w-o-m-e-n

Women. We are AWESOME. 

DO NOT let anyone tell you different. 

{boys you are great too, but this is going to be about us ladies}

The only reason why I got to go was because of my mom Pam {stepmom so you don't get confused haha but I call her mom too}. 

She bought me a ticket and was able to come down from Washington. Her sisters and mom came too. It was fun to be with them and share this experience.

Inspiration. Idol. Influential. 

Have you ever heard of Time Out For Women {TOFW}? Talk about inspiration! 

I have but didn't know how neat it actually was. It is very similar to EFY or Youth Conference where they bring speakers to teach for the weekend.

These speakers are well known, but sometimes not! Mainly they have had experiences they are willing to share and testimonies to help us women realize how important we are.

They have a theme every year and this year it was:

HIGHER

{The twins and me and the Pammy 
not Beth haha don't get confused} 

{Me and beth and the line to 
the bathroom--women} 

SO...how can you become higher in a sense of overcoming your own battles/trials? It was cool how all the speakers used this to speak to us in a positive way to help us realize our potential/strengths/weaknesses

On Friday night a man, James L. Ferrell, spoke. He wrote:

Anyways he was one of my favorites out of the whole weekend. 

He actually talked about his new book {Falling Up-which is what I linked about above in his name}. 

It mainly talks about how we need trials in our life to come closer to Christ. I ending up buying the book haha. I will post about that in a couple months :) 

TOFW never goes wrong without musical guests.

The infamous Michael McClean {FORGOTTEN CAROLS CREATOR} had a presentation about clothes. haha yes clothes. Anyways he talked about what kind of woman we should be. Also what type of "wardrobe" we should be wearing. 

What type of 'threads' are in your closet? 

The next day, Saturday, there were 6 more speakers. And Hilary Weeks was the musical guest. 

Hilary had a great story about clicks.

What is clicks you ask? haha well she recorded a week of all her negative thoughts. She did this by a clicker device. Then she compared that to a week of recording clicks for all her positive thoughts. 

She ended up having way more positive than negative thoughts. 

Long story short: 

We choose to be happy and it is possible to overcome that. Do you have too many negative clicks in your life? 

My favorite was by Mariama Kallon. 

{This is her story} 

I was touched by her strength and willingness to carry on with all that she had been through. It made me reflect on my life and how lucky I am to be where I am. Being here in the United States, being in a place where I am loved with friends and family close, etc. 

I also realized how the Lord truly loves all of us know matter our circumstance.

As women we need to know we are loved no matter what we are going through. There are many circumstances where we are affected in negative ways because of others or by the choices we make. 

All I know is that everyone needs to know and feel the love their Heavenly Father has for them. It makes me so sad that there are those who don't know that. Mariama is someone who knows it and I admire her greatly. She is one of my idols! :) 

All in all this TOFW stuff is great. I will never NOT go again!

{TOP LEFT:James signed my book he wrote haha.
TOP RIGHT: My idol Mariama.
BOTTOM LEFT: Michael McClean himself.
BOTTOM RIGHT: James L. Ferrell the master of words!}

{Love these cuties}

I can't wait until next year and learn more about myself that I didn't realize needed a change. It was influential for me in so many ways I won't forget it.  

I do have a testimony of my Savior and I know he loves me. I am thankful to live a life where I can learn how to be close to him at all times. The scriptures testify of his truth, especially the Book of Mormon. No matter what, I will never deny the light that book holds. It is another testament of Christ and teaches us how to be a true disciple. I know my Father lives and I am forever changed because of His Son and His gospel. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

With much love,

JPB

{I wrote a main blog page of what has been going on the past month of March. This post is 3 of 6 that I have written. I have posted this link as an easier way to find them. Enjoy!} 

our little blessing...

Blaire's blessing day was so special for Ryan and I. 

We were able to have so many family and friends come, it honestly was a blast.

2 months after Blaire was born, January 6, 2013, we were able to have the blessing.

I could tell Ryan was nervous. He honestly didn't know what he was going to say and I didn't either. I was really nervous too. Mainly because it was a fast Sunday and I knew I needed to share my testimony with all my friends and family there. yikes.

 

It was a great opportunity to share my thoughts on the gospel and the love I have for my Savior and Father in Heaven. How He blessed me with the responsibility to care for one of his children is something I can't comprehend really. Being a Mother is something I have always wanted to be but didn't realize how much I needed it. You really learn a lot about yourself when children come into the picture. It is a wake-up call to what is really important. Thinking that I was frustrated when I was first pregnant still makes me sick! You can read about my baby story here. I am someone today who I thought I could never be, thanks to my husband and baby b. 

