20. So This Is It

I never thought that I actually might enjoy writing a blog. When I originally learned we were going to do one for this class I was not excited. However, I think it has been a pretty good and fun experience overall. I expected a lot of my blog posts to be about my family because that was the focus of this class, but in reality I mostly posted about adventures that I had here at school. Sure I got a little homesick this semester, but I look back on all of the things I was able to accomplish and I am pretty proud! I'm not just proud of what I've learned actually attending classes (believe me that was a lot), but also just having the chance to be a college student. This semester has been truly great and looking back on my posts I can really see how I've changed as I've been here. I am not sure if I will continue this blog . . . make another one . . . or delete it, but it has been an adventure while I've had it! It is a great way for me to remember how much I've enjoyed my time here thus far!

19. Most Wonderful time of the Year

I can't believe that finals start in 11 days! This semester has really flown by! You can almost feel the buzz around campus as everyone is coming to the realization that we are almost done with the semester. I can hardly contain how excited I am to go home! However, I'm also kinda conflicted because I still have to focus on the finals that I am going to need to take. So how do I feel about what are going to be my first college finals? I actually feel surprisingly relaxed. It almost makes me feel like I might have a false sense of security that will eventually make me panic when finals are finally here. For now I will take the calm feeling though. I'm just going to put in the time to study and do my best. What else is there to do at this point anyway?

With finals so close I'm also making sure to focus on staying healthy! I can only imagine what it would be like to be sick AND have to take finals! That just sounds miserable! I'm paying special attention to getting on a better eating schedule and eating good foods high in vitamins. I'm also trying to make sure to get enough sleep which will be really important in the end! Overall, I'm feeling pretty prepared for these finals, but I also can't wait for them to be done so hopefully they go well!

18. #ShareTheGift

I recently received an email from a missionary with this video attached. I highly recommend it! Take the 2 minutes and 45 seconds to watch it! I promise it will not be a waste of your time plus it will get you in the Christmas Spirit!!!!

This video got me thinking about what my favorite Christmas gift (object) that I have received? I had a friend a couple of years ago give me a really thoughtful gift. It was a beautiful painting, a book with a hidden cut out compartment filled with goodies, and a lovely long note. Even when I think about it now it wasn't so much what I received, but how I received it and in turn how the gifts made me feel. As I pick out presents for my own family and friends it truly is the "thought that counts."

As I get absorbed into the holiday season I just hope that I can remember what it is really about. Family. Friends, And most importantly the birth of Christ.

Enclosed is the link to the video:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/uzjFEMmM0Xs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

17. It's Almost Christmas!

So coming back from Thanksgiving break was actually more difficult then I originally imagined that it would be. It was so nice to just be surrounded by family who loved and cared about me. Even when I was driving back I had the urge to just turn the car around and go back. I know that getting an education is really important which is why I am at school. So as hard as the next couple weeks of school will be (11 days to be exact, but who is counting) I know that I can endure and finish strong!

I am super blessed to have some pretty great roommates. I came home and my roommate Malia about tackled me she was so excited to see me! We both started unpacking our Christmas decorations and before we knew it we were both feeling better about being back! Our apartment looks a little bit Christmas Crazy, but I think it is good for us especially with finals so soon! I just hope that we can laugh our way through finals and find joy in our journey!

16. Pinterest Pie

Thanksgiving is all about pie! This year I made my very first pie. I wanted it to be something different though. I did not want to make the average apple pie . . .  so of course I went and looked on Pinterest:) I found an apple pie that looked delicious and there was a tree carved into it on the top. Yes it was kind of adventurous for a first time pie maker, but I was pretty excited to try it out!

My dad this past fall made bottles of homemade apple pie filling and it is delicious so I figured I would try it out with my lovely idea for a pie.

So this is what the pie looked like with the leaves all made and my tree trunk cut out before it was cooked. Not too bad right :)

So then I had to figure out how to color each of the leaves. I took a toothpick and some food coloring and then textured each of them to look like leaves. 

