forget me not

i love dieter f. uchtdorf 

so much

power is...

...the ability to ask for what you want

...having the courage to accept the things and people you can't change

...understanding your value as a person

...being comfortable with who you are

and power is knowing that i am a daughter of god

sunday thank you's

today i'm laying in bed because of the ridiculous sunburn on my back and legs, which makes it hard (and unbearably painful) to do anything else but lay on my tummy. so that's fun. i'm a little behind on my sunday thank you's. so without further ado...

thank you to chris and jessie,
for driving the 18 hours from kansas to utah with me

thank you to melanie,
for fixing my eyeball and making it feel all better again

thank you to the wasmer family,
for a great last week and for the giftcards and pictures

thank you to steve from olathe toyota,
for finally fixing my rav 4 and doing the labor for free

thank you to amy and cassie,
for letting me crash at their apartments for a week

thank you to michael,
for helping me fill up the air in my tires so i didn't die on the way to vegas

thank you to my mother,
for buying me like $600 worth of new tires

thank you to my grandma,
for having me the last week and for spoiling me with meals, hair color, money for disneyland, and an aloe vera rub down

snapshots of lately + sunday thank you's

thank you to my mother,
for the massive check she sent me last week

thank you to the phillips family,
for my chapstick, skittles, nail polish, picture, card, and "we ♥ paige" poster

thank you to brant,
for getting my name painting done so fast so i could have it before i leave

thank you to juelaine,
for getting our hotel arrangements made (for our trip to california/disneyland)

thank you to the creators of aloe vera,
for providing me with soothing relief after i got so burnt at the lake saturday

thank you to the members of the paola ward,
for loving my family and me for the last 5 years, it's so hard to leave!

it's weird how much he likes monopoly

thaaaank youuuuu brant doerfler

walker's lunch on thursday... 5 whole doritos, no more, no less

the note my mom sent me with my check

my favorite part is the "make healthy choices" ...love her

mine and suzanne's scrabble board

highest point word: "caved" by me

for 57 points

sometimes i send amy pictures of my clothes

and apparently make awkward faces

my hair needs highlights

not this color though, icky

breakfast after pilates saturday morning

blueberry pancakes with homemade blueberry syrup

courtesy of suzanne

delish

i sent this to my mom and the text said
"i cut my hair"

she believed me for a little bit i think

not sure what the weather's like everywhere else, but it's rainy/stormy here

enjoy your monday!

sunday thank you's

thank you to megan at ILP,

for helping me get things ready to go to china

thank you to melanie,

for the sweet "thought about you today" message

thank you to suzanne,

for the hospitality, meals, clean laundry and substitute motherly love the last three weeks

thank you to melissa and hilary,

for posting recent pictures of our ecuador babies (no thanks for the many tears that followed the time i spent looking at them)

thank you to ruthie,

for the much needed hug today

thank you to the magical weather gods,

for taking away the three digit temperatures for a few days

i haven't had any very note-worthy experiences lately that warrant a big thanks to anybody,

but i'm learning to be grateful fort the little things

because sometimes they make all the difference

there is always something to be thankful for

cutie faces

i feel like maybe this is a little bit blurry, but it's a phone pic. and he was ready to speed away. but this is walker and his beautiful sister reese. isn't she pretty? i like when i get to play with them. they're cute, and fun, and stuff. and i just like this picture a whole lot. that's all really.

i hope everybody had the absolute best sunday!

recap

being home from college, i detest weekends. i don't have any friends in kansas right now. they're all in utah or idaho at school or working (like amy, cassie, juelaine, and betsy), or in california for summer selling (like calaigh), or living in kansas city doing music things cause their band is all big and cool (like sean). you catch my drift. basically i'm left friendless.

this weekend wasn't too terrible at all though. saturday i was with kate and sam, who i happen to really adore. i've never enjoyed two kids so much. we went to the pool, and then watched how to train your dragon and popped some popcorn. i honestly don't know how i've lived so long without seeing that movie. it was fantastic, and now i want a pet dragon. i wonder if my apartment manager will be cool with that. 

sunday i wore my new dress. have i ever mentioned how much i looove target dresses? they're my absolute favorite. and this dress has pockets! dresses with pockets are one of my favorite things. 

my primary class was a little roudy, but i'm going to assume that was just because they missed me when i was gone last sunday. and maybe the super nice weather. but mostly they missed me. because of my absence i got extra hugs from ruthy, which i love. and susie drew me a picture. i love 7 yearolds.

