Come What May and Love It

I have told this story so many times, I feel like I might as well share it on my blog. Our First Date (10/19/2013) People ask me if I was surprised to get engaged. The answer is yes, and no. I knew it was coming. I knew it was going to be in July. I just didn't know when or where. We had gone ring shopping a couple weeks before and I knew he had the ring, but I had no idea what it looked like. It was important to me and to Gariet that he pick out the ring. I told him styles and designs that I liked and didn't like, but I never told him which one I wanted. Honestly, I am glad I didn't have to choose because I would have never been able to make a decision! Kindred Dead Concert (One week after we started dating) Gariet's mom came into town about a month ago. It was fun getting to know her better and at the end of the week she gave us an 'early birthday gift' with passes to Thanksgiving Point. As Gariet and I were looking through the pamphlets, I notice...

Last Father's Day, I did a post dedicated to my dad. I felt it was necessary to also do a post dedicated to my Mom for Mother's Day. *Sorry Mom in advance for the pictures...I didn't get them approved by you. I figure I will ask forgiveness rather than permission :) As I have been pondering what I should write for my mom, I saw this quote by Sheri Dew (One of Mom's favorite speakers). "Few of us will reach our potential without the nurturing of both the mother who bore us and the mothers who bear with us." Yeah- when I read that, it hit me pretty strong. I was not an easy teenager. I can tell you that for sure. At the time I was struggling with depression and not really understanding what was going on in my head. It was all so confusing. This caused me to lash out on my family and storm off to my room. Yep...I was one of those teenagers. (I swear I am going to get a child worst than me someday). Looking back, I can't help but feel complete gu...

This blogpost has been going through my mind a lot these last few weeks, but finally I decided I needed to write it out after falling in love with this video. This month I have searched high and low for a modest swim suit. It is interesting to find out what the world now thinks is “modest”. Saying something was a “one piece swimsuit” used to mean that it was modest, but slowly even the one-piece suits have become lower cut in the front, in the back, and on the sides.   It is no longer modest when there is more skin than suit or it is just barely covering up the bare essentials.   It is interesting to see how my views have changed. Up until last year this girl was so insecure about her body that she wore a swimsuit with basketball shorts and a t-shirt. I know. I was pretty bad. But as I have come to appreciate my body more, I have wanted to stay modest without being prudish. Women have it hard these days. We live in a world that is plastered with images of Size 0 and...

Last week I was watching General Conference. First off, AMAZING! I always love this time of year. And I always love Elder Holland's talks. When he got up to speak in the Saturday afternoon session, I knew it was going to be good. If you have not heard or read his talk yet, please click here . Elder Holland talked a lot about depression and the real struggle that goes along with it. I thought that it might be time to share my story with the world. When I went into ninth grade, everything was going great! I had friends, family, and faith. What more did I need? Then my world came crashing down. That year, I found out that I had an acute hearing loss. The doctors had no idea how fast my hearing would disappear, but I left the office that day with an amplifier and a note telling my teachers that I needed to sit in the front of the class. This news hit me hard. I had always felt the need to be perfect all the time. Isn't that what being a Mormon meant after all? The idea that I w...

At work, we have been stressing these four messages to get the most out of your BYU education: Find new ways to learn. Find ways to expand beyond yourself. Find your place. Find joy in the journey. I think that these are wonderful messages for everyone to take into their lives (not just BYU Freshmen). I have been reflecting on my own ability to do these things this semester. I may come back and address the other three, but for today I just want to address one aspect of number 3- Finding your place. The whole time while writing, I had this song stuck in my head: This has always been a struggle for me. In high school, I had good friends, but I never felt like I truly belonged anywhere. I felt like I was just kind of that person who would tag along to all of these things, but did not really belong there. I am able to look back and see this more and more. When I came Freshman year, I found some good friends. I thought I had found the place where I belonged. Sophomore year...

So I just finished with my 3rd New Student Orientation. This whole week, I have been reliving the last two NSO's and realizing how much I have changed. Fall NSO 2011 I was a Freshman in college. If I am being quite honest, I was completely homesick. I remember the first night, I left the Housing party early and went back to cry. The first day of NSO, I came back from the activities for dinner with my parents and started crying the moment I got into the car. Reflecting back, I was a complete baby. The days that followed are a complete blur. I remember meeting so many people and doing so many things and being just completely and utterly exhausted. So that was my first NSO. It was hard. It was crazy. It really was not the best experience. Fall NSO 2012 So now I was a Sophomore in college. I had a year of experience under my belt. I was a Freshman Mentor and I was determined to make so that they would not have the kind of experience that I did. I wanted to make sure that I was ob...

