I'm sorry that it's been so long. But I have started a new blog. It is ralangford.blogspot.com. And I promise that I will post more. Enjoy!

I'm sorry that I'm so bad at posting. But I am now officially 

Mrs. Rachel Langford!

Adam and I were married for time and all eternity in the Mesa Arizona Temple on March 12, 2011. Everything was perfect. Thank you everyone who helped. It means so much to us! More to follow and hopefully some pictures too!

11/19/2010

On November 19, 2010 Adam suggested that we go on a picnic up on the mountain. This is a mountain up on Snow Bowl Road that we go to every once in a while to be alone and in nature. This day we made our sandwiches and other things to put in our lunch like normal and headed up. When we got there we went down into the small grove of trees to find the tree that we always sit on to eat. We found it and sat down and started eating our delicious lunch. When we were done, we went on a short walk into the meadows next to the  grove of trees. We walked for a bit, and then Adam stopped to give me a big hug. After the hug he told me how much he loved me and some reasons why he loves me. The next thing he said was, "So I have a question to ask you..." At this point my heart was pounding because I knew what was happening and could not help but have a beaming smile on my face when he said, "Will you marry me?" as he got down on one knee. I gave him another big hug and told him, "yes!"

The entire time before he actually asked me I was thinking, "This would be the perfect time (right before Thanksgiving), the perfect place, the perfect time of year (before it was cold and snowy on the mountain), but he won't have the ring yet." He had told me that it would take about 2 weeks longer to size than it really did so that I would be surprised. And I was surprised! I can't wait to marry him on March 12th in the Mesa Temple!

 

A picture of the view on the mountain.

So I know that I am kind of late getting this on here, but I just wanted to tell everyone that....

              I am engaged!!! 

I am getting married to Adam Langford on March 12, 2011 in the Mesa Arizona Temple. 

Update!

So I know that I haven't posted for a while, so I thought I'd tell you some of the stuff that has been going on in my life for the past couple of months. First, I spend the month of July in Mesa with my family. It was so much fun to be able to spend time with them. Two of my neices that I was able to play with while I was home! They are cuties!

And then at the beginning of August my sister Jill got married to Dallas Skinner! They look so happy together and I am so happy for them! Everything turned out so well! I didn't take really any pictures except for one of me and Lexi.

I moved back up to Flagstaff week after the wedding and have been doing fun stuff up here with Adam Langford including: reading, swinging, going to the park, going hiking, going to Jerome, figuring out school stuff, etc. Me and Adam hiked up Mt. Elden and had tons of fun doing it! This is a picture of us on the mountain showing the view that we had of Flagstaff. It was amazing!



We also took a trip to Jerome, a little old mining/ghost town near Sedona and Cottonwood. We hiked and crawled through a cave and then walked around the shops that they have there. It was cool to see everything there!
The book that I have been reading is The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck. It's during the dust bowl and follows a family that moves to California to find a better life. I'm not done, but it's been really good so far! I recommend it to everyone!
I've also been looking at violas to buy a new one for my new and improved skills that I have learned in college. It is so much fun being able to play with different insturments and get a feel for what I like and don't like and stuff.
So that's been my life. Nothing too exciting, but definately having fun! School starts back up in the next couple of weeks. Another semester....... bring it on!!!

New Roomies!!!!

I thing that came about with the end of the school year is.......

New Roomies!!!!!


This is Carissa Brimhall and Lanae Bendel my two new roommates! I have loved being able to spend time with them! They are such fun girls!!! These are some of the activities that we have done so far:

• bought fishes: their names are Adan, A- (Adash), and Addea
• ate fish tacos
  
• go on walks
  
• eat ice cream
• ride playground horses (Go White Thunder Go!!!!)
• Play volleyball

And I'm sure there will be plenty more activities that will be done as we live together more!!!

And to our surprise, we discovered yesterday that we are getting another roommate for the summer. Anne Carroll is moving in with us and I am so excited to be able to live with her! I was originally going to live with her my freshman year, but switched apartments the summer before. Now I finally get to! This is going to be a fun summer with new roommates and good weather to finally be able to spend time outside!!

Summer!!!

