Today was my day off of work, so I decided to go down to the social security office to get my name changed. I was not looking forward to go down there and sit for hours. When I got there. I took my number. #307. They were just barley calling #279. Just lovely. So I sat down and tried to get comfortable. When they called the numbers, you could barley understand, it was so muffled. The man sitting next to me leaned over and asked, "Can you hear what number they are calling?" I replied that I could, and told him I would let him know when they reached his number. Me and this man (who did not have the nicest, cleanest appearance) started talking. He asked me if he was in the right place to get a new social security card, I told him he was and to further the conversation I joked about him losing his original. He proceeded to tell me that he didn't lose his card, that he was attacked recently. A man crushed his skull into the pavement and robbed him. He was in the hospital for weeks, and can't remember a thing. Now for those of you who don't already know, my amazing dad was just recently diagnosed with dementia, so this was kind of a touchy subject for me. He continued to tell me all about himself. He said he was from Paris, he grew up speaking French, English, and German. He was born at the biggest English hospital in Paris. He said the only reason he knew that stuff about himself, was because he had talked to his mother earlier, and she had reminded him. I told him how sorry I was for him, and how brave I thought he was. I told him I could empathize with him about losing his memory because of my dad. With the biggest smile on his face, this man shook his head at me and said "Don't you be sorry for me, or for your dad either. I am a man that believes that my body isn't me. I have a spirit inside of me. That spirit is me. My body is what isn't working how I would like it to, but my spirit is fine. And I know one day, I'm going to be perfect." Whose to say if this man was the same religion as I am, all I know is that I needed to be reminded that in regards to my dad. Apparently, I needed a random man to do it. People are definitely put into your life for a reason, whether to teach you something, to help you through something, or to remind you of something. Don't take these people for granted.

So I'm not quite sure if anyone has tried what I'm going to talk about today, but I would highly recommend it. Jeff and I moved into a little community awhile ago. On the way to our house, you go through a roundabout. There was one night that I was mad at Jeff (I'm sure about something silly), but with as stubborn as I am, there was no way I was going to give in. My lovely husband always knows what to do to push my buttons, so in his attempt to get me to laugh, he continued around the roundabout multiple times. That's when it happened, I fell in love with roundabouts. I was driving with my sister, Kennedey, one day and I wanted to allow her to experience the joy of roundabouts, so I did it. I drove around the roundabout many times. You just can't help but laugh when you do it. So as I was driving around my new obsession, I looked over and saw a security guard staring at us. He jumped in his car and started after us. Luckily, my 4-runner was faster than his little polaris. We escaped. Whenever you're in a bad mood, I highly suggest finding a roundabout. I haven't gone through the roundabout since then, but I'm tempted. Those security guards can't give tickets for that, can they..?

Married Life

So I've been married for almost 3 months now, I pretty much consider my self a veteran with this whole marriage thing. JOKE. But I will say that being married has been a lot of fun. It's so nice having Jeff around all of the time. But I will say, one of the downfalls with this whole newlywed thing, has got to be the money. Don't get me wrong we do pretty well and we aren't living paycheck to paycheck, but we can't go out and buy new furniture like what I would want to. Our couches are terrible! They are practically lawn chairs! If you sit in between the 2 cushions the metal bar with hit you in the tail bone! So to make my house more homey, my friend Cassey I went and got a huge rug, curtains, candles, and a lamp. What a difference! It looks so much better! Now to get rid of these couches...

