Lifesaver.

Prayer can be a literal lifesaver! I can't even explain to you how much I truly believed that- and believe it even more now. 

Our dog Sandee loves to get on the roof. My window doesn't have a screen and my nightstand is right next to it, so she can get out pretty easily if the window is open. 

Well on Thursday it was a super hot day. I'm saying like BLAZING hot! Sandee wanted to go out on the roof. I didn't want to let all the cool air out (lesson learned- I need to stop being so selfish), so I decided that I would just let her out there and then close the window, thinking- oh, I'll just let her back in in a little while. 

But guess what? Of course I forgot about her.

I then went shopping with my sister and some friends. We were gone for about 4 hours. About 10min after we got home a lady comes to the door really concerned telling us that we had a dog on our roof. We told her, oh, she does that all the time. She just likes it up there. Then, I started to freak out! I had left her out there for more than 4 hours in the middle of the day on a super hot day! We ran upstairs and called her name. She wasn't coming. We started to freak out. I was thinking, crap, she jumped off and killed herself (really this is not logical, Sandee is way to smart for that). After about 3min of calling her we see her come around the side of the house and she is walking so slowly and with a limp. It was one of the most heartbreaking things that I have ever seen. I felt like a complete jerk and idoit (well, I should have- and still do). 

I'm just grateful for that women. I know that she was guided by the spirit to come and tell us that, and I'm so glad that she listened. 

Finally she got back in and she felt like she'd been cooked to death. We quickly got her some water that she gulped down as fast as she could. Then, she threw up half of it a minute later. Because she was so hot we put her near a vent on her favorite pillow in my mom's room to rest. I felt so bad. I was just laying in there petting her and I prayed so hard to my Heavenly Father to just let her be able to cool down and rest. The second I opened my eyes she was sound asleep. 

For the next few days we thought she was going to die. I was literally preparing myself mentally. Besides that, I felt like an awful person. Every time I would look at her a sick feeling would enter the pit of my stomach.

She walked like she was 200 years old and wouldn't do anything. She walked with a limp in her back leg and the pads of her feet were super burned she could barely walk anywhere. She wouldn't bark, eat, drink, or do anything. It was really sad because normally she is crazy and active. 

My mom almost took her to the vet on Friday morning because she thought she was done for. But then she looked it up online and started giving her half water half gatorade through a syringe every 30min. That actually seemed to help. She got better and better. And by Sunday afternoon she was pretty much back to her regular self! 

Now you are probably thinking- what the heck does this have to do with prayer. Well- for one- the little story about me praying for her in there. Second- all my family had been praying for her and she got better! It was kind of a miracle. Third- well, this doesn't really have to do with prayer. But Heavenly Father was sure looking out for us when she sent that lady to come and tell us about Sandee. We are 99% sure she would have died up there. Or at least died from the effects once we found her. 

As I'm writing this, a quote comes to mind that I just love. 


"God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs."


That is just the first part of it, and I know it has to do with serve. But i think that this applies here!

..and I shall conquer death..

The title of this post really has so much meaning and is very fitting for what my weekend was like.

As you know my aunt and uncle passed away last week. It was hard on all of us, but especially their family. We ended up going to the funeral in Arizona.

We took off Wednesday night after the girls had young women's at around 10:00pm (I know, that's way past young women's, you know us). My mom was going back and forth trying to decided if she was going to go or not. My cousin was going through the temple on Friday morning; my mom is close to him and was invited, she really wanted to go. She finally decided that she was just going to stay. So me, along with my sisters headed for Arizona. We were in American Fork and got a call from my mom, she was crying and said to come back, and that she was coming. We headed back and got her stuff in the car and left! I have to say, I was pretty grateful, I wasn't too excited about driving for 6 hours straight in the middle of the night. Now that she was coming, we had 3 drivers, which was so much better! Besides that, it wouldn't have been the same without my mom there.

We got in Arizona at about 11am. We couldn't check into our hotel, so we went shopping because my mom had forgotten her swimming suit.

Finally we checked into our hotel, swam a little, then headed to the viewing.

The actual viewing started at 6 but since we were family we came an hour earlier so we could actually see the bodies because they didn't have an open casket for friends.

