churchy things {faith}

remember a while ago when i posted some churchy things?!? some of the other bloggers involved with the book or mormon blogger project have decided to do a churchy post once a month. since everyone else is doing it, i figured i would too.
this weekend, instead of going to the church building for 3 hours like we usually do, we get to watch church at home. it is general conference this weekend meaning we have 4 sessions that are 2 hours each where we listen to leaders of the church talk about all the things we need to know right now. it's pretty amazing actually.

photo credit lds.org
lately i have been thinking a lot about faith. what does that even mean? and what does it have to do with me? dictionary.com says 

faith

  [feyth]  Show IPA

noun

1.

confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another's ability.

2.

belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact.

3.

belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion: the firm faith of the Pilgrims.

4.

belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit, etc.: to be of the same faith with someoneconcerning honesty.

5.

a system of religious belief: the Christian faith; the Jewish faith.

i have always been taught that faith is a hope of things that are not seen which are true.  most of the time i feel like i have a lot of faith. i'm a pretty religious person. i have faith in God and in Jesus Christ. lately i've been thinking about faith in terms of the plan for my life. it's interesting to me that when it comes to other people i can have complete faith that somehow things will work out for them, but when it comes to myself  i sometimes have a little harder time. one thing i know for absolute certain is that there is a God in Heaven who knows and loves each one of us. He has a plan for each of us, and even though life may not be turning out exactly the way we have planned, it is turning out exactly the way it is supposed to. i know that. i really really do, but sometimes it is hard to remember. when life isn't turning out the way you planned, it is hard to remember that it is turning out the way it is supposed to. if we have faith in God and do our part, things will work out.  when i start to doubt, i think about 

Proverbs 3:5-7

 5 ¶^aTrust in the Lord with all thine ^bheart; and lean not unto thine^cown ^dunderstanding.

 6 In all thy ways ^aacknowledge him, and he shall ^bdirect thy^cpaths.

 7 ¶Be not ^awise in thine own eyes: ^bfear the Lord, and depart from evil.

so my goal for this next month is to really put this scripture to practice and trust in the Lord with all my heart. feel free to check up on me and ask me how i'm doing.

how about you? what do you do when you feel discouraged?

some of my mormon blogger friends are posting churchy things today too. check it out...

wendy

megan

andre

Easter Orphan Dinner

i haven't been home for easter dinner since 1998...i'm serious about that and also basically just revealed how OLD i really am, but brynn usually has dinner most sundays and major holidays with her in town family. this year her parents were gone so she decided to host an orphan easter dinner. we had the yummiest food...roast, ham, funeral potatoes, mashed potatoes, rolls, salad, asparagus, cake, and more. there was a ton of food. we had such a fun time sitting around the dinner table laughing our heads off.

we even had festive headbands...bunny ears, flowers, frog ears, etc. which led to lots more laughing.

thanks so much for hosting brynn (and for cooking red meat). 

5 fun facts Friday

i totally had some good ideas earlier in the week, and now i can't remember any of them.

note to self...write it down

i love all the random 5 facts going around instagram and blogland so i'm linking up with megan for another/final round...

1. i love love love hoodies, but i always feel weird wearing them. utah is rainy and cold today so i'm wearing a hoodie. we'll see how long i last before it's driving me crazy.

2. ive never seen most of the movies everyone is supposed to see...princess bride, pride and prejudice, goonies, ya know all the big ones

3. after a rainy run this morning instead of washing my wet hair like most normal people, i just sprayed some beach babe and called it good

4. i don't like pizza...yes i am american

5. i can craft with the best of them, but i can't draw to save my life...maybe one day i'll show you

what 5 random facts do i not know about you? come on..i know you're dying to share. head on over to megan's blog and link up or leave your facts in the comments.

if you need it...

people ask me all the time what in the world is in my big purse. the truth is, people tease me all the time about such a gigantic purse...until they need something out of it. i don't know exactly when it became my job to carry around any and every little thing people could possibly need, but now people expect it. so...i'm linking up with lauren from pink on the cheek and carly from lip gloss and crayons to answer that burning question..

what's in your purse?

there's obviously a lot in there

right now i'm using this big huge bag from h&m

a few elastics, 2 clips, pack of colored bobby pins

socks

vera bradley sunglasses case with sunglasses

iphone ear buds

stride gum

keys

ipad

clinique cosmetic case (complete with tissue, floss picks, lint sheets, shout wipes, powder, bandaids, tums, hand sanitizer, more bobby pins and hair elastics, floss, clippers, eye drops, tweezers, advil, lotion, tampons, and 4 things of lip gloss)...told you i have everything

cold medicine and vitamin c 

vera bradley credit card wallet

hobo wallet

enough pens for a classroom and a comb

march madness bracket that's been dead for days

little notebook

checkbook...does anyone still write checks?

little snack bag with almonds

sometimes my iphone is in there but it's usually in my back pocket

holy crap...when i write that all out it is ridiculous. like i said, if you need it, come find me.

