Life's Finer Moments

Folks, let's face it, I should've been a cowgirl. Sadly I grew up in American Fork, Utah where ranches and farms are a bit in the lacking... however I was lucky enough to have grandparents that lived down the street who owned horses my entire life and an awesome grandpa who took me on all sorts of rides with him in the mountains. Thus grew my love of the equine.

In college I had the fantastic idea of joining the Horseback Discovery Program and honestly I consider it one of the best decisions I have ever made. For an entire summer I rode horses with the group pictured above and made some truly wonderful friends because of it - also took home a fond memory or two.

Horses are beautiful creatures. Nothing quite compares to the feeling of being up in the saddle, the feel of leather reins in your hands, boots secure in the stirrup and the sight of wild country in all directions. You shouldn't even have to be a 'country' person to appreciate this kind of stuff! I mean in all seriousness!

My grandpa put down his last horse a few months ago and yes - it made me sad, but no, it is not the end of my horse adventures. Like the dreamy, dewy eyed newlyweds that the hubbs and I are, we picture ourselves owning a little farm someday. With a milk cow named Rosie, a few horses and lots and lots of land. Wide open spaces for all our little overall wearing children to run across and explore.

Day 6 is all about the horses and my someday dreams...... two things that make me very happy.

Priorities

 

A teacher from my high school years once shared this quote to me and a group of other students and I have never, ever forgotten it. Well.. sort of. Lately I haven't taken this particular lesson to as much heart as I used to and I know I have missed out on some blessings because of it.

 

Time to get my priorities back on track.

 

The Book of Mormon contains a scripture that says something quite profound on this subject. May I share it with y'all?

 

Jacob 2:18-19

 "But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God. And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them..."

 

Sooooo pretty much. Put God first. Like, as in, before anything else. Then after you do that, then you seek for 'riches'.

 

'Riches' can be interchangeable with really any word, or generalized to mean anything someone would seek after. Jobs, talents, money, friends, health, knowledge, etc. etc.

 

As newlyweds I'd have to say the thing that we seek after with the most diligence would have to be furthered education and better paying jobs. That can be a big headache to us sometimes (a lot of the time, ha). We focus most of our time and energy and lives to reach those goals, and honestly I don't think enough energy has been focused on seeking God and his kingdom, and because of that we haven't seen as near as much success as I know that we could, or receive the peace and stability that we so dearly seek after.

 

I know without a shadow of a doubt that the times in my life when I have put God first, He has blessed me with not only what I needed, but sometimes even exactly what I wanted! I sometimes imagine God to be sitting up there in Heaven, just waiting to give us heaps of wonderful blessings, but because we haven't asked.. or because we haven't quite sought after him as much as we should, he isn't able to give them to us. What a shame that is.

 

So for the fifth day of this happy challenge shindig I got going on, I am making a goal to remember this truth. To put God first, before anything else. Then life will be much happier :)



Light on a Cloudy Day: Happy Days 04/100

 



When I was a young gal I was absolutely convinced that I was going to move to San Francisco one day just so I could enjoy the continually rainy, overcast weather they have there. Naturally I have since changed my mind, now I realize I would much rather live elsewhere but I still do love rainy weather and this week has been full of it.

 

Even with my love of dreary weather considered I still was quite happy to add a little bit of light into my life today when I had the opportunity to visit the temple.

 

For my readers who have no idea what the temple is (if I have any readers at all...) it is a place where those of my faith go to worship God and go to feel peace and the holy spirit. It is a place of learning as well. I am LDS, by the way. Visit here for more info if you are interested in learning more: www.mormon.org. Anyway.

 

LDS temples are beautiful places. The architecture is truly a sight to behold, the interior is sublime, and the coolest part is that they are all different. I feel so grateful to know there are so many close to me. I have always lived within the vicinity of one and for that I feel quite blessed.



