Spiritual Keli

I am so grateful that the young men in my church have the priesthood.. I am so grateful to the mom's dad's caregiver's teachers, leaders that help those young men to realize who they are..

Currently in my life I am so grateful for Bishop Forsyth in my ward for being an amazing leader.. those boys in my ward are lucky!

I am grateful that when I read those things the guy that I go on dates with Ralph, ..lives that way.. and must have been a great young man!

I hope if I ever am a mom or have a son... that I can remember this .. and be a great mom..

I am reading a book of Thomas S. Monson quips.. today I read about The Aaronic Priesthood.. here are some things that I highlighted.

1. It is a privilege which is to fulfill a vital role in the life of every member through this participation in administration and passing of the sacrament each Sunday. 

I wonder if parents tell their son's that.. or if YM leaders tell the boys that.. or if new converts know.. JUST HOW IMPORTANT THAT IS TO PASS THE SACRAMENT...

2. about what to teach your son to prepare him for a mission " teach your son to cook, but more particularly, teach him how to get along with others. He will be happier and more productive  if he learns these two vital skills" ..

um...can I get an amen ! seems like a lot of moms that raised sons that are my age and still single dropped the ball and sat and watched it roll down the hill on this one...

3.about what to do when you have the Aaronic Priesthood 

1. Grow in Wisdom

2. Walk by Faith 

3. Teach through testimony

4. Serve with love 

4. This then is our goal: to save every young man, thereby assuring a worthy husband for each of our young women strong Melchizedek Priesthood Quorums and a missionary force trained and capable of accomplishing what the Lord expects

This is a great goal.. ! 

5.Some do not take seriously or understand fully, the necessity of being worthy in order to exercise their priesthood..

REPENTANCE IS IMPORTANT.. if you need to repent do it.. don't go through the motions and not be worthy..

Keli Travels

FUN! 

MORE FUN!

TRIPLE FUN!

..and there was even a MONGOLIAN exhibit!

I love my friend Cindy! she is one of the best people I know! 
...When I went to Utah in June, Cindy was nice enough to pick me up at a gas station in SLC.. when Melinda dropped me off I was so excited... I saw her from a stoplight away and I said to Melinda "THERE SHE IS!!!" I SEE HER!!! " 
...IT IS ALWAYS GOOD TO SEE CINDY!!!! 
Cindy, her roommate's daughter Ashlynn ( at least I HOPE that is her name), Cindy's son two year old son Dylan and myself drove to Ogden,Utah and went to The Treehouse Children's museum http://www.treehousemuseum.org/visiting_treehouse.php
We walked in and there was SO MUCH TO DO! some of the highlights I can touch on were..
*they had a fire fighter clothes that you could dress up in a large fire truck that we could climb all over.
* little areas representing several countries with clothes,furniture, toys and lots of other stuff representing that country.. SO MUCH FUN! 
China, Germany, Mexico, Japan, and a few other countries were exhibited ... and they had MONGOLIA.. where Ralph went on his mission.. how cool is that.. they had a Mongolian Ger that we could go in. 
* there was a big treehouse in the middle of the museum that we had to go up to go to the other exhibits.
*an area set up like it was a hospital and their were baby dolls to take care like they were newborns..
* a HUGE area with all sorts of stuff to do with knights and ladies that sort of thing.. I love that whole era so I LOVED THAT AREA!!! 
* a music room with different instruments for you to play from around the world.
*interactive floor maps of Utah and the US that you would stand on and a computer would quiz you.
* an oval office and lots of other Americana stuff to pose with.
* a place where you could write a story and it highlighted Utah authors.
* a place that celebrated the west and the farms and rodeos that Utah has.
* and a place where they had art that you could make that highlighted different exhibits the day that we were there we made Mexican art they said they have all their exhibits set for art projects ...except one.. they have no idea what to do regarding Mongolian art...

in closing .. if you could not tell we had a LOT of fun.. This is me and Cindy's "thing" when I come we go to museums.. this is our second one.. so who knows 
where we will go next time! 

oh and PS..I think I just might know someone that can help with that Mongolian art idea :)

Keli Travels

 As you can see, Melinda and I had a great time at the Salt Lake City Farmer's market.. I could not just make it ONE post.. I had to do another.. after the henna we walked around and saw lots of interesting things like jewelry made out of forks.. and lots of other local stuff.. we had some delicious limeade that they made right there in front of us.. I bought Blake a screen printed onesie.. and myself a leather cuff that I wore the rest of my vacation.. and Melinda bought some tomatoes .. I think I could have stayed their all day .. but it was time for me to move on to my next part of my vacation!.. 

