Thanksgiving

Due to a promotion I received a few months ago, I hadn’t taken any time off work, so when I finally had a few days off for Thanksgiving weekend, I was definitely grateful. Dylan and I spent Thanksgiving Day at my parent’s new house. This was Dylan’s first Thanksgiving with my family since last year we went to Utah to be with his family. We talked about the different side dishes that our families make. His family always makes green bean casserole, which I just learned is a traditional Thanksgiving food. As far as I can remember, we have never made green bean casserole in my family. My favorite dish is always the candied yams. Yummy, yummy, yummy!

After stuffing ourselves, Dylan and I decided to head to Prescott for the rest of the long weekend. As I mentioned before, Dylan grew up in Prescott, but now he is the only one of his family that lives in Arizona. Still his parents own a home and guest house in Chino Valley, so we spent this past weekend there. The cool weather and open prairies make the trip worth it every time. We spent most of the time playing board games (our current favorites are Ticket to Ride and Farkle). We also hiked around Watson Lake and the Granite Dells.

Prescott is one of those snow globe cities to me. If I collected snow globes, I would want the layout of Prescott in one because of the memories and the feeling of wonder I get being there. It’s the place I fell in love with my husband. Before meeting Dylan, I only remember travelling to Prescott once.  In the 6^th grade I went to a leadership camp; I’m not even sure where it’s located but I always say Prescott.

Since Dylan was living in Prescott when we met, I ended up spending a lot of time there all of the sudden. Luckily the house he was living in had a spare bedroom, so I could spend the whole weekend there with him and his roommates. Dylan would come to my parents’ house some weekends as well, but he only had a couch to sleep on.

Watson Lake and the Dells

One of our first dates in Prescott was hiking in the Granite Dells. Dylan just made up a path through all the rocks and took off. I remember trying to keep up with him as we scrambled over boulders. We also went to the best Chinese buffet ever. Now I am pretty sure I really only think U-Like Buffet is the best because of the snow globe effect, but even today it seems like the best $10 meal a person can get. Other memories like geocaching, game nights, and Aroma’s pizza are also tied to Prescott.

One of my favorite funny memories happened on a date in downtown Prescott. We went to the Courthouse Square. The Christmas lights were still on all the towering trees and it was a cold night. We meandered through the local shops musing over the souvenirs and relics of the Old West. Then we stopped for some ice cream because even on the coldest night, I want ice cream. My hands were freezing trying to hold that ice cream cone. Dylan and I would hold hands and stick our hands together in his coat pocket while I use the other hand to eat ice cream. After a minute or two, we would swap hands so the other hand could warm up as we walked around.

 Later, he drove us up a little hill to look at all the city lights. We were chatting and enjoying the warmth of the car heater. Dylan was holding my hand and then leaned in for a kiss… on my hand (he held out for the first lips kiss for a while). I saw the gesture and just figured that my hands were too frozen to have actually felt the kiss. We continued talking.  Then after a few minutes, Dylan said, “wait I think I kissed my own hand!” I died laughing. Apparently instead of kissing the back of my hand, he actually kissed his own hand and I was too cold to know the difference.  This is still our little joke, and we commonly kiss the back of our own hands for fun.

I definitely enjoyed the Thanksgiving holiday and the opportunity to relive those fun memories of falling in love. If only it could all fit in a little snow globe; luckily it’s all not too far away from our current home.

 

 

An Old Note

Yesterday I decided to rifle through my old cellphone. It’s an IPhone 4 that sits on my nightstand and now functions only as an alarm clock. That IPhone 4 was my first smartphone. I received it when I came home from my mission but only because the rest of my family was already upgrading to the newest version. I forget which sibling used the one they gave me, but I do know that when I left on my mission, my family only had dumb phones and then a few months later, they emailed me to say they all changed to IPhones. I guess those are the type of blessings a family receives for a having a missionary in the field? Anyways I digress…

I opened the notes app not remembering what I had stored there. I am typically a pen and paper type person, so the notes app normally remains abandoned as I prefer to write in my planner. However, I was surprised to find that I had kept quite a few lists in that phone. First was last year’s Christmas list for Dylan. I always try to scribble gift ideas down throughout the year whenever he mentions something he thinks is cool or he wants. Some of last year’s items included jeans, a guitar book, a knife, and a belt.

