Be a Duck

                  //Via cutaia.net

Okay, not literally - although ducks are pretty dang adorable, but I'm not really sure that's possible. This is something my mom has told me since I was in preschool - "Be a duck!"

Ducks have waterproof feathers. Water basically rolls right off their back! And so, in this way we should be like them - not with water, but with the hard things that come our way. Especially as we are all heading back to school where we're too often faced with hard people & opposition. Some people are going to be just flat out unkind, no matter who you are or what you do. Classes might be hard, your group of friends might change - let it go!! Let it roll right off your back and not be a worry. Don't be easily offended. Remember you are a child of God and what anyone else has to say is honestly not even relevant. Trust in God & let it gooooooo!

Do your best, but accept anything & everything that comes your way. Your 4.0 slipped to a 3.97? It's okay!! (I promise) Someone made a snippy comment in the hall? Don't even worry about it. Be a duck this year & everything will work out just fine ♡

-Savannah

A B O U T M E

Well hey there everyone!! Today's post is a little less serious... I was looking through my blog & I realized that I never actually introduced myself! I introduced my blog name & the reason behind it (read that HERE) but I never actually told you about myself. For all we know, I could be a creepy old man hiding behind the screen. Thank goodness I'm NOT, haha! So I figured it was about time I tell you a little bit about myself!

I'm Savannah, a.k.a Savvy/Vans/Nana + a thousand more depending on who you ask! I'm 15 years old (16 on Feb. 10th, yesss!!) and I live in a small town in northern Utah.

I have 4 brothers - 2 older & 2 younger. Basically I'll give you a little bit about each member of my family!
Dad - My dad is the bishop of our ward - he's also a serious travel pro because he travels for work at least 2 weeks out of every month. He's constantly busy, selfless, and the hardest worker I know. He's also a serious football fan & the best padre around!
Mom - FULL TIME SCHOOL. PART TIME WORK. FULL TIME EXTRAORDINARY MOM. ( I felt that deserved all caps because she's legit a superhero) My best friend & the most hilarious & headstrong person you'll ever meet - besides me, of course (;
Spencer's 20 & he's attending U of U. When I think of Spencer I think of MUSIC - he & Brooks started a band together in high school that won a Battle of the Bands & played at a bunch of cool places in Ogden & SLC. He's also very into politics. He's an inactive member of the church - he left the church pretty much during/after high school. But if there's one thing I've learned, it's that you never stop praying & trusting in God. He has a plan for each and every one of us!
Brooks is 18 & graduated from high school this year. He's hopefully a soon to be missionary - we're hoping to receive his call this Friday or next Friday! He's the sweetest kid & without a doubt the peacemaker in our home. Brooks is also insanely musically talented & when he finishes his mission he'll be going to USU to become a music therapist!
Lucas is 13 & in 8th grade. He's a CRAZY kid & rebellious as much as he can be, but he's got a good heart and I've learned more from him than anyone else. He loves sports, especially football and soccer. And joggers - the kid loves his joggers!
Eli is 9 & in 4th grade. Funniest kid you will ever meet. Seriously intelligent & obsessed with Harry Potter & animals. He's so kind hearted and just a little bit awkward (;

And of course our family wouldn't be complete without our 3 cats (we did NOT intend to have that many!!), Crookshanks, Legolas & Katniss, & our dog, Toby. They're all named after books/movies - Crookshanks is Hermione's cat in Harry Potter, Legolas from Lord of the Rings, and Katniss from The Hunger Games. Toby isn't technically from a movie, but if you ask me it's short for Tobias from Divergent (;

On my side of things, I love theater & music & piano & performing! All good things. I've been in 2 plays - The King & I and Bye Bye Birdie - and I'm currently in Footloose. I love it! I've also worked at a snowcone stand all summer, which is great because I get free snowcones but it's not so great because I get paid close to nothing! But I'm 15 with a job so I shouldn't complain(;

I'm also slightly movie & Netflix obsessed. If I had to choose my favorites the list would include lots of musicals - like Les Mis & Hairspray, Marvel movies (Captain America is #1), Tim Burton movies & a whole ton of random ones like Jurassic World, Penelope & Cokeville Miracle. Honestly I love them all! As for TV shows I can't choose there either! My tops would definitely have to include Gilmore Girls, Glee & anything on HGTV. I'm just a big fan of it all! 

