birthday week

MY BIRTHDAY :) So I had a great birthday and that is thanks to all the wonderful friends and family I have in my life. I am very very blessed to say the least. To start off my day, my roommates convinced be that I should do yoga but sleep in so I did but then got woken up with a surprise. Abby came over and was making me crepes! Strawberries, blackberries and bananas with whipped cream YUM :) It was so great of her to come and a great excuse to not work out and just kinda enjoy my morning. I did some great scripture study and I had gotten homework dome the night before which was great so no stress in getting to class. Got to class a little late but it was my birthday so it was ok :) I had class then off to the Tanner building to do my Literary Criticism reading before NT. I love the New Testament and I love taking from Brother Griffin. We had a wonderful discussion on Romans and Paul's discussions on Faith, Grace, Mercy & Works. There are so many powerful principles in the New Testament that I just haven't known before and I went and thanked him after class for all the wonderful insights he has helped me to gain. Then I was off to Literary Criticism to talk about Spivak and her ridiculously difficult, "A Critique of Postcolonial Reason - Can the Subaltern Speak?". Even other critics have a difficult time deciphering what the heck she's saying, but never the less I need to understand it for the test. but no big deal it was my birthday :) So after that, I went to the library and did my American Humanities reading and had a dandy time with that. Then went to American humanities and laughed and laughed and we had brownies, Happy Birthday to me :) I then went home and found a large package from my Momma and Daddy :) It was so great that they thought of me and I opened it with my mom on Skype. They got me a really cool new satchel bag, a knit poncho (so hipster), feather earrings, some earrings I left at home over the break,  Hershey bars, an awesome purple coat, a cool belt and lots and lots of love :) It was great and I loved all of it. After that, Abby and Dana had something planned and  they took me to Goodwood's Barbecue, oh my goodness its so GOOD! And lots of friends came; it was me, Dana, Brian, Jasmin, Giselle, Abby, Dylan, Haley Christensen (so great of her to come!) and Madeline even came down from Draper and represented the Hinckley girls of Freshman year. It was so nice of them to come and celebrate with me. I had ribs of course (SO GOOD) with sweet potato fries ans baked beans. And Abby even paid for me (with help from my mother I found out later) which was so sweet and she got me tickets to go and see HUNGER GAMES. I'm so excited! Then our waitress brought us out 2 brownies sundaes for us all to share, fantastic :) It was all around a great dinner with great friends. Then we went back to our apartment and friends surprised me with a dessert party courtesy of Dana's excellent party planning skills and we still have the leopard and pink streamers on our ceiling to prove it. That was really great to have even more friends come and celebrate my birthday with me with a chocolate cake with peanut butter icing and candles in the shape of a 20 and I got sung to :) I'm sure the pictures of my face were priceless. We then just sat around with people filtering in and out until midnight just chatting and having a grand ol' time. I'm so grateful so great friends, they all made me so happy and I hope they all know how special they are to me :) After that I said my prayers and thanked my Heavenly Father for my wonderful family, wonderful roommates and wonderful friends that made my birthday great. I'm 20 years old now so look out world here I come :)

On Thursday, slept in a bit, I got my reading and study guide done before class which was great. Class felt really long that day just cause he was just talking and talking about literature and it just isn't as fun as when there's more of a class discussion. After class, Giselle and I got to go to the temple because we didn't get to since Tuesday was Monday classes. It was more crowded then we're used to but still got some very nice scripture study and just calm time. It was wonderful, I love the temple. I stayed there until work and went to work. I had to leave a little early because I had a subject editors meeting for Criterion where we got assigned the papers we are going to be working on and the people we'll be working with. I'm excited for the opportunity to get some good experience on editing with this project. Then I went home earlier then usual so I made chicken puffs as a delicious meal to last me for a few days. It took a while and I forfeited homework time in order to do it but I'm not complaining :)