Try a little harder to be a little better

"You are good. But it is not enough just to be good. You must be good for something. You must contribute good to the world. The world must be a better place for your presence. And the good that is in you must be spread to others...." -Gordon B. Hinckley

I would like to say that I'm good. I'm not too sure what I'm good for yet. Hopefully I'll be good for something one day. I absolutely love this. Everytime I hear this quote or think of it, it just makes me want to do better. Do better in every single thing I do. I want to go feed homeless kids in third world countries and donate my wardrobe to kids in Africa...but today while I was thinking about this, I realized to be good for something and contribute something to the world, it doesn't have to be a huge thing. I realized I could be good for something as small as making someone smile, or making something a little easier for someone. I could be good for just being an example for others that I'm around and spread good that way. I don't think I'm the only one who thinks this way, that to make a contribution to the world, has to be something BIGG. It doesn't. President Hinckley is freakin awesome. Enough said.

seek wisdom.

Sometimes I don't understand why people do the things they do to other people. Is it really necessary to be mean to others? I feel like it's harder to go out of your way to be mean, verses just being nice to someone. I don't know, that's just me.


Anywhoooo, recently I've been able to realize how lucky I am. I have an amazing life. My family is great, I couldn't have anything better. I have a job, which is a lot more than others these days. I'm getting an education, which is a pain in the rear, but will be beneficial for me and my future. I have amazing friends. I have the gospel in my life, with just that, I have everything I could ever ask for.

Long Time, No See.

Right when I was starting to get so good at blogging at least once a week, I fail. Ohhhh well. I'm backk. I've been really busy with school and work lately. I'm always so exhausted! I feel like I barely have time for anything else. So, Good News Minute: A couple weeks ago, I was working and a girl that I work with told me there was a deaf woman in the store and I should go sign with her. Now, for those of you who don't know, I am currently learning sign language. I understand most of it, and can carry on a conversation. There is still a lot more for me to learn though. So whenever I'm asked to go sign with someone, I get really nervous and worry that I'll look like a complete idiot and regret even trying to communicate with them. But, needless to say, I decided to try and have a conversation with her. She was with her son, and when the son was put in the fitting room, she was just looked around the store. So I walked over to her, and signed if she wanted a chair to sit down? She signed that she did, so I got one for her and started to walk away. As I started to walk away she started waving her hands (which is how you get someones attention whose deaf) so, I turned around and she asked me if I was deaf? I told her no, and that I was learning ASL. We ended up just signing for forever! I was so excited to be able to practice what I've learned so far. It was interesting because she told me she was from England, and a lot of her words were reallyyyy different, and I asked her why there were so different from the signs that I had learned and she told me she signs in BSL, (British Sign Lang.) She used a mixture of the 2 languages. Kind of like Spanglish. ha But it was so neat to talk to her, I'm glad I did. When her and her son were getting ready to leave, the son, who was hearing, told me thanks for talking to his mom and she gets so excited when someone signs to her, because she doesn't really get to communicate to other people because so few people know sign language. It was so awesome. It definitely made my day. I can't wait til I know everything about the language and am confident in signing to anyone.

I love cereal.

Had school today, no work, thank goodness. I've been so wore out. Working 9 to 5 then going to class til 9 at night. I'm just tired, and it's only the 2nd week of school! The other night, I got really bored and started cleaning my room. For those of you that don't know, I am a hugeeee pack rat. I'm not messy, I just can't seem to throw things that I don't need away. For instance, I have notebooks and binders clear back from jr. high. Just tons of things that I don't use and don't need. Anyyyywhoo, I just got in the mood to clean so I grabbed garbage bags and started tossing stuff. I ended up finding a bunch of really old journals. I read through all of them, and it was so interesting to see where I was in life, and how I perceived things. Looking back to when I wrote those journals, I'm kind of like "What was I thinking?" At that point in my life I had a specific plan for my life in mind and didn't think that my plan would not follow through... and it definitely fell through. It's just so weird how much things change in such a short amount of time. Needless to say, I have a spotless room and a new plan for me.

