Anonymous Appreciation!

The other day I was eating lunch with friends on campus and a girl came and dropped off this note on my table!

It was so sudden that I didn't get a glimpse of her, but whoever you are, thanks for making MY day!  It made me feel awesome.  :)

#14 Eat out at 10 new places (9/10): The Banana Leaf

So there's this place off of University Avenue that has intrigued me for years...

It may be hard to tell, but there are giant heart-shaped LED lights in the yard.  And the colors are like wa-bam!

After passing by this place for years (and making fun of it in my head), I learned that it was called the Banana Leaf, and served Sri Lankan food.  Sri Lankan food?  I've never heard of a restaurant that served Sri Lankan food!

So I found that piece of information interesting...and still never went.  Then about 7 months ago I learned that it was a friend's FAVORITE restaurant.  That piqued my interest more.  So the food's food?  Even so good that it's someone's favorite?  Ok, I might have to actually consider patronizing this odd-looking place.

I am pleased to announce that after 7 years of living in Provo, I have finally eaten at The Banana Leaf.

Good times with old roommates :)

And it was good!  I got the coconut curry.  The coolest thing about it was the fact that they serve food on REAL BANANA LEAVES!  It was novel and fun.  I still prefer Thai food though.  I probably won't suggest it as a place to go eat, but if others want to eat there I'll be happy with it.  Glad I got to experience the majesty of a funny restaurant and a new genre of ethnic food.  :)

#14 Eat out at 10 new places (8/10): The Chocolate Mousse

There's a new place in town!  The Chocolate Mousse.  And it's a PIE BAR!  The original one is in Lubbock, Texas, and the owner of this one asked if he could make one in Utah...so I guess it's now a franchise.  Only two in the world, and one's in Provo!

The idea is this: mousse pies instead of ice cream.  So they scoop pie filling and sprinkle "crust" (oreos, graham crackers, nilla wafer and pecan) onto it.  They serve them in glasses.

The whole place has a swanky 1930s feel...kind of like a speak easy.  It looks like a really nice bar.  They really nailed the decor in the Provo one.  There aren't any pics online yet, so a peak into the Lubbock location will give you an idea:

The menu is simple.  A "pie bite" (one crust and one scoop of pie), a "pie fait" (double that), a dish where you can sample 6 types, and a "pie wich" (scoop of pie in between graham crackers).

Loved the decor.  Loved the unique idea.  But I did think they could spend a little more for quality ingredients to make it taste really good for the price they charged.  Overall, it was a great girl date.  :)

#14 Eat out at 10 new places (7/10): Ripples Drive In

I've wanted to go to this place for over a year.

I first wanted to go there because it's limeade was on the "Seven Wonders of Provo" list.  The original blog post is nowhere to be found, but that link will take you to a newspaper article about it.  I've always had a thing with world travel, so when I found out that there were 7 wonders in Provo, I thought that was just the thing for a Friday night.

I've done the seven wonders at least twice, with different groups of people, but every time it's been at night, and every time Ripples has been closed.

The picture of us being disappointed at Ripples was too dark, so here's us being disappointed at Macey's!

I began to wonder if Ripples were ever open!  But I laid aside this dream until a few weeks ago when Dave, while making pizookies, showed me this film:

Ah man, besides being a hilariously awkward 70s film, it proved that Ripples was a Provo landmark!  I revived the dream of going...and finally looked at its hours online.  11am-4pm?  And not open on Saturdays?  No WONDER I'd only seen it closed! (yeah, I realized the pun after I'd already started writing in caps...)

So Dave and I went for lunch.  And it was great (except for the fact that I forgot a camera).  The first thing I noticed was hordes of high schoolers.  That was both a good and a bad sign (the food must be good, the line will be long).  I finally got my limeade, and it, the burger, and fries were all tasty.  It didn't revolutionize my world, and I don't feel a huge need to go back, but I definitely feel satisfied in having gone once.  :)  Ahh

#86 Go paintballing

My "starving student discount card" had a paintballing deal on it, and it expired September 1st...so naturally it was time to go paintballing!  So I organized a group of friends.  Even though it was something I wanted to do, I was TERRIFIED!  I had seen my brothers come back from paintballing with huge welts.  I'm not a huge fan of pain.  And people would be shooting at me?!  Scary!  Everyone laughed that I, the organizer, was the only one afraid to go.  Ironic, I know.  But hey--it's just like how I organized sky diving, even though it terrified me.  I think that morning was the most scared I've ever been in my life.  I was hyperventilating like mad and thinking "what am I doing?!?!"  Then it turned out not to be that scary, and afterward I wanted to do it again!

