thoughts....

So with my stomach acting up today and feeling like crap I've caught up on my blog a read a really cool article on facebook. 

It was about this LDS woman who sold her engagement ring, and her wedding band so her husband could get a good camera for his photography trip he was taking super soon. 

They just didn't have the money and the trip was coming up fast. 

This was around Christmas time. 

And somehow someway, a secret Santa returned her rings to her. 

Not just another set, but her actual rings. 

It made me think a lot. 

Would I be that willing and have the faith to sell something so precious of mine to help support my husband, my family, or another fellow man?

Now, her husband was taking this trip to take pictures of multiple LDS temples, for people to have in their house. Which is a wonderful thing to do, because being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints we base everything around the temple. 

The temple is the holiest place on earth. 

So therefore in order to go into the temple, you must being living a certain way. 

Ex. no smoking, drinking alcohol, tea, or coffee, chewing tobacco. They ask you if you follow the church, support our all our leaders, if have a testimony of Christ and the restored gospel and also whether or not you are chaste. (only having sexual relations with your spouse, who you are legally and lawfully married)

Basically they want to to try to be the best person you can be. 

So when people hang pictures of the temple within their home, it serves as a reminder of who we are and our divine potential. 

We are all children of God. 

Within the walls of the temple you learn about how our earth was created, about the fall of Adam and Eve, you learn about yourself and your heritage. It truly is wonderful. 

Also when you go back to the temple, you take another persons name upon you. A person who has passed away, and is living in the next life. That way they have the same opportunity to learn and grow just as you have! 

Within the temple, you are able to make certain wonderful promises with the Lord, that just govern who you are. And these promises are what our church is based around. Growing up in the church I heard all of them, often! 

A couple of them are we promise to the Lord that to live the law of concentration and sacrifice. 

Not literal, but as to dedicate all we have been blessed and given to the building up the kingdom of the Lord. Everything we have we have worked for yes. But we weren't able to do it ourselves. It's true. Honestly for me, it a way of always saying thank you to the Lord. 

Now this wonderful woman, is such a wonderful example of that. 

She truly did sacrifice something so precious for the building up of the kingdom of the Lord. 

And she was greatly blessed by that. 

The Lord loves us, and he loves to bless us. 

I just can't get over how great that woman is. She never expected anything in return! 

She has me thinking what can I do to bless the lives of someone around me. 

I've been blessed with so much. 

I think helping your fellow man, is one of the best ways we build up the kingdom of God. 

For those curious, here is the article.

http://sethadamsmith.com/2012/12/30/secret-santa-brings-a-mother-to-tears/

Missouri Reception!

Here's some pictures from the Missouri Reception, which was great! 

We had a photo booth!

  

Beautiful Decorations.

  And Yummy food, all thanks to Aunt Leslie for planning it for me.

:) 

Now here are some fun pictures!

 

 Sarah will probably hate me for posting this picture. heheheheheheh

 Uncle Mike took a couple family pictures. And this is probably the best one.

 Cute Boys!

 

 This is how I feel about cutting cake. 

It's a lot harder than you think. 

 I begged him to shove it my face this time! And he did! 

Vic, Alma and Nicole all came! It was great to see them all again! 

Too bad we didn't get to spend much time with them. 

 I can't even describe how excited I was to see these girls again! 

Last time I saw them was probably right out of high school! 

 I need to catch up with them next time I'm in Kirksville! 

 It was a moment of pure joy! 

 These girls are all awesome!

Grandma Ward made us a quilt!

It's so beautiful! 

Aunt Leslie did a wonderful embroidery in that corner!

Such a special blanket!

Sadly we had to get back to work. So we were there for maybe 24 hours. 

It was a rough but good. weekend. 

honeymoon madness!

We got the awesome opportunity to go to California! We went to Disneyland for 3 days, seaworld, and universal studios, and the beach of course! 

All these pictures are out of order. 

The First day we went to Universal Studios. Which was way awesome. You get a tour of the studios, where they make movies. 

And they have rides there. 

That all squirt water at you. 

Yes. ALL OF THEM!

I'm sure it wouldn't be bad in the middle of summer. But in March when it's less than 60, and with a cold wind. 

Bad. Very bad for Heather.

I froze. 

My white bride jacket was fluffy, and I thought it was warm. So in the car it stayed. 

 We stayed in the cutest hotel about 3 miles south of Disneyland. 

It's called peppertree. 

I really liked it. 

Except for people walking down the halls...because it sounded like they were in your room, only downside.

The picture below is from my favorite ride! 

Space Mountain! 

It's an indoor roller coaster, of basically just stars. 

So awesome! 

It was one of the last we did. So we only got on it once. 

 Driving slow cars.

 Roller Coaster at Disney Adventure

 Seals at La Jolla.

 World of Color. It was so freakin' cool. 

They shot up mists of water and used it basically as a projector. Which had choreographed music, lights, water movement and Disney clips.

This was our last night in Cali. 

Right before, we ate at Ariel's Grotto. Which is a fancy place, with a price to match.

It was good. but my ravioli soup was a bit too bitter for my liking. 

 Downtown Disney, we found a Lego store. Which had the Hulk. Lego Hulk. 

 We went to Oceanside Beach day 2, it was sunday, so the night before we gathered lunch picnic supplies from walmart. 

And chilled around the beach(es)

We also rode around in this awesome bike built for two. 

 Matthew got a Chewy backpack from DisneyLand. It's pretty sweet. 

 One day at Disneyland we ate these turkey legs. 

Yes, it's turkey, but it tastes like ham! 

Sadly it made my tummy upset, so I sipped on some sprite. 

 Day 3 we went to Seaworld! 

I was teased by dolphins, that I got to touch! 

Fed Sea Lions, rode on a roller coaster 5 or 6 times, in a row, touched a sting ray, and many more things. 

On our way back from Seaworld, we stopped again in Oceanside, and ate on the Pier at Ruby's. 

Out on the Pier, with and amazing view of the ocean at sunset.

Plus the food was great! 

These are our planned faces for tower of terror. They have the camera placement at a weird spot. You're not even dropping. 

 But this below, was my first time on it. So I was screaming out of pure terror!  

 We are bears. Do you see the awesome hats?

 Oceanside beach. 

 On the Bike. 

 Then the last 3 days we spent at Disneyland. Which was so much fun!!! 

 Star Wars movie ride. Was pretty dang cool! 

 Beautiful View of La Jolla. 

 Originally I was winning. 

That friday, we flew home. Matthew slept while I got our keys to our wonderful apartment, and started moving some of my things in. 

Now that was a long day. 

And moving in has been a long process. 

Basically done. We finally got a washer and dryer. So i just get to perfect the bathroom now. Whoo. (and clean out the dryer)

Maybe later, When I don't feel so yucky

p.s. My tummy is acting up. :( 

acid won't stay in my stomach it likes to leak into my throat and try to make me puke. 

a lot. 

I see a GI dr. in two weeks. 

which will be the longest two weeks ever!