Whaaaaaaaa?

Holy crow this week is gonna be crazy.

Merry Christmas in 10 days!

30 Days

December?! No it's not time for you yet, it's still August and this is just a trick. Seriously!

So after church today I decided I was going to read the Book of Mormon cover to cover in 30 days this month. Cray. I'm not going to focus on studying out each thing like I typically do because then it will take me 300 days. I'm just going to read/listen. I've not been very good at it lately which is a bummer because I was almost too overboard with it earlier this year. I would spend 3+ hours a day on one or two chapters. That's great if you have that time. I don't.

Here is a bookmark I found online a few minutes back that I'll be using to keep me on track.

If you click on the bookmark, it will send you to the blog of the lady who made this where you can copy it. 

December is crazy. But what month isn't crazy? Thinking about this last year a month hasn't gone by without some big event or project happening. Things aren't going to 'slow down' so my excuses are invalid and lame. 

You can do a lot in 30 days! 

You make time for the things that matter most to you. Choose wisely friends!

I'm grateful for

Kleenex
Vitamin D
Satsuma oranges
Niquil

Elder B.

This weekend was so busy but so great. Our stake had the opportunity to have Elder Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles come and speak to us at a 'special stake conference'. He happened to be in the area for something and decided to do this. Saturday night he had a special YSA fireside in Arlington that Nicole and I went to. It was question and answer format which I was unsure of at first, I just wanted to hear what HE wanted to tell us! Then after just a couple minutes I was over it and loved the Q&A format. The way he was able to quickly answer so many questions without taking a pause to compose his thoughts is what really impressed me the most and confirmed that he truly is an apostle of the Lord. Being able to answer so plainly, honestly, and quickly is seriously impressive. I know it was Heavenly Father working through the Holy Ghost through Elder Bednar to answer those questions.

I took lots of notes because that's just what I do and I want to share them all but I'll do the cliff notes version for those unable to attend. (Some of these parts are just my random thoughts and aren't 'official' Elder Bednar words. My thoughts are italicized)

• Be an agent who acts, don't sit and wait around.
• There's a reason we all read 1st & 2nd Nephi so many times. It's so we can read and reread Nephi's story to get it through our thick skulls that we don't need to sit and wait for an answer or some big dramatic epiphany. We need to have faith that Christ will provide the way when we are obedient and righteous. Nephi didn't sit around and question whether or not he should go back to get the plates, he went and did what was asked of him. He was an agent, not an object.

•  Develop yourself to serve God. All things should lead to Him. 

• Learn love and patience to help bring others to the gospel. 
• It's not about getting them to church for a number or to say you've done your missionary work. It's about helping others find peace and happiness. Giving them the information and tools to be successful in each aspect of their lives. Pray for those opportunities.

• The Gospel makes us more than we are.  
• The principles and ordinances of the gospel allow us to tap into our incomprehensible potential. 

• God sets the terms and conditions of covenants.  
• The promises that we make bring along an obligation but they also bring along blessings. I think the obligation will always be less than the blessings. He has always and will always follow through on his side of the promise. He is and will always be the same.

• We act then we get power. We don't wait for power to act. He will inspire us to act when we are obedience. Have confidence in what you do. 

• Make time for what matters most to you. Spend time on the things that have enduring value, something that will last through eternity. 

• You will become what you spend your time doing.  
• Hmm so that means I should re-prioritize big time.   

• Complete your most important tasks first, then everything else will fall into place.

• Take something into the scriptures, a question you want answered so you can find direction as you study. Instead of going to the temple with a question you want answered, go to the temple with the desire to find a question. Then use that question, take that question into the scriptures to find your answer.

• Promise: Ask Heavenly Father how to be an agent, how to feast upon the words, not just read the scriptures. He will bless us.

• The Priesthood is not male. It is God's authority. It blesses us all equally. It is like an umbrella that men are ordained to hold up, but it pours out and blesses everyone. 

• We can't solve all the problems. We can make an impact with small influences/actions.

• No unhallowed hand can stop this work. We are in the last quarter of the game. We have an advantage, we know who wins.  
• WE KNOW WHO WINS. Keep faith that satan cannot overthrow God's will. Have you ever met someone who WANTS to be on the losing team? I've never heard of that before.

