Let it snow!

Ryan and I made the BEST snowman EVER!

Christmas Challenge!

# of pages in the 4 Gospels: 178

Days left until Christmas: 7

Experience of Reading the 4 Gospels in the New Testament to truly remember the reason for the season: Priceless

If you want to do it with me- it is 26 pages (rounded up) a day from Matthew to John!

Mysterious

The Lord works in mysterious ways. He really does. But I guess its not so much the mystery of his works, but that He works.

I've been emailing a friend and was relating a few difficult experiences that have happened recently and I made this observation:

Something I've been contemplating is how sometimes we hit that point where we think we just can't handle life anymore. Yet, the Lord always seems to test our limits further. But when he does, and we realize we can't handle it anymore, we learn that we can find strength in the Lord when we literally have none left. And by doing so prove to God and to ourselves what we are actually capable of.

I'm realizing how true that is. The Lord has a heavy hand in our lives. He is there and he is actively participating in my life! But however true that is I've noticed that sometimes when life is hard it just gets harder. No matter how hard I pray (and work) it just doesn't go away, neither does it get easier for awhile. But I've discovered the Lord does it on purpose. I'm supposed to be learning and becoming something.

And those times that I just can't handle it, when I literally don't have the strength, he does. I find it in him. So when I do push forward and I keep enduring to the end is when I prove to Him and to me that I can do this and I do it with Him.

As my roommate would say, "What a blessing!"

Meet the roommates...

I've always been grateful for good roommates. Thankfully I haven't had hardly any bad ones. However, this semester has been exceptional. So I want to introduce you to Apt. #8 (except for the men of course)!

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As you can see we have done an incredible amount of traveling together. And we all know what great bonding moments you experience on various travels. I know its pretty amazing that those fat bodies can make it up such high mountains. We all seem to have some weight issues.
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So thank you girls! For being "such a blessing!"
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I would just like to note that I am the tallest person there!
(That never happens!)

A tasty treat...

I shouldn't... but I do... and I like it!

Just combine a few of these:

*mint preferred

With a mug full of this:

*hazelnut is best

Hmmmmmmm. And enjoy!

It just makes me happy.

Study: Gratitude

I'm a copy-cat! Thanks for the idea Shalyn!

100 Things I'm Grateful for...

1. My incredible mom!
2. Uplifting music
3. My beautiful mountains!
4. An all to sensible father who keeps me in line
5. Christmas lights! (Yes ours are already up)
6. A good education
7. Fall leaves
8. Disney movies
9. Trials that continue to remind me of all my blessings
10. Laughter
11. Phone calls from my grandparents
12. Hugs
13. True friends... you know who you are!
14. Family History!
15. Jamba Juice
16. My blog!
17. Snowball fights
18. Good memories
19. Temples!
20. Scrapbooks
21. My journal
22. Thank you Cards
23. New friends
24. Good crys... yes I am grateful for them
25. Rain
26. Snowboarding
27. The Spirit helping me along the way
28. Horseback riding
29. A certain country song I like to sing REALLY loud
30. Books
31. Conference Issue Ensign
32. Brandon playing football with me all day!
33. My quilts tied by grandma
34. My house
35. String cheese
36. Views that take your breath away
37. My little shadow... Brittany
38. Chocolate Cake
39. Missionaries: Sis. Briggs, Sis. Smoot, Sis. Jones :D
40. My bishop
41. Smiles from strangers
42. Pictures!
43. A good recipe
44. Journey... yes the Band
45. My super duper laptop
46. Spending time with my family
47. New markers
48. Catching up with friends I love
49. Familysearch.com Indexing! You should all do it!
50. Impromptu get-togethers
51. Peace
52. Quotes. I'm a sucker for a good one
53. My jeep!
54. Hazelnut hot chocolate...hmmm
55. Kind words
56. Those good people who fix my computer!
57. Inspirational moments
58. The scriptures
59. Those inspirational moments WITH the scriptures!
60. My cell phone. At least I think I'm grateful for it
61. Men who will change my oil so I don't have to
62. Hymns:
63. If You Could Hie to Kolob
64. O My Father
65. I Stand All Amazed
66. Lord I Would Follow Thee
67. Praise to the Man
68. Scarfs... especially in Rexburg
69. BYU Idaho
70. Piano Music
71. Opportunities
72. Service
73. Good Health
74. Highlighters
75. People who REALLY care, and don't judge
76. Times to sacrifice
77. The BYUI Activities Program
78. Ivie Family Christmas Party
79. Card games
80. My tennis shoes
81. Hope...I'm VERY grateful for that
82. Those times you feel your heart ache and the only thing you can do is give it to the Lord
83. My camera!
84. Jokes
85. Hitting my target heart for an extended amount of time! Yeah for exercise!
86. The Quiet Study Section of the library
87. Flowers
88. Sunshine
89. Modern Medicine
90. Warm homemade bread
91. Holidays from school
92. A competitive game. Me competitive?
93. Temple Square
94. Tender Mercies
95. People who are FILLED with optimism
96. Sincere Compliments
97. Elastics
98. The Atonement
99. The Gospel
100. My Savior

A night out...

