2011 Thanksgiving Weekend

I meant to get this post done sooner, but alas the only time I really sit down at a computer is when I am at work on Tuesdays and Thursday bored outta my mind. So here I am, at 7:30 in the a.m., trying to stay awake, writing a blog all about my wonderful weekend.

Thanksgiving Day: It was the first day I got to sleep in until about 10:30 for a LONG time. Was it wonderful? Heck freaking ya! I wish it would be a more common thing in my life. I got up. Helped with some cooking. Got ready. Cleaned a little. By 1:00 p.m., I was out the door with my family on our way to Sandy. We got down there and I played with my cute little cousins (and some of the big ones). Ate so much delicious food. Gouchi Gouch. Explored my Aunt Sue's house. Watched some football. Took a nap. Watched the last play of the Cowboy's game. Pie. Left to go to Michael's with my mom, the twin, and the Mad to start some Black Friday shopping. Got home. Went to bed.

Black Friday: Probably what makes Thanksgiving my favorite holiday. I didn't go to Wally World with my mom the night before because I wanted to wake up early the next morning. But they did get some good buys there in all that craziness. Woke up and was out the door by 6:00 a.m. We started out in Khols. Got some good things there. Saved $650 (well my mom did). Then to breakfast at I.H.O.P. The Elle's were being silly. They helped me shop quite a bit. Mad and I found some super cute things for her. My favorite buys were my new coat (that I hate taking off) and boots from Wet Seal. Got home. Slept like there was no tomorrow. Woke up. Showered. Put on some new clothes. Went to Carli's birthday party at the Pizza Factory and Boondocks. Loved the go-carts, even if we were all freezing. Got home. Straight to bed.

Saturday: Slept in again. Got some homework done. Got caught up on Modern Family. Practiced the piano. Did nothing. Went to Erin and Cade's wedding reception. Planned on staying for just a minute. Ended up being there until the very end helping out. I just have to say that I absolutely adore those two together and think they are the cutest couple. So happy for both of them. :) Got home. Went to bed.

Sunday: Got up. Got all ready. Was at church by 9:45 a.m. for ward council. Choir practice. It was our ward conference. I love my Stake Presidency. 3 amazing men called of God. There were just so many great things said in all of my meetings. Those men truly were inspired with what they had to share. I can't think of any other Sunday where I felt the Spirit so much. I am so thankful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Then there was Linger Longer. Tithing settlement. Nap. Games at the Harris residence. Got home. Went to bed.

That was my weekend in a nutshell. It was an excellent one. For those of you who don't know, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love the food, being with family and friends, and shopping all day Friday. But most of all, I love the meaning behind this holiday. I know we should be thankful everyday, but I love having a specific day that we set aside as a nation to really give thanks for all of our blessings.

My Thankful List:
*My family. I don't know where I would be without them. They are absolutely amazing.
*The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. What a wonderful privilege it is to be a member of the true gospel of Christ.
*My friends. Courtney, Kendra, Elysia, and Liz have all been a great help as of late. But the rest of you reading this have all helped me so much and I am thankful for your friendship.
*My job. Wasatch Peak Physical Therapy has been the greatest.
*My trials. They have been hard and a lot has happened within the past two months, but I know they have been given to me for a reason and I know I have learned a lot from them.
*Utah. I was not really excited when I first moved away from Virginia, but I have grown to love it here. It is so beautiful and I love living here now.
*My car. Marvin has his issues, but he gets me from one point to the next.
*School. I love learning and love being able to meet new people up on campus and form new friendships there.

There is so much I am thankful for that I could make this blog so incredibly long (not that it isn't already super long). I am thankful for Thanksgiving for giving me the opportunity to really look at every aspect of my life and see how thankful I am for all of it. Its nice to see what makes me me and see what ways I can continue and grow so I can be  more like my Savior, Jesus Christ. I love you all!! Thank you for reading this. :)

Time Out for Women

This weekend was an absolutely amazing one! It was filled with best friends, wonderful music, and awesome speakers. Time Out for Women is such an inspired program. It was exactly what I needed this weekend. Thanks to my dear friend, Kendra, who told me about it back in October when I was having a hard time. There were so many things I learned this weekend that I would like to share with you all. So bear with me as I go through all the speakers and talk about the high-lights of each.

"Choose to Become" was the theme of their tour this year. Most of the speakers spoke about how to take past experiences and learn from them and not let them get you down. They also spoke on the things that will make you happy in life, and as we all know, its by following Heavenly Father's plan for you.