My next notes were quotes and song lyrics. One was a list of songs that I wanted on our wedding reception playlist.  We had a live guitarist at the reception who was able to play several of those songs, and the rest of the music made it to the dance playlist.

Finally, my last note was a list of goals I had written down in January 29^th 2016. I was in Spain at that time on my solo backpacking trip. I am trying to figure out what inspired me to write down a list of goals. Maybe it was a late night video chat with Dylan, a common occurrence as I travelled. Maybe it was something I heard in a Spanish ward meeting. No matter the inspiration, it was fun to see how I compared to the 2016 Emilee.

My list of goals included:

• Run a marathon ( I had recently ran my first and only half marathon)
• Remain healthy and raise a healthy family
• Create a home where the spirit can always be by reading scriptures, turning to forgiveness, and always showing love.
• Become a yoga teacher
• Serve an old people mission
• Get a Master’s degree
• Travel the world

I love how this short list shows both the change and progress I have made. I came home from Spain with an extra 10 lbs. I am sure, and I definitely didn’t lose it while running. I haven’t ran anywhere near 13 miles in the last two years, and really don’t have the goal to do so anytime soon. I still try to be a health nut but my love for ice cream and exploring new foods keeps inhibiting that goal. As for the family aspect, my tortoise Walnut is on a raw food diet, so I guess I am doing well there. Back in January 2016, I was entering my last semester of my undergraduate degree. I had talked to a professor who encouraged me to get a Master’s in Political and Environmental Science. Now that is definitely not even part of my current 5 year plan, but I did continue my education by joining the Yoga Teacher Training program which was something I always imagined doing when I was older. I still love to travel but recently haven’t been a world traveler. We do have some plans to go out of the country in 2018 though.

I used to think of goals as only a checklist. Once they were written down, I had to get them done. Of course some of the goals I wrote like “create a home where the spirit can be” are not something I can just check off, but a majority of my past and current goals are checklist worthy. With the checklist, I found myself stressing about the person I used to be or used to want to be. I felt I had let myself down or had become less of myself because I hadn’t accomplished certain goals. In the past few months, I have tried to accept that I can change and still be just as much of a person. Maybe I haven’t started my Master’s degree even though education is a top priority, but I do have my first full time job and have received 2 promotions in the last year and a half. I haven’t wanted to run my heart out, but my yoga practice is becoming stronger every day. I always thought I would be a great mom and would want to have kids very early in marriage. Instead, today motherhood seems terrifying, and I am currently enjoying the freedom and time I have with my husband.

Last night, as I looked at some of the items on my list, for once I wanted to laugh. I think a while ago I would have wanted to push myself harder or “get back in the game”. However, instead of feeling that I had fallen off the running or health food wagon, I thought about other interests I have developed. These changes really have much more to do with what takes up my time than who I truly am, so why stress about it. What I am realizing is that it is far more important to make sure that with the changes in hobbies or ideas, I am still on the right track to who I want to become. I still want to be able to serve “an old people mission” and have the spirit in my home. Am I doing the things I need to do to still be that person in the future? In the end, I probably won’t care if I don’t run a marathon or visit every country (although both would be awesome), but I will want to make sure that I had a positive attitude in life, through the running, yoga, motherhood, education, all of it and make sure that I remember who I am as a child of God.

I will continue to set goals and fill my journal with dreams. It’s exciting to work hard and to accomplish. However, I hope that in the coming months, I continue to embrace change in myself and recognize we aren’t letting anyone down by evolving into different people with new talents, strengths, or goals. I hope for change that is for the better and brings me closer to my loved ones and to who I ultimately am.   

A night in the life of a traveling sole

Last night was relaxing, much needed as we approach the holiday season. I ran to Fry’s after work to get some food for the week. It was a mad house and Thanksgiving is still 3 days away. The cashier assured me it would get worse. Dylan stayed to work late, so the house was quiet when I got home. Even though it wasn’t a very cold day, I felt like making soup. I turned to the recipe book from my mission in Chile. I leafed through the pages of hand written recipes remembering the people and families who I had learned the recipes from. How each of them has touch my life, I hope they remember me with the same fondness. I found a Columbian soup recipe I had written after having lunch with some recent converts. They had immigrated to Chile looking for better jobs in the cooper mines. They lived in studio-type apartment complex with several other Columbian families, they had struggles but were always anxious to share the gospel with their neighbors. It was always a joy to be there with such lively people.

