Today I'm Thankful For...

Today, well and let's be honest everyday I am so thankful for my family. My brother and his family are in Utah for Thanksgiving with his in-laws and so tonight we got to have them over for dinner.

Obviously I'm bias, but are they not just so attractive?! Haha. I love all of their family photos from this year.

Especially this one. I love these kiddos and this picture only comes close to capturing how adorable they are! 

It was so wonderful and refreshing to have them over for an evening and get to spend time visiting and playing. Living so far from both mine and Laren's family, I absolutely love when we get to spend time with family. It was such a fantastic night and it made me that much more excited for Thanksgiving. We are headed to Colorado and I am so excited. I Laren's family is always a blast so I have no doubt it will be super fun, not to mention well needed vacation! 

I know I say this a lot, but I am also so grateful for my loving husband. All weekend he has helped me while I have been preparing to present a huge paper for one of my Psych classes and he has been an angel for doing so. He is so great to let me distract him from his school work with my school work and I appreciate his love and patience and his willingness to help me so, so much! 

I just have to keep telling myself, "only 1 more day!" Laren and I just have to make it through tomorrow and then we are off for our Thanksgiving Vacation!

Overwhelmed

I have been so overwhelmed with school lately and the idea that I only have one year left here at BYU, but today I had an experience that was overwhelming in a good way. It really reassured me that Heavenly Father is looking out for me and the recent changes I've made in decisions regarding my major and my future career and what I am supposed to do. It was such a wonderful experience after a culmination of events that I want to share it with you!

Just a bit of Background!

My entire life I have wanted to be a lawyer. And, not just any lawyer, but a criminal lawyer, a prosecutor. I'm sure it all started when I was a little kid and I enjoyed watching Law and Order with my more grown up siblings, from there we moved on to watching the FBI files ( they recreate murder cases and show them on the Discovery Channel). I know i'm weird, but I have always had a passion for criminal law. After my sister was killed, my decision to be a prosecuting district attorney was pretty solidified. In high school I participated in debates and I just loved the environment of "proving my case."

Can't you just see me being a lawyer? ;) 

I came to BYU as an eager freshman with my love of history and a desire to be a lawyer. I jumped right into a history major working hard to accomplish my goal. My sophomore year started and history began to seem less appealing with each class. I did not want to give up my goal of being a lawyer, but I started to have my doubts about my plan. Enter Mr. Laren Helms and my world went spinning. 

Before I knew it I was engaged, getting ready to leave for London, England, and Changing my Major... What?! Yes, I changed my major - surprised? I was! I took a marriage prep class with a marriage and family therapist here at BYU and it was my first introduction to some sort of psychology class. It was amazing and I found myself with this deep interest in Psychology, so I prayed about it, talked to my mom and next thing you know I was declared as a Psychology major. 

Present Day

So after switching majors, I started my first load of psychology classes this fall and let me tell you, I LOVE IT! I could not be happier with the switch. My classes are so intriguing and I am constantly learning new things. Switching was not the end of my journey though, I've still had the decision to go ahead with law school looming in my mind and despite my passion for criminal law, I have found another passion that is even greater.  Counseling. Weird, right? Well I have decided that I am now going to pursue a masters in a Marriage and Family therapy program and THEN go on to get my trauma counseling certification and hopefully work for an advocacy group and provide counseling for trauma patients, especially children and teens. So what does any of this have to do with my experience? I will tell you that right now :) 

One of my classes this semester is a Psychology Writing class. Our main project for the class is a 15 page literature review of something related to psychology. Due to my heavy viewing of Criminal Minds, on a whim I decided to write a paper on Narcissism and Sexual Coercion. It was a risky idea, but it is really starting to pay off! While working on this paper I have gained some really interesting insight and it has further fueled my desire to helps those who have been victims of sexual coercion. I was meeting with my professor going over my paper and he presented some ideas for my paper beyond this class and said some things that really made me feel.. well pretty awesome. I won't tell you the specifics, but I will say that as I left his office I felt this amazing feeling that Heavenly Father was behind everything leading to this point. It was so comforting to know that my educational decisions have not been in vain and that my career goals are possible and I am headed in the right direction. It was such a powerful experience and I am so grateful for the Holy Ghost and the small revelations that I receive everyday that help me so much in the long run. I can't tell you how wonderful it feels to know what I want to do with my life and to know I have the support to help get me there! 

Now I am off to keep working my paper and enjoy my weekend! Happy weekend to all of you as well!!

Month # 3

Wahooo! Laren and I have made it through three months of marriage. And, they have been quite the 3 months :) We started school in August and it keeps us on our toes and busier than we would like, but oh well! We've made a trip to Oregon, seen some of my family, Laren's family, went to general conference, survived our first talks in church, carved pumpkins, and many other things loving every minute of being together! Happy 3 months honey!!

General Conference 2011

Addictions and Dreams

So I am addicted to pinterest.. well not completely, but pretty close. I can definitely live without it, but if i wasn't in school and had a real house I would be so addicted. It has so many wonderful craft ideas and house decoration ideas. Plus it is full of awesome recipes, I love making them when I have the chance.

Don't all of those just look delicious?! 

Well today the oh so addicting Pinterest, lead me to this website www.houzz.com and even more addicting website with every possible inspiration for a house you could think of ( plus you can make your own idea boards - eeks!). Lately I have been on a "Dream House" kick, probably due to Pinterest and this website has done absolutely nothing for my productivity. But it has got me to thinking about what I want someday when Laren and I buy a house someday or even hopefully get to build a house of our own. Some of the fun ideas that have sparked my interest are 

I'm super into kitchens! I want a big kitchen that is open and bright and really organized. 

I love this entry. I definitely want a mudroom like this in my house somday! 

