Walking in the Wind

It's been a bit since I've updated about my life in Utah.

I think the best way to do that is to let the pictures speak for themselves. Not that they are anything spectacular- they are just phone shots of some pretty awesome places I've been.

I spent A LOT of times at Temples. From Mt. Timpanagos, to Ogden, to Bountiful, to Oquirrh Mountain, to Draper, to Payson and so many others. I just love them and can't get enough. And in my drives I find some other pretty places. And this new, warm, sunny spring air makes me feel alive. I have been craving travel and adventure and filling my free time with exploring. It's pretty fantastical.

God sure has given us some pretty amazing sights and blessings on this earth. I never thought I'd love Utah so much.

Utah Yo! Month One

I cannot believe I have been in Utah for over a month now! That just blows my mind. But at the same time, has it really only been a little over a month?! It's crazy.

Life is so, so different for me than it was just 1 month ago. Between all the newness surrounding me, and getting to know myself even more, I feel like a completely different person almost.

There have definitely been some HARD days. One particularly rough and disappointing night I was driving home fighting back tears of frustration, just feeling dumbfounded, praying to the Lord saying, "I'm DONE! I don't know what else you want from me. I.am.DONE!" It took everything in me not to pack up my car and high tail it out of Utah the next day.

But you know what? I am glad I stayed. There are still hard days. But there are SO many blessings to make up for them. And even in the hard days, I feel myself being strengthened and blessed and given peace that passeth all understanding. I know that the Lord has been upholding me and sending His angels to bear me up. That's for sure.

I have 2 really amazing roommates. We talk so easily with each other. We're starting to have lots of gab fests and lots of "dating, uuuuuugggggghhh talks." haha. It is definitely a blessing that the Lord has given me in the form of two such amazing people to share a home with!

Coming to a place where I know absolutely NO one has definitely made me really self-aware. Which leads to being self conscious more than I'd like to admit, but even more so, it has made me just realize more who I am as a person, how I think, what's going on with me emotionally and mentally, etc.

For instance, ever since a really difficult, life-altering break up a few years ago, I KNEW that I had put up a lot of walls around myself, and my heart. And as time went on, no matter how much I wanted it differently, I felt myself just steel-reinforcing those walls. And I thought in the healing that has taken place since then that I had gotten rid of those walls completely. Well, moving here has definitely made me aware that those walls are still there. Not as big and strong and impassable as before, but they linger. And I am glad that I am able to realize that now. Because now I am trying to make conscious efforts to open up more and let people in. And I am learning that opening up and everything doesn't equal getting hurt. Yes there is that risk, but you also are able to let a lot really amazing people in as well.

I started this post just intending to post some pictures and give a brief narrative of what's been going on here in Utah for me...so I am not sure I got here, but oh well. haha. So anyways....

One of my favorite, scratch that, my FAVORITE thing about being in Utah are all the temples here! It is AMAZING! I have made a point to go to one at least once a week, even if sometimes that means just sitting outside and playing a conference talk or BYU speech while parked, looking at it. It makes me SO happy. Words cannot describe how much I love the Lord's temples.And I can't get over how there are at LEAST 9 temples within 45 minutes of my house- that I have been to at least. There are probably more! haha.

So without further ado- here is the last month+ of my life in UT in pictures:

Words Will Be Just Words Till You Bring Them To Life

H  A  P  P  Y     2  0  1  4
EVERYBODY!

(My sister, me, & my friends Christi & Amanda- AKA The Fabulous Four! New Years Eve)

I am SO excited for the New Year.  It is so wonderful to look back and see how blessed I was over 2013.
I remember starting off in January 2013 saying how I was DETERMINED to make it a better year than 2012.  I had spent that entire year healing from heartbreak and trying to figure out how to keep going, trying to figure out who the heck I even was.  So I was SO ready to say hello to 2013, and now, I cannot BELIEVE it is over! Seriously, it FLEW by. And I am happy to say I accomplished 2 out of 3 of my HUGE resolutions for that year.

They were:

O N E:  Go through the Temple and take out my Endowments- CHECK!

That April day was the best day of my life so far. I have such special memories from that day and it has been a gift that keeps giving and will my entire life. I truly LOVE the Temple!


and T W O:  Move To Utah- CHECK!




I TOTALLY packed up my Camry, busting to the gills with all I could fit of my earthly possessions inside, and drove the TWO THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED miles across the country to try out Utah. How freaking awesome is that!? I am so proud that I took that chance and literally went on faith all the way across the country for an adventure. And after a few months and a LOT of prayer, pondering, phone calls, and fasting, I have since moved back to Pennsylvania. But I couldn't be happier to have had that adventure for those few months in 2013, and to be back on the east coast!
But that's a different story for a different time.

I am PUMPED for 2014 and I have A LOT in store. So many big plans for myself. This will be the year of

C    H    A    N    G    E
and I am ready! So here we go 2014, let's do it!  I am ready to bring my goals to life!

The Great Utah Migration

Wow. It has been a really long time. I can't believe it is September....where has the time gone?! That means I didn't blog once this summer (although maybe this counts as once because fall doesn't come untill the end of the month, so that's what we'll say).  But I have a pretty big excuse as to why I was so absent from my little bloggie here.  

