Artsy Fartsy

So this last weekend I got attacked by the craft bug.  More specifically the valentine craft bug.  Valentine's is one of my favorite holidays so I needed to make sure my little apartment had some lovin too!!  Here's to sharin'!

Things I Learned From Tinder

Yes.  It happened.  And I am ashamed.  And if you tell anyone, I'll give you a swirly.   I participated in the world's shallowest app.  Tinder is the name, and "the game" is the game.  Seriously.  Ya know how most people grow to hate the dating game? So they sign up for things like Tinder?  Well jokes on them cuz Tinder is game central.   Yeah, yeah I know there are a few success stories, but mostly...not.  Just not.  However, I had a several good laughs from some of the unbelievably ridiculous things some of the guys would say, or some of the pictures they would post.  Seriously?  Word to the wise, dude, don't have your profile picture for a dating app be of you with two bikini bimbos kissing either side of your face.  You might as well have a large sign on your forehead that says, "playa" or "tool" or "gross" or the likes.  The following are some of the things that crossed my mind while swipin' through different profiles on the app:

For swipes "to the left. to the left.  Everything you [are] in a [swipe] to the left"

• No. 
• No.
• Nope.
• Absolutely not.
• Gross.
• No shirt.  
• Gym selfie.
• Cigarette in mouth.
• CIGAR in mouth.
• Baby (some guys on there were like 17!!  Really?  Try dating the girls in your own high school!!).
• Too old (yes, I did later on figure out that you can adjust the age range you are interested in).
• No shirt.
• No shirt.
• Gym selfie.
• That gauge in your left earlobe is big enough for me to jump through.  
• No.
• Baby.
• No.
• You have longer hair than I do.
• No.
• Shirtless (I feel bad for boys who use this app and see 8 million pictures of scantily dressed girls.  Unless they like that sort of thing...in which case I feel bad for the girls who objectify themselves by posting such photos.).
• I saw the word "cuddling" in your profile.  
• I saw the word "kissing" in your profile.
• I saw the word "massages" in your profile. 
• Twelve empty shot glasses in front of you.  
• No. 
• And last but not lease...no shirt. 

For swipes to the right, I usually just picked guys I thought looked like they were clean cut and well-rounded and had nice jaw lines/structures (one of my weaknesses, silly, I know).  A lot of guys post pictures of themselves holding babies or small animals.  Props.  Like we girls can't see straight through that, but props indeed.  Right swipe.  

Matching.  Haha well not much else boosts your own self esteem quite like swiping an extremely attractive guy to the right, only to find out that HE also swiped you right does.  Sure.  It put a little extra bounce in my step. 

I really hope this is their engagement picture.

Chatting.  So once the "matching" takes place, you and your match have the opportunities to chat a bit through the app.  It's safe because your phone number/personal information of any sort is not exposed.  It is all done through the app and you can block people at any point in time.  Anyway, the chatting part was okay.  My favorite first messages that guys sent me said, "Hey Hannah, I'm not a tree hugger, but if you were a tree, I would be."  "Hey Hannah, I see you like the way I look!"  Hahahaha!  But some of the guys I chatted with seemed really nice and sincere and mature.  Others...not so much.  

So.  Needless to say, Tinder is...entertaining.  Yes.  Effective?  Mmmmm...I guess it depends on what you are going for.  It's quite judgmental.  You know the saying don't judge a book by it's cover?  Yeah that's about all this is.  Judging a book by its cover. It's how you play though.  I joined mostly out of curiosity and kicks and very quickly deleted my account/app.  I'm not saying Tinder is bad by any means!  Don't get all uppity and defensive if you have used it.  I mean, power to ya if it works.  You do your thing, ya know?  For me...I think I'll stick with the old-fashioned dating game for now. ;)   

A Red Marble Promise

Okay.  Let me tell you a story.  It's a good one.  Promise.  Worth the read, in my not-so-humble opinion.

