sweet sundaes

This week has been sweet and I have to say Sundays {or sundaes} are the sweetest. This week is the week in preparation for conference weekend. For those of you who don't know much about conference weekend, prepare for an explosion of awesomeness from the Mormons. I personally can't wait. I mean, a chance to watch church on TV in your pajamas while you eat food? Not to mention the fact that we get to listen to the prophets of God and learn what God wants us to know and do in our lives. Pretty cool right?

So pretty much conference=happiness. Yup that just about sums everything up! I could end with that, but I do have a few things I want to share.

For starters, I invite you all {regardless of weather you are a "relief society" person or not} to listen to this talk given yesterday by President Monson during the General Relief Society Meeting. It was a great talk.

 One thing that stuck out to me in this talk was when he said

          "although [our challenges]   

are different to each,         

       they are common to all." 

I liked this because it made me remember that everyone on earth is fighting a hard fight. And I think that if we can remember that everyone is fighting a hard fight we would do better to treat people in a way that will help them fight that fight, rather than bring them down. We are all on the same team and we would do well to remember that we are only each others team mates, not each others opponents, and that if we fight together the game will be so much easier to win.

A second quote from President Thomas S. Monson that stuck out to me was when he said.

"The words of truth and inspiration,     

   found in our four standard works, 

are prized possessions to me."      

Anyone who knows me very well knows that I almost always carry my journal around with me. It's something I learned from my dad who always has his notebook out ready to take notes in whatever church meeting he may be in. For me you may not see it, but I always have it with me in my backpack, purse, or gym bag. I carry it with me everywhere because you never know when you are going to hear an amazing quote, or receive an answer to a prayers. For me having this journal with me allows me to record these gems of truth so I don't forget them. The things in this journal are "words of truth and inspiration" that help aid in my understanding of the standard works and they are "prized possessions to me." This journal is also where all of my ideas for blog posts come from and I never write without it open in front of me. (I just realized that I only have 10 pages left....ah guess its time to buy a new journal!)

Flipping through my scribblings from Church today I am reminded of something said during our 5th Sunday combined lesson taught by the bishopric. Our bishop said,

       "as soon as you take the patience to       

       observe individual stars,              

               you will begin to                 

    observe constellations."          

The same concepts is true with scripture study. As we begin to have patience to understand what individual verses are saying, we will begin to see the big picture and realize how these versus apply to us. It is only then that we begin to receive revaluation for ourselves. It is only then that we are able to taste just how sweet the gospel is.

I love this gospel and I know just how much sweetness it has brought to me and my life. I hope you all take the opportunity to stick your tong out and taste it for yourself.



feel my sunlight



p.s. This week for Young Womens we filled our bishops office with creepy dolls and funny sayings. He loved it. My ward is so awesome.

       

Temple Tuesday

{picture via Pinterest}

I'm calling it quits on the whole #blogtember thing. It was fun while it lasted but I have other things to write about and reviews on products aren't it.

Today is a Tuesday. It’s only the second day into the week with more than half the week to go. It’s a little bit on the slow side, but on the other hand it was #TempleTuesday today! And when a "Tuesday" is paired with the word "temple" It automatically becomes the sweetest day in existence. Plus I get to wear a dress to school and people don’t ask questions. (That’s a lie. They do as questions. I just see these questions as missionary opportunities and that’s always fun.)

The other splendid events from my Tuesday include discovering the fact that Super Novas would be awesome material for a new Taylor Swift album. I can just picture it “We broke up like a super nova breaks up by nuclear fusion.” And then the album cover could be that hipster galaxy whatnot with cats coming out of it. You know, because she likes cats. I’m calling her right now to let her know.

I also enjoyed receiving a message from one of my lovely EFY counselors that she was accepted to work the EFY express session that I am attending next month. I know this doesn’t sound that exciting to the average public, but all the EFY goers know that being reunited with your counselor is a really big deal. It also helps that I think Michelle is on the list of “coolest people ever.” I have been making excited squealing noises all over my house. I simply can’t wait.

