Tender Mercies

Most recently Mom came to visit me in Provo and stayed for a few days and we had some very needed "Momma and Annie time." Dad had to go on a business trip and Mom didn't want to be home by herself so she very conveniently found a flight that left right before Dad and got in right after Dad, it worked out perfectly. We went to the gym together, shopping, Payson Temple open house, went to the movies..twice, sat on my bed and talked just like old times and went to lunch with friends. This woman is my best friend and always will be, having her here was exactly what I needed. Love you tons and tons forever Mom!

^^ One negative of having long hair, taking pictures when the wind is out of control is almost impossible, but I think this one turned out just right. 

While at the Payson Temple open house we met these two amazing individuals. This is Robert and Sally. We were sitting in the chapel across the street watching the introduction video before entering into the temple and Mom leaned over to me and said, I think that this couple sitting next to me is signing. I quickly looked over and could see them signing back and forth to each other. The video finished and we began our walk over to the temple. I jumped at the opportunity and I walked up to Robert and Sally and signed to them, "This wind is crazy! I hope that it doesn't pour rain on us again right now!" They both got a huge smile on their face and the conversation continued. I introduced myself and Mom and gave them a little of background about myself, that I was a Deaf Education major at UVU and that my Mom was here visiting from Southern California. They told me that they wanted to come to the open house but the only time that they could get an interpreter was that weekend at the most inconvenient times so they said forget it and came when was convenient to them and came without an interpreter. They then asked me if I could interpret for them inside the temple. I got wide eyed and said, "I'm not sure I'd do the best job for you so I'm not sure that you want me to do that, but I could sure try!" They assured me and said that I would do just fine! 

I ended up interpreting for and chatting with for Robert and Sally during the whole tour of the temple.  I would let them know the little facts about details in the different rooms, ask questions to the workers that they had, and anything that they wanted to know. They were very interested to know about my life and what I was doing, why I chose ASL as a profession, how long I had been signing etc. They were such delightful people to talk to. 

We finished the open house and walked to the front of the temple for pictures. Before saying goodbye Robert again told me how grateful they were for me and that I chose today to come to the open house, that I was there for them. We all came to the agreement that we were all in the right place at the right time and that we were guided by the spirit. They left and I stood in front of the temple with my arms folded and tears flooded my eyes. Have you ever heard about missionaries that go on foreign speaking missions that all of a sudden have this moment where they are speaking the language fluently to someone with no trouble at all and once the conversation is over they stand there and think, "That was me, I just did that? What? I didn't realize that I knew all that!" My moment where tears flooded my eyes was exactly that!

The couple days before the open house I had been second guessing my ASL ability, my decision to change my major and having difficulty in trying to decide which way I would go with my degree. After meeting Robert and Sally, after having this experience, I know for surety that I am in the right place. I felt as if they weren't my hands, felt as if the spirit was guiding me through every sign. I was there to serve, I was needed, I was important to them. I felt that the hands of the Lord were guiding mine. 

I can talk with my hands, can you?

Surprise!!

After Easter weekend I went back to Riverside with Mom and Dad for my spring break and spent time with them while Aaron was still in school here in Provo. I came back late on Friday and Aaron and his friend Chase were going to be picking me up at the Salt Lake airport around midnight. My flight got in on time but we sat outside the gate for about an hour. I was texting Aaron and he said, "You're flying into the Provo airport right?" I just shook my head and told him, "No Aaron, Im in SLC!" He was quite embarrassed, or at least I thought and told me that they were on their way to SLC and they would be there in no time and that I wouldn't need to wait that long. The conversation continued and I settled with the fact that I'd be sitting in the airport for probably the next hour. I was then told that they were stuck in traffic in Lehi and that it would be longer than they thought. 

Eventually I got off the plane and made my way to baggage claim. I got to baggage claim very bummed because I was going to be sitting for the next hour and a half or so. I looked up and saw Chase.. wait what? Uhh Chase? He said, "turn around" and I found Aaron standing behind me in the distance holding a bouquet of flowers!! 

YOU GOT ME! I had believed every word that he told me and I was very surprised and couldn't help but have a permanent grin plastered on my face. He sure knows how to surprise a girl! :) 

Molly Baby Blessing

During General Conference weekend which was also Easter weekend the whole McKell family gathered in Utah for the blessing of Adam and Christy's beautiful baby Molly McKell. It was so great to have everyone in one spot again. We were able to all watch conference together, which after thinking about it for a while, I think that the last time that happened was before Adam left on his mission. I feel so blessed to have such an amazing family. Having us all together is something that doesn't happen very often but when it does it is thee greatest thing to be surrounded by those you love. We enjoy every minute, every laugh, every adventure and dread the goodbyes. 