you will find peace&happiness in mind&heart. -Panda Express

So, I had a pretty great day today. I went to work. Then after I went to dinner with my family. My grandparents came along too, so that was really great. For those of you who don't know my grandpa dave, it's a shame. He is probably my favorite person ever. He was telling Cass and me about a phone call he got today. It was this lady asking him about something dealing with work, he answered the question and expected just to hang up. The lady then said "You know, all of the people I work with over here are mormon, and I know you're mormon. And you guys are so nice and are always trying to improve things, but why do all of these Bible groups I go to talk about how your religion is a cult?" *Just so you all know this is one of my favorite LDS questions I get asked. I always respond by telling them that we are in a cult and it's great, and they should join us.* My grandpa, having a way better answer than me, told her that we aren't a cult, we are Christians. If you look at what our name is, it's a dead give away who leads our church, The Church of Jesus Christ. But my grandpa ended up on the phone with this woman for awhile just teaching her about the church. It turns out that she had been talking to her grandson and he had told her how he loved being around the guys from school who were mormon because they were so nice and he loved the feeling he got when he was around them. I loveeee stories like this. Hearing this, it just made me wish that I could be a missionary. I would be able to answer questions people have if someone were to ever come to me with them. I've always wanted to go on a misson, so maybe one day I will. I guess I'll see where I'm at in my life when the time comes.

awhhhh...

Started school today. It was kinda nice to get back into the swing of things. Whenever I'm in school, I feel much more intelligent. I love it. haha So I came home today and was sitting at the dinner table with my madre and my hermana and we were talking about something that made my sister a little upset. So me being the awesome sister that I am, I put the song 'nearer my god to thee' on while they were talking and immediately she started to feel better. Once she realized it was playing she said how calm it made her feel. I think it's so amazing how something as simple as a song can calm you down when you're stressed about things. I love it.

There let the way appear steps unto heaven. All that Thou sendest me in mercy given.
Angels to beckon me nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee.

you know I don't speak spanishhhh

I had some technical difficulties, but have no fear, I'm backk. So I start up school tomorrow. I really hope that this semester will go a lot smoother than last semester. Fall semester was not a good semester. I struggled a lot with my classes and was always stressed out. Now, for those of you who don't know me very well, I am a FREAKKKK about school. I have to do well. I don't approve of anything lower than a B. So during school, I'm constantly doing homework and studying. I'm just not sure if I'm ready to do all that work and always being worried about school. So fingers crossed that this semester will go smooth!

Soooo, in relief soceity, our lesson was about learning to love to work. When I heard what the lesson was, I was a little bummed out because who really likes to work? Not this guy. But listening to the lesson made me want to learn to love to work. So today, I walked into work bright and early at 8 am with a smile on my face hoping that it would make my day better. Anddddd sure enough, my day went pretty awesomee. The day went by faster and I just was in a happy mood. I liked it. So I think I'm going to try to stick to this until I fall in love with work! How exctitinggg!

big gulps huh? welp, see ya later..

weird day todayyy. kinda was feeling down about things today. and whenever i'm feeling a little sad about things, i shop. which isn't good. but hey, got a new pair of shoes to add to my collection!

I'm cheeeesey, I know...

patience.

At church today, we had a really good speaker. She spoke about a couple different things, but she spoke about somethings that stood out to me more than others. She talked about the atonement and how lucky we are that Jesus took upon all the sins of the world for us. (Alma 7:11&12) She said something along the lines of how sometimes when we are going through trials it's difficult not having a family member or friend there with us comforting us telling us things will be OK because they have gone through the same thing. But when something like that happens, we need to turn to our brother, Jesus Christ. He knows exactly what we are going through. He knows exactly how it feels. He knows exactly what we need to feel comforted in that situation. So we need to turn to Him and bare all things so that we can be calmed and comforted. I really enjoyed her talk. I was talking to one of my friends today about how I should just move somewhere so I can start over because nothing is happening for me here in Vegas. And it wasn't until after I said that, that I realized how selfish I was by saying that. I am probably the most impatient person you will ever meet. I hate waiting in lines. I hate waiting on people. I just hate waiting. And I just need to learn that the Lord's timing is always better than my own. Even though I think that it's about time that something amazing happens in my life, the Lord knows that it's not time yet. I need to be much more patient than I'm being now. Patience is enduring well, it's a purifying process that refines us. I need to have faith in the Lord. Come what may... and I'll love it.

