the last eve of the year.

for most people, new years eve is a celebration just for the new year to come.

but i like to think of it as a celebration of gratitude for the year thats being left behind.

 

a memorial for the things learned; a thank you for the memories made.

 

another chapter in life that accrued progression.

//

thanks 2012, for making me a better person.

--->

i'll wear that christmas sweater.

25 ugly christmas sweaters.

 

 

one for every day of december until christmas.

 

 

and yes i did wear one every single day.

 

family gathering.

that's what christmas meant to me this year.

 

stand true; be genuine.

 

happy winter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

its on those nights

when in the very moment, 

you look at your best friend

and you both think

is this real? it seems to be too blissful.

happy was spilling every where

and staining everyone's faces.

it was one good night.

so good that,
 when you wake the next morning,

it all comes flooding back

 and it leaves a smile on your remembering lips.
 

it was real and it was your happy life.

 

 

 

(shots taken by my 12 year old sister)

Reading

I often tend to spend too much time with my own words.
But the second i venture into someone else's, i fall into complete awe.

singing praises.

3rd v. Then let us all with one accord

sing praises to our Heavenly Lord,

that hath made heav'n and earth of naught,

and with His blood mankind hath bought.

 

Noel, Noel, Noel

Born is the King.

how old is your soul?

 

there's no way [faith] like this can be learned in 18 years.

my soul must be much, much older than that.

biology.

Studying the intricacies of the human body makes me feel so complex and fragile.

 

 

Simply living through each day is a miraculous event.

education.

spend the time.
let your mind run; keep it wide open.
and oh how the experience will be
much more beneficial and highly gratifying.

preference with my best friend.

 

 

 

group. we're all best friends.

 

 

the wyatt duclos.

 

2012 - the last one.

faith:

 

a surety as sure as the rising sun and the blue of the sky.
 

such good days, these are.

i can't complain a word.

 

filled to the brim is my heart,

of more gratitude than you've ever heard.

"winter is for going to temple square and falling in love,

that's why winter was invented."
                                                          --a serious quote

 

 

oh how i love that place.

with the lights,

it's all the more magical.

a challenge:

to bear my testimony via social media:

 

  I feel like describing what the gospel means to me and for someone to know  the miracles I’ve witnessed they would have to read every account I’ve ever written about my life because honestly it’s been the small things that have changed me day to day and helped me become who I am now. 

Beginning in sixth grade when I was a wide eyed beehive leaving primary behind and entering into this strange program people called young woman’s, through junior high when all of my close friends and I would sit around and have testimony meetings on Friday nights.  From all of the summers spending a week in the wilderness with a bunch of crazy girls to all the Sunday afternoons sitting through lessons taught by women I’ve admired so much.  It’s all the countless late nights I’ve stayed up reading the scriptures and writing in my journal and pondering the mysteries of life and God.  It’s all the many sunsets I’ve seen and the mountain tops I’ve reached.  From every seminary class period I’ve sat through and all the confusion and fear that the process of growing up brings.  It’s all the contention I’ve battled in my home because somehow it always turns out okay, every time.  From every melody and lyrics that have ever inspired me to all the conference ensigns I’ve read cover to cover.  It’s all the people I’ve ever encountered with that have taught me and cared about me.  From every testimony meeting I’ve stood up in to every prompting I’ve heard by the Holy Ghost.  It’s the almost invisible tender mercies that are placed in front of me day to day.  From reading my patriarchal bless over and over again and having its phrases proved truth.  It’s the many hours of service I’ve put in and learning how to have a charitable heart.  From the time I walked with Sister Dalton to the time when I sat with a blind special-needs girl and helped her with personal progress.  All the letters I’ve written to my missionary brothers.  It’s all the opportunities I’ve been blessed with and all the trust I’ve ever felt from my Heavenly Father.  From being born into the true church and being put into circumstances where I have thrived and loved.  From every trial and decision I’ve ever been faced with to all the tears I’ve shed while on my knees.

It has been through all of these things that my testimony has been built, and that I’ve been strengthened; they are the reasons I am who I am today.  Through all this I’ve caught a glimpse, a vision of eternal perspective.  That all that—everything I’ve ever experienced, everything I’ve ever felt—is just the beginning; the beginning of this beautifully crazy life that Heavenly Father has in store for me.  I know that if He is my first and foremost priority I will see grace in my life.  As long as I have this desire of devotion to His work, he will be present in my days; lining things up how they are supposed to be, for my benefit, because He loves me.
        I’ve made a connection, a conscience realization: that church and everyday life are one.  God is everything and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints teaches the correct way of life.  It coincides with all truth in this universe.  Living its ways is the only way to fulfill a complete and joyful life here on earth.  And the only way to make it back to live in heaven again and become like God himself.
        When I see my future of adulthood from here on out, I see my life in correlation with God, Jesus Christ, and the principles of Their church.  I know that they are real and I feel their love for me on a daily basis.  I know that’s because of the way I’m living; my actions and my hearts desires.  If I keep it up, my life will be an endured one full of devotion and love towards Their work and a complete satisfaction of pure happiness.  From here on out I’m living my life in the ways I’ve described; always full of faith and hope in His plan.  And this is my life testimony that has only just begun.  I write these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.