This is what the pie looked like after it was cooked. I'm not really sure why the crust split, but it still tasted pretty great! I wish I would have spread the food coloring a little bit more so that more of the leaves were colored, but overall I think it ended up looking okay for my first time! I was pretty proud of it and my family admired it before they sliced into it :)

15. Thanksgiving Traditions

Thanksgiving is always a time of family, fun, and food. However, it has also been one of my favorite family traditions as well. For as long as I can remember every year after Thanksgiving my sister and my two aunts would stay the night at my grandmas house. We would stay up late, eat leftovers, and just enjoy each others company. The next morning we would wake up to the smell of my grandma's homemade waffles. After devouring several each, we would begin the giant project of decorating my grandma's house for Christmas. We first would start by crawling into her crawl space in the basement and grab totes upon totes of Christmas decorations. By the time we unloaded all of them and placed each layer upon layer around the house it looked like Christmas threw up everywhere!

This year unfortunately I missed that. One of my aunts is on a mission to Michigan so it just was not the same to do it without her.

14. Cooks like to COOK!

One of the things that I was most excited to come home and do this week was to cook in my kitchen! I have a kitchen at BYU, but it just isn't the same as cooking in MY kitchen! I looked up tons of creative recipes on Pinterest (yes they have some good ones) and I finally decided on a few that I wanted to try. I showed them to my mom who just rolled her eyes and told me that I could cook whatever I wanted! My mom makes really good food don't get me wrong, but I really gained my love of cooking from my dad and both of my grandmothers. Over the years I have learned lots of neat tricks from them...and I cook all the time! The one rule in my house is that if you're cooking you have to clean up after yourself...needless to say after cleaning up after myself at college for the past few months it was going to be a piece of cake! I was so excited!

I decided to make a pound cake with a pumpkin bread shape within it.(pictured below courtesy of Pinterest)

As you can see I didn't have a pumpkin shape which was sad, but I managed to make a heart and it turned out pretty great so I was satisfied! Overall it was a very successful Pinterest pin and it was even more fun to make 1) because I was making it at home in MY kitchen 2) because I let both of my brothers help me make it! I love family . . . and food of course!

13. Home again!

It is Monday and I'm sitting at home on my coach writing this lovely post. Did you catch that? AT HOME!!! I am so excited to be home! What are the chances that all of my Friday classes would get cancelled apparently pretty good because it happened!!! Not only did I get to go home, but I got to travel with two of my best college friends from Idaho as well! Talk about an adventure!

The fun part about driving in the car for multiple hours is that there is a lot of time to talk. I know most people don't like to talk about high school and such, but with these girls we know all the same people and it is so fun to catch up on how everyone is doing! Especially hearing about all of our missionary friends!

We are starting to make it a tradition that every time that we come home we are going to take a picture next to the "Welcome to Idaho" sign. It is a perfect stretching spot for our legs plus we get to make super crazy poses on the side of the highway so why not? Caitlyn wore an interesting outfit to travel in this time! Basketball shorts and goulashes! I think she is trying to be a trend setter...we will see how that works out!

We all saw the sign for our exit after driving for about 4 hours! We were so excited to be home! We all love lots of things about school, but we also love where we live and our families! It was so fun to travel with them and also to grow up with them! We truly bond on these trips and I'm sure we will be forever friends because of it!

12. Christmas?!? But We Haven't Had Thanksgiving YET

After a brutal week of homework and studying my friend, Leticia(she goes by Tish) asked me if I wanted to go to the Lighting of the River Woods. She is from Utah so she knows about tons of cool things to do so of course I said YES! Let me tell you it was so fun! Everything was lit up with Christmas lights and we even got free hot cider!

