The past couple weeks I have been making notes of different random moments that i'd like to remember.
Baby Hungry Moment:
I was telling Sam some of the things that I learned in my socialization class. Namely, when babies/toddlers get really happy they "chirp" from excitement and JOY; and at about 9 months babies are very responsive and parents can "emotionally dance" with there kids. So if the parents "practice" the baby will move their limbs at the rate of your voice, and will actually change the rate of there body movement with your voice rate. It's really cute. The cuter part was Sam's reaction: Sam got SO excited for the day when we are blessed to bring kids into this world!!
Hobby Moment:
I love to Organize. Honestly. I am pretty tolerant when things aren't organized so it took me awhile to realize that I really DO like to organize {the tolerance actually helps me to enjoy it and not feel obligated to do it :)}. I also LOVE preparing for the future and planning. Sam and I went through our important papers and updated our filing system {aka my old filing system from 3 years ago that is no longer working}. I decided that my life is pretty busy to try and keep maintaining things. So under {Housing} I added a file for "Mortgage" and under {Insurances} we added "Life Insurance" :) We also made a binder for our important legal documents {S.S. card, Birth certificates, wedding announcement :) }. I actually wanted to do this last summer but I ran out of time.
GRE Moment: GRE accepted my petition!! :)
Scrapbooking Moment:
I asked Sam if he could go through all of my several crazy locations of scrapbook stuff and pull things that I could use for my easter testimony book {It's a final project I am doing for one of my classes-- to make a religious object}. I started to show Sam examples of what to pull and then he said: I think it would be easier for me to organize your stuff and so you can find/access it quicker when you need it. I thought this was a great idea! I have been wanting to organize all of my scrapbook papers/stamps/paper-sewing machine/tools/instruments(as Sam calls them) etc... for years and years now! I just haven't had the time. As we went through one of the big boxes that had idea books, stampin-up books and paper I finally found my box with all of my medals and trophies!!! I had been so worried I had lost them and Sam had never seen all of them. :) So as most organizing/going through boxes projects go, you stumble upon random papers that need to be sorted through.
When this project was winding down I said:
"Sam, this is so great! Now, I only have 1.5 junk boxes to go through!"
"Yeah, now I have all this useless information of where everything is! ;)"
{Note: when I got married a year-ago I had about 8 "junk" boxes- who knew a 20-year-old could have so much stuff? Something else that is funny is after I asked Sam where he thought I got some of these things he basically replied that after box two he stopped questioning where I got some of the things and why I have some things :p it was funny}
Friday, May 31, 2013
Thursday, May 30, 2013
My Family of Origin Mottos
For part of an assignment we had to state what we thought our family motto was. For those of you who don't know, a family motto is something that helps the family focus on ideologies, it's a statement of belief, it is what families fall back on to help them out during crisis.
One specific family motto didn't come to my mind. I feel our family spans many areas. I of course love to hear my families wide range of answers and reactions with things like this so I decided to text my family and ask them what they thought our family motto was. Just like with the car advice, I began to see some personality creep through each text.
Brittany: "Good, better, best, never let it rest until your good is your better and your better is your best!"
- My sister really does try her hardest to do what is best; and might I add she is succeeding wonderfully. :)
Mom: "If you leave our home hungry it is your own fault"
- My mom has really learned what it means to sacrifice for other people. One of the main ways my mother shows this is by opening up her home and inviting people to come in and eat and so she can share her love.
RaVell: "I Quit!"
- This is Sam's favorite because it made him laugh; but, as RaVell taught me, us Lott's are all quitters... anything we start out to do we will all quit eventually. The key is to just quit doing bad. Like quit getting bad grades.
Zac: "Vi veri vniversum vivus vici"
- I had to google this one and I found out that it means: By the power of truth, I while living have conquered the universe. After a moment thinking about this I realized that there is a lot of wisdom in this. Our family needs truth, we run on truth. And because of the truth that we have received we have "conquered the universe" and have overcome so many things.
Syd: "Marry up :-)"
- It's the most important decision we make!
Camille: ____
It took me awhile to get something out of her but she said her and Justin's is: "Pain is only temporary but VICTORY is forever"
- Cami is definitely good at seeing her goal and going for it-- nothing is going to stop her from reaching it!!
One specific family motto didn't come to my mind. I feel our family spans many areas. I of course love to hear my families wide range of answers and reactions with things like this so I decided to text my family and ask them what they thought our family motto was. Just like with the car advice, I began to see some personality creep through each text.
Brittany: "Good, better, best, never let it rest until your good is your better and your better is your best!"
