Spring 2011 Utah Trip Part I

My brother graduated this weekend. Which means the Texas Kelms are in Utah! Here is part 1 of the trip....

1st set of grandparents. Wolfgang, Orlando, Aline, Tamara- good looking group!

My other grandma Vera, my mom Tonia, and me again.


Good looking group with the handsome graduate! Love Mt. Timp in the background.

Check out the guns on that gorgeous girl!


Just missing Michael. But he will be home soon!


Graduation lunch at Tucanos. Love me some suco de abacaxi! (pineappele juice)



Showing off the guns again with Cosmo the Cougar at a BYU baseball game. Gooooo cougars!

Sunday morning "Music and the Spoken Word", broadcast featuring the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Symphony. What a great way to spend Easter Sunday morning. And, President Monson was in the crowd.

Garden at Temple Square. Gorgeous! We took an hour tour. Now I appreciate it so much more. They have over 80,000 tulips!

Não Tenho Lágrimas

Irony of ironies... last night I practiced learning this song with my dad. I love the song, so much passion and emotion in it. Then I went on and had a much needed, but heart wrenching conversation. I drove home waiting for the tears to come...and this song popped into my head, and actually made me smile. Oh how I love Brasil, Portuguese, singing with my dad, and finding comfort because of the richness that is my life. Don't worry, my heart may be a bit bruised, but really don't feel quite as dramatic as this song portrays!



Quero chorar, não tenho lágrimas
Que me rolem na face
Pra me socorrer
(I want to cry, but I don't have tears to run down my face to save me)

Se eu chorasse talvez desabafasse
O que sinto no peito
E não posso dizer
(If I cried, maybe I could let all the emotions that I feel and can't say out of my chest)

Só porque não sei chorar
Eu vivo triste a sofrer
(But because I can't cry, I life to suffer. )

Estou certo que o riso não tem nenhum valor
A lágrima sentida é o retrato de uma dor
O destino assim quis
De mim te separar
(It's true that a smile isn't worth the same, a tear felt is a portrait of pain. Destiny wanted to seperate me from you)

Quero chorar não posso
Vivo a implorar
(I want to cry, but I can't, I live begging)

It has EVERYTHING to do with me!

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints we have a conference twice a year. These conferences are a world wide gathering (the WHOLE world) that is broadcast for all to see and consists of talks given by apostle, prophets, seers, and revelators. It consists of 5 two-hour sessions. The Saturday night session is just for the men, priesthood holders, to attend. Of course the talks are avalible later for anybody to hear.

I love conference. I love the personal revelation that comes. I love the call to be better, work harder, and serve more deeply.

In the past few years I have tried harder to read the priesthood session talks. I had a conversation last night that almost got me fired up. A woman said to me in reference to the priesthood session- it doesn't have anything to do with me anyways. I immediately said- "It has EVERYTHING to do with you!" She then said that the men don't read the Relief Society talks from RS meetings. I said- "they should!" I do not have the power of the priesthood. I do not have to attend the meeting. The priesthood meeting is focused on the men and how they can better act in the name of God with the power which they hold. However, it still has EVERYTHING to do with me. If I am to sustain the priesthood leaders, then I should know what they have been commanded to do. The power of the priesthood has daily effect on my life, or at least it should. And what I learn in Relief Society, the organization for woman patterned after the priesthood, has EVERYTHING to do with the lives of the men, because one day those men will marry women who will be their equal, and they need to know how to support them.

I am grateful for my testimony of these things. I know that God has set up ways for men and women to grow and progress so that we can be together in families forever.

Operation Hedgehog

As often happens, I am spending a lot of energy in places that should not and I am worn out! I love my job, but I am so tired every day. My back is flared up again and I am trying hard to get that under control. There is one particular area that involves a man, a most handsome man (shocking I know!), who has been a blessing in my life, but at the same time I have put way more energy into than I should. I am worn down and it is time to make some changes. As I talked with a friend this weekend she told me I need to be more like a hedgehog. As per wikipedia, they curl up in a tight ball and their spines protect them as a defense. Now she was not suggesting I curl up and hide, but rather that tightly put on some armor and conserve some energy. So Operation Hedgehog is underway! I am under way to be more refreshed, enthusiastic, happy, and a more useful instrument in the hands of God.

Just in time, I was 5 minutes from my home this morning and on my way to work. I got a call saying my 9am patient cancelled and I didn't have anyone till this afternoon. Wahoo! I turned around and came home. I needed a break! I was able to spend time decorating my apartment. My fabulous aunt JoAnn sent me a link to lacybella.com...they make vinyl wall decor. She saw the wall decal "Bloom Where You Are Planted" (hello, look at the name of this blog!) and thought of me. This website will also let you submit a personalized saying. Well, I was so on it! I also ordered "Take Action" and "Absolutely Brilliant".

I have them up and looking just as I envisioned.

This is how they were packaged. So girlie, I love it!

"Bloom Where You Are Planted"- I first felt inspired by this quote when Elder David A. Bednar visited Austin,TX. Although my life is not exactly how I had planned, I am AMAZINGLY blessed. I would be very ungrateful if I do not bloom in the spot that God has put me in. I took the photos that surround the quote on the wall.

"Absolutely Brilliant"- thanks to the hilarious DJ Jay on the cruise last year, four of my friends and I know what it means to be brilliant, and we inspire each other frequently with this saying! On this wall is a collection of first sunrises of 2010 and 2011, and a sunset from the cruise in 2010 to remind me that each day is new, and the end of the day is also filled with beauty if we seek it.

"Take Action" - what can I say more? Don't wait for life to happen. Take Action! Faith requires action, and then the power to accomplish all things will follow! I add, Take Action Fearlessly.

I saw this greeting card a few weeks ago. I liked it. Not that I am terrified, but I am at this point afraid of what it is going to take to patiently wait upon God for the things I want in my life. But, being fearless means I press forward anyways!

Operation Hedgehog, roger that, over and out...