My computer says it's January 28th

So this evening....aside from getting a flat tire (dur - which I will deal with tomorrow) I attended Institute with two of my sisters and my very fab cousin whom I adore dearly. The class it titled 'women of faith.' I shall be attending regularly now....until the semester ends here in three weeks that is....this evenings class was based on the following quote:

"We want eternal life whatever its cost in pain, effort, and sacrifice." Elder Henry B. Eyring. So now the question is - do you really want it? I declare yes.

For lunch I delighted myself with 1/4 of a spaghetti squash. I was without spaghetti sauce - but with butter, salt, rosemary and thyme, it was more than great.....I wonder who was the first person to eat a spaghetti squash - I bet they laughed the whole way through.

i am a crayon??

So what kind of crayon is everyone else? Am I purple? I dunno - you tell me.....they told me I was purple. Ha. (btw, thanks leisy! - yes - you are totally a red and kent is completely a blue! unbelievable!)

You Are a Purple Crayon

Your world is colored in dreamy, divine, and classy colors. You hold yourself to a sky high standard, and you are always graceful. People envy, idolize, and copy you without realizing it. You are an icon for those who know you. And while it is hard to be a perfectionist, rest assured it's paying off! Your color wheel opposite is yellow. While yellow people may be wise, they lack the manners and class needed to impress you.

What Color Crayon Are You?

1251 USD

On board - heading to Rio...

Every once in a while I humor myself by looking up prices for international flights.....as if I was actually going to purchase the ticket. It almost always revolves around Rio de Janeiro - occasionally Recife and after that I hop over to Europe to see what steals I could get by leaving from JFK. I figure I could use FF miles to get me to the Big Apple, I could go spend a night with Lyn and Jason, and then score a cheap ticket from there. My search usually starts by going to google and typing "cheap flights to Rio." Expedia, Travelocity, Priceline. 1 seat, roundtrip. SLC to GIG. Feb 23 to March 31, 2008. That's a great time of year to head south - carnival is over. This evening I found a flight for 1251 U.S. dollars. I could do better - definitely...better.
Which reminds me - I need to get additional pages for my passport....

I have a love-hate relationship with air travel. Don't care for the food, hate the turbulents, a humorous captain is always nice, and I love that I can go to far-away places so easily and establish meaningful relationships.

Last March, a sister and I went to Rio together(Eba!). As we were in the Atlanta (or was it the Chicago?) airport we saw an older man, probably in his 50's. He had a rather large stuffed rabbit (rather large? it was huge!). We began to decide what kind of life this man led. His name, occupation, destination, and who that bunny rabbit was for - among other interesting facts and details of his mysterious life.
Our flight was called and we were to board. My sister made a detour, so as to pass by our new friend and told him that we had decided his name was Stanley, that he was a business man from Virginia heading home and that the rabbit must be for his 5 year old daughter. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong and.......wrong. He was humored to say the least. We all had a good laugh.

Then it was off to Brasil!

I sit here on my brown, $25 couch - wrapped up in my green comforter, listening to KSL radio on-line while I let my first, and hopefully last, season cold pass. Joys.

I didn't have too many plans that were foiled, just some.

The Cougars are playing the Utes today - at Cougar stadium. We have yet to arrive at half-time. There seems to be a lot of turnovers already. Cougars just scored a field goal: 3-0.

I used to take alka-seltzer for all of my head-cold needs. But it doesn't seem to take it's desired effect anymore.

Ivy, my smashing fiddler from Sassafras, called me this morning. She currently lives in Austin, TX - and is in town for the holidays. Cheers! Frankly, I can't remember the last time I saw Ivy.....Spring of 2006? Too long. She is going to stop by shortly. We keep tabs on each other through MSN messenger - but it will be more than good to see her and share our updates 'face a face'....but I'll be selfish and try to keep my cold for myself.

When is the next full moon you ask???

Below you will find a moon calendar.....a full moon calendar to be precise, taking you through the year 2009. I have always found the night sky rather fascinating, and enjoy constellations, comets, the milky way and black holes. I always thought it would be neat to be an astronaut - but I have horrible motion sickness and am not any better at mathematics. A bad combination for an astronaut.


Year Month Day Time Day of week
2007 Jan 3 13:59 Wed
2007 Feb 2 05:47 Fri
2007 Mar 3 23:18 Sat
2007 Apr 2 17:16 Mon
2007 May 2 10:11 Wed
2007 Jun 1 01:05 Fri
2007 Jun 30 13:50 Sat
2007 Jul 30 00:48 Mon
2007 Aug 28 10:35 Tue
2007 Sep 26 19:46 Wed
2007 Oct 26 04:53 Fri
2007 Nov 24 14:31 Sat
2007 Dec 24 01:17 Mon


Full Moon dates 2008
Year Month Day Time Day of week
2008 Jan 22 13:36 Tue
2008 Feb 21 03:32 Thu
2008 Mar 21 18:41 Fri
2008 Apr 20 10:27 Sun
2008 May 20 02:13 Tue
2008 Jun 18 17:32 Wed
2008 Jul 18 08:00 Fri
2008 Aug 16 21:18 Sat
2008 Sep 15 09:15 Mon
2008 Oct 14 20:04 Tue
2008 Nov 13 06:19 Thu
2008 Dec 12 16:39 Fri


Full Moon dates 2009
Year Month Day Time Day of week
2009 Jan 11 03:28 Sun
2009 Feb 9 14:51 Mon
2009 Mar 11 02:40 Wed
2009 Apr 9 14:58 Thu
2009 May 9 04:03 Sat
2009 Jun 7 18:13 Sun
2009 Jul 7 09:23 Tue
2009 Aug 6 00:57 Thu
2009 Sep 4 16:05 Fri
2009 Oct 4 06:11 Sun
2009 Nov 2 19:15 Mon
2009 Dec 2 07:33 Wed
2009 Dec 31 19:15 Thu

Hanging Lake hangs where?