Luckily, paintballing had similar positive results.  All it took was getting shot right away during my first game.  Hey--that wasn't so bad!  I definitely got some worse stingers after that one, but it took away my extreme fear.  My moment of triumph was when I shot someone and I knew that it was me who had shot him (a few other times I *thought* I was the one who had shot someone).  And believe me, it's hard with those guns!  The paintballs go everywhere but where I'm aiming.  But that was a very satisfying moment.  :)

AND I came home with awesome welts to show off!

This pic is not doing it justice...I had a massive welt covering 1/4 of my upper arm :)

Would I go paintballing again?  Yeah.  Especially if it were outside and lasted longer.  Those speed rounds at an indoor place weren't my favorite.  Will I be the organizer?  Probably not.  I think I like laser tag better.  More shooting, less pain, cool courses.

My dollar today goes to buying 2 boxes of crayons for underprivileged kids to take to school.

#14 Eat out at 10 new places (6/10): El Azteca

Last week I went out with old friends to El Azteca.  It was reasonably priced and delicious.  I would totally go back again.  Besides delicious food, the decor was also fantastic, and they played music that made me wanna salsa right there in line.

Although this picture doesn't do it justice (found it online), you CAN see how bright the colors are!

 

#14 Eat out at 10 new places (5/10): The Wall

The Wall is BYU's new "hip" restaurant, and I must say, they succeeded.  They have burgers, pizookies, etc. for food; there are 7 or 8 big flat screen tvs, one of which you can play video games on; there is a section of the wall with chalkboards and chalk that people were making amazing art on; AND there is live music.  (occasionally live stand-up comedy, too)  When I went there was a girl singing and playing the keyboard, and she was fantastic.  Two thumbs up, BYU!

#22 Visit 5 new temples (3/5): Rexburg, ID; #50 Temple Service: perform all ordinances as proxy for a deceased ancestor in one day

A week ago I went to visit my oldest nephew Bryce.  He's going to school up there and will be leaving in a month and a half to serve a full-time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for two years.  So I wanted to spend some time with him before he left.  :)

Bryce is now able to worship and serve in the holy temples of our church.  These beautiful buildings are different from our chapels where we meet on Sundays.  Chapels can be entered by anyone, and it is where we worship on Sundays, partake of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and have midweek activities.  Temples are literally the houses of the Lord--holy, dedicated buildings that are set apart and special.  They can only be entered by members of the Church, but membership is not the only requirement.  Members must be worthy and must have reached a certain maturity level (18 is the youngest I've heard of; many people do this in their 20s).  New members of the Church must wait a year before making additional covenants with God in the temples (I'll discuss that a little later).

So Bryce is excited about being able to attend the temple, and I love it too, so we went together to the temple that is in Rexburg, Idaho.  It's only 5 years old, and very beautiful.

Aren't we cute?  The inscription above the door reads, "holiness to the Lord, the house of the Lord"

Besides attending a new temple, we also accomplished one of my other goals while I was there.  Goal #50 used the say that I would only attend the temple to perform proxy ordinances for my own ancestors for 6 months.  The idea was to encourage me to do family history (to find people who needed essential saving ordinances), but the result was to discourage me from attending the temple when I didn't have names.  So I changed it to something else I've wanted to do for a long time: do all ordinances in one day for an ancestor that I found.

I found a few people in my family tree that needed temple ordinances, and Bryce and I served as proxies for them in the temple.  He did my great great aunt's son (who knows what kind of cousin that is?), and I did his wife.