I'm done! I finished all of my finals and they all felt like they went well so I'm happy! And the best new is... (drum roll)... I passed my exit jury!! Hooray! My exit jury was my final for my viola lessons and since my major (BA in music) only requires 4 semesters of lessons, I was able to do my jury that passed me out of my lessons. And I passed it! (But don't worry, I'm still taking lessons). And now I get to enjoy a couple weeks of no work or school! Crazy thought huh?! It will be nice to relax and enjoy myself and hang out with my family for a bit before work and summer school starts. Gotta love life!

Recital...........

DONE!


Exit Jury...................

BRING IT ON!

Catch Up!

So I haven't wrote for a while and need to catch up on what's been going on. Life's been crazy and busy, but good! Here's an overview of things that have been going on!

Cavelcade!!
I went home to Mesa the first weekend of March and got to see my sisters play in cavelcade. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a piano performance. There are about 20 pianos on the stage and there are a bunch of kids playing duets on them. It's always cool see all of the kids playing the piano! This years cavalcade was a special one because.... JON SCHMIDT WAS THERE!!!! He played a couple songs during the performance and it was awesome!!!! He is an amazing pianist and composer. I bought one of his books after the concert and I love it!!!

Aubree Fry!! My dear friend and used-to-be roommate had the amazing opportunity to be married and sealed in the temple to Aaron Fry on March 13. I was honored to be a bridesmaid and to see her throughout the day and help her. I want to congratulate her and Aaron and tell them good luck! You guys are adorable together! But now.... our apartment is down to 5. Back to normal!!!

Zoo!!
During I had spring break, which was very much needed and enjoyed. During Spring break I got to go to the Phoenix Zoo with Guthrie! I had so much fun!!! I got to play with the cutest kids and see lots of animals! One of the favorites was the flamingos.


Las Cruses!!
The weekend after spring break, I got to go to Las Cruses, New Mexico to visit my sister and her family and see her daughter get blessed. It was so good to see all of them and to be able to spend time with my family and to see Las Cruses. Saturday night we walked around an old part of town. It was really cool to see how different it was compared to Mesa. It had the Spanish feel to it.Opera!!
The past week my life has been devoted to NAU's opera production of Mozart's "The Magic Flute". It was a long week filled with long rehearsals, but I made it through! The last performance was this afternoon and now I'm done with it! It was an interesting experience playing for an opera. The cast did a wonderful job! I didn't get to watch any of it because I was playing most of the time, but I'm hoping to be able to watch a video of it soon.

That's been my life the past couple months. Nothing too exciting, but I certainly keep busy! Only a month of school left and then I have a break! Let's hope that I do well on all of my school work the rest of the school year, and then I will be a junior in college! I do not feel that old, but I am! Good luck to everyone on the rest of the school year!

Thoughts of the Day...

I have been thinking about life a lot lately, and how much it is constantly changing around me. For example, I have two roommates who are engaged, one who is planing on serving a mission in year, and another one who is moving back home with her family. This is just showing me that no matter how planned out your life is, those plans can change in the blink of an eye. And this is what I am seeing all around me; changes happening in everyone's lives. But through all of this change, I have been able to find some consistancy and stability in my Savior and the gospel, as well as in my family. I just want to say how much I appreciate my family. No matter how out of place I feel everywhere else I go, I know I can always go home and feel loved and have a place with my family.

They are crazy and goofy, but I love you guys so much! I am also so very thankful for the gospel and Jesus Christ, my Savior and Redeemer, in my life. Whenever I am having a bad day I know that I can turn to my Father in Heaven and my Savior Jesus Christ for comfort and guidance. They are and always will be there for with their arms reached out towards me. I have been pondering today and have learned that I need stability in my life. I am so glad that I have these two major parts of my life that give me what I need. Without these giving me this stability, I do not know what condition I would be in today.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland!

I truly feel like I am walking in a Winter Wonderland after the past week. Because of the crazy weather that Arizona has had over the past week, Flagstaff got about 4 or 5 feet of snow! There are literally rolling hills of snow on campus at NAU and around town. It snowed Monday night, Tuesday night, and then the huge storm was from Wednesday night through this morning (Saturday). It snowed almost the entire 2 days straight. It was so weird to look out the window or go outside and have it always snowing. I kind of enjoyed looking out our window and seeing the how much snow has fallen in comparison to my car. I watched it slowly cover my antanae and tires. It was an excellent way for me to judge how much snow had fallen, but I there was always the voice saying, "you're gonna have to dig it out." That voice ruined it for me. But because of the snow, I had a 2-day school week. Monday was Civil Rights day and didn't have school because of that, and then the university delayed opening the school on Wednesday till 10:00, so one of my classes was cancelled that day. The topping on the cake was when Thursday morning they delayed opening the university till 11, which was after I would have been done with classes. So I thought, ok, I'll just work today. And then an hour later they cancelled the university for the day because of worsening weather conditions. Later that day they also cancelled it for Friday. The results were 2 days of school, one of which started later than normal.

