I'm Not Addicted to Pinterest...

Nope! Not even a little bit!...Neither am I in any type of denial...

I'll just keep telling myself that while you browse some more pinterest favorites!
I wasn't sure if I'd do another one of these, but, I just can't help myself! I'm not going to put any links under the pictures, so if you want to find anything just check out pinterest! Or send me a message/comment and I'll look it up for you!

Fish Funeral. CUTE!!

Parenting win.

Love the bed!!

Cute gift for a newly engaged friend!

Yummy looking chicken!

SHOES!! This would probably satisfy my life long regret of quitting ballet before I got toe shoes...

Le Petit Protector Ring Pistol, London, 1870...I know it's a museum piece but I still want one!

Love this. There are honestly people in this world who think that a woman who is a size 8 is overweight. Terrible. I want kids with great body images!

Cookie Dough cupcakes...oh. my. gosh.

Beautiful mom and baby picture.

GORGEOUS ring!

And this is just funny.

Cute slumber party idea.

Officially on my to-do list: dye hair dark. I've been flip flopping between red and dark, I've decided I like dark better. Doing this!!

That's all I've got for the moment. Hope you enjoyed it! Don't forget to visit and follow me on Pinterest at pinterest.com/shess1788/! Have a great weekend!

Less Than Three,
Sarah

Learning From My Mom

First, I want to say thank you to everyone for all of your incredibly kind words and your support! I'm always so deeply touched by the response that I receive when I post about something that is so close to me. We have some of the best family and friends anyone could ask for! So, thank you.

This week I've been thinking so much about all of the things that I am grateful that I learned from my mom. I remember talking to her one day a while ago and I had told her that I had bragged about her a little because she had taught me so much and I had shared one of those things in church. She was surprised because she had always wondered if all of the things she taught me had been more annoying than helpful.

My mom is honestly one of the wisest people I know. And I learned SO MUCH from her. I keep a picture of her in my scriptures (thus the above picture) with some of my favorite "momisms" written on the back so that I will always be reminded of them. So I decided that I needed to dedicate a blog to some of the things she has taught me! So here goes.

1. "After all, tomorrow IS another day!"
I had a hard time in high school. I have never been popular, it just was never me. I had friends, yes, but I struggled a lot. After I graduated high school, life just got harder. Big surprise right? But every time I'd be hitting bottom, I'd call my mom and she'd always quote Gone With The Wind, which just happens to be one of my favorite movies. She'd always tell me that even though everything may feel like it's falling apart today, tomorrow can be different. I can change my life and my circumstances if I so choose to. This instilled the idea of hope, that there is always always hope for a better tomorrow.
2. "Everyone is going through something."
My mom, weather she knows it or not, taught me this concept rather early in life. Everyone is going through something and it is so important to be sensitive to that and treat everyone with kindness. As I grew up, I learned that not only is everyone going through something, but that we need to stop thinking that our circumstances somehow "beat" anyone else. We are given trials that we can handle, however what is incredibly difficult for me may not be difficult at all for you. But that doesn't make what anyone is going through any less valid. So stop thinking that you have it worse that someone else. Because you don't. I don't know where this idea that if we are going though something worse than our neighbor that we are somehow better than them came from. It's not about how many different terrible things you're going through, it's how you handle them. Not to mention, someone is always going to have it worse than you. So there is just no point in getting into a competition over who has it worse.
3. "You find what you go looking for."
This idea spread quickly to all other areas of life. Choose your topic, it fits. This taught me to always look for the positive. It's always going to be easier to find the negative, but you have the choice.
4. "Always look for the positive."
As an extension of that, my mom always told me to decide to look for the positive. I remember her talking about this idea in conjunction with going on a mission and to refuse to find the negative in my companions. I quickly realized that this also applies to roommates and marriage. The negative is there. It's always going to be easy to see, but if you refuse to look for it, well you're just a happier person over all.
5. "Don't make huge life changes for a guy till there is a ring on that finger!"
Love interests come and go, and you don't want to move to some crazy place because of a guy just to have it not work out. If you want to make a big life decision, make sure you're doing it for the right reasons.
Which brings me to...
6. "You don't need a guy to be happy."
I grew up hearing this one from my mom all the time. When I was much younger I thought this was kinda a no brainer...till a) it seemed as if I'd be a whole lot happier with a guy in my life and b) I saw some of the girls I knew really thinking they HAD to have a guy in their life. Then I was very glad my mom had done her best to pound this through my thick scull. I didn't date in high school. That was really hard for me! I can't begin to tell you how difficult that was! For some reason, that meant a lot to me. But it was so much easier every time I reminded myself that I didn't need a Friday night date because I had some great friends and I spent some quality time with my parents. And, though I may not have realized it at the time, I'm grateful for those opportunities.
7. "Refuse to be offended"
My mom had this written in the front of her scriptures. I remember seeing it in this important place and talking to her about why that was so meaningful to her. She taught me that we decide to get offended. We control the way we react to things. She taught me about what happens when you allow yourself to be offended, how destructive it can be. I realized that people don't mean to be offensive very often, and even if they are trying to offend you, you decide if you let them.
8. "The scriptures are precious and to be cherished."
As a little girl, I'd see my mom open up her scriptures every day and I'd see how read and loved they were. There were markings everywhere and tiny notes written in the margins on practically every topic possible. Just from the apperence of her scriptures, I learned that they were something important, something worth reading and getting to know. She also taught me by her example. Seeing her take the time in her crazy busy schedule to read her scriptures as often as possible (pretty much every day) taught me that if I wanted to grow up to be anything close to the spiritual giant that she was, I needed to make the scriptures a large part of my life as well.
9. "There is always time for service."
I grew up seeing my mom constantly taking time to do what she could to help others. I saw her going above and beyond to make service a priority. I learned so much from this! I learned that it is important to put priorities in order and to do what I can to help others. I learned the meaning of charity and why it is so important.
10. "Always go to church. ALWAYS."
My mom would go to church on her death bed! I swear! I always knew when she was really sick because she wouldn't be able to get up for church. But this taught me that it was THAT important to her. It was one of her top priorities and I realized there was a reason for that. She gives her all to the Lord. She puts Him first in her life, no matter how difficult life may get.