This is Mabel's card, where we marked that she had received individual ordinances

This is the card for sealing her in holy matrimony to her husband

All in all we spent about 7 hours in the temple, and it was great.  I feel so much peace when I am there.  It's like all of my worldly cares and concerns leave, and I can see the bigger picture of why I'm here.  I also felt my ancestor's excitement at receiving these ordinances, especially when she was sealed in eternal marriage to her husband.  It was a beautiful experience, and it was special to share it with my nephew.
For more information about what goes on in Mormon temples, please continue reading!  :)

Ordinances for the Dead
So, one of the "problems" in Christianity is what happens to all those people who never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We know that God is a loving God, and we also know that baptism is required for salvation...so how does that work without choosing favorites?  We provide ordinances for those who have passed on, by serving as proxies in their place, and then in the spirit world they can choose to accept or reject the ordinances performed on their behalf.  I am pretty sure that the LDS Church is unique in this practice, although it was practiced in New Testament times as well:

Baptism
In defending the doctrine of resurrection (the Sadduccees didn't believe there would be a resurrection), Paul said, "Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all?  Why are they then baptized for the dead?" (1 Corinthians 15:29).  This pre-supposes that all in the audience were familiar with the practice of being baptized for the dead. Baptisms of live people happens in baptismal fonts in the chapels throughout the world, but if it is on behalf of someone who has died, it must be performed in the temple.  Temple baptismal fonts look like this:

The twelve oxen below represent the 12 tribes of Israel

Confirmation
The next step is to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands of someone who has the Priesthood of God.  There is also a precedent set for this in the New Testament.  Peter and John came across a group of people who had received the baptism of Jesus, but had not received the Holy Ghost.  In Acts 8:17 it says that they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost.  We believe that a baptism by water is only half; the other half is to be baptized by fire or by the spirit, which is receiving the Holy Ghost.  On the picture of the ordinance card above, this is called "confirmation," because it is also when you are confirmed a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Both baptism and confirmation are ordinances that members of the Church receive in chapels or meeting houses.  The next ordinances are ones that are always performed in the temple, whether for the living or the dead.

Temples
Here is some background information on temples, published on mormon.org:

Temples are houses of the Lord, the most sacred structures on the earth.

Anciently, the Lord directed Solomon to build a temple (1 Chronicles 28:1-6). This temple was a place where God could dwell, was a place of prayer, was a place of sacrifice and was a place where the principle and covenant of sacrifice was fundamental to worship.

At the time of the Restoration, the Lord commanded Joseph Smith to once again build temples on the earth. Like ancient temples, today’s temples are also sacred places where God may dwell; they are places of prayer and, although we no longer offer animal sacrifices because that was done away with when Jesus Christ became the Eternal Sacrifice for our sins, the principle and covenant of sacrifice is fundamental to our temple worship.

In temples, Church members participate in ordinances designed to unite their families together forever and help them return to God

This beginning of an eternal family

Endowment and Sealing
Here is information regarding the additional ordinances that are performed in the temple, as quoted from the book "True to the Faith" (pg 170-174):

One ordinance received in the temple is called the endowment. The word endowment means “gift,” and the temple endowment truly is a gift from God. The ordinance consists of a series of instructions and includes covenants to live righteously and follow the requirements of the gospel. The endowment focuses on the Savior, His role in Heavenly Father's plan, and the personal commitment of each member to follow Him.

Another temple ordinance is celestial marriage. In this ordinance husband and wife are sealed to one another for eternity. A sealing performed in the temple continues forever if the husband and wife are faithful to the covenants they make.

Here is an altar where a man and woman can kneel and be sealed forever in eternal marriage.

If you want to learn more, you can visit this website or this one, talk with missionaries, or go to the visitor's center of the nearest temple to you.  My life has been blessed by temple worship.

My dollar for completing goal #50 went to purchasing 2 boxes of crayons for children in Title 1 schools.

#40 Read 10 of the following books (3/10): the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

I finished listening to the audio recording of the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin this month!  Some sections of the book were quite dull.  Not gonna lie.  He gives the details of so many proceedings and meetings and business stuff that I don't much care about.  There also are a few parts that are fascinating.

I shall mention two:
1. He decided upon 13 virtues to develop (well, 12, but then one of his friends said he should develop humility, and he decided to add it, even though he wasn't completely committed to it and never quite achieved it).  He would focus on one virtue for a week at a time, and write down all his "infractions" against said virtue.  Once he was perfect at it, he would add another.

