The 12 Reasons I Am Going To Miss Utah

These are the things I am going to miss most about Utah:

1. The ridiculous proximity to several temples.  When I moved out there I was determined to attend the temple, well, religiously.  How did I do?  Not bad.  Not impeccably, but God helped me make it a priority.

2. DownEast Basics.  Basically this is where I buy all of my dresses.  They are one of the only stores I've found that sells dresses that are truly modest...that don't need any altering.

3. How late the sun stays up in the summer.  It's just no like that in So Cal.

4. The lack of traffic.

5. Thunderstorms.  They happen a lot more in Utah than they do here and I am bummed to be missing them this summer.

6. The way the Draper temple looks on the south mountain bench as the sun comes up.

7. Fry sauce.  I dislike both ketchup and mayo, but I'm down with the fry sauce.

8. Seven Peaks.  I went 4 times in my last 13 days in Utah.  It, alone, it to thank for the current depth of my tan.

9. Feeling special.  I just now realized this.  In my Utah wards people always made me feel different...but in a special way.  Like I was some kind of flavor of the week...not just your normal old vanilla.

10. The boys.  I never dated an LDS boy until I moved to Utah, and I dated more than one during my time there.  Obviously, none of them ended "ideally" (marriage), but it was nice to entertain the possibility, as opposed to California, where I feel like I may as well commit to a life of singlehood and celibacy.

11. People.  A few in particular who I think know who they are.

12. Teaching the gospel every day.  Both the most trying and the most sacred experience of my life.

Teenagers Give the Best Advice

On one of the last days of school I asked one of my classes to give me their best piece of life advice.  This is what they said.

"Don't doubt yourself and just keep following Christ."

"Have fun."

"No matter what, trust in God.  If you have faith, all will be well."

"Don't let anyone who isn't important to you tell you what to do.  Always turn to the Lord no matter what.  Never talk bad about anyone, just because you may not like them.  ALWAYS be happy!  Life is too short to not be happy.  I feel it is the most important thing in this life."

"When life has you down, always remember you can find a way back up."

"Nothing if worth comes easily.  Love when there is love to be had.  Your future is as bright as your faith- Pres. Monson.  You can't fully embrace the future until you fully embrace the past.  Matthew 19:26"

"What matter is between you and the Lord, not what others think of you.  No matter what, no matter what, if you are striving to be the best person you can be with an eye single to the glory of God, then everything is going to be okay.  Your joy will be complete when you stand in front of your Savior and know you did your best."

"Wait for the right one.  He will come.  Remember everything happens for a reason.  That alone has gotten myself and my family through a lot."

"Make many babies.  One of them may find a cure for cancer or something like that."

"No matter what happens, life goes on.  Things will always change, just embrace it and make the best of it."

"STAY OUT OF DEBT"

Love them.

Cutest Baby Ever

Today I am grateful for babies!  Especially this one.  If you have never watched this video, you really need to- it will make you feel good!  I really need to make a baby of my own.

What are you grateful for today?

April 23, 2012- The Word of God

I know it's been a few days since I've blogged.  I get so discouraged and then just start putting it off.  And then eventually I am never writing again.  But my writing today without having written the past few days is me trying to develop faith in myself that I can do differently than I've done before- that I can do better.

Today I am grateful for the word of God.  This morning was a hard morning.  Woke up feeling so angry at myself.  Also felt fearful of teaching one of my classes.  But teaching that class made things so much better.  I LOVE to teach the gospel.  True doctrine, understood, changes not only behavior, but attitudes, hopes, and outlooks.

Jacob 2:8 reads:

And it supposeth me that they have come up hither to hear the pleasing word of God, yea, 

the word which healeth the wounded soul.

Nothing can calm my troubled heart like the word of God!  I am going to include a list of scriptures from the bible (BoM and D&C will have to come on another day) I have found particularly helpful in turbulent times.  Please add any you may have!

Proverbs 3:5-6

Matthew 5:44-45

Matthew 6:44

Luke 13:32-33

John 14:18

John 14:27

John 16:33

Romans 8:18

Romans 8:28

Romans 8:38-39

1 Corinthians 2:9

James 1:12

1 Thessalonians 4:18 pretty well sums up the point of this post!

What are you grateful for today?

April 19th, 2012 - Saying Sorry

Today I am grateful for the fact that I'm allowed to say "I'm Sorry".  I had a bit of a falling out with one of my classes today.  I have a few students who love to tempt me.  I have not yet developed the ability to act and speak by the spirit unconditionally.  I was provoked and I didn't know how to teach the gospel effectively.  So I snapped.  A student responded.  I snapped some more.
Then I walked out.
Then I cried.
Then I talked to my principal who is wonderful.
I knew what I wanted to do.  I wanted to go back in, say i was sorry, and teach my class.

Now, I really am a mellow teacher, it takes quite a bit to throw me off kilter.  I love my students, and I think that many of them love me.  But I had some students who really went too far, really overstepped their bounds.  They had plenty of fault.  But I didn't behave perfectly.  I love being able to say "I'm sorry".  It disarms people so quickly.  The trick is that you can't be expecting the other person/people to say sorry back.

My principal offered to give them a "talking-to", but I resisted.  I have a fear of giving away authority and don't like anyone dealing with my students but me.

