My Top Ten (Part 1)

Since I am coming close to getting to all of the 50 United States before I hit the age of 25 it is about time to expand my horizons and let you all in on a little secret..so here it goes. These are the first three of my top ten (or eleven) places I would love to visit most in the world outside of the United States (they aren't in any particular order). I got my love for traveling from my Grandparents who went nearly everywhere in the world before my grandpa passed away in his mid 70s.

1. Santorini and Athens, Greece: I mean who wouldn't want to visit the beautiful white buildings and cathedrals, green rocky cliffs and the bluest ocean views, quite possibly ever. Ancient Athens and the Parthenon are nice perks as well. If that isn't enough, how about the mountain of Olympus or the beautiful beaches.  I used to want to study Archaeology and with all of the ancient Grecian ruins and artifacts, this place would be a truly amazing, historical place to get lost in.

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2. Germany & the Netherlands/Holland-  I chose to group these into one because I discovered that if I don't, I really have eleven places I would absolutely love to visit, but then it wouldn't be a top ten list now would it?

German Chocolate, the name Heidi, my family, German Pancakes, all of the delicious pastries and deserts I have heard about and the green rolling countrysides with little towns settled in between them. Hamburg, Cathedrals, the list goes on and on of the great things that are in and come from Germany.   What more could you want?

Holland: Tulips, Windmills, Amsterdam, Haarlem, Futbol (aka Soccer!), canals, old, wooden shoes, riding bikes through fields of flowers, castles, the port cities. Everything is easy to love when its Dutch..

Fun Fact: Did you know there is a city in Holland in which there are no streets for driving, you have to travel from place to place, and house to house on the river ways in a canoe or paddle boat! Love that!

3. London, England. The REAL land of Harry Potter, Big Ben, London Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace, Abbey Road, Double Decker Buses, a beautifully large ferris wheel, small towns and the beautiful countryside, castles, museums and cathedrals. Enough said.

4. Rome and Tuscany, Italy.  A picture is worth a thousand words, and I have two that I believe are worth about twice that many. Decide for yourself.

5. The Igazu Waterfalls on the border between Argentina and Brazil. Once again in my opinion one picture says it all.  Bonus: In Argentina I can kind of speak the language and there is so much untouched beauty in both of these countries, I will never get bored.

Rainbows over Provo

I got the chance to teach Relief Society today in my ward and our lesson was on covenants. It made me think of all the wonderful promises God has given us if we just keep the covenants we have made with him.  We talked about Noah and the sign of God's covenant with him to never flood the earth again, which is manifested over and over again with the sign of the rainbow. 

As I get older I don't know if I notice the little things more, or if I look for them more, but lately I have noticed the hand of God in my life almost daily.  I was reading in the lesson I gave about how if we do what we say we will, the Lord is BOUND to do what he has promised us in return.  These rainbows can be daily reminders that God has not forsaken us and that he will never leave us alone or comfortless.

One last quick thought.  Rainbows remind me of my brother, Kevin who is currently on his mission to the Las Vegas Nevada West Mission speaking Spanish. I don't know if he knows this, but the day I dropped him off at the MTC, as I drove away a rainbow appeared in the sky over Provo and in the year since he has been gone I have seen more rainbows than any year previously. The Lord knows each of us individually and knows what we are going through. That rainbow was my little reminder from God.  There was a double rainbow today.

Thanks for the Memories...and for Friends

I have had a hard time focusing on the positive in my life lately and recognizing the support of those around me who love and want to help me.  So here it goes, a thank you to all those who have helped me so much these past few weeks, I'm sorry that some of you will probably never see this post, but for those 2 or 3 of you that do, Thanks for your support. I am going to word this in the form of a Gratitude journal. Enjoy. 

I'm grateful for the time we had.

I'm grateful for the memories we made. 

I'm grateful for the pictures we took and the friends we made together. 

I'm grateful for your courage and strength. 

I'm grateful for your knowledge and growth.

I'm grateful that you let me be a part of your testimony that will some day influence hundreds if not thousands of people. 

I'm grateful for the blessings from Nick Purse, Ryan Rodriguez, Shawn Loftin, David Felstead and John Christensen.

I'm grateful for the blessings from Dad, Doug Hamilton, Mario Aguirre, Wayne Manning.

I'm grateful to have Kevin as my brother who has helped our family by the blessings we have received from his willingness to share the message of our savior Jesus Christ.

I'm grateful for friendships that I have made and that continue to be improved and strengthened through this experience and old friendships that have been rekindled and that remind me that God truly loves me.

I'm grateful for true friends that have shown me that they will always be there no matter what.

I am grateful for flowers, ice cream, cookies and nice notes.

I'm grateful for family that never cease to amaze me.

I'm grateful for the heroes in my life.

I'm grateful for those willing to pass it on.

I'm grateful for those whose attitudes and outlook on life never cease to amaze me.

I'm grateful for the Dahlin family who took me in as their own for a time and supported me during the times I felt alone.

I'm grateful for my job.

I'm grateful I am blessed with the chance to be at BYU learning and making friends.

