to become like him

in my mission prep class my teacher encouraged us to make two or three goals that will make us better missionaries and better people, so i thought ya sure why not, this should be easy... ya it wasnt that easy... it took me two weeks, a farewell, and a long lonely night to finally come up with two goals that i thought were actually worthwhile and i am pretty stinking excited about them not gonna lie!

the first i think i will keep to myself for now but the second one is what i really wanna talk about. my second goal that i came up with is to go to the temple every single week while a good friend of mine, jordan, is out on his mission. and i dont just want to go to the same temple every single week but i wanna go to each and every single temple in utah at least once. that shouldnt be too hard right? after all i do have two years and there are only thirteen temples in utah. :) and i use the term 'only' very loosely because i sit here in utah so fortunate to have thirteen temples around me and there are people in other countries that dont even have one. because of this i have decided that just going to one isnt going to be enough and i need to go to all of them at least once to really appreciate exactly what it is that i have been blessed with.

also if i go out of state for any reason in the next two years i am going to try to visit the temple in that area as well if at all possible. one that i really look forward to going to is the mesa arizona temple. i am looking forward to this one because my sisters and i go out to arizona to visit my grandparents (who are not members of the church) every summer and never once have i even considered going to the temple out there but that is going to change. i have decided that with this goal it means that i am going to stand up and ask my grandparents if i can go and show them how big a part of my life the gospel is and how much it means to me. i am going to be an example not only to people that i dont know but also to my own family who i love and care about so much. and if i love them and care so much for them why wouldnt i be willing to share the joy that the gospel has brought into my life with them? it is something i have never done but that is about to change. i am going to be a better person and i am going to stand up for what i believe in when it matters most.

so anyway back to the point there are thirteen temples in utah in case you didnt know and i am going to go and do work in them all in the next two years. and just in case you didnt know which ones they are here is a list so now you can know. :D

• provo
• logan
• ogden
• bountiful
• salt lake
• oquirrh mountain
• jordan river
• draper
• mt. timpanogos
• vernal
• manti
• monticello
• st. george

and there are also three more that have been announced and they are:

• provo 'tabernacle' 
• payson
• brigham city

so if you are wanting to go the temple shoot me a text or email and let me know because i will be going every week and would love your company :) and for those of you who are not currently temple worthy i highly recommend that you do everything in your power to become temple worthy. the temple is such an amazing place with so much power for good. i know that it has blessed my life in more ways than you can possibly imagine and it can do the same for you. there truly is no greater gift in this life than being able to go into the Lord's house and feel His spirit there in a little piece of heaven here on earth. 

i found a few quotes for this post and i really like them all and couldnt pick just one so here are a few...

"I urge our people everywhere, with all of the persuasiveness of which I am capable, to live worthy to hold a temple recommend, to secure one and regard it as a precious asset, and to make a greater effort to go to the House of the Lord and partake of the spirit and the blessings to be had therein."

—Gordon B. Hinckley

 

"Let us truly be a temple-attending and a temple-loving people….Let us make the temple, with temple worship and temple covenants and temple marriage, our ultimate earthly goal and the supreme mortal experience."

—Howard W. Hunter

 

"I know your lives are busy. I know that you have much to do. But I make you a promise that if you will go to the house of the Lord, you will be blessed; life will be better for you."

—Gordon B. Hinckley

flying

do you ever get that feeling? you know the one... the one where you just close your eyes and let go and theres nothing in the world that could change it. where you just keep going and it feels like theres not a care in the world and everything is all right. its that feeling of flying. its the one that you can choose to feel at anytime you just have to get up and get out of your house. and if you dont know what im talking about then turn off your computer, get up, go to a park, and go swinging. thats right swinging, that thing you used to do as a kid and pretend that you were parachuting or that you were a bird? ya that one! start going really high and then just close your eyes and let go of every care you have. just breathe deep and be a little kid again!! pretend you are something youre not and dont worry about what anyone else will think of you. take a friend and just be crazy again and then when youre done swinging go and play on the monkey bars and slides. give up your phone for a day and just be a kid. live life the way that we used to when we were kids and the way that the kids today dont. show those seven year olds who are sitting on the bench playing their electronic games what going to the park is really supposed to mean and what it really is to have fun because sometimes i dont think that they understand just how lucky they are to be young and to have a never ending supply of energy and a mom who takes them to the park to play because all they have is time!

warning: you may have the strong urge to yell and freak out a little because it is so amazing. that is normal and you can go ahead and listen to these feelings and just let it all out!


