Oh no!!

So in the two years that I have been married, I have gained 60 lbs!!!! Between my body changing, trying to fatten John and lots & lots of stress, I lost motivation and didn't make time for myself. Well now why would in high heaven would I be telling you!?!

I have decided to lose weight!!! Yay!!! And ugh!!! But with my sisters help and you all, I know I can do it..... Hopefully! I need to get to a healthier me. I will take everyone's suggestions so please help!

Right before my wedding with Candy & Kendall:

About a year later :( :

Before Jaren's mission:

A couple of weeks ago:

Load Your Handcart

The Lord isn't asking us to load up a handcart; he's asking us to fortify our faith. -  Elder Ballard

Our lesson in Sunday school today was kind of like Elder Ballards quote. We have been given prophets in this age, we have the full gospel in our hands, and we millions of members to support us. We feel like our lives are hard during times and that our trials are ridiculous. But as I read this quote  and listened to the lesson today, I realized that our trials are small and less painful in comparison to the early saints.

Even before the Saints moved west to Utah, their lives were full of persecution and pain. When I think of a big example of the pain and suffering i think of what they went through at Haun's Mill. So many of them where murdered that day just because others didn't believe what they did. They lost so many.

For those of you reading this post who don't know what the heck I am talking about here is in excerpt explaining:

"Haun's Mill Massacre

Author: Blair, Alma R.

On October 30, 1838, segments of the Missouri militia attacked a settlement of Latter-day Saints at Jacob Haun's mill, located on Shoal Creek in eastern Caldwell County, Missouri. Because the attack was unprovoked in a time of truce, had no specific authorization, and was made by a vastly superior force with unusual brutality, it has come to be known as "The Haun's Mill Massacre." It was one incident in the conflict between the Missourians and the Latter-day Saints that resulted in the LDS expulsion from the state in 1839 (see Missouri Conflict).

Tensions had been building up ever since the Latter-day Saints began moving into Caldwell and Daviess counties in central Missouri in 1836. From August to October 1838, incidents of overt conflict had grown dramatically. Rumors abounded that the Mormons planned to "despoil" the Missourians and take their land. Specifically, some believed that the Haun's Mill's population threatened to spill over into non-Mormon Livingston County. Outbursts of violence led Governor Lilburn W. Boggs on October 27 to issue an "Extermination Order," demanding that the Latter-day Saints leave the state or be exterminated. It is uncertain whether this order was a catalyst for the attack, but it is clear that both the Latter-day Saints and the Missourians believed that their rights had been violated and their existence threatened.

Thirty to forty LDS families were at Haun's Mill when some 200 to 250 militia from Livingston, Daviess, and Carroll counties, acting under Colonel Thomas Jennings, marched against the village. Assuming that an earlier truce still held, the residents were surprised by the late afternoon attack. Church leader David Evans' call for "quarter" was ignored, and the villagers were forced to flee for safety. The Mormon women and children fled south across a stream into the woods, while the men gathered in the blackSmith shop, but found it a poor place for defense because the Missourians were able to fire through the widely spaced logs directly into the group huddled inside.

Seventeen Latter-day Saints and one friendly non-Mormon were killed. Another thirteen were wounded, including one woman and a seven-year-old boy. No Missouri militiamen were killed, though three were wounded. Certain deaths were particularly offensive to the Saints. Seventy-eight-year-old Thomas McBride surrendered his musket to militiaman Jacob Rogers, who shot him, then hacked his body with a corn knife. William Reynolds discovered ten-year-old Sardius Smith hiding under the bellows and blew the top of the child's head off.

While women cared for the wounded, the men remained in hiding during the night. The dead were thrown into an unfinished well and lightly covered with dirt and straw. A few Missourians returned the next day, took plunder, and warned the remaining Saints to leave Missouri.

The 1838-39 Missouri judicial proceedings investigating the "Mormon War" largely ignored the events at Haun's Mill, but Latter-day Saints wrote numerous, bitter accounts. The Haun's Mill Massacre became embedded in the LDS psyche as an epitome of the cruel persecutions that they had endured."

Then as the Saints pushed their handcarts over the rough terrain towards Utah. They had little food and supplies, they had to leave much of their furniture. Just think about if you were asked to leave some of your belongings, leave some of your treasured possessions and your home to trek across the wilderness. Could you up root everything and move?

And yet The Lord now is asking so little in comparison. Saints then had the faith to move across the country and settle in a place humans had not lived yet. Do we have the faith to simply read our scriptures, go to church and listen to the prophets? 

We are all born ....

We were all born too late to explore the earth, and too early to explore the stars. -Saphiric

I have always been fascinated by The Elizabethan Era. 

This could be because I was born in England but don't remember anything about it so when I was younger i loved learning everything i could about it. Today I love watching British TV. 

I think it would be amazing to go back in time, with the knowledge that I have now of course, and visit this era. It would be like a Doctor Who moment! 

To go back in time and watch Elizabeth the First take the throne or watch as Columbus finds the Americas, or just even daily life and the what knowledge they did have would be some amazing and educational. 

Maybe one day in the way future, we will have time machine to help educate children on the past. I think someone needs to start crack on that one!!

Please tell me what would you like to do and why either explore the stars or explore the past.....

