Ouchee

I forgot I even had a blog but I couldn't help but share what the "effects" of having a personal trainer have been for me. So I'm determined to get in shape and have started meeting with a personal trainer. In the past I haven't had good experiences with personal trainers. The first time I met with one we did calf exercises for an hour. Who in their right mind would have someone just starting to exercise work on one muscle for an hour? Guess who couldn't walk the next day?... The next time I met with a personal trainer, he showed me how to do these very difficult squat/lunges with one leg in a rope. It made me very dizzy and guess who almost passed out?... The girl working out next to me asked me if I was OK. I decided that Id' try it again, despite my bad experiences, to help keep me on track. So my second week back at the gym I met with my personal trainer, Katie, and we did an intense lower body work out. I don't think that personal trainers realize that us fatties can't do the same workouts as them. Not that I didn't do it, because I did. But I think that they should consider that we haven't used any muscles for a while so we might not be able to walk the next day if we do the same exercises as a super fit person. And you bet your bottom dollar I sure felt it for the next week. The day after I could barely walk. Stairs were terrible and I live on the 3rd floor in my apartment complex and work on the 3rd floor at work but luckily they have an elevator there. I was in denial that the 2nd day it would be worse because how could it hurt any worse!? I didn't know that I could be so sore. Anyways I kept going to the gym to help stretch my muscles but the soreness didn't go away for about a week. So now this time that I met with my personal trainer I was thinking oh this will be great. We'll do an upper body work out and I'll be sore but at least I'll be able to walk and get around. Wrong. I never realized all the things that you need your arms for! When you can't even touch your face, a lot of things are difficult. I have to hunch to eat or drink because I can't bend my arms. It hurts to tuck my hair behind my ear, put on chapstick, putting on a bra (most difficult) and even straightening my arms hurts. I did some of the same work outs I did yesterday to help stretch them out but as soon as they sat again for a minute they were even more stiff. My triceps are what hurt the most and I'm pretty sure they tripled is size since Monday. Most of the time I just laugh at myself because I can't do anything. I just feel like an idiot that has delicate arms. Haha! Anyway, if you see me in the next week bending and hunching over to tuck my hair behind my ear you'll know why!

Change

I've been thinking about this past year and I'm pretty much in the exact same position I was a year ago, even two years ago, maybe more. It seems like nothing has changed. I'm still the same person I've always been. I mean, I am freakin awesome but I do have some flaws. You'd have never guessed, would ya? While ringing in the new year I've contemplated the new year's resolutions I want to make. Getting in shape has always been on the top of the list but I've decided not to even put that on my list this year as much as that desperately needs to happen. All I want to do this year is be fit spiritually. I feel like if I do that everything else will just fall into place. That's what I hope anyway. After all these years of making resolutions to be better I don't think I've kept a single one. And why? It's because I don't change. I just go along with life expecting change to just happen. It's almost like I expect my circumstances to change me but I have to change me. I have to change myself. No one is going to do it for me. That's why I want to be spiritually fit this year. The only thing that can help me is the gospel, specifically the atonement. I need to take it and use it and create a new me. Still me but a better me. The enabling power of the atonement is what will help me become the person I need to be. It's not a bunch of friends, a rockin bod, a boyfriend, stylish clothes, or even the greatest vacation that will change me into a better person. In order to actually complete my new years resolution I have to change myself with the help of the atonement. Its a good thing I know the atonement works or this would be an impossible task. I'm so grateful for my testimony and for my knowledge I have of Christ. He is my Savior, my brother and my friend. This year I'm going to make the atonement my focus so I can actually accomplish my goal of becoming a better me. 2013, lets go.