It really was like a winter wonderland...minus the snow. There were so many people there. They started it off with Fireworks which we saw as we were attempting to find a parking spot. There were cool ice sculptures, live music, carriage rides, and.......wait for it.....drum roll please Santa Claus was there! Yes we had to wait in line to get a picture because why not! This would definitely be a fantastic date idea for any guys reading this I'm pretty sure they still have the lights up.

Overall it was the perfect stress reliever for me for the week plus it got me in the holiday mood and ready to go home for Thanksgiving! I can't wait for more adventures in the future with Tish because I'm sure we will have TONS!!!

11. Basketball Bliss

Basketball was always a part of my life in high school. Summer ball and school ball. It never had an off season. I never though I would miss it...Do I miss it now? That is a very good question.

"Basketball is not just a sport, it's a lifestyle."

I had the opportunity to watch my sister play in her first game of her Junior season of basketball. It was the first high school game she had not played with me on the court. Was it so fun for me to watch? Absolutely. I wouldn't change it for the world. Did it make me miss playing more than I can express in words? Absolutely.

My sister and I are two years apart. Play the same sports. Are relatively the same height. Needless to say we were always competing with each other. I'm not going to lie it was often a hard situation to be in. However since I've been away at college, I've truly begun to realize how much I enjoyed the opportunities we had together. They were some good times. Coming home to watch her and my old team play was such a blessing and an eye opening experience for me. I truly realized what I am missing in my life and now I guess I will just get to see where that will take me.

10. That BYU blue Experience

Where do I even begin to talk about my BYU experience! So many things have happened so far! I wasn't sure what to expect when I came to college here,,,but looking back I think it has both happily surprised and disappointed in some ways. My original plan was to come to BYU try-out for the track team, travel across the country with them, get straight A's, have a social life, go on lots of dates, meet my future eternal companion, and choose a major. Yes you could say that I had extremely high expectations to start off. I'm not saying that these goals have all necessarily gone out the window, but I would definitely say they have drastically changed.

My first and largest impacting "AHA" moment was probably that college is NOT like high school. I know to any of you who have gone to college that that is just a fact of life, but to me it was a new discovery. I never had to study for high school! Me the 4.0 Valedictorian. Boy here at college I feel like that is at least 70% of the homework. Tests are also so much harder! They truly baby the high school students. My grades will definitely be different especially this first semester.

Also a drastic change that I have had to cope with is that I have to prioritize what social events that I really want to participate in! In high school I was so busy with sports that my schedule (including social events) was largely already planned out for me.  Here at BYU there are events EVERYDAY!!! I really do love it, but it is also a challenge when I know I should be studying.

The terrific True Blue Foam

There's college dating...high school dating...and then there's BYU dating. It definitely needs its own category!!! BYU dating is so difficult to describe, but it has by far been the biggest shock to me. They always talk about how now people are "dating for marriage," but most of the dates that I have been on it doesn't really seem like that at all (not that that is necessarily a bad thing). Also the manners on dates is so different than what I am used to. Back home the guys opened the door for you. Kept good conversations going. Planned fun, inexpensive, group oriented, casual dates. Here it seems like either you people are going out to dinner or watching a movie in someone's apartment. There are so many crazy, creative, awesome things to do on campus! Why are boys not more creative?

Me being "scared" by the cougar by The Wall

As you can see BYU definitely has its perks and surprises and I'm enjoying my time here thus far and can't wait to continue this super fun journey!

9. Bursted Bubbles (Personal Narrative)

The water splashed up against the side of the pool, drenching the cold, hard cement. I looked around me. There were kids everywhere. So this is what swimming lessons are like, I thought as I skipped toward the pool in my ruffle-skirted swimsuit. I was taking lessons with my cousins. As I saw them, I slowed to a walk. They lined us up and separated us into classes. I stood nervously between my cousins Cheyenne, Sierra, Nathan, and Luke. I was taller than them, and about two years older. “Come this way!” our teacher cheerfully called.

