Decorations, Love, and Guitars

We decorated our Christmas tree tonight. It's kind of neat. This year rather than put up all the decorations we've been putting up forever, we decided to have a theme tree with blue and white glass balls and plastic icicles and snow flakes. To top it off we have an LCD lit star that flashes blue and white and of course the usual multi-colored lights we put up every year. It's so pretty. I'm so happy to be home.

A friend today asked me what love was. I told her my definition but realized later that really I have no idea. LOL my definition is when you care more about someone else's happiness more than your own. I guess I could sort of understand that. I think I've decided that love is one of those things that Heavenly Father gives us that just doesn't have a definition. Sort of like the sound of moving water, the taste of your favorite meal, or the way happiness feels. There isn't one definition that fits for every person. It made me smile.

I'm learning to play guitar. I'm so excited. Another friend asked me why and I told him I wanted to be able to be my own accompanist. I can't wait to be able to play well enough to play while I sing. We'll see. Now I'm just working on getting my own good guitar. I have friends both here and in Idaho who've offered to help me find a good deal on a good guitar. We'll see what happens but I'm very very excited.

Now I'm watching Terminal with my wonderful family and then I'll be off to bed so i can get some sleep before the party tomorrow.

It's A Wonderful Life

This is kind of a sequel to the post I wrote last night.

Once I told a very good friend that I was so happy I felt I could fly. He looked at me funny and said "please don't try". I waved my hands at him and laughed. Of course I couldn't have flown without being inside the body of a plane but that was the way I felt. I've noticed that usually that kind of happiness for me is the happiness that comes when I am feeling the Spirit.

I started feeling that way again today after going to see It's A Wonderful Life with my family in the Regal Cinema. We usually see that movie every year about this time but seeing it in the theaters tonight made it feel like I was seeing it for the first time, and actually getting it. There is a line at the end that i really love. "Remember, no man is a failure who has friends". I love that line. It's really wonderful. I love that idea. It's also talked about throughout the movie when different characters say that the most rich are those without a lot of money. On the way home me and Mommy were talking about how that movie makes us think. One of the things that I love is that it's one of those movies that when you leave the theater you try and stand a little taller and be a little better. You leave wanting to make that kind of difference in people's lives.

(To tie into my previous blog) The movie also caused me to look again at the many blessings there are in my life and I'm so glad. I just can't believe that I lose sight of it again and again. I guess that's the way life goes. I'm grateful for it anyway. When you see your blessings again they mean so much more to you. :) I love feeling this way.

Good Books and Gratitude

Have you ever been reading a book and all of a sudden you find you are relating almost exactly to one of the characters or another? For me it’s what makes a good book great, even when you realize that the piece of your life you are relating to something the author felt needed to be in print is a sad part of your life. What I love is when the author takes something she doesn’t realize you are feeling as well and puts it into the most elegant words. Words you’ve been searching for to describe it all. I’m reading First Day by an LDS author named Allyson Braithwaite Condie. This is the sequel to Yearbook. The first book is staged in High School and this one is in college. I’m not even halfway through and already I can tell I’m going to like it. (Granted I already have a very good idea of what’s going to happen.) There were a few paragraphs that I just loved and wanted to put in my blog tonight.

This first one I liked just because I’ve thought this way before. “Everyone walked around with the scars of their own trials and did the best they could most of the time. You had to remember that when you talked to people and tried to offer the gospel or you’d forget the whole spirit of compassion the Savior showed in His ministry. Some days you rose above it all and some days you just put one foot in front of the other and tried to keep your chin up and do what you were supposed to.” Although I would add a more positive note to the end of that paragraph. A positive note I think that in time the author will put in herself. In my experience (limited as it may be), the compassion mentioned is the key to keeping your head above water. When you feel like everything is overwhelming you and you are drowning in the trials that have been thrown your direction, compassionate service and following the Savior’s example are the best cure. I think it was in the Ensign recently, maybe a conference talk, that said something about how the dial of sorrow must point to each of us in turn at one point or another. We are blessed to have the gospel in our lives. A sure testimony that the Savior loves and cares for each of us is one of the greatest blessings when trials come our way.

The second paragraph that I just loved is something I noticed in Rexburg and again when the snow and ice decided to follow me home. “Looking at the landscape in front of me, I was surprised at how beautiful it was, even though it was painted mainly in shades of black and white and grey. It’s amazing what He can do with even a limited palette.” The world is incredible, isn’t it? I love taking pictures and my favorite thing is to get right into the face of a flower or a tree or even a rock. If you’ve never looked at the designs and texture on a rock, I encourage you to walk out to your garden, pick one up and just look at it. I mean it may not be a blooming rose or a rainbow sunset but it’s beautiful just the same. When I’m feeling sorry for myself I go out and find somewhere to sit and to be and to just look at everything. It’s truly remarkable.