In between the blessing and watching conference we all ended up in the backyard to take family pictures. Taking pictures in the McKell family is an interesting thing. 

^^ There was dirt on Austin's pants and Aaron H. was of course just helping a guy out! We all sure got a kick out of it. 

^^ Grandpa, Pops, Grand Pappy.. we haven't settled on a name for Dad yet.. Suggestions?

^^ Look at Eleanor cheesing with those little teeth!

^^ Just cannot resist Eleanor's cheeks!

^^ Trying to get Austin to smile normal for pictures sometimes is a little bit of a task

^^ But he eventually comes around! Such a beautiful couple!

^^ The family sure is growing!

I cannot wait until we are all reunited again in July for our family reunion! Missing them!

Cabin Trip

Seems like the whole "catching up" blog post is happening quite too often for me. The last time I posted was in the beginning of March and we are now getting to the end of May! I certainly need to get better at this. To say that many things have happened in the almost three months since I last posted is an understatement! The next couple blog posts will be me trying to bring you up to speed on the life of Annie Claire McKell, and all the exciting things that are happening.

After my car was finally fixed after that craziness that is documented in my last blog post..My boyfriend, Aaron Hewlett (gets a little bit confusing because we also have an Aaron McKell.. hope you don't get lost!) and I went up to their cabin in Kamas and I very quickly fell in love with the scenery! I grew up in Riverside,California which unfortunately doesn't have much "greenery." I do love the beach but there is something about being up in the mountains at a cabin that gives me chills. We stayed for the day and had all sorts of adventures. We went on four wheeler rides (I called them Quads growing up but I have been very kindly corrected by the Hewlett family that they are called four wheelers, must be a California thing), watched the sun set, took pictures, sat by the fireplace, adventured at the river, ate frozen pizza and watched the stars. So much excitement in such little time. I felt as if we left the world behind and time stopped.

^^ I was introduced to this wonderful place called "High Mountain." It is a quaint little diner in Kamas that serves burgers fries and shakes. I was blown away, it was delicious! Without fail Aaron will order his chocolate, Oreo and banana shake that he inhales every time while I'm still struggling to finish my burger because its so big!

^^ Snow angels in the summer

^^ He was trying to find places where he could cross over the river and not break through the ice. I was sure that he would break through and end up in the water but sure enough, he only walked away with just one wet shoe haha

^^ Holy wow! 

^^ Aaron is a miracle worker when it comes to setting the camera up on self timer

^^ Doesn't that give you chills!?

^^ Tried to go up the hill on the snow but as you can see.. we just went straight forward into a pile of snow and we were not successful. 

^^ Thawing out my frozen toes

The cabin is such an amazing place. There is no service there and it forces you to breathe in the fresh air and completely decompress. We are going up again for the Memorial Day weekend with the whole Hewlett extended family and I am very excited for more adventures. 

Absolutely Dead

The one of many adventures of the weekend..

I was sitting in my car with a good friend of mine having quite the deep conversation and all of a sudden my friend says, "Uhh Annie? Did your car just die?" My first thought is, oh goodness thats embarrassing. For the life of me I can't remember if the car was on or maybe if I just left the lights on? But my lights go off automatically so that makes zero sense.. all I knew was that my car wouldn't start. 

We found someone (poor guy didn't know what he was in for) who had jumper cables and hooked up the car. At this point it is about 1:00 in the morning and absolutely freezing cold outside. Im standing out in the cold using my phone as a flashlight trying to be some sort of assistance but clearly I was the "supervisor" of the group. We tried for about 30 minutes to try and get the car to start and nothing, absolutely nothing, no clicking, no turn over, ZIP! We decided to throw in the towel because it was clearly not working and there is no way we would be able to solve this problem at now 1:40 in the morning and hopefully someone would come to my rescue the next day, and oh someone sure did. 

Now that I go to UVU I do not have the "luxury" of being able to walk to campus and am forced to drive for about 10-15 minutes to school everyday.. this situation became quite difficult when my car decided to just completely die. My friend lent me their car for the night and then for the next day which saved me. 

As many of you already know, I come from a "car family," cars is just one of our favorite hobbies, always have and always will be. A situation like this makes me wish I would have paid more attention growing up ha sorry dad.  I do think that I know more than maybe the average girl so maybe we will call it good. Thankfully my brothers paid attention and know a whole lot more about cars than I do. I called Austin, he lives an hour away in Holladay, and pleaded that he would come out and rescue my poor car that was sitting in the New Heritage parking lot at BYU looking quite sad. I even threw in that I would make him some delectable cookies (ladies I hope you know that the best way to get to a mans heart is through his stomach, works every time) and he said okay. Fun fact, the 'Mckell Men' can never resist Annies' home baked cookies, it just doesn't happen. 

