An Ongoing Occurrence

Monday, September 30, 2013
I sit on my bed staring at my laptop with a thousand things to blog about.
I type a few words and press the backspace.
I type a few more and backspace those words too.
I lay my head back on my pillow and wonder why I can't just organize my thoughts.
I close my eyes and wonder why I even feel obligated to blog if I can't even spit out what I think I need to say.
I navigate to a few open tabs and take my mind off the empty post.
I find something inspirational and my spirits are lifted.
My happy place comes back to me and a smile forms.

The internet can be used for so many harmful activities and can be so addicting if we let it take over our lives.
However, it can be so resourceful and useful at the same time.
I've wondered several times if the Lord wants me to serve a mission. 
So, I pray for opportunities to be a missionary in my daily life. 
I have been given several opportunities online to be a missionary and to hopefully share the happiness that this church has filled me with. 

The days that I feel my lowest, are the days I pray for an opportunity to share the restored gospel.
That is what fills me with strength and happiness. 
Through helping others understand what exactly the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is really all about, my testimony has taken flight like I never thought possible.

Some days I just want to blab about how crazy life has been and how rough things can get.
Then my mind gets jumbled and that is when something inspirational comes my way. 
I love my church and I love how much happiness it has brought me.
I want to share that happiness and if the only way I can do so is through social networking, then I will use it to my advantage.
Please take a little time to check this out.
We have a living prophet on earth today and after watching this, how could you not love him?
Tell me you didn't feel the spirit after listening to that?
And one last thing:
This weekend is General Conference in which we are able to hear the inspired words of the prophet. 
You can watch it live online right here, and I sure hope you do :)

I believe that is all from me. 
Have a wonderful week! :)

All my love,
Aleigh Joy


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Lesson Learned.

Thursday, September 26, 2013
Growing up seems to be a constant maze in which we are always thinking we are making our way to the end to receive the prize of instant gratification. 
However, we tend to hit dead ends instead.
And if you're anything like me, it happens a lot.
Even though this can be quite frustrating, there is always the option of getting off our high horse and turning around only to see that the world is still spinning... and there are many other alternate routes. 
(Hey! Who would of known.)

We have been given the opportunity to "fix" or "undo" just about anything. 
No matter where life takes us, we are granted a second chance. 
This time in my life seems to be a constant maze.
I think I have it all figured out and then hit a brick wall and think "there is no way that is supposed to be there, it all worked out perfectly in my head."
And it is in those moments, that I learn the most about myself.

This past month has been nothing short of crazy.
In fact, last week was one for the books.
I found myself feeling nauseous most days with endless thoughts running 100 miles an hour.
Yeah, sleep was practically non existent.
Hunter comes home soon. Like so soon I can hardly think about it without jumping up and down.
Him coming home is going to bring forth changes, and lots of them. 
The problem is, I really won't know much of anything until he steps off that plane.
So, like always, I decided I would just make my own plans for the time being.
Yeah, the Lord had different plans for me...

I have been so ancy to just get out of my job, and really to just get out of all I've ever known completely.
Which is comical because I am the worst when it comes to change.
I had this grand plan of just getting a different job until Hunt comes home and then figuring things out from there.
Which now thinking about it, would have been really dumb on my end... but I didn't see it at the time.
So I applied to a few different places. 
There wasn't much that came of that until I got a call to have an interview for a hostess job.
It was hardly an interview...
I was hired on the spot.
Without even thinking things through I signed papers.
I didn't even think to ask what the pay was.
Then we went over the handbook. Oh, the handbook.
Upon going over this handbook he informed me that I would have to be working Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, oh anddddd Christmas! 
I walked out about ready to cry. 
I felt stuck, and scared.

I later had a nice talk with my bishop and spent some time with my knees on the ground and my nose in my scriptures. 
...Which lead me to telling the nice man that I was flattered but couldn't accept the offer.
Then I walked back over to Jamba Juice.
I opened the door to see nothing but smiling team members in bright orange shirts with lime green walls in the background. They were laughing at a stupid joke and I joined right in.
And then I realized... I am happy here. 
Why can't I just relax and let it be?

Since that little wake up call I have felt so so much happier at work.
Sure some days are longer than others, and some customers are grumpier than others but in the end I really do enjoy my job.
One day I'll learn to stop taking things for granted.
But until then, I am so so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who is there to guide me along when I do hit those brick walls. 

If there is anything that has stayed constant since becoming an "adult" it has been my faith.
It has been my testimony. My knowledge of the truthfulness of the restored gospel.
Even when everything seems to be going wrong, I know it will all end up right as long as I stay on the Lord's side. 