So for a long time I had been feeling like I needed to get involved in family history work/indexing and all that good stuff.  I would get on my computer and see the little tree icon in the corner of my desktop and get a haunting pit in my stomach...then I would quickly facebook it out.  Well done, Hannah.  Anyweee, so finally the feeling wasn't so much of an anxiety or guilty feeling but it was more of just a need to do something.  Clearly the latter is the one that came from the Holy Ghost.  But I just could NOT get excited about it!  I couldn't bring myself to do it even though I knew that I was holding back as far as what I could give to the gospel went.  So this Christmas, I decided to make my gift to Jesus be that I would learn about and become more involved in family history work.  We take our gifts to Jesus pretty seriously around here and so I started going to the three week course of family history sunday school.  Then I knew I needed to sign up for an institute class but my schedule is all weird so in my brain I kept justifying NOT signing up for a family history class (guys, Satan can be tricky, k?).  So finally I just did it.  I just registered for the once a week class.  Theeeen I debated actually going because it was during a nice little break I had in between classes - a break that I would usually take a small snooze on campus during (like I said, Satan is tricky and plays at our weaknesses.  We all know how much I love a good campus snooze).  SO!  This is where it gets good.  And a bit more serious.  Wednesday night, the night before I would have to decide whether or not to actually go to this institute class, I had a good conversation with my roommate about how the Spirit works in our lives and how we need to act upon the promptings we get.  I knelt down and prayed and prayed that I would have the energy, motivation, and excitement I needed in order to make it to my class.  I knew I couldn't do it on my own because I am human and ridiculous.  GUESS WHAT HAPPENED NEXT!  Well, I went to bed.  BUT!  The next morning, when my tired wave usually hits around 10 in the a.m., I was wide awake!  I had a bounce in my step and I went into that family history class and LOVED it!!  I cannot even explain to you the joy and assurance I felt as I left my class.  I couldn't wipe the smile off of my face.  A) because I knew that I had been blessed - that the Lord got me there and B) because I truly felt confirmation that I was supposed to be in that class.  Since then, I have found a few names, given them to my parents, and those members of MY deceased family have received their baptismal and temple blessings.  Then I showed my dad how to do it and HE found some names.  Then I showed my brother and my sister and my nephew, and THEY are now determined to do the same.  What a joy.  A true, you-can't-find-it-anywhere-else joy.  My dad told me how excited he was about all of this after he found the name of a Russon man who needed every ordinance performed.  I thought to myself, "imagine how excited he is."  Which reminds me of a simple scenario I once heard that describes the importance of family work, missionary work, and our promises to "our fathers."  I re-wrote it in more of narrative form, and it is not doctrine by any means, but it personalized it for me.  I'll include it at the end of this post.  Read it, I say!!!

So to make a long story...less long, let me just tell you how exciting this has been for me.  Let me tell you how my testimony has grown in so many different facets.  I know family history work is important.  It is necessary and is most definitely us red marble holder's responsibility to participate in.  If the family history bug hasn't bitten you yet, pray for it to!  Pray for some motivation and desire and help.  You'll get it and you'll be blessed.   Promise. :) 

Well done for making it to the end of this story.  

The End.

Actually the end is after the red marble story, soooo....GO!

It was what seemed just a moment after the final decision of how our Father’s plan would be carried through, that we all lined up - waiting!  Excited and nervous to see what color of marble we would get.  We knew that the choice of receiving a body and going to earth would mean hardship.  We knew it would mean forgetting, for a while, the face of our Father.  We knew it meant being tested, but we didn’t know whether or not we would have the truths of the gospel to accompany us on our journey.  That’s what we were waiting to find out. 

If you were handed a red marble, you would be born into the gospel.  Of course you would still have to experience you own conversion process, but with the red marble, the gospel would constantly be at your fingertips.  If you were given a blue marble, you would have to wait a bit before coming to the knowledge of Jesus Christ.  You would be lucky enough to receive it still in the mortal life, but just not immediately.  A while without the truth and assurance of our Father’s plan and love would be required.  If you were given a green marble, oh everyone dreaded the green marble, you would be expected to walk the world without the complete truth - without the promises that can so fully be ours with the ordinances of baptism and the temple.  Perhaps you would be born during a great apostasy, or perhaps you would live in a far corner of the world where the messages of Christ couldn’t be spoken.  Whichever the case, the green marble was least desired.