Daddy-Daughter Date: The Holy War Duel

I'm pretty sure this man is the best date around! There is nothing like wearing blue in a sea of red.

Me!

Photos by Stacey Gold. Isn't she awesome!!!

Book Report: Running with Angels

I really enjoyed this book. It's an easy read, but it has some powerful lessons about life and about learning to love ourselves.

It's Pamela Hansen's very real experience with morbid obesity, life's trials, and how to endure and overcome. What I really appreciate is her application of Ether 12:27 of making weak things strengths. Its a success story of self-mastery, and that is absolutely inspiring to me!

"Dreams can be achieved when they are turned into goals" (pp 185)

I would recommend it for a quick, inspiriation read! For sure! I'm going to have to go run a marathon now! :)

Goal #47

Goal #47: Povide opportunities for others to "experience" life

Okay, Okay... I'm not sure if you consider throwing parties allowing others to "experience" life, but it has been a great memory anyway. And it's been a great experience for my roommates and I to have fun with people we love!

Every other Thursday we have a party and invite anyone and everyone we know. The first week we had a Carmel Apple Party. We had carmel apples with chocolate, toffee, nuts, etc. Hmmm! They were so good! Shalyn also made some delicious carmel popcorn. At the end of the night we had carmel EVERYWHERE! It was great for clean checks that are also every Thursday. ha ha.

The Thursday before Halloween we had a Pumpkin Party. I made some of mom's fabulous Pumpkin Dump Cake, and Natalie made Great Harvest's recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread. It was incredible! We decided to get a big game of signs going when people came by (one of the best games EVER!). We had a good time. But I'm still a little bitter I only got a small piece of that dump cake. :)

Last night we had crepes. Another personal favorite. Flannel, Natalie, and I couldn't get them off the stove fast enough. We ended up making 9 batches of crepes. Ha ha... seriously! We were a mess.... especially after our whip cream fight. Oops...

It's such a blessing to have good people in our lives! Like Ralph Waldo Emerson said,

"The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it."

House of the Lord

And I will manifest myself to my people in mercy in this house.

D&C 110:7

Rexburg has had some unusally beautiful sunrises this week. I happened to catch one on my camera and these are a few glimpses of what I saw...

It was incredible.

Things I'm lovin' right now!

Quarter Slices at Great Harvest

(Everywhere else its free... but in Rexburg they charge the students 25 cents!) I highly recommend the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip! Hmmm!

Crunchy Leaves!

Fall is definitely my favorite time of year! I love the changing colors and brisk weather! I missed last fall since I was in Jerusalem. My mother knew how much I missed the leaves so she sent me a Ziploc FULL of them. Isn't she the best!

Frozen Grapes!

So I had never heard of anyone freezing grapes before this semester... but I LOVE it! It helps kick my popsicle addiction!

The Book: The Last Lecture

My grandmother recommended this book to me. It's a true story about a professor who got diagnosed with cancer and only has a few months to live. He is invited to give a "last lecture" and this is his story of his life and lessons learned. I really enjoyed it. If I was dying what would I give my "last lecture" on?

An Affair to Remember

I love this movie! It's a classic! It's got to be The Chick of all other Chick Flicks! Our apartment watched it the other day. The songs have been stuck in my head ever since. I just love this movie!

Our apartment Gratitude Wall!

We've been having so much fun with our "What a blessing" wall! For every blessing we can think of we make a dot and put it up on the wall! It's a great reminder everyday of the things that we're grateful for and what really make us happy. It's fabulous!

Goal #103

I have a new goal to put up on my 100 things to do list...

Goal #103 Get my picture on a Jones Soda!

Beauty: Teton Valley

Something I've been thinking about...

beau·ty

–noun, plural -ties.

The quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, color, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or pattern, or something else (as a personality in which high spiritual qualities are manifest).

These are some pictures I took this weekend while thinking about beauty:

Just for me

I got a voicemail from a favorite aunt of mine (one of my favorites!) the other day. I was walking through the parking lot when I was listening to it, and afterwards I had to sit down and cry. :) This is the quote she gave me...

Now remember:

You are braver than you believe.

You are stronger than you seem.

And you are smarter than you think."

-Christopher Robin

to Winnie the Pooh

Just remember that!