Christmas Angels

Christmas this year was spectacular! I had so much fun with my family and I love all the gifts that I received! I got a coat and ski googles! I got cute clothes and candy! I got to talk to my cousin Brigham who's serving in Tucson and my friend Tyrel in Peru. I spent all day with family and I loved it! But the story I want to tell happened on Christmas Eve. We had just gotten home from our loud and loving Christmas Eve party at Grandma Teichert's. Taffy and Tony and their kids and Tami and Casey and their kids and Sulli and Michelle and Kinley were at the house with us and we were having a loud time! It was a fun family atmosphere that I love! And in the midst of the excitement we got a knock on the door. Connor went to the door fairly quickly. When he opened the door, there was nobody there. Instead there was a jar on the porch that said, "Tessa's Christmas Jar."

No name, no trace of anybody. My nephew Tel shouted out the door, "Thank you Christmas Angels!" and we laughed because who comes up with that kind of a sentence? Just Tel. Then Connor brought the jar over to me. It was filled with coins and bills. I was puzzled and surprised that someone would leave me a jar of money. Whoever gave me this gift of money was inspired and very thoughtful and sensitive to my needs. Since going to college, I have become a stresser. My biggest stresses are grades and money. I never seem to be satisfied with my grades and I am usually feeling pinched in the money department. I took the jar and went into my room where I opened it and counted what was given to me. And I started to cry. There was over $100 in the jar. I knelt down by my bed and cried and gave thanks to Heavenly Father for the giver(s) of this gift because there wasn't a name on the card. He is so mindful of me. He used other people to help me. Tel has never said such a true statement in all his life. Whoever gifted me the jar, were indeed my Christmas Angels. I was overcome with gratitude. I don't now who all pitched in to help me, but if you read this and you had a part in this gift, please know that I am completely in your debt and I'm extremely grateful.

This Christmas I had to really humble myself. I had to put myself on a Christmas budget. I felt like the little drummer boy, what can I give? I didn't have a lot of money and so I had to do something that I thought I wouldn't do. I shopped at DI for a few gifts and I made a homemade gift for my mom. I felt terrible that I wasn't in a position to give more. I felt a little bit like a cheap skate. I didn't like it. While I was struggling with these feelings, I watched this video:

It teaches that the true meaning of Christmas isn't monetary. It's about Christ. I was filled with the Spirit of Christ while watching this video. I was giving what I could and that was good enough. The important thing that I needed to remember was that Christ came to this earth in the humblest of circumstances. He is the real gift. He's what is really important. Christ should be the center of our lives, now and always. He is the Gift.

This Christmas has been an important and impactful one in my life. I'm grateful for the circumstances surrounding me this Christmas and for all the wonderful people in my life. I'm most grateful for the mindfulness and love of a loving Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ.

Today's the Day I got my Sister Back!

I know I never really lost my sister, but facetime is not the same as real time! And today I got to see my sis for reals! She called me earlier this morning and asked me what my day was gonna be like, and I said, Well, I got class at 9 and then work til 5. And then she called Mom and asked if there was any way they could come to Provo and surprise me at work. What she didn't know was that I was already going to surprise her! So I got to the airport (public transportation is actually AWESOME) and waited for Mom. And then when Mom got there she had this great idea. We waited for Livi and when we saw her, I hid behind a wall and Mom went and greeted Livi. Then they went over to Baggage Claim and they had their backs to me and so I snuck up on them and tapped Livi on the shoulder and said, Excuse me. And she turned around and then saw it was me and we froke out! It was so exciting! I'm so happy to have my Sis back and that she's only a text away now! Yay for being best friends with my sister! I love her a kajillion and she was good to Peru and Peru was good to her and now she can come to school with me and we can be good together again!

After 3 months, we're still on the same brain wave. We were shopping at TJ Maxx and we were talking as we were shopping on different isles. We were saying how it's Christmas and we don't really need anything, and then we got to the end of the isle and saw the same sweater and at the same time said, But I do need that! And then we looked at each other and just laughed and hugged and said, well, we still are the same!

And now just some of my favorite pics of me and my sister.

What a Gift

Have you ever looked at yourself and thought something a little less than positive? Have you ever complained about a little body ache or pain? I know I have. I also know that there are people who have a right to complain and might read this blog and think I'm being insensitive or that I don't really know what I'm talking about. That's not my point. The point of this blog is to share my experience of how I feel about bodies and about God who gave them to us.

Think about it. Everyday you get to wake up. Your mind becomes alert; your eyes adjust to the lights and immediately your body is at work. Little muscles are dialating your pupil to let in just enough light and centering it to your fovea capitis where the rods and cones pick up colors and contrasts and then send that image through nerves to your brain and you process what you're seeing: the faces of people you love, the blue sky, the snow falling. And you hear people in the kitchen, or the rain on the window, or the cat meowing at the door. You roll out of bed or jump or climb down from your top bunk. And then you walk into the kitchen and smell bacon cooking on the stove and the chocolate cake on the counter from last night. And these smells send stimulation to your brain and bring back memories of chocolate cake on your 16th birthday when your sister invited all your friends over to surprise you, and you remember eating bacon on late start, the only school night the whole school year when you could have a sleep over. And all of this takes less than a second to pass through your mind. You walk to the table. Muscles in your body respond to what you want them to do without you knowing your communicating to them to put one foot in front of the other so you don't tumble to the ground and break your radius, which is connected to your humerus and your scapula and your spine and surrounded by tons of muscles to give you motion and protection.