world autism day

autism is everywhere these days. you can barely have a conversation with anyone that doesn't have some sort of connection to autism. even though i have a cousin with autism, it wasn't until i started working with kids with autism that i really started to learn more about it. since today is world autism day, i am dedicating my teeny tiny bit of the internet to autism.

when i started working with kids with autism in 2001 the rate of incidence was 1/188. in just 12 years that rate has increased to 1/88. it is crazy! autism is everywhere. it is such a huge part of my life. autism has challenged me personally and professionally. it has given me some of the best experiences and some of the worst. it has taught me more than i would have ever thought possible. because of autism, i have amazing relationships with some of the most wonderful moms i know. autism is without question impossibly hard, but it has blessed my life in so many ways.

so today, i encourage you to take a minute and learn a little more about autism. do you know about autism? if not, go here to learn more. Autism Speaks is one of my favorite places for all sorts of information. like i mentioned yesterday, i'll be wearing blue in support of/to raise awareness about autism. i would love to have some people join me for a day.

summer plans/goal update

we all know how much i hate winter and how much i love summer. remember my valentine's day swap partner, april?!? i'm taking over her blog today to talk about my plans for the summer. head on over and see what i'm doing, and then let me know if you want to join me.

in other news, March is over. i briefly mentioned my March goal of getting all of my facebook pay it forward crafts done in March. i finished them all yesterday afternoon. i'm excited to get them in the mail this week. it ended up being pretty fun, and i'm glad i did it again this year. i'll post some pictures once they have been delivered.

now onto goals for April. April is AUTISM AWARENESS MONTH so my goal for this month is to wear blue everyday. 

i did it last year so that makes me think/hope i can do it again. i'll be back tomorrow with a little more autism talk.

with my upcoming early summer plans and a little motivation from a friend, i decided to do no sugar April. it really isn't as bad as it sounds, and it will definitely be good for me.

the year is 1/4 over...yikes? how are your goals?

martin family easter party

way back when i started this blog, i did a short little post about the martin sisters. long story short we were roommates for years and years and years before they got married. since their family is in utah, i became the adopted sister. i feel so lucky any chance i get to spend with their family. all of the in state siblings and the parentals got together today to celebrate easter. their mom is the best party planner...activities galore. everyone had a blast.

kids decorated giant sugar cookie bunnies

they played in a pool full of corn

i tried to soak up a little sun while the kids played. it was heavenly.

celebrated dyana's daughter leah's birthday with the cutest cake ever.

after dinner and the easter egg hunt (sorry no pics), all the grown ups started in a little game of martin family olympics. we laughed our heads right off...seriously.

it was seriously such a great day. i love love love the martin family so much. they treat me like one of theirs. i'm a lucky girl. and bonus...the sun was out most of the day. 

book club

i ended up hosting book club at the last minute this month. i basically never ever read the book (even though i really do want to) unless i am hosting. well. this time i didn't plan to host so i never read the book...oops.

even though i can't really participate in any book discussion, we always have plenty of other things to talk about...for hours and hours. and the food...well, apparently the book talks about twinkies. i made some wannabe twinkies and other cupcakes. it was a little thrown together but turned out ok.

we mostly get together to see each other and talk about all things besides the book. it is always a lot of fun, and time goes by so quickly. thanks for the night of fun girls. please bless i get next month's book read..fingers crossed.

cake stand

I made this cake stand recently. They are so easy. Just glue plate/charger to candlestick or glass. GOOP glue is my favorite. Thanks Courtney for the charger idea. Unfortunately...or not, the candlestick and glass came from the dollar store. I really wish crafting didn't entail going to the dollar store so often.

weekend happs

this weekend was pretty low key...just what I needed. after a crazy week and plans that fell through I decided to take friday evening to slow down just a little. i generally run my crazy busy head off so it was desperately needed.

my hip started bugging bad this past week so I've sentenced myself to swimming only for a bit which gave me am excuse to sleep in. by the time i worked out, ran some errands, did my taxes (yes finally did my taxes), and went to dinner the day was basically over.

i spent sunday mostly doing churchy things. i did get to spend a little time with friends and their itty bitty babe. i just love those tiny little things.

i also did a little shopping and obsessing over basketball (until my bracket basically died)

i finally put up a few easter decorations. it's so early this year!

the weekend flew by WAY TOO FAST! how was your weekend? anything fun to report?

latest cake(s)

co worker Alyssa is having a little babe in a couple of weeks. it's been forever and ever (since her gender reveal) since I've made a cake so I made a cake for her baby shower. i had tons of extra frosting and decided to make this little green cake for st patty's day for a friend. i wish I had more time in my life to make cakes. it's so fun! anyone need a gender reveal anytime soon?!?

5 little confessions

lately i feel like i keep starting posts with it's been a while... well, it's been a while since i did a 5 little confessions post so here ya go...

i'm linking up with megan and friends who are sharing 5 fun facts so my fun facts are in the form of confessions.

