My progressive list of gratitude. I assure you, there is no order... except the top three. Those will go unmoved for the rest of my eternity.

The Gospel

The Atonement

my family

a clean sheet of paper

a really sharp pencil

the expression on peoples faces when they zone out

learning new words

the perfect word to describe something

the sound snow makes when you walk on it

having sore abs

beautiful eyes

winning a debate

whistling

getting letters

driving in snow

doing donuts/cookies

the advantages of being the teachers pet

back massages

wearing pants just out of the laundry

heavy blankets

singing and dancing alone in my car

green

just out of the oven chocolate chip cookies

red doors

finding money

Far side and Calvin and hoobs

when guys smell good

getting free stuff! 

This quote! "One life is all we have to live and we live it as we believe in living it, but to surrender who you are and live without belief, that is a fate more terrible than dying. In God's name forward boldly!"

the mountains in Utah

Provo

Boulder, Colorado

getting paid

being perfectly on time

deep thinking

the moment right before you fully wake up

a sunny day with a dark sky

RAIN

painting

having time to just sit and read

the scriptures

people watching

eavesdropping

tulips

daffodils

missionaries

prayers

worthy priesthood holders

being excited for something

when someone exceeds your expectations

having a cat that isn't annoying

good friends

brushing my teeth

having my hair played with

epiphanies

playing with other people's hair

hot showers

sunny rooms

swinging on porch swings

tire swings in huge old trees

oaks

reading

warm nights

people that have freckles with light skin and dark hair

Asian babies

lacrosse

Finding Nemo

being able to talk for hours without running out of things to say

being able to talk openly about my religion without fear of retribution

talking about the gospel without fear regardless of the threat of retribution

beautiful cars

the burning in your lungs after a good run

getting new running shoes

cell phones

theme parks

adrenaline

leaves

fires

apples to apples and curses

sushi tag

hugs

kisses

donating blood! (and plasma when I'm poor)

my mother

seeing extended family

poetry

late night conversations

meeting someone you feel like you've known your whole life

baking

my ipod

finding new music

MUSIC

wii fit

YOU! 

hot tubing

politics

the moon

sunrises

the fact that my little brothers are best friends

naps

savers

getting good grades

hot chocolate

vanilla

dad jokes

milk

pb and js

kissing snow (SARAH!) 

chess

off roading

hikes

table rock

candles

daisies

myself!

jumping on the tramp

not forgetting anything!

reading the news paper

the solitude of cemeteries

BARNS & NOBLES

talking to strangers

peter pan
Les Mis

singing

writing music

fake glasses

having perfect eyesight

dragon flies and lightning bugs

ice cream

wrestling

swimming till you feel like your arms are going fall off

songs that speak to you

Hersey kisses

notebooks

jello

the cello

piano

chap stick

learning

sushi

cuddling

superheros

hats

quilts

sunlight

the countryside of Wales

the castle in Larghne, Wales

children with accents

accents in general

President Thomas S. Monson

temples

the smell of sandalwood

caving

fog

long eyelashes

noses with character

happy eyes....

Weekend in Utah

So, I went to Utah last weekend for the Mae concert, and it was such an incredible weekend. I can't even explain, so I'll just let you watch a video explaining Saturday night...

P.S. I promise I did not use the Lords name in vain, the sound just didn't pick up the SH at the end of my gosh...

 

Just Thinking Aloud

Sometimes, I have nights… and days where I get really frustrated with the people around me. And then I realize that often times my frustration is completely my own fault. My expectations of others are what results in the disappointment, hurt, or anger I feel towards other. I’m angry because I am being selfish, because I want what I want. I need to change that and realize that I’m going to be okay, and that in five minutes, things will be different. I can handle pretty much anything for five minutes. It may not be better or worse, but it will be different.

Sometimes, I also forget that I’m actually really happy and that nothing that happens to me can change that! I’m happy because the Lord loves me and because he allows me the freedom to choose how I want to feel. Unfortunately, every once in a while, I start to forget that I’m happy and get caught up with what is going on in the moment. I often lose track of how I want to feel all the time, by listening to how something else makes me feel in the moment! How foolish of me! I should never let my emotions be determined by anything but myself because I let know if I’m choosing with a clear head and sound mind, I’ll choose the way the Lord wants me to feel.

