Of Randomness and Happiness

So... it's been a while.
And while I've thought of writing,
typed of many a posts,
and whatnot,
I've just not wanted to blog.

Today though I really want to share things.
This post will be random.
And it will also be awesome.

Over Thanksgiving break one night my brother opened the front door to our "Far Far Away" home and informed us that it was either raining or freezing. Confused yet intrigued I went to the door. Sure enough it sounded like a light sprinkle of rain.... BUT there wasn't rain... we could literally hear it freezing! AH! So cool. Then I went back to L-town and although "small" to the world, it's certainly not quiet.

Speaking of things freezing... I mean Jack Frost. I have an announcement. I might be in love with him. Basically you probably will be too. If you go and see this movie. It's perfect and leaves you feeling happy and cheerful. The characters are well-developed to me and the story and random ideas are super. Watch it and see what baby teeth have to do with anything.



 Life is up and down all the time. Craziness I think. Work has it's good days and bad days. Sometimes I feel just like Mr. John (because this basically happens):



But blessings come in many different forms and you can think you had a perfect day when one Sunday you woke up, went to church, met new people, spent the day at your sister's empty apartment doing just what YOU want, going to ward prayer, and ending the night with a hot cocoa party where you meet even MORE new people...  and then you find that day continues into the next day when one of your besties gets you a free ticket to a concert and you get to have dinner with her after leaving early because sometimes even a SUPERB Christmas concert can't stop the hunger you feel (because your planned meal fell through), and then you get to spend hours looking at Christmas lights and talking about life. THEN the next day you get to serve a good friend, go shopping for just what you already know you are buying for yourself, eat tacos, watch a great movie, and just be happy.... THEN the next day you have a pizza party at your sisters, spend time with her and her awesome roommies (and ward sisters), watch a beautiful movie, make christmas gifts, and just feel lighthearted and happy.

Yup. My week's been pretty good.

Also I love this time of year. It's beautiful. The trees. The lights. The believing. The joy of children. The people's faces. The celebration of the Savior's birth. And the knowledge of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, my Savior, Redeemer, and Elder Brother. Holy cow, things happen in a strange way sometimes but isn't it fantastic? I mean I NEVER thought I would experience a broken heart through a friendship tie being disturbed (secrets only destroy people, even if you don't mean them to - it's just what they do), but it happened. I'd felt SO broken for a while, but this did it and I truly felt great pain. So with an escape from my apartment to sit by the temple and just cry and pray I felt my Heavenly Father and my Savior's love for me and the BEAUTIFUL healing power of the Atonement. Beautiful - the best word I have to describe it. I cried and prayed and listened to beautiful music for an hour or so just letting myself be healed. I then went and bought myself something I never really thought I would - something small, but something to create things, something I've never been "good at." Then I went and visited two other friends. One my long lost cousin Elise and I chatted about life and decisions and being a "grown-up" but not yet being what we want to be when we "grow up" (a mom) and having to find other things to somewhat pretend we want to do. Yup. Then I got to visit my dear friend April and catch up on life and watch a little Narnia. And I can honestly say that when both friends asked my how I was and I said good - it was true - it's amazing how the pain can really just fade with love. I tell you what one heartbreak can't even amount to the beauty of friendship. I have the best friends in the universe and no one can convince me otherwise. Even when I don't see them often, I can feel the blessings and relish the memories.

Sorry that was SO long. I hate reading lots of words like that. Oops.

Merry Christmas to all of you though!

friday happy list

It's been a while, but don't think I've been unhappy.

Today I am happy because:

I got to hold a beautiful 6 day old baby,

seeing that same baby's HUGE grin,

having that grin stem from saying"ta-da"...

while playing her two year old sister,

a call from my best friend sister,

my new second grade friends from yesterday's subbing,

The Butterfly Circus, 

the confidence boosting impromptu job networking I had this week

by asking what seemed to be a simple question,

lunch with dad that same day,
listening to happy oldies,

the magic of narnia's music,

finishing Harry Potter 3 (my favorite!) again,
fresh apply juice and green smoothies,
delicious dinner by mom,
mariocart with ats and ams and mom,
and getting to create something and watching it come alive here.