Next Chapter

I'm not a great blogger. In fact, you might have noticed that it's been a long while since I've posted anything. I blame it on Summer. I mean who wants to be sitting at a computer typing away while there is so much fun and sunshine to be had outside. I really didn't even spend all that much time outside this summer. I actually did sit in front of the computer and type away, at work. I feel like that is all that I did over the entire summer break. I did have a few, few, trips to the lake but the summer went by so quickly that I didn't even have time to think about anything fun, yet plan some fun and actually do it. All the same, I did have some fun over summer break, just not my usual jam packed full of fun summer. Here are a couple fun things I did.
1. Manti: Saw the pageant, went to the temple, hung out with my good friends Kenz, and Kaylee
2. Tucson: Went with my fam to watch my little, yet taller, sis play in the western regional softball tournament.
3. Brennan: He finished his mission and came home on pioneer day. What a fun reunion. It had been three years since we had seen each other.
Well, that concludes my list. I'm sure there were other things that I did but it seemed like summer when by in the blink of an eye. Summer break needs to be at least twice as long maybe even three times longer. I'm sure you would agree.
So anyway, this blog is called next chapter because that's exactly where I am at in life again. I'm back in Provo, about to start my Junior year of college. This chapter of my life might be the similar to the last one but I fell like this one is going to be different. Even though I am sitting at home on my computer on a Friday night, I feel like this School year is going to be so much fun, full of hard work at school and exciting times with the roomies. I already love them, at least the ones I've met so far. I still have two more to meet. My room roomie and me are almost the same person. I'm sure we'll be besties in no time. Our apartment already feels like home. Cant wait to see what happens in this next chapter. I'll keep you posted!

Old...

I know that I am not old but I feel like I am developing a few habits of the elderly. Along with frequent naps and sometimes feeling computer illiterate, this past Friday evening I was home reading the newspaper and watching news clips online while my roommates were getting ready to go to a dance party. They invited me to go along with them but I decided I didn't want to go; I would rather stay home and catch up on current events. Now, as a 24 year old college student I should be going out with my friends and roommates and meeting new people and having fun but instead I find myself at home alone. I know many youngsters enjoy the news but most would let the news wait and head out and party.
While I was attending SUU, it was a different story. I was the one hosting the dance parties, rock band parties, game nights, movie nights, and everything else in between. I feel like those years I had so much fun and now I am just old and boring. I contribute it to many things but mostly because the fact is I am getting older. I was just talking to a friend about how we wish we could have just stayed kids forever. No big decisions to make, your parents provide everything for you, and life is just grand with the only worries being if you were going get your spot in the lunch line or not. Those days are long gone. There is a lot to be enjoyed by getting older but I don't feel like I am old enough to be getting older. I am almost a quarter of a century for pete's sake! haha! I was perusing facebook today and saw pictures of kids from my neighborhood back home going to prom. I remember when they were born so how can they be old enough to be going to prom? And how old does that make me? Old
Another elderly trait I possess is my lack of memory. If you know me, you know that I have one of the worst memories, next to my mother that is. Love you mom! haha I have very few memories of my childhood, or even high school for that matter. I can't remember much these days so I hope I'll be able to remember my own name in 20 years...
Today in ward conference we were having a lesson in combined relief society and priesthood, where, of course dating was mentioned and all those who were under 25 were asked to stand up. Then all those who were over 25 were asked to stand up. Wow are there a lot of old people like me in my ward. It is kind of scary knowing that my life could continue in this single life kind of way for the next 6 years until I am 30. I better stop reading the news paper on a Friday night.
I know I am not that old but the years seem to be zooming by.
Another factor in my staying home on a Friday night is that I don't make friends very easily. I am pretty awkward person when I am in a group of people I don't know. I never know what to say or when to say it. I have been out playing with my roommates and have had people over for dinner or games but I feel like out of all the people I have met this school year, I have had nothing in common with hardly any of them. I do love my roommates to death and we get along great but others in my ward or surrounding groups of friends I just don't seem to connect with. I have always felt like I was in a league of my own. I am a pretty well rounded person. I dabble in a little bit of everything so you think I could talk to just about anybody but that is not the case. I am somehow in this in between category of (sorry to stereotype but I am) popular/cool/jocks to weird/nerds/awkward people. I do posses qualities of most of those stereotypes but since I've moved to Provo I haven't seemed to fit into a group. I am hopeful for the future though. I have a wonderful summer to look forward to surrounded by friends and family and will be in a new living situation in the fall. Although that has yet to be determined. Even in my old age I can change and begin a new year making some friends and who knows after 20 years I might be able to remember the fun times ahead.

Since it’s been a long while since I have updated my blog I’d thought I’d share about recent events. So first off, I got accepted into the elementary education program at UVU. Yay! So I know what I’ll be doing for the next 2 years. More school… yay...... But at least my life has direction. I was a little worried I wasn’t going to get in. Since I am a transfer student they took my last few credits at SUU to show my GPA (I don’t know why they did that, why not just use all my credits…) which were classes like organic chemistry and calculus two which I failed, hence why I changed my major, and I had to take the praxis test and my scores weren’t in yet. I also had to do a group interview which I hated. I have really bad conversational timing, especially in groups and even more so in groups that I don’t know so the group interview was awful. I had to fight to get a word in the conversation. It went ok but I never want to do it again. But it all worked out and I got in! I really don’t like school at all, and probably would have just stopped going to school if I didn’t get in. Good thing I did get in or I’d end up living in my parent’s basement the rest of my life.

