Kovu & Arizona!

So, it's October, and I am just now writing about Summer... it's been kind of crazy, okay! 

Wellllllllll, Jayson was gone for work for the entire summer. He left at the beginning of June and was gone until the end of August. So I was home with Nala by myself until about mid June, and then I moved into my in-laws again. Why? Well, we moved to Arizona :)

I absolutely love it here. It's beautiful, and sooooo much cheaper! Down side? Not close to Disneyland #boo. I think we'll stay here forever. Or at least, a long time. 

We have our first house and it is so nice to have a yard for Nala to run around in, especially because she has a baby brother! His name is Kovu :) 

Aren't they freaking adorable?! I mean, really. They love each other so much. Kovu is my "little buddy." He is seriously attached to my hip. If I get up off the couch, he climbs on top of the pillows and watches me to make sure I'm not leaving, and if I do he'll cry. If he wants to go for a walk he'll pull his leash off the door knob and drag it over to me. If I don't acknowledge him he'll tap me with his paw. He's Mr. Personality for sure! Oh, and if Nala even gets within arms length of me, Kovu will literally trample over the top of her and nuzzle himself right up next to me. Mr. Jealous McBossy-Pants here!! But it's okay, I still love Nala and Nala loves Jayson way more than me anyway :p 

Giving Service

This weekend has been super crazy. We packed and moved me out of our apartment on Friday night, still had packing and cleaning to do on Saturday, plus a wedding that we were DJ-ing, more packing and cleaning, church on Sunday, and I finally grabbed the last few things this morning and turned in our keys. It's been a long and exhausting weekend. 

When we got home last night, Kerry (Jayson's mom), Jayson, and I talked about why Christ worked so hard and did all the hard work and served as much as he could while He was here. Service is hard at times, especially when you're already so tired from doing your own day to day tasks for yourself. To get up and go help someone else after you've had a long day yourself takes so much physical and spiritual strength. But why did He do it? Because He loves us. He knows that if He does it, it makes us happy. And that makes/made it worth it to Him, regardless of how tired He may have been. Regardless of what he had to sacrifice to serve us, He did it.

There really is not much to say other than service makes us happy and that's why He did/does it. I wish the world was more willing to sacrifice so others could be happy. For me personally I'm always too quick to say no to service, and then I end up wishing that I would have been more courageous or more Christlike and had just said "yes." 

I went to the dollar store a few weeks ago and this woman in front of me at the register had about 40 or so graduation balloons. She apologized to be because she felt bad that they had to scan each and every balloon, plus all of her other items before it would be my turn. I told her not to worry about it. As she left she made a comment about how she hoped she could get all of the balloons to her car without them blowing away, so I promised her that if she started to float away like The Balloon Boy, then I would come help bring her back to Earth. We both giggled and she walked out of the store. As I was walking to my car, I could still see her walking to her car with all of the balloons blowing in the wind. I thought to myself  'I hope she can get them all into her car okay.' When I got to my car and unlocked my door, I looked up and the woman had parked infront of me. I looked at her for a moment and thought "maybe I should get out and help her... No.. that would be weird. Her windows are tinted and I don't want to walk up and scare her.." So I closed my door, started my car, and drove away. 

As I drove home I kept thinking that I should have gone and helped her. Who cares if it would have looked weird to have a stranger walk up to you and offer help? Who cares if she would have said no? What if Christ didn't serve people? Ever? Think how different our world would be..

Now all I can think about is how much I hope that she was able to get her balloons in her car without losing any, or if she was able to get them all out of her car okay when she got home. I regret not taking the chance to serve her. I wish I would have been more Christlike.. 

Testimony Sunday: July 2014

On Tuesday, June 17th, Jayson and I had the opportunity to go with the youth in our ward to the Temple. It has been a while since Jayson and I have been able to go so I was really looking forward to being able to attend, and I had the best experience. 

As I was standing in the hallway, watching all of these young men and women prepare for the ordinances which were about to take place, I couldn't help but feel this overwhelming sense of gratitude. I was grateful for my Heavenly Father, for sending His only begotten Son to die for everyone on earth; for me, so that I could be standing there in that room. I was grateful for the unwavering faith of all the youth who go through so many trials every day and fight off the worldly distractions so that they could be worthy to come to the temple. I was grateful for the five young men who recently received their mission calls who could come and be an example to the other young boys who were with us that night. 

I looked at Jayson several times with tears in my eyes because if it weren't for him, I wouldn't be blessed with the opportunity I had to be within those walls.. and the only thing that he had to do was ask me a question. One simple question.. "Will you come to church with me?" 

Because of that one question, I learned more about The Book of Mormon

Because of that one question, I learned that I am a Daughter of God and He loves me more than I can begin to comprehend.

Because of that one question, I can look every trial I've ever had and will have and say with confidence that those/these trials do not define me..

