2012 Election

I voted for the first time this year
I voted for Mitt Romney
love me or hate me..that's who I voted for

This was my first time
and they ran out of stickers...
So I told my home teacher about it
and he gave me his
:)

Thanks Brother Holt!

I don't agree with the way the election went. Not at all. But it doesn't matter. I know with out a doubt that the Lord knows what He's doing. And for some strange reason, Obama is supposed to be our President for another four years. Good luck to him. I hope he guides our country down a better pathway.

Your views may be different than mine, but I will always trust Heavenly Father and His plan, regardless of what my feelings or instincts tell me <3 

I'm proud to be an American

The Sunday Approved Movie List

I can't remember if it was this past Monday or the Monday before, but for FHE we watched a CES Devotional. Bishop Gérald Caussé’ is a bishop from (if I remember correctly...) a YSA ward in Sandy.  who gave a talk called "We are the Architects of Our Own Happiness." Now I will admit, I didn't pay very much attention to the entire talk because I was absolutely exhausted from work that day, but the moment he made a reference to Disney's The Lion King, I tuned in! And even recited the entire scene that he was referring to, word for word. (I should probably go back and listen to his talk again and really pay closer attention....)

Let me back track a bit. When I first started going to church, Jayson was trying to explain to me some things that I should choose to do on a Sunday to keep the sabbath day holy. We often had 'discussions' about how hard that is to find enough stuff to keep me busy because I couldn't watch TV, or play video games, so I tried to just watch movies that had good morals and lessons to teach. I chose to watch Disney movies on Sundays along with reading my scriptures because that was all that I could really do... Since being married, we have had many discussions on if Disney movies really are appropriate for a Sunday.

Well then during that devotional, Bishop Causse made a reference to this scene from The Lion King:

I don't have the exact words from his talk because it isn't available on LDS.org yet...

I had never thought about this scene in the way that Bishop Causse explained it. Like I said, I don't remember what he said word for word, but what I personally gathered from watching that clip was this. Often times we feel like Simba when we make a mistake or choose to walk down a path that may not be in line with what our Father in Heaven has planned for us. Once we make that decision and realize that we should have chosen to do something different, it's often easier to decide "it's too hard/scary to go back and fix it" so we try to fix things on our own and move forward. The fact of the matter is, we can't just expect to fix things by moving forward. You have to back track a bit.

I love that Bishop Causse used this scene in particular because Mufasa decends from the heavens and tells his son, "Simba, you have forgotten me.." Simba denies this and asks "How could I?" Mufasa responds, "You have forgotten who you are and so forgotten me.. Look inside yourself, Simba. You must take your place in the Circle of Life."

I love those quotes. So much. When we make decisions, sometimes we forget to confront our Heavenly Father and ask Him if what we are choosing to do is right for us. We may still think about Him, we still Love him and know He is there. We know that He loves us. But I also know that for myself, I often feel like Simba and wonder 'how could I have forgotten Him?' Well, because I didn't make him apart of my decisions. That's how. We can keep ourselves in line with the Spirit and the path that He has chosen for us if we always, no matter what, consult our Heavenly Father in every decision that we make. 

Mufasa continues to say, "Remember who you are. You are my son....."

Remember who you are

You are a Son/Daughter of a Heavenly King

You have a divine role in this life that has been chosen by a loving Father in Heaven

whom you can talk to 

who will always be there for you

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THAT

because you are so blessed with that knowledge and comfort...

I know I am

and I think we can now come to the conclusion that for the Anderson Family, 

The Lion King has made it to the approved list ;)

Disney Puzzle Obsession

I have never been too fond of puzzles. I used to hate them, actually. I found them rather hard and boring and never enjoyed doing them. I used to think they were a huge waste of time. But one day at work (back when I was working at Child Time Inc.) one of my students asked me to do a 50 piece cup cake puzzle with her. I really didn't want to work on a stupid puzzle, but I had promised her that I would do what ever she wanted, so I ended up having to do the puzzle. Now you would think that a little cup cake puzzle would be easy, but this one was hard! So here I am sitting with Violet, when another little girl, Ella, runs up and asks if she can help with the puzzle. Violet tells her she can help us and I kid you not, Ella had completed the whole darn thing in under two minutes!!!! 