• Evil will increase and it won't lessen, it proves that it's the last days.  
•  The more good there is, the more evil. Remember, we know who wins!

• There is nothing better than opposition. When we're asked why is the gospel so hard? What are you weird? it's the perfect opportunity share what you know. Share what makes you happy and give that gift to someone else. It's not living the gospel that is hard, it's not living the gospel that's hard. 

• Don't talk about how you talk. If you're in a discussion and someone says, "why did you use that tone of voice." it makes situations harder than necessary. It causes hurt feelings and it's not necessary.

That's a long 'cliff-notes' version of the YSA fireside. Maybe I should google the meaning of cliff notes ;)

Anyways, it was really great. Then going to hear him speak again this morning for stake conference was good too. Last night was my favorite but today was awesome also. The stake center was beyond packed which is more than we can claim during regular stake conference.
Go and Do.

Books

I love reading, a lot! I started rereading Harry Potter because why wouldn't I? I'm only halfway through the third book because I read it while I blow dry my hair....weird? YES. But I figure I have nothing else to do and it's a 15-20 minute ordeal. I set the book on my lap and blow dry my hair. So it's pretty good that I've ready 2.5 Harry Potter books in just over a month only while I blow dry my hair! 

I don't have a lot of time to read for fun anymore but when I do, I overload a bit. This was a stack of books that I have waiting to be read...the next day I had five books ready for pick up at the library....and this doesn't even include Harry Potter...

My goodness. There are too many good books out there. I'm trying to get through the library ones first.

Nicole lets me borrow good books. She lent me Drops of Gold by Sarah Eden and it was my favorite book since Edenbrooke. Same sort of book set in "Jane Austen" times. If you like good books that don't have overt amounts of drama and books that are clean, these are the books for you!

Blackmoore is the second book by Julianne Donaldson (who wrote Edenbrooke) and it's different from her first book. It's darker but not dark if that makes sense.

 This is another Sarah Eden book. I have all of her books on hold at the library then they end up in my Amazon shopping cart :)

I started reading this one a couple days ago and I have about 20 pages left in it. It's really good! The 2nd book is coming out in March. This is one I have really enjoyed reading obviously since I stay up until much too late reading it after I get my homework/YW stuff done :)

Anyways, those are some good books if you need some ideas. They get my seal of approval (which obviously means a lot).

In the Mirror

Tonight as I brushed my teeth, I looked in the mirror and noticed my hair was wonky on one side (which isn't uncommon) so I used my fingers to push it back. Then I started thinking about reflections. When I look in the mirror, I see a reverse image of myself. What other people see is different than what I see, their perspective is different. When I see a picture of myself I always think it looks horrible because I'm used to seeing my face in a reflection. Does this make sense?

A few hours later I saw this quote that said, "I never thought I was a bully...until I listened to how I speak to myself. I think I owe myself an apology." Whoa. By that definition, I can be a bully.

Something that I've learned over the years as I've worked with the 12-18 yr old girls at church is that I know how awesome they are. I can see all their talents and abilities. I'm constantly impressed with their abilities to overcome challenges and to choose the right even when it's not popular. My point is, I can see their potential, I am their cheerleader and I hate when they put themselves down....The part I'm just now realizing is that in that same breath, I tend to put myself down. Either out loud or in my mind. What kind of example is that? Why the heck am I allowed to compliment them and expect them to not put themselves down, when I do that very thing! When I compliment someone on something, I really mean it and I hate having to defend my compliment when the person disagrees with me. I encourage them to accept the compliment and tell them not to compare themselves to anyone else. So why is it so easy for me to tell other people that but so difficult for me to put my own advice into action?

Maybe I think that if I accept a compliment I am being vain or arrogant. Maybe I have this idea in my mind of what I wanted that crocheted hat to look like and the final product doesn't meet my expectations so I don't feel like I deserve the compliment. I know I'm a terribly awkward person in general and accepting praise is uncomfortable for me because I feel like I have to point out all my flaws. Maybe I don't want others to feel like they're 'not as good' as I am at something so I downplay my abilities. I just don't know WHY.