It most definitely felt too soon to be Friday because of the funky schedule for the week but it was a good Friday nonetheless. Did yoga in the morning and my shoulder is still bugging me so I've decided that I'm going to do my shoulder exercises on the days that I don't do yoga in hopes that it will actually help my shoulder and it won't cause my body to collapse in the middle of a yoga pose. I went to class decked out in my birthday gear and definitely felt very stylish :) We had a sub in American Usage who was really funny and actually co wrote our textbook and had taught usage at BYU for 40 years before retiring so it was definitely a good time. Then went and worked on my Literary Criticism paper that was due at midnight for a few hours before actually going to Literary Criticism and talking about our upcoming test. I worked on my paper some more until I went to work. I got another note and a sighting :) A little late birthday present that made me smile lots and lots. Even my friend Chris who works with me noticed and totally called me out on my silly little smile and blush I get when I see Jared. Thats ok though, I definitely don't mind :) A bunch of us from work walked home together and then I got to talk to AJ on Skype for a few hours. I took a break from that and finished writing my paper. I turned it in at quarter after midnight so I pray i don't get docked. Then AJ and I talked again for a few more hours and he kicked my butt in chess. I am definitely gonna miss that kid. He ships off to basic tomorrow actually for 2 months then 5 more months of job training for special intelligence for the Army. But he'll be great it always just makes me worry with friends going off and doing stuff like that. We'll write and I'll do my darnedest to make sure he keeps himself out of trouble. Finally at 2 Saturday morning, I collapsed on my bed.

So Saturday morning I woke up early with my stomach feeling terrible and staggered downstairs to collapse on the couch. No bueno. I decided I probably shouldn't go to work and expose the missionaries to my ickiness so I got a sub and just studied for my New Testament exam and lying down. Maya and Papa came into town so they came over with Darl and Nyc and gave me my birthday present. They gave me a really cute 30s hat and a sweater and a knit purse. So awesome. I made lots of awesome marks in my scriptures and now I have those forever and ever. Awesome. After much studying, I went and took the test and got a 94, I was very pleased :) I got home still not feeling great so I took a nap while my roommates went to the temple (jealous . . .) and woke up as they got home. I was drinking lots of water through the day and some Vitamin water for some electrolytes so by the time I woke up form my nap was feeling much better and actually hungry. I chomped down on Chicken Puffs and then got invited to go and eat at Slab pizza. So I got dressed up in my new hat and sweater and went and ate 1/4 of a buffalo chicken pizza - so so good. It was fun with Jackie, Carter, JD, Brian and Dana. Then we came home and I ate two of the leftover crepes from my birthday breakfast and everyone was surprised that I can eat so much. What can I say, I love FOOD. We discovered a Natural Hallucinogen on Youtube that made the world move in all sorts of weird ways and it was really fun, this is what Mormons do to experience getting high without actually getting high. After much deliberation, we all went to Ty and Robert's apartment and watched Ocean's Eleven, a classic movie. We were there way past curfew but shhhh no one has to know that. We felt so rebellious. NBD

Sunday morning got lots of great sleeping in and lots of scripture study in the morning. I read some really cool stuff in I Nephi today. In Chapter 15 verse 24 when Nephi is talking to Laman and Lemuel about the contents of Lehi's dream and what it means to hold fast to the iron rod (and we sang that song twice at church today too!). Hold has a cross reference to Proverbs 4:13 and I turned to it and I had 11-13 highlighted and they say "I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths. When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble. Take fast ahold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life" and I just thought was was a really cool scripture that really emphasizes how important it is to cling to the gospel of Christ. Also another scripture (15:33) had tons of cross references talking about how no filth can be in the presence of God and what we need to do to be clean - having clean hands and a pure heart. Its all about working on the little things everyday huh? :) So then I got ready for church (I did a sock bun with one of my leg warmers and it turned out so good, I was so proud!) and then to go to church and have wonderful lessons from wonderful people and it was just great. I got to partake of the sacrament and it was just a wonderful experience overall and lots of guys complimented me on my outfit and even my walk so hey bonus right? lol Then went to family dinner at the Larsen's with all the Utah people present and had a great time chatting with family and playing with little Levon. Brittany is pregnant again too, more babies! Our family loves them :) Came home and started blogging and then got distracted and went to ward prayer and socialed at 462 for a bit before realizing my visiting teachers were coming over so I ran home and had a great little discussion with them. Then continued blogging and then got home- taught again by Phil and Jason which was super great and now just sitting and finishing up my post. I'll probably stay up late responding to Jared's letter and then doing homework for my 10 o'clock class tomorrow. Delightful. Have a wonderful week all! God bless!

a week or so

hahaha so yeah . . . I'm terrible but I will be better.

