Blessings in Disguise

I feel like my blog is really boring looking. There are several excuses for that...number 1 I don't consider myself to be very computer techy so I just don't really worry about it hahaha and number 2 I always put all my pictures up on facebook so I never really want to upload them twice! But anyway this week has been pretty good. I had Monday off which was great! I wish we had 4 day weeks all the time. I spent my labor day with some of my very favorite people Dave, Melissa, and the kids. I seriously love spending time with them. We can just chill and hang out and do nothing and it's still a blast. The kids are so stinking funny! I went up there Sunday evening and spent the night and spent the day with them on Monday. We went to the pool in their neighborhood for the last day that it was open and we also made a ton of delicious kabobs. I went back to Provo Monday evening and got ready to go back to school. The week was good and I kept really busy. Tuesdays I had class pretty much all day. I had my first physics lab class...I'm not sure how I'll like that class. We ended up having to do the lab twice because the instructions were confusing and we had a hard time knowing which data to use. Hopefully, it will get better and be more fun as time goes on, I'll just have to keep and open mind and a good attitude right?! Wednesday was a really fun day. I went to my classes. I have swimming on Monday's and Wednesday's and I really love that class. It's great to be back in the water but I can totally tell that I've lost some of the skill that I had when I swam two hours every day. A few times during the semester we have to do a timed 650 yard swim. We did our first one on Wednesday and it was pretty hard, I finished in really good time but I was tired when it was over. I also have class with the one and only Kennedy Rushing on Mon, Wed, and Fri which is fun. I'm really glad that I can see her frequently still even though we aren't living together this year :) So after classes on Wednesday I went down to CrossFit Utah Valley. It was so fun. Everyone there was so nice and welcoming and we had a really good WOD. I'm so glad that I know there's somewhere I can go for that CrossFit community that I miss all the time! Thursday, I went to classes. Thursday's are nice because I just have Volleyball and physics. I had my first meeting with the ETSC (engineering and technology student council). We have Club Rush coming up this week. That's when all of the different engineering clubs within the engineering and technology college set up a booth and try to get more members. It's a big project but I love having something to be involved in. I can learn a lot from the people in the council and I think it's going to be a great experience for me this year. Friday's are fabulous because I can sleep in! I don't have class until 11 so I can get up and take my time in the morning. Classes were nothing exciting, the exciting part came after classes. I came home and got online and clipped coupons! I'm no extreme couponer but I think I did pretty good! I took my coupons and drove to Super Target. I was so proud of myself because I found it all by myself, used coupon,s and bought things that were on sale. I got a good amount of groceries for only $48! I was so proud of myself!! After the store Kennedy came over and we went and go the best shaved ice in Provo. I love it love it love it! I would say the name of the place but I have no idea how to spell it hahaha! Later, after shaved ice I went with my roommates to a game night at one of Jenna's friend's apartments. That was....interesting.... We got there and it was a bunch of UVU people (enough said) they were all nice but they were just a little weird. As time went on more people came and they were all married!! So it was us, the weird UVU people, and a bunch of married people! Hahaha we're still laughing  about it. Saturday I got up early because I had lifeguard tryouts at the RB. To my disappointment I didn't get the job. I was upset. I had been making connections and trying really hard to get the job but it just wasn't in the cards for me. There were only 3 openings and probably 40 people showed up for tryouts. I'm feeling better about it today though. I think that it may be a blessing is disguise. Today I was asked to be the mom for our FHE group. I guess Heavenly Father really likes that position for me because I served all last year as the FHE mom! I'm happy though I really love this calling. But now that I have this calling I realize that if I had got the lifeguard job I would really have no time to get anything done. My Monday nights are now taken, plus all of my studies I'm going to be plenty busy. I was doing my Doctrine and Covenants reading yesterday and I came across a verse that really touched me and I know that it was exactly what I needed for this situation. The verse said to not run or labor more than you have strength and to pray always that you may come off conqueror. I just have to trust in the Lord and His plan for me. Like my Mom said as long as I'm keeping the commandments and saying my prayers everything is going to be ok. 

Everyday is Game Day

One of my goals this year is to be better about blogging. I know I tell myself that all the time and I'm good about it for a few weeks and then I fall off the face of the Earth, but I'm really serious this time!! The first week back to school is coming to a close and if this week is any indicator of what the whole year will be like then I am optimistic. Last year was a hard year. You know everyone in their life has those years that are hard, I don't want to sound like a downer but it's kinda like nothing really seems to be working out. It's like there's a piece missing and you just can't quite figure it all out...at least that's how it was for me. I really don't want a repeat, in fact, I don't think I could handle a repeat. So this year I decided that I just wanted to have my life together. I know that sounds vague but it's really what I want.

This semester I'm taking New Testament, Doctrine and Covenants, Foundations of Global Leadership, Physics, History of Creativity, Swimming, and Volleyball. It's been fun so far! I'm doing good with the work load to this point and hopefully I can keep it up! Side note....Brittany Westover is in Physics with me!! Yay someone to study with!!!