Our society is great in many ways. On the other side, our society ingrains this notion that we are not good enough. There's a ranking system set in place by who knows who that we get sucked into and we seem set on constantly ranking ourselves with those around us. It really doesn't matter if so and so can sing and tap dance at the same time and I can't. Why am I trying to put myself on that scale? Why do I automatically think that person is so much more talented than me? No, that's not true! That person is very talented in their own right, in their own way! Yes, they're talented at singing and tap dancing, I am not, but I have other abilities. My ranking system should be within myself. When I gauge my singing abilities (or severe lack thereof-I'm not trying to be humble here!) I shouldn't automatically compare myself to Chaka Khan* because then I'll never be good enough. That notion is depressing and totally unnecessary. We do this everyday people! I hear/see it constantly in those around me and myself! "Amanda's a way better dancer than me, I could never dance like that" Well...let's be honest, this is probably true, so just give up now. No really, you "can't touch this". Instead of comparing my obviously awesome dance moves to your own, practice! Or take up macrame, whatever it is that you really want to do that will make you happy. Don't take up dancing just because Amanda's doing it. If you're really interested in it, go for it. If not, pick up that darning needle (or whatever tool is used in macrame) and work on your plastic cord artistry.

I wrote this post a week or so ago but hadn't posted it yet, and since I've written it, I've heard similar sentiments expressed at least four times. It's an epidemic!
President Uchtdorf gave a talk in this last general conference called, "You Can Do It Now!" he said, "One of the adversary’s methods to prevent us from progressing is to confuse us about who we really are and what we really desire." I think we can add to that and say the adversary also uses a very wily tactic to confuses us, that anyone can fall prey to at any time. Comparison. Even the most obedient people have been trapped by this extremely cunning and well disguised threat.

It makes me think of when someone asks you to choose your favorite food, well that is impossible because there are many types of foods out there. How can I compare my favorite carne asada to my favorite Italian soup? How about colors? I love them all, but I can't choose between green and orange, they are totally different and I like them both. Just like you can't compare totally different types of food, we can't compare ourselves, it will get us nowhere. We have no chance of progressing if we continue to use this skewed system to rate our self-worth. I can say a million times that I won't compare myself or beat myself up about silly things but I know I will, I can try to do better though.

That is all. 



*What? I don't even know who that is I just like saying Chaka Khan.

So About That...

Obvs. I haven't blogged for about twelve years...slash 3 weeks. I don't apologize for it haha pretty sure I have two faithful blog viewers anyways and one of them is hit or miss (Hi Mom! Hi Nicole!).

I have just been super busy with work, school, my calling, trying to schedule photo shoots that keep getting cancelled! GRRRR Silly rain keeps messing up my plans. Oh well, rain is good. I'm thankful for rain!

Blogging is mostly a way for me to document my life without having to write in a journal. I do have one, I'm just not very a very faithful writer, I wish I was! I've tried. It cramps my hand. Alas, this is my pseudo journal. (So feel free to skip the rest of this because it's mostly for my remembering purposes)

So the last two weeks have been pretty weird, I was asked to serve in a new calling and was officially called today. I have served in the Young Women's program in my ward for SIX years! WHOA. I was first called as the YW secretary with Stephanie (Pres), Carren (1st), and Emily (2nd). When that presidency changed, my stomach flip flopped because they forgot to tell me about it and a member of the bishopric had to run down and ask me during sacrament meeting :) I was called to be the 2nd Counselor with the next Presidency; Doneva (Pres), Vicky (1st), and me...I'm pretty sure there were only three of us there may have been a secretary for a minute but most of the time it was us 3 (if I remember right, see kids, THIS is why we journal!). Then once again my stomach sunk with the same dread of being released when Becky (Pres), Keala (1st), and Dixie (Sec) were called but I was saved again with a special calling "YW Specialist" with Nicole. This made me feel like a secret agent and I wish I would have bought some walkie-talkies and a spy scope. Basically that calling involved planning the Wednesday activities/extra activities/Personal progress and I helped teach on Sunday's while Nicole went to the other ward. (A year later Kim was called to be 2nd and I was called to be 1st)

