It's that time of year, where you look back at all that has gone on, and you can see all the ways you've been blessed. You can see where you've struggled, and decide on things you want to change.
I don't make New Year Resolutions. I, generally, have time to sit and contemplate the things I want to change at Snowbird. There's something about being up there, at the end of summer, out in the beautiful mountains, where you can feel closer to Heavenly Father than you do in the crazy, busy-ness that goes on down in the valley. That being said, I'm not going to post any goals or resolutions, but I want to share some things I'm grateful for.
I have to say that the last year has been amazing in many ways! Amazing in good ways and amazing in bad ways. I feel like I've been being a downer for the last while, and I don't like that I've become that way, so I'm working on fixing that (I think I may have stated a resolution ;)).
I've been serving in the LDS Mid-Singles program in Davis County for nearly a year. For those that don't know, midsingles are singles in many various circumstances from divorced, widowed, and unmarrieds between the ages of 31-45 years old. I've probably said this before, but I would never have imagined me being a leader like this. When I started showing up for the weekly religion classes about 19 months ago, my plan was to attend the class, because I needed the spiritual uplift and get out of there. I was shy and nervous, and didn't want to be noticed. Then one day someone noticed me, and welcomed me in, and it felt right, so I stuck to it. Through this program I have met a lot of amazing people that I have grown to love! I've also learned many, many things! Some things I sort of wish I hadn't, but oh, well! Overall, I can't believe I'm the same person that walked in there not that long ago! I've been able to step out of my comfort zone, that had me sitting on the back row, by the door, with my phone in hand, so I could escape, to being in front of many, many people and feeling completely comfortable. I'm not saying that I'm always completely comfortable, but it's been amazing, because I have moments where I'm nervous and shy, but I just have to put on that "leader persona" and I can walk up there and do what needs to be done, and the nervousness and shyness dissipate. I'm grateful for that! I'm grateful for the wonderful people I've been able to associate with! I'm still in shock to think that I accompanied Emmy nominated violinist, Jenny Oaks Baker. It was thrilling! Terrifying, but thrilling!
I'm so grateful for a loving and supportive family! I don't know what I would do without my mom, my brother, sister-in-law and their kids, and the support I can feel from my dad! I'm thankful for all of my nephews and niece! I'm grateful for each of their own identities, with their personalities, talents and all that comes with them. Ford is brilliant and beautiful and so talented, and knows so much! I'm grateful for his testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! Ev is the funniest kid I know. He's really smart, and is an amazing, athletic boy! Ady is hilarious and darling and my little twin! Akston has been a comfort to me these past few months, as I get to cuddle him and rock him to sleep. I am blessed!
I'm grateful for the people I've been able to serve with in young womens. I'm amazed at the strength of the youth in the stake! There are so many that have amazing gifts, talents, and testimonies. I've loved getting to know them and see them grow up.
I'm grateful for the abilities I've been given! Heavenly Father has blessed me in so many ways, and I'm so grateful! I'm in awe, knowing that He knows me, and knows my needs, and loves me. I'm amazed that I can receive answers to prayers, and that even when I don't like those answers, and I keep wanting different answers, that I still know when my prayers are answered.
I wanted to share this video , as the new year is upon us. I hope you enjoy it and take advantage of the new beginning that we all have!
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Last Sunday was the 4th Annual MidSingles Christmas Music Devotional: "God Loved Us So He Sent His Son." It was amazing! I'm so grateful for all those that participated and helped and put it together. One of my friend's, that was pretty much in charge, mom said that this was the best one she'd been to, and she'd been to them all. This was my second one to participate in. The choir was amazing, really. I was nervous the whole time for how it would come off, but they were great!
It had been a huge weight on my shoulders, and on Saturday, I finally felt that weight lift, knowing that I'd done all I possibly could, and that had to be enough. The Saturday before, I let weaknesses of mine show that some had never seen, and didn't know what to do about me. Thinking about breaking down and crying in front of so many is somewhat embarrassing, but at the same time hilarious! Nothing was working, and people weren't there, and by the end of the rehearsal I was a disaster. Thank heavens for my friend, Tiffany, stepping in and taking care of organizing people to help decorate. Poor Gary and Vaughn looked at me like they'd never seen anything like that, and didn't know what to do. I had asked for people to bring trees and lights and garlands, if they had any available, and some guy came up to me afterwards and told me that that was not going to work, and asked me if I'd ever done anything like that and actually had it work. I knew people would come through, and I had done it before, and it worked! The guy apologized a few days later.
The program was amazing! There were many talented soloists, duets, ensembles, both vocalists and instrumentalists. I was thrilled to be able to accompany one of the choir songs, and not have to accompany more than that. I loved getting to sing! I was able to sing in one of the ensembles, and it was accompanied by a strings ensemble and piano. It was so cool!
