howdy ya'll

recently, if you can't tell, my life as kinda turned upside-down.

i receive these quotes from here and the other day i got one that really helped me out.

"We will each face times of difficulty, and the question is not when we will face them but how we will face them."

James B. Martino

it seriously opened my eyes to the kind of reaction that i was choosing to have about the trials i am facing. i have also had an amazing institute class this semester that has really helped me.

right now we are talking about how life is a testing center for all of us and what the rules are for the testing center. i will tell you more about it when we actually finish the subject we are on but i'm telling ya.. it's good.

also, my wonderful aunt lezlee, i really feel like i shouldn't be calling her my aunt, but more of a friend, is visiting from kansas and we have had a really fun time trying to find houses and having lunch together. i cannot wait till they are here permanently.

i'm thinking you all should read this talk. because i mean, we are all going to face trials. might as well have a good attitude now. :)

okay i'm off to do homework. yaaaay.

much love-smash.

new.

why hello there.

yes it is me. ashley.

unfortunately, i am not good at blogging. at all. it is so sad.

so, here i am just a few months after my last post.

a lot has happened in my life.

luckily no one reads my blog so i can talk about it.

Let me put it bluntly, i have NO friends.

last august i lost my best friend. no not to a car accident or anything like that, but to a boy. i seriously have hung out with my best friend probably 4 time

s in the last 6 months. and just last week she got engaged. i am SOO happy for her. but i am just sad that we aren't "best friends" anymore. and then to put the icing on the cake, my one other friend here, just moved home to Oregon. OREGON! to get married!! what is with all of my friends getting married? all 3 of my best friends are now married or almost married.

ashley no likey.

everyone is like focus on school, get school o

ver with. and obvious

ly i know that, that is something i am focusing on but, i am a social butterfly and i have relied on my friends for so long and now that they are gone, i feel broken.

thank goodness for mary engelbriet and her art and the words of the prophets or i wouldn't be able to handle life right now.

enlightenment here.

but wanna here something crazy? so this evening, after dinner we looked outside only see a bunch of cop cars and fire trucks. we went outside and our lungs filled with smoke. someone, or something lit our neighbors big industrial size dumpster on fire. there were fire trucks and police cars everywhere. and the funnest thing was that they had to walk all the way down the street to find a fire hydrant. that scared me a bit. pictures to follow.

must.change.attidute.

words to live by :]

today.

today i became aware of what needs to happen in my life.

i have received answers to questions that only He could answer.

it is truly amazing and completely reassuring that Heavenly Father knows exactly what we need and how we need to receive it. i am so amazingly blessed and so thankful. my heart is full and i am completely at peace.

today started off as normal as it could. i woke up and resisted the urge to get a drink from the cup on my nightstand. i remembered it was fast sunday. every other fast sunday i had felt something but i had no idea that today would be so different from all the rest. it started in testimony meeting. the testimonies kept knocking harder and harder at my door and i could not stop the water works from starting. my favorite bishop burr brought me to tears. he is such an amazing man. someone who has the most amiable qualities that i so want in a husband. then brandon johnson bore his testimony with such confidence. he also has the most amiable qualities. i want him as my husband. :) hahahaha okay let's be realistic here..

then off to sunday school where the most amazing woman, brenda burr, taught us about the amazing Elisha. then relief society, personally, in my singles ward, i am not to thrilled to go to r.s. for some reason. in my home ward everyone comes up and asks me what i am doing in my life and i definitely feel loved/wanted. ha. well i was talking to laurie and my mom about how i had no drive to go to school and no idea what i wanted to do with my life. everything was up in the air for me and i felt i just couldn't grasp any of it. laurie was persistent that i must go to school and get an education. i knew that i must but i didn't want to. then sister claire taylor got up to start the lesson. it was on education. my jaw basically dropped when she said that, that was going to be the topic of the lesson. she started by telling us about an amazing talk that president henry b. eyring gave in the new era.

as the words poured from her mouth i could feel my spirit testifying that they were true. i could feel them knocking at my door harder and harder until i could not take it any more. i was weeping. uncontrollably weeping. such great joy had entered my soul and my prayers had been answered. i knew exactly what the Lord wanted me to do with my future. it was such an amazing feeling. besides the fact that i was still crying thirty minutes after i got home from church.

i knew.

i had never in my whole life felt the feelings i had felt this fast sunday. i now have a testimony that fasting and prayer works. that Heavenly Father answers prayers and that he knows exactly what is going on in everyones lives.

my cup runneth over.

old to new.

my aunt holly had this bed frame sitting in her garage gathering dust. she offered it to me and I took it hesitantly not really knowing what to do with it. luckily, my aunt holly is a crafty aunt and told me that if I painted it black it would look pretty good. so I took her word for it and bought me some spray paint. it turned out awesome! I don't have any pictures of it in my room because, well, my room is a mess. so once I get my bed all pillowed up and decorated all cute I will show it to you. :)

post edit of memorial day..

I was thinking about it, and memorial day-as a day of remembrance- means also remember the people that are alive that you see everyday. like my uncle will. sometimes I take him for granted I feel. He drives up to draper everyday and helps our national guard manage things. he goes to scary far away places to make sure that I, sitting here in America am safe and that my rights as an American are preserved. and I definitely don't tell him thank you enough for what he does for everyone in this country. THANK YOU WILL!

I also love that I have no followers. and that no one will even ever see this. woooooot.

hopefully you sense my sarcasm.

:)

memorial day..

when I think of memorial day, I mostly think of salem pond breakfasts. ever since I can remember we have been going to salem pond for a big family breakfast.

hashbrowns, eggs, bacon and sausage and aunt jeri's muffins. we all bring our propane and jackets and talk to each other about how life is going.

it is very nice. somewhat dirty, but nice.

every year leading up to this year has been different though. I haven't really had anyone to remember. we would go to the cemetery after breakfast every year to see the grave of someone that I had never met before. there wasn't much feeling for me. but since grandma jane past away, things have been different. as I stood by her grave, i got a warm feeling of her presence. it was something that i had never felt before. a warm feeling of, I'm here. I'm watching out for you.

now I feel that memorial day will forever be changed from the chaotic one of yesterday to the remembrance of tomorrow.

clever huh.. (:

I hope that you did some remembering too.

Hellooooooo blogging world.

It's me, Ashley. And I am here to blog.