We followed, in as straight of a line as excited children could manage. We all got into the chilly water. I clung to the wall, unsure of what else to do. The other six kids in the class kept experimenting with letting go of the wall. I, however, waited for instructions from the instructor. He slid confidently into the water and smoothly swam in front of us. “Okay, let’s swim to the other side. Ready. Go,” he said.

Before I knew what was happening, my cousins had turned into fish, splashing toward the opposite wall. Just do what they’re doing, I thought to myself as I pushed off of the wall. It felt like I was in a slow motion movie. I had pushed off hard enough that I felt like I was progressing toward the wall. However, I soon realized I was not and there was no way that I could return to where I had come from!  My limbs did not know what to do. I began to feel myself sinking. My legs felt useless as I kicked them under me. My arms flailed. I’m sure to the parents sitting on the side of the pool, I appeared to be doing an extremely ineffective and pathetic dog paddle. All of these movements were to no avail. I continued to sink.  The last thing I saw above the water was the image of my cousins nearing the wall and the splashing of the waves. My vision blurred.  My face became covered by the cool, chlorinated water.  I watched as the air bubbles sporadically rose toward the surface in a disconcerting way. All that I felt was panic, and then . . . everything became blurry . . . .

              *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *     

It was senior year, full of activities at every corner.

“Hey Cassidy, want to go scuba diving?” Caleb called from down the hall. Immediately, nervous jittery feelings came. That sounds so exciting and cool, I thought to myself. How do I tell him no?  

I heard the words, Caleb I’ll find out if I can go, but I’ll probably see you there.”

What did I just say?

I could not stop thinking about scuba diving all day. How was I going to scuba dive when I hated swimming?

When I finally arrived home, I immediately went to find my mom. She will know what to do, I thought. “Mom, Caleb asked me to go scuba diving tonight. I think it sounds super cool, but I hate swimming. What should I say?”

She looked right at me and said, “Tell him that you’ll go.”

WHAT? I thought to myself.

“You will have so much fun, Cassidy, and you know how to swim now. Maybe if you like scuba diving Dad will take you with him to some exotic place!” she teased.

I slowly walked down the carpeted stairs. My feet felt heavy as I took a deep breath and descended to my room to find my swimsuit. Maybe it will be fun, I thought.

I arrived at the pool.  “Cassidy! I’m so excited that you came!” my best friend, Brooke, said as she opened the Idaho Falls Aquatic Center door for me.

“Brooke, I am so nervous,” I said.

“Oh I am too, but I’ll stay by you and we can do it together!” As our group gathered, the nervous energy was thick. I heard snippets of conversation as people told of their past experiences scuba diving.

“One time my air tank was empty . . . just keep yawning to pop your ears . . . my goggles came off . . . my jacket wouldn’t fill with air.” My fight or flight response was rapidly kicking in.

What did I get myself into? We neared the water equipped in our giant vests with tubes attached. A tank about an arm’s length across was secured firmly to each of our backs.

“Okay each of you grab the tube with the button on the top. Push it down until it is completely full,” the instructor commanded. The “whizzing” echo of air being spurted into the fabric jackets was heard across the group. As I pushed my button solidly with my thumb, I slowly rose further out of the water. I felt like an astronaut with so much equipment on. The feeling of weightlessness as I rose only added to this effect.

“Now take a pair of goggles, rub this special liquid into them to keep them from fogging up underwater, and fasten them tightly onto your face,” the instructor said as she placed drops of a clear sticky liquid into each eyehole. “Take the mouth piece and place it into your mouth. Now, I want you to practice taking a breath. If you push the bottom of your mouthpiece it will take out the water from your mouth which will help you when you are underwater.” I placed the sliver of plastic into my mouth and pressed the front button, but nothing happened. The oxygen was filling my mouth much like breathing through a thick smoothie straw. “Now push the button to go down, and you will be able to breathe underwater. Go ahead. Try it.”

