Xoxo,
Halee
My new blog is up! Go to haleesthoughts.com !!! This blog will still be open but all new posts will be posted over there. Make sure to follow my new blog on bloglovin so you can keep up!
Xoxo, Halee
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Hello, everyone! My name is Alec Marie and I am so excited to be guest posting on Halee's blog. It is such an honor. I'm a 19 year old girl who loves Disneyland and popcorn! I also blog over at alecmarie.weebly.com, so be sure to check it out! But, something super exciting is happening in less than ONE WEEK. I am going on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! I have been called to serve in the MISSISSIPPI JACKSON mission. My heart is so full and I am so very excited. It is a very humbling, powerful, and beautiful thing to prepare for a mission. I wanted to share some things I have learned! 1. Heavenly Father loves you! He loves you perfectly and individually. God wants the best for you because YOU are His child. When I went through the temple a few weeks ago, THAT was the overwhelming feeling I got. Everything that happens to me is because Heavenly Father loves me. He wants me to learn. He wants me to progress. It's incredible! 2. NOTHING else matters more than this gospel. A lot of people ask me if I am afraid to leave for 18 months.. Some people ask me about leaving college or leaving my phone.. Yes, life will definitely be different in the mission field! But, it's a good different. I am excited to leave everything behind to be apart of a GREATER WORK.. bringing souls to Christ. I am excited to teach and love the people of the South. My phone, watching Disney movies, not being able to go on family vacations.. IT'S WORTH IT. When I think about all that God has given me, I want to serve Him with all my heart, might, mind, and strength! 3. I am going down to the Bible belt.. AND THAT, is something to be excited about! I love the Bible so much. We need to read it more often WITH The Book of Mormon. When translated correctly, they both are the word of God. We are blessed to have two sacred books! I know they are for us and we need to search, ponder, and pray. I have seen miracles in my life when I study my scriptures. When I was reading a scripture from Alma, THAT is what made me for sure want to serve a mission. We can receive personal revelation and your love for the Savior will increase. 4. KEEP THE SABBATH DAY HOLY.. This will change your life! If you were to ask the average person what the perfect day would be.. You would get similar answers! Most people need a day of rest, a day to unplug, a day with the family.. GUESS WHAT? We have that day because God blessed us with that day-- the Sabbath! Really keep it holy and show Heavenly Father how much you love Him. I have learned so much more while preparing for the mission.. But, these are the points that have stood out to me! I am excited to embark on this adventure and learn even more! Life is beautiful and life is a gift.. Enjoy it and put all your faith in God. I know you can do it! XOXO. - Alec Marie "I have found that, rather than dwelling on the negative, if we will take a step back and consider the blessings in our lives, including seemingly small, sometimes overlooked blessings, we can find greater happiness."
-Thomas S. Monson When I think about why it's important to think positive I often think of the scripture in D&C 125:45. It says to "let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly." I don't really think negative anything is virtuous. Plus, what good comes from negative thinking? I can't think of anything? President Monson said, "You mind is a cupboard and you stock the shelves." Are we stocking it with rotten rude thoughts? Or are we stocking it with positive sweet thoughts? Thinking positive does not come easy for me at all, in fact it's so easy for me to think negatively. The past few years I've been trying to train my mind to recognize when I am thinking negatively so I can start thinking positive again. I've gotten better and can really see the benefits. Try it yourself... CHALLENGE: When you catch yourself thinking negatively immediately think 3 positive things. Work on this all week to help train your mind to think more positively. Go vote for next week's topic on Instagram! halee I've been having a hard time coming up with these but I will try harder to remember through the month so I will have more than a few favorites!