Brad Wilcox
*Talked about the two different roles of Jesus Christ. He is our literal Savior. He came to this earth to die for us so we could return to our Heavenly Father one day. He is also our Redeemer. Through his redeeming power, we can repent of our sins and use the atonement in our lives to become more like Heavenly Father.
*We should live in a way that when we see the Savior, He will be able to see His countenance in us.
*Through Christ, anything can change, even if it seems impossible. We shouldn't say that we don't need to change and that we are fine the way we are, because, by doing so, we are denying Jesus' redeeming power. We should always be striving to live better lives and should never give up.
*Heavenly Father is the composer of our lives. Everything happens because it is what He has in store for us.

Sheri Dew
*You need to water and tend for your spiritual roots. If you do not they are easy to pull up and Satan will take advantage of that a wreck havoc in your life.
*We all have earthquakes in our lives with the aftershocks that follow. These are not ideal situations, but we should remember it is a part of the Lord's plan for us and that it is preparing us for something better.
*You have to make the climb in order to see the glorious view. You will not understand why its worth all the hard work and heartache as you climb higher towards heaven until you have reached the top and can look out and see what you have become.
*Do not try to make the journey alone. Your loved ones are there to support you.
*If you are living according to the gospel, you won't get lost on your way home. Tether yourself to Jesus Christ; He knows the way.



Stephanie Nielson
---Side note on this speaker. She was not originally supposed to be a speaker, but filled in last minute. She is the woman that burned 80% of her body from the video above---
*You have to choose to recover from your heartaches. With trust and faith in the Lord, you can choose to be happy in your trial.
*When you choose what you want to become, it does not mean it will happen right away. You must work for it. Be patient. Look at the small and simple things that make you smile.
*Choose to become happy. Its hard in the midst of your trial. Love yourself so you will be able to love others more.
*You will have scars reminding you of your trial. Don't hate them. Accept them and be grateful for them. They show what you have been through. They are all unique and will help you later in your life.

Emily Watts
*Habits of Happiness:
       1. Have a thick skin. Don't let what people say affect you negatively.
       2. Expect hard things of yourself. The hard things give you a feeling of progression.
       3. Have your traditions that bring happiness to you and your family.
       4. Learn to think of yourself as a person and not another thing you have to worry about
       5. Catch your loved ones doing something good and acknowledge that thing.

Michael Wilcox
*There is nothing wrong with serving, but you should take time to take of the good part. Take time to yourself and learn and grow for yourself. Learning is an important part of becoming.
*Each day of your journey through sorrow in life leads you closer to the joy you will experience at the desired end.
*The theory of the stairs: There are stairs ascending in alternating colors. One color represents knowledge, and the other is righteousness. Each leads to the next. As you gain more knowledge, you want to be more righteous. As you become more righteous, you want to continue to learn and grow.
*The theory of the golden compass: With the fixed foot planted (in your religion or any aspect of your life), your searching foot can make a perfect circle. You should not be afraid to stretch out as far as you can, as long as your fixed foot is planted firmly.
*We get discouraged in our becoming when we realize we are still not at the end. Be happy with your journey and look for the good things in life. Be patient.

Wendy Ulrich
*Out of small and simple things, the Lord does His work. Continually look for the things that make you happy.
*Seven Steps to Always be Happy
      1. Stop worrying about your weaknesses and focus on your strengths. Think of your strengths and think of ways to use them to help others or yourself.
      2. Don't try to get motivated. Motivation follows action. Take action first and then you will see that you become more and more motivated to keep going.
      3. Stop trying to find friends. Develop the attributes of a good friend instead. Those who have the most social interaction are the happiest. Having a friend at the places you frequent keep you coming back and enjoying your time there.
      4. Don't try to feel happy. Think of what you are grateful first and through that process you will become happy.
      5. Celebrate failure. Failure means we are taking risks to grow, stretch and serve. Learn from your mistakes and use the atonement to grow closer to your Heavenly Father.
      6. Don't get help with your problems. Help someone else with their's. Continually search for ways to serve others.
      7. Don't just endure to the end. "Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured" -Gordon B. Hinckley. Find delight and joy in the present moment.

