Today was beautiful…

Today was a day, a beautiful day, not perfect, but beautiful. Here’s why:
I spent the morning with my mom. Drove 30 minutes to a dental lab together, then snuck in a little speed shopping.
Had a wonderful day at work, saw some new faces and chatted with friends.
Visited a friend in the hospital, was reminded of how beautiful and fragile life truly is.
Read a blog post from one of my forever roll models about her crazy, cute kids, was reminded of the more important things.
Made small connections with friends in texts.
Spent an hour with family with nothing to entertain us except a campfire and conversation.
Said goodbye to a close friend, remembered how precious and truly rare good friendships are.
And that was just one day. Why did I have to write it down? Because I let myself forget that all of it happened. There are goods and bads in every day. Bads are too easy to remember. Goods are too easy to forget. I’m glad I remembered.

So, this weekend I was in Boise with my cousin Lainey and my friend Emily.  I should probably post some pictures of the trip or something, but right now I’m thinking about some of our discussions about the deeper stuff ;).  Life is hard!  It’s confusing and it keeps getting confusinger (definitely a word), but it’s good!  I admire these girls so much, their faith and optimism is contagious.  I just saw this quote on Facebook from Elder Christofferson, “Keep going AND the Lord will help you.”  Sometimes that’s REALLY hard …to keep going, but it’s true.  He will help.  So, when I get frustrated because I haven’t found prince charming yet (and you all know I do 😉 ) or I get scared because graduation’s coming and I don’t know what to do with my life (I know my problems are mini by comparison).  It’s okay.  Just keep going, right?  Things I already knew, but thanks for the perspective ladies.  

One more quote from Elder Scott, “I am convinced that there is no simple formula or technique that would immediately allow you to master the ability to be guided by the voice of the Spirit. Our Father expects you to learn how to obtain that divine help by exercising faith in Him and His Holy Son, Jesus Christ. Were you to receive inspired guidance just for the asking, you would become weak and ever more dependent on Them. They know that essential personal growth will come as you struggle to learn how to be led by the Spirit.”

On my mind lately…

Okay, so this subject has really been on my mind lately for a few reasons.   I don’t feel like I need to give a lengthy speech about my position on this subject… same-gender attraction.  Just wanted to share a couple of really good sources that people have referred me to.   My only thought is that PEOPLE are more important than anything else.   We’re all affected by it in some way, it’s worth a little effort to try to understand.   They need our support, more than we realize.

As a member of the LDS faith, I feel like I should state that I believe that marriage should be only between a man and a woman.  It’s real, it’s something that real people struggle with everyday and, again, people are important.

If you can find time, this video is a little over an hour long.  I think this guy knows what he’s talking about.

Elephant in the Pew: Same Sex Attraction

This guy too…

The Weed Blog

And, of course, this guy…

Helping Those Who Struggle with Same-Gender Attraction

Sick Day

Sick day today, Jenna is so sweet. I’ve been staying with her this week while her parents are gone. This is what I woke up to. Cold medicine, vitamins, Aleve, Essential Oils, and an invitation to watch Netflix.

The latest

Well, life has been pretty crazy the past month.  I guess that’s always how December is, right?

For starters, Thanksgiving weekend was so fun!  My cousin Seth came home from his mission on Wednesday.  We all met up at the airport in Idaho Falls to welcome him home and then we headed to grandma’s for the weekend in Soda Springs. We had so much fun playing the usuals: crud, nasty, hand and foot, etc.

I brought my guitar, which I don’t usually do.  Jenna, Megan, and I learned Skyscraper by Demi Lovato and sang it for the fam.  Definitely need to haul the guitar around more often.  I also brought the sheet music for a song called Blessings by Laura Story.  Turns out Megan knew the song too!  It’s a really pretty song about how our trials really are our blessings.  I sang it for everyone and Seth jokingly asked me if I would sing it in sacrament meeting the following week when he spoke, of course I said yes… jokingly!  Aunt Jill called a few days later and asked me if I really would play and sing it with Megan in sacrament meeting.  Yikes!  So, the next week we were in Wayan for the “homecoming” talk.  The meeting was incredible!  Two 17ish year-old pre-missionaries spoke and then Seth and in between were two musical numbers.  First Jenna played Silent Night on the harp, which was SOOOO beautiful.  Then Megs and I sang.  I was SO nervous!  My hands were shaking the whole time!  Mara sat next to me to turn the pages and she said she was tempted to put her arm around me but was worried that it would just make it worse.  Yikes!  Even though I was so nervous, I was so glad that I did it.  It gets easier every time I do it, right?  Seth’s talk was incredible!  Everyone was bawling!

