grateful.

One of my New Year goals was to think of three things I am grateful for every day. What better place to keep track of that on my blog?

3 special things from today that I am grateful for:

1. my warm winter boots
2. having a car
3. my roommates

Receiving by the Spirit

I read a talk a couple days ago by A. Roger Merrill from the October 2006 General Conference. In it, he highlighted a series of steps to receive the impressions of the Spirit more in our lives:


1. seek. focus on the spirit.
2. feel. pay attention to spiritual feelings.
3. intend to act. spirit teaches us when we honestly intend to do something about what we learn.

I think I need to work on taking the time every day to feel the Spirit and acting on it sooner, rather than later.

new year, new me.

Just to keep myself accountable... a list of how I want to improve over this new year.

1. go to at least one social event a week where I will have people to talk to.


2. find at least one family name to take to the temple

3. strength train at least once a week

4. take more pictures

5. don't go on facebook or pinterest on sundays

6. live in the present. enjoy every moment and not be looking ahead.

7. turn my faith into action. especially by working to be a better visiting teacher.

8. keep a gratitude journal. find at least 3 ways I have been blessed every day.

9. work on my mission statement.

10. memorize at least 10 scriptures.

blogging isn't as fun without pictures

Lately I have gotten really bad at taking pictures. I guess it's good because I am a little bit too busy having fun to worry about whipping out my camera, but then it's all words and no pictures.

Anyways, this post is dedicated to my wonderful family and how excited I am to see them in a week! Christmas break is going to be awesome!

so here's some random pictures for you!

chemistry presentation

my lovely brother

 caught in the act

not quite sure what is happening here

brother sister love

awesome rainbow

shopping with my lovely sisters

Guy Fawkes party

lights at the Riverwoods with the FHE family

one week until finals is over and the fun begins! I can't wait to be home for Christmas :)

some inspiration for the week.

Said one well-known author: "Both abundance and lack [of abundance] exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend … when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that’s present—love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature, and personal pursuits that bring us [happiness]—the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience heaven on earth."

"We have the agency to choose which characteristics will define us; those choices are not thrust upon us."
-Dallin H. Oaks

"Don't sacrifice human relationships because of virtual distractions that have no lasting value."
-Elder Bednar?

"People are not their thoughts. They think they are and that brings them all types of sadness."
-some inspirational movie

selflessness

My trials and struggles this semester are nothing compared to this girl. and yet, she has completely forgotten herself and gone to serve others. I think I need to more of that to make my trials seem not quite so overwhelming. I had the opportunity to do some pretty awesome service this weekend and it was actually quite amazing taking the time to think first of someone else and try to meet their needs. One of my goals for the coming week is going to be to not be so selfish and to try and meet the needs of others. I often pray for service opportunities, maybe I need to pray for a change of heart to help me build a desire to lose my selfishness to and to see the needs of others.

loving life?

This last week has been crazy! thank goodness I am done with tests until finals week! I'm not sure I want to know how I did on my chemistry test, but I am so happy to be done!

In the past two weeks, I did a lot of studying. and a lot of fun things:

making chocolate-covered bananas with my p-chem study buddies. halloween dances. spending a whole afternoon making a haunted house for the ward party. the Zombie run... best race ever. going to a Shakespeare play my friend was in. the play was themed for Halloween and there was lots of blood. that got sprayed on the audience. it was one of the best plays I have been to.

The best part of the week was deciding what I wanted to do this summer. There's this church history "study abroad" that BYU is offering summer term. You spend three weeks learning and preparing for it and then you fly to New York and spend 4 weeks driving around to different sites and learning about Church History and then end up back in Utah. I am so excited and I hope I get in!

I am also going camping with my family this weekend and can't wait to see them and go to Zion's again! who cares about school? :)

and here's some pictures... since that has not happened in awhile!
(mostly of FHE and other fun stuff with friends!)