And Speaking of Dreams Coming True...

... in Florida, Michaela finally met Spiderman!

It's crazy to think that in one 10-day trip

 all of her dreams would be realized....

Well, at least the ones about butterbeer and Gringotts

 and Spiderman.

 He high-fived her after a Provo/ Fletch reference 

that went right over her head.

More Spidey love.

Oh, and Captain America happened to show up-

- not really a dream come true,

just a happy coincidence. 

But despite all of this wonderful happiness, 

 there's just one more pesky little dream she's waiting on:

 

holding the position of Seeker for the Holyhead Harpies. 

Might be a long wait.

Life Underwater.

In the words of David Archuleta (Stephanie Mabey):

 "It's Glorious".

Happiness From Nanjing.

Bethany is happy in China.

A little homesick from time to time-

but mostly happy. :)

It shows, right?

Still waiting for a little homesickness from Elijah...

Might be a long wait.   :)

And He's Outta Here!

At 1:30 this afternoon, Elder Paynter entered the Provo MTC.

No tears for this guy.

Just happiness.

Love you Jordan.

Happiness and Harry.

While cleaning out the camera bag, lo and behold, I found another SD card with more Florida pictures. Imagine my joy! 

So here you go, a little more summer happiness...

Decisions, decisions...Hogwarts or Hogsmeade?

 Michaela insists that I should be proud to be a Hufflepuff,

that's easy to say when you're a Slytherin...

Don't know your Hogwarts house?  Go here.

Ravenclaw....

 Beth exhibiting her Ravenclaw eccentricity....

We kind of fell in love with butterbeer....

yes...

yes...

and yes.

The sweet Triwizard Cup.

Hannah purchased Snape's wand...

who knew it would be for sale?

We spent lots of time in Zonko's...

Contemplated some pumpkin juice but decided against it...

...and dreamed about riding the Hogwarts Express.

We even found number 12 Grimmauld Place.

If you look really closely, 

you can see Kreature in the window. :)

Happiness and Harry...

you're feeling it too, right?

Scenes From A Farewell...

Today, Jordan Paynter gave his closing remarks on his

 pre-mission life. You might say that he is pretty much out the door.

I have never seen anyone so excited to go...

I'm not sure he will even shed a tear on Wednesday. 

His eyes are focused solely on getting started.

And he didn't stop smiling all day. 

 

Adios Jordo. I mean Elder Paynter.

Life is good.

Cross Country on Tuesday.

After eight weeks of training, 

Will had his culminating cross country  race today.

  

Never a word of complaint during those eight weeks-

just unbridled "Will" enthusiasm.

Whatever he does, he does with enthusiasm.

He knocked seven minutes off of his beginning time 

eight weeks ago. 

Pretty awesome.

Once upon a time I ran cross country in high school.

Not with enthusiasm, that's for sure.

Go Will!

 

Happy 15th Birthday Hannah!

15 years ago today, Hannah Nicolena Labit was born.

We had spent the better part of a year building a home, and I just kept praying that we could move in before she was born.

The day after we moved in, Hannah came into the world.

Talk about a miracle :)

So grateful for the sweet girl that she is-

don't know what we'd do without her.

Love you Hannah!

Happy Birthday.

 

Good Stuff.

October Conference means two things...

spiritual nourishment and Hannah's birthday. 

She likes to complain that she gets lost in the shuffle 

but that is not true at all. 

This weekend, she'll have three celebrations.

 Whatever! 

So, Happy Birthday Hannah and Happy Conference.

Weekends just don't get better than this!

 

Favorite conference quote at this moment came from Elder Anderson quoting Elder Maxwell:
 “Studying the Church through the eyes of its detractors is like interviewing Judas to understand Jesus.”

Five Things That Make Me Happy.

Once upon a time when I was in college, it became imperative to my best friend and me, to make "happy lists." Most often it was because of an awesome break-up, compounded by other more trivial things but at one time or another, these happy lists meant survival for another day :)

In light of recent events that have occurred in my life and in the lives of those I care about, as well as the daily barrage of unhappy and even devastating events that are occurring globally, I am in need of a happy list. 

So here goes:

1. Fall. Fall makes me unbelievable happy. The nip in the air, the mountains changing colors and pumpkin spice anything is the greatest mood lifter ever. Love it!

2. Books. Or more specifically, book group. Even though I have always been an avid reader, it has become very clear to me that at this stage of my life, I wouldn't read if it weren't for book group. I just finished two great books: The Thirteenth Tale and Code Name Verity. Very different books but loved both of them.

3.The Voice. My love and appreciation for good music and great talent has found a home in this show.  Can't really explain my obsession (and others will verify it is an obsession), it just makes me sooo happy.

4. General Conference. Oh, am I ever ready for this pick-me-up. As the world seems to be swirling around in confusion and mayhem, I love the inspired clarity of prophets and apostles. It helps my faith replace my fear with renewed vigor. And conference cinnamon rolls aren't too shabby either :)

5. Jesus. Seriously, He is what  all of my hope and faith are centered around. I truly know that there isn't anything that I can't handle if I am yoked to Him.  So grateful that my happiness is centered upon knowing that I am divinely tied to Jesus.

 

And there it is. 

My much needed happiness list.

I feel better already! :)

 

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens,

 but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.”
Helen Keller