More details of my wonderful life at BYU are to come! First football game tonight....let's show WSU who the real Cougars are!!!!!

Swim Lesson Typo

I wanted to correct a few things from the swim lessons form. First my phone number is 360-904-3895.  Also, there may be some confusion when it says $40 per half hour session that is actually $40 for the 4 day session and each lesson is a half hour.
Thanks!

Swim Lesson Waiver and Registration Form

To access the swim lesson waiver and registration form please follow this link
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-jt-E7UjR4hUmRua0N0YUZ5RHc/edit

First Few Days in Singapore

My adventure has begun! On Tuesday I got on the plane to fly to Singapore with 11 other students from BYU. We were on the plane for a total of about 20 hours. We first flew to Tokyo and then onto Singapore from there. The flights weren't as bad as I thought they were going to be. I think it's because I was mentally prepared for how long it would be. Good news is on the way home we are flying with the wind to it's a little shorter! We got to Singapore in the middle of the night and woke up bright and early the next morning to go to class. We are in class for most of the day. We are studying international industrial design. Yesterday in our first class we discussed how culture affects design and also what makes a good team. With in the class we break up into teams and develop a product that could be used in urban farming. My team consists of 2 guys from Singapore and 2 from BYU. After class yesterday my team spent the rest of the afternoon in the city. It is like nothing I have ever seen before. We  ate traditional Indian food and it was great. I have really been feeling the jet lag that's for sure. It is humid here like no other too! Anyway, I will keep up on the fun things that happen as they happen!

Mountains to Climb

Every 6 months before conference our church leaders will usually tell us that if we listen to conference we will find answers to our questions and gain personal revelation. I have always believe that this was true but never had I really experienced it for myself until this past general conference. President Eyring's talk really struck me. It was for me. I believe that Heavenly Father knew exactly what I needed to hear. President Eyring talked about trials. I have a great life and an easy life compared to most people around the world, however, it has been a hard year and particularly a hard semester. I feel overwhelmed a lot and at times I feel that I can't succeed. I have a tendency to want to figure things out for myself. I'm always thinking things like 'I can do this, I'm tough and I've got this.' What I should be thinking is 'we can do this.' When the onslaught of trouble and mental and emotional fatigue come that is when I must turn to the Lord. President Eyring said, "I wish to encourage those who are in the midst of hard trials; who feel their faith may be fading under the onslaught of troubles. Trouble itself can be your way to strengthen and finally gain unshakable faith." I know that through trials we are refined and I know that I am not going through this hard experience and journey for no reason. I will come out of this a better person. There is a scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants. It is section 122 and the Lord is speaking to Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail. In this scripture I substitute the word son for daughter. The Lord says, " ...know thou, my daughter, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good. The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he? Therefore, hold on thy way, and the priesthood shall remain with thee; for their bounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy days are known and they years shall not be numbered less; therefore, fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPF2MBmfkvk

You Raise Me Up

Oh my what a weekend it has been! It started at 7am Saturday morning. I got a call from my best friend and sister Avery. I woke up at the very last ring and didn't answer the first time she called but she left me a message telling me that they were at the airport and that she was bored so she was going to call me...that's my Aves for ya! So I called back and talked to everyone before they left then went back to sleep. Then a few hours later I got another call from Gma DeeAnn. She said that they were coming up, they had tickets to conference, and they wanted to share a weekend with me. I don't think I can fully explain the excitement I felt when I heard this. I had never been to conference live before!

During the day before I was going to leave I spent the day watching conference alone and with friends and getting chores done. While I was watching the Saturday afternoon session I got a call from Aunt Ti-tine and she said that they were coming up from spring break in St. George and they were in Provo and were going to take me to Salt Lake. More excitement!! It was so great to see them and see my little...or not so little cousins :) I always feel at home when I am with extended family even though I might be far from home and my own family.

In Salt Lake we stayed at Little America. Staying there brought back memories from the end of August when I was getting dropped back off at school. I got a hotel room all to myself and I felt so fancy and grown up haha! I got a great nights sleep in a big bed all to myself! I watched the Sunday morning session while getting ready for the day and by then it was time to get something to eat and go to the conference center.

Conference was seriously so amazing. I had been to the conference center before to look around but it is completely different being there in the presence of the Lord's chosen servants. The spirit was amazing. I, like my dad, feel the spirit most through music. I had always kinda under appreciated the tabernacle choir and made fun of how old they are and their ugly outfits but seriously they are amazing. The bring a great spirit. Also, when we all stood and sang as a congregation I could really feel the strength of the saints all around me. It was so great. The whole conference made my proud of my faith and the way that I choose to live my life.

Since this was my first time at conference I had never experienced the protesters that stand around outside the conference center. They are HILARIOUS!! I couldn't help but giggle at the things that they were trying to tell people. I just thought to myself, 'there is nothing you could say that would make me doubt that this church is true...especially after an experience like that.' Ahhh people these days...