2. Since he never really developed humility, he decided to develop something akin to it so as to improve his social interactions with people.  Instead of being argumentative, he would stay silent when people voiced an opinion that he knew to be incorrect.  Instead of asserting himself and his knowledge, he adopted such phrases as, "it appears to me," "I am currently of the opinion," "it seems," etc. so that anything he said appeared to be an opinion-in-progress rather than a staunch position.  He said that this change in his manner of speaking greatly aided his relationships.

I admire the first, and I am intrigued by the second.  However, I don't anticipate adopting either at the moment.  I find that I am brought down by focusing on my weaknesses, so the first doesn't feel good to me.  As for the second, I usually phrase my opinions as if they are written in pencil if they are, and I only use certain speech for things I am really certain of...so I don't think it much applies to me.  I'm not an argumentative person.  In fact, I quite loathe conflict.  I don't think I have much of the same difficulties (or strengths) of Benjamin Franklin, so although I don't think I'll adopt his practices, I admire them.  I admire his thought.  I admire how much he strove to be a man of character.  I admire his purposefulness and drive.

I am glad to have read this book and gotten to know him better.  It's especially cool that it's his own words...it really helps you get a feel for him.  Good man.

Just can't believe he suggested a turkey for our national bird...

Addendum
I just remembered an insight from Ben Franklin that I do like and want to adopt (in fact, I shared it with my dad today, which jogged my memory).  He said that he would never seek an office (e.g. a public office), he would never turn one down, and he would never ask to be released from it.  Franklin was asked to serve in various local offices, as you may imagine.  In his retirement, he wanted to use the time to experiment with electricity, but people kept recommending him for office.  He never turned one down.  I think it's an awesome philosophy to live by.

#88 Use my budget for three consecutive months, tracking all purchases (3/3)

August has been an expensive month...

My car needed both an oil change and a wheel alignment.

My car's registration was due, and since it's a newer car, it's over $200

I got my hair cut and colored...never doing color again while in grad school!

I had to buy textbooks

I took all 4 of my Utah nieces and nephews on dates

I had friends that were moving, had birthdays, broke up with boys, or started jobs...all of which needed to be taken out on dates

I went on two road trips (the monastery and to visit my nephew in Idaho), which increased gas and eating out

...and I didn't keep track of my spending until the end of the month.  Lesson learned: don't wait to update my budget!  Copy down those receipts and throw 'em away!

Uck--look at all those old receipts!

But, keeping track of my spending has been an excellent thing to do over the summer to prepare me for grad school.  I've done my finances for the semester/year, and I will be just fine as long as I keep to my budget.  :)

My dollar for finishing this goal goes to...buying two boxes of crayons for kids in Title 1 schools!  Yay!

#19 Olympic Park in Park City, including Alpine Slide

Summer Skiing (didn't know it existed): if you look close, you can see a guy doing a back flip

Ski runs from the 2002 Winter Olympics

My sister and niece

Me and my youngest niece

After waiting a while for the rain and lightning, we got to go on a sweet alpine slide track.  It went in the AIR!  So cool.  It was super fun to see all the tracks/runs used for the 2002 Olympics.  Now I have a new goal...go BOBSLEDDING!  Yeah, you can pay $75 to go in a real bobsled down the real Olympic bobsled track.  Kinda cool.  :)

My dollar today goes to buying two boxes of crayons to put into kids' backpacks in Title 1 schools.

#95 Take DeVore kids out on dates (4/4): Cookie

Last week I took the little one (whom I have nick-named "Cookie" for this post) on a date.  I'm not sure she understood the concept of a date, as she asked if her mom could come too. ;)  That was cute.

Cookie loves candy...so we got ice cream at McDonald's!  Super fun.

Little girl, big ice cream

Little kid slide at the play place

Since this is the last of my nieces/nephew in Utah, that means I have now completed this goal  (and I'll definitely repeat it as a tradition)!  Wahoo! Today my dollar goes to buying two boxes of crayons to go into backpacks for kids in Title 1 schools in the area.  Hooray for education and hooray for coloring! :)