Best Thing About Yesterday

Ok here it is. This blog post is dedicated to two girls from my high school. Annie and Lexi. I was having a downer day and then I saw this:

And I am still laughing. Partly because a lot of this is so true. (Annie and Lexi, points for complaining about the Big Trucks) But I'm also laughing because these girls are so funny. They always made me laugh in volleyball and it made my day when I watched this video yesterday. So here's to Annie and Lexi. Thanks guys! (And I totally agree with basically everything you said.)

Still laughing over this one :)

And it's Monday..

I guess I don't really know what to say in this post. Today was an interesting day. Not one of my better ones.

I believe that everything happens for a reason. There are no coincidences. For me, that (the happening of coincidences) is just a hard concept to fathom. People come into your (my) life for a reason. Good things happen to you (me) for a reason. Bad things happen to you (me) for a reason. And all of this is supposed to teach me something. The hardest part is figuring what exactly I am to learn from this...

On Facebook (addicted..) I have seen a quote from President Monson. Oddly enough, that same quote was in church on Sunday. Coincidence? No. I needed to hear it. Both times.
It goes like this:

In church, the entire quote actually read:

"Courage is required to make an initial thrust toward one's coveted goal,

but even greater courage is called for when one stumbles and must make a second effort to achieve.

Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says,

'I'll try again tomorrow'."

And so... I'll try again tomorrow.

.....

Sometimes I feel like I don't know what I'm doing. But this message makes me feel better about it.

Science? or Not? (in a Writing class)

In my Writing 2010 class this morning, we got on a very interesting subject. The discussion started with a reading assignment about Scientists and how they use facts to make decisions whereas other leaders will use gut instinct or their conscious when deciding what should be done. One kid in my class brought up the point that it is "human nature" to follow your conscious. Then the class talked about "well, what is a conscious?" It was brought up that your mind comes up with a solution without you being totally aware of it and then your gut reaction is to follow that "instinct". And most of the time, it turns out that if you follow your gut, you will end up making the right choice. During this whole discussion I couldn't help thinking to myself, "don't you realize why? There is totally something missing in this discussion! It isn't just instinct that helps you make good decisions, it is the guidance of the Spirit." But... me being me... kept quiet and didn't say anything. So I kind of smiled to myself, grateful that I had my own personal knowledge in this area. I did, however, notice that the conversation was bothering the kid sitting in front of me. I remembered him saying something about his mission in one of his comments. So after class, I asked him about his mission and then what he thought about what the discussion topic turned too. I could tell before that he was thinking the same thing, but he told me he was thinking the same thing.

It was just kind of a cool experience to be able to sit in an academic classroom and feel comforted because my religion has supplied me with an answer to something that the other people in class did not have an answer to. I would also be more willing now to share what I believe because of my experience in class this morning. I wanted to say something, but never actually did. In that setting, anything I said would have just been looked at as an opportunity for more argument. A situation like that can't invite the Spirit.

Beauty Redefined

Tonight, I went to a fireside with Emily (thanks Emily!) and it was so good. The whole thing was a presentation by these two sisters who have put a lot of research and study into the way media makes us perceive women. They call their project Beauty Redefined (hence my title). They do this kind of thing:

As opposed to the media which does this kind of thing:

The whole point of this being that, media is trying to get women to obtain something that in reality doesn't exist. You have to see yourself for who you are. Not what someone else thinks you should look like. I really loved this presentation. I thought it was so good and very eye opening to realize how warped public and general ideas have become. Makes me want to help do something about it.

These sisters have a website that has a lot more information about what they do and the things they are against.
http://www.beautyredefined.net/
I highly recommend checking out what is on there.

It is kind of humbling to see what the adversary has done to the world's view of women. A little scary too.
But all of this has greatly made me appreciate my own knowledge of individual worth and that there is more to people than meets the eye. After all, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder". And there is really only one beholder that matters and He is the one who created me so of course He thinks I am beautiful. Today was an amazing reminder of that.

The Leonardo

Spending time with Jessica was great today! :) I had fun. Her parents bought me lunch and then I took Jess and her younger brothers to see the Library and The Leonardo Museum (via Trax, ((thank you UTA)) my mode of transportation) where we later met up with her parents again. It was pretty cool!

This white mass of awesomeness responds to people. It will move when it senses your presence and your breath. Way fun to mess around with. I don't know how it works..but it's cool.

