Testimony

Yesterday in sacrament meeting we had fast and testimony meeting. It is our last Fast Sunday in our ward because we are moving in two weeks. I felt inclined to share my testimony and to thank the ward for being so loving and welcoming to Garret and I. When I was up there though I was shocked at how much I struggled to find the words to say.

It has been a long while since I have last said my testimony out loud and it saddened me how much I had to really dig to find things to say. It made me realize that I really need to vocalize my beliefs more often so that I can not only share them but also remind myself of the things I have been taught. 

I was born into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but I wasn't born with a testimony of it. My testimony has always been a work in progress and always will be. I have realized over the years that a testimony isn't something you can just hold onto. If you are not moving forward then you are moving back. You can't just stand still. 

Later that evening I was pondering about my testimony with my lovely husband and really analyzing myself. I thought of the time I felt the most constantly spiritual. I wish I could have said this current time, but it wouldn't be correct. The time I felt I was the closest to my Heavenly Father was when I was a senior in high school. I read my scriptures daily and I often spoke in prayer with my Heavenly Father. I attended seminary and went to church activities. I also attended the temple weekly to do baptisms for the dead. I was so in tune with the spirit and was happy.

I am not saying I am not happy now. I also haven't strayed. I am still a firm believer, but I feel I might have taken a step backwards these past few years instead of forwards. 

Garret and I had a long talk about our spirituality both individually as well as a couple. We have set some goals for ourselves now and I really want to set some new habits in my life to help me maintain that spirit I love. We discussed the importance of doing family scripture study as well as family prayer. These are things we both value and really want to have set in stone before our family grows. 

In addition to our testimonies Garret and I also talked about the importance of prayer. This is something I struggle with and I get frustrated with myself. I don't understand why I have such a hard time talking to my Heavenly Father. We talked about how people, us included, often only prayer when we are in times of need. When we lose something, when we are worried, when we are stressed. Why can't we remember to talk to our Heavenly Father in times of joy, and maybe on just a regular day when nothing in particular happens. 

I also thought about my prayers and how I often catch myself repeating the same things every time. It reminded me of something someone once told me, that you shouldn't recite things but rather have a conversation. It is so important to talk to our Heavenly Father, and to really feel like you are talking and conversing with him. He wants to hear about the good, the bad, the boring, the random. He wants to hear about it all. He wants us to ask him for help, and we need to thank him for all we have been blessed with. 

This is definitely one among many things that I need to work on. 

In conclusion I know my Heavenly Father lives. I know that he loves me. I know that he knows who I am personally. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet. I know that Thomas S Monson is the prophet today and is a mouthpiece for our Heavenly Father. Most of all I know that the Book of Mormon is a true book and is a testament of Jesus Christ. I know that it is a record of the prophets of old and that Joseph Smith translated it with the help of the Holy Ghost. I know that I will see Jesus Christ and my Heavenly Father again someday and I hope I can be in the Celestial Kingdom with them. I know I will see my family again. Most important, I know I am sealed for time and all eternity to the love of my life, Garret Hegland. I know if I am righteous I will be able to be with him forever. 

Photography

It has officially been way too long since I have been on here. I don't even have a good excuse like being on an exotic vacation for a month. I have just been sitting at home doing nothing exciting....

I have been really wanting to get my photography off the ground. So tonight I created a webpage with all the information. If you ever have any photography needs let me know!!!

My website is: https://sites.google.com/site/loulouphotography2011

Being at Home

This summer has been the first time in a long time where I have some spare time. At first I wasn't sure what to do with myself but I quickly created a long list of to-do's. 

Yesterday was one of these days where I didn't have anywhere to do. Since all I am committed to currently is work and I am part time I have several days a week where I get to spend the day at home. I decided to make myself be productive and managed to keep myself busy.

I started my day by watching one of my favorite daytime television shows Rachael Ray. I find her to be hilarious and she always has entertaining guests. She also makes me want to do better in the kitchen and make delicious healthy meals. 

I then went to the grocery store because it is always important to have food in the house. To make my trip even better I found an old Smith's gift card from our wedding and used it to pay for ALL of our food. The only thing better than food is free food! 

When I got home I figured I should be a good wife and clean up the house. Garret is always a good help with cleaning but usually all the messes are my messes so I figured it was about time I picked up after myself.  I also did laundry and even washed the towels and sheets which doesn't happen probably as often as it should. Even though I don't clean much I do love the feeling when you are done and you sit down and look at your nice clean home and feel happy to be there. I should clean more often so that I can always have that feeling! 