I'd been spending so much time, getting the decorations made for these trees, and other things for that, plus a house I'm working on, it took a while for me to get Christmas up in our house. It's up and I love it, other than the guy cut the bottom of the tree really crooked, so we have the leaning tree of Layton in our house. When I say leaning, I'm not even kidding. I turned it so it's leaning more towards the wall now, but it's WAY slanted! Having the Christmas spirit has been a little more difficult this year than past years with the stress of activities and performances that have been happening, Mom's been way sick for almost 2 months, but last night she seemed much better, and my mood has put a damper on things. I'm trying to be better, though.
So, you know when you're in an uncomfortable situation, there are those automatic reactions to fight or fly. Well, flying is my way to cope. I have to escape. A couple months ago, I had gone to a fireside/devotional, and saw someone that I care a lot about with someone, and my reaction was, "oh my heck.... I have to get out of here." I sat there and kept telling myself I'm a grown up, I can handle things and be mature about the whole situation. Well, that talk lasted about a verse and a half of the opening song, I'm not even kidding, I was out of there! Well, it's been a couple months, and you'd think I would be fine by now. So, I was up singing in the ensemble at the devotional when this other someone walked in and went and sat next to the original someone. It took all I had to stay where I was. Holy cow! What's the deal?! The rest of the devotional went on, and I kept focused on the performers (apparently so focused that it looked like I was checking one of them out, but really I was watching the piano keys not anything else :)), and didn't escape. I was so proud of myself. Isn't that ridiculous!? Thank heavens for family that was there to distract me afterwards, and responsibilities that got me back to being able to be me. We had the fastest clean up of the Bountiful Regional Center, ever! I was thrilled so I didn't have to do it by myself yesterday.
Last night we had our annual Church side Christmas FHE. It used to be that we'd get together and eat dinner and sing carols. Now that Grandma isn't with us anymore, and Darlene lives in Mesquite during the winter, it has changed. It was fun, though!
Last week two of Collin's kids had little programs for their tumbling and dancing. Ev is an amazing little tumbler! Ady is amazing on the bar at tumbling, and then quite the little dancer. She had a mirror off stage, but right by her, that she was totally hamming it up, loving watching herself. So funny!
I'm soon to be released from serving in the stake young women, which is heart breaking to me! I've loved young womens. Two weeks ago, I left an Evening of Excellence, and walked out saying, "This is why I love young womens!" Wednesday night, Mom got a call asking if she'd be okay with me being released to serve in my ward. She said no, because of all of my other responsibilities, but here I am the new primary secretary. Hopefully, I'll be able to feel comfortable in this position being able to serve with kids soon.
It had been a huge weight on my shoulders, and on Saturday, I finally felt that weight lift, knowing that I'd done all I possibly could, and that had to be enough. The Saturday before, I let weaknesses of mine show that some had never seen, and didn't know what to do about me. Thinking about breaking down and crying in front of so many is somewhat embarrassing, but at the same time hilarious! Nothing was working, and people weren't there, and by the end of the rehearsal I was a disaster. Thank heavens for my friend, Tiffany, stepping in and taking care of organizing people to help decorate. Poor Gary and Vaughn looked at me like they'd never seen anything like that, and didn't know what to do. I had asked for people to bring trees and lights and garlands, if they had any available, and some guy came up to me afterwards and told me that that was not going to work, and asked me if I'd ever done anything like that and actually had it work. I knew people would come through, and I had done it before, and it worked! The guy apologized a few days later.
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| Here are the decorations! Now imagine the stage filled with people. It turned out really well, and people were amazing to be there and we got it done so quickly! (My camera has a short in it, so none of the other pics turned out well)
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I'd been spending so much time, getting the decorations made for these trees, and other things for that, plus a house I'm working on, it took a while for me to get Christmas up in our house. It's up and I love it, other than the guy cut the bottom of the tree really crooked, so we have the leaning tree of Layton in our house. When I say leaning, I'm not even kidding. I turned it so it's leaning more towards the wall now, but it's WAY slanted! Having the Christmas spirit has been a little more difficult this year than past years with the stress of activities and performances that have been happening, Mom's been way sick for almost 2 months, but last night she seemed much better, and my mood has put a damper on things. I'm trying to be better, though.
So, you know when you're in an uncomfortable situation, there are those automatic reactions to fight or fly. Well, flying is my way to cope. I have to escape. A couple months ago, I had gone to a fireside/devotional, and saw someone that I care a lot about with someone, and my reaction was, "oh my heck.... I have to get out of here." I sat there and kept telling myself I'm a grown up, I can handle things and be mature about the whole situation. Well, that talk lasted about a verse and a half of the opening song, I'm not even kidding, I was out of there! Well, it's been a couple months, and you'd think I would be fine by now. So, I was up singing in the ensemble at the devotional when this other someone walked in and went and sat next to the original someone. It took all I had to stay where I was. Holy cow! What's the deal?! The rest of the devotional went on, and I kept focused on the performers (apparently so focused that it looked like I was checking one of them out, but really I was watching the piano keys not anything else :)), and didn't escape. I was so proud of myself. Isn't that ridiculous!? Thank heavens for family that was there to distract me afterwards, and responsibilities that got me back to being able to be me. We had the fastest clean up of the Bountiful Regional Center, ever! I was thrilled so I didn't have to do it by myself yesterday.
