Happiness

A lot of people don't like that blogs are turning into "brags"- basically people just bragging about how great their "perfect" life is. I look up to the people who can talk about their struggles on their blogs. I respect and adore these people because they are brave enough to say- "hey, I'm not perfect... who's with me!" Well, my life is not perfect. However, I hope that you will excuse me for not diving into the current struggles in my life. If you want, I will be more than happy to talk with you personally about my struggles (I am not ashamed or shy about them), but because I don't know exactly who is reading and following my blog, I'm not going to dive into them here. So... I think I will share some exciting things that have been happening in my life lately. These events make me happy and so why wouldn't I want to share them in hopes that maybe they might make you happy as well :-)

First, my birthday was yesterday. Yay for being 24! (that's not old... right?) When I was young I hated it when my birthday was on a Sunday. Believe it or not, that was the one day a year when I liked going to school because everyone could know and celebrate my birthday with me. However, now that I'm older, I find that I LOVE having my birthday on a Sunday. I was able to be surrounded by my family and Phillip didn't have to do law school work. Perfect! We spent most of the day in Salt Lake with my family. As we drove home to Provo I was happy and satisfied with my day. Little did I know that my sweet husband had planned a big surprise party waiting for me in our apartment when we got home! 33 people ended up cramming themselves into our apartment to celebrate my birthday. Completely embarassing? YES. Completely in love with my husband for surrounding me with people that I love on my birthday? YES!! It was... perfect.

Today I am overwhelmed with the love that I felt yesterday from friends, family, and my husband who I adore. Thanks everyone for such a great day!!

There is one more piece of happy news to share with you all today. Drum roll please...

Phillip got a hired by an amazing firm for a summer associate position next summer!!

In this current economy, we know just what a big blessing this is. The firm that Phillip will be working with (Ashby & Geddes) sounds amazing. They don't kill you off with tons of work like the other firms he was considering but they still pay well. They only hire 1 to 2 summer associates a year because unless you bomb your summer with them, they plan on hiring you after law school as a permanent employee. Seems like a dream come true, right?

So are ya ready for the clencher?..........

The law firm is in Delaware.

Far away from so many people that I love, but full of opportunites. So, east coast... here we come...

Sumpter Pride

Phillip and I just got back from an awesome trip to Delaware to see the Sumpter family. Phillip has been living out there since June doing an internship for Judge Kent Jordan on the United States Court of Appeals, for the Third Circuit. He had an amazing experience with the Judge and learned so much. As an added bonus, Phillip has been able to spend the summer living at his parents house and spending well needed time with his parents and 8 siblings. They had a blast together. I joined the party at the beginning of July. It was the first time since I joined the family in 2006 that we had the entire family together- 12 of us!










Some of the highlights of the trip were going to the beach every weekend, visiting Washington DC, and making movies together. For those of you who know the Sumpters, you know that they have a tradition of making funny and entertaining movies as a family.
To show you just how creative and great the Sumpter family is, here is a movie they created. The family actually made this movie after we left Delaware. It was in response to a video that Phillip had sent the family showing the BYU football photo shoot (have I mentioned that the entire family is die-hard BYU fans?) Here is the orginal video that Phillip sent the family:



Pretty dang awesome. Well of course the Sumpters wanted in on the fun, so his siblings made their own version of the photo shoot for Phillip to enjoy:


Is it any wonder why we miss these guys? Priceless...

Good Things To Come

Simply put, it is way to easy to get discouraged in this life. There are too many situations that tempt us to get down on ourselves and the way our life is going. It is easy to feel all alone in a trial and think that no one could possible understand exactly how I feel. If I allow myself to dwell on the hard aspects of my life, I find it is way too easy to start feeling discouraged. I then start to doubt my abilitiy to make it through some of life's many challenges. It is times like these when I am grateful for moments like I had the other day - a moment when I sat down at my computer and watched the following video. It was a moment when an apostle of God told me specifically and directly to just keep trying and not give up- life is too sweet to not enjoy. This message from Elder Holland has had such an impact on my life. The story he tells may seem simple, but the message is so profound. I know it is true, and I share it now with you so that maybe you can have the same defining moment that I have had.

I love this video, and I know you will too:


"Some blessings come soon, some come late... But for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come."

There are good times ahead for me. I know that. I will not give up. I will not be discouraged. I am so blessed.

AUSTRALIA

We are back from our trip to Australia! It was such an amazing adventure that I have actually been dreading this post. How do you put into pictures and words such an incredible experience!? We filled our days full of so much fun and took over 1,000 pictures! This post, though long, is such a small part of our amazing experience. I will forever be grateful that we had this adventure of a lifetime!!

To start... this is where Phillip worked for the month of May. He was in the large AMP tower right next to Sydney Harbor:

His office was on the 28th floor and it overlooked the beautiful harbor. Here are some pictures from his office window:

Phillip stayed with the most amazing family while he was there. They were so sweet and gave us both such a great taste of Australia! Phillip loved his externship and the experience he had there.

I arrived out there on May 30th- Phillip's 26th birthday! We were so excited to be together after 3 long weeks of living apart. We immedietly began filling our days with tons of fun. Here we are on the train- our main way of getting around while we were in Sydney:

We were amazed how much there was to see just walking around the city of Sydney. This was one of the many cool buildings that we visited- the Queen Victoria Building. It had a shopping mall inside that was way cooler than any mall I have ever been to:

The Sydney tower is the tallest point in Sydney. It towered over the other giant buildings. We were able to go to the top and see the beautiful upper view of Sydney:

Beaches are a main attraction in Sydney. We were able to visit two famous beaches- Manly Beach (1st picture) and Bondi beach (other 3 pictures). They were so breathtaking. It was fun to see all of the amazing surfers that were determined to ride the waves, even though it is winter out there:

The sweet Murrin Family took us on an all-day drive down the southern coast of Australia. We saw so many beautiful sights that day. Here are a few:

Visiting the Sydney Temple was one of my favorite things that we did. Being so far away from home, it was nice to see a structure that looked so familiar. It did, however, have a blue roof!:

The rain was a constant companion to us on our trip. We were only able to escape it for about 2 of the days that we were there. Our dollar store umbrella did not hold up very long:

We visited the largest IMAX theatre in the world while we were there! It was fun and a great way to get out of the rain. We watched a fun surfer movie in 3D:

Of course we had to see the many animals of Australia while we were there. We visited both the Wild Life Park and the Aquarium. We saw so many cool animals- dingos, kangaroos, wombats, snakes, spiders, crocks, turtles, koalas, bandicoots, kookaburas, emus, echindas, lizards, tons of fish, and a giant shark tank!- just to name a few:

And we can't forget the food! We ate so many new and interesting things! Among our favorites were fish and chips, meat pies, and kebabs!:

And in case you haven't had enough, here are a few more photos of our adventures:

This trip couldn't have come at a better time of our lives. It was so nice to leave every care and worry behind and be able to spend time togeher as husband and wife, enjoying the beautiful earth that has been created just for us to enjoy! We know trips like this only come once in a life time and we will never forget how blessed we are to have had this amazing adventure.

(don't forget to check out my other new post about my cute family!)