So I went back in and said I was sorry for snapping.  The student who I thought really disrespected me informed me that he misheard me, and what he said really wasn't rude at all in the context of what he thought  I said.  Then 3 or 4 more students apologized also.  Others may have felt sorry.  Others will learn their lesson about remorse on a day that is not today.

Then I taught my class.  It was a good class.  I feel really embarrassed that I allowed my emotions and insecurities to get the best of me, but I am working on learning to forgive myself.

What are you grateful for today?

*By "snapped" I want everyone to know that I didnt yell, throw things, or do anything cruel or irrepairable.

April 18th, 2012- AzMarie

I am grateful for AzMarie.  I LOVE this woman!  This is AzMarie, she is one of the models on this cycle of America's Next Top Model.  She is very androgynous, meaning she can be both masculine and feminine.  She has pretty masculine characteristics and sleeve tattoos.  When the other girls wear mini-skirts and tons of make-up, she wears denim jackets, boots, and goes bare-faced.  She also has a shaved head, as you can tell from the picture.  I love how she is so confident.  She is fine with being different and with being herself.  It's sexy, really.  I am grateful for her example of what it means to be a unique human being.

What are you grateful for today?

April 17th, 2012

Today I am grateful for America's Next Top Model.  Because I love it.  I am also grateful for the internet and for Hulu.com because I can watch it whenever I want to.

What are you grateful for today?

April 16th, 2012

Today I am grateful for this top which can be found here.  It is the perfect Bikram top!  Unfortuantely, you can't really tell much from it by the picture.  it looks like a pink tank top!  But it is actually neon pink (fun!) and super meshy and breathable.  I want one in every color for yoga.

What are you grateful for today?

April 15th, 2011

Today I am grateful for Paul Gardner and Kaela Worthen (soon to be Gardner).  They helped me file my taxes at 10 pm tonight (April 15th).  They are also great at not judging me.  They also make me feel like I'm important to them and like they want to spend time with me even though they both have extremely busy schedules and a wedding coming up in three weeks.  I would say you should get to know them, but I don't actually want you to because then they'll have to split their time between even more things which means less time for me.  So don't get to know them, just find your own Paul and Kaela.

What are you grateful for today?

April 14th, 2011

I am grateful for Pizzeria Limone.  Uhm...yum.  It's in Cottonwood Heights, which is my favorite area in the Salt Lake Valley.  Went here in a date (also grateful for that) and it was delish.  We had the Limone and the Caprese pizzas.  They put slices of lemon on the pizza...rind and all.  SO good.  So grateful.

What are you grateful for?

April 13th, 2012

Yesterday I was grateful for relative political peace in this country.  I don't have to be afraid of supporting a specific candidate, holding up a sign, or voting a certain way.  You should really be grateful too.

I'm also grateful for Anderson Cooper because he is such a babe and it is my personal dream for him to interview me.  I need to write a really controversial book on some really relevant social or political issue...

What are you grateful for?

April 12, 2012

Today I am grateful for my wonderful students.  We had a conversation about grace today.  Often, we think of Christ "making up the difference".  Like we need to score a million points to get to heaven.  We score points by  "being good".  Maybe we get 500,000 points or so.  Then Christ comes in and "makes up the other 500,000 or so that we didn't do ourselves.  I see this as flawed.  We can't do anything to make us DESERVING of eternal life and progression.  There is no way we could live a life that would merit such an awesome destiny.  Christ has scored "a million points" for all of us.  Everything we do to "be good" we do because of the strength, mercy, and wisdom provided us by the abounding love of the Savior.  We don't do anything right on our own.  We are such unprofitable servants.

So then I asked the class, "If we can't earn our way to Heaven, if we can never do enough to make ourselves worthy of it, when why should we 'be good'?  Whats the point?"

Queue the Holy Ghost.

I had some of my own ideas, but I didn't ask it looking for a specific answer, I was just curious about what they would say.  They are so wise!  I heard a lot of "We obey God because we love God."  How holy is that attitude, to obey not because you fear punishment or even want reward, but because you LOVE God.  (Side note- I think that a love of God's children naturally follows a love for God.)  We also talked about having a desire to become more like our savior, not just for this life, but for the eternities.

I am a grace girl.  Whenever the works vs. grace issue comes up, I always plant myself firmly on the side of grace.  I don't believe it is works, not even in part.  It is by grace that we are saved.

I guess I'm also grateful for grace.

April 11th, 2012

Today I am grateful for my health. I'm grateful that my body can heal itself. Imagine if they didn't imagine if every cut, bruise, or scrape we had ever gotten was still on our body. We'd be a mess. Imagine if we need to be sewn up for even the smallest cuts, instead of our bodies just taking care of itself. Imagine if broken bones needed to be welded together with outside materials instead of just mending themselves back together. Imagine if our bodies had no way of fighting viruses (viri?) and bacteria and we had to take "medicine" to fight them for it (I'm talking about to fight off the everyday potential threats tha our bodies take care of without us even knowing it). Imagine if our body didn't have the (disgusting) responses to rid itself of foods eaten that shouldn't have been and a doctor had to go into our tummy and pump it out. Loved Elder Nelson's most recent conference talk. Points out some wonderful reasons for why we should be grateful for out bodies.

More specifically, I am grateful I don't have cervical cancer.