Words Will Be Just Words Till You Bring Them To Life

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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!

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.*