Austin came down with his new truck and we realized that we didn't have any tools, or even jumper cables, we didn't think to have Austin bring his tools. Grammy and Grandpa live about 2 minutes away from where my car was and we quickly took advantage or Grandpas tool set. Austin and I went back and forth (4 times to be exact) between my car and Grammy and Grandpas house because we kept grabbing the wrong sizes of tools and apparently weren't guessing right, thank goodness they live so close. The car still wouldn't start when we tried to jump it and decided that we should take the battery out and take it to "O'Reilly Auto Parts" (*cue the jingle* OHHHH OHHH OHHH OOOREEEIILLLYYYY!!) to see if the battery was bad, but they said it was fine. Geesh.

^^ The BYU police stopped by to see what the problem was. 

^^ I am CLEARLY very valuable to the situation at hand. Trying my best to help to and be useful. 

^^Since we ran out of time in the day and figured that it wasn't the battery I scheduled to have the car towed and taken to a repair place. And now we wait. Thank goodness for AAA. 

Moral of the story, every person needs to have a friend in the back of their mind that is good with cars, or even better..when your dad is teaching you about cars.. pay attention. If not, you could end up on an adventure like this. 

Deep Thoughts

At the beginning of the year I made the goal to write on my blog more often, and although I haven't written as often as I had hoped, I am certainly making an effort. I also made the goal to not just write about big events but write about things that I am thinking about, reminiscing about past feelings/memories, opinions that I have or heck I may just babble on for paragraphs and have no sort of topic (fair warning if this does happen).

I am sitting in the business building on campus waiting for my ASL class that starts in about 30 minutes. I got quite lucky and got a comfy seat with a foot rest, but now its taking all that I have to not doze off. I walk around campus seeing people fully stretched out on couches dead asleep and I don't know how they do it. My first semester at BYU I was able to sleep anywhere, but I think seeing the reaction that others have to sleeping students has stopped my ability to sleep on campus. There of course have been exceptions where I am in the library and there is no way I can focus anymore and have to rest my eyes for "a bit" but end up drooling on my notebook and wake up hoping no one saw. The guy across from me in another leather comfy seat clearly does not have a care in the world. He is sprawled out, headphones in, jacket over his head and shoes off. I applaud you sir. I applaud you. 

I have 15% of battery left on my computer, I knew I should have charged it last night, and still have 30 minutes before my class starts. Lets pray that my computer decides to like me today and lasts 30 minutes. I would just plug it in but there isn't a plug by my comfy seat. I could very well move to the other end of the hall, sit on the floor and plug my computer in, but giving up this seat is not a risk I'm willing to take. Opportunity cost. Yup. And now we are down to 13%. Im also not willing to turn off listening to "The Eagles" in order to save battery life. Listening to 'Desperado' just gets those creative juices flowing!

Now is the time where I feel the need to make a point to this blog post but to be completely honest with you, I have no idea what the point to this is. Its just random nonsense that hopefully you get a kick out of. 

Oh! Point found. (now 11% on computer)

I have applied to be an EFY counselor for the summer, something that I have always wanted to do, but am secretly terrified of. I did the first interview about a month ago which was over the computer with a couple recorded questions and was later invited back for another interview but in person this time. It is tomorrow and I don't think I have ever been so nervous for an interview. I was told to bring my scriptures and that has my crazy imagination running wild. Are they going to test me on my scripture mastery!? Am I going to have to prepare a lesson!? Are they going to quiz me on my doctrinal knowledge!? I really hope it goes well. Getting this summer job would be an amazing blessing. I have decided to not enroll in classes for the summer and therefore would like something that I can do during the summer that I would be able to benefit financially but also spiritually and benefit others as well. I want to try my best to completely step out of my comfort zone and have an effect on these kids just my counselors had on me. I have many fears about the interview but know that what is supposed to happen, will happen. (9% left) 

I was going through my scriptures this morning and found a piece of paper that had "EFY 2010" written on it. This is what was printed on the paper:

I am part of the "Fellowship of the Unashamed."

The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line.

The decision has been made. I am a disciple of

Jesus Christ. I won't look back, let up, slow down,

back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present

makes sense, and my future is secure.

I am finished and done with low living, sight walking,

small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams,

chintzy giving, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need pre-eminence, prosperity, position,

promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I now live by

presence, lean by faith, love by patience,

lift by prayer, and labor by power. My pace

is set, my gait is fast, my goal is Heaven, my

road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions few,

my Guide reliable, my mission clear. I cannot be bought,

compromised, deterred, lured away, turned back,

diluted, or delayed.