Because of that one question, I learned that families can be together forever.

Because of that one question, I learned that I have a Savior.. who loves me so much that He was willing to die for me..

Because of that one question, I can stand within the walls of The Lords Holy house.. 

I am so eternally grateful for this gospel.. for the peace and comfort that it brings me. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet of God and that he leads and guides this church the way the Lord intends it to be. I know that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and His Son in the Sacred Grove and I am grateful that he had the maturity to ask Him in prayer at just 14 years old if this church is true.. I know that The Book of Mormon is true, because I have read it and prayed about it. I know that my Heavenly Father loves me and has a plan for me. I know that I will one day be reunited with Him when my life here on earth is over, and I am so happy to know that death doesn't mean that I will be alone.. 

-Shake My Head- Disneyland...

Before I start this post, let me just say this...

I LOVE DISNEYLAND

..big surprise, right? 

I was reading this post from my fried Brooklyn about things that first timer Disneyland go-ers should know. While I was reading, I was thinking about the things that bug me about Disneyland. My poor husband hears me rant about this all the time, and I can find a valid explanation for some of my "complaints" from a business stand point... but these are some things that just makes my skin bubble..

1. Long Lines
   Okay, I totally understand that the rides are amazing are so worth the wait. But can someone please explain to me why there needs to be a 3 hour wait for a ride that lasts maybe 5 minutes tops? Or did we all just completely forget how to walk or lift our butts off the seats at the end of the ride...
2. Rope DropAm I the only one who thinks that having a rope at the end of Main Street is a dumb idea? Yes? Well.. think about this. Rope drop is one loooooong rope at the end of Main Street. If you want to go to Tomorrowland, you move toward the right. If you want to go to Adventureland, you go to the left. So now we've stuffed hundreds of people with strollers/wheelchairs/backpacks/etc. onto Main Street and we're practically hugging each other from behind a little closer than anyone is comfortable with.. #awkward. MOVE THE DANG ROPE. We fatty Americans need some breathing room... So why not have a rope at each entrance to each of the different lands? #ProblemSolved
3. Food Prices
   Like I said, business side of things..over priced water makes sense. But as a guest... $4 for water? Really? I mean.. come on.. 
4. Luigi's Flying Tires
   Okay.. if you guys took this ride away from Disneyland in the 1960s.. WHY WOULD YOU BRING IT BACK? #It'sStillADumbRide
5. Ticket Price Increase
   Ohhhh this makes me so angry.. 
   So you've raised the prices to hopefully gain better crowd control.. I get it. But lets look at it this way:
   
   Prices before the changed rate:
   Most likely crowded 90% of the year which means ridiculous lines for anything and everything. For us guests = Suck Fest. For you as a business? More people=more money.
   
   Am I the only one who thinks that with the increased rate change, even if the crowds were better controlled, there would be more days of an 'empty' park? Which is great for us guests, but on the business side.. you now have less people buying tickets, which means there are less people in your park, which means you're making less money. In the words of Timon, "Did I miss something?" 

...rant over. 

 But I'm still going in 28 days. 

Happy Birthday Husband!!

t w e n t y  f o u r Today is a day to celebrate for sure :] my cute husband is 24 years old ...that just blows my mind.  We met about two months after he turned 18.  I remember the first time we celebrated his birthday together like it happened yesterday.

I was leaving a YSA activity and going to the store to get a ton of balloons for him and I was all dressed up and this guy who was giving me balloons gave me his number and I said "uh.. I don't need this, the balloons are for my boyfriend.." #awkward

I remember going to his house to play games and eat cake and he stood up on a chair while we sang to him and kept rocking back and forth like a little kid with the giant smile on his face. He made his wish, blew out his candles, and then immediately asked all of us to do it again. I kind of looked at him like "Really dude? You're 19!" but his family just kind of giggled. Then he asked me if I had ever seen this video of him: 

I apologize for the horrible video quality..

couldn't find the original file, so I recorded it with my phone from Facebook

If our kids are half as cute as he is... ohmyheck <3

Happy Birthday Babefry! I'm sad we can't be together today to celebrate, but I hope you have the best day and I am so excited to spend many many many more birthdays with you! I love you oodles and oodles of noodles!!

Conversion Story: Part 1

Let's start off with how I met my cute hubby:

It was the day of orientation for my Junior year of high school (August 2008). I was with my friend Hannah at the time and we decided that we wanted to grab lunch after orientation was over. I told her about this guy that worked at Johnny Rockets that I thought was super cute so I convinced her to go with me so we could hopefully see him. 

Long story short, he was there! I ended up leaving my number for hm, he texted me and we continued to text for the rest of his work shift while I sat in the movie theater with Hannah and watched listened to 'The Dark Knight.' When the movie was over,  we decided that we wanted to meet up after he got off work so we could talk and get to know each other better.