Looking through old photo albums. Seriously I forgot how much I love looking at old photos. Great Sunday activity. Pristeen Magazine. Seriously a great magazine. It a magazine for all teen girls (not just christians) and I really love reading them! Check out May's issue HERE. Also, follow them on Instagram (pristeenmagazine) because I am currently helping posting...:) Young and Beardless. If you know me you know I LOVE the Robertson family which means I had to get John Luke's new book. I really didn't think I would LOVE it but I really do! It's all about finding out your dreams and making them happen. I definitely recommend it! (Oh, and did you see that Sadie has a new book coming out?!? I'm SO excited!) Nutella and strawberries. Random I know. BUT HAVE YOU TRIED IT? We eat it all the time over here. It's the bomb.com. That's all for this month but I promise to have a better favorite's list next month! ALSO, I will be doing a Temple Square Meet up with @Latterdaysaints + a ton of other awesome accounts on July 6th. More details soon but I would absolutely LOVE to meet you! ANDDDD, I am currently looking for someone to help me switch my blog from weebly to wordpress. If you know anyone that I could hire to do this for a reasonable price that knows what they are doing PLEASE let me know. I am really wanting to get my new site by the end of July so I need to get started and am having a super hard time figuring it out. Any advice or knowledge you have on this would be GREATLY appreciated. I'm really done now. -Halee When we were little we thought (and believed) we could do anything. We wanted to be fire fighters, the president of the United States, a school teacher, a pilot, you name it we all probably at some point wanted to be it. We all were going to write a book, learn to play piano, be the best singer, solve world hunger, etc. etc. We were limitless. We dreamed of being great and doing great things.
When did we stop dreaming and believing in those dreams? WHY did we stop? When we were younger we thought we could and would change the world. We knew that someday we were going to become that world famous movie star like those girls on Disney Channel. Now, I get that dreams change and all. That's normal. We don't exactly know what we want when we are that young but why don't we take a lesson or two from our younger self.... 1. DREAM BIG. Because dreams DO come true. If you work hard and truly want it bad enough, it will happen. You are never too old to stop dreaming. Don't ever go, "I could never do that." because YOU CAN. 2. BELIEVE IN YOURSELF. You can do it. You can change the world. You have the power to accomplish your dreams. Work hard and believe that you can, because if it's a righteous desire God will help you in your honest efforts. Remember, "I think I can. I know I can. I knew I could." Please please believe in yourself. So my question here today is who are you becoming? Where are your choices leading you? Are you still dreaming and believing in yourself like you did when you were younger? CHALLENGE: Make a list of all your dreams, the things you REALLY want. Spend a couple of days thinking about it and adding or changing your list. Then pick one and take one step in the right direction. If you want to be the best basketball player, go outside and practice. AND then make a goal. Make a goal that will push you in the directions of your dreams. You can do it. Happy Memorial Day! Halee Ps. sorry this was longer than normal I just started typing and could stop! go vote for next week's topic on my Instagram @haleesthoughts. (I'm not one to typically share personal stories but I feel like I really need to start including more on my blog so here I am!) Oh and please enjoy the picture dump. ;) I gotta remember these moments. My junior year is over, which means I am officially a SENIOR. A senior. I never ever thought that I would ever be saying that. ONE MORE YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL LEFT. Less than 365 days till I'll be graduated. Honestly can't believe that this chapter in my life is almost over.. My junior year wasn't easy. In fact somedays it was just plain hard. My cousin moved. My best friend from church moved. I didn't get to go to prom. My other friend started hair school and so I only got to see her for 3 hours. Which means I only got to talk to her for like 15 minutes. I had a teacher who I couldn't get along with no matter how hard I tried. I had someone tell me that this girl didn't like to hang out with me because I was too perfect. (Which I am absolutely NOT.) I got my first B all because over half the class didn't show up to school so we only had like 7 (REALLY hard) assignments that 9 weeks. I didn't get to go to church prom either. Blah blah you get the point. It wasn't the picture perfect year. But it was the year I learned SO much about myself. I learned more this year than I've ever learned before. And I'm not talking about algebra and english. I talking about life lessons and growing into the person God wants me to become. I loved this year because I am a better person because of it. I loved