Monday: YOGA to begin the day, I hate her, but I love her for it. School was fine. My American humanities teacher made possibly the funniest comment ever conceived on BYU campus. It included "professor talking about an experience where he had to talk to a guy who was telling people about visitation he'd had from angels: "I just wasn't getting through to this guy! So I finally said, 'You know what? Let's talk about my sex life!' The guy was shocked and said 'I'm just not comfortable hearing that . . .' I said 'That's the point, we don't talk about these things!'"
I've never laughed so hard in my life"Needless to say, it was quite outstanding.

Tuesday: Got all my laundry done in the morning before my class. I was then late for class, but hey it happens. After, I got to go to the temple with Giselle and it was super fast and I got to just stay there until work (like 2 1/2 hours!). Oh my goodness did I need that. I just sat and poured over Alma 5 and Alma 7 - the temple is such a wonderful spiritual place and I get to go again this week. I'm so excited!

Wednesday: Always a crazy busy day but I was on a wonderful spiritual high from going to the temple the day before. Yoga is a really great start to the day then get all bounced up and read to go. All of my classes are fun to go to. I started reading Believing Christ by Stephen E. Robinson and oh my goodness, its certainly something I needed to hear. I feel like EVERY single talk or lesson or class or anything has something that is directed right at me. On the previous Sunday, we had a meeting talking about the importance of scripture study and I knew that was something I really needed to change and work on and with that I had my awesome temple experience and man oh man, the Lord speaks right to us through the scriptures and I'm ashamed that I neglected them for this long. The Lord speaks to me through them and they prophets who wrote them, wrote them for me, not to be selfish anything but they knew what I would need and I will forever be grateful for their prophetic insight. I got a wonderful letter from a guy who inspires me everyday to be better and grow closer to Christ. I've got lots to learn and I cannot wait to learn it!

Thursday: I got lots of reading done for my Humanities of Islam class in the morning but still managed to be late, typical. Went to work, came home, did reading, went to sleep. Well as far as I can remember anyways.

Friday: Yoga, two classes, worked on papers, went to work, came home and THEN the parties started. I party hopped. Well first it was David's concert and he proposed to Karlee (which was very cute - did I mention I really like their music?) and then went to Slab pizza and crashed some random girl's birthday party and ate her cake with Taylor by my side (she invited us to have some so I didn't feel as bad) and then Dana and Brian and others and I all went to Jake's birthday party and I got some pretty epic videos of a few people playing pin the horn on the unicorn. Most excellent! Then came the crash of all roommates in the living room after all our partying and we went to bed content in how social we were.

Saturday: Slept in - wonderful, Work - including singing Bohemian Rhapsody and Make a Man Out of You so pretty darn good, then came the dismal paper for IHUM 350 combining the ideas of Moliere and Susan Bordo, it took me all day but I hope it was worth it. I didn't get other studying done though or my other paper done so that was abismal and I will do it as soon as the clock strikes midnight this evening. yay . . .

Sunday: A wonderful spiritual day and can I just say how much I love my roommate Dana? She's such a strong girl and makes me laugh everyday and I'm very glad she's my roommate. She even made a huge dinner and dessert (cheesecake no less) for her brother's birthday; how cool is that?! We had a great meeting at church today and the testimony meeting was the best part. I got to testify of Christ. How he has spoken to me through the scriptures and how I know He is my Savior. I just can't get there myself and I will lean on him just like a good friend taught me. A wonderful spiritual day and I'm excited for this new work. Tomorrow I have an Exam at 10 and a paper due I haven't written yet so needless to say, I'll be up all night. I hope...I know that if I work hard and put the Lord first, I'll get through this week and be stronger for it. I love my Heavenly Father and I love my Savior Jesus Christ because without them, I'd be nothing and no one. But they make me the best I can be and I want to live so I don't disappoint them but make them proud of me. One day at a time.

