Blessed

It's been a while since I've blogged so I decided it was time. Don't worry I will blog soon all about my Africa trip coming up but before all that I want to just express my gratitude for how incredibly blessed I am. so here are just a few things on my list that I count as major blessings in my life-

My family. Each and everyday I find more reasons to love and appreciate my amazing family. My Mom is the queen of getting things done, my Dad is the king of fun and hard-work, and my sister is the princess of the family. Meaning she is absolutely stunning and kind-hearted, like Cinderella if you will. :) And I guess that makes me the jester? Sure, we'll go with that.

My missionaries. I have lots of amazing friends on missions, or leaving soon for missions, and I couldn't be prouder of them. I live for Mondays when I get emails from them. From their letters you just feel their passion for the gospel and service and it makes me so excited! Obviously I miss them but I couldn't be happier with their decision to serve the Lord in such an amazing way.

My friends. I love coming home for the summer because I get to reunite with some of my best friends. They have been so supportive of me in everything and I love them to pieces. I consider myself very lucky to be able to have these amazing people in my life.

My boy. Yup. I said it, my boy. Josh is such a major blessing in my life. Although we are having to do a long distance thing right now I couldn't be more happy he is a big part of life. Can't wait to be  reunited with my best friend again in August. 

Africa. I leave for Uganda in 3 days and could not be more anxious or excited to get there! I'll admit I'm a little nervous, mostly about the 23 hour travel time, but much more excited than I am nervous. I can't wait to meet everyone and hear their stories. I am hoping and praying I don't take too much time adjusting to the new culture that I waste my time there. I'm planning on getting there and getting right to work. There are two fundraisers going on right now that we are all hoping work out. We are trying to help build a new school, among other things, and we are raising money to keep the new Health Clinic HELP built last year running. There is so much good to be done and I feel so blessed to be able to be a part of it. Keep updated on my Africa blog for my adventures and more ways you can help!  http://anniedoesafrica.blogspot.com/

God is interested and involved in every single detail of our lives and I couldn't be more grateful for that. 

One Month.

One more month until I go to Africa. AFRICA. Can you believe it!? I cannot. It has not become real to me yet. I have gotten my shoes, some clothes, and soon I will get my shots. Oh my goodness. Life is happening so fast!

Here are my shoes. I'm in love. Chacos baby, get a pair. 

One month until I get to see these amazing faces. I cannot wait! 

Happy Birthday Josh!

So. I've mentioned a couple times this new man in my life. For his birthday, I decided it was time to dedicate a blog to him.

Let me begin with his name, Josh. A.K.A Dodoy or Doy for short. Everyone in our ward knows him as Doy, therefore that is what I call him. Why Doy you ask? Well, it was on his bucket list to have a nickname so his roommate Kay (Sam) and him picked nicknames and introduced them as such. Ever since it stuck. Why Dodoy was picked? No one knows.

So basically the first word that comes to mind when I think about Doy is happiness. He makes me so happy and together we can have an insane amount of fun no matter what we do. Here are some of our most creative dates:

Our first date we made box forts and threw plastic fruit at the other 2 couples. It was way fun. I have terrible aim though. If we got hit with fruit the only way to revive yourself was to hold hands (waffle style mind you) with your date for 10 seconds. Smooth boys.

We are so awkward..

We like to bake brownies, muffins, and anything yummy really. Somehow we always end up looking like this when we cook or bake together. He spills every meal and has stained 2 of my shirts. He would add that I spill a lot too, but that's not true. Ok, maybe a little bit true..

On Memorial Day my roommate Alex and I woke up to the smell of bacon because our boyfriends had surprised us with a delicious breakfast! They won major good boyfriend points that day. Oh but then Doy lost a few when he gave me a bloody nose. Someone started a tickle fight which I was not participating in but if you know Doy then you know he loses all control of his body when he is tickled. I was a little too close to him as he started to flail around and got an elbow to the face. He knew what to do though, he ran (like literally ran) and got me a Diet Coke, extra ice, with a little Coke at the top. He quickly earned back good boyfriend points.