The Columbian soup consists of plantains, potatoes, carrots, cilantro, and spices. My interpretation of course did not turn out as tasty, but it was a hearty soup for a mildly cold day. Dylan doused his bowl in hot sauce (his favorite food) and even had a second bowl, so it could not have been that bad.

After dinner, I was off to my yoga class. Monday night’s class is a two hour hatha yoga class, but last night we spent the final hour doing some restorative yoga. I hadn’t done a restorative practice for a while, since I am normally challenging myself to get deeper into the more traditional and “impressive” poses. I was grateful to have the evening to think and focus and feel the subtle shifts in my flexibility.

Soon I was back at home, cuddled on the couch with my hubby. I love relaxing evenings. Hopefully I can carry some of that peace from last night into the holiday season.

 Take the time to find the stillness in what can sometimes be chaos, and always remember to be grateful. Happy Thanksgiving!

Change and Learning

Two years. That exciting last post about Spain was published just six days before I met the man who would become my husband. When it came time to leave for Spain, my heart was in a different place. The last two years have definitely been a whirlwind of change and learning; some of it embraced and some of it met with resistance. In all the excitement, I’ve needed a place to dump my thoughts, so once again I have returned to my mostly abandoned blog page.

I’ll do a quick recap of the last years for anyone who is actually keeping up. Like I said I met my husband just after purchasing my plane ticket to Spain. We met briefly at an YSA dance at Northern Arizona University and then he came back to NAU for a night of swing and salsa dancing the following weekend. That night I could just tell Dylan was something different. Besides the fact that I was literally head over heels with all the flips and twists he was showing me, I was instantly drawn to him. When he left that night to return to Prescott, I knew I wanted to see him again.

A few days later, I left NAU to live with my parents for the few weeks leading to my departure to Spain. I still had one final essay to complete for the semester and I thought I could get could use that assignment as an excuse to talk to Dylan again. At the time I didn’t have his phone number, so I sent him a Facebook message telling him of my so-called “essay dilemma”. He responded that he would gladly help and that we should video chat. I do believe we were up until 3am that night chatting and very little of it had to do with my essay.

I quickly felt that Dylan was my new adventure and I changed my plans for Spain. I ended up doing a 3 week backpacking trip and took some online classes. May 5th, or Cinco de Mayo, Dylan and I were married and sealed for time and all eternity. I graduated from NAU the following weekend.

Now we have been married for just a year and a half and as I mentioned before, it has been an exciting whirlwind of change and learning.

Current day has us living in our home state of Arizona. Both Dylan and I are in school. Dylan is working on his undergraduate degree in Phycology and nutrition, and I am getting my yoga teacher training certificate. We both work full time and have a beautiful Hermann tortoise we call Walnut. While we have definitely put on some newly-wed weight, we still love dancing, hiking, and chasing adventure. Life truly is good.

UC3M

What started off as a dream more than 7 years ago is finally becoming reality! It began when I was in the 8th grade and I wandered into my school counselor's office. I wanted to talk about the possibility of studying abroad. I was falling in love with a language and could not wait to be immersed in it. After expressing my desire, she informed me that studying abroad in high school was not probable. She encouraged me to consider waiting until college, and she showed me her much loved scrapbook of her semester in Salamanca, Spain. My interest was sparked as she began to tell me of her amazing time abroad. Thumbing through the pages of her book, I was introduced to a new world and I could not wait until I had my very own scrapbook of adventures. It was settled: I would study abroad in Spain.

With this grand goal always on my mind its no mystery that right after high school graduation I wanted to fill my passport with stamps. My journeys have taken me to Germany, Mexico, Nicaragua, Tennessee, and Chile. However, now is the time that I fulfil that old dream I dreamt of in 8th grade. So for my very last semester of undergrad in college I will be in Madrid, Spain! I was accepted to a program at the Universidad de Carlos el Tercer en Madrid (UC3M), and I cannot wait!

Tortuga Study Abroad Scholarship!

It is often said that who lives sees much, who travels sees more. Through the first few years of my college career, I have been able to see and learn many things. I have become independent and organized; I have learned from great professors about political science and international relations. I have developed a love for diversity. My dream since age twelve was to study abroad in Spain, so during these past few years I have prepared myself to fulfil this dream. I have developed a love for Spanish culture through literature and film. I have worked at perfecting my Spanish speaking ability, and I even took some Latin dance classes. This upcoming semester, I will be able to finally fulfil that dream and ‘see more’.