Oquirrh Mountain temple

1. life is kicking me in the booty lately. i usually feel like i have it together (more or less), but lately it's been less...much less

i knew i needed to do something about it so i spent some time at the temple tonight. it was exactly what i needed. go here and here if you want to know a little more about the temple

2. if you have looked at my tabs, you can see they are in process. i NEED to devote some major time to this little blog hopefully this weekend.

3. i've totally missed the boat on posting about google reader going away. i must be in some sort of denial. seems like bloglovin' is where everyone is headed. you can find me there. maybe/hopefully eventually before it retires, i will transfer everything over.

4. speaking of google reader, mine has 664 unread posts right now. kill me now! how i am ever supposed to catch up?!?

5.i've only read 1 page for my bookclub book that is next week...oops

that's it for now. anyone have anything they are dying to confess to all the people of the internet?

weekend happs

if you recall, I like to abbreviate things...basically all things. weekend happs=weekend happenings. i might make this more of a regular thing.

 met up with some girlfriends and did a little shopping, chatting, hot tubbing, and trip planning

ran almost 14 miles for the first time in months...wanted to die

college work (HBLL...BYU library) lunch meetup. totally forgot to take a picture of anything except this bag that i MUST have...blogger fail

made easter candy. candy making is hard...harder than it looks

made a sticker chart...for real. it's way beyond time to get my booty back in gear

the weekend was pretty fab. sunday nights always make me sad, and this week was no exception. how was your weekend? what did you do?

Liebster Award

with all the new peeps around here, i've been thinking about doing a few get to know you type posts. i mentioned doing an intro to my fam, and i will prob still do that soon.

google images...who knows if this is really the right graphic?!?

in the meantime, Melanie over at Van Wynsberg Nest nominated me for the Liebster Award. i've seen it going around blogland a little, and i am completely flattered. i did a quick search and found this post with details. thanks Melanie! here are the rules from melanie... 1. Answer the 11 questions the blogger who nominated you asked you
2. Give 11 random facts about yourself
3. Nominate 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers
4. Create 11 questions for the nominees to answers
in searching a little more, it looks like the rules are a little bit up in the air such as #3 can be 200-3000 followers and the number to nominate originally was 3-5. sounds like you can do whatever you want...perfect!
here are the answers to melanie's questions... 1. What is a favorite childhood memory you have? when we were really little and sharing a bed, my sister literally kicked me out of the bed.
2. Were you more of a tomboy or princess growing up? total princess...picking flowers on the soccer field
3. What is a dream you have? be a stay at home something
4. What is an accomplishment you are proud of? running marathons
5. Whose a hero in your life? my 81 year old running friend
6. What is one fear you have? failure
7. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be? a beach anywhere...lately i'm obsessed with the saints (virgin islands)
8. Do you have a current favorite TV show, if so, what is it? the bachelor
9. What is one of your favorite quotes? "we must let go of the life we have planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us"  joseph campbell
10. Do you like to cook or bake? love both
11. What's an interesting fact about yourself? i feel naked if my nails aren't painted
11 random facts... 1. growing up i didn't like any kind of dark soda  2. i went to college planning to be a doctor 3. i never ever let myself buy baby clothes for the future 4. i played the piano the whole time i was growing up but never tell anyone (until now) 5. scary movies freak me out 6. if i was faster, i would totally do an ironman 7. i really want to be a stay at home something 8. i love love love crafts but can't draw even a little 9. i love to read but choose talking over reading almost every time 10. new menus are so overwhelming 11. even if i'm not going anywhere, i always put on makeup i nominate... celsey london michelle rachel
i'm going with the 3-5 option, but basically i nominate all you lovelies. let me know if you do a post, and i'll link you here.
here are your 11 questions to answer... 1. what's your favorite thing about blogging? 2. most embarrassing moment 3. favorite dessert 4. dream job 5. what blog do you HAVE to read daily? 6. wardrobe staple 7. favorite book, movie, or tv show 8. your best recipe 9. fly or drive? 10. make or buy? 11. favorite holiday

can i use my phone for that?!? {blogger roundtable 1.0}

if you're new around here, WELCOME. i'm so excited to have you and would love to learn a little more about you.

i can't even believe it has taken me almost one whole week to post about this fab event. bonnie and elizabeth hosted a blogger roundtable last week to talk about all things blogging and especially social media. the time went by so so quickly, and i really could have stayed all night. not only did i pick up some great blogging tips, i met the most adorable girls including my valentine swap partner. yay for blogger meetups. i do the majority of my blogging from my phone so the joke of the night was my constant question "can i use my phone for that?" with every suggestion. the answer i'm founding out is actually yes. yay!

london, jane, april, elizabeth, bonnie, aubrey, michelle, rachel

they are planning these once a month. i'm so excited! if you're in utah, you should definitely come! thanks ladies for being so darling and hosting such a fun event.

thank you thank you elizabeth for the non cell phone pics