You dish up your plate and start eating. The food doesn't just fall right through you and leave you hungry. It gets mashed up by your teeth and ushered to the esophagus by your tongue to the epiglottis which is protecting your air way. Once you're done chewing and swallowing, your body does the rest without you telling it to. It mashes your food further and take out the nutrients and gets rid of waste. The nutrients go into the blood system, which pumps constantly and hard, and spread throughout the body, giving you energy and happiness, because who doesn't like a full stomach? And all of this happens in the first 10 minutes of your day! Just think what more you and your body are going to do during the next 18 hours before you give it a chance to rest and recuperate?

The body is an amazing gift. Studying anatomy has been the biggest blessing of my college experience so far, and that's very unexpected. When I came on a campus visit during senior year I disliked science and my life plan was to come to BYU and learn how to be a good english teacher. I hadn't prayed about either of these decisions, I had just made them myself. While I was on my visit, the tour guide took me by the science building and talked about how at BYU when they study anatomy, they do a lot of secular and spiritual cross over. And for some reason, that's when I really felt the spirit and thought, BYU is a really good place to come to school. But I didn't think much about it after that. I came to BYU to be an english teacher. By Christmas I knew that wasn't really what I wanted to be. So, around February I got up the guts to go talk to an academic guidance counselor. I decided I wanted to work with athletes and exercise and sports and all that jazz. Then, this semester I signed up to take anatomy. One night while I was in the anatomy lab, I was nerding out and just LOVING learning about my body and in that moment I remembered how I felt during the campus visit and my mind was blown away. Heavenly Father knew that I was going to come to BYU and He knew that eventually I would make my way around to studying anatomy and it only took me a year and a half to realize that He was answering my prayers before I even asked them. It was amazing, and I know that I am in the right major and doing what God wants me to do.

And to further my love of the body and it's amazing abilities, and the cross-over with Heavenly Father who knows me better than I know myself, I'd like you to watch a video. 

My anatomy TA showed us this video in our last day of lab, which happened to be the day that my newest little nephew, Lewis, was born, and I was overcome with the spirit. What a creation! It's a miracle and there is no explanation except for the divine hand of God for how it can all function, how the body developed and muscles attached in the right places and nerves found their correct paths to complete their individual reactions and the heart pumping blood and nutrients to feed those muscles and nerves. Our bodies are a miracle. Take care of the one God gave you. Eat right (food that's healthy and food that you like) and exercise (park in the back of the lot and walk, or do 5 pushups or go on a run) and sleep (to rejuvenate your muscles and mind). God's given you an awesome gift. It's His best way to show you how much He loves you. Be grateful for it. Love your body and Love God for creating it and giving it to you! What a gift!

Birthday Mania!

Happy Birthday dear Brittanie! My roommate Brittanie Steele just had a birthday yesterday and we had a party!

It was so much fun! My 10 favorite things about Britt:

1. She is genuine.
2. She is really close to God.
3. She shares her laugh easily.
4. She randomly will tickle my elbow with a silly smile on her face.
5. She motivates me to get out of bed and go running.
6. She is prompt.
7. She talks to me like we're on the same level of intelligence.
8. She encourages me to keep my commitments and keeps me accountable.
9. She loves to dance and she's good at it!
10. She thinks I'm funny.

I love Britt and I'm pretty sure we were destined to be friends because I just get along with her so well and I love being around her.

Happy Birthday Kendahl! Kendahl has a birthday tomorrow! (You see I wrote today so that one or the other wouldn't think that they were less loved because they're both equal favority.) Kendahl's mom and dad came down on Saturday and we celebrated her birthday by going to the Home Free concert. Awesome! 

My 10 favorite things about Kendahl:

1. She gives me good advice. 
2. She's a really good listener.
3. She loves to play basketball and volleyball.
4. She always says "I love you" back.
5. She puts up my flag for me when I forget, and takes it down when I forget.
6. She reads her scriptures a lot and inspires me to do the same.
7. She can flip omelets like a pro.
8. She serves so willingly and knows when I'm feeling stressed and helps me through it.
9. She makes everyone around her feel good about themselves.
10. She speaks Spanish and it's cool!

The first time I met Kendahl we were going on a night hike around Halloween time a year ago. She made me feel like her best friend from the very first minute of meeting her. It's easy to be around her, and I'm glad I have her!

