-The First of Many-

Close your eyes, and count to 10.

1.......Can you hear it? Your heartbeat?

2.......Kind of, it's something that's felt more than heard.

3.......How many pints of blood circulate through your heart in a day?

4.......Is it with all the effort your body is putting into staying

alive? All the cell regeneration? All the new hair growth? Even all

the attempts your stomach acid is putting into digesting the last bit

of dinner you had.

5.......Of course it's worth it, what am I saying? Every day is a new

day. A new shot at a wonderful life.

6.......What am I going to do tomorrow? Where is my life going? Did I

forget to do the laundry?

7.......It feels like I was just about to celebrate New Years LAST

year! Where did all the time go?

8.......Maybe this year I'll exercise more...and eat healthier....I

could probably work on being kinder to others.

9.......Right, I'm focusing on my heartbeat.

10.......Open your eyes.

Here we are ladies and gents. Welcome to 2015. In the amount of time you've taken to count to 10, there have been babies born, books finished, games ended, mistakes made, ice cream cones eaten, songs played and goals set. So much importance can be placed on one second. One moment. I don't know about you, but I couldn't have possibly imagined the moments that happened this
year.
There have been some interesting experiences. I've gone from
having a conversation with someone in a language I didn't speak, to
helping a toddler I didn't know stand up, brush the dirt off his
clothes and tell the kids who pushed him over to be nice and not ever
be unkind to someone. They might have forgotten, but I know they
remember the candy I gave them, haha.
I didn't know that I would watch 8 people who I didn't even know
existed before this year enter into the most important covenant
they've ever made in their life and that I would love them with every
bit of love every fiber of my being has to offer. I had no idea how
important a covenant (An agreement between God and His children. God
gives the conditions for the covenant, and we agree to obey Him. God
promise certain blessings for our obedience) was. Or that actually
respecting and honoring covenants could provide the kind of undeniable
peace and feelings of confidence that I've experienced.
I've learned what it means to be honorable. What it means to "press forward with a steadfastness" (2 Nephi 31:20) What it means to have "a perfect brightness of hope." (2 Nephi 31:20)
If I could summarize last year into two words it would be Love and Hope. Love because I felt like my heart was nearly bursting out of my chest each day for each person I met and knew and came to love. And Hope because I was given a second chance.

So I've made some resolutions (haha):

• To give to others the hope that saved and changed me. To provide opportunities for everyone to say, "Yes, this was the moment I became Unshakeable."
• I want to have unfailing Integrity and never stray from what I know to be true."While my breath is in me...I will not remove mine integrity from me." (Job 27:3-5)
• I was made to be Courageous."...have the courage to defy the consensus, the courage to stand for principle. Courage, not compromise..." (President Thomas S. Monson)

Here are but a few of my goals. I'm quite determined to follow through. I burst through every single one of my goals last year and I'm ready for new challenges. More opportunities. Higher expectations. I know I can do it. When it had never been done before,  a 25-year-old medical student Roger Bannister broke track and field's four-minute mile at 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds when it had been declared physically impossible. The first non-stop flight from New York to Paris was accomplished by Charles Lindbergh in 1927, world records have been beaten and reset, cures for previously undiagnosed disease have been found and implemented, and people change for the better every day. We must learn to apply truth.  To be changed by our experiences, to become better than we were yesterday, and prepare for more growth tomorrow. Every day is a day to become who you wish you were yesterday. So let's do it brothers and sisters!!! Here's to a bright and beautiful future. Who's with me?











Some of my "firsts" in this past year (just for kicks and giggles):

My first snow in Vancouver, Washington. It was a big laugh to me coming from Utah. It was a decent snow storm, but the snow only lasted for a day. It turned into ice the next day and was followed by some slush. But it tried to give this Utah girl a taste of home :)

I met this beautiful fella over by the Ape Caves. This was a big step for me because I never put bugs I've never met before that close to my face. It was pretty terrifying, but a learning experience. We became fast friends, haha. It's safe to say that I became exceedingly less scared of bugs from that time on.

I've had a huge fear MY WHOLE LIFE to lose a fingernail. It used to terrify me just thinking about it. Well ladies and gents, I lost a fingernail. It didn't go without a fight either!!! It turned blue and purple until my whole nail bed filled with blood and we had to drill 4 holes in it to release the pressure. The nail rotted away until it gave way for the new nail to breath, and now it's beautiful and new, fully grown!!! I learned from that experience that there is nothing I can't handle and my fears are only as powerful as I allow them to be ;)

I giggle at this one. As a missionary, we're not allowed to have pets, so I would find all the strange plants I could and called them my "non-commital pets". They were fun to find and look at. My favorite find were the pussy willow buds. They were so soft and beautiful when they "bloomed". It was an interesting first and incredibly entertaining. I collected quite a zoo before I finished my quest, haha!

This was a proud moment for me! After loving care and instruction, I made authentic enchiladas and tamales for the first time, AND THEY WERE DELICIOUS!!!!! It was so much fun and I felt very accomplished! This is now a skill that I'll be able to successfully carry on for the rest of my life. Tasty and practical ;)

I don't know how many of you were in Times Square this past December, or even got on youtube. But, chances are you saw something about "He Is The Gift". If you didn't, go here immediately, if not sooner:

christmas.mormon.org

For those of you who did see something and have watched the video, it was amazing!!!!! It was such a blessing to be a part of this message that gives hope and the promise of the greatest future!

"Even those who have renounced Christianity and attack it, in their inmost being still follow the Christian ideal, for hitherto neither their subtlety nor the ardour of their hearts has been able to create a higher ideal of man and of virtue than the ideal given by Christ of old." -Fyodor Dostoyevsky

It is a true and beautiful message! Check it out!

Even more fun for me was this video. Oh my goodness. I must have listened to this song over 50 times already. Each night when I listened to it, I woke up feeling happy. I love music and believe it has a tremendous effect on our lives. And this song: Makes. You. Happy.

Listen to it.

More firsts to follow! I intend to make this year incredible! Till next time~~~