 {My sweet Baby}

Blaire actually got to wear my blessing dress from when I was born. That was pretty cool haha.

Another neat thing about the blessing that day was we had a couple people record it! So we actually have what Ryan said all typed up.  

{I didn't put it on here because it's more personal but if you want to read it let me know!}

I suggest you all do this! It is neat to hear what was said because it is hard to remember with so much going on.

 

I always worry about days like this though. I put too much pressure on myself to impress everyone. And then I worry about everyone having a good time and hope that no one thinks it is lame haha. 

 

{I still hope everyone had a decent time}

 {Grandpa and Grandma Jensen}

 {Grandpa and Grandma Bennion}

 {Grandma Sherri}

{4 Generation pic...legit}

 We had a lunch of soups and treats, etc. at Ryan's mom's house. It was delicious of course. And we had cute decorations! A lot of family and friends were able to help out. {Appreciate it!}

 {Fun handouts and banners}

 {Friends}

 {Silly Friends}

 {Good pic...BUT ryan always SERIOUSLY always ruins pictures haha and he knows it}

{Silly Fam}

  

Again, since I was stressed out so much I let a lot of little things get to me. 

For example:

 

1. Ryan wasn't able to find a sub for his calling and wasn't there to mingle and take pictures. We don't even have a picture of us 3 together. haha. don't judge.

 

2. There was a lot going on behind the scenes with some people that were there. It was frustrating that I couldn't say anything about the situation and I didn't want to because it wasn't a time to do so.

3. I love planning things but don't like the host part. Like I said before I worry so much about all the little things and I shouldn't.

I look back and wish I didn't let those things bug me. It didn't take away from the day but my day could have been better. My choice though. Silly Jordan haha.

 

Looking through these pictures makes me emotional because of how important family means to me. You always tell yourself "I love my family" but its when you have your own you understand more what that means! I am excited to keep my family growing from this point forward.

{not anytime soon}

 

 {My Beautiful Girl}

 

Actually, a lot of my friends are going to have this experience themselves soon. They are all preggers! {Karly & Wade, Kenzie & Derek, Jessie & Wesley, Hails & Lucas, Rian & Ty, Nikki & Brett...and probably more that I forgot haha}

They all are, or again, going to be great parents. They are great examples to me and I look up to them in so many ways!

Can't wait!

{Thanks again to everyone who helped out and were able to come. Ryan and I can't thank you enough. Love you!}

I would list everyone but seriously haha that would take up a whole blog post on its on. Gotta love big families/friends.

*Pictures courtesy of the lovely Danielle Thompson*

boxes, boxes, boxes, and boxes...

Moving isn't my favorite thing to do. EVER really.

I feel:

There is one positive thing about it though, you get to get rid of a bunch of crap that you didn't need in the first place.

Best feeling ever haha.

Anyways, we moved from Rexburg to this cute little town home in July.

As time went on we realized we weren't saving as much much dough as we wanted.

It is very hard to say that we are leaving because we have made some good friends along the way. ESPECIALLY...
 Nephi and Mallory Guymon
(this is their blog)
We have known them since our last couple of semesters at BYU-Idaho. We use to do a lot more together but things change so quickly! It is crazy. Anyways hopefully we will get to see them soon. 

They have so much ambition and will do great things.
We can't wait to see what they accomplish together!

AND:
Don't worry. We aren't homeless (besides living in Ryan's Stepdad's house for a week haha)

We found another place across town which is way cheaper but still a good size for us :)
 Only the kitchen is done so far.

 (digging the counter space already)

This is what else we have left. More stacks to go through of already opened boxes AHHH haha! :) 

All in all...

having future goals of where we want to be is important to us. Getting to those goals is like a dream almost. HOWEVER, by making the decisions we are now, we will reach those goals in no time! Thanks to our taxes we are debt free now too!
(besides student loans but who is counting those right?)

I am happy to have a husband who cares about me and is very grateful for what we have. He has so many talents and shares them with me constantly. I've never seen someone work that hard to make others happy. It seems like we both are busy at times and we don't get to see each other as often as we would like. But that is okay! :) We do what we can.

People don't get to see what I do though, I am a lucky girl!

 Appreciate all you do sweetie, can't wait to see what our future holds.
Hopefully more of these:

(maybe not yet haha.)

Love you!