It was a very moving experience. My mom tells us at every funeral (I don't think that she knows she tells us this every time, but, she does) to look and see how much of a difference the body is without the spirit. It's just not the person. The spirit is what brings our body to life and gives us our "look." It is very true. My aunt didn't look like herself even a little bit. You could tell there was a lot of make-up on her, probably because it had been longer than a week since the accident, and because of the actual accident. My uncle, we actually couldn't even see him. They had a white blanket covering his face and things over his hands. That was the hardest for my family I think. You couldn't help imagining what was, or wasn't underneath. It was probably one of the saddest funerals I have ever been too. All of our family was in the room, just crying. Everyone was hugging and just balling. It was rough. I can't even imagine losing both of my parents or grandparents at the same time. Probably the biggest thing that got me was all of their grandchildren. You could just tell how much they adored their grandparents, and how much their grandparents adored them. A good portion of all the pictures they had up were Karen and Floyd with their grandchildren. We would watch the kids go up and look at their grandparents and just run crying to their parents, burring their heads. It broke my heart. There is nothing that you can say to make that better.

Some people would be mad or turn away from our Father in Heaven. Not us. If anything, it makes us stronger and our faith increases. Of course it's hard to see the big picture of why this would happen to such an amazing family, but we know that trials make us stronger and that everything has reason and purpose. We know that this was their time, and that they were supposed to go together. Sometimes, that knowledge makes to a little easier to get through the day.

As we were driving back to the hotel from the viewing, the song "I know that my Redeemer Lives" came on. As I sat listening to the song I've heard a hundred times a new feeling came over me. The words "and I shall conquer death" stood out to me more than ever. I SHALL conquer death. An immediate feeling of peace and comfort came over me. Not only had Karen and and Floyd conquered death, but my Aunt Laura, Uncle Arlin, Grandpa Calder, Grandpa Cliff, and my Dad have all conquered death. Conquer. It is only through our Redeemer and Brother Jesus Christ that we are able to conquer death and return to live with those who we love more than life itself. I can't even express how much that means to me.

We then had the funeral the next day. I love funerals. Of course not because I like it when people pass away, but I love learning about the lives of the sweet people who are now passed on. No one says anything bad, no one is mad at them, it's all just great things that the people have accomplished and all about the great people they were here, and are now in heaven. I learned so much about Floyd and Karen, it made me wish that I had gotten to know them better, but I know there is time for that later. :) As someone said in the funeral, they were welcomed with open arms and gigantic hugs in heaven and we sure can't wait to see them again :)

We actually drove by the site they were killed at on our way home. I'm not going to lie, I was a little scared of what I was going to see. We pulled over by the side of the road and just sat in silence. I could feel the spirit so strongly. This is where my aunt and uncle had left their bodies and passed on to the other side. We offered a prayer to our Father in Heaven thanking him for everything that he gives us and for the great lives that Karen and Floyd had lived and for the time we got to spend with them. We then continued to pray to protect us on our way home and to be with the Well's family at this trying time.

I am so grateful for prayer and the powerful influence it has on us.

We even had the opportunity to stop and do baptisms at the Mesa temple. It was really fun because all the workers were so nice and you can just feel the spirits of those you are being baptized and confirmed for. I'm grateful that I can help and serve those who cannot be with their families without help from us.

A little more weird stuff about the trip. It took us 11 hours to get to Arizona. 11 long miserable hours. We took our focus to save gas money. Holy cow. Squishy. All 5 of us. Good thing it was in the night or I think we would have killed each other because of the heat and being awake the whole time. We had some good laughs and I think all of us have a couple of bruises, but it was well worth it! We loved the trip!

Car Ride Home

So many things happen for a reason. And listening to the spirit can help us in way that sometimes might be unexpected…

I was driving home from my house on Saturday night (Sunday morning really) and I just felt over whelmed with the spirit. I just prayed out-loud to my Heavenly Father the whole way home balling my eyes out. This was one of the few times that I have felt the spirit so strongly that I really can’t stop crying (that’s not good when you are driving). It was amazing and so spiritual to just be able to talk to someone like they were there in person right next to me listening to every single word I had to say. I knew he cared, and was listening to me at that very moment. I actually do this quite frequently when I’m in the car alone, it’s easier than praying in your head because you don’t get distracted because you are saying everything out-loud. Try it sometime; I know your testimony of prayer will be strengthened. ;) 