 

Happy Friday!

Life's Lessons of Efforts

I'm gonna start off with the fact that I have learned,
that sometimes the best therapy
(although often thought to be any form of chocolate )
may just indeed be letting tears roll down your face,
no wiping them away with you hands or tissues.
Just let them roll on down, splattering where they fall.
It's good stuff.

President David O. McKay once said,

"Wisdom comes through effort. All good things require effort. That which is worth having will cost part of your physical being, your intellectual power and your soul power—'Ask, and it shall be given you seek, and ye shall find knock, and it shall be opened unto you:' (Matt. 7:7.) But you have to seek, you have to knock. On the other hand, sin thrusts itself upon you. It walks beside you, it tempts you, it entices, it allures. You do not have to put forth effort. It is like the poor, fallen woman who lies in wait to deceive. It is like the billboard advertising attracting you to drink and to smoke. It is like the message that comes into your very homes with the television and radio or the golden packet put right into your hand. Evil seeks you, and it requires effort and fortitude to combat it. But truth and wisdom are gained only by seeking, by prayer, and by effort."

I've realized this more and more in the past few months.

And so I've resolved to put more effort in.

More effort into being confident from the inside out,

the right source.

More effort into my scripture study and learning.

More effort into my prayers and the relationship they are building.

More effort into things I enjoy, like reading Harry Potter.

More effort into friendships.

More effort into people.

More effort into trying to ask for things, being humble.

(In a CES fireside called Coming to Know given by Sister Rosemary Wixon in Logan last year, she said, "There is something very humbling about asking. Asking is an act of faith.)

More effort into talking to people about myself...

... my feelings, my struggles, my frustrations, my joys.

More effort to not mess with the man in between:

(p.s. the video is kinda WEIRD,

but this is my favorite version of the song)

And more effort to be more than I are:

More effort to dream:

And what I've already experienced has been exciting!

What are you going to put more effort into?

The Butterfly Circus

Um, so. There's this video. It's apparently been up on youtube since October and after watching it I can really only say,

1. Why has no one showed me this before because it's AMAZING?!?!

2. THANK YOU! To Aleisha for posting it on your cute blog,

3. Watch it. It's 22 minutes or so but it is a fantastic use of them,

and

4. You should be warned, tears escaped my eyes multiple times.

I just love it.

I want to be like Mr. Mendez,

Always able to see people's worth.

Help them to see it again too.

Show that they can get through anything.

Show myself that same thing.

Because we are all Divine,

and we all have something to offer the world,

whether others, or even ourselves, see it right away or not.

Right from the Horse's Mouth

I think at one point in every member of my family's life, we have each wanted a horse.

And in the past few years, anytime a horse decided to come visit us resulted in broken trees and an unhappy father, mother, or brother (not to mention the brown presents they left all over the place).

When there suddenly is either horses or cows in the yard it normally means our neighbor left his gate open, and I’d simply plop on the nearest shoes to me (sometimes flip flops and sometimes overly large boots) and chase the beasts out the same way they came in( ok sometimes I let the dogs or other family members help). Occasionally my battle cry of "For Narnia" can be heard (as I tramp through the weeds in the aforementioned oversize boots) and the cattle are dealt with without much fuss.

Let me preface a little more with a few nights ago. I heard a noise outside my window, ignored it, only to hear Princess (our fearless golden retriever) making a fuss a few minutes later (I ignored this too), and later I was informed by my dad (in an unhappy tone) that there were cows in the yard. Of course, chasing ensued and since my valiant father had stopped to put on a coat and actual shoes he was much less chilled to the bone and poked in the feet by weeds than myself and therefore he got to do most of the work. He was most unhappy that they had been in his garden. Looking back I think we should have taken full advantage of the free fertilizer that could have come of it all.

