Happiness

Things that make me happy:

Playing the piano
Singing
Listening to good music
Babies
Playing with my nieces and nephews
All of my awesome family helping make my birthday party a success
Long walks on summer nights (especially if a cute boy is involved!)
Sunshine
Blue sky
A cool breeze on a warm day
Finding a new record about an ancestor
Writing in my journal
Reading the scriptures
Serving others
Baking
Chocolate-- especially dark chocolate-- especially if it's Dove brand
Waking up without an alarm, after a good night's sleep
Good books (Go Les Mis, A Tale of Two Cities, and Wild Swans!)
Cuddling
Watching snow fall outside while I'm curled up in a blanket
Christmas lights
General conference
Being done with finals
Spending time with my family
Hanging out with good friends
New clothes/New haircuts
Finally getting my income tax refund!
Going to the TRC and remembering how much I loved being a missionary
Hiking (Except in 105 degrees at Zions with slippery shoes!)
Gardening
Fresh fruit from the orchard
Getting back from the temple, feeling fresh and clean
Going to church
Riding my bike
Flowers, especially when they smell good.
Blogging
Friends that listen when I need to talk
Dinner group (unless it's beans and beets again! Sick!)
Emails
Phone calls
Letters
Knowing that I am a daughter of God
Aceing a test or class
Looking at old family photos (especially if they involve the '80s and big bangs-- on people other than me!)
Having meaningful gospel conversations with roomates and friends.
Sharing the gospel
Making myself do something scary and then realizing it wasn't so bad after all
Aunt Carolyn's jokes
Playing board games
Family trips
Getting up early and exercising while it's still cool
Getting in bed at a decent hour (if only this happened more often!)
Reading, writing, and memorizing poetry
Watching family videos
Going to the libraryy
Good, uplifting movies
Watching the stars up in the canyon
Sunrises and Sunsets
The Atonement

"Adam fell that men might be and men are that they might have joy." --2 Nephi 2:25

"[God] has poured out his Spirit upon you, and has caused that your hearts should be filled with joy, and has caused that your mouths should be stopped that ye could not find utterance, so exceedingly great was your joy." --Mosiah 4:20

"In my ninety-plus years, I have learned a secret. I have learned that when good men and good women face challenges with optimism, things will always work out! Truly, things always work out! Despite how difficult circumstances may look at the moment, those who have faith and move forward with a happy spirit will find that things always work out.
"I imagine that most of you will be underestimated at some point in your life. And I am sure that each of you will have difficulties ahead of you. None of us can avoid them. But do not despair. They will not last forever. Look for the sunlight in the clouds. God will not forsake you." --Gordon B. Hinckley, Standing for Something, 84, 87

I'm grateful for all the things that make me happy-- that brighten each day. My family, my friends, and all the little things around me are what makes each day worth living. Especially, I'm grateful for the gospel in my life. Without it, life would be pretty shallow. With it, I know that I'm a daughter of God, I know that I can be clean, and I know that I can be with my family forever. What greater joy could I have?

Tag!

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.

B. Each player answers the questions about themselves.

C. At the end of the game the player tags 5 people, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog.


Where were you 10 years ago:

Just finishing 7th grade. A time I have no desire to go back to. Not that 7th grade was particularly horrible, but I have yet to meet anyone that actually liked middle school. Plus we moved right before I started middle school, so I only knew about 3 people in my whole school (one of whom was Danielle). If you want proof of how awkward I was, just go look at my yearbook picture. No, on second thought, I think I burned that picture . . . or if I didn't I should have. At any rate, I'm not telling where it is.

Five things (that were) on my to-do list today:

1. Go to genealogy class. Try to stay awake. I succeeded at half of this one, anyway. I made it to class, but two hours is a long time to sit and listen. Especially when the teacher goes 1/2 an hour past that (which he invariably does). The good news is that I only have to go to one more class period and then I'm done for the term.

2. Work on my genealogy paper that is due Monday. Didn't happen. And I'm not telling how much I have left to do. (Ask me Monday at 9pm if you really want to know.)

3. Ride my bike to school. I did this and realized how out-of-shape I am. I thought walking 20 minutes each way to school had kept me in pretty good shape. Obviously I was wrong. Or University Parkway is a lot steeper than it looks. I'll go with the second.

4. Register my bike. I started this, but I couldn't figure out where the Serial number was. The campus police gave me a diagram with the registration paper that showed where the number should have been, but I couldn't find it. I also had no idea what length the bicycle frame was. At any rate, registering my bike has now been moved to my Tuesday to-do-list.

5. Deposit my tax return check in my bank account. I would have done this except that I forgot my checkbook! Depositing a check is a little hard to do without a deposit slip and an account number.

Five snacks I enjoy:

1. Cheese. In any way, shape, or form (except that nasty taco blend I accidentally bought a month ago that had pepper-jack cheese mixed in. Sicko!)

