well so much for the 30 day photo challenge...

this time i didn't just give up! i swear! i know, excuses, excuses right??? okay i admit some days i just forgot but all the other days, i've had bigger and better things on my mind!!

likeeeeeee: haha makeup!

oh and i did complete 1 and half puzzles over conference weekend. my creative juices have been totally flowing the last few weeks!! unfortunately just not in anyway my blog can prove. lol

BUT speaking of conference, which was AH-mazing as always, there was a talk given in the relief society saturday night session that just blew my socks off. seriously it was so great. i think a lot of women need to hear this whether you are LDS or not! elder uchtdorf hit this subject right on the head!!  

so all you ladies reading this PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE hear this!!

just click on this link. :)

forget me not

wow A.D.D. brain,

back to the pictures!

.....watching my front yard and all the trees in it change color over the last couple weeks has been nothing but a joy! i have never seen so many beautiful colors in my life and it's time like when i am sitting on my couch, staring  out my front window, that i am so grateful to be in this town. sometimes, i admit that i am less than thrilled to be here, but times like that or times like tonight when i get to see a $6 movie in the old theater with my widdle wyndsie, or when the high school football on friday night becomes an entire town event, that i am so grateful that i get to experience small town life like this. i know that it's not going to be this way forever and i'm not sure if i'll live in a small town when i finally leave this place, but i'll always have these things to take with me. all these things that i never actually even knew existed when i lived in southern california. stuff i thought only was for the movies. WRONGO! i just want to document all of this for the days when i wont have it anymore so i'll be able to look back and be like, 'remember when?!'

i get to go to the branch halloween event which i am sssuper excited for and i actually have halloween itself OFF for the first time since i was 16!! and i want to blow it up with pictures!! i can't wait to post it!!

okay enough rambling haha i'm sure it's just a joy to read.

nitey nite my fellow blog readers. :)

it all started with stumble.

wow! well i have been a little bit of a busy girl the last couple weeks!! on all my days off i've been going to kyle's football games and now the season is over for the bulldogs. :( but i already can't wait for next year. IF we're still here that is. ;) 

soooo i've been doing a little talkin here with heavenly father. a little praying and pondering of sorts and i realize i am supposed to stay in nebraska for a while. womp womp. haha no but really tho. NOT EXACTLY my ideal place of living, but i have a job, my family, and some consistency. i think i've had such a rough time figuring things out the last, well, 4 years because i keep moving. so i think i'm gonna stay in one spot and see how this works out for a change. if a situation arises to move then i will or of course if i get (DUN DUN DUN) hitched at some point, haha which i'm sure is way out of the question living here in nebraska given my vast pool of 

LDS hotties to choose from. <---complete sarcasm. 

any-whoooo okay so anyone who knows me knows that i love my stumble account and google! well, one night i was just perusing through stumble and i happened upon this girl's makeup blog. bottom line, my life will never EVER be the same!! she reminds me so much of myself! her blog is xsparkage.com and for some reason she has rekindled my passion for makeup that i haven't felt since before i started high school!! i have been completely obsessed with it and trying all new things! and i have been vastly expanding my collections too. i know, crazy, huh?!  

i have found a few brands that i have FALLEN IN LOVE with and i have been using it and ordering it left and right! lol but one thing i have learned over the last few years is that me + FEDEX = no love whatsoever. and things take FOR-EV-ERRR. 

but i think i might want to break into makeup tutorials and makeup blogs? i dunno, but i will see. i think it would be way super fun, so that might be something to look out for!

but i am so inspired to do some makeup courses here soon. possibly an online makeup school??

(qcmakeupacademy.com)

oh and so lyndsie convinced me to take the plunge into mineral makeup. and i must say i have been pleasantly surprised!! i absolutely love it! however we have moved over into using everyday minerals as opposed to bareEssentuals. HUGE price difference. and if your like me, (a total cheap skate, or let's just say a bargain hunter hehe) inexpensive is a great thing! and the quality definitely doesn't suffer! i love how it feels like there is nothing on my face! no heaviness whatsoever. and ever since i found the new FIT ME makeup i thought it would be a miracle to pry me away from it! because that too doesn't feel heavy and so far the best makeup with liquid foundation and powder finish i've used! but yes, huge advocate of the mineral stuff. my face cleared up right quick!! so check these guys out!! 