this year because I grew in ways I never thought possible. It certainly wasn't easy but it was SO worth it. This was the year that I got the amazing opportunity to speak in stake conference. This was the year I was able to serve as Student Council Vice President. It was the year that I finally started realizing my dreams. It was the year I started making goals and crushing them. It was the year I won a huge giveaway on Instagram. (thanks to everyone who lets me tag them in all the giveaways. you rock) It was the year that I begin really praying. (makes a huge difference..try it) It was the year that I started playing piano again. It was the year that I hit 2 years of HT's on Instagram. It was the year that because of HT's I got amazing opportunities. (Pristine Magazine, My Time to Blossom, Celestial Shine Magazine, Voices for Virtue, and SO many others) It was the year I got 2 great jobs close to home. It was the year that I was able to go new places and experience new things. Here are a few things I learned junior year: + Don't judge what you don't understand. I don't know how many times during prom season when everyone was asking me if I was going to prom and I would say "no" and they'd be like "why" and I'd begin to tell them but I really just wanted to look them in the eye and say, "don't judge what you don't fully understand." Like you have no idea. You don't know the pain behind my whole "I had a date and it fell through." You don't know what REALLY happened, so please, don't judge anyone, you don't know the whole story. Anytime I catch myself judging someone I just say to myself, "don't judge what you don't understand." Because honestly we don't know, the only person who truly knows what they are going through is Christ so leaving the jugding up to Him and start loving. +THINK POSITIVE. Do not allow yourself to dwell on the negative. I truly believe that when we think negative or dwell on the negative we are inviting Satan into our lives. Negative thoughts are not virtuous thoughts and we are told in D&C 125:45 to let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly. I wish I could get everyone to understand that you find what you are looking for. LOOK FOR THE GOOD. It is there. I promise. +Stay out of the drama. Drama is dumb. Drama is not for you. Stay out of it. Don't gossip and don't be a drama queen. Understand? Your life will be a lot easier and simpler if you leave drama alone. +Smile. And don't just smile; SMILE BIG. One day, I remember passing this person in the hall at church and I did the whole "casually smile" thing and they smiled and gave me the biggest smile. I'll never forget how that person's smile made my day. Please, smile and smile big. You WILL make someone's day better. +Don't talk bad about ANYONE. I cringe every time I hear someone talking bad about someone. It doesn't even have to be " that bad." If I hear someone talking about someone in any negative way it makes me really sad because that's judging and what was my first point? DON'T JUDGE WHAT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND. Please if you can't say something nice than don't say it at all. Of course we all catch ourselves doing this because were not perfect but please try and be a little more kind towards others. +Believe in the Good.
There is so much bad in the world and sometimes it seems like that's the only thing in the news but there is good out there. Believe in it. Look for it. Don't let the thought of all the bad things going on the world stop you from living a good life. Remember, "be of good cheer and do not fear for I the Lord am with you and will stand by you." HALEE HAPPY MONDAY! I am so excited to announce that Monday Pep Talks are BACK! This has been a huge request lately so I thought it would a great time to start them back up! That is...with a little twist of course! If you read my pep talks then will you please take the challenge at the bottom of the post each week? I think that will help us all get something more out of them and allow to have a goal in mind as we go about our Monday's! I hope you know just how incredibly amazing you are. You are here on Earth learning and growing each day. It's certainly not easy but you are doing it! You are so incredibly capable. I know that because God doesn't give you more than you can handle. Even when it seems like you can't do it any longer take a moment and pray for His help because He will help you. Keep going, keep trusting, you can do it.
I hope YOU know that you are worth it. You are worth SO much that Christ was willing to die for YOU. He died not only to save us from our sins but so He could understand us. He understands just what you are going through. Turn to Him and let Him help. He so desperately wants to help you but we need to ask. Remember, YOU are capable and you are worth it. Now go rock this week. CHALLENGE: Tell someone that they are capable and worth it. You could even text someone or let it be your caption on your Instagram post. Or tweet it. & Go to Instagram and vote for next week's topic! halee I haven't blogged much recently because of 2 reasons.
