Thank you Madam Mim

So many of you know, the Sword and the Stone is one of my favorite movies in the world. My sister Kathryn and I would often quote this ridiculously funny movie. Why is it so funny? Obviously because of Magnificent, Marvelous MAD MAD MAD Madam Mim!

If you don't remember her, let me reintroduce her to you through this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zANV9XNwfE4

Now, imagine being on a mission and teaching a lesson to Madam Mim. It's almost impossible without keeping a straight face or laughing! Well, the other day, I was talking to a mission companion about one of the most awkward/funniest moments on our mission...and this experience is SO up there on the list, if not the top spot!

SO her real name is Eleanor. Sweetest lady ever, however, when me and my companion went in, this lady was quite the chatty cathy! BUT she looked, talked, and acted like Madam Mim in every single way! She was the most animated woman I had ever met.

She was a former investigator, which means she had met with sisters prior to us. She told us the most random things at a rapid pace from one random subject to another...she went from Gilligans Island to how she prayed with the old sister missionaries about what she should decorate her house with to how she was once a part of a cult and would never join the Mormon church because she didn't want to get into another cult again (dont worry we clarified that we were NOT a cult). Then she went off randomly about how she did Hinduism for awhile and how they worshiped rats and elephants and she just did it because she had nothing better to do! OH MY it kept going on and on with the most random coversation.

Now again, try teaching somebody the gospel when you have Madam Mim before you. EXACTLY! I started cracking up SO hard and so did my companion. We couldn't help it! I had never lost it that badly, especially in a missionary lesson! I couldn't look at my companion because I knew that would make it worse with laughing, but of course, we both looked at eachother...and it just got worse from there...we were also on a bench that creaked and would shake anytime we moved which made it funnier for some reason...but i've been thinking about this story lately and had to write it down because it is one of the times I have laughed the hardest in my life.

And even better, it made one of my childhood dreams come true: to meet Madam Mim in real life :) What a blessing missions are!! haha

HANDLEBAR MUSTACHE

SO for all of those who know my dad, this might be a little alarming!

I was looking through my family's blog...and here was my dad...

with a HANDLEBAR MUSTACHE!

I'm only grateful it's a little fuzzy :)

But I sure do love my dad and of course he's still handsome :)

How I met Sam PART V

This is SUCH a long story :) But i love it! Because it's ours!

BUT when i returned back to BYU Idaho, we started to date but once again, i still wanted to date others...either to just get it out of my system for the last time or just see if he really was the one i wanted to marry...

So, we dated and dated and a little bit before Thanksgiving break, i told him i needed to take a break just to date others for a little bit....So, when I told him and he said, "Liz, don't come back till you know for sure." OUCH but let's be honest, i deserved it SO much!

We took a break and it was the worst 3 or 4 days ever! For the first time, i realized I hated being without my best friend and I couldn't stand not being with him. Not only that, i actually prayed for the first time in my life about if i should actually marry him. I didn't before because well, I knew what answer I'd get and I was scared! Well let's just say I got my answer YES many many too many times it freaked me out :)

So I finally went to him after an awkward couple days and told him how I felt and everything flew from there :)

I went home to meet his family for Thanksgiving, where the power went out for three days and lucky me, my luggage and everything I brought was up in an attic bedroom which had electrical stairs leading up to it which were stuck...so we were basically camping for 3 days! Sam's family met me in my natural element, that's for sure...i was so gross haha

Then he came home to meet my family and of course my family loved him. He talked to my dad, etc....

We got engaged Jan 14, 2011 and got married April 9, 2011 :)

I'm now happily married and actually writing this on our 4 month anniversary :) how cute! It's so fun to be married! I love it!

Ok I'm done with this ridiculously long story, but now, i'll have it forever :)

How I Met Sam PART IV

So before my mission, Sam and I had been on and off for about 1 1/2 years so before I left, I seriously wanted him to be married when I got home so i didn't have to worry about the whole situation:

However, the Lord always has different plans for me than i have for myself :)

SO during my mission i had some incredible things happen that hit me over the head MANY times and I pretty much knew I was going to marry Sam, even though i didn't want to believe it. I didn't tell anybody, except for my companions at the time, but I just kept it quiet just in case.

Well of course when I got home from my mission i had doubt and i wanted to date others, so I wasn't sure all over again...

BUT Sam was not married when I got home, nor was he dating anybody and he would be back at BYU Idaho when I returned as well. How convenient, I know :)

So I returned home in July, we talked till i got to school at the beginning of September and THAT is a whole new story that I'll have to tell later on :)

This blogging stuff is time consuming, so it's a good thing I'm home sick today!

This is the day I was released and BEFORE I took the tag off:

Then, this is me after I took the tag off-I've never cried harder in my life!

Mission Companions

My mission companions!!! Seriously, i LOVE THEM!