ANOTHER passion i have discovered is my passion to do nails!! big shocker too right?! well a few months ago i started experimenting with acrylic nails and i actually have a knack for doing them!!! i think the only thing on my xmas list this year (dear santa) is an electric nail file! because filing them by hand takes forever!!

i also had my 23rd birthday. and it definitely wasn't as painful as i thought it would be!! i actually feel really good because i feel like i'm starting to find some direction for the first time in my life! and so many things are behind me now! i feel so much peace now as i look toward the future! :)

i know that as i keep doing the things i am supposed to do, heavenly father is going to continue blessing me in so many ways! i already feel so blessed and so happy. i am so grateful that i was able to make the changes i have and that i have the opportunity to keep moving forward to being the person heavenly father wants me to be!

you can love life, you just gotta get out there and live it! :)

p.s. i have quite a few pics to post in the next few days so keep an eye out for that!! :)

photo challenge: day five

today says whatever picture i want.

I LOVE FALL!

photo challenge: day four

day 4 says from a high angle. well i don't live in my apartment anymore but i took this picture with my lomo camera like 2 years ago. it was a long exposure i took from the rooftop of the building! not sure if this necessarily counts, but i'll take it! and high angle shots are rare and fare between given my short stature anyways haha.

photo challenge: day three

so for day three it says my favorite place to be. and hands down temple square in any season is by a long stretch my favorite place to be. BIG SHOCKER. but honestly, i enjoy it more than i have ever enjoyed disneyland! i feel so happy and at peace while i'm here and i love explring all the buildings and the tour through beehive house. it's just a very happy spirit here. :)

FALL

i love fall more than any other season! and it appears that fall has now taken over my house! :) fall is bringing lots of good things i know! and for starters my 16th birthday is in 2 weeks! hehe no i'm just kidding. i'm hitting the big 23. i'm a little scared because once i past 21 i didn't wanna be older. but i think it has more to do with the fact that more years keep passing and i just haven't accomplished everything i thought i would have by now. clearly heavenly father had a bigger plan for me! and i'm grateful because everything has seemed to work out even if it has been in a twisted and unconventional sort of way. but i'm figuring it out! i just hope to enjoy this fall season for however short it will be gracing us with it's wonderful presence!! 

photo challenge: day two

day two says something i wore today. haha welp other than my hideous work ensemble, i sported this little number today. haha! stunning i know!

photo challenge: day one

i took this one today while i was bored in the car wash. i've been obsessed with make up and make up blogs and today i was channeling betsy johnson. not like that matters. ;)

the ever cliche 30 day photo challenge

well it appears that i need some motivation to start taking some pictures, so when i saw this i figured why not?? hopefully this will get my creativity juices flowing!! :)

feeling low?

so growing up i always made fun of my mom for all her church cd's and then one day sometime last winter she started playing this cd and not knowing who it was or anything, i fell in love with the music! so imagine my suprise when i found out that the sweet music i was hearing was mindy gledhill. one of the people i always made fun fo my mom for. this album is the sweetest music i have ever heard. and everytime i listen to it, it makes me feel so happy!! and it makes me think of my best friend trisha and her sweet little baby to be born in just a few weeks! the thing that caught me is that it's just happy music that almost makes me think i'm at a circus eating cotton candy and holding a balloon lol. i highly recommend this album!! it is a serious pick me up!! 

see this? yeah i'm going there someday.