I love music from pretty much all categories, except for most rap & country (sorry, but what can I say?). I also love random things like fall, Tillamook ice cream, Dr. Pepper & writing. Basically just the good things! (;

Hope you enjoyed getting to know me a little bit better because I enjoyed writing it! (;

Until next time...

-Savannah

Family Reunion 2015

Me & my cousins 

(I'm in the middle!)

Family History

***This is a talk I was asked to give at a stake YW's activity about family history. I debated writing a whole separate post - & I'm sure I will eventually - but this talk tells you about my struggle with family history! I want to make it clear to anyone who is struggling that it's not just them, & it will ALWAYS be worth it!!***

Today I’ve been asked to speak on family history and different challenges I’ve had with it, and how I’ve been able to overcome those. So on my family history line, if you go straight back, it comes to a dead end on every line eventually. When I first started looking for names, I thought that the only thing I could do was find the names that weren’t there. For me, that didn’t work out so well. I couldn’t find any records or leads, and it was just really frustrating. I knew it was important to do family history, but I decided it was too hard and I gave up on it. Then, a couple of months later, we had a fireside on how you can find work in your cousin’s lines. It seemed easy enough so I decided to try the different approach. In an hour or so I found five names through my dad’s cousins. Unfortunately, after I found those names, I couldn’t find any more, even after working on it for another hour. Being the impatient person I am, I gave up again and decided that family history wasn’t for me. I was fine with that until my ward gave us a family history challenge in August. Each of the young men and young women in my ward were asked to find 5 names for baptisms and index 1,000 names. If we reached our goal, we would go to the Salt Lake temple to do all of the baptisms. They gave us three months and a lot of encouragement. We had several mutual activities on it, and they even called two youth family history consultants. 

Slowly I realized that this was my opportunity to really start doing family history. I knew that something about what I was doing to find names wasn’t working. I decided that I would pray before I started doing any family history, and I wouldn’t listen to music while I was doing it. They both seemed like simple things, but for me, they made all the difference. When I was really focused on what I was doing, it was a lot easier to keep a good perspective on it. I also realized how important it is to make sure the spirit is present when you’re doing the work, because sometimes it’s hard to know if what you’re doing is right. The first time I prayed before working on it, I was able to find 20 names in an hour. I haven’t been so lucky after that first time, but after working on it for several hours every week, I’ve found 94 names, 50 of which I’ll be taking to the Salt Lake temple with my ward on Saturday. (Remind me to blog about this - it was the neatest thing!!) For me, the names never just appeared in my line. Family history isn’t simple. We have amazing technology that makes it easier, but it doesn’t always immediately give you what you’re looking for. But I know that if you put the time and effort into finding names, you’ll be able to find them. Don’t give up like I did so many times. Trust in the Spirit and you’ll be able to do the work that the prophet and his apostles have called us to do. It really is important and it’ll bless you and bring you so much peace. 

I know that doing family history really has made a difference in my life, and I know it can make a difference for anyone who is willing to even try. And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

-Savannah

You Love Who You Serve

Today I have the opportunity to speak on service in sacrament meeting. I loved this topic, and I think it's so important, so I decided I would share it here! I think service is such a great thing and there are so many ways to help others and be kind. I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday and feel a little more directed and ready for another week!!


When my mom was in high school, my grandma and grandpa were in charge of the youth conference in Kirkland, Washington. They decided to do something completely different for their conference. Instead of choosing the usual flashy and entertaining route, which might have involved white river rafting and other exciting activities, they decided to do a huge service project. They gathered together 180 kids and built two barns in 3 days. The first barn was a half barn, half shed, built for an older man in the community. His old shed blew down in a bad storm, and the insurance wouldn’t pay to replace it. The second was more of a house, built for a family of 8 who had lost all of their money and were living in a small trailer. Their conference theme was, “You Love Who You Serve.” While at first none of the kids were very excited about working in a construction site for 3 days, as they began the project and worked together, they realized just exactly the importance of what they were doing. Their attitudes began to change as they found how much they loved what they were doing. Not so much because any of them really enjoyed construction or building barns, but because they loved putting the work into something that would benefit someone else. It was completely unselfish time spent, but it benefited the kids who were working the most. As one boy said in an article written in the New Era, “Mr. Roney (the man they were building the shed for) told us the quality of our work was A-1, top-notch. The look on his face as this place went up taught me I’m happiest when making someone else happy.” He continues on, saying, “I remembered working along with my friends and feeling something. I glanced around. It wasn’t just my friends; the Savior was there too.”