Laurel Christensen
*"Our God is a God of high expectations." -D. Todd Christofferson.
* The "Faith" Experiment:
   -Pray with Faith: Be willing to ask for things even if you feel like He never answers your prayers. He wants to give it to you if you will just ask in faith. The Lord makes your faith enough.
   -Think with Faith: Don't be the one thing standing in your way. The Lord thinks so much more about what you can accomplish. Train the way you think to be the same way as the Lord.
   -Live with Faith: Always remember the Lord is with you, through every single thing.
*You are always on "Plan A" even if in your mind you thought you were on a different one. "Plan A" is God's plan for you and He knows you are on the path you are supposed to be on. He knows what you are supposed to be going through because He knows you the best and knows what you need to prepare you for later on down that path.
*Having hope is what you want for yourself. Having faith is wanting what the Lord wants for you.
*Do not give up when the end is so close. "Cast not away, therefore, your confidence." He wants you to finish and will be with you to the end. Do not let Satan stop you. Be confident in yourself and finish strong.



It was a fabulous weekend. I was so spiritually uplifted. It has given me faith to continue on with life and be happy and know that I am still on "Plan A". I am following the Lord's plan for me. I am choosing to become closer to my Heavenly Father. I'm sorry this is forever long. I hope you have learned something from it. I know those who are reading this have played some role in my life. I want to thank you for being apart of my life. I know that I have learned something from you and it has helped me become who I am today and will continue to help me become what the Lord wants me to be.

Me? Sports? Psht!!

For those of you who really know me, you know I have not, am not, and probably never will be a sporty girl. Sure I like sitting down watching football with my day, or basketball, when the NBA is being stupid, or going to intense hockey games. I love watching sports! But I've never been the type of girl to just be on a team and play whatever sport. I have never had a great desire to play sports.

Well, my dear cousin, Ashton, decided he wanted to start up an indoor soccer team (since he's not on two other teams already). He was texting me asking me how I was doing and we got talking about doing the soccer team. At first, I was like "Heck no am I doing that! It has been FOREVER since I've played soccer." But as I was thinking about it and thinking about my life, I realized it was exactly what I needed. I thought of how my life was a complete mess at the time and how everything seemed to keep getting worse or everything was going wrong. I thought that maybe this one thing, besides the gospel, would help keep me grounded and give me something to occupy some of my time and just give me purpose again. Its funny how being on a team can do that for you.

Tuesday was the start of the season. I was so excited all day for the first game, even if it meant that I would be up way past my normal bedtime. I got done with work and was thinking of what else I needed to get done before I headed to my game. That's when I started freaking out. It clicked in my mind that I have not played soccer since I was about 8. What the heck was I thinking?! Here I was getting ready to go play soccer for the first time in 12 years against people who have been playing basically their whole lives. I just kept telling myself I was insane. But at 10:45 pm I was at my game, ready to humiliate myself in front of people.

Its true, I'm not that excellent at soccer. I'm out of shape and was out of breath. But I will say I held my own. Out of the 45 minute game, I was out on the field for about 35 minutes. Granted, we were short on girls for our team and I had to be out there. But I did everything I could to help the team. Some of my teammates kept telling me where to go, or who to cover, and just kept helping me out. These are people I had met just 10 minutes before the game. It was so great to know that they were willing to help me out and teach me a few things instead of just ignoring me on the field.

I'm bruised and sore from the game. But I can honestly say that I had so much fun! It was about an hour of my time where the only thing I had to think about was soccer. Nothing about the drama of my life came to my mind. I didn't think of all my tests and papers I have coming up. No thoughts of work. It was just getting to the ball, running down the field, covering the super tall guy, who kicked me and gave me a nice bruise on my leg. Even if I didn't get a lot of sleep and woke up sore, it was so worth it. So for right now, I'm going to be a sporty girl. It probably won't last that long. But its exactly what I need in my life. :)

Stay or Go?

So many thoughts have been running through my mind. 
Trying to figure out what I should do with my life now.
I have it narrowed down to two choices.

Option 1: Stay
I would stay here in South Weber.
Keep my wonderful job.
Start my major that I have finally decided on.
Possibly move out after I save some money up.
Be close to family.
And just keep things basically the same.

Option 2: Go
I would move back down to Cedar City.
Find a new job (probably at Wendy's since Ken can get me the job)
Settle for a major that isn't exactly what I want.
Be close to some of my best friends.
Make lots of new friends.
Have many exciting new experiences.

Now its just figuring out what will be the best for me.
Both seem great to me and I know I would be happy either way.
Which will it be?