Mia Familia

Want to meet my family?

Course you do! In part because you don't want to make me feel bad (do you?) and also they are the greatest.

Lets start at the top...

Dad: Aka Glen, Father, Padre, or VIP

He will respond to any and all of these however, VIP is his and frankly, MY personal favorite because to me he truly is a Very Important Person.  He has always worked so hard to provide for my family.  He is always putting himself first, sometimes I just want to say STOP.  But seriously he is the greatest.  I learned to work hard at a very young age because he taught me how rewarding it is.  First work, then play.  Also he is really funny and we can just laugh really hard together. And who doesn't love to laugh?

Mom: Aka Sara, Mother, Mother-Dear, or MOMMMMMM (usually yelled in a whiny or desperate voice)

She is always there to laugh with and cry with, and there has probably been inappropriate amounts of both throughout my life.  Sometimes we laugh so hard we cry, and other times we cry so hard we laugh.  She is the most service-minded person that I know.  Honestly, it seems like everyday she is making food for a neighbor or going to visit someone who is sick.  I try to tell her to calm it down, but she doesn't listen. She is basically my best friend and we don't have to be doing anything in particular but we still have fun.  She taught me nearly everything I know: how to cook, clean, laugh, play, work, and find joy in every moment of this journey we call life.  

Tyson: Aka Tys, Ty-Ty, or Elder Swallow

Currently my brother is serving in the Cordoba Argentina mission, and loving every minute of it.  He will return home in just a few days!  He is one of the funniest people that I know, but he doesn't know it.  He is much quieter than I am, which only makes him all the more awesome.  He is obsessed with the outdoors, and probably would prefer to live in the mountains than be around actual civilization, but personally I am really grateful that he is around, or I guess that he will be again soon.

ME: Aka Ashlan, Aslan, Asher, Ashi, Ash, Ashy-Kinz, Ya-Ya

I attend good ol' Breed 'Em Young University.  I am just starting my second year, and am planning on studying Neuroscience and then going to PA school.  I had amazing experiences my freshman year and I can't wait to see what else is in store! You can bet your bottom dollar that I will have some fun/awkward stories to share about the BYU/Provo social scene. 

Isaac: Aka Ike, Ikester, Ike-O, Ike-O Wike-O

This kid is pretty funny, and likes to take awkward selfies your phone and sets it as the background...so I guess you could say I enjoy having him around.  He is always watching out for those who are left out and is a great friend to everyone he meets.  

Jaxxon: Aka Jaxx, Jaxxster, Jaxxster Paxter, Jaxxter Paxter Waxter, you get the idea, it goes on and on, probably because having x's in your name is just too fun.

Jaxxon and I are a lot alike.  We think a lot alike and find humor in the same things.  That is probably why we make awesome videos lip syncing to frozen...Also, he usually takes my side in arguments, and so that is an obvious plus.

McKade: McKade-O, Mack

Basically, this kid is smarter than anyone I know.  Seriously, I can't wait until he grows up because then cancer will be cured, no big deal.  He is going to do great things in life.

Slade: Slade-O, Conno, Conno-swaylo, (Just don't ask about these mmkay?)

Well when my mom told me that this kid was going to be a boy I bawled my eyes out, so that pretty much sums up our relationship.  KIDDING! I love this kid, he just a cutie.  He laughs in every situation...seriously, whether he is sad, mad, scared, hurt, or happy he is laughing, so reading his emotions is a tricky business to be in.  I am glad I have him around even if he is the fifth brother that I didn't think I could handle.

Malaree: Mal, Mali, Mala-moosey

My first sister.  The dream I waited 12 years to get.  She doesn't disappoint.  She is very girly and enjoys hair, makeup, dress up, kitties, the WORKS.  Sometimes I even get roped into watching Barbie movies with her, and when I say get roped into I really mean I volunteer as tribute.  Barbie movies are the best. Enough said.

MarKae: Markaisha, Marga, Margraceray, or Baby Sister

Well she is the baby of the family, so you can probably figure out the rest.  She is pretty shy around other people, but that doesn't stop her from getting what she wants  Honestly, how could you resist this face?  She might be shy around strangers but she and I love to chat about how her day went, how the cats are doing, or whoever was mean to her that day at home, so I can go get revenge for her.  She is very mature for her little age, and is just a sweetie that will melt your heart when she smiles.