Last night, however, I was quietly retired to my bedroom delved deep into Harry Potter where I was celebrating Sir Nicholas De Mimsy-Porpinton's deathday at his lovely party with the gang when I head hooves running past my window...

Knowing that catching the animals before trees broke or the yard was covered in free manure was the best practice, I left the quiet of my room to investigate the noises I had heard this time. I told my mom who was also enjoying the company of a book at the late hour and we peered outside. We didn't see anything, but just as I was headed in I heard something so I scanned the backyard again. My faulty (out of battery power) spotlight didn't reveal anything though. I went back inside and my dad had decided to ask what we were doing. I peeked outside the back door and heard a large something, coming TOWARDS me. This “towards” word is really important as all the other animals to ever enter our yard have always retreated when a person was near. 

Thus this development  freaked me out and I closed the door quickly exclaiming, "There's something out there. I don't know what it is, but there is something out there and it was coming."  

To which I received the response, “Let the dog out.” 

Of course it was then my duty to exclaim, "I don't know what it is. What if it's mean and hungry and eats her." (Because clearly I am not overreacting and am completely in the right state of mind... but honestly who doesn't like to SEE what is approaching them in the dark? Especially after reading some Harry Potter?)

But I did as I was told and sure enough Princess went out barking away once she detected something out there (Edison our other dog who only wants in on chasing things when he deems them “cool” decided he’d like out of the house too and off he went only to be quite quickly disappointed). My mom went out on the back porch to look around and sure enough, two horses stood in our yard. But instead of running from the dogs, they walked towards my mom, super friendly-like. 

This told us that these horses were not out dear neighbors' who often raided our yard. SO my dad escorted them to where we thought they really went, tried opening the gate and startled them up the street. We called the owners, who said that they weren't theirs and then mom and dad went to look for them so as to keep them in our pasture for the night. They were nowhere to be found.

This morning though. Lo and behold. Two horses outside my window again, so we took them to our pasture and watered them and left them to graze (don't worry, there is plenty of food + hay in there) while we searched for their real place of home (which is proving more difficult than originally thought).   

So today I’m just enjoying watching them (I've also enjoyed hunting for our two baby fish that have managed to survive in our aquarium for weeks, which sort of reminds me of this commercial.) My day has been pretty complete I tell you. And that is the story of how I got myself two horses for the day... or so…

I guess I could get back to job hunting (or maybe just reading) now.

Ode to my 22nd year

With the passing of Christmas, my age increased and another year of my life started. So I figured it close enough to 2012 to look back on 2011 and call it an ode.

So dear 22nd year of my life...

You were good to me.

My biggest travel year to date as you took me on a cruise,

 To Mexico,

Coasta Rica,

and Panama

 then to Ireland and England,

 

 

 

 and across the USA - NY to UT.

Mississippi River!

 

Yay for family visits! :D

 You gave me a degree and lots of useful knowledge

 You strengthened the meaning of friendship.

 Took me to General Conference.

 Allowed me to attend beautiful weddings.

 

 You had a photoshoot on the beach.

Let me hold a butterfly,
while spending a week being "bearly" even human.

 Experience a giant hail storm.

Saw the Beach Boys in concert... sort of.

 Embarked on my 2nd annual Parade of Homes,

You were filled with smiles,

tears,

happiness,

sorrow,

a giant Van Gogh painting,

stress,

fear,
joys,

worry,

a burning sunburn (and experimental solutions),
laughter,

papers,

projects,

sister time,

delicious treats,

memories, new and old

movies,

firework fun,

trips to the zoo,

enjoying the temple beauty 

(logan, salt lake, idaho falls, preston, palmyra, nauvoo),

picnics,

rainy days,

and lots of job hunting. 

I am definitely not the same person I was when I turned 22,
and I am excited for what year 23 will bring!.!.!
(and hoping it opens with a nice little job offer and a big decision being able to be made) 

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

I hope that your day is filled with family and friends

and lots and lots of love and warmth.

And also remembering the reason for the season,

celebrating the birth and life of Jesus Christ.