And so... that is the lesson I have learned:
Trust God's timing.
Oh, and stop taking things for granted. 
I'm working on it :)

All my love,
Aleigh Joy
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A Fallen Leaf.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013
I stayed up until about 1 in the morning last night.
Although this isn't a rare occurrence, I felt I had a very reasonable excuse this time.
I finally read the manual that came with my camera.
(insert sigh of relief)
I mean, I've only had my camera for about a year and a half now...
The other evening I went for a walk.
And there was a chill in the air.
It gave me a bit of reassurance that my boots, sweaters, and scarves really will get used... eventually.
On Sunday I made pumpkin pancakes with cinnamon maple syrup.
I stopped in Target the other day just because I wanted to smell all the candles.
Fall is falling upon us. 

A change of season in my opinion calls for a photo shoot.
Soo that I did.
And, since I read my manual, I think it went quite well haha.

"A Fallen leaf is nothing more than a summer's wave goodbye."



















All my love,
Aleigh Joy
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Just One More Thing.

Monday, September 16, 2013
Actually two.

I will never quite understand why Miley went crazy, other than the fact that Hollywood will just do that to ya... but I still feel so sad for her.
I miss Hannah Montana, her beautiful locks, and the sweet southern girl she was.
She was an idol of some sorts to many young girls.
I have had a hard time growing up and seeing people change in ways that Miley has.
It makes me so sad to see girls prance around in skirts that are clearly too small for them, or to wear those shirts where quite frankly... why wear anything at all?
What guy is ever going to respect you?
What confidence are you ever going to gain from that?
Oh, and how are you ever going to teach your children to do the opposite of what you are doing?
I'm sorry, I just... don't understand.
Anyhow I found an amazing blog post from a girl that just gets it.
I thought you all might like to read it as well.
So, here ya go!

Also, football season is in full swing!
My brother's first home game was on Friday night.
It was a blow out.
I almost felt bad for the other team.













All my love,
Aleigh Joy

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Back in Business.

Guess what! 
I answered every single question that was pending over here!
I'm sorry it took so long, I wasn't avoiding any questions in particular... I just had a growing list of things to do and finally crossed a bunch of things off that list making time for me to answer all of your great questions :)
Seriously though, thank you so much to all of you that are asking all of these questions. 
I really do enjoy answering them.
A special thank you to everyone that has said just the sweetest things to me on there.
It makes my day so much brighter! :)
You are all awesome!

So one of the things that was growing on my list of "to do's" was to finally put together a wedding video for my dear friend's brother and his sweet wife.
It was such a beautiful day and you could really see how happy they were and the love in their eyes. 
There is something so special about a temple marriage.
Time and all eternity just sounds so sweet :)
Here's the video!


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It's Game Time.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013


For more reasons than one.
 I'm beginning to get ready for Hunter to come home... I don't know exactly what that entails but my marriage prep class seems to be covering that section of this wait quite nicely.
The butterflies are wide awake and have decided I should only stop thinking about him when they decide. Which is pretty much never. I can't count how many times I've woken up to my heart racing after dreaming of being reunited.

Today is a glorious day.
Today marks 20 whole months since I have seen the love love of my life.
Which actually isn't glorious at all haha.
Butttt that means I get to wrap my arms around him in only four Moore months :)

I can't quite explain the joy I'm feeling inside right now. It's a whirlwind of emotion.
One day ill be able to pinpoint the way he makes me feel, but for now ill just have you know that I cannot believe how much my love has grown for him. Day in and day out I stand amazed at how strong the love we share really is. I don't know how being apart has only caused me to become more and more smitten by him, but it has.
Distance truly does make the heart grow fonder. 

 He's coming home you guys. He really is actually going to come home. And that dream, is beginning to actually feel like a reality.

He is loving every second of his time spent serving The Lord as he teaches the gospel to the people in Ohio. He is currently a zone leader and has been for quite some time. He has let me know how grateful he is for that opportunity and how much love he has developed for his zone. Nothing makes me happier than knowing how happy he is :) 

Finally reaching the 20 month mark makes me so SO happy. I can't believe we are out of the teens for good. I can't believe we haven't seen each other in 20 months. Twenty long long months. Lately I've had several people ask me how on earth I do it. Although I actually can't believe it myself... I usually tell them that if you love someone enough you will do absolutely anything to end up with them. Including not seeing them for 2 whole years. And, it just so happens we both wouldn't want him anywhere else right now :) I may be crazy for enduring this wait, but I'm definitely crazy in love.
And well, that's worth it to me :)