My mom and I took a week trip to Colorado. On the drive back we stopped for a brief hike - to hanging lake. I definitely recommend it! The water was amazingly colorful and the leaves only added to the beauty, with the blue jays contrasting sharply against the yellow fall.

goin' south

Playin' on the edge of the Grand Canyon


Me and one of many sisters - lovin' it!


Girls night out!


Standing under the 'BiG W!' it's a mad, mad, mad, mad, mad, mad world!


Me and my cuz
- what is that they say? Three times a bridesmaid, never a bride? Well - if I don't include my sisters' weddings (and I don't think I shall) i am 2.5 bridesmaids of the way there!

my mom, and all of the single females of the Hall household took a trip south to AZ in August - we went down for my cousin's wedding. She's my favorite cuz...we were born two days apart, she has golden eyes, and we shared a room for a summer! yes!
the trip was great - loved it - and we made a scenic stop to the grand canyon. wahoo

Bethany the Bride

So my sister Bethany got married in July to Kip - whom we adore! The whole day was quite perfect and we had a great time. As you can see I am playing catch-up on my posts.....my sister, who is an avid blogger, would be very proud i am sure is wondering how long will it be before I post again - ha ha ha.

Introducing tuesday thursday

TueSDaY THuRSDaY

that is the name of the band that includes me and my sister (also known as ZPQ, Zara Pirate Queen)
ZPQ is a singer songwriter - so we play her stuff and cover some others' that we like. I back her up with guitar, banjo, violin, and occasionally voice. We are kind of on hold - but I think we'll be up an at it fairly soon! wahoo

100 Mile Lesson

During Sacrament Meeting, the words of the sacramental hymn struck me more than they usually do. It was probably the fact that I was paying more attention to the actual words than I had in the past. I realized that the hymn was Christ speaking to us. Telling us what he did for us, and how much he loves us and that he wants to take our burdens upon him, to have faith in him and that he is our advocate with the Father pleading our case. I wondered about the man who wrote the text for this hymn...what experiences had he passed through in life to be able to write a hymn that was speaking for the Savior? He must have had moments where he had to rely solely on the Savior and came to know of his saving grace and redeeming power.

Then I thought “what moments, what defining moments have I had in my life that has taught me about the Savior, that has brought me closer to him and has deepened my understanding of him as my Redeemer?”

Defining moments for me are experiences that we have in life that strengthen and sustain us, often character development is a result. It is these passages of life that we turn back to in times of turmoil and trial to support our faith. (And if we write them down it makes it that much easier to refer to them).

It was three years ago to the day that I have returned from serving a mission to Brazil, a period of life that I reverently treasure. I thought of defining moments that had occurred during the mission and of experiences I had passed through that deepened my understanding and knowledge of the gospel. Then I thought of times since then, and before.

As I was sitting on the stand it was brought to my remembrance of an experience I had a year earlier.

I was to participate in the ULCER, a 100 mile bike ride out by Utah Lake. I had never ridden that far before but I was determined to compete and finish. My father drove me to the starting point, made sure I had everything I needed, took some pictures and gave some good encouragement. Then I was off! I was riding with a team of friends/co-workers. In road biking it is best to ride with a team and draft so that one does not have to expend as much energy. But soon I found that I was on my own and would be for the majority of the ride. Off and on during the route I would see my dad's car on the road, driving by to give me support. He appeared at a rest stop as I was taking a brief break to make sure that I had enough fluids, that the bike was working well and that I was in good condition.

Once again, he appeared out of nowhere as he had during the ride, but this time on his bike. It was decided that he would ride with me for the last 10 miles so that I could draft behind him and use his energy and strength to get me to the end. We rode at a decent pace to the last rest stop where I was met by other family members. Then we started out on the last leg together.

We were going along the roads east of Utah Lake, closing in on the last miles. A noise, a very loud noise shot through the air and too soon I found out that it was my bike tire that had blown.....just about 2 miles short of the end. My dad, without a hesitation gave me his bike and told me to keep going, to keep riding without him and to finish the race. I went ahead. I finished the race. I had completed the 100 miles. I was drained and exhausted, but with a feeling of complete accomplishment and inner satisfaction.

I was grateful for my dad that day. Grateful that he was there off and on during the ride supporting me, and that he was right there, along side me when I needed him most. He was supposed to ride to the finish-line with me, but unselfishly waited behind while I rode on, on his bike.

Today I reflected on that bike ride. And as I became aware of that day as a defining moment for me, I sought to cry of appreciation. As I approached the pulpit I was able to, with more conviction than before, testify of Jesus Christ and his role as our Savior.

Our Savior is our support throughout our lives. He is there to give us constant encouragement, and makes sure that we have what we need to finish the race. He is our water, our bread, and will be with us along the way. He is there when we experience our hardest times and pass through our deepest sorrows, when it seems impossible to continue. And when all is lost, to make it possible for us to finish the race he has made the greatest sacrifice of all, he gave his life.

Christ died for us so that we might return to the Father. He atoned for us so that we might gain eternal life. He does this because he loves us. I love my Savior and pray that I will always be mindful of his hand in my life, and that I may always recognize when he is beside me. And in my most troubling times may I remember that he gave his life for me so that I may overcome all things and win the prize.

I never would have thought that morning of the race, that a year later I would be able to bear stronger testimony of Christ because of events that happened between mile 1 and 100. But I am grateful for defining moments that God gives to teach us. May I always remember that day.