AfRiCa!

The night that changed my life forever was November 9th, 2010.  My aunt Lisa had invited me to hear the story of a woman name Mariama Kallon.  She was born and lived most of her life in Sierra Leone, Africa.  For those of you who know about this place is it's known for it's....blood diamonds.
The results of this horrific experience for many was the loss of limbs usually cut off by machetes or being shot to death. Both of these things Mariama witnessed as a little girl growing up in Sierra Leone.  When the men with the machetes would come a word would be yelled out and the people in the villages would run for their lives, many not running fast enough. Upon fleeing for her life she heard gun shots and turned around to notice that both her parents had been shot and killed. Looking to her sister who stated that they couldn't turn back but needed to keep running. They did so and came across a little hut that they thought was safe. Upon morning they woke up to be surrounded by the Rebels with their machetes in hand cussing and yelling commands at the women who had taken refuge in this little hut. They did as they were commanded to do all mumbling prayers to their God. Mariama had the thought cross her mind, she knew God existed but she thought about asking God if he was really there.  Upon doing so shouts from soilders nearby had scared the Rebels off and once again the women fled to the forests.  Her sister was not as fortuante and fell into the hands of the rebels. Once in the forest she was given a humanitarian kit that was able to help 25 women for 3 weeks!! To this day Mariama still carries what's left of her humanitarian kit. A friend from school had noticed her circumstances and told her she could stay with them until she found some family members. Upon staying with them they told her that they didn't have anything to give but hope, courage, and love from their church.  Needing hope, courage, and love she decided she would go. They took her to an LDS chapel where she experienced her first 'quite' church. :) There she found what she was looking for and decided she wanted to be apart of this church and got baptized, as well as served a full time mission in the Salt Lake City temple mission. With nothing but her humanitarian kit, scriptures, the clothes on her back, and her righteous desire to serve a mission she left for Utah. During her stay in the MTC her mission president had heard about her and him and his wife took her to the bookstore where she could purchase her first set of knee highs and other clothes that were apart of the missionary life. She also recieved 3 suitcases full of clothes given to her by sister missionaries returning home. Her story continues as she recieves many more blessings through out her life and to this day travels with the church for "a time out for woman" to tell her story.  I got to meet this amazing person and my desire to help and serve in Africa increased even more so.  I recieved a contact from Mariama into an organization that will one day change my life forever. I've been accepted and if I so choose at this time to serve in Africa I'll be leaving June 7th 2011. :) Thank you Mariama for your testimony, your inspirational story, and the love in you heart! I owe my success in Africa all to you!

Our Zion

The moment for all those who have been desperately waiting to see our house, aka:Stephanie.

This is the view from the front door into our living room. 

These are our couches, in our living room, what a coincidence! ;) But do take note of the picture on the left that was my gift to Quynn it's a picture of some of our founding fathers signing the decleration, Ben franklin is crying with tears of joy.  I saw this picture and knew that my husband would appreciate it! His love for his country and the founding fathers continues to grow especially at this time. Love you Quynn!

This is our fireplace with some halloween deco on top.  One day behind the fireplace we'll have a rock wall! I'm super excited for that!

This is the other side of the living room looking into the conservatory, notice my cute witch I won at Bunko!! Yes, Bunko I LOVE bunko nights with my girlfriends in Lehi!! WOOT WOOT!

This is our conservatory room, It's a bit messy so there won't be much pictures of this! But this is our most prized possession our baby grand piano.  We're "storing" it for gma and gpa Udell, it's played ALL the time! It bring so much happiness to this home! I LOVE MUSIC!!! Especially when Quynn creates it, hopefully our kids will learn how to play on this piano!

And this is our kitchen "the heart" of every home.  Notice Quynn's beautiful job at laying down our tile! :)This is a work in progress, and will be for some time! We've got grand ideas for this room!

This is the kitchen nook, and our temporary table until we can build our own built in kitchen nook table.  The table is set for dinner with our gma and gpa Harrison and Jessica. We will be having ministrone soup, canned peaces from previous blog post, and bread.  Hope the soup turns out! And all of the wood will one day be covered in stone to give the effect of dining in Italy! 

Our Bathroom! :)

Quynn's throne!! Tee Hee!

Welcome to a touch of AFRICA!! Yes MY favorite room!! Notice my wonderful giraffe that my father in law had hoped I'd forget about. ;) The pictures that aren't very visible were chinese paintings of animals in Africa drawn by Jessica! She's amazing at art work!! 

Here's another view of Africa with our African masks and a lion carved out of wood! and again notice the beautiful giraffe to the side! :) 

Well that's all for now! Hope you've enjoyed this virtual tour of our humble abode! Our Zion!! 

Happy Birthday Mommy Dear

Happy Birthday momma! I had such a fun time going bowling at Fat Cats, with people I love! It was Jacobs first time bowling and it was so fun to watch him bowl! He did better then me!! ;)

Then Jacob started picking teams depending on what our scores were, I was on his team then got demoted.  Finally he realized Quynn was doing great and my mom was doing pretty good! High 5!