The following week my dad had a work meeting in Maryland, so he headed off for the week.  His class ended on Thursday, and I dutifully flew out to Washington D.C. to escort him home.  Oh, and we spent a few days in D.C.  Oh, and Jade came down from Connecticut to spend the weekend with us.

It was pretty much freezing the entire time!  But it was fun anyway.  We stayed at the Residence Inn across the street from the Pentagon.  Yeeah! (Pronounced yay-uh)  We toured the Capital Building but couldn’t get tickets to tour the White House.  Saw all the usuals: Lincoln memorial, Jefferson memorial, WWII memorial, Korean memorial, Air & Space museum, Arlington Cemetery, D.C. temple, etc.  We took pictures outside the White House and guess what?!  The president’s motorcade went by!  …at least we think it was him …could have been someone else important … eh, we’ll stick with that.

Look! The White House!

On Saturday night we were tired and cold and it was raining, so we decided to see a movie.  We went to Saving Mr. Banks.  It was pretty good, it’s about how Mary Poppins came about.   Anyway, just as we were about to go into the theater Jade found this umbrella in the garbage and held it up for a picture.  A guy walking by asked her “did that just happen?” Tee hee.

We went to the Chevy Chase YSA ward on Sunday …I think my dad felt a little awkward.  But a couple of my FHE brothers are from D.C. and they said that I HAD to go to their ward.  After sacrament meeting they have a tradition that all the visitors introduce themselves to the ward.  I mentioned that Fred and Greg (my FHE bro’s) said to say hi and a lot of people nodded their head like they knew them.  What a small world!  We also talked to the missionaries for a minute, we asked if the knew Elder Stoor (cousin Seth) and what do you know?  One of them had been his companion.  Man!  It really is a small world!

The church building was really cool, we just had to take a picture in front of it!

My dad and I flew home last Monday and Jade came home on Wednesday.  She had booked her plane tickets before we planned the trip, otherwise we would have flown together. She’ll be home for a week and a half, then it’s back to Connecticut for more nannying.  It’s was a pretty exciting reunion for my mom and John who hadn’t seen her in 3 months.  Mom bought her this flower at the little gift shop in the airport.  We felt pretty cool until we looked around at everyone else’s giant bouquets.  Her’s was a little puny.

Christmas music before Thanksgiving? Nuh uh.

Where to start…  It’s been a decently eventful week, but what do you really want to hear about??

Ooh!  Let me brag about my brother.  Logan is a pretty incredible volleyball player.  I’m pretty sure I’m the annoying little sister that tags along to be part of the excitement, but honestly, truly, I love watching him play. He’s on a competitive intramural team at BYU-Idaho.  Go Thunder!  This picture was from his game on Friday.  It was a close game, they lost by a hair.  😦

Stake conference today was really incredible.  It amazes me how much I can learn and feel in one meeting.  I had a discussion with one of the ladies I work with a few days ago, we were talking about the General Relief Society Meeting.  She mentioned how, at this point in her life, when she goes to those meetings, it’s like her soul is thirsty.  She doesn’t watch the clock because there isn’t enough time to drink it all up.  I sort of felt that way today, thirsty.

The subject of marriage did come up, surprise at a Young Single Adult Stake Conference, I know.  President Marshall said something about how he worries that we’re too hesitant to talk openly about marriage and what we’re really looking for in a spouse.  And he said, make lists for yourself, not for them.  We need to be the kind of person we want to marry.

A few other snippets:

Monday for FHE we raked Brother Jensen’s leaves …in the dark.  Man, the sun goes down early these days.

Election Day on Tuesday!  We hand counted ballots this time, went home at 11:00 pm.  This one was nothing.

Registered for classes next semester.  I’ll be taking 1 out of my 5 remaining classes.  That’s it.  One.  4 in the Spring.  Graduation in July!

Bought some new boots yesterday at JC Penney, I think it’s worth mentioning, $50 is a huge investment! 😉  Found myself humming along to Christmas music playing in the mall.

Sunday night I didn’t get enough sleep, I stayed up ’til 12:30 am blogging.

Halloween Candy!