You Just Gotta Love

I feel like I have been very blessed to come to the family that I have. My Parents are perfect for me. They give me just the right amount of encouragement and the right amount of praise and the right amount of love. Mom and Dad taught me the Gospel and how to treat people right. And they gave me a bunch of siblings to love that love me. All my siblings are perfect for me in a different way. I go to them each for different things. I love to just talk to my brothers and sisters and see how they're doin'. Even though there's a pretty big age spread between me and my oldest sister, I still feel like I have a relationship with all of my siblings. They've done a really good job of putting in effort to get to know me and be involved in my life as I've grown up. And Audrey Hepburn said it... "The best thing to hold onto in life is each other." I am grateful I get to hold onto the family that I have forever and throughout eternity. 

And I'm Real Too

Okay folks. I am a positive person! I really love my life! And every post I write, I tell how awesome my life is! And I believe it! I have a great life and I love living it! But, I'm real too. Not every single day is all peachy keys and I don't have everything in life figured out. You see, there's not an easy way to express this, but I feel like for my blog readers that might also feel a little in limbo, hearing that they're not the only ones might help. And that's what I want to do with this post. Help people feel good about themselves by giving them something to connect to.

I have goals. I do. My goals are to be a good person. I want to someday be a good wife and a good mother. Those are my main goals. I want to be nice and make a difference in people's lives. Those are good goals. I like those goals. That's what I want to do. But, I am not in complete control of when I'll get married and it's very hard to measure kindness and goodness. My goals don't have a time limit and they don't have a measure. That's something I'm very not used to. In high school I had goals to be in the 10,000 shot club; to win the state championship; to graduate; and to get into BYU. All of those things had dead lines. My goals outside of high school were Get into BYU and then the goals that I already mentioned. So, I am struggling to stay motivated in school. I struggle to find the motivation to want A's. I am settling for B's which was never acceptable to me in high school. I know I could get A's if I would just buckle down and focus and study... instead of blogging :). But my goal is not to be a working woman. I don't want to be a business woman or a career woman very much. So, it's hard to stay super motivated in my school work. But I know I need to be in school and get my degree because it may be the case that I get through school and I won't be married and my goals will still be waiting and I'll be a working woman and so I can't quit and I can't leave. Which leads me to the next thing that makes me really--real...

I am feeling a little restless. I wonder if I should change my major... Am I'm doing something that I really love and being a Exercise and Wellness major for right reasons? I was so sure when I picked this major last year, but now I'm restless. I question myself. And along with being restless comes some rash thinking... like I should cut my hair off, or dye it. Just some kind of change! Or transfer to BYU Hawaii or Wyoming. Or just skip a year of school and move to somewhere and get a job. Or leave the country for a few months (which I really really want to do, and might follow in Livi's footsteps. We'll see.) You know... just restlessness. I have a great life. I'm not trying to find a way to run away. Just sometimes there needs to be some kind of big change or something! I don't know.

And then there's like a little bit of identity crisis! Some of you might be surprised, I'm kind of shy, especially when I'm out of comfort zone: my own home/apartment, my family/roommates. But when I'm in my comfort zone I'm crazy, and weird and silly and embarrassing, but I don't get embarrassed in my comfort zone. But then I go out of my comfort zone, and I kind of get a little reclusive or kind of hide behind my roommates. I struggle to get the courage to meet people. And then I have an identity crisis. Am I outgoing and silly, or am I shy? I just don't know. I once read a post about introverted extraverts and that is me. And it's a conflict. It really is. It's hard to figure out if I'm shy or silly; or if I'm embarrassed or don't care. It's just a struggle to know, ya know?!

So folks, that's some truths into my life. My life is great and I love it! But sometimes I am confused with myself and where I'm headed and when, and I struggle to stay motivated about some things and that's the fact about life. It's not bad, it's just normal. And I'm real.

Pep Talks & Testing & A Loving Father

Mid-terms... Remember when I posted about the realities of college and how I really don't like grades. Well, I really don't like grades. This week has been crazy! I had a paper and a project due and 4 tests. The craziest day was Wednesday. I had my Anatomy Lab test, my Personal Finance Test, and my Anatomy Lecture Test. My lab test was first and I seriously have spent more time studying for that class than any other class in my whole life combined! I was just needin' a little break before I went in and took the test, so I went on youtube and watched my favorite pep-talk from Remember the Titans. And it's not about anatomy or test taking, but I totally felt like it was this time.

It's an inspiring speech really. The part that got my ready for my test was when he said, "if we don't come together, we too will be destroyed.... I don't care if you don't like each other, but you will respect each other. And maybe, maybe we'll learn to play this game like men." So, I thought to myself, "I don't really love taking tests, but I respect anatomy and this test. And if anatomy and I don't come together, I'm going to get destroyed! So, today I'm gonna get it together with anatomy, and take this test like a woman." And then I was pumped! Okay, that's an exaggeration, but I was more ready for the test. I don't know how I did on the test, but I think I did alright.