My mind immediately went into a panic! I am going to purposely submerge my body completely in this water and rely on this tank to give me oxygen! They must be crazy! This is like my worst nightmare and all the worst things that can happen in a horror film combined into one! I watched as one by one each of the members of my group slowly sunk out of sight. The last one to sink was Caleb. His vest was almost as big as him and his goggles were a dark blue. His eyes shone through the goofy goggles like excited tennis balls. His eyes seemed to smile encouragingly as he sunk out of view. You can do this Cassidy. Piece of cake, I encouraged myself as I pressed the button to descend and tried not to hyperventilate. The vision of water splashing was the last thing I saw before I was completely submerged. You did it! I thought as I began to enjoy the disorienting underwater atmosphere. I took a deep breath and watched as the bubbles rose from my mouthpiece toward the surface in a fluid motion. I felt relaxed and calm.

Our group after scuba diving! We obviously had a blast!!!

8. Sammy's Sweetness

Going to Sammy's was such a blast! Not only was the food great, but the shakes were THE BEST!!!! There is a reason that on their sign that it says "Sammy's Pie Shake
Parlor."  They had a large array of shakes anywhere from Apple Pie to Oreo Creme. I watched them make my shake as they took an actual slice of pumpkin pie and blend it into my shake! Talk about pumpkiny goodness! It was so flavor packed and pretty much perfect! I would definitely eat one again!!!!

Our group had definitely chosen the place to be! A group of 6 girls consisting of Lara Hollis, Emilee Severe, Jade Kho, Courtney Hull, and Madelyn Clegg all decided to come to this burger place and boy was it fun! Sammy's was on point! 

Our conversation was slightly random as we ate and talked about Disney movies, food, majors, and of course our upcoming Restaurant Review project. At one point Jade said, "Wait...(awkard silence) look at the moon it is so cool." We all burst out laughing at the randomness, but yes the view of the moon was cool:) 

I was given the super fun responsibility of picture taker and as such I get to post some of the lovely picture on this blog:) It was definitely a fun filled night! This project has definitely been my favorite and most delicious so far!! 

7. Food Friend Friday

Friday night and I was going to be stuck doing a school project. Lucky for me it was a Restaurant Review!

I mean isn't that the best homework ever! Having to go out to and eat food! A group of 6 girls going to a burger place downtown! That pretty much just describes an adventure by itself!
I picked up Lara and off we went on an adventure to find Sammy's.

 Neither of us had ever been or even seen the place. Lucky for us technology(a.k.a. Siri) was able to direct us to our destination of warm fries and creamy shakes with ease. We were the last car to arrive and as we pulled up I was a little bit worried about finding a parking place because it seemed like there were quite a few cars. Lucky for us there was a spot right in the front! YAY! That is always the best feeling to find a spot like that! We walked toward the building and peaked inside there was our group just about to order! Perfect timing!!!

The shop was small consisting of a large swirling counter across half the room where those old fashioned looking cushioned seats sat around. One wall was lined entirely in polaroid pictures! The other walls including the ceiling contained drawings, words, and doodles done by customers. The shop would only able to seat around 20 people total. We decided we would instead sit outside on a picnic table with an umbrella. We all anxiously waited for our food. This was going to be a fun night I could just tell!

6. Research Paper Reflection

My initial reaction to hearing that we were writing a research paper was "Oh no this is going to take awhile." Research papers in my previous experience have taken a long time and I often lost enthusiasm for the topic quickly. However, being able to relate my topic, the Great Depression, to my own family was a great way to keep me interested! Researching in the library at first was really difficult, however, by the second day I had over a dozen sources. I wish that I would have taken more time on my annotated bibliography by adding in quotes that I wanted to use into the actual document. I think this would have helped me to stay more organized in the beginning.

After gathering all of my research, I made a general outline and I began to write. I had in mind a story that I had heard from my Grandma Rogers, but I did not have access to the story until much later in my research process. This made relating my topic to my family very difficult from the beginning. After the long struggle of trying to get everything written and after acquiring some family sources, I finally felt like I was getting somewhere with my paper.