During these snow days, I was able to get some things done (clean the bathroom, make real food, did homework) and also go on some snow adventures. Part of these snow adventures included diggind tunnels in the banks of snow, being launched into the snow, learning how to tackle, finding show forts under trees, being thrown into the snow, etc. It was so much fun! I'm glad that I was able to relax and have some fun before I got too far into the semester. I am also very thankful to be able to see the beauty that surrounds me. There is a certain beauty that comes when everything is covered with snow. I feel so lucky to be living here in Flagstaff where I can see that beauty all of the time!

We went on a snow adventure on Friday to a dirt road in Flagstaff. I took some pictures because it was so beautiful!

This is me attempting to make a snow angel in the 5 foot deep snow on our snow adventure. I sunk into it and because of that got snow in my face.

This is my car outside of my window. The one on the very left bottom. And my car was cleaned off on Thursday, so this is not all of the snow that could have been on it. You can't even see my tires!

I've learned that snow has it's ups and downs, but I am enjoying the new way of life! It's definately an adventure!

Act of Service for the Day!

Today my roommate Jasmine and I were outside shoveling out my car. We are chugging along and low and behold, this kind man comes up to us and asks if he can help. He shoveled both sides of my car out and helped clean it off. It was done so much faster because of him and the fact that he knew what he was doing. I couldn't help but smile after this. All I could think about was, there are good people in the world still. I don't know this man, but he lives near me in my complex, but I am very grateful for the service he provided me today.

Baby Maley

I would like to welcome into the world, my new neice

Maley Susan Allred.

She was born on Friday night, Jan 15 and was 6 lbs 9 ounces and 19 inches long. I'm so excited to have another neice!

Happy New Year!

First off I want to say

Merry Christmas

and

Happy New Year!

I had a wonderful time with my family and friends over the holidays and I'm so glad that I was able to share the special time of the year with them. But now I'm back at school and have realized that this is the "New" time. Everything is starting over fresh. There is a new year, a new semester, a new job, new classes, new people to meet, etc. It is an excellent time to make and set goals and start doing things better in my life. Today, my Relief Society lesson was on being proactive and making goals in our lives. Being proactive means that you think about the choice you are making before you make it. It is not just reacting to the things that are happening, but being conscience of your choices and trying to make good ones. And part of this is making goals and striving to accomplish them. These goals should not only be in the most apparent parts of our lives, but in every part. She said that we should all make goals in these catergories:

• spiritual

• physical

• emotional

• relationships

• mental/educational

These are all areas in life that often need to be worked on to become better in my life. So I've decided to make goals for this semester ad actually follow through with them. I am going to make them in this week before school starts.

And on that note, I want to say on with a new year and a new semester!

Done!

I finished my third semester of college! Sometimes I don't feel old enought to have done that, but low and behold, I have accomplished it! It's been crazy, but a lot of fun! Here are some things that I have been doing the past semester (Not including my school work and hours of practicing and rehearsals):

Sedona

I went to Sedona with a friend of mine on what we thought was the last warm Saturday before winter. I rode his ATV and he rode his dirtbike down a dirt road that went from 5 minutes out of Flagstaff to Sedona. The road went along a canyon that had the famous red rocks of Sedona. It was so pretty and fun!

Snow Days!

This past week was finals and with that came a blizzard! It was snowing all day Monday. It was literally snowing from the time a woke up that morning until I went to bed that night. That resulted in campus being closed half-way through that day and the next, which meant..... FINALS WERE CANCELLED!!!!! I had 3 of my 6 finals on those two day and then one of my teachers was snowed in and couldn't come on Wednesday. So I only took 2 of my 6 finals. It was the most amazing finals week of my life! Because of the constant snow fall and blizzard (yes there was a blizzard) we accumulated quite a bit of snow.

Here's my car Monday night, and this is after cleaning it off once already that day!

This was Monday night when my good friend Troy took some of us on a drive. He stopped suddenly in a parking lot, opened the door and jumped in the snow. He literally disappeared in the snow. So after that we all took turns jumping in the snow. This is me in action! jumping in the snow!

