Mormon Monday

March Madness

Mormon Style.

Some people may have heard it, read the Book of Mormon in one month.

I have been presented this challenge for the past 4 years of my life.  Every year in seminary we would get the cards and the teacher would "strongly encourage" us to take the challenge.

I always came up with a reason why I couldn't participate. Most of them revolved around being too busy.  This year I decided that being too busy wasn't a good enough excuse. Even though I didn't have someone officially challenge me to read, I challenged myself. And that seemed like a good enough reason.

I downloaded a reading calendar off the internet and got reading.

Some days I fell behind. It was difficult to catch up because it was twice the reading the next day. But I was determined. I wanted to be able to say that I finished. That I stuck to my goal.

I marked things in my scriptures and they were tagged "Favorite Scriptures" and "Reasons to be Happy." Most the time they overlapped.

 

2 Nephi 31:20 is one of my favorite scriptures.

It says:

"Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life."

I feel like this scripture is the perfect recipe for happiness. Keep pressing forward and not giving up. Read the scriptures and love them. And BOOM! Happiness FOREVER.

Seriously, I love this gospel.

End of story.

 

If you are feeling a rut in your spiritual growth, I challenge you to read the Book of Mormon in one month. It will grow you in ways you never thought possible.

10 Things I Like About Me

I saw a post on a blog and it inspired me.

See the original post here.

 

We all go through rough patches. During these moments, I don't know about you, but I really tear myself down. So to counteract that I am going to come up with things I like about myself.

 

1. Change. I love the fact that I can change. If I don't like something about myself I don't have to settle. I have the ability to change.

2. Recording Things. Whether it is my photos, journals, or blogs. I love to make sure I don't forget the little details in my life. You never know if you are going to lose your memory.

3. Similar to my Grandma Larrabee and my Mother. I love that my Grandma is my twin. I love doing something and thinking "Wow, I am turning into my mother and/or my Grandmother.

4. Physical Features: Eyes & Smile. My eyes are brown. It took me some years of staring in the mirror to come to terms with the plainness of my eyes. But once I decided to like my eyes I fell more in love with them. They may not be piercingly blue, or emerald green, just regular brown, but they are mine. I love my smile because it reminds me that I am strong. That I too can do hard things.

5. Laughing at myself. I realize that I am dumb. I make dumb decisions, say dumb things, and if I wasn't able to laugh at myself, then life would be a very long road.

6. Traveling through books. I love that I can pick up a book and travel into another world. Generally when I am reading you can't distract me. I literally become consumed in the world that I hold in my hands.

7. Cleanliness. Some people may hate the cleanliness thing but I like it. It makes me feel in control of my life. And life is just better when your environment is clean.

8. Music. I love how music is such a huge part of my life. It speaks straight to the soul. I feel like it is raw emotion. And besides, singing is too much fun not to do it.

9. Simplicity. I don't believe in complicated. At all. I hate it when people make things complicated because things generally aren't. I see the simplicity in life.

10. Planning. This last one is something I love about myself but also despise at time. To me, planning is fun. Others hate it, so I love being about to share this with people. It is serving people in the smallest way. But why do I hate it? Sometimes anxiety gets the best of me. But that is what I am learning to live with; leading back to number one.

 

What do you love about yourself?

Take the "10 Things I Like About Me" challenge!

Bus

I never took the school bus to school. I only rode the bus home my Sophomore Year. For that I am truly blessed but secretly I always felt like I was missing out on a kid’s basic human right. The tiny green monster of jealousy would come out when I would see a school bus on TV.

Now I am in college and I take the bus every day. To and from school. It isn’t some glorious yellow bus but rather UTA, the all mighty public transportation. Because of my childhood dream, I don’t loathe the bus. I actually enjoy it. I don’t have to drive, and deal with the heart ache of parking lots, other drivers, and car maintenance. I always know where the bus will pick me up and drop me off. It is one constant in my life.

There are days when the bus is late. Luckily for me I have a handy dandy UTA app that tracks the bus for me. Normally when the bus is late it is frustrating because my urge to use the bathroom is increasing. For the past couple days the bus has been late but that has been working in my favor. I see my clock and see that the bus should of come 3 minutes ago. So I am planning on staying at the bus stop for 12 minutes. Psych! The bus pulls up. Some people don’t see this as a blessing, but I sure do. My appreciation for the public transportation system has grown since I have come to college.

Mormon Monday

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

 

If you ask my generation who their favorite General Authority is, the majority of them will say Elder Jeffrey R. Holland.

On March 21, 2014, Elder Holland came to Orem Institute for devotional. I was a bad child and skipped class so I could attend this special event.

 

First off, lets point out his hilarious sense of humor. At the beginning I thought he didn't have a talk and was just going to tell us jokes the whole time. Which would of been perfectly acceptable. He joked how he had known the President of UVU since he was a little boy. This is only funny if you understand that Matthew Holland is Elder Holland's son.

Also, once he stood up he complimented the Institute Choir by saying he was going to either pass out or hang from the chandeliers. Those were the two emotions he was feeling.

 

He continued onto his talk he prepared titled:

 "I Want To Be Saved If My Friends Will Help Me."