Reenactment of the injury. 

One of my favorite things we have done together was totally his idea. We went a got pillow cases and he told me to draw a face on mine and he drew a face on his. He wouldn't fill me in on what we were doing with these pillow cases until I was actually doing it. He told me to fold my arms and put them over my head and then he put the pillow case on me and put his jacket zipped up around my waist. He then told me to dance, so without many questions I danced. My roommates and him were laughing and I had no clue what was going on but just doing what I was told and danced. Our roommates helped set us both up in out pillow cases and we went door to door and danced for people. No one thought it was quite as hilarious as we thought it was, but we had a blast doing it.

There are so many other fun memories with this handsome man but I simply can't share all of them in one blog. I'm so grateful to have such a fun, hard-working, and good-looking man in my life. I'm excited to see what the future brings for us. Happy Birthday Josh! 

Seester

Today my lovely sister Sara turns 23. Can you believe it? For this monumental occasion I will dedicate this blog to Sara. I will share 2 of the things she has done to make me proud, and 3 stories that make me love her. Of course with pictures spread throughout. Here it goes!

working the middle part with bangs Sara. 

Proud Moment #1: 

My Senior year Mormon Prom. I know odd event to pick but let me explain. I had recently torn my ACL and for some silly reason insisted on wearing heels to Prom. Oh yea, because my date was probably 6'2''. My parents were out of town or something and so Sara volunteered to be my parent to tag along and take pictures. Late, we arrived at the picture taking spot to find that I had to go down this steep hill to meet the other people in my group. With my knee a wobbling Sara came to my aid and basically carried me down the hill. Giggling and secretly terrified we slowly and carefully got to the bottom of the hill. The rest of the picture taking portion she was the perfect fill-in mom, fixing my hair, snapping tons of pictures, helping me walk in my heals, and even mingling with the other parents. I choose this moment because I was proud to have such a supportive (figuratively and literally) sister who so willingly stepped in to take care of me. So thanks Sara for carrying down that hill and being supportive through all my endeavors. 

Too bad you can't even see the shoes I wore! 

Proud Moment #2: 

BYU Graduation. Last month Sara graduated from BYU! What a great accomplishment! Although I may have secretly dreaded sitting through the list of names it was so worth it to hear hers! She couldn't have been more stunning. Our whole family beamed with pride as our little blonde strutted her stuff across that stage to receive her diploma. She has paved the way for me to graduate from BYU too. It's amazing that her little size 5 feet could leave such big footprints to follow in! 

Story #1:

Christmas Eve one year. I'm not sure what year this was but I think it was her first Winter Break from BYU. That may be wrong. Anyways, we took to watching One Tree Hill like that whole break together and so Christmas Eve night after our annual party was over and our parents sent us to bed Sara started watching OTH in her bed. I'm not sure how it happened but we ended up watching a couple episodes together in her bed. Now this was significant to me because Sara never really allowed me in her room or close to her really. So I felt honored to be able to have sister bonding time in the same bed! That has gone down as one of the best Christmas Eves ever in my book. Ever since then our relationship has grown stronger and stronger and I couldn't be more grateful to that. 

Sara's Photo shoot from last Christmas 

Story #2: 

When I was probably ten me and my best friend had gotten into our first fight ever. I was taking it really hard as my dramatic 10 year old self would, and I went home upset. Sara had her friends over making a movie or something I'm sure and I snuck down to silently observe even though I knew she hated that. Sara in her observant way noticed I was upset and pulled me aside and asked what was wrong. I have never forgotten that simple experience because before then I always felt like the annoying younger sister, well because I was annoying. Ever since a young age Sara has always ben sensitive to others feelings has known what to say and how to help. I am so grateful to have such an observent and caring sister that I can count on.