Now back to Temple Tuesday. Here is a video of some faithful followers of Christ and their joy in the Temple. The sacrifices some people make to attend the temple make me realize how very blessed I am to have so many temples so close to me. This is why I feel a need to go regularly. I want to give the same effort and commitment as those who have to travel a long journey to make it to the temple. Because of the convenience of attending my efforts don't come from giving up money or traveling long journeys, but rather come from attending often. I want to show my father my commitment towards him. I want to do his work.

Feel my Sunlight



p.s. My notebook is almost full. and I love it.

I hope you enjoy Holland

Dear blog, I'm sorry I've neglected you the last couple of days. I wish I had some great extravagant excuse like I was riding Elephants in India or something, but the reality is I was lazy and that's that.

I just finished a long, well procrastinated assignment that took much longer than any single assignment ever should. So naturally I am rewarding myself with blogging. At midnight.

It has been a good Sunday. It has been an awakening day, or at the very least it has shaken me out the trance I have been in the last couple of days. Not that I was doing anything wrong, but I feel like the last couple of days I have been hypnotized by the things of the world. I think this is a regular occurrence for all of us and sometimes it is good to be reminded to snap out of it, because it feels so much better on the outside.

There was an awesome talk given by a sister in my ward today that really hit me. She talked a little bit about finding joy in adversity and she told a story that her friend sent to her that I loved and imediatly knew I had to share it with you. I am retelling from memory and hope I can tell it as well as she did.

{picture via. Google. view original image here.}

You have dreamed of traveling to Italy for your entire life and you have finally planned your trip. You board the plane and you can feel the excitement among the passengers who, just like you, are so excited to land in Italy. When your plane lands you hear a voice come on over the intercom "Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to Holland." Holland?! Holland?! You where supposed to land in Italy. You have dreamed your whole life of going to Italy and now you are stuck in Holland. How terrible! Now, there are two ways you could approach this, you could either walk off the plane and soon find the true beauty of Holland and enjoy your experience, because after all, Holland is an incredibly beautiful place, or you could spend the rest of your life wishing your plane had landed in Italy and spend the rest of your life moping about the fact that you are not where you had planned to end up.

I think this is what we often do in our lives. Sometimes we have the perfect idea of what is supposed to happen, and when that doesn't workout we don't realize that maybe we were put somewhere for a reason and sometimes we don't realize that where God puts us is much better than the place we dreamed of.

I hope you enjoy Holland.

I think too often we get caught up in how perfect our lives are not, and we forget too often how much our lives are actually worth. This same sister that spoke in my ward today said

        "you may not be seen as

          perfect  

 by the rest of the world,          

         but you are seen as 

     perfect by him."          

Remember who you are and remember that you are perfect in the eyes of your creator. He knows whats best for you even better than you do. That is why he creates the maps for your life, not you. Follow his map and don't ever stray from the path he has drawn because if you follow his path he will lead you to the "X that marks the spot" and he will lead you to eternal life.

I know that if we strive to follow him we will one day return to live with him and I write these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Feel my Sunlight

p.s. Happy comments are the greatest. They bring me lots of joy.

seventeen in an island mood

 

This blogtember thing is hard. I feel like some of these posts aren't me and don't fit my blog. Todays prompt is to write a short story about a dinner part or something of that sorts. I don't feel like doing it and yesterday blogtember was skipped because, well, it was my birthday and you know how that goes.

Yesterday was the mark of the start of my year seventeen! Crazy stuff. I feel old. It was a good day. I have great friends and family that made yesterday fun. And let me tell you, my family's happy birthday song is prime. (actually, we try to sound like dying animals when we sing happy birthday. Its kinda fun.) I got this Ukulele from my family that I just adore. I mean, its yellow, and covered in pineapples. I also got a cake made out of money. I know.


I don't have much to write about today. Just that I really want to do HEFY this summer and am praying it works out.

Maybe it's the Ukulele, maybe its the possibility of going to Tonga or Fiji that is putting me in this island mood. I've never even been to an island. Now I want to watch Soul Surfer. Will somebody please teach me to surf?

Feel my Sunlight



p.s. Tomorrow is FRIDAY and I am really happy about that.

