Chels Nicole: 2013

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Gratitude Exerpt

I just had an overwhelming feeling of gratitude and happiness for the blessings in my life.... I was sitting here at my desk writing a paper, and suddenly got this weird giddy, excited feeling and i started to get emotional and then felt a huge feeling of LOVE towards the people in my life and my Heavenly Father.

I know Heavenly Father and Jesus are real beings. I believe that they are a part of my life and they love us.

I am so grateful for my mom and her strength

I am so grateful for my dad and his dedication to me

I am so grateful for my bestest friend Tori and her support

I am so grateful for my other bestest friend Marissa who is such a great example serving a mission

I am so grateful for my best friend and roommate Rachel for teaching me so much

I am so grateful for all my other roommates and their hard work and love

I am so grateful for all the people i have met this year, i know i didn't meet them by mistake

I am so grateful for my jobs that allow me to be around amazing people

I am so grateful that i can study at BYU!!

I am so grateful for the spirit and the holy ghost that bring me confort

I am grateful for my trials as they make me stronger

I am grateful for homework.... (tongue in cheek) because it teaches me how to focus!

I am grateful for all my siblings- i love them more than anything!

I could go on forever but i need to keep studying!!!!

Life is good

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

My Thoughts on Marriage and Family

Heavenly Father has given us our "once upon a time" and he is also giving us a "happily ever after" if we are willing to work for it.

Family is THE more important part of my life. Not a day goes by where i don't think or talk about my family members. The last few years and especially the past few months, I have come to realize that relationships and families are so important and valuable and delicate. They are the foundational unit of gospel happiness. I have come to love my family in a way that I believe Heavenly Father loves us- its incredible and true. I have decided to create a motto for myself which can later be applied to my own marriage and family. This is what i came up with:

What first inspired this idea of a happily ever after is a talk from President Uchtdorf who said "“Happily ever after” is not something found only in fairy tales. You can have it! It is available for you! But you must follow your Heavenly Father’s map." This idea sparked the idea of living my own "happily ever after", can i really live a happily ever after? That's so childish and cliche, but it struck me deeper than just a happy ending, it became my source of hope for the future. When telling my roommate about my motto I accidentally said "loving my happily ever after" instead of "living my happily ever after". After saying that, i was immediately drawn the idea of "loving" my happily ever after. The word loving drew my mind to other words such as family, charity, optimism, and respect. Those are things that i want to incorporate into my life and my future family.

I feel that a lot people including myself have the idea that a Happily Ever After is fictitious and unrealistic; how can we live a Happily Ever After when we are bombarded with trials and mistakes? From personal experiences of doubt, i have come to change this carnal idea. During the last few years and months I have painfully watched my parents and siblings suffer heartache and trial due to divorce. As the oldest I take on a large burden of worry and anxiety about my family situation. Mixed up in that anxiety i find doubt and carelessness about my own decisions in marriage and the idea of a happily ever after. But what was missing in my perspective was the entire purpose of the gospel: the principle of the atonement, hope and change. President Uchtdorf's talk made me start to believe that i can have a different outcome than my parents, i'm not doomed for divorce and that I can find happiness through hard times. Heavenly Father wants the same. He gave us a "once upon a time" and he is willing to give us a "happily ever after" dependent on our faith.

But what about adversity? Don't forget that those in the fairy tales actually needed to overcome their own adversities in order to become princesses and find a worthy prince to rule the kingdom with, it didn't just come easy to them. This brings me to the concept of Law of the Harvest, discussed in my Marriage and Family Class. In a nut shell, the Law of the Harvest is this idea that "you don't get something for nothing in life" (Robert D. Hales) But if we understand that we want to have a happy, fulfilling marriage with active and righteous children then we must be willing to earn the price by creating good habits in our life now, and then finally paying the price and actually doing what is necessary to create this fairy tale that we so desire.

Don't let your family situation determine YOUR destiny. Don't let failures in life determine YOUR ability to make correct choices. Don't let doubt consume YOUR life. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't have a happily ever after because you CAN!

My life motto is one of hope. It gives me an eternal perspective that i can incorporate into my daily life. Quite literally we are princesses of our God, we are princes of our God and with faith, hard work, endurance, and loyalty, we can become Kings and Queens with our own kingdom and live a happily ever after.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

T-Niels

Ok, i guess this is kinda bold that i'm posting this but i just felt like i needed to give my good ole' buddy T- Niels a shout out and a good luck on his mission! After growing up together, and dating and just becoming best friends i felt like i owe him more than just a little good-bye. Tann, thank you for making the last couple years the funnest years of my life! Thank you so much for making me so happy. More importantly though, thank you for been one of the greatest example in my life. I am extremely grateful for all your support in my life and being the kind of person that i can look up to for spiritual strength. I know i'm not the only one who would say that you're a great kid and that you are going to be one heck of a missionary. Good luck in Florida :)

-Chels

My favorite picture that Tanner never let me put on the internet! But here it is ;)
YOLO!

So young haha

Sunday, October 6, 2013

FALL-ing in love with Life

Hey blog... i've been meaning to post for such a long time. But you know, life will just happen.

Anyway, to keep things short for today, here are some pictures of what i've been up to. I promise to actual write up some good juice about my life later on. But right now, my anatomy book is screaming my name.

I love to take my dog on rides. She's a greeat listener! Last day of summer..

First night in B11. It didn't take long before we all became best friends. CHEERS

Family day at Lagoon. Maya and I just got off a really stomach- twisting ride..

Saw Ems at the first BYU game! SO much fun, i love her.

Homecoming Queens UNITE!

Back at my old stomping grounds with my bestie

The Kynaston girlies came with us to Chalk the Block. we got a big bucket of donuts that were so tasty! (Notice where Ivy's attention is.. mmm)

Abby and I took a nice temple trip on the scooter at 5:30am.. tired but so worth it!

10:45pm in the hospital watching Ryan get a CT scan after his concussion. What a stud muffin for being so strong. I love that kid!

BYU vs. UTAH game was a blast with these awesome peeps.

Ash and I went up to the canyon on a rainy day and played around with her camera. SO MUCH FUN!

Rach and i ride the scoot scoot to the games, even when it's freezing and raining. We love the adventure and we get to pass about 30 cars.

BYU football games at the sickest

Ryan spent 15 minutes making a BLT (well actually just a bacon and lettuce) sandwich. Sat down to eat and realized that he didn't have teeth. I had to get a picture of it. Luckily he got his two front teeth back.

Coco got a butterfly from school and we love playing with it.

Our good friends Cody and Cory took us to temple square :)

Sunday, August 25, 2013

You're gonna miss me when i'm gone

One of the professors i work with asked me if i had any plans this weekend. I told him no and he said, "you have no excuse, you're 19 years old of course you have plans." I said, well i'm single and i live at home. He stood there for a second and then said, "Yeah Good Point" and he left. So apparently since i have no life right now, i get to spend quality time with my equally weird and crazy sister Coco Bean. We made this music video: took us about ten minutes and then she fell asleep on the floor. But hey we had a great time!

ENJOY