 

 

Learning about another culture will help me better understand and love people that do not share my same story or background. I want to get to know the Spanish people and learn about their day to day hopes, concerns, and dreams. As I begin to understand a new culture, my love with expand. In addition, I want to deepen my understanding of topics that I have learned in the classroom. For example, a few semesters ago, I was in a Spanish course that focused on bilingual and multilingual countries, Spain being one of them. I am excited to see firsthand how multilingualism has shaped Spanish culture. This semester I am in an environmental science course and we have discussed sustainable food sources. I would love to be able to visit the Veta La Palma fish farm in Spain and see how sustainability is changing the way Spain thinks about food. I hope that having these experiences with another culture will make me a better, more open minded person than I am today.

 

When I return home from my semester abroad, I want to share what I have learned with others. I do not want to just share how great the food is, or what the latest fashions are, or all of the pictures I took, (although I will share that as well). However, I want to share what seeing another culture has done for me. I want to share the understanding gained, the love expounded, and the lessons learned. I would like to help others experience a small part of what I experienced. I plan on sharing my experiences through a blog that I write: travelingsole-emilee.blogspot.com and also through the education abroad department at my university. This way I can reach others who are interested in study abroad and excite them to travel and see more.  

My Next Travels

Hey guys to fund my next  (to be revealed soon)http://www.drpeppertuition.com/profile/944617658964302, I need to earn a little money. I am applying for scholarships and need your help. Please go to this website and vote for me, so that I can continue pursuing my dreams!

Click Here! Thanks!

The Big TWO THREE

Being 22 was pretty awesome, I have to admit. A lot of self security and confidence was gained as I discovered more about who I am and what I want to do for this world. I owe much of that confidence and inner happiness to the time I spent as a full-time missionary for the LDS church. Those small and everyday experiences in Chile have shaped my life forever.

However, I must say good-bye to my Taylor Swift's "22" jam sessions and now officially enter what some websites deem the worst year of the twenties (Other websites say its 26 or 29, so I guess I can look forward to that). But, hey I am feeling pretty good about 23.  This is the year that I will graduate college (and figure out what happens after that), finally fulfil my lifelong goal of living in Spain, develop some sort of dance ability, and tackle a third language (work on my French? pick up an Asian language?). My outlook on life has always been positive, and this year I cannot wait to see what I can accomplish. So with this new found confidence and the myriad of opportunities ahead, I salute 23 to not being the worst year but one of the best!


And for just one last time:

Last Email! July 6th 2015

E got baptised on Saturday! It was amazing. I couldnt believe how the Lord had prepared her throughout all of this time to finally become a member of the true church. She was so excited for her baptism. She even arrived before anyone else (including us!). It was a great service. I enjoyed onced again getting to experience a convert recieving the Holy Ghost.  I think that is my favorite part of the baptismal process. It is so powerful seeing someone recieve the gift and then their first priesthood blessing.

After the baptism we had the Chile vs Argentina game for the American Cup and CHILE WON!! We are officially champions of 2015! It was a great game, and afterwards the city went crazy. Luckily, we had instructions for the mission president to stay inside afterwards. 

Today, my favorite family ever came from Caldera to take us to Pan de Azucar. Its a really beautiful national park about 30  minutes from Chañaral. Unfortunately the main attractions where there is the best view was closed due to damage to the road during the flooding. However, we still had a blast, did a bbq and went rock climbing at one the local beaches. It was a ton of fun! The hard part was saying good bye. I can already sense that this week is not going to be an easy one.

​ I love you guys and am so excited to see you in this next week. I cant believe that the time has past so rapidly, but thank you so much for your love and support. You guys helped me get through some of the tough moments in the mission. The fun stories and memories always helped me when I needed a reason to laugh and to keep pushing forward. Thank you for raising me in this great church where I have been able to learn to work, serve, love, and now have a close relationship with my Savior. I love you guys and thank you for all of your love and perseverance that has made all of this possible. 

Hna Biggs

See you in a week:)

June 29th!

This week was great! Elba keeps progressing and on Saturday she had her bautismal iterview. She is super excited and we are too. She came to church as well so that we could officially announce her baptism for this Saturday! Its a fourth of July baptism! How fun! We are going to have the service in the morning because in the afternoon is the ending of the American Cup (soccer stuff), so we figured it would be hard for people to give up their football haha. Nonetheless, it is going to be awesome.