           

 Service can be an overwhelming thing. We are provided with plenty of opportunities at mutual, youth conferences, and camps, but trying to do things with a willing heart and on our own time can be a hard thing. A lot of times when I think of service, I think of huge projects, and it feels like a lot. But service doesn’t always have to be something as greatly big as building 2 barns in 3 days - in fact, as awesome as that is, it rarely has to be of that size. Service can be found in the way we treat others. Smiling at people in the hall at school, saying hi to someone you usually wouldn’t. A lot of times, service can be found in the kind of person you are. I really like this quote that says, “Fill yourself up with so much love that it spills into the lives of others.” When you reach out to people in the little ways and let them know that you’re there for them, even if you aren’t best friends, that’s one of the purest forms of service you could give to someone.

            So how do you become that kind of person? It always bothers me when I ask my mom how to do something and she tells me to “just make the choice to do it!” but in this case, it’s kind of true. Once we become aware of the people around us and the difference we could make for them, we can look for ways to reach out to them. Make the choice every day to look around you and find opportunities to serve, large and small.

            Another thing that would help us in our efforts to serve and be kind would be to make sure that we are sure of ourselves, and I think a good way to do that is to be rooted in the gospel. Like President Uchtdorf said, “We would do well to slow down a little, focus on the significant, and truly see the things that matter most.” If we understand God’s love for those around us, and we have Christ’s example to follow every day, it will be so much easier to be willing to serve. We are all capable of amazing things on our own, but I know from experience that if we have God’s power behind us it will hugely amplify what we’re doing by ourselves.

           

       So why should we do service? Why should we really worry about the people around us when we already have plenty of our own things to worry about? First of all is what I think is a pretty clear reason, and that is that the people around us matter. A lot of people that we have the opportunity to interact with everyday don’t have a lot of support in their lives. If we can recognize that and become the support and friend they need, we’ll be helping shape a part of their future. If everyone were to reach out to just one person every day, can you imagine the effect that would have on the kind of world we live in? Another reason would be that service affects each of us and the kind of person we’re becoming. When we look outside of ourselves, we can find the kind of joy and peace that we should find in this life. Like President Monson said, “To find real happiness, we must seek for it in a focus outside ourselves.” By becoming more like the Savior through service, we can become happier, better people. And I don’t know about you, but I kind of prefer joy over misery.

            I would like to bear my testimony that I know that service is a truly great thing. There are so many opportunities around us to help others. Whether it’s a huge project like building a barn or two, or just helping someone pick up papers they dropped in the hall, it matters, and it makes a difference. I know that if we each strive to become better and be better to those around us, we will become closer to the Savior and become more secure in the gospel and in our testimony of it. I hope we will all look for more opportunities to serve and be willing to take part in them. And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

            

(Do you write out your testimony in talks?? I always do! Personally it gives me more direction towards what I want to say. Sometimes I follow it exactly when speaking, sometimes not, but it helps me stay on topic! Do you have any talk tips or things you do to help when speaking?)



*New Era article credit - written by Tracy H. Barrand in the June 1987 edition of the New Era, called "Hair-raising, Care-raising, Barn-raising." Read the whole article here!


XOXO,
Savannah

Imperfect

Well hello everyone!

Long time no see....!

I had every intention of finishing out personal progress month strong, unfortunately I made it 2 posts in and then life kind of overwhelmed me! Almost two months later and I'm just barely stopping to breathe a little. This blog is still very important to me and I do plan on regularly posting, as soon as I figure out this whole schedule and balancing thing! And there will be many more personal progress posts in the future, I actually have 5 in my drafts folder right now that are in the works!

I think one of the things that has slightly overwhelmed me with beginning to blog is really just figuring it all out! There are so many ways to format your blog and make it look good, and I quite honestly don't understand any of them. It's frustrating to try to find things to make your blog nicer and then realizing you're not as technologically-savvy as you think you are! But I don't doubt that I'll figure things out and that I will get to where I want to be. 

