"I have learned that to be happy is a choice."

I've had a couple of my friends and family members share this article written by a Mormon bishop.

So many good lessons summarized.

And such a good perspective.

Definitely worth the few minutes it takes to read it.

...

I apologize for the overload recently of links to others' stories and thoughts and wonderful ideas. I feel like they say it so much better than I can. And I've been busy loving almost every part of my life. So maybe I'm not so sorry... but I promise to try to put something up besides pictures and links soon...ish.

Have I Mentioned That My Family is the Greatest?

Sundays are usually pretty great for lots of reasons, but especially because I get to talk to my family. Sometimes I'm even lucky enough to get to skype them...

This usually means all craziness breaks loose (something about actually seeing each other I think - that or seeing how crazy we are ourselves just makes it escalate quicker). The things that get said, teasing that happens, and funny faces that get made make me homesick faster than anything else.

I wouldn't have it any other way...

Yup. That's Justin flashing me

So naturally Josh wanted to too...

We think we're really cute

I love them more than anything

Some of my favorite things that got said:

"Oh no... Now we need two waaa-mbulances!"

"And then you repent and your hair grows back!"

Prayer

My cousin mentioned this article on prayer in her blog yesterday and I loved it. It puts into words, what I feel like I have struggled to describe before and is such a wonderful reminder of the love that our Heavenly Father has for each and every one of us. 

I know without a doubt that God wants us to be happy and successful and not only will do anything in His power to help us feel that way, but that He already is. Allowing Him to work in His timetable and trusting Him just makes it come easier.

It's a short read and so worth it :)

Drops of Awesome

I had a friend share this link and I absolutely love it.

It says a lot about the power of positive thinking and how our thoughts change how we feel about ourselves. And I of course love the part about the Atonement and the relationship we can have with our Savior.

Food for thought...

Here.

March Madness

As my roommates and I were sitting and talking last night we could not get over the fact that it's March already. We arrived at the consensus that March is stressful and overwhelming.

This time of year is usually the time for big decisions. Decisions about things like where to live next year, where to live spring/summer, what do even do spring/summer, and choosing classes for next fall just to name a few.

On top of those decisions, it's the hardest time to stay on top of schoolwork. We've had our last long weekend of the semester and are in for a six weeks straight until finals - yikes. Final projects and papers need to get started, on top of midterms still going on. It also starts to warm up outside, which makes it incredibly difficult to focus on doing everything that needs to happen inside (especially studying).

Add on top of that that some of my best friends are graduating within a year (in both April and December) and I want to spend all the time I can with all of them.

I think one of the hardest things for me this month is a diet I'm supposed to be trying for one of my classes that gets rid of most of my favorite foods (very limited dairy, animal meat, animal protein, and no refined sugar)... Do me a favor and don't ask me how it's going haha

Basically we've started our our kind of march madness. We are trying very hard to stay on top of everything we've signed up for and are realizing it's just the beginning.

Despite feeling this chaos and stress I'm so, so excited about this month and here's why:

-- I get to travel for lacrosse 3 out of the 5 weekends in March
-- I get to play in lacrosse games 4 out of the 5 weekends this month
-- I'm still loving my classes and still want to learn from them as opposed to the normal slump I'm feeling around this time of the semester
-- The term ends this month for work, which means despite not having a regular long weekend I will have one weekend that I get to sleep in like a normal person and I can't wait
-- The weather is warming up - finally no more big coats, scarves, and boots every day
-- That also means we get to practice on a real field, with real grass instead of on parking lots that aren't very forgiving when we fall
-- I already feel like I have so many fun things planned to balance out the hard work that's been going on and I can't wait for them to happen
-- I'm getting to spend so much of my free time with so many of my favorite people and loving every second of it
-- We're ranked #4 in the country right now for lacrosse - that's a constant good reminder of the hard work we've already put into this season
-- By the end of this month my dad will be here, it will be Julia's birthday, we'll be focused on the Savior and Easter AND preparing for conference weekend (which is great because for the first time in my 3 years of living in Utah, I'll be here for the April sessions)

And an extra reason this month is starting off right?

I got an unsolicited hug from one of my girls this morning after class. They're the best.