2013 with the Maxey's!

2013 At the Maxey Pad

 Our 2013 is finishing off much more exciting than it started. As I was making note of all the things to mention in our Christmas blog there was only a few things all the way until June! Rich, Myles' brother, and his wife, Lindsey got married in January. That was a fun party! 

Our surprise visit

In February we surprised my family and joined them in Oregon for a few days! That was more fun than words can describe! In April we drove to the Phoenix, AZ area to see the Easter pageant at the Mesa Temple, as well as go to a wedding reception for Myles' cousin. While we were there we picked up a kid that attended EFY with Myles as his counselor. Collin spent a week with us in Las Cruces and he surely kept us busy! We even took him to a carnival and made him puke, right after he cooked us dinner all by himself! At the end of his week with us we, along with Mariah and Ann drove him all the way to Springville/SLC area where his family met us. We were all there for General Conference. That was an amazing experience! Not to mention we got to see the Boyack extended family and my dad, Hannah, and Lillian! Both of our drives to AZ and UT were within a week of each other and they wore us out. After that we decided we didn't want any other exciting things until GRADUATION!

Graduation

 

 Myles Graduated as a Crimson Scholar with Honors from NMSU with a Bachelors in Family and Child Science. He even walked with his class!

Collin and Myles

 In the end May we moved to Bluffdale, Utah so that I could attend Healing Mountain Massage School. We live in the basement of a sweet family. We have become really good friends with them and we love to spend time with them and their three little ones! We even went sledding with them yesterday! We only dropped our things off for a few day before we headed off on our Summer trip.

We toured Myles mission first. I met a lot of great people there! It's good to know he was so well taken care of while he was out. They sure did feed us well!

In Oregon we played with my family and went to our annual Sand Castle building contest. Mariah and Ann even came to join in with the fun! Sand Castles is one of our favorite things to do in the summer time and when you combine it with our favorite people it is even better!

Sand Castle team!

 When we came home to Utah life was in full swing before we could take a breath! We brought Chad home with us and he spent a week here! We enjoyed having him here although, I think we are too old and boring for him now. ;)
 Through a series of interviews, job offers, and prayers we ultimately ended up with Myles working at the Work Activity Center as a Program lead. Allow Myles to explain: I applied for a completely different position, but they liked me so much that they offered me a higher paying "mid-management" job. I work with adults with disabilities ranging from physical to severe intellectual. I'm in charge of one of the departments, where each day I provide recreational, social/communication, vocational, life skills, and community learning activities to enhance their lives and assist them in become more independent. I also write daily reports on incidents that occur throughout the day and a monthly report on each client that is on my caseload. I absolutely love my job, more than I thought I would and the clients that I work with each day help me to grow and become a better person.
I am almost finished with school. I will Graduate on the 31st and be eligible to take my Licensing test to be come a Massage Therapist. I have loved my program and am thrilled to be able to apply it in the real world.

Our Journey to Utah, our new home

Myles has applied for Graduate School to BYU's Marriage and Family Therapy Program and is finishing up his application to Utah State University's program to begin next Fall. We will know by the middle of March where he has been accepted. We are hoping and praying for BYU, as it will put us closer to family, but we are willing to go where the Lord needs us most.
In our new ward I am the Relief Society Activities Coordinator and Myles is the Gospel principles teacher. Myles refereed again this year, both football and basketball. We are too busy to enjoy our new area too much.

In line for General conference

Beside all of the hustle and bustle of our lives, our testimonies of our Savoir Jesus Christ as once again increased! We are reminded again in this Christmas season that we are forever indebted to him and we will ever serve to show our love for him. Jesus lives! He was born of a virgin mother and an eternally powerful Father. His life and mission was to glorify our Father in Heaven. We strive daily to be disciples of Him and His Gospel. Although we fail in our endeavors, we know that through the Atonement of Christ, we can repent and be saved. So, as this new year begins, remember that there is a way to return to God, the Father. Strive for a better relationship with him, He is there with open arms waiting for you to take the first step. We know this with all of our hearts!

Have a blessed Christmas and a very successful and happy New Year!

A Whole New World!

Zissimato's kids! (from spokane) They call Myles "Order Maskey"

Our new world and new life has been a whirl wind! The last three months have raced by way faster than I anticipated. I am shocked to realize that I am nearly two months through my 6 month program at school! I don't even know where to begin. I'm ashamed to admit that the last time I wrote was in April. Since then so much as happened! I will try to hit the highlights.

