HAILEY + BOREDOM = PHOTOBOOTH

This pretty much describes my morning......

Jared & Hailey

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE

1 universe, 9 planets, 204 countries, 809 islands, 7 seas, and I had the privilege to meet you!

MEET JARED: Jared is AMAZING!!! Oh my heck I just adore this boy. He has one of the strongest testimonies of anyone I have EVER met! I love how much the Gospel means to him and how evident that has become to me through just simply watching his actions and how he handles every day situations. Jared is a hard worker and has ambition. He knows the importance of getting things done. One of my many favorite things about him is his love for his family. They are his heart and soul! It is cute just watching him light up as he talks about each of them...can't help but to smile! Jared is HILARIOUS!!! I probably laugh about 100 times a day! He is just an all around GREAT catch! I'm one LUCKY girl, the LUCKIEST!!

HOW WE MET: This is actually a really funny story, I love it!! Jared served in the Eugene Oregon Mission while I was across the country serving in the Southern states. He first met my brother while in La Pine for 6 months. Chad(brother) was his ward mission leader so they got the chance to work side by side the entire time. Jessica and Jet(sister-In-Law and Nephew) actually went out to Utah and stayed with Jared's family for a week last year...How crazy is that!?!!! I of course had no idea who this adorable boy was and what all was going on back home.

Jessica and Jet in Utah with their ward and Lindsay(Jareds little sister)last spring!Lindsay(Jared's little sister) with JetJared on his mission

Story continued... so a little later down the road Jared was transferred to the Springfield area. He covered two wards...my parents ward and my older sister Lindsay's ward!! He served there for 7 1/2 months. Lindsay had a neighbor who had just begun taking the missionary lessons so Jared was over all the time teaching those lessons. Lindsay's little family instantly fell in love with "Elder Turner". Lindsay would always write and tell me about this amazing missionary who she just had to set me up with when I got home. I guess she would say the same things to him too. Neither of us really responded or thought much about of it...just Lindsay being Lindsay..haha I adore her! So when I got home from my mission I was in no way looking for someone to marry or even date for that matter. I was completely content and to be honest I was actually talking to a really GREAT guy who I will always love and respect. Lindsay however had other plans in store. She was in line with our Heavenly Father. I think they were plotting this out together(seriously would not surprise me)! She would not get off this Elder Turner kick. She talked about him non-stop. Apparently she facebook stalked him and sent him a message giving him my number and telling him to call me. He did. I answered. It went well. He asked me out. I said yes. Two weeks later....
THE FIRST DATE:I totally expecting it to be awkward x 10. I was ready to go and get it over with. I was ready for Lindsay to leave me alone with the whole Jared Turner thing..haha So, Jared came to pick me up around 4:00 in the afternoon. The first thing I thought when I saw him was, "Crap, he's a cutie"...haha We hit it off within the first second. It came so naturally. We laughed and joked throughout the entire evening. We went to temple square and walked around a while before eating dinner on the roof top of the Joseph Smith building(over looking the temple). It was an AMAZING view...so much fun! After dinner we went to a space planetarium, statue garden and last but not least hiked Ensign peak...BAREFOOT!!!! It was crazy AWESOME!!! It was a date that I thought nothing about and didn't think anything would come of BUT...It turned out to be a date of a life time. It changed everything in a matter of hours. At the conclusion of that day, I was falling for a boy I hardly even knew. It was the strangest feeling in the world. It was the beginning....More happiness to come in the future :)

The Heart & Love

"Every person in the world has a heart

&
Every heart has a place within
that wants only to love and be loved"

I've been thinking a lot about the HEART lately...sounds silly I know,

BUT........

Isn't it weird that everything that has to do with love comes back to the symbol of the heart?!?!!

The average human heart beats 72 times a minute, 100,000 times a day and about 35 million times a year. During an average lifetime, the human heart will beat more than 2.5 billion times. Every day, the heart creates enough energy to drive a truck 20 miles. In a lifetime, that is equivalent to driving to the moon and back. The heart does the most physical work of any muscle.

I just think it's interesting that the heart is the one organ that has to work the hardest and is also the one organ that like I said above symbolizes LOVE!
The conclusion that I have come to is this: JUST LIKE THE HEART, LOVE TAKES WORK!
A lot of work!
It's tough stuff to love! It's hard at times to communicate, to listen, to be there in times of need. It's hard to get past in-differences, arguments and frustrations.
It's hard to be selfless!
It's hard but it's necessary.
Given the heart's arduous task of supplying the body with blood every day, it must be well taken care of. LOVE NEEDS TO BE WELL TAKEN CARE OF. A heart that is improperly cared for may develop heart disease. Heart disease is the leading cause of death among Americans.
A LOVE that isn't well taken care of will eventually suffer complications and in some cases death.
There are known things that help prevent heart disease...weight loss, exercise, medical treatment, etc. There are also known things that we need to do to prevent "Love Disease"...SERVICE, COMMUNICATION, RESPECT, TRUST, SELFLESSNESS, etc.

I guess the reason I am posting this is because it was the number one thing that I saw as a missionary working among all different types of people in all different circumstances. I feel like the world is forgetting how to love.
I too am guilty of this.
"A friend loveth at ALL times" Proverbs 17:17
Show your BEST FRIEND in life how much you love them and do it often!

The heart keeps the body living but love keeps the soul living