Viva Las Vegas!

On March 1st, my brother, Casey, returned with honor from his two year church mission in Tokyo, Japan. It was sooooo good to see him after two long years! Here's a picture of the two of us in the Salt Lake Airport:


Since we were all excited to have Casey home and my brother Launce and his wife McCall both had Spring Break, we decided to all take a trip down to Las Vegas to see my parents and Jason (my youngest brother).

While we were in Las Vegas, my dad, brothers, and I were all able to run a 5k with the cast of Cirque du Soleil. Here is a picture of us kiddos on race day:

We also had dinner with my good friends from Philadelphia, the Cardons (who now live in Las Vegas), did some shopping at the outlets and H&M, saw a Cirque du Soleil show, and ate some yummy Filipino cooking thanks to my very talented mama!

On Sunday, Casey gave his homecoming talk at my parent's church and I had the opportunity to share a musical number.  I sang "Oh Give Me Back My Prophet Dear." The song was Casey's request because it reminded him of being in the MTC. I had never heard the song before Casey introduced it to me a couple weeks ago. I'm glad he shared it with us, because it's really beautiful. Now, Casey has been asked to speak at a few different churches in Utah. Casey jokes that he can't do it without his "opening band!"

It was good to be home again with all of the family there. I can't wait for the next Vegas Vacation!

Update

So you might have noticed that, despite my best intentions, I took another long hiatus from blogging. The simple reason for this is that I have been busy! Here's somethings that have been keeping me occupied.

Since I posted last, I landed a job as an associate attorney at a small firm in Midvale, Utah (just outside Salt Lake City). The firm does primarily bankruptcy, credit collection, and mortgage foreclosure defense cases. I got hired to help with the mortgage foreclosure defense cases. Although it wasn't exactly the type of job I dreamed of doing, I have been grateful to have an income and have learned much already.

Also, I've been listening to "Conversations" from the Mormon Channel. If you've never heard one of these, I highly recommend them. They are interviews with prominent members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints or members with an exceptionally interesting story to tell. I've found these conversations to be extremely inspiring and intellectually stimulating (something I've needed since finishing school last May). You can download them as podcasts for free from iTunes or you can listen to them online here. My favorites have been with Connie Gunnell (a young woman who recently lost her husband to a tragic accident), and Elder L. Tom Perry and Sister Perry (a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife). Listen and let me know what you think. I hope you like them as much as I do!