rushley & crew

I've mentioned my involvement in the cultural celebration a few times on the blog, but now that it's all over, I wanted to take some time to write about all the things I thought about and felt throughout the experience. It's difficult to write about, because so much of it is just feelings, and the feelings feel personal. Guess that's the trouble with a public blog that also serves as a personal journal haha :) +     Youth are so cool. They are fun and pure and wonderful. I had SO much fun working with them every week. I loved seeing them work hard and improve. I loved seeing their bright smiles that could light up their whole face. I also loved the healthy amount of teasing that went back and forth between us all. It felt like a little family sometimes :) After every Tuesday rehearsal, we'd all dance to the Electric Slide together, and it was so fun! These kids just all have such great personalities and it was fun to get to know them through this experience. +...

Exercise and I, we've never been friends. I'm just not one of those people who loves to work out. This is why I have to find things that are fun for other reasons. Throughout high school, it was dance because I love to perform and I love hanging out with friends. In college, I did zumba as often as I could find a good class because it basically gave me the same perks as dance. After marrying Russ, I adopted running (because he likes running), but had to make it better by having a running buddy or listening to good music. But lately, I hadn't been doing much of anything. So then I decided I was going to start hiking the Y every day. It's a kinda steep hike, so if you only do it every once in a while, it's pretty hard. In past times of hiking it, I'd have to pause at a lot of the switchbacks to catch my breath. But I started doing that, and have been doing it mostly every day for about 2.5 weeks. The hike has gotten a lot easier, and I can now do the whol...

So my birthday has now come and gone and my 23 before 23 goals are supposed to be complete. I only finished 17, but I still feel good about that. I have a whole other post planned to talk more about the actual list , but I still have three tasks to post about, so I'll do one today: Do work in all the temples in Utah. I don't always talk about my faith in blog posts, but it is definitely a big part of my life. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , informally known as the Mormon church. We believe in God and we believe in His Son, Jesus Christ. We believe in the eternal nature of families--that is, we believe that families can be together forever, even after death. We believe in loving and serving others. And really, we believe in a lot of great things, so if you want to learn more, feel free to ask me any questions or visit the FAQ section on  mormon.org .  One thing that sets my church apart from many other churches are the temples . We ...

Recently, a friend of mine asked me to write a blog post on Mormon marriage, more specifically on our tendencies for a short courtship and engagement. Since this is actually something I'm kind of passionate about, I'm obliging her now :) **The following reflects my personal experience and opinions coupled with my observations. I do not claim to be laying down any sort of Mormon doctrine for short courtship/engagement, though some of what I share will be doctrine. My first date with Russ until the day I married him covered about six months. The first time I met Russ until the day I married him covered about ten months. Such a short courtship and even such a short friendship sounds like a foreign concept to those who date for at least a year, if not three to five years, right? But to me, dating for so long is the foreign concept. Mormons believe that " marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator's plan for t...

Easter isn't about bunnies, baskets, or big blocks of chocolate. It is about the resurrection of the Redeemer of the world, Jesus Christ.  Because of Him, our lives can have meaning. Because of Him, we can be with our families forever. Because of Him, we can live again.  How has your life been blessed as a result of the life and mission of our Savior, Jesus Christ? **ashleynicole

I feel like I haven't blogged in forever! Weird since it's only been like . . . two days. But I have just been chilling in Boise with my husband and his family, and it's been so relaxing that it seems like forever! Have I mentioned that I love love love holiday breaks? :) This December, I've been reading some posts from The Small Seed , a blog focused on God, faith, and joy. They've been doing a mini series called the  12 Days of Christmas  where they discuss ways to put Christ back in Christmas. As I've read some of the posts, it's made me wonder . . . What can I  do to put Christ back in Christmas? Commercially, Christmas is all about the gifts. But I think spiritually, Christmas is still all about gifts.  The two things that stand out in my mind of how I can turn my focus to Christ during this Christmas season (and those to come) are: 1. Be more grateful for all the gifts in my life. It's been so easy to spend this December thinking about ...