We as human beings have two fears. 1) Fear we can't change and 2) Even if we change, the mark of sin will always be there.

Fear We Can't Change: First off, Satan is the devil. He doesn't want you to change. He wants to stump your progress. He is miserable and wants everyone to be miserable with him. Misery always wants company.

You can change. That is the point of the Plan of Salvation. To make changes to be your best self. I love this because making little changes is what matters. Like: reading your scriptures every day, stop gossiping, seeing the best in every situation, and telling people you love that you love them. We shouldn't feel like we have no control. Because we do. "If we feel like a robot or a rag doll then we are being carefully led down to hell." It is the lack of action that will get to us the place we don't want to be.

"Hope for the future. Otherwise you will be hopeless."

Man can be transformed through repentance and God's forgiveness. Christ gives a way back to God. Christ was the only one worthy enough to lift the sins of the world.

And the best part is after you apply the atonement, you can come back stronger than ever.

Fear of  No Forgiveness: We can feel this way because others don't let you feel the forgiveness. You have "friends" who won't let you forget your sins and your past. Some of us beat others down. Even though people want to change we won't let them. This breaks my heart because it is true. Some people are just road blocks for progression. We should be lifting each other up, not tearing them down. Help them and let them see the light at the end of the tunnel. True friends lead people out of sin and forget past mistakes. Believe that they are new people. "We all have need to repent and the obligation to forgive." I love this quotes because we are not perfect and we need to realize that we are all fighting the same battle. So lets give slack to everyone we know. We are all just trying our best.

 

"God bless us to help each other come back home!"

 

The Fault In Our Stars

I read the book that everyone had said would make me cry.

I can honestly say I didn't cry. I came close. There was a point that I choked up, but no tears.

I read this book in two days. Barely even that. I started yesterday after school and ended by lunch on Saturday. So I guess we can conclude that it was a good book. As the author says, it was a "cancer perk." Cancer makes for an engulfing story. I was swallowed by the pain. My aunt had cancer when I was little. I didn't understand what it was, just that she was sick and she wasn't going to get better. To this day I couldn't wrap my head around the emotions and pain she wen through. But this book did help open my eyes. Even just by the smallest millimeter.

I recommend this book to everyone. It is definitely a book you won't regret reading.

St. Geezy

For Spring Break I went to St. George with my family to support Jennie, who was playing for the Murray High Softball Team.

See more pictures here.

Jennie

Playing on the playground with the softball girl.

 

Jen & Heidi

 

Softball Selfie.

Heidi

Brigham Young House with Christina and Tyler.

Cove Fort on the way home.

Heidi, Mom, Dad & Jen



Mormon Monday

Missionaries.

My generation is full of them.

I possibly have more friends on missions than not.

Which is amazing.

But with missionaries come missionary farewells.

I went to a farewell on March 9. It was for a girl who I have known since I started elementary school. She has ALWAYS been there for me. Even though I had other friends, she was there. When I was lost and heart broken and didn't know who I could turn to she was there.

  

Her farewell was full of the Spirit. I was crying because I was going to miss her but also because I hadn't felt the Spirit like that at church before. I was overwhelmed.

Her talk was about simple things become great things.

She started out talking about a song she was trying to learn. It was "As Sisters in Zion" arranged by Marshall McDonald. She said that this song was difficult for her because of the key change and difficult cords. She compared this gaining a testimony. She had to learn the song note by note, line by line, and page by page. Just like learning a song, we have to take our testimonies by baby steps. We can't get a testimony just because we demand it. She continued with 4 guides to gain a testimony.

1. Have a relationship with God and Christ. We need meaningful time with them.

2. Keep the Commandments. We need to live the commandments and exercise faith.

3. Study the scriptures. How can we gain a testimony of something we know nothing about?

4. Follow the living prophet. 

There isn't one great thing we can do to gain eternal life, but rather the little things. For our lives are made up of little heartbeats.

To apply this back to the music she told us that she would going to make mistakes in the song. Even thought she tried to get it perfect it just wasn't going to happen. She tried her best but the song wasn't perfect. Which was okay. She couldn't let the fear of messing up keep her from playing the music.

She said that even though she fears she won't be a perfect missionary she is going to try. She wasn't going to let the lack of perfection keep her from living the gospel.

She was simply building her testimony one note at a time.

Heidi & Brianna



In the Kitchen

The kitchen is a magical place. You store, create, and eat food. But to me the kitchen was a sacred place. A sanctuary.

Coming home from school was always a joy. Being home from school was only a small part of the delight I felt. Everyday I would sit on the stool closest to the stairs. Twisting and revolving back and forth, I would relive my school day for my mom. Telling her who I talked to, catch her up on the latest gossip, all about my teachers and even what I learned. It was a daily routine that I never found odd.

I always found my mom in the kitchen. Whether I was coming home at 3:26 or 2:49. There she was scrubbing away in the sink. It made it easier to talk to her. Being in ‘no man’s land’. I recently found out that the kitchen was something my mom’s mom would do. My grandma’s words of wisdom were: “Always be in the kitchen when your kids get home from school. They will always know where to find you. It will make it easier for them to open up because you are in a safe place.”

