Christmas Gifts and Pinterest

I attempted to Christmas shop today. FAIL! It's looking like it's going to be one of those last minute things that I will have to finish up when I get back to California. Home sweet home. Regardless, I refuse to buy gift cards. What kind of joy is in that? I understand how convenient they are, but I love presents under the tree. I enjoy wrapping the gifts with cute wrapping and red ribbon. Plus, you can always get a gift receipt and they can return it if they hate it right? Im never offended with that. I like to at least try and pick out something I think the other person might like. I feel like its more personal.

Even more so, I love the action of gift giving! We have been doing this days of Christmas thing at work that we all signed up for. Thank to pinterest, I gathered some mason jars from Hobby Lobby, picked up those wonderful red paper straws, and put together a jar of hot chocolate, chocolate chips and marshmallows! I adored the way that it turned out. I also enjoyed the picture I was sent of Kendra's cat playing with the jar. As well as, the text that Maya's daughter Hailey put all the chocolate in a single glass! Haha the most simple things can bring joy to others.

It's amazing what happiness the holiday seasons can bring. Thanksgiving and Christmas were back to back this year, with not much time in between. I feel like the great thing about that is we have been on a happiness high, full of love for one another. Maybe it's just me, but I have noticed my lack of excitement in the holidays season the past few years. I blame it on being an adult with no kids haha. Whatever the reason, I re-devoted myself to celebrating all the holidays in their fullness as much as possible. I want to celebrate the joy that each season brings. And this season is much more than presents.

One blessing because of Joseph Smith

My best friend Courtney taught an awesome lesson in Relief Society today. She spoke of Joseph Smith.

One of the hardest concepts for me to grasp was that we have a living prophet here on earth. Someone who receives commandments, prophecies and revelations from God. But why not? The bible clearly states that there were prophets on the earth during that time, why would he ever think to leave us alone now.

I am grateful for Joseph Smith. I know in my heart that everything he did was inspired of our Heavenly Father. What really hit me during her lesson was something that I have slightly struggled with the past couple of weeks. Getting to church.

Now I am going to connect the dots in my mind to both of those things.

This church is AMAZING. The way that it is set up and organized, there is nothing else like it in the world. There are so many things accessible to us because of the restoration of the gospel and guidance from our latter day prophets. I know without Josephs Smith sincere prayer, we all still would be lost people. We have so many resources readily available to us to help us stay on the righteous path back to our Heavenly Father. Every ward, every activity within it, every devotional, fireside, general conference, FHE, etc is there for our benefit.

That is just a fraction of blessings that have come from Joseph Smiths example and sacrifices. Every prophet after that has contributed to the inspired building of this organization. It is so easy to take for granted, but I am grateful for all of it. Without it, I know I would be lost. It would be so easy to forget what is important. It makes it a little bit easier to strive not to be of the world.

You and Me and Her and He.

This past week, I realized how much I enjoy trying to understand people. What have they been through? What are their joys? Trials? If I could make a career out of getting to know and understand people and their motives, I would be the happiest girl.

I think that being an individual, having our own self identity, and being given the ability to make decisions for ourselves is an amazing gift. Being able to share experiences, and shed light from a new perspective helps us to grow.

So often we compare ourselves to others. Most of those times we bring ourselves down and wish we were or had certain things. We should try to always remember Heavenly Father has equipped all of us with the strength to overcome any challenge as hard as it may be. We don't need to have materialistic things in abundance. We have the personal choice to live a healthy life.

I have loved reading all the posts on Facebook and other social media sites, things that people are grateful for throughout the month of November. It's a great reminder of all the good in the world. I sincerely hope that along with sharing those things online in public, we have those placed in private in our hearts as well. And that those things that we are truly grateful for, take priority and show in our daily lives.

This upcoming Christmas season is an exciting one! As it is every year, we have another reason to spend time with our families and friends and cherish those relationships. We can share that love with others around us. We can focus on everything that Christ has done for us, and share that knowledge with others.

I can testify that my full happiness comes from the knowledge of our savior and being able to have a personal relationship with Him. We are never alone in the world if we choose it. Not ever. We have the choice to have Him in our lives. I hope this holiday season to strive to get to know and understand people around me more sincerely. That those surface level friendships can grow deeper, and find ways to recognize where we can help. Service can start with just building everyday relationships!

Love you all and Merry Christmas!

twenty something year olds.

I spent the majority of my 8, for slow drivers 9 hour drive from Utah to California talking with Ingrid and reading through things online. Oh, how convenient technology is!

We started discussing family. We both moved to Utah at the same time. It's almost been two years since I moved out of my parents house and to another state! It's been a wonderful adventure. 

It's funny how at this age we are in a weird limbo. Most of us have left our families, yet we haven't made our own. It's that awkward stage where you don't know where you belong. And then you have to hold on to the faith that there is a greater plan for us, than we can imagine for ourselves. This plan takes effort on our part, but we can be guided in our decisions.

I think back to when I made the decision to change my life and what a blessing it has been. We have the power to make big decisions even when they are scary. We can trust that as long as we are living worthily, Heavenly Father will make us aware if we've chosen an incorrect path.

I guess what I am saying is that, we need to TRUST and we need to ACT. We can't sit back idly and expect things to happen. We have to ACCEPT when our plan for ourselves, isn't the plan that Heavenly Father has for us. Things will work out. That job, that boy, that school that we wanted and needed so bad wasn't for us.

So here I am, laying on my sisters bed at my parents house. Im in awe of the experiences I've had in the past 2 years. It's been a whirlwind of self discovery, and I am nowhere near finished. But if I hold fast to that faith, and if I remind myself to strive to reach my potential, I know I can find happiness in making our Father in Heaven proud. Not only that, but my family. My friends. My future family. Myself.

Experiences

Today I feel grateful for this life and the experiences that come with it!

I can find so many things to complain about. Yet, I am blessed with SO much. These experiences, big or small, easy or tough are all a part of Heavenly Fathers plan. My emotional well being hasn't been the best this week and for a day or two I lost sight of whats important. I let go of the the trust and knowledge that there is a plan, I need to trust in His timing. He has a plan for me, better than I can imagine for myself.

I find so much peace in this, it's hard to remember where I turned to in hard times before I had this knowledge.

What are YOU grateful for today?

Guidance and Spiritual Promptings

Today I am grateful for guidance and spiritual promptings...

This was something that touched me more towards the end of the day. Without getting into too much detail, I was out somewhere and felt that it was time for me to go home. Wait, but it's Saturday night, should I be giving myself a curfew? It sometimes is as simple as that. I don't know if anything would have happened if I stayed out later, but I just felt that it was time for me to be at home. The recognition of a prompting is such a blessing, and even more so when you act on it.

Gratitude

The other day I was browsing through Barnes & Noble, one of my favorite stores. As I made my way around the store I came across all of their journals.

Last year I was very diligent in keeping a journal and it helped me learn a lot about myself. It was awesome to see progress made in my life clearly recorded. This year, I've been terrible. So starting fresh I wanted to make it more of a gratitude journal. Every single day I want to write something down that I was grateful for. It could be a simple sentence or a paragraph. Eventually, I think I will become more aware of the blessings in my life because I made it a rule to never repeat something I have already written!

As I have done this throughout the past week, I have been happier. I've thought a lot about being more active in my blog so here is where I want to start. I challenge everyone to record at least a word a day about something they are grateful for. I will try and share some of mine at least a couple of times a week and I would love to hear from you as well!

Here's to counting our blessings!