we had the missionaries over for our sunday meal, which consisted of spaghetti with meatballs, garlic bread, corn, salad, and left over funfetti cake. we talked to the elders for about an hour or so after we finished eating, about everything. they both go home so soon (three weeks for one, and two months for the other)! my mom gave them advice about dating and marriage, hadley did a little show-n-tell (of basically all her belongings) in an effort to "show them who she is" ...i don't know, i wasn't sure where she was going with that.  and i promised to make them both a list of all the music and movies they've missed out on for the last two years. 

it was a quality sunday. oh! and i skyped with amy and betsy, and fell asleep talking to cassie. i miss my people. 80 days til i'm in utah, everybody. 80 days.

also, two more things. i'm obsessed with this blog and this song.

the end

how was your weekend?

at world's end

i spent pretty much all weekend at wedding receptions. i worked friday night aaaaand saturday night, and it was exhausting. yesterday's event was stressful. everyone was having a rough night and there was lots of yelling, arguing, crying, and things not being ready on time. but by 8 or 9 when the music was booming from the speakers and people were flowing to the dance floor (and after the DJ announced we were safe from the rapture), things were looking up. the boys who were working as dish washers could tell i was having a bad night and they may or may not have let me throw cake in their face. i felt worlds better afterwards. at about 11 we heard the tornado sirens go off so we started herding drunk wedding guests to the basement. it was a pretty eventful evening.

also, i've been spending a lot of time with this boy.

and i got to skype with this one for a couple hours the other day.

this week i also got to see my bank account finally surpass the $1000 mark! today is graduation for all the seniors at my high school and i'm going to a few open houses in a couple hours. i can't believe that was me two years ago! that's just weeeeiiiiird.

anyways, happy sunday, everybody!

my dear daughter

my good friend betsy shared this with me a couple weeks ago when i really needed it. since then i've read it at least every other day. i cry every time. i've had a rough couple days lately. things have been really hard and this is a nice reminder that my heavenly father loves me so much, no matter what.

My Dear Daughter,

I just wanted to remind you today of how beautiful you are, because there is a father of lies who will try to deceive you.  He will try to tell you that you are not good enough, not attractive enough, not thin enough, not strong enough, not smart enough, not righteous enough and that you are simply unimportant to Me. He will try to tell you that you have broken too many promises, that you have fallen too many times, that you have lived one too many lies, and that you've been going in the wrong direction so long that it is pointless to turn back now. 

But guess what? 

You do not belong to him. He is not your father.

I am.

You see, you are My creation. My workmanship. You have been borne of My thought, every part of you placed together by My hands. You have My thumbprint upon you. You are a princess, did you know that? You are My child, a daughter of the Most High God. I look at you and I see a precious, priceless pearl. There is no ocean I would not swim, no mountain I would not climb, no price I would not pay to have you and to be with you and call you My own. I already have. I have done all that I could, given all that there is. I desire to be with you every moment of the day. How I long for you to talk to Me everyday. My love for you never grows cold. My promises are never broken (contrary to what he might lead you to believe). My character never changes. And you, my child, have been made in my image. I love you dearly, unconditionally, and completely. I understand every emotion that you have. I count every tear that you cry. I know every hair on your head. And do you know what?

I even know your weaknesses and your failures and your fears. I know those hidden parts of you that you wish would go away. Those dark corners of your world that you stuff deep down, praying that no one will ever see. I have seen them and they will not change my love for you. Nothing will. I love your heart and I desire all of it.

I just wanted to remind you today of how beautiful you are and how precious you are to Me.

With immeasurable love,

-Your Heavenly Father

fast sunday

today is my last fast sunday in ecuador

so last night, i went to bed at 1030

and set my alarm to 7

so i'd be able to wake up on time

and look decent

because i planned on bearing my testimony

(in spanish)

however, my alarm failed to wake me up

so i missed church

and i'm pretty upset about it

but instead,

so i'm not a complete failure,

i'm going to study the scriptures,

write in both journals

and finally send in my internship journal entries

so i'm hoping it will be a spiritually productive day

despite my issue with waking up this morning

how has your sunday been?

awkward moment of the day

soo today i had morning shift, so i went to afternoon church (which isn't our home ward, and about 30 minutes across town). my friend justin is serving in quito, so i wanted to linger after sacrament meeting to ask if the elders in the ward knew him. as we were standing at the back of the chapel, nice old ecuadorian people came up to us and kissed our cheeks and said "hola buenos tardes" ...well, while this was happening, an old man comes up to us, says "oh my gosh (but not gosh)," smiles, and walks away. he said that in church! in english! i hope he didn't know what he was saying. emily and i couldn't help but just look at eachother and laugh hysterically...

