Measure your life in love.

"It's time now, to sing out, though the story never ends." -Seasons of Love, Rent

via: Pinterest.com

Just like every other girl on the planet understands very well, love is the most important thing on the planet. A love for God, a love for your family, and let's not forget a love to call your own. (I'll give a shoutout to the guys too--I know quite a few men who want and need it just as much.) But us girls...it seems like we want it just a bit more.

The best thing about real, true love, is it doesn't stop--for anything, under any circumstance. That's a quick and easy way to determine whether it's at the point of being the "real deal" or not. That goes for all types of love, but especially that unconditional kind where you have absolutely no logical explanation as to why you still actually care and pray (a lot) about this person and hope all of his/her dreams and desires come true. You're always wondering, why them?! I know the feeling. Join the club.

That, my friends, is called charity. The "pure love of Christ." Sometimes not romantic love. Please do not get that overly confused. Charity is possible for multiple people--it actually was designed for the masses, because we are under covenant and commandment to do so to all of God's children. Don't feel overwhelmed with that statement; it comes one person at a time. But if you've ever felt this, you're getting a glimpse of how our Heavenly Father feels about you. Only just a glimpse, because we all know how impossible that kind of love is to comprehend in this mortal state. It's the most powerful force in the world...because what do they say? Love makes you do crazy things. Most of the time, this feeling just doesn't make sense. But that's the best part!

Bottom line: How do you measure your life?

More than imagination.

General Conference will always go down in history as any kid's favorite Sunday.

Don't worry--that never changes. But what does change, is the perspective. I used to think church in pajamas was a genius idea, and thought there had to be someway to broadcast Sacrament Meeting to each ward every week. But just like the whole point of General Conference weekend, the comraderie is what keeps a lot of us on the rope of hope and faith.

Which moves me to point out my favorite quote of any of the sessions:

"Faith truly is more than imagination or psychological invention." - Elder D. Todd Christofferson

Am I the only one that struggles with sometimes thinking I'm talking to my pillow instead of my Father in Heaven? This helped me put into perspective that I'm not just a puppet on a string for Him. How many times has someone said, "Oh, don't worry about it...you'll be fine." And then you aren't? Don't you sometimes thing faith is a form of procrastination for things that you feel need to get done right here--right now?

The commandment to have faith is absolutely not just Him delaying the blessings...just because He can. It is definitely not Christ taking advantage of hearing you cry our for Heavenly Father for the things you need. It is more than thinking up something totally irrelevant to your situation and hoping it comes true. Remember, He is a God who weeps. He's going to set up your Plan, not the easiest, but the best way possible for you learn how to just trust Him. He can not only see your past, but He knows your future. He knows you so well that He will be able to tell what decisions you will make in your progression to eternal life, thus giving Him the ability to know such a thing. Faith gives you the strength to follow through with that trust you acquire, and not just to hold on for dear life. It keeps you moving toward perfection in the straightest way possible.

Now that I'm off my soap box, here's just a few pictures from the wonderful, spirit and peace-filled weekend.

That one big city up north.

The adventure begun Saturday morning. We all packed up all of Linda's stuff in this beautiful U-Haul and drove (on an extremely rainy day I might add) all the four hours up to New York City. It's a good thing there was no traffic. (Joke.)

After unloading and moving and dropping off things and everything else in between we had a great time with a bunch of people from the Harlem ward, just hanging out and playing games all night. My cheeks were killing me by the time we left...I haven't laughed that hard in a really long time! Anyway, the next morning, bright and early, I met my mom who happened to be coming to the city this week too...so we got to spend all of Monday and Tuesday together. We did what we do best...exploring with no plans at all!

Everywhere we went, people sarcastically asked if we were related. I'm beginning to see that more and more as I grow up! But it's great being here on the east coast...I get to hang out with my mom more than I did living in Provo. Hopefully when I go back to Mount Zion we can still make it happen just as much. 

As for being in New York City, it really is the, "if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere," kinda feel. Expensive. Fast. Huge. Exciting. Nothing like it anywhere else. I'm being talked into applying for NYU's sports management program. I think I'd be okay with that! But on top of everything, it was AMAZING to be back in one of my favorite states. New York will forever have my heart; there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about it.

Well, I'm headed back to D.C. on the train right now. Good thing Mom has meetings there the rest of the week, and next week! I just hope those cherry blossoms will be blooming...happy first day of April!

Wanderlust.

As the incredibly accurate Urban Dictionary states:

wanderlust, n: a deep, uncontrollable desire to hit the road and travel, by whatever means desired, to explore and enjoy the world. 

This describes exactly the feeling I have living here in Washington, D.C. I don't have words to tell you how much I absolutely love being here. The history, the massiveness, the people...did I mention people? It's like they plucked the smartest, most driven twenty-somethings, and threw them all in a city and made them my friends. In a normal conversation, I feel the need to Wikipedia every other word. Anyway, back to traveling. Growing up, my parents never bought a boat, or ATV's, or anything in that form. Why? Because we traveled. I remember how my mom would assign us each a country or a city to where we were going. It was our job to research it, to find everything there is to know about it...and to be the tour guide. It instilled in all four of us a knowledge that there was always more out there than we ever imagined, and gave us a desire for something greater than ourselves.

And THAT'S what makes traveling so great. The desire to learn more about myself, and more about this testing ground I was sent down to by my Father. But man that word...uncontrollable desire. It's the passion I have to experience change. I crave the feeling of change, which is absolutely uncontrollable in my heart, so much so that I would give up food for a week just to road trip to New York City. (Oh wait...that's exactly what I'm doing this weekend.) Resiliency is what keeps my flame going. I love the feeling of not knowing where I am, and having to figure my way back. I love walking through a whole crowd of people, and not having to look back and wonder if my troop is with me, because I'm alone and I can go wherever I want. However...even better is having a buddy with me who I never have to look back and wonder if they are caught up with me--they are right beside me, soaking it in just as much as I am.

I should marry an ambassador. Just sayin.

Osorno, Chile

Bryce Canyon

Bristol, Connecticut

Intern-o-Rama.

If you haven't read the awesome shout-out to interns that Deseret News gave us, check this out:

The path to D.C. internships is well traveled for Utah students

It was such a great article! I am really proud to be here on the Hill and I agree--the staff makes it such a great experience to learn everything we possibly can in four months time. However, I wanted to show you my little spin on it, and why internships on the Hill are just as glamourous as you might expect.

The news of the day was not anything about the Ukraine bill, or the Smarter Sentencing Act, or even the Hobby Lobby case that's going to the Supreme Court next week. Nope, it was how to best exterminate a mouse.

I'm very impressed at the man-skills used in this mouse trap making, even the Senator was impressed when he came up here this afternoon! Even with all the hard work, we still haven't captured it, but it managed to take the bait away to it's little hiding place. Ugh. Sarah and I were kneeling on our chairs the whole afternoon. 

I thought you might be interested in how D.C. interns really live...maybe we should put office-supply-mouse-trap-making on our resumes?