Anywhoo fast forward another two years give or take (2 weeks ago), the bishop asked to speak with me. My stomach once again earned the gold medal in gymnastics. I wondered if a change would be happening because in April our Bishopric was changed after our 'old' Bishop Steve was called into the Stake Presidency. So our new Bishop and YW President are married and those are two major callings. I never expected in one million years that he would ask me to be the next YW President but he did and my stomach added spelunking to it's resume. I didn't really process it, all I could think about is the YW and how much they would miss Becky. Anyway, I ended up saying yes and sometimes when I remember about it I feel like I might projectile vomit, but I am excited. I mean, I've been in YW for SIX years with these girls- one of our graduating Laurels had been in YW for a couple months when I was first called, but other than that, I've been there as each of the current YW turned 12 which is so neat to me. I have seen them grow up SO much. It's crazy how much change happens just from 12-14 let alone 12-18! They are seriously the best people I know. I'm not a parent but I imagine parents think about their children a lot. I realized this last week that I think about the YW every day, multiple times a day or more! They seem to be my first priority and I spend lots of time preparing things for them. I love it!

We took a picture today after church with the YW who were there and our old Presidency. The YW weren't a fan of this, there was quite a bit of crying during church today but you can't even tell!

I stole this pic from Nicole on instagram. We went from having maybe four girls to 14ish almost overnight it seems like! There were many not there today who generally are too which was a bummer but it's not like we can't ever take another picture together :)

This will be good.

October 2013 General Conference

I have a fun app on my phone called RhonnaDesigns (thanks Nicha {my attempt at a nickname for Nicole--fail})
So there's a trend where fancy people choose their favorite conference quotes and make them cute. Since I love quotes, cute things, and graphic design, I used my phone to make my own! (Except then afterwards I realized I can do the same thing on my iPad which is WAY easier hahahahaha woops)

This one is not my favorite at all. But I love the quote. Will redo this quote for sure-and I won't do it at 2am while laying in bed :)

Perhaps I will make more when I get some time. Conference had lots of good quotes. I haven't even finished watching/reading it all yet either.

Conference

This was taken from the Mormon Newsroom site to explain what General Conference is:

Since the vast majority of the Church’s 14 million members are unable to attend general conference in person, the meetings are broadcast via satellite to over 7,400 church buildings in 102 countries. Members (anyone) can also watch conference on television through Salt Lake City-based station KSL or BYU-TV. In addition, the Church streams the meetings live on the LDS.org website and on the Mormon Channel.
During the conference, Church leaders speak on a variety of spiritual topics. They address Latter-day Saints as well as government, faith and community representatives and other conference guests. Speakers include the worldwide leader of the Church, President Thomas S. Monson, and his counselors in the First Presidency, the governing body of the Church. Talks are also given by the members of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles and other leaders.
General conference talks vary in length from about 5 to 20 minutes. Topics are not assigned; each speaker chooses his or her own subject matter. Talks usually cover basic gospel principles or address significant issues of the day, with speakers encouraging individuals and families in their efforts to follow Jesus Christ.




It's a good thing to watch and I invite you all to watch!

This is just a kind of funny video (especially if you're familiar with these men :))
It's how the General Authorities eat reeces peanut butter cups.

Just like Belle

I haven't had time to read at all for many many months actually more like a year. During the 6 week break for school I started out being too busy to read. I had a wedding to plan and whatnot. The week before the wedding I started reading a book....I can't even remember which one now! Since then I've started rereading the Harry Potter books because they will always be my favorite. I've read
Blackmoore which is the 2nd book written by a wonderful author, Julianne Donaldson who wrote one of my ultimate favorite books, Edenbrooke. I strongly recommend both books. It's hard for me to recommend books because there are books that are 'mostly' good but may have a few iffy parts (nothing scandalous but maybe not appreciated). These books are really clean and just fun, Jane Austen like books.

I also started reading, Dear Girls Above Me by a comedian Charles McDowell. This is an example of a book I wouldn't recommend.

It's a true story about Charlie's life in an apartment living below 2 obnoxious women who have the most ridiculous conversations. He can hear almost everything they say or do and he started tweeting the things they would say for example;
"Dear Girls Above Me, "How does Google work? Is someone hired to look up your search and send it back to you?" Yes, and they search for it on Google."
"Dear  Girls Above Me, "I'm blanking, who discovered the world was round again? I mean flat--wait, did he think--yeah, flat--wait--" Christopher Columbus."
"Dear Girls Above Me, "All I want in life is a strand of Justin Timberlake's hair so I can make his babies." DNA doesn't produce children."
"Dear Girls Above Me, "Okay, I honestly just noticed that keyboards aren't in alphabetical order." This is a quote from you and my two year old cousin."