Homecoming Parade Float!

The LDSSA decided to actually be a part of the school year and make a float for the homecomeing parade. The theme for this year was blast from the past, so we made a giant lumberjack from the 70's and gave him an ax in one hand and a "number one" finger in the other. It was awesome!

Giant Holiday Card Contest!

The Front!

Another thing that the LDSSA participated in was a giant holiday card contest. There is a Christmas Tree with people of different nationalities holding hands around it. We also recorded ourselves singing Silent Night in different languages so have play "from the card". Unfortunately, the music part ended up not working, but we had an awesome pop-up giant holiday card! Oh and we won first place in the contest!

Locket Meadow!

We went hiking at Locket Meadow with some friends from my ward. It was the time of year when the leaves were changing colors, but haven't fallen off yet. It was so pretty! And it was good to go hiking! I love being able to spend time in nature, especially when it's in the trees and vegetation that doens't exist back at home.

Winter Formal!

Every winter, the Institute Women's Asssociation pus on a formal guy-ask-girl dance for the institute. I actually asked someone and went this year! (I'm still proud of myself for that). The theme was Come Sail Away, so the stake center was decorated to look like a cruise ship. It was cool! I asked a friend of mine named Jeph Hunt and had a blast!

My group (aka my roommies and their dates) all dressed up. It's always good for us girls to have an excuse to get all dressed up!

Me Jeph after dinner!

The date consisted of dinner, pictures, the dance, and then a movie to top it off! We had dinner in our apartment. We cooked these pizza roll type things. They are like cinnomon rolls, but with pizza toppings to go in them, and sauces to go ontop of them. They were really good! And we also made oreo truffles. AMAZING!!! And then the girls all changed into our dresses (because we didn't want to eat in them) and took pictures! Then we went to dance and had a blast dancing the night away!! Jeph's a goofy, but pretty good dancer. After we came back from the dance tired from dancing, we went to Jeph's apartment and watched UP!!!! I had never seen it before and loved it! It's so cute! And after that, it was the end and I had to go to bed because I woke up early the next day to help at Bishop's Store House. But the whole thing tons of fun and I'm so glad that I went! Oh and another thing about the whole thing was that it was raining off and on all day that day. It ruined my hair (well the fact that I had to wear it up and not down) and the ground was all wet, but like I said, it was still fun regardless!

Halloween!!!

Ok I know I already talked about Halloween, but here's somepictures of Katie and me, the farmer and her cow. I think the best part about being a cow was the fact that there was three other cows there! I thought that it was a pretty original costume, but I was wrong!

Cinder Hills!

I was also able to go to the Cinder Hills with my life-long friends Marc and Devon Johnson. They came up to Flagstaff for a weekend to get away from the valley and the heat and while there they invited us to go to the cinder hills with them. It was really fun! We climbed through the potato people and climbed up and flew down the hills of cinder! It was crazy because you literally sank into the cinder and you were jumping down. A really weird, but awesome sensation!

So that's some of the highlights of my life the past while. Now I'm back home for a few weeks before going back up and starting my new job at the ID card office on campus and a new semester!

My Life the Past Few Months

Sorry I'm so bad at posting, but here's a little about what I have been up to the past few months...

I've been pretty busy with school this semester so far. I'm taking 9 classes so it fills up quite a bit of time

The beginning of October, I had the privilege to go to Utah with my parents and attend general conference there. It was a wonderful experience that I will always remember. The spirit was so strong there. I'm so grateful to have prophets and apostles on the earth today and to be able to receive council and guidance from them in our day.

Another wonderful adventure that I was able to go on was climbing up a radio tower. My friend Ammon planned this adventure to go to a radio tower. We drove there a little ways away and then walked up a road to it. It was so tall, but we climbed up the ladder. I only made it about a third of the way up because I'm kind of chicken, but it was a great view of the trees from where I was at. It was a lot of fun!

Halloween was also very fun! There was a dance at the institute that we all dressed up for and partied at. I dressed up as a cow, and my roommate Katie Wilson was a farmer. My costume rocked! (Not gonna lie, I felt pretty stupid wearing it) But guess what?! There were 3 other cows there! Who dresses up as a cow? But the dance was a lot of fun!

Thats my life right now in a nutshell. Not anything too exciting. Sorry I don't have any pictures right now, but I will put some up soon!