Blogtember day 11

I am seriously having issues being consistent with these blogtember posts. This is hard stuff man. Today's topic is a memory that I would love to relive.

I have a few. One very exciting moment in my life was the very first time I qualified for nationals. This was significant to me because I had already failed at qualifying once at State Championships that year and my last chance was at Regional Championships. Regional Championships is about 7 states and it is so hard to hit a qualifying score at these meets. I wanted this more than I had ever wanted anything in my life and I thought I had already missed that chance. I remember walking away from the podium after I had received my silver medal, yet still didn't know my actual score. I walked over to my coach where he told me that I had qualified by two tenths of a point. It was all kinds of awesome to my fourteen-year-old self. You know those moments in sports movies where the athlete that doesn't have as much tallent works really really hard and ends up scoring the winning point or making the winning touchdown? This was one of those moments and I was on cloud nine.

Another memory I could relive a thousand times was the time I met my childhood idols thanks to a random incredibly amazing stranger that had no idea she was making my dreams come true. Or maybe the time I gained a testimony for myself that changed my life. Or even this morning when I was doing baptisms for the dead and was baptized by none other than John Schmidt....from the Piano Guys. Ya I know, pretty cool right?! The blessings of waking up at 5 a.m.

{These are The Piano Guys. John Schmidt is the red head.}

There are many many more, from EFY's to National Championships, to JR high theatre performances. I don't have the time to share them all so scroll through the archives of this blog and you will find a bucket load.

I love looking back on my life and realizing just how amazing it has been and it makes me look forward to how much greatness is to come. I can't wait.

{www.itsalwaysautumn.com}

Feel my Sunlight

p.s. I turn 17 in T-2 hours. Just sayin'. 

blogtember day nine

 

 

blogtember day 9: A self portrait.

 

So here you have it! This is what I look like most of the time. Rocking the warmups and forever incorperating tumbling into my life. Pretty cool I know. I forgot to blog yesterday so if you really want to know how social media has changed me let me know, otherwise, I am skipping day 8.

 

So my blogger friends people in the blogger world that I don't actually know, yet spend a lot of my time pouring over their blogs investing in every detail of their lives are adding an "update on your life" to their self portrait posts. I figured I'd do the same.

 

Right now I am in CE digital media. {I'm pretty sure this class was made for me. Blogging, and Phogoshop AND I get colledge credit for it? Yes please!} Today is the homeocoming game and I am so excited. I am loving school and at the moment have the best grades I have had since 7th grade. I am still tumbling and work as a tumbling coach, which means I end up at the gym just about every day and I love it.

 

I recently started attending mission prep and the fact that I can even say that is freaking me out a little. I miss the things of the past, but the future is exciting. Although I have moments when I long for the days spent reciting Shakespeare, or the late nights at the gym with team mates, I am happy where I am now, and am excited about where I'm going.

 

That's basically my life right now. And I love it.

 

 

 

 

facebook

twitter

bloglovin

 

feel my sunlight

 

 

 

p.s. It's Friday the thriteent today. Not as fun as Tuesday the seventeenth, but still fun. #Psych!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Blogtember: day 7~online shops

Blogtember: day 7--Share links to your favorite online shops, preferably with a few photos of your favorite items in each shop.

As far as online shopping goes I usually just buy everything on Amazon.com. With Amazon Prime It's almost easier and faster to order it online than to go to the store and buy it. We have bought everything from those little socks you wear with flats, to makeup, to books.

I also love love love the swimsuits at Limericki.com! They are adorable and always modest. Here are some of my favorites that are up on the sight now.

My last site is a site that I have never actually bought anything from, but it is the home to the ukulele that I am asking for for my birthday next Wednesday. I mean, who doesn't want a yellow ukulele with pineapples on it?

That's about it. Sorry my images are being all funky today. I don't have the patience to fix them. I know, bad blogger. Since this post had no spirtualness in it whatsoever, I will add this video at the end. Enjoy!

feel my sunlight



p.s. Seriously, how do you professional bloggers get your images to cooperate with you?
p.s.s. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHAWN!!! 25!!!