Story #3:

Let's end with a good one. When I was little Sara and I were getting ready for bed one night brushing our teeth with our fancy electric toothbrushes. Minding my own business I was throughly brushing the few teeth I did have, then to my surprise I feel a sharp pain atop my pretty little head. What was the pain? Well it was the fruits of young Sara's curiosity, her electric toothbrush caught up in my hair. She had looked at her toothbrush and wondered, "What would happen if I put this in Annie's hair while it was still on? Let's find out!" I had a nice Alfalfa ratted piece of hair sticking straight out of my head. There was no way of brushing that thing out so Mom had to cut it out. So I was forced to live like my father for a few weeks and have a little bald spot on my head. Thanks Sara for teaching me that you should follow your curiosity where ever it leads you. Even if it does cause pain and embarrassment to others. That was the lesson you were teaching me right? 

Wish we had a picture of this one..

Happy Birthday Beautiful. I love you and couldn't be prouder to have such a stunning, smart, and just perfect older sister. 

Finals Bro

So Fall classes have ended. How crazy is that!? This semester has flown by. The fact that I have finals this week and next has not sunk it. Luckily I only have 2 tests and a paper to write. Then I'm done!

But in other news, I got a job! Ready for this: Custodial from 4am-8am Monday-Friday. Yup. You read that right. 4AM people. But oddly enough I'm excited about it! I will be working with good friends and making good money! Should be a good time. Hopefully I wont die waking up that early. This will be my token college job though right?

Overall I am super excited about Spring semester at BYU. It will be filled with fun, friends, a real cute boy*, preparation for Africa, and hopefully good money! Oh and a little studying too I guess. Or maybe a lot. We will see.

Preparation for Africa is going great! Read about that here:http://anniedoesafrica.blogspot.com/

*Wanna know more about the "real cute boy"? His name is Josh but we all call him Doy. Not quite sure why, he should be the one to explain that. But he is so great! I am one lucky girl. Life is so good.

He is a stud, no?

How Can I Know Christ's Love?

This past week in New Testament we talked about 1 Peter 1:8, "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full glory:" This verse got me thinking about my friends who don't necessarily believe in God or Christ. So to you dear friends, this blog is for you. 

I've been asked before, "how can you know Christ even exists when you haven't seen or heard Him?" My answer is probably never as good as it should be because it's a hard thing to explain. All I can think is that I feel His love. I have felt His hand in my life many times. I can recall specific instances when I knew without a doubt I was feeling Christ's perfect, unwavering love. When I am doing something that is in accordance to Christ's teachings I feel a new warmth enter my body that reassures me. 

Whenever I enter the Temple I receive that feeling of love. I've been striving to go to the Temple every week and so I have felt an abundance of Christ's love. His love is what makes me so happy. This gospel makes me happier than anything else can in this world and that is a testament to me that Christ lives and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true and correct church. 

I urge you to try to keep yourself open for Christ's love. Let His Atonement work in your life. Do something small to attempt to experience the feelings I have done my best to describe. Read a verse of the Bible or Book of Mormon. Serve someone. Pray and sincerely ask if God and Christ love you. I promise you that if you do any of these things with a sincere and open heart you will feel Christ's love. Let me know what happens. :) 

Here are some suggestions for verses to read:

Moroni 7:48

2 Nephi 1:15

2 Nephi 26:24

D&C 6:20 (Replace Oliver with your name, cool huh?)

John 3:16

Decisions, Decisions.

This last week in class we talked about how God gives us 3 different answers when we seek them: yes, no, and silence. Personally I hate the silence answer the most. I'd prefer a straight answer of how to move forward and I'll gladly follow whatever plan Heavenly Father has for me! Especially recently as I've had some important decisions to make in my life I've wanted clear answers on how to move forward. 

We compared our asking to Joseph Smith's asking when he asked what church he should join. He asked with the intention and determination to act on his answer. I think in all my decision making I hadn't asked with a sincere intent to act on my answer. But as I began to make decisions using my own agency I began to receive confirmations on my actions and my decisions. As I better understood how Heavenly Father's way of answer our questions I could better ask questions with a greater risk of receiving an answer.

God is good, and He takes really good care of His children. If we ask with sincere intent to act on the answers we receive we will receive greater promptings. As we grow to better understand the Lord's will we can easily align our will with His.