Earthly vs Heavenly Rewards

Today, I had the opportunity to study in the New Testament about earthly and heavenly rewards. In Matthew 19 we learn about a young man who approaches Jesus and asks him, “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” Jesus answers him by listing some of the commandments. The young man answers him saying that he had done all of those things and asked what more he needed to do. Jesus then asked him to sell every worldly thing he had, give to the poor, and follow him. If the young man listened to Jesus’ counsel, then he would have treasure in heaven. Unfortunately the young man was discouraged and walked away because he treasured his earthly riches and didn’t want to give them up. This young man had turned down the treasured blessing of eternal life for treasures on earth. Jesus Christ has promised us that if our eye is single to him, we shall be full of his glory. If we treasure his gospel, then our heart will be set on eternal life and we will receive it.

I believe that if I remember God first in my life, I will be truly blessed. When I remember to pray and read my scriptures at the beginning of the day, I am full of life and the spirit. I believe in the eternal perspective that if we put God before our earthly wants and desires we will be able to feel his love for forever in his kingdom. I think it’s important to get further away from worldly things like TV, internet, magazines, movies, PDA’s, iPods, etc. because even though they can be really good for us, they aren’t the most important thing in our lives, God is. Sometimes we are more concerned about having a nice car or a nice house instead of worrying about whether or not our Neighbors have food. We need to leave the world behind just a little more and put God first. The heavenly rewards really are greater than the worldly rewards.

October Outings

October has been a delightful month full of fun activities. We were really excited to kick it off with conference weekend. We went down to Utah for my mission reunion and had a great time with the family watching conference. My new favorite part of Idaho is the annual "spud harvest" which gave me two weeks off of work so that my kids could go pick potatoes. Sweet deal if you ask me. Toward the end of the break, we were excited to have a visit from Amy and Chris and their kids. We ate a lot of yummy food, carved pumpkins with Spencer and Alyssa, and went up to my school to play in my classroom. Everyone helped make examples for my art lesson this week.
Right before heading back to school, Mom and Jim came to stay! We also ate fantastic food...including my favorite new homemade chicken nuggets and crap cake...I mean, dump cake! (It really was good, Jim!) Mom came to play with me at school while Jim tried to find Bambi. One night we had dinner and carved pumpkins with Jimmy and Vanessa and their too cute kids, Braden and the brand-new Brinley. While Mom and Jim were here visiting, we invited some friends to go to the Straw Maze.



David and I made it through the maze the first time in seven minutes flat. While we were pretty proud, we headed in for round two to get our money's worth. Sadly, we were not able to even find the end a second time! We wandered around and eventually made it back out the entrance! Afterward, we all headed back to our place for donuts and apple cider. It was an aMAZEing night. :)
David and I were also able to venture up to West Yellowstone thanks to our awesome cousins, Travis and Katrina who run Hibernation Station! They gave us a weekend at their adorable cabin resort for our wedding present and we went up before the snow came!
Of course we ate in style at the local 1950s diner...


We saw TONS of bison...




A bunch of bears...





And other interesting wildlife!





We are nerds, and we know it. We embrace it. :)

Newlywed Adventures

We have been having so much fun together the past few months. Here are some pictures from our recent adventures. Both of us have been sick off and on, but today, despite the coughing and the runny noses, we hit the trails and went horseback riding! It was a very fun date! We topped the morning off by eating at the Flap-Jack Shack. Last week for September 11th, we went to a presentation at the fire station and then a Jon Schmidt concert. After the concert we were walking to the car and stumbled upon a Mindy Gledhill concert in the middle of the street for the grand opening of Sammy's. We danced like we were freshmen. And, sadly, we regret to inform you of the death of my bike. She served us well and finally past on of natural pedal failure. Maybe next time I'll be brave enough to get a bike with brakes on the handle bars! :)

Mrs. Love

We are so happy and busy! This has been such a fun month! More pictures and stories to come!

Directions

Hello friends! Thank you for visiting our blog! We are so excited to see you at our reception this month! Below are links to either reception on a map. All you need to do is click on directions and enter the city or address you are coming from. Thank you for all your love and support.

Directions to the:

July 24th reception at Denae's grandparent's home from 7:00 to 9:00 pm

July 31st reception at David's parent's home from 6:30 to 9:00 pm

Can't wait to see you!

Love, Denae and David

In Love with Love

David and I are getting more excited with each day for our big day! It's getting so close! This weekend I was able to see just a little more of the wonderful man I am marrying. Saturday for some reason, David had the worst luck I have seen in a long time. We got home from lunch and headed up the back steps to the patio that leads into my apartment. David went first. He stepped hard on to the bottom step which apparently was ripped from it's nicely nailed-in place due to his muscular leg strength. I was able to witness one of the most classic examples of weight displacement physics as the board flew up and was the perfect length to hit just below the belt. David literally knocked himself to the ground with my back stair. After trying to make sure that he was okay, I couldn't help but laugh harder than I had in days.

After this lovely episode, we decided to go to the water fun day that the University was putting on. On his way down the slip n' slide, his hand got stuck in one of the holes created by previous sliders and was jerked back in an unnatural way. (I hit my head the next time down...we are quite the pair!) Later, we were walking around and someone kicked a ball which skidded across the top of his head and knocked his glasses, bending them to a unique new crooked style we are contemplating keeping around.

On our way to the grocery store on our bikes, he hit an unexpected curb and mangled his gears, scrapped his leg and got grease all over his khaki shorts. :)

I don't remember what else happened, but it just got more and more dramatic as the day went on. While I am in no way reveling in the pain my poor finance experienced I share these stories because of what I learned about him. One thing after another went wrong and we started to worry about David's physical safety a little more seriously. By the third or fourth instance like one of these, I would have quit the day and possibly life. I would have likely been sulking and wanting to just go home and curl up in the corner hoping that a spider didn't decide to eat me alive. But not David. As the day went on, he not only kept a smile on his face, but he started laughing harder and harder and joking about the tragedy that would strike next. We enjoyed every minute together and had one of the best days we have had together. By the end of the night, we had cut his hair, cleaned up and enjoyed a fun David Archuleta concert and our favorite treat: ice cream!

I am just so grateful that I am marrying a man that is more mature and more able to cope with life's little mishaps than I am. He makes every day such a joy. I really am getting the better deal on this one. I am in love with David Love.