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Silent Night

I have found it quite difficult to catch onto the Christmas spirit this year. And I'm not really sure why. I've made the gingerbread houses, created the christmas cards, watched the christmas movies, made the christmas countdowns, listened to the christmas music, and yet nothing seems to register the "christmas feel" into my soul. I look around my house with all of its decorations and still feel that somehow, it just isn't christmas time. It can't be. Wasn't it just August?

The previous paragraph describes how I have been feeling every single day since Thanksgiving ended. But something changed yesterday. Yesterday was the christmas program at church. It was full of music, which was so wonderful. I woke up in the morning and felt like it was just any other Sunday morning. Since I'm the ward choir pianist, we were practicing for the final time before church. The choir was singing Silent Night and The First Noel. As we practiced Silent Night, a calm feeling came over me and for the first time this season, I started to feel the christmas spirit! I was quickly reminded of the beauty and miraculous circumstances of the night of the Lord's birth. Had I just forgotten that Christ is the reason for the season? Apparently so. Tears were brought to my eyes as I pondered on the words of this sared hymn. And that is not something that occurs often, trust me.

I picture myself being there on that holy night. Time must have stood still. The humble shepards must have stood in awe as they viewed this wonderful baby that would one day serve a mission that only He could serve. He would perform miracles, serve everyone around him, teach the gospel, and ultimately atone for every single person's sins. As I look down on the Christ child with these shepards, the entire world is still going on around us, but somehow we are all unaware of anything else that is going on outside of this stable. Whether noise was being made or not, we didn't hear it. For in this small instance, everything is perfectly silent. Everything. What a powerful and mighty moment, for without it, the world would not be the same.

Silent night, holy night

All is calm, all is bright

Round yon Virgin Mother and Child

Holy infant so tender and mild

Sleep in heavenly peace

Sleep in heavenly peace

Silent night, holy night!

Shepards quake at the sight

Glories stream from heaven afar

Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia

Christ, the Savior is born

Christ, the Savior is born

Silent night, Holy night

Son of God, love's pure light

Radiant beams from Thy holy face

With the dawn of redeeming grace

Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth

Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth

This song has slowly made a biggere impact on me every single Christmas. And this year I have finally realized that although I have never actually recognized it consciously, it is my favorite sacred hymn. Although there are so many other good ones, somehow this one is always in the back of my mind, reminding me of that sacred moment in time. Before I sign off, I'd like to share a story with you that really touched me as well. It's written by an LDS missionary about his first Christmas away from home in St. Petersburg.

"It was Christmas Eve around the world, but just another frosty December night in St. Petersburg, Russia. This country celebrated no such holiday.

Our zone had just presented a Christmas program in the huge Kazanski Cathedral, where we sang Christmas songs and read from the book of Luke. It seemed as if our words and notes drifted up to the lofty ceiling and were swallowed by the darkness. But the sparse audience, mostly members and investigators, had partaken of the Spirit.

Our missionary work hadn’t been going well. People didn’t want to listen to two humble young men give them a message of redeeming love. Perhaps because of my discouragement, the Christmas celebration planned for later that evening didn’t hold much appeal for me.

My boots kicked up some new fallen snow and I shoved my bare hands deeper into my pockets. My gloves had been misplaced at a hotel a few days earlier. In this country, you don’t just walk into a store and buy gloves. You need to search.

Suddenly, Elder Redd sat down on a bench in the small park in front of the cathedral. I thought, Oh, now what? I just want to go home where it’s warmer.

Home was not the right thing to think about. It brought a flood of memories I really didn’t want to ponder right then. This was my first Christmas away, and I was feeling down. Where were all the decorations and the hustle and bustle of the holiday season? What about stockings, Christmas trees, and nativity scenes?

We hadn’t been able to get through to the international operator, so it looked as if I couldn’t make my phone call home either.

Tears welled in my eyes. I turned around so my back was to the wind. As I faced the cathedral, everything began to grow quiet. I looked at the majestic structure in front of me, bathed in pale, green light. The stars above were pin dots on a black shade, radiating calmness and peace.

“Silent night, holy night; all is calm, all is bright. …” The phrases softly entered my mind and drifted in whispers from my lips. “Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.” Elder Redd heard me and joined in a little bit louder. There was a feeling of reverence.

As we sang the second and third verses, a warm realization came to me. The joy, happiness, and peace at Christmas come from within. The material things and outward symbols of celebration bring sweet feelings, but only for a short moment.

Instantly, the thought of sharing Christmas with the other elders became appealing. It would be a gathering of friendship and love. We missionaries all needed to strengthen each other.

Christmas is what you make of it. It doesn’t matter if you’re with family and friends or halfway around the world. The real gifts at Christmastime are the fruits of the Spirit. Paul said, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith” (Gal. 5:22). Could one ask for anything more during the celebration of Christ’s birth? "

Until next time! Merry Christmas!

I'm officially old

Yes- that's right. I am officially 22 years old now, therefore making me old. I have felt old every year since I turned 17 though- so I guess this year shouldn't be any different. My birthday was on Tuesday. The day started out kind of rough actually. It might have something to do with the fact that I'm very sensitive on my birthday in the first place, but here's what happened: I have institute every Tues and Thurs morning at 10, as you all know. I got to institute that day in plenty of time to get a parking spot and everything. The parking lot was entirely full, however. This is not uncommon, so you usually have to drive around for a bit to wait for someone to leave so that you can take their spot. I was not so fortunate this time, however. I drove around for 20ish minutes, trying to find a spot. At this point my class was already started and going, so I ended up just leaving because I could never find a spot. I love my institute class, so this was most upsetting. Then I had some time to kill so I decided that it was time to get my Utah driver's license. I kind of had to anyway because my Missouri one was expiring that day... haha. So I go to the licensing office in Provo, only to find out that I had to go to a different one in Orem, where they offer the written test. The lady gives me the address and I leave. I put the address in my iphone and route the way. At the end of the route on my phone however, I am sitting in front of a residential home in Orem with no licensing office in sight. I then decide that this address must be a typo or something, so I look up the office on my phone, which gives me a different address. After routing the way to this new address, I quickly realize that this was also a mistake, for I end up in the middle of a construction zone. At this point I am extremely frustrated and find myself yelling at my phone, other cars, etc. When I look down at the address I had originally put in my phone, I realize that I had put South intead of North, which is why I was taken to the wrong place originally. I finally find the place and end up having to take the written test to get my Utah license. Good thing it was open book, because I definitely would have failed had it not been. This test seemed much harder than the one I took when I was 15 in MO. But hey, that was ages ago. But hey- at least I have a valid license once again.