So there you have it.  The crazies that I deal with everyday.  In case you lost count that is a mom, a dad, 5 brothers, and 2 sisters, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Reason For the Season

Mary, a woman who was most likely a teenager when she was pregnant with the Savior must have endured so much.  She probably endured persecution from her family and friends for getting pregnant out of wedlock.  Imagine her purity.  I often think of how I can be more like Mary.  I mean how many of us would have been worthy to bear the Son of God.

She took part in one of the most amazing miracles that has ever taken place in this earth.  She gave birth to the Son of God.  Considering the dangers and risks of pregnancy and childbirth during that time of the year it was amazing that she was able to carry to term and birth a healthy child.  I know this would only happen if God was watching over.  

What an amazing gift given by our Father in Heaven.  What an amazing woman to be worthy to help bring to pass this miracle.  It is true that because God loved the world, He sent His Son.  If you haven't already, I highly recommend watching this video.  It is a powerful reminder of the true reason for the season.  The Son is who we celebrate during this most wonderful time of the year.  It isn't the snow or the decorations or the lights or the gifts, although those things are all fun too.  It is Christ.  He is the reason for the season.  And wise men still seek Him.

Gethsemane

What words can I even put together to describe what Christ suffered in Gethsemane.  My New Testament class enlightened my mind so that I understand the Atonement a little bit more than I did before.  If we think about what he suffered what did his suffering cover?

Our sins?  Well if we think about it, quite frankly sins are enjoyable, I mean that is WHY we sin.  It is for our carnal sensual pleasure.  So no he didn't suffer our actual sins, he suffered the consequences of all of our sins.  If we really think about this, we can truly imagine how awful this would be.  Christ had never before experienced guilt or depression or pain or anything like that before in His life.  And he goes into the Garden of Gethsemane utterly alone where he experiences all the guilt and depression and pain of the entire WORLD at one time.  I cannot imagine how utterly horrible that must have felt.

And what else did he suffer, as if that wasn't enough?  In Alma 7 it says that he suffered our pains, sicknesses, temptations and afflictions.  This was the first time that Christ experienced any weakness of any kind in His life.

When I think about this I just imagine all the times when I was nervous about taking a test or something else where I didn't know what to expect.  Then if you multiply that my infinity you can imagine a tiny sliver of what Christ suffered.

What an amazing example that we have to look up to.  We should be studying all his attributes so that we can learn HOW we can be more like Him.

Many times we focus on the fact that Christ died for  us.  That is great and all, however, what is even more amazing is that Christ chose to live for us.  Christ waited until he was on the cross and the Atonement was complete to give up the ghost.  Because He is a God he had that option.  While He was suffering in Gethsemane He could have chosen to die, but He didn't.  He could have chosen to die when He was being tried over and over again, but He didn't.  He could have chosen to die when He was carrying His own cross, but He didn't.  He waited until He KNEW he had saved us all.  Because of Him we are saved.  Because of Him.  And for this I will be forever grateful.

By the Highway Side

Christ found Bartimeaus on the highway side.  He was begging on the side of the road.  Why was Christ walking along this particular road you might ask?  He was traveling from Jericho on his way to Jerusalem.  This would be the final time he would make this journey, for it is in Jerusalem that he would die.  If you knew you were on your final trip of your life before you would die what would I choose to do?  Possibly a various assortment of these activities would be the standard wordly answers...you know your bucket list!

Obviously Christ doesn't do any of these things.  He helps a blind man that is homeless on the side of the road.

So let us commit anew to finding opportunities to help those around us even if we might be going through plenty of struggles on our own and we might be able to think of about a million other things we would rather do.  For that is what Christ would do.  And that is who we are striving to be like.  So when we see those people like Bartimeaus by the "highway side", lets remember that Christ took the time to take care of him, and so should we.

Fear or Faith

We discussed the parable of the talents in Matthew 25.  I have always been sort of bothered in young women’s and Sunday school classes growing up because they would always teach the parable of the talents about the modern day idea of a talent....

rather than the ancient idea of a talent....