Summer and Life!!!

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a long while. I spent this summer in Mesa working and spending time with my family and friends there. I loved being home with my family and I'm do thankful for them and all that did/do for me. I worked for Guthrie Mainstream while I was there and loved being able to do that. I also was able to take a summer school class during the month of June. It was US History to 1870. It took quite a bit of time to do all of the busy work required, but I finished it and am done!!! So ya, that was basically my summer.





Now, I am back up in Flagstaff for the next school year that starts tomorrow. I am starting my sophmore year fo college and am still doing music education (even though sometimes I think I'm crazy for doing it). I love being able to spend so much time learning about and playing music. I've learned so much so far and look forward to learning even more. I am so thankful for the oppurtunity I have to gain an education and grow as a person through it.





I moved apartments in Flagstaff over the summer. I am now currently living in the University Meadows apartment complex which is literally across the street from the music building. It was such a good move and so glad to not have to walk 15 minutes to get to school every day. I will post pictures of my new apartment once I find my chord that connects my camera to my computer.





A week ago, I had the oppurtunity to go to Lake Powell with the institute here in Flagstaff. We spent a good portion of the day there and yes I got sunburned, but not as much as I could have! It was so much fun to be able to spend time with friends and see the beauty that surrounded us there. There was a big slip n' slide that took you down a hill into the lake, boats and tubes to go tubing, food (of course), and a lot of sun! It was so much fun!

This is a picture I took of the lake with my camera, so it's not a very good one, but it's all I have for now!

That's pretty much all that's happening in my life right now, but I will try to keep updated on everything that's going on.

The Beauties of the Earth!

This past week I have had the opportunity to be in Flagstaff and see all of the beautiful nature that surrounds it. One night I was able to go on a night hike with my friends. We hiked up a mountain, and when we reached the top we were able to look up and see the stars that spotted the sky it was absolutely amazing!! It made me think of how big the universe is and how much there is out there that we don't know about. And about our Heavenly Father and all of the worlds that are out there. It made me feel really small, but at the same time really loved. I know that even thought I am small comnpared to the universe, Heavenly Father still loves me and listens to answers my prayers. He watches over me and cares for me because I am his child.



The next day, we were able to take a trip to the Grand Canyon and see the sun set there. It was absolutley breathtaking. It made me think of the hymn "How Great Thou Art."

Oh Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder

Consider all the worlds thy hands have made,

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,

Thy pow'r throughout the universe displayed;

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee,

How great thou art! How great thou art!

Then sings my soul, my Savior, God to thee,

How great thou art! How great thou art!

I know that my Heavenly Father has blessed me by giving me all of the beautiful nature that surrounds me. It is so amazing that he would take the time to make it so beautiful and ornate for me. I feel blessed to be able to be surrounded by it all of the time.

These are pictures that I took at the Grand Canyon of the sun set.

I am also so blessed to be able to have the friends that I have. They are such good examples to me and are always there for me. Whenever I need a hug or a get-away, they are there. I have been so incredibly blessed in my life!

Lava Tubes!!!!

So yesterday morning, I went with my friends Ammon Naylor, Alyssa Alhmer, and Melissa Christensen to Flagstaff's one and only, Lava Tubes. It was so much fun!! You climb into this whole in the ground and climb down some rocks (that happened to have a lot of water and ice on them) until you get the semi level ground. You pretty much hike through a cave that was carved my lava. Sometimes the ceiling would get really low and you have to pretty much crawl to get through it. It was so much fun! and cold and dark... but fun! And now, today, the day after, I am sore. It's so pathetic that I'm sore from hiking, but alas, I am. I would recommend doing this hike!

I'm Still Here!!!

It's been a while since I've posted anything. That's probably because nothing exciting ever happens in my life. Pretty much I'm just going to school; 
it's such an exciting life. This past month there was spring break, which I got to go home for! It was so good to spend time with my family (even thought I was cleaning for a lot of the weekend). But it was so good to see my family and spend time with them. I love my family and miss them so much! Also, last week, I was awoken at 2 in the morning out of deep sleep by a noise that we soon after found out was a chain saw and maniacal laughing. And then a few mornings later, I woke up and found 4 roses, a bag of chocolates, and a hand written poem sitting on our table. These were both by the same person believe it or not. That made this week more interesting than the rest. But life is good and I am still alive!