After this whole fiasco, my friend Justin came down and we went shopping for candy, graham crackers, and icing ingredients for my gingerbread house party that I was having that night. Afterwords we went to the mall to shop around and then had dinner at PF Changs- my favorite! During this time I was able to relax and get in a better mood, fortunately. When we got home, I made icing and prepared my house for gingerbread house making. I'd say it went very well- and everyone seemed to have fun. Below is a picture of the house I made.

Making gingerbread houses is one of my favorite things to do- so I was able to be in a great mood by the end of the night. I also got some great gifts from the fam- including a camera from my mom and the Edward Cullen barbie from my dad. haha! I must say that was truly unexpected! Well hopefully I'll be able to make many more gingerbread houses before the season is over!

Thanks Giving

Yes indeed, it is that time of year. I just love Thanksgiving. I have been quite horrible at having an "attitude of gratitude" for a majority of this year so far. I suppose that is because this has been quite a hard year for me in a lot of ways. But maybe one of the reasons it has been so bad is because I haven't been grateful for everything that I really have been blessed with. So here is my attempt to really look at this year and remember the good things that have happened.

1. At the beginning of the year, I still lived at an apartment complex and was in the best ward ever, at least in my opinion. I am so grateful for the relationships I was able to create with the bishopric in that ward specifically. The 1st counselor became my dad away from home, and for that I am truly grateful. And the bishop became very close to me as well. Last semester is when I felt my life was crashing down, and these 2 men never grew tired of my breaking down and were always more than willing to give me a blessing at a moments notice. I could talk to them about anything and everything, and I will never forget them.

2. I am SO grateful for my job. The guys that I work with have been just so fun. I've been able to do a lot of fun things (for free!) thanks to my job. Not only are my guys great, but all of my coworkers are so great as well. I have really been able to create some amazing friendships there, and I don't know what I would do without it!

3. I have been taking the 1st half of the Old Testament this semester and wow has it been amazing! I tried reading the Old Testament on my own at one point, and I just wasn't getting anything out of it. But now it's like all of these new truths have been opened up to me, and it's been awesome!

4. So background real quick- McDonald's used to have these plastic chicken nuggets with halloween costumes on them for their happy meals toys every year for halloween. My mom thought they were SO cute and therefore decided to collect them all. My brother and I would always want to play with them, and my mom pretty much forbade it. We did it anyway of course... but she would always get on our case about playing with them because I guess she thought we would lose them or something. So I know it sounds silly, but the halloween nuggets are a special little halloween thing that our family has. This year, to my utter surprise, she sent me a package for halloween, and in it was the nuggets! I couldn't believe it, and it actually brought a tear to my eye. haha. For that I am grateful

5. One of my best friends, Justin, moved down to Arizona a few years ago. It was very sad for me, but we still stayed in touch and I always looked forward to our phone conversations. Well as of a couple months ago, he is back in Utah! Yes, it's SLC instead of Provo, but I am still so excited to be able to spend time with him on a regular basis as opposed to having to make due with phone conversations. He is the most happy, upbeat person ever, and I just love being around him for it! So as you can probably already tell, I am very grateful for Justin.

6. I moved into a new place in the fall. I was a little afraid because the girl I was supposed to be rooming with decided to drop out, which left me living with 5 strangers. I haven't had the best of luck with random roommates in the past, but it has turned out to be a great living situation. All of my roommates are awesome and we all get along really well. For that, I am truly grateful.

7. So yes, this is probably silly to a lot of you, but I am very grateful for my iphone. I've had it for a few months now, and it has truly changed my life! I have all information literally at my fingertips. I can keep track of my finances, look up movie times, get directions to anywhere, etc. It has truly been an amazing thing to have.

8. I am very grateful for my personal journal, for it keeps me sane on a regular basis. Without it, I would probably be in an institution. :)

9. I decided to subscribe to TIME magazine a month ago or so, and I am very grateful for it. I feel like I actually know what is going on in the world, and it has made me more educated, therefore making me a better conversationalist. I often find myself tying what I read in TIME into daily conversations.

10. I am very grateful for my friend Tasha. She is so amazing. She is the most loving, caring, selfless person I know. And I can learn so much from her example. I am very blessed to have her in my life.

Well there's my ten of 2009. More updates to come!

November is HERE!

2009 is quickly coming to an end... and I'm not sure how I feel about that. This year has gone by really fast, and yet I feel like I haven't accomplished much of anything. If anything, it hasn't been an awesome year at all. I suppose some years have to be like that. It's not that this year has been oh my word awful, it's just been kinda blah. I need to be better about being more productive with my time, and I mean really! Now that I've got that little tid bit off my chest, onto more important things. This past week has been ok I supposed. The weekend, however, was interesting to say the least. I went on this blind date- long story. And boy was it awkward! It was with this guy that is 27, in the military, drives a jeep, etc. I don't think the conversation could have been more forced. I know I'm not the most outgoing person in the world, and I know that in general I have the tendancy to be extremely awkward in social situations. This being said, I feel like I have the right to harp on this guy and his utter lack of being able to have a conversation at all! The date was in Salt Lake, meaning that we had close to an hour there and back to just be by ourselves, talking. I guess my main problem is that he did not ask ONE question about myself. Not ONE!!! Isn't that how conversation works these days? I mean, it wasn't filled with a bunch of awkward silence. But that's just because I had to wrack my brain constantly for questions to ask him, and it quite literally drove me nuts! There's only so much you can ask a person if they won't give you something to go off of, right? Oh well, I guess not all dates will be awesome. I'm just extremely disappointed that there are people out there who haven't figured some common sense things out... haha

On another note, I have decided to start a card making business! I have been making homemade cards for friends and family for a lot of the holidays for the past few years and I have realized that I really do have a talent for this. So why not make profit? I'm not usually very confident in my talents and abilities, but in this I am. So I have already started to make some Christmas cards. It takes me quite a while to come up with a concept and then make the card, so I figure I'll be ready to sell cards in 6 months to a year's time. But I'm really excited about this because I just think it could really work out, if I'm willing to put the time into it. So yeah, that's what has been on my mind as of late. Hopefully more to come soon!

Creativity Needed...

So I have spent the past few days looking at blogs that my friends have. I feel like all of theirs are so creative and fun to read... I guess comparing yourself to others is never a good idea. But I feel like this is ok because it's not that I don't know how to be creative, it's just that I need to actually use it. I'm a creative person, darn it!! So I need to get going on it. Look for more creative posts soon!! Well I'm off to start the Halloween festivities....

While My Soup Cooks....

Well I have some chicken noodle soup cooking in the microwave, so I figured I would start to update my blog while it cooks... yes this only takes 2 minutes, and it will take me longer than 2 minutes to actually write all of this, but at least I'm getting started. I just figured I would explain my title for the day. I feel like I haven't done much since my last post, and yet when I really look at it, I suppose I have done a lot. Most of it I did at work, but hey that's why my job is so great. On Wednesday, Randy's brother, Dennis came to the house with his Harley. The guys LOVED it. So we took pictures of course. Then we ate pizza and looked at all of Dennis' pictures from all of his Harley trips. It was a lot of fun! This is Randy and Dennis about to go on a ride around the neighborhood.