These past 2 months or so I have been doing a lot of driving. I think I have only stayed in Provo for the weekend once, maybe two times since January. In Feb I went to a missionary homecoming, a wedding, 4 wheeling all in St. George, and took a trip to Vegas with my 2 best friends. This month I went to Wedding in Vegas, the Blue Angles air show in St. George and just this past weekend went to the St. George temple where my best friend Mary got here endowments and went to Monster Jam in Vegas. All of it was a lot of fun.  

I am very excited for summer to come! For one, I won’t be in school! I have a job lined up so I won’t be as broke as I am now, I get to do my favorite thing in the world, wake surf, enjoy the good weather, play softball, hang out with the family, see my brother after three years of not seeing each other because we’ve both been on missions, and just live it up every day. I live for summer so I get really excited and want it to be summer right when it first starts to get above 50 degrees. Summer cannot come soon enough but I’ll just have to wait out the next 4 weeks of school and pray that the water in sand hollow warms up sooner than normal this year : )

Monster Jam

 Sand Hollow

 My Birthday Present!

 UVU Baseball 

 Las Vegas Temple

Kenz, Me and Mary

New Years Resolutions

New Year’s Resolutions for 2012:

1.       Be Healthy

2.       Budget

1. I’m certain that many of you, like me, in years past have had the New Year’s resolution to lose weight. As far back as even the 7^th grade, I remember having this as my new year’s resolution. Has it ever happened? No. All who know me know that I’m not grossly obese where I can’t even move and I’d have to be lifted by a crane to leave my house, but, I do have a lot I could lose.  As of late I have been thinking of my health in general. I don’t take very good care of my body. I’ve never been a regular exerciser and have never had a well-balanced diet. (Ramen noodles don’t give you much balance, according to the label anyway…) I just want to live a long and fruitful life. Already at 23, almost 24, I am worried about constant heartburn and swollen ankles. So I want to change my lifestyle. I want to be healthy.

Over the years I have tried many things: more exercise, less carbs, calorie counting, weight watchers (which worked for a while until I stopped doing it), juicing, and the list could go on and on. I do well usually for a couple of weeks then go on back to my bad habits.

I have found that I do not do well with extremes, like juicing, or with strictness in my diet. I find that when I decide to limit let’s say bread, all I want is to eat bread. Or when I say no Dr. Pepper I want it even more than usual, which is quite a bit.

So I have decided to simply be healthy. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas break I did really well. I didn’t have a set diet plan but I just wanted to eat better and it worked. I didn’t buy snacks when I grocery shopped and I tried to eat a home a lot more than I usually do. I hardly exercised during that time but put both exercise and eating better together and it should get me on my way to being healthy. I don’t want it to just be something I do but who I am. I want to BE healthy. It is going to be very difficult to change but I am confident it can happen. So no more crazy antics or yoyo diets, it’s going to be healthy me. Yay : )

2. Not once in my life have I budgeted. You may ask how I have survived this long. Well, my take on finances is to make sure the big bills are taken care of and then use what’s left for what I need and then survive without until the next paycheck comes. Yeah, not really the best way to handle my money but its worked thus far. But now that I am currently jobless things are definitely going to have to change.

I really quite loathed my last job and finally gave my two weeks’ notice two weeks before Christmas. I had wanted to do it for a while but I hadn’t found another job and in all actuality I was getting paid for sitting at my desk for 4 hours a day. So I stuck with it for a few months. One Sunday I was pondering on the subject and decided it needed to be done. I was really nervous to tell my boss but I felt really good about it otherwise. So it is the beginning of a new year and I have no income. Strangely enough I feel fine. I have some $ that I can use to get me through for the next little while but it will only last me a short time. My plan is to try to find some piano students to teach and if that fails I’ll get a job, even fast food if it comes down to that.

So since I won’t have any extra cash with no pay check to count on every other week, I need to tighten down on my finances. I thought that with living in a bigger city I would be spending most of my extra money on shopping since I had more of a selection than Wal-Mart, but that was not the case. Also in a bigger city, there is a wider selection of places to eat. So that is what I did all the time. Eat out. If I would have budgeted I probably would have been able to eat out and shop. But now with my first new year’s resolution to be healthy, I won’t be spending nearly as much on eating out.

