this little thing called efy

11 weeks

2 weeks in Provo

2 glorious weeks in Nauvoo

1 week in Kirtland
 

1 week in St Peter, MN

1 week in Normal, IL-normal? I think not.

#everythingaboutthiswassketchy

 1 week in Bloomington, IN 

1 week in Cincinnati, OH

 1 week in Bowling Green, KY

1 week in Lawrence, KS

1 counselor week

10 health counselor weeks

11 session director's
1 baby

11 check in's
11 games nights
11 orientation's

5 co-counselors 

6 BC weeks
2 naps


a plethora of new vocabulary words and phrases (fiscal, torrid, #beindramacat, FSOY, fomo, etc etc,)
2 polos

 

                                                           1 worn out pair of shoes

1 health counselor bag
5 ankles wrapped
273 Advil administered
837 band-aids
2 hospital visits

7 states

8 universities
1 motelX2
7 torrid dorm beds
1 frog prince
1 birthday girl

9 gained pounds (I don't know how or why....)

9 cafeteria's (disclaimer-not all food was edible, and some was all too edible.)

 29 packages of Oreo's

905 Instagram's #efymidwest2012

6 cockroach roommates

30 ant bedmates
65 thousand lost EFY bags. Pray tell-how does that happen

20 classic efy dances

5 new line dances

47 Panera runs

568940348 ice cream cones

9 person BC Team

people trust us with their children? shhh...don't tell anyone.

12 person BC Team

2 fabulous coordinator's

3450 youth

67 counselors




937 pizzas

a few Sonic runs here and there

too much diet coke?

an incredible amount of cereal consumed

#thisisathing

1 bag of unicorn poop

1 (highly possibly more than that) don't ask what happened moments


some "COWS" if you catch my drift
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FavUpD_IjVY

10 rental cars

2 free upgrades

2 speeding tickets-1 day (same person, not me) :) #constructionhappensoutsideofutahtoo?


1 car wreck-last fiscal day (my bad)

5,000 miles driven

11 business meetings #igetpaidtodothiswhat?
(If you watch any of these videos, please just watch this one. It may or may not be our pride and joy.)

"Run away from love"
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151057711213619&set=t.537145059&type=3&theater
"Arise and Shine for here at EFY"
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=3585276277994&set=t.537145059&type=3&theater
9 fascinating wards #thechurchisstilltrue #hotflashesinsundayschool

11 "lock downs"
1 homemade firework show
 http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151881204560387&set=t.537145059&type=3&theater
10 water contests

55 nightly meetings

33 afternoon meetings

22 afternoon counselor meetings

44 morning BC meetings

44 morning devotionals
1 mission call opening

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151114639863619&set=t.537145059&type=3&theater
1 mission call opening celebration

11 testimony meetings
45 personal goals set
17? personal goals met (it's hard, ok)
9 service activities
9 FSOY's

63 renditions of Arise and Shine Forth sung
6 chartered buses
11 slides shows
11 musical programs
11 pizza nights
11 variety show's (some serious variety, minus the John Schmidt)
11 FHE's

44 participant devotionals

55 counselor devotionals

9 missionary testimony evenings

 a hand-full of missionary moments

100's of lives changed

1000's of testimonies strengthened

too many to count hilarious, blessed, spiritual, prayerful, life changing, can't stop laughing, so funny imgonnapeemypants, can't stop eating, can't stop crying, forgot how to sleep, probably should have showered today, moments to keep us going.
 

if i did my math correctly that would account for one incredible summer.

it was hard, and oh so good.

One of my favorite girls-she reminded me of Carly

Ellie and I know how to take care of the trash

Just ice, and yes, it did hurt my head. 

girl's night out-what?!

uh....?

Carthage Jail

sheer joy

All I know is that I worked with a bunch of good lookin' people this summer.