- My sister really does try her hardest to do what is best; and might I add she is succeeding wonderfully. :)
Mom: "If you leave our home hungry it is your own fault"
- My mom has really learned what it means to sacrifice for other people. One of the main ways my mother shows this is by opening up her home and inviting people to come in and eat and so she can share her love.
RaVell: "I Quit!"
- This is Sam's favorite because it made him laugh; but, as RaVell taught me, us Lott's are all quitters... anything we start out to do we will all quit eventually. The key is to just quit doing bad. Like quit getting bad grades.
Zac: "Vi veri vniversum vivus vici"
- I had to google this one and I found out that it means: By the power of truth, I while living have conquered the universe. After a moment thinking about this I realized that there is a lot of wisdom in this. Our family needs truth, we run on truth. And because of the truth that we have received we have "conquered the universe" and have overcome so many things.
Syd: "Marry up :-)"
- It's the most important decision we make!
Camille: ____
It took me awhile to get something out of her but she said her and Justin's is: "Pain is only temporary but VICTORY is forever"
- Cami is definitely good at seeing her goal and going for it-- nothing is going to stop her from reaching it!!
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
I'm in The Universe!
A girl at my work, Rosie, emailed this to me because she recognized me in the photo and thought I looked so cute :)
http://universe.byu.edu/beta/
http://universe.byu.edu/beta/
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Earthly Father, Heavenly Father
I LOVE this message! I have probably watched it over a dozen times and yet I still cry each time.
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Thank you, Mr. Gardener
I am always so touched to hear this story, pretty sure I cry listening to this one every time:
"I was living up in Canada. I had purchased a farm. It was run-down. I went out one morning and saw a currant bush. It had grown up over six feet high. It was going all to wood. There were no blossoms and no currants. I was raised on a fruit farm in Salt Lake before we went to Canada, and I knew what ought to happen to that currant bush. So I got some pruning shears and went after it, and I cut it down, and pruned it, and clipped it back until there was nothing left but a little clump of stumps. It was just coming daylight, and I thought I saw on top of each of these little stumps what appeared to be a tear, and I thought the currant bush was crying.
I was kind of simpleminded (and I haven’t entirely gotten over it), and I looked at it, and smiled, and said, “What are you crying about?” You know, I thought I heard that currant bush talk. And I thought I heard it say this: “How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth. I was almost as big as the shade tree and the fruit tree that are inside the fence, and now you have cut me down. Every plant in the garden will look down on me, because I didn’t make what I should have made. How could you do this to me? I thought you were the gardener here.”
That’s what I thought I heard the currant bush say, and I thought it so much that I answered. I said, “Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn’t intend you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and some day, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down, for caring enough about me to hurt me. Thank you, Mr. Gardener.’
Time passed. Years passed, and I found myself in England. I was in command of a cavalry unit in the Canadian Army. I had made rather rapid progress as far as promotions are concerned, and I held the rank of field officer in the British Canadian Army. And I was proud of my position. And there was an opportunity for me to become a general. I had taken all the examinations. I had the seniority. There was just one man between me and that which for ten years I had hoped to get, the office of general in the British Army. I swelled up with pride. And this one man became a casualty, and I received a telegram from London. It said: “Be in my office tomorrow morning at 10:00,” signed by General Turner in charge of all Canadian forces. I called in my valet, my personal servant. I told him to polish my buttons, to brush my hat and my boots, and to make me look like a general because that is what I was going to be. He did the best he could with what he had to work on, and I went up to London. I walked smartly into the office of the General, and I saluted him smartly, and he gave me the same kind of a salute a senior officer usually gives—a sort of “Get out of the way, worm!” He said, “Sit down, Brown.” Then he said, “I’m sorry I cannot make the appointment. You are entitled to it. You have passed all the examinations. You have the seniority. You’ve been a good officer, but I can’t make the appointment. You are to return to Canada and become a training officer and a transport officer. Someone else will be made a general.” That for which I had been hoping and praying for ten years suddenly slipped out of my fingers.
Then he went into the other room to answer the telephone, and I took a soldier’s privilege of looking on his desk. I saw my personal history sheet. Right across the bottom of it in bold, block-type letters was written, “THIS MAN IS A MORMON.” We were not very well liked in those days. When I saw that, I knew why I had not been appointed. I already held the highest rank of any Mormon in the British Army. He came back and said, “That’s all, Brown.” I saluted him again, but not quite as smartly. I saluted out of duty and went out. I got on the train and started back to my town, 120 miles away, with a broken heart, with bitterness in my soul. And every click of the wheels on the rails seemed to say, “You are a failure. You will be called a coward when you get home. You raised all those Mormon boys to join the army, then you sneak off home.” I knew what I was going to get, and when I got to my tent, I was so bitter that I threw my cap and my saddle brown belt on the cot. I clinched my fists and I shook them at heaven. I said, “How could you do this to me, God? I have done everything I could do to measure up. There is nothing that I could have done—that I should have done—that I haven’t done. How could you do this to me?” I was as bitter as gall.