So there you have it. My goals for this year, 2012. I’m hoping next year they won’t be the same as they have been for the past umpteen years. Who knows, maybe next year I won’t even have to worry about  a new year’s resolution. The Mayans could be right…

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!

(Don't worry, its just sparkling cider)

25 Days of Christmas

Why Hello!

My, it has been a while since I have blogged. I've have been swamped with school so I haven't had much time to think about blogging.
But here is a post about Christmas! Yay! So I decided I wanted to do a Christmas count down thing or more like a Christmas bucket list for the 25 days leading up to Christmas! I found a bunch of fun ideas on Pinterest and came up with a few of my own. So here it is!

25 Days of Christmas Countdown!

1.    Write missionaries
2.    Paint nails Christmas colors
3.    Hot coco party/movie
4.    Gingerbread nativity
5.    Send Christmas cards
6.   Make Christmas Mix CD
7.    Bake cookies, take to someone
8.    Make paper snowflakes
9.    Christmas lights drive
10.  Read a Christmas story
11.  Paint pinecones for decoration
12.  Make reindeer droppings (whoppers)
13.  Picnic by Christmas tree lights
14. Scripture chase, scripture paper chain
15.  Fondue feast
16. Caroling
17. Go to the Messiah
18. FHE Attributes of Christ (scategories like game)
19. Sledding
20. Shovel snow/rake leaves of a neighbor
21.  Go to a Movie
22. Watch Joy to the World DVD
23. Game night, minute to win it Christmas style (mash mallows through a wreath, stack cups with one hand, nutstacker game, cookie from your forehead to your mouth w/o using your hands,open present with ski gloves, etc…)
24. Read Luke 2
25. Write testimony of Christ in Journal

The ideas is to do one of these a day for 25 days until Christmas. Hopefully I'll be doing them in this order somewhat but most likely a few will change. Oh I see one already, tomorrow I'm going to the messiah. :)
So I just thought this would be fun thing to do to celebrate Christmas time.
I'm going to figure out how to put pictures on here soon so I can show you all the fun things I'll be doing!

Back to life... Back to reality...

One thig is certain; coming home from vacation is never fun.

I just got back from vacationing in Mexico. I love that place. It is a 15 hour drive from Provo but SO worth the drive. I spent 5 days relaxing, playing in the pool and the beach and soaking up the sun. What could be better? I just don't know. Well if you haven't already check out the photos on fb do, and you can see it all. I am new to this blogging thing so I haven't even tried to figure out how to put pics on here. Anywho, Mexico was fantastic and I did NOT want it to be over. I didn't want to have to come back. Can't a girl just stay in paradise forever?...
Life as of now isn't too exciting. School is well... school. I have never liked it. I did really bad on my last biology test, which is a bummer. I really don't want to retake the class so I'm going to have to study more. Ugh. I felt like I studied just as much on the first test as I did on the second. I did really well on the first test so I felt like I would do ok. But no. All my other classes I though would be ok but I just don't enjoy them. The only class I remotely like is my Children's Lit class. But that class is very demanding. So all in all, school... not my thing but I'm going to keep doing it anyway.
Work. Oh work. I hate work. Well I like working but I don't like my job. Its boring, tedious, repetitious, unfulfilling and full of drama. If you know me at all you know that I don't do drama. And it's not even my drama at work. All my co workers come to me and complain about everyone else in the office. I don't care, just get over it. So I'm going to start looking for a new job. I've seen a few things but it would be a cut in pay so thats not going to happen. I'm barely making it as is.
Social life. Not so great. In my "old age" (haha) I've become a boring person. I hardly have fun anymore and when I try to have fun I just become an awkward person. I feel like all of my social skills have gone out the window. Well I don't know if I had any to begin with. haha. I have a lot of friends up here but not a lot of close friends. Its been a struggle for me to make new friends so I just hang out with people from Cedar and my roomates. Luckily I have awesome roomates or I'd probably be a hermit.
Well that's life as of late. Not too much to come home to after a fun vacation. Hopefully things will start to get better soon. 

