I am really excited to have had the opportunity to attend / chaperone Youth Conference this year and to be there with Addison and an awesome group of young men and women from our ward and some fabulous friends who were there chaperoning as well. The theme was "Steadfast and Immovable" and we had a wonderful time. The conference was held in the NC Mountains at Western Carolina University and it was beautiful. (Tons of steep hills -- but that was okay, we drove nearly everywhere we went!) Alona, Brenda, and Michelle were also there and it was so fun spending time with them there. The highlight of the activities to me was the White Water Rafting -- it was SO AWESOME! I was really nervous at first and nearly backed out but I'm so thrilled that I went. Alona, Addison, Jessica, DJ, and I shared a raft and yes, DJ is now my rafting hero! He was great at steering and keeping us in the right direction (well, almost every time - a couple times we had no choice but get stuck on a couple rocks which made it exciting!) Jessica said I kept saying, "Oh, mercy - Oh, mercy!" I just remember the laughter and the excitement of the ride! Alona was so in control and I learned alot from her and now I can't wait to go back. (I was so excited to tell my new husband about my first time adventure white water rafting only to have some of the young ones remind me it was only a level one -- please, guys, let me just think it was much tougher than a level one! Ha! I may not share that little bit of info with Joseph - we'll just let him think he has a really brave new wife! Ha! Ha!)
What a great time we had! I hope to get a copy of the photos they took at the site once they're posted on their website.
The seminars were wonderful, the food was good, the ride there was incredibly long but beautiful, the dances were fun, and the testimony was very spiritual. I am grateful for this opportunity to have been able to attend Youth Conference with such an amazing group of people this week.
Oh how I love my husband! He is so sweet and so good to me! We've had a "Saturday Daylight Date" tradition for a little while and I was SO THRILLED that it has carried into our married life thanks to my dear sweetheart and his romantic self! You see, he works swing shifts and the way the schedule is he works 2 weekends straight and then off 2 weekends straight. Since his weekends off are filled with family things with all the kids and doing things they enjoy doing Joey decided a while back that since I generally work week days and it'd be fun to have a weekend date sometimes alone that the weekend he is working day shift we'd reserve that Saturday for our date night. (We have lots of dates but this one is a scheduled date night out someplace.) This past Saturday was the first Saturday of daylight shift and I was thrilled that this meant just as much to Joseph as it did to me. We enjoyed a relaxing date to Olive Garden this past Saturday night and has such a great time. Even after a long drive from Virginia earlier in the day for me and a 12-hour work day for Joseph beforehand - the date was absolutely perfect. Joseph, I love you so much - you are simply amazing. 
