Allie's Blessing Day

June 11th was a special day for our family. When we planned our trip Utah for Easton and Annie's wedding we decided to bless Allie so that we could have as much of our families there as possible. We were pretty lucky to have my grandpa, both of our dads, Chase's brothers, my cousins, and my uncle stand in the circle while Chase gave her a beautiful blessing. I'm so grateful for my little family and for the new experiences we get to have together, and for so many of our family members being so supportive.

It was extremely special for me to have both Peyton and now Allie blessed in the same dress that I was blessed in so many years ago. Two of my cousins also made a special cake for the occasion :) It tasted as good as it looked!

"Because I am His Daughter"

This past Sunday we had testimony meeting during church. Anyone from the congregation is invited to get up and share their testimony or beliefs with everyone. An 8 or 9 year old girl that Chase and I used to teach in Primary (classes for the kids) got up to bear her testimony and I paid a little more attention, excited to hear what she had to say. It was short and sweet, and simple, but so powerful.

She said, "I know that God loves me because I am His daughter."

That's it.

That was what she felt like she needed to share. And I'm so glad she did, because I needed to hear it.

It hit me hard that God doesn't need lots of reasons to love us. He simply loves us because we are His children. I've been trying for a while to think of a way to articulate how much I've learned about His love by becoming a mother and I think this finally did it. I love Peyton, because she is my daughter. It's that simple. It's so amazing how much I love her and how much my love for her continues to grow. I want her to know that I love her already. I want that to be something she feels from the time we spend together. I want her to know that I will always love her.

And maybe, if I can help her know how much I love her she can start to understand how much God loves her. Because even though I feel like she has taken over my whole heart, I don't think we can begin to comprehend how much God loves each of us. He has an infinite capacity for love, and sees all of our divine potential. It's given me a lot to think about this week and I hope that it's already making me a better mom.

I'm so grateful for little girls that listen to the Spirit and say what they know. They sure have a lot to teach me. And I'm so grateful to have my own little girl that I'm sure will teach me all sorts of these kinds of lessons. She is already making me a better person.

Peyton's Blessing Day

On November 29th we had the awesome chance to bless our Peyton girl. We were lucky enough to have so many family members and friends come and visit us for the Thanksgiving holiday and for the baby blessing! In the LDS church we bless new babies using the Priesthood (special authority to use God's power on earth - for more information look here). Both of Peyton's grandpas, as well as some of our close friends got to stand in the circle to help Chase bless her. It was such an amazing day and Chase did a great job! Peyton looked beautiful in her blessing dress, which was the same one I wore when I was blessed as a baby. It was so great to be able to have the blessing during a time of year when we already were expressing gratitude for the blessings we have in our lives. Here are some pictures from the special day:

(she loves to kick her legs ^ look at the couple pictures above this - we think it's adorable!)

(I loved getting to have her wear the same dress that I did, and that my old bracelet almost fit her!)

I love this family of mine!

All of our family that came to visit!

The Book of Mormon

Chase and I just finished reading the Book of Mormon together for the first time this last week. I am so grateful for his patience with all of my questions and his willingness to discuss the things we learn. I loved this experience with him and am so excited to start it again!

I thought I would take this chance to share my testimony of the Book of Mormon. I know that my Savior lives. I know that He came to the Americas after He was resurrected and saw, taught, healed, and loved the people there. I know that He restored truths of the gospel to them so that they could progress on their eternal journey. I know that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon. I know that he was a prophet of God and that through his translating he was able to learn of the truths that have helped establish this true church today. I am so grateful for him and his sacrifice. I am overwhelmed by the sacrifices of the people and the prophets in the Book of Mormon, that they made so that we could know of the truths and miracles that they knew and experienced. I love feeling the Spirit while I read the stories of the Book of Mormon and learning something new every day and every time I read it. I know that the many languages the Book of Mormon has been translated into and the way that its truth is being spread is nothing short of a miracle, and also nothing less than what has been prophesied. I am grateful to be a part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and to know so many people that are willing to leave their lives behind to help others come to find the truth. I gain a greater peace and a greater sense of gratitude for the Book of Mormon every time I read it and can't wait to see what I will learn this next time. It really does contain the things we need to know to find happiness and direction for how to live our lives righteously. What more could we ask for?

If anyone wants to learn more you can go here, or if you would like a free copy of the Book of Mormon then go here. 

And if you have any questions please feel free to ask me! I'd be happy to answer them or find someone who can!

1 year

It's crazy to think about what can happen in a year...

At this time last year I was working on my mission papers to serve a full-time mission for The Church. I was so excited for the chance to learn and grow and to serve people without having to think about anything else.

I thought that I would be leaving for a year and a half and would pick back up where I left off once I was back.

Little did I know that there were other plans in the works. Today is 11 months that Chase and I have been officially together. I quickly fell in love, waited for him to fall just as hard for me ;), got engaged, and am so happy to be married to my best friend (best 3+ months ever).

In that time I've also competed in the national championship tournament for my lacrosse team, been skydiving for the second time, grew even closer to my family, got a new family to be a part of, had my best semester and term ever in college, made a ton of really great new friends, spent time with old friends, had my testimony grow, hit my year mark at work, managed to not sprain an ankle (knock on wood), and have loved every minute of it.