It feels like the whole week was full of miracles. We found 10 new invesitgators and had a record number of lessons for the week. I really know that Heavenly Father has prepared people here to be baptised. This week we also we also had zone conference and President Dalton and the office group came to train us. Its my last zone conference, so I got to share my testimony at the end. How weird is that. I didnt think it would be any big deal, but it was a little nerve wrecking.

On Sunday, President and his wife were still in Chañaral,so they attended our meetings. Everyone was nervous which is pretty funny to see, but they both gave really great talks about the temple and sacriment. Sister Dalton mentioned that the temples are the most holy places in the world. Then she added that the temple in Santiago is the holiest place in all of Chile. Thats amazing right? To think that in one building you can find the most calming and peaceful setting in the whole country. It would obviously be nice to have 2 or 3 or 50 of the holiest building here in Chile, but to think that there is just one and that anyone who wants to and completes the requirements to enter, can, is amazing. I am really excited to be able to enter the temple again in just a few weeks.

Today is my second to last Pday. I have next week and then one other Monday, but I will be passing that one in Antofagasta, so it will be different. Its so weird to think about. But I guess everything is coming to an end. Anyways today we went with a the Rojas family to the mountain and made sopaipillas. It was super fun and I finally got to see a little greenery in the hills. We climbed up the mountain and the view was amazing!

​Well, I had a lot more photos to send, but the internet is really slow. I suppose two weeks isnt too much time to wait:)

June 22nd Finally feels like I'm Leaving

This week has been great. I think I am finally getting that "I am going home" feeling because everything is feeling like the last time. The funny thing is that I still have a few weeks until everything really becomes my last opportunity. So I just have to live it up until then. This week, we had a lot of success with E. We put a baptismal date for the 4th of July (she is a miracle for sure), and she is super excited. I cant believe that she is progressing so rapidly. This week will be the test though because we have to teach her the word of wisdom, tithing, and the law of chastity.  We are praying for her every night. She really feels that this is the true church and is  so sweet. I will have to let you know next week how everything went.

On Friday we travelled to Tal Tal to do exchanges with the sisters there. That truly was a "last time" moment, but I enjoyed it. I got to see some of the families I had met the last time we did exchanges there, so that was a lot of fun. Soccer is again taking Chile by storm now that the American Cup has started. Everytime Chile plays, everyone is having a BBQ and miraculously dont have time for the missionaries. To make things even worse, the American Cup is being hosted  by Chile, so all of the games are being watched by the Chileans since they feel that they must win. Its pretty exciting hearing everyone talk about what teams are going against what teams, but the whole American Cup thing couldnt have started in a few weeks more? Hahaha. I guess, I should consider it a blessing though, that unlike American football, the soccer games are during the week and not Sundays:)

Today, for p day we dedicated ourselves to the arts. We bought some tempera paint and paper and are doing our own interpretations of Chañaral. We havent finished yet, but it was a lot of fun and definitely helped unstress a little bit. This week we have lots of people to be teaching so that they can all come to church on Sunday. Wish us luck!

I love you guys:)

June 15th and Lots of new people

This week we met a ton of new people that are receptive. We havent been able to teach many of them, but thats what this next week is for. On Sunday we had our weekly Branch Family Home Evening and all of new investigators arrived. It was awesome! Before the FHE we had gone to visit one investigator Y, so that she could come with us. We ended up arriving a little late with her at the chapel, but when we walked in we were surprised to see that  almost all of the people that had come were our invesitgators! It was a lot of fun and hopefully, they will continue to come to the church.

One of the new invesitgators is E. She is a little elderly lady that we met in the market last week. She was adventist and then she went to the penecostal church, but she is still searching for the truth. we taught her about the restoration and she loved it. Everyone had told her that the Mormons worship Joseph Smith, and when she found out that he was a modern day prophet she was amazed. We were only able to visit her once before Sunday, but she came to church! She arrived like 10 minutes late and was confused on how to enter, so she entered the cultural hall and sat down. She could hear the talking through the dividing wall, so she listened. As the meeting was almost over, she saw that someone left the chapel and so she understood how to get in. She is so cute! She was one of the new people that came to the FHE as well.