This is true love

This is such a beautiful video. You've got to watch it! It is too good to pass over. Promise. 

"I am determined to care for her every need. You see, God has loved us so unconditionally, and I understand that God has put His love in my heart. And because I realize how much God has loved me, that's how I too can love my lovely wife."

"She has done so much for me over all of these years. Now she can't, but I can, and I can return her love."

This, this is what true love really is... sacrifice, patience, loyalty, tenderness, and pure joy. Isn't this sweet couple a perfect example of all these things? 

Five beautiful things

I think it is a well known fact that this world is full of a lot of ugly, sad, scary things. 

I'm not one to watch the news very much, but I did have it on for a few minutes the other day and it was really depressing. There's so much crazy stuff going on that it can be easy to forget what a beautiful place this world is, and I do still believe that the good and happy and beautiful things in this world outweigh the bad. Sometimes you just have to work a little harder to find them.

Here are five of the beautiful things I've been loving lately.

1. This song by Gungor 

All around

Hope is springing up from this old ground

Out of chaos life is being found in You

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of the dust

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of us

I love this. So peaceful, hopeful, and inspiring. 

2. Tulips

I don't know if it is possible to be a tulip addict, but it so then I am one. Daffodils and tulips are my favorite flowers of all time, and that is saying a lot because I am a flower lover. 

P.S. Thank you Dallin for surprising me with a sweet new lens for my camera!
It was fun  testing it out on my tulips. :)

3. This shadow dancing performance

I mean... seriously? This blew my mind, and maybe even made me a little teary-eyed. Maybe. ;)

4. The Temple

Mesa, AZ Temple. Photo by me, taken a couple months ago.

This is one of my favorite places to go to find beauty, peace, and deeper purpose in my life. I love it here. It always feels like home to me. 

5. The Gospel

This morning I was reading my scriptures and it reminded me again of what a beautiful blessing the gospel is. It provides me with the peace and power I need to be happy and successful in life. For that I will always be thankful. One of the things I love the most about my faith is that it makes everything okay.

Because I know God and that He is aware of me, I have no reason to fear, and that knowledge is the most beautiful thing of all.



What are some beautiful things in your life lately? How do you stay positive and happy?

Thrift store/refashion WIN

So... I really love thrift stores. A lot. 

I love never knowing what I'll find when I go shopping. A few weeks ago I found and bought this dress in a thrift store for $2.00, knowing it would need some alterations to make it work. I wasn't sure it would turn out, but I was so in love with the lace details at the collar (scroll down to see closer pictures of it) that I knew I had to at least try. 

Here's what it looked like before I started messing with it.

It was baggy in all the wrong places, and those sleeves were a little too much for me, so I went to work. First, I shortened the sleeves. There were also a few seams that were about to burst that I mended.

Here it is after the alterations and with the sash. I absolutely love how it turned out!

Check out the beautiful lacy collar! Also, did I mention that this dress is handmade?! That just makes me love it that much more! 

Definitely worth the $2.00, wouldn't you say?

P.S. If you didn't see my previous post, you should join me in jumping on the #ootdeverydaymay ("outfit of the day every day in May") hashtag on instagram! Read more about it here, and follow me on instagram here. :)

Thrift store score + #ootdeverydaymay

I'm just really in love with this dress I found at a thrift store and had to post a picture really fast. Tomorrow I will try to get some better pictures so you can see the before and after shots (I did some altering), but for now here's just a quick shot of the lace detail at the collar.

Also, if you read Harley and Jane you might have read about the "Outfit a day every day in May" funsies going on. I'm going to try to do it (although let's be honest, I probably won't actually do it every day...), and if you are on Instagram you should do it too! Hashtag #ootdeverydaymay

Waterslides Canyon

This weekend's canyoneering adventure took us to Waterslides Canyon, which is out in the middle of nowhere somewhere kind of by Roosevelt Lake (but not really, I'm serious when I say there is nothing nearby).

I've been on some pretty fun canyons, but this one (besides the long hike/rock hop and  getting carsick for the second time in my life) was such a blast. It is aptly named Waterslides canyon for the many sweet slides that make this trip worth the effort!

But before we got to the fun stuff, we had to hike/rappel into the canyon. Here I am on the first rap. 

The sun is a ginger's worst enemy. I took advantage of any opportunity to take cover. :)

Finally to the water! It felt so good to get in! 

Dallin on the first slide! This one was so fun that we kept climbing up to do it again over and over. 

My turn!

Our friends Bret and Jeff came too

Such a beautiful place on such a beautiful day!

My splash at the end of a steep slide. I like this one!

Purty.

Dallin and me in our supersuits. ;)

Dallin getting ready to go down the big one! You can't tell in this picture, but this slide is about 40 feet high and very steep, plus there is a bit of a jump that can really launch you if you hit it right. Let's just say I was really good at hitting it just right, and my backside is probably going to feel a little funny for a while... haha! 

You can kind of see me getting launched in the second picture.. This was terrifying, by the way... haha. It might look tame in the pictures, but it was pretty scary, especially from the top! It's really steep and much higher than it looks in these pictures.

Jeff jumping by the big slide

I thought I had a video of me going down the big slide, but apparently I don't so here is one of Jeff!
(P.S. Enjoy my awkward giggling . Please tell me I don't always sound like that...)

Awww.

Having fun with the waterproof camera

All in all it was a good trip, but let's just say there was no way I was wearing heels to church today. I'm a wee bit sore. It was definitely worth it though. 

