Applications

There is nothing like spending your Saturdays filling out your life history over and over again in hopes that some unsuspecting graduate program will actually admit you despite your complete and utter inadequacies. I've mostly completed 8 applications with 1 or 2 more to go. I guess come this Spring, we will know where I will be for the next couple of years. I really hope its somewhere warm!

Bon Voyage

Lacey and I booked ourselves a cruise this past week. We will be sailing in January to the BAHAMAS and are so excited that we can hardly contain ourselves. Now if only November and December would just fly by...we can be sitting in a place like this.

and like this...

while doing this...

and this...

I cannot wait.

Great Surprises

This girl has been called to serve a mission in Olongapo, Philippines Tagalog speaking!   

She will report to the Provo MTC in March and will serve for 18 months. We are all very shocked because the Philippines were nowhere on our radar as a place that she might go. At first we had no clue what to think but the more we find out about the Philippines, the more it makes perfect sense that Katherine would go there. It seems to be a perfect fit! We are all so excited for her. She will be a fantastic missionary.

Halloween

As you can see by the picture, I was obviously a giraffe for Halloween. I think the kids were a little surprised when they first came to the door but my costume was a hit.

Elder Richards

We got a lot of new photos from Elder Richards this weekend. Here are some of my favorites. 

LDP

My college roommate Lacey came to visit this weekend. Within 24 hours of her arriving, we had gone to the Capitol, the White House, the Washington Monument, Lincoln and WWII Memorials, drove by the CIA several times, went shopping in Georgetown, ate at Georgetown Cupcakes, and spent a few hours tanning at the pool. I am so glad that she came to visit!!! 

Tomorrow is the National's Game and the 4th of July. What more could you ask for? 

News from Peru

As many know my little brother Stephen is serving a mission in Peru. He is in the MTC in Lima which is called the CCM right now but will soon be headed to Trujillo. As many know who have had siblings and family members serve missions, having them gone for 2 years is difficult especially when you get one email every week, hand written letters here and there and 2 phone calls a year. The key to all of this though is consistency. I look forward to that email every week. It is something that I know is coming and I'm anxious for it to arrive (as many could tell with my last few blog posts). Usually Elder Richards gets to write home on Wednesdays so for the past couple of weeks I have started my letter to him on Tuesday evening so that I can fill him in on everything that has been happening up to that point. Today however, I got a call from my dad saying that he had just received an email from Stephen and that they had switched their day to email to today and that we should all hurry and get letters written to him because he would only be on for another hour. My mom and I were in the kitchen mid dinner preparations and we dropped everything and ran. Literally. There was something on the stove in the middle of cooking and I quickly turned off the stove, moved the pan to another burner and ran to my computer. Luckily we were all able to get something off to him in time for him to get it and respond back to us. Last week we got some pictures of Elder Richards in our email and he looks so handsome! In his letters he sounds so happy to be there and so excited to meet the people of Peru and teach them about the gospel. I honestly couldn't be more proud of him and so excited that he gets to be having these experiences. I guess that eases the sadness of having him away for 2 years.

Stephen is quickly learning the language and is loving the country. Because he is in the CCM he only gets to go out into the town every once and a while but he gets so excited every time that they get to go out and explore and talk to the people. So far he has had very positive and successful experiences with talking to people on the streets of Lima.
Every week beings new challenges and even greater rewards.