Stopped in the Tri-cities to see Collin!

Biggest one is that we moved to Bluffdale, UT! We are thrilled to be here and finally feeling set in. Leading up to our move we had packed most of the house, but Myles finished packing it up alone as I flew back to Oregon for a 3 days to bid an untimely farewell to one of my dearest friends! Jill Tharp was a woman of integrity, love, humility, kindness, humor, sensibility, laughter and God. I am beyond blessed to be able to say that she was such a good friend and leader. I see so many posts on facebook on her wall, telling her how much she is missed, how hard it is to be going along in the day and then be overcome with the pain, how much she taught every person she came in contact with. I feel the pain seer my heart at the most random times, and I have come to the realization that no matter how long she is gone, she will always be loved and missed. And that's okay. She was an angel on earth and she is now an angel in heaven.

Lillian flew a plane!

Going back to our move, I got back 3 days before we left our home in Las Cruces that I grew to love so much. We had a ton of support from the ward. We had so many people come to help load up and clean that I didn't know what to do with all of them. In the process of moving I injured my ankle. I visited the ER (Because my only access to insurance in NM is through the ER)  on the day we were leaving town only to find out that I only had a bruise. I'm not entirely sure about the bruise because I am still feeling it two and a half months later. We stayed the night in Albuquerque with Rachelle (Myles' Sister)  to split up the drive at least a little bit.
We were up way too early to start our drive the following day. It was long but we made it safely and that is what is important. The moving truck was not a fun ride to be in while I was in a splint up to my knee.

Playing in the park! :D

Again, we had a lot of support from the ward, only this time it was from our NEW ward. We made it to our house and there were people here to help us unload! They did it super quickly, and we were able to sleep in our bed just 3 hours after we pulled into our driveway. We like our little basement apartment and our land lord a lot! We are blessed to be here in this little "country" town. Surrounded by horses, deer, orchards, frogs. The works! It's a beautiful place and we are blessed to be here.
We spent a week visiting people in the Spokane Mission that Myles worked with while he served there. That was an amazing week and I am so glad we got to be there. There were so many good people and they increased my love for the stories I've heard and my gratitude that he was able to serve there.
Following our week in Spokane, we made our way to my mom's house for our visit with her, and the annual sand castle competition. There were so many good times in the week and a half we were there. It was great to be blessed with the time with my family. I wish there was more opportunities with them, but they aren't as available as we wish.

BEACHIN! Haystack rock in the back ground!

Since we have been back in Utah we were blessed with not one, but two job opportunities! He accepted both, but has since resigned from one with a boys' home to open up for more time for his full-time job and football officiating. He is working at the Work Activity Center full time. He loves it there! He is working with developmentally handicapped adults. They provide a learning environment, activities, and positive interaction with them daily. He is loving the work and the population that he is allowed to work with. He will soon be promoted to a position in the employment department. That is where they provide work opportunities for their clients. It's a great place and the blessings continue to pour out.

Watched Lillian's softball game the day I got my wisdom tooth out.

I am LOVING school! Every day it is confirmed to me that I made the right choice coming here. It's a wonderful program! I start in the clinic tomorrow so we will see how it goes! I am blessed to be there.
In the ward we are one of 3 young couples in the ward with no kids. haha we were  the first and then the other two couples moved in within the last two weeks. Myles has been called as the Gospel Principles teacher, and I am called for the second time in a row as the Relief Society Activities Coordinator! We are both excited about both of these opportunities.
As I have repeated so many times so far, WE ARE BLESSED.

Road trippin with Chadly!

Studying with my school buddy Andie!

FOOTBALL SEASON IS UPON US!!

Collin came to visit!

So Collin... What an awesome fireball! He has so much energy I could hardly keep up! He is such a sweet kid and it was a great experience to have him with us.

Ashamed that he likes The Voice

Sunday night we got home from Arizona and I gladly introduced him to The Voice. He thought it was silly at first, but soon he was saying, "I hate this show! Why do you make me watch this?" (I go to change the channel... "No! Wait, I'm watching this! I love this show!" Basically he hated the fact that he really did like it. It was a crack up!