When I started writing this blog I half expected it to be a “poor-baby-me” blog. That’s a little how I’m feeling tonight. But I think instead I want this blog to be a reminder to me of everything good I have in this world right now. I am home safe and sound, which is more than I can say for a few of my friends from college who are still being delayed because winter decided it was time to shake things up a bit. I have good friends who love me and care about me even though they might be a few states away. I have such an incredible family. They make me smile and laugh just thinking of them. There isn’t anyone on the face of this Earth I could possibly love more than I love my family. I have a car, I have presents to give to those I love, I have friends who are serving missions; serving the Lord, I have friends and brothers who want to serve missions. I can see, I can hear, I can sing, I can understand music, I can care, I can love, I can do SO MUCH! My life seems almost perfect when you can compare it to some and yet I can still find reasons to complain.

As I close this blog I hope you all will take a little time to look at your own lives and see the tiny ways the Lord directs your lives. Be grateful for the things you have, and even the trials that have been sent your way. They change you and make you who you are. Don’t wait for things to happen. Enjoy life now. I love you all. Good night.

The weather man was sort of right. It snowed on Sunday night and stuck. It was very surprising. I didn't look out the window when I got out of bed and when I opened the door on my way out what a surprise met my eyes.

And it was still coming down. I ran back inside and grabbed my scarf which I'd decided not to wear and left for class. Later that day Jaelyn and I (;-) went and took pictures of all the buildings around campus and some of the pretty winter scenes that we saw.

It was FREEZING! By the time we got home our fingers were numb and we decided to have hot chocolate. While Jaelyn and I were in Portland with our neighbor Shelley, we stopped at Starbucks (I was very excited LOL) and got caramel hot chocolate. It was SO good. Mommy and Amber were joking that they put something in it, but it was delicious. Ever since we've made our hot chocolate here at home with caramel ice cream sauce and milk. It's very good. And a nice way to warm up after a snow day.

Today the ice has been a little scary and I've slipped a few times. Luckily I haven't actually fallen yet and I've taken to sticking to the cleared side walks where there's less black ice and the chance that I'll break something is much less. :P

There are three more days until I actually leave. I'm travelling all day Saturday by myself. Yikes. I'm a little nervous but excited at the same time. OOoo I also get to sell back my math book tomorrow. Yah for a little extra money. It'll be nice. I can't wait to get home and I'm really hoping that I can find a job. So far I'm still planning on working at JCPenney's photo studio but with the economy I hear getting a job right now is very very difficult. Although I dread having to go back, I'm glad that I've made good friends with my KFC manager. He told me I'd always have a job there so if worst comes to worse I will have a job. Yuck. :)

Well it's back to work for me. Have a great rest of the day everyone!

The Chistmas Spirit

I really enjoyed the First Presidency Devotional tonight. In fact church in general was really really good. The testimonies during Sacrament were very good. I had a hard time paying attention during Gospel Doctrine but the lesson was good, and Relief Society was good. The ladies here are just amazing. They shine like no other. I just can't believe it. I'm going to miss the Spirit here so so much. I'm also going to be missing my FHE brothers. They're neat.

Aww... but I'll be back in four months.

One other thing. I've been having an inspiration to bring a couple Book of Mormons with me on my way back to Eugene. Which is weird because I'm flying from Salt Lake. But I'm going to if I have to buy the books myself. I will have them. The only thing I'm worried about is I haven't talked about the Gospel in a few months. I'm afraid I'll be a little out of practice. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that even at a LDS college I haven't even been up to bear my testimony in a while.

I know it's not quite the same thing but I decided that for practice I'd just write it out here too.

I know that the Savior lives. I know with all of my heart that the Savior loves me and really cares about my life. I have a strong testimony of the power of prayer. I know that I can pray to Him for everything. I know that families can be together forever through the power of the priesthood. I know that someday I can be sealed together with my husband for time and all eternity and that my children will be mine forever. I know that there is a Prophet who guides the church today. I know that Joseph Smith restored the true gospel to the Earth. I know that the scriptures are true and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.

I definately feel a little out of practice.

Anyway... today I took some group shots for Audrey and her roommates down at the railroad. Next time I take someone Senior pictures I'm going to suggest we do them down by the railroad. It's BEAUTIFUL!

One of the girls I was taking pictures tonight was engaged and they were just SO cute that I took a few extra shots.


The sunset tonight was GORGEOUS!! I wish it hadn't been so cold and I hadn't had so much to do. I would have loved to have just taken more pictures tonight.

White Glove Inspection

We just got done being checked and we passed with flying colors. We were the very last apartment checked and I think our inspectors were a little tired and we'd done a very good job. I think actually we over cleaned just a little. Jaelyn and I were doing the kitchen and our bedrooms. We started at 11 last night (I had no idea it would take so long) and we finished at 9 this morning. We cleaned EVERYTHING! By 4am we decided we should work on our room and worked on that until 6:30 when we were both just so tired that we couldn't function.

I am so happy to be done. I did things last night that I had no idea I could do. Like clean an oven and move a refrigerator all by myself. Although I'm very very sleepy I feel really good about the job we did. That was one of the bigger things I was worried about this last week and now it's over.