Then this past Friday night, I went over to my friend Tasha's and we carved pumpkins. Mine is the one on the right. I just love carving pumpkins. It's one of my favorite parts about Halloween. We also made lots of fun Halloween cards and listened to Halloween music. It was one Halloweeny night!

Then on Saturday, I went to Thanksgiving Point with work to do the corn maze! It was a lot of fun. There was tons of fun stuff to do! It was so great. We did the corn maze , took lots of fun pictures, and went on a hayride. There was other options, but the guys weren't really up for anything else. This is Kurt and I inside the maze. It was pretty difficult! I was kind of surprised.

So that's about all for now... I've got to go grocery shopping.... More updates to come!

Yet Another List

Well I'm starting this entry without really having anything in mind that I want to tell everyone. So perhaps it will become more clear as I continue to type. This past weekend was a good one. On Friday night, I went out to dinner with some old roommates and neighbors. It was a lot of fun and we got to catch up. Afterwards my friend Justin, who lives in Salt Lake now, took me to his friends apartment and we played games. We played a card game called Guillotine (spelling on that one??) and then Taboo. I must say that I was rockin at Taboo and our team won of course. :) On Saturday I worked and then that night I went and saw "Where the Wild Things Are" with all of my roommates. I was quite excited to see this movie because I grew up reading this book, and I was quite impressed at how well they created a film lengthed story line based on a book that is only 10 sentences long. The movie is so sad though!! Maybe I was just in one of those uber sensitive moods, but it just really got to me. I don't want to spoil the movie, but I guess I just felt I could relate to Max, the main character, in some ways, even though our situations are really nothing alike at all. The kid in the movie was an excellent actor though, I must say. Yesterday was church of course. After church we had our first choir practice. My calling this year is the ward choir accompanist. I'm trying so hard to not be negative about this, but I just don't like choir. I don't like being in choirs, I don't like listening to choirs, and in the past I haven't liked accompanying choirs. So hey- maybe this experience will change my mind about the whole choir situation, but for now I will have to suck it up and do my duty. It might not turn out to be so bad afterall.

Well it's time for me to focus on a few positive things in my life. Lately I feel I have been enveloped in a world of stress and negativity and I feel the best way to get over that is to focus on the positive, which I must admit I have not been the best at throughout my life. So here it goes!

1. I got my Food Network magazine yesterday. I don't get to cook as often as I'd like, but I still just love looking through this magazine and reading all of the articles. Plus it gives me the motivaton to cook, and I have awesome recipes to choose from when I do find the time.

2. My institute class is amazing. I just got back from it, actually. I feel like I talk about it all the time, and I could seriously make a blog dedicated to just the Old Testament now, but it truly is amazing how much I have learned and how much the law of Moses for example, really does apply to my life.

3. Speaking of the Old Testament, I watched the Prince of Egypt yesterday and I just love that movie. The story of Moses is just incredible in itself and then having such amazing music to accompany the story is just so fun to watch and experience.

4. I got a letter from my friend Tyler in France the other day! When I first wrote him, I really didn't think he would ever write me back, or that he would just write me back once and that was it. But he has turned out to be such a good little pen pal! And we can write our letters in French, which is always fun.

5. I subscribed to TIME magazine, and wow am I glad I did that! There's something about being aware of what's going on in the world that just makes me feel more intelligent, and it's always good to feel smart.

6. One of my roommates has really inspired me to write a book. I told her about my idea, which I've had for a while, and yet never really put anything into it because I didn't think anyone would be interested in reading it. But she's interested, so it makes me think that other people would be too. So I've started outlining stuff, which is definitely a step in the right direction. Want to know my idea? You'll just have to wait a little bit for that one...

7. I absolutely LOVE the ellen show. It is seriously so fantasticly funny. Ellen is so great, and it just brings a smile to my face. I watch it every day at work, and it's just one of those little things in my life that makes me laugh.

8. Another great thing to watch on TV these days is "Glee." Wow is it so inventive! I love all of the music , the storyline, and just the acting in general is amazing. It's the perfect tv show, seriously.

Well that's all I've got for now... until next time!

Bucket List

Well look at that... it is STILL October and I am updating my blog once again. This past week has been kind of a blah week, but I suppose there are still some highlights to add in. I am continuing to attend my Old Testament class every Tuesday and Thursday mornings. And wow am I learning SO much. I really look forward to diving in and studying the Old Testament every day and really look forward to going to class every week.

This weekend has been a good one for me. I spent most of yesterday up in Salt Lake, visiting my friend, Justin, who just moved there. It was so much fun to see him! Especially since I haven't been able to see much of him in the past two years, since we haven't lived in the same state and all. We went to lunch at a cute little Japanese restaurant called Koko's kitchen and shopping at Trolley Square and the Gateway. After that it was time for dinner, so we made grilled cheese and tomato soup and watched the Office. So funny! It was a really great night. Then today for work, we all went to the zoo. Our new guy, Randy (on the left) moved in last week and it has been a joy to get to know him. It was quite chilly out today, but it was actually a really enjoyable little visit. I'm not usually the biggest fan of the zoo, but all of the animals seemed to be perky today and it wasn't really hot, making it the perfect zoo day.

Well both of my parents had birthdays in the past week or 2. Having that in mind, I found multiple books yesterday while shopping that were something along the lines of "100 things to do with your life now that you're 50" or just things to do in general during your lifetime that if you haven't gotten accomplished yet, it was time to do. It really got me thinking about some goals that I wanted to set for things I want to get done in my lifetime, whether they be big or small. There are a LOT of things I would like to do, but I think I'll limit my list to 10 top goals I would like to accomplish by the time I die, if not by the time I'm 50.

1. Get a college degree- it might take me until I'm 50, but hey I'm going to do it! :)

2. Go to Jerusalem- if not for a semester abroad, then just in general

3. Learn to play the violin- I plan on doing this after I get married and have kids. Pretty much once all of my kids are in school, so I will have something to do during the days.

4. Play the 3rd movement of "Moonlight Sonata" on the piano- yes I WILL do this! This is not the traditional moonlight sonata that most people know, you will have to look it up to know what I'm talking about.

5. Volunteer in Africa- not really sure when I'll have the chance to do this, but I plan on doing it one day

6. Be in the live audience of the Ellen show- she is so great! And gives free stuff to people! lol

7. Stay one night in the Ice Hotel in Quebec, Canada and go dog sledding during the same visit- Look it up if you don't know what I'm talking about because it is awesome!!

8. Eat at one of Bobby Flay's restaurants (I mean the way fancy ones) in NYC- Bobby Flay is my favorite chef and I've never been to a ridiculously nice restaurant, so that's my reasoning behind that one.

