On a more serious note... what I have learned lately:

Sometimes life is hard. Sometimes God has a different plan for us than we have for ourselves. But if you have faith everything will eventually turn out okay. This is something I have learned as of late. I'm being brief but I don't want to go into detail.

I was given this quote when I needed it the most and I absolutely love it so I thought I'd share:
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. He intends to come and live in it Himself.

C.S. Lewis


I heard this one in Institute today: 
Patience is not passive resignation, nor is it failing to act because of our fears. Patience means active waiting and enduring. It means staying with something and doing all that we can—working, hoping, and exercising faith; bearing hardship with fortitude, even when the desires of our hearts are delayed. Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well!

Impatience, on the other hand, is a symptom of selfishness. It is a trait of the self-absorbed. It arises from the all-too-prevalent condition called “center of the universe” syndrome, which leads people to believe that the world revolves around them and that all others are just supporting cast in the grand theater of mortality in which only they have the starring role. -Pres. Uchtdorf

Best Spring Break Ever! -Tijuana, Mexico

This Week for Spring Break I went with an Organization Called "Charity Anywhere" to Tijuana, Mexico. There were about 33 people, and we were all from Utah State. Originally, I only knew about 3 people but now I have a bunch of new friends! Its great! We Left on Saturday morning at five in the morning. That's right, we drove there. I slept most of the way so it went by really fast.:) I was a little nervous going to Tijuana, with all the things that have been going on there lately, but I'm happy to report that I made it out alive! And I really didn't see anything super skechy, so that was good! The first day we were there, Sunday, we went to church, where I couldn't understand everything, but it was still good to go to church. Then for the next five days we were all split into groups and assigned to work on various projects. Such as, building the walls to a house, building roofs for some house, putting stucko on some houses, building a fence, building a retaining wall made out of tires, digging a hole for a septic tank, etc, etc. There were some members of the church who would feed us every night! They fed us the most delicious mexican food, I think I gained about five pounds this week! One night they even threw us a dance party for one of the girl's birthdays, with a dj, cake and all! It was an amazing trip! Here are some pictures:

This was the view from the roof, we could see the border line fence and San Diego in the distance.

This is my car pool in front of the church on Sunday. I thought it was so interesting, this church building was an exact replica of the churches I've been to in Torreon, Mexico and Cuenca, Ecuador.


This is where we stayed at- it was an abandoned hospital so it was free! It was actually pretty nice. I slept on a cot and lots of others brought blow up mattresses.


This is on Sunday when we went to the orphange and played with the kids. They were adorable, and loved to be played with! Orphanages always break my heart, I wish I could adopt them all!

This is one of the jobs we did, we weeded the grass along this tire stair case so that the kids wouldn't get their pants all wet when they went to school in the morning.

At one of the houses we were helping with, a mom, probably in her mid twenties taught us how to make authentic Mexican flour Tortillas! I wasn't too good at it at first, but they were delicious!

I'm pretty good with a hammer and nail now... haha, We helped to make the framework for the top level of this house. It took quite a lot of team work!

Courteny and I had the daunting task of scraping the cement off this wall. We didn't find out till have way through that cement fumes are really dangerous, so we started wearing the masks.

This night was amazing! At one of the houses, one of the little girls who's family's house we were helping to build turned 8 while we were there! She is the one in the pink hat in the front. It was such an amazing experience! Denise's mom didn't know she was supposed to but together a program, but "coincidentally" two of the girls with us were returned missionaries, and both had spoken Spanish on their missions. So one of them spoke on the Holy Ghost, and the other on Baptism, and then the rest of us sang, "I am a Child of God" in Spanish. Then Denise's uncle who had travelled for 48 hours on a bus from Mexico City baptized her. I loved the Spirit that I felt right before she entered the water. After she was baptized, this sweet little girl bore here testimony. I had it translated to me while she was saying it, she is such an amazing girl with such a strong testimony for an 8 year old girl living in Tijuana, Mexico. What an amazing experience!

Here is Me, Courtney, Todd, Kaden, and our new friend Jorge in front of the main houses we were helping with.

Here is the group of us that built the tire retaining wall. If you can see, there is a place where a river runs behind us. (it was dry at that time) Starting this project, it looked pretty impossible. The tires we were supposed to use were all heaped in a pile and they were filled with nasty, nasty "water." We called it the pee water, it was disgusting! By the time we really started working, hygiene went out the window. We put on our gloves and built that wall. It felt SO good to have it finished!

On the last day, we took a half day of work and hit the beach after! It was the perfect end to the perfect week!

UTAH STATE HEY AGGIES ALL THE WAY!

I love my Utah State Aggies!

BYU vs. USU was epic, I'm proud to be an Aggie!

to check out some of the signs from the game, click here

Shout out to Brando

For this post I want to give a shout out to my brother Brandon.

