Memorial Day Thoughts...

So I've had the great opportunity this weekend to relax and be SUPER productive! Amazing, how that works out...ANYWAY...but since this has been a quiet weekend, I've had a great opportunity to think and ponder a lot about, well, a lot of things. First off: my weekendhas been full of watching, "Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman" (DQ). For my birthday present, I bought myself the complete series set...obsessed?...just a little bit. My good friends and I during my freshman-junior year of college would get together and watch episodes together and bond. :) One year, we were SO consistent with it, that we would have weekly, if not daily, times where we would watch it. We decided to call them, "Sully's Nights In." Me, being the ever-so bright person and dyslexic at times person,said, "Hey, let's call them S.N.I. nights...SINnights!" (Oh my dyslexic brain at its finest ;)...but the name stuck...so we would call them sin nights. One might say that we were a little ridiculous or purely evil, especially at church when we would ask each other if we wanted to sin that night and people would look at us weirdly...probably wasn't the wisest thing to say, but I digress...

Why do I love DQ? It could be because of my small ounce of feminist spirit that loves to see it when women prove to themselves that they can do anything, no matter what others say. It could be because of my love for Sully (some Twilight girls would hate me for saying this, but Sully could TOTALLY take Edward...I mean really? A vampire vs. rugged mountain man...no comparison). But let's get serious here...so my lo

ve for DQ began when I was a little girl and would go over to my best friend's house, who lived next door, and we would watch it with her family, every Saturday night. Her parents are like my second parents and we would just have a blast. I'm so grateful for family...not only my family, but people in my life who have become like family!

Secondly...I've been thinking a lot about Memorial Day and how grateful I am for war heroes and veterans. I love America!! God Bless America!! I am so grateful to live in a country where I have the right to live and have religious freedom. This country was divinely founded and established.

I love the Constitution. I truly believe that it was inspired by God. I pray that as Americans, we can remember the Constitution and what it says. I think too many times, we forget about it and the rights that it gives us. We are blessed and I feel at times that we take it for granted. At least, I do. So I am grateful for my ancestors who fought for my freedom and for the freedom of my family. I've been thinking a lot lately about my grandpa who served in WWII. He didn't have the easiest of jobs, not that any military service is easy. He was an ambulance driver and after a battle, he was the one that needed to pick up the battle remains. I can't imagine what that would do to a person. It's no wonder to me that for a long time he didn't believe in God, he couldn't imagine why God would allow those things to happen. But in time, he came to know that God does live and that He loves us and that He loved him.

So...not wanting this to be a novel, although it is, I just want to thank our military for their service and for our veterans and let them know that I appreciate it. God Bless America! We are so fortunate...and truly God Bless the World! We all need it.

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!

EM

What Am I Grateful for? : LIFE!!

Okay so I promised myself that I was going to be good at this whole "blogging" thing because I am trying to become more of a social media guru and understand what the rave is about these blogs! SOO here we go!

The past week and a half I've been thinking a lot about a lot of things (shocker, I know...sometimes this little brain can think...it's an amazing thing) ANYWAY...so I've been thinking a lot about life and how grateful I am for it. I've had the great opportunity to be home with my family the past couple of days and I when I am with them, I can't help but count my blessings and realize how blessed I am. Here are some blessings to name a few:

1) My Mom and Dad are the greatest parents on earth. They care SO much about me and want the best for me and everyone around them. For my birthday, they took me to go see WICKED, which I've been dying to see for the past 6.5 years. It was amazing and it was such a great blessing to go with the two people that I love most on this earth.

2) I have AMAZING siblings. The other day I was talking to my brother and sister and they just knew exactly what I needed to hear. Isn't that the best? I mean, I know that Heavenly Father loves us because He provides for us people in our lives who can buoy us up and be great friends to us. My sibs are my best friends and for that I am really grateful. They teach me SO much about life and how to be happy. They are my heroes in so many ways. LOVE them!!

3) LIFE: Really life is so great! I miss the NW SO much!! It is so great and beautiful and SUNNY!! It's interesting to see how much a place can bring a person so much joy. Heavenly Father's creations are gorgeous and when you think about it, if He had wanted to, He could've created just a sphere that was ugly and plain, but no, He loved us SO much, He created mountains, valleys, trees, grass, beaches (Caribbean beaches-LOVE THEM!) and such great people and animals. Hmm...life is GREAT! I am a fan!!

Okay...well these are just some of my thoughts today. Life is GREAT! I am SO grateful for it and I am amazed at how much the Lord loves me and all of us!

So what am I especially grateful for today? LIFE!!!

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!