Melinda and Keli 

Keli Travels

So Melinda asked me if I did not mind getting up early.. I said no.. I mean I am on vacation.. ... I paid for all the late nights and early mornings when I got back.. I was SO TIRED...

So it was the opening day for the SLC farmers market...http://www.slcfarmersmarket.org/ It is at Pioneer Park and is SO BIG...there are tons and tons and TONS of vendors like I thought the Reston,VA farmers Market was huge

http://restonfarmersmarket.com/

but this is WAY BIGGER... 

so we were walking around and I saw a sign for henna.. I was like OMGOSH I have ALWAYS wanted to get henna... so I did.. and Melinda was nice enough to wait with me.. it only took the lady about ten minutes or less.. and then I had some cool water lilies painted from my pointer finger down a little below my wrist.. then she said " do you want glitter... UM OF COURSE... so she poured some on and matched my dress that I was wearing...

She said that the glitter would start falling off but last about four hours and around then the henna would be dry and I would just "pick off" the top layer and my skin would be dyed...

later that day I did and it looked so cool...

I used to always want a tattoo.. but I never got one because I thought I don't know what I want on my hand ... FOREVER....

but this was fun.. it was like I was a rebel...but um NOT.. 

and it was so pretty.. and ONLY $10...

it started wearing off even before I got back to VA.. my boss ( the dad) did notice and say "hey what is that" I said " just henna" :)

but now it is gone.. 

maybe it is time to get some again..!

Keli Travels

So I got to SLC and called Melinda and said I am HERE! she said "you are here!, oh wow, you are early, I have not left my house! ...but you need to get your bags right?" I said " nope I did not check any bags" ...I never check bags when I GO to Utah... more on that later.. so I walked down and out of the airport and walked outside and

IT FELT GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO HUMIDITY .... I did not feel OPPRESSED by the heat.. and I thought THIS IS NICE....way nice...

a short time later.. Melinda came and we headed over to a place called "The Red Iguana" It is in Salt Lake City and was featured on Diner's Drive In's and Dives. Melinda said that she had been there before and it was good.

here is a link to it if you want to check it out

http://www.rediguana.com/home.html

If you are in that area I recommend going to this place it is WAY yummy...and we had great service .. the only downfall  was that it was in a should I say "interesting part of town" near all these warehouses.. and run down motels and hotels that said that they offered "color TV" and stuff like that...

I posted a picture of one on FB to be funny but I guess people thought I was really staying there.. SHAKE MY HEAD... 

The restaurant was packed but we got seated right away so that was good.. I took a lot of pictures that I will hopefully be able to put on FB or somewhere soon...

They are famous for their Mole so they gave us a WHOLE plate of Mole that we could try with ALL their different Mole's..

HOW NICE IS THAT!? I told my friend Cindy and she said that they had done that for her also when she went there so I guess that is standard practice there..

Melinda got this pumpkin flavored Mole that was delish.. and I got the chile verde.. they also brought me out a plate of that to try before I ordered it .. 

We had a great time there and liked our food.. 

interesting EXTRA story!!! while we were in there... a woman walked in with a cute dress.. and then a little bit later ANOTHER woman walked in with a cute dress..and Melinda noticed they were THE SAME DRESS .. on TWO different women in the restaurant ...

so I had to tell the ladies...one of the said to the other " we must have good taste!" they said they got the dress at Ross...

So I said " Ralph said that Ross was open until like 10:30 or 11 now.. so we headed over to a Ross which unlike here are not everytime we turn around.. there we had to actually drive twenty minutes to one..and when we got there it was closed... oh well...

we went back to Melinda's apartment and stayed up WAY ... WAY ... WAY ...late talking....

VACATION MODE IS NOW ON!!!!!!!!!