Anyways, so as I was doing this I was driving home (obviously) in my grandpa’s truck that I have been borrowing. Now we all already know about me getting in an accident with Emily’s car, so I *really hate driving other people’s cars now and I swore I would never do it. But it was just needed, I don’t have time or money to look for a car of my own right now… someday… so I was being very very very careful. I don’t speed or go to fast or take any chances. There were hardly any cars on I-15 because it was 1:00am. As I am balling my eyes out (I’m pretty sure I looked and sounded like a complete mess) a mustang passes me going pretty fast. I looked down, I was only going 55 (I usually go at least 5 over). So, that made sense. Then, I see flashing lights. He was getting pulled over. That TOTALLY could have been ME! I was so relived! I sort of started laughing while I was crying. But then I felt bad for the person. THEN, I started crying even more because I knew that Heavenly Father protected me from that. I was too concentrated on talking to him that I wasn’t worried about going fast, so hence, I didn’t get pulled over.

Now, I know that sounds really confusing, but I really do believe that experience that I had, had two meanings. One, just to be closer to my Heavenly Father and let him know how much I love him and my family. Two, to save me a lot of trouble, that I know I couldn’t deal with right now, with a speeding ticket (clarification, I would NOT have been speeding in my Grandpa’s truck, but still). He knows me, and loves me so much. I’m not trying to sound selfish, but I just know with all my heart that He knows me personally and he loves me more than I could ever imagine. He wants the best for me, but He knows that I need trials to grow stronger and become the person that I want to become. I just can hardly believe all the great and wonderful things that happen in my life and I KNOW that it is all from him and has a purpose. J

FULL (near exploding) Heart

I can’t even explain how truly grateful I am right now. For everything in my life! I do not know what I’m doing wrong… or right, but literally, I’m getting everything I need right now. That sounds like I’m really selfish, but I just really really have no idea what I’m doing right at the moment. Not that I feel like I’m doing anything completely wrong… but I’m not doing anything extremely different than I was before. Still reading my scriptures and praying every night. I might be doing those things differently, a little better I guess… but still! Seriously! I am so blessed and I just don’t know how to thank my Heavenly Father adequately. I know that I will never be able to fully thank him, but I just don’t know what to do. I really do feel selfish. It’s not like I asked for anything big, just something small that I have been struggling with lately, but I didn’t even really ask for it, I just kind of asked about it… but I just don’t get why all of these other people have to suffer while I just get everything I need and even want! I mean come on. I’m here. At BYU! My DREAM school! I’m living in this super nice apartment and I pay way less than most people! I have a fabulous family, close and extended on both sides. I have money so I don’t have to starve. I am healthy!! The gospel! I have a car to use while I have Miss. Saratoga Springs stuff to get to for the next month. I even just received financial aid… no idea why or how, but I already had a scholarship, now I just have some for next year. Even my phone is a blessing! This computer! My bed! I’m even going on quite a few dates! UG!  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, I just do not get it! Why would someone like me get all of these wonderful things? I’m just waiting for the bomb to hit. But I can’t stop being so grateful for all the many many blessings that He gives me. This just makes me want to be better so that I can feel (at least a tiny tiny bit) like I am giving something in return.

Ok, I know none of this is making sense, I just really (obviously) cannot put it into words! It’s amazing to see things in your patriarchal blessing come true! It’s just as amazing to always feel the spirit because you know that everything you are receiving is not just coincidence, it’s all from Heavenly Father. And I truly 110% believe that. 

Answered Prayers!

Prayers do get answered and I have living proof of this!

I have been praying for, well a lot of things, but some things in particular. For one friend in particular, that is for one of my friends to go on a mission. Actually, I have been fasting for this as well.

So, anyways, long story short. He called me the other night and told me he was going to go on a mission. The funny thing was, that just last Sunday was when I was really fasting hard for him. It was AMAZING to hear those words! I couldn’t believe, well, I could, that my prayer had been answered! Heavenly Father just has certain timings and things that we need to work with. Patience is something I have been trying and trying to learn, because it’s really hard for me. But, I’m getting better at it because I know and have faith that it will all work out in the end.

But anyways, I just know that fasting and prayer works and that He really knows us, and loves all of us more than we will ever understand or know! He’s just amazing in every way!

Theeeeee End!