Remember how last time we left off with story time right here? Well, I noticed that I'm moving slightly slow in this whole story. So, I have decided I'm gonna cover a lot of ground this time around. After all, I only have four Moore months until I expected to be done with this :) 
I'm sorry that this post is eternal, but, I just can't help it :)

So, I think a good place to start would be the moment I told him the truth. Over a text message of course. I was 15 what do you expect? I was home and had just gotten back from cheer practice. It was still summertime and we only had a little bit of time left. The beginning of my summer was a fairy tale spent with the man of my dreams every single day. It concluded feeling empty. Remember that one time I told you I fell for him real hard and real fast? Yeah, well I still dearly loved him and it was harder than anything to think he wasn't feeling the same way. I was up in my room when I got a call from his phone. It was one of those calls where they clearly accidentally dialed your number but you are still so intrigued that you listen to all the background noise hoping to hear something interesting. To my dismay I heard laughter from giggly girls. I didn't recognize it but I kept listening until the call was dropped. I remember feeling sad, but just letting it pass. Until, the next 5 calls happened. At this point I knew it wasn't an accident. It was one of his friends that wanted me to hear the girls on the other end. Why? That friend still won't tell me why, but he has apologized for it. He informed me that Hunter was in fact with that one girl I had mentioned from other posts. I was crushed. So I took a shower and cried. Have you ever cried in the shower? Gosh it's the best. When I got out I realized I was past the sad stage and entered into the angry stage. I texted Hunter. I let him know exactly how I was feeling, how hurt I was, how wrong it seemed that he would lead me on all summer then drop me like a bad habit, I gave it to him and I gave it all I got. Then I dropped my phone and waited. I told myself I wasn't going to look at it until I was ready. Ha! That was a joke. I looked at it just about every minute until he finally responded. He said he was sorry. And well, that was just about it. You can only imagine how angry that made me haha. You can't just say sorry and pretend everything is okay right? I just didn't reply and pretended that I wasn't thinking about him every second of every day. The first day back to school felt almost identical to my first day of freshman year. I couldn't stop looking for him. I couldn't stop trying to figure out what to even say to him. We said a few hello's every once and a while when we saw each other but that was about it. I had asked to be his "locker buddy" again that year. Every year the cheerleaders were given about 3 football players names to decorate their lockers on game days. So, the Thursday before the big game I asked him what kinds of treats he wanted. We ended up texting all night that night. I ended up staying awake into the wee hours of the night making the decorations for his locker perfect. That next day we spoke as if we were right back to the way we were over summer. The long hugs started back up and he was walking me to my classes. I was still slightly bitter but I truly couldn't help falling in love with him. To me, he was the definition of perfect. After the game that night we hugged as if we never skipped a beat. It felt so easy to jump right back to where we left off. From there things only progressed. We started to hold hands at school, he would walk me to my classes and wait until the one minute bell to give our last hug, we would text in class (only if we had free time I'll add), we started to spend more weekends together as well. We felt like an actual couple. It felt so perfect. It was so clear to me that he was the one I always wanted. Marrying each other became our favorite topic of choice. Now wait, you probably are thinking I'm a crazy person right now. No we were not technically "boyfriend and girlfriend" because we didn't think we needed that dumb title. Our relationship was between the two of us. Plus if he's gonna "pop the question" it's not gonna be "will you be my girlfriend?" It will be "Will you marry me?" That's just how we saw it. So anyhow we both planted the idea in our heads that he would go on his mission at 19, I would wait for him, he would come home, we would get engaged and married shortly after, have 10 kids, and live happily ever after. It was perfect. This is probably going to sound so ridiculously cheesy but it really is true that when I looked into his eyes I saw eternity. I saw my past, present, and future. He was the one and I knew it. Little did I know that the reason he had stopped talking to me at the end of summer was because his parents had asked him if we kissed and he let them know that we in fact did. Well, that didn't go over so well. He knew he wasn't supposed to be getting into a serious relationship before his mission and his parents were protecting him from that. It just so happens that I was the girl he couldn't seem to get out of his head. The way we were headed, we were in fact entering into a serious relationship. His parents caught on to that pretty quickly. So... one afternoon they brought us into the back office to discuss this situation. Despite the tears rolling down my cheeks every single word they said made sense and I agreed with what they were advising us on. It was hard to be a teenager and grasp the fact that I had to make adult decisions for the better. Including spending much much much less time with my sweetheart. He had a mission to prepare for, we were young, and getting too serious too fast would only lead to trouble. We agreed to separate for as long as we needed to. But, I had never felt so devastated in my life. Hunter took me home that night. I cried the entire way home. He did too. He tried to lighten the mood by singing  to the Taylor Swift song in the background  but it happened to be "I'd Lie" and that just made me cry more haha. When we got to my house he asked if he could hug me. I was not going to decline that offer. So we hugged and could not seem to let go. We were both against saying "I love you" at the time because we knew how important those 3 words really were and we didn't want to use them lightly. So instead, we would just literally say "3 words" and the other person would say "4." I had never wanted to say those 3 actual words so bad in my life but we kept the tradition and I smiled as he wiped away my tears. I was crushed, but I tried to stay strong for him. That was, until I got to my bedroom. That week was torture. We pretended as if we didn't know each other and every time I had to fight back my tears. The next week I decided I needed to write him a letter. I wrote everything I was feeling and let him know exactly how I felt about him. It ended up being 6 pages front and back and I slipped it into his pocket one day before class. The next day he caught me just before I went to one of my classes. It was raining and I was debating finding an alternate route. Thank goodness I didn't. He ran up to me and handed me a note of his own. He looked at me and said "Your letter meant a lot to me, please read mine." I promised I would, but it was still pouring rain and I knew we were both going to be late if we didn't get to class. So I said goodbye. He grabbed my hand and pulled me in for the first hug in 2 weeks. That is a hug I will never forget. Ever. I don't even care that my hair got all wet, I had never felt so warm, a hug had never felt so right. The second I got home from school I read that letter. Every word brought a new tear to my eyes. It was beyond perfect. I knew he still had the same feelings for me and that even though we had to put our relationship on hold for the time being, he still wanted me to be his forever. At the end of the letter he said "Ps listen to the song "Then" by Brad Paisley. That is exactly how I feel about you." I still treasure every word to that song. We were now into basketball season and I was his locker buddy for that as well. That Friday I had written him a sweet little note of encouragement and of course, love. For that game the cheerleaders were sharing a bus with the basketball players. I chose my seat and he moved closer to be right behind me. I was laying down trying to sleep a little bit when I felt him grab my ipod. He said he needed to be pumped up before the game. I was half asleep when I felt one earphone drop on my chest from over the seat. I grabbed it and put it in my ear. Nothing was playing... Then I saw his sweet face peak over the seat to make sure I had in fact put it in my ear. He smirked and then disappeared. The next thing I knew "Then" was playing and I couldn't fight back the tears. He sat up in his seat and reached his hand over to grab mine and held it throughout the entire song. I had always known I loved him, but goodness I truly felt like my heart was going to beat right out of my chest. I couldn't wipe that smile off my face for the rest of the night. I was smitten. I felt like the luckiest girl on the face of the earth
Ha, and I thought I loved him then ;)

