Brenden

Two years ago, today, my little brother, Brenden, was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, at the age of 7.  

Most people don't know a lot about this disease, so I will share what I have learned with you. (: Type 1 Diabetes is when your pancreas stops creating insulin.  Therefore, you have to manually give yourself insulin every time you eat something.  For us without this disease, every time food goes into our mouth, our pancreas starts putting insulin into our blood stream.  But for someone with Type 1, like Brenden, he has to give himself a shot of insulin for every meal, every snack, and when his blood sugar is too high.  He also has to poke his finger multiple times every day to make himself bleed so he can check his blood sugar.

This entire experience has been quite the roller coaster for him, as well as my entire family.  There are good days and bad, but he handles it extremely well.  You would never be able to guess that he deals with this every day, because he is the strongest, toughest 9 year old you will ever meet.

Brenden, you are my hero. 

Love you, bud. (: Stay strong.
Brianna <3

Preference

December 15th. One fantastic day. (: 

We had the day date in the morning, and we went to Rachel's house to decorate gingerbread houses and play games.

Then we all went back home, got ready, and got back together later than evening for pictures and dinner at Stormie's house. (:

Our group was simply fantastic :)

 (top to bottom, left to right: Rylaan, Devon, Noah, Cody, and Cameron)

(top to bottom, left to right: Rachel, Jessica, me, Stormie, and Breanna)

After dinner we went to the dance...and had a BLAST!!! :D :D :D It was SO much fun!! :D When the dance ended, we decided to go to Breanna's house to play a game called "Catch Phrase" and eat ice cream.

It was such an awesome day!! :D

Thanks for reading!
Brianna

Stand in Holy Places

"Stand Ye in Holy Places, and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come; for behold, it cometh quickly, saith the Lord." (Doctrine and Covenants 87:8)

I really love this year's young women/young men theme.  There is so much power in that statement.  As I have pondered about this scripture, I have realized how important it is for us, as youth today, to, truly, stand in holy places and be not moved.  To me, standing in holy places means to always be doing those things that will invite the Spirit into your life and will help you keep your focus on the Lord.

 I would encourage all of us to keep our eyes, and hearts set on the temple and be inspired to live our lives higher.

With Love, Brianna

2013

New Year's Eve. When the clock struck 12, I had this distinct feeling that this year was going to be a really great one.  Who knows, maybe this thought was just me being really positive, but I am determined to follow through and truly make it a really great year. (:

So, I have this awesome friend. And her name is Cambri. She did a post on her blog where she listed all of her wonderful goals for this year, and through that, she inspired me to do the same. Thanks Cambri! :)

I don't think I have ever really taken New Year's seriously in the past. This year, I am going to write down my goals and follow through with them.

Be Healthier
I need to be so much better at exercising a lot more and eating less sweets. (:

Get More Sleep
The sleep I have been getting isn't healthy at all, and I need to make an effort to get my homework done and get into bed at a good time! (: I know if I do this I won't be as stressed, I will be a lot happier, and I will have so much more energy!

Learn to Cook
Let's be honest. This is a skill I will need to use for the rest of my life, so I need to start now, because it will take a lot of practice. (:

Stop being so attached to my phone
This one is tied with an experience I had recently. Last Sunday, I was given a challenge from my sunday school teacher to go without something so that I could grow closer to my Heavenly Father.  I decided to go without my phone for the week, or Monday through Friday.  I had so many things to do, and it was really nice not having that as a distraction.  It was hard, but I made it.  And it made me realize that when I set that aside, I was able to focus on more important things, such as my studies, spending time with my family, and studying the gospel.  I am not saying that I want to completely turn it off for 5 days at a time, but I do want to put it away for chunks of time, so I can focus on certain things and not be interrupted.

Spend more time with those I care about
This year I really want to get along better with my brothers, spend more time with them, and let them know that I care about and love them so much.  I also want to be a better daughter, sister, and friend. (:

Share my gifts
I have been extremely blessed with gifts from my Father in Heaven.  I have also been blessed with opportunities to share them with other people, and this year, I want to seek for those opportunities and not be afraid to go out of my comfort zone to share my gifts and talents.