So we patiently...anxiously...waited to see what lot we would face in life.  Two of my friends and I stood in line next to each other tightly holding hands until it came our turn to break our clasps and hold them out for a single marble to be dropped into.  My fist clasped tight around my marble before I even saw the color.  I slowly opened my hand only inches away from my face.  Red.  A never before experienced surge of relief fled over my body.  I couldn’t have been more thrilled.  I would have the companionship of the Holy Ghost to get me through whatever I would face in life.  I would have this glorious truth.  I hurriedly looked up to see my friend’s marbles, completely forgetting that theirs might be different than mine.  Neither of them spoke.  They both just looked from their hands up to me with small, faithful smiles on their faces.  One blue and one green.  Their tear-swelling eyes seemed to say to me, “what will we do?  What will you do?”  “I will find you,” I said, sealing my promise with an embrace for each of them.  “Whether it mean I walk long miles bolding testifying of the gifts I will be given, or it mean I spend hours searching for your name on old faded records and certificates, I will find you with the Lord as my guide. 

Each time I go to the temple or share my testimony, I can’t help but think of my brothers and sisters I quite possibly knew, loved, and promised to help receive the fullness of the gospel. 

This is the responsibility each of us have.  This is the promise of which Elijah has spoken.  May our hearts turn to our fathers...and our mothers and brothers and sisters.  May we ever give because we have been given much.  

Throw Down!...those weapons of war, that is.

Sometimes it takes everything inside of you to remain silent.  Even though what the world would tell you to do  - to stand up for yourself and the slight betrayal and hurt, to confront the battle, to have a spine - is what you would normally do.  Because you believe in being assertive.  You believe in talking it out and understanding every angle.  But even more so you believe in kind words.  Ones that don't sting or stab.  Even though they come to your mind and they are really clever and pretty dang accurate ...you keep them in.  Sometimes the right thing is to step back, even though you were the one wronged, to give in, throw down your weapon of war, and be the bigger person.  And.  THAT.  Is.  Really.  Really.  Hard.  To do.  It is heavy on the chest and watery in the eyes and it takes a lot of fist-clenching, teeth-grinding, praying, and grace on the Lord's part to help fiery and unresolved feelings go away.  No one wants to be bitter but sometimes those feelings come.  It's natural to be angry sometimes.  The Lord feels anger, right?  But it is how we respond to those feelings that define who we are.
I imagine the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's had great reason to want to fight - to defend themselves, yet they refused to lift their swords.  Because Christ enabled them.  And ya know what?  We too can be enabled.  Living proof of that right here, folks *fingers pointing right at my little face*.  Sometimes I am quite surprised at the frustration that can boil up inside of me!  Like, "whoa where the heck did that come from?"  Then I'm like, "oh yeah.  Satan." And that's when you wag your little finger and cobra your head and say "uuuuuuh uh!  No way.  Get outta town!"
God is good.  Just remember that tid bit, okay?
Night!

P.S.  Umm re-reading over this, you can totally tell the transformation that takes place in my attitude and heart.  I started writing it with bitterness still in my soul and as time passed and I depended on the Lord, my heart lightened.  The atonement is real!  If you don't know that for yourself, lean on me for a minute, because it IS real and I know it.

I Promise To...

Let you choose the music when we drive together.

Fold your laundry. 

Let you take me golfing (I'll even follow through on my swing).

Not leave hair in the shower drain. 

Rub your back/shoulders frequently.

Always have ice cream in our freezer. 

Help you love life even when you don't feel like it.

Go to the temple with you frequently.

Be your biggest fan and cheer you on.

Tell you when you need to run a few extra miles cuz I know you don't want a "happy husband gut."
Make you laugh.

Simply roll my eyes when you say stupid things. 

Ask you questions so you can feel smart (cuz you really are).

Make brown paper bag lunches for you and write letters on the napkins.

Let you fix things the way you want to even if it means you take it completely apart.

Follow you anywhere you need to go even if it takes us to distant lands for a while.

Be your baby mama.

Ask you for Priesthood blessings.

Communicate.

Dress up just for you.

Teach our babies about Jesus.

Speak in funny voices sometimes.

Let you be my protector.

Cook your favorite meals.

Have our relationship be first priority (after the Lord, of course). 

Pray for you every day.

Visit you at work.

Make us pay our tithing very first thing.

Let you watch ESPN or whatever it is...with your buddies.  Chips and dip, anyone?

Kiss your face off!

Be so excited when you come home from work or school.

Need you.

I Want...

Someone who will love me as much as I love him - we will both just be amazed that the other person is choosing us.