We met outside of the movie theater at the Janss Mall and talked about pretty much anything you can think of.. What's your favorite food, what are your hobbies, what do you do for fun, do you play sports, what schools did you attend, why do we look so familiar, the time our school one spirit night, what classes am I taking this year, who is your favorite teacher, do you have any pets, etc.,

Finally we got onto the subject of religion. Jayson asked me if I believed in God. I said yes. He asked me if I believed in Jesus Christ. Again, yes. He asked me if I went to church. I told him no, but I wish that I had been. I asked him if he goes to church. He said yes. I asked him which one. He said, the Mormon church. 

I feel like I looked at him with a terrified face.. the only thing that I knew (or thought I knew) about the church was that they have crazy strict rules, and don't date before they were sixteen. I don't think I even responded to him.. I was sort of scared and didn't know exactly what to say but I was open to hearing about it. 

Before I even had a chance to respond, he smiled a half smile, took a deep breath and said,"Will you go to church with me on Sunday?'

My face light up.
I said "Yes"

... to be continued

Read With Me 2014

Join myself and others as we read The Book of Mormon before October General Conference!

All you have to do is read 5.5 pages a day! How easy is that?!

Click h e r e to read more information

Don't have a Book of Mormon?

comment below and I will get you a free copy!

Testimony Sunday: Why

Testimony Sunday The first Sunday of ever month, sacrament meeting is called 'Fast and Testimony Meeting.' This is a very special meeting where members (and non members) of the congregation are invited to stand and share their testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 
We also Fast on this day. "In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, members are encouraged to fast whenever their faith needs special fortification and to fast regularly once each month on fast day. On that day, we go without eating or drinking for two consecutive meals, commune with our Heavenly Father, and contribute a fast offering to help the poor. The offering should be at least equal to the value of the food that would have been eaten. Typically, the first Sunday of each month is designated as fast Sunday. On that day, members who are physically able are encouraged to fast, pray, bear witness to the truthfulness of the gospel, and pay a generous fast offering...We observe that in the scriptures, fasting almost always is linked with prayer. Without prayer, fasting is not complete fasting; it’s simply going hungry. If we want our fasting to be more than just going without eating, we must lift our hearts, our minds, and our voices in communion with our Heavenly Father. Fasting, coupled with mighty prayer, is powerful. It can fill our minds with the revelations of the Spirit. It can strengthen us against times of temptation." -JOSEPH B. WIRTHLIN 
On the first Sunday of every month, I will be sharing my testimony. I don't always get to share my thoughts with others, and I'm pretty awful at writing down my thoughts so I am going to be sharing them here as a record for myself (since I extremely dislike hand writing in a journal).

Blog Series: Coming Soon!

Okay readers, I have some exciting changes happening on the blog! 

I will be starting several blog series in the near future, and I have ideas for later..

 To check out whats coming, click the pink 'series' button up top! 

I can't wait to share these stories with you (and for myself of course) 

Thanks for reading!!

Guest Post: Disney in a Day

I wrote a Guest Post about Visiting Disneyland in a Day
Head on over to A Little Too Jolley to check it out!
~ ~ ~

Miss Brooklyn is my internet twin. Let me tell you, 'twin' doesn't even begin to describe how much a like we are, and we found all of this out by internet stalking each other! 

(We're not creepy, I promise. Okay we're super creepy. But you love us, right?) 

Today I'd like to share with you our number one love: Disney. 

WHO DOESN'T LOVE DISNEY?! 

If you don't then just run, RUN AWAY AND NEVER RETURN! (Name that movie guys??) 

Guest Post: Marriage is Worth It

I wrote a guest post about Marriage
Head on over to From A to Z to check it out!

~ ~ ~

Today I wanted to talk to you about marriage.

Yes, marriage

Why?
because it's hard work 

harder than anything I could have ever imagined

but it is worth it.. so worth it. 

Him & Her: Anderson Family Update

I got this post idea from my cute friend Brooklyn over at A Little Too Jolley

#Her. 

-working with the same family

-redesigned her blog all on her own

-broke out her old Toy Story comforter and threw it on her side of the bed

-recently discovered her love for Demi Lovato's music

-is going to school in September for Web Design at BYU-Idaho's online Pathways program

-working on a new Solar business with her hubby

#Him. 

-adding a new Solar business (that we own) 

-starting CSU Northridge in the fall

-HE CHOSE A MAJOR

Business Administration with emphasis in Real Estate & Financial Services

-deals with the fact that I still sleep with a Toy Story comforter

-sings Frozen songs with me if I sing them long enough

Easter Sunday

Nala's First Easter

We had a pretty fun Easter :]

I love waking up on holidays with Nala this year because they are all her first ones with us. Some people may think it's dumb to be excited about celebrating holidays with your animals, but she is literally our fur-baby and she responds to anything we say to her (whether it's with her body language or Jayson and I talk with her 'Nala Voice' for her).