Then I had my finance test... I should have re-watched the speech. It didn't go so well. (I deserved that though; I didn't study very hard) Haha. But then I had my other Anatomy mid-term and I remembered the speech. More importantly though, I went in with a constant prayer in my heart. I prayed for help to remember what I had studied, because I studied more for this class than any other class in my life. So, I was prayin' hard and answers kept coming to my mind. I would remember reading and studying the stuff that the question was asking about, but I didn't know between two answers, and then Heavenly Father, knowing that this was important to me, would send me a thought, or help me remember something that me and Mary had made up. And when that would happen, I just said thank-you. Sometimes too, I would get to a question that I knew I hadn't studied for and I would wait a second for an answer... I wouldn't get one. So, I learned that my Heavenly Father knows me and knows what is important to me and knows what I need help with. But, he knows what work I did and he's not going to help me remember things that I didn't take the time to study. He's not going to give me answers that I don't deserve. He's loving and fair and expects me to do my part. Anyways, I got out of the test and went and looked at my score and just said, Thank you!

I know that Heavenly Father hears my pleas and my prayers for help and confidence and calmness. And I know that if I want to do well, I have to do my part. I love this quote by President Hinckley:

So, all you other college students and people that are working every day to be better and succeed at something, pray for help, but do your part. You'll be blessed. 

My Fabulous Weekend!

So, for the first time in my life I missed homecoming in Cokeville. I missed seeing the decorations and the football game and the volleyball game. And I missed going home and seeing my brother and sister-in law and sister and nephews and my dad. I missed watching conference in my house. I still LOVE Cokeville the same amount and I will always be a Panther, but sometimes you just have to stay where you're at. And it was a GREAT weekend!

Fist off, I had to stay and take a test Friday morning. Not exciting, but necessary to stay in this school, which I love and feel so blessed to be attending. Second off, Football game Friday night! Super bummer for the Cougars. So now you're wondering how in the world this could be a great weekend. Let me show you and tell you! On my way to the game, unplanned, I ran into my cousin Joey and my friend Dillan, who's down from Alaska! It was crazy! I was with my roommate Hanna, so we didn't stay and chat long, but it was good to see people that I know!

Then I got to meet Hanna's brother! I love meeting my roommates families!

During the 4th quarter, sad football fans started trickling out, so Hanna went and sat with her brother and I went and found my Aunt and Uncle and Cousin Jason. I love them, even though Jason's an Aggie.

Saturday morning, woke up and ran with my friend Ben. I made him run slow and he probably wishes he would have gone by himself, but oh well. And then we had conference breakfast at my house with a few friends! It was delicious! And then we watched conference in the comfort of our home. And a little bit back in time, after the football game Dillan called me and said, if you can find a way down to Salt Lake tomorrow, I have a ticket for you for the afternoon session. Well, of course I was gonna say yes. So I went down to conference with Dillan and Kyle and Brennan and Brennan's friend. It was a really good session, with really great people. I was for sure lucky to get to go with them! After the session, Dillan and Kyle and I went and got Philly Cheese-Steaks in City Creek! They were delicious! And then they went to Priesthood and I went to my cousin Hanna's house! Sadie and their nephew Brandon met us and we chilled and had a sleep over! So great to be with family that I love! 

Sunday morning we woke up to a great surprise of Donuts from Sandy! What an awesome dude! And we watched conference in their lovely home! Hanna is pregnant and she's lookin' super cute and her and Sandy were so nice to let me sleep there! 

Sunday Afternoon, Sadie left and I was planning on getting back to Provo with Kendahl, who was going to the afternoon session. So, I put my skirt back on and headed down to the conference center to try and bum a ticket. While I was standin' out there holding up my one finger, Kendahl walked by and she happened to have an extra ticket for me! I got to quit bummin' a ticket. And I got into conference again, with friends. I was just surrounded by great people all weekend. Lucky me! 

And my take away from Conference:

        I will sustain and support the Prophet of God because I know that He is indeed called of God and speaks the word of God. 

        I learned again that little choices that I make can and do affect a lot of people. I pray that I will have the strength and be spiritually in-tune to make the right choices.

        I felt again the importance of being Kind. I want to always be kind. 

        I'm going to prepare now, by making personal habits of prayer and scripture study, so that in the future I can be a good mom. I want to be a good mom! I want my kids to love me and I want them to be happy and I want to know that I did all I could for them in the Gospel. 

It was a great weekend! Great people: Roommates, Cousins, Friends clear from Alaska, the Prophet, The Apostles. Just awesome! I love my life! 

The Realities of College

When I was in high school and people said, College is the best! I thought, yeah right. And when I started school last year I was still thinking, yeah right. But I had a moment of decision last year and I decided to love the moment and since then I can say that right now, for me, college is the best! It's just what I'm supposed to be doing and I am loving it!

College: The Realities of It

Roommates:
People say that roommates make or break your experience. I say, yep. And I've been so blessed to have the roommates that MAKE my experience. Last year I lived with 5 girls I had never met before. It was a leap into the unknown and I was so lucky to get 5 of the best girls I have ever met! And then this year, I moved in with people that I knew before the year started, and I have been lucky again to live with 7 of the best girls I have ever met! I live upstairs with Mary, Brittanie, and Kendahl, and downstairs is Eden, Claire, Hanna, and Brodie. I'm so lucky! Roommates make the experience!