Altogether it was a great weekend and a much needed rejuvenation of mind, body, and spirit. Thanks to Ryan for giving Gma and Gpa the tickets and thanks to them for taking me along! Love you all :)

So White

Every year around this time a certain depression sets in. It has to do with the fact that I am so freaking pasty I could send signals to outer space. It's that sadness when you look in the mirror and your legs (and I have great legs) and are just kinda repulsed because they look so ghostly. Summer could not come quick enough. I'm ready to go home and be with my friends and play on the boat. I seriously cannot wait.

These past few weeks have been pretty good. I recently got involved in helping with a campaign for BYUSA president and vice president. It's been a ton of fun. I love that kind of stuff. I've been having so much fun with it that I decided to look into how I could get more involved myself. So I went to the BYUSA office this week and they gave me a tour and explained all the different sections of BYUSA. They have a clubs section, administration, honor code, communications, student advisory council, and one other one that I can't remember. After the tour the guy who was taking me around asked which section seemed most interesting to me and which one I wanted to get into. I chose the student advisory council working on a project called Bright Ideas. It's a group that works to find out what people want from their school and how we can make those things happen. I am really excited about it. I think it's just what I needed to kinda revamp my excitement about being here. I also think that being involved with BYUSA and where ever that takes me will make my BYU experience more personal rather than just the place that I go to school.

Well that's really the only exciting thing that has happened lately. It's been pretty dull. Hopefully things pick up a little. Love you all :)

Rollin in the Deep

Alrighty well there is a lot to report from the past few weeks. First of all I would like to formally announce that I will be going to Singapore this spring. I'm in an introduction to manufacturing class this semester and one of the first days of class a professor came in and told the class about an opportunity that was available to go to Singapore for three weeks during spring term. In Singapore we will take one class and tour around to many different production facilities. We will also be put into teams and design a product and make a prototype of our product. We will be competing against other teams. He also told us that this study abroad could count as our internship for the MET program. I listened to what the professor had to say and I was interested but I was kind of thinking that since I had gone to school over the summer that maybe this year wouldn't be the most ideal year to study abroad. But when dad called that night I told him about what the professor had said and he thought that this could be an amazing opportunity. So I decided that I would meet with the professor to get some more information. So I met with him and he gave me some more details and I learned that there weren't very many spots left so if I wanted to go then I needed to decide fairly quickly. I talked it over with my parents and I decided that I would apply and whatever happened that would be my answer. So I applied and I made it! I will leave from Salt Lake on May 14th and we will go to San Fransisco for a few days. Then we will go to Singapore until June 2nd. It will be life changing and I can't wait.

Another exciting thing that happened recently was that I got 100% on my math test!! I was so pumped. It is great to have some math success after my experience with math last semester. Hopefully I can keep up this trend on the rest of my tests.

In our ward we have started a new game called assassin. Each of us has a name of another person in the ward and we have to kill our person by spraying them with water. So far I'm still alive which is good. I haven't killed my person yet but I've come close.

Today we had ward conference. Our Relief Society lesson was centered around the talk that Sister Beck gave called mother's who know. I really miss my mom and my whole family. It kinda started this weekend. This semester will be the longest stretch that I'll have without seeing my family. It's getting hard I really miss them. Avery and I are seriously best friends. I think that me being gone has brought us so much closer. I tell her everything and when I say everything I mean everything. I just miss them a lot. I've been thinking lately that it might help to go up to Idaho Falls for a weekend so I've been thinking of weekends that it would work for me to go up there and how that would work out so I guess we'll see.

This week starts my first wave of midterms for this semester so I'm looking forward to lots of studying and that constant tired feeling...should be great! Anyways that's been my life for the past few weeks. Love you all :)

Out With the Old in With the New

I know I've been so bad about posting!!! While I was home for Christmas Mom told me that I need to blog more so I promise I will be better.

So many things are new in my life. I feel like I have a new outlook on things. I think that sometimes it takes a hard experience to teach you something about yourself. I feel like I'm pointed in the right direction for the rest of my life and I feel like I am fully ready to take on the future facing me.

The first new thing in my life and...everyone else's life... is the new year! I spent new year's eve with Elizabeth and we had the best time that only Elizabeth and I can have ;). I took the time this year to write out some resolutions. Here's just a few

1. Be in bed by 11pm on school nights

2. Nail my muscle up and hand stand push up

3. Stop biting my nails

4. get a lifeguarding job

5. volunteer at the MTC

6. get good grades

So far my resolutions are going well! We'll see how I stand at the end of the year.

Today started the new semester. It's exciting I think this is going to be a great semester. I had two classes today. They went really well and I really like both of them. I'm starting classes for my MET major this semester and I'm so excited and enthusiastic. I think MET is really good for me. The TA said today that unlike the other engineering majors you actually have to have some social skills hehe ;)

Well...that's it for today hope all is well! Love you all! :)