  Just to clarify, in the scriptures when they talk about a talent, they are talking about weights/measurements.  Fortunately, Brother Griffin teaches us accurately! 

 In the parable of the talents there are 3 different men each given different amounts of talents.  The first two men double the amount of money they are given.  The last man did not do anything with his money except hide it in the ground.  The thing that we can ask ourselves is what was the motivation behind their actions?  Well, the first two men were motivated entirely by faith.  They trust that the Lord is an amazing kind good person.  The last man was afraid.  He judged the Lord to be a cruel unmerciful man.  We can learn a few different things from this parable.  

1) We should be motivated by faith! We should not let fear get in the way of doing anything.  We should not be too afraid to pursue a certain career or ask someone out on a date or take a difficult class or ANYTHING!  If we are making our decisions based on fear, we probably aren't making the right decisions.  Faith should be the driving force for everything that we do.  

2) Another thing we can learn is that we should always try to make our choices when we at the spiritual highs in life, otherwise our prime motivation WILL be fear.  If we make choices while we are down and depressed and suffering trials, that is how our life will turn out...down and depressing!

3) Lastly, we should not judge the Lord harshly (just like we shouldn't judge others harshly).  God will judge us back the way that we judge him!  God will give us back everything if we are willing to put in the work to give it to him first.  

Comparisons

Why do we always feel like we have to compare ourselves to those around us?!?  Why do we do it? It only makes us miserable!

Christ doesn't want us to compare each other!  He wants us to be the best US that we can possibly be.

In Luke 10: 38-42 Christ is visiting Mary and Martha.  Martha is bustling around the kitchen busy at work preparing a meal for the hungry travelers.  Martha is a human DOING.  Mary is sitting at Christ's feet eager to learn and content to sit back and relax with the weary travelers.  Mary is a human BEING.  Each of these women have strengths, but they also have weaknesses.  As Mary is sitting down relaxing, Martha asks Christ if He could please tell Mary to get to work!  There is much to be done, and Mary isn't helping at all.  Martha is accusing Mary, and one of the characteristics of Christ is that he never agrees with the accuser and so Christ says, "Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her."

I have never really understood what this story was trying to teach us until I took this New Testament class.  Each person has different strengths and weaknesses and here we see Mary and Martha's different talents.  The problem comes about when Martha tries to make Mary more like herself!  We need to let each person in this world be themselves and the world will be a much happier place to dwell.  Christ probably would have said the same thing to Mary if Mary had tried to make Christ get Martha to sit down and relax. The problem wasn't that Martha was a DOER, it was that she was trying to get MARY to become a DOER.  We should accept those around us for the qualities and strengths that they possess and we shouldn't get down on ourselves when we don't fit some sort of "societal mold."

 YOU ARE LOVED! MWAH!!!

Take no thought for the morrow...

Once upon a time there was a little 13 year old girl. One day this naive girl who thought that everything in her life was perfect, didn't think anything bad could happen.  She had everything that she wanted including amazing friends and family.  She was just beginning to excel at dance and was loving school, mostly because of the cute boys who she attended with.  (Okay, the secret is out, this is still one of her only motivations to continue schooling.)  Then one day her parents informed her that they would be moving! Away from the only home she had ever known, the perfect little small town she thought she would never leave.  WHAT?!? Shocked, but optimistic she made the rough transition into her new life, but slowly the real world began to be apparent to her.

Money! Before: Money was always there, there is nothing to worry about. After: To live in this world you need money, and when your dad leaves his previous job to start a business from scratch you hope and pray that money will continue to go into the bank account.  

Friends! Before: Friends are the best ever! They are always there for you. After: Wait, you have to make/choose friends? Because of the small town environment, the few people that were there, were your friends, NO MATTER WHAT.  They were all you had.  Now she had to choose/make friends, and not just any old friends, but friends with her same standards and values.  Challenging.

Family!  Before: Yeah, family was nice when friends weren't available.  After: Family is everything.  Where would we be without our families.