My roommates minus Hanna.

Housing:
Last year I lived in the Ritz! The new Heritage Buildings are insanely nice! They are like living in a motel. New bed that I no one had ever slept in (gave me comfort to know that nobody had peed on my mattress!), and granite counter tops, and stone showers. It was just really nice. Then on the other side of town my sister lived in a little basement and it was small and old. I loved going over there though, but I remember my Brother in Law Tony said that he liked the tiny old house better than my apartment because it was more collegy. So, last year when I was house hunting, I was looking for something a little less nice, but a little better than what Livi was in, just so I could have Tony's approval. I think I will get it when he comes and visits. I live in the greatest little house! It's so cute and has just enough space for us and it does feel so collegy and I just love it! 

 Our Living Room

 Our American Flag, and the plants, going clockwise: B-Dog, Serendipity, Quan-Tree-Tree.

 Our Kitchen (Duh, Capatin Obvious Tess, It's not the garage.)

Finances:
There is a song that I like and every time it comes on I think--this is me! This is my song. So, I'll share it with you. Just substitute "playin' at the bar tonight" with "cleanin' toilets and sellin' plasma." 

I try really hard to be independent and I have a job and do my best, but sometime I might have to take out a loan, but one day... One day I'll send money to my parents!

Grades:

Who needs 'em? I guess we all do. It's good to have a test of some kind to see if I'm learning and really taking advantage of my opportunity to be at school. I know I'm learning, but I wish that my teachers would just give up all their extra time and just have a one-on-one chat with everyone and just ask them what they've learned. That way, I don't have to give up my time to cram study and stress about tests. Haha. I really do enjoy my classes and I am learning a lot. I need to learn to not stress and just roll with life. But I like going to class and telling people the stuff I learn when it's interesting to me! School is cool and learning is great! 

Food:

I eat pretty good. My mom and I made some super great and delicious freezer meals! And I eat those and I eat some fruit and some yogurt. I am about out of fruit and I am out of yogurt, so because of the financial situation spoken of above, I get to eat dinner stuff for breakfast. But, don't think that it's sad to me. I actually LOVE eating dinner for breakfast! But the other night, my wifey points tanked! I was trying to do something nice and make dinner for Mary. I got a freezer meal out and was ready to eat it, but the meal called for rice. I have rice and I was gonna cook it. I've only ever used a rice cooker, but I really thought I could cook it on the stove. So, I tried and I burned it brown. I was thinking that I could NOT feed it to someone else, and I should just never try and do something nice again. But, I didn't give up. I saved the rice that wasn't scorched to the bottom and then scraped the pot and tried again. Again.. I burned it. Whatever. We ate it and we lived. That's just the reality of food. Crunchy rice--it's okay.

My rice pan, after I cleaned it a little bit.

So, there are some ins and outs of college life! It's so great and I love it and I love being alive and just life is good! Provo is good, my American Flag out front is good, my plants, Quan-Tree-Tree, Serendipity, and my nephew plant B-Dog are all good, and my ward is fun, and my roommates rock and bodies are cool, and Student Alumni Take a Cougar to Lunch is great! Just smile and have a good day! :)

What a Blessed Girl

You guys, I am such a lucky girl. I feel so blessed to have grown up where I have and to be in Provo living the life that I am living. I am just trying to be happy all the time and spread my happiness. I hope in the future people remember my excitement for life and my happy attitude! So, I gotta try every day to live that way! 

The Prophet and his counselors. 

But this week I have been feeling especially lucky to be living this life. Why? I have seen 8 apostles in 5 days and I even got to shake one's hand. What a blessing to have been in the presence of the Apostles of the Lord in real person. On Tuesday we had the inauguration of BYU's new president and at the meeting was the First Presidency and Elder Holland, Elder Nelson, and Elder Oaks. I saw the Prophet and Elder Eyring spoke to us! How lucky! It was an awesome spirit and I was giddy like a school girl to see them walk in and to be in the same room as them. President Monson is a true prophet today that leads us. I know it. And after the meeting I was getting my ROC pass and Elder Holland and Elder Oaks walked right by me and I was just speechless. What a blessing to be so close to incredible men.

Today we had a HUGE regional conference and Elder Nelson and Elder Scott spoke to us. Again, how lucky am I? Elder Scott gave an incredible talk that I needed to hear about prayer and God's love for me. And Elder Nelson gave us an incredible blessing. They carry the Spirit so much. And at the conference we had the Relief Society General President Sister Stephens speak to us. The leaders of the Church really are inspired! 

Tonight was the CES Devotional in the Marriott Center and Elder Christofferson spoke to us. That's 8 apostles. And after the Devotional, Elder Christofferson made a special visit to our stake and I shook his hand! It was incredible! I felt like such a lucky kid! 