9. Run a 5k- that's right! I'm already on my way to accomplishing this goal, if I can just stay on the right track

10. Write a book- I'm not really sure what kind of book yet, whether it be an autobiography, children's, research, or fiction, I will write one!

K those are a few of the things- or part of my "bucket list," if you will... What kind of things do you want to accomplish with your life?

This and That

Alright, well... it's about that time that I got back on the bandwagon for updating my blog.  I've heard enough comlaints to make me want to change my ways! :)  So here are some pictures to show you what I've been doing with my time recently.  Last week, my friend Barbara came in town from St. Louis and we had a lot of fun.  This first picture is of us and our friend Justin.  We are at a park... which you can't tell from the picture... but that's where we are.  That weekend I also had a house warming party for my new house that I moved into.  I'll put pictures up of my new roommates soon- don't worry!  Anyway... it went really well I think.  We had about 50ish people there.  I made red velvet cupcakes and they were a huge hit!!  

Barbara and I also took our friend Trevor, who recently got back from a mission in Russia to go see our friend Miles, who goes to Utah State.  It was a lot of fun!  We went to this sit down restaurant (where Miles' brother Nathan also joined us) and got a whole meal for $2.50! Can you believe it?  It's some deal they have every Monday from 3-5.  So that was good.  Then we went to this carnival, where Trevor caught a goldfish (as seen in the picture below) and we went frisbee golfing! Wow did I suck at that... but it was still fun.  

Another thing we did that weekend, was go and see my brother's water polo game.  He plays for the U and it was an awesome game!  He was the star of the show.  He was scoring left and right! At one point this guy sitting next to us was commenting to these girls saying "Are you enjoying the Parker show??"  That just goes to show you what a star player he is!  Although I'm not a big sports person, I do enjoy water polo, especially when Pooky is playing.  The final score was 20 to 14, Utah.  And Parker scored 12 of those 20 goals.  This picture of him isn't very clear, but it was hard to get a good one from up in the stands.   

I have also been attending institute at UVU this semester, if I haven't mentioned this before.  And wow is it incredible!!  I'm learning about the first half of the old testament and boy have I been missing out.  I have read a lot of the old testament before, but I never even dreamed how much more I can get out of the stories it has to offer.  My teacher is amazing as well- and for that I'm extremely grateful.  

Work is also continuing to go well.  We've had quite a bit of change lately- but I think in the end it will be a good change.  One of our guys moved out of the house for various reasons - none of them bad, but it's just too hard to explain... and we are getting a new guy at the house! He moves in this weekend.  Even though he hasn't moved in yet, I've already met him multiple times and I think he's going to be a very good fit with the other 3 guys and the staff.  More info on that later.  But due to that, my schedule at work has changed a little bit.  I'm slightly frustrated by that... but I'm sure I'll get used to it in time.  I now get off at 9 PM on Thursdays and then work 5-9 AM on Friday mornings.  Tomorrow is the first time I will actually be doing this!  It'll probably suck at first... but I'm sure I can handle it.  Hopefully it isn't so permanent.... but for now it is until someone quits basically.  

My diet and exercise are still going quite well.  I am still doing the couch to 5k program.  I went running on Tuesday night at work (we have a treadmill) and I have been SO sore ever since! I'm not really sure why..... but it's back to the running tonight!  I've also been doing a slightly different version of the Special K challenge.  It's not as strict, but still healthy.  I recently discovered an awesome sandwich though, which I found the recipe for on the Special K site.  It's wheat bread, turkey, hummus, lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers.  It's called the medditerranean turkey.  And it's SO good! Simple, yet tasty! The original recipe calls for red peppers instead of tomatoes, but I didn't have any red peppers so I made the switch.  I guess let me know if anyone tries it that way and likes it!

Two quick side notes before I leave:

1. I saw Fame and it was awesome!! I would recommend it to anyone that likes musicals! Or just movies with dancing in them... and it's PG, so it's clean!

2. Current songs I feel people need to look into are :

*Blame it on the Girls by Mika

*Say Hey (I love you) by Michael Franti & Spearhead

*Bulletproof by La Roux - if you hurry on this one you can get it free on itunes this week!

That's all for now! I will be updating again soon!

P.S.  I've added some new things to my blog so make sure to check them out! You can preview some of the songs on my top 10 list.  Also- you should follow me if you aren't already!

Self Improvement

Ok! Once again I have been horrible at keeping up with this thing.  But I am going to do better!!!  So in August I went back to St. Louis again, as seen below.  This is me at the Cardinal's stadium.  My mom and I went there for an engagement party of a friend's.  It was very nice.  And the stadium is just so photogenic, don't you think??

Anyway, August was a crazy month!  I did a lot of things in St. Louis that were a lot of fun.  The first night I got there, my youngest brother and I went to the Fox to see Mary Poppins.  It was SO much different from the movie, but I still really enjoyed it.  I think he did to, but it's always hard to tell with 12 year old boys.  The next night was Parker's going away party, since he was going off to college and all.  My dad was the chef and we had gourmet burgers and hotdogs.  And boy were they gourmet!  It was quite impressive.  Other events that happened during the week were going to Justin Firth's eagle court of honor, going to forest park for all sorts of fun, and the engagement party mentioned before.  When I got home from St. Louis, I had to be out of my old apartment at Alpine Village.  Moving was problematic because I had to wait a week in between moving out of my old place and moving into my new house, so I stayed with my aunt and her family for the week.  It was fun, but slightly annoying to not have access to all of my stuff.  

So now I'm in my new house!! It's an old house south of campus and it is incredible.  I absolutely love it.  And my roommates are awesome as well, which is always a blessing.  Things have been going very well.  I have this new strength this semester that is so incredibe and overpowering.  It seems odd to be having such an air of motivation at this timing, but I'll take what I can get!! I have started to really get my life together in all areas.  Health wise I am starting a running program called couch to 5k.  I heard about it from a dear friend (since she was offended when I called her a family member haha) (Kerry!!!), who heard it from another friend (Melissa!)  It's basically a program for people who never exercise to get fit enough to run a 5k.  On top of that I am simply eating healthier.  I just finished my first week and it went fantastic.  I already feel great and can't wait to keep going.  

Another thing I am doing is going to an institute class every Tuesday and Thursday morning at UVU.  It's the Old Testament and wow is it great.  Our teacher is amazing and has helped me to truly appreciate the old testament so much more than I have before in the short 2 weeks that I've been in the class.  Like seriously wow!  Work is also going extremely well- but that's not really out of the ordinary.  So that's my life as of now- more updates on the self improvement and other happenings in my life to come soon!

