Elise.

Saturday was my dear sister Elise's birthday. I love her so.

Elise and Sam on the zipline at Ragged Mountain--taken approximately 5 minutes after the birth of her baby, Clara.

Elise and her adorable baby, Clara. Love that child!

You know, having sisters is great. And even though Elise is a few years my junior, she is just brimming with wisdom and awesomeness. A few things to love about Leesey Poo:

one// Elise gets things done, and you never really hear her complain. You should read about the time her water broke while she was playing catcher for her 3rd grade girls' team (she was the coach). That is so like her. In her short 23 years, she has graduated from college, studied abroad in Jerusalem, married terrific Sam, become a mom, competed in tennis at number one singles in high school, been selected for All State choir, and been a favorite friend to lots of people. I know I am leaving lots out, too.

two//Elise is always positive. When I heard she was planning on bringing 3-week-old Clara to the family reunion on top of a mountain, I was pretty sure she'd do it. She's done marathons and stuff too, which is also evidence of her positivity and stick-tuitiveness.

three//I admire Elise's superior athleticism. She recently graduated with a degree in Physical Education, which is so perfect for her. While pregnant, she taught Zumba classes at a high school, played (and won!) several intramural sports with her husband, Sam, and just led an active, healthy lifestyle like she always does. Oh, and she tied Chad for first place in the Gettin' Healthy challenge a few months back. Just case in point.

four//Elise is humble. She should totally have a GINORMOUS head, but she is so level-headed and chill. She never brags about her accomplishments or makes you feel bad if you aren't in the same place she is. Here is a perfect (although somewhat personal) example: A few years ago, I broke off an engagement, and just a couple of weeks later she got engaged to Sam (her now-husband). It was an extremely difficult time in my life, but I remember still feeling supported and encouraged by Elise, even though she was planning her own wedding and could have been completely absorbed in her own world. 

Elise, you are a fabulous human being and I hope your birthday was the best ever. Can't wait to hear about your surprise dinner! 

Mondays with Emma

Here's our weekly inspiration from Miss Emma. Love that girl!


One of my favorite lessons from this week was found in Helaman 5: 51-52 which say, “And as many as were convinced did lay down their weapons of war, and also their hatred and the tradition of their fathers. And it came to pass that they did yield up unto the Nephites the lands of their possession.” I like this because up until now, this group of people (Lamanites) had generally had a tradition of wickedness among themselves. However, once they heard the gospel they completely changed and became a righteous people. I think this is wonderful because I think sometimes we have sins we want to give up but Satan tries to tell us that there are things about us that we can’t change, we just are going to have to live with it. However, this scripture gives us encouragement, because if the Lamanites could change their entire way of life, I can change the little things that I need to change. If you are ever feeling down on yourself, just think that you are probably not doing things as bad as the Lamanites were, and they changed so we can too!


I also like the word choice in this scripture of “convinced”. When I read the word “convinced” I thought of the word “converted”, because I think part of being converted is having a belief, or being convinced, but after the Lamanites were convinced or converted, they didn’t just leave it at that. Rather, they acted upon it. Because they knew, they changed their way of life and didn’t war anymore. This applies to us because it is great if we believe the gospel is true, but we also must do something about it in order to strengthen our faith. Today in Ward Conference my Stake President shared something that I really love. He said, “Testimony is what we know and feel. Faith is what we do and become.” In conclusion, I learned two major lessons from this part of scripture. 1. I believe that we are never too far gone to receive God’s help to make us better and 2. I believe that once we are “convinced” or have a testimony, the next step is to “do” or live it. This will help us be even more useful in the hands of God.

Here's Emma Again.

Here's another guest post from my little sister, Emma. I hope she'll keep sending these to me, because I like reading them. :) Fun fact about Emma: she received her mission call this week to serve as a full-time missionary in Cusco, Peru. That means she'll be there for 18 months, teaching people about our Savior and His Church.

The big white envelope containing the mission call came on Friday. Friday night, we all skyped in: Grandma, Mom, Dad, Brigham, McKay, and Mary from Colorado; Emma, Sam, Elise, and some of Emma's roommates from Utah; Dana Lee, Kyle, & Breckyn from Colorado; Chad and me from here in Louisville; and Taylor & Jenny from Atlanta. It was so wonderful to hear her read the words, "You are hereby called to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You have been assigned to labor in the Peru Cusco mission."