And lastly, I am so lucky growing up in Cokeville because I was blessed to see Elder Perry fairly often. I have only recently come to see just how lucky it is that I have had that chance--that I have shaken his hand more than once. It happened so often growing up that I took it for granted and now I'm getting more grown up and really seeing and feeling just how lucky of a kid I am. I am so blessed to have been in the presence of an Apostle of the Lord so many times in my life. To actually talk to one. I will always remember the time last fall when I was at a football game at home. I was sitting by Sister Perry, talking about school, and Elder Perry asked me how my grades were! Good thing it was only the third week of school! haha. But I treasure that moment when an Apostle spoke to me. I really just feel like such a lucky kid! I know that these men are called of God and I know that when they speak, they are teaching me what God needs me to hear. I am so thankful to live this life and for the opportunities that I have! :) 

 The Quorum of the 12 Apostles

Kindness

About a week or so ago I went to a community assembly to hear about Rachel's Challenge. A guy came to Cokeville to tell us about it and challenge us to accept her challenge.

You can read more about it on their website, but what I took from it was that I want and need to be more kind. I just need to find the best in others and be positive. I made a goal to be kind all the time. 

Well, it wasn't very long and I did something that was really not very nice. You know how that goes, up and down. I let it bug me for quite a while. I was just sick about it and I was struggling my first week of school to focus and feel good and feel happy. So, after I let it bug me for 5 days, I decided to do something that I knew needed to be done, even though I am really not good at it. I said sorry. 
I have never really felt the affect of the word sorry like I did this time. I felt lifted and happy again. Sadly, it didn't make things go back to how they were before and I still wish I could do a do over, but I was amazed at the weight it lifted and frustrated that I hadn't apologized sooner. So, why am I telling you this and what did I learn from this? I understand that saying sorry is hard. It scares me to death. But it can just lift you up and make you feel so much better. It's not fun to feel crappy about yourself for what you've said or done and it'll be scary to apologize initially, but it'll make things better. 

I want you all to accept my challenge of saying sorry when it needs to be said. Don't let stubborn pride get in the way. Say sorry! Also, make a goal to be nice. You'll never know how far a little act of kindness will go. A smile, a hello, a handshake, a text, a call. Just something. Be kind and see what happens. I bet you'll like it! We are all works in progress, and I for sure have a LONG way to go, but it's working on it that makes us good people. 

Top of Utah Half Marathon

Today was the day! I ran the Top of Utah Half Marathon! So, here's how it went down. Last night we went to pick up our packets at the finish line and it was a down pour! It was raining so bad, the streets were like flash flooding! Okay, not that bad, but it was wet! I was ready to scream. I did not want to run in the soaking wet weather. But by the time I went to bed, I was mentally prepared to run, rain or shine. And I went to bed earlier than I have all summer-- 10! That felt pretty darn good! :)

This morning we woke up at a quarter to 5 and ate a little breakfast and headed down to the park to board the busses. It was not raining, but there were plenty of ominous looking clouds. The bus ride up to the starting line seemed like forever. It made me really nervous. It felt like 26 miles instead of 13.1. But we got up to the starting line an hour before the race was supposed to start. We visited the bathroom and got some water and then were just walking around a little and ran into my cousin Katie and her husband Ryan. We knew they were going to be there, but not 10 minutes earlier, I said that finding them and Harold (a school teacher and friend at Cokeville) would be like finding a needle in a haystack. Then there was Katie and Ryan. We visited with them for 45 minutes until we needed to go to the starting line. So far, the weather was holding. Thank goodness. My goal all summer was 2 hours. I just wanted to beat 2 hours. So, I went to line up with the 2 hour pacer and there was Harold. So I chatted with Harold for the next 15ish minutes. All week he was telling me how I was gonna whoop him and I kept tellin him that wasn't gonna be the case. I was right. Seriously 2 minutes into the race, I had completely lost sight of him and never saw him again. Speedy! I just started my music and started plodding along. To make a long story shorter, the weather was perfect, I felt really good, and I smashed my goal. Okay. Smashed is a little bit of an exaggeration. I ran 1:47. I was pretty proud of myself for that. I felt good, I tricked my brain through some pain and stiffness, and it's now 4 hours later and I'm still good. I'm not going to go on a 13 mile run tomorrow or anything, but I feel pretty good considering. My mom beat her goal by 30 minutes! She's so awesome! She ran 2:03. I'm super proud of her! I got a medal! It's super cool! I was talking to a friend and he was like, you get a medal just because? And before i ran I thought, yep! But after I ran, I decided, I earned that medal. 13.1 miles is a far ways to run! 