I also got into my cooking mood. First I decided to make a delicious pasta salad to have for lunches for the week. The recipe I use is one that my mom always made growing up. I consider it a summer comfort food because it taste so good and is nice and cold on a hot summer day. I also decided to use a cake mix we had had since our wedding and made a yummy yellow cake with strawberry frosting. I am trying to eat healthier and this is definitely going in the wrong direction but cake is just SO SO SO yummy! I am also proud of myself because I made a circle cake with two layers. (That is pretty advanced for me, especially compared to all of my talented baking relatives) For dinner I decided to really go all out and I made homemade hamburger patties with some egg and seasonings. I also bought yummy breads from the bakery to use as buns that tasted amazing! For the side I made parmesan potato wedges that tasted so good. I have never made my own fries before so I was surprised at how easy it was to make them and at how good they tasted especially because they were baked and not fried. Overall my cooking went well for the day. Hopefully I can keep this going. 

I always love having nights at home with my hubby!  Garret is so busy with work, his internship, and school that I just love spending time with him where we can just sit and enjoy each others company. We watched TV for a little bit and then just sat on the couch talking and laughing. Even though I love having extravagant days with Garret I love days like this better because this is what every day is like. It is great to do crazy things but it is more important to love all the days in between. 

Summer Days!

Garret and I had a fun summer day this past Saturday. 

We started our morning at 5:45 when we woke up to get ready for a 5k we were doing. My sister Amanda slept over that night and on our way to downtown we picked up her boyfriends brother Dillon who was running with us. We did the Color Me Rad 5k downtown that was a fundraiser for the Utah Art's Council. Garret and I had started preparing for the 5k a couple months ago but for the past several weeks I hadn't run once so I was a little nervous about running a 5k when I haven't gotten out for such a long time. But it ended up being amazing. I was able to run the entire race and I got covered in colored chalk along the way. This was my fist 5k and it was such a great and fun experience.

After getting our exercise the four of us went out to breakfast to the amazing Kneaders! I love Kneaders, especially for breakfast. We all got the french toast which tasted amazing after the run. 

Garret and I went home to get all cleaned up after our color run. Once all clean we decided to head back downtown and we went to the Utah Art's Festival. It was so fun to see all the artists there and their artwork. We saw some very creative things as was as some very impressive art. We saw some fun yard art as well as things for the walls and kitchen. 

After walking around for several hours we decided to go get some food. We went to Chili's which is one of my favorite places. At Chili's they have some new flatbread appetizers. We shared a margarita flatbread which was AMAZING. It tasted amazing! I also had a steak with mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli, and texas toast. It was such a wonderful meal and I really ejoyed it. 

After eating we were exhausted from being outside in the sun all day so we stopped at my moms to borrow some movies we hadn't seen yet. When we got home we got some popcorn popped and watched The Hobbit which I really enjoyed. I am really excited for the next movie. We also watched Casino Royale which we hadn't seen yet either. It was a great movie as well. Although the end of it I didn't really watch because I was half asleep from our long day.

Date Night

Garret and I had a lot of fun going on a date Friday night. We decided to go out and try some new things. We started out by trying an Asian restaurant just down the street from our house that we have been wanting to try. Instead of choosing something to eat, I asked out waiter what is favorite thing was and he said the Szechwan chicken. I told him I would try it. Even though I had no idea what it was. It ended up being DELICIOUS. 

We also looked up some parks that were in the area and found out there was a pond near downtown Famrington and decided to go walk around it. When we got there we were pleasantly surprised. The pond was gorgeous and had lots of fun things to explore. There was a walking path as well as some dirt trails. We also found a tree with a rope swing! (I know where we are going on those hot summer days) 

Overall our spontaneous date was a success and we found some new favorite spots! 

Hiking!

When we first moved in November we had no idea all the treasures our little neighborhood had. Now that it is warm outside Garret and I have been going on walks and finding some fun things. Less then a block away from our house there are three different trail heads. I have explored one already which goes all the way up the mountain side and into the canyon. Today we decided to venture down one of the other paths and found some gorgeous places! 

The trail had two streams one on each side and it literally goes straight through the middle of the neighborhood. You would have no idea though because the plants are so tall and thick you can see nothing but green and blue skies!

I am just so grateful for the beauties of the Earth. When I go hiking and see nature it makes me really think about this gorgeous place we all get to live and that it had to have been created by our loving Heavenly Father. It also makes me think about how one day I will get to be in the presence of my Heavenly Father. If I think the Earth is immaculate I can not even fathom what the Celestial Kingdom will look like and how it will feel to be in the presence of my Father and Savior. 

