Traveling

I'm so glad that when I come home for real in two weeks I'm flying. I didn't mind the drive too much but sitting in a car for twelve hours hurts. I got home and my legs felt so weak. It was not fun. Ugh.
One thing I like about Idaho highways are that the speed limit is 75 which means 80 is only five miles over the speed limit and is actually the flow of traffic. It's kind of fun to drive that fast and know you really are going with the flow of traffic. What's scary is when people pass you in the fast lane and you know they're going at least 90.
I also thought it was neat that in the past week or so I've been on the road for a little more than 24 hours and not once did I see an accident or was in an accident. I know that the Lord blessed me on the trip to and from Eugene.

ONLY TWO MORE WEEKS!! YAH!!

Finals...

Why do teachers have to give finals? Can't they just give us the last test and that be good enough. :P I'm really dreading the two cumulative finals I have to take. I guess I shouldn't complain. It could be a LOT worse. This is my to-do list for the next two weeks before I get to go home for three months.

- Science exam 7 on monday
- Quartet rehearsal on Monday
- Quartet recital on Tuesday
- Final cumulative Math exam
- Final cumulative Science exam
- 3 more small tests and quizzes for American Foundations
- a final debate to prepare for for AF
- a ward social
- a white glove inspection
- packing some things into suitcases to be put on a plane and some into plastic boxes to be put in storage
- finding where the storage unit is and someone to drive me and the three girls I'm sharing with there

I'm pretty sure there's more but I can't think of it at the moment. Yikes. I'm kind of glad these next two weeks will be busy because that means they'll pass a little more quickly. I hope so at least.

I can't wait to be home for a few months. It'll be nice to get a job and have an income again. It's been sort of weird not working. I can't wait to not have to worry about how I'm going to get to the grocery store because it's cold and windy. Although the snow has only come a couple of times so far. I can't wait to hang out with all my old friends and to feel old again. I can't wait to not have classes and be able to do almost whatever I want. I think most of all I can't wait to not have to pay for my own laundry.

Anyway, I can't wait to be home for awhile.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I just wanted to wish everyone a very very happy Thanksgiving. I hope everyone enjoyed time with family and friends. I know that I did.
I love this time of year. There is a little bit more happiness and gratitude in the world. While in Lake Oswego one of the teachers talked about how she'd returned from spending time in the Bahammas or something like that. She realized when she came back how incredibly blessed we are just to live in America. We really are. We can have jobs, we get hold an opinion about the things that happen in this country. We get to believe however we want. We get to be whoever we want. We live in an AMAZING place. I'm so grateful for my family and the gospel in my life. I'm so grateful for the school I get to attend. I love that I have a right to learn and that I have access to the best education possible. I love that I have friends serving missions and brothers who want to serve when they get old enough. I love that I have a warm too-small house that I share with my amazing family. I'm grateful that I have money enough to live on my own for a few months out of the year. I'm grateful that I have a tv and a computer. Life is just amazing and I'm so grateful to live in such an amazing place and to have the amazing things that I have.
I think that one of the things I am absolutely by far the most grateful for in my life is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the testimony I have of the Savior. It's given me everything I have and I can never express how incredibly grateful I am for that.
Have an awesome rest of your weekend everyone.

Roommates are amazing things.

Jaelyn is amazing. She's the first girlfriend I've had in a really long time. We laugh so much together and have decided that we'll be at each other's weddings one day. We have inside jokes and we just love hanging out. It's really neat to have a friend like that. She's becoming a lot like another sister to me. If she ever reads my blog I'd just like her to know how very grateful I am that we met our first semester. She is fast becoming one of my best friends.

Young Women and License Plates

I have two thoughts today.

The first is for any young women who read my blog, and all of you amazing moms out there with young women. If you are in young womens this is for you, and if your daughter is in young womens this is a message from me to her. Today I went to a ward with the young women for the first time in three months. I know I'm really not at all that much older than they are, but today I felt a lot older. They all seemed so little. Maybe they were. Anyway, the point of my message for the young women out there is that you really do make a difference and that you have the Spirit with you. There is so much love between you. Remember always that you're a daughter of God even though in high school or maybe middle school people don't really seem to notice or care whether you're there. Being in college I've realized that high school is really only important for two things, your classes (I know. They're awful but they help more than you could ever imagine), and that you learn how to handle others. Life doesn't end with high school OR START WITH COLLEGE! Remember that you are ALWAYS loved. Your young women leaders love you, the young women themselves love you, I may not know you but I love you, your parents love you (even if they say you can't do stuff or ground you, seriously that is all because they love you VERY much). You don't know how many people you influence for the better just because you are there. YOU ARE INCREDIBLE!!!

