Thursday, September 25, 2008

A Day at College

This is my new favorite picture, so I had to share it with you all! Our awesome 2nd counselor in the Bishopric loves taking pictures and putting them all up on our ward facebook. Being tired of later going on to facebook only to find that the worst pictures of our entire lives had been taken that night, my friends and I decided that when he took pictures at ward prayer next time we would be ready! So here we are, modeling as only we can! I love it!
When I was little and up until about a month ago, I used to wonder what it would be like to go to college. I would think about how cool it would be to live on your own, or what the classes would be like. Now that I'm here I realise that it is not quiet what I expected, but I'm acclimating... So, for those of you who didn't have the joy of attending BYU, or are yet to go to college, let me tell you what an average good day is like:
8:00-Wake up! Yes, this is right, I get to sleep until at least 8 three days a week. On those days I don't have class until 10:00 and I absolutely love it!
9:45-Start the hike up "Hinckley Hill" to get up to campus for classes
10:00-Chemistry: learn the basics about molecules, atoms, and radioactivity all while wondering how much of this I'm really going to need to remember... hmm...
11:00-American Heritage: Learn the role providence played in the founding of America all while boys in the row behind me make funny comments and pass up love notes to me (yes, this really happened, it was hilarious! And on a completely unrelated note, this is my favorite class!)
11:50-Start sprinting in order to make it across campus in time for my next class, literally run into a few people while trying to make it...sorry..
12:00-Sing! Well we don't just sing, we talk, compare, and learn but more than anything we just sing, which I might add, is really weird to do in only 50 minutes, and without certain people I grew used to singing with
1:00-Lunch with Rachelle, usually in the Cougar Eats, but also in the MoA, the Museum of Art. They have this little cafe on the upper level that has such good sandwiches and salads, oh and its like impossible to go there without eating dessert! They are just so good!
1:30-Head back to the dorm, take a little break from school and mess around on Facebook
2:00-6:00-Usually various activities are done during this time, such as homework, going to the gym, taking a nap, going somewhere in my car just to remind myself that I am not stuck here, reading my scriptures, and chatting with friends
6:00-Average dinner time... Off to the brand new Cannon Center for a dinner full of various selections. For about the first two weeks I loved this place! Its still OK, and I know it could be a LOT worse, but its getting old pretty fast... Um, can I come home for Sunday dinner?
6:30-11:30-What I do with this block of time also varies, on Mondays its off to FHE where I serve my calling as our FHE's group "mom", on Tuesdays there is Ward Prayer, Sundays and Wednesdays visiting hours, other nights I go to the library to study, go hang out with other friends, have Disney movie night with the girls across the hall, do even more homework, head to some event on campus, go to a required movie for class, go shopping at the Creamery or just hang out with my friends.
11:30-I usually try to be in bed by now, if there is one thing I take very seriously here at BYU its that I get plenty of sleep...
So thats my average day. It changes depending on the classes, or the amount of homework, but its nice that I'm getting into some kind of a routine. I'll get the hang of this college thing soon enough!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Desires....

So, I was studying here at BYU the other day when I cam across something completely awesome that I just wanted to share with you all. But, this was not your average studying I was doing, I was in fact intently studying my scriptures, which I might add, is like the cool thing to do here. Anyways, I was reading the other day, and I was really struggling a lot with life. I've been worried about a few things in my life that haven't really turned out the way I hoped they would lately. I was particularly distracted, confused, and hurt when I came across 1 Nephi 11:2.. For those of you who don't normally blog with your scriptures right next to you I will quote it for you. It says "Behold, what desirest thou?" My first thought when I read this was, "A lot..." but then I thought about what it really means to desire something. I began to evaluate what I really desire in my life, and what I just want. I've found that there is a huge difference between these two things. As I continued reading I realised that the angel gives Nephi what he desires, and I began to hope that I can receive what I desire to... I looked up every scripture I could find speaking of righteous desires, and I learned a lot. Mostly though I learned that the Lord gives the righteous their desires, according to their faith, and obedience. On the 7th I had the opportunity to attend a fireside at the Marriot Center given by Elder Holland. That night he gave us an apostolic blessing, which was an awesome experience at the time but that didn't really hit me until I started my search for desires. In that blessing he said, speaking specifically to the sisters, "And bless you and ask that every righteous desire of your heart tonight and forever will be answered upon your head" As I recalled this quote, and read this scripture I felt so much peace. I've been so worried about the things I desire in my life lately, but this experience helped me realise that Heavenly Father knows my desires, and he will give them to me. So, I've decided to be patient, and obedient, and do all I can in my power to achieve my desires, and I know that if I do this, the Lord will grant me my desires. He loves me that much!

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Dorm Room Decorating

Before: Boring white cork board....
After: Fun!
Bright colors!
Lots of pictures!

