Smithsonian

I spend Saturday morning enjoy my trip to the American History museum and catching some of the Americas folklife festival on the mall. I ate some tortilla cheese thing and listened to some pretty sweet latin guitar music.


Yep that is the real thing. Not sure who fit into that costume, but that would have been pretty intense.

 

So these are the famous shoes. There's a lot to see in all of the DC smithsonians, but these red slippers are probably the one thing everyone takes the time to view.

 

 

 

gotta love oscar and bugs...childhood memories of when cartoons were actually entertaining and wholesome.

summer fun

I love this picture!! Sam is definitely growing on me. Every other sentence he says makes me laugh... if not for how ridiculous it is, for how sincerely he meant it. This is the iguana at the nature center. Isabella was scared to death. Between this and the loud parrot squawks she was petrified. I just laughed. Is that mean?



This is the coolest splash park ever. Also the only one I've been too, but add the regular park on one side and the water spray excitement and you've got hours of entertainment. Love when that happens.



So this picture would be better if I had all of Isabella's face in the picture. But getting a picture of her on my cell phone that is not blurry and with her looking at the camera and smiling at the same time is nearly impossible.


These were my beautiful birthday flowers. Yes, they were from a boy. Yes, they smelled amazing.

renovations

I changed the title of my blog. It's been almost 3 months since my sister made fun of the "finding devany" title (some comment like: "Finding devany, kind of like finding nemo?") but over time it must have built up enough to bother me enough to change it. Not that anyone else cares or even notices, but I do, so I changed it.

I think the new title reflects different moments in life when I realize again how blessed I am, and how beautiful the opportunities are that I am given. The view continues to change and each new horizon brings the challenges and blessings specifically needed to progress and learn at that time in my life. It really does amaze me.

what I love about my life right now

So I love that the advertisement for travel on the Deseret News website which links you to here was my last vacation. The great thing was that this vacation was a four hour drive for the weekend, not an expensive weeklong trip across the country. Not that I have anything against Utah, but it is so good for me to be exploring other areas of the country and to be doing something new and different with my life.

I also love my job... and I can say that because I have day off tomorrow. But I think I would say that most days. I mean who wouldn't love a job that involves this:

Adventures of late

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind! Lots of good times, and lots of times I was sure how I was going to get everything done. I guess I'll just let these pictures tell some of the story.


I loved Nauvoo! The temple was intricately and incredibly beautiful... every inch of it!
There was a senior missionary who shared his testimony of Jonathan Browning that really touched me. I'm grateful for my pioneer ancestors. As I walked down the Mississippi river and thought of what those pioneers felt looking back at the temple they were leaving behind, I knew the changes I was making in my life were nothing in comparison to their sacrifice.


However, I also felt a small connection between those pioneers and my drive across the country: we were both trusting that God was leading us to where we are supposed to be and that things would work out, just as they did for those who made their way to Utah more than 150 years ago.


This is my mom and I at... a cemetary. She's trying her best to instill her love in genealogy in me and insisted we stop to visit an ancestor's grave. Her name was Nancy. Maybe I'll find it interesting in 30 years from now.



I also found the Winter Quarters Temple beautiful. I liked the dirt road up to the temple that I found when I was lost almost as much.



Well a few days after arriving at DC I decided to take a trip with some friends in the ward to the beach!! See the little strip of islands to the east of north carolina that extends down the whole coast. Yep that's where I was and it was a picturesque beach.



The sunburn, the pan fire, the flooding pipe, etc weren't quite as ideal, but still it was a fun weekend.

My last night in Provo

I spent yesterday afternoon with a friend at temple square. It looked, smelt, and felt like the spring. So beautiful! We took pictures. We enjoyed the art exhibit and roof at the conference center. And then we went home.
Later that night we learned by hard experience that when the lady on the bike says the trail is flooded to believe her. River water is cold! In fact it can make your legs turn bright red for hours at a time. Never knew my legs could be cold and so hot at the same time.
This morning after my fabulous roommates helped me load up my car, I drove the long way home. Provo Canyon is starting to be green enough for a nice drive. Morgan Valley is beautiful as well, but what I think I like most about it is how familiar it feels. Funny, the next few weeks I'm certain nothing will feel at all familiar, but hopefully I will still enjoy myself.

real life

I loved Elder Bednar's talk so much I'm writing about it on my blog... wait isn't that what he said not to do? ...something about the fact that while I feel that somehow posting my feelings to the internet will connect me emotionally with someone else it's all just a false, fake sense of connection that will probably cause me to miss out on real, rich relationships. It's true though. His was a very timely message that hopefully will cause me to think twice about how many times I sit down at the computer everyday. However, considering the quality time already spent with people I care about today, hopefully I still be somewhat connected to reality and balanced enough see clearly.

Just one more random thought and then I promise to go interact with real people.
I have learned this week that 1)doing the right thing really does make you happy and give you hope and confidence about yourself, your future, and your relationships with others. 2)making the right decision is hard, but we can decide to go forward with faith and gratitude for the lessons learned along the way.