Go to the Temple once a month
I don't go nearly enough, and I feel like this is a good starting point to get me into a habit of going consistently.

Read more
I LOVE to read, and yet I have the hardest time finding the time. This year I am going to make the time. 

Study the Scriptures and sincerely pray
I don't want to just go through the motions and read them just to read them.  I want to truly study them and learn everything I can from them. I want to have my prayers be sincere every single time I get on my knees.

Further develop my relationship with God
I would love to get to know better and draw closer to my Heavenly Father and my Savior, Jesus Christ.  I know the best way to do this is to spend quality time with them, especially on my knees. I would also like to set time aside to quietly ponder, and meditate, as well as spend time immersed in the scriptures so that I can receive personal revelation from the Lord.

This video illustrates a wonderful point that links with setting goals and remembering that above all, the most important goal is to return to live with our Father in Heaven.

I really believe this is true. So please don't wait for 'the perfect time' to make goals and follow through with them. Start now! :D

Lots of Love, Brianna

Christmas/New Year's

Christmas Break. The majority of it was fantastic! :D  

Unfortunately, my family was sick the entire time, and I caught the stomach bug, conveniently, on Christmas Eve and it lasted until the day after Christmas. Fun, right? Haha not really...(: But I still was able to enjoy a great day with my family.  For Christmas, I got a nice camera, which I have loved experimenting with. I took all of these pictures with it. (:

Our Christmas Tree

Christmas morning sky :)

 We spent a good chunk of time putting this (super duper hard) puzzle together:

My grandparents live out in Roosevelt, which is a really small town in Utah.  However, my grandpa will be retiring in the spring, so they will be moving to a house in Lehi.  I am so excited to have them live closer to us, however it a bittersweet thinking about them moving.  I have grown up my entire life going to stay at their house, and it will be sad to see it go.  Half of the extended family, my family included, made it out there for one last Christmas. We were there for New Year's, which was a blast. :)

We played a game the cousins named "The Basket Game".  The cousins wrote on slips of paper animated characters, and put them all into a basket.  Then, each member of each of the two teams would pull one out at a time and describe it until it was guessed.  The objective: have your team guess as many as you can before the time runs out. 

This is my 9 year old cousin, Sophie.  She is absolutely HILARIOUS and had us all doubled over in laughter the ENTIRE time. (:

 "Boys are just for fun...Girls are meant to be."
- Sophie -

The 3 girl cousins (Lily, me, and Sophie)...with braces :D

On one of the days, I went outside in the afternoon to snap some pictures, even though it was probably only 7 degrees.  My grandparents' backyard is basically the Roosevelt Golf Course.  I loved taking pictures of a snowy golf course.  Besides the cold, it was great. :D

They own a grand piano, which, thankfully, will move with them. (: I play it every single time I go out there.  It just has this beautiful, crisp, sharp, magical sound that I absolutely adore.

  

More of G & G's house...

The beautifully decorated front porch :)

What I like to call "The Frosty Tree"

Haha I love it! :D

One morning, during the break, I made "Lehi Roller Mills' Country Raspberry Muffins" and hot chocolate.  Nothing like a hot muffin and a cup of hot cocoa. :)

So, an amazing part of my Christmas break, was the opportunity to see the movie Les Misérables...twice. :) It. Was. Absolutley. Phenomenal!!!!!! I would definitely recommend it to anyone and everyone! :D The music was filmed completely live, which added a depth that could not have been reached otherwise.  I cried, just like I thought I would, because it is such a powerful movie. (:  It is full of amazing themes such as compassion, redemption, being Christ-like, and the miracle of forgiveness.  I could talk about it all day long. (: It was just absolutely incredible.

Thanks a ton for reading this extremely long post! :D

Lots and Lots and Lots of Love, Brianna