Two ways to live your life.

While reading the book Proof of Heaven (which I suggest to everyone) I came across a quote that I really loved.

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as thought nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is." Albert Einstein

I loved this. Usually I would have thought this quote was super cheesy and lame but because I have been somewhat emotional lately, I loved it. Too often I get caught up in all the problems that I am facing or the stupid little things that happen throughout the day. So I have been doing my best to really notice the little miracles in my life. This makes such a difference on how my day goes and my attitude towards everything. I know that when we focus on the good things and thank our Father in Heaven for them, the Lord will bring us even more good! I decided to start a little journal called "The Little Things" and write down tiny miracles or things that made me smile that day. (Wow I am turning into such a cheeseball and softie). And I love Elder Uchtdorf's talk from conference https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/04/grateful-in-any-circumstances?lang=eng 

Twas the season to be jolly. and it was magical.

Christmas was magical. Why? Well because Christmas is the most magical holiday. My dear mother makes it even more magical with her decorations that are everywhere to be seen, I love it. Momma has always been so good with decorating. A great contribution to this magic was the fact that my ENTIRE family was there. That means there were 6 tiny humans, 15 adults, and 3 dogs. It was a party to say the least. Here are some pics of my favorite parts of the great season.

It's always good when a babe falls asleep in your arms.

Thanks Megs for letting me wear your cat sweater.

I made for a great Mary in the cat sweater. Hallee Jane was Baby Jesus, Lincoln, Sydnee,and Arthur were shepherds, and Jude was Joseph.

Jacob and Meg thought it would be funny to leave envelopes with everyones names on them and inside was a few pieces of candy. 

They thought it would be fun to doggy pile on me. 

Gross.

I am for sure his favorite sister.

Mom and Dad had fun at family pictures

Duck face!

The day after Christmas around 5 AM my Dad woke me up. He was sobbing. He told me that I needed to come upstairs cause Lucy was going to die. All of my family gathered around Lucy and cried. It was really tender and very sad. I don't think I ever seen everyone in my family cry at the same time. As Lucy was lying there in so much pain and barely breathing, she would wag her tail when my Dad or Jacob would come in the room. What a cute and thoughtful dog. We ended up taking her to the Pet Hospital to have them put her to sleep because she was basically drowning in her own fluids. They put her to sleep and Jacob and I sat in the car holding her afterwards, crying. It's crazy how much an animal can become part of the family. I can picture Loo prancing around in heaven having so much fun. (Pardon all the cheesiness)

So, Christmas was great! I sure do love my family. I am truly blessed.

NYC round two, shooby dooby doo.

In December my friend Travis texted me and asked me if I wanted to go to New York with him the next day, of course I said yes! I love New York and was especially excited to go at Christmas time. We were on our way to SLC airport the next morning at 6 AM! We left Monday morning and got back Thursday night.

Christmas at Rockefeller Center! Dream come true.

I thought these giant ornaments were cute.

We so excited.

We not only saw Phantom but we also saw WICKED!!! I was beyond excited. I cried of course.

I realized that I didn't take many pictures on this trip but that ok! Spontaneous trips make the best ones.

Wedding Day!

While at Lake Powell with my kindred, Maddison, I got an exciting phone call from my sister Abby. She was engaged!! This was in July. Abby and Travis decided to get married on August 4th so I could attend! I was thrilled that I was going to be able to attend. The day was perfect and Abby was the most beautiful bride.

I made a fool of myself at the luncheon. I am pretty sure all of Travis's family thought I was a lesbian. Oh well!

Don't you just love this picture?

Of course I caught the boquet

So I bawled my eyes out when I realized I wouldn't see my Abbs for 18 months. Little did I know that she would see me off at the MTC and I would come home after 3 months:)

If you have never been to a Forbes Family Reception, I highly suggest it. The dancing is incredible as you can tell.

What a happy and beautiful day it was!

A change needed to be made

While living in Orem with my lovely roommates and starting to figure things out on my own, I decided that I needed to change the way I was living. I wasn't a bad person by any means but I knew that I could definitely improve in several ways. We all can! After a lot of prayers, fasting, and talking with friends and family, I decided that I would put my mission papers in. It was a looonnnggg process for me but an incredible one. You know the change I wanted to make in my life, this is where it happened, in the process of submitting my mission papers. The Lord needed me in Colorado Springs! I left for the MTC on August 14th!

I loved the MTC, but sadly I left my camera on the plane over to Colorado Springs:( My parents were kind enough to send me over their old camera. My trainer and companion was Sister Valerie Steele. I bear testimony that this companionship was completely inspired. We are practically the same person. She is an angel to me and I love and miss her. 

I had an amazing zone and district and miss them all dearly. 

This is Sister Mangisi and Sister Peterson. They were the other sisters in our district. 

This is brother and sister Wiechmann! We stayed in their basement. I love them. They are so kind. Brother Wiechmann treated sister steele and I like his daughters, which we all loved. 

About 3 months into my mission, I started struggling with certain medical issues and prayed, fasted, and talked with Sister Steele, President, and my parents and decided that I needed to go home. This was one of the toughest decisions that I have ever made, but I knew it was the right decision because of the divine revelation my Savior blessed me with. It was a hard goodbye and many tears were shed. The hardest was saying goodbye to my dearest bosom friend Sister Valerie Steele. But I know that she is doing great things and she is even Sister Training Leader now! (I called that)

Coming home off my mission was a great obstacle for me but taught me a lot. It taught me to trust in my Father in Heaven even more and to know that everything will work out even if it's not how I thought it would. I am grateful for the mission I was able to serve for my Father in Heaven and the people that I was able to meet. I am so grateful that He allowed me to stay out on the mission field for almost 3 months. What a blessing. The Church is true and we are so loved!

earth to bekah

Well friends, I am back, at least for today. It has been over a year since I have blogged so I figured it was about time! I know you all missed me soo much. ha.. I blog because it feels good and reminds me of the good things of my life.

A little catcher-upper of the past year:

I moved into the "1406, Apartment of Chicks" in Orem. Lexie asked me if I wanted to share a room with her and I jumped at the idea. It was our dream since we were wee ones to be college roomates. I was super excited but also nervous because I didn't know any of the other 4 girls. But of course I had no reason to be nervous! These girls are now like sisters to me.

and who woulda thought that everyone except for me and lex are engaged to be married!!! Jess, Wend, and Aut are getting married this summer. I get to attend Wendy's and Autumn's sealings and I am more than thrilled because I have never been to a sealing! 

I am so grateful that I had the experience to live with these girls and the eternal friendships that I made along with the many life lessons and memories.