I'm a Mormon

So I have submitted a profile on mormon.org to be reviewed but for today's post I decided to share it with you:

Hi! My name is Aubrei Michelsen. I'm a wife to a loving husband. I'm a pet groomer. And I'm a Mormon.

About Me

I am a daughter, sister, wife, and friend. I am the oldest of four children with two "goodly parents". My brother and I were born in Upper Heyford, England on an Air Force Base. But we moved back to the States sadly when I was two so I have no memory of England. We were then stationed in Texas for a short time until my father's final transfer to Montana. We grew up in Montana having a great education, a super open sky, security of a smaller city, and love of each other. 

I grew up loving animals....and not just the usual ones but all of them! I definitely love dogs the most but have owned a corn snake, held a tarantula, and cuddled a bear cub. I find animals so interesting and about a year after I graduated from high school, I was searching for a job and stumbled upon the job of an assistant dog groomer. I wasn't sure that I was going to like or even enjoy this job but I had been washing our family dog for years. Well, I had been blessed to fall right into the job for me and am now today the sole professional pet groomer at a vet clinic. I also love to craft, scrapbook, blog, take pictures, and dote on my golden retriever and two kittens.

I am also been a wife for two years. We got married in the LDS Billings Montana Temple. My husband and I moved to Rexburg, Idaho so that he could go to school. He is majoring in Computer Science while I work at the Vet Clinic. We hope to someday have little ones of our own and instill the same values in them that our parents did for us.

How I live my Faith

I mostly live my faith by example. I make sure that when I am at work or in the public eye to not judge others by their decisions. Life is different for each person and choices about their lives are theirs to make and not for me to scold or scorn them about. I am always ready to answer questions about the church when they ask. I am trustworthy and ready to listen to anyone's problems with insightful and spiritual guidance. I always hope to help in the situations they are placed in.

I have been given the chance at this time to watch and teach young children from the ages of 18 months to 3 years old at church. It has been a great blessing in my life to teach them who Jesus Christ is and have them recognize his picture. It always brings a smile to my face to watch them fold their arms and utter what may be to us an incoherent prayer to our Father in Heaven.

Earlier in my life, I was able to teach young women (12-18). I was able to use our lesson manual combined with my own life experiences to help them understand the Gospel and God's plan for us. Life is not always so straight and narrow no matter how much we would like it to be and as I shared my experiences with them, the good and the bad, I would like to say that I helped at least one girl's life at that time become a little straighter.

Why am I a Mormon?

I was born into a LDS family and never really doubted the Gospel when I was young. As I got older and in high school, the mockings I received at school for my standards were numbered in the thousands. It was extremely hard at times to know which path was the right one or which choice should I make. At my brief time at college, I made some not so smart choices. My focus on what was right had become hazy and obscured. Life made a turn for level hard. My relationship with my parents and my Heavenly Father got very strained and I didn't understand why it needed to so difficult.

This is when I received a testimony of the Church....

I know without a doubt that this Church is true. I know that Joseph Smith was called upon The Lord to restore this Gospel to the Earth. I know that he was a prophet and that Thomas S. Monson is the prophet today. I know that the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ and paired with the Bible it is our guide back to our Heavenly Father. I know that Jesus Christ is my Redeemer, my Brother, my Savior and the Atoning One. I know that Christ lived and paid the price for each and everyone of us. I know that my Heavenly Father knows me personally and knows of the struggles in my life. I have a testimony of prayer and its power to communicate with Him. I know that I am a daughter of God and will have the opportunity to again see my Father and Christ, my Brother once again and thank them for their guidance during my Earthly life. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our Second Anniversary

Today John and I have been married for two years!! Two years!! I can hardly believe it. Time has just flown by. I never would have imagined to go so fast or for us to be where we are.

Two years ago, John and I got married in the LDS Billings, Montana Temple. It was a beautiful day even when my mother got me up at six AM to do my hair! I didn't get to see my fiancé at all that morning as we got everything ready and then started the four hour drive to Billings. I was certainly nervous as we got closer and closer to the temple. Not nervous about who I was marrying but about the ceremony. But as we reached the temple grounds my nerves disappeared and I knew I was doing the right thing. It was amazing and beautiful. And I am so glad for our temple marriage. 

Our first year of marriage was a little rocky. We lived in a very tiny apartment barely big enough for us to move around. We had little time between our wedding and John starting school. And having moved to Rexburg, we had no jobs and our future was uncertain. Our ward was judgmental to the fact that I was not going to school and instead working (which is ridiculous). We were unsure of where we were and what we were going to do. Life was crazy and nerve-racking. 

But our second year of marriage has certainly gotten better! We live in a very nice two bedroom apartment where we have actually housed Leisha and Jaren (at different time) while they were here for school. We love our ward and our fabulous bishop. We first stole my golden retriever from my parents and now we also have two little kittens. John works at Playstation Tech Support in Idaho Falls while I work in Rexburg at Upper Valley Vet Clinic as their sole groomer. 

We have been blessed tremendously even though Rexburg is not my favorite place. We thank our Heavenly Father for all that has come our way and ask for his guidance in this next chapter: Our Third Year!  

Happy Two Year Anniversary!!!!