Black Friday Doings

I've wanted to go to Goblin Valley for a few years and hadn't as yet planned a trip. Well, my friend, Daniel, was talking to me about some of the things he was planning for Thanksgiving week. When he mentioned taking a trip to southern Utah and seeing Goblin Valley, I "suggested" that he should let me tag along.

One of the cool things about Goblin Valley is that one can make out various pictures from the rocks. See if you can see some of what we "saw". :)

"The Sphinges"

"Spinal Column"

"Topographic Map"

Me

"The Multitudes"

"Girl Reading"

Next we hit up Capitol Reef. SUCH a beautiful place. The next few pictures are from the drive there and of the park itself.

Probably one of my favorite pictures that I took.

River/waterfall icing over

The Castle

Eroding rock, but I looked at it and thought of the Indian cave dwellings. Do you see it?

Sunset and a "gnarly" tree!

A very fun way to spend "black friday"! I totally recommend visiting both of these places. I am very thankful for the beautiful world in which we live!

Accountants make life less taxing!

So I've been meaning to post about something very cool that happened at work. As most of you know, I do taxes. My job basically consists of preparing tax returns. Once in awhile I'll get to do other things, like write letters to the IRS (those are always fun), but for the most part my job consists of a lot of data entry. At BYU, they teach us tax students how to do tax research and that quite a few of us will be doing it in our respective positions. Well, I have found that I don't get the opportunity to much research working at the small firm that I do. Which is fine, the research was always a bit intimidating to me.


Last December, I was in a training meeting on the changes that would apply for the next busy season. As the trainer was explaining some aspect of individual taxation, I realized that what he was explaining was something that directly applied to a new client of ours. I got so excited! I walked out of the training (it was on DVD so I wasn't being rude) and went to discuss the idea with my boss. He hadn't heard of it before and told me to do some research and see what I came up with, but he seemed pleased with me.

After pulling up the cases that the trainer referenced and a few others to state my position, I took the information to my boss and let him look over it. He agreed that it was a position that we could take to help out this client.

Now, I should explain that this client had only come to us to get a return amended. He didn't indicate that he would continue with us, because of our fees, which is totally understandable for some people. Well, I called him up and told him about this idea that we had and how it would help him out. He seemed pretty impressed that we were still helping him, despite his lack of "hiring" us. So he gave permission for us to go forward with the idea.

Situations came up and I didn't get to it until this past June. We amended this client's return and I wrote up the reason why, stating the cases that I had found and applying the situation to our client. I handed it to my boss for review and he didn't change my explanation, at all! This was a triumphal moment for me. I tend to be pretty basic and short in my technical writing and my boss always changes things, or corrects my grammar. But in this situation, I guess because I knew what I was writing about, I did the job thoroughly. A proud moment in my career.

A couple of weeks ago, we received a notice from the IRS, stating that they accepted our changes and were processing the return. I was ecstatic! Even though the client won't be coming back, I was still pleased that I had been able to use my skills and abilities to help someone out.

Last week, at our monthly staff meeting, one of the partners talked about what it means to serve with our hearts and our minds, not just with our back and our hands. I truly believe that when we serve with our hearts, we are happier, even when we don't get any direct benefit from doing so.

And that my friends, is why I do the things I do. Yes, it is boring and tedious at times, but it is also quite rewarding!

Temple Square Surprises

Saturday, Rachel, Steven, Chloe and myself, met up with Sonja's family on temple square. We walked around the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, Temple Square, and ended up in the North Visitor's Center.

While Ammon wasn't there, he had a special friend visiting and getting to know his family. Later when he met up with us, I realized that we were in the middle of a very special event.

Despite her attempts to flee, she did say, "Yes"! Emily, welcome to the crazy family where you will NEVER lose your marbles, no matter how crazy we all are. (I must say, I like her name!) :)

Post Halloween Dress Up Fun

"I'm a cheerleader!" He said it, not me. And yes, these next few will be used to blackmail him when he gets older. :)

Last year, my sister, Rachel, and I put together a box of dress up stuff for a family reunion we had. I kept my box and it is always a hit when the kids are visiting. Sure keeps them occupied and entertains the rest of us. Gotta love kids!

Football Games

Stansbury Stallions

Seth - Silver #54

BYU vs TCU

Cute Anna

Cute Sarah - that is how we all felt after the game.

September Babies

I neglected to post about the 2 new babies that were born into our family in September.

Rachel & Chloe 9-9-09

(wasn't planned, I promise)

Aunt Emily and Chloe

Katie & Peter 9-29-09 (again, not planned) with Rachel & Chloe

SO CUTE!!

BLESSING DAY - November 1, 2009 (planned) :)

Chloe with her daddy, Steven

Peter Jonathan Marble

Chloe Nicole Nelson

Proud Grandma

Hooray for 2 more favoritest people to spoil! :) These two make 26 nieces and nephews, 13 of each.

November

A year ago, I found out that November was National Adoption Awareness Month. I posted my opinion about the aportion/adoption issue, and then ended with talking about how important children are to me. So I thought I would share about my favoritest people in the world this month! My nieces and nephews.

I've been an aunt since I was 6. I love being an aunt. I love playing with each of the kids and enjoying their company when I can get a chance. This year I've made it a priority to spend time with them. (There are some that live further away that I am sad about not having been able to see yet, but am working on it!) I've really enjoyed this. Sleepovers, concerts, work parties, lunches, temple open houses are a few of the things that I have done in the past few months. I've posted about most of them, but I took a trip up to Idaho a couple Saturdays ago that I've been needing to post about. (Sorry Nat! I totally was thinking about you, but it was a one day trip and didn't get a chance to call you about coming to visit. I am hoping to go up there again and I will for sure come and see you!)

Driving by ones self can get pretty boring on a 4 hour drive, so I pulled out my camera and started talking pictures. Here are a few of those (I really mean a few, I took a bunch) pictures:

Why, thank you! Happy to be here!

Mile Marker 29 - my age :)

See, I kept my eyes on the road! I was driving very carefully, I promise!

I thought this very profound. :) JK

I took a geology class a few years ago and found this rock formation outside of Pocatello quite intriguing.

 

Ah... Pocatello.

Rexburg, final destination.

I met up with my niece, Krystal, and her husband at their cute apartment and then we went and picked up, Ammon, Krystal's older brother, and went to Winger's for lunch. As one of my reasons for traveling to Idaho was to go to the temple in Rexburg and Idaho Falls, we didn't get a lot of time together. They also had homework to get done, but it was really fun to see them.

Yes, my eyes are closed and there is a flag coming out of my head. It was very bright outside and so I didn't see this until after I left. Oh well.

Rexburg Temple

Idaho Falls

On conference weekend I felt that I needed to put greater effort into attending the temple. One of my first thoughts was that I have been wanting to go to the Idaho Falls temple for quite some time. So I finally made it happen. Such a beautiful temple!

Temple before going inside

Temple after coming out

(loved both of these pictures of the temple!)

It was a great Saturday and I am really glad I decided to make the trip. Stay tuned for more posts this month on more of my favoritest people! :)