Red Velvet

                                     

I may or may not be having a slight love affair with red velvet anything lately. So day three's happy thing will have to be this delicious cookie. Yum E! 

 

Did you know that red velvet flavor is created by adding more milk to milk chocolate? So pretty much it's like white chocolate dyed blood red. Pretty shveet eh.

There's a possibility the hubbs and I might be moving soon. This thought saddens me because I truly love where we are at, but we have been given an opportunity that really is too great to turn down.

I think I'm gonna be a nurse - p.s. 

Also I love Fridays, and Texas Roadhouse, and the PINK store because their sexy loungewear is to die for. 

That is all. 

Happy Days

So a bunch of people on insta have been doing this challenge called '100 Happy Days' where you post a picture of something that makes you happy, every day, for one hundred days. Cool, eh? Anyway I decided to join that bandwagon in order to remind myself of all the wonderful, happy, sunshine-y things in my own life. I started day one yesterday on insta, but I believe I'm going to convert my happy day postings over here to the blog. Just for fun.

If you are not one of my instagram followers then you missed the beginning, but that's ok. I posted a hot picture of my hubby for day 1. Hopefully now you don't feel like you're in the dark or anything.

drumroll please..........................

Day 2 of my one hundred happy days: Journaling

I have been an avid, and not so avid journal keeper ever since I was the ripe age of eight. I have gone through periods where I write once every three months, and sometimes I find myself writing every single day. Either way, I love journaling because I love reading about all the wonderful memories I have made throughout my short life.

Some people journal for the sake of the posterity, I don't write so much for that as I do just for the sake of the emotional release it gives me. I find it to be relaxing and also I like to go back and laugh at the things that I write about. Like seriously, my high school journals are hysterical now. Although boy drama was very real at the time, now it's just funny. It's also pretty neat to read and see how much I have grown and changed.

Journals can also serve as reminders. Reminders of things that we believe in, and reminders of all that we have. Journals are a way to stay thankful for the opportunity we have to simply live. Neat-o.

Monopoly Night and Behemoth Steaks

Sundays are for enjoying the finer things in life such as:

Messy hairdos and comfy sweatshirts.

Big-az steaks. My fathers motto when it comes to meat seems to be go big or go home. So we all got one pound ribeyes tonight. Obviously I did not finish mine but it was sure fun to try. 

AND monopoly. Lately we've been holding weekly monopoly nights. It's been great and all but seriously they need to figure out how to make this game go by faster. I'm sick and tired of spending four hours buying up properties and saving money only to have to forfeit because it's my bedtime! It's a serious problem. 

I am so grateful for my family and for the time we get to share with each other. Even if they are a bunch of knuckleheads.

Also I'm really wanting to do a revamp on this blog. Give it a little facelift ya know. So stay tuned for some new and improved blog loveliness. 

Peace out y'all.

Valentines Day

Some say that they don't believe in Valentines Day. Haters gonna hate I suppose. I however do believe in Valentines Day, and also love excuses to do fun stuff and celebrate life and love and such. So I shall share with you how I spent my lovers holiday.

I took the day off work which was fan-freakin-tastic and so very needed. I slept in a bit, cleaned the house and enjoyed my me time before Nath got home from work. He came to the door and surprised me with this cheesy goodness:

 

He is a sweetheart. After that we ran to deliver my grandmas flowers I made for her and chatted with her for a while, and then met my mom and siblings at Kneaders for lunch. Mmm. Love Kneaders. 

I am a nerd and wanted to go see the LEGO movie (I say 'I' because if I hadn't suggested it Nathan would have never gone to see it). So we went to the local cinemark and watched it and although we felt like super nerds we did enjoy ourselves. 

And to add on to the nerdiness of the evening we went home and watched Harry Potter numba one cuz I have been craving Harry Potter for a while and just could not wait any longer. 

Well there ya have it folks, another wonderful Valentines Day celebrated by the Hartshorns. Hope yours was as wonderful as ours!