After the smoke was gone

     On June our little cove that we live in in Herriman looked like it was going to go up in flames. The smell of smoke filled our homes and I knew we were going to have to evacuate. This is Herriman's second fire, but after living in our home for almost a year, we missed the first one. I knew that we didn't have must time until we had no choice but we had to leave. My dear mom told me to pack up some cloths. We were supposed to leave for the cabin that day, so this task was simple. Next I wanted to help my brothers. My dad was away on a business trip. 


     Cooper, upstairs could see from Skyler's window the mountain in flames. As a ten-year old, this is scary. I heard his cries from downstairs and wanting to provide comfort to my little brother I knew I needed to do something to help him. I held him in my arms and told him he was brave and that he could do this. I reassured him that our home would be safe along with our neighbors homes. We then proceeded to say a prayer of safety and comfort. 

   My trial was that I needed to drive the car without a parent with me. I'm already terrified of driving. Driving through smoke is even more scary. After a pep talk from my mom and our cars packed up with what few things we could grab, we left our home. 

This isn't a photo I took, in the rush of things, I didn't have a chance to take one. But this is was it kind of looked like when we left our house. (taken from: http://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=21052342&nid=460&page=19#1)

     Luckily today we had a home that didn't have smoke damage to return home to, like so many fortunate people in my neighborhood. The lords had was truly evident in this whole emergency. I will forever be grateful to those firemen and police that risked their lives to keep our homes safe along with all of our friends and loved ones. 


    Today we had an extra long sacrament. The spirit in that room was truly amazing. It brought our ward a sense of gratitude and unity. The testimony's that were shared made me stronger, it taught me to listen to promptings, pray for strength and help, and to do all that you can and rely on the Lord. Many homes were spared in the event, I know it was because of our faith and prayers. I learned to have faith that in life when we can't see through the smoke and we don't know what we have or what we have lost, that Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us. We just have to have enough faith to trust in him, and once the smoke has cleared and we can see our trails more clearly we will be able to learn from them. 


Here are some photographs of the fire, I didn't take these but I thought they were pretty amazing. I can see the lords hands in all of this. 

Look at how the houses were saved,
there really is amazing stories from
each of these families

While my dad was in the plane, I can only
imagine the panic he felt when he realized
Herriman was on fire

My house is somewhere in the smoke
we were lucky enough to have
very minor smoke damage

The helicopters took water from the
little pond we have to go fishing in 

   

Friends, Answers and Family

I haven't update my blog in a while so I thought today would be a great day!

     This last week has been really nice for starters Thursday I got into a chalk fight with some of my best friends. It was so much fun! What happens when teenagers are left with blue chalk? Well we smear it all over each other. It took me a good shower to get all the blue chalk off of me and my hair. 

Next I had a wonderful Saturday with friends and then to end off the day I went to the General Young Women's meeting with my mom. The talks were amazing! 
    I was fortunate enough to receive an answer to my prayers that night. For a couple of weeks now I have been trying to decide if the career path I'm working towards is a good idea for me. I have been trying to decide if choosing to do my CNA (Certified Nurses Assisting) was a good option for me next year. 
   Sister Mary N. Cook gave a talk called, Seek Learning. (If you get a chance you should check it out, https://www.lds.org/youth/video/seek-learning?lang=eng) She talked about seeking out learning, and being selective.

    She said, "Arise, young women! You determine your goals. You decide what enters your mind and heart." 

   There was my answer :) I get to determine my goals. I felt very strongly that the decisions I was making about school would bring me so much happiness and help me so much in my life. 


   Now up to date, last night my family from New Zealand came in, they came to watch conference. I have never met them before so when my mom introduced me and they responded. I fell in love with their accents. Friday we will get to learn more about their culture along with the rest of my family. 


  Its amazing how the gospel can bring so many people together. For me its given me the answers I have been looking for. I love my family so much and getting to know them has been a really amazing experience so far! 

Seemed long, but a nap always helps ;)

My day was incredibly long today... I didn't particularly like my bus ride home.

But the good news is that I came home, exhausted and took a two hour nap! If you know me, you know I don't have a tensity to take naps, which just goes to show how tired I was.

I feel a million times better, happier and more smiley :)

After my nap I decided to take care of my neglected room, poor thing. It was so messy. Luckily I took my time on it and listened to pandora, usually I find a song that's my favorite for the day. Today it just happened to be 'A Drop In The Ocean' by Ron Pope. I kind of love it :)
Music has a way of just lifting me up

After my room was completely clean and it looked more like "my room", I had vocab I needed to go over, fun stuff.

My friend texted me and told me to watch this music video, the song is really cute! Haha but the video is so funny! Made my day a little happier! Watch it ;)

Call Me Maybe 

Plus my really great friend that tends to make me happy and smile all the time, wore a cookie monster tee-shirt today that made me super happy!! (I adore cookie monster!) 

Also also found this pretty great skirt, that I'm kind of dying to own :) I love Old Navy.


-Whitney (:

P.s. Smile

Grateful for my Mom

Sunday ended with my mom making a delicious Orange Zest Bunt cake, it was delicious!

Then I got a surprise visit from a friend, it was really nice to see him! He also really enjoyed the cake :)

I went to bed that night, tired after a good spiritual Sunday, only I didn't sleep long. I woke up with a terrible stomach ache. My dear mom felt so bad, she stayed up with me most of the night, and cared for me by calming me down and rubbing my back. At sixteen this seems silly to me, but I realized just how lucky I was to have a mom who cared so much about me.
She didn't wake me up to take the bus, she just simply let me sleep, which was exactly what I needed. She let me sleep all the way until 12. I woke up to a banana, and toast! Always helps me feel better :)

I'm so grateful for my loving mom. She is always there for me to talk to, not only is she a wonderful mom she is my best friend. A best friend everyone would love to have. She always has the best advice even if its something I don't necessarily agree with. She has always been there to help me

Its never fun staying home sick, but when you have a wonderful mom like I do, it makes it a little easier :)

Little Miracles

Day 1:
Miracles, there are so many miracles in our lives and when we stop to notice them and thank Heavenly Father, we are blessed.
I've noticed this is my life more and more.

I'm so impressed with the power of prayer and how it can influence so many people around me, and how it can bless them. When I stop for a moment and ask for Heavenly Fathers help. It always comes.
These last couple of months have been really tough, I would consider them a "trial".
Us teenagers have it really tough sometimes, I think the adults look down on us and say, "Well you have it easy, you don't have to worry about, paying the bills, feeding the kids, walking the dogs, cleaning the house, going to a job every day... ect." Yet we really do have it tough. There are so many temptations, things leading to dark rode's and bad choices. And there are some really tough people to be around.
Its really nice though, when you get a chance to just sit back and watch high school go by. I've been trying to deal with so much lately I forgot to take a break for myself, and ask for that help. Well this last week I did, and I received so much inspiration and help.

Mosiah 24:14, currently my new favorite scripture. It says,  "14 And I will also ease the ^aburdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as^bwitnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their ^cafflictions."
This scripture has helped me so much. I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father.


Lately I have been feeling like, I need to keep track of the "miracles" in my life, and I am hoping this blog can help me do that, I was inspired by Stephanie Nielson. Take a few moments to watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHDvxPjsm8E 

Thank you so much to all those that have been an inspiration to my life.