We woke up early that morning and got ready for church. We decided that since it was super hot outside that we would take our primary class outside for a picnic! We brought them easter candy and some crackers and sat under the bridge for our lesson (for those of you who haven't been to the TO Stake Center, it's two stories and 4 parking levels, so there is a bridge that connects from the second story of the building to the third parking level).

They kids were a bit crazy, but with good reason! We were eating chocolate and going on a field trip outside for class! What's not to love?

We talked with the kids about the atonement, and how blessed we are because Christ suffered, died, and was resurrected. There may or may not have been an end-of-class argument between the kids on if the Easter Bunny is real or not. Thankfully they all understood and knew that even though the Easter Bunny is great and fun it's not what Easter is really about.

After church we went to Jayson's parents for Easter Dinner. Soon after that we went to my aunt's house for 'Second Dinner' as Jayson and I call it (bonus points if you know what movie we are referencing!). It was fun to meet my cousin's boyfriend, Luc :] He's a good guy and had better treat her right if he knows what's good for him!!! Hah, but I have no worries about him. We ended the night with my family watching Frozen and my Granny gave me a foot massage like she used to do when I was little. I miss watching Disney movies with my family. It's been a long time since we all watched one together.

~ ~ ~

Easter is not about the Easter Bunny. It's not about having a fancy or special breakfast/brunch/dinner/etc. It's not about candy, or easter eggs, or watching It's The Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown, or getting money or gifts, or painting eggs, or stuffing your face with desserts. I never knew the true meaning of Easter until about six years ago, and I'm really sad that I didn't learn about it until I was sixteen.

Our brother and Savior, Jesus Christ, died on the cross for every single one of us. Yes, you that feels inadequate, you that feels less than worthy, you whose struggling physically, mentally, or emotionally. You that feels that there is no way to correct anything you've done in your past. He died for all of us. He was then resurrected three days later- just like we will one day be resurrected after we die as well. “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” -1 Corinthians 15:22

#Because of Him...

I am here on this earth, as are you.

 I have the freedoms that I do. 

I can worship as I please

I know that I am a Daughter of God

He died so I can be forgiven

I could be sealed in the temple

I have an eternal family

I have husband who is a worthy Priesthood holder

I have a job with a family that I love more than anything

I have a family I've always wanted

I am always worth more than I sometimes may feel

I am everything I could ever hope to be and more

Sealing Day

Friday, November 29th, 2013

I'm so glad that I had the day off that day. I ate my weight in Thanksgiving food the day before so I definitely had fallen into a food-coma and slept in way later than planned.

Jayson and I got up and headed for the church building to set up for our reception. I'm so thankful for Relief Society, especially ours. We borrowed all of our decorations, with the exception of the table runners. I think we got to the building around 10am? I honestly don't remember... but let's just say it was 10am. Looking back on it now I can say that set up was pretty simple, but in the moment I remember wanting to just shoot myself. I'm not a very good decision maker, and I don't have an eye for design. Jayson didn't really care what the 'theme' or 'look' for our reception was, he just wanted it to be cheap and easy. I was all for that!!! I just started calling people in RS and asked them what they had and I feel like I said yes to everything that everyone had and was just hoping that everything would at least look like it matched..sort of. Thankfully it did!

When we got to the church building I started pulling out tables and chairs and staggered them in a half circle in front of the stage. When that was done I had to figure out how I wanted the center pieces to sit on the tables. I honestly didn't have a clue what to do. I finally just started stacking things.. I grabbed the glass block and put it in the middle, put a lantern on top of it, threw red roses around the base of the glass block, and put two disney princesses around the lanterns. Ta-da..? Well, it looked pretty. And I loved it :]

After the tables were set up, I pulled the sofas and chairs from the foyer. My grandmother had just had hip surgery and I wanted to make sure she had a comfy place to sit. After that everything else just fell into place. Jayson and a few others strung lights across the room for several hours (they weren't done till almost 8pm!), I put candles here and there, decorated the pathway leading into the building, swept up the floors, cleaned up trash, made sure everything was set and ready to go and was done around 5pm. I went home to take a shower and put hand fulls of face masks, moisturizers, creams, you name it on my face because I had a really bad break-out due to stress. Awesome.. #not. 

Jayson and I crawled into bed around 9pm. We laid there for about 10 minutes and then realized that we didn't have our slideshow done, and that I had forgotten to paint my nails. We both got up, and he started working on the slide show while I got to work on my nails. When he was just about done with the slide show it was around midnight. He came into the bedroom and told me that he wanted a video of us telling our 'love story.' I wasn't really for the idea because it was so late and wanted to sleep, but I wasn't tired so I decided to go with it. We kept laughing and messing up what we were saying so by the time everything was said and done it was almost 2am! And guess what? We didn't like the end product. At. All. Video in dim lighting in your bedroom in the middle of the night is just awful. We decided to just go to bed. At that point I was so glad that our sealing wasn't until 1:30pm.