Pretty soon school was going to be starting, and her parents were confiding in her how our financial situation was not very good.  (Okay...if at this point you don't realize this is my story, you're crazy.) I began to pray. And pray. And PRAY.  Please, Heavenly Father, please continue to bless my family.  We need your help.  I am alone. I am starting school soon, and I am terrified.  I have seven siblings who need to eat and sleep and have clothes.  Please, please bless my family with the things they need.  Sometimes it would be so stressful, I wouldn't be able to sleep.  So I began flipping through my scriptures and ended up reading this scripture.  Matthew 6:31-34 "Therefore take no thought saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? ...for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore not thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself."  BOOM.  That hit me like a ton of bricks.  To this day that is one of the fastest and strongest impressions I have received.  I knew know that my Heavenly Father truly loves me!  

I felt like Heavenly Father had given me the biggest hug and was saying, "Ashlan, you do not need to worry.  I am here.  I love you.  I love your family.  I asked you to move up here, and so you have to trust that I will provide a way for everything to be accomplished.  If you will just turn to me, trust ME I can make weak things become strong.  I will help you through this trial.  It is not going to be easy, but you know what will make it easier? If you will just use the Atonement, turn to the Savior, turn to your family.  I had to watch my Only Begotten Son suffer in the Garden and later die on a cross, because I. Love. You.  I wanted you to be happy and be with your family forever.  Please, do not worry, I will be here for you ALWAYS."

I testify that God does take care of all of the tomorrows, so why should we worry?  Worrying about tomorrow just takes the happiness of out of today.  The only thing we should be focusing on is seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness.  I testify that God loves each of us, and wishes us happiness.  For this reason, He provided us with families.  What a BLESSING families are! For that same reason, He made possible the Atonement. What a MIRACLE that our Savior was willing to die for our sins, weakness, and shortcomings so that we could someday be exalted. So don't worry about tomorrow, our Heavenly Father knows the things that we need, and if we will seek Him, all those things will be added unto us.  

Giving Thanks

Yes, it is Thanksgiving time, so YES I will be making the cliche list of things that I am grateful for.  If you are not into that, then feel free to stop reading now.  This list is more for my sake than for anybody else.

Here it goes...

1) Family.  Duh. Family is always number one. Over the summer when I was spending the summer with my family I realized how truly blessed I am to have a family that I can look forward to seeing after I got home from work each night.  My heart goes out to all those in the world who don't have that.  Who live in fear every day they go home.  Plus, my family is just super fun and awesome in general.

2) School.  I don't always act very grateful for school and all the work that comes with it, but I truly do love to learn.  I am lucky to have the opportunity to be at Brigham Young University continuing my education.  I realize that not everyone has this opportunity and I wish I was better about not taking this for granted.

3) Health.  I have been blessed with a body that functions fully.  God gave me this body, and I know there are many time when I just rag on it, but truly I am grateful for it.  I am not in and out of hospitals daily weekly or monthly (though hospitals are something else that I am grateful for).  I have two arms and two legs and am fully capable of moving around and taking care of myself.  I recognize that many people deal with health challenges every day.

4) Water. When I was in Ecuador (maybe I will blog about this trip in the future) we had to be careful about the water that we drank and the foods that we ate because the water that they have is not clean!
One of the best things was when we came back to the U.S. and FINALLY were able to have some ice cold water.

6) Walmart: 24 hours a day.  What a beautiful thing.  If I need a quick toothpaste run or a quick ice cream run at 1 in the morning.  Walmart never fails.

7) Mountains/Living In Utah.  Anytime I travel I realize how BEAUTIFUL Utah is.  Being able to hike and just enjoy the beauty of nature is such an amazing gift.

8) Coconut.  Need I say more?  DELISH!  Best food ever.  Its delicious.  In basically ANYTHING.

9) Religion: I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have that I am a daughter of God and that God loves me and that EVERYTHING is going to work out.

10) Savior: I am so grateful that the Savior atoned for my sins and that I can make mistakes and improve and be better each day.

11) Missionaries: I am so grateful that so many youth go out and dedicate their time to serving the Lord and spreading the gospel.  They sacrifice so much.

12) Roommates: They are so patient with me and continue to teach me everyday.  So much fun. Dance Parties.  Random Adventures.  Girls Nights.

I have so much more to be grateful for, but I don't have all the time in the world because my professors/classes/friends/finals/studying require much of my time.  Peace and blessings.