Sunshine Sunday!

My relief society lesson was so great today, I couldn't help but share a little with you. The whole talk is seriously amazing and will make you feel 1000x better about yourself, I promise. These excerpts come from the talk Forget Me Not by Dieter F. Uchtdorf. You can click on the link to read the whole talk.


Elder Uchdtorf first talks about the tiniest of flowers called the Forget Me Nots. He explains they are often overlooked because there are many more larger and more vibrant flowers. But the Forget Me Not is just as beautiful.

He goes on to use the Forget Me Not and its five petals as a metaphor for five things that we would be wise not to forget.

First, forget not to be patient with yourself.

"We spend so much time and energy comparing ourselves to others-usually comparing our weaknesses to their strengths. This drives us to create expectations fr ourselves that are impossible to meet. As a result, we never celebrate our good efforts because they seem to be less than what someone else does...

Be thankful for all the small successes in your home, your family relationships, your education, and livelihood, your Church participation and personal improvement. Like the forget-me-nots, these successes may seem tiny to you and may go unnoticed by others, but God notices them and they are not small to Him. If you consider success to be only the most perfect rose or dazzling orchid, you may miss some of life's sweetest experiences."

Second, forget not the difference between a good sacrifice and foolish sacrifice.

"Giving up a little sleep to help a child who is having a nightmare is a good sacrifice. We all know this. Staying up all night, jeopardizing our own health, to make the perfect accessory for a daughter's Sunday outfit may not be such a good sacrifice.

Dedicating some of our time to studying scriptures or preparing to teach a lesson is a good sacrifice. Spending many hourse stitching the title of the lesson into homemade pot holders for each member of your class perhaps may not be.

There are so many good things to do, but we can't do them all. Our Heavenly Father is most pleased when we sacrifice something good for something far greater with an eternal perspective. Sometimes this may even mean nurturing small but beautiful forget-me-not flowers instead of a large garden of exotic blooms."

Third, forget not to be happy now.

In this section of the talk he relys heavily of the classic story of Charly and the Chocolate Factory.

"In this classic children's story, people all over the world desperately yearn to find a golden ticket. Some feel that their entire future hapiness depends on whether or not a golden ticket falls into their hands. In their anxiousness, people begin to forget the simple joy they used to find in a candy bar. The candy bar itself becomes an utter dissapointment if it does not contain a golden ticket.

So many people today are waiting for their own golden ticket-the ticket that they believe holds the key to the happiness they have always dreamed about. For some, the golden ticket may be a perfect marriage; for others, a magazine-cover home or perhaps freedom from stress or worry."

There is a great quote that I have always loved by Marjorie Hinckley. It goes something like this. "Don't waste away your days waiting for better ones ahead." I think this is so true! It's not saying we can't have dreams and hopes for the future, just simply making sure we are happy in the here and now, as we strive to future endeavors.

Fourth, forget not the "why" of the gospel.

"Let us not walk the path of discipleship with our eyes on the ground, thinking only of the tasks and abligations before us. Let us not walk unaware of the beauty of the glorious earthly and spiritual landscapes that surround us.

My dear sisters, seek out the majesty, the beauty and the exhilarating joy of the "why" of the gospel of Jesus Christ."

Fifth, forget not that the Lord loves you.

"You are not forgotten. Sisters, wherever you are, whatever your circumstances may be, you are not forgotten. No matter how dark your days may seem, no matter how insignificant you may feel, no matter how overshadowed you think you may be, your Heavenly Father has not forgotten you. In fact, He loves you with an infinite love."

"Sisters, there is something inspiring and sublime about the little forget-me-not flower. I hope it will be a symbol of the little things that make your lives joyful and sweet. Please never forget that you must be patient and compassionate with yourselves, that some sacrifices are better than others, that you need not wait for a golden ticket to be happy. Please never forget that the "why" of the gospel of Jesus Christ will inspire and uplift you. And never forget that your Heavenly Father knows, loves and cherishes you.

I hope that put a little Sunshine in your Sunday! :)

Sunshine Sunday!

I got this idea from another blogger and thought how cool! I have never actually met this blogger in real life, but stumbled upon her blog from another friend. She has some really fun posts and often makes me laugh, feel free to check her out here. Anyways, every Sunday she posts an inspirational quote, or blurb. I am going to try to remember to do this every Sunday too, key word is try.

We would do well to

slow down a little.

Focus on the significant &

truly see the things that

matter most.

-Dieter F. Uchtdorf

You can refer to the talk that it came from here. If you have some free time, I highly suggest you read it, it is a great message.

Fitting In

*Note this is mostly for journaling purposes, so if for some reason it bores you or you think I am in a pity party, I'm not. I just feel the need to write down my thoughts at this moment before I explode :) Feel free to scroll down as you need, I won't be offended :)*


I have been lucky in my life. I have always found a place to fit in. I have always had at least one best friend, that I could go to at any moment and share my good and bad times with. I have had a few really close friends, and for reasons which are unknown to me, we have grown apart. That happens, I think it is part of life. I am thankful to be able to have fit in, I can't imagine being without friends, because there were some moments in my life where just hanging out with friends was all I needed in order to cheer me up. There have, however been a few times that I have felt like I didn't fit in. Let me tell you it is a hard stage to be in, and not fun.

The first time I remember really not fitting in was the crazy time in my life when I got married. Let me give you just a little background on how my church works in order to help you better understand this story. When teenagers graduate from high school and up until they get married, they are able to go to what is called a singles ward. It is a church service meant only for young single adults, in order for you to meet and mingle, and give kids in that weird gap a place to have friends and basically a place to fit in. If you do not go to a singles ward, then there is the basic family ward, which you probably guessed, is meant for all those who don't fall into the young single adult category. Ok back to my post. So when Kenny and I got married, he was home for 2 weeks before he was deployed to Iraq. So here I was a non-single (but technically single) young women, living with her parents attending a family ward. Man was that a hard time in my life. I felt like nobody understood what I was going through. I couldn't hang out with my single's ward friends anymore because they all went on group dates, and were looking to find marriage companions (which I definitely didn't fit into), and I didn't fit in with the family ward because here I was a (semi)single young adult surrounded with people in their middle ages with kids. Hard as I tried, it just never really worked. We had nothing in common, and I struggled with finding a place in which I felt comfortable. Thankfully, after many tearful phone calls with my dear husband he finally convinced me to get together with his best friend's (who was deployed with him) fiancee because they were both sure that we would get along great. Luckily Carissa and I set up a time to meet (which let me tell you is super scary considering you don't know the person from Adam) and we never looked back from there. Finally, someone who knew what I was going through, someone who had much in common with me, and actually we didn't realize it, but we had gone to elementary and high school together but never really met until years after high school. How Crazy is that!? She definitely was the answer to my heartfelt prayers as I asked my Heavenly Father to help me find somewhere to fit in.

Many years later, 2 deployments and a baby later, I find myself in the same place. Struggling to fit in. No my husband isn't deployed, and no I don't live with my parents, but I now have a (soon to be) one year old, and several friends who don't have kids. As much as they try, and I try to explain, it is just hard to understand having a child unless you actually have one. Whether you like it or not your life now revolves around this child. They have feedings, diaper changes, nap times (or else they are totally grumpy), schedules, don't do well in public places (let me tell you going out to dinner is definitely an adventure), now that she can walk she feels the need to walk everywhere and doesn't like to be held, which also narrows down the things that we can do, and so on and so forth... Is any of this making sense?? Maybe I am just rambling. Oh well it is for my purposes anyway. So here I am trying to explain to friends why we can't hang out at a certain time, why we can't go to a movie, why we can't go to that restaurant or why sometimes just keeping baby girl at home is best. I also feel bad when she cries at all. Sometimes I feel like if you don't have kids the crying and fusiness can get annoying super fast. But sometimes there is nothing I can do about it. She is a baby and sometimes she just gets uncomfortable, tired, irritable etc, in fact most adults have these issues to. So then I find myself frustrated and continually apologizing because she is not smiling and happy, but then I think to myself why am I apologizing for her being a baby? There is no need to apologize. So here I am again, feeling like I don't fit in, where do I find friends who will understand, who will know what it is like? I know you are probably saying find people who have kids, but then sometimes I feel like they are too old, and they will find me too immature. Here I am praying again, for that chance to fit in, and I know sooner or later Heavenly Father will answer my prayers, as I try everything I can to find my place.

This is what happens, when Daddy does baby girl's hair

I think he may need a little more practice before our sweet little girl leaves the house... What do you think?

Blog Link Up

I am definitely a blog stalker. I am always looking for new blogs to follow and new fun ideas for blogs. Well my awesome friend Carissa wrote this little ditty about a blog link up that was going on and I thought why not follow the crowd, get my blog out there and find more friends! The original link up is through:

So here is a little bit about me!

I originally started blogging as a way to keep my family in the loop. I had quite a few friends that were doing it and thought it was a neat idea! I love being able to express my feelings through writing and sometimes it is the only way that I can clear my head. I am going to make this sort of short and sweet so here it goes.



This is me and my husband Kenny. We will have been married 5 years in May. He has been on two year long deployments to Iraq during our four year marriage. The hardest thing I have ever done, is having to say goodbye and sending my husband away to a foriegn country not knowing if you will ever see him again. But with much faith and support from family and friends, we made it through.



This is our beautiful daughter. She is the light of our lives and is so much fun! She definitely keeps us on our toes and keeps me exhausted. I would not trade it for anything in the world. She grows too fast and I wish time would slow down a little.

Since you now know the basic facts, I decided I would do a little random info about me. Here it goes:

*I love Disneyland. It holds a special place in my heart. If I was well off, I would definitely have an annual pass and a vacation house in Cali.



* I love Hot Chocolate. But I am very picky about the kind. Quick Trip has the best Hot Chocolate, followed in second by Dunkin Donuts. Starbucks has quite possibly the grossest Hot Chocolate. I know, I am picky.

*I love popcorn, and my husband hates it. Which creates a little problem. When we go to the movies, I have to have popcorn, but am the only one that will eat it.

*I have a B.A. in Psychology from Arizona State University, but secretly wish I would have gone into some sort of design degree. I want to design websites, digital scrapbook pages, greeting cards etc. Who knows maybe later in my life I will go back to school for this.

*I love my family more than anything, and cannot imagine life without them.

*Writing is therapuetic for me, and I have this weird thing about people watching me write. Sometimes my husband tries to read as I am writing blogs, I can't stand that. It messes up my mojo. I have to be alone while writing, or it messes me up. Weird I know.

Well there is a little about me! Hope to get to know more of you!

Life's About Moments and How They Affect Our Lives

So like probably about 90% of the rest of the population tonight in celebration of Valentines Day my hubby and I went to dinner and then to see the movie The Vow. The story line is a very fascinating one. Imagine being in a car accident and enduring a head trauma that caused you to loose your memory, more specifically to loose memory of a specific period of time. In this case, the main character Paige, looses the period of memory involving her current husband. She has no recollection of them meeting, marrying and spending the past together. Can you imagine your husband or wife having no recollection of you? Of your past? Of the time you have spent together? The movie is based off of true events, and I cannot even imagine this happening to me. What struck me the most though, was a line in the movie where Paige, in trying to remember her past, asks her "supposed" husband if she might have kept a journal in order to help her memory come back. His response was no, not to his recollection.

One reason why this hit me so hard was because I have been a terrible journal keeper. It is something that is highly emphasized in my church. We believe it is important to keep your history in writing, for future generations. I always thought the idea of a journal was nice, but to actually keep a journal? How boring. I mean somedays I don't feel like I do anything interesting enough to write about. While I know this specific memory loss case is probably rare, that is not the point. I keep thinking, of all the important moments, that have affected my life, I feel like I should be writing them down, for future generations to read. I mean what if by some awful circumstance I pass before my children grow, I want them to have something to remember me by. I want them to be able to go back and read this blog (which you can print out into a book by the way) and other journal entries I have written in past years, in order to get a feel of what I was like. When reading someone's writing you can definitely get a feel of their personality, everyone has a specific writing style. Just last month I went back and read all my blog posts from when I very first started, it was fun to read my moments and experiences and how they have effected my life.

This post was not meant to be a debbie downer post. It was simply my jumbled thoughts that I was trying to convey in writing. If you are not a blogger or journal writer, I encourage you to start. Whether it is scrapbooking your pictures which are your "moments" or just simply keeping a journal by your bed, or blogging for the world to read, anything counts and trust me, your future generations will greatly appreciate the chance to peek into the "moments" in your lives, because the majority of your "moments" have made an affect on your live.

Future Ms. Fix-it

Today I caught girlfriend helping her dad install the child locks on the cabinets. The first two pictures are girlfriend crying because her daddy told her no, the rest of them are just snap shots of her feeling like she is helping. She is definitely going to be a big helper for her dad.