I have had some amazing adventures since my last post.

I got to help out with Extreme Home Makeover

I went night canoeing in Island Park

Swimming in Yellowstone

Lagoon

Officially started grad school

Sleep over with Jacie

Pranks might have been pulled

Started back to work

Laughed a ton

Cried a little

Started a Book of Mormon challenge with my sister

Nacho party

Lava camping trip

In other words I have so many posts to do..

Hopefully tomorrow and Sunday I'll be able to post some pics!

Lessons Learned....

I was recently told that I need to update my blog more often! I have lots of fun summer pictures that will come hopefully this week.

Today however a lot has been on my mind the past few weeks so I thought I'd share.

Some are thoughts ...some are lessons learned.. some are new goals...

1) I am very blessed... I have some amazing friends

2) My Savior knows me and knows what I need

3) Even when you truly look for the good in others sometimes people will still tear you down, but it is still my choice on how to react

4) Patience is a Godly virtue, is more than just waiting, it's waiting well.

5) I can love people who are not easy to love!

6) Being impatient is a form of selfishness.

7) It is at times when we try to really improve our lives, that satan attacks us more

8) Change is a good thing..

9) Good friends never stop being your friend.

10) Seeds you plant whether good or bad are the fruits you bear.

11) Though sometimes it's hard to be nice or to bite your tongue it is well worth it.

12) Trials give us two choices to become more like our Savior or more like the adversary.

13) Tender mercies are everywhere, we just have to look.

14) Don't sweat the small stuff....

15) It's all small stuff..

16) The temple really is a place of refuge...

17) My family is absolutely amazing..

18) A simple "Thank You" when sincere can go a long way.

I am so grateful for those people who inspire me to be better. I am thankful for new friendships and old friendships. I am thankful for lessons learned even they hurt at the time. I am thankful for the truth I know because of the gospel. I am thankful for th atonement and how when applied it can heal sadness and pain. I love my life and where I am at now.

The biggest lesson and one of my many mottos is

COME WHAT MAY AND LOVE IT!

P.S. Happy May

Welcome spring..

The smells are back..

Thunderstorms..

Backyard BBQ's

Buds Blossoming

Isn't it wonderful!

One old white window

+

Spring green paint

+

A Cricut

=

Pics coming soon...

Happy Spring Cleaning! I hope you find treasures too!

The halfway house...

If you want pure comedy check out our new blog..

Living with a zillion girls gets interesting

So obviously it needs to be blogged about!

We will be updating it a lot so follow us!

Enjoy!

http://lifeatthehalfwayhouse.blogspot.com

Service

Today in gospel principles we discussed service.

There are two types of service..

The first is service in general,

this is the kind of service that we do, just because someone needs something.

The second is Christlike service.

This type requires love.

We need to serve because of the love we need to have for those around us.

Service has been something I have really been trying to make a part of my life.

Today we talked about how service can be a lifestyle.

I hope someday to be the type of person that service is just a part of who I am.

I am grateful for service and how it impacts each of our lives.

I have had the opportunity to serve and to be served.

Each time a serve I know that I am blessed.

Recently a few of my most favorite people made me a small scrapbook.

Each of them wrote a little note to me.

It was so amazing.

I am so grateful to be around such amazing people.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes on service:

"The road to success is not crowded. Because while most are looking for ways to take, the truly successful people are finding ways to give. With a giving attitude, every situation is an opportunity for success." - Unknown

I believe the Savior is telling us that unless we lose ourselves in service to others, there is little purpose to our own lives. Those who live only for themselves eventually shrivel up and figuratively lose their lives, while those who lose themselves in service to others grow and flourish—and in effect save their lives. - President Thomas S. Monson

Giving frees us from the familiar territory of our own needs by opening our mind to the unexplained worlds occupied by the needs of others. -Barbara Bush

Happiness cannot come from without. It must come from within. It is not what we see and touch or that which others do for us which makes us happy; it is that which we think and feel and do, first for the other fellow and then for ourselves. -Helen Keller

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others." -Gandhi

CHALLENGE: This week take a moment to serve someone

It really is the little acts of kindness

that bring us close our Savior.

Just a few thoughts...

This week has been interesting! So many things have happened that have made me so grateful for what I have. I have also been taught a few lessons.

1) We need to surround ourselves with good people. As we associate with good people, we are inclined to become better ourselves. I am so grateful for those good people in my life you lift me up. Many of them I am striving to be better just because of who they are.

2) The next lesson is the importance of testimony. It is a rock that can hold us down with things are thrown at us. I had an experience that happened this week. A few friends and I met this man who told us that the prophet will always lead us astray and that we can't base our thoughts on the church on feelings that we have..

This man was wrong..

I know the prophet is an inspired man, called of God

And will never lead us down a wrong path.

I know that if we obey all he says and follow his teachings we are only following our Savior.

I know that the church is true because I have felt it..

The gospel is perfect.

It's that simple.

The church is absolutely true.

3) Lesson 3.. I have attended a lecture on the constitution the past few weeks..

What an inspired document.

Our Heavenly Father had a huge part in creating it.

This country was made for us!

I am so thankful to be an American.

I am thankful for the freedoms I enjoy.

I love the truths and principles about the constitution that I have been learning

4) God is aware of us.. This past Monday we were supposed to go to Star Valley to Jordan's dad's funeral. Monday morning Michelle's dad called her and begged her and us not to go.

We decided not to go. Then another friend texted me cautioning us to be careful, he too was relieved when we told him we were not going.

I am glad I never found out why we were not supposed to go.

I am grateful for a Heavenly Father who watches out for me.

5) A thought from the confidence lecture: It is not confidence but jealousy that binds us down.

Such a true principle!

When we have the confidence in something it is then we excel, however we we doubt those little jealousies creep in and we live in doubt and not faith.

It is though the faith and confidence we have in ourselves that allow us to grow and better our lives.