Sharing is Caring

I decided to share a link to Dr. Coyne's media literacy curriculum on Facebook. I'm not one to do stuff like that normally, but after taking this class it's just become too important to me not to let people know! When I think of some of my own bad media habits and where they started, it always goes back to when I was younger and smartphones and social media were just coming available to me. It would have been so good for me to be taught how to use technology responsibly and for good. Hopefully at least a couple people follow the link!

Christmas Devotional

I can't imagine living in a world without being able to watch messages from the prophet, apostles, and other church leaders whenever I wanted! The First Presidency Devotional today was wonderful. I love how all of the talks talked about Heavenly Father's gift to us, Jesus Christ. Thinking of how the gifts we give at Christmas are kind of like the gifts that God gives to us daily, it makes me want to give more meaningful gifts around Christmas! So much of the season has been commercialized, especially when it comes to gift-giving, but when we think of it as our opportunity to be more like God and Jesus Christ it becomes a lot more special. Think of that as you all go shopping for Christmas presents!


(hahahaha jk we're poor college kids. everyone's getting a hand-made card.)

Thankful

A lot of the time we focus on the harm that media can do, but I am thankful for how it connects me to my family! I think the last time I was able to have a Thanksgiving meal with my immediate family was my senior year of high school....five years ago. For the holidays that I can't make it home (which is kind of most of them), I am still able to use FaceTime to see their lovely faces. IT was fun to be with my in-laws in Rexburg for Thanksgiving, but still not quite the same.

It made me nostalgic to see everyone back in my hometown with my grandparents and the usual family friends. It reminds me that even though lots of things change, some things still stay the same.

Anyways, HAPPY belated THANKSGIVING!

Here's an unrelated picture of my niece from this weekend. She fell asleep while waiting for an iPad to charge and it looked like she was the one charging instead :)

Insta Thoughts

Since Christmas is coming up, my parents have been requesting pictures of those of us out "out west" to include in the card. So today my sister requested that we go out and get a good picture for her to send to the family so that the card will be complete and ready to send out. I told her to meet me in downtown Provo by the City Center Temple so that we could take advantage of the fun colored walls.

Everyone knows that in order to get one good picture, you have to take at least 300 to get it right. At least that's what happened this afternoon. And what got me thinking is that when we periodically stopped and checked to see if we were getting any good pictures, my mind would come up with Instagram captions that she could use should she post them.

It's kind of weird to think of just how much social media is a part of my life. I involuntarily spout captions to post with pictures, instead of just enjoying the picture itself! It's all about what others are going to think of it when they see it, how to make them laugh and pay attention to it.

I know you're dying to see a couple, so here they are:

Potential Instagram Caption: Welcome to my Ted Talk

Potential Instagram Caption: You think this is just a peace sign but really I'm talking about the 2 boys I rejected when they asked me to go to prom with them. 

Somebunny to Love

This week I'm thankful for media, specifically random Facebook groups, because it lead us to our new pet!

My sister and I are a part of this random "Wives Club" Facebook group. It's just a bunch of women in what seems like mostly Utah and Arizona that ask for advice, questions, or turns out also to give away a free bunny! I got added by a friend and then added my sister. My sister is the one who tagged me in the comment of the post of this lady in Orem who wanted to give away a bunny. We currently have a hamster, and I'm convinced hamsters are incapable of showing love so she knew I wanted something I could snuggle more. I showed the post to my husband who miraculously agreed that we needed this rabbit in our lives. I attribute his willingness to get the rabbit to the fact that he'd already bought a cage from Facebook Marketplace intending it to be for our hamster who tries to escape often, but it ended up being too big! Perfect for our new bunny though, so once again thank you Facebook!

Media has played a big part of this bunny's first week in his new home as well because even though we named him Albert originally (cuz he's an albino bunny and those words sound kinda similar), I decided to add to his name. I'm rewatching Stranger Things with my husband who's seeing it for the first time, and HOW did I not think of naming him Jim Hopper??? Helloo???? So even though we'd already been calling him Albert for a few days, his official name is now Albert Jim Hopper.

WOOT WOOT THANK YOU FACEBOOK AND NETFLIX!

Too Much Media

This week I have watched entirely too much Netflix, scrolled through a billion Facebook posts, and the same goes for my Instagram consumption as well. And it didn't make me feel great! My husband has been out of the country this past week on a vacation he earned through work and I guess I used it to fill the void and distract myself while he was gone. Surprise surprise--didn't work!

Today I went to stake conference by myself, even though I was kind of dreading it because I'm not a fan of going places alone.  But I went anyways! I sat in the gym area and pretty soon after I got there, a mother and her 4 kids sat in front of me. Her kids acted as any would during a 2-hour meeting that was uninteresting in--a little restless but not too bad really. During the second hour of the meeting she suddenly hands me this note, which thanks me for my patience and invites me over for lunch since she saw that I was alone. I'd never met her before in my life, but I accepted the invitation and went to their house after stake conference was over.

It felt so good to not be by myself! And on top of that,  I got to meet a wonderful family and eat a wonderful meal. I think my takeaway from this is that human interaction can be much more fulfilling than wasted hours on media. This makes me want to be more intentional about how I use media, and not just consume it to waste time. I also want to be more like my new friend Rebecca. To reach out and minister to people more. I can definitely do that through social media....I just need to stop aimlessly scrolling first. 

I MADE ROLLS FOR THE FIRST TIME.

I am not a baker. I don't really cook at all. However, thanks to Instagram, I found a recipe simple enough that even I could make some decent rolls! (They look kinda ugly and mishappen, but the tasted GOOD. and that's all that matters.)

This recipe is called "Overnight Refrigerator Rolls" from A Bountiful Kitchen. I have absolutely no idea how I started following this page, but I'm glad I did. Because now I have some confidence that maybe I can try cooking/baking other things and maybe I'll be successful at that, too.

Thank you social media and @abountifulkitchen for helping me practice new skills!


Here's the link to the recipe:
https://abountifulkitchen.com/overnight-refrigerator-rolls/