See ya later...not goodbye

As I have been trying to grasp reality these past two days, I have read over many thoughts of family members and friends. They all have written such beautiful tributes to my Grandpa Fisher. It was like they were taking the words right out of my mouth when they wrote them. So as I sat down to write my own tribute I doubt my writing abilities. I have never been quite the eloquent writer like my sisters, cousins, aunts, etc, so bear with me if you continue to read my tribute to Ira Mitchell Fisher.

Grandpa, thank you for making me into the person I am today. Without your many stories, voices included, poached eggs, ice cream, licorice, pink and white mints, (but mostly the pink ones) birthday cards, Priesthood blessings, hugs, pictures, rides, counsel, and your unconditional love, I would not be here in the ELC writing this tribute to you. I am so grateful I had the opportunity to live right next door to you. I always knew that you would be a few short steps away, at any hour of the day or night. Your house and presence was a safe haven for so many and I am grateful for the wonderful peace I feel when I think of you being reunited with your lovely wife. But I will miss you.

I will miss how your face lights up when I would walk through your front door or into your bedroom. I will miss your 20 questions of what I have been up to, where I have traveled, and where my next plans will take me. I will miss coming to you when I am broken in need of a blessing. I will miss going into your office, sitting on your chair, letting you back up and support yourself against your desk, and then laying your hands upon my bowed head. I will miss saying Amen and instantly turning around embracing you with tears falling freely. I will miss coming to sing to you every Sunday after church.

But because of you I will never settle for less than my best. I will someday graduate with my bachelors degree in education, because I hope to be at least half of the teacher you are. Because of you I have a firm testimony of the gospel. I will strive to live my life to find a companion who will honor his Priesthood and take me to the temple to be sealed for time and all eternity. I will strive to be patient, loving, giving....the list goes on and on. Because of you I will do everything I can to be with you forever.

So I, along with the rest of your posterity, want to say thank you for being you. Thank you for your love and example. See ya later.....

ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

Today I would like to list things I am grateful for. As I sat listening to conference I was overwhelmed with so many feelings of gratitude. I know just posting this saying "thank you" to all of you who make my life wonderful will not be suffice, but it is a start. So here it goes...

First, I am so very grateful for my family. They are what keeps me going in this crazy life of mine. I know they will always be there for me, ALL WAYS! I am so grateful for the relationships I have with my parents and siblings. I look at families who aren't very close, and it makes me so much more grateful for my tight knit relationships I have with my family. I love them all so much! I also am grateful for the many examples and friends I have in my extended family. I love to get caught up with them each time we visit.

I am so grateful for my family in good ole Wayne County. There are too many to count, that have extended their loving arms to me and have accepted me for who I am. I am so grateful when I get the chance to have a get away weekend to my second home. It is the greatest!

I am so grateful for this gospel and for conference! I sat in awe as I listened to the many wonderful speakers who are instruments in our Father in Heaven's hands. I am so grateful for the beautiful hymns that were sung. These profound songs have brought so much peace and comfort into my crazy life.I am so grateful for this beautiful Earth that we are able to live on. I am so grateful for rain storms, sunshine, and everything in between!! I am so grateful for the mountains! Whenever I am having a hard time, I load up in my car and go for a drive up the canyon...what a great tender mercy that is!

I am so grateful for my brother and Savior Jesus Christ. I am grateful for his sacrifice. I am grateful that he chose to pay for my sins, sorrows, and pains. The Atonement is real, and I know that if I take that step of faith to use it, I can be clean again. I am so grateful for this knowledge! I know that I am far from perfect, but a quote that I really like states, "Being perfect doesn't mean doing everything right. Being perfect means to constantly strive to be perfect." So that is what I am going to do. Strive constantly to be that much better.

If you are reading this, thank you! Thank you for taking the time to catch up on what I've been doing in my busy life. Believe it or not, but at one time or another, you have influenced my life. Thank you for helping me become who I am today. Thank you for being my friend, sister, family, or acquaintance. :) You're the best!!