This has been my summer. Four months ago, I moved into a new apartment with roommates that I did not know at all. I moved into a ward where I knew no one. I was starting off new. I did not expect to ever be in this position. The year before I had moved into an apartment with some of my best friends. I thought that I would never need to find new roommates. But I did... This summer has been the best thing that could have happened to me. Honestly. I have met beyond amazing people, created new friendships, and grown into a much better person. I am so incredibly grateful for the experiences that I have had. Now, everything is changing once again. My amazing roommates are moving out as I type this. My ward is shifting boundaries. Work is going to become more stressful. I am going to be taking more classes. Life is constantly changing. I can't tell what is ahead for me. But I know that I have to keep moving forward. At this point, I am shifting all of the control into Heavenly Fat...

Hello again! So here is my third crazy confession (for some reason all of my confessions have to do with music...weird). I am that person. I get into my car when I am driving all alone, turn up the radio as loud as my ears can stand, and I dance. I will be at stop lights and see people staring, but I don't care. This is weird, because if you know me I am not a dancer. I am the awkward person at parties who kind of sways back and forth. For some reason though, I am willing to make a fool out of myself when I am alone in my car. Here is the song that I was rocking out to tonight while in the drive thru at Sonic (Half-priced Shakes after 8!): This all being said, I typically do not dance when people are in the car with me or when I am in another person's car. So don't expect me to dance on demand. I won't do it. But also do not be surprised if I start dancing. Just saying... Maybe this isn't the craziest confession. I am hoping that people come forward sayi...

Four months ago, I was the new girl in the ward. I did not really know anyone. If you know me, you know how awkward I felt trying to get to know people. Anyone, one day a guy asked if I would like to go hospital singing with them. It sounded like fun, so I went. This actually was also the first time that I rode in the back of a truck, anyway that has nothing to do with the story. So every Sunday since (besides Fast Sundays), I have gone hospital singing. The two guys that were kind of leading it left for other endeavors, but I wanted to keep it going. So every Sunday, I would go door to door inviting everyone in my ward to come singing with us. Some weeks were better than others, but each time was amazing. I have been incredibly grateful for the opportunity that we have to go sing to brighten people's days. Yesterday was the last Sunday of the Summer. I have been begging people to come for weeks and we got a good sized group. Afterwards, I was kind of sad because a lot of these...

Let us go back to one year ago.... I was packing up my car getting ready to drive to Utah and move into a new apartment. I had felt sick to my stomach all the time. I honestly did not want to go back because of all the bad feelings that I got. I found out later why I did not want to go back, but that is a different story... Anyway, I would cry for days because of all the stress. I even cried at Disneyland...yes, Disneyland, because of all these feelings! That should tell you how bad I was in that moment. My first year at BYU, my parents drove me up and my dad thought it would be cute to put Post-It notes all over my dorm room. Yes, it was dorky, but I loved it. I would find them in odd places months later and it would make me smile because I knew how much my dad loved me. So as I was getting ready for my second year at BYU, I was kind of sad that my Dad would not be able to do the same thing again to my new apartment (though I never let on that I felt this way) because he had to...

I do believe that Heavenly Father has a sense of irony. Last week was rough for me. I was not in a good place. Then something funny happened on Monday. I was at work at the best job in the world. Part of what I am working on right now is some trainings. So, I look up this week's topic. It was about reframing your mindset. And guess what was one of the readings. I will give you a hint- it is the title of this blog and my favorite talk of all time. Come What May and Love It! I find it ironic that this was put into my path the week when I needed it most. I am so grateful that I got to read over it again. I would like to write down a part that I enjoyed this time reading it through... "Learning to endure times of disappointment, suffering, and sorry is part of our on-the-job training. These experiences, while often difficult to bear at the time, are precisely the kinds of experiences that stretch our understanding, build our character, and increase our compassion for ot...

A few weeks ago I indulged the world into my secret life of having songs for each of the guys I like. If I get fancy, I may put a link to that post HERE . So my second crazy confession is having Theme Songs for my life as well. These are songs that are constantly stuck in my head and may or may not represent my life in some way or another. Right now I have two theme songs. They totally contradict each other, but oh well. I will share one of my current theme songs (because I know you will judge if I tell you my other theme song). Despite feeling like I am going to die from the plague that has currently infected my body, it is always a beautiful day....*cue music*   "It's a beautiful day and I can't stop myself from smiling. If we're drinking*, then I'm buying *NOTE: I do not drink alcohol. And I know there's no denying. It's a beautiful day, the sun is up, the music's playing And even if it started raining You won't here this ...

Okay people. It has been a crazy couple of weeks. This has been literally the only moment that I have had to sit down and dedicate time to a blog, but I felt like I need to remember this. It has been over 10 years since we have been able to get all of this side of the family together. Crazy stuff. For the 4th of July it happened that the majority of the family was going to be in Mesa. One of my wonderful cousins decided to organize an ice cream party for the family. And so we were able to get everyone in one room (minus the 7 that couldn't make it). It was crazy and amazing (and hot with the Arizona heat). I love my family. I really do. I have been working on an essay for my Marriage and Family class about love. With this, I had my grandparents answer some questions about their marriage. It fun to see their answers. When asked about how their love has changed since getting married, they replied that they "got used to each other." I am so grateful that they did. ...

