2 Timothy 1:7

I'm leaving on a mission in the morning:) Excited, delighted, thankful.

This site will always have my most current address:

http://www.missionsite.net/jenniferriding

I have been blessed with a gift to not doubt. I don't doubt that I am going to teach others the true message of Jesus Christ. I don't doubt that He is God's Son. I don't doubt that He died for me and rose again. I don't doubt that Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ. I don't doubt that the Book of Mormon is true.

I don't doubt God's love for me or you.

Heart full of gratitude!

Shalom y'all:)
http://mormon.org/missionaries

LOL

So...I'm leaving on a mission in 5 days. The internet tells me so:

People have been asking how I'm spending my last week in the "real world." Actually..I've been in bed since Tuesday because I just got my wisdom teeth out. LOL. Yes. 

I can't think of a better way to spend my last week at home. If I weren't on Vicodin, I'd probably be freaking out about my mission... or I'd at least have enough sense to finish packing. But no, I've just drifted in and out of sleep for the past three days. Life is great.

jen-ri 4 lyfe

21 years ago today, a beautiful blessing was born.

That's what "Emi' means in Japanese.

And a beautiful blessing, she is. :)

Jennae and I first met in the summer of '96. Her mom was pregnant when we moved in and I thought her mom was permanently shaped like that (I was 5...what can I say?)

Apparently, we were friends but we hardly recall those times.

I first invited her to my house to play in 5th grade. We made cookies. I used my hands to form the dough and place it on the tray. Jennae used a spoon. Later, my mom told me I should follow Jennae's example.

Jen Jen and I became close pals in middle school. We knew we were cool when I was NJHS president and then she would be next year's president. So, I passed on the torch. We have a picture together from that night. She was literally a foot taller than me.

We even dabbled in a bit of church ball from time to time:

By this time...we were old enough to go Girl's Camp. Oh Girl's Camp. Is there anything like it?

GC 2006

We thought matching every day would be cool for GC 2007

Speaking of summer 07, it is a legendary summer in our book of friendship. We were inseparable. We spent every single day together. And any moment we weren't together, we were on the phone. I still remember the days the she got texting- July 17, 2007. It was the greatest day.

We even had our birthday party together.

Making wishes with our two crushes nearby

We made dozens of high school memories together.

Wedding receptions *why didn't yall tell me to tuck my shirt in?

Prom

Jennae's Marquette Show

Lunchtime

Stake Softball

SMOSS reps 

Our Hannah Montana Phase

More Girls Camp mems

EFY

And then continued making memories in college <3

Jennae's 18th birthday

Hikes for dayyss

Summer Ten- summer of dreams

New Year's Eve- love being together during Christmas Break

Go Cougs

Concerts

#ldsconf

Summer girls. All of us.

Classic Photo Spot

Jennae and I will be best friends for life. We've been through so much together. She is always willing to listen to me worry and to laugh at my jokes :] She's beautiful, hilarious, diligent, kind, thoughtful, loyal, passionate, and delightful. Love you forever Jennae Emi <3

Zooey 101

Zooey Deschenal just said it perfectly,

"Being tender and open is beautiful. As a woman, I feel continually shh'ed. Too sensitive. Too mushy. Too wishy washy. Blah blah. Don't let someone steal your tenderness. Don't allow the coldness and fear of others to tarnish your perfectly vulnerable beating heart. Nothing is more powerful than allowing yourself to truly be affected by things. Whether it's a song, a stranger, a mountain, a rain drop, a tea kettle, an article, a sentence, a footstep, feel it all-- look around you. All of this is for you. Take it and have gratitude. Give it and feel love."

This is My Life

Lately, my mom has a hilarious habit of saying "this is my life." She says it anytime something comical happens. I use the word comical very loosely. You see, there are two kinds of people in the world. People who roll with the punches and people who do not. My mom is so fabulous at rolling with the punches. No one would ever describe her as high-maintenance or high-strung. I want to be like her when I grow up. Anyway, she finds humor in nearly everything that her children say and simply tells me, "this is my life."

This week, I babysat my younger siblings while my parents were out of town. I would like to share a few of the "this is my life" moments with you.

1. My family moved from Dallas to Seattle last summer and has obviously seen a little less sunshine. Yesterday I was making dinner and looked outside and saw a shirtless man sitting and playing guitar in our backyard. That shirtless man was my brother. He said he needed to get some sun before he went boating with his friends on Saturday. I called everyone to eat and another brother decided he needed to go shirtless as well.  This is my life.

2. My youngest sister has adjusted to Seattle weather and her body temp is naturally warmer than the rest of ours. She feels like 60 degrees is "soooo hot." We hopped in the car on and she was eating a tortilla (didn't want anything on it because she's 6 and that's what happens when you're 6) and she started sweating bullets. All she said was "thank GOODNESS I have a tortilla to give me shade." I was amused by it all and forgot to answer. So she said it again...but this time in a British accent. Reread that sentence with a British accent and tell me you don't laugh at the last word. This is my life.

3. And lastly, the following incidence took place at the 12 year old brother's track meet. When I arrived, he was bleeding profusely and I asked what was wrong. He said that people were throwing the batons and one landed on his head. I laughed an hour later when he said "Well, it might have been me that dropped the baton on my head." Ahh...the truth comes out. This is my life.

Also...Matt was wearing is sports glasses because his normal ones were broken for the fourth time this year.

Thanks for stopping by, y'all.

Noteworthy Goes to CA

In case you are unaware (but if you are close to me, you are probably aware), I sing in BYU's women's a cappella group called Noteworthy. The group has been around for a decade but this is my first year as a Noteworthy lady. We spends hours and hours together and we love to sing and laugh and dance. These girls are like sisters. We've seen each other at our lowest lows and highest highs.

Recently, we filmed our first music video and we had a blast. We went to Utah Lake at 7am and sang to our heart's content. We put our video on YouTube last week and we are flored by the positive feedback we've gotten. It is SO fun to share what we've been working on. You can watch it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=km55SW6em-E

Last weekend, we journeyed to Southern California. We had an absolute blast. We hosted workshops, had a concert, put on a fireside, and sang in church on Sunday. Being in the sunshine was a dream come true and it made me so antsy for summertime!

We stopped in Vegas and sang on the strip.

So fun to work with these talented high school students!

We had lunch in the cutest spot! It's called the Grizzy Cafe & I highly recommend it.

Sometimes before our shows, we eat giant subs because that's all we really know how to do. Lol.

The real reason we went to Southern California was to sit on the beach. Can't even describe how wonderful it was.

So grateful for these girls and grateful for the chance to sing so frequently. :)