Inspiration

I tried to post this video on here but it wasn't working, but if you go here and watch this 5ish minute video, you won't regret it.

Love Journal

I have been feeling lately like I need to be better at keeping a journal and then I came across this idea. I love the idea of having a journal where you write about only your spouse. Also, this is a great idea for an inexpensive journal of any type--whether it be a journal you write in about your children, your spiritual experiences, or just day to day life. Find instructions here.

Relight the Spark

I used to want to be a marriage family therapist. That never worked out, but I still love all things that have to do with improving marriage. I liked these ideas for keeping the spark alive in your marriage--try one today!

500 N

500 North is a beautiful street. Right now it is full of beautiful, tall trees providing wonderful shade and the trees are rich with fresh, green foliage. Also plenty of birds which my honey loves to watch (and I usually do too when they don't try to attack me like one did today)! You can even watch the 4th of July parade go by on 500 North! I also love taking a leisurely stroll during the morning or evening when it isn't too hot.

In the Autumn these lovely leaves turn beautiful shades of color and then fall to the ground and it is so fun to walk down the street and crunch the leaves under your feet. Or maybe even try to find a pile to jump in!
In the winter these same trees have lost all of their leaves but they turn the street into a winter wonderland when it snows! I love to see trees covered in snow, it's like a fairyland! I love strolling in the softly falling snowflakes.
In the springtime it is so exciting to see the trees start to come alive again! Full of blossoms and starting to grow leaves. Of course you have to stop and sing Popcorn Popping and bask in the lovely springtime weather as you walk down the road.

I can't tell you how many times I have walked up and down this road, especially after having my honey. We love walking to the library, or the Cotton Shop, sometimes Smiths, sometimes a neighbors home. We love walking to church or to the park. I will miss these lovely walks, which have happened almost daily. In our new home, our church will be too far away to ever walk to, there are no stores or libraries within walking distance. And the trees in our new neighborhood are not old enough or tall enough to be be quite as beautiful. I never thought I could think of a road as beautiful, but 500 north is. I wish I had a good picture to show so you could see how beautiful it is! 500 North, I will miss you. In every season.

Table Top Gardening

Sorry, yet another video post. Three days in a row! I saw this idea though and loved it! You have to see the table top garden inspired by Monet's Water Lillies...so beautiful! I love it! I really, really want a succulent now!

Memory Lane

My last post sent me to BYU TV, only to come across this video--parts of a concert my husband and I sang in! If you have time you can try and spot me in the video...or you could just listen as you clean up or something. :) I wish I could download it to save and show our kids someday! Maybe they'll keep this video up forever?

Reason #4

I love BYU. I can't even tell you how much. I loved the anxious, nervous feeling of trying out for BYU choirs toward the end of summer. I loved being in Women's Chorus and miss it so much! I loved the exciting feeling of a new school year in the fall. I love the beautiful campus. I love all the programs on campus--dances and concerts galore, plays, musicals, SPORTS...so many fun things! I LOVE BYU football especially. I LOVE Cosmo! I love Homecoming in the fall--seeing the Y all lit up on the mountain. I loved walking to and from campus each day and enjoying the beauty that was all around--some of my favorite memories in particular involve falling autumn leaves or first snows, or spring blossoms. I love BYU ice cream, it is the best in the world! I love all of the buildings. I loved my first real job at the BYU Laundry where I was a seamstress and learned to love sewing, and still go there to visit and sew! BYU is where my husband and I fell in love and took classes together. I learned Spanish at BYU...too bad I have forgotten so much of it. :( I loved the devotionals and CES firesides in the Marriot Center. I loved BYU wards when I was single. So many wonderful things and memories have happened to me at BYU or because of BYU. I have wanted to go there since I was 4 years old and now that I am graduated, I still love going there and being close to campus. I sometimes secretly wish I or my husband could teach there when we are older...and we could come back and be part of BYU always. I love taking my little honey to see the duck pond on campus and hope he will want to go there someday too!
When we were looking for housing in a new state...I was so happy to see BYU TV on the list of channels the hotel room offered. It was a tender mercy for me. Even though we won't have cable...it is available online whenever I need an uplift.

Pageants

Have you ever been to the Manti Pageant in Manti, Utah? If not, you should go if you are anywhere close by. It is wonderful, a fun family event, and free! Here's to hoping we can go this year before we live a lot farther away from Manti. :( Check out the other LDS church pageants here!

Reason #2

I love the mountains in Utah--and especially living in Provo, so close to the mountains. I love them. They are so beautiful. I love seeing them topped with snow. I love seeing the leaves change colors from down in the valley, or especially driving up the canyon to see the leaves in the fall. I love going to picnics or hikes, or taking our raft to some little lake in the spring/summer. We don't do that as much as I would like, and I am going to miss it! I love seeing the sunset reflected off the mountains. I love how I know which direction I am looking because of the mountains too--they help me to not get lost. I'm told where we are moving is just like Moab...which is also beautiful, I love Moab. There will be red rock mesas and plateaus...but it's not the same as real mountains!

Optimism

I really liked this video--I need to be more positive in everything in life--especially when it comes to being a wife and mother! You can read more here.

Reason #1

(This is me and a great friend at one of our weekly Temple trips...when I used to be young and skinny)
...Why I will miss Provo.
Please go here and look at the pictures starting with #149. I love this place so much. The most recent time I went to the Provo Temple I felt so emotional thinking of all the wonderful things that have happened there, and how it is the temple I have attended the most often, and I love everything about it! The mountains towering behind, the large and beautiful grounds. Both inside and out of the Temple is beautiful. I know all Temples do the same thing...but this one is special to me and I will miss it.

First Comes Love

I believe in and support Traditional Marriage and families, but I am not very good at voicing my opinion. I really liked this article of one person's opinion. To read more about why traditional marriages and families are so important, go here.

Daily Uplift

You've probably already seen this video by now. But I wanted to post it anyway. I think I need to hear stories like this frequently to help me remember how blessed I am, how wonderful it is to be a mother, how special life is. I love being a mother. It is so easy to be distracted by all the new, trendy things, or feeling like I need more "me" time or whatever. But really those things don't matter.
All that is not eternal is too short, and all that is not infinite is too small.

Happy Thought

I love sewing. I often feel like it is something people just don't do anymore--unless it is something really simple. But it really brings me so much joy to create something beautiful, with dimension and shape, out of a flat piece of fabric, needle and thread. I really enjoyed this article from the local news. Now I want to go sew something!

He is Risen

Thoughts on Love

"Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own." ~ Robert Heinlein

"To love a person means to see them as God intended them to be" ~ Dostoevski

"True love is not so much a matter of romance as it is a matter of anxious concern for the well being of one’s companion" ~ Gordon B. Hinckley

Fresh Flowers

I really love this bouquet, is so beautiful! I would love to have this in our home! You can order it from Campus Craft and Floral.

Winter Flowers

I really, really love these flower arrangements from BYU Campus Craft and Floral. I always wanted to learn about floral arrangement. Maybe someday I can make beautiful things like this too. Oh I just love flowers! Too bad you can't scratch and sniff the screen.

Give

I know that Christmas is over, but I just saw this video today and really loved it. I hope it prolongs your feeling of the spirit of Christmas into the next year.

Night Divine

We went to the Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert featuring Natalie Cole on Saturday--it was fabulous. My favorite song from the night was the Tabernacle Choir singing "O Holy Night." It was amazing--I felt the music just wash over me and oh wow, it was so powerful! I tried to find a recording on youtube, but this is the only one I could find. Unfortunately it is nothing like the amazingness of the full choir...but it's still nice. :)