.....And there was even more to do. Only I didn't get many pictures of that because the other floors were darker. And I was having too much fun drawing and looking a mirrors and prosthetics and other cool stuff.

So if you're ever just hanging out in Salt Lake, I would recommend checking the museum out. It is conveniently just south of the Library. But if any other questions remain in your mind, I would refer you to www.theleonardo.org because I really don't know much about it. It was just cool. Definitely give yourself a few hours to explore in there.


Almost forgot the most important part!! The question was: "What is the best thing about Utah?"

 I drew that :)

Woot! UTA has WIFI

Ok yeah. Lame title, I know. But I am sitting on the Frontrunner right now.. and I will be here for a while so might as well do something...mostly... productive. It is pretty cool actually. I feel important too, as I sit here with my laptop out and typing furiously fast (exaggerating) and answering texts on my phone every once in a while. Kinda funny, when I stop and think about it.

But I had a real reason for blogging. I promise.

So New Year's Resolutions, right. Remember those? (if not... scroll down) Well I am very happy to report that I have so far been doing well. Sure, it's only been about a week but I have been pretty impressed with myself for that one week. Most impressive of all being that I got a job!! Yay! (love you Lara!) Really! I will start working at Big5 on Monday and I am very excited about that.

The second thing I am super excited about is that I am planning on going to the Salt Lake Temple to do baptisms tomorrow!! :) (Thank you Ben!) So, really looking forward to that. It will be fabulous.

This year is really starting off well for me. I feel so blessed! I am way excited to see what the rest of the year will be like too.

Sweet... 19 (?)

Alrighty, well Saturday was my birthday. And with my birthday being in January, there is always snow. Only....this year it hasn't really snowed. At all. So you can imagine my surprise when I woke up Saturday morning to find snow covering the..everything, and it was still snowing too! Kinda cool. I'm going to just keep thinking that God made it snow just for my birthday :) Because I'm vain like that. (It hasn't snowed since either. Hm....)

So Friday night, I made my birthday cake that my loving mother sent home with me. (Actually.... I ate some of it Friday night with Melodie too. Whatever. Totally still counts.) It looks pretty good, if I do say so myself. It tasted good. That's really all that counts. But I took a picture for you Mom. (Hi Mom!)

Most of my birthday day was spent with Ben. We went bowling and played mini golf and went to the mall and watched a movie and he took me to dinner (Chinese too. Totally my favorite. Points.) and then we chilled at his house for a while. His parents even got me a present. A cook book which I am pretty excited to use. And his sister made me a cute necklace and matching earrings. Their gifts really surprised me but I was touched. Ben's mom made another cake too...so I have had plenty of cake. But it was way fun. It was quite a long day too but I loved it.

Goals for 2012 (aka Resolutions)

Ok so, today in Sunday School, the first thing the teacher did was ask us to tell our neighbor one of our New Year's Resolutions. I actually hadn't written any down...then. But now, I'm all over this.

My "Goals for 2012" are as follows:

• Find a Job
• Establish and keep track of a Budget
• Learn to play Guitar

                                                                                        

• Daily Prayer and Scripture Study
• Diligent Journal Writing
• Never forget a Fast Sunday (yeah... oops)
• Go to the Temple to do Baptisms at least once a month

                                                 __________________  (this is totally where my signature would go)

And there you have it. I wanted to keep the list fairly small so I could actually do them all. I think it is a good start for me. But I'm posting my goals so that you all (whomever that may refer to) can hold me accountable for keeping with all of them and remembering each day. (Yes, Mom, that means you.)

I'm looking forward to this year. It will definitely be an adventure and I feel like it will be life changing for me. But here is to trusting that I have a Father in Heaven who knows what I'm doing, and (more importantly) knows what He's doing.

Christmas Break part El Paso

While we were in Texas, the Marching Band had the big 'end of the season' banquet. I got an award from the Saxophone Section for being the "Professional Flirt". haha. But Dr. Sproul gave me an award that I was tied for with Jesse for "Best Rookie Marcher". That one totally surprised me! The flirt award... not so much.

Look Look Look!!! See the cute girl with the camera out? :) That's me! :)

Hyundai Sun Bowl 2011

Utah: 30 Georgia Tech: 27

Go Utes! :)