Once in a Lifetime

I am grateful for once in a lifetime experiences! One that I particularly want to share is when my friends and I got FRONT ROW SEATS to a Brad Paisley concert!!! Seriously, the most amazing thing ever! Especially considering how addicted I am to concerts.

So here is the story:

Me, Jessica, Jana, and Rachel had lower bowl tickets to the concert. We were super excited, as I said, we are pretty addicted to concerts. We had listened to Chuck Wicks, who was one of the openers for Brad. Then, we went out to get some ice cream. As we were coming back in to our seats, this guy comes up to us, and (what I thought was kinda creepily...) asks us if we want front row tickets, courtesy of Brad Paisley. I really was kind of walking away, because I thought he was a creepy guy trying to get us to talk to him, and that they weren't real. Then, Rachel went up to him, took the tickets, and asked if he was serious. Well, he was. We took the 4 tickets, and asked one of the ushers if they were real, and where we were supposed to go. She said yes, and, with our ice cream in hand, proceeded to guide us ALL the way down on the floor, to the VERY FRONT ROW!!! We seriously were shocked! And amazed, and totally excited! Rodney Atkins came next, and we could see him so well! He was so close to us! Needless to say, we hurried and got rid of the ice cream, because who cared about that now?! Then, Brad Paisley came out. Oh. My. Goodness. He was SOO close!! It was amazing!! It was the coolest thing that has ever happened at a concert, and I'm sure won't ever happen again. I took lots of pictures, so here you go, you can look at these if you don't believe my story. What a cool memory to have, I am grateful for fun things I have done and pictures to remember them by!

Well there you go. So great!

Super Sweet Moments

I am grateful for other sweet moments. At my job, I have gotten a lot of cool opportunities. I was at an event with the Temple Square sister missionaries just before Christmas, and they were taking pictures with a Christmas background to send to their families for Christmas. It was so great to see how excited they all were for the opportunity, and to see how much they all loved each other. They were taking pictures with all of the other sister missionaries that they loved, and they were all crowding around to be in pictures with their wonderful mission president and his wife. What a great example to me of how excited we all should be about missionary work, and how we should love everyone!

After they took their pictures, the sister missionaries who had completed their missions and were going home got to say one thing (out of many I'm sure) that they had really learned while on their missions. What they said was AMAZING!! Really made me think about how blessed I am for the gospel in my life, and how I should re-evaluate and remember the wonderful things about the Gospel.

Some of them talked about how they really have learned to love everyone, the people they work with, and all of those people that visit Temple Square that they came in contact with. Some talked about how they really KNOW that Jesus Christ is our Savior, and how His Atonement saves us. Some talked about how they have come to know that the Book of Mormon is completely true.

There were many other things they talked about, and as I was sitting there so early in the morning, I had tears in my eyes. What a wonderful opportunity for me to hear all their testimonies, and to feel of their spirits, and the spirit of the Lord. I am grateful for the opportunity that I get to be surrounded by things of the Spirit everyday in my work environment.

I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true, and I am so grateful for the daily reminders and sweet experiences I receive.

It's the Small Stuff

I am grateful for all the little things in life. I have been trying to look at all these small things that happen everyday in my life that I can be grateful for; and let me tell you, as I have been looking specifically for them, there really are so many! It is amazing to realized how blessed I really am, and how even the small things that don't seem as important really are. It makes me realize even more how much my Heavenly Father loves me, and how even in the little daily things, He wants me to be happy, and helps me make that happen!

Some of the little things I have noticed lately that I am grateful for are:


-A headache that came on after a big event at work, so that I successfully got through the event without the extra added head pressure.
-A kind smile from someone
-A text/note from a friend out of the blue
-A silly joke that makes you laugh in spite of yourself to brighten the day
-A devotional, class, or workshop that seems to talk about just what I am struggling with on a bad day. This is Heavenly Father telling me it's all ok!
-Dreading a Monday workday, but then going and it is actually a good day
-Green traffic lights when you are running late
-Being able to laugh at myself when silly things happen... I've been very clumsy lately!
-Heated seats in my Dad's car
-New friendships
-Change
-When I find lost items in the lost & found at my job and it makes people happy
-Silly phone calls/comments from people that come into my work office that make me laugh
-Getting together with old friends, and it's like no time has passed
-Parties
-New Haircuts!


Well, there are many many other things I'm sure I could write, and maybe I will make another list later. I challenge anyone (all 5 or 6 of you...) that read this to think of the small daily blessings that you receive, and you might be surprised at how many there are!


Here is a picture of me with my new haircut, which I love! (and being silly with my cousins, who I also love love love!!)