LOVE

This past week, the Fisher family said goodbye to a son, father, grandfather, uncle, brother, and friend, Michael K. Fisher. After a long battle with sickness, he passed through this life and on into the next, to join Grandma Beth, Uncle Rob, and many others. For his funeral services, my mother had the idea to sing a popular country song to pay our respects. I, along with Aunt Rhonda, Christie, Daezia, April, Rachel, Kiana, Nish, Dalene, and Shelley Mom, sang Temporary Home, accompanied by our concert pianist Melanie. As we sang this song my heart went out to my Uncle Mike's family, along with the rest of our family. I then was filled with the spirit, testifying of this amazing gospel. It testifies that death is not the end. I know that I will be able to live with my family FOREVER if I will do what is right. I am far from perfect, but perfection is not just about doing every little thing right, it is constant striving to be perfect. The love that I feel when I am in the presence of my family makes my testimony that much stronger. A lot of our family was able to come join in paying our respects to this amazing man; Oh how I have missed each and every one of them! (I also missed all of those that could not make it.) I wish we could get together more often, but I will take what I can get.

Moral of the story: I love my family, and I love the gospel.
The end.

Family...isn't it about time

There is nothing in the world quite like walking into the door of my sisters house and hearing a chorus of KAIT! being sung by my nieces, nephews, and siblings. It makes me feel ever so loved! As the chorus rings on, I get bombarded with hugs, kisses, stories, etc. I love my family! They bring so much joy into my life and I don't know where I would be without them.

Yesterday Kiana and I had to opportunity to go home for a couple of hours and it was totally worth it! I wanted to get a few pictures of everyone being happy and silly. Tay turned to me and said Kait, I missed you! Where were you? So I had to explain how I am going to college and such. Then she asked if she could braid my hair...flip she's a cutie!!

I love each and every one of my family members and I am so grateful for their love, hugs, smiles, kisses, stories, laughs....I could go on for days! But I think you are getting the point :)

Warped Tour 2010

On Saturday I was able to go to one of the greatest places on Earth! I went to Warped Tour 2010 in Salt Lake with my body guard, a.k.a Dalaki. I was able to see some of my most favorite bands, as well as rock out with thousands of other people. It was such a thrill!

I have not always been familiar with this music scene and I have two people to thank. First, I have to thank Dalaki. He tried for so long to get me into this kind of music, bless his heart, but I just wouldn't have it. It wasn't until I started dating Dallon that I grew to love this music scene. Last year was my first warped tour experience and I was a pure rookie! But don't you fret, I knew what was up this time around and it was EPIC! I got tons of autographs, free stuff, and memories that will last forever. So I want to give a shout out to two of my favorite guys, Dalaki and Dallon!! You guys rock!

There is something about being in a crowd of hundreds of people, jumping up and down, singing the lyrics to amazing songs, and then the lead singer looks at you and your eyes connect...AHH! I wouldn't trade it for anything! It was so much fun!!

I got a couple pictures with some amazing musicians. I.E....The lead singer from Mayday Parade, Anarbor, and my personal fave, The guitarist/pianist/back up vocalist for The Cab!! I forget that they are normal people because they are so good at what they do! Last year I was too shy to ask for a photo or their Herbie Hancock and every time I turned down Dallon's offer to go meet a band, he simply would reply...Kait, they are people just like us! Then I added, yeah with a lot more money! But nonetheless, this year I was not shy and was able to meet some amazing people. In the end, Warped Tour for this guy was a complete SUCCESS! Thanks Vans!! Until we meet again...Warped Tour 2011!!