2. Chocolate. Always. Preferrably dark. Milk will do. White doesn't count as chocolate.

3. Keebler's wheatable crackers are my newest addiction. I could eat them anytime, anywhere. They're like wheat-thins, but WAY better tasting. A worthwhile find.

4. Dried fruit. Especially dried apricots, dried apples, and raisins. If only they weren't about $5 a bag!

5. Popcorn. I try not to pop it when I'm alone because I can easily down an entire bag of microwave popcorn single-handedly. It's just too addicting.

What would I do if I were suddenly a billionaire:

1. Build my own library. This would include window-seats, rolling ladders for the tall shelves, comfortable couches, and, of course, love sacks.

2. By a grand piano. And a music library to go with it.

3. Go see Wicked on Broadway. Forget about $280 tickets in SLC. I'll just do the real deal. And maybe I'll see a few other Broadway shows while I'm at it.

4. Go to Europe. I've always wanted to see the art and architecture in Italy and France, etc.

5. Give a bunch of money to humanitarian aid and/or do some cool service project.

Four of my bad habits: Do I have to confess this?

Okay, fine!

1. Staying up too late.

2. Checking email/facebook/blogs/news during really boring classes (especially my two-hour genealogy class)

3. Procrastinating

4. Putting stuff on the floor instead of putting it straight away. But, it usually stays in a pile. At least it's an organized mess, right?

Five jobs that I have had:

1. Filing papers for Mrs. Heileson

2. Treasure-hunting for bottles underneath my baby siblings' cribs

3. Pruning junipers in 97 degree weather (I don't miss that at all!)

4. Piano teacher

5. Watering the fruit trees. This involved putting a hose at the base of each fruit tree and waiting for 10 or so minutes until the basin around the tree filled with water. I didn't mind, though, because I got to bring a chair and book out and read while the trees watered. And I got paid!

Five things people don't know about me:

1. One of my legs is shorter than the other

2. I have always wanted to be a writer

3. When I was a baby my skin actually turned orange from eating too many apricots

4. I once at a whole bowl of cheese single-handedly. (It was a LONG time ago, okay!)

5. I really like talking in church (which is probably why I never get asked to do it).

5 people I'm tagging:

1. Beth

2. Malena

3. Janelle Dalton

4. Janel

5. Danielle

Lost and Found

Yesterday I lost my cell phone. It was a very frustrating experience.

Normally I'm very careful about where I set my phone. I only ever put it 1) on top of my chest of drawers, or 2) in one of the 3 bags I take places. Because of this I usually know exactly where my cell phone is. In the last year since I acquired it, I have never lost it . . . until yesterday at approximately 8pm.

I noticed that my phone was gone when I arrived at ward prayer last night. During the summer we have ward prayer outside, next to the volleyball pit. I got to ward prayer just a few minutes before it started and reached in my purse to turn my phone to silent.

It wasn't there.

I cursed myself for forgetting my phone at my family's house and decided to go back after ward prayer to retrieve it. There was just one problem: It wasn't there. I called it at least five times, scoured my room, and checked both cars that I had driven. No phone.

At this point I was starting to feel a little panicked. My apartment complex just cut off our phone line about a week ago. How's that for rotten timing? I was now unable to contact friends or family, other than by email (assuming that my tempermental internet wouldn't disconnect unexpectedly in the middle of an email or instant message).

As I continued searching, the thought came that maybe I should pray to find my phone. I hesitated at first. Did I really need to pray about something so trivial? It was definitely inconvenient not to have it, but in the eternal scheme of things, wasn't a lost cell phone pretty insignificant? As I pondered, I felt a reassurance that it would be okay to pray for help. I decided to check my car one last time, and if the phone still wasn't there, I would pray.

As expected, the phone was not in my car. I came back inside and prayed for help. I explained that it wasn't a huge deal, but that it was very inconvenient not having my phone and that if possible, I would like to find it soon. Then I fell asleep.

This morning I was barely awake when my sister, Janel, showed up at my door. She had my phone in hand. Upon questioning her, I learned the details of how she had come in possesion of my phone:

Janel had received the email I had sent to my family, explaining that I had lost my phone and could only be contacted by email until it showed up. She decided to call it and see if anyone would answer. To her surprise, someone did. Apparently the phone had fallen on the ground near my apartment parking lot, and just as Janel called it, a girl happened to be walking by, heard the phone, and answered it. She arranged to give it to Janel and Janel brought it back to me.

Was it just a coincidence? Some people might think so, but I disagree. When I prayed last night, I knew that I would find my phone. Maybe if I had prayed sooner I would even have found it last night. Who knows?

Either way, I'm just grateful to have my phone back. The Lord does hear and answer prayers. Miracles happen every day.

Even in the form of a pink cell phone.