just a few thoughts ...

in the last 48 hours i have felt an overwhelming feeling of gratitude for many blessings i have in my life ... for my life.  the other day i was blog "snooping" (you know you do it too:)), and happened to come across this amazing blog that is much deserving of sharing ...

                    www.adailyscoop.blogspot.com

you might want to check it out when you have some time and can grab a few tissues before reading any posts!  because of this blog and the woman who has created it to share her experience(s), trials, feelings and emotions through writing (not to mention she is a talented writer), i am grateful.  

today in church, in EVERY meeting, i was reassured of the gratitude i have been feeling lately. in sacrament meeting i was reminded that "if we know who God is, then we know who we are. if we know who we are, then we know why we are here. if we know why we are here, we know why we need Christ..."

in sunday school we were asked to think about advice that our parents gave us growing up that we remember most. immediately, "REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE" came to my mind. no fail, my dad would say this to me every time i walked out the door ... and he still says it to me sometimes. 

in relief society, i was consoled from discussion on the plan of salvation.

On January 20, 1840, Joseph Smith wrote these words to Emma Smith: "I received a letter from Hyrum, which cheered my heart to learn that my family was all alive. Yet my heart mourns for those who have been taken from us, but not without hope, for I shall see them again and be with them. Therefore, we can be more reconciled to the dealings of God."

"With respect to the deaths in Zion, we feel to mourn with those that mourn, but remember that the God of all the earth will do right."

"There have been many deaths, which leaves a melancholy reflection, but we cannot help it.  When God speaks from the heavens to call us hence, we must submit to His mandates."

I am grateful for my knowledge of the Plan of Salvation and the comfort it brings me.

I am grateful for my Heavenly Father and my Savior, Jesus Christ.

I am grateful for my testimony.

I am grateful for prayer.

I am grateful for Jordan and our baby boy (on the way!)

I am grateful for my parents and the examples they are to me.

I am grateful for my family. I am grateful to know that we can be eternal.

I am grateful for this beautiful land in which I live.

I am grateful for good friends.

I am grateful for inspiring people.

so, talking about inspiring people ... i have been loving the olympics ever since the opening ceremony. i love the little inserts they have during the games when they tell different athletes' stories. it is inspiring! how cool would it be to be an athlete in the olympics, representing the united states of america!? 

i can't wait to keep watching these next 3 weeks! i think my absolute favorite part of the olympics is the closing ceremony where the athletes receive their medals and their national anthems are played. it gives me chills just thinking about it!

i can't be done with this post without talking about so you think you can dance!  i have been wanting to ever since the finale.  ... it was fantastic! i loved it! i wish i was a dancer!

i know a lot of you probably wanted chelsie to be in the top 4, instead of courtney ... but i was a huge fan of courtney from the very beginning of the show! i really love the way she dances and she always picked awesome songs to dance to for her solos! (i picked up a few of them for my playlist below:)) i am way happy for joshua though ... he was deserving of the title. i really liked everyone in the TOP 10 (minus comfort ... sorry!) so i honestly didn't care who was going to actually WIN.  they are all unique in their own styles of dance.  i think they have all yet to accomplish what they can in the dance world! does anybody else wish they were a dancer as much as me after watching this show!?

i am off to cleveland for a few days! maybe this will make my last 2 weeks here in columbus fly by! i am sorry to leave jord for a few days and i regret not going up there earlier this summer! when i went to kentucky last week, my friend kristen and i talked about why i didn't go down there earlier too, and even more than once! before we left utah for the summer, i thought i would have ALL of this TIME to visit both places a couple of times ... wRoNgO! i was 6-7 weeks pregnant when we got here and that is when my morning sickness kicked in! yup ... i am going to blame it on the pregnancy:) but really, i didn't want to deal with throwing up at someone else's house for who knows how long in the morning and then eating their pantries and fridges empty! i swear i felt like i had to eat 24/7! anyways, that lasted until i was about 17-18 weeks. then i went to GA for a couple of weeks and then UT ... and now here we are just a couple of weeks until we go HOME for good! the summer seems to have gone so fast but at the same time, we feel like we have been here forever.

i wish jord luck this week. i will be back soon!