She has never had it easy, I have seen her work her fingers to the bone, for me, for her friends, for the Lord, and for anyone who needed it. There hasn't been a day of my life that I haven't wanted to grow up to be like her. She has taught me so much and I hope you don't mind me sharing some of that!
Well, that's it for now, have a fabulous week!

Less Than Three,
Sarah

(By the way, in case you were wondering, my dad is just as wonderful. I might have to do a blog dedicated to him too, but this one is just for mom. Sorry dad! I'll write you one soon!)


My parent's engagement photo!





Making cookies!


Mom and me the day I went into the MTC.


I love you so much mom! I hope you always know that!

Our BIG decision

Welcome back!

Well, you've heard me talk about a big change that might be coming up this year for us. We have been talking and praying and researching for weeks now and we've finally made a decision.

Some of you might already know because we've been making phone calls for advice and references. So, it's probably time to let everyone in on what's going on.
Larry has decided to join the Air Force.
We have had the decision made for a little while now, but I guess I just wasn't ready to come to terms with it before. I NEVER thought I'd be ok with him going into the military. But, as we've prayed and considered the decision, I've been blessed with so much peace and I know this is the right choice and the best thing for us to do right now.

So, we are still in California and working with a recruiter here to get Larry into the Air Force. I know that Larry is passionate about this and he is excited about the possible career options that this will open up for him. We are anxious to have the process done so that we can have some time together before he leaves for basic training, so we are struggling to be patient, but we know all of the frustrations we have had the last few weeks will be worth it. I am so proud of Larry, he did very well on his ASVAB (the test to determine what careers he'd potentially qualify for), well enough that he could honestly do whatever he chose to do in the Air Force. I married a pretty dang smart guy!

I'm not looking forward to having him be gone. We've been together every single day since the day we met and I had hoped to have that continue, but my plans are never quite the Lord's plans! But we have been blessed in this process and I have no doubt that, as we continue on this road we will continue to be greatly blessed.

Anyway, that's really just about it for what I have for you this week. We're still kinda under the weather so we haven't had any exciting adventures this week, but hopefully next week!!
Any words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated, or if you have any questions or comments they would also be welcomed! We love you all and I hope you are doing very well!

Less Than Three,
Sarah

(photo credits to Kimbry Studios, Picture Me Mine Photography, and my dad)

The Story Behind The Title

Hi everyone! So, I usually try to have pictures to share with you from my week, but this week I was pretty darn sick!

Which helped me remember: there is not much that I hate, and I do mean HATE, more than being sick!

So, I am lacking pictures. I have a few from an excursion to IKEA which was a ton of fun, I ended up making a kind of picture wish list of things that I would furnish a home with...you know...if we had a home...
Oh ya, by the way, we're still in California! Yay!!...While we are immensely grateful for the wonderful hospitality of our fabulous friends, we are quite anxious to be getting back to being fully functional adults.

Strange

I know
Anyway! It's story time! It's ok to be excited. I know you are. Don't deny it!

I figured I'd tell you where the whole "Hessy" thing came from. It hails from my mission days. I've never had a nickname so when Jen started calling me Hessy from time to time, as well as a few other members of my district, I was thrilled that I had a nickname for the first time! Let's face it, there's only so much you can do with Sarah...if I had a dime for every time I've heard my name mixed with the oh-so-common "beara"...well, I'd be rich!
Back to my story. So, while I was in Tallahassee, my companions and I were covering three different college campuses. Tallahassee, on a bike, in the summer, three campuses...it doesn't get much better than that! To be honest, my favorite campus was FAMU (Florida A&M University). The campus is gorgeous and the people are so nice!
So, one day Sister Malcom and I were talking to this man who was about forty, and we gave him a pamphlet. Now, if you've ever been a missionary, you know that the chances of someone contacting you again after you've given them a pamphlet are fairly slim. So, when this guy called us a few weeks later, you could say we were quite pleasantly surprised! Now, he had quite a thick accent and so we had a hard time understanding what he was trying to say on the phone, but somehow, my name came up. Someone said "Hess" and he recognized the name (granted, he repeated it as "Hessy")so they handed me the phone. I was able to find out that he was going home to China that day but that he wanted to meet with us before he left. So we hoofed it to FAMU as quickly as we could and were also surprised when he kept the appointment he had made with us. First thing, he wanted to take a picture with us.