I have a confession... I'm addicted to pictures! Since serving as the Student Body Historian I have fallen in love with not just photography but pictures themselves. I've taken thousands over the last year, and I love them all. Each one reminds me of a specific time or place and when I look at these pictures it takes me back there. I also love decorating. I believe that how a space looks has a huge influence on your feelings-and I try to surround myself in places that make me happy to be there. My love for this convinced me up until about a year ago that I was going to become an Interior Designer. I've since changed my mind and fully plan on become a nurse. I will however, be a nurse who has two great hobbies: interior design and photography.


The dorms here at Helaman Hall are well....boring. I don't mean the activities, the girls, the games, the late night chats, the floor meetings, the constant boy talk and race to get to the showers first. I literally mean Helaman Halls. Plain red brick on the outside, plain white paint on the walls. Drab blue carpet, plain wood desks. White showers, blue chairs. After thinking about it for awhile I came to the decision that if I was going to be living here for the next year I needed to make it my space! Decorating in a dorm gets tricky though-you can't use paint, tape, nails or any of your other average decorating tools. I was not going to let that stop me though... Soon I came to the conclusion how I could turn my boring desk space into a fun place to be! I got some average scrapbook paper, with bright colors and designs, and stapled them on the cork board surrounding my desk. I also used a brand of University approved putty to apply them to the boring white wall by my desk. I then gathered some of my favorite pictures and stuck them on top of the paper, on the cork board. Its fun to look up from my homework and see a picture of my best friends, or family! I'm so glad that I took on this little project and for the effect its had on my room-and despite it being the place where I study-I actually like being at my desk now!

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Family Home Evening-Singles Ward Style

The second half of the rap

The first half of the rap

When I think of Family Home Evening many things come to my mind.... long, long, long lessons given by a certain sister of mine who is an awesome teacher(I always loved them dear), brownies, family announcements, ice cream, calendar coordinating, jamba juice, sharing testimonies, cake, fun activities, and of course treats! I loved getting together and having at least one night where I knew that I could be with my family. Here in Provo though-family home evening is a whole new experience. Last week for family home evening we had had a little game and treats as an entire ward. It was fun but its hard to become good friends with everyone when there are 150 crazy 18 year olds running around asking questions like "What color is your toothbrush?"! I was very excited to get put into family home evening groups so I could get to know some people better in a little bit less crazy environment. Well last night I headed down to the Quad with the rest of my ward. We all met together and after an opening prayer all our bishopric and our bishop's wife gave each one of us a piece of paper with our name on it, and the name of an animal. The goal was to get your entire home evening group together by making the noise of the animal on your paper! It was pretty intense-just for those of you who were wondering I was a cow. And, I was one of the first people to get my animal so here I was moo-ing in the middle of everyone.. it was kind of embarrassing! Luckily I eventually found my awesome FHE "family" When all the families found each other we then had the awesome task of making up a rap with everyones name on it and then presenting that to the other families! We had such a good time making it up! After that we had, in the spirit of FHE tradition, treats! I stayed after for awhile getting to know my FHE fam. It was so much fun and I'm so excited for next Monday night!

Just in case you were wondering... the rap is to the tune of the theme song from Fresh Prince of Bel Air

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

The First Days of School

Celebrating!

All Ready for School


I'm officially a college student! Classes started yesterday and its been exciting to go to them and see what exactly I'm getting myself into... and guess what- I love it! Classes weren't as bad as I expected, I never got lost, I was on time to my classes, my proffesors were pretty cool and I saw many cougars cutting corners! Not scary at all! Well after classes yesterday Rachelle and I celebrated that we both made it, and that Rachelle didn't get TOO lost by going to sub zero for ice cream! I had heard good things about it, and was not dissapointed! It was delicious! We then went to Gold's Gym, which is very necessary after having that delicious ice cream! Thanks to a great deal, a hilarious employee, and the strong desire I have to work out I signed up! Last night was busy as I had a meeting with my bishop, our floor meeting for all the girls in our hall of our dorm, and ward prayer! It was all very new, very weird, and very nice. I guess being old won't be as bad as I thought it would be!
These are the classes that I'm taking this symester....
Chemistry
American Heritage
Book of Mormon
Sociology
Phychology
University Chorale
So far I love American Heritage and Sociology! I'm also really excited for Chorale! It will be nice to sing, which I love, but not have so much stress to go along with it, like VE!

Although I love this all, I do have a lot of homeowork, so I should probably stop blogging and get to work!

Monday, September 1, 2008

The 10 Best Things About Going Home

10-Taking a Sunday Nap!! (This week wore me out and I slept for like three hours!)
9- Einsteins Bagels for Breakfast
8-Doing laundry without having to worry about it
7-Mom's homemade Sunday dinner (loved the Hawaiian Haystacks)
6-Sleeping in my HUGE bed! ( I really miss it...)
5-Going to see Errand of Angels with my family, and finally being able to have a caffeinated diet coke!
4-Watching Chris, Zach and Megan play the Wii Olympics
3-Getting my new car!! I'm in love with my cute little shiny red Mazda 3!!
2-Hanging out with some of my favorite cousins, aunt, uncle, and grandma-oh and dog!
1-Spending the day with my awesome family!! I love you guys!