I was thinking about how this applies to so many of us, in so many different ways. How many of us are willing to quit on something as soon as we realize we aren't exactly perfect at it? I'll be the first to admit that I often give up on things just because I don't get them immediately. But that isn't how we learn! If we give up right as we're learning, if we expect to be completely and utterly perfect at everything right off the bat, we're setting ourselves up for a lot of disappointment. We're also not giving ourselves the opportunity to learn and become better. There are definitely going to be things we get immediately, and that come more naturally to us than others. There are also going to be things that make no sense and are harder to go after! Those are the things you should chase!! 

Imperfection is nothing to be ashamed of. It shows that you're growing and learning and becoming better. And I don't know about you, but I would rather know that I was becoming better than staying exactly the same in my comfort zone!

XOXO,

Savannah

Personal Progress Tips

Here are a few short & sweet tips on how to make personal progress a little easier & hopefully more meaningful! I definitely used these to help me finish my personal progress, especially the sticky notes one! I hope they help you stay motivated to do personal progress!!

Personal Progress Tips!

* Try working on your personal progress online. You won’t have to keep track of your book! Search online for lds.org personal progress. All you need is your membership number (ask your ward clerk, they usually hang out around the bishop’s office) to set up your LDS account with a username and password.

* Each time you read a scripture or article, mark it with a highlighter or colored pencil. The next time you open your book, you won’t have to re-read the same scripture – you can go on to the next one.

*Use a dry erase marker to write a reminder message to yourself on your bedroom mirror. “Don’t gossip for 2 weeks”

* Use sticky notes to remind yourself of your goal that you are working on. “Read the Book of Mormon every night”

*Have you given a talk, been in a play, are you on a sports team, learning a musical instrument, served others, etc. You are already doing so many good things… get credit for it in personal progress!

XOXO,

Savannah 

Faith Value Project Ideas

To start out the month of personal progress, we'll be starting at the beginning of the values - faith! I want to share with you what I did for my project & other ideas of things you could do. I think the projects are one of the hardest but most fun parts of personal progress. You can do so much with them!

I completed my faith project in October 2013. I based it around general conference! To prepare, I bought a cute little notebook specifically for the conference. Then I decorated pages in the front of the notebook with pictures of all of the general authorities and little quotes from talks they had given.

(Once again - photo quality. I am so sorry!! I'll get better at this but I really wanted to get this post up, so I just used my phone again!)

I also had a page dedicated to quotes about faith (this was my faith project, after all!).

Then, during conference, I stayed awake & actually listened to all of the talks (something I do every time now!) and took notes for every speaker.

After conference, I went back through all of my notes and made goals for the next six months based on the prophet's counsel. I also wrote my thoughts on conference and my testimony of the truths that were spoken during it!

This was really a great project!! Before it, watching general conference was kind of a struggle for me. I definitely think it helped me realize the importance of conference! It also gave me answers that I so needed at that point in time. One of them was whether or not I should receive my patriarchal blessing - and I felt like it was a solid yes! I received it on November 10th, 2013.

If my project isn't really clicking with ya, here are a few more great ideas! (Faith was definitely one of the hardest values for me to find a project for.) Keep in mind that they need to total up to 10 hours:

*Write letters to missionaries

*Keep a scripture journal and write in it every day

*Memorize scripture masteries

*Memorize "The Living Christ"

*Memorize an inspiring poem

*Learn how to cross-stitch and make something that describes your feelings about the gospel

*Grow a garden

*Record stories from family or ward members who've demonstrated faith and compile a family history

*Create a website/blog featuring the YW values and your personal testimony (or an Instagram account!)

*Film interviews of friends and family members talking about their faith in Christ, then edit the video and set it to music

*Visit a church history location and create a scrapbook based on the trip, highlighting the faith of church members of that time period

*Write a book, play, song, short story or poem about faith

*Create a work of art that describes your feelings about the gospel

*Compile a family testimony book

*Sew scripture bags to give primary kids when they're baptized

*Make baptism books to give to primary kids when they're baptized

*Make a scrapbook about faith

(Disclaimer: I do not take credit for all of these ideas!! Huge shoutout to various websites & bloggers for 80% of these)

I hope you got a few ideas from this post!! Let me know if you like the formatting of it or if you would rather see these posts organized differently - I'm experimenting with it!

XOXO,

Savannah