The kitchen is a tradition I hope to carry on to my children. I want to create a sanctuary they way my mom created one for me.

Kenz Hall

If you have watched American Idol you have seen this beautiful girl perform.

She is from Utah. 

My mom actually introduced me to her last summer. She asked me to look up this girl and give my opinion on her. I saw a lot of potential in her. Especially since she was having an EP come out. 

That EP is amazing and I hope you all will go and listen to her songs. She does a ton of covers and puts her own twist on every song. This song she wrote and is one out of the five songs on her EP. 

So check her out and love her as much as I do!

Temple

I LOVE TO SEE THE TEMPLE

That is my favorite phrase.

Because it is true.

Heidi & Temple

Strangely until this moment I hadn't done a temple trip by myself.

I always wanted to but just never did.

It was an amazing experience.

It was also my first time doing family names. They weren't my family names but a temple worker had asked me to do hers. Not only was I serving those who had passed on but also a Sister.

 I can't even begin to explain the feeling this trip brought me.



Jordan River Temple

You can't even tell that it was snowing that morning.

Good ol' Utah.

Mormon Monday

This video is popular.

You have probably seen it floating around your Facebook Newsfeed.

When watching this video, the Spirit came in a large rush. I was crying by the end.

Lately bullying has been on my mind because I have been studying suicide and the factors that go into that; bullying being one of them.

Now that I am out of high school, I sometimes wish I could go back. Just so that I can find these people who feel helpless and don't feel loved. Everyone deserved to be loved, even if they are a little different. I know it is never to late to start being nice, so why don't we all start now?

For My Lack of Posting

Please forgive me.

I'll be better.

So laugh for a moment instead.

Facials

For our Saturday night adventure we tried homemade facials.

We used a recipe off of Pinterest which called for baking soda and orange juice. Easy enough? Wrong. We didn't agree with the measurements so we made our own. Really all we did was pour orange juice in a bowl and filled it will baking soda until it felt like a goop. And then we took turns putting on. After twenty minutes my face was flaking off and I couldn't move.

 

Melissa, Heidi & Brittani

Heidi

Heidi & Brittani

TED Talks

We have all heard of TED Talks. Whether or not you have seen them is a different story. My first TED Talk I watched was last week in my Biology class. This talk didn't "change my life" and I couldn't see why people love TED Talks.

 

Then today I was watching Grey's Anatomy, also known as my favorite pass time, and one of the characters was being featured on TED Talks. So I did some investigating. I downloaded some off of iTunes with come topics that interest me. I have yet to watch them but they are going on my iPod and the next time I am on Frontrunner I am going to give them a go.



Mormon Monday

We watched this video in Relief Society.

It is a little lengthy but worth every minute.

Hilary Weeks is talking about negative and positive thoughts and how they effect your daily life. 

I want to take the clicker challenge.

Don't Look Down

We left for Vegas Friday night.

 We arrived at 2:30 AM.

We stayed in Downtown Vegas on Fremont Street.

Our hotel was The Golden Nugget, or as Melissa called it: The Booger.





SATURDAY

Breakfast at The Plaza

This picture doesn't even to it justice. That waffle was HUGE! But delicious.

 

From Vegas With Love
Young Women's Medallion Pride

Brittani being as cute as always.

Brittani

New York New York

Heidi, Melissa, Camille & Brittani

 Obviously my favorite hotel.

We got an adorable Oreo Carmel Apple.

Brittani

 M & M World

We learned that this really wasn't as cool as people talked it up to be.

All of us left the store disappointed.

Coca-Cola Store

Once again, disappointment.

 

We ate at the buffet at Excalibur.

Yum!

Excalibur

 Driving down The Strip at night.

 

Basically the Empire State Building.
Love. Love. Love.

We went to Paris.

We kind of saw the water show.

If I could do one thing at Vegas it would be to see this.

 

Now onto Fremont Street.

Bon Jovi light show.

I loved this.

A lot.

 

Brittani lost the valet ticket so we had to deal with security.

 

Stratosphere time!

 

 One the top!

 

One the top Selfie

 

Brittani, Melissa & Camille

Brittani, Melissa, Camille, Tony & Ian

Bucket List: Order Room Service

Chicken, Fries & Ice Cream

SUNDAY:

Swimming with sharks.

Our hotel had a water slide that went through an aquarium of sharks and some other fish.

 

Caesar's Palace 

Camille, Brittani, Melissa & Heidi

 The Forum Shops

Short stop at Tiffany's.

 

For Lunch we went to Serendipity 3.

 

Add some frozen hot chocolate.

So... this sundae was ONE THOUAND dollars!

Holy!

 

Our waiter thought us girls were adorable so he brought us free chocolate covered oreos and mousse.

 

Heading home.

 

Vegas is fun.

If you gamble, drink, and smoke.

I don't do any of those things and so I felt out of place.

We learned while walking down the strip that you don't look down. Unless you want to see some.... inappropriate things.

Vegas helped me appreciate my state/city.

 

This may be an insult but it still makes me laugh, but Vegas is the trashy New York.

Stay classy, not trashy my friends.