United Way of Salt Lake

Today I am grateful for my job! (1) that I even have a job and (2) that I have the job that I do. I somehow got really lucky and got hired by United Way of Salt Lake very soon after I graduated last August. It was a struggle at first to transition from being a student to working full time but it has been very rewarding. I love the people I work with and the opportunities that working at United Way has provided for me! AND they even announced today that we are moving to a new office building with WINDOWS!! (we are currently located in the basement of a building). So awesome! I am so thankful that I am employed and can earn money for my husband and I to live off of! Such a blessing!

Happy November!

Can we officially call it The Holiday Season now?! Just 24 days till Thanksgiving! I absolutely love this time of year and this year has been especially fun being married and all! Last night was my first Halloween being married and having our own place to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters! We carved pumpkins and decorated our front porch with cobwebs, a black light, and a cute Halloween wreath made by yours truly! (I actually made something from Pinterest!) I also bought a HUGE bag of candy and only like 10 kids came to our house! Come on! I literally have a whole bowl full of candy left! That was the only let down of the night. Steven and I had soup in those cute little pumpkin shaped bread bowls and I roasted the pumpkin seeds (yum!) We caught up with the Halloween episodes of our favorite TV shows and then told scary stories in our cozy bed :) Tonight I will take down the Halloween decorations and put up my Thanksgiving ones (thank you Hobby Lobby!)

In addition, I have made a goal to write about something I am thankful for on my blog every day in November. I did this two years ago and it was really fun.

Today, I am very thankful for lds.org. On Sunday for our combined Priesthood and Relief Society meeting, we had the director of lds.org come and speak to us about the website and all of its amazing features. I was already someone who visited lds.org at least 5 times a week but his presentation made me even more excited about everything it has to offer! The Church has given us access to so many wonderful things. We could even read the General Conference talks just a few days later! Lds.org has made it so easy for church members to prepare lessons, talks, Family Home Evenings, etc. It has also made it super easy to share the gospel! We have access to thousands of talks, articles, videos, etc. that we can link to blogs, Facebook, and Pinterest. We can also read the scriptures online from our computers, tablets, or phones! So amazing when you really sit and think about it!

I LOVE Fall!!!

Steven and I went on our first annual Fall Colors hike yesterday! These pictures definitely do not do the colors justice! I HIGHLY recommend getting out there and checking it out for yourself! This was the Dog Lake hike about 9 miles up in Big Cottonwood Canyon. We are definitely making this an annual tradition! Enjoy these pictures!

P.S. I am LOVING Conference and especially the announcement of the new Provo Temple! So exciting! Enjoy this beautiful weekend!

We did not carve that, but since it was already there, I decided to take a picture!

I just LOVE the yellow against the blue!

Dog Lake

I am in love with this video...

How refreshing! I want this video to be the theme for the rest of my life! I never want to forget to live in every moment and never take anything for granted. Any suggestions on how to remember this important message daily?

Happy Day!

6-year Old Girl Gathers Storm Victim Donations!

What a cute little girl! I can only imagine all the great things she will do for her community as she gets older! Hats off to her!



Happy day!

I just couldn't help myself!

I admit, I was a royal skeptic at first. I mean come on, was the royal wedding seriously such a big deal? I mean yeah, it is exciting and historical and everything but did all the news anchors of the major TV stations REALLY need to be in London covering the wedding a WEEK before??!!  Were people seriously getting this caught up in it??!! I could understand the excitement from people actually in Great Britain, but why were we talking about it so much here in America??!!

I now retract all such thoughts and feelings regarding the Royal Wedding.

Steven (another major skeptic) asked me the other day if I was going to watch the wedding live. I told him NO WAY I was going to wake up that early (or stay up that late) to watch it, but that I would probably turn on the TV in the morning while getting ready for work to see her dress, after all, I do admire Princess Kate's fashion.

My alarm went off at 6 am. I found myself excitedly getting out of bed and walking straight to the TV to turn it on. As soon as I saw Kate's dress, the beauty and excitement of the whole scene literally brought me to tears! TEARS??!! Seriously? Yep. I was hooked at that moment. I have been watching clips and replays all day. What happened? I finally gave in and let my inner princess wannabe girl come out! I have never been one of "those girls" who sits around and dreams of the prefect prince and the perfect wedding and the perfect marriage, but I think that is what made this whole Royal Wedding thing so fun! We all got a glimpse into a modern day prince and princess story! Of course their marriage will not be perfect and they will likely have problems just like the rest of us, but I think it was exceptionally exciting to be a part of the beginning of what I hope will be a "happily ever after"!

Graduations

This time of year always makes me nostalgic. I am not sure why, but it does. I can't believe that it has been a whole year since I graduated! I think it has taken me this whole year to process that I even graduated! So much has happened in the past year. In fact, all of the biggest most life-changing things have all happened in the past year! Whew. Last year at this time my whole family was in town to watch me receive my Master's degree. I said "goodbye" to some of the best friends I have ever had. I was excited to leave for Paraguay in 3 days, but nervous to leave my boyfriend for 3 weeks. What if he didn't  like me still when I came back? (It was actually quite the opposite because about a month after I got home is when we first talked about getting married)! I was feeling weird about not being able to call myself a student for the first time since I started kindergarten 19 years before. ( I still miss school a lot...so weird).

 April 2010

Yesterday, Steven graduated from BYU with a Mandarin speaking major and a business minor. This guy is a trooper. During the whole past school year, he commuted from Salt Lake to Provo everyday to go to school. I can't imagine adding almost 3 hours to an already long and exhausting day. And he did it all on public transportation! It might take him a whole month of sleeping in till noon to recover. And I wouldn't mind at all if he did, because he truly deserves it. He has sacrificed so much of himself for us which is so admirable. I love him.

  April 2011

April 2011

It's been 7 years since I graduated from high school. In one month, my cute little brother will graduate from high school. I can't believe that  kid will be 18 in 3 months. Where does the time go? One of the things that makes me most sad is that I have not lived at home since he was 10. He still had a chubby face that I could squeeze! I have missed most of his growing up years and I wish I would have cherished those moments I had with him while I could. But ya know, I was just a dumb teenager with an annoying little brother.

 June 2004

 April 2010

3 years ago, I got my bachelor's degree from BYU-Idaho In a little over one year from now, my little sister will be getting hers. She is so smart. She is so strong! She got straight A's last semester! I never got straight A's in college! She

has pushed through so many obstacles and has emerged a champion!

 April 2008