Sunday, November 27, 2011

Can't Live with Them, Can't Live without Them!

My family is crazy. And yes, I know that everyone thinks that about their family. But other people think that about our family, too, so it must be true. We have many problems and dysfunctions, but one thing I will always be grateful for? One thing my family does right? My parents always taught me that, no matter what, family always comes first. We have to love each other, no matter what.

Lately, I've been thinking about this a lot. With my recent baptism, more light has been shed onto this subject. I've learned a few things that I would like to discuss more in depth:
1.) You should always try to be as nice as possible to your family, because you're stuck with them forever (see Temple Marriage). Your family is the only group of people that will love you no matter what. Why risk messing that up? And for those of you who don't like your family so much, when you are stuck in a circumstance, you should always try to make the best of it. God puts us on Earth to learn lessons and to grow in our faith. Part of this experience includes building a family of our own, and also being a part of the family we were born into. Both of these roles are essential in making our way back to our Heavenly Father. We have guidlines for exactly how to perform both of these roles. It would be just plain silly to not follow them!


2.) Your family shouldn't be just an annoyance, it should be an annoyance that also acts as a support system. No, you are not the only person who is hugely annoyed by their family. I pinky swear. But they are here solely for your benefit. The Lord made them annoying, because he knew that it's what we need sometimes! That constant nudge in the ribs to do better.

3.) We are only hard on our family members because we expect the best from them. My brother and I have been very close since birth. He is my best friend, my whole world, and the only person who can make me want to rip my hair out, cry, and hug him all at the same time. When he messes up or does something stupid, I am incredibly hard on him, as he is on me. We sometimes may not understand why our family can't just support us and shut their mouths, but their criticism comes from a place of love, and a better understanding of you than even you yourself possess. We expect more from our family members because we know exactly how amazing they are capable of being, and we know that they know better than to make thoughtless, careless mistakes.

My family is my everything, and I've done my fair share of messing things up with them. I'm grateful to have one of the most caring, forgiving, embracing, wonderful, BEAUTIFUL families of all time!

Saturday, November 26, 2011

My Beautiful (But Manly!!) Husband

He always embarrasses me in front of EVERYONE.
He genuinely cares about how people perceive him.
He is afraid of nothing and nobody.
He is devastatingly handsome.
He can get a new job in 2.5 seconds.
When he wants something, he EARNS it.
He is so ridiculously beautiful when sleeping.
He worries, all the time.
He rubs my feet whenever I ask.
He does the majority of the cooking...

Those are just a small portion of the wonderful things that I love about my husband. And as you can see, that list could've gone on for miles. I think that is one of the greatest things about our relationship, that we don't have to do anything major to win each others' adoration. We just appreciate the little things about each other. Also, the  fact that we rarely speak poorly of each other to other people (a lesson we learned the hard way). If we appear to be a united front, we at least have that bond when we feel like we have nothing else holding us together. When others are spouse-bashing, we're naming things we love about each other. This is not to say that we don't have our fair share of issues, because, BELIEVE ME, we do. I would just rather celebrate the things I love about my husband in a blog post, rather than write a reminder to myself (that I will see constantly) of all the things I don't like about him.

We've grown a lot as a couple lately. We were recently married (November 4th, 2011). Our wedding was a very, very small ceremony. Our families weren't even there. It was just us, a couple friends, and the members of our ward who decided to come and support us. We do plan on having a bigger ceremony next year, but we just didn't think it was fair that we couldn't get married because we didn't have the money for a huge wedding. We had to support each other a lot, because we both wanted our family to be with us. But we made it through, and we're stronger now because of it.

Also, we were recently baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This was a wonderful opportunity for us to start everything anew. The Lord gives us salvation and freedom through baptism, and peace in knowing that all that we've done in the past is forgiven and forgotten. This was monumental for us. We had been fighting a lot the week leading up to our baptism, and we needed that reminder of our purpose, and why we decided to get married. We made that covenant not only to each other, but also to God. The feelings I had after my baptism only confirmed our choices and blessed us even more so, to know that the Lord loves us enough to restore our integrity.

And finally, I love my husband so much because I know that I never have to worry about what he's doing when I'm not around. I never worry about him leaving me or wanting somebody else, etc. There is no doubt in my mind that we will be together for eternity.

Friday, November 25, 2011

Lay Down, Imagine and it will Be

I've been thinking a lot lately about the purpose of writing a blog, and have come to the conclusion that it isn't necessarily about letting the whole world know all of your thoughts, but more a way of keeping track of your own ponderings. For some, it might even be their form of venting. After reading through some of my friends' blogs, I decided maybe I would try it out. And here we are, trying it out. Aren't new relationships fun?! Next, we'll hold hands and bat our eyelashes at each other!

So, as your probably know from my description, I'm nineteen years old. I'm also a Mormon, an employee, a daughter, sister, wife, dog owner, book lover, skeptic, and many other things that you could label me. Point being, please don't put me in a category because I'm only nineteen. Yes, I'm young. All that says to me is that I knew what I wanted at a young age, and I still do. So sue me for being decisive.

I thought it would be a cool idea (and please correct me if I'm wrong) to make a list of things I love, and then make a post about each one, one day at a time. Ya know, just to kind of get myself used to this whole blogging thing? So, the things I love the most at the moment are:

  • My Husband
  • My Family
  • My Dog
  • Missionaries
  • Christmas!!!!!
  • Underwear
  • The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
  • Lyricism
  • Classical Literature
  • My Job
  • Jesus Christ
  • Dashboard Confessional
       and last, but not least...
EMILY KATHLEEN DEATON (aka-- my best friend)!