17 Secrets

This past week we had a fun lesson in my Institute class. I'm taking Preparing for Celestial Marriage; Dating and Courtship. Thursday night we discussed what we think the opposite sex is looking for in a spouse. So anyway I just wanted to share this list of 17 secrets. It is about the male and female psychology. I thought it was interesting so here it is.

Male
1. Men seek out relationships that make them feel trusted and respected
2. Men love through sacrifice.
3. Good men are largely logical about their relationships and commitment. Thus they do not commit easily to things they have not invested in over a period of time.
4. Men ad driven to succeed, face challenges, compete and conquer.
5. Men like women who like themselves
6. Men love to be heroes.
7. Men like being appreciated.
8. Men like femininity.
9. Men like women who have opinions and assert their needs.
10. Good men pursue women who are approachable and appear to be available.
11. Good men want sex with a woman who feels good about having sex with them and will wait until marriage.
12. Men need to be needed
13. Men are repelled by criticism, nagging and whining.
14. A man experiences anxiety in every conversation a woman initiates until she tells him what she wants him to do.
15. Men bond through doing activities and talking about things more than they do through talking about people, problems, feelings, or ideas.
16. Good men adore women who give them love attention and affection.
17. Good men are often willing to talk openly and honestly when they fell it will help them or another person to do so.

Female
1. Women thrive when they feel safe and secure.
2. Women love through sacrifice. However, women often love and sacrifice in ways that are not good for the male psychology. Thus, a woman needs a man to communicate about his needs. Not only will a woman love him for communicating respectfully with her, but the more she sacrifices to meet his needs, the more deeply her love will grow.
3. Women read into  men's behaviors, get excited, assume commitment, and then get hurt when he pulls away due to the added pressure.
4. Women are critical of their bodies and fear competition from other women,
5. Women are attracted to strength and confidence.
6. women are turned off by men who are too nice.
7. Women often fall in love with friends.
8. Women like to be pursued and to feel wanted.
9. Women enjoy touch, kissing, and affection but feel vulnerable and prone to shame after sexual contact.
10. Women want men who hold off sexually - it makes a woman feel respected and wanted rather than feeling like an object.
11. Women want immediate relationships but trust and value slow progressing relationships.
12. Women long to feel adored.
13. Women are repelled by moping, brooding, and the silent treatment.
14. Women worry. They need to know they are not alone in dealing with the problems of the relationship.
15. Women who don't trust and respect their men, fall out of love, especially if there is no communication.
16. Women like gifts, surprises, reasonable spontaneity, and excitement. The extra effort makes them feel special.
17. Women would rather have open and honest communication about misdeeds than to be protected from the truth.

Well there you have it.

Flirting Tips

I am a terrible blogger. Its just that I have been so busy. By the time I actually have time to think about blogging, I just want to sleep or catch up on one of my many favorite shows.

So this school thing is exactly what I thought it would be. Lots and lots of homework. All last week I feel like that is all I did. And it doesn't help that I'm the worst, or should I say the best procrastinator. I always wait until the last possible second to do things. I could be a better student by not putting off my reading my text books but I'd rather not spend all my waking time reading about biology and ethics, you know my favorite subjects.
I have been enjoying reading for my children's lit class. Who wouldn't want to read books like The Hatchet, The Giver, Harry Potter, Holes. Yeah it takes a lot of my time but its fun and entertaining. I also started my voice lessons. I was a lengthy process to get it all worked out but It finally happened. So my first day my teacher loved me. Haha. Not that I have the best voice but she loved that I was experienced somewhat. I love to sight read so all of the music she had me sing through was way easy. All that is required for this class is to memorize 3 songs. Yep that's it. I'm doing a french piece that is not like anything I've ever sung before. I also am hopefully going to sing Gravity by Sara Bareilles. I am absolutely OBSESSED with this song. I have been listening to it since saturday non-stop. I even bought the sheet music on line. Its pretty hard to play and sing at the same time but with practice it'll come.

Thursday I met with my bishop to say hi I'm in your ward. He asked me a few questions about where I was from and if I'm working or going to school then he asked me if I was dating anyone. I said no and then he goes off on a tangent of how to flirt. HAHA. I was trying so hard not to laugh out loud when he  was giving his monologue. He was telling me that a persons favorite subject is themselves and if things are going well to lightly touch their arm. My bishop is like the classic singles ward Bishop. All he ever talks about is dating and marriage. Haha. He looks like Steve Martin and talks like a radio announcer. Pretty funny but you've got to love the guy.