And then I heard a voice, and I recognized the tone of this voice. It was my own voice, and the voice said, “I am the gardener here. I know what I want you to do.” The bitterness went out of my soul, and I fell on my knees by the cot to ask forgiveness for my ungratefulness and my bitterness.”- ELDER HUGH B. BROWN
For the Full Story Click Here
"I was living up in Canada. I had purchased a farm. It was run-down. I went out one morning and saw a currant bush. It had grown up over six feet high. It was going all to wood. There were no blossoms and no currants. I was raised on a fruit farm in Salt Lake before we went to Canada, and I knew what ought to happen to that currant bush. So I got some pruning shears and went after it, and I cut it down, and pruned it, and clipped it back until there was nothing left but a little clump of stumps. It was just coming daylight, and I thought I saw on top of each of these little stumps what appeared to be a tear, and I thought the currant bush was crying.
I was kind of simpleminded (and I haven’t entirely gotten over it), and I looked at it, and smiled, and said, “What are you crying about?” You know, I thought I heard that currant bush talk. And I thought I heard it say this: “How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth. I was almost as big as the shade tree and the fruit tree that are inside the fence, and now you have cut me down. Every plant in the garden will look down on me, because I didn’t make what I should have made. How could you do this to me? I thought you were the gardener here.”
That’s what I thought I heard the currant bush say, and I thought it so much that I answered. I said, “Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn’t intend you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and some day, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down, for caring enough about me to hurt me. Thank you, Mr. Gardener.’
Time passed. Years passed, and I found myself in England. I was in command of a cavalry unit in the Canadian Army. I had made rather rapid progress as far as promotions are concerned, and I held the rank of field officer in the British Canadian Army. And I was proud of my position. And there was an opportunity for me to become a general. I had taken all the examinations. I had the seniority. There was just one man between me and that which for ten years I had hoped to get, the office of general in the British Army. I swelled up with pride. And this one man became a casualty, and I received a telegram from London. It said: “Be in my office tomorrow morning at 10:00,” signed by General Turner in charge of all Canadian forces. I called in my valet, my personal servant. I told him to polish my buttons, to brush my hat and my boots, and to make me look like a general because that is what I was going to be. He did the best he could with what he had to work on, and I went up to London. I walked smartly into the office of the General, and I saluted him smartly, and he gave me the same kind of a salute a senior officer usually gives—a sort of “Get out of the way, worm!” He said, “Sit down, Brown.” Then he said, “I’m sorry I cannot make the appointment. You are entitled to it. You have passed all the examinations. You have the seniority. You’ve been a good officer, but I can’t make the appointment. You are to return to Canada and become a training officer and a transport officer. Someone else will be made a general.” That for which I had been hoping and praying for ten years suddenly slipped out of my fingers.
Then he went into the other room to answer the telephone, and I took a soldier’s privilege of looking on his desk. I saw my personal history sheet. Right across the bottom of it in bold, block-type letters was written, “THIS MAN IS A MORMON.” We were not very well liked in those days. When I saw that, I knew why I had not been appointed. I already held the highest rank of any Mormon in the British Army. He came back and said, “That’s all, Brown.” I saluted him again, but not quite as smartly. I saluted out of duty and went out. I got on the train and started back to my town, 120 miles away, with a broken heart, with bitterness in my soul. And every click of the wheels on the rails seemed to say, “You are a failure. You will be called a coward when you get home. You raised all those Mormon boys to join the army, then you sneak off home.” I knew what I was going to get, and when I got to my tent, I was so bitter that I threw my cap and my saddle brown belt on the cot. I clinched my fists and I shook them at heaven. I said, “How could you do this to me, God? I have done everything I could do to measure up. There is nothing that I could have done—that I should have done—that I haven’t done. How could you do this to me?” I was as bitter as gall.
And then I heard a voice, and I recognized the tone of this voice. It was my own voice, and the voice said, “I am the gardener here. I know what I want you to do.” The bitterness went out of my soul, and I fell on my knees by the cot to ask forgiveness for my ungratefulness and my bitterness.”- ELDER HUGH B. BROWN
For the Full Story Click Here
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