Oh, ya know!

For the weeks leading up to his visit I was extremely worried that I wouldn't be able to entertain him much because despite the fact that he was here, we could not stop working. So, He got taken to work! He didn't mind that much because soon after the start of our first dealership he realized that he got to sit in and drool over all the nice cars we work with. The Yellow Camaro's and the sleek black Cadillac's got his attention.  :) We finished work with just enough time to get ourselves fed, courtesy of Collin, and to the Carnival that happened to be in town! Dinner was delicious! It was a big dinner of quesedillas and salad! Notice I said Carnival in one sentence, and big dinner following that. Yeah, BAD CHOICE, MCKAY! The carnival was a lot of fun, but I had to make myself spew halfway through so that my stomach would let me go on more rides. It took a lot of effort, but I finally was able to keep going and it was a blast! We rode every ride worth going on for us big kids, got some cotton candy, and even tried to get Mariah a fish!

This is why these two are friends....

Tuesday we worked again, but to finish off the touches of the day, we went to Chopes! The BEST Mexican restaurant in the area! They make some amazing food! I love their Chili sauces, both green and red! We go there as often as we can. Which isn't often since we try not to eat out a lot, but Collin gave us the perfect excuse!
Wednesday we worked again... it was a REALLY long day. At least I remember it being so... Maybe that was Tuesday that was long... Anyway, I got everything packed up to leave Thursday. Collin helped me clean the house and got himself ready, and Myles did computer work. The second we were ready for the road trip to SLC, UT we headed out the door to meet Mariah at Sweet Cici's. (The only self-serve frozen yogurt place anywhere near here.) We loaded up the sweets and prepared ourselves for the brawl! MARIO CART WII!!! That is a serious game between Myles, Mariah, and Myself. I'm pretty sure Collin thought we were nuts. We stayed there long enough to watch the new Criminal Minds episode. What a great story it was!

Chopes!!

Thursday we busted out the work and hit the road! We left town around 12:45 pm and drove... and drove... and drove... and stopped for the potty, and drove and drove... Holy cow it was a lot of driving. Collin has so much energy and he was holding nothing back in that little space! He kept asking if he could drink the Rock star that was in the car, and we would tell him no. He ended up drinking it anyway and that was more than I was every expecting! He was bouncing off the walls! lol at least it was a little comical for us. He commentated the entire Batman: The Dark Knight movie with such intensity that I can't even explain it! We pulled into Springville, UT to my Dad's childhood home at 1:30 am. What a long day! I crashed out hard once I hit the bed!
Friday was spent apartment hunting and on temple square. We parted ways with Collin shortly after the Temple. His parents also -came up for conference so we dropped him off at their hotel. I will go more into the conference weekend in the Next blog. It was great to have Collin with us and I know that he and Myles enjoyed their time together!

I couldn't find any pictures from the Carnival.. :(

Road trippin' part one!

The house of the Lord in Mesa, AZ

We have been crazy busy over the last few weeks! We had two short work weeks in a row with 2 long busy "vacation" weekends! The first was the week leading up to Easter. What a blessed week it was! We got help from our family in town to get everything done, and were able to do it with plenty of time.

Myles doing one of his favorite things!

On Thursday we spent the majority of the day in the car with Myles' family. We did the 6 hour drive to Mesa, AZ to spend the rest of the evening at the Easter pageant that is held at the Temple. What an inspiring production it was! If you ask Myles, I was hysterical the whole time. I, however, think that I sat there, quietly letting the tears of joy and humility run down my cheeks. The show is about Christ's life with a special focus of his last week on this earth. It quotes the KJV Bible and puts many of the stories into music! The power and awe that was impressed upon me is in describable.
I am beyond thankful for that opportunity. I know that my Redeemer lives and he lights the way for me in all things! His Atonement is REAL and it is for YOU!

Diamondbacks game!

