I LOVE HUNGARY!! Szeretem Magyarorszagot!!

Today's post goes out to my favorite country in the world other than the U.S.- Hungary!! Man, I love that place!! I served my mission there from May of 2005-November of 2006, and yes, I speak Hungarian!! I love the place, the people, the food, and the language!! Bear with me, as there are going to be several pics!! I can't help it! I miss Hungary!!

Nora and Gabor are my favorite!! They weren't married when we started to teach them, but they were married on a Friday, baptized on a Saturday, and confirmed on a Sunday! When I left, Nora was in labor with Dominika, now two years old! They went to the temple and were sealed as a family a little over a year after they were baptized! This pic is from last October when they were here to visit for a NuSkin Conference. My family loved visiting with them!

Classic Mission pic! This is one of my districts- in Buda.

Szandra may be the whole reason I served a mission! Pictured here with Anna, who introduced her to the church, she was one of the first that I taught who got baptized!

 She is awesome! She joined the Church at 18, and is now getting ready to turn in her mission papers! I love her to death!!

This is an amazing fountain, made out of Zsolnay porcelain in Pecs, Hungary where I was a greenie. The porcelain is manufactured in Pecs, and said to be unbreakable (though I haven't tried to break the piece I bought there). It is very unique, this is the real color, the blueish green is absolutely beautiful!

If you can see it, this is the wall of locks in Pecs, Hungary, where I started my mission.  This wall has countless locks on it where couples, or even unrequited lovers have declared their love for each other by placing a lock on the wall. Some are engraved, others just plain, but there are no keys here! This signifies that love is eternal to them, their hearts, like missionaries' hearts are locked tight!!

This gorgeous yellow church is in the main square in Kecskemet, Hungary where I finished my mission. It is one of four churches in this main square where we used to street contact and chat with people. I love the Nagy Templom, as they call it!! 

The Hungarian Seal. It is a very symbolic rendition of what my favorite people have been through... the crown (now on display in the Parliament Building) is really quite a piece of history itself. The cross on the top is crooked just like in the seal... a reminder of all the many hardships that Hungary has gone through to be where it is today! 

Hajra Magyarorszag!!

This pic is of the parliament building in Pest! I was able to go on a tour, it's incredible inside and out. It sits right on the banks of the Duna (in Hungarian) or the Danube river, which runs straight through the heart of Budapest, separating Buda from Pest! I served on both sides!! I love Budapest!!!

In Pest, there aren't too many beautiful places.  This is called Erzsebet Liget, or Elizabeth Park. It is a run-down and tragic, yet stunning reminder of the Russian communist rule! Once upon a time it was incredibly beautiful and new, now just pretty!

This is in Budapest. The bridge is known as the Chain bridge, isn't it beautiful?

My Family!!

Today's post goes out to my family!!! I love you guys!!! This pic is when my bro Nick got home from his mission. It's woefully incomplete, but it shows quite a few of my family! 

LOVE, Love, love...

It's February... the month of nonstop red hearts, crazy cards, roses, pink anything you can imagine and my least favorite holiday! Why do we have to have a holiday to express our love to each other? Okay, my mom (an incredible V-day obsessor- she has heart shaped ice trays and pink hearted socks to name a few of her addictions) says that I won't always hate Valentine's day. I'm not certain I believe her, but I guess we can roll with it.  In honor of the month, this month's theme will be centered around LOVE.  All my posts will talk about the things I love!!

      In her honor... this one is to my mom! She is my best friend and my angel! She has taught me everything I know, and she has given up so much for me!! I love you, mom!! Thanks for being the best ever!!

The Girls! Here's to my friends!

   I have the best friends in the world. This is the plain truth. Aren't they beautiful? After I moved to Utah in high school, I struggled to find where I really fit. It was only after I graduated did I really fall into this amazing group of friends! In our younger days, I could always count on my girls for a movie night, a cheer-up CD, or plenty of playing.  Now we get together as often as we can, and throw showers for each other, etc. After seven years, my mission, lots and lots of (6) weddings, one baby and one on the way, we are all still great friends. I love these girls! They have been with me through everything.

    Barbara Thornton is the best! Thanks for these pics!

School... HELP!

Another semester is underway, and I have been amply swamped with readings, assignments, and plenty of hoops to jump through! And I do certainly feel like a circus animal! Its all a little overwhelming, but if it doesn't kill you, it will get you a nursing degree! That's my new motto!! 

Also, I am happy to note that my car is running! Yay! So at least for the time being there is a little last stress and more independence! Hooray for independence!

QUOTES

  Lately I have been feeling a little less than wise, and thus drawing on others' wisdom.  I have been drawing a lot of comfort and guidance from quotes! I have loved quotes for a long, long time... but recently I have been collecting them anew.

  Here are some of the recent favorites:

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

--Albert Einstein

"The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved."

--Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

"I do not want people to be agreeable, as it saves me that trouble of liking them."

--Jane Austen

"Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs."

--Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre

"Laughter is sunshine, it chases winter from the human face."

--Victor Hugo, Les Miserables 

"In the game of life, a second effort is often required."

--President Thomas S. Monson

"In this world you've just got to hope for the best and prepare for the worst and take whatever God sends."

--L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Avonlea

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace…”

--C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

PLAY HARD!!!

So, it has been an interesting week. The highlight would have to be my UTES winning the Sugar Bowl! All those who doubted them should be ashamed!! It was an amazing game, and they simply schooled Alabama! LOVE IT!!!! GO UTES!!!
I have been playing really hard this week which has made the loss of a really good friend much easier. Don't worry, everyone is still alive... but it has been difficult. Let me just say that I have amazing friends who have made this all a ton easier!
Yay for parties, chocolate, snow angels, shrimp cocktail, movies, sledding, hot tubs, UTAH FOOTBALL, foot massages, mocktails, teaching moves, phone chats, dressing up, going to lunch, peace, a bloody nose, khakis and button-up shirts, rock band, "anything in quotations," and my pals! I love you guys!! May we live to play another week like this one, and many more!