So that was the race today, but my running journey started a long time ago. When I was a just a kid, I was bored of always walking, so I started running... No. Not that long ago. I'll just tell you the motivation for running this half marathon. For those of you who ran with me in high school track, or coached me, you are probably shocked that I voluntarily ran a half marathon. I am a little bit too. I do not love running. So why? Well, I tore my ACL 16 months ago (which seems like a long time, but it's not that long through recovery and stuff) and I couldn't run. It was frustrating! Then, last year, my friend Holly ran the TOU Half Marathon. I was so impressed and watching her come across the finish line, I got really inspired. I thought, I wanna do that! So, as soon as my therapist gave me the go ahead to run, I got online and signed up to run this thing! My sister Taffy gave me a workout schedule and I went to Alaska and did it! My cousins up there said I was the most irresponsibly responsible person they've met because I would play hard into the night, and then never miss a run. I really did a good job training and that's because I had a wonderful training partner, my aunt Lila! She did her own half marathon this morning in Alaska so that we were running together. She's awesome! In the middle of the summer, I had a little set back with my knee, but I saw Garrett, an awesome chiropractor, got a blessing, and then everything got better. It was amazing. I was able to resume my training and I know it's because Heavenly Father knew it was important to me and so it was important to Him and I'm extremely grateful. 

I can't say that I love running and that I'm addicted and wanna do races all the time. I can't even say that I can't wait to go on a run next week. But, I don't hate running like I did in my first few years of high school. Running, to me, is a good way to exercise. It's fairly inexpensive, I saw all shapes and sizes of people doing it, and it's just fun to accomplish something hard, which running is. So, I'm super glad I did this half. I'm proud of myself. I stayed in pretty good shape over the summer. It was my victory run, like in your face knee surgery! It was a great experience and I'm super glad that I did it! And excuse how our hair looks in the pictures--I think we look dang good for what we just did! :)

Alaska

Well folks, I'm back in the lower 48, reunited with my family, and I'm really happy. I have met my new niece and nephew and my brother got married and I saw a bunch of my favorite friends and I got a sunburn while I was rafting the Snake River! Wyoming is so beautiful! It's browner and it's hotter and it's a lot harder to breath when I'm running, but it's good to be home. 

But honestly, Alaska was about the best experience of a summer I've ever had! I had so much fun and I really feel like I'm coming home a better person. I learned a lot of things that I needed to learn and I used my own brain a lot. I experienced some things that were totally new to me and I learned that I like them. For example, I went wake-boarding at Devin's... well, Doug and Julie's cabin on Beaver Lake and I crashed hard lots of times and then gave up. But I went back the next week, and I got up! It was so exciting and so fun! I would so love to do that a LOT and get good! I also played pick-up basketball with some older men and I have always been terrified to play basketball with anyone that's not near my same age, but Sadie took me and it was so fun! I learned how to plant and harvest a bunch of stuff and had to use my rusty math skills. That was fun and I am not turned off to gardening. I'll definitely have a garden when I grow up. It's so cool to watch things that I planted grow up to the point of harvest and then take them to market and people like buy them and are pumped! I ran a lot too this summer. I can't say that I learned how to really enjoy it, but it kept the weight under control and gave me lots of good chats and a good opportunity to get to know my Aunt Lila really well. 

With like 2 1/2 weeks left in Alaska, I made an end of summer bucket list. I put on a lot of things and I had to edit it once when I realized I couldn't quite get everything done, but I still did a ton! Those last few weeks were jam packed with not much sleep and a lot of good clean fun! Sadie was with me for everything that we did and it was great! I also had a lot of good friends that helped me check everything off. It was a good summer.

This last Monday, we had a big family party and roasted hot dogs and I taught the kids how to play kick-the-can and we took pictures and it was just a really good time! I love my family up there and how they treated me so well and just took me in. I especially wanna thank my Grannie and Grandpa for letting me stay with them. They fed me and let me sleep in their house and let me borrow their car and just loved me. I love them so much and I'm so glad that I got the chance to have this summer with them. And I wanna thank Aunt Carol for being such an awesome boss! She never yelled at me and we had good chats that got me thinking about a lot of stuff. It was fun to work with her. And Aunt Lila for running with me and encouraging me all through the training and keeping me going and for letting me play at her house a lot. And all my other family too. It was just an awesome summer! Definitely in the top best summers! 

 Our Party!

 Stellar photo bomb by the lovely Lori.

 Playing football before Kick-The-Can

 The coolest cats!

 Noah, Annie, and Aunt Carol. Best work crew ever!

 My list of fun stuff! Killed it!

My summer-time best friend! Sadie is so awesome! 

Two of the greatest people on earth! I love these guys so much! 

I love Alaska! 

On a Journey

Some people in this world, at my age, are on a journey to getting married. Me... not so much right now. Let me give you my "Getting Wifed Check-up" stats for this week.

• Doing Laundry: 5

           I get a 5 on doing laundry for several reasons. It's at least a five because I did it! It's not a 10 because I waited until I was out of socks, out of work pants/shorts, out of workout clothes. I started my laundry at 11 PM and didn't finish until 11 PM the next day. So, it's done, but not in a timely manner. Hence the 5.

• Making Food: 4

             On Wednesday night, Sadie and I wanted to do a pizza night. I am into making creations sometimes when I am cooking and they don't always turn out that good. I made a pizza that had barbeque sauce instead of pizza sauce. It had corn and rice and garbanzo beans and tomatoes and cheese. Now doesn't that sound good? I thought it did, but it just didn't have a party on my tongue. Uncle Barry, Lila and I were the only ones to eat it and we threw half of it out. So, you wonder, why didn't I give myself a 0 on this one? I made salsa today and it is delicious. But it also came from a salsa kit, so all I had to do was chop it up and boom... Salsa. So a 4. Not ready to be married.

