Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited that Kris Allen won American Idol!!!! I'm so proud of him. For reals. Is that weird to say? I'll admit, I wasn't always a Kris fan, but by Falling Slowly, I was a gonner. I've even bought some of his songs on itunes already. He better hurry and get to work recording his album (if only it didn't have to include No Boundaries...). For now, I'll just have to rely on youtube and itunes to get my Kris Allen fix. Congratulations again, Kris!!!!!

Wedding Recap!

I just realized that I never posted about Kimber and Nathan's wedding! I took lots of pictures just to post on here, but never did...until now. Yes, the wait is over...

So I had the camera when we were on Temple Square waiting for them to come out, but I didn't think I had it, so I didn't take any pictures of that. Lame, I know. But they did look beautiful and handsome and happy. :) You'll have to see those pictures somewhere else. And we happened to run into Rhen and Nicole while we were there! Talk about crazy random happenstances. We were even able to go to lunch at the Lion House together. It was amazing.

Just reliving our wedding day...

Decorations!

The First Dance...

Katie and Louie! I love them.

And Jonathan and I with them! Good times.

Congratulations to Kimber and Nathan! I'm sure they've figured out by now that married life is the greatest! Can't wait for the next wedding in the Hamson family! :)

PS - Totally voting for Kris Allen for American Idol. So excited for him to record an album!!!

YM/YW Hike!

Last Tuesday night we had a combined activity with the young men - a hike to Bridal Veil Falls. I think it was our best turnout of a combined activity yet. It was a short hike, but everyone had a blast. Enjoy the pictures!

Goodbye Blonde...

Hello Brunette!

I hope you like my new hair color. I'm going to law school now, so I have to look all professional and smart. ;) Shout out to Erin for doing it for me. She did a great job. :) 

And another special shout out to Jessica for letting Jonathan and I go to the NCAA Men's Volleyball semifinals with VIP passes. We got to watch USC defeat Penn State in the first semi-final match. Talk about amazing volleyball. After a long and somewhat frustrating and upsetting day at work, that was exactly what I needed to forget about it and let it go for a while. Thank you!!!

"Oh, but Paris isn't for changing planes...

...it's for changing your outlook! For throwing open the windows and letting in... letting in la vie en rose."

Two years ago, I was a student living in Paris. Paris France. The city of lights. I was there. I've been thinking about this a lot lately. It seems so long ago...and yet it seems like yesterday at the same time. There are so many things I can remember perfectly...like the courtyard of the old building where we had class and church, the old man we met on the street who ate razerblades to earn money, the sound of the air rushing through the metro tunnel, or the smell of the bakery down the street from my host family's house. I've been wondering if my time there changed me. Did my experience there throw open the windows of my life and allow for a change in perception? A change in attitude? A change at all?

And I have to answer yes. Now, were these completely life-altering changes? No, I think not. But certain things that I saw and experienced there have changed the way I feel about some things. Let me give you an example. So many times in sunday school or in conversation with friends, when you discuss what makes the temple different from any other place, you hear something like "well when I went to Europe I went to these big cathedrals and while they were nice they were also big and cold and just didn't feel peaceful." Well now I've been there too. 

But my perspective is quite different. First of all, when these beautiful churches were originally constructed, they were sacred. They 

were special. People sacrificed so they could be built. They sacrificed so they could visit their place of worship. Do people today reserve the same kind of reverence for the cathedrals as they did hundreds of years ago? No, I don't believe so, except for maybe those who still are religious. I kind of feel like expressing a feeling like that about another 

religion shows ignorance and maybe even pride. To those people, the cathedrals they built were their houses of God, just like our churches and temples are. How do you think they would feel walking into one of our churches with the industrial carpet and metal chairs and burlap walls? I don't think the two should be compared. Our temples and their cathedrals are each beautiful because of the devotion and sacrifice and belief of those who created them. I don't think I realized that until I saw them in person. 

Since I visited Paris, I have a keen interest in the people I see in random places. Where did they come from? What 

do they think? Who do they love? I know I picked this up from being there. I spent a lot of time on my own, exploring the city, meeting and conversing with strangers. It's common to hear that someone learned from their experience abroad that "people are the same anywhere." I'm not sure you can learn that until you are away from your comfort zone. Before, the idea of people in Paris was so foreign...it was almost unimaginable. They would be so differ

ent, so strange. Of course that isn't true. Now that I've lived it, I've realized that people are people. Why be afraid to talk to someone I don't know? Why try to judge anyone I meet? One day I was sitting in a little ledge on the side of the Louvre, reading Ernest Hemingway. A young French man walked by, stopped, turned around and came back towards me. He said in French, "I just have to know...what is a girl like you doing, sitting by the Louvre in the middle of the afternoon reading a book?" I simply told him that I was a college student from America and I just thought this was a good a place as any to read. He said "Fascinating" and wished me a good day and a pleasant stay in his country, and then went on his way. I find myself thinking about that short conversation some days. And I find myself thinking like him, wondering what someone I saw is doing, why they are where they are, how they got there. From living in Paris, I learned how to be more open - how to let people in and how to relate to them in ways I never before imagined. Maybe that's part of the "la vie en rose" - the idea that everyone has good in them, and everyone can show you that good if you give them a chance.

I hope I get the chance to go back someday. What an amazing adventure. I know I will treasure those memories forever. And although I relished the opportunity to be there and to take in everything, I think I would appreciate even more the next time. And it would be so much more enjoyable to share my experience with someone I truly love. What an amazing adventure. I saw and did and learned things that did change my outlook. Thinking back, I can understand why the French have a reputation for "seeing life through rose-colored glasses." There is so much beauty and good in the world - right in front of us. All we have to do is look.