So he starts off with the bit of their conversation then adds his 2 cents at the end. There are some that are hilarious and some that aren't so...
There is some language that isn't great so this has been kind of a skimmer book, finding the funny (and appropriate) topics of his tweets and reading them. So not a book I would recommend to my friends for those reasons. There are so many good books that have just a couple things that ruin it :(.

I also want to start reading all of Roald Dahl books. I have his boxed set collection and could get through them pretty quickly. He's one of my favorite authors but I think I'll finish Harry Potter before starting those. I have some Jane Austen and Bronte sister books on my list as well- Jane Eyre is in my top 5 books--Fictional books that is-- Harry Potter books all are lumped into one also in my top 5. Edenbrooke and Blackmoore are lumped into one. Angels and Demons/Davinci Code are next, and I think Hunger Games is on that list... but I know I have more from my past I'm just not remembering.  Those are in no particular order

I have also checked out so many library books that have been pushed to the side because of time, but I've really enjoyed reading again. It's such a good part of my day and I don't get as sucked into other mindless activities (pinterest, TV, etc....).

So go read Blackmoore and Edenbrook if you haven't already. Just buy them because you'll like them and want to keep them :) My copies are loaned out and I love spreading the joy!

"I Resemble that Remark"

 (Three Stooges anyone?....)

Have you heard about the new 'words' Washington State has passed as gender biased and banned from our vernacular? Take the word 'freshman' for example, now we must refer to 'freshmen' as first-year-students. If you know someone who fishes, you'd better not call them a 'fisherman', that's sexist, you must call them a 'fisher'. How about penmanship? Nope, that's called handwriting now.
I cannot even believe that over 40,000 'gender biased' words were changed in our state. We are the fourth state to change these words.
I really don't understand it and it makes me upset to know that our tax dollars, time, energy, money, energy, money....is being put into this kind of ridiculous effort not to offend anyone. Our society is becoming too 'politically correct' trying not to offend anyone.
It's upsetting to me that saying the word Christmas is no longer acceptable and we have to say Holiday instead. At my old job they told us we had to answer the phone and say Happy Holidays. I always said Merry Christmas and nobody ever had any complaints, in fact, 80% of the people I talked to thanked me for saying the word Christmas!
Taking out the line "under God" from the pledge of allegiance is especially saddening. I won't get into it anymore than I already have because I could go on and on, but I wanted to let the universe know how ridiculously infuriating these changes are to me.
I'm offended that it's now legal to smoke marijuana in my state, let's ban it. I'm offended that school buses are yellow, I want them to be purple. I'm offended that more and more curse words are allowed on the radio and on TV. 100% of the population will EVER be satisfied, I would like to know when they will stop focusing on those unimportant things and focus on the REAL issues plaguing our state/country.


Imagine all the paperwork that will have to be thrown out and updated because of these word changes. I'm offended that it produces so much waste.

Another CRAZY bit of news is the fact that some young soccer teams in Canada have removed the soccer ball from SOCCER. Really? Wanting everyone to learn teamwork and how to have good sportsmanship (or should I say, sportspersonship?....huh...I don't wanna offend anyone with my sexist language) is a good thing. Removing the ball from soccer, not a good thing. It's allowing children to become entitled, creating a very false sense of accomplishment. What's going to happen when they start working at a company and they don't have instant success? They actually have to have responsibility and work for something? If they remove the proverbial ball from their ambitions, what's there to show for it? I want to read this book and feel accomplished, but I don't want to work for it so I'll just cut all the pages out, leaving only the covers. The only good that comes from removing the ball from soccer is that a few less kids will leave with bruises on their shins. Our society has started creating very lazy and self-important generations. This is just no good. It's ok, actually, it's more than ok, to lose a game. It's ok to win a game. It's ok to tie in a game.

I pledge to always say Merry Christmas, to speak a little louder when reciting the Pledge of Allegiance especially the "Under God" part, I pledge to encourage good teamwork and not encourage complacency, I pledge to build confidence and character in those around me without eliminating all possibilities of failure, I pledge to use failure as an opportunity to teach, I promise not to apologize for any of the above.

 Not learning how to lose would create chaos. Allowing yourself to become offended by the word 'freshman' would be chaos. PLEASE stop the madness.

 like my use of '  '  's ?