EM

P.S. Yesterday, in the WICKED program, the cast member who played Elphaba said in her bio: LOVE LOVE LOVE...I turned to my parents and was like...HEY! I was meant to see her perform because we say the same things!! She was incredible! SO TALENTED!! :)

Emmanzaa Day #7: FiNaLe

Okay so I'm a little slow at posting this last one...SOOO my 25th Birthday was FANTASTIC!! I am grateful to have lived this short...and I'm grateful for the next 75 years that I have left! So in order to celebrate the final day of Emmanzaa...I thought that I would spread the love by passing on some goodness to others that I had received from another. I have great friends, they are the best and I am just so grateful for them!

So I had this delectable goodness called, "BYU Mint Brownies," if you've had them, you know what I'm talking about. I had a little box of them and I was going to go home and share them with my roommates, but as I was walking home, I walked past the bus stop and I just felt really strongly that I needed to give them to this girl that was sitting there.



It was like one of those things, I'm sure you've all had them...where you just get this feeling or thought that pops in your head and you're like..."Wait, a minute...I need to do something for this person." I've learned that it's always a good thing to listen to this little voice in your head, some people call this your conscience or an inner voice or their personal Jiminy Cricket...but whatever you think, believe, feel about it, I feel like it's always a great thing to listen to. So I stopped mid-step and stood by the people in the bus stop. Then I was like...okay this is weird because she's probably going to think, "Who's this crazy chick that's giving me brownies?" So, I just waited there awkwardly there for a little bit, and stared at my phone, pretending that I was looking up something...then I got up the courage and gave the box to a girl. She was taken aback at first when I asked her if she liked brownies, but then she just got this HUGE smile on her face and thanked me.



Lesson learned through this experience: a lot of the times when we think that people won't like something that we do for them, we're wrong and they're very appreciative for the things that we do for them...so as Steve Urkel would say, "Don't fret, my pet!" I think a lot of the time, we worry about what other people think and really, they don't care, and if they do care, then who cares! :) When you feel like you need to help someone or do something for them, DO IT! Don't worry about what they're going to think, say, etc. But just follow those feelings. You'll be blessed for it...and more importantly THEY will be blessed for it. (Stepping off the soap box now...)

I have loved my Emmanzaa experience and although I might not blog about my experiences everyday from now on about how I was able to look out of my selfish self and help people around me, I hope and plan to have these little "Emmanzaa" experiences everyday.

Life is great. Heavenly Father is so good to His children and I know that I need to treat others as such, Children of God, my brothers and sisters. It kills me when I think about how many world problems we could solve, if every person understood this concept. :)

OK..so here's the end of Emmanzaa....I'm super excited for my 30th birthday because there will definitely be a HUGE celebration!!!

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!

EM

Emmanzaa Day #6: I Love to See the Temple!!!

So today was a different type of service which is honestly, mostly a service to myself. Today I went to the temple and feel of the goodness of life and the love of our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ. Whenever I go into this beautiful and sacred place, I can't help but feel completely floored by the love that my Heavenly Father has for me and for everyone that has ever lived, lives and will ever live! We are SO SO SO blessed.



I am grateful for so many things. The greatest thing about the temple is that it is a place where families can enter into covenants or promises with God that last for not only this life, but for the eternities. I know that is true. This life is just a step to greater blessings and happiness that I can't comprehend!! I love the scripture in the Book of Mormon, where King Benjamin talks about how if we keep the commandments of God, we will receive EVERLASTING happiness! I often marvel at that concept because at times in this world of darkness, gloom and destruction, it is hard for people to feel joy and hope. That is the power of the temple, because in there we can feel of that everlasting happiness that King Benjamin was talking about! I love it. I don't deserve it many times, but I'm grateful for a loving Father in Heaven and Savior who love me so much that They have provided a way for me and all of mankind to receive that happiness.

Every commandment that God gives His children is for our benefit. I know that's true. I love the temple. I love eternal families. I love the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon, because they all testify of Jesus Christ.

Life is great. Tomorrow is the big day...WOO HOO!! Get excited!!

Lots of LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!

EM

Emmanzaa Day #5: Fun, FUn, FUN! :)

Okay so YESTERDAY was a blast...EMMANZAA Celebration Day #5 was spent with my cute nieces and nephew!! My sister and brother-in-law needed to go somewhere and so I offered to watch their cute kids. Oh my goodness...they KILL me!! They are adorable and so much fun to play with! I just adore them and it kills me how fast they are growing up.

Children are the greatest Christlike examples that I know of! They amaze me by their humility, tenderness and most of all their ability to forgive so easily and not hold grudges. No wonder we are told so often that we need to become more like them.

