"YES Woman"

This post is going to be all over the place, so bear with me..

I don't know how many of you have seen the movie, 'Yes Man', but it's just a comedy about a guy who has to say 'yes' to every opportunity that comes his way. It makes for a funny movie, but it got me thinking.. that's not a bad idea. Of course, you don't want to go to the extent he did, and say "Yes" to giving random hitch-hikers rides and things like that. I more mean just saying "Yes" to something you normally wouldn't be brave enough to do, or something you've never tried before.

Then, I started reading a book that I really recommend, titled, 'The Happiness Project', where a woman takes us on her personal journey to find true, inner happiness with herself and her life. She brings up the same type of idea, taking opportunities that are put before you, and taking risks with your life. After all, what's the worst that can happen?

Now, I'm going to shift gears a bit and focus on that question, "What's the worst that can happen?" Anyone who (like myself) has anxiety, will take that question and RUN with it.. and I mean RUN (sometimes it's impressive how quickly my mind can run through all worst-case-scenarios of every situation.) I feel like my whole life I've held myself back from things, or just automatically said, "No" because of my anxiety. I get too scared to take risks or do anything outside of my comfort zone, because, "What if this.. or this... or this..." and so on. The older I get, the more I am able to recognize my anxiety and TRY to not let it hold me back. 
I've decided for myself to start being a do-er instead of a wisher. I've always wanted to this or that, but I've never allowed myself to, because, "What if that gives me anxiety?"

Now, back to the book I talked about earlier. In the book, it's brought up that we rarely take risks because we don't want to fail. Which brings me to this lovely quote:

I'm going to remember that quote next time my anxiety leads me away from a great opportunity, "What if I fail?"

...........


"What if I fly?"

I have a fiancé!!

Yesterday was the greatest day ever. I got to my parent's house, and my Dad said there was a package from my brother who is on a mission, waiting for me. I looked in the package, and there was another box with a disposable camera and a note to me:

I didn't even think twice about it. I assumed it really was a note from my brother. When I was with Trevor later in the night, I showed him the note and we decided to fill up the camera and go take one over-looking the valley. On our way, we had to stop because there was a lady with a flat tire, pulled over. Trevor got out and changed her tire, and then his hands were all dirty and black. He stopped at a gas station and washed them and then we drove around taking pictures. A lot of the pictures we took were random, but we did take several that were of significance to our relationship. We stopped at the places where we had our first couple of dates, at my old apartment where I lived the first year we were together, and my favorite bakery. After doing that, we drove up to Alpine and hiked up to the canyon where we could over-look the whole valley. It was so much fun because we got a little lost and I even stepped in a huge puddle of muddy water. It was so funny and I love that it happened to add to our story. Then we got to our destination where we could see the whole valley and it was sooooo gorgeous. There were a few deer walking around up there and it was really pretty. Then I started to open the box and I couldn't get it open, so Trevor finished. After he had it open he said, "What is that?", about one of the deer that was walking around, so I turned around and was trying to take a picture. When I turned back around, Trevor was on his knee, with the box open and my ring in it.. and he said, "Will you marry me?" I was so happy and excited! It was so surreal and I wish I could live it over and over again. 

I'm so happy that I'm blessed enough to get to spend forever with my best friend!

Here are a few pictures that I took on my phone, but the rest of them are being printed from our disposable camera! :)

Better Habits

The last few months, I've been trying to spend more time bettering myself. Usually, when I get some spare time, I'll watch TV or something like that. While I'm at work I usually have music playing from my headphones. Lately, I've been trying to read more in my spare time and study the scriptures more. I've switched from listening to music while working, to listening to conference talks- This is an idea I got from my brother, who is a great example to me, and listens to conference talks in his car instead of music. I have noticed a BIG change in how I've been feeling. 

To me, life is so much easier when you know that there is a plan for each of us and that God loves us no matter what. I find so much comfort in knowing that he's always there... always. Yesterday at church, one of the women who was giving a lesson talked about a conference talk that she loved and recommended that we all go look it up. I listened to it that night, and I loved it just as much. 

I wanted to share it here, because I'm sure there will be others who will appreciate it, as well.

The other things I wanted to mention in this post were the two books that I've been reading. One was recommended to me by a friend, and the other was one I just happened upon at Deseret Book, and they're both soo good so far.

The first one is:
The God Who Weeps 
And the second one is:
Consider the Blessings

If you are looking for a good book to read, I highly recommend you pick one of those.