Busy in July

WOW! It's already August!! Boy was July a busy month.  I feel like I didn't have any time to breath.  So what did I do? Well for the 4th of July, I went to the stadium of fire with Greg and Kurt.  It was awesome!! Stadium of fire is basically a concert and firework show.  The fireworks were some of the best I've seen in my life.  The concert was the Jonas Brothers.  I'm not a die hard fan, but it was still really enjoyable.  Watching Kurt dance was the really funny thing.  I had a hard time watching the concert or fireworks because it was just as fun to watch him enjoy himself so much.  It was a lot of fun, I got to go for free, and I got paid killer holiday pay that day!  So overall a fantastic day.  My mom and brother came out again because Pooky had new student orientation at the U.  It was fun to see them, as usual.  We just chilled in Salt Lake for most of the time, but we also spent some time in Ogden with my Uncle and his family.  One cool thing we did was go to the open house of the Oqquirh Mountain Temple.  It was very beautiful and there was such a peaceful feeling within the building.  A very good experience.  My cousin, Jordan also got married in July.  My dad came out for the event and it was a lot of fun.  She got married in Salt Lake and then she had a reception in Pleasant View in a nursery.  A nursery  may seem like a weird place to have a reception, but it was absolutely gorgeous.  It was a fantastic day.  After the wedding, I spent the weekend at the farm aka my grandparents house with my dad, aunt, and cousins.  It was very nice to spend time with my dad.  We don't get to spend alone time together very often, but it's always fun when we do.  After my dad and aunt went back home, my cousins and I stayed an extra day or so to make a quilt with my grandma.  It was my first quilt!! And I think I did quite well for a first timer! It's a purple square patch quilt and I love it.  I do have pictures to put on here, but I haven't uploaded them to my computer yet, so I'll have to add them into my next entry.  This past weekend was also full of fun.  I went down to Zion's National Park for the first time with 2 of my roommates (Heidi and Hilary), Hilary's boyfriend, two of his friends, and one of Heidi's friends.  We stayed at this ranch that is managed by Hilary's aunt.  We stayed in a cabin that was super nice.  There was 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and plenty of room for us to chill and have lots of fun.  We went up on Friday night and the spent the time playing games such as pictionary.  Then the next day we got up and went hiking in Zion's.  It was a very short hike- only one mile, but it was awesome.  Then after that we went and swam in some natural pools.  The boys spent most of their time jumping off the rocks and taking pictures while the girls just relaxed in the water and cooled off.  Afterwards we went to the ranch's pool and spent a few hours there.  A long day in the sun was a lot of fun, but meant a terrible sunburn for me! :)  I'm just now recovering haha... a week later... but it was worth it because it was a lot of fun.  That night we went to a free rodeo that the ranch put on and then a dance.  The dance was kind of a bust, but overall the day was great.  Once we got back to the cabin, we built a fire and made smores, which were very tasty.  Then we all left the next day in the morning! So yeah, that was pretty much my trip.  So yeah that's what I've been up to.... I promise to add some pictures on my next post, which will hopefully be sooner than later!

Sweet Time Style

Well I haven't been up to much since my last post.  Everything I do revolves around my work, as you probably have figured out by now.  This past Saturday, we took the guys bowling, which has become somewhat of a tradition every other Saturday.  This time we decided to bowl as well.  When I say we, I mean Rachel, Jeremy, and myself.  Whoever got the lowest score had to buy everyone doughnuts.  Now I royally suck at bowling, like hardcore.  Rachel does too fortunately, but this time I lost by a few points, and had to buy everyone doughnuts.  It was still a lot of fun though, so I was ok with it.  I had never actually lost before, so I guess it was my turn to buy everyone something.  I also went camping this weekend with Tasha, Alysha, and Rachel (different Rachel.)  It was a lot of fun! I just love camping.  There's something about being out in the open with nothing but a fire, tent and sleeping bag.  The tent we had was way awesome.  The whole top was mesh, so we could look out at the stars all night. It was great.  Looking out at the stars always makes me feel so incredibly small because it reminds me of all of the many creations that are out there, and how I have such a small role in the universe.  It is truly amazing.  I need to go camping more often, especially since it's summer and all, and I live in freakin Utah!  I also hung out with my good friend Miles yesterday because he is back from his mission! It was so good to see him.  We made a music video together to a song that he wrote.  The song is called Sweet Time Style, hence the name of my post today. It is an awesome song, and hopefully a soon to be awesome music video.  I'm in the process of editting it now, so hopefully it will be done soon.  But yeah it's a short post today, but that's what I've been up to! more to come!

Home and back again

Welp, looks like I have once again slacked on updating this thing.  But that's cool, at least I'm doing it, right? A lot has happened since my last post.  On May 27th, I flew out to St. Louis for 10 days.  The 27th was my youngest brother, Ethan's birthday.  He turned 12!! I just can't believe it! My BABY brother is only an inch or 2 shorter than me, which is quite upsetting actually.  But I guess he has to grow up eventually, even though I don't want him to... :( Anyway, we just had a simple little cake and ice cream deal that night, which was really nice.  Then the next night was Pooky's graduation, as seen in the picture below.  It is also so weird that my younger brother is graduating from high school when I still feel like I just graduated.  But it was a good night overall.  

That weekend was also a very special weekend for me.  On Saturday night I went to an open house for my friend Tyler, who was leaving for his mission the next week.  He is going to Paris! Anyway, his family is very dear to me.  His mom, Michelle, is the one that I've mentioned before with the terminal brain tumor.  She only has a few months left at best, so I just wanted to soak up my time with her.  She is just such an amazing person that I've always admired in every way possible.  She always has had such a way of making me feel good about myself and is so friendly and wonderful to everyone that she comes into contact with.  It really is heart breaking that her son is going on a mission and she probably won't be there when he gets back.  Life really is unfair sometimes.  Before I came out to St. Louis, I was getting extremely wrapped up in my own problems.  I was feeling so alone, like no one could understand what I was going through.  I was angry and bitter towards my circumstances, and thoughts of Michelle only made me more bitter because I felt it was just so unfair that she and her family had to go through such an extreme trial.  Getting to visit with her and be at home really was such a slap in the face.  The next day (Sunday) I went to Tyler's ward to hear his farewell talk.  His talk was so touching and I was so proud of the man that he has grown up to be.  As he started to talk about his mom, there was not a dry eye in the congregation.  He talked about the plan of salvation and how even though he might not see his mom right when he gets back from his mission, he will still see her again.  I can't explain how hard that hit me.  It was like something I've known all along hit me over the head, and it hit me hard.  I can't believe how wrapped up I was in my own emotions and trials.  It really caused me to lose sight of the big picture, and why me or any of us are really here.  All of my anger and bitterness was melted away and it was just reaffirmed to me that I will see Michelle again, even though this trip was probably the last time that I will ever see her.  After the meeting I said goodbye to Michelle.  I will never forget that moment.  Time seemed to stand still for a minute.  Michelle and I just hugged and cried.  I had so many things that I wanted to say to her, and yet the only thing I could really say is that I love her.  Sometimes the short, sweet goodbye's are the best.  She insisted that I don't say goodbye, because we both know that we'll see each other again.  And I really do know that.  I guess I just forgot temporarily.  I could sit here and be angry that I don't get to spend more time with her before she goes, or I can just be grateful that I got to have that moment in my life.  I'm just grateful that I was able to take the pebble out of my eye and once again remember that there is so much more in this life than just me and my big, and yet miniscule problems.  So yeah, there's my deep thoughts for the day.... On with the rest of my trip...