helaman 5:8

"...that ye may not do these things that ye may boast, but that ye may do these things to lay up for yourselves a treasure in heaven, yea which is eternal, and which fadeth not away"

sunday funday

last week i didn't get to go to church. mostly because i had night shift the night before and i was dead on sunday. but today i didn't work until the afternoon, so i got to go to our home ward. and i loved it more than anything. i've been to church in hawaii, and now in ecuador. i really like going to an lds ward in different cultures.

sacrament meeting was fantastic. their chapel looks a little different than the ones in the states. i wish it was socially acceptable to take pictures at church, buuuuut it's not. oh well. little kids have callings that big people normally do (i.e., the guy that goes around and counts the attendance, the ward chorister, the pianist, e.t.c.).

i was surprised how much of the talks i understood. i think the parts i understood were just what i needed to hear today. things about testimonies, and living gospel principles little by little. after sacrament meeting i talked to the american elders in our ward and asked them if they knew my friend justin that's serving in quito. and guess what... THEY DID. it was so awesome.

english sunday school was interesting. there were eight of us in there; four osso girls, three older missionaries (one couple, and one lady by herself), and a guy from russia who's traveling around the world. we talked about mary, and elisabeth and their faith.

and this is what i've decided. the church is the same everywhere. you can go to church anywhere. in kansas, in idaho, in hawaii, in ecuador, anywhere. and it's the same. the language the people speak in might be different depending on where you are. but the language of the spirit is universal. i love my faith.

yayyyy 50th post

i absolutely love sundays

wanna know why?

actually having time for breakfast

getting ready with 6 girls in the same bathroom

xanning singing church music to us... so lovely

cute church clothes

cute church boys

fighting stephanie for the hymn book

fabulous sunday school lessons by jules

being forced to play the piano in relief society

leaving feeling better

letters to and from missionaries

skype dates with my family

afternoon naps

dessert parties at the boys' apartment

etc

happy sunday to youuuu

we left our love in our summer skin

sunday is the best day of the week, lately

first of all, i found my new favorite scripture (moroni 7:48)

"wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. amen."

anyways, so yesterday was fast sunday

can i just say that i love fast sundays?

cause i do, reallllly really

and yesterday was just perfect

fast & testimony meeting was the greatest

i havent had such a perfect day at church in awhile

it was positively great

today was mya's birthday

the big 17

...yay

caroline woke me up at freaking 8:52 this morning

not okay, if you ask me

but there was a pinata and everything

can i just say it frustrates me when people break plans?

it just makes me so angry

i've had the lamest day today

but guessssss whattttt

I GO BACK TO REXY TOMORROW :)

the lion king, baked potatoes, and the truth

as you may or may not know,

i saw the lion king at mandalay bay

on thursday night

and it was just positively marvelous

i want to see it again and again

or just watch the movies

that would probably suffice

all i have to say,

is that i love black people who can sing

and elton john is a genius

today after church me and my grandma had baked potatoes and salad

it was a very aesthetically pleasing meal

ive been watching a lot of the food channel

(mostly because im still on my diet and watching other people eat unhealthy, fatty, buttery, and at the same time delicious food that i myself cannot eat, makes me feel a whole lot better about the situation)

and well, presentation is key

and im pretty happy about how my lunch looked today

i would show you a picture...

but, well, MY CAMERA IS STILL BROKEN

and i have yet to buy a new one

problem? very much so

here's the thing:

last night i was on the phone with pjt

and he asked me what i would do with $1,000,000

gay question, i know

but i told him

and the first thing i said was that i would give $100,000 to tithing

like i thought that was an obvious answer

but he questioned me about it

and was like "really? just like that?"

and i told him yeah because it's a commandment

and he told me that he only lives by the original 10 commandments because that's what we were given and that's what we should base our decisions off of

and that (get this) tithing isnt a commandment

really? really?

where does it say that tithing isnt a commandment?

i cant tell you how mad that made me

so instead of saying what i really wanted to, but would probably have regretted later, and arguing with him when i knew i was right

i told him i needed to go to bed and hung up

but i've been thinking a lot about that today

i'm so grateful for the modern revelation/guidance/direction we receive because without it, and if the only commandments we thought we had were the 10 that moses was given, we'd be in a great deal of trouble

also i just really love sundays