Things I'm Thankful for Pictorally

My AWESOME job

Crockpot Soups 

My Super cool roommates 

 That warm and toasty feeling you get when you drink hot chocolate while it's snowing outside.  Oh yeah.  That hits the spot.

Missionaries!  And the snail mail system of paper and envelopes!

Peach candles

Need I say more?  This stuff is GOLD. 

 My number one missionary :] and the letters he writes back to me!

ALL of these kiddos:

 

They light up my life!

And I just LOVE this picture.

Flowers.  So pretty.  And just nature in general.  I feel like all of the many wonderful creations on this Earth just prove that there is a God and He can do marvelous things.  I mean, have you SEEN the mountains???  And sunsets??  They're absolutely gorgeous!  And I know, it's because of science and reactions and stuff.  But who do you think made it all so that it would work out so beautifully?  I know it was Christ and Heavenly Father.  I don't know if they made the rules or if they knew the rules and then used those rules to create the beautiful world which we live on, but I do know that either way, it's because of them.  Just some food for thought.

What things are you thankful for?? 

November: A Great Month to Be Born

And now, the beginning of thankful posts.  In order to avoid blowing up my blog, I shall post once per week.  We're going to start a thankful tree in our apartment, so hopefully I'll get some pictures (my picture-taking device shattered into almost a million pieces, so these posts might actually be a little bare ... )

Day 1: (Friday, I woke up at 6:00am)
I am thankful for doctors and the fact that they are willing to go through a million years of medical school to help other people and keep us all healthy.  Plus, they deal with gross stuff like blood and I'm pretty sure I could never in a bajillion light years do that.

Day 2: (Saturday, I attended two recitals)
I am thankful for the ability to hear and enjoy music made by others and that I have such talented friends who are willing and brave enough to share their talents with others.  Nathan and Lyz, you guys both did a fantastic job! (And Camille- great accompanying!)

Day 3: (Sunday, fast Sunday which despite the name, actually goes by really slow)
I am thankful for Christ and the faith which I have in him.  He has done so much for me already and I will never be able to repay Him.  And the most amazing part is that He will continue to do things for me and help me despite my inability to repay Him.

They Did The Monster Mash!

Happy All Hallow's Eve Everyone!

We dressed up Chick-fil-A like the magical land of Oz!  It was so great!!  We had lots of different costumes from munchkins to the great wizard himself!!

The student managers chose Disney villains as our theme.  I dressed up as the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland!  We also had Yzma, Hades, and the Evil Queen.

Check out the Cougareat's facebook page for more awesome pics!

For Halloween Night festivities ... 

We partied it up at a tri-stake Halloween dance at the Eclipse Warehouse near the Trax station!

Jenna and I went as cats!

What was your costume?? 

(I'll bet it was AMAZING!)

Any fan favorites??

(We had Rufio and Bob Ross at our ward party!)

The Prophet Said to Plant a Garden

... so that's what we did!  We got up before the sun was over the mountains and planted bulbs and flowers at the Salt Lake temple.  It was SO fun!

Photo compliments of Jess :]

Can't wait to go back in April and see all the beautiful flowers we planted!!

There are Better Days Ahead

Sometimes it's really hard to just go on pure faith, but sometimes, it's all we can do.  We exercise our faith and put our trust in God that He will take care of us, and that everything will work out for the best.  We don't know how, and we can't seem to figure it out.  But God does know.  He knows exactly how everything will work out and stands there, with his arms outstretched, asking us to trust him.  "Come, follow me."  If we do what He asks, He will bless us and He will not let us fail.

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This past week, I acted on a prompting to do something that I wasn't sure I could do.  I didn't see how it would work out, how everything would be okay.  But if there's one thing I've learned from the past three years, it's to trust in God.  I took His advice and hoped everything would work out.  Everything hasn't worked out yet, but I'm beginning to see those "better days ahead."

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So when you're feeling down, stand a little taller, walk a little higher, and smile a little brighter.  Someone's watching out for you in ways you aren't even aware of.  Sometimes, he let's it rain.  But after every rainstorm comes a beautiful rainbow.  It might be big, or it might be small, or it may even be hard to see until long after we think the storm is over, but we have been promised that it will come.

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Here's to the rain storms; here's to the leap of faith; here's to the days when your trust in God is all you have to go on; and here's to the blessings and promises that will come because of those days.

Falling into Autumn

So Fall doesn't really last very long in Utah, so here are some fall activities that have officially been completed before snow happens.

First, we decorated our apartment for Halloween!

Then, we stopped wearing summer clothes (so sad ... )

Last summer outfit ... I hate having to bundle up.  

Our ward went to Cornbelly's for a night of fun festivities!  There was a corn maze, hayride, pumpkin bowling, and lots of other fun things :]

My ward!

 My roommate and I made soup!  Zuppa Toscano!  It was SO good! (We even got the approval from the ward Italian, so it was pretty legit.)

What fun fall activities do you like to do?? 

(I need more ideas before the snow gets here ... )

Roommate Shenanigans

It was our turn to introduce ourselves to the ward tonight.  So we performed a genuine Youtube masterpiece in true Minion fashion.  

It was a truly fantastic time and we really enjoyed it (and I FINALLY got a picture of my roommates!)