I took a draft over to a friend to have them read through it. They were definitely not the best peer reviewer. They did not add any corrections. I also tried going to the writing center. There was not a line, but they were short on consultants. When I finally did get help I did not feel like it was really worth the time that I went in. Needless to say I was frustrated. I instead emailed it to my mom who then recruited my grandma on the great adventure of editing, revising, and revamping my paper.

After many many MANY drafts I finally felt semi-satisfied, but I was still not done. My mom facetimed me one last time, technology is truly a blessing, and we read aloud my paper fixing a few oddly worded places. I was finally able to save my draft as a FINAL!!! Yay! I printed it out and I felt so much relief just to have it done. As I looked over my draft, however, I found a couple other mistakes . . . I think it just goes to show that you truly can't go over a paper too many times!

I really did love being able to research and learn about my family through this project. If I had to do it over again the biggest change that I would have made would be to get my family story FIRST! Before I even started researching! It would have been easier to find a topic to go with the story rather than a story to go with my topic. I think that talking to Sister Steadman and my Mom was by far the most helpful in writing this paper! It was good to write, but now I am just happy that it is done.

5. My Idaho Adventure October 2014

This past weekend I had the opportunity to go and visit my family! I was even able to bring two of my friends from Texas with me! The 4 hour drive was definitely worth it to see them! Both my sister and brother are almost taller than me...which is a weird feeling! It was so fun to just hold and play with my baby sister! Mollie and Savannah ( my Texas friends) were so cute with my siblings! My little sister kept running around saying "Princess Mollie! Come see this! Princess Mollie! Come sit by me!" It was so cute! Savannah helped my sister, Aspen gather a whole handful of worms to feed to our chickens. It was a trip full of adventure and so many firsts!

My first time taking a picture with the Welcome to Idaho sign!

Mollie's first time digging potatoes (we even let her dig purple ones)!

 First time Mollie and Savannah had ever been to Idaho! Savannah's first time being around so many people from one family!

 Mollie and Savannah's first time going to the Idaho Falls Temple and my first time actually walking around the whole temple :)

 First time taking friends home to meet my family! First time taking fall pictures with these two gorgeous friends of mine!

 All of these "firsts" on our trip made me think about all of the many past memories I have had and how much I am truly enjoying where I'm at in this moment. I am on a path that I hope will lead me to happiness. A path that has bumps along the way, but also a path that has beauty and adventure as well! Life is truly a journey that should not just be endured, but enjoyed! I am so lucky to be able to be on this path with my amazing family and the great examples that my friends are. I know Heavenly Father has truly put certain people along our paths so that we can help each other along. I may not know exactly what is going to be all along my path in life, but right now I just know that I'm moving forward.

4. A Great General Conference! An Analysis of Elder Klebingat's October 2014 Talk

In the October 2014 LDS General Conference, Elder Jorg Klebingat's talk titled "Approaching the Throne Of God With Confidence" used effective word choice and tone to help us feel more confident in God's presence.

Elder Klebingat gave us six points:
1. Take responsibility for your own spiritual well-being
2. Take responsibility for your own physical well-being
3. Embrace Obedience
4. Repent Quickly
5. Forgive One Another
6. Accept struggles and trials

Elder Klebingat's simplistic word choice especially in his six cues helps them to be well remembered. His points are not long, but short phrases. He wants these points to be remembered. Each of these cues are simple as are the way he portrays each of them to apply. His use of explanation and examples following each point makes them relate-able and memorable to his large audience both within the conference center and those listening my other media forms.

Elder Klebingat used a straightforward yet caring tone to deliver his message. He began by saying that "he hoped he would not offend anyone" displaying his carefulness in his choice of words. He then proceeded to give direction that could be applied to every individual who was hearing him speak. His advice was directly given. However, at the end of his talk he gave this encourage message. "DO and BE your very best!...Yours is the privilege...If you want it, to come to know for yourself, today or soon, that you pleasing God in spite of your shortcomings...Living in this manner, you can truly retain a remission of your sins." These words create a tone of hope that helps the audience want to apply his six points.