You may or may not know anything about how mission calls are assigned (or what Mormon missions are all about, for that matter). In a nutshell, the 12 Apostles (or some of them? can't remember.) meet together and review each and every missionary application. They pull up the picture of the applicant on a big screen and look over the needs for missionaries in the different missions in the world. (this is a big deal, because there are usually 50,000+ missionaries at any given time, and the number of applications has skyrocketed since the announcement that girls could serve at 19 instead of waiting til 21). And then, through prayer and revelation, they determine where each individual missionary is to be called. I know this process is directed by God. I just do. If you have ever opened a mission call or been present when someone else opens theirs, there is an overwhelming spirit there just letting you know this special assignment is from Heavenly Father. I've also heard that being a part of the call-making process is pretty darn special.

Anyway, I am so excited for Emma. I know she will be a diligent, studious, fun, & loving missionary, and I can't wait for her to fall in love with the people of Cusco! Here's what she sent me this week (this is a weekly assignment for her Book of Mormon class at BYU, and I offered to give it a home on my blog).

"This week in Book of Mormon the assigned reading was Alma 43-56. One of my favorite parts of that reading was Alma 48:17. At this point in The Book of Mormon, Mormon is telling us a little about Captain Moroni. Mormon says, “Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men.” I love this description of Captain Moroni because it is such a powerful statement. I don’t know that I could replace my name for Mornoni’s in that statement because I still have a lot of things to work on, but it is inspiring to know that this could have been said of a mortal man. It means that it is possible for us to live in such a righteous way that Satan’s temptations will be to no avail. It is also a reminder that the devil can only have influence in our lives if we allow it. Since Moroni was so steadfast, the devil wasn’t even able to get a foot in the door. The same could be true for us if we live like Moroni. I also like this scripture because it gives us a small glimpse of what it may be like at the Millennium when Satan is bound and has no power over us. Why not start working towards that now?"

Visit from the Parents

Mom and Dad Beckstead were in town last weekend. We had so much fun and were so sad to see them leave! Here's a little summary of the trip.

Thursday: I scrambled like a mad woman to get some work done, straighten up the house (which Chad ended up doing while I scrambled), and make it to the airport on time to pick up Mom and Dad. Mom and Dad both had massive amounts of baggage (thanks, Southwest!) full of Christmas presents (some for us, some for the Nashvillians). It was awesome! We gave them a tour of our house and sat in my office for a while talking about therapy and other stuff. Then Chad gave us a driving tour of some of our favorite sights in Louisville (old houses, Cherokee Park, the waterfront, etc.) and we ate delicious Indian food on Bardstown Road. Yum! We stayed up late playing Carcassone, a favorite board game.

game night!

Friday: We slept in! (Mom and Dad were adjusting to the 2-hour time zone difference). We walked over to the track and met up with my friend Sharisa and did some running. Dad has been a serious runner for about 5 years now, and Mom started up a few months ago, so that was fun. I'm pretty sure they're both in better shape than I am right now. . . Once Chad got out of morning classes, we picked him up and got a tour of the dental school. Then we spent some time at the Louisville Slugger Museum.

With Mom & Dad by the giant bat. Classic.

At the museum, just chillin' in the "dugout."

Silly Mom.

At the batting cages!

Dad had several hits. $1 to get 10 balls from the pitching machine at between 40 and 50 mph. They told us that was about the speed you would see from the pitchers in the 10-11 year old Little League World Series. Seemed pretty fast to me!

I am pleased to say I actually got some hits. AND, I used Babe Ruth's bat. Or a model he used. Or something like that.

Saturday: We walked down Bardstown Road (always a favorite for me), and shopped at a farmer's market. Then we had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory! (Heavenly). After lunch, we went to Churchill Downs to see the horse track. We were surprised by all the consoles with people betting on horse races taking place in other areas of the world. We stuck around watching them (the betters) for awhile, waiting to see if they yelled and got excited about the races they had bet on. They did. We went home and prepared for the little eggnog/hot chocolate party Chad and I had planned for the evening. Plenty of people came over from the ward and we had great Christmas numbers from several people! It was great.

oh, I could write a whole post just about the food at Cheesecake Factory. 

at the race track.

I've already got my ugly sweater on for the party.

Sunday: Mom and Dad left for Nashville to go visit Taylor and Jenny and Carson. We were really sad to see them go. What a fun trip! It made me feel like we got Christmas with them, even though we won't be going home. It also just reminded me how great it is having awesome parents who are lots of fun. Love you guys!

A Visit from the Bro & CO.

in front of the American Queen steamboat

fancy. we thought we wanted to go on a river cruise but I just looked up ticket prices and it costs almost $2,000 a ticket! Ridic.

