Sweet Susan Mortensen Turley passed away from Colon Cancer on Friday at her home in Tempe, Arizona with her family at her side. She documented her journey through colon cancer on her
blog and she will be greatly missed. She was a track and field star at our High School as well as the University of Arizona. She and her husband Justin got engaged right after Dan and I did last year and were married the first week of January. She comes from an amazing family and their faith will always resonate within me of what the gospel truly means. Sweet Justin has lost his beautiful wife far to early in this mortal life but not for long in the grand scheme of the eternities thanks to the sealing of families for time and all eternity in the Temple.
The following is something Susan's father shared with her and her family.
"… the tests of life are tailored for our own best interests, and all will face the burdens best suited to their own mortal experience. In the end we will realize that God is merciful as well as just and that all the rules are fair. We can be reassured that our challenges will be the ones we needed, and conquering them will bring blessings we could have received in no other way.
If we constantly focus only on the stones in our mortal path, we will almost surely miss the beautiful flower or cool stream provided by the loving Father who outlined our journey. Each day can bring more joy than sorrow when our mortal and spiritual eyes are open to God's goodness. Joy in the gospel is not something that begins only in the next life. It is our privilege now, this very day. We must never allow our burdens to obscure our blessings. There will always be more blessings than burdens—even if some days it doesn't seem so. Jesus said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." Enjoy those blessings right now. They are yours and always will be."
As of yesterday, I realized there are some decisions I need to make. I have had lots of things happen to me while in college and right now I feel like I need to make my health, happiness, and sanity a priority in my life. I never anticipated having to make these decisions about my job and school, but now I am faced with deciding how I want to spend the next 6 months of my life.
I hate to let people down, but for some reason I never mind letting myself down. Hmm...
Dan is taking me out tonight to get my mind off things. We are going up to Salt Lake to see the Temple Lights and go to Cafe Rio. I love my sweet husband. Whenever I start to get anxious and stressed about life, he brings me back to reality. He reminds me that no matter what choice I make we will be just fine. I love him.
We love Hungry from the Weight Watchers commercial, so we bought a little magnet one to put on our fridge! Dan loves him!
We went up to Timp to do a session, there were a ton of weddings today which made the grounds super crowded. 
Dan and I made a home made "light" pizza... haha light and pizza don't often go together. But it was so good. We used vegan pepperoni and they were delicious!
It was a wonderful Saturday!
We also were able to go to the Provo Temple this morning and do our first session there! It was lovely and I was so thankful for this sweet woman who saw that I was lost and helped me the whole time!
It has taken well over a year to get to this point since we decided that we wanted to go through the Temple and be sealed. It has been a long road and I know the next 2 months before our sealing will feel like forever, but I am so excited, regardless! I know the past few months have seemed to drag by. Since Saturday every minute seems to go on forever. Sunday morning I woke from a wonderful dream that it was Saturday April 25th and we were going to the Temple. I was sad when I realized it was just a dream. Just a few more days and my dream comes true :)
I am really thankful for everyone who has helped us and encouraged us. We know we moved into our apartment for a reason and were blessed with such a wonderful and supportive ward. We have felt so welcome and loved. I am going to miss the friends I made this year, it has been so wonderful! I don't think Dan and I could have asked for a better Bishop! He has been our number one fan since the first day he met us! I adore him!
