Youth Conference 'O9

As you know, my summer has been pretty jam packed since the beginning. I'm not complaining, or saying it's a rough schedule because it really isn't, it's just something I'm not use to doing. Normally, my summers creep by at an extremely slow pace as I just waste my precious freedom doing absolutely nothing. This summer, however, has been one of growth; emotionally, spiritually, and even growing by doing new things I'd never expect.

This past weekend, I was privilege to attend my church's youth conference (for those who don't know the church-y lingo, it's a youth camp for 3 days for kids ages 14 to 18. You do service projects, have fun, and learn more about the church in ways you didn't know were possible.) This year's youth conference will be one I'll never forget, and even though that sounds incredibly cheesy and cliche, I mean every word.

This year, our youth conference theme was about missionary work. We had to go door to door proselyting, giving out packages with Book of Mormons and other goodies in them. We got people to listen to us, and we got doors slammed in our faces. We were able to apply how important judgement day was by participating in the Carnival of Life (I'll explain if you want me to.) We were able to do service projects for the community. We were able to take workshops about gospel related topics. We were also able to go swimming, and even have 2 dances.

My favorite part was the testimony meeting. Hearing kids my age, younger, and older say how they feel about the gospel just makes my heart swell. Their trials, their joys, their fears. They all inspired me so much. The meeting lasted two hours, and I balled the entire time. Just thinking about the spirit I felt that day even brings tears to my eyes as I type this. It was fantastic!

This is just a vague summary of the events that took place this youth conference. I'd really like to elaborate on the subject, but it's difficult over a blog post and it won't have the same effect. I know this church is what I need to believe in, and regardless of what you believe, I know this is what I'm suppose to be doing. I know that it's important to share my feelings about the church with my friends, and this youth conference has ignited a fuse in my heart that I didn't know existed. I'm eternally grateful.

Now, time for some pictures. I didn't take too many, but these were my favorites. I'll explain each photograph for y'all :)


I was fortunate enough to turn the big seventeen while I was gone. Not only did I have to hear "happy birthday" around 10000 times, I also got a Shinedown song dedicated to me (Second Chance, yay) and had the 'oppertunity' to dance with another person who was turning seventeen the same day as I. I gotta be honest, I was very, very, very embarassed, but Cj (the guy) was cool with it.

These two kiddos mean the world to me. They really do. They're my little brothers, and regardless of what you say, I'm NOT marrying them so please stop saying I will. Thanks :)

These girls are great, and I love them very much! Thanks for a great birthday girlies!

All wrapped in one

For those of you who know me, you know how passionate I am about NASCAR (sometimes, I think I need to bridle that passion and direct it to another portion of my life.) For those of you who remember (those who don't can find a post about it under the month of December), I find caring for the environment is an important issue. There were a pleasent surprise for myself when I was doing my daily browse of NASCAR's website.

NASCAR is starting a new line of environmental programs, one which is called NASCAR Green Clean Air. This is a program that plants 10 trees for every race that is in the Sprint Cup schedule, which totals to 360 trees a season. This program is not the only green thing that NASCAR is starting to do either.

"There are strong waste management, land conservation and bottle-and-can recycling programs at NASCAR-sanctioned race tracks; all oils and car fluids used at the track are recycled by Safety-Kleen; Goodyear recycles all tires used in racing; Exide provides a recycling program for racing batteries and all NASCAR offices have introduced a recycling program aimed at 100 percent recycling, while two new NASCAR office buildings, the 20-story NASCAR Plaza in Charlotte, N.C., led by NASCAR and the new headquarters building for ISC and NASCAR in Daytona Beach, Fla., will qualify for LEED certification, an important and relatively rare distinction making them "green buildings."

Aubrey is one happy green NASCAR camper.

(To read the article, go here: http://www.nascar.com/2009/news/headlines/official/06/12/tree.planting.program/index.html)

Remaining summer fun :)

Needless to say, this summer is going to be a great one. The start of it was just plain old amazing--thanks Mom and Dad for lugging my butt to Europe. I really really really enjoyed it! The remanider of my summer vacation is going to be amazing, and I'm very excited. Time with the people I'm closest to, working, and doing a lot of other fun things that the summer brings. I think the things I'm most excited about are...

I'm baaaaaaaaaack!

That's right; Aubby Girl has returned from her vacation overseas. There is too much to type about for this, so I'll leave it up to my mom who will most likely write various posts about that once she's back from her Rotary conference in England. Anyway, it was the most beautiful greenery I have ever seen, besides Alaska, and it was fannnnnnnnnnntastic!

