Personal Happiness project: week 15

This week is brought to you by the letter "O" and the challenge is "Own a pet. Observe beauty." Well, this challenge is going to need to be adjusted because we're not allowed to have pets in our apartment. But we are allowed to have plants! Same thing right? So, we will own plants and take care of them and love them and not get kicked out of our apartment.

In the morning on my way to work I try to take notice of the sunrise. They are really cool in this area because the mountains cast shadows on the sky; it looks really cool. This week I will try to focus more on the beauty around me. We live in such a beautiful world; we can't just take it for granted because we'd be super ungrateful. And I just realized that I've only been thinking about observing beauty in nature, but really I should look for beauty in other people and things too. Looks like this one will be a nice excuse to slow down and take in the world around me, looking for the positive, beautiful things instead of focusing on the negative. Well, sounds good. I'll just need to make sure I actually slow down! Anyway, have a great week!

I've probably already shared this one already, but it's a good one :)

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Personal Happiness project: week 14

Things have been busy! My parents were in town for a convention and I went to a conference at BYU about Europe. One of my goals is to get more involved in politics/world affairs so I don't create a bubble around myself and drift into ignorance. Anyway, on to this week's challenge!

This week is "Never give up on what you want." Well, I'm not sure what I want. Life is still super fluid at this point. Our plans aren't made very far in advance because they could change at any moment. Before I give away all the secrets of my life, I just want to say that it is good to have the reminder to not give up. So, if you're thinking about quitting remember to keep your sights on the end goal even though the every day drudge is bogging you down. I thought about just stopping writing and doing this weekly challenge thing. It's a self-inflicted project that only three or four people read (thanks Megan, Jenn, and Kyle!). But the end goal is happiness and greater satisfaction with myself. So I'm going to keep doing it even though I don't have much time and I feel like I'm talking to myself sometimes. I won't give up, so you shouldn't too!

General Conference is this weekend and it will be good to listen to the leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They frequently answer questions that we have in our hearts and say what we need to hear (even if we may not want to hear it). We are blessed to have the true Gospel of Jesus Christ restored to the earth and living prophets who guide us. It will be fantastic. Have a great week!

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Personal Happiness project: week 13

This week is brought to you by the letter M for "Meditate daily. Make goals." I have a hard time stopping in the middle of my day to sit and meditate, so this will be a challenge. Luckily this is somewhat alleviated by my chiropractor who is making me lay down to fix my neck for 40 minutes a day. That's so long! Not sure how I'm going to do it or where the time will come from. I'm working up to it and my arms start to hurt from holding my book up to read! I think it is really good to just sit and think, without books or music or anything. It allows us to reconnect with ourselves and slow down to listen to what Heavenly Father is trying to tell us. If we constantly fill our lives with noise and distractions, we don't get to hear the still small voice of God to guide us and answer our questions.

During this meditation time, I can also think about goals that I want to work toward. This personal happiness project is a good start because I have goals I have to meet every week. But I don't have many long term goals. I know we want to have kids but they'll come when they come. There isn't much we can do to work toward that. I want to be a better homemaker which I think I can do if I focus more and manage my time better. So, goal 1: I will write my goals down after I meditate today. Well, I'm off to get my day started. Have a good week!

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Hike to Squaw Peak

This past weekend Kyle and I took a hike up Squaw Peak. It is Kyle's favorite hike in the area so we decided to do it before it got too cold and while the fall colors were around. It was so beautiful! I took 103 pictures and they all look fabulous. Here are just a few:

 The Provo temple with Squaw Peak to the left. We're going to the tip!

 The valley that is behind Y-Mountain.

The flag at the top. We made it!

 Provo! 

Personal Happiness Project: week 12

I've been slacking.

Instead of trying to do two weeks in one, I'm just going to say last week was a break and this week we started again. 'Kay. Let's do this.

This week is brought to you by the letter "L" and stands for "Laugh. Love. Learn to let go." So I think what I'll focus on to accomplish this week's challenge is "Don't worry, be happy" (Luke 2:10). I need to laugh and be happy and enjoy the life that I have right now. I will look past the faults in others and love them the way that Heavenly Father loves His children. And I will let go of things about myself that bother me, like worrying that what I say is dumb or weird. Or worrying about things that are out of my control, not that I do that often but I think everyone does this a little. Anyway, so that's that.

And here's a video that I really like about love for a spiritual thought. Have a great week!

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Trip to Idaho

In a whirlwind trip Labor day weekend we saw exactly what I expected of Idaho: wide open spaces, blue sky, and cows.

On our way back, we passed through Logan where we saw the hospital where Kyle was born and the Logan temple.

We then moved on to Brigham City to go to the open house of the new temple. The line went around the building, so we didn't stay to see the inside, but the outside is nice!

This is the Box Elder Tabernacle that is directly across the street from the new temple. I like the old tabernacles; it's cool to see what the pioneers could build with the little they had.

Personal Happiness project: week 11

Lots of things to write about! But I'm short for time, so for now I'll just look at this week's goals.

 

K is for "Kiss passionately. Keep looking forward." Well, the first part is pretty obvious so we'll just skip to the next part :)

And I guess the second part is straightforward too. Instead of getting bogged down with the day to day humdrum, we need to focus on working toward our future. But the everyday stuff is important too. It's like hiking a mountain. If you focus only on the ground then you miss the beautiful scenery around you and the top of the mountain, the place you're trying to get to. But if you only focus on the end goal then you may misstep and fall to a horrific death (but that's just the worst case scenerio).

And of course, "Meet the Robinsons" comes to mind. "From failure you learn. From success, not so much." So keep moving forward! Keep working toward worthy goals and happiness! Yay life! Have a great week!

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