My second thought is that I have never noticed license plates until now. I'm always looking for Oregon license plates and when I see one I smile and if someone's with me, I'll point it out. I have no idea why. Probably because I really miss home. I was talking to Jaelyn (my roommate) today about how I really hope Heavenly Father lets me stay in Oregon because I really do love it. But I guess if Heavenly Father decided to send me somewhere else it would be to make me happier or to give me an experience that will make me better.

So my thought for the day just got longer. I've changed so much I've noticed. I don't argue until I have the last word, I don't need to be liked by everyone, I don't need to be the best at everything. I think the biggest thing I've noticed (and this is sorta weird) but I don't flirt the way I used to. I don't know if that's good or bad but I think it's making my life a lot less complicated. I don't need to be someone I'm not to attract guys and I think that's what I've learned and that's where this flirting thing has changed. I don't know. I guess I'll find out.

So this is my thought for today. Oh hey one more thing is on Nathan's blog one time he was talking about picture for the day. I really like that idea. So I think on my blogs I'm always gonna have a picture.

Friendship

Friendship is an amazing thing isn't it? I've been learning about the heroic journey in my Humanities class and the typical hero always picks up a friend. It's very interesting. This friend usually sticks with the hero until the very end. Not always but we won't focus on that. We all are the heros of our own life story. If someone made a story out of your life, guess who the main character would be? Along our own hero's journeys we pick up people who help us along on our way and ta da you have the supporting actors in your life. These are the friends you call up when something really neat amazing and exciting happens and when you're just feeling down and need something to cheer you up.
Friendship also makes me think of the talk that Elder Holland gave during the Saturday afternoon session of conference. About angels and how they walk among us. There have been SO many times when I've needed an angel in my life and Heavenly Father has sent me one of my best friends. Take the time to thank those who've spent the time to be your friend.
I definately thank all of my friends. You're all incredible people that I am so very blessed to have in my life.
That's my thought for today. And now I'm going to bed.

The Things I Miss

So I've realized today that I miss the sound of real live rain. Here it mists and sometimes it actually rains but it never lasts very long. The only thing that I like here is that when it does actually rain it pours. Only for like five minutes but it does. I miss the rain immensley.


There are quite a few other things that I miss as well. Including my family. You never really appreciate your family until you leave home for a little while. I miss my house and my car. I miss my best friend, and a saxophone. I miss my brothers and sisters, I miss Mommy hugs and hugs from boys, and I'm just very ready to go home.



So I'm trying something new in this blog. I'm trying to figure out how to post pictures and my guess is you use a url generated from a site like photobucket or webshots or something like that. So we'll see. If not there are going to be some weird urls on this blog and I'll ask someone.

An Inspired Lunch

Today I went to the MC for lunch and after I'd finished eating a lady came up and asked if she could leave her stuff at my table while she went and got her lunch. "Sure" I said. I was studying for a math exam I took a little bit ago (which I think I might have passed) and had my Pre-Cal book open on the table. When she came back we talked about our majors and I told her about my exam. She asked me what math I was in and if I could help her with some math problems of her own. She was in a lesser math and guess what she was studying! The one thing that I wasn't for sure on. It was so neat. I'm sure Heavenly Father inspired her to come ask me for help. It was amazing.

Now I'm going to the DI which is like good will sort of with Cody. We were talking about how I'd never been and so he's taking me. It should be fun.

I'll post again later probably!

Today's been the best day so far!!

Clarinets and College

Hey everyone,

This is going to be a short post I think because I need to get on down to the Snow building for my last quartet rehearsal before Thanksgiving. I hope it goes well. We've been playing this piece for three months and some of the other girls are starting to really lose any enthusiasm we had for playing it. The teacher thinks we still have a lot to work on. Maybe she's right but I can only do so much. Oh well. Almost done. And then I just have finals and I'll be flying back home for a few months. I can't wait.

Amazingly, here in Idaho the snow hasn't come yet. It's cold outside and last night there were VERY strong winds at about 10pm. I can still hear the wind rattling around in the vent over the oven. I bet there's snow on the ground after Thanksgiving.

Oh and just to write it down, I had a dream about marching band last night. Bill let me come back and somehow I knew how to teach marching and different formations and stuff and we marched for a football game. There were a couple of Flute players who refused to do it because it was cold and were mad at me for making them do anything. And I remember we had like twenty bright ORANGE bass drums lined up in front. Everyone else was dressed in a blue uniform and we had a really good show besides the whiny flute players. ;) LOL anyway, just thought I'd share that interesting dream with you.