Pinterest has some awesome laundry room ideas. I love having a shelf over the washer and dryer to fold clothes. 

My mom loves church pews and so we have a couple in our home. I think this is such a cute idea for an entry hallway!

I think this kitchen is beautiful! I hope that I can have one like it someday!

I have always had an obsession for French Doors and would love to have them in my bedroom. Especially if they opened up onto a wrap around porch. I know - dream on!

I had bookcases in my room as a kid and they were more of a pain than a fun decoration as I got older, I never knew quite where to put them. I love that they are built in here, with a window seat to read. I think this would be doable for a boy or a girl!

This would be great in a living room or bonus room!

A big wrap around porch is a dream of mine.. maybe someday!! 

You'll probably think i'm a weird backwards nerd, but I love all these and would love them even more if they were in a big farmhouse style house out in the country with lots of acreage and no neighbors!! My dream is to live in a small town where the zoning laws require everyone to have at least 5 acres ( that's what they are where I grew up) and being able to have a huge barn, lots of animals and room for my kids to play outside all the time! 

The Thankful Tree

I am so excited, because I finally made a craft from my Pinterest ideas! Because it is thanksgiving, I thought it would be so fun to make a thankful tree ( thank you pinterest for the inspiration). I posted the picture here last week.

Laren and I were at Ikea that other day and they had some super fun vases. I found this lovely vase and decided it would be perfect for our thankful tree!

Monday night I spend a good hour in Hobby Lobby ( I could spend so many hours there!) finding exactly what I needed. I came home with craft tree branches, wooden balls, craft paper, and plenty of other fun things. 

I definitely wish they would have had more of these at the store, because it would just be nicer and a fuller tree with more! I painted the wooden balls different varieties of brown and black and stuck them in the bottom for a little filler.

( sorry these photos suck )

Anyway, then I cut craft paper into circles for the leaves and Laren and I wrote what we were thankful for on them. I hole punched them and then we stuck them on our "tree"! 

it looks really bare, but that's because...

Some of our leaves fell down into the vase.

I need to improve it a little, but I was really excited with how it turned out and am really glad we did it! We made enough leaves to each write something we are thankful for every day until we leave for Thanksgiving Break in CO. It was so fun to sit down with Laren and write down things we are thankful for. We are soo incredibly blessed! I've decided we are going to make this a family tradition AKA: i can't wait until we can do this with our kids and teach them about gratitude and have them be thinking of things they are thankful for so they can add it to our tree :) 

Ta- Da! 

What are you thankful for this year? 

grrr

Sorry, but  I just need to vent. Last week i missed going to the ranch and was really, really looking forward to going today. However, my car had a different opinion. I hopped in and turned the key and nothing.. NOTHING. Grrrr.. I have no idea why it won't start and Laren is gone until late tonight and happens to have the only key to his car so I am stuck at home and very disappointed / frustrated. Stupid car.

A little bit of this and that: A post within a post

So, I didn't want to wait to blog about a bunch of things and I didn't want to write more than one post in a day, so I decided to combine them all! Good idea? I think so :)

 Come listen to a prophets voice
Today was the 3rd time in a month that I have had the opportunity to listen to our beloved prophet Thomas S. Monson speak. Today he spoke at devotional ( which I have to say, I haven't listened to as often as I should this year) and it was absolutely wonderful! President Monson always has wonderful talks, but there were a couple things that I absolutely loved from his talk today!

1. "Those who lose faith in religion, lose faith in everything greater than themselves" 

2. To be an example of the believers, we ourselves must believe. 

3. "When you choose to follow Christ you choose to be changed," Ezra Taft Benson

4. As we choose to follow the savior, ours will be the opportunity to be a light unto the world.

5. I love that he used the Lion King quote! " Simba, look inside yourself. You are more than you have become. Remember who you are" It is such a great quote and is so true. All of us have the potential to be anything we want to be, but we often lose sight of that and settle for what we have become rather than what we can  become! 

 My Pinterest Addiction

So I love Pinterest.. yes, love it! It is full of so many fabulous ideas and I am so sad I don't have the time to create all the wonderful craft projects I find. However I have decided that this weekend I am setting aside some time for crafts and I am going to do some holiday decorating!! 

I really wanted to make a Thanksgiving thankful tree and it just so happens that I found one on Pinterest, coincidence? I think not!

I love vases filled with tree branches ( or craft tree branches) decorated for a particular holiday and I thought that putting what you are thankful for on the tree branches would be so fun! In fact, I think I might just make an FHE activity out of this :) 

My next project is a Christmas Tree skirt. Seeing as we are living in our own apartment, I really want to get a Christmas tree and start some Christmas traditions of our own. I found this tree skirt on Pinterest and cannot wait to make it!

All you need is a hot glue gun, an old tree skirt, and material! Obviously I'm sure it will be harder than it looks, but it is so worth a shot! I'm thinking a dark crimson linen instead of an eggshell linen, just because Christmas trees can equal dirt and pine needles. 

Also a Christmas craft, I really, really want to make an advent calendar. We had one in my home growing up and it was one of / still is one of my favorite Christmas decorations in our home. I wish I had a picture of it! It is a green felt tree on a piece of burlap and has little pockets with an ornament for each day of December leading up to Christmas. Getting to put the ornaments on the tree is one of my favorite memories of Christmas in our home. I am really excited to make my own advent calendar for my family!!

This will definitely be a multiple craft Saturday event, but i'm excited to start working on it! There are a few things I want to add to it, but i'll wait to tell you until I start working on it!! 

Pinterest also feeds my craving for a house of our own... which I know will be years from now, but no reason I can't start planning now! 

 I had another thought I wanted to blog about, but I'll save it for it's own post :)