I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the

presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy,

ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander

in the maze of mediocrity.

I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I must go until

Heaven returns, give until I drop, preach until all know,

and work until He comes. And when He comes to get

His own, He will have no problem recognizing me.

My colors will be clear.

I remember this passage being a large impact on my testimony of Christ, and it still is. I love how straight forward these words are. "I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice or hesitate in the presence of adversity!" It brings tears to my eyes. I gained my testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel at EFY during a missionary activity where we were told to have a "mock missionary discussion." We were told to pick a topic and teach it to another set of kids. My "companion," who was my roommate, and chose I to talk about the First Vision. 

We were given a short time to prepare a lesson and then teach it. We started of course with some background information and then read James 1:5, 

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth no; and it shall be given him." 

Joseph was confused about which church to join and knew that he lacked wisdom so he did exactly what the bible commanded and prayed to Heavenly Father. I began to speak about Joseph Smith and how God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him in the Sacred Grove telling him that none of the churches were true.  We read these words:

"It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!" 

I went along with the lesson and after a couple of minutes I stopped and said, Holy Heck.. I know that is true! And tears came to my eyes. It was at that moment that I knew. That.. 

I am finished and done with low living, sight walking,

small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, 

chintzy giving, and dwarfed goals

I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. 

I cannot explain the feeling that I experienced into words other than, I know that the Holy Ghost was speaking through me during this lesson. This experience at EFY has shaped my testimony tremendously. To repeat again, 

I am a disciple of

Jesus Christ. I won't look back, let up, slow down,

back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present

makes sense, and my future is secure.

I know that this post has some what been all over the place, but I do hope that you gained something from it as I feel I have. Sometimes it is nice to just write. Write your feelings and things just pop up as ya go. To not have structure sometimes is a great thing :) 

Here is a blast from the past of some of my EFY experiences.  don't have a lot of my early year EFY's but just found a couple from the most recent years...

^^ Joe man making an appearance. We both have a major love for BYU. Joe is now on a mission in Lansing Michigan and I sure love reading his emails every week of the progress he is making and how much he is absolutely loving being a missionary. Love ya Joe man!

^^ May or may not have fallen asleep in this class for a couple minutes. Ya don't get much sleep at EFY ha

^^ Not sure what that face was for...

^^ I miss being this tan and holy heck I look young. I believe this was my second to last year. 

^^ RIGHT HAND MAN! Our company name. This was my very last year of EFY. 

I am praying that being an EFY counselor can be something that I can add to my adventure list. 

Bring it on. 

RANDOM SIDE NOTE: I got to about the middle of this post and got down to 4% battery life and had 3 minutes to go up many stairs to my next class but wasn't finished yet, hate it when that happens! I had to give up on the writing for the remainder of my classes but am now peacefully sitting in the institute building feeling very accomplished now that it is done and I don't feel rushed. 

Have a fantastic day ya'll :) 

Cort's Birthday

My good friend Cort had his birthday this past Friday and of course we had to celebrate and have an adventure! The way that we celebrated was for sure not normal ha But for our group, this honestly did not surprise me at all. It was hilarious, entertaining, and just flat out fun. What did we do you may ask? You have got to be dying to know by now.

WE GOT PEDICURES!! YES!! 4 Guys and 3 girls, we all went and got full on pedicures, bright nail polish and all. I think that the pictures will help tell the story better than I can, and thats not just because I've been writing a paper for my ASL class and am tired of writing. Okay maybe a little bit.

^^ Nate got bored waiting for his pedicure and he decided to paint his pinky. Its now Monday and the color is still there. 

^^ Notice the blue pinky

^^ The Birthday Boy! 

^^ BYU Football player getting navy blue and bright yellow on his toes. All of the guys (Cort, Nate, Scott and Garrett) reassured us several times that they are very comfortable with their masculinity and that is why they were so willing to do this. Their other comment was that well, if you're going to get a pedicure, might as well make the best of it and go all out right?! 

I completely agree guys. 

^^ Cort's bright yellow toes. He said he picked that color because it matched his outfit. 

^^ Scotty getting turquoise and pink put on his toes

^^ Oh the lovely crew. Nate is there.. just tucked in the back. Love them so much. 

We then returned to "The Lounge" or "The Den" (Our name for the the guys apartment) for enchiladas, games, and brownies and ice cream. To explain the first video below, we realized that we had no way of lighting the candles and this was Cort's solution, 

**Disclaimer: Don't mind my screaming voice in the background, that is just my way of showing fear about Cort lighting things on fire. No thing or person was harmed in the making of this video. Don't worry Momma. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CORT. WE LOVE YOU!

And just because we received bragging rights, the girls team TOTALLY won in Catch Phrase ;)