Happy Broken Pieces Oct 31-Nov 6

No matter what I seem to do, Halloween still manages to come. Every year. Its like clock work! ;) 

But I discovered the key to surviving and maybe even liking Halloween...

Work with 1-3 year olds. 

I had a Dory, Dinosaur, Supergirl, Superhero's, and more. 

They were adorable.

Our ward had a Halloween carnival. I sat at the craft table and made things out of pipe cleaners. I was completely satisfied. If you haven't discovered the joy of pipe cleaners, you'd better drop everything and find yourself some pipe cleaners. 

Seeing SVU in the fall at sunset should be on everyone's Bucket list. 

I got a letter from Kadee!!! AHHH! It made me so happy and tears were definitely shed. I just feel so blessed all the time to know her and call her one of my best friends. She is one killer missionary!

Not as bright as last year, but always beautiful.

I think I have this picture from every year. I just love seeing SO many leaves!

We always have great conversations on our way to work. Its so fun working with my friends everyday! And sometimes the simple things are the things that make our day. One of those was this dog. 

Friday I went to the Institute Talent Show. I just love people. Some of the couple missionaries were telling dumb jokes and those are my favorite! It was great.

I then found myself at Alex's house, venting about life eating Oreo's and milk. Which then led us to coming to my room and starting to watch The Crown. 

It was delightful.

Remember last post when I was talking about escaping?

I went a little farther than the parkway this time, and Kaylee and I went to Roanoke. We decided we wanted to go Shopping because I got an extra discount at Old Navy. It was so much fun! We went to the mall and than ate at Olive Garden. I got a flatbread (pictured below) and I highly recommend it. It was amazing!

Something that I have been thinking a lot about is feeling broken. 

Things happen sometimes that leave us feeling broken. It can be little cracks or tons of pieces. This is part of life. Those cracks are how the light gets in. Its how we learn to use the Atonement. Without those cracks we wouldn't be able to return to our Heavenly Father. 

"What will it matter, dear sisters, what we suffered here if, in the end, those trials are the very things which qualify us for eternal life and exaltation in the kingdom of God with our Father and Savior?"

-Linda S. Reeves

Embrace those cracks. Embrace the pieces. Its a chance to find yourself again and more importantly work on becoming who God wants and plans for you to be. 

Perspective Oct 24-30

This is my happy face when I go to work.

Don't get me wrong. Somedays at work are incredibly hard. But I am so grateful for the experience and lessons the children teach me everyday.

For FHE we played Sorry. Now if you know me, I am very competitive when it comes to Sorry. If I don't win, I get a little upset. Nothing big. Just lots of kicking and screaming. 
It was crazy to me that some of the people I was with had never played this glorious game!

For my scripture study I have been using the Institute manual. Its amazing!! I was in Mosiah 4-8 and it talked a lot about how we are nothing without the Lord. We need to always remember the Atonement and that "The key to our greatness is to remember our nothingness without Christ and His Atonement." 

Sometimes all you need is a giant T-Rex to walk around campus.

One of my favorite things about Virginia are the Cardinals! There is one at work that is fascinated by car mirrors. It flies up and down and up and down. 

I love the fall. 

Yes. I really am posting more pictures of the sun and beautiful VA.

Seriously. Every night is beautiful. 

I think sometimes you just have to escape. And when you escape you need to do something crazy and fun. So I called up Catherine and Alex and we grabbed my camera and went on an adventure.

 

We mastered placing the camera on the car and using the timer to capture pictures of all three of us. 

This adventure was all on the parkway. I adore the parkway. There is something about looking out at the view that honestly does add perspective. It takes you out of your head for a minute.

I love these girls!

Something that has been a constant discussion with my friends as we drive to work is discouragement. Life never happens the way you plan. Things happen and sometimes they are really sad and kind of upsetting. Its part of life though. Its part of the test. But a quote form the Institute Manuel reminded me that "Discouragement is part of that test. Do not give up. That brilliant morning will come." 
We just have to stop. We need to pause and reflect. 

"Because when you stop and look around. life is pretty amazing."

Midterms, Homecoming, and Blessings Oct 17- 23

We hit the middle of the semester. 

CRAZY!

It felt like September flew, and October is taking forever.

I shared this picture on Instagram.

My friend Anna Taylor gave me the journal in the middle that says "Today is my Greatest adventure". The semester has consisted of tons of reading, studying, relief society, laughs, art, autumn, stress, confusion, and joy. I needed the reminder that everyday is a great adventure! What a blessing that is! 

I need to make that my daily moto:

Today is an adventure :)

Someone put a carved pumpkin by the stairs going down to the lofts. It was there for a few days before it got smashed and than someone put this little sign.

I arrived back from work to this pretty sight! Virginia's state saying is "Virginia is for lovers." I'm pretty positive its that because its impossible not to fall in love with it everyday. 

I love leaves. I think I say it every year. Crunching leaves are honestly some of the few of my favorite things. 

Like seriously. Look at those clouds and the light streaming on those trees.

Friday was our fall choir concert! I really enjoyed the songs we sang this semester. After the concert Travis was very kind to give me a blessing. A little bit ago I sat and talked to Jessica Rasmussen for over two hours. We talked about some of the things that were stressing me out, and she narrowed it down to three categories. As Travis gave me the blessing he addressed all three of those things. I hadn't told him anything. 
Everyone, THE PRIESTHOOD IS SO REAL.

We all headed to Cook out after. I believe this was my first time there all semester! I know! Its crazy! I am very grateful for everyone in this picture and how they consistently make me laugh.

Saturday my boss took us out to Lunch because we passed with zero violations on one of our Inspections. We went to this lovely restaurant in Lexington and the food was delicious! We than paraded around Lexington.

That night we went to the Volleyball game and than to go hear the Nashville Tribute Band. I love them! They have beautiful albums dedicated to Joseph Smith, Missionary work, and Jesus Christ. It was wonderful hearing them sing and testify of Jesus Christ. 

Than it was Homecoming! (Saturday was a crazy day!) Sarah and I almost didn't go to the dance, but we did and it turned out to be a lot of fun! They split it up into different decades. We hung out in the 80s and 90s the whole time. It was a blast!

Sunday was good! The Nashville Tribute band performed again that night. At one point they had all the missionaries that listened to their album on their mission come up and sing. They did this last time they were here and I was hoping they would do it again. Many tears were shed. It was awesome1 

I saw a quote this week that said:
"If you find yourself a bit irritated or overwhelmed, It's a sign that you're spending less time with God and more time with this world."

That really hit me. I felt like I was feeling very overwhelmed and short with people. But I also realized that yes. I was slacking on my scripture study and my time I was spending with my Heavenly Father. Its something that is so simple which makes it so easy not to do. But is so soo SO important. I am working on evaluating where my time is being spent and how to improve the time spent with my Heavenly Father and Redeemer Jesus Christ.