Saturday, November 30th, 2013

I woke up that morning around 7am. I can't remember if Jayson was with me or not... I think he was for a little bit.. I washed my face and tried one last face mask in hopes that my acne would look a little bit better and prayed that my concealer would hide everything. I ate a little bit of breakfast and then straightened my hair. I had about an hour before our photographer, Erik, was coming over to take pictures of me getting ready. I had about an hour before our photographer, Erik, was coming over to take pictures of me getting ready.

 I ironed Jayson's shirt, vest, and tie and then sat around on the couch and played with Nala. She had only been with us for about two and a half weeks, so that day was going to be the first day that she would be alone without us for 90% of the day. She was definitely a little more than scared and upset at the fact that we were getting ready to leave.

Finally 11am came. It was time to leave!! I'm so glad that Jayson and I decided to drive ourselves to the temple. It was so nice to just have the two of us together before we turned our marriage from 'Till Death do us Part' to 'For Eternity and Beyond.'

Side Note *:  Have you ever been to the Los Angeles Temple? You know how the door swings open automatically? I thought they just did that as you walked up! I didn't know that you had to wave your hand to open it! Now I understand why Jayson always says 'Wingapo' when we walk up to the doors ;] 

After I changed into my dress, and we were waiting for our guests to arrive so we could start our ceremony, Jayson and I sat on a bench. No, we don't have 'our bench' like the rest of you do.. I just picked the bench that was closest to me because.... it was closest to me! While we were sitting there waiting, I was thinking about the last time I was in that room- right after my endowment session. As I was thinking about that, I looked down at the carpet and thought to myself 'I wonder how fuzzy and soft the carpet really is..' (Yes, I'm weird, I know... but these things bother me.) So what did I do? I bent over and touched that carpet. AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT?! It's not nearly as soft and fuzzy as it looks. And I was angry about it.

So finally it was time to be sealed :] I was so nervous I could barely walk! My shoes were falling off, my dress was heavy, and I tried for the life of me not to trip and fall on my face. Once the ceremony started I was bawling my eyes out. And my breathing was getting a little ridiculous. I sounded like I was gasping for my last breath. I'm pretty sure I sounded like I was dying, and that is not an exaggeration! And the most embarrassing part of the day? MY NOSE DRIPPED LIKE A LEAKY FAUCET. So gross. So embarrassing, but Jayson was so great and stuck a tissue into my hand and giggled. I took it real fast and then stuffed it in his coat pocked hoping that no one noticed (but the truth is, everyone probably noticed).

And then.. the moment I had been dreaming of (besides finally being sealed) was about to happen... 

We finally got our turn to walk out those doors!!!!!!!!

~ ~ ~ 

After we took pictures with family and friends, we headed down to the beach at Santa Monica Pier. Parking in LA, especially down at the beach is always ridiculous. You're lucky if you find a spot next to the beach.. Usually you have to park in a neighborhood or down some weird alley. Jayson and I drove into a parking lot looking for a space for us and for Erik. Jayson and I found one for us and then he spotted another car that was backing out. We parked and then jumped out and ran toward the other spot and stood in it while we waited for Erik to find us. Standing in a parking spot in Los Angeles in a wedding dress has its perks- like no one being rude to you :p 

So we took all of our pictures and we headed back to the parking lot. Jayson and Erik were talking about something on our walk back and I looked for our car and noticed that our tail lights were on. I freaked out and hoped that our battery didn't die. As we walked closer to the car, I could hear a stereo and thought 'jeeze that's loud.' I walked up to our car and realized that the music was coming from our car. As I got to my door to open it, I looked through the window and our keys were in the ignition! Not only that, but our car was running!!! And to top it all off, our doors were unlocked! Jayson and I both blankly stared at each other, and then laughed hysterically. We are so lucky we didn't get our car stolen. And the funny thing is that there was a huge line of cars behind us because someone had been waiting for who knows how long for us to back out. I guess their weird facial expression makes sense now :p

As we sat in traffic back to TO, we were both exhausted. We didn't get any sleep, my dress felt like it weighed a million pounds, we were starving and we couldn't wait to go to bed. If it wasn't our own reception we probably would have bailed out and gone to bed. But we went and we had tons of fun :]

At the end of the day, it came and went faster than I had hoped, but I'm so grateful for the blessings of an eternal marriage. I'm grateful for my in-laws who spent so much time and energy on getting everything set up and ready for us. I'm grateful for my ward family and for their willingness to help us with set up and lend us decorations. I'm grateful for our amazing photographer and the hundreds of photos he took and the hours he spent editing them all. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day.

Photo credit ; Hokom Photography

Blog Design for the 'Computer Dummy'

Hey-Howdy-Hey!!

Well, it look me a little over a month to re-design my blog 

but I am so happy to say that I think it is finally done!