I stinking moved across the country.

 No lie. From a very small town in Pennsylvania to Salt Lake City, Utah.  

Why? Well, that is a really good question.  There was no thunderbolt, no angelic message, no new, glorious dream job waiting, to tell me this is where I needed to be...but there was the whisperings of the Spirit. A lot of times it would just come to me as thoughts every now and then about "just move to Utah."  And after a lot of thought, praying, fasting, and pondering, (my sister who decided to join me and)  I decided to go on faith, and take a step (or giant leap) into the dark, together.  

Completely crazy?  

There have been many, many times I have thought so, especially as I was I driving the 2,300 miles, alone in my car, packed to the gills with whatever possesions I could manage. 

Or about the time we hit big, wide open, ridiculous Kansas. (No offense, but I HATE you Kansas. And I don't normally say hate, but it fits).

Or the time when we stopped for lunch and we weren't even out of PA yet and I said to my sister 

"Is it too late to turn around?"

Or that first night we stopped, after having a 19 hour day already, and were utterly exhausted and heartbroken, and we couldn't even find a room to stay in, so we had to drive 2 more hours just to stay in a crap hole that was so disgusting/shady/scary we were sure we'd be featured on an episode of Dateline. 

Or when we arrived in Utah, finally, and realized how far from home we were, how lost and homesick we felt, and the lady we are staying with proceeded to make sure we had good alarm systems on our cars because of hers getting broken into a few times (oh yay, we feel safe!).

But I am here to tell you that even though other people might think what we did was completely crazy ( even myself a lot of the times) nothing you do is ever too big and scary for the Lord to make the trip with you. And He is the only thing that has kept me going.  He was in PA with me, He is in Utah with me, He made that scary, boring, ridiculous multi-state drive with me, He has been with me as I have cried and doubted and worried over what comes next. And you know what? He will ALWAYS be there. Always. So whether I am in Pennsylvania,Utah, or Africa, He knows exactly where I am and loves me for exactly who I am, flaws and all. And I am so grateful that He does, and that even when I feel alone, I am not, because He.is.there, and that is all that really matters.

Random rest area in Ohio.                                               Absolutely gorgeous sunset in Indianapolis, IN.

 

                 

 Apparently there is a Pocahantas, MO.  

   

SOOO many rest area trips taken. Somehere in MO.

                                

Best. Hotel. Ever. We wanted to stay. Forever. Overland Park, Kansas.                   

Talk about your open road! No signs of trees, humans, or hills anywhere in Kansas. Ick.

We were SO happy to be out of Kansas and in Beautiful Colorado. And this gorgeous sunset greeted us.

Denver! Hello birthplace!

Even though Wyoming was abandoned by humans too, it had its gorgeous moments.

FINALLY in Utah.

One of the first days in Utah we made a point to seriously break a record and see three Temples in one day. Salt Lake (not pictured), Oquirrh Mountain

And Jordan River. 

It is AMAZING to me to be so close to like 10 Temples. What an incredible blessing.  After our closest one being the DC Temple (which will ALWAYS be my favorite), and having to take an entire day to make it there and back and get in a session, it is incredible to be able to see three temples in one day. They are my favorite places on earth. You cant manufacture the peace and sweet spirit that you feel just walking on the grounds.

This is the view from my window. Mountains everywhere! Loved watching the storm roll in on them.

We got to go takea tour of the Conference Center and see this beautiful Temple again.  The temple where my parents were sealed and my family became a forever family.

Then we went to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir practice. So fun and beautiful!

And of course, we went to see One Direction's new movie, This Is Us, and were complete teenie boppers. We were ridiculously excited:)

And so sums up the last few weeks of my life. Although I have left a lot of other good things out.  We'll just see what happens:)

I Went Inside

Last week, on the 17th I had the incredible opportunity to go through the temple for the first time.  I have seriously been dreaming of that moment my whole life.  Growing up, my parents always made an effort to go the the temple, and to take me and my sisters there regularly.  They always made a big deal of our "temple trips."  Living in PA, our closest temple is the Washington DC Temple, which is 2 hours away (how grateful I am to have one that close!) so it we would always make day trips out of it.  We'd go down and go inside the visitor's center and then always walk around the outside-which was my favorite part.  I have always, always loved that temple and looked forward to the day I could go in.  And it was always my goal to go inside the DC Temple for my first time.  So, everything about that special day was a dream come true.  

I am grateful for my parents who were able to be there with me, and make the day even more happy.  

You can feel the spirit just driving up to this sacred building.  One thing I will always remember about that day was as we were within minutes of pulling into the temple parking lot, as we were driving around the grounds (if you have ever been to the DC Temple you know the drive right before the temple is very twisty ) the hymn is How Great Thou Art was playing in the background in my car, and I just started quietly crying, totally involuntarily.  I was just so happy, so thankful, and I knew for sure I was doing the right thing, and that Heavenly Father knew exactly where I was, and was so happy for me, and pleased with my decision to go to His house.  And then my mom saw me and she started bawling too.  Good thing I wore waterproof mascara.

Such a happy, blessed day:)  I can't wait to go again.

*I am a happy member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  And if you want to know more about temples, go here.*