A magnolia is currently my favorite flower. I know that tomorrow I may have another favorite, but right now, I can almost smell the sweet magnolia scent. They look perfect, well, they look more plastic and even fake. But they're totally, definitely, undeniably real and alive and the fragrance of the air proves it.

Whit and I traveled to Northern California in orchard country recently and we were spellbound by all the huge orchards. Some were blossoming full grown trees, some were medium, some were small and some were just starting. There were orange trees and walnut trees and apple trees and who knows what else. It was amazing.

One type of tree was hard to understand. There were fields of it and it was just a skinny trunk. There were other trees that had some strange pruning but this one was the weirdest. We wondered why the farmers would cut off all the branches so high. Maybe they wanted the trunks to be exactly that high before they started to branch out. It was the best we could figure out.

Well, either that or they were growing fields and fields of broomstick handles.

There were quite a few fields with branchless trees like this and we finally drove up a little closer to see if we could tell anything more. This is when we learned that they were not broomstick handles. Or trunks.

They were stakes.

See the tiny white things next to them. Yeah. THOSE are the trees just growing up. The broomstick handles are to make sure they grow straight.

I guess it's good to know that Northern CA isn't monopolizing the broomstick handle market.

I just thought I'd post a cool, simple, and inexpensive table centerpiece I saw at a women's conference I spoke at in California. It was really charming!

Movin' to the country gonna eat a lot of peaches
I'm movin' to the country I'm gonna eat me a lot of peaches...

Look out!

Here is my Thursday video - I show you how I open a can of peaches. The song "Peaches" came out when I was in junior high and WE LOVED IT. There's just something about a weird song singing about a normal fruit that just makes pre-teens go beserk.

Morning prayer. Check. Breakfast prayer. Check. Scripture reading. Check. Bite tongue when you want to retaliate rude comment. Check.
Tithing. Sabbath observance. Be modest. Check. Check. Check.

It seems there are just so many tiny commandments to keep. Maybe skipping one or two wouldn't hurt...

Would it?

Quoted in this podcast:

"Agency and Accountability," Victor L. Brown, Ensign, May 1985, 16
"The Simple Things," Rex D. Pinegar, Ensign, Nov. 1994, 80
Alma 37: 6-7
"Everything to Gain - Nothing to Lose," Gordon B. Hinckly, Ensign, Nov. 1976, 96
2012 Youth Theme

Podcast (23:50): Play in new window | Download

Right click and save target as to download. Subscribe in iTunes! Special thanks to Hale Yeah! for letting me use their great rendition of You Can Make the Pathway Bright!

Awesome Mexican Bakery.

Enough said.

I always pray before I speak. It relaxes me and helps me focus on why I am there and what I want to talk about. In addition to praying for myself I also pray for those I'll address. Last Saturday as I drove to speak at a women's conference, I prayed that those who were invited to come but had multiple things they could choose to do that morning would be inspired to come if they would be inspired by what I had to say. After my talk, a lady told me she loved my presentation and said I'd been the highlight of her morning. She said that through the beginning of the conference she'd been telling herself over and over "I could have been running. I could have been running..." but when I got up last to speak she said it was all worth it and she was glad she chose to come to the conference instead of go out running.

Ps, this picture isn't of me speaking at the Women's Conference last Saturday. That one was in a chapel building. This picture is when I spoke at a women's conference at the Price campus of Utah State. Check out the stairs - they're not attached to the stage. It was quite the experience being carried up a staircase that isn't attached to anything.

This is my friend Bree. We met about 8 months ago and became weekly temple buddies. For our short friendship, we've had quite the experiences from trying to run over some bad DVDs and CDs with the car (um, it didn't work, because, well, CDs and DVDs are flat. We ended up scratching them with bricks and then ultimately just throwing them away) to dry-heaving together in the Salt lake Temple locker room (morning sickness - Bree almost passed out and temple workers were running for some juice). Bree got pregnant a couple months before I did and so now we're growing fat together! Because that's what true friends do.

A new video for you today! This is how I turn on and put something into my oven.

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We know where we came from, we know why we're here, and we know where we're going. It's all part of the Great Plan of Happiness! And while this grand plan is for everyone, we each have our own individual missions and purposes we've been sent here to do. President Harold B. Lee said, “Many were chosen, as was Abraham, before they were born, as the Lord told Moses and also Jeremiah. This was made still more meaningful by the Latter-day Prophet, Joseph Smith, who declared, ‘I believe that every person who is called to do an important work in the kingdom of God, was called to that work and foreordained to that work before the world was’” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1973, 6; or Ensign, Jan. 1974, 5).

Quoted in this podcast:

Joseph F. smith, Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed., Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1939, p. 14.
Conference Report, Apr. 1987, 54; or Ensign, May 1987, 44
Bishop H. Burke Peterson, “Your Life Has a Purpose” New Era, May 1979
Foreordination Definition
Sidney B. Sperry, The Voice of Israel’s Prophets, p. 153

Podcast (16:40): Play in new window | Download

Right click and save target as to download. Subscribe in iTunes! Special thanks to Hale Yeah! for letting me use their great rendition of You Can Make the Pathway Bright!