Life is about learning. And growing. And becoming better. For a long time I kept telling myself there were things to fix, things that needed to be gotten rid of. How self-deprecating! I don’t need to be “fixed.” Fixing something is the means to an end! I can ever end my weaknesses, they are there for a reason. So, now? Now I tell myself that I need to learn to do things better, I need to learn to be better because if I’m learning there is always room for change. If I am learning there is no expectation to be perfect, I am required simply to master things one small step at a time. You know what else is the amazing thing about learning? You NEVER have to stop.

“I must learn to love the fool in me the one who feels too much, talks too much, takes too many chances, wins sometimes and loses often, lacks self-control, loves and hates, hurts and gets hurt, promises and breaks promises, laughs and cries” 

“The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem.”

-Theodore Isaac Rubin (Both)

The Uncoordinated Damsel in Distress

 Tonight I was sitting in my bed, contemplating whether or not I wanted to blog, while eating tootsie rolls. My bed is amazing. It’s about as high as the average counter and it’s so comfy and big and it has an enormous brown comforter on it that I love! Well, suddenly, one of my tootsie rolls rolled off my bed! Ironic, I know. Well, I leaned down off my bed to grab it when, as I was trying to get back up, I realized that I was right at that point where you can’t get back up, but you also can’t really just slide off. If I had tried to slide off, my hip would have nailed the edge of my side table. SO, wilts everyone else in my house was asleep, I was dangling precariously from the edge of my bed. I was stuck! Naturally, I started cracking up which made staying where I was quite difficult. Eventually I managed to claw my way up my comforter safe and sound as you can see that I am quite alive and telling you all my story. Boy, my future husband is going to have his handful… and LOTS to laugh about! I just thought I would share in my own personal entertainment.

Haha! That is all :)

Have a wonderful night and I hope you all had an amazing Halloween!

Surgery

There is much talk of surgery around these parts. We're all praying that my mother doesn't have to have shoulder surgery because of the Calcium deposits in her shoulder (you can pray for her too if you want!). And my Father just got his knee surgeried on today! (not a word, I know, but I'm going with it) 
Funny thing though, my Dad is a horrible patient. He doesn't like to listen to the things the doctors tell him, such as no walking or putting weight on it for a little while. Silly dad!
So, after all of the preamble...

I was standing in my kitchen tonight, right after my mom and I had just rebuked my dad for walking, while my mom and dad headed to the neighbors for a halloween party; my mom was dressed as a nurse and my dad as her patient. Perfect, right? like whoa. As they were heading out my Dad was by the front door and my mom was at the garaged door and my Dad yells to her,
"How cold is it outside?"
and my mother yells back,
"Oh goodness, you're fine. You don't need a coat." and then leaves out the garage, leaving my Dad to manage the front door all alone.
A few seconds later I hear,
"Gosh dangit! Stop doing that!... whoever keeps leaving the screen shut when you close the door, STOP IT!"


Yes.. You are correct. My father crutched himself right into the screen....

Bahahahahaha!
I love my family.


P.S. pictures of my thrifty finds coming soon!! 

So Domestic!

I want to be crafty. 

The only problem with being crafty is that you have to have the cash and time to do the things you want. AND, you have to be willing to shop around if you want to save on the cash. But, I really want to do the projects I have in mind and looking through crafty blogs has not been making resisting any easier. I'm going to do it!


 I'm already knitting a scarf. That's a step in the right direction, isn't it? I'm about half way through, but I haven't been as diligent as I could be with it.  My goal is to finish it in... 10 days from today. Unfortunately, my knitting has not been enough to sedate my need for going forth and creating so I have decided I'm going to take the time to teach myself to sew. Ambitious? Perhaps. But, that's what Youtube how-to videos are for, right? I am going to go out shopping today with my lovely friend Michelle (after I go to the dentist, joy) and we are going to a bunch of thrift stores to find things I can teach myself to alter. WIN!

I will report back on my findings.

:)

The Rocking Chair

Here are some photos of my rocking chair. I figured I should take some eventually just to be sure I have some record of it :)

 

Isn't it just so inviting?!

Cozy

It’s been raining all day today, the kind of rain that will drizzle for hours, that casts a blue glow around the house. This is the kind of rain that seeps into your bones; the kind of rain that washes out the old and brings in the new. And it’s the kind of day that makes you really think about your life, not to feel good or bad about it, but merely reflective.