I have kind of a funny story to share.  So, Halloween was this week and my mom bought tons of candy.  We didn’t have as many trick-or-treaters as we expected so there was lots left over.  Yesterday, Mikaela, John, and I all had a sudden craving for candy.  We searched all the usual hiding places, the kitchen towel drawer, under my parent’s bed, etc.  No candy.  So, we started to bug my mom about it.  Finally she gave us a clue, a riddle.  “Roses are red, Shay’s room is blue…”  We raced to my room!  No candy anywhere.  As we walked back to the kitchen, my mom finished the riddle. Something about “chocolate is sweet and it ain’t in her room.” Haha.  So, back in the kitchen, we began searching in all drawers, cupboard, etc.  My mom had a smirk on her face the whole time, we just couldn’t figure it out!  I said, “it’s probably sitting on the kitchen counter, right under our noses.”  I glanced at all the counters as I went for the pots and pans cupboard.  No bowl of candy on the counter, no candy in the cupboard.  Mikaela was searching in a cupboard next to my mom, I turned around and right in front of her nose.  A pile of Snickers, Twix, Kit Kats, etc. sitting on the counter, in plain view!  How embarassing.  

Katie sandwich at Sarah’s wedding ;)

Okay, so we had this discussion at church today in Relief Society meeting.  It was really quite good.  We talked about how we, as a society, tend to close ourselves off to other people.  We want to look as perfect as we can on the outside.  Maybe because we want to be accepted or maybe it’s a social status thing.  We need to be real.  That definitely doesn’t mean that we need to share our problems excessively, but it does mean that we need to be willing to open up when it’s appropriate.  Just a thought, it’s definitely been on my mind today.  So, goal for me with this blog thing, I can’t pretend to be someone I’m not.  There, I told you, now I have to follow through, right?

I’ve also been thinking about how I will definitely get overwhelmed if I try to post every detail about everything in my life.  Yeah, not going to happen.  So, here’s my plan, if I have something spectacular to say I’ll type it.  Then, I’ll post what I’m going to call snippets.  Little events or things that I’ll want to remember later, but don’t have the time to type details about it.

So, snippets:

Tate (cousin) got his mission call to Perth Australia! Watched him open the call over Skype on Wednesday.

Logan and Mikaela moved back from California.  So happy to see them after 6 months.

Went to John’s marching band competition in American Fork yesterday. Here they are.

Roommate Sarah got married yesterday at the Mount Timpanogos Temple!  Yay!  So happy for her!   

Waiting outside the temple, Katie (roommate) and Katie (cousin) and I had a photo shoot.  Kinda fun.  Kinda silly.  They kept joking about how I was always in a Katie sandwich.  Absolutely loved spending the day with them.

Oh! And I got to go to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s broadcast of Music and the Spoken Word this morning with the fam. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_DA20sxO48&list=PLXPFet_zDHioqFdePj-iFEIuUXUhxoIkN&index=1

Just a little painting project

I have to share a little about this project that I’m working on.  So, I was feeling a little lost and I needed a project to fill my time.  So, decided to start a painting project.  This my/my sister’s/will be the guest room when we all finally leave the house.  Jade’s in Connecticut working as a nanny, she’ll be surprised when she gets back.  I quite love this sort of thing.  And I especially love it because I found a great book to listen to while I work.  Deep Cover by Traci Hunter Abramson, I would definitely recommend if you like the CIA, undercover, saving the world, plus a little bit of romance, sort of thing.  She’s an LDS author and it’s 100% clean, yay!  3 walls will be this blue color.  Jade painted the closet doors before she left.  Very cute.  And I found an idea on Pinterest for the 4th wall.  Hope it works. 😉

Apple Carving, it’s the new thing

So, brother John and neighbor Laura were carving apples the other night. Super clever! It’s just like pumpkin carving only way faster and less messy. That night, I was suppose to go to a movie with a couple of my old roommates Emily and Katie, but we had a little fiasco. We purchased our tickets to the premier of the Haunted Swing, it’s a local film made by college students I believe. Sitting in the packed theater the manager came in to announce that they couldn’t get the movie to load in this theater, but they could in another, smaller theater. We decided not to join the stamped and settled for free movie tickets and pumpkin carving at Emily’s apartment. A group of people were already carving pumpkins and we joined with Washington apples gleaned with my very own hands. Love grandma’s house, there’s always free food. 😉