As a Matter of Happiness

Yesterday I was thinking of where my life is now, and considered a time earlier in the year when I was faced with a big life altering decision.

 

The specifics of the decision aren't important. What IS important is that at the time I wished I could have seen 15 years into the future to weigh out each option. Where would each decision take me? And which one was going to make me happier? I thought that if I could be told from the beginning which one was going to make me happier, then the decision would have been easier to  make.

 

Yesterday I tried to picture what each future might have looked like - and in my mind, each one looked equally happy. Well that didn't make sense! One should have been clearly better than the other. But as I thought about it, I realized that I would have been satisfied either way. And I never really needed to "see" the future after all. So which one really was better? Well, it was all up to me in the first place.

 

No one could have told me which future was going to end up the better one, because it was all based on my choices. Which future did I choose to be happy about?

 

The decision that I made was absolutely the best one, I'm sure :) And it's because I chose to make it the best.

 

This is not to say that our circumstances don't affect us, and that we aren't somewhat swayed by the situations that surround us. But I am not a believer in fate. We can act for ourselves and create our own futures. However bad the present may seem, the path that we walk moving forward is what decides our ultimate happiness.

 

I've believed this for a long time, but looking through this lens at my recent life choices made everything all the more clear.

 

As I thought about this yesterday, I asked myself if the decision that I made really was the best one after all? And the answer to myself was a resounding YES - because I chose it to be that way :)

 

And as I look down at the smiling baby asleep in my arms, I have never been more grateful for choices.



Blessings, Birthdays and the Best Things in Life

Well, we have a lot to catch up on!

At the end of August I officially turned 25. This was our picture for the day:

It could not have been a better day! My best friends called and visited, sent cards and texted. We went to my parent's house for lunch, spent most of the day chilling at home with Kate, and then Jon and I went out to dinner at FAT'S. After dinner we made it to our friend's gender reveal party for their baby due in January. It's a GIRL! It is so much fun having friends having their first babies at the same time as us :)

My mom got me these gorgeous flowers (which gave me the opportunity to practice my indoor photography)

and between the dresses and the shoes and the nail polish and the sewing supplies, I was TOTALLY spoiled :) Maybe 25 will be the best year ever??

Meanwhile, our lives have been crafty and creative. Both Jon and I seem to have an endless number of projects going. He made this journal for my sister:

As well as a walking stick for Kate (which he did before she was born). He really loves woodworking and burned "Oh the places you'll go" - my favorite Dr. Seuss book - into the wood after carving it down. The grain is gorgeous! He even added a leather wrap as a handle near the top.

Between these hobbies, working with hemp, sewing, jewelry making and preparing for upcoming baby showers, we definitely have our hands full!

In baby news - Kate is 5 weeks old as of yesterday! But I'm a little behind, so here's her picture from last week :)

She is still a calm, sweet baby and slept from 10:30pm - 6:30am last night.

Most days she chills around the house with me and Jon. Margo likes her most of the time.

Last weekend, Jon was able to bless Kate in our church. Traditionally babies are given a name and blessing within their first year of life. It is not a baptism or christening, but an opportunity for the priesthood holders closest to the baby's family to welcome the baby into the world and bless them with all of the things Heavenly Father wishes for their life. Whenever possible the baby's father performs the blessing. It was so neat to watch Jon do this for our daughter!

The day before her big day, we took some pictures. While we were getting Kate dressed, she gave us quite the smile. It just lights up her face! I can't wait to see this more :)

I made Kate's headband as well as this little bracelet for her to wear:

The shoes were probably my favorite part!

 

 And as soon as she was dressed we had a meltdown :) She couldn't stand how pretty she looked HAHA! Good thing this was just the practice run.

 Aw, there's our peaceful girl!

Our family on Kate's blessing day - yes, she slept right through it.

We are SO grateful to everyone who could come!

From left to right: Mike (Jon's brother), Steve (Jon's dad), Whitney Mariner, Uncle Mike, Aunt Judy, Jenny, Chris (Jon's mom), Emma and Katie Roth, Spencer, Craig, Lynnette and Claire Hardy, Mike, Karen, Breanne and David Weber (having a girl!!), Nancy (my mom), John (my dad), Jenni and Ken Thomson, Tiani and Brandon Taylor (having a boy!!), Aby Pineda, Bryce and Crystal and Jace DeWitt, Anna Joyner, Carmen and Christian Joyner, Sarah Isbell, Brenda and Jake Joyner, Me and Jon and Kate, Morgan and Jon Joyner, Jared and Lindsay Joyner, Hayley and Jonathan Joyner, Breanna and Ben Baker, Michelle (my sister), Kelly and Tadd Barnett, Jeremy Leonard and Danielle Howe, and Charlie. HUGE thank you to Louis Mariner for taking this group picture!! (not pictured: Kacy Wyatt, Ken Williams, Amanda Gray, Candice and Parker Humes - thank you all for being there!!)

Back at the house we were able to visit with everyone and Kate was snuggled left and right. She slept through everything until around 11:30 when she woke up to eat. I am so thankful for this girl and her sweet spirit! Some of our friends were only able to make it to the open house. Karin and Larry Hart, as well as Quincy Douglas and his boys - Justin and Shawn. Thank you to everyone who was able to stop by!

Breanne, practicing for her little girl coming in January:

Kate loves to sleep with her hands up:

 

It's become a running joke

 

 Lastly, some before and after pictures of Kate's dress.

I knew I always wanted to have an ivory colored dress for our baby's blessing, but finding pretty vintage gowns online is EXPENSIVE. My mom and sister went out with me and we found this cute one at JC Penney! I liked that it was ivory with the detailed overlay, but the downsides were that it was 12 month size, sleeveless and had this HUGE bow on the front. It doesn't look huge in this picture, but on our 4 week old baby it was overwhelming... I saw a lot of potential though, so we went with it :)

And here is the dress after:

I took in the shoulders to fit Kate better. I liked that the dress went down past her feet, so that was perfect! MANY thanks to Candice Humes for helping me work with Kate as a baby model :) I added the cap sleeves, which I was really proud of!

I took the bow off of the front and added pearl clusters to match the flower that had been in the middle, which I used to turn into a headband

I was lucky enough to find the perfect shoes at Macy's!

 The whole outfit turned out classy and beautiful.

Happy blessing, baby Kate! We love having you in our world :)