I can not wait for that day! But while I am waiting I am going to enjoy the beauties around me and my amazing wonderful eternal companion! 

My Body

So I have been dancing for 18 years. Thankfully I have never been seriously hurt aside from the common bruise and pulled muscle. I did fall while doing a back tuck at a concert once but kept dancing, even though I realized later on that I had a gash in my head. Overall though I would consider myself luck considering how many times I have fallen over. 

Now that I am no longer dancing though I think I am really starting to feel all those years worth of torture I have put my body through. my entire body feels like it is going to fall apart. My lower back is constantly hurting. Also my left knee gives out sometimes when I walk which causes a quick pain to shoot up my leg but after that it is fine. I also have a constant pain in my right elbow that get worse when I move it around a lot. Also my wrists are starting to hurt, especially my left one. 

Basically I feel like an old woman.... and my body is supposed to be in it's prime supposedly. This makes me a little worried....

I guess it is a good thing I married Garret who is going to school to be physical therapist. I am going to need some help after all my joint replacements when I hit 30!!!!

If anyone has any tips to help with any of my pains let me know!!!!!

I Love to See the Temple

I have been a little down lately. I have been feeling sick which has been causing me to always be exhausted. Also I have just been letting things stress me out and be overwhelming. Because of this I have not be myself lately. I haven't been a positive impact on those around me, instead I have been the exact opposite. 

I don't know why people, especially me, allow ourselves get into one of these ruts because they are just a downward spiral. Thankfully I have been taught my all the amazing examples around me what to do to turn things around. That is to focus on myself and my spirituality. I have discovered that whenever I do get into one of these negative phases it is because I am lacking in my spiritual side and need to refocus myself. This morning after Garret left for school I decided to spend sometime with myself and went to the Bountiful temple to do an endowment session. This is just what I needed. When I first got there and was waiting for the session to start I grabbed a Book of Mormon. I just opened the book to a random page and landed on Alma 5: 14-19

 14 And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye ^aspiritually been ^bborn of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty ^cchange in your hearts?

 15 Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who ^acreatedyou? Do you look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption ^braised in incorruption, to stand before God to be ^cjudged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?

 16 I say unto you, can you imagine to yourselves that ye hear the voice of the Lord, saying unto you, in that day: Come unto me ye^ablessed, for behold, your works have been the works of righteousness upon the face of the earth?

 17 Or do ye ^aimagine to yourselves that ye can lie unto the Lord in that day, and ^bsay—Lord, our works have been righteous works upon the face of the earth—and that he will save you?

 18 Or otherwise, can ye imagine yourselves brought before the tribunal of God with your souls filled with guilt and remorse, having a remembrance of all your guilt, yea, a perfect^aremembrance of all your wickedness, yea, a remembrance that ye have set at defiance the commandments of God?

 19 I say unto you, can ye look up to God at that day with a pure heart and clean hands? I say unto you, can you look up, having the^aimage of God engraven upon your countenances?

These scriptures are just what I needed to help me to turn myself around. Our lives get so busy and hectic with all the things we need to do. These things are not necessarily evil or even bad but they can be if we are allowing them to distract us from the great and more valuable things in our life. It is important to always look at your priorities and see if you are really focusing on things that matter in the big picture of our lives. 

I hope that when the day comes that I look at my Savior and Heavenly Father and I can tell them that I did my best and that I followed them. I hope that I can look back on my life and not feel that guilt or be ashamed. I want to feel proud about the things I have done and to feel that joy and love. 

You are Great!

So much in life we feel belittled and unimportant. It can be hard to see just how vital of a part we play is the lives of those around us. Here is another email of quotes I got from the Ripples Project:

PEBBLE Make visible what, without you, might perhaps have never been seen!-Robert Bresson

BOULDER When you allow your best self to shine through and have the courage to believe in unlimited possibilities, you will discover how wonderfully magnificent you truly are! -written & submitted by Elizabeth Hyland, author of "Surviving The Unemployment Roller Coaster"

PONDER It may be time to take a deep breath and remind yourself that you really are, as Ms. Hyland states above, Magnificent.  And being Magnificent means that you cannot simply shirk in the shadows, nor can you collapse into a heap because you feel overwhelmed or defeated by the (real) challenges life is presenting to you lately. Your colleagues, your neighbors, your community, and indeed everyone in the entire world desperately needs you to release your Magnificence this week.  So take one more moment to catch your breath and then hop up, dust yourself off, and then give us your absolute best self.  Please, and thank you. Peace, Paul

I couldn't agree more!!! We are all so important and have such a large role to play. It is up to us to let ourselves shine and to positively effect those around us. Reading these quotes and email made me think of a very popular saying at my dance studio:

"...Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

- Marianne Williamson 

I just love this quote and feel that it is so inspirational! Who are we not to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous, to shine and make manifest the glory of God within us? We all have a duty to serve the word and to do that we need to be our best selves. We need to let ourselves shine.

