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Wednesday, September 30, 2015

If We All Were a Little More Like Her

We all have good role models. Some of us are lucky to have multiple role models. I'm fortunate to be one of the lucky ones who has many people viewing me as a model... haha. Just kidding. I'm lucky because I have a lot of wonderful people I can look up to. I'll name a few:

  1. My Mother
  2. My Father
  3. My Sisters