• Vacuuming: 10

            I'm really good at vacuuming, thanks to my job at Heritage Halls at school! I can vacuum a whole house and feel super good about myself! 

• Child Care: 3

             I get at least a 3 because today I pretended to eat a cake that was shaped like a fish and I paid for it with a 4 dollar bill and Daisy thought I was cool. So, that's awesome! I don't get a good score on this because I was a really bad cousin and didn't help Holly feed her kids while she was in some serious pain. I should have helped because that would have made me a better person. So, I get a 3. 

So. I'm in no-where ready to get married because all I'm good at is vacuuming and it takes a lot more than that, I think, to be a good wife and mom. So, like my last post said, I wanna be a good mom when I grow up, but I'm pretty not ready to grow up yet. I'm just not very domestic and it's not worrying me too badly. I'll learn when to and not to make creations and I'll get more efficient at laundry and be a better kid feeder, in a few years. Have a great day everyone! :)

             

Good For Me

When you work in a garden day in and day out, you get to listen to a lot of stuff on your iPod. I have listened to conference a couple of times and all my music LOTS of times, and so, I needed a change and turned on my church music... in the middle of the week. And I heard this song that I seriously love. It's called "Good for Me" by Katherine Nelson. I can't find a good video of it on the internet and it costs money if you want to hear the whole thing and can't find it on YouTube. But I can post the lyrics.

Maybe I was young 
I didn’t know what I was in for 
You say I’m doing life all wrong 
Like I’ve never heard that before 
Well don’t go asking me to clip my wings 
Or say I’ve won a losing fight 
Cause my babies kiss me every morning 
And I love my husband every night 

Here’s to courageous women out there in shiny shoes and business suits 
Good for you 
But hats off to the women in the kitchen who run the world 
Raising boys and girls 
All the broken nails 
Laundry to my knees 
Every bed I make 
Dishes in the sink 
Oh life is sweet 
In my little dream 
So Good for me 

I’m not asking your permission 
No talk-show host will change my mind 
Some make their peace with independence 
I find my own at dinnertime 
When all around the table 
I see every face and every hand 
And I thank the God above us 
Cause all I want is where I am 

(Chorus) 

When it’s all too much don’t give up 
Just close your eyes and soak it up 

(Chorus) 

I love this song. When I grow up, my goal is to be a good mom. I have a wonderful mom that was always home with me and I really appreciate her and look up to her and want to be just like her. I admire working moms and I admire stay at home moms. I just think that a lot of the times Stay-at-Home-Mom's get looked down on a little. I have felt that at times. A girl in my ward last year at school has big goals to be a nurse and I admire her for that, but when she asked me what I wanted to be and I said a Mom, I saw the look on her face and could tell she thought that was a lame goal. I felt like I had to justify myself to her. I don't think I have to. Being a Mom is a big job and a big responsibility, and it's what I want to do. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not anxious to get married and get started on my family. I want to finish my schooling so that if the times comes that I need to work outside of the home to help make ends meet at home, I can and will, but I've chosen a career path that will hopefully allow me to be home with my kids when they're home and gone when they're at school. I just think it's important for me to be home and raising my family. I want it and I hope that I'll be able to listen to this song and really believe what it says. That I'll have an attitude of Good for me for being here with my kids. Good for those women out there that are working hard, and good for me at home working hard. 

Sades

My cousin Sadie is Amazing! She seriously just makes my whole life better. Here's the best way to explain our relationship-- Heavenly Father knew long before we were born that we needed to be together. He also knew that we both would have big personalities and a LOT of fun and so He knew that one family couldn't handle both of us. So, He let us be cousins! :) And some people just don't be close with people that they only see once every 4 years and don't count those times that they do see each other by years, but as times ago. Like when I talk about when I was here last, I don't really remember what year it was, or even the time before that especially. So I just say last time or two times ago when I was here. We have a special bond though and we are so close. We do everything together up here besides work and go to the bathroom. She makes my day and I make her day. We complete each other and it's awesome! It's so fun to have a cousin that is a best friend!Life with us rocks! I love being us!

 Sadie is so pretty! And she LOVES cats!

 Our trusty vessel, the Tadie America. Sadie and I come up with some awesome ideas and Sadie is the one who can actually figure out how to make them happen!

 She plays ball like nobody's business and takes me to school every Tuesday!

We do stuff together like hike the Butte.

Two times ago we tried our hand at modeling...

 Then she came to Cokevilel and we became the Dweeb Squad and went and got Dessert at the Flying J.

 She catches bigger fish than me!

And she's a ninja! 

I'm so blessed to have Sadie as my cousin! She's so awesome and I don't know what I'd do without her! I think when we grow up, somehow we're gonna have to live close to each other because after this summer, I don't know how long we can be apart. I love my Sades!