1. I'm grateful to have Mr. G in my life--he is such a powerful, hard-working man. :)

2. My tender mercy of the day was hearing from Elder Scheuermann, my dear boy.

3. Baby is finally coming! Hopefully by tomorrow morning we will get to see her. YAYAYAYAYAY, it's hard to even believe it's real!

4. Greek food today=delicious

5. FHE was fun tonight--again, everyone is super nice. Bless them :')

1. I'm grateful for the guidance Heavenly Father has given me in very specific ways! He is so aware of me and guides me step by step.

2. I got quite a bit of homework done today and it felt great. :)

3. I have felt guided to a new routine that should help me be more productive, hopefully!

4. I love my family. :)

5. I <3 p="" summertime="">
6. Baby's most likely coming today or tomorrow! :D :D :D She's almost here!

1. Tri-stake temple trip! We had a chapel session beforehand, which I had never done in the Salt Lake temple (or knew about!) before. It was powerful to be surrounded by so many strong young single adults! I feel like it was Heavenly Father's way of telling me that there are plenty of young single adults out there--sometimes I feel like they're all hiding. But now I know where...the temple!

2. I got to do sealings while I was there, and I felt inspiration and motivation pouring in on me the whole time about how I can progress. I loved it!

3. Institute today was so good as well--my favorite part was the teacher talking about how Moroni was constantly making bigger and better fortifications. The war chapters are some of my favorite parts of the Book of Mormon because I feel like they're so applicable to how we can protect ourselves against the adversary. The question I've had lately is how I can keep my focus when I'm trying to live a certain principle. It seems really strong for the first few days, and then I lose steam. So, my teacher's insight that Moroni was always moving upwards seems to be the answer. There is no plateau. I need to be constantly striving to find the next thing that will help me be strong. My mission president and his wife are the ultimate example to me in this--they would always give us practical invitations for the work, and they would always be progressing themselves. For example, my mission president's wife decided she wanted to work on becoming more diligent and having more self-discipline, so she decided to stop eating chocolate. My mission president reads books that the General Authorities write. I love little practical suggestions like that--small and simple things.

4. And that small and simple idea today is to use my driving time to memorize the Primary songs! I've felt like the radio has gotten kind of bad, so this was the answer Heavenly Father gave me. It's perfect, because one of my goals is to memorize the Primary songs so I can sing them to my kids.

5. And the fifth way I saw Heavenly Father's hand today...I still feel like it's just a huge tender mercy that I get to live with Neil and Boo Boo. They make my summer way more fun than I could. :D

1. I got asked on a date by at church today! Tender mercy, since I've been praying to make some good friends here. I think (besides SVU) he is the first guy I'll have gone on a date with who I didn't know before my mission. We're going salsa dancing this weekend...arriba!

2. So, with the memories of "Unbroken" still in my mind from last night, church had a whole new meaning for me today. Our first lesson was about knowing that the Lord hasn't forgotten us, and it definitely made me think about "Unbroken" and how hard it must have been to not feel unforgotten through all those trials. But those good men did it!

3. Mama rubbed my sore legs with Pain-a-trate and it hurt so good. I am spolt! (Okie for "spoiled")

4. This meme:

5. I got to watch Face to Face with Elder and Sister Bednar and it was SO GOOD. It seriously made my whole Sunday and helped me feel like I had a successful Sabbath. Here's a powerful quote from it: "Would the Lord send one of the Twelve Apostles halfway around the world to help just one person? The answer is yes, He does it all the time." Elder Bednar always has new insights and I love that! And Sister Bednar is just as much his spiritual equal.

1. I saw a sister from my mission today!! It was such a nice surprise. :D

2. Today's workout was in tents! Figuratively! My first leg day. I could hardly walk up the stairs afterwards...so I can imagine the pain will be quite acute tomorrow. haha

3. I'm wearing my cat mumu (or as I call it, my mew-mew) for the first time :D I'm going to wear it to Walmart. Yeeeeeeeaaaaah. :D

4. Stuart Edge, I am in love with you. And everything you do. You are an inspiration to me! His goal is to make people smile. And he succeeds! And he also achieves the goal of making me want to marry him!

5. That sunset tho :)

6. We just finished watching Unbroken and it was SO POWERFUL. Such a powerful movie. The title says it all. I am just always amazed at the goodness of people--it was exemplified by the ability of the inspiration for the movie, WWII prisoner of war Louis Zamperini, to forgive everyone. Not only that, but the very end of the movie had a hopeful song from Coldplay, "Miracles." Such a perfect way to finish it.

THE FIRST GRATITUDE JOURNAL

I had an amazing experience tonight! I was in a weird mood (I took a DEEP nap today so I felt like today was two separate days and then I took a long walk later on and it was like a weird alternate paradigm shift...and then I ate a banana with peanut butter and honey...and several hours later I started typing on here...#unnecessarydetails #thebananawasdelicious #thenapwasdelicious #thewalkwaslong) and Heavenly Father snapped me out of it during scripture study! I prayed to be guided to what I needed and I opened up to Alma 37--one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon! Verse 6 says "Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass". I started thinking about small and simple things I can start doing and asked Mama for advice. She mentioned keeping a gratitude journal! It is feels exactly right. I was wondering if I should keep it private or put it on here...and this tab was the first thing that popped up...so I'm going to take that as a sign! Maybe someday it will help someone. :) OKAY LET'S DO THIS THING

1. the inspiration to start this gratitude journal--Heavenly Father answers prayers! And I never need to worry about if I will be able to understand the message. Since He knows everything, He also knows how to make sure I get the message...regardless of my frailties. :)

2. I received so many insights during my study. I've started to study by trying to look up all the footnotes for the verses, and I found some excellent verses from the Bible! One of my favorites from today: 1 Chronicles 16:8--"Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon His name, make known His deeds among the people." In other words, tell other people about the tender mercies in your life! In other words, keep a gratitude journal! I love this insight.

3. Neil and Bethany are the besttt...they are so accommodating to Mama and me and don't even complain when we stay up til all hours of the night blaring our rock and roll. (just kidding we don't do that) Seriously though, they always make us feel so welcome. They're so good to ussssss *tears*

4. I got to see people from SVU today! #reunion #actuallyfarewell #farewellreunion

5. Did I mention that I have the best mama in the world? #SheLovesRockAndRoll #JustKiddingSheLovesEnya I don't know why I am so blessed to have her as my mama. She and Papa Hoo take care of my every need. Most importantly, she showers me (and everyone) with affection. That is probably the most important thing she could give. One of my deepest desires is to have that attribute. And she is a great example for me to model my life after!