Last night was our ward talent show featuring my roommate Nellie and I on guitar singing White Horse by Taylor Swift. My ward, the 217th ward, is very talented. Almost like 2/3rd of the talents were guitar/singing. Every sunday when we sing hymns in sacrament meeting, it is sooo loud. I can't even hear myself. And we always have 2 musical numbers in each sacrament. Love it.

Once again I am a member of Gold's Gym.  It's only 10 bucks a month with no contract. And its a way nice gym.  There is a Cardio Cinema where its a big theater with the lights off and treadmills everywhere. Legit!

Well my battery on my laptop is about to die so that'll be it for this time.

Till next time :)

5 Things

It's been a while since I have blogged. I'll explain why later in this blog so you'll just have to wait for it.
I have been thinking about things I'd like to blog about, things I have an opinion about. Since my memory is not the greatest I started making a list of things to blog about in my phone, the only thing I know I'll always have on me.
(Not in any particular order)
1. Sweats and flip flops. When I think of these two things I can't help but smile. But on the other hand when I think of not being able to wear them I get a little bit upset. I don't like being told what to do. Today after I got home from class I changed into my comfortable sweats and a t-shirt. I had a full day ahead of studying and wanted to be content. While I was working on assignments I received an e-mail from my teacher that said I had to drop my current voice class and register for a different one. Being the 2nd week of school this required that I get an add card signed by my professor. I found that I needed to go to campus to obtain an add card before that office closed. So I just hurried and found some flip-flops and ran out the door to make it in time. As I was walking to the building from the parking lot I thought how grateful I was that I was at a school where I wouldn't get in trouble for wearing my sweats and flip flops.  Not to point any fingers at any of the fine institutions we have out there but I just don't like being told what to do, especially about things that I love; sweats and flip flops.
Also in my Children's literature class we were discussing books we read when we were in elementary school. I couldn't remember any of them. I do remember that in middle school we were required to read the Hobbit. I hated it. Not because of the content but because it was required. Later in high school I read it again an absolutely loved it! It was because it was my decision to read it and mine alone. I have somewhat adapted seeing that I know that usually required texts will spark a little interest.
2. Is she or is she not? My ethics professor is someone who I have been studying very carefully these past two weeks. First off she is an ethics teacher so she doesn't exactly come off as 'cool'. She is quite the quirky woman so she didn't give off the motherly vibe. When she introduced herself she said that she "escaped" from Utah when she was 19 and has traveled and is currently writing her thesis on Mormonism. You may now see why I have been studying her. I wanted to know if she was of the LDS faith or not. She didn't seem the typical mormon but you never know do you. I listened for her opions about religion since we are able to talk about it in class, I looked for signs like, drinking coffee or immodest clothing to give it away. Not to say that all Mormons are perfect but you usually can tell if someone is not in this culture. She is not unfortunately. It's not a proven fact but I am pretty sure she either isn't LDS or just isn't active. Now to find that out... Was she?
3. Working part time is fabulous. So I have come to the conclusion that working part time is like playing infield in softball/baseball.  When the ball is hit in your direction if you don't get it, the outfielder will. When I don't get something fully finished at work because I'm waiting for a call back or a e-mail to confirm a go ahead, I just tell my co-workers about it and when I leave at lunch I give them a piece of paper of what I still have to accomplish for the day and then it is their responsibility. I love it. Ha.. Not really a good thing but its something I am appreciating at this moment in time for this next reason.
4. No Time. I am a full time student and working part time. I don't think some professors think that their students have other things to do. My children's literature class is a prime example of this kind of thinking from a professor. Lets start out with reading. Of course we will be reading in a  children's literature class so I expect that. We have the assigned reading from the text book and oh lets say 8 novels that we have to read in the semester. I thoroughly enjoy reading novels but its such a time consuming task. Not only on top of the 8 novels we have to read we have to do a bajillon assignments to go along with each book. We have group assignments, papers, activities we have to plan, poetry to read, and on top of it we have tutoring hours we have to do as well. There are many things I have left out but if it has to do with children's literature, we will be doing it. And last week I said I liked school. How quickly it all can change.