After several hours (and I mean several) of google-ing, pinteres-ting, stalking, and who-knows-what-else, I was able to find multiple tutorials and several blogs to study and try to re-create what I had envisioned in my head. I think it's fair to share some of my tips and tricks with you all, don't you think? :]

..it's after 11pm and I've been designing and editing for close to five hours.. 

that's the best design I can come up with right now.. forgive me

1. First of all, let me give a HUGE shout out and Thank you to my two biggest blog inspirations, Ashley Z. over at From A to Z, and Brooklyn over at A Little Too Jolley! I was constantly tweeting them for help and advice and they were always more than willing to help a girl out. Thank you ladies!! xoxo

2. Google Web Fonts is a life saver, let me tell ya..

3.  This was the best tutorial, in my opinion, on how to change your post title font. I didn't even know that TCBOTB did tutorials!! How cool, right?? I repeated the same steps in any other areas that I wanted the fonts to change as well 

4. I finally joined the signature-on-your-posts bandwagon after finding this little beauty. I have to say...my wittle Simba-signature is oh so cute ;]

5. For some clickable social media icons, I found this baby too! 

Can I also just emphasize that I have zero knowledge of photoshop? Everything that I 'created', I did using Notepad, Paint, Microsoft Word, PicMonkey, Google, Google Images, and Pinterest. So for those of you out there who think you have to know photoshop or HTML like the back of your hand, trust me when I say that you don't have to know a single thing about any of that. I'm pretty proud of myself right now..so yes, I'm going to brag about it  for a little while..don't judge me.. 

Please feel free to ask me questions! I probably won't remember everything that I did 100% but I am happy to work with you step-by-step if you need it!!! 

The day I chose to be Baptized

Have you every stalked your own Facebook page? 

Have you ever gone back to the year you joined Facebook and read all of your ridiculous status updates? 

I did that today. 

It's interesting to see all of the 'lame' updates that I posted as a fourteen year old.. I'm embarrassed by a handful of them, but it's kind of fun to go back and 'remember what you used to be like.' When I looked back at my updates from 2008, I was so glad that I found this update:

I remember that moment very clearly. I remember reading the scriptures and thinking to myself 'am I absolutely sure that I want to do this?' I kept asking myself over and over and over.. I finally stopped everything that I was doing, fell to my knees and instantly started crying the moment I hit the floor. After I was able to speak, I said a prayer, out loud, for the first time and asked my Father in Heaven if everything that I had been taught was true. I asked if this 'new life' would make me happy and allow me to know exactly who I am. At the end of that prayer I felt so much peace and comfort. I wish I would have written down exactly how I felt and I am so bummed that I didn't. Right after that prayer I called Jayson and the missionaries and told them that I knew for sure that I wanted to be baptized.  A lot of people wondered why I waited so long to be baptized after this experience. Well, at the time I was sixteen. My parents weren't too thrilled about the idea because they thought that I was only going to church because Jayson was a member (which absolutely wasn't the case...). I didn't want to ask for their permission to be baptized (because I was under eighteen) because I didn't want to cause any more fights than what was already going on (they were in the middle of a divorce at this time). As much as it killed me to wait, I decided to wait until my eighteenth birthday, which happened to be on a Sunday.

My birthday came and it was sooooo hard for me. Why? Well, many of you know that I've spent every birthday at Disneyland since I was two years old. It was extremely hard for me to choose to be baptized instead of going...but after my baptism was over I was SO happy with my decision.  This year will mark 4 years since I became a member of  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. 

My Holy Ghost Notebook

Jayson and I teach the Valiant 8 Primary class (which are all of the eight year old kids who just got baptized in 2013). One of our students, Anderson, got baptized last Sunday and his uncle gave the talk on the Holy Ghost.

 "The Holy Ghost is the third member of the Godhead. He is a personage of spirit, without a body of flesh and bones. He is often referred to as the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of the Lord, or the Comforter."- source via LDS.org

For more information on the Holy Ghost, click here

Anderson's uncle likened the Holy Ghost to a muscle in your body. If you don't work it out, it doesn't become stronger. I instantly thought to myself, how do you use the Holy Ghost..? Well, it'ts not necessarily using the Holy Ghost, it's listening to the Holy Ghost.

Okay, so how do you listen to a spirit? Well, let me try to explain that.. You know how Jiminy Cricket taught us all to "always let your conscience be your guide"? That's what the Holy Ghost/Spirit is! It's that little voice inside your head that tells you right from wrong, or gives you warning signals like taking a different route to work because there was an accident on your normal route that would have made you late to that big meeting you needed to attend. Or that you should buy a giant jug of water at the store because you didn't know that you would be coming home to a leak in your pipes and you wouldn't have clean water until it got fixed. The list goes on and on!