isn't this the prettiest thing you have ever seen? i know for me it is. this is the manti temple and one day i am going inside there. i love the temple. and what we do inside there is more beautiful than it is on the outside. in the temple we are sealed to our families for not only time but for eternity. my little sister recently went to the salt lake city temple and was sealed to her husband for time and all eternity and it is such a marvelous thing. i know some people don't understand and that's okay. when we go to the temple we make promises to heavely father to live a clean and honest life. but the purpose is not to be able to throw it in people's faces like we are better than the next person, it is because we are accountable for our own lives and there is much lasting joy and happiness to be found in living a life worthy to enter there and keeping the covenants we make there. i think about the temple everyday of my life and going there is the ONE thing i want the most. everything else in my life that happens outside of that is okay with me. i have found that ever since i have made the decision to live a life to be worthy to be able to enter the temple, so many things have fallen into place and i have been able to persevere through everything that has been thrown at me this year with flying colors. i have cut so many bad things from my life, i have learned what my 'gateway' decisions are, i have learned how to push myself. the way i view the temple has drastically changed. before i just viewed it as something i wanted because i knew it was right. going there was just another motion in lds life. but now after the things i've been through and knowing how close i came losing all of this, i view it as something so much greater than that. the same way when we marry, we promise to work through good times and bad to make it last for forever, i feel like going to the temple and making covenants and taking out endowments is a lot like that. not like we are married to god or anything, but in the sense when we take out those endowments we are promising to keep our faith, trust in him, and live a christ like life through good times and bad. to always remember him. it's like the ultimate commitment to heavenly father and living our lives in a way that honor our covenants is our way of showing him we are in it for the long haul. and i am so excited to be able to make those promises. i am so ready to be eternally commited. to prove to heavenly father i am never going to go back down the road i went down. as much as everyday is a constant struggle with it, i remember the results and i never want to be in such a low place ever again. the feeling of knowing the direction of the spirit has left you is a very empty life. and i found no lasting happiness. the temple is the most important thing to me. and it's definately a non-negotiable. i can't wait to meet the special person i am meant to be with. the person i am going to be sealed to for time and all eternity. it's so special to me. and we are so blessed to have restored gospel here on earth to make it possible to be with our families not just for our time here on earth, but for eternity! what an amazing thing. :)

my little sister got married!!

these pictures were taken at the backyard reception we had at my house! the backyard looked so pretty! it was a lovely night. i can't believe she got married! it seems like it all flew by so fast, which it kind of did! ;) but more than anything i am so happy for tyrell and krystina. i know with everything they are perfect for each other and i hope they have many, many years of happiness ahead of them. and more than that an eternity together with their family! this reception was so much more relaxed than the utah one and i am really grateful i got to have some real bonding time with ty and i had a really great conversation with him! i love him to pieces!! we're gonna be great friends someday. he is the best thing to happen to our family yet and he showed up in my sister's life right when she needed him the most. i am just so grateful he was sent to her. it's such a relief as a big sister to know your sister is with someone really great, who will work hard and make her happy. it's a huge relief to me!! :)

trying something new. :)

okay okay. so i have started yet another blog. whoop-dee do right? how is this blog going to be different you ask? well i have a good answer!!! i promise this blog is going to be different than anything i've ever done before. with this blog i want to focus on all the positive in my life. in the last 12 months i have learned many life lessons. and in the beginning i stumbled into a life that i had never experienced before and did things that i would never imagined myself doing. if you want the whole story it's posted all over my old blog. my old blog, i realize, was the place i posted all my epiphanies whilst i was trying to figure my life back out and get back to the path that i know is going to work best for me; the path that is going to bring me the most joy in life. and i have learned so much! and now that it's been a year, i really feel like i am back on track and in a better place than ever! with this blog, i want to use it to appreciate all of the blessings that god has given me. i have been given many second chances this year, and everyday i try to appreciate them. i want to show appreciation for the amazing support system that i have in my family and my friends who have been so patient with me over the last year and loved me in spite of all of my misakes i made when bad jess took over. but there is so much positive to be seen in all my mistakes. so much beauty and pain. there is so much love to be found in healing. but in a way this blog signifies me being able to completely walk away from the events of the last year. this blog marks the beginning of me actually living my life. i know that with my faith and heavenly father by my side i can make through everything and this last year proves that. it's about time i align my will with the lord's will and be the person he intended me to be. i still have a lot i need to figure it out and i know there are going to be times when i fall on my face, but you know what i am only human. i take everyday as it comes. i'll have bad days and good days. but that's the beauty in life. everyday you live can be so dramatically different from yesterday. it really brings a new light to the saying 'life is only as good as you make it.' life is good. life is beautiful. :)