I'm so grateful to not always know the bigger picture, to just be preparing for what I'm ready for and I'm grateful for a Heavenly Father who knows me and knows what's best for me to allow that to happen.

I can't wait to see the adventures that 2014 holds :)

"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.

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.

Church Recap

We had ward conference today and the theme was "Let the Holy Spirit Guide"

As the talks and lessons went on I was so incredibly grateful for the people giving them and what they were teaching me.

It increased my testimony in and love for my Savior.

I was grateful for the peace that I felt and for the feeling I got that I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be.

I know that I have a Heavenly Father who loves me and more than anything He wants me to be happy. Because of this I can talk to Him about seemingly insignificant things because what's important to me is important to Him.

I have a lot to learn and always will, but I can learn every single day from the Holy Ghost.

I was also struck with gratitude for the people in my life that have helped me learn some of these lessons already and the people that are helping me learn them right now, pushing me to be better.

I also am extremely grateful for the technology available that let me see just a little bit of my sister's talk all the way across the country today. She's such a great example to me and I'm so proud of everything she is doing :)

Feeling Blessed

I feel very blessed today.

I got all the way moved into my room... which feels like nothing short of a miracle if you ask me.

I got to teach this morning and have my girls do SO well.

I got to find notes and pictures from people that I love while I was unpacking things.

Last and definitely not least I got to skype with my family for FHE all the way across the country...

I promise we were more excited than we all look...

Starting 2013.

One of my good friends, Nicole mentioned that she reads this devotional address every new year. Thanks to her suggestion I did the same thing today and I'm so glad I did. Here are some of my favorite thoughts shared by Elder Holland:

"God doesn’t care nearly as much about where you have been as He does about where you are and, with His help, where you are willing to go... This is an important matter to consider at the start of a new year—and every day ought to be the start of a new year and a new life. Such is the wonder of faith and repentance and the miracle of the gospel of Jesus Christ."

"Faith is for the future. Faith builds on the past but never longs to stay there."

Good luck with your New Year's Resolutions and all of your endeavors this year.

Getting into the Thanksgiving spirit

Now that we're less than two weeks away from Thanksgiving, here are some things I'm especially grateful for today:

-- Girls that make me love my job
-- Caramel hot chocolate
-- Having time to get all my homework done before class
-- A sore body that lets me know I played hard this weekend
-- Technology that keeps me in touch with my family
-- Diet Coke runs drop-ins
-- Hysterical teammates that make me drop to the floor I'm laughing so hard
-- A good study spot (that wasn't right next to a door letting in freezing cold air)
-- Not spraining an ankle or face-planting because of the ice today
-- Seat warmers in my car
-- Patient people willing to teach me things I don't understand
-- The nice person who gave me Jolly Ranchers to wish me luck on my test
-- Homemade bread (made by people with talents I don't have)
-- Trips to the temple
-- The cute old men that work at the temple and ask me the same questions every week without fail
-- Seeing the Lord's hand in my life in both small and big ways
-- Good examples all around me
-- The realization I had that I will be back in Charlottesville in less than a week

"Much More To Come"

I feel like this is especially pertinent to my life after watching one of my teammates and good friends open her mission call last night. So proud of her (and all of my other friends making the same decision). I'm so proud to be a part of this church.

"Mormons rise in this life because it is what their religion calls for. Achieving. Progressing. Learning. Forward, upward motion. This is the lifeblood of earthly Mormonism. Management, leadership, and organizing are the essential skills of the faith. It is no wonder that Mormons have grown so rapidly and reached such stellar heights in American culture. And there is much more to come."

Read the whole thing here...

Monday Motivation

"Every one of us has times, when we need to know things will get better..."

This reminded me (yet again), that they will and that there are good things to come.

Celebrating the Little Things

We were at practice last week and as always with this time of year we've been struggling with our basics. We spend a majority of practice working on our passing and catching - which to be honest is frustrating. And boring. So while lacrosse is always one of my favorite times of the day it's been something I've had to gear up for. Then Juj came up with a great idea for us as we were trying to hide our frustrations...

She told us to celebrate every catch. That simple. To celebrate the little thing that we've done right in that moment. These were no small celebrations... we had roaring (since we are the cougars), loud yelling, over the top compliments, cartwheels, and lots of laughs. You would be surprised what a difference this made in the tone of practice. Instead of getting frustrated by not reaching our goal as quickly as we wanted to we shifted our focus to highlighting the happy things. Which in turn helped us relax, smile and do better.

As I got thinking about it I decided I wanted to implement this into my everyday life. So this is my way to hold myself accountable... to myself and to anyone who reads this.

Even if I have a frustrating day I am going to focus on the little things that went right and celebrate those. Things like bonding with one of the girls at work, catching up with someone I didn't expect to, getting all of my homework done, not hitting pipe at practice, keeping my room clean (ok... not such a little thing), getting to bed at a decent hour, doing well on a quiz in class, getting to the temple, understanding a new concept, pretty colors on the mountains, getting awesome packages from my parents (who have spoiled me like crazy recently - love you both!), finding a new scripture I love, etc. These are the things worth celebrating. And they add up fast.

...

On a similar note I listened to one of the best devotionals ever on the way to the work this week. They don't have it available for reading right now but I promise that it's worth watching or listening to! Here it is. Thanks Si :)

Grace.

I stumbled upon this speech today thanks to a friend's recommendation. And I couldn't not share... Enjoy :)