Questions I Answered When I Should Have Been Sleeping

What’s a compliment you’ve never forgotten?

One time, after I spoke at a Relief Society event where I don’t know any of the sisters, someone came up to me and said, “You made everyone in this room feel like we were your friends” and I thought that was really cool. 

What have you changed your mind about this year?

Nothing major. Mostly I’ve changed my mind about watching a TV show or reading a book. You know, I get two episodes or 50 pages in and change my mind! 

What’s your favorite struggle meal?

I had to google “struggle meal” because I’ve never heard that term before (I guessed correctly in what it was, but I had to make sure, lest I make a fool of myself). Perhaps spaghetti, hot dogs, or brinner (breakfast for dinner).

Describe your life philosophy in ten words or less:

Wake up and be awesome.

What’s your go to karaoke song?

I don’t know! And it has stressed me out for my entire life even though I’ve never been summoned to utilize a go to karaoke song. The fact that I don’t have one at the ready terrifies me. 

What’s something you believe that most people don’t?

Diapered kids are easier to manage than potty trained kids. 

My argument: if my kid pees in their diaper, and I’m nowhere near a bathroom, everything’s fine. If my kid needs to pee, and they’re wearing underwear, and we’re nowhere near a bathroom, we have some hard work ahead. 

What’s a relationship dealbreaker for you?

I have a hard time when people are unreliable. 

Have you ever committed a crime?

Nothing worse than breaking traffic laws. 

If you had to change your name, what would you choose?

Lillian after my great grandma. 

What’s your comfort movie or TV series?

I like to turn on Miranda when I’m sick, and then I can fade in and out of sleep while she gallops through my dreams.

What’s your weird family tradition?

Scotty's mom makes us eat spam sandwiches and roll eggs down a hill for Easter.

What arbitrary rules do you have for yourself?

I will not wear any Utah-themed clothing while traveling out of state (it helps that I don't actually own any Utah-themed clothing).

We also have a rule that we don't eat at Jack in the Box unless we are 4+ hours away from home, or it is Amber's birthday.  

What are you really bad at?

Floral arranging, sports that require me to hit a ball with a piece of equipment (tennis, golf, softball), backing into parking spaces, and cleaning.

Are you nice to everyone?

No. I'm actually kind of mean. 

What is your least favorite word?

Whatever new word the kids are using. I heard a new one today, and I can't remember what it is but it starts with a 'B' and it's a substitute for "no offense, but..." or "just being honest" or something like that. And two nights ago, I had four teenage girls at my house, and they said "brochacho" at least 800 times, and then they argued about who says "brochacho" the most and who has been using it the longest. 

If you could live inside any board game, which one would it be?

In my childhood years, I would have said The Game of Life. I loved that game so much and always daydreamed that it really was my life! 

Now I can't decide on a board game because they would all be too problematic. I wouldn't be able to feed my family in Agricola. I don't want to go to war in Risk. I can't handle the animal Rights Activists in Ark Nova. I can't live in Wingspan because birds are too noisy. 

Maybe I have to choose Mariposas because butterflies are quiet, and flowers are pretty. 

Sunday Sentiments: On Covenants

I’m a day late, and at the rate I’m going, it might be Tuesday before I get this posted, but I didn’t want to miss the chance to share a bit of my testimony and study this week. Last week I studied a lot of different topics and didn’t really have anything stick out as The Thing I Should Write About on Sunday, so when the Sabbath rolled around, I was a bit stumped. I started several different posts, and never found my flow. Then today, I thought of something quite simple to share.

Last week I wrote about an experience I had teaching the youth. As I prepared for that experience, I read a lot about covenants (and I mean a lot). I kept thinking, “What are some of the simplest things I can say about covenants to a group of teenagers?” 

As I studied, I started to notice two themes emerging from almost every resource:

1. When we make covenants, we forge a relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ

2. Covenants give us access to Christ’s power

Pondering God’s Promise

The words relationship and power (and synonyms) kept appearing over and over in everything I read. 

Here are a few examples:

“Each person who makes covenants in baptismal fonts and in temples - and keeps them - has increased access to the power of Jesus Christ.” -Russell M. Nelson

“Throughout the Old Testament, you will frequently read the word covenant. Today we usually think of covenants as sacred promises with God, but in the ancient world, covenants were also an important part of people’s interactions with each other. For their safety and survival, people needed to be able to trust each other, and covenants were a way to secure that trust.

So when God spoke to Enoch, Noah, Moses, and others about covenants, He was inviting them to enter into a relationship of trust with Him.” -Come Follow Me

“God will not abandon His relationship with those who have forged such a bond with Him. In fact, all those who have made a covenant with God have access to a special kind of love and mercy… Because of our covenant with God, He will never tire in His efforts to help us, and we will never exhaust His merciful patience with us.” -Russell M. Nelson

“We become His disciples and represent Him well when we intentionally and incrementally take on ourselves the name of Jesus Christ through covenants. Our covenants give us power to stay on the covenant path because our relationship with Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father is changed. We are connected to them by a covenantal bond.” -Dale G. Renlund

“Making and keeping covenants actually makes life easier!... The reward for keeping covenants with God is heavenly power - power that strengthens us to withstand our trials, temptations, and heartaches better. This power eases our way…” -Russell M. Nelson

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These are the two simple things I taught the youth and hope they walked away with (though we did a sword activity, and it’s possible that they left knowing more about Glamdring than they know about covenants). If nothing else, it will stick with me, and I’m excited to listen for these truths as they are reiterated in general conference next month. 

