silent night.

Happiest of Christmases to all the lovely people!

It's truly the greatest time of the year. There's so much joy everywhere and I absolutely love it.

And the music! Oh, the music. It's probably my favorite part.

A few weeks ago in my Doctrine and Covenants class we sang Silent Night. I've sung this song very many times; you probably have too. But this time I really noticed the words that make up this beautiful hymn - particularly the third verse.

Silent night! Holy night!

Son of God, love's pure light

Radiant beams from thy holy face,

With the dawn of redeeming grace,

Jesus, Lord, at thy birth; Jesus, Lord, at thy birth.

Every word in this verse is so full of meaning. "Love's pure light." Is there any phrase that brings more peace than this one? I don't think so. Jesus Christ, the Savior and Redeemer, who lived and died for you and for me is the epitome of "love's pure light." I love Him. He loves you. His perfect love makes it possible for us to be happy in this life and for all eternity with our families. HE IS EVERYTHING. His birth was indeed the "dawn of redeeming grace" that provides the way for each of us to return to our Heavenly Father. 

His birth, His life, and His atoning sacrifice mean so much to me. I know we try to focus on Him all throughout the Christmas season, but it's so easy to get distracted by the presents and treats and lights and chaos. I hope that with all your celebrating today and tomorrow, you take a moment to remember Him. He is everything. He is the greatest gift the world has ever received.

I'm almost positive you've already seen this video at least twice, but third time's a charm, right? Take a few minutes to watch it again and listen to the pretty music and feel His love for you. Every time I watch it, I feel a certain peace and love that only He can bring. 

#HeIsTheGift   #ShareTheGift

Merry CHRISTmas! 

we're family.

Hi, I'm Sara and I love families.

Today, I got on LDS.org to read an article for one of my classes and I stumbled upon this other article as well.

I felt the need to share it because it is ETERNALLY SIGNIFICANT. The doctrine of Christ is the doctrine of the family. It is true - and the thing about truth is that is always has been and always will be true.

My testimony goes right along with the testimonies Sister Beck and Sister Reeves share in these articles.

"Without the family, there is no plan; there is no reason for mortal life" (Sister Beck).

"How remarkable that our all-powerful, omniscient eternal Father loves each of us so much that everything He does is directly related to bringing you and me back home to his presence so that He can share all that He has, all that He knows, and all the He does...In order to qualify for these blessings, eternal marriage between husband and wife is essential and follows the pattern set by our Father" (Sister Reeves).

That's the truth, whether we choose to believe it or not. 

I love families. I love my family. And I love that I know the truth about families and their eternal significance. Let's all do our part to stand up for what is right (and what will always be right) and learn the doctrine of the family so we can defend it.

My eternal family.

the boy who lived.

I love Harry Potter.

So much.

I legitimately feel like he is part of my family - he and Ron and Hermione and McGonagall and Hagrid and all my other friends in the Wizarding World. Re-reading the series this summer has been a delightful experience. I had to take long breaks from reading for EFY, but I've been able to spend MUCH more time reading now that EFY is over and it's just so fun! These books are part of my childhood - basically my whole life, actually - and reading them makes me so happy. Whenever I know I'm going to have time to read I get all happy and excited inside like I'm about to talk to a friend I love dearly or watch my favorite movie with a soft blanket and good treats. Or both. At the same time. Because Harry Potter is my friend and I do indeed love him dearly and it's a treat to read about magic things!

Harry Potter makes me happy. That's all I want to say.

PS DID YOU KNOW THAT PINTEREST HAS ALL THE HARRY POTTER THINGS!?
Oh wait, Pinterest has all the things for all the things. Ever. But especially some great Harry Potter things.

Added Bonus:

truth.


inspiration.


funnies.

dream come true.

Hey there. It's been a while.

For the last 4 months EFY has been my life as I had the absolutely wonderful opportunity to work as an EFY counselor this summer. The job consumed a large amount of my time and energy, though, so I clearly haven't been able to update the bloggy-blog.

But here I am! Basically everything about EFY made me happy and inspired me, so I'm not going to pick out anything specific. (If you want to hear stories, just ask me.) The theme for the year was "Anxiously Engaged." As in D&C 58:27 - "Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness."

 I'm so incredibly grateful for the amazing youth I was able to meet and all my phenomenal co-counselors! I'm so blessed to have such wonderful people in my life. I learned so much about the gospel and about teaching and my testimony was strengthened a whole lot. There is no doubt in my mind that "we were made for greatness; we were created to be anxiously engaged."

But here's where the "dreams come true" part comes in.

