Happy Happy Joy Joy

These last few days I have been hungry to strengthen my relationship with Heavenly Father - for Him to become my Best Friend. I feel like my prayers need MAJOR improvement, so I have felt like I need to start by giving Heavenly Father a set amount of time in the morning and at night where I can just talk to Him and not be in a rush. I realized we set an amount of time for scripture study, so why not for prayer? Already it has brought me so much closer to Him. I had the happiest moment ever today where I just felt close to Him. It snowed a lot here today and my shoes did not have very good grip. I was taking the hill back down to our house and I prayed that Heavenly Father would help me get down in one piece. Well, I slipped, landed right on my behind, and started sliding. And laughing. And sliding. And I went for a good ten feet! And then I stopped, tried to get up, at said, "Ahh, what the heck, it'll probably be less treacherous this way!" and just scooted along til I started sliding again, laughing all the way down. I landed safely in the perfect spot right at the bottom of the hill like I was three years old and Heavenly Father had just put me on this perfect little snow slide and gave me a little push and guided that little behind all the way down the hill. :) Thinking about it now just makes me smile! My tender mercy of the day. So sweet!

And another thought. I have the seeds of divinity in me. I am Heavenly Father's daughter, so I have inherited His traits, even if for now they are dormant. In terms of worth, it is not a matter of WHO I am (the attributes I may or may not have), but WHOSE I am. That is a worth that cannot be changed. Happy thoughts. Love love :)

Love Love

Dear Self, I want to be in love with you. Not in a narcissistic way, of course. But enough is enough! I feel like I've actually been doing so much better at not getting mad at myself for mistakes. So I have progressed SO MUCH. But now. NOW. I want to LOVE myself. And by that, I mean I want to be comfortable in myself and not have to seek approval from others, especially guys. Logically, it makes no sense that THEY would be the ones who hold the key to making me feel enough. And honestly, even they can't. I could get a little bit of approval, but I'm never filled. I seek more and more, but the truth of the matter is, you can never get enough of the things you don't need. (Not that as humans we don't need approval, but we do need to be independent of needing to rely on others for all of that approval) And if my mama says I'm great and I don't believe her and my friends say I'm great and I don't believe them, what makes me think that when my husband says I'm great that I'll believe HIM? I want to love myself. And come to find out, my roommate has been praying that I would want that! So, prayers are answered, folks. Prayers are answered.

Christmas

Dear bloggy: Long time no type! I went on a mission. :) I want to keep up a lot of things from my mission, including helping others! And I figure that you can help me to do that. I'm going to try to regularly post strengthening things. Hopefully it will last - I can already foresee a few obstacles...like homework. Pish posh, we'll make it work. So, for my first post!

This Christmas video. It will make you cry. It made me cry! It is so powerful. Lately I've been trying to really make sure the things I do are actually helping me to accomplish the purpose I've striving for. I want to BE where I am, be more sincere in everything I do. I think one way I need to do that is with Christmastime. It has become really commercialized and the world seems to have largely taken Christ out of Christmas. So. I want to deliberately do things that will put Him back in.

A question my mama asks us each Christmas changed my life: what are you going to give Christ this Christmas? That question literally led me to another continent. I am still trying to figure out my gift to Him this year. I invite you to think about what you will give Him!

(Also, Mormon Tabernacle Choir is so kindly handing out five of their songs [free!] to help us remember Christ. I invite you to download them!)

(Next post: returned missionary handbook!)

I'M ASPIRING TO THIS

Post Post

I have learned another truth. And you know what I do when I learn truth! I write it down here so when I come back I can remember. :) I felt prompted to look up quotes from President Hinckley when I realized that my view of a lot of things had been pretty negative. In one quote President Hinckley said he repeated the same quote to himself every morning. I figured, if that helped make him into the optimistic GIANT he was, it is definitely worth a shot! So, every morning after I pray I repeat this quote by him to myself: "Be believing, be happy, don't get discouraged. Things will work out." I have felt so much more positive since then! I feel happier, like I can overcome obstacles. Once I leave on my mission I think that quote will change to "Forget yourself and get to work." :) And I can change it to whatever my current challenge is! Lately I have seen the truth that so much of life is based on how we view it.

Also, I've realized that I need to focus on how Heavenly Father feels about my actions, not on how others feel about my actions. I want to pray every night to ask if what I'm doing is making Him happy, and then listen for the Spirit to guide me on where I'm doing well and also where I can improve!

