that morning and the log must've fallen out of the back of my dad's truck when he was hauling it off (I think everyone 'round here has trucks.)
So we pulled over and our two able-bodied dates hopped out and helped him load it into my date's truck.
"We can bring it back to my house," I suggested.
"Nah," he shrugged, "I'll just keep it in there for awhile."
And that's what I had to later tell my peers who happened to drive by at the time. But I think I liked my date's explanation better:
"Oh, that was what we were doing. We were going to chain behind to my truck, stick someone on top, and drag it down mainstreet."
After that the plan was to go horseback riding, but our notorious wind speeds struck again. So they taught me how to drive stick instead. Don't you love improvising?
Lastly, we grilled our own hamburgers and I watched slack-jawed as my date downed two hotdogs, two hamburgers, three chocolate strawberries, two cookies, and a couple handfuls of chips.
He didn't eat dessert after the dance.
But it was soo much fun! I had my AMAZING cousin sew some AMAZING sleeves to my dress to make it more modest even prettier. In fact, (and this is another compliment to you Alicia :) I even won a loud, low whistle from my date at the door.
By the end of the dance my feet hurt, my voice was growing hoarse, and I was dead-tired. My date was the same and we both kept staring off into space we were so out of it. But boy was it a blast!! And I even saw him at early morning church the next day. Isn't that awesome?! I'll admit, I've got it really easy where I live. And I know I'm probably in for a number of huge shocks when I leave my storybook of a neighborhood. But for now, I'm simply going to brag about it.
The next morning was Easter. I absolutely love Easter baskets and egg hunts! (And yes, that straw hat was there :) But you can check out my whole childish tendencies in the previous post. What I want to focus on is the meaning.
On Wednesday our AMAZING bishop took all us young women to the Easter Pageant in Mesa. I'm really grateful too because it really put today in perspective. Parts of it was flashing through my head all through church. And describing the feelings it brought is about where my writing skills end. I'll just say that I highly, highly recommend it! Through the entire thing whenever Christ healed someone or counseled them or forgave them or simply loved them, I was reminded about how many times he'd done those same things for me. I may not have been blind, deaf, or lame physically but I can't even count how many times He's opened to things I never saw before, helped me hear His voice, and granted newfound strength to my weak limbs.
Again, despite everything, there is always those doubts that seem to consistantly pile up in the back of my mind by the end of the week. Yet, as I sat in church today, those feelings came back and I found myself almost laughing to myself with excitement. He lives! He loves! The Gospel is here! I was surrounded by guardian angels both seen and unseen. I was sitting with my family. I could become my potential. I could be healed, forgiven, and taught. I could find joy in my trials. I had a place in his heart. I could help others come unto him. There as hope.
And all because He lives...
The question really doesn't surprise me. The only 'entertainment' we really have is a swimming pool that isn't open until summer break and the elementry playground. So what do we do? Well, my date before the dance answered that pretty well.
First off, we climbed into my date's pick-up truck that had one door that couldn't open from the inside. Some of the weathered upholstery was even creatively screwed in and his iPod was somehow plugged into the tape player.
Then it was off to the badlands to shoot at eggs, rotten oranges, tumbleweeds, and loose change!
The girl I was doubling with actually managed to hit a quater and warped it pretty badly. So when we just about demolished everything, we hopped back in the truck and drove to a local gas station to see if we could actually spend it (getting gas being a sidenote).
We could. The lady gave us a strange look, but we managed to giddly split two bite-sized LaffyTaffys, hardly believing our luck.
Oh, and on the way there, we saw a well-known citizen pulled over trying to roll a monsterous log off the road and hopefully into his own truck.
Turns out the log belonged to my family because we had chopped down the dead half of our tree that morning and the log must've fallen out of the back of my dad's truck when he was hauling it off (I think everyone 'round here has trucks.)
So we pulled over and our two able-bodied dates hopped out and helped him load it into my date's truck.
"We can bring it back to my house," I suggested.
"Nah," he shrugged, "I'll just keep it in there for awhile."
And that's what I had to later tell my peers who happened to drive by at the time. But I think I liked my date's explanation better:
"Oh, that was what we were doing. We were going to chain behind to my truck, stick someone on top, and drag it down mainstreet."
After that the plan was to go horseback riding, but our notorious wind speeds struck again. So they taught me how to drive stick instead. Don't you love improvising?
Lastly, we grilled our own hamburgers and I watched slack-jawed as my date downed two hotdogs, two hamburgers, three chocolate strawberries, two cookies, and a couple handfuls of chips.
He didn't eat dessert after the dance.
But it was soo much fun! I had my AMAZING cousin sew some AMAZING sleeves to my dress to make it more modest even prettier. In fact, (and this is another compliment to you Alicia :) I even won a loud, low whistle from my date at the door.
By the end of the dance my feet hurt, my voice was growing hoarse, and I was dead-tired. My date was the same and we both kept staring off into space we were so out of it. But boy was it a blast!! And I even saw him at early morning church the next day. Isn't that awesome?! I'll admit, I've got it really easy where I live. And I know I'm probably in for a number of huge shocks when I leave my storybook of a neighborhood. But for now, I'm simply going to brag about it.
The next morning was Easter. I absolutely love Easter baskets and egg hunts! (And yes, that straw hat was there :) But you can check out my whole childish tendencies in the previous post. What I want to focus on is the meaning.
On Wednesday our AMAZING bishop took all us young women to the Easter Pageant in Mesa. I'm really grateful too because it really put today in perspective. Parts of it was flashing through my head all through church. And describing the feelings it brought is about where my writing skills end. I'll just say that I highly, highly recommend it! Through the entire thing whenever Christ healed someone or counseled them or forgave them or simply loved them, I was reminded about how many times he'd done those same things for me. I may not have been blind, deaf, or lame physically but I can't even count how many times He's opened to things I never saw before, helped me hear His voice, and granted newfound strength to my weak limbs.
Again, despite everything, there is always those doubts that seem to consistantly pile up in the back of my mind by the end of the week. Yet, as I sat in church today, those feelings came back and I found myself almost laughing to myself with excitement. He lives! He loves! The Gospel is here! I was surrounded by guardian angels both seen and unseen. I was sitting with my family. I could become my potential. I could be healed, forgiven, and taught. I could find joy in my trials. I had a place in his heart. I could help others come unto him. There as hope.
And all because He lives...
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