Julie, me, Sam, Ellie :) 

if my child is half as cute as she is...

childhood flash-backs

water contest at its best

Codi in a nutshell :) 

cousin Jay at EFY in Cincinnati! 

Love. LOVE my EFY family! 

Separated at birth? 

babes. duh. 

Kirtland sunrise 5:30 am :) 

First night together-Mall of America. This is when I learned Cami Jo never has a serious face in any pictures. :) 

babes. duh. 

Kirtland sunrise 5:30 am :) 

First night together-Mall of America. This is when I learned Cami Jo never has a serious face in any pictures. :) 

yup, I think so

My favorite-our run-ins with the Amish. (Did you know that Wal-Mart has parking spots for the buggies?!)

too soon

Look at us dancin' hard...oh, wait. 

A picture's worth a thousand words...

well, as you can see I'm at the Newell K. Whitney store in Kirtland! 

#nauvoodreamteam but fo' real!

thank you to all those who allowed me (without knowing) to use their pictures from Facebook. My computer may or may not have deleted 800 pictures of mine from this summer. Yes, I wanted to cry. All day.

*disclaimer-only 93.5% of these numbers stated above may or may not be 99.7% correct*

i love to see the temple

I went through the Temple a week and a half ago. I thought I was ready. Maybe? Nope. I was not. I thought I was going to throw up the whole time. People just kept telling me to "go to feel the Spirit." Ok. I thought I had done the things I needed to, to be "prepared". I guess there's only so much you can do. The Temple is beautiful. Life makes a tiny bit more sense now. I need to go back. again and again. It was different and definitely not what I was expecting, but now I don't know what I thought I was expecting. (if that even makes sense). I am grateful for my family and friends that made the sacrifice to be at the Jordan River Temple so early in the morning.

I was having a hard time deciding which Temple to go through. I felt pressure from my mom to go through Provo because that is "my temple". That's where I grew up going to do baptisms, but I just didn't have a desire to go through there. I don't know if it even matters, but I really wanted to go through the Jordan River Temple. I knew my parents had gotten married there, but I didn't know anything else about it. I think that it was kind of a sub-conscious thing. That was the first thing that I would look for coming around the point of the mountain every time we would go visit grandpa in Sandy. It would be the last thing I would look for after leaving grandpa's.

After I had called and set my appointment for the morning of Saturday August 18th my mom told me that's where she got her endowment, and that my Stapley grandparents (both of whom have passed away), worked in that temple....What? How did I not know that?!...and she still wondered why I wanted to go through that temple...silly mom. :)

 All I could think about after was food. Does that make me a bad person?

My mom and sister Cammy also got to go to the Brigham City Temple Open House tonight. It was so good. It's a beautiful Temple. I think everyone should take their family to temple open houses. (Some of my greatest memories as a kid was going through the open houses. I remember going through the Bountiful, Vernal, Mt. Timpanogos, Nauvoo, Oquirrih Mountain, and Draper Temple's. I am grateful that my mom has made that a priority for our family.)
                                

"I urge our people everywhere, with all of the persuasiveness of which I am capable, to live worthy to hold a temple recommend, to secure one and regard it as a precious asset, and to make a greater effort to go to the House of the Lord and partake of the spirit and the blessings to be had therein."

—Gordon B. Hinckley

I think about death a lot. Maybe more than the average person, but I don't know why it's consistently on my thought process playlist. I am not planning on dying anytime soon, but who really does? (Unless you're over 80ish and that's all you really care to do is to die...I only know this from working in several nursing homes.) Everyone eventually dies, (unless, of course, you're one of the 3 Nephites), and there's nothing we can do about it. So I guess I think more about why people die when they do, not why they die. Why is it that some people live a life full of trials, heartaches, and joys, while others get to go home early. What did we do before this life to determine when we would return home? Isn't death technically a re-birth? The birth of a child is something that is in most cases a completely joyous occasion. So why isn't death the same way? Why does it bring so much bitterness (in some cases), so many tears, and so much pain; deep holes in our hearts that will never go away? I don't know the answers. All I know is that we care. People care. They love each other. And that is why death hurts our hearts. Whether the death is of a best friend or an acquaintance, an elderly person or a young vibrant youth waiting to live their hopes and dreams, there is always a little sting. All I know is that we have to keep working to care for each other. Timing is the answer to everything it seems, and the timing of a death is always in the Lord's hands. We just have to keep pushing along with faith that we can make it through it.