How I Learned I Love Ribs

I married young (19), so as a newlywed, some of my friends were still in high school, and I continued hanging out with them. 

(This is actually the first time I’ve really acknowledged this. There were a few years when I was first married when friendships were kind of strange to navigate. Then I started having kids, and that made things weird too. Wow. Future blog post forming… )

One of my high schooler friends was named Josh, and he happened to work with me. Josh had a crush on the same girl for a really long time, and he asked her to prom his senior year. My mom's house had a patio on the roof of the garage, and Josh thought it would be really funny for him and his friends to tell their prom dates that they were going to "The Roof" for dinner and then eat on "the roof" at my mom's house, so he asked me if I might be able to work that out for him. 

I wasn't sure if this was a good idea or a bad idea... if it was funny or not funny... but my mom said they could have dinner on her roof, and I agreed to help Josh with the set up. I made a sign that said "Welcome to The Roof," and I had my friend Michelle come help me serve the prom kids their dinner. Josh ordered takeout from Chili's for everyone.* That's where I saw a bit of a red flag - he ordered Chili's baby back ribs for a bunch of girls in prom dresses. 

Michelle and I plated the food and served it to the group, and whatdoyouknow, those girls didn't eat the ribs. When we brought all of the plates back in the house, most of the girls’ ribs were just sitting there in piles. You could tell the girls had kind of poked and prodded at them, trying to make it look like they’d eaten something, but aside from a courtesy bite or two, the ribs were not eaten. I didn't blame them one bit! At that point in my life, even when I wasn't in a nice dress, I didn't like to eat anything by hand. I truly believed that I didn't like hamburgers or sandwiches or pizza, and I definitely wouldn't have eaten saucy ribs. 

After the group left, and we were cleaning up, I decided to take a random nibble on a rib. If nothing else, it would be fun to at least gnaw on the meat for a bit and sing, "Chiliiiiiiiii's baby back ribs!" to Michelle and see if she would sing back, "Bar.be.que sauce!" (I don't remember if that part happened, but I'd like to think it did). 

To my surprise, the ribs were delicious! For so many years, I’d avoided finger foods, and I didn’t know what I was missing. It was then that Michelle and I resigned ourselves to eating every last bite of the rejected ribs of the prom dates. 

There are a few lessons to take away here:

Lesson 1: Don’t serve ribs to your prom dates.

Lesson 2: But also… don’t be afraid of messy food. 

Lesson 3: Most importantly, don’t be afraid to eat other people’s discarded food.

Life experience has taught me to go for the eclair.

*Note that this was not a normal practice back then. You had to make special accommodations to get takeout from a sit-down restaurant, which is why everyone didn’t get to pick what they wanted. 

Missionary Email Overview

As you know, our son is on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Saints. 

When you’re on a 17 sq ft mile island, this is what you see everyday!

A lot of his friends are also serving missions, so we get a fair amount of emails every week from missionaries all over the world. It’s really fun to explore my Monday inbox and check on all my lil guys and gals. 

Each missionary adds a bit of their own personality to their emails, but overall, they all kind of sound the same. If you haven’t read an email from a missionary in 2026, here is what it’s like:

Hola! (Random Spanish word).* This week was lit! Bro got baptized Saturday. It was so hype. (Another random Spanish word). Three friends came to church on Sunday, it was peak. Me and my comp had to speak in sacrament meeting, and I was crashing out, but it was low key fire. My comp is actually the goat, high key. He ate. 

Spiritual thought: The BOM is fire. Lock in on the spirit bro. The Holy Ghost is goated (random mission slang).

Jesus loves you!

*Swap for any language 

Things the Kids Say: Episode 39

 “I hope the afterlife is a musical!” 

-Zoe

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“I feel like a mom. I picked up Zoe from school and drove to the grocery store all in one day!”

-Daisy

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“Remember PP76 and FU89?”

-Zoe, referencing two of my codes for mobile ordering at McDonald’s

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“I don’t know if France is a country, but I know what colors are on its flag.”

-Daisy

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“Wait, these are real?”

-Daisy upon seeing a laundromat in real life

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“We went to the top of a mountain, and it was freezing. It was like 70 degrees!”

-Nicky acclimated to Puerto Rico

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“Mom, you read boring books like The Book Thief and Lord of the Fish.”

-Zoe

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“You know what’s not cold in Idaho? The cowboys.”

-Daisy

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“Did you put sour crap in this?”

(Sauerkraut)

-Eva

Currently (March 2026 Edition)

Reading:

I was finally starting to read again, and then Scotty downloaded Viticulture and Everdell (two digital board games), and I started using every spare minute to feed my gaming addiction instead of my reading addiction. So I’ve been reading the third book in the housemaid series for almost a month now!

