Happy Fathers Day, Daddy-O!

Here is a great and easy idea for any father's day/mother's day gift!! Pull out a recipe card and make a recipe for the perfect Dad!  Mine was specific to my rockin Dad- hard working, silly, intelligent, athletic, pazazz, and LOVE!  

I then found tons of fun little gifts that fit the recipe at world market! Each ingredient had a matching gift. The silly straw was his favorite (: 

Man do I love my Dad!! When I was younger I used to think that I was exactly like my mom, but as I have gotten older I have realized that I am actually a ton like my dad, and I am so glad!!  He is such a great example to me.  He loves literally everyone around him.  Like the other day we were out playing tennis, and he stopped playing with me and Nathan to help out the people next to us and give them some tips.  Even though he had never met them, he acted like he'd known them for years!  He has worked so hard his whole life to provide so much for me.  I cannot tell you how thankful I am for the extra work he has always put in so that I could have the opportunities that I do.  I really do feel like I am the luckiest girl around! I love you Dad (:

Life is good on Father's Day!

I love to see the temple.

I had the wonderful opportunity to go through the temple for the first time this Saturday!! I went to St. Louis where my Aunt J lives. My grandparents were also able to come from Texas.  It was such a neat experience.  I felt such peace and a presence of the spirit.  I know what it means to really escape from the world inside!  I am so thankful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints.  It brings me blessings and happiness every single day!

Life is good at the temple!

Festival of Colors!

Cross another one of the bucket list! This Saturday was the Holi Festival of Colors!  It takes place at a Hindu temple down in Spanish Fork, Utah. Mormons from all around the area travel there to attend! (lol)  It is said to be a time to welcome in spring of the new year and celebrate love and renewal. The singers kept asking us if we felt "purified".  Not exactly my definition of pure, but it was way fun!! 

Life is good at the Holi Fest!

I have the greatest friends

I have the greatest friends in the entire world, hands down.  These past couple weeks I keep telling myself, "I love my life." Literally, out loud, all the time. I am just so happy!  And it's all because of the best friends I have made at BYU.  I feel so incredibly blessed to have gotten to know everyone that I have met this year.  Thinking about leaving in just 6 weeks makes me want to cry, so I'm trying to enjoy every second I have with these amazing people!

Monday night for FHE we went and played broom hockey! It was seriously a blast.  I came out with some pretty bruises, but some great memories with the ward.

Cady and I were with a group of people in the JKB playing games on Friday night.  We were looking just so stinkin hipster we had to take a pic. Then afterwords we went to get crepes at Roll Up at like 2 am. Ohio seriously needs to get one of these before I come home...

Friday afternoon Cady, Joshlin, and I walked to the temple!  It was a beautiful day and such a great way to remind me what's important in the middle of the week! 

Saturday night was a Mardi Gras dance!  A big group of us got dressed up and then played games outside in the fields around Helaman.

So, of course the weekend wouldn't be complete without a Midnight Monday Morning In-N-Out run! We went for Harrison's birthday.  Its funny how many Mormons around here go out at midnight on Sunday since it technically isn't the sabbath anymore.  Turns out me and Nate were just ahead of the game (; 

I love my ward so much.  This is my college version of a Sunday Family dinner <3

And this last picture is all the girls in my hall/relief society! I. LOVE. THESE. GIRLS. Literally, every single one of them is so amazing.  They are always making me smile and laugh.  I have learned and grown so much from my experiences with them.  

I just love my life right now.  Its full of great times with great people.

Life is so good with my friends.

God knows me.

Today I taught Relief Society, and it was just such a great lesson for me to learn, I had to blog about it! Destiny and I based our lesson off of a devotional recently given called "Nevertheless I went forth" by Anthony Perkins.  I'm at a time in my life when I am making SO many decisions.  What to major in, where to live, whether or not to serve a mission, before I know it marriage.  And sometimes it's hard to know whether or not you're making the decisions Heavenly Father wants you to. We talked about how God isn't going to lay out every decision we need to make for us.  He isn't going to give us every step of our journey.  He expects us to act in faith and take a step into the dark before He leads us with His light.  Elder Scott said, "When you are living righteously and acting with trust, God will not let you proceed too far without a warning impression if you have made the wrong decision."

I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for me that is better than any plan I could possibly devise for myself.  I remember one Saturday on the way home from a temple trip, I was talking to one of my youth leaders, David Foutz.  We were talking about my plans for college and my future.  He told me that if Heavenly Father let him decide what his life would be like, he wouldn't be nearly as happy as he would be now because he has let Heavenly Father help guide him in the choices he was supposed to make.  He said that Heavenly Father knows me better than I know myself and has a plan that will make me happier than I could ever imagine.