Above: My MTC Companion, Sister McFarland

My Trainer: Sister Sowards (on left) and Sister Cox (in middle)

Sister Jacob

Sister Marvin

Sister Pinter (on the left) and Sister Anderson (on the right)

Sister Pinter and Sister Allgood (on right)

Sister Kim

Sister Woodruff

Now you can be more familiar with people i served with!

How I Met Sam PART III

Like I said, I put my papers in and received my mission call to the Virginia Richmond Mission.

I served from February 2009 till July 2010. SO fun and most wonderful experience (besides getting married of course!)

I'm sure I'll make references in my blogging to my mission since i have AT LEAST one story everyday to tell from it :)

SO just in case: here's some pics of all my companions because i love them all SO much and I'm sure i'll refer to them at some point! :)

So this picture is explained in my post "How I met Sam"-this is the ward directory pic i took of him and Chris.

This bottom pic is of when we hung out the first time going bowling..look how awkward we were :)

How I met Sam PART II

SO i went to BYU Hawaii and LOVED it...

One day, Sam called (we were keeping in touch) and he threw out the idea of him coming out to Hawaii...i said sure thinking he never actually would! haha

Well he did :) It was SO fun and that's where he kissed me for the first time!

Here are some pics:

This is a picture of the "lighthouse hike" where he first kissed me

Then a little while after he came to Hawaii, I wanted to date others so I kinda broke off contact with him for awhile because I just wasn't sure.

Then, after Hawaii, and after the Winter semester (2008) I finally returned back to Idaho for the summer session of 2008. Sam was there too. We decided to date a little bit at the beginning but I wanted to keep in on the DL just because he had pretty much broken up with a girl because i was coming back, even though he won't admit that was the reason :) and I also wanted to keep it on the DL just in case there were other guys that came in my path i might want to date! I KNOW, I'm terrible, but we all knew i always had commitment problems and had a wandering eye :)

So after about a week or two, I talked to him again and broke it off.

So, I went on other dates, but nobody I really cared for. I just loved being single! Then fall came around and I started dating a guy, but not too seriously. It was a hard time in life and I just wasn't sure. I didn't know if i should go on a mission, or just keep going to school, i honestly just felt completely lost in every way. So i kept dating this one guy, still kept in contact with Sam and one day after a number of experiences, I knew I was supposed to go on a mission, so i put my papers in quick.

By the way, you should have seen Sam's face when i told him I was going on a mission :) Sam will deny that one too!

How I met Sam

So many know but many ask how I met Sam in the first place, and just for my records, here it is!

Summer of 2007

So my Bishop called me and told me I was in charge of getting the ward directory together, or as we call it, the "Ward Menu." So I had to go door to door with one of my good friends, Jamie and we had to meet every single man in that ward! Dangit i hated my life at that time! :) So I went around to each door and every apartment had nobody I was interested in at all...until apartment # 17 where Sam Weller lived. I went in, was all business and took their picture, got their info and was off. Leaving, I thought to myself that I could date him for sure! He's was a cutie!

So a couple nights later, he and his friend, Chris came knocking on our apartment's door and invited us to go bowling, and of course we did! I'll post that pic as soon as i find it!

We then went on our first date and it was SO fun! Sadly (and this is why i needed to journal it!) i don't remember all the details, but I do remember we went to Go-Kart (i think that's what it's called) and i SO won, even though Sam says i didn't to this day. Then we came home, built a styrophome airplane and flew it off the stadium! SO FUN! I was impressed for sure :)

So this picture is of our first date:

So after about a week of hanging out with Sam, my good friend, Traci, all the sudden sets me up on a date with this kid i had the BIGGEST crush on! I thought he was so good looking, and had a crush on him for about a year. I know its sad, but I'd never met him, just seen him on BYUI's small campus! So ofcourse I had to see what would happen, so I went on the date because Sam and I weren't official by any means by that point.

So there was a couple week period where I was dating both of them (neither of them knowing, i know it's terrible) but I was not kissing both of them, I promise! BUT they eventually found out about eachother and both said to let me choose! WHAT? I would have dropped me quick! haha! But it came to a point where either one of them could kiss me so i made the decision with my crush. We dated all summer and it was fun and he's a great guy, but by the end of the summer, we both knew there wasn't something there that we wanted and I was going to BYU Hawaii in the fall anyway.

So throughout the summer, i would see Sam every Sunday and know I still had feelings for him. One day while he was passing the Sacrament at church he looked so good and it hurt a lot that day. So the night before we were both leaving, I went to Sam and told him what exactly happened and apologized for how it had happened. He had heard some things that weren't true, so i was glad we got to clarify some things.

Anyway, as I was leaving late that night from his apartment, we decided to keep in touch even though i would be in Hawaii that fall and home in Colorado for the winter. As I was leaving, (it was like a romantic movie you always see) he came after me and wanted to kiss me but I was still dating this other guy, so sadly i said no. He was respectful as always and understood, but it left on good terms for sure!

and p.s. my mom told me i should have kissed him! haha