Keep the faith friends

prayers and the arts

Today, I've been doing a lot of reading for my Humanities of Islam class and its basically been an introduction into Islam and Muhammad and its been really interesting. I like learning about other religions because it emphasizes to me how the Lord loves all His children and has given all different peoples truth. They may not have the whole truth but the Lord can build upon that truth through the work of the missionaries who give added light given by the restoration of the fulness of the Gospel. UNderstanding is made possible through the Spirit of the Lord which grants us the opportunity to be more calm and collected in our thoughts and actions. I mean no one wants to get in arguments, (well some people do) and the Spirit can help guide one through a conversation by helping you understand what the person is trying to say to you (a sort of interpretation of tongues if you will).  Learned that in New Testament today. I love my religion classes - they are such an uplifting and edifying part of my day. It keeps me going and makes me happier every time I read or study for those classes.

I am in a much better mood then yesterday and I am very grateful to my Heaven Father who listens to my sometimes pitiful pleads for help and always knows how to lift me up. Its all about God's timing, he knows EXACTLY what we need when we need it most and it is not for us (with the watch) to dictate to Him (the One who set the cosmic clocks) how or when our answers are given. Patience breeds calm confidence in One who is the same yesterday, today and forever. Now if I could just be better at being patient and calm. . .

I got one textbook today so thats better then having one less but I certainly hope they at least come tomorrow, pretty pretty please. I really am enjoying my classes and I think I'm gonna join one of the Student Journals on Campus; probably Criterion (literary criticism) or Americana (American humanities) and I'm really excited. I'm not sure if I mentioned I was going to do that but shows how excited I am right? American Humanities today was great! It literally deserves an exclamation point. My professor is funny and always is up for any sort of discussion that lead to interesting points I'd never thought of before. Did I mention I love Humanities? Cause I do, oh wait! Its my major - I have most excellent taste :)

Now when it comes to apartment 440, let the merry war begin!

Cheerio!

a different Sunday

Sundays. Sundays are great because I get to sleep in, go to church and try to get outside of myself for a little while. Fasting is always good (yes I said it was good) and break the fast with the ward, dessert with now former :*( FHE bros along with Tangled is always a bonus. Can I just say I have the best hometeachers in the entire world? Shout out to Nate and Jason who gave their testimonies today which were a great boost to me.

So you know when people tell you how everything is gonna be fine just gotta focus and keep it out of your mind? Yeah, working on that. Kinda hard. Yeah a bit. I never thought I'd say this but I WANT MY TEXTBOOKS SO I CAN JUST FOCUS ON THAT. This in between period is highly unnecessary, but hey, what do I know?

I love the church and how constant it is. Everything about it just reminds me of how the Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever. He carries me through the hard times and walks beside me to be there whenever I need. You know what? The scriptures are the best textbooks ever, so I can do my very best o get lost in those. Nothing is too big or small for the Lord to handle, if I just let Him guide me, I'll be just fine.

I get to go see Hugo on Tuesday with a friend from Bakersfield, who's in my stake, that I never knew existed until three days ago. Small Mormon BYU world . . . but in other movie news, Beauty and the Beast comes out again this week! YAY! Favorite Disney movie of all time and I get to eventually see it on the big screen! Now to get a car . . . who wants to comes with me? :)

School this week will be insanely busy I'm sure (unless my TEXTBOOKS don't get here) but I like being busy good at keeping the brain occupied. This quote needs to be in this post because I need to cheer up dang it.


"I like life! 

Life likes me!

 Life and I fairly fully agree 

Life is fine! Life is good! 

'Specially mine which is just as it should be! 

I like pouring the wine and why not? 

Life's a pleasure that I deny not 

I like life here and now 

Life and I made a mutual vow 

Till I die, life and I, 

We'll both try to be better somehow!"
-Scrooge

We'll both try to be better somehow :) Everything's good because I say it is. Have a good week cyberspace!

Cheers!