The rest of that week I really didn't do much.  I spent a lot of time with Ethan, which was a lot of fun.  I took him to lunch and to see Star Trek for his birthday.  It was such a good movie! I was expecting it to be good, and it definitely exceeded my expectations.  We has a family also went and saw the movie UP, which was very cute. I just love kid movies, so of course I loved it.  I also went to the Botanical Gardens with Daniel Boone, as seen below.  It was SO humid! But it was still a very good little trip.  I love going there.

So yeah.  I also spent time with my parents and Parker, which was fun.  I didn't spend a LOT of time with friends, but I guess that's just how I am whenever I go home to St. Louis.  I spent time with the Leimburgs of course, but really I see them as family, so they don't count as friends.  :)  Well I think that's all for now... 

A New Week

K aren't you proud of me for updating my blog and it's only been a week? It is truly amazing.  The month of May is truly going by SO fast.  It's weird though because sometimes I feel like this summer is dragging by... but then when I really look at it I realize that it's actually going by pretty fast.  So this past week was a good week.  My friends and I have started weekly breakfasts on Wednesday mornings.  So this Wednesday was our first breakfast.  Jer made french toast and then we had hashbrowns.  It was super tasty!  Afterwards we watched Taken.  I've been wanting to see this movie ever since it came out in theaters, but I just never got around to it.  It was so intense!! But considering that I love intense movies, I would give it a pretty darn good rating.  I was a little taken aback, however, by how violent it was! Liam Neeson does not play games! Anyway, I have enjoyed our little breakfasts together and I hope to keep the tradition up for the summer at least.  

On Friday I took Kurt and Scott to the special olympics preliminaries. (sp?)  It was a lot of fun.  It was only track events, basically to make sure that everyone was qualified to do their certain events.  Kurt and Scott both did assisted walks, which meant we had to walk with them to make sure they stay in their lanes.  Kurt was a little speedy gonzales!! I had to like jog to keep up with him!! So yeah, that was fun, and I got some sun.  I won't be able to go to the actual olympics, since I'll be in St. Louis, so I'm glad I at least got to do this.  That night I went to Tasha's for a house warming party because she just moved into a new apartment.  We had dinner and played cards, always a favorite activity of mine.  

Saturday we once again went bowling with the guys.  I've really come to like bowling at work, even though I don't actually bowl.  Kurt is a good little team member! We got 2nd.  And then we all got jamba juice afterwards.  After work Jer and I hung out and then went to dinner with Tasha.  We went to guru's, which is my favorite Provo restaurant.  It is an awesome, trendy atmosphere and the food is delish too.  It's also one of the few places that I actually enjoy their desserts.  SO good.  And their sweet potatoe fries are to die for.  So yeah... that's pretty much my weekend.  Sunday was a nice relaxed day with church and all.  

So yeah I haven't taken any pictures lately... I guess I should get on that one.  But life is good and hopefully I will write again soon!

Chick Flicks

Wow it's been a while, hasn't it?  I'm getting really bad at keeping this whole thing up.  April was an extremely busy and stressful month, but the good news is that I got through it alive!  Barely... Well I have officially finished 3 years of college now.  Finals ended at the end of April, which means it is officially summer break.  I am just working the same old job - but I really do enjoy my work.  We have done a few fun things since I last wrote including going up to eat at the Mayan and going to see Coraline in the dollar theater.  For all of you that are wondering if you should go see Coraline, I would strongly recommend NOT seeing it.  While the animation was awesome, the story was extremely weird and uninteresting.  It was also extremely creepy for a kid's movie.  But hey, what do I know?  Other movies I have seen lately include Wolverine and Ghosts of girlfriends past.  Wolverine was, in my opinion, incredible.  The special effects were great, the plot was twisted and interesting, and Hugh Jackman is amazingly good looking, so you really can't go wrong.  Ghosts of Girlfriends past, however, was not that great.  I don't know why I continue to go see "chick flicks" when every single time I just straight up don't like them.  Can we say predictable?  I guess I don't hate them, and when I see the previews I honestly do want to go see them, but then it's just disappointment every time.  The movie wasn't horrible, but once again, predictable.  So if you're into that kinda thing, then go ahead and see it.  I would strongly recommend Wolverine instead though.  I think I prefer movies that require actors to stretch themselves and be something that they're not.  That and movies with a plot that keeps you guessing.  Awesome special effects are also a good factor.  If none of these things are available, then the movie at least needs to be whitty and entertaining.  Examples of this would be either Mean Girls or He's Just Not that Into You.  Although these would probably be put into the "chick flick" category, they are whitty and realistic and they find humor in how life really is instead of how life would be if a dashingly hansome man came into our lives and waited on us hand and foot. I should start a list of my favorite movies - even though I don't think I could possibly rank them.  Here are a few to begin with though.

1. Beyond the Sea - the life story of Bobby Darin

2. Ray - the life story of Ray Charles

3. Walk the Line - the life story of Johnny Cash (see a theme going here?)

4. Moulin Rouge - just pure brillance and the music is incredible

5. Strictly Ballroom - the same director as Moulin Rouge and incredible entertaining

6. Mean Girls - so true it's not even funny, except the ending is pretty cheesy

7. The Others - best plot EVER, seriously

8. Edward Scissorhands - such an odd, but artistic and awesome movie. Go Tim Burton

9. Hairspray - the songs, the dancing, Zac Efron, need I say more?

10. Zoolander - Not typical for me to like a movie like this, but seriously it's so awesome

11. Vanity Fair - beautifully filmed and wonderful story. So classic

12. Clueless - yes it's a chick flick, but still so good and so rewatchable

I'm sure there are others, but those are the ones that came to me for the moment.  With that being said, I think that is all I have to say for today, so until next time! I should have more free time now since I don't have school, so hopefully you'll hear from me soon!

Update

Alright here's the low down on my past weekend.  I went to this festival called the Festival of Colors.  It was at a Hare Krishna temple in Salem.  I'm not really sure what the background of all the rituals are - but what happens is you all have these bags of colored chalk and then just throw them at everyone!! Then you just chant and dance and listen to Indian music! Pretty tight is you ask me!  It took us 2 and a half hours to get to a place that's like 20 minutes away - but it was still fun.  We missed the initial chalk throwing, but we still got chalked up.  This is my face afterwards - I'm going super early next year!