My other co teacher then decided to break out a one thousand piece puzzle that the whole class could work on through out the week. I told my self that there was so way in the world I would be working on that puzzle! But over the course of that week, I ended up helping out in the other class rooms. When I came back to class on Monday morning, all 20+ kids had helped to complete that puzzle a little bit each day over seven days!!! 

At that point, I was determined to go home and work on a puzzle. If 4-5 year old kids can finish a 1,000 piece puzzle in a week, then I should be able to also! Lucky for me, I already had a box full of puzzles that I had sent to Jayson while he was on his mission because he was sick (and obviously they were Disney puzzles). So I went home that night and broke out the puzzle box. 

Jayson and I decided to work on our Little Mermaid and Pinocchio puzzles

Shortly after completing those two puzzles, we moved back home to California. 

Two weeks after moving home, 

Jayson and I went to Disneyland and bought me a 1,000 piece puzzle-map of Disneyland

Let me tell you, this puzzle was a pain in my butt!!!!! After we came home from Disneyland, we started on this puzzle right away. We originally started working on it down stairs in the dining room, but then we had some friends come over for dinner so we moved the puzzle onto the Ottoman in the living room. Then, my mother-in-law, Kerry, started babysitting a little girl in our ward who I found 'playing' with the puzzle and ripping the completed pieces apart, so I moved the puzzle up stairs and into our bedroom. About a week or so later, Kerry told us that Jayson and I were going to be moving over into Cody's (my brother-in-law) old room because we had another foreign exchange student coming to live with us, so we had to move the puzzle yet again. 

Finally, after a little over two months, the puzzle is complete! Unfortunately we lost two of the pieces after having moved the darn thing so many times.... I'm hoping that some how we will find the lost pieces....

After completing the three puzzles, Jayson and I realized how cool looking they are! Especially the ones from the movies because they look just like their front DVD/VHS case covers. We decided that after every puzzle we complete, we are going to glue the pieces together so that we can frame them once they are done and start collecting Disney puzzles and putting them together as a family. Once we move into our own home (whenever that is... ) we will start to display our finished puzzles :) 

So here is my next puzzle-project

 Panorama Puzzles 

The one on the left has clips from the movies, and the one on the right has all (well, almost all) of the characters on map, where they are standing on the areas that their movie is from (like Simba from Lion king is standing on Africa, etc.).

But...

...can't you tell? 

Thousand Oaks California Stake and Indexing

Stake Conference was this weekend 

:)

Our stake is #1 in Ventura County and #8 in North America for indexing! 

and it is very, very possible that our stake will make it to 1 million names by the end of the year!

ONE MILLION NAMES!!

that's insane!!

:D

That fills my heart with so much joy and excitement

I love my home stake

I truly am so blessed to be back home

<3

We have so many dedicated members in this stake

People who consistently make it to the Temple every week

I look up to those people so much...

It's so hard to get lost in worldly activities

and to feel like 'we don't have time'

But I know that the Lord is blessing all of those members

who make the Temple their number one priority

and plan their schedule around visiting the temple, 

not plan their temple visit around their schedule

and now there are so many other members beyond the veil

that have the blessing of this gospel

because of those faithful, obedient, and worthy members

:')

I also am grateful

for who ever this person is...

who in May of 2012

did temple work for my 7th Great Grandfather.......

IN MAY OF 2012!!!!

as in..... 5 MONTHS AGO!!!!!!!

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!?!?!?!

If you haven't done family history work...

GO. DO. IT. NOW. 

You never know who you will find who doesn't have this gospel that needs it..

I am so grateful for who ever completed that work

I am so blessed for my beautiful home stake

Happy 25th Anniversary Thousand Oaks Stake

:)

Bridesmaid of a 'MANN'

Today

I became a Bridesmaid

:D

My cute friend Marcia got engaged!!

To her handsome marine, Jason Mann

(funny how we both found Ja[y]son's)
:)

It's about time you two!
<3