5. The spirit. Oh I love the spirit. I have missed him dearly. Earlier tonight I was studying and my roommate invited me to come along to institute with her. Desperately needing a break I decided to go along. The institute class she is taking is Dating, Courtship and Eternal Marriage. I was terrified to go but I decided to be brave a just do it. We get to class and there are not many there. A few weird looking people and couples of course. I thought of course the usual institute group especially for this class. Well we were a few minutes early and when the hour came people just started rushing into the room. When it was about 5 min after the hour the classroom was so full people there weren't room enough for everyone. I was pleasantly surprised. As our teacher started the class I was a little weary as to what was going to be required of us to do in class or what she would even teach about. I also though she was trying a bit hard to be funny before class started. She stared off the class with a funny story about herself going to the eye doctor and how she couldn't even see the big E at the top of the reading chart. Well her story turned out to be very funny and I fell in love with her teaching right off the bat. Anyway she related the story to our perspective. There was nothing wrong with the chart but from her prospective all she could see was a blob. Heavenly Fathers prospective is so much larger than ours because he can see past present and future. If we can start to open our prospective we wont compare ourselves to others. So as in marriage we wont think EVERYONE else is getting married. Not everyone is. But our perspective is so focused on the present that that is all we see. So our teacher told us a story of how she had tumor that inabled her to have children. She is not married. Just like most of us it was one of her greatest desires to have children. She was 37 at the time that this happened and now she is 46. She said the only reason she made it through this time in her life is that she changed her perspective to be more like God's perspective. She knew that if God knew it was best for her to have children she wouldn't have had the complication in the surgery. He could have even made so that she never had the tumor. She knew that her Heavenly Father loved her more than she loved herself, that he wanted her to have children more than she wanted to have children, that he wanted her to have her greatest desires more than she wanted her greatest desires. All the things we go through are for a reason. Our Heavenly Father knows us and he knows what will make us into who we have the potential to be. We might want to plan when we want to be Married but the Lord knows whats best. We watched a video of Elder Oaks who talked about how his plans were not what ended up happening as good as his plans were. He and his wife planned to serve a mission together after he retired. Well Elder Oaks was called to the quorum of the 12. Sometime later his wife passed away and he remarried. He knew that this was the lord plan because he had done what was asked of him. Elder Oaks put it this way. If I put the Lord first in my life and keep his commandments everything will be ok. Faith and trust in the Lord gives us strength to accept and persevere through whatever comes our way. The woman he married had been single all of her life until she married Elder oaks in her 50's. She had filled her life with service and had done the best she could and the lord blessed her with a husband. An apostle :) Our teacher said theses are all extreme cases but we can learn from them. If we do what the Lord asks of us and trust in him, he has promised us an eternal marriage.
Just a side note. All of my friends including me, excluding the ones already married, all want to get married, to be loved and cared about and to have a family of our own. This has always been one of my biggest worries in life. That I won't ever get married. It seems to be a worry for a lot of us. I was so grateful for this lesson because I was feeling it again. I was worried it was never going to happen for me. When I first moved up to Provo I was excited. A new start, new friends, new boys... But none of that has happened yet. I know it has only been 2 weeks but I was expecting a little more. I am still my same shy self, who is not the best at making new friends. We'll heavenly father knows me so well that he inspired my roommate to invite me to this wonderful lesson to give me comfort about this whole marriage stuff. I felt the spirit testify to me through this whole hour and a half. I was crying, I was laughing and I was so grateful. Sister Oaks said, Come what may and keep going, fill your life with service, if your busy doing good things you don't have time to sin. My teacher said that every relationship has to fail until it its right. I hope my eventually is coming soon, even though I might have to fail a few more times it will be worth it.