The title drew you in...didn't it? If you have read my blog before then you know that I am as single as they come. Yep. I just threw that out there into the blogging world. So today in my LDS Marriage and Family class.... Side note: Yes. I am taking a LDS Marriage and Family class. Yes, I am taking it while I am single. And yes, it is counting as a religion credit. Anyway... So today in LDS Marriage and Family we were discussing how to be a whole and happy single. It was a wonderful discussion and it really made me reflect a lot about my own life. I am happy. I am actually happier this last summer than I have ever been. It is wonderful. I am enjoying being myself and getting to know people. It is wonderful! As I was listening to the discussion in my class today, I came to this realization. Relationships are not just about a man loving a woman and a woman loving a man. It is about a man loving God and a woman loving God, with both wanting to be obedient to His will. That...

Hello Blogger World! Sorry that I have not been able to indulge all the secrets of my life to you. I have been busy living life. :) Here is a few of the things that I have gotten to do in the past few weeks: Going Home to Mesa, AZ for 67 Hours   Chow with Grandpa and Grandma Hanging with the family Garage-Saleing with my mom (FAVORITE SUMMER ACTIVITY!!)  Attending one of my best friend's wedding and seeing friends that I haven't seen in two whole years!! Starting Summer Term 3 New Classes New term with new mentoring students New Office Hours Unofficial Mentor Hangouts Fun days of "Hubbing" (meaning spending time in a glorious place called the Hub) Summer Kick Off (which was seriously the most fun thing in the world!) Watching Cosmo go through an obstacle course Studying for tests and writing papers that are due next week Yeah. So that has been my life. As the title said, life is complicated. I wish that it could be a lot easier. I ...

(Please excuse the Hannah Montana song title. I couldn't stop myself!) There was a time that I thought I had to be perfect all the time. There are still days when I do not feel like I am enough. I feel like as a member of the church, sometimes we are expected to be perfect. We are given a lot of expectations and if I fail at even one of them, then I must be failing my Heavenly Father, right? Wrong. I feel like as we have feel like we must be perfect, we feel like others are judging us if we are not. I felt that a lot in high school. I felt like if I didn't do everything right 100% of the time then my peers would judge me and my faith. I felt like I could not make a mistake because everyone was watching. But WHO CARES? We weren't sent to this earth to be perfect. If we had, then we would be living Satan's plan. But we are not. We have agency. We came here to "take chances, make mistakes, and get messy" (is it bad to quote Ms. Frizzle in a semi-serious blog ...

There are 141 operating temples, 13 under construction, and 16 announced!! It is so amazing to see these beautiful buildings go up all over the world! I have lived within 30 minutes of a temple my entire life. Seriously...I have been so blessed have a temple so close to me. For my non-member friends, our temples are considered Houses of God. They are sanctified for making covenants for the living and for the dead. At this time in my life, I do something called Baptisms for the Dead where I act as proxy for someone who has died so that they have the opportunity to get baptized. To understand this better, here is a link to a good explanation. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me!! So, as I was saying, I have lived within 30 minutes of a temple my entire life. I have not taken full advantage of this wonderful opportunity. This summer, I told myself that I would try to go at least once a week. I have kept to that and can I just say how many blessings come into y...

“ The perfect place to begin is exactly where you are right now. It doesn’t matter how unqualified you may think you are or how far behind others you may feel. The very moment you begin to seek your Heavenly Father, in that moment, the hope of His light will begin to awaken, enliven, and ennoble your soul.”- President Uchtdorf It has been an interesting day. The office was busy the whole time I was there with phone calls from new freshman, but I love it. I work for Freshman Mentoring at BYU. I love my job. I love my co-workers and my supervisors. I love the freshman. It is again amazing to see how Heavenly Father knows exactly what you need when you need it. I have become a completely different person through Freshman Mentoring. I will need to reflect on that in another post (if you are a mentor, you will get the irony). Sometimes at work, I feel inadequate. I also feel inadequate during other times, but today in particularly I felt inadequate. I had been answering phones for a ...

I love Taylor Swift. Seriously. I am like every teen girl who says "Taylor Swift describes my life perfectly!!" Funny thing is though, I have never been in a relationship. I do not believe that you have to be in a relationship to feel all these relationship feelings. When I get involved in a crush, I get emotionally involved. This is probably not a good thing because, again I have never been in a relationship. I have had heart break several times. I have had my heart broken many times. But today is not one of those days. Today is one of those that I listen to those Taylor Swift songs that are happy. "Today was a Fairytale" "Stay, Stay, Stay" "Mine" "Love Song" have all been on my playlist today. It is a happy day today. But really, I think that everyday can be a "Taylor Swift Day". So now I sit here and have daydreams about a guy that probably doesn't know if I exist. Still, I am happy. :)