There was something else I was going to write about, but I have completely forgotten. :) It is 12:33 here and I am saying goodnight all! :)

There is still no snow here. We've had snow stick twice but two days later there were no traces of it left. Everyone was expecting there to be inches of snow on the ground a month ago. Crazy. Itscold enough to snow, there's just no rain coming down yet. The weather man says it's supposed to snow Monday night but he's said that for every Monday since half way through November so I don't know if I trust his predictions. This same weather man also says that it's supposed to snow on guess what day. Saturday December 13th. In Salt Lake. I leave here at 7:30 in the morning to take a shuttle to Salt Lake and get there at about 12:40. My flight then leaves at 4. I really hope that they don't delay flights or something because my crazy weather man decided to predict snow and be right.

Tomorrow is our white glove inspection. Wow. I've never done a white glove cleaning before. Me and Jaelyn are in charge of the kitchen. Who knew there would be SO much to clean in a place that if you just walked in and saw it looks relatively clean. Wow. I really like cleaning the kitchen though so that's okay. Also. In the bedrooms we have to dust underneath our mattresses. It's going to be an adventure.

Teddy Bears and Time

I realized today that I have a Teddy Bear collection.

I think the names are too small to read but there is Elder Jonathan (his clothes are being washed which is why he just has a tie) Kodak, Taz, Flurry, and Mr. Giggles. The bear from New York is the newest member of my little teddy bear family and I haven't thought up a name for him yet. The pictures of Mr. Giggles and Flurry aren't really what they look like. I didn't bring them with me so I edited in pictures that sort of resemble what they look like. Anyway, I was very interested to find that out today. I didn't realize I was collecting them the way I am.

Today's been a very good day despite failing one of my last Science tests. I think I'm going to have to retake that class. That's okay though. I was talking to Jaelyn and if I take it next semester we'll be taking it together which might motivate me to study a little harder. That and yesterday we had a very nice devotional about Foundations classes and why they're important. I'd never thought of them like that. I was just "getting through" them so I could hurry up and move on to my major but they make up 1/3 of my education and they're at BYU-I because the Lord wants the students here to be well rounded disciples of Christ having decent education in all areas. Doctrine and Covenants 88:80 says "That ye may be prepared in all things when I shall send you again to magnify the calling whereunto I have called you, and the mission which I have commissioned you." That's why we have foundations. Another interesting thing that we've talked about in my GS 111 class (which is another class I HIGHLY recommend for anyone attending BYU-I) is that some day my kids are going to want to know how they memorize stuff or need help with matrices, or who knows what and as a High School Theater Director without foundations I would have no clue how to help them. So these Foundation classes are important for me to take as a mom too.

Well I'm halfway through my second to last week of my first semester at college. I DID IT! I'm not passing all of my classes and I could have done better but I can't change that now and next semester will be very different. I'm so excited. Claudia (one of my other roommates) and I were talking and became overwhelmed by that little fact. It's still weird to be here and know that this is what I dreamed of four or five years ago when I first started seriously thinking about going to college. How incredible is that? I turn nineteen in about 5 months. Wow.....

Okay. Now I'm going to get plastic storage boxes so I can start packing up the stuff I'm not taking back to Oregon. Enjoy everyone.

Today I was working on an assignment for Humanities that I particularly enjoyed. I took Humanities The Heroic Journey. It's been a favorite class so far and continues to be. I have an assignment due on Friday called "The Odyssey Soundtrack". I know it sounds kind of silly but for me it was tons of fun. We had to come up with five pieces of music to accompany things that happened in The Odyssey which we read earlier this semester. One of the songs I picked was Samuel Hazo's Olympiada. If you've never listened to Sam Hazo's music I highly recommend it. He has a certain style in the way he composes. Everything is very dramatic and each song tells a different story which is why I love his music. When I went to WIBC in 2007 we got to play Bridges in my band (I think). It was a lot of fun and he really is a FANTASTIC musician.

Samuel Hazo's music reminds me why I've kept playing all these years. It's not exactly because I particularly love the Clarinet or because I'm the most fantastic player. I've kept up with it because when you play with a good group you get to create the kind of emotion I hear in Samuel Hazo's music. It's amazing. I got fed up this semester with my Clarinet because of how difficult I found private lessons to be and I've seriously considered dropping it but if I can get into good groups like the ones capable of playing Hazo's music I will happily keep playing.

So that's my rant for today. Enjoy the blog and be sure to look up some of Hazo's music.

This week just keeps getting crazier. Whew. I think they make the final two weeks of the semester extra difficult. :P Oh well. I can handle it.

Tomorrow is my final Clarinet recital. I'm very excited for it. Then I'll be done with music classes until I decide to take another one. I got to play in the recital hall for our final rehearsal tonight. I'm going to take my Clarinet and play there before I leave and make a recording of it. It sounds WONDERFUL in there. Wow.

And now I'm talking on the phone to Nathan on the phone so I'm gonna post this blog.