“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living.” -Dr. Seuss
“If you never did you should. These things are fun and fun is good.” -Dr. Seuss

broken promises

it started out and it was great. it was a new beginning. it was something that i wasnt expecting and didnt ask for but it happened anyway. and i was happy. and then we started spending time together and a lot of it. and then i made a promise to myself and it was something that i had to do. and i did a really good job of keeping my promise... until i didnt. and i didnt just not keep my promise, but i forgot that i even made it. it wasnt something that i was consciously doing or thinking about, it just happened. and i kept living life and slowly was becoming something that i promised that i would never be. and until about an hour ago i was still on the path of becoming this person.

and then an hour ago i felt like something was missing and i read some things and i found out that the thing that is missing is you. i realized what i was becoming and i remembered that i made this promise to myself and i stepped off of that path. i am no longer going to become that person. the one who doesnt remember you, the one who doesnt spend time with you, and the one who doesnt care. i am going to come back and be the me who i know i am and the me that i love. and the me who shows you that i love you. i am so sorry for the way that i made you feel and i am so sorry for acting the way that i have. i am so sorry that i didnt even realize what i was becoming and what i was doing. i have no idea how but somehow i am going to make this up to you and get things back to the way that they were and the way that they should be. i love you so much and i hope that you can find some way some how to forgive me... i miss you.

"brownie batter and cheese on the kitchen floor? CHAMP!!"  -you.

something missing

do you ever feel something that you cant explain? like everything is going perfect in your life and yet you still feel like something is missing? you know what youre doing, where youre going, and what youre trying to become and yet for some reason you feel... ___________.

ya thats me right now and i have no idea why or what but it feels like something is missing.


“In one moment I was feeling everything and I was feeling nothing.”  --Kami Garcia

you cant or you wont?

last night at lacrosse practice one of the high school girls that came was wearing this tee shirt that said, "i cant im mormon". all of the girls laughed about it and thought that it was really funny and a few said that they wanted one and one of the other girls on my team said that she wanted one that said "i wont im mormon". my respect for her instantly increased by a lot and she made a very good point. so i ask you now, what is your view on being a mormon, a catholic, or whatever religion you may be? do you think i cant im a mormon/catholic/etc, or do you think i wont im mormon/catholic/etc? and if your answer is that you cant what can you do to fix that?

“Whatever you choose, you might as well enjoy it. It is your choice.” -unknown

double standards

so a couple days ago i was sitting on my bed listening to music and writing when my roommate hailey came home with a bunch of bags full of clothes and other items that she went shopping for (which technically she is not allowed to do but shes kinda addicted... ;)) so anyway she had bought this dress and she went into the bathroom and tried it on and came back out and said something to the effect of "whoo this is a wee bit short! just a little bit of wind and oop you can see my panties!! definitely not appropriate for church, but its good for school!" oh ya sounds.... wait a min... so you cant wear it to church because its too short but you can wear it to school...? isnt that kinda a double standard?

well as you can tell i was slightly confused about this because personally i do not think that modesty is a relative thing. there are certain guidelines that have been set and are very clear and they do not depend on situations they are constant and unchanging. so i sat there for a min while she went back into the bathroom to change into another outfit that she had bought and when she came back out i asked her what the difference was between being church appropriate and school appropriate and why she thinks that there is a difference. well she got really confused and told me that she wasnt really sure but it was just something that her mom had always said growing up. i accepted her answer but continued to think about it as she went out to show my other roommates her new outfit. then she came back inside and told me that what i had said had really concerned her and gave her something to think about that she had never thought about before.

she then told me that she had called her mom and asked her what the difference is and this is what her mom said. she told her that the dress would be school appropriate because the leggings with a long skirt is something that is in style right now and that would be modest but if you were to wear that to church it would be like wearing pants which is not acceptable. i told her that that made sense to me but then the only concern that i have with that is the other day when she was getting ready to go on a date she asked me if some black jeans that she has looked too much like leggings rather than jeans because she wasnt ok with that look. to that she kinda stuttered and told me that she thought i had a point and said thanks for bringing that to her attention and that she was going to take the dress back.

now the point of this conversation was not to tell her how i thought she was a sinner which wasnt what i was doing but only because i really was genuinely curious about what her reasoning for having a double standard was. and the reason for this post is not me saying how awesome i am because i am not i am simply curious about this and thought i would share my findings with you.

so now i ask you... do you have a double standard when it comes to modesty? do you have clothing items that are 'appropriate for school but not for church'? if you do what is your justification for that? do you really think that the boys/girls that you see at school, the same ones you see at church, need to see any more 'skin' just because you are in a different setting? i encourage you to take a look in your own closet and ask yourself if there is anything that you have that you would not be comfortable wearing in one setting but have somehow justified wearing it in another setting, and if there is, do something to change that and make sure that you are living your life in a way that does not have double standards and does not leave any room for anyone to question what you believe in and the way that you view yourself. :D

"What’s sexy about saying, ‘I’m here with my boobs out and a short skirt, have a look at everything I’ve got?’ My idea of sexy is that less is more. The less you reveal the more people can wonder.” -Emma Watson