An Attitude of Gratitude

We drove to California this year for a brief Thanksgiving trip. I was so excited to have time with my parents, siblings, grandparents and of course my nieces! They are growing up so quickly and are beautiful girls. What I enjoy most about being with my family is spending time with them. It really doesn't matter what we do as long as we're together.

'Tis the season to think more of our blessings. Lately, I've been thinking more about how I can better enjoy my blessings. Just after he was called to be our new prophet, President Monson shared his thoughts on how we can find joy in our journey:

He said, "I plead with you not to let those most important things pass you by as you plan for that illusive and nonexistent future when you will have time to do all that you want to do. Instead, find joy in the journey—now...

"Rather than dwelling on the past, we should make the most of today, of the here and now, doing all we can to provide pleasant memories for the future...

"Stresses in our lives come regardless of our circumstances. We must deal with them the best we can. But we should not let them get in the way of what is most important--and what is most important almost always involves the people around us. Often we assume that they must know how much we love them. But we should never assume; we should let them know. Wrote William Shakespeare, 'They do not love that do not show their love.' We will never regret the kind words spoken or the affection shown. Rather, our regrets will come if such things are omitted from our relationships with those who mean the most to us...

"Said one well-known author: 'Both abundance and lack [of abundance] exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our concious choice which secret garden we will tend... when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that's present--love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature, and personal pursuits that bring us [happiness]--the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience heaven on earth...

"The ancient Roman philosopher Horace admonished, 'Whatever hour God has blessed you with, take it with grateful hand, nor postpone your joys from year to year, so that in whatever place you have been, you may say that you have lived happily.'"

I have enjoyed this season by living better in the present and not worrying so much about the future. I would love and have tried to plan my entire future, haha. Life is so much better this way. I feel excited about each day and about my blessings. Each day is a gift.

I love how Mari's eyes are huge. She looks like she could be ours.

It tickled Mom and me to watch how giddy Dad was about having help with the lights.
He's not too fond of that ladder.

Spencer was ordained to the Melchizedek priesthood.
I love Jon's face in this picture, so cute.

Dad & Grandpa Hogge.

Mom is such a good Grandma.

Spence with the girls...lucky man.

My beautiful Grandma Hogge and sweet aunt Joyce.

Mom found the top of our wedding cake frozen and in perfect condition.
It tasted amazing after 1 1/2 years of marriage!!

Auntie Hilly with sweet Alice. I have never met a sweeter baby girl.
Posing with her new outfit from Aunt Mindy. Love her.

Happy Halloween

Halloween kicks off my favorite time of the year. The holidays! Halloween also just happens to be the hubby's favorite holiday. We were the younger versions of Jon's parents. I love, love, love this time of year. The baking, the music (yes, I listen to Christmas music before Halloween), family time, the colors, the crisp, fresh, cold air, the scarves and sweaters, and the decorations! Last weekend I put up ALL 5 pieces of our Christmas decor. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year. Enjoy some fun pictures from the day. Happy Holidays!

The witches.

An Emo and a Tongan doing the Haka... interesting.

He was so excited to be his Dad for Halloween. It was pretty cute.

The three bears with Grandma and Grandpa Niu.

I love that sweet face.

The three bears and brownie locks.

Leilani LOVED the candy and would get so mad when we'd take it away.

Sweet Blake.

The best part of Halloween this year was watching Jon's new obsession with carving pumpkins. It's all he thought about. I have such a talented husband.

Happy Halloween!!

Lovey Dovey Pictures

Just before celebrating our first anniversary we won a photo session from a good friend. It was so special to take pictures for our anniversary. Our friend, Liz, is a talented photographer from Utah. Check out her blog here and her website here. Liz and her husband already have two beautiful little boys. Because of complications they can no longer have children and are trying to adopt. They are selling jewelry and prints to raise money for a new addition to their family. Check it out here.

We had a blast during our session with Liz. She did such a great job. It happened to be smoldering hot that day. We took pictures in an old barn barely a mile away from our home. I love my husband. Enjoy the lovey dovey pictures!

"Of Things That Matter Most"

Many of you know that every 6 months the LDS church comes together for a worldwide two day conference. During this conference we are instructed by our beloved prophet and leaders. With the ending of each conference comes renewed strength, resolve, hope and faith to be better. As with most conference weekends, my family comes to Utah to visit and attend at least one session at the Conference Center in Salt Lake. Now that there are three of us Hogge kids living in Utah (Joey and Spencer at BYU) the family visits as often as possible... and I LOVE it! Dad got tickets for us girls to attend the Saturady morning session together. That session was my absolute favorite of all conference sessions.

My beautiful Mom and Grandma.
I can only hope that I will age as well as they have ;)

Twins! Last time Hilly visited she came to church with me and the bishopric on the stand thought I had brought my twin with me, haha.

All the ladies. We missed Sarah and her girls!

Sweet Elder Holland spoke of his gratitude for our faith. What a humbling talk! I felt so loved by him and felt that my own faith could be stronger. We are so blessed to have good men as our leaders. Elder Christofferson's remarks motivated me to live a more consecrated life through purity, work, respect for my physical body, service and integrity. My favorite talk of all of conference was Elder Uchtdorf's "Of Things That Matter Most". Wow... talk about inspired! His talk answered ALL of my general conference questions. My mom kept saying, "They need this talk to be a fifth Sunday lesson!"

Elder Uchtdorf began by suggesting, "it is good advice to slow down a little, steady the course, and focus on the essentials when experiencing adverse conditions... When stress levels rise, when distress appears, when tragedy strikes, too often we attempt to keep up the same frantic pace or even accelerate, thinking somehow that the more rushed our pace, the better off we will be. Let's be honest; it's rather easy to be busy. We all can think up a list of tasks that will overwhelm our schedules. Some might even think that their self-worth depends on the length of their to-do list... Because they unnecessarily complicate their lives, they often feel increased frustration, diminshed joy, and too little sense of meaning in their lives."

So, what is the solution? We must choose to slow down and decide what is good, better, and best. We must focus on the basics. What are the basics? The basics are our relationships with our God, with our families, with our fellowman, and with ourselves. It's simple really, just focus on these four key relationships.

I feel relieved and excited to slow down and to focus on my relationships.

We celebrated Spencer's 18th birthday with the family in town.

Givin' some brotherly love to Hilly. How cute ;)

Jon decided to wear his traditional Tongan clothing for conference....
mmm I love my Togan!
We hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful Fall season! Yay!