To all my friends and family who have passed, and to all my friends and their families who have lost loved ones.

Dear Carly,

It has been over a month. It was all such a surreal experience. How did this happen so fast? I had just talked to you and a little over 12 hours later, you were gone.

You know it's never a good sign when your mom comes down the stairs and takes you quietly by the elbow up to her room. I have never cried so hard for so long. At least that that I could remember. I cried all night. To the point that my body ached, my head was splitting open, and my stomach was ready to throw up. My face was red and puffy the whole next day.

I went to see your mom 3 days after you passed away. I was nervous. I didn't know what to say. We went back to your room. I cried. Your blankie was there. Your stuffed bunny. But everything else was gone. Except for some jewelry, lip gloss, beanie, and scarf. Your mom offered me your last possessions. The lip gloss was unopened because she had given it to you for Christmas just a week earlier. I took the scarf. It smells like you. So does that hat. I left the jewelery. I hope Ali took it. I think she would have like it.

Your mom asked me to speak at your funeral. I am not going to lie, I was expecting to maybe get asked to play my violin, but to speak....and play my violin....? I was overwhelmed. The only thing that kept running through my head was "I'm too young to be speaking at my friends funeral. I'm too young...." Your mom just asked that I share some memories and thoughts of you. She wanted me to play a song that you would like. I had no idea what to choose. I hope you liked what I did play. I chose something that I knew by heart because I didn't want to have to use music. I can't see music when I'm crying.

Your funeral was beautiful. You had a closed casket because your mom said you would be so embarrassed if people saw you like that. She was right. I loved that she told me the inside was bright pink. You loved bright colors. The outside of your casket was white. There were beautiful bright Gerber daisy's on top. They matched the scarf I wore that day. Your scarf.

I had awful dreams for at least 2 weeks after you died. All my friends kept dying. Then my family. A new death every night. I would wake up and not know who was still alive or dead.

Death is a strange thing, yet we will all one day die. How is it decided when we will die? Why were you taken at just 21? You were taken from us for a short period of time, but you were given back to Heavenly Father? My testimony has been strengthened and continues to get stronger. I pray and pray that I may learn from this experience.

You called me on Christmas Eve to come get you from work because your car had broken down. I drove down to Payson and picked you up. We stopped at Shopko to get PB M&M's. What a silly last adventure we had together, but I am so grateful for it. I was sad when you didn't come to my house for Christmas Eve dinner, but I was still happy that you stopped to get a plate of food late that night.

Carly, you are beautiful. I love you. Probably more than you will ever know. I would pray for you often while you were still here. I worried about you. I wanted you to be happy. Not worldly happy, but the real kind of happy. I really did want you to come to church with me all those times I asked you. I am sorry I was not as good of a friend as I could have been. I failed in so many areas. I pray that you may forgive me. I will miss getting texts from you asking when I would be up from Cedar next. You last text to me said, "when you headin back to Cedar?" I never text you back. I was too tired. How horrible that excuse makes me feel now. I still ask myself if things would be different if I had acted on the promptings I had the night before you passed. I know I can't blame myself. But some days it is so tempting. "If I had done this, or if I had done that..." I tried to be a good friend.

One of my new dreams in life is to go to Romania and take care of the babies in the orphanages. That was one of your dreams, and I hope to be able to fulfill that for you.

I love you Carly Megan Lichfield.
June 29, 1990-December 28th, 2011