I was supposed to graduate this upcoming April. By then, I will have finished my generals, major, and minor in eight semesters. I was feeling pretty good about myself because most people take some extra time to figure out what they want to do with their lives, but I knew from the beginning that I wanted to have an English Language major and an editing minor. I prided myself on the fact that I've only taken two classes outside of my major/minor/generals. But two weeks ago, I found out I won't be able to graduate in April; apparently, you have to have 120 credits to graduate, and I will only have 110.5 credits.  At first, I was furious. I cried in both the office where I found out you have to have 120 credits and the office that told me there is pretty much no way they'll make an exception. I was just devastated because I'm so ready to be done with school and move on with my life! But slowly, I've come to terms with it. I am now excited to take a few fun clas...

This weekend, something very sad happened. For the first time in our marriage, Russ and I weren't together for the night! It was so weird not sleeping next to him . . . I don't know how anybody does distance for long periods of time. After 30 hours, I was definitely anxious to see him :) But the reason for our separation was a good one. I went to Time Out For Women with my Mom, two aunts, and several of my cousins. Time Out For Women is basically just a conference where you hear lots of uplifting talks--somewhat geared toward women, but mostly quite applicable to anyone. I heard so many amazing and uplifting talks that it's difficult to choose just one to talk about, which is why I've narrowed it down to two speakers who had related messages. The first is  Mary Ellen Edmunds . She talked about how powerful our thoughts are. Since our thoughts can be so powerful, it's important for us to recognize what we are thinking about, and to give more consciousness t...

Most people know about Alcoholics Anonymous and other such addiction recovery groups. Those programs typically have 12 steps to overcoming your addictions. In my  church , there is a similar program with similar steps, only there is a lot more focus on bringing God into the process. Several months ago, instead of the normal third hour meetings, we had some people come talk about this  Addiction Recovery Program .  I thought the program was just for addicts--of alcohol, drugs, pornography, or other such things. i was so wrong. The speakers helped me realize that pretty much all people are addicts--of something or another. Because we're all addicted to our "favorite sins" or even just our favorite bad habits.  I have at least some level of addiction to things like TV, food, and trying to control everything in my life.  Now these aren't horrible things that will get me kicked out of the running for heaven, but they're definitely things I could be wor...

Spiritual Sunday If you could keep just one thing with you when you died, what would you keep? For me, it would be my amazing husband, Russ. I had to put a funny one . . . cuz my husband is funny! :) And just cute :) He's wonderful :) But, if I could keep one thing collectively, it would be my whole family: my parents, my siblings, my nieces and nephews, my grandparents and aunts and uncles, and my future children. And that is what I love about my  church . I get to!  We believe in life after death, and we believe that we will be able to share that life with all of our loved ones. Relationships don't end with death; they continue on into eternity. Today in church, we talked a lot about doing genealogy: learning about ancestors, writing down our own histories for future generations, and basically just linking generations together.  It made me want to learn more about my family. I want to learn things about those who have already passed on, but I als...

Spiritual Sunday [Cool graphic coming soon . . . ] If you're new here, and don't know what Spiritual Sunday is, head on over to  this blogpost  to see what it's all about! At the most recent  General Conference , Elder Uchtdorf gave a talk entitled, "Come, Join with Us." I was sick that day, so unfortunately, I fell asleep. But I watched it the other day, and I just love it! I highly recommend reading or watching it  here  :) (unfortunately, I can't embed the video . . . ) He spends a lot of time inviting people to come and join with the Mormons  (hence the title), but if you want, you could ignore that and you'd still find goodness in the things he shares. What I really enjoyed about the talk was how much he focuses on telling people, "You're not perfect, and that's okay." I think people spend so much time thinking that they're not good enough, that they're hopelessly flawed, and that they'll never be able...

In becoming a more avid blogger, I've decided that some days of the week will be set aside for certain types of posts. Every Sunday will be "Spiritual Sunday."  On Spiritual Sundays, I will share my thoughts and feelings about Jesus Christ and His teachings. I will share these things from my perspective, which means that what I say will be colored by the fact that I am a Mormon.  Before that scares you away from reading on Sundays, let me share a story with you.   * * * * *  A couple weeks ago, Russ and I had a yard sale. I have no problems getting rid of stuff that I no longer use, so I went through my closet at my parents' house and rounded up a great big pile of everything that was just collecting dust. Among the items was framed quote that I probably got from Young Women or Relief Society [those are groups in my  church ]. The quote talked about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It was a nice quote, but I knew that I wasn't ever going to use that chea...