I really one of the lines near the end of the quote saying, "as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same". So often we catch ourselves venting about the problems of the word and of those around us. This line can easily go both ways. If we are short tempered, if we are negative and rude we are giving people around us permission to act the same way. However if we are kind, give service, love those around us we are also giving people permission to follow in our footsteps. 

Quotes

A little over a year ago when I was on student government at SLCC we had a Leadership Conference and the Keynote speaker was Paul from The Ripples Project. He was an amazing motivational speaker and I loved hearing him. Afterwards he told us that if we would like we could give him our email and we would receive a weekly motivational quote. Of course I signed up for this.

The quotes he sends out are both ones that he has found as well as ones that have been submitted for people like me who get the weekly emails.

I love these emails because they actually include three quotes on the same subject. The quotes vary in depth. The first is called a pebble. Something short and sweet. The next quote is called a boulder which has a little more to it and gives you something to think about. The last is called the ponder, this is to get you really thinking and to really help motivate you.

The very first quotes I got were on taking chances, here is what was in the email:

PEBBLE It's not the opportunities given, but the chances taken! -written & submitted by Unique Zebal, Eureka CA

BOULDER Take a chance! All life is chance. The person who goes furthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. -Dale Carnegie, submitted by Katherine, Milwaukee WI

PONDER Good news!  We don't need to succeed in order to benefit from a chance taken, because we often become braver and stronger and wiser even if the desired outcome isn't achieved.  We learn from our mistakes, and our perspective shifts with the added experience. We don't need guarantees of winning, we just need to be confident that we will scoot closer to our ideal selves.  Of course we need to consider the risks and make sure we have properly prepared; at some point, though, we need to trust the process and just go for it. On your mark, get set... GO! Peace, Paul

 

This topic just went perfectly with a lesson I learned today in Relief Society that I just loved.

We all hear the lesson on how we need to work towards becoming perfect as Christ. This is a goal that we should all have because it is what will help us to become our best selves. There are times however, where people take this idea of perfection too far. A story was told of a woman who was unable to leave her house unless it was clean a spotless. Because she had to have everything in place before she could go out she rarely ever made it out the door.

Are we going to allow our efforts to become this "perfect" person get in the way of living a healthy righteous life? Of course we need to keep our priorities straight and follow our Heavenly Father but we also need to get out there and experience this great life we have been given. Yes we might make a few mistakes along the way. Get some bumps and bruises. But along with that comes our experience that we are able to learn and grow from.

This can also relate to the story of the talents where Christ gave differing amounts of seeds to his servants. After a while the servants returned to share of their seeds. Some had let their seeds dwindle and die, others had shared and developed their seeds so the were strong. And one servant in particular who had only been given one seed had hidden it do that no one would take it away. We learn the lesson of the importance of letting our light shine for all the world to see. To not hide the things we are given but use them to not only benefit ourselves but all those around us.

Garret and I

Today Garret and I spoke in church. Because we are new to the ward I introduced Garret and I and told the congregation a little bit about ourselves including the story of how we met. We both got so many comments about our little story and that is was almost to perfect to even be true. I thought I might share a more detailed version of how Garret and I met on my blog:

Garret and I met in January of 2011 at the Salt Lake Community College Institute. I was on the institute council at the time and several of us in the council really wanted to take a class from one of our favorite teachers. We found a time where we could all attend institute and went to check to see what class this teacher would be teaching that hour. It was the Happiness in Dating Class... we decided that we would still take the class even though we weren't sure we really wanted to be in the "marriage" class but we love the teacher and it was the only time we could all go. So me and 5 other people from the institute council started attending this class. 

A few weeks after the class started there was a boy who joined our class. I always noticed him because he usually was asked to play the piano for us during our hymns. The piano is my favorite instrument and even though I can't play it I just love to hear the music it creates. So I was always impressed with anyone who could play. This boy was very quiet in class and didn't talk much, he also usually sat in the back row on the left side. I thought he was pretty cute, but I also had told myself that after my last relationship I needed to take a break from boys and take some time for myself. I was apprehensive because of this promise I had made to myself. I couple months went by and all we had exchanged was a few glances and smiles but no words. 

