St. Regis Montana

My dad found this place a few years ago but it is in St. Regis Montana just off the I-90 exit (I think it was exit 33 in Montana) but it is an antique store that often sales bags of beef jerky (Sometimes they have buffalo, or turkey jerky too). It is about 2 or 3 hours from Spokane but if any of you get the chance I think it is worth the stop (as long as you like jerky). I hadn't been there for a while since I don't often travel and it is just too far to make a trip just for jerky. But since I was heading for Idaho Falls with some friends I took the time to stop. Of course they have some good antiques in there too. The first time I went there during a family trip my dad bought some old CocaCola coolers.

Work Hard Katherine

For quite sometime I have been having breakfast at least once a month with some friends. I originally started it at my house so that we can all meet together since we tend to have wierd schedules. And now our breakfast crew has been changed since Katherine left for her mission on the 7th of September for the MTC before going to the Columbia, South Carolina mission.

These pictures were taken after her farewell talk on August 21st

Massage Graduation

It has been a while but on the 16th of August we had our massage school graduation.
This is most of my class, there were a few people who weren't able to make it for one reason or another. There were so many cameras going off that it was hard to know were to look. I can't believe we are done it has been hard work and it had its fast and slow moments. I am done with my test and everything but I still have eight more hours of student clinic to finish so I should be officially done with school on the 24th of September.

Massage School Finals

I am almost done with school. Yea!!! I am so excited!

I have taken my last class and I have already taken my first 2 finals and passed them and now I just have 2 more to go. Though my hardest one is tonight. I pray I pass I have been studying quite a bit in hopes that I will be able to remember everything but it is a practical test and I don't always do well on those because of some test anxiety things just kind of get all messed up in my head and although I know that it is in there sometimes I feel like I am just grabing for anything. But hopefully tonight everything goes smoothly and they mostly pick the things I know best.

Tonight will be stressful and so will Thursday for my last test, but hopefully on Friday and Saturday I will be celebrating the passing of these tests.

My graduation is on next Tuesday the 16th of August. Though I won't be officially done until the end of the month since I will still have about 20 more hours of student clinic to finish up but compared to the tests that I have this week those will be easy enough, I already have all the hours planed for I just need to show up.

First Endowment Session

First of all if anyone reads this and doesn't know much about LDS Temples or Endowments please go to mormon.org to find out more or talk to the LDS missionaries.

I love the temple and I feel so blessed to have one so close by. I haven't been able to go as much as I would like but I am grateful for each chance I have when I can go.

On the 30th of July I had the wonderful opportunity to go when a friend of mine got her endowment. This is the second time I've had the opportunity to see a friend go through and although each time you go to the temple is special seeing someone you know go through for the first time makes it even better. Seeing her face afterwards was amazing.

As I was watching her I remembered my first time and I wonder and how new it all was and how overwhelming, but also how grateful I was to have had the opportunity and to know that I could go back to help others and hopefully they will accept it for themselves.

I am so grateful for the gospel for the hope and joy we can find in it. And the peace, spirit, and feelings of love we can feel in the temple. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father for the opportunity I and others have to be cleansed from sin and have the opportunity to enter these Holy Places.

(Sorry that the picture turned out blurry) This is three of us outside the front doors afterwards.

Also I am happy right now because I learned that yet another person who I helped teach while on my mission has gone to the temple for their endowments too.  I was so happy and full of joy for that person, I almost cried.

Spiritual Thoughts from Massage School

Before I took any Anatomy and Physiology classes I knew that our bodies are able to function because of God's divine hand. After I started taking Anatomy and Physiology everything has just confirmed that more solidly in my head. I do not understand how anyone could look at the way our bodies work and not understand that there is at least some kind of divine power behind all this. I remember one teacher I had at the community college who really went into different birth defects that may arise and I gained even more understanding of what a miracle it is each time a baby comes out of their mother's womb with little to no complications or even alive in the first place.

  This last weekend I had to go to a weekend class at my school and as part of that class we practiced clinical work on each other. Most people only think about relaxation massages but Massage Therapist can do quite a bit to help in the healing process from things like muscle sprains, tendenitis, affects from a car accident and more. Anyways I was talking with one of my classmates about how some of the techniques that we do in order to help with these can be painful. This got me thinking about repentance, and I thought about this before in some other forms but this time I thought about it in comparison to massage. In relaxation massage we take care of everyday muscle tightness and we give a nudge to the body to do as it should. As we do those things that keep us spiritually strong we are nudging ourselves to be closer and closer to becoming as we should to return to our Father's presence. Then in clinical massage the body that is being worked on has varied quite far from it's optimal condition and to get it to how it was can take quite a bit of manipulation and it can be quite painful. This is the same when we need to repent enspecially if we have been varying for quite sometime from the path the He has established for us and it can be painful both emotionally and spiritually to return to the path to becoming more like him. In the end though it is all worth it to do what is needed to keep our physical, spiritual, and mental well being were they need to be so that we can press forward with all our heart, might, mind, and stregth to get to where we want to be both in this life and in the world to come.

Independence Day

    I was happy that we had such good weather. My roommate and I had a BBQ at our house on the 3rd since I worked all day on the 4th. It was nice but I had to go to sleep shortly after I ate since I had an overnight shift. My sleep schedule is really weird on the weekends. I enjoyed my 4th though I worked for most of the day. As my client and I were watching the Macy firework spectacular I realized that I haven't seen live fireworks for a number of years so I think next year I will make sure to go see some.

    I am grateful to live in this country and for the freedom we all have here. I am grateful for democracy that allows me to influence the laws and the leaders in my area. Also I am grateful for all those who are willing to serve in the military and who have served in the past. Thank goodness that we are all different and willing to serve in our different ways.

Memories of Amy

I totally forgot that I had these pictures of Amy. Amy was a friend from my ward here in Spokane. This was in April of 2007 four and a half months after I returned from Brazil. Unfortunately in September of the same year Amy ended up dying in the woods between Spokane and Deer Park I am very grateful though to have this memory with Amy. Me, Amy and Jaime went to General Conference that year and we all drove down to gether in my car. With a stop in Idaho Falls, Idaho to see the temple there. Amy is also the reason why I named my car, she had this thing about a car needing a name, so my car is named Jasper the Jeep (this was before I knew anything about Twilight, since I met her shortly after I got off my mission).

The Start

I have been thinking about starting this for quite some time now. I don't have much to say at this time I am still in attending classes at Inland Massage Institute and I am excited to be almost done. I will try to post fairly regularly but we will see what happens in time.