So back to Anderson's Uncle. Right after he said we needed to "work out our Holy Ghost muscles" I instantly thought to myself how many times I probably "heard" the Holy Ghost warn me of something, but I didn't listen. WHAT AM I DOING?! WHY in the WORLD wouldn't I listen? Am I not focused on it? Probably not the best that I should. After Anderson's baptism I was determined to fix this.

I had an idea. I thought that what might help me is to grab a journal. Whenever I feel like the Holy Ghost is speaking to me, or like I need to be "warned" of something, I will immediately write it down. At the end of every day I'm going to look back at what I wrote and write down the blessings that I received from following what I was prompted to do (or not do in some cases...)

The Lord always looks out of us, each and every one of us. One of the ways he speaks to us is through the Holy Spirit. If we were more mindful of His words..think of how easier our days would be. Think of how many more blessings we would receive!!

I challenge all of you to try this with me. Even if it's a day/week/month/year... just see how much of a difference it makes in your life! And then tell me about it, of course ;) 

How my life plan for 2014 didn't work out and why I'm okay with it

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Hello, nice to see you
I'm neither excited nor upset that you're here
And this is why:

During my freshman year of high school, I decided that I should probably try and figure out a life plan for myself. Decide what my college major could be, think about getting a job, what college(s) I should look into applying for, decide if I wanted to take any work experiences courses, get a bank account, save up for a car, etc.

 

My plans during my Freshman and Sophomore years of high school

College Major:

• I was 14 and at a total loss at what I wanted for myself. I remember telling myself in elementary school that I would never, ever want to be a teacher because I couldn't see how anyone would want to go back to school from 8am-3pm after finishing college. I thought that I might want to be a P.E. teacher because I was was really good at Martial Arts so I thought P.E. would be easy enough. I decided that I would sign up for the Majors Program that my High School had offered. It was basically an extra curricular course that would help students decide what major to study in college and get them a head start on what to expect their college work to be. I was still completely undecided on anything that I wanted to study, so I signed up for the Business Major thinking it was a general study that could take me in multiple directions once I figured out what I wanted to do. I was in the program for about 6 months before I dropped out because I wanted to train at my studio more than I wanted to be working on reports and going to meetings for school after I had been stuck in school till 2:45pm every day. 

Getting a job:

• At the end of my freshman year, I decided that my summer vacation would be my last "play time summer vacation" and that I needed to have a job by next year. The only probably was that I was only 14 and you had to be 16 to get a job. During my sophomore year, one of my best friends at the time told me that she worked at the Roller Dome as a party hostess and that her boyfriend's mom was her boss. She ended up talking to her for me and I got a job there for a few months. It was a ton of fun, especially as my first job! (Though I will admit that it was extremely awkward working there when my ex-boyfriend worked at the pizza place that was inside the Roller Dome..) I ended up quitting that job about 3 months later for multiple reasons...

College Campuses:

• I couldn't see myself leaving California, but I knew I had wanted to go away to college. I thought about attending California Lutheran University, but I was completely against it because I wanted that "college experience" of living in a dorm. The only problem was that the campus was a whopping half mile away from my parents house. Why would I pay for housing when I could live at my parents for free?! But I didn't want to live at my parents.. I wanted to move out.. I there weren't many campuses that I was dying to apply to, especially since I still hadn't figured out what my major was going to be. My next idea was to attend California State University, Northridge. It was only about 30-40 minutes away, so it was far enough away that I could feel like I "went away" to college, but close enough to home that I wouldn't get home sick. 

My plans during my Junior and Senior years of High School

Right after Sophomore year had ended, it was safe to say that my plans had completely fallen apart. I still had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and quite honestly, I had gotten to the point where I just didn't care. I had too many family issues going on at that time that I was just going to be grateful if I had even lived to see my high school graduation.

Getting a job, again

• All of my family drama started to get worse and worse. By Christmas during my Junior year, I decided that I needed a job just to support myself in ways that my parents couldn't. I talked with my karate instructor and told him what was going on. He agreed to hire me, but I wasn't getting paid very much. But hey, at least I had a job, right? 

Do I have a major yet?

• I still had no major at that point.. Then Jayson (this was the year we met and started dating) gave me the suggestion that I should look into studying Child Development since I was so good at teaching martial arts. That seemed like a great idea and I figured it wouldn't take much effort (or not nearly as much as some other majors) to graduate college. 

College: 

• Since I still couldn't decide on a University, I decided that I would just do what a majority of my graduating class would do and attend Moorpark Community College for two years and graduate with my Associates degree. It's a start, right? 