Last night we had our annual Church side Christmas FHE. It used to be that we'd get together and eat dinner and sing carols. Now that Grandma isn't with us anymore, and Darlene lives in Mesquite during the winter, it has changed. It was fun, though!
Last week two of Collin's kids had little programs for their tumbling and dancing. Ev is an amazing little tumbler! Ady is amazing on the bar at tumbling, and then quite the little dancer. She had a mirror off stage, but right by her, that she was totally hamming it up, loving watching herself. So funny!
I'm soon to be released from serving in the stake young women, which is heart breaking to me! I've loved young womens. Two weeks ago, I left an Evening of Excellence, and walked out saying, "This is why I love young womens!" Wednesday night, Mom got a call asking if she'd be okay with me being released to serve in my ward. She said no, because of all of my other responsibilities, but here I am the new primary secretary. Hopefully, I'll be able to feel comfortable in this position being able to serve with kids soon.
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Remember my dating post from last February? Read here. There are men out there that totally surprise me with how unaware, mean, rude, etc. they can be. However, I'm not going to talke about that tonight. I'm going to talk about the crazy women out there!
The other night I was at Cheesecake Factory after a midsingles temple night. I happened to end up sitting in a booth with a group of men. Fun for me :) One guy had all of these abilities and experiences, and one of the other guys asked him why he wasn't married. I thought it was kind of a funny conversation, because I've only had that sort of conversation with women. So, guy A, with the experiences said he's ready to be married, but it's just not happening yet. He said that he has moments when he thinks I could totally marry this girl, but he waits 6 months, and by that time the girl stops her fake behavior and then she's not what he wants, or she lies about her beliefs/standards, even to talking about how great her ward is, just to fine out that she's not a member of the church after dating for a while. Listening to this, I just thought, OH.MY.GOSH! I can't stand women like that! These stupid women are out there ruining things for all these other great women! I'm grateful that I'm not one of those women. I'm the same person whether I'm dating someone or being in front of people or being by myself.
Then there is the girl that is the total charmer. She loves to have a following, she loves to have a following of men and women. She's a great communicator, makes you feel like you are so important. She goes out with lots of men, and sucks them right in. She then opens up to them, some, and they open up a ton! They tell her all of their past things, good or bad, and then she takes what they say, and use that information to warn other women. So not a good situation! Once again, the men are being chased away from decent women, because the men are wary about opening up, again; and don't want to be around women that that one woman may have been around.
Then there are all of the girls that are negative and put down EVERY guy they run into. Really?! I have to say that people are going to act the way they're being treated. If you treat them like they're dumb, they're going to act like it with you.
People deserve to be treated wonderfully! Men, women, everyone needs to be treated with respect! Be honest. Be careful. Be someone that someone can trust!
Watch or read this. It's a great message!
The other night I was at Cheesecake Factory after a midsingles temple night. I happened to end up sitting in a booth with a group of men. Fun for me :) One guy had all of these abilities and experiences, and one of the other guys asked him why he wasn't married. I thought it was kind of a funny conversation, because I've only had that sort of conversation with women. So, guy A, with the experiences said he's ready to be married, but it's just not happening yet. He said that he has moments when he thinks I could totally marry this girl, but he waits 6 months, and by that time the girl stops her fake behavior and then she's not what he wants, or she lies about her beliefs/standards, even to talking about how great her ward is, just to fine out that she's not a member of the church after dating for a while. Listening to this, I just thought, OH.MY.GOSH! I can't stand women like that! These stupid women are out there ruining things for all these other great women! I'm grateful that I'm not one of those women. I'm the same person whether I'm dating someone or being in front of people or being by myself.
Then there is the girl that is the total charmer. She loves to have a following, she loves to have a following of men and women. She's a great communicator, makes you feel like you are so important. She goes out with lots of men, and sucks them right in. She then opens up to them, some, and they open up a ton! They tell her all of their past things, good or bad, and then she takes what they say, and use that information to warn other women. So not a good situation! Once again, the men are being chased away from decent women, because the men are wary about opening up, again; and don't want to be around women that that one woman may have been around.
Then there are all of the girls that are negative and put down EVERY guy they run into. Really?! I have to say that people are going to act the way they're being treated. If you treat them like they're dumb, they're going to act like it with you.
People deserve to be treated wonderfully! Men, women, everyone needs to be treated with respect! Be honest. Be careful. Be someone that someone can trust!
Watch or read this. It's a great message!
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