We had a lesson on communication and the importance of being able to talk to those who you are dating and eventually your spouse. Our teacher was discussing the importance of body language when communicating and how to carry on a conversation to help you to really get to know a person. He then paired us off for what was called an "in-class date". Our teacher would pair up a girl and boy in the class and then you would get to "practice". Since this was a bit awkward our teacher usually had to force us together so he would call out names to pair up. When he got to me he called the shy boy from the back. He sat down next to me and he introduced himself as Garret Hegland. We then had 10 minutes to talk to each other about anything and to just try to get to know each other. Garret and I clicked at once. As we were talking I couldn't help but smile at him and giggle at some of the things he said. I don't even remember what exactly we told each other, but I do remember how easily our conversation flowed from one topic to the next. That 10 minutes just flew right by. After our "in-class date" our teacher mentioned on some things he noticed as he was walking around the room. He used Garret and I as a great example of how to communicate. Apparently we had great body language, and we were able to continue talking without any pauses or breaks. 

A few more weeks went by and Garret and I would say hi when we would pass in the hall of the institute but we hadn't exchanged more then that. I was getting anxious because after our first real conversation I wanted to get to know him more.

The annual color festive was coming up and I was getting a group of friends together to go.While I was talking about it with some people in the hall Garret walked by to say hi and noticed what we were talking about. He mentioned that he wanted to go since he has never been, and his buddies were all busy that day. This was my perfect opportunity to finally have a good reason to invite him to come hang out. Garret said yes and I got him some information for where to meet us. 

At the color festival there was a group of about 20 of us. For those of you who haven't been to a Hindu color festival, they can be insane and extremely packed. It took over an hour to get to the temple and then longer to find a parking spot. We got in line to buy some of the colors to throw and went to find a spot amongst the crowd for the count down. During this chaos I somehow managed to lose Garret. I looked all over for him and he was no where to be seen. The countdown was starting and once the colors were getting thrown you could barely even see the person right in front of your face. It wasn't until 15 minutes after the color dust settled that we finally found Garret. So on our first hang out I didn't even get to see him, but we did sit next to each other on the drive back and talked the entire way which totally made up for it. 

A few days later Garret stopped me just outside the Institute council office. He mentioned that General Conference was that next week and he had tickets to the Sunday Morning Session. He asked if I would like to go with him. Of course I said yes, number one tickets to conference are hard to get and two I would get to go out on a date with this kid that I have had a crush on. Once Garret left I went back into the council office where some of my friends were hanging out and I literally did a "Happy Dance" I was so excited!!!!

Leading up to our date on Sunday we hung out every day. We would find each other on campus to chat and I invited him to drive down all the way to Layton to pick up some dance costumes and he agreed to join me. The whole week I kept trying to hold his hand or something to let him know that I was interested but it never worked out. I was really hoping something would happen on our date. 

So Sunday finally comes and I find out that it isn't just Garret and I going on this date, we were going with his family. To be specific, his parents and his grandma. It made me so nervous to be with his family on our first date, some girls might have even freaked out and cancelled but I was so excited. So we go on this date and in the Conference Center I sit between Garret and his dad. Garret's parents were so kind and made things so comfortable. They were just asking questions about me and my family. I really enjoyed getting to meet them. 

When conference was over I was expecting to be going home, but as we were walking to the car Garret mentioned that they have a family tradition where everyone goes over to his grandparents on his mother's side between conference sessions for lunch. They were going to be heading over there now, but Garret asked if I would prefer to go home instead. Of course I couldn't say no so I not only met Garret's parents on our first date, but I also met all the grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. I was so nervous on the drive over but the Hegland/Morgan family are the sweetest people you could meet. They were so kind and happy and I absolutely enjoyed myself. When you picture a grandparents house full of family that is what it looked like. It was perfect. Little kids running around playing, the adults talking and laughing. Everyone wandering around talking to each other. 

My wish also came true, while sitting on the couch at Garret's grandparents he held my hand and I was on cloud 9 with excitement! Our first date couldn't have gone better. 

After that day I don't think we have managed to go 24 hours without seeing each other with the exception of Garret's family vacation that summer. We have spent all our free time with each other and I have loved every moment. Almost exactly three months after our first date at conference Garret took me on a scavenger hunt to all the places that we love to go and at the end he took me to the conference center and temple square where our first date was and he proposed to me. Another 3 months went by and we were again at that same spot being sealed for time and all eternity. 

I am the luckiest girl to get to marry the cute boy in the back that plays the piano. I am so excited to spend not only my life with Garret but to spend eternity with him! He is my better half and I couldn't have picked a better guy (my mom and grandmother tell me this all the time).

Garret I love you babe!!!!