How I followed my plans, created new ones, and why they all didn't work out

So I reached the end of my Junior year and I had a job, a major, and picked a college. Great! I got this alllll figured out :] Senior year was fun, easy, and I was SOOO ready to start college! I decided that I wanted to get my associated done and over with, ASAP, so I ended up signing up for the Summer 2010 semester at Moorpark, which means that I had a 4-day break from graduation to my first day of college. I only took one class that summer, just so I could make sure that I could keep up with the work load. Jayson and I ended up taking the same class together so he could help me if needed. I finished the semester and signed up for Fall semester. I had all child development courses as well as a few Institute (church) classes , so my semester was down right easy as can be. I ended up finishing that semester with my first ever straight A report card! I was feeling amazing! At that point I knew that I would be graduated from Moorpark with my Associates Degree by Fall of 2012.

Spring 2011 semester began. I was taking Psychology, Political Science, and Meteorology. Within a month, I was failing every single class. I was absolutely devastated.. My 4.0GPA that I had worked so hard for was falling down the drain. The only way I could save it was to completely drop out that semester so that none of my grades would show up on my transcripts, so that's what I did... Good bye 2012 graduation.

Jayson ended up getting his mission call about a month after I dropped out. He was going to be leaving in May. If I didn't get myself back on a college plan, I'd never be able to get anywhere. I randomly decided to try cosmo school. I decided that I would be graduated by the time he would get home (which would have been May 2013). I started looking at schools in Utah. I was baptized at this point, and had never been up there before, so I thought it would be a fun experience. I ended up enrolling at Mountain land Applied Technology College and was going to move into Alpine Village with my friend Jessica, which was down the street from BYU. In June of 2011, after Jayson had left on his mission, I went up to Utah with some friends and was on my way to pay for school and my apartment in Utah. I didn't have enough money and still had until August to pay for everything, so I came back home. About 3 weeks later, Jessica's boyfriend had gotten home from his mission and they had gotten engaged, so we weren't going to be room mates. I was super sad, but was still excited about getting 3 other room mates. Then about a week later, Jayson came home from his mission due to illness. So he was home in California....why in the WORLD would I want to go to Utah now? I declined my application to MATC and sold my apartment contract. 

Now I'm back to square one

No major

No school

...but I got a job at Red Robin. 

1 goal down, 2 to go

Lets fast forward a bit: Jayson and I got married in August of 2011, moved to Utah in November of 2011 because he got an amazing job offer, so we decided to just stay out of school for a year and save money. Well, 2012 came and we found out that Jayson's opportunity to work and go to school at the University of Utah wasn't going to work due to complications with work, so we moved home in July of 2012. I finally went back to school in Fall 2012, and ended up failing..again. I lost any desire to go back for Spring 2013. I had a few jobs and none of them really seemed to work out.. Jayson was still job-hopping as well and we both were just at a loss with what to do.

In May of 2013 he got an offer to try out a summer sales job in Denver, Colorado. We decided to take it and lived in Denver from May-July of 2013. It ended up working out great!! So much so that they offered Jayson a franchise for ADT Home Security. So we now own our own business :] 

We have our own home and we moved in in August 2013. My brother moved in with us in December and now he's graduated from high school and starting college with Jayson this semester at Moorpark.

~ ~ ~

So lets look back here. 

I was supposed to be graduated from Moorpark College in Summer/Fall of 2012

Then I was supposed to be graduated from MATC with my Cosmetology license by April of 2013. 

Now it's 2014 and I am no where near being close to graduating in any field. 

And that's okay. 

The past 4 years have been crazy. It's been hard watching other people from my high school graduating class post all of these pictures of them graduating college or talking about how they will be graduating at the end of this semester. It's hard watching so many people get accepted into jobs that have any sort of relation to their field of study. It's hard watching people who are younger than me achieve all of these life goals that they had since they were 14-15. And here I am, sitting here like rock compared to them. But it's okay. 

I learned a lot of things during the time that I was "supposed" to be a college student. But through all those times of telling myself that I should be a college student, I had the Lord to rely on. I wasn't just a college student.. I was a wife. I had to be a wife/best friend/cook/cleaner/therapist/doctor/teacher/etc. Would I change any of that for a moment? No way. I am GRATEFUL for the life I have and where I am with it. Do I wish that I was, or am going to be, a college graduate? Of course I do. But maybe that life just wasn't for me. Yes, I had opportunities to make it that way, but I am grateful that I took every opportunity for it to not be that way. The Lord knows me. He has a plan for me. Who knows, maybe I was supposed to stick with school and get it done, but I had to learn how to take my own life plans and make sure they were in line with what my Father in Heaven had in store for me. That is my goal for 2014. To stop thinking about where the world thinks I should be, and start focusing on what He has in store for me. And if that means that I'm to just be a house wife, a mom, a college student, a sister, a best friend, a whatever it is that I'm supposed to be, then I am going to be just that. If this is what I need to learn and grow and, eventually, be the best parent that I can be, then now is the time for me to learn that. The best thing that I could do for myself, and my family, is to be a daughter of God, and learn to completely submit myself to the Lord.

If I can do that, then I have accomplished all that I've ever wanted to and more for 2014.