We were housed by the hospitality of Myles' Uncle Bruce. He had all 8 of us in every inch of his house! Myles and I were lucky enough to get a real bed. :D
Friday the long awaited trip to the Temple was finally here! I love to sit and bask in the knowledge that comes when you spend in the peaceful environment of the Temple. The LDS Temples truly are places where Christ resides. Following the 2+ in the Temple we went to the massive mall to shop and have lunch with our Friend Austin. It was great to get to know him a little better. What an honorable young man and a good friend! I don't enjoy shopping much, but I did end up surviving and I even purchased some new church shoes. Even though we hadn't been home since 8 am we went trucking on to the last spring training game for the Diamondbacks. It was a really slow game, but it was really fun anyway. We even got to be on the camera in the background of a outfielder trying to catch a home run!
Bruce is a real estate agent so he helped us try to find some apartments in Salt Lake City. We found a couple but only one responded. (See the results of that in a blog soon to come.)
Every road trip needs a touch of Mabee! We were able to spend 4 or so hours with Paul, Gena and the boys. Gena made some delish salad that was a breath of fresh air compared to my previous fast food meals! We told some funny stories, watched Paul be the star of Marshals video for school, Myles and I even went to their ward's Easter activity with them! It was so cute, it seemed Gena was almost bragging about us as she introduced us to everyone she saw!

Myles, myself and Jess at the open house

Enjoying ourselves in the car by feeding the dog hot cheetos

We made it back to Bruce's house in time to get changed into nice clothes so we could get in the car and drive for an hour to their cousins wedding open house. It was a nice gathering with tasty food, nice company at my table, and short and to the point! We left around an hour after we got there because we needed to get to the airport. Here is where our next adventure begins! We were picking up Collin Howald! He and Myles met at EFY the same summer we did, and he was coming to spend his spring break with us.

The set for the pageant

Sunday we got up early and spent the day in the car again. Home again, Home again, Jiggety jig.

We LOVE to see the Temple!

Pride... Is it Contagious?

Things are always an adventure here! We are doing very well as basketball has now come to a close. Myles got to work all the way up to a first round play off game on his birthday! His next task is to bust out his hours at the Boys home for his internship class. In addition to that, he will soon be added on to their paid staff. That is exciting for us, because we like to be comfortable in the savings account but hold onto the pennies that leave. haha Myles has taught me well. I really had no idea how to budget until he came along.
Today I am feeling especially blessed and proud to be who I am. I am proud to be the wife of Myles Maxey. I am proud to have a testimony of Jesus Christ and to belong to his restored church. I am proud of the family that I was raised in. I am proud to be an american, even if sometimes I don't agree with the leaders of this God-given nation. I am proud of the friends I have made and held on to. And even when it is tough, I am proud of the curves I have inherited that make it ever so hard to wear clothes correctly.
I am learning to celebrate my daily victories, and not dwell on the shortcomings of the day. I mean, as long as I make each day better than the one before, I should be good, right? I am doing my best, and some times it is good enough, and some times it isn't. The end result of every day is up to me. Of course there are always things you cannot control, and we must accept that. Acceptance of those uncontrollable things will make our lives so much more peaceful. When things don't go our way though, do we give up, or we work harder to help them go in our favor? The best things in life are things that have to be worked for. Family relations, friendships, schooling, careers, love, strong testimonies, clean houses, etc. We are rewarded what we work for. But is it really a reward, or following through on the things you start? Take cookies for example; When I make cookies dough sometimes I want to just eat it uncooked, as is! Sometimes that is not the case, either way, I have to put those cookies in some pretty tough heat in order to become something "better". (I only put it in quotations because, like I said, sometimes just the dough is best) We all know diamonds are the same. Very few things in my life go exactly as I plan them, so I must learn to roll with the punches, and become better through the heat of each day.
Now, is pride contagious? We all know the haughty, bad kind is, but I'd like to think the accomplished, humble pride is too! Being proud of who you are and who you become every day is something to take joy in! And joy is indeed something that spreads! Each of us can affect the lives of those we come in contact with by being happy and proud of who we are. Humility is true joy.
We all need improving, myself included, so why not decide everyday to be better? Allow yourself to roll with the punches that life involves. Be who you are and take joy and pride in YOU! Let go of the things in life that serve you no positive purpose. I am glad to have these thoughts on my mind lately, and beyond thankful for the person I become everyday with the help of my Savior.

Joy! Being proud of my current family and the family I came from! 

