I’m a Tempe Goin Gal

On January 19, 2013, I had the opportunity to receive my endowment and make new and sacred covenants with my Heavenly Father in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.

It was such a beautiful day with my eternal family.

Since this day, I have attended the Las Vegas, Provo, Timpanogas, and Bountiful temples.

It might be on my bucket list to attend every temple in the world. Dream big folks.

It’s Beautiful in Poland

I get to live HERE for 16 months:

Seriously, though, you guys.

I think I’m gonna like it.

Called to Serve

On October 6, 2012, this announcement was made:

On December 7, 2012, this announcement was made:

I cry every time I watch both. But only because I truly couldn't be happier.

I Climbed The Great Wall!

I consider this to be one of my greatest achievements in life! That was hard work!

Here are pictures (to prove it) and some interesting facts:

The Great Wall of China is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in northern China, built originally to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire against intrusions by various nomadic groups.

The Great Wall of China is one the Seven Wonders of the Medieval World.

The Great Wall of China is 25 feet high in some places and ranges from 15-30 feet wide.

During its construction, the Great Wall was called “the longest cemetery on earth” because so many people died building it. It cost the lives of more than one million people.

The main wall is around 2,145 miles long with an extra 1,770 miles of branches and spurs.

The manpower to build the Great Wall came from frontier guards, peasants, unemployed intellectuals, disgraced noblemen, and convicts.

Signal towers were built upon hill tops or other high points along the wall for their visibility.

Facts taken from http://facts.randomhistory.com/2009/04/18_great-wall.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Wall_of_China

Finally got a Big Ben heel-click!!! YIPEE!

If you didn’t catch this comment before,  I lost all my pictures from London and Paris….

I was most sad about losing my Big Ben heel-click.

Happily, I have friends who took pictures for me!! They must have known….

I WILL live in London someday.

I realize that I’m not jumping in this picture. I just like how there’s no one else in it.

Eating frogs and stuff.

Once upon a time, I went to an outdoor food market in China.

We were having a grand old time trying new, delicious Chinese food off the street.

Then Josh showed us his bucket of cooked frogs.

The daring Marisa wanted to be brave and try one.

My lips tingled for an hour.

But at least there was a good sunset after that…..

And I lived spicily ever after.

I bet you’ve seen this somewhere…

This is how they used to communicate in places like Switzerland or other mountainous regions in Europe. It’s called an alphorn and I got to play one!! Well sort of… I played two notes. Okay now give me a break: I play violin, a little guitar and piano, and sing. I do not blow! This is a lot harder than it looks.

Now that I’ve given you a few seconds to ponder, do you know what this instrument is used in? The Ricola commercials.

Watch this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=toIrEmFbs9U

AROUND THE WORLD AND BACK!

The Great Wall of China

The Eiffel Tower

Notre Dame

The Great Matterhorn (Switzerland)

The Hills of Austria

St. Mark’s Basilica (Venice)

I had a heel-click in front of Big Ben but unfortunately I lost all my pictures from London and Paris…

Notice my jacket…. Deutschland!!

So I’ve been a few places this summer…. There is simply too much to blog about and too many pictures to post and so let me just write about a few of my favorite parts from each place.

China – being in a 10 million populated city (Wuhan, Hubei) and having everyone come up to me and ask to have a picture taken with me. We were all celebrities there! (Especially the light-haired, blue-eyed girls hehe.) I definitely feel like royalty. We spent three weeks in China, two of which were spent rehearsing and performing with the Hubei Symphony Orchestra. We all had Chinese stand-partners and mine was a sweetheart. She didn’t speak very much English but neither did most of the people I met. Somehow though, we managed to become pretty close friends… even with the language barrier. My most important and favorite lesson in China was that music is a universal language. Actually, I re-learned that in every country that I went to.

We spent our last 4 days in Beijing where we saw The Forbidden City, The Summer Palace, The Temple of Heaven, the pearl, silk, jade, and tea factories, and of course, climbed the Great Wall…. among other things. I might have to continually blog about certain things on this trip.

Oh by the way…. I sat on an elephant.

 

London – seeing Phantom of the Opera, Big Ben, and finding out That London Bridge isn’t really London Bridge.… It’s called the Tower of London. Did you know the real London Bridge is in Arizona? It’s true. Look it up. Oh also, I got to go to a church service in Westminster Abbey.

Paris – climbing the Eiffel Tower in the pouring rain!! Need I say more? Probably not.

Crans-Montana, Switzerland – getting encored 5 times in our concert and bawling my eyes out during Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, the amazing view from our hotel room, and watching people drop their cheese during fondu… then having to kiss every boy on the table. (I never dropped the cheese, don’t worry.) Oh and the CHOCOLATE!

Innsbruck, Austria – seeing Mozart’s home, eating big pizzas, yelling/singing “the hills are alive with the sound of music…. aaaah” :) S

Venice, Italy – ummm being in the City that holds the same name as my roommate, streets made out of water!!!, yummy Gilato, but I must say that my favorite part of Venice was singing in St. Mark’s Basilica. I wish pictures had been allowed in there.

Rothenburg, Germany – stopping at Dachau Concentration Camp on the way, the cute houses, the cobblestone, being in Christmas decoration heaven, crying at our last concert, and thinking of the wonderful friends I made on this trip. How lucky am I?

This summer has helped me appreciate so many different cultures. For the rest of my life, I want to travel as much as I possibly can. Being a poor musician has it’s benefits right?