I am so grateful to be the proud Auntie Em to 16 (1 new addition TODAY!! YAY!) adorable nieces and nephews...you might think that's a lot, but heck, there are still many more to come! :)

Life is grand...I LOVE it!! Happy Emmanzaa!! :)

Lots of LOVE LOVE LOVE!!

EM

Emmanzaa Day #4

Okay, I forgot to post this last night. So for Emmanzaa Day #4: I was able to celebrate my Emmanzaa gift or service of the day by making dinner for my fantastic roommates and Spencer (my roommate's BF, who is like another roommate). It was a lot of fun!! We had Hawaiian Haystacks and for dessert, we experimented and made these apple pie turnover things...they didn't turn out half bad...so for a summary of the day, it was great!!



I've been studying and listening to General Conference talks that talk about service and giving back to others. I really loved this talk that I listened to yesterday by Ann Dibb called "I Believe in Being Honest and True." She talked about the importance of keeping our integrity and being true in all that we do. It made me think about different experiences and situations I've been put in my life where I had to choose whether to be honest or just fib a little bit. I'm not perfect by any means, but I am grateful that I have strived to be an honest person and treat others honestly. When we look at the world and ALL the dishonest people and actions that happen daily, I am grateful for people who have integrity and believe in it! :) There are SO many good people in the world who are honest and true and I am grateful to some of them! :)

Sometimes I wonder if I'm completely honest with those around me. Am I treating them the way that the Savior would treat them? Am I helping and reaching out to those in need? Isn't this honesty in a way, of how we treat other people? ANYWAY...these are just some of the thoughts that I've been having. Life is SO great! The past four days have been fantastic, because I've been trying to think more about how I can get out of myself and find ways to give back and serve others. I've learned this many times before, that service brings great happiness, but sometimes I think we can get SO consumed in our own lives, that we forget.

Okay, well this is more of a serious post, but hope that you enjoyed it! Continue to check in for more Emmanzaa adventures and if you have any exciting experiences of your own, please feel free to share!!!

Lots of LOVE LOVE LOVE!!

EM

Emmanzaa Day #3: Balloon Toots (Tootz)

Life is SO great!! I just LOVE EMMANZAA!!! It's SO SO SO much fun! Tonight, we decided to balloon attack our friend's room with balloons, tootsie rolls and we also stuffed little love notes and crazy notes in the balloons. It was quite fun! Giving back to others is SO much fun!! Here is a picture recap of the night, hope you enjoy:



Here we are writing notes to put in the balloons.



Blowing up the balloons



So Lee and I were posing for a picture and right when we were about to take the picture, Lee blew air from the pump in my face...love ya Lee! You're a peach!



Rachael wielding her sword



ShaNae got swallowed up

So, my videos are too big to upload on here...BUT they will be posted on my Facebook page shortly, so look out!!

Service is the key to happiness!! I LOVE IT!! :) Favorite General Conference talk that I listened to today was by Elder M. Russell Ballard entitled, "Finding Joy through Loving Service." It is fantastic! It is through the small and simple things that we do everyday which brings about the most happiness and joy. I am so grateful for a loving Savior that teaches me by example of the importance of love and service. LOVE it!!

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!

EM

Day #2: Emmanzaa Extravaganza!!!

Oh my goodness!! Today was the best day EVER!! (This is what my nieces say all the time...it makes me laugh.) But no, really it has been a FANTABULOUS day!!! To commemorate Emmanzaa, my dear roommate, ShaNae, or as I like to call her...Nae Nae!!...and I decided to spread the love of service and joy to everyone that we could find at BYU's Harold B. Lee Library. You might be familiar with this library because you spent countless hours of death studying in it OR you saw this fantastic video filmed in it. So we picked up some colorful gerber daisies from the Maceys Store in Provo and we put them in Nae's Easter basket and we paraded around the library, giving them to people to cheer up their day.

At first, we were just like, "Happy Emmanzaa!" to everyone that we met and gave a flower to, but then people starting asking questions about what Emmanzaa was...so I kind of just made up a little spiel that went a little like this:

"Happy Emmanzaa!! We are celebrating this National Holiday of goodness, love and service. It's commemorating 25 years of service, goodness and love. So spread the love to other people and do something good for them!"

Then people would look at me and they were like, "Emmanzaa?? How do you spell that, what is that?" So I told them to Google it, which if you do Google it...we tried, and put Emmanzaa and holiday...it totally links you to this blog.

Here is a little clip of how it all went down:



My favorite response of the night is when I went up to this girl and asked her if she liked the color pink (because I was going to give her a pink flower) and she was like, "No." Then I went through all of the colors that I had one by one...and she said, "No" to all of them...so then I asked her, "Do you like flowers?" She smiled and then I just said..."Well, I'm just going to give you a pink one...HAPPY EMMANZAA!"

