His Sacred Name - An Easter Declaration

Next week is Easter Sunday and I can't wait! We will be with family and will be reflective about why Easter is so special. We remember the atonement of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I think we should always be thinking about this magnificent event and strive to live our lives more like the Savior. I am so grateful for His divine act of love. I know that He is risen. Christ lives. He loves me, he loves you, and he will come back to Earth for His second coming and it will be glorious.

Anyway, hope you enjoy this beautiful video as much as I did :-)

One of those days...

Yeah... it's been one of those days today. Actually I'll probably feel like this for the next 2 1/2 weeks. So close to being done with the semester.

Salt Lake Cemetery

About a month ago Eric and I went to the Salt Lake Cemetery. It may sound morbid to go there on a date, but we actually really enjoyed our time there. We went to the office and found a map outside the door with a map to the cemetery. It showed where all of the "notable" graves were. Now this cemetery is seriously huge (and it was rainy), so we drove around to the different sections, parked, and tried to find the grave sites of many LDS prophets, apostles, scholars, etc. Oh, and the view from the cemetery (it's on a hill) is GORGEOUS! Sadly, pictures don't do it justice. Here's my attempt at the view of Salt Lake Valley:

We also saw some very old graves from the mid-1800s. Some were illegible, but others were interesting to see and read. This is a shot of a couple old tombstones I took while there. Who knew they made something like clay tablets for tombstones.

Anyway, we had a really fun time and I would recommend going if your ever in Salt Lake City :-)

Baker Family Photos

Over Christmas Break we had such a great time with our families (Bakers & Barbours). We also miss sunny California and can't wait to move back... some day. Haha. My cousin Rachel took these fabulous family portraits on New Years' Eve (Thanks Ray!) and they look so nice. Will post more later :-)

The Light of the World

Christmas time is such a fun time of year --From buying presents for loved ones to spending time with our loving families. I especially love to see the Christmas lights people put on their houses. Sadly, we haven't seen many people with Christmas lights up :( But it makes me happy when I do see them. To get in more of the Christmas spirit, I recently read various talks from the apostles and prophets that have told about the greatest light during Christmas time --the gift and life of Jesus Christ. It was such a wonderful experience filled with the spirit and at times my face felt a little wet. I sometimes get so caught up in the superficial things during Christmas that I fail to reflect on the birth, atonement, and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I know without his atonement and love and compassion for all of God's children, we would be lost. Now because of his great gift, and if we keep the commandments and our covenants with the Lord, we will return to live with Heavenly Father and our families forever. I'm grateful for my own family --Eric, Bakers, & Barbours-- and for their examples to me of giving and being filled with the light of Christ. I hope you all will be able to remember our Savior during this holiday season and recognize all that He has done for us.

Here is a link to the Christmas story (if anyone wants to read it) and if you click on the links within the story, it will connect you to more talks and some beautiful music. Enjoy!

Christmas Story

A little D.C.

So we got back from Washington D.C. about a month ago and I've failed to blog about it. Not surprised, haha. We took tons of pictures (half of them are on our facebook -- the other half I haven't gotten off my memory card). Here are a few:

This first picture is from this random ice cream shop we stumbled upon. Eric said they had the best chocolate ice cream he has ever had! When we went back to get more ice cream the next day (a Saturday) they were closed. I have no clue why so many shops were closed on a Saturday... it was sometimes a source of frustration.

These pictures aren't really in order of how we did stuff, but this one above is outside the Lincoln Memorial. It was so cool!! We love Abe Lincoln. Also, the view of the Washington monument from the top of the stairs was gorgeous (picture of this located at the bottom of this post).

This is the Institute of Peace, and the location and the style of the building was actually very peaceful! It's not open yet though.. they are still finishing parts of the building (I think on the inside).

This is Eric right outside of George Washington Medical School where his namesake (Grandpa Merrill) went to Medical School. Pretty cool, huh?

View of the Washington monument on the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial.

Old Spice, New Spice. Red Spice, Blue Spice.

This is for all you lovers of the old spice commercials/BYU fans! (I stole this off of Adrienne Castleton's blog--thanks Adrienne!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ArIj236UHs&feature=player_embedded