I'm grateful for the friends I have who make all of these lists. You know who you are.

I'm grateful for phone calls and notes from friends.

I'm grateful for those wise enough to follow the spirit. 

I'm grateful for anyone who I failed to mention but who has been a part of the healing process I have experienced. 

I'm grateful for parents who support me in everything I do even if they know I will fail. 

I'm grateful for the smiles in places I don't expect and for the little happy places in God's creation. 

I'm grateful for the chances that have been put in my place to be a friend to others, and I will gladly reciprocate the kindness shown to me by any who need it, in any way that I can. 

Changing modes for those of you who are sick of hearing about the things I'm grateful for...

I love the smell of rain. I love rainbows and the promise they bring. I love butterflies. I love the scriptures. I love forgiveness and repentance. I love brightness. I love the world. I love missionaries. I love the piano. I love music. I love playing the piano. I love service. I love sacrifice. I love blue skies. I love friends. I love chocolate cupcakes. I love cookies warm from the oven. I love knowing I'm loved. I love words. I love making a difference. I love changing lives.  

I know many of you are about done reading this post, but if you made it to the end, I want to hear your comments and stories about those who have changed your life and what they have done to help you. I love hearing stories of friends or loved ones who have had struggles and those who have stepped in to help. 

Romeo and Juliet

Two movies that I have seen in the past month that I loved and, of course, are about Love. Young Victoria and Letters to Juliet. Both are fantastic stories of love and how it doesn't always come as you had dreamed it would.  I also, of course, would love to pay tribute to the fantastic Pride and Prejudice and Phantom of the Opera, both of which are also fantastic love stories and are appropriate for any audience, as long as you can sit through 3 hours worth of movie.
Young Victoria:

A dramatization of the turbulent first years of Queen Victoria's rule, and her enduring romance with Prince Albert. A love that doesn't die is always worth seeing a movie about.

Letters to Juliet:

An American girl on vacation in Italy finds an unanswered "letter to Juliet" -- one of thousands of missives left at the fictional lover's Verona courtyard, which are typically answered by the "secretaries of Juliet" -- and she goes on a quest to find the lovers referenced in the letter.

A Smile Could Travel the World

So, a few weeks ago in sacrament meeting, there was a guy that gave a talk on mothers, Charity and the influence that just being kind to someone can have on not only their world but on the whole world around them.  An example he gave was smiling.  He said that there are days that he has been walking in his own little world through campus, with his iPod in or on his phone, etc, and then someone looks up from their busy day and smiles. He smiles back, and keeps smiling, and the next person he walks past, sees that smile and smiles herself. Who really knows how long that smile will continue to spread, but maybe it will travel the world! Who knows, that smile that you pass along could change someone's day and if it continues to spread, maybe you could actually make a difference in the world.

He also mentioned that if everyone in just our small little section of the earth, (Our ward essentially) would live ONE day, just one, as the Savior would live, we could too show the world that Kindness still exists and it would almost be as if Christ was here for one-hundred extra days. So, here is a challenge for the few people that browse my blog every once in a while, even if you may not believe in God, or the same God that I do. Live just one day this week like you could possibly save someone's life. Help someone in need, be kind to everyone, don't forget that regardless of your beliefs, we all need love.  In the words of a popular song:

"What the world needs now, is love, sweet love" and change slightly the words of John Mayer's song and quit "waiting on the world to change"  and instead "be the change you want to see in the world" -Ghandi

Here is a smile, that you can use to spread the love!

Love Round 2

Some more of the awesome hearts found in nature. :) Love it! Here is a link to the other post I did with hearts. Doesn't it just make your day?  Link: Let me Show You the Shape of My Heart. If you have any of your own hearts in nature, Email them to me and see if you make the next Hearts Post.

Be Careful What you Wish For

I have learned a very important lesson in the past few years about answers to prayers and how sometimes what I think I want and need, but then realize I was completely happy with my situation before. I know it sounds complicated, but don't write me off yet.  For example, all during High School I had extremely thick hair, that was hard to take care of or do a whole lot with.  I always wanted and prayed for a little bit thinner hair. I know its stupid, but its one of those things where everyone always wants what they can't have right? Well, unfortunately, I got my wish. Here, is a list of quite possibly the stupidest things I wished and prayed for, and got in the funniest/worst way possible.

I wished for thinner hair: now like half of my hair falls out because I'm on medication.
I wished I could be a little skinnier, over Christmas break I was so sick I lost 40 lbs. This should teach me my lesson right?
I wished that I could take a semester off of school and relax.. well.. I did.. even though it wasn't exactly completely relaxing.
I wanted to be closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ so they brought me to my knees in the most unexpected way.
I had a lovely long list of awesome things that I thought would be so great for me, and turned out, God made me perfect the way I was to begin with. I can't remember what else I wished for that, now I realize were trivial and maybe a little petty.

Well enough of my pity party, I just thought I'd share with everyone that God made us how we are because that is exactly how we are supposed to be in this life, and even when things happen, he doesn't stop loving us. That's why I have what I have, I wasn't paying as much attention to him as I should have been, so He reminded me.