3. Charlie Chaplin's Speech Analysis Reflective Essay

There were so many things that happened to my essay this past week. I really struggled to find a speech to begin with. However, with the help of my friend, Adam, I was able to find Charlie Chaplin's speech. I struggled with where to begin. How do I start  analyzing this speech? What is this speech even talking about? I spent the beginning of my paper researching. I learned about the time period of his speech which helped me to more fully understand how powerful his speech truly was. I read through the speech about four times which for me was extremely effective. I also went through and color coded examples of several of the points that I wanted to make. I wish that I would have taken my essay to the writing center to have them review over it, but I had two of my building mates read over my rough draft. After meeting with Sister Steadman, I felt pretty good about the content of my paper, but I needed to include more details to reach the length. I sent a copy to my amazing mom after I added more information and she replied with helpful feedback. Overall, I feel like it was extremely effective for me to have several people read my paper. I was only able to do this because I organized my time which was really important! However, next time I think I will take it to the writing center as well.

2. Family Fairytale

Once upon a time, in a far away place there lived a family in a giant castle. They were all royalty and lived in a giant castle where they all constantly worked together, cleaned together, read together, ate together, and never fought or disagreed on anything. This sounds like a pretty great story doesn't it. Okay so maybe this is not exactly my family fairytale, but mine also will have a happy ending.

According to a New York Times Article, titled The Stories That Bind Us, "The [children] who know a lot about their families tend to do better when they face challenges." So what should these children know about their families? I think that knowing about where their parents grew up, what they did when they were their age, what struggles they went through, or simply knowing where they graduated from can make a big difference.

The Proclamation to the Family states that "Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ." Love is truly spelled T-I-M-E. We must take the time to share with our family the struggles we have overcome so that we can grow as a family.

There have been many times over the years that I have loved spending time with my family! Some of my favorites, partially because I am away from home now, are the fun family pictures we took together. Getting my whole family together to take pictures was definitely an adventure, but I will never forget the times we shared as we did. The saying "a picture is worth a thousand words" says it all.

I know that by the power of the temple that my family will be together for eternity and I am so excited because I truly love them. Family is one of Heavenly Father's greatest gifts that he gave to us and I am so happy that he did. I know as we talk the time to share our stories that our families will really be strengthened.

For the full New York Times article click here

For a brief summary of the article click here

1. Things As They Really Are: A Talk By David A. Bednar

"Elder David A. Bednar's talk entitled "Things As They Really Are" is the inspiration behind this post. We each individually have a purpose here on earth. We came here to experience "tenderness, love, kindness, happiness, sorrow, disappointment, pain, and even the challenges of physical limitation in ways that prepare us for eternity." Everyone has their own challenges and struggles, but we are not alone. As Bednar states simply "there are lessons we must learn and experiences we must have."

We have the blessing of a body that is likened to a "temple" many times throughout scripture. A temple is sacred, respected, clean, and is used for service. If our bodies are like temples shouldn't we also work to make sure that our bodies are also doing these things? Satan was not given a body and as a result does everything in his power to make us confused, unhappy, fearful, or  insecure about the beauty of our own bodies. Our body is truly a gift. We are literally Sons and Daughters of a King. As Bednar states "To those of us who know and understand the plan of salvation, any defiling of the body is rebellion and a denial of our TRUE identity as Sons and Daughters of God,"

So who are we really becoming? 

Who do we want to become?

There are many false images throughout our world, but we must stay true to who we are. True human interaction develops long lasting relationships and strengthens us. Elder Bednar counsels that "For your happiness and protection, I invite you to study more diligently the doctrine for the plan of salvation-and to prayerfully ponder."

Remember who you are, but also whose you are.

For the full talk: Click here.