Every day last summer while I drove to work I said to myself, "I can't wait to be an EFY counselor next summer!" I didn't even know if I would get the job but I had high hopes and a great desire that had been growing ever since I went to EFY when I was 15 and 16. On this daily drive to Discover I also envied the airplanes and the people inside of them going on adventures...

Well guess where I was on August 2nd!? I was in an airplane, wearing an EFY polo, having just completed my final week of EFY in Redlands, California. Just a few minutes before we landed I looked out the window and saw the Discover building and I realized the irony slash awesomeness of the situation. It was definitely an I-feel-like-I'm-in-a-movie moment. I was just so happy to be where I was and doing what I was doing. It was an amazing feeling.

And now for the pictures of [almost] all my EFY peeps!

Best. Summer. Ever.

Now just 5 weeks till I go back to school!

"we can choose to be grateful, no matter what."

General Conference happened about 2 weeks ago. It was amazing, as always. I've come to really love conference over the past few years as I've realized that these inspired prophets, seers, revelators, and leaders communicate with God to know what the members of the Church all over the world need to hear. It's a worldwide event, but it can be so personal. Isn't that amazing?

Today, I wanted to share my favorite talk. President Uchtdorf's talk in the Sunday morning session really resonated with me. I think it's because he talked about a fundamental way in which we should all be living that will allow us to more fully enjoy our journey.

So here's the talk!

Watch it...

Or read it...

Or just take my word for it! (Just kidding, probably don't do that. Find out for yourself.)

"How blessed we are if we recognize God’s handiwork in the marvelous tapestry of life. Gratitude to our Father in Heaven broadens our perception and clears our vision. It inspires humility and fosters empathy toward our fellowmen and all of God’s creation. Gratitude is a catalyst to all Christlike attributes! A thankful heart is the parent of all virtues."

-President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "Grateful in Any Circumstances"

We truly have so many reasons to be grateful. Let's all try hard to remember that - even when things seem to be extra tough. The Lord is on our side!

so here's the thing.

Winter semester was awesome. It might not seem like it, since I only blogged about it like, 1.5 times, but I promise I had a lovely time! It was a part of my journey I enjoyed a whole lot.

My roommates were AMAZING. Unfortunately, we were never really all together so we literally only have one picture of all 6 of us. Aren't we adorable?

One fantastic thing we did was take turns having our favorite sayings featured on our whiteboard. This is my board. 

I talk about food a lot. (It's a necessity of life, okay?) 

But my board makes me happy because I think I'm hilarious and my roommates thought I was at least a little bit funny too, so naturally we were able to have a most excellent semester together. 

I'm gonna miss them.

Also, here's an hour of "Happy" by Pharrell Williams for your viewing and listening pleasure, as it was basically my theme song for the semester.

reclaimed.

Sundays are the best. I was really looking forward to church today just because I love being spiritually uplifted, but it turned out to be even greater than usual! This Mormon Message was shared with us in Relief Society and I love it a lot, so I thought I'd share it with you.

His grace is sufficient for you (Moroni 10:32).

Life is hard, but I know our Heavenly Father is always there to listen and comfort no matter what situation we are in. Our Savior's atonement is a truly incredible gift and I'm so grateful for its cleansing and enabling power in my life.

Happy Sunday, friends.

playlist.

There's a hint of Spring in the air!! I can't wait for it to get warm and stay warm for longer than 4 seconds.

I'm really looking forward to summer nights. There's something about them that's simply fantastic.

With Spring being in the air and all, I've started making the playlist that will be the soundtrack to my summer (I get excited, okay?).

This song in particular is making me super stoked for everything summer nights have to offer.

Can't you just feel the warm rush of wind as you drive with your windows down on a beautiful summer night?

Gah!

I can't wait.

truth.

My awesome sister (whose blog can be found here) shared this picture with me today. Isn't it great?

Added bonus: It's so TRUE! 

Just smile, okay? Because it's super free and it makes you feel super good. I promise.

Also, I thought I'd share my all time favorite Studio C sketch. It makes me smile. Actually, it makes me laugh really hard. I love Studio C. Enjoy!

And remember to smile and laugh and stuff because life is fantastic.

snow-henge.

Get it, it's funny because Stonehenge.

Some clever person took chunks of really frozen snow and stuck them in the average frozen snow and created Snow-henge. I thought it was funny so I took some pictures.

I wish I had done this. I love people.

The pictures aren't super great, but hopefully you get the idea.

Bonus: the Taylor building in the background. (As in John Taylor. The prophet of the Church who "came third, we know." I love this school.)