We also went to the aquarium in Sandy at work on Saturday.  It was pretty cool - the aquarium was pretty darn small though.  My mom loves aquariums so I've been to quite a few big ones in my life - so this one wasn't very impressive.  It was still fun to have something to do though I guess.  And we got to pet a stingray!  They are super slimy - so I wasn't really a huge fan of that, but hey now I can say that I've petted a stingray.  

So yeah these are all the guys: Brian, Greg, Scott, Kurt.  I love the creepy fish in the back!! haha. Alright that's about all for now.  I'll write again soon!  

It's Been a While

And it HAS! Sorry I haven't written on this thing in over a month! I'm not even sure my own mother reads this thing anymore, but I'm gonna keep on bloggin'! So what have I been up to in the past month? A lot of things! And I've got the pictures to prove it!

This is a pic of Kurt and I at the luau we had.  I mentioned this is my last post but I hadn't uploaded the pics to my computer yet, so here is one of them.  We are sportin' some uber hot leis! I never know if that's the correct spelling of "leis" but hey you know what I mean!
For the past few months my coworkers and I have been watching America's Best Dance Crew (ABDC) on MTV and we had a little get together/party for the season finale.  Jeremy (Jer-Bear) is on the left and Alysha is on the right.  We made a cake for the occasion of which we were all proud.  If any of you have not had a chance to watch this show it is AWESOME! And you can watch it online, so do it!
This is the bird's eye view of the cake.  The two remaining crews were the Beat Freaks and Quest Crew.  The three people in the middle are the judges of the show - Shane Sparks, Lil Mama, and JC from Nsync.  The cake tasted good too!
Then the next weekend we took the guys at work to see Disney on Ice.  This is Scott, Tasha, and I chillin' during the intermission.  It was so much fun!

Other events that happened that I did not take pictures of as well.  My mom and brother came out to do some college visits which was a lot of fun.  My mom took my roommates, my friend Alysha, my cousin Taylor, and then 2 missionaries that just got off their missions in St. Louis out to dinner Friday night to PF Changs. And wow was it good! So the waiter recommeded this shrimp dish with candied walnuts in it.  I was skeptical because I hate shrimp, but it was actuallly SO good! It was definitely the hit dish of the night - so I would highly recommend it! Saturday we spent the day in Salt Lake, which was also a lot of fun.  So overall the past month went really well!!

In other news... I found a place to live for next year and I am SOO excited!!  My friend Elizabeth and I are moving into a house south of campus, and this house seriously rocks!  It's an old victorian home.  There are 2 stories - the lower level has a living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room.  Then upstairs there are 3 bedrooms and a bathroom.  It is so freakin sweet.  And there's a basement for storage too! I'm way excited for it.... if you can't tell... I was afraid that I wasn't going to get a contract because a lot of interest has been expressed in the house, but I got in as of yesterday!  So yay!  Well that's about all for now - I promise I'll keep up with this thing more during the next month! Don't be shy about commenting!

The Sweet Life

Well the past week is over- which means I officially am done with all 5 of my beastly tests. woot woot! I took two of those tests on Friday, which basically took me all day and night, so no fun plans for Grace on Friday night.  Saturday however was a good day - and Valentine's Day on top of all of that!  I went into work in the morning, and two of the guys that I work with were having birthdays, so we had a huge luau themed birthday party.  It was super fun.  We invited other houses and a good time was had by all.  We played games, had hawaiin food and sang happy birthday of course.  Plus I received flowers from the fam at work, which were awesome! And everyone thought I was getting them from some hot boyfriend - haha.  Then after work I chilled with some friends from the ward, which conveniently live across the hall from me.  We went to grab some food and on the way home is where it all went downhill..... what happened do you ask?

It was a dark night, around 10 PM.  We were driving down a small road in Provo, Utah, listening to music and discussing our uneventful Valentine's Day night.  All of the sudden out of nowhere I see a cat dart out in front of my car.  Before I could even register what to do, such as swerve off the road and risk our lives for this cat, or slam on the brakes and cause the car behind me to rear end me, I ran over the cat full on, and that cat was huge! I was afraid it did damage to my car.  Then I look into my rearview window and see this cat bolt off the street and lay on the snowy grass past the sidewalk.  At this point I'm wondering how in the world the cat had the strength to not only get up after being run over by a car with 3 people in it, but full on run out of the way.... So after a little debate in the car, we decide to go back and check on the cat to see what's up.  We don't dare get that close to it, but it is obviously flat as ever.  Then after a long argument on whether or not this cat is breathing, we decide there is nothing else that can be done so we leave and go home.  If you feel the need to write an ode to this cat or something, we could have a little competition or something, just leave it in the comments and the more creative, the better! I'll think about one too.  

On a much happier note, I won $30!  At work we get these "Making a difference Daily" bucks. So basically good deed bucks.  Now I didn't do anything amazingly novel, so don't get too excited.  But my manager gave me one for the month, which means that your name gets put into a drawing for prizes!! Needless to say I won the $30 prize - which was the 3rd highest prize.  There was a $100 and $50, but I wasn't that lucky.... But still... winning in general is pretty much awesome.  Well that's about all for my adventurous life, until next time!!

Wednesday

Well the song of the day is "Somebody's watching me" by Rockwell feat. Michael Jackson. The reason being that this song has been in my head for the past EVER.  Probably because it's the song that plays at the end of all the new Geico commercials.  So everytime it's about to go out of my head, I will see one of those commercials and the cycle starts all over again.  Aside from buying that songs on itunes, making it extremely convenient for me to listen to it whenever I please, I also bought an awesome remix of it.  And as you all know, I love remixes!  If anyone has a good recommendations for some great remixes, I'm all ears.  I haven't been able to find anymore good ones on itunes recently, but the search goes onwards.  

And now back to today.  I have 5 tests this week, but fortunately I'm already done with 3 of them!  So it really hasn't been that bad.  Today in ballroom we had a sub so we learned the waltz just for a day (because we're still learning the cha cha).  The sub's teaching style was way slower that our normal teacher though, so learning the waltz wasn't as fun as I thought it would be.  I'm sure it'll be fun once I learn it with my regular teacher.  The class in general still continues to go well.  It won't be long before I'm a pro.  

I feel like my blogs have taken a turn towards the boring. That sentence doesn't even really make that much sense, but hey it gets the point across.  I need some new innovative ideas to add some flavor into either my life, so then writing about it will automatically be fun to read, or at least learn to make my life sound more interesting. haha.  I will have to work on that. I think that's about all for today.  New and exciting things to come! 