Well that is my 5 things for this week. WOW that was long. Sorry.

Sweet beginnings

I have completed my second day of this new chapter of my life. Its has been filled with fun new adventures and new people. Yesterday I started my day bright and early at 6:30am just like the good ole mission days("Hit the clock its 6:30"). I did NOT want to get up. I had stayed up way too late the night before blogging and facbooking and of course when I finally got into bed I couldn't sleep. So as tired as I was I got up and got ready for work. I headed out about 10 till forgetting about traffic in this big city. Luckily I arrived to work at the same time as my boss and his family, about 3 min after 8. I thought to myself, "I'll be getting along with them just fine, we can be late buddies." Ha. (I'm hardly ever on time to anything)
Express Employment Professionals is my place of work as it was in Cedar. It is a staffing agency that does temporary work and permanent work as well. I got lucky enough not to have to find a different job just a new job in a different city. Because I had already been a staffing agent I was put right to work. John and Donna, who own this branch of the company, helped me learn who they work with in the area. Then not too soon after they had me fill a job order. I felt like I had no idea what I was doing, though I did, but I didn't know the employees like I knew my employees in Cedar. After some studying I felt better about sending a stranger to a job I didn't know much about. John and Donna are going on vacation on Thursday so they were so happy that I am there to help keep the company functioning while they are gone. They seem to have a lot of confidence in me already. But who couldn't love me. Haha! So work went well then I had lunch at home and headed off to school.
Biology 1010 was my first class. As boring as it was I thought the professor was hilarious so hopefully make that class more enjoyable. After I had Ethic and Values. This one is going to be interesting. The class only has about 20 people which I thought odd for a required general ed class. It is going to be a discussion almost every class time and usually I like to keep my opinions to my self in a class room setting but this one is going to force me to voice it. Overall I quite enjoyed school. Who knew? Me, enjoy school. It did in fact happen. I might not be saying that when I have to spend every waking moment reading one of my freakin expensive books. After class I went to the book store because I needed to read before the next class period. I paid $308 for two books. Ridiculous.
Since moving to a new place one would think I'd be making new friends but I'm catching up with a bunch of friends from Cedar that are up here. I went to Dinner with Kenz, one of my dear friends from SUU and her friend, my roommate, and another one of their friends. We went to Brick Oven apparently a staple of Provo. It was a fun night but I was completely exhausted by the end of it.
Today work was quite busy with filing job orders I wasn't comfortable with. I spent a lot of time going over and over employee files studying their job histories. They do things a little different than we did in Cedar. We would put so many notes in files about what people are willing to do and can do but here they don't have any. I just had to look at job histories. Not much to work with. I feel like there isn't as much working with our associates as there should be. But I'm sure I'll learn soon enough how to do things their way.
My class today was Intro to Education. I liked this class too. We will be doing 20 hours in the field so I need to find a school I can do that at. I really liked my teacher for this class too. Dr. B, as he likes to be called, is about 80 years old, or though it seems. He made lots of joke about getting up set with people and said that he would "pinch their heads" haha. Funny old man.
Tonight I went to a move with another friend from Cedar, Stacy. We saw Paris at Midnight. I liked the story a lot but I felt like an idiot at some parts. It is a movie about a writer who meets famous writers like Hemingway and a bunch of other famous writers and artists from that era. Everyone in the audience was laughing and I had no idea who any of these people were. I had heard of a few but couldn't tell you what they did. Ha. It was a very cute story and had good actresses and actors in it. And it was clean. Yay.
It has been a good few days. I haven't really gotten to hang out with my roommates a lot but I love all of them already. I am going to have a great time with them. Right now we are watching Anastasia. What girl doesn't love that movie. We are quoting all of our favorite parts and singing along with all the songs.
I need to be getting to bed soon. I'm sorry this blog is kinda a play by play of my daily life but soon I'll have something exciting to express my feelings about. (Which is so unlike me)
Peace out.

It's all about to begin

Well... Here it is. My blog. I figured since I was away from friends and family I'd create a blog so everyone is in the know about my life. So enjoy this first post!

As of yesterday I'm officially in Happy Valley. So here is the back story:

When I was near the end of my mission I tried and tried to get back into school at SUU. Neither my mom nor I could get things to work out so I could go back to school for spring semester. When I did get home I was offered a job so I decided to put school on hold until the fall. During this time I had the feeling I didn't belong in Cedar anymore. Almost all of my friends had either gotten married, moved away or just moved on with thier life like they were supposed to. I didn't really tell anyone I wanted to move becuase I had a job, was planning to go back to school at SUU and I had no reason to move. As time progressed I still felt the same way, that Cedar City had nothing left for me. My best friend decided to move up to Orem so I finally had a reason to go up there. Well, as you might know things didn't work out for here and she is back in Cedar. But my decision had been made. I had registered for school and was set on starting something new.  So, I started looking for a place to live and somewhere to work. Of course I procrastinated just about everything I could but with ease I found a place to live for much cheaper than anywhere else I looked and wouldn't you know I found a job just as easily. My days in Cedar are over for now and I'm looking forward to this new begining. I will be working part time and going to UVU full time studying Elementary Ed. I am living in a house in Provo with a bunch of fun girls. I think I'm going to like what is ahead. I might be all alone up here but I know that this is where I am supposed to be. I've found the right path and now I just need to follow it the best I can.

It's all about to begin.