Here's a little explanation of how Nae and I felt after the deed was done: I was going to post a video, but it's too big...so check it out on my Facebook page.

Oh how I love seeing people smile and be happy! Honestly, if you're ever having a bad day...just SMILE at someone...or give random people flowers...or just LAUGH at yourself when you drop things on the floor, 5 times in a row (that happened to me today). Or tell jokes, they don't have to be funny...but people will appreciate it if you give it a try or just laugh at you, which is fun...so it all works out!

Okay so this is the end of my post...YAY for life! It's SO SO SO great and...HAPPY EMMANZAA...remember it's a National Holiday!!

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!

EM

Day #1: EMMANZAA

Well today I was trying to figure out what to do for my first gift to celebrate EMMANZAA...and the first thing that I thought about was my mission. For those who don't know, last June I returned home to the U.S. after serving for my church (click on the "I'm a Mormon" widget to your right....look to your right...yep, that one...and you can find out more of what I taught for 18 months). Yep, 18 months of voluntary service to the great people in the Caribbean. I served in the eastern half of Puerto Rico, St. Thomas and Barbados (gorgeous islands...I miss them!) So I decided for my service to send a package to my missionary companion, Hermana Lismary Castillo!

Hermana Castillo started her mission in March 2010 and I had the great opportunity to be her companion when she first came into the mission field in San Lorenzo & Gurabo, Puerto Rico. Hermanita Castillo taught me a lot about faith, charity, enthusiasm and the great opportunity that we had to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ for 24/7. There are a lot of reasons why I am grateful that we are friends and we had the opportunity to serve together, but the list is too long. So yesterday, I thought that I would send her a little package full of a CD that I recorded for her of some hymns and commentary, etc., also I got her a little pkg. of Nutella (SO good!)

Hna. Castillo LOVED this stuff, she would eat it plain and buy a bottle a week. It was quite the addiction, but whenever I see it, I think of her and the fun time that we had together.

Yesterday I was listening to the LDS General Conference talks and I listened to a talk by President Henry B. Eyring entitled, "Opportunities to Do Good". I love President Eyring because when he speaks the Spirit just testifies so strongly that his words are true. I really loved this talk because it reminded me that truly it is the small actions that we do every day that make the most impact on other people and in our own lives. It's a great talk, if you haven't checked it out, I recommend it.

I love the quote by President David O. McKay that says, "True Christianity is love in action." How true is that!

Anyway, so there's the update for today. I look forward to tomorrow to continue the Emmanzaa journey!! :)

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!

EM

Introduction to Emmanzaa...

First off, I'd like to attribute my boss and friends at the BYU Law School for the inspiration of this idea to start off my new stage in life and helping me create Emmanzaa. Here's how it went down: Today I was at my internship at the law school and my boss asked me when my birthday was. I said that it was next Wednesday on May 11th and that I was turning 25. She asked me what I was going to do for my birthday, and I was like, "Go to work" (Lame, I know, but I'm not really into birthdays...well...retract that...I'm not that into MY birthday.) I LOVE parties, but when I'm the center of them, I tend to be a little bit more reserved, now you're probably thinking, "Emily...reserved?" believe me, I like the spotlight, I'm the youngest child, but when it comes to events of my life, I get kind of shy...ANYWAY...back to the point.

So my co-workers were like, "25 is a big deal!" "It's a quarter of a century old!" and then one reminded me that now when I round up my age, it's 30 (thanks, Heidi ;) )...so we came up with this idea of celebrating my birthday in a fun way. We thought of holidays and someone mentioned, Kwanzaa and that I should mirror my celebration after that. Out of respect of my African-American friends, I hope that you don't think this is sacrilegious in anyway (I LOVE YOU!). So I decided to take my own little twist of the holiday and the core principles of it. Part of Kwanzaa is to give gifts to people for a week, so I decided that is what I was going to do. So today, I've decided to do an act of service or give a gift to someone (who I know or not) for a week to show my appreciation for my 25 years of life and end the celebration on midnight after my birthday (hence a week of giving gifts)...HAPPY EMMANZAA! :) Each day, I'm going to report how my day went and what I learned and heck, why not, then on my birthday, I'll throw a party for my friends! :)

I've been thinking about starting a new blog and so I thought that this would be a good reason to start one to mark this new phase of my life as a 25-year-old college graduate.

Anyway...we'll see how this goes and if anyone reads this...way to be and I hope I'm not TOO boring (no guarantees ;) ).

LOTS OF LOVE LOVE LOVE!!

EM