Idiot Wounds

So, I didn’t know about idiot wounds until about two years ago when I witnessed my first one. Jake and I took some friends from England out to go shooting. They had never done two things in their life that they wanted to experience here in the U.S. The first was shooting and the second was riding in the back of a pickup truck. I guess they had seen them both in movies and wanted to experience it themselves.
So it’s getting a little late and probably to the point where we want to stop shooting out in the middle of the desert, but we had one more watermelon to blow up before we called it quits. Jake pulls the scope up to his eye and being that its getting a little dark he can’t see very well and pulls the scope just that much closer…BAM… the recoil of the gun pushes the scope back into Jakes head and hits him right between the eyes, and that my friends is what an idiot wound is.
Now it’s my birthday weekend and Jake plans this romantic horseback ride through Pine Valley. We have Justia the pretty palomino of Phils that I will be riding, loaded into the trailer that Randy and Sharon were nice enough to let us borrow for the day. Now we only have the Knubbins to load and she is a pain. The last time I tried helping her load I was almost in tears because I thought for sure she was going to kill me. So I’m trying to tell myself that now she’s worked with so she should totally load easier…well… not what she had in mind and apparently being my birthday didn’t sink in for her. So Jake has her half way in and asks me to take the rope through the window of the front of the trailer. Okay first off I’m not so much of a rookie that I wrap the rope around my hand! I swear that rope was not looped but Knubbins of course freaks out and pulls back with all her strength and the rope start slipping through my hand and I must have had it bunched somehow because it burns my hand and then loops my pointer finger and I can’t let go!!! So her strength pulls my arm through the little window and my head slams right into the trailer and that my friends is how Julia got her first idiot wound!!!!
After a lot of ice and getting to the point quickly where I could laugh at myself, I was fine. I learned from my mistake and used the trailer for leverage with the rope and got the Knubbins beast in.
We then got to Pine Valley and had really the most amazing ride. We felt like the only two people out there and probably were with the cold. We road through some easy trails for my sake and we saw so many deer. Our horses weren’t too sure about them because at some points we were literally just surrounded by deer. Jake would even leave me to the trail and ride up through the trees towards them and get 10 feet from them and they would just watch us. They are curious creatures that followed us all the way to the horse trailer and then watched trying to figure out why we were loading two massive animals into a small white box lol.


So now I’m laying here in bed Sunday morning loving the time change because every inch of my body hurts…. Including my idiot wound. Honestly though, thank you Jake for a perfect birthday! He got me the game Parcheesi that is a very competitive game and we have been staying up until 1:00am each night playing the darn thing. He was going to get me the Nook because I’ve wanted it for so long, but I left to go pick it out and I just couldn’t do it. So we turned around and stopped at the library instead where I finally got a library card and got a book on cd and a paperback to read. Is it weird that I get this satisfaction of finishing a book and seeing all those pages I read? Would I feel the same way reading it off the Nook? That’s probably totally silly, but for now I’ll stick to my paper lol.
I totally got spoiled this year and thank you to all my friends who made it honestly so special. Mom and Dad and Aunt Donna, even living in Idaho I still felt totally loved on my birthday from you.
Love you guys!

Temple and Sealing post to follow…

I finally got to go through the temple! It was an amazing experience! My mom and I
got to the temple early, well early for a Saturday, 8:30AM and I was instantly surrounded by the cutest little old ladies I have ever seen. Everyone just started congratulating me and acting like I had known them all my life. Instantly I just felt so peaceful and could feel the spirit so strongly.
Some funny moments during my experience that I can talk about was at one point my mom and I were in the waiting area which was a gorgeous prep room where they had lots of mirrors and big chandeliers and a bunch of stations where you could fix makeup and hair. Well one girl was in there flipping out because she didn’t fit in her wedding dress, all of a sudden??? Which how does that happen? The mom was freaking out and asking my mom for help and running around trying to get the temple helpers to assist and the whole time I’m thinking…what are we suppose to do??? Make her lose 5lbs in 5 min lol.? They finally squished her into her dress and I thought that the first person she hugs she is going to pop. Then of course you have the high maintenance St. George girl who was throwing a fit that she couldn’t keep her enormous daisy in her hair LOL! I was dying! She had this scowl on her face the whole time (which sad for her she isn’t realizing what’s most important about this day) and the cute worker ladies were all trying to remain nice and calm but you could just tell they were struggling. Then she comes out of her dressing room and the ladies are all looking at each other nervous and then one of them said “you need to bustle your dress” and the girl snaps back… It’s ALREADY bustled. So they were telling her how it was too long and they can’t have the train following her like that down the hall and she insisted she wasn’t going to change and that she would just hold the train. I about died laughing at that point… good luck to that poor husband.
They had someone by me every second of the way and my mom was with me of course and thank goodness she was, because she was a huge comfort, but right before I go walk into the room my mom decides to go to the restroom!!! SO I’m standing there by myself, totally overwhelmed and I see my friend Laura and Jake and my Dad and instant comfort!
Don’t worry that I have a big pink tag on me so EVERYONE can know I’m the new girl! Then they keep referring to Jake as my fiancé and I have to keep clarifying that he’s my husband. Then when everyone was again leaving me to fend for myself and I started to panic, out of nowhere this darling little cute temple worker is at my side and she helped me through everything. She was trying to calm me down and all I did was look at her and grab her hand and said “okay you’re going to tell me what to do right… you’re not leaving me … and you’re going to stay by me through the rest of this!” she looked at me and laughed a little and she did stay by my side the rest of the time. It was totally awesome and I just loved every moment of it all and looking over at my darling husband and him smiling back and thinking “this is awesome”.
Oh and Dad’s camera broke when it was time for pictures so all I have are these photos taken by my phone. I didn’t even get a shot with Brother and Sister Nielsen, are temple prep teachers that were absolutely awesome. They have become such a blessing in our lives and we were so grateful not only for the wonderful lessons but also the friendships that were made and getting to be a part of their loving home.
Also, Nicole and Laura - love you guys! Laura you were such a huge comfort to me and i was so thankful to have you right next to me through it all. Nicole, you were there in spirit lol She was two minutes late to the session and not allowed in...and after coming all the way from Vegas for it. Of course my parents - love you guys and i'm so blessed to have you in my life.