Well, I learned for myself this week that he was so right.  Before I got my mission call, I was sure that I would be going Spanish speaking.  Both of my parents served Spanish speaking, latin america missions, and I had taken 4 years of Spanish.  I thought that out of everywhere in the world, that is where I would be the happiest.  I was sure that if that letter didn't read somewhere like Mexico or Guatemala or Honduras, I just would not love my call as much as I could have.  Well, it turns out Heavenly Father knows me better.  That letter read the Philippines, Manila mission.  I cannot tell you how much joy and peace and happiness and excitement and love for Filipino people I already feel.  Every time I talk about the Philippines I feel the spirit so strongly and I just feel so happy!  I KNOW that I am supposed to go the Philippines.  I am so grateful that Heavenly Father didn't give me what I THOUGHT I wanted, but what He knew was best for me and would make me the most happy.

Just as I know that I'm supposed to go to the Philippines, I know that I was put at BYU in my ward in my hall for a reason.  God knew that we were all supposed to be together and that we would become great friends and learn from each other.  This picture is from this weekend.  A group of my friends went to see Comedy Sportz, it was hilarious!  It was a comedy club that was completely clean and so funny.  Then afterwords we went to Sammy's for pie shakes.  I am just so thankful for the group of friends I made this year.  Nobody in this picture knew each other before coming to BYU, and know I can't imagine what life would be like without them.

God knows us, and He loves us so much.  Even though sometimes it seems like we don't get answers to prayers, He is always there guiding us.  He has a hand in my life, and I know it because I see it everyday.  

Life is good when I have faith in God's plan for me.

I'm going to the Philippines!

Dear Sister Lockwood: 

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  You are assigned to labor in the Philippines Manila mission.  It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 18 months. You should report to the Philippines Missionary Training Center on Friday, July 18, 2014.  You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Tagalog language.

Well, its official!! I am serving a mission in the PHILIPPINES! I cannot even believe it. I'm going to wake up in the morning tomorrow and wonder if I dreamt this whole thing up. All I can say is that I am so humbled, excited, terrified, and blessed.  I love my Heavenly Father so much, and I know that this call came from Him.  I was so shocked when I read the letter, but now I am getting more excited by the second.  I had no idea where the Philippines even was, and I pronounced "Tagalog" as "Tagalong" like the girl scout cookie…hahaha.  But now that I've figured out that the Philippines is off the coast of Asia, and Tagalog is similar to the Spanish language, I'm feeling a little better.  I already feel like I LOVE the people.  Seriously just looking at pictures and hearing about the culture makes me so excited to meet with the people of the Philippines.  There's going to be lots of crazy adventures and new experiences, that's for sure.

I know that God lives and that He loves me and every single person walking this planet.  He has a plan for each of us. I know that it is His plan for me to go to the Philippines and bring people unto His son, Jesus Christ.  I feel so humbled and grateful to be able to represent my Savior as I go across the world to teach His gospel!  

LIFE IS SO GOOD BECAUSE I'M GOING ON A MISSION TO THE PHILIPPINES!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day from Provo!  Despite being single on BYU campus, I had a great valentine's day!  I went with a group of friends down to Salt Lake to see the Young Ambassadors.  They're BYU's show choir type of thing, and it was so good!  We ate at Blue Lemon before, and then walked over and saw the show.  The theme was love and I loved it (; Then after we stopped at Crown Burger.  Jessica had to go to the bathroom which was originally why we stopped, but then of course we decided to get ice cream!  Hahaha anyways, Kelsea is my absolutely crazy and hilarious friend, and she was doing this dance thing with her hips just being funny, and we look over and all of the mexican workers are staring at her and laughing and they started clapping!  (hence the picture of the men staring) But it was so funny.  Then we came home and made a heart shaped pizza!  It was so so yummy.  Then after that Cady, Erica, and I made a megabed in our room and had a sleepover.  We can seriously talk forever.. we stayed up until about 4 before we decided to go get some Del Taco.  The next day I slept until about 4 pm so that was good! 

I just feel so incredibly blessed with all of the friends I've made. I laugh and talk and learn more everyday than I ever had.  I am so grateful to be where I am, and I know that it's where I'm supposed to be.

Life is good on Valentine's day with awesome friends!

Dorm Love Week!

Since it seems most of the girls in my hall are single and it's Valentine's week, I decided to officially make it our dorm Love Week! There's no need to be sad that you don't have a boy to love, when you can love all the people around you!  So for each day there's a different challenge of someone new to love.  As President Monson said, "To find real happiness, we must seek for it in a focus outside ourselves."  Feel free to use this free printable in your halls or homes or wherever it works around Valentine's Day or any week of the year!

Life is good when you love others!

Its almost February!

I LOVE getting mail! Getting letters and packages from people I love makes me so happy, especially when its from my Mom and Marmee!  It's almost February, and I got a surprise package with Valentine's from my mom to decorate my room so I did! Even though I am very much single, Valentine's day is always one of my favorite days. I think we're actually going to do a love week in our hall that week to help distract from all of our single-ness. So, happy February from Provo!

Life is good when I get mail!