I've ALSO realized that I need to apply the scriptures more by seeing how I can implement them in my life! It has made my life great so far. :)

P.S. Eight days til I leave, you beautiful people!

Semester in Review

Well, bloggy, I decided you are probably kind of hungry for pictures! It has been, after all, like two years since I last updated you with some! So. Here are some of the memories I was wise enough to record over the past few semesters! I am one lucky girl. :)

Awkward FHE family pictures

Them Idaho potatoes are huge! justkiddingthiswasasquash

Math tourneys! We all came up with different answers and we were all wrong. hahaha

SO AWKWARD. SO. AWKWARD.

We made a bed out of wood and plastic bags for my class!

What a beautiful woman! Mission pictures :,)

We are one ATTRACTIVE, HUMBLE family

This is probably my favorite picture of Mum of all time

Future Elder Scheuermann :,)

hahaha, this cake didn't really work out how we planned

I miss her!

I am definitely NOT baby hungry. Nope.

B-Kiss, erybud!

I love Griff Bear

"This season's hottest new show - All About Ally!"

hahaha HAHAHA HAHAHAHAHA - there are at least four funny things in this picture

We missed Joyce so much that we printed her face off and took her around town!

Blatant advertising - orphanagesupport.org!

Heather got engaged!

There's my honey shoving our wedding cake into my face! Just kidding, we're just PALS, AMIGOS, HE ROUNDHOUSE KICKED ME INTO THE FRIEND ZONE

I got to be a mentor for Get Connected! SO FUN

This is what Lia and I do. Our friendship began by looking at cat memes :,)

One of my best friends :,)

When I brought these out of Little Caesar's I told everyone they weren't for me. Their response: "Sure...you're just stocking up for fast Sunday" hahaha

It's true fellas! Start practicing!

Found this gem on Deseret News and I was surprised to see a rebuttal article as well as negative responses. There are extremes on either side, but I needed this this side right now, because I'm the first to admit that I spend way too much time on my iPhone. It is incredibly convenient, yes. But it also seems to have more power to suck me in than a Hoover 4000 (if those are real). So. This is to remind me that people always come first, and I need to make that habit right now.

"Editor's note: This content by Tonya Ferguson originally appeared on her blog, 4 Little Fergusons. It has been posted here with the author's permission.

Dear mom on the iPhone,

I see you over there on the bench, messing on your iPhone. It feels good to relax a little while your kids have fun in the sunshine, doesn't it? You are doing a great job with your kids: You work hard, you teach them manners, have them do their chores.

But Momma, let me tell you what you don't see right now ...

Your little girl is spinning round and round, making her dress twirl. She is such a little beauty queen already, the sun shining behind her long hair. She keeps glancing your way to see if you are watching her.

You aren't.

Your little boy keeps shouting, "Mom, MOM watch this!" I see you acknowledge him, barely glancing his way.

He sees that too. His shoulders slump, but only for a moment, as he finds the next cool thing to do.

Now you are pushing your baby in the swing. She loves it! Cooing and smiling with every push. You don't see her though, do you? Your head is bent, your eyes on your phone as you absently push her swing.

Talk to her. Tell her about the clouds, Mommy. The Creator who made them. Tickle her tummy when she comes near you, and enjoy that baby belly laugh that leaves far too quickly.

Put your eyes back on your prize: your kids.

Show them that they are the priority. Wherever you are, be ALL there. I am not saying it's not OK to check in on your phone, but it's a time-sucker: User beware!

Play time at the park will be over before you know it.

The childhood of your children will be gone before you know it.

They won't always want to come to the park with you, Mommy. They won't always spin and twirl to make their new dress swish. They won't always call out, "WATCH ME!"

There will come a point when they stop trying, stop calling your name, stop bothering to interrupt your phone time.

Because they know ...

You've shown them, all these moments, that the phone is more important than they are. They see you looking at it at while waiting to pick up brother from school, during playtime, at the dinner table, at bedtime.

I know that's not true, Mommy.

I know your heart says differently.

But your kids can't hear your words, Mommy. Your actions are screaming way too loudly.

May our eyes rest upon those we love, first and foremost, and may everything else fall away in the wonderful, noisy, sticky-fingered glory of it all."