My most favoritest weekend of the year

General conference, I love it. And it just so happened to change my life within the first 10 minutes of listening to it.
Ever since I was little I planned on going to BYU. I wanted to go there and be room mates with my best friend Aly, we wanted to go and make it the best college experience ever, and then I wanted to get married. Even when we were five, Aly and I talked about what our future husbands would be like, what we would name our kids, what our wedding dresses would look like and we decided that we would have these beautiful houses right next door to each other...but reality suddenly hit me the other day;
Our beloved prophet President Thomas S. Monson made the announcement that young men could go on missions at the age of 18 rather than 19, and young women at age 19 rather than 21. After that session Aly called me and we excitedly discussed the new change. Aly then suddenly burst out, "This means I could be married in two years!" ...it was like reality had just slapped me in the face. Aly is pretty confident that she already knows who she is going to marry, and I won't be surprised if they do, they are seriously perfect for each other. But I don't want to grow up yet, I don't want to have to be applying for colleges and sending in ACT scores and looking for a job. I don't want to have to decide what college I'm really going to go to or what I might major in...I don't want to be planning my best friends wedding (even though that would be a ways away, but still). It just seems too fast and it's just getting really real. And now this means that he could go on a mission in about eight months, and I'll be going in less than two and a half years.
In the past year I have decided that I will be going on a mission. But now I'll probably be going a lot sooner than I had originally planned. This is great news! It really is, it just has also been a great reality check as I've realized that I'm growing up. It's finally time to make all those dreams that I had as a little kid come true.  

 The good old days when we would play dress up

 and sit in our "tree house" for hours on end

and sit on giant pumpkins together...

...but now as we grow we have so many new things to look forward to.

Meant to Be

Is it true that everything happens for a reason? 
I believe it is.
How else could my crazy, awful, traumatic situations suddenly turn out perfectly?
Is it really all coincidence? 
I was at my breaking point, and suddenly it all came back together.
So once again I've learned that in the end everything's okay. 
Trust in Him. And trust in His timing.

He loves you.

[Im]perfect

Its that feeling of inadequacy,

thinking you're not enough,

comparing yourself to others

only to wish you were more like them,

wishing for her clothes, her talents, her beauty, her man, her hair, her smarts, her personality, her life, 

but why become more like her when you can be you...

It took me some Sunday school lessons, along with a temple trip, and reading a friends words to realize that.

here would be some of those words I mentioned:

You have something she doesn't :)
You have your faith.
You have a light, bright as day, shining right within you.
You have the knowledge that you are not alone.
You have imperfections, which are most beautiful anyway.
You have strengths and talents no one has, maybe even you do not know them.
You are YOU.
Don't ever second guess yourself.
He knows what you are to do.
So go find that out.
And always remember, I love you.


It's so true! In the end it doesn't matter if I became perfect in their eyes, but that I can become perfect through Him... that I have divine qualities and purposes that I'm here on this earth to fulfill, and no one can stop me from reaching that potential.



Count Your *bLeSsInGs*

I realize I complain a lot

that sometimes I'm negative

that you all have to listen to me whine

but I also realize that we live life once

that being positive makes life better

and that I have a lot of blessings.

Some look at the glass half empty, others half full...and then there's the ones who are just grateful for the glass :)

• my family
• the gospel
• my house
• my clothes
• my friends
• school
• my shoes
• a car
• dance
• the sun
• beautiful sunsets
• gorgeous sunrises
• daylight savings
• seminary
• the scriptures
• prayer
• church
• people at church
• this computer
• the internet
• paper
• homework (believe it or not)
• food
• people who smile in the halls
• friends who give me hugs
• a very special friend who brings me hot chocolate :)
• the sound crunching leaves make
• people who give compliments
• my mom and dad encouraging me to get good grades
• my little brother who makes me laugh
• inspirational quotes
• music
• the temple
• cell phones
• holidays to look forward to
• a warm house
• the piano
• hymns
• post-it notes (they help me more than you could imagine)
• sleep
• I'm grateful for you... no matter who you are I know you have impacted my life, whether big or small, and I appreciate that. 
• and I'm sure I could continue this list...but for times sake I won't :) 

Long Talks and Life

Talks are good. I believe there's a reason certain people are in my life.

 Incredible, spiritual, loving, kind, generous, magnificent people.  

And I'm not sure these people will ever realize the imense impact they have on my life. Like talking to me for hours on end, it's amazing how much better it makes you feel. It helps to just realize that others struggle with the same things you do, we're all going through this life with ups and downs. And sometimes we all just need a hug.

 IlovethosespontaneoushugsfromOthers :)

So yeah... right now my life is excellent. Going to the temple always just brings some extra light into your life, reading scriptures definitely helps your day go more smoothly, praying is the absolute best stress reliever, and life can be a great experience.  But of course there is still those hardships, the gospel just helps me put my problems into perspective.  Friends are such a great blessing, yet they can also become a terrific trial.  Which is just one more reason I so very much appreciate those true friends. So thanks...

The breaking point...

When you fail tests,

somehow life seems to fall apart,

It's not THAT big of a deal...

but it just starts with those little things like

doing bad on a test,

and everything seems to snowball into a bad day...

and how do we change that?

Well to be honest with ya that ^ was me today and at one point in my day I just wanted to quit, I wanted to go curl up the corner and never leave. Then I remembered this fabulous quote:

So with that and general conference thoughts popping into my head,

I decided to change my day.

I looked at the positive:

• I have wonderful friends who listen to all my complaining
• I have a family who loves me (even if I do fail my test)
• There's always someone that's in a worse situation than me
• My situations definitely not that bad
• I have the gospel in my life and am lucky enough to be blessed with such a wonderful life full of wonderful people and wonderful things....
• Ultimately I realized I just need to be more grateful
• Plus I realized that 'fail' just stands for:

 F- first

 A- attempt

I- in

 L- learning

:)

"When life gives you a hundred reasons to cry,

show life that you have a thousand reasons to smile."

JustWhatINeeded

This gospel is an amazing thing.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
What would I do without it?

Somehow the lessons always apply to my specific needs at that very moment

and Somehow my problems seem so small

and Somehow my prayers have been answered

and I've realized that Christ and Heavenly Father are there to pick you up when you are down

I love Sundays

and I love the temple