Don't Forget Eternity

Jesus Christ will teach his people

Last weekend we were blessed to be able to listen to General authorities in our broadcast-ed Stake conference. (For any readers who are not members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, that just means that the members of our stake met together and had speakers satellited to us, rather than them coming to our building. A stake is an area  of members. It helps us be more organized if they break us into groups.) It was an excellent meeting! There were so many wonderful things presented to us, however the thing that stuck out to me the most is this: Every part of the Gospel Jesus Christ taught is tied to Eternity. My mind was drawn to the day before when I had been on pinterest, flipping through whatever was there, and there was one of those silly "Meme" things which said, "Live for right now. Forget Eternity." My heart broke a little when I realized that the message the world and Satan are promoting is just that, to forget eternity.
How has it come to this? Maybe it has been here for a while, and I am just coming to the realization... I don't care who you are, or what you believe, but what you do today always effects tomorrow. There is no way around it! Everything has a consequence. Good or bad is how you choose your actions. At least that's the most logical way I have found to do it. If you don't want a burned hand, you don't grab something that is hot.
Throughout this week I have had several discussions about the Relief Society visiting teaching message for the month. It really has hit me that not only does what we do effect Eternity, but it also effects everyone around us! If we choose to be Christlike in all that we do, others will see and be blessed by that. However, if we choose to let our weaknesses overcome us and for example: not welcome a new face in church, smile at someone on the street, judge others for their weaknesses, or ignore the responsibility we have as brothers and sisters in God to care for one another, Eternity and those around us are effected!
The whole purpose of this life is to live it well, have joy and make it home to our Father in Heaven for ETERNITY! Satan is working so hard to help the world forget this. So how do we fight this eternally devastating message? We have to be firm in our own beliefs, but not forget what the scriptures teach us.
We are free to choose! - 2 Nephi 2 : 27
Every good thing comes from God - Moroni 7 : 16
It is through Jesus Christ that our Eternity is possible -1 John 5 : 11
We are to allow all men to believe as they choose - Articles of Faith 1 : 11
We can only help if we are helping with the right foundation. Jesus Christ made all of this possible. We get to be happy because he loves and blesses us! We are the fastest way his truth gets out to all of the world, and yet half the time we don't take our duty seriously.
I know Jesus Christ lives, and I will do all in my power to let the message of eternity never die!
 Joseph Smith Jr. declared:

“The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.”

And so it shall be. God bless!

If you wanted to read the visiting teaching message, here it is! http://www.lds.org/liahona/2013/02/converted-unto-the-lord?lang=eng

Even the Desert Floods

My morning started off stiff and a little slower than I had intended... I had some pain in my shoulder, but I knew I needed to keep on keeping or else the work we needed to get done would never happen. I worked up the umph to get out of bed and shower. During my shower I noticed that there was little to no water leaving the tub after it came from the shower head. That was odd to me, because our tub usually has a really fast drain. I didn't think much past it, other than that I would ask Myles to send a work order to the family housing office so they could fix it.

Putting my food back into its spot

I tried to call my mom about my shoulder, but she didn't answer, so I made my way down stairs only to find water all over the floor. I looked for the cup that it came from, but I found nothing. I did notice the slightest sound of dripping water. Upon my investigation I found that there was water trickling down the walls of my kitchen! AH! I grabbed all the towels I could find and tried to catch the drips. Then I grabbed all the food out of the cupboards that might get wet and ruined. My mom called me back and my question about my shoulder was completely forgotten. I told her about my flood and that I was doing my best to stop things, but that I didn't know what to do. She had her head on straight, and told me to call the land lord. Oh... DUH!

You want this on your wall, don't you?

I called them and they said they would send someone asap. The back door was open, and my neighbor heard me talking. She told me that she had the same issue! The maintenance guy showed up a few minutes later. When he was told there were two apartments involved he said it was out of his hands, and that he would send the plumber that they use as a contractor. 

All the food on my table.

Myles and I had things to do, and a flush-able toilet was severely needed. We left and hopped they would fix the problem before we came back. I was blessed to be able to get into the Chiropractor. He adjusted my Collar bone. Apparently that was making my shoulder pinch weird. I am so glad he always goes for the problem, rather than fixing the immediate symptom. After spending most of the day at Ann's house, we returned home, hoping to find a fixed main line. As we pulled up, our neighbor happened to be on the way out and she said they had fixed it. Our main line was plugged and everything that came from mine,  and my neighbors plumbing went down my wall! SO GROSS! My Toilet is upstairs! :/

My day was blessed, even though it started off crazy! It even rained!