Here's where it starts getting a little awkward.

As a missionary, I developed a rather LAAAARGE personal bubble. Which was promptly, and uncomfortably, popped as I ended up standing next to this guy for the picture and he put his had dangerously low on my back. Now, in hindsight, this could have been just the middle of my back and I just over exaggerate the memory because I was so traumatized that I was a missionary and I had some guy's hand on my back...either way, it was VERY awkward!

Not bad right? Just wait. There's more.

So, we head into the Library to find a quiet place where we can teach this guy about what we believe and give him a Book of Mormon before he leaves.

Just a note, before I continue. I'm sure this guy was just trying to start up a conversation, that he wasn't a crazy person, or anything like that.

Ok, now we can move on.
So, as we're walking into the Library, somehow I end up walking behind my companions and with the guy. So I try to start up some small talk, and I think I asked something about China. I wasn't talking loudly, but I wasn't whispering which is why when he suddenly came closer and whispered "You want to go to China?" I felt a little uncomfortable and very very awkward. So I nervously replied "Someday" and sped up a little. Now, at this point I'm dying a little. I was honestly KINDA freaked out! So we all sit down in a study room and we begin to teach the first lesson. God is our loving Heavenly Father, He sends us prophets to teach us how to return to Him, Christ came to earth and after he died an apostasy occurred and the truth and authority of the priesthood was lost, Joseph Smith was called as a prophet to restore Christ's church as it was when he was on the earth, and he was given The Book of Mormon as a second witness of the divinity and mission of Jesus Christ (its been a few years so I hope I didn't leave anything out, but that's basically it in a nutshell). Now, during the lesson, Sister Goodsell offered to let him use her scriptures to read as we referenced several verses in our lesson. To which he refused saying that he could just share mine and proceeded to pull his chair ALL THE WAY around to the other side of the table to sit next to me and read from my set with me. I was freaking out on the inside! He's already gotten farrr too close to me, asked if I wanted to go to China which had sounded a little more like he meant WITH him, and now he's looking for any excuse to be close to me...I'M A SISTER MISSIONARY! This should just NOT be happening!

We ended the lesson and went our separate ways and never heard from him again, but I got plenty of teasing from my companions. We came to the conclusion that he must have thought my name was Hessy...or a close second...hussy...And thus, Hessy was born.

I didn't hear too much of it till I told Jen and my district leader the story and then it just kinda caught on. So when I was looking for a title to this blog, Hessy just sounded rather appropriate somehow.
Aren't you glad you know?! The less than three bit is actually a version of how I sign my entries in my personal journal. I always feel so silly when I'm taking notes in my journal next to someone who I can tell is glancing at it and I'm always fairly certain, seeing that I sign my entries "Love, Sarah". Maybe it's weird, but I feel like I'm writing this long extended letter to someone (probably my future kid) who is going to read it. I don't like the whole "Dear Diary" thing, but I sign it like I would a letter. So Less Than Three, Hessy it is! This is also why I haven't changed Hessy for my new last name, though I've considered it!

Well, there you go! More than you ever wanted to know! But I hope you enjoyed my embarrassment and awkwardness! Anyway, that's all I have for now, hope you have a great weekend and I'll see you next week! Oh! And enjoy the pictures!

Less Than Three,
Sarah

I love the idea of an oval coffee table. So I think this is beautiful and unique.

You'll notice, a lot of the things I love are white. I'm apparently going to have to have the cleanest kids in history...we'll see how that goes...

Kitchen cabinets! I love glass cabinets!

Closet doors!!

Cute little desk!

So, I usually am drawn to white when it comes to couches, however, I feel like it's a little unrealistic. So I figure grey is maybe a more kid-friendly choice. Except with different throw pillows...because those are heinous...

SUCH a pretty entertainment center! I love it!

Caitlyn took a cat nap because that chaise was COMFY!!

The office of Larry's dreams.

The office CHAIR of mine.

I love upholstered headboards! They are beautiful, classic but just a little modern all at the same time!

Why hello there beautiful kitchen!

They bought a couch and Larry and Brian put it together. It was good fun watching them try to figure it out. Not gonna lie!

So we played RISK yesterday. Caitlyn was the red, Brian was the black, Larry was the blue/grey, and I was the green. We got bored at this point and decided we were not so power hungry but mostly just hungry and abandoned the game to get food. We declared Caitlyn the winner!

Have a beautiful rest of your week!