O My Father

This has been a bitter sweet weekend. A couple of weeks ago my mother got cornered by one of the counselors in the bishopric. He asked her if our family would be willing to do the program for sacrament meeting. She of course said yes and went to work trying to figure out what the plan should be. She came up with the idea to have everyone in our family pick our favorite hymn/primary song and share our feelings about them. As most of you know, when we all get together there are 13 of us! That is a lot of singing/talking if you think about it. So, me being my OCD self went to work trying to figure out just how much time each person could take so that we didn't go over the allotted time frame. (Which turned out being roughly 4 minutes per person to share their feelings and perform their song.) I'm not gonna lie...I was a bit of a crazy slave driver as we practiced and went over the agenda, but it all worked out so I feel much better now that it is over. So you are probably wondering what songs we all picked, well here is the line-up. Dad: I am a Child of God. Mom: My Heavenly Father Loves Me (Piano Solo) Nish: How Firm a Foundation (A Capella-Nish-Kiana-Rachel-Kaitlin-Melanie-Rhonda-Shelley) Jeep: Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy (Jeep-Koda-Dalaki-David-Tim) Kin: A Child's Prayer (Livingston children-Shelley) Tay: Follow the Prophet(Primary Kids) FYI Tay knows all of these words by heart :) Kiana: Where Can I Turn for Peace (Solo) Koda/Kaitlin: O My Father (Entire family) Dalaki: Let Us All Press On (Same as Brightly Beams line up) Daezia: For the Beauty of The Earth (Solo) MahLee: I'll Walk With You (MahLee-Kaitlin) Akaydeh: Give Said the Little Stream (Primary Kids) It was quite the experience being able to bear my testimony of each of these songs we presented. Because of the holiday weekend, we were able to add a few more voices and piano players to our program. Thank so much to Rachel, Melanie, David, Rhonda, Uncle Tim, as well as Richard and Shirley. We were able to give the program variety as we had different people perform each song. I decided on O My Father because it has great a special place in my heart. One day I was over at my Grandpa Fisher's house playing the piano and I asked him what his favorite hymn was. He replied, well I love them all, but I especially like O My Father. I have spoken at numerous funerals throughout my lifetime and I would refer to this hymn most of the time. I would do so.

I then went to page 292 and read through the words to this beautiful song. This is where I gained my testimony of The Plan of Salvation, The Plan of HAPPINESS. As a struggling young teen I was overcome with the spirit as I read the second verse, "For a wise and glorious purpose thou hast placed me here on earth." Tears filled my eyes as I shared my testimony of this song when I was on the stand; which is something that does not happen very often with me. I hate crying, but I couldn't help it. My heart went out to my ailing grandfather who has taught me so much in my life. He has been a constant strength in my life and I love him dearly. I invited everyone in my family to sing this song with me because I knew that I could not perform it alone. As Melanie accompanied us, tears filled my eyes once again and I could only look at the hymn book as I sang the words in my heart because my voice failed me through the tears. I am so grateful for my grandfather who taught me so many things in my life, including the true meaning of this beautiful song.

Here are the words to an amazing hymn that will always remind me of my Grandpa Fisher.

O my Father, thou that dwellest
In the high and glorious place,
When shall I regain thy presence
And again behold thy face?
In thy holy habitation,
Did my spirit once reside?
In my first primeval childhood
Was I nurtured near thy side?

For a wise and glorious purpose
Thou hast placed me here on earth
And withheld the recollection
Of my former friends and birth;
Yet ofttimes a secret something
Whispered, “You’re a stranger here,”
And I felt that I had wandered
From a more exalted sphere.

I had learned to call thee Father,
Thru thy Spirit from on high,
But, until the key of knowledge
Was restored, I knew not why.
In the heav’ns are parents single?
No, the thought makes reason stare!
Truth is reason; truth eternal
Tells me I’ve a mother there.

When I leave this frail existence,
When I lay this mortal by,
Father, Mother, may I meet you
In your royal courts on high?
Then, at length, when I’ve completed
All you sent me forth to do,
With your mutual approbation
Let me come and dwell with you.

YOU SAVE ME

For those of you who don't know me and what I'm about here is some info, I LOVE QUOTES! I love to read all kinds of quotes and feel the emotion, intensity, and passion they possess. As I have sat and pondered about what to blog about this time around, I found this quote that says it all:

“Family means too much, Friends are too valuable, And life is too short, To put-off sharing with people, How much they really mean to you, And pursuing whatever it is that makes you happy.”

I don't know where I would be without my wonderful family and amaze-ze-zing friends!! I look back at all of the fun I have had these past few weeks and find myself so very grateful for these people in my life who have been there with me to lend a shoulder to cry on, a hand to hold, a laugh session to join in with, or just a listening ear. Thank you for all of the texts, calls, visits, etc....I am so happy right now in my life because of YOU! So thank you!!