Carson loves trolleys. And cameras.

say CHEESE!

with my favorite bro/sis-in-law/baby combo at the Louisville Slugger museum

sorry, Jenny--I caught you at a bad moment. I love how enraptured Carson looks with this statue.

Happy Birthday, Grandma Davis!

Today is a very special day, because it is my Grandma Davis's birthday. Here's a picture of us on a recent trip we took together from Grand Junction to Colorado Springs. We stopped in Georgetown, CO.

Funny fact about this trip: I flew into Denver around 11:00pm (should have been much earlier...missed my flight...bla bla bla) and Grandma picked me up to drive to Grand Junction together. I figured I would have to do a lot of the driving, since Grandma doesn't like driving late at night and she also doesn't stay up late most of the time. But this was not the case. I offered to drive for the last hour or so when we stopped near Glenwood Springs, but quickly started fading once I got behind the wheel, so she had to take over again. She was like the Energizer Bunny, and had no problem driving til 3 in the morning.

I love and respect this woman so much. Cheerful and kind, yet assertive and strong-willed. Interested and connected, yet independent. Serious about important things, yet silly and carefree when it's time to be. She's part of the reason I love road trips, and mountains, and missionary work, and music, and Christmas.

I can't wait to see Grandma in less than 3 weeks for the wedding! I know she will be there to help and laugh and make everything fun. I hope she has a wonderful day, and many more to come. Love you, Grandma!

hammock hammock hammock

My mom gave me a hammock for my birthday and I LOVE IT! I even slept in it this weekend when I went to the beach with church people. My new favorite Sunday activity involves going to my favorite park and reading while lounging in the hammock. This weekend: camping in Louisville with Chad, James, and maybe some other friends. I will be camping in style in my sweet hammock. Thanks, Mom!

Trip Home: Graduation and Wedding Prep

I was home last week for Emma's graduation. She was Valedictorian of her class and gave an amazing speech. I have been watching the recording now and again for some continued inspiration to get me through my final summer of grad school. :)

I am so proud of her. 

I also wanted to share a couple of the great wedding finds my mom and I had while I was home. We went yardsaling, hoping to find wooden picture frames (hoping to paint them white, sand the edges for a distressed look, and hang with ribbons to make something like this). Anyway, we scored pretty big. We landed at the yardsale of an elementary school art teacher (who my mom happens to know), and not only did we find about 20 good frames for painting, we found an adorable old step ladder, some old window panes (for hanging pictures, as well), and an awesome vintage door, pictured below. Perfect little shelf there for setting the guestbook on. $30 for ALL OF THAT.  

Mom and I also worked on staining some old canning jars green...to make them look antique. Food coloring and mod podge does the trick. These look really cute with the pink daisies and colored ribbon and we'll use them for centerpieces.

I should have taken more pictures, really. But I will mention that we also found several lace curtains (they'll work for tablecloths to go over the colored tablecloths we've got) and a great easel on which to set the framed chalkboard I got at another yardsale. $3 for the tablecloths/easel.

Anyway, things are coming together and it's been so fun to have these little projects. I've spent some time hand-addressing my adorable kraft envelopes (brown-paper-bag style) for the announcements. A lot of people told me I was crazy for doing it by hand, but they're turning out so cute. 

Sigh. Most of all, the wedding is coming right up and I'm so excited. Sure, it is fun (okay, really fun) to have an excuse to execute all of my dream crafts. But take away all the crafts, all the projects, all the yardsaling. We could elope, and I'd still be elated. 68 more days!! 

My sister is a rock star!

Happy Birthday, Grandpa Davis!

Today was my Grandpa Davis's birthday. He passed away in 2007 while serving as a full-time missionary with my Grandma in Greece. I still think about him a lot. It's amazing what an influence he continues to have in my life, even though he's not physically present.

Grandpa Davis made everything fun. The other day I was remembering how when I was a junior in high school, he was my seminary teacher. He taught us a bunch of silly cheers to help us remember scripture references. He also taught this one really ridiculous cheer that had no meaning, but made him laugh. He would yell, "How many red pencils does a seminary class need?" And we would all yell (or kind of groan, at 6:30 in the morning), "Five."
"How many?" he'd yell.
"Five!"
"How many?"
"Five, five, five!"

It's supposed to sound like you're yelling, "Fight, fight, fight!" kind of like in a traditional sports-type cheer. He thought it was so funny. I bet it was mostly just funny to see a bunch of lifeless and grouchy high schoolers participating in some silly chant like that.