He is ten years younger than me, and he is the funniest kid around. He always makes me laugh and he is so sweet. He is always gives me a hug and says, "I love you" when we are leaving in the morning to both go to school. I love my little brother Brandon even though someday I know

he is going to be much bigger than me! :)

I am a receptionist at a chiropractor's office and the other day he called me at work and said, "Madi, this is your brother Brandon. I was wondering if you would take me to the Logan High Football game tonight." My parents were both already there running the snack shack, so they couldn't take him. I didn't really WANT to go to the Logan High game, but how could I say no to that? So I told him I could, then he said, "Thank You, I love you so so so so much."

Another funny thing he did:

A couple weeks ago, a neighbor of ours called the house

asking for my dad, "Is your dad there?"

Brandon answered with a, "He's" BURP "Not."

My mom didn't think that was very funny..

Whenever Brandon makes this face me and Hillary bust up laughing. We think it is SO hilarious. Maybe you have to see it in person, or maybe you just have to be me but its so funny. Austin just looks at us like we are crazy when we laugh at him.:)

Love you little brother!

FINALLY... an update

ECUADOR:

I promised a couple of people that I would blog about my trip to Ecuador. I have been home for about two weeks now, so its about time! To put is simply, Ecuador was an amazing experience. Being there broke my heart and made me so thankful for everything that I have. It made me realize that since I am so blessed I have a responsibility to help others in any way that I can. While I was there, we took shifts at 4-5 different orphanages, as if we were workers there because they don't have enough workers. I played with the kids, fed them, and changed their diapers. The first shift I took, we walked into a big room with about 15 cribs and little toddlers in each of them. The minute they saw us, they got so excited and couldn't wait for us to hold them. They didn't even know me yet, but they were so excited to be held and to be loved. I remember holding a little baby and looking into her eyes and just about breaking out into tears, thinking that this precious baby doesn't have a home or a family that loves her. Being in Ecuador, I definitely brushed up on my Spanish skills, and I am now determined to learn Spanish. In Ecuador, the orphanages are packed with kids. There were about 4 newborn babies, and one was found in a dumpster. Its so heartbreaking. If you are not from Ecuador, it cost $30,000 to adopt. The kids there are so cute. If I could, I would adopt a couple of my favorites:) Is that bad to say?

One of the days I was there we were able to fly to Guayaquil, Ecuador and go to the temple. We were able to do baptisms and between our group we did about 450 baptisms and confirmations. The temple president came and talked to us, I felt the Spirit so strongly. The church is true and the same no matter where in the world you go:

This is baby Emily. She was an orphan in the hospital who was only born with half of her brain, because of hospital expenses and such, she is probably not going to make it much longer.
Beautiful Catholic Cathedral in Cuenca, Ecuador.
The kids are so anxious to be loved

One of the days we went on a gorgeous hike in the Andes Mountains to some breathtaking waterfalls. Coldest water ever! :)

One of my best friends Bergen and I went to Ecuador together, this is a picture overlooking the city of Cuenca where we stayed. I am so glad me and Bergen were able to go together, we had so much fun together! We had quite the experiences both crazy and uplifting.

Finally a blog update for my life:

I sure wish that I was better at blogging! But here goes anyway, it sure has been a fun summer so far! I have done a lot of fun and amazing things, and I still have some left to do. I love taking pictures, so my summer has been well documented. I have also worked a lot this summer, I love my job. I work at Stucky Chiropractic and I am the receptionist. It is such a great job!

Well today was my friend Chase's mission farewell. He is the last of my friends to go on his mission because he has a late birthday. Chase lives across the street from me and he has four brothers and no sisters, so he always calls me, "sis." He's going to the Dominican Republic, I'll miss him!

Cache Valley is such a beautiful place and I feel so privileged to live here. I will always consider it home no matter where I go. This summer I have gone four wheeling and on a bunch of hikes. Every time I'm up in the Mountains and I see how beautiful it is, I am so grateful for nature. It helps me to clear my head and to feel the Spirit. I don't see how you could see the beautiful things in this world and not believe there is a God.

I also have such great friends. There comes a time in life when you realize the people who really matter, who will always be there for you and that you can rely on. I am so thankful for my friends who I can trust and who help to build me up in so many ways.

Preston Valley Trail:

Crimson Trail:

This past week for my friend Haddie's birthday, her dad flew us in his plane to San Diego. We left on Wednesday morning and got back on Thursday night, so it was short and sweet. We stayed in her beach house, swam at the beach, went out on the boat, and road beach bikes to breakfast. It was so much fun!

I have been known to take a lot of jumping pictures in my time, so its kind of my trademark now. "Madi, lets take a jumping picture!" haha I don't mind