February is in the air

Hello all - it seems as if I've been a complete slacker as far as blogging goes, but there's no making up for it now, so the show must go on!  A lot and yet nothing has happened since I last wrote.  I feel like my life is extremely hectic and crazy and yet it remains stagnant because I'm always busy with the exact same stuff that I'm always busy with.  Church, school, work.  That's what I do!  So what HAVE I been up to do you ask?  Well a number of things.  As far as school goes, everything is going really smoothly this semester.  I've had a few tests this semester.  One was on the fox trot in my ballroom dance class.  I pretty much love the fox trot.  Now that we've moved onto cha cha, I love it even more.  The cha cha seems like it would be a lot more fun and sassy, but it's harder! haha.  I feel like there's a lot more that goes into it to make it technically correct.  But fox trot is so much classier.  Anyway - you'll just have to see for yourself if you ever learn these dances.  Then I had a french test which went really well.  But now I have FIVE, count em 5, tests next week!! That is definitely NOT normal, is it? Either way I'll get through it.  I'm really enjoying my classes this semester so studying for the tests isn't so bad.  

My calling continues to go well also.  I guess I could into that, but it really isn't that exciting.  Work is great as well.  Well I've seen two movies since I last wrote.  The first one was Bride Wars.  Usually when I see a movie I don't really know what to think of it so I need a day to sit on it and then decide if I like it or not.  When I got out of this movie I was kinda like "eh...it was alright," but knowing myself I waited a day to really decide how I felt.  After the next day I decided that I really didn't care for the movie too much.  I felt like all of the good pranks that they did on each other were in the previews, so there wasn't much of a surprise.  And then maybe it's just my sense of humor, but I didn't find it very funny either.  So all in all I'd probably give that movie a C.  The other movie I saw was "He's just not that into you," which I saw last night with my roommates and some other girls from my complex.  This movie had a few parts in it that I wasn't a huge fan of but overall it was a lot better than I expected it to be.  It was clever, humorous, and so very true.  I'd probably give it a B+.  Coming from me however, that means it was probably an A for everyone else because I'm usually into girlie movies like that.  

So I've been getting creative with my cooking lately and I have come up with an incredibly tasty meal.  It's not THAT original or anything, but still simple, easy to make, and yummy.  It's a breakfast quesadilla, but of course you can eat it any time.  I beat 2 or 3 eggs and put a few spoonfuls of salsa and a handful of cheese in the eggs.  Then I scramble the eggs and put them between two tortillas.  Then I warm the tortillas in a pan on the stove to the point where they are a little crispy.  Then I slice it up and eat it with sour cream on the side.  And it is basically amazing.  So I would recommend it to anyone that's interested in a simple meal.  Just thought I'd share that with everyone.  

Not a lot else is going on with me.  My life seems to continue to run smoothly, which just convinces me even more that this semester is going to be my best semester yet.  Oh and Obama got inaugurated since I last wrote, yay!  That was a good time.  Once again, people didn't seem to be too happy about it out here, but hey the people voted so that's that.  If I don't write again until after next weekend, which is very possible, then Happy Valentine's Day!! It's a good day, even if you're single!  

A Beautiful Day

I entitled my blog today "A Beautiful Day" because my life right now reminds me of the U2 song Beautiful Day.  It is really crazy actually.  A lot of things have gone wrong in the past month of 2 and yet I have never felt better.  I feel like I'm on top of the world, oddly enough.  I guess it's just a new year, and I'm determined to make it a good one.  Other than that I really can't explain my good mood.  I guess I am just blessed.  School so far this semester is going really well, and I plan on keeping it that way.  Then my calling is still going well, and work as well.  I still have the same problems in my life, if not more than I did in 2008, but somehow I feel this power from within that I can overcome them and be a better me.  It's a great feeling!  Let's hope it remains.  

So I forgot to say a few things that I have done in the past month or so in my last blog.  This past weekend, I went up to Ogden to see my cousin, Taylor, who just got back from his mission in Argentina.  It was really good to see him after two years.  It was also kind of weird as well, lol.  Most of my family was there, and it's always good to see them.  I just can't believe that I'm the same age as RMs! That probably seemed random for me to say that, but I say it because Taylor and I are 4 weeks apart and are the oldest grandchildren on my dad's side.  So obviously seeing him come home from a mission just reminds me that I'm that age, which is just so weird.  I guess I'll get used to it eventually.  

With my brand new attitude and self, I've been pondering lately how I've been able to keep my chin up, when the world around me is often so dark and dreary.  As I get older, life only gets harder.  I think a large part of that is that as I get older, I become more aware of reality and realize that my naive youth is just that - naive.  I realize that things aren't the way I always thought they were. Or that bad things don't only happen in movies.  When life throws us these trials, we can do one of two things.  We can either sink down into a depression and refuse to accept what is happening or stand strong and endure, looking for the blessings that we have inspite of the bad things.  I have never forgotten something my young women's president (Emily) told me a long time ago.  It doesn't seem like that long ago, but I guess it was like 4 years ago.  She said that when we ask the Lord to help us through our trials, He doesn't change our circumstances, He changes us.  He helps us to cope with our problems and get through them instead of just taking our problems away.  I guess we wouldn't learn anything if our problems were just taken away, right?  I think that is what has happened to me in this instance.  I feel this inner strength, and I know it isn't because I'm some amazing strong person, but because the Lord has helped me to learn to deal with my trials, and that knowledge gives me strength.  I guess that's what I've come up with so far this year.  I guess that's all for now!

Brand New Year

Well it's a new year.  It's actuall already mid- January.  The year is already going fast.  Time never stops I guess.  Well being home was good.  I didn't do much, but that's the way I like it sometimes.  I went to all the places and restaurants I wanted to go to, so that's good.  Christmas was good.  My aunt and uncle from KC came down for New Year's Eve, which was a lot of fun.  It was just weird being home though.  St. Louis will always be my home, but it just feels weird to go back since I pretty much live in Provo permanently now.  (At least until I graduate)  But it was good to see my family.  I basically spent all of my time with them, especially my baby brother, Ethan, which was a lot of fun.  We got guitar hero world tour for Christmas, which took up a lot of our time, lol.  And now here I am back at school for yet another semester.  I'm pretty pumped for this semester though.  I'm taking some good classes.  I have New Testament (the first half) with an awesome teacher.  I had him for Book of Mormon as well and he's just so great.  So that's going to be good.  Then I have a ballroom dance class which I was a little nervous about at first, but it has turned out to be really fun.  Then I have a French class and then a few history classes.  So I really enjoy all of them (except for my Utah History class lol)  We have to take that class if you are a history major, so that's why I'm taking it. 

Work is going well.  My calling is going well too.  I got new counselors, which has turned out to be a really great, even though I really miss my old counselors.  But it has turned out to be really good and I'm pumped for the new semester.  That's about all for now, I'll write more later!