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On an unrelated note, remember how I mentioned in this post about how afraid I am to play the piano in church? Well guess who is the new pianist for the Spanish branch we are now attending? Yep, that would be me! This ought to be very interesting. I knew this day would come, and to be honest I'm really thankful that it came when we're in a small branch of super nice people that I already love so much. 

Oh, and if this Spanish branch business is news to you, Dallin was called last week to be in the branch presidency so we will both be attending there from now on. Dallin is fluent in Spanish, but I don't know very much and have a really hard time separating Spanish from Russian in my mind. It's just a matter of time until I start spouting off Russian when I mean to say something in Spanish. I'm telling you, it is going to happen. I'm exciting though! It's going to be an adventure for sure! 

On another unrelated note, aren't tulips such happy flowers? Spring flowers are my favorite.

Happy Sunday!

Top 5 worst fears {Friday five}

I like to think of myself as a pretty fearless person, but I do have some things I am afraid of.
Here's five of the biggest ones. 

P.S. Don't judge me, I'm a weird person with some weird fears. ;)

1. Heights. 

This is kind of ironic since my husband and I love to canyoneer. Most of the canyons we do are technical, meaning they require rappelling and/or climbing, and quite a few of those rappels are pretty high. So far, the longest rappel I've done is about 200 feet. 

See little me at the top? I was probably about 1/2 of the way down at that point. Eeep!

And yet, even though we do this often, I am still pretty scared of heights. However, I do think I am slowly getting over it. Slowly. Also, I'm very thankful that I am totally fine with airplanes, tall amusement park rides, etc. 

But things like this make me very dizzy. 

And especially things like this. Oy.

These pictures could be scenes from my worst nightmares. Seriously. 

2. Getting abducted

Speaking of my worst nightmares, most of them involve big, scary guys and dark alleys. I have had some scary real life experiences that contribute to this fear too. I take several security measures to protect myself, and just do my best to stay safe but even so this will probably always be a fear of mine. 

3. Passing cars on 2-lane highways

This is pretty silly, but I am deathly afraid of passing anybody unless there are more than two lanes. I will do it on occasion, but only if the road is straight so I can see far ahead and there are no cars coming my way at all. It doesn't matter if the oncoming car is a mile away, I will not pass it. Dallin is not quite as patient as I am (and also isn't paranoid like me) so he will pass if he has enough time, even if there is oncoming traffic. Every time it absolutely terrifies me to be in the same lane as a car coming directly towards me at 55+ MPH. (shudder)

 My husband gets a kick out of this sometimes, and I can't blame him for laughing at his white-knuckled, wide-eyed, hyperventilating wife in the passenger seat freaking out about the car that is half a mile away from us. 

4. Being asked to play the piano/organ in church

I can count the piano lessons I've had on one hand. I taught myself quite a bit though, and I know how to play a handful of hymns. Unfortunately, even though I am not very good, there have been a few times when I had to play the piano at church functions and I was the seminary pianist (or co-pianist) all four years. It terrifies me. Usually I get through the first verse or two okay, but it is downhill from there! Ever since we got a piano I have been practicing, but let's just say I don't practice anywhere near enough... haha! I have a feeling that one of these days I'm going to be asked to be a Relief Society or Primary pianist. Maybe that will be what it takes to purge that fear. ;)

5. Swimming in the dark

Because obviously that is when all the scary water creatures come to the surface with their tentacles and sharp teeth to prey on unsuspecting humans. ;) This fear is totally irrational and very ridiculous, but even just thinking about being in dark water gives me the heebie jeebies. (Although I did swallow this fear once to play a game using glow sticks and water bottles at Lake Powell once, and it was a awsome.)

Well, there you have it. Do we share any of the same fears? Can we be phobia phriends? 

(Yeah, I think I'm pretty clever sometimes... heh heh)

And will you ever believe me if I say I'm really not living in fear all the time, even if this post makes it seem that way? :) 

20 seconds of insane courage

Have you ever seen the movie We Bought a Zoo? 

If you haven't, I definitely recommend it... as long as you love heart-warming, tear-jerking movies featuring Matt Damon and lots of awesome animals. ;)

My favorite part of the movie is this quote:

I don't know about you, but one of my faults is that I tend to keep myself safely within the bounds of my comfort zone. I've certainly improved a lot in the past few years, but I still can be very intimidated by fears of failure or embarrassment. 

This is so silly, because when I think about the most rewarding and wonderful experiences of my life, they are all things that took me well outside of my comfort zone. For example, a year and a half ago I spent 4 months in Russia teaching English. Was it scary? Yes. I was pretty nervous. Russia is kind of crazy, and since this was actually the second time I traveled there I knew what I was getting myself into. But was it awesome? YES, and I miss it terribly. I am so thankful I swallowed my fears and went for it. 

Teaching seminary is another great example. It is very challenging, but I can't even tell you how much I love it or the things I've learned. If I had chickened out (I've never turned down a calling, but I was tempted... haha!), I would have missed out on a lot.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that you have to get out of your comfort zone and have a little insane courage if you want to accomplish great things. Don't be afraid to pursue a secret dream, tackle any obstacle that you encounter, or break out of your comfort zone.

P.S. Here's the song that inspired this post. I love me some Sara B., and this song makes me happy.

I wanna see YOU be brave. 

Do something crazy today! :)