Proverbs 3:5&6

So sometimes when I'm having a hard time with something, I like to randomly open my scriptures and read a verse.... Usually that scripture will always help me with the problem that I am having. (SO just a little back ground info... I've had this problem that has been on my mind lately and I was asked to pray and fast about it, so I did. I got my answer and didn't like it. So, I began the process again. Fasted. Prayed. Same answer. Didn't like it. But the "problem"... let's say got the same answer and took care of things.) Anywayssss, so today I opened up my scriptures and I was in Proverbs. And I was a little hesitant to find my "Scripture of the Day" in the Bible, I usually like ones in the Book of Mormon better, butttttt our lesson in Sunday school was about how we need to read the Book of Mormon and the Bible equally. Soooo I decided to stay in Proverbs. So I closed my eyes and pointed to a scripture... and sure enough, it's a scripture that goes with what I have been dealing with.
Proverbs 3:5&6
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
So after reading that I felt like an idiot for questioning the answer my Heavenly Father gave me about my problem. But after reading that, I had this reassuring feeling come over me, and I know that everything will work out in my favor. The Lord is on my side and I can't lose with that. I found a quote from President Hinckley that I really loved. It's nice knowing that I'm never alone and I always have Him to count on.

"Never assume that you can make it alone. You need the help of the Lord. Never hesitate to get on your knees in some private place and speak with Him. What a marvelous and wonderful thing is prayer. Think of it. We can actually speak with our Father in Heaven. He will hear and respond, but we need to listen to that response. Nothing is too serious and nothing too unimportant to share with Him."
--Gordon B. Hinckley

Helaman 3:35

Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God.

Read this scripture tonight, I really liked it. So there you go.

Timing

I've always been one to think that everything happens for a reason, and that one thing will lead you to another whether it's better or worse than what you had before. And up until this point in my life I think I've had pretty good timing with things considering all that I have going on. But now, I've had nothing but bad timing. I need to remember that God has a special plan for me and I'm only being tested right now. He is wanting to see how I handle myself in these situations of bad timing. I should be excited to have these trials and to prove to my Father in Heaven that I can do what He would want me to do.

new year, new changes.

So, I figured since it was a new year, I would actually try to keep up with my blog. I can't say that my life is super amazing and interesting and everyone will be so excited to log on to read my blog, but I want to keep a blog for me. Just for my own keepings. I can't say that 2010 was my year. It definitely wasn't the best. So I'm hoping that I will be able to makes some changes in my life and make 2011 MY year. I have a TON of new years resolutions and I intend on keeping them. The resolutions that I've made will definitely help me come closer with my Heavenly Father and make me a better person. What else could I ask for? In relief soceity today, we had a lesson about being born of God and having Christ in our countenance. It made me think of something that happened to me years back. I think it was back in 2007. I was at a conference with my mom and Jeffery R. Holland spoke. After the conference, Elder Holland made his way down from the pulpit and was shaking peoples hands. I was too nervous to go over to meet him, plus there were tons of people already surrounding him.I remember thinking it was amazing to listen to him, let alone be in his presence, so I concidered myself lucky with just that. I continued the conversation I was having with my mom when I noticed Elder Holland was walking up to me. He put one of his hand on my shoulder and with the other he took my hand. My heart was just POUNDING. I was sure he would be able to see it. And with the biggest smile on his sweet face, Elder Holland said to me, "You're countenance is just glowing." I don't think that I have ever felt that amazing in my life since that moment. I think I had forgotten about this event for awhile and my relief soceity lesson made me think of it today. I want to make sure that I am always striving to do and be my best so that I can be privileged enough to have Christ in my countenance. And this year, I will make sure that happens.