Now that I have written a novel, I think I'll end there :)
I can't wait to finish up sophomore year. 
Just get ready for a few more bumps in the road ;)
It's okay we all know how the story ends up!
Alright until next time :)

All my love,
Aleigh Joy

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On Point.

Sunday, September 8, 2013
It's another Happy Sunday!
The sun is shining and my heart feels happy :)

First off, I'm sorry I haven't answered questions in a few days! 
I've taken a look at them but I haven't been able to sit down and answer all of them.
I'm working on it!
Second, I came across a  video the other day and decided I would share it today.
My church means the world to me, I love it so so much.
Therefore, it is hard for me to grasp that others don't.
I went to the temple on Thursday this week.
I met a darling Mexican family inside.
They were performing baptisms in Spanish.
My heart was melted, it truly brought a tear to my eyes.
I took 2 years of Spanish in high school, but I still couldn't understand a word they were saying.
It didn't matter though. They were performing the Lord's work and that made me feel so warm.
The Lord's church is the same no matter where you are in the world, no matter what language you speak, no matter what culture you grew up with.
That, is incredible.
I know this church is the one true church on earth today.
I want all of you to feel that same way.
I thought this video was a great explanation of all we stand for.
It answers a lot of questions and portrays all that Mormons are. 
Take a look :) 





All my love,
Aleigh Joy
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It's A Beautiful World I See

Sunday, September 1, 2013
Happy Sunday!
Truly though, don't you just love Sundays?
I always look forward to this day :)
This is what third hour looked like for me today:


Haha I loveee my sunbeams :)

So remember the video I posted of the temple in honor of my lovely Friday?
I also took some shots of the beautiful La Jolla cove!
This morning as I was debating whether or not to wake up, I decided I would turn those clips into a video.
La Jolla is one of the most beautiful places. I am convinced.
If you ever get the chance, make sure to stop by the cove and wander the cliffs overlooking the crystal blue water. 
You will be amazed :)




All my love,
Aleigh Joy
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