Be sure to check out Pascal Campion's other amazing, story-telling art HERE

Someone who will be assertive and take control and be in charge.
Someone who would walk a thousand miles just to be the man to fall down at my door.
Someone who will fight for me.
Someone who will let me be silly and childish, but still recognize, respect, and admire the intelligent, strong, and independent girl I can be.
Someone who will not let me win.
Someone who will give me a pen to doodle with in church.

Someone who will insist on taking me to the temple frequently.
Someone who will be obsessed with our babies.
Someone who will wrestle with our boys and swing with our girls.

Someone who will lift others, genuinely, sincerely have interest in the wellbeing of others.
Someone who will brag about me.
Someone who will defend me - whether it be from the sarcastic teasing of his buddies or from the ever-shattering family values in the world today.
Someone who will buy me chocolate and flowers for no reason.
Someone who will surprise me.

Someone who will write notes to me and leave them on my windshield before I go to work.
Someone who will rub my swollen, pregnant feet.
Someone who will not only watch me be goofy, but will be goofy with me.

Someone who will dance with me, and sing to me even if he has a horrendous voice.
Someone who will remind me to get my hair out of the shower drain.
Someone who will let his scruff grow for at least a few days every once in a while.
Someone who will follow the prophet.
Someone who will read scriptures to me when I'm too tired.
Someone who will love that I love pictures and full-on cooperate when I want to take them.  Maybe he will even make one of them his facebook profile picture.  :)
Someone who will just grab me and kiss my face off!
Someone who will make sure my toenails are always painted when I'm pregnant.
Someone who can hold me and carry me across the threshold of our first home.
Someone who I can wake up and will calm me down when I have bad dream.
Someone who will try new things with me.
Someone who will brush out/play with my hair while watching a movie together.
Someone who will laugh and make me laugh during the work.
Someone who will be vulnerable.
Someone who will defend the Priesthood and all goodness and cleanliness.

Someone who will tell me I look beautiful multiple times a day.
Someone who will want to be a powerhouse couple who helps change the world.
Someone who will remind me who I am and can be.
Someone who will make me believe in and see the good all around me.
Someone who will be an old-fashioned gentleman.

And if he does, I promise to........

Year in Review

Oh, 2013 was an amazing year full of fun experiences, lessons, laughter, tears, memories and much much more.  2013 has been a big year for me for so many reasons.  Let's review, shall we?  

I started my first semester at Utah State University!

I don't have a picture for it, but it was around this time that I got to audition for the Nauvoo Pageant.  One of the best experiences ever!!

Sent off several of my best friends!  So proud of them for serving missions!

Got to be a model!  

Spent lots of time with my amazing family!

Turned 21 and had a rockin' party!

Met this sweet angel, and got to participate in watching her grow in the gospel...

and eventually get baptized!!

Moved home for the summer and spent most of my time with these awesome folks!

Got smooched by a complete stranger!

Went to South Dakota with the whole fam-dam-ily!

Threw a shower for Shleny!

Enjoyed lots of good summer giggles with my favorite people.  You may not be able to tell, but my mom was sewing a separate swimming suit to the back of the white one in order to make it modest.  The other swimming suit bra part is on my booty in this pic.  Awkward.

Sent this missionary off (cousin Collin)...

And welcomed this one home!! Two years is a long time, guys.

My nephew took this picture of me right before I saw Elder Garen Kay Anderson for the first time.
Can you see the fear and utter terror in my eyes?!  I was a nervous one.

Learned to trust the Lord, my heart, and others around me as missionary and I parted ways, despite any "plans" of my own.   Still made some good memories though. :) Guys, God has a plan for each of us!  I know it!

Went on an AMAZING cruise with my parents and Adam - marrieds weren't invited. 

Saw several of my best friends get hitched, including my Lena baby! 

Moved back to Logan for my first semester in the Social Work program!
Happy to be back with these lovely ladies and to meet new roomy, AmyLee.

Enjoyed fall family gatherings of any sort!

Spent a significant amount of time with this kid!  Ryan is his name.

Spent a significant amount of time with this kid as well.  At separate times of course. ;) 

Welcomed this little one into our forever family.

Was overjoyed when the best friend got engaged!

Chopped the bangs.  By myself.

Got ready for Christmas gatherings...made my first quilt!

Got some awesome and completely updated family pics.

Finished out the semester with all A's, and prepared to say goodbye to these cuties for a while.

And went on an awesome cabin trip with some dear dear friends!  Perfect way to bring in the new year.

2014....BRING IT!!!