1. I've been super busy. (I know, I know. "The excuse for everything.") 2. And my biggest reason was that I felt like I was posting just for the sake of posting even if it wasn't a post I felt good and confident about. I've thought a lot about quality vs. quantity lately in all aspects of my life. So know that even if I don't post a lot know that what I do post I've put a lot of thought and time into it. (This goes for my Instagram too.) But, don't worry school gets out very soon and I plan on trying to post on Instagram at least 4 or 5 times a week. :) I've also been thinking a lot my new blog that I will (hopefully) be launching this summer. I plan on getting that project started very soon and hopefully I will have it out by the end of the summer. Also, I AM going to start Monday Pep Talks again very soon but I need some topics because that is seriously the hardest part so please comment and let me know what you want me to talk about. HALEE i can't really call this post "march favorites" when i forgot (more like got busy) to do a february favorites post. so here are my current favorites to all you people who voted to keep these going! food -infused water. i do strawberries, blueberries, cucumber, & lemon. SO GOOD. -clif bars. these things like get me through school. seriously so filling and good and i don't feel guilty about eating them because ya know they are somewhat healthy. i love love the white chocolate macadamia. media [email protected] on instagram. I am loving this account and all the wonderful insights. -hailey devine's norway travel vlogs. the other day i watched them all and now i want to go to norway so so so bad. that place is absolutely beautiful. (watch them here) -pristeen magazine. as you know (or should have seen on my instagram) i got the opportunity to meet the editor in chief of this magazine. she is a member of the church but her magazine isn't just for lds girls its for all girls who want to see some more modesty and still get the latest fashion. it's an online magazine so subscribe for free here. random -thread wallet. i got one awhile ago but I am loving my thread wallet. everytime I look at it I just smile because WATERMELON! I highly recommend them..especially if you're like me and always forget to bring your license with you. what are your favorites lately? xoxo halee I recently got back from TREK! So today I will be sharing with you 5 things I learned + 5 things to know before you go! 5 things I learned from Trek+We are SO blessed. I think we all know this but sometimes we just need to be reminded of this. Trek reminded me again of how truly blessed we are to live in this day and age. On trek we had hot meals, a warm sleeping bag, a trail to walk on, shoes on our feet, decent weather, ponchos, bathrooms, etc, etc. We really don't have any idea what the pioneers went through. Trek is only a glimpse into the life of the pioneers. +With God we are stronger than we think. When I thought I couldn't possibly walk through mud any longer I would say a prayer and ask for help to keep going. I remember thinking there was no way I could put another foot in front of the other and I said a quiet prayer asking for help to keep going. Somehow I was able to continue on. When we ask for His help we can do SO much. As humans we are so limited, but with God nothing is impossible. Never ever forget that and never be afraid to ask for His help because He will help you. +We only have 100% control over 2 things. During a pre-trek meeting someone spoke and something they said stuck with me. (something like) "My dad always used to tell me that I only have 100% control over 2 things and that is our attitude and our effort. And they make all the difference." Think about that. Of the 2 things we have complete control over we don't always do our best do we? We need to have a great attitude and give our best effort in everything we do because they really do make ALL the difference. +Enduring is so rewarding. Trek wasn't easy and neither was enduring to the end. But it was SO rewarding. At the end all of our families were there to cheer us on and let me tell you that in that moment all those miles were so worth it. I am here to tell you to keep going and don't give up. It may be hard right now but it is SO worth it. Keep going. You've got this. Don't give up. :) +Focusing on others is so important. We were told that we thought we couldn't possible go any farther to go and talk to someone and try and make their journey go by a tad faster. When we aren't focusing on ourselves it not only makes it easier for them but also for you! Putting others before you is so very important and rewarding. Stop worrying about yourself and go help someone. Send someone a text telling them to have a good day. Smile at someone. Talk to that person who looks lonely. Serving others makes you feel so good and puts you in a better mood. 5 things to know before you go on Trek +Prepare yourself physically. Exercise in anyway possible a month or two before you go. You have no idea how much this helps. This will make it way easier and will help so you aren't so sore. +Prepare yourself spiritually. Not only do you need to prepare physically, you more importantly need to prepare yourself spiritually. Pray that you will learn something from trek and that you feel the Spirit. Read the scriptures daily and ponder their meaning and how it can help you on the trek. +Learn about your pioneer ancestors. For our trek you had to pick a pioneer ancestor to "walk for." You were supposed to find out as much as you possibly could about the person and you wore a bracelet around your wrist with their name on it to help remind you that if they can do it you can do it for 3 days. ;) I didn't even know I had ancestors that walked the plains so please take a little time and learn about them. +Bring a padded bucket seat. I don't know if this is what every stake uses but if your instructed to bring all of your belongings in a 5 gallon bucket chances are that will be your chair for everything. That bucket is what you sit on to eat and for everything! Seriously, invest in a padded bucket seat. (You can find them in sporting good stores or online.) +Wear your shoes. It doesn't matter whether you plan on wearing tennis shoes or hiking boots wear them lots before you go on trek. You will walk a long ways and I promise you that you don't want your feet hurting because of your shoes. So do your feet a favor and break them in before you go. I hope this can help some of you prepare for trek. Trek is an amazing experience and I hope you all get the chance to go sometime. xoxo, halee |