This probably doesn't even make sense at all. I'm SO tired but got on a bit of a rant. Sorry if I offended you ;)

S Reception

I haven't even posted pictures from my own brother's reception in June yet, I'm awesome! I've actually been having issues with the computer all those photos are on and haven't gotten to transfer them yet. But someday soon I will post them, I promise!

Last Saturday I got to be in charge of a childhood friend's reception (open house shingdig). I've known the Pratt family my entire life and they're such amazing people. So generous and helpful and kind, and just awesome (plus they're my bosses!). So when they found out Haley was getting married in August they asked if I would be willing to help them. Summers are crazy busy for them and I knew with everything else in life right now, trying to plan a reception would be really fun for me, and not as much fun for them. Of course, I said YES! haha

I believe it was mid-June that we started the planning. Now I'll be the first to admit, I'm bossy and like to get things done my own way, which I think can be good, sometimes....but not all the time. So once I got the OK, I was off! Her parents took care of the food, cupcakes, chair/tent/tablecloth rentals and I got to do the rest. I seriously LOVE this stuff ok.

It was so fun looking around for ideas and inspiration and I had a really good time pulling it all together. It's hard to know someone else's taste (even if you have known them your entire life:)) but I did know she wouldn't like diamonds dripping from the tree branches and peacocks wandering around so I crossed those off my list (I kid, I kid).

It was a backyard reception and I think it went wonderfully! Everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves and lots of people came out to congratulate the happy couple. I was so glad to have the chance to help them out.

Here are some pictures (all from my phone-high fives for attending a reception that I didn't have to take pictures at! I can count on one hand the # of receptions I've been to that I haven't taken pics at since I was 17).

Others have better photos but I only have access to my own for now.

I made several of these planters for succulents! I also made this chandelier out of wax paper for the gazebo.

Some silly details. Water bottle labels and wrapped silverware...intriguing! (These types of pics are mostly for myself so I can refer back.)

Tree branch bubbles! Some of my ideas are a little over the top to some (cough, mother, cough) and it's probably true but if it's something that I WANT to do and LIKE to do then it's all good.

Amazing HEIDI and her amazing aunt did the flowers! Heidi and I ordered flowers online about a month ago and they arrived two days before the wedding. So they were hard at work all day Friday and half of Saturday working on the beautiful flowers. They made 10 table centerpieces, 6+ ball jar arrangements, lots of corsages for moms/grandmas, 3 or 4 mini bouquets for the sisters, two head crown things for the flower girls (nieces), lots of boot-in-ears (never can spell that word)

for groom/brothers/dads/grandpas. Seriously so amazed. We had lots of flowers left over so just before everyone got back from the temple, I put some baby's breath into a couple bird cages to put around.

 This was the gate where people walked in. There was a guestbook table....

 A birdcage card table, a favor table.....

The favors were mini succulents that I made mini cement pots for. Kind of fun, kind of a pain, but it was fun to make the pots!

 I made 500 paper cranes to hang from the trees but it was a pain to hang them and I didn't have time to worry about it so only some of them got hung up. But it was ok.

 More centerpieces (and BBQ sauce)

 I had some amazing help the day of to get ready for this. I would still be sitting huddled in a corner if they hadn't come to help cut fruit/veggies and make trays, help decorate, set up, take down, etc....

 This is the buffet table. Bare Bones BBQ catered the dinner. Really we just went that day to pick up all the food from them and handled the rest ourselves.

 The drinks! We had a little mishap with the lemonade dispenser just before the family got back to eat dinner....the seal was broken and juice went evvverywhere! 

 The flowers were just so pretty!

 The tent where we put all the food stuff was really cool and handy. This is the dessert table.

Some more flowers Heidi made

 As the party was winding down.....

The end of the night. I loved the gazebo in the dark! The chandelier is now hanging in my room :)

 The cutest flower girl I've ever seen!

 And the last pics of flowers.

Wow I congratulate you if you actually made it through that mess of words/pictures! Yikes.

Overall it was so great and while it's a lot of work trying to prepare for it, seeing everyone come and enjoy themselves was awesome.

Promise to post Ty's reception pics sometime hopefully soon.

Chyla's wedding this Saturday! Literally 15 wedding invites in the mail in the last two months...cray cray.