Want an idea what it looks like? Watch Lord of the Rings. The Shire looks like parts of Scotland and Ireland. Forests look like where the Ents resided near Isenguard. The hills looked like Rohan. Edinburgh castle reminded me a lot of Helm's Deep, too. Sorry, no Mordor (guess I'll have to go to New Zealand to walk the path to Mordor--Uncle Brian, you in?)

I have to admit, besides the Middle Earth-y scenery and visiting family, my favorite part of the trip was the birds I got to see. One bird in particular, the Jackdaw, I saw every single day except for the first 2 days of the voyage. They reminded me of the bird in Sleeping Beauty that Maleficent has. We called the birds "Aubrey's Birds" because everytime I saw them I freaked out and screamed for joy. I love these little buggers.

I Take A Trip

I won't be posting for awhile. There won't be much Internet access where I'm going to be going, therefore eliminates my chances of blogging. Needless to say, I won't be too bummed out about not being able to blog :)

I will be gone from June 1st until June 13th (the evening of), and then I begin my recuperation process to adjust back to this time zone (jet lag, ag!) Anyway, I won't be posting for a couple weeks.

British Isles, HERE I COME!!! :)

The Final Stretch

In NASCAR, the last lap is probably the most pivotal. The preparations, the pit stops, and the prestige driving throughout the whole race pay off for that one lucky driver. The driver and his team must be persistent in order to succeed, along with dealing with the problematic situations that arise throughout the race. In some ways, I relate a NASCAR race to my school year, or even to life itself.

No matter how good you are, you are bound to fail at some things. Whether it be a test, or just feeling inadequate, you aren't going to always come in first. If someone you know wrecks out, be careful not to make their problems effect you.

Keep persisting, and don't give up. Even when times get hard, we must continue to endure. Our endurance will eventually pay off.

If we endure to the end and keep persisting through adversity, will shall become victorious.

With the school year coming to a close, I know I must do all these things in order to be sucessful. I can't give up in the final lap, I can't let my victory slip away because I'm "too tired" or "not in the mood" to study for my finals and prepare.

The same goes for you, for whatever you need to achieve. If you give up, then you will not achieve what you desire. We mustn't give up, even if the odds are not in our favor. You have fans called family, a pit crew called the gospel, and a crew chief called Heavenly Father to help you be sucessful.

Temporal and Eternal

This past weekend was one full of recognition for myself, which usually I'm not all about being the center focal point of an audience, but this weekend was inevitable and a great honor.

On Sunday, I was inducted into my high school's first National Honor Society (NHS) group, and later that evening I received the Stake President's Award for seminary during this past school year.

I received two signed "official" certificates, along with two tokens. They may seem similar, but they are very different in my eyes. One is temporal, one is eternal.

The NHS award was signed by school officials, and the token was a pin with the NHS logo. To be in the NHS is an honor and a great academic achievement (so people say.) It looks good on college resumes and job applications. This NHS award, to me, is nothing more then a temporal "look at what I did" achievement--I feel there isn't anything special behind this. All I did was fill out an application, saying what service I've done in my community, and got good grades. And, not to mention the candle we were required to hold during the ceremony melted all over my hands...ouch.

My seminary award is very important to me. Along with the certificate, I was given a necklace that said "Messiah" in Hebrew. This achievement seemed much more difficult to achieve then my NHS one. The requirements (which I stole from my seminary teacher's blog) to get this achievement are:

• Read 200 days throughout the entire school year
• Read the entire New Testament
• Memorized 25 scripture master and say them twice
• Memorize the Books of the New Testament
• Memorize the 1st Presidency and Quorum of the 12 Apostles
• Attend 100% or completed the homework/makeup work for 100% attendance
• Fewer than 30 tardies for the year (mind you seminary starts at 5:55 AM)

This award won't get you into a super duper fantastic college, or get you the highest paying job in the world. However, this award WILL make your testimony grow--I promise you. This dedication these kids put forth is amazing, and I look up to those who have done this award before AND those kids who graduated this year from seminary.

Not to be stingy or anything, I AM grateful that I got inducted into the NHS...I'm just more grateful that my testimony has grown immensly since I started working towards the Stake President Award. I don't know about your oppinon, but, my testimony is way more important that some silly pin that says "NHS" on it.

And thank you for EVERYONE who has supported me! I'd be nowhere without you guys!