Mom! I am so grateful for you! I am so thankful for all you've done for me and for all your selfless acts of love! I'm grateful for your passion in music and for pushing me to keep mine! We're winners not quitters! I'm grateful for your testimony of Love and Faith! But most importantly I'm grateful for you! Thank you for being my Mother! XO

Mupps turned 5

Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy birthday dear sweet Jacob, muppalous! Happy Birthday to you! September 21st was my little brother's birthday and he turned 5, that's a whole hand!! Jacob decided for his birthday that him and 5 friends would get together and race around a race track on their bikes! So of course I had to buy him some racing gear, thanks to Wal Mart and it being so close to Halloween I found just what I needed! And boy did he look great! I think my special gift also helped him to win all the races...na he's just the all star child! :) Way to go Jacob you're #1. XO

I'm gonna be a Mighty Queen so enemies beware!

So four months ago I get a phone call from Quynn telling me to schedule out the night of September 26th for a special date night.  Well you know me, I HAD to figure out this surprise!  So, after question after question he refused to tell me and said I'd just have to wait, but he said "it's something that you're going to LOVE!!!!" Well everyone knows my obsession with Africa and how much I want to go there.  Quynn knows we can't afford going to Africa but he wanted to get me as close as he could....so he bought tickets to go see Lion King on Broadway at the Capital Theatre!! HOLY COW!!! I did figure it out before September 26th ;) but it was STILL an amazing night with fun and laughter! We spent our night with Buck and Anna, our cousins, I had a blast getting to know them better! And as far as Lion King went I was on the edge of my seat the entire time! I could see that show once a month for the rest of my life!! Better yet, I should just live in Africa!!! ;) I'm working on my ROAR!! 

Millions of peaches...peaches for free!

I found a new favorite....PEACHES!! Especially CANNING PEACHES! Tonight, September 15, 2010 my mom-in law and sis-in law Jessica canned peaches.  Jessica's a pro at blanching and I'm a pro at cutting, skinning, and plopping them in the jars.  Then the next favorite step will be EATING them...yum yum! I can't wait to make homemade peach ice cream this Saturday with Mom, Jacob, Quynn, and our friend Greg! YEA!!

The day that marked eternity, May 3rd 2008

It all started with a prayer.  After frequent prayer the night before my wedding day I was not only praying for a perfect day and that I'd remember the most important part (the sealing) but that I would also get over my fever and chills because I was coming down with a super bad cold.  *Note to future brides...don't stress out! It'll catch up and in the end you'll get sick!*  I can't really recall what time I got up for my friend to come do my hair but I do remember it being the butt crack of dawn! I wasn't nervous but super excited...in just a few hours I'd be sealed for all time and eternity with the man that I love! After I got my hair done, my make up on, and other important preperations, Quynn came to pick me up.  Quynn and I decided that we would drive to the temple together and looking back on it I'm so glad we did, that morning we drove up to the Bountiful temple as best friends.  The ceremony was indescribable! No words can match the feelings of joy, peace, and gratitude as I watched my husband kneeling across from me. After the ceremony followed with hugs from numerous family and friends.  Many tears were shed as I watched how loved Quynn and I are, we were supported by so many that day, how truly blessed we are!


Walking out of the temple I felt like a princess, determined, unstopable, and gracious.  I now had my better half and he was right next to me holding my hand.  

So this is how it starts and this is me, My Life As A Udell!

Ode to the Bean

Dear Mr. Bean, bean oh the lovely bean! How I miss eating you so frequently in all your color and variety!
Why did I ever stop eating you? 
Sent from the God above! It's divine texture and taste.
I vow no more I will begin eating you again, Oh Mr. Bean!
Oh the lovely bean! Mmm...good!
(And this is why I'm not a professional song writer!)

Boy meets Girl

And this is how my fairy tale started...


Quynn and I met through a mutual friend (aka Quynn's sister Stephanie).  Steph knew of this so called amazing RM and asked me how I felt about going on a date with one.  I told her sure but it would only be one date! BA! 3 AMAZING dates later, which by the way included a freakin awesome 11 hour date (mom wasn't too thrilled), I decided I really like Quynn.  But, there's always one of those, I was afraid of getting married too young.  So I slowly stopped calling and kind of avoided phone calls when I could, which secretly killed me inside but fears got the best of me.  Shortly there after Quynn stopped calling and I graduated high school and went on a road trip with some of my besties.  It was a BLAST, but I had this feeling of emptiness.  The night I got home I decided I'd call Quynn and see if he was interested in watching a movie with a few friends.  To my surprise he jumped on my invitation like a fat kid on chocolate cake and bailed out on his friends to come over and watch a movie with me.  From that night on I knew I REALLY liked this guy so we hung out every day until I went to college in Logan (2 hours away). Quynn helped me move into my apartment along with my best friend Lindsey Buck, my super cool mom, and my two awesome brothers.  It was there that Quynn was starting to get a little distant.  I noticed he was probably nervous for a long distant relationship and how much he should put into it if I was just going to burn him like I did the first time.  So I reassured him that I still needed to have a college experience and focus on school but that I wanted to continue dating him. Well after some HORRIBLE dates I could never stop thinking about Quynn. Not to mention my focus on school was no longer there, the spiral downward is what they call it I believe. So December 22nd I returned home for winter break and Quynn proposed.  Not to mention I was super sick and my future in-laws insisted on video recording the proposal I have yet to enjoy hearing my "walrus like voice" as I said yes.  So there it is...the beginning.