Wearing: black stretchy pants and a Yellowstone hoodie (which I will soon have to remove because it’s too warm for hoodies).

Eating: Chicken Pesto Tortellini Soup

Watching: 

Right now my favorite shows are Shrinking and The Pitt, but I cannot recommend them because they are both very much not PG. 

I was a diehard Scrubs fan back in its prime, so I am obligated to watch the reboot. They have released two episodes so far (I’ve watched them both twice because I watched them at work and felt like I was cheating on Scotty, so I rewatched them with him later). 

I don’t know if the series will do well or not, but I will say that I wept for the first five minutes of the first episode because I felt like I was meeting up with old friends after years of separation. 

(Random fact: Scrubs and Shrinking are from the same creator - Bill Lawrence - and the shows have many overlapping cast members and cameos. This is something I have to geek over in silence because being a fan of a TV show can sometimes be very lonely. I realize there’s an entire fandom online I could participate in, but that’s not the same as interacting with a real human and sharing a common interest).

Last week while I was sick I rewatched Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Wuthering Heights. 

Angel and Heathcliff make me so angry!

Hoping: that everything I currently have saturated in stain remover will come out of the laundry with success (working with grass stains and pork grease).

Happy about: finding a loophole to make it possible to post photos from my phone. I have to use a different browser, and there are some inconveniences to that, but it works!

Update: Never mind. It worked for a few photos, and now it’s not working anymore.

Singing: “Lucky” by Colbie Caillat and Jason Mraz.

Worried about: Mexico, Iran, the entire world being ran by perverts, technology, AI, my children, everyone’s mental and physical health, how we will take care of our eight aging parents, medical bills, the weird sounds our pipes make when we flush the toilet, a million Church things, and my high blood pressure that won’t go down even though I’m on the highest allowable dose of two different BP meds. 

Buying: butter from Sam's Club because it's unusually cheap right now. 

Annoyed by: loud cars.

Playing: the newest expansion of Wingspan.

Baking: Tres Leches for Game Night (I started this post on Friday. Right now it’s Saturday. But I probably won’t finish and post it until Monday, so the concept of “currently” spans across many days and is usually a lie by the time my post is actually published).

Grateful for: all of my working limbs.

Sunday Sentiments - Good with One

Last Sunday was our ward conference. Our stake president spoke in our sacrament meeting, and he talked a bit about his mission. He was assigned to serve in Atlanta, Georgia speaking Vietnamese. I won't try to recap his entire experience because I'll probably get a lot of the details wrong, but I can tell you a few things - first, he spent 12 weeks in the MTC learning the language. Then, when he was in Atlanta, the Vietnamese program in his mission was dissolved, and he was reassigned to be English speaking. BUT through one of those right place/right time situations, he was asked if he could teach a young man the gospel in Vietnamese. That young man had been meeting with the missionaries for quite some time, but it wasn't until he met with our stake president and heard the teachings in Vietnamese that he made the decision to be baptized. He has been a faithful member of our Church ever since. 

This story got me thinking about how God has the power and willingness to set things into motion for the benefit of one. There are a lot of things that happen that bless humans on a grand scale, but there are a lot of things that happen for the benefit of a single individual. Sometimes we get to see those things unfold, but a lot of times, I think we are completely unaware. 

That night, I had the opportunity to teach some youth in another ward about covenants. I found the subject matter (and the presence of young people) a bit intimidating. "Covenants" isn't a comfortable topic for me (I find that I am rarely assigned topics I'm comfortable with or feel adequate to teach - I guess that's how the Lord deals with me. I don't get asked to teach because I know stuff... I get asked to teach because I need to learn stuff). 

I always take my teaching/speaking assignments very seriously, and I study and pray my guts out as I prepare. This time, I worked especially hard because I felt so inadequate in my own understanding and knowledge of covenants. Plus, it's not a topic that holds my attention well. I confess, for me, it's what I would consider a "shut off" topic - one that makes me glaze over, so I'm sure the youth struggle, too. I hoped that what I taught would be simple and clear, and that it would be what the Lord wanted.

We had 28 youth come to our class (which blew our minds because we live in an elderly ward, so we would have had 6 youth on a good day in our own ward). We taught the class. We went home. (I say "we" because Scotty came and helped me). 

In the end, I was a little disappointed with how things went. I didn't think it was terrible, but I also didn't feel like it was successful at the level I would have hoped for considering how much effort I'd put in. I didn't know if I'd accomplished what the Lord wanted. I wished I could have a do-over and fix some things.

The next day while I was driving to work, my stake president's story came to mind, and I was thinking about how wild it was that a young boy in Utah spent twelve weeks learning Vietnamese seemingly to reach one person in Georgia. I have such a strong testimony of God working in this way, and as I acknowledged that, the Spirit washed over me, and I had this thought, "You weren't meant to reach 28 youth last night. No one can do that. But you reached The One."

That's when I realized that if my study and preparation only resulted in one of the kids feeling the Spirit in the room that night, I'm good with that. If one kid took something away from the activities and discussions we had, then I needn’t have done it any differently.