Grandpa really was fun. He'd buy us treats if we were road-tripping, he let me steer the 4-Runner down Ragged Mountain one time when I was little (I was sitting on his lap), he took me to see Ryan Millar (ex-BYU volleyball player who played on the US Olympic team) and asked him to give me an autograph and take a picture with me. He'd stay up late playing games with us and we'd be the "Pillow Bellies" or the "Pillow Heads." He loved to play volleyball. One time our family won a volleyball tournament, and we've never quite been able to pull it off again without him on the team. BYU sports will always remind me of him, because he was the most faithful Cougar fan I've ever met.

I always felt like I had a special relationship with Grandpa--like he took a special interest in me. I wonder if he made a lot of people feel that way. Somehow I always felt like he gave me individualized attention, even when I was a kid and no one else was really paying attention to me. He could look over at me from the other end of the table, and wink, or smile, or roll his eyes and we'd have a little moment, amidst all the busy chatter by all the adults. I always knew he was aware of me.

Something that really inspires me is that somehow he always seemed to think very highly of me. He told our seminary class a story one time about how "one of our family members" was like Nephi (from the Book of Mormon), and when all the other family members were getting whiny and tired in our volleyball match (the championship one I mentioned earlier), "that person" was upbeat and got everyone excited and because of "that person", we came from behind and won the game. Then he told everyone that the person was me. I know that was definitely his spin on the story, probably because I was in the room, and he wanted to make me feel good. But it worked. He was genuine in his efforts to praise and uplift. It never felt phony, even if I sometimes felt he overestimated my good qualities. Even now, I often re-read the letter he wrote to me in the last weeks of his life. I'm amazed at what a good person he seems to have seen in me. I really hope I can live up to that.

Grandpa had his priorities in order. Family and God were both at the top. He was also plenty successful in his career as an accountant, but it didn't really seem to define him. He joined the Church while in the Navy as a young man, and shortly thereafter served as a full-time missionary for 2 years in Australia. He kept in contact with some of the people he associated with there, for his whole life. He met and married my Grandma after his mission, and they had their family. He served people and managed to always be there for his family, too. He and my Grandma served two full-time missions together--one as directors of the Church welfare program in Thailand, and another in Greece. I am so proud of the work they did.

I guess Grandpa's work really isn't done, though. His influence has been so profound here on earth, and I'm sure he's still doin' his thing on the other side.

I love you, Grandpa Davis!

Emma's Here!

This week my sister Emma came to visit. Both of us have Spring Break, so it's perfect.

Here's us at the pulpit where Martin Luther King, Jr. used to preach:



Here's us at a Civil War Memorial site, where we learned about many of the men and women who died to further the Civil Rights movement.



And look! This is after I signed a pledge to be an advocate for civil rights:



I love having Emma here. She is such a fun girl. Tomorrow we're taking a road trip to Panama City, FL to hit the beach. It's gonna be great!

My Little Brother

My brother is turning 13 next week. I just read this poem, which he wrote about what it's like being a Mormon. I'm proud of him for being way braver than I ever was when I was his age. Happy Birthday, Brigham!

Christmas 2010

War Eagle!

Taylor's Home

Okay, so this is my 3rd post for the day, and a testament to the importance of keeping this bloggy thing updated more regularly if I'm to avoid playing catch up later.

Anyhoo, I couldn't not talk about the fact that my brother, Taylor, IS HOME FROM HIS MISSION!! We went almost 3 years without seeing each other, since he left on his mission while I was on mine. Wow, it was so great to be there at the airport to meet him. He's just as cool as I ever remembered...and actually, cooler because he speaks Spanish now. We spent the first night after he got home playing songs we've written on the guitar, most of which are autobiographical and led to some great conversation of the catching-up sort.

Christmases Past...these are in no particular order. Enjoy!

in our pj's Grandma and Grandpa Davis sent us...Christmas '05




angels in the Christmas Eve pageant...'05





Joseph, Mary, and the baby '05?





Joseph--sobered, perhaps, by the weight of his calling?






my best friend Maggie sent me this shirt from her mission in San Diego. I was in Puerto Rico. Christmas '07






Christmas '03. Santa brought me a guitar!








in Puerto Rico on my mission with Hermana Obando. Christmas morning, '07. I kinda look like a boy with that short hair, huh. Yuck

Christmas before going to BYU. '02

Hmmmm...maybe Christmas of '01 or '02? Joseph looks a lot happier than he does in '05, doesn't he. Little cuties.