Reflecting on 2013

It really is fascinating to think of everything that happens in a year's worth of time.

A year ago, I had already said goodbye to many friends, and was preparing to say goodbye to even more as they left for a mission; I started a relationship with a friend which unfortunately didn't last very long; I had just finished my first semester at university; I had started a great friendship with a friend I still have today; and I had decided that I needed to stay at school and pursue an education instead of going on a mission.

So much has changed, so much has happened, and I have grown immensely.

However much I've grown this year, I feel like this year is going to be even more so. As I was talking with my best friend last night, we had a really great conversation about almost everything. We not only caught up about what had happened with our past year, but we also were looking forward to the future and what it holds for us this year. I think 2014 is going to be an extremely great year. Who knows what it will bring, but I'm excited to learn, grow, and become what my Savior wants me to be. I look forward to progressing in this life, learning and being shaped into the person I am supposed to become.

I hope everyone had a great 2013, and that your 2014 is full of new opportunities, adventures, and growth in store!

Happy New Years Eve!

Live. Love. Laugh. Grow.

Becoming a Little Better

After this semester at school, I have come to many new and great realizations. I feel like I am just beginning to blossom into the Brittany that I am supposed to become. Before this time, before being on my own, and before receiving a higher education, I was very naive in my thinking, my ideologies, and just about every thought and idea I ever had was immature in development.

After this semester, I have come to really start understand how important the temple is in my life. I have yet to enter through the front doors, but I am glad that for now I am able to perform baptisms as often as I want. Before this semester, I was glad that there was a temple just a block away from my apartment, but unfortunately, I was just happy that there was finally a change of scenery instead of sparse dry hills. This semester has really opened my eyes as to how important the temple is in my life, and for my life in the eternities.

Temples seal families together forever.
Temples will teach us eternal truths that my soul is searching and yearning for.
Temples will bind my future husband and I together--not just for this life, but for forever. I will be with the person I love for forever.
Temples are a place to receive strong inspiration and revelation. I find that even just sitting on the grounds and looking at the temple is a great way to receive inspired words and answers I am looking for at that moment in time.

I guess the most important thing I've learned is that this life here in mortality is meant to be built all around families, all around the gospel, all around the temple, and all about progression--not perfection. Nobody can be perfect, but we can all progress. We can all be a little better today than we were the day before.

This year, I challenge you to make a New Year's Resolution to be a little better than you were the day before. I am going to try this, as well as a new idea my grandpa presented at our Christmas reunion. It's called "24 Golden Hours". Throughout one 24 hour period, you try as hard as you can to be as perfect as you can in all your dealings--be honest, speak kind words, etc. It's extremely difficult, but shows you what aspects you can work on in yourself throughout that week. Maybe you need to work on patience, speaking kindly, not being judgmental, or being more service oriented.

This year I am wanting to find myself, to make myself blossom into a beautiful Brittany--both physically and spiritually. Not only am I wanting to take care of my physical self better (eating healthily, running more often and participating in a 10K, etc), but I want my spirit to be in top shape as well. I'm going to try to be a little better than I was yesterday.

Perfection isn't attainable, but improvement is, and that's what really counts. When Heavenly Father sees that true desire in our hearts, and we come to Him with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, He will help us, bless us, and guide us in ways that we could never thank Him enough for. We have to be willing to let Him in and give us the advice we need to continue in the path He has prepared for us.

Happy New Years, and may this new year bring you great things, with many improvements!

Live. Love. Laugh. Grow.

Tender Mercies

This past week has been filled with many little tender mercies that I am incredibly grateful for. Grateful enough that I have decided to blog about it.

For starters, I was able to clean my apartment for white gloves in a time frame that I would have thought would have been impossible.

My finals went really well, my mind was clear, and I wasn't nervous about any of them. In fact, I guess I wasn't stressed out enough with deadlines that I totally spaced my science final. Thankfully, as a tender mercy, my science teacher let me take the test the next day in the classroom next to his office and I was able to land a solid B in that class that kicked my trash this semester!

I was able to ride down with a friend for Christmas break, and it saved me from riding down on the shuttle with strangers for several hours. Plus, it cost a lot less.

This past week with sending missionary emails, leaving friends, etc, I received some really great words from them. All of them, for whatever reason, decided to send me an email (even if I didn't send them an email that week) and they told me they felt like they just needed to tell me how much they appreciated me and how special I was to Heavenly Father. I was going through somewhat of a difficult time at that point--getting ready for finals, being stressed out, and just trying to get through those usual hard points in life where it's hard to see the iron rod you've been holding on to, but are striving to move forward, even though you don't know what's ahead. It's a scary feeling, not knowing what is coming or what you'll be expected to do, but I am so thankful for prayers, as well as great friends and family that have always been there for me, and are in tune enough with the Spirit to know that I needed some uplifting words last week.

This tender mercy is definitely the biggest one I could have asked for right now. Money for this next semester is going to be extremely tight, and so I was able to come back and work at Dairy Keen for Christmas Break to help earn some extra money. Even with working at Dairy Keen, and working on designing a program for work, I was going to be cutting it pretty financially close. However, randomly today, I received a check in the mail as my Christmas Bonus, and it covered the amount I needed to save up, as well as a little bit more. It was definitely an answer to my prayers these past few weeks.

I encourage everyone to look for tender mercies in their lives, as well as making sure that they are thanking Heavenly Father for helping them in their life and how each day plays out. I know Heavenly Father is watching over every one of us, and wants the very best for each of us.

Live. Love. Laugh. Grow.

After 8 years of waiting....

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who was 12 years old and starting to try to find herself, what music she liked, and where she fit in in all the middle school cliques. Her grandmother, who happened to be Canadian, had just found a singer that had released an album in Canada, and thought this little girl and her mom would like listening to it.

From the very first second of the very first song she heard (Feeling Good), she was in love with this style of music, with this singer, and with this song. She would listen to his CD basically every day on her iPod, dance to it, freak out when his songs came on the radio, and she would patiently (or not so patiently) wait and watch for Michael Buble albums to come out on iTunes.

This continued for almost 8 straight years.

One day, this girl who was now almost 20 saw an ad somewhere, announcing a Michael Buble concert in Salt Lake City, Utah, which was just an hour away from home, although she'd have to leave everything back in Rexburg and at BYU-Idaho (which is where she was attending), for a day or two. She begged her parents for a ticket to his concert for her birthday, stating that a ticket would be all she would want for her birthday. Heavens, if they said no to that, she'd go without presents for the next several birthdays and Christmases altogether if need be. She'd been waiting for 8 years, and with the arrival of Michael Buble's new baby boy in August and him being Canadian, she didn't know when she'd get a chance to see his concert ever again. She knew this would probably be a once in a lifetime opportunity for her, and she jumped at the chance.

Her parents agreed, and her mom even bought another ticket so she could go watch it with her daughter.

The day came, November 19, 2013, and this was the best 20th birthday present this girl, who was now technically a "woman", could ever receive.

And so, it is with great pride that I, who was this little girl (I know--hard to believe, right?), will now post this awesome experience for you all!!

PS, this last video is him singing in the basketball arena with NO MICROPHONE or any help at all. This was the end of his encore songs. It was amazing!! He has such a POWERFUL voice!!

Hope you enjoyed it! :)

Live. Love. Laugh. Grow.