I have spent a great deal of my time since coming home from church in my old green rocking chair in the corner of my bedroom with my window open, knitting away to the rhythm of the rain. My mother cradled us in that rocking chair on nights when we couldn’t sleep. I love it. It’s a gliding rocking chair and there’s a point that it hits when you rock back just far enough and balance there that it locks in a recline. That’s probably my favorite spot in the whole house, curled up in a blanket with a good book or a set of knitting needles and an old classic.

            I’m in the middle of reading Atlas Shrugged and I like it very much. The characters are fascinating and I’ve learned more about trains that I probably ever will again. It’s amazing to read about characters that are so different from yourself. I always find myself wishing to develop characteristics like theirs; the passionate dedication, the poise with which they hold themselves, the lack of concern for other’s opinions, even sometimes the ability to be so… certain. But then again, they are written to be exactly that way.

Books have taught me that even in the worst characters there is something to gain by knowing them. And in books, sometimes, you know the characters better than the people you know in your own life. You know their thoughts and reactions, what makes them happy and what makes them sad. If everyone came with a book describing them… can you imagine? I’ve always wondered if I would like the character my life would present me as if my life were a book…

I love October, and I love the drizzle that comes with fall. Mmmmm Sweater weather, hot chocolate and a need to feel and be as cozy as possible. There’s nothing better.

At least…not until next season… and the next… and the next…

Do you ever...

Do you ever have moments where it’s really late at night and you’re doing, reading or watching something that makes you think, “holy moly… what am I doing with my life?” even though you totally know what you’re doing with your life, it’s just ONE thing that hasn’t quite worked out for you yet. And then you sit back and complete your thought with, “I need to write a song about this but I can’t because it’s midnight and everyone else in my living space is sleeping?” No? Is that just me?

Well… there ya go. I need to change something. Or just stop wanting everything to work out and be happy with what is…. Hmmm. Probably both. 

Goodnight.

Quotes

Quotes are one of my most favorites things. They can make you smile, make you think deeper, make you dream and sometimes make you want to cry. It is astounding what a few choice words can do to touch your heart. I'll probably end up posting quotes a lot, but for now I have two today. 

The first was posted by my friend Aubrie and I LOVE her. She is one of my favorite people. She's such a sweetheart and sent me this one at a pretty inspired time, if I do say so myself :)

Our Father in heaven needs us as we are, as we are

growing to become. He has intentionally made us

different from one another so that even with our

imperfections we can fulfill his purposes. My greatest

misery comes when I feel I have to fit what others

are doing, or what I think others expect of me. I am

 most happy when I am comfortable being me and

trying to do what my Father in heaven and

I expect me to be.

I have given up seeing myself as a flawed person…

Giving this up has freed me to embrace

 and rejoice in my own manner and personality

in the measure of my creation.

Somewhere, somehow the Lord "blipped the message

onto my screen" that my personality was created to fit

precisely the mission and talents he gave me.

Miraculously, I have found that I have untold

 abundant sources of energy to be myself. But the

 moment I indulge in imitation of my neighbor,

I feel fractured and fatigued and find myself

forever swimming upstream. When we frustrate

God's plan for us, we deprive this world and

God's kingdom of our unique contributions,

 and a serious schism settles in our soul. God never

 gave us any task beyond our ability to accomplish it.

 We just have to be willing to do it our own way.

We will always have enough resources for

being who we are and what we can become.

-Sister Patricia Holland-  

and two I heard during last semester at school... I don't remember when.

Every person who lives in this world radiates light, which affects and influences every other person in the world.
The radiance of the light that emanates from our countenance is determined by the choices we make, and is a powerful force in human relationships.
The Savior was conscious of that reality. Whenever He came into the presence of an individual He was conscious of a light emanating from that person's soul, and which was mirrored in his countenance. He knew the behavior and conduct, and the choices a person had made because that behavior and those choices were reflected by the radiating light in one's countenance.
My dear brothers and sisters, we must make nobler choices. We must not encourage vile thoughts or low aspirations. We shall radiate them if we do. Every moment of life we are affecting, to a degree, the life of every other person with whom we may come in contact, and who comes within the sphere of our influence.
Every person is affecting every other person who lives. We cannot for one moment escape this emanation, this radiation of light that emanates from our countenance.
Life is a constant state of radiation and absorption of light. To exist is to radiate light; to exist is to be the recipient of light. And we choose the qualities we permit to be radiated by the light within us, determined by our behavior, and by the choices we make.

-David O. Mkay

Pretty powerful stuff right? I love it. 

That's all for now :)