So, there you go! If you need a good book to read or a good video to watch, those are my best suggestions for you! 

Yummiest Dessert

This last week, a friend came to work with some delicious brownie treats that his wife made. They were sooo good, so I looked them up on Pinterest (of course) and decided to make them. 

These are so simple and seriously delicious:

This picture is obviously stolen from Pinterest.. mine did not look this good. 

All it is, is a layer of chocolate chip cookie dough, a layer of oreos, and a layer of brownie batter. Cook it on 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes, and there you go!

I love oreos, so naturally I think that's the best part. Next time, I'm going to do two layers of oreos.. :)

Giving Thanks

In honor of the holiday coming up, I wanted to write a post about a few of the many things I am grateful for.

This past month or so, I've been keeping a gratitude journal and it's getting pretty full. It's a good feeling to reflect on how blessed you are and all the things we have to be thankful for.
Here are a few of my wonderful blessings:

1. My Heavenly Father and the testimony I have of him. I'm so thankful for the power or prayer and the knowledge that I have of my Father in Heaven. I feel his love and blessings everyday and I'm so thankful for that.

2. My Family. I have a different relationship with each person in my family and I'm so thankful for each one. I'm really close to all of them and I love their individual personalities. We have so much fun together and we're a really close family. They're amazing people and I'm so thankful that God chose to put us together. 

3. My boyfriend. He's a good man and a really hard worker. I'm thankful for a boyfriend who is also my best friend. We have so much fun together and we're always joking around with each other. He makes me laugh, laughs at my weirdness, puts up with me on my bad days and treats me so well.

 

4. My friends. I have the best and funniest friends in the world. I'm so thankful that they're as weird as I am and that we have so much fun together. We're always there for each other and I'm so lucky to have them.

5. My country. It's an incredible blessing to live in this free, beautiful country. I'm thankful for the people who fight/fought for it and freedom. I'm also thankful for the state where I live in this country. It's so beautiful!

These are just a few of my favorite blessings. I'm so thankful for what I've been given and I couldn't ask for a better life!

Getting Personal

I have been really wanting to share an awesome experience I had, but it comes with a personal back-story so I haven't yet. If you don't want to read something sappy, I suggest you stop now. haha!

Ever since I was a little kid I've struggled with really bad anxiety... like really bad (I like to think I hide it well) haha. I have times where it's more under control and times where I feel like I can't even handle it. Ever since my dear friend Cody passed away, my anxiety really showed itself. It's been a really hard year, since he passed and many other things that have really pushed me to learn how to handle it. I would also like to say right here, that my family is full of the most incredible people who are so patient and helpful with me. And that priesthood blessings are truly one of the greatest gifts we have been given.

So, now for the experience: a couple of Sundays ago, I was at a friend's mission farewell. The speaker before her gave a talk on how to prepare for conference. And to be completely honest, at first, I wasn't paying a ton of attention to the talk. Then she said that we should write down questions that we want answered by the speakers. And I was thinking, "I want to know how to better deal with my anxiety, or how to have peace from it." And I decided to write that down as my question. I honestly was thinking that I would have to dig through the talks to search for an answer to that question, because that topic isn't usually one that's just laid out in front of you... OH BOY, was I wrong!


Elder Jeffrey R. Holland spoke during the Saturday afternoon session, and honestly it felt like he was speaking to me (I've heard people say that so many times but this was the first time I actually felt it) and it was amazing! That was such a huge testimony builder for me.

This talk honestly greatly proved to me that God is very aware of every single one of us. It's so true that no matter the circumstances or problems, no matter how simple or severe, God cares and he wants us to be happy. I am so thankful for General Conference and for these amazing men and women who share such inspirational messages with us.

Even if you aren't LDS, I STRONGLY recommend you watch this:

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2013/10?lang=eng&vid=2722351290001&cid=10

You can watch other talks from this conference and past conferences, as well on: www.lds.org.

23!

WOW! I can't believe that I'm 23..

Birthdays were all fun and games for me until my 20th; that's when I started to think, 'Oh crap, I'm old.' And now all birthdays are the 'Oh crap, I'm old' kind! Even though it's just a day difference, I hate having to say that I'm 23 instead of.. 19. 19 is a good age. haha.

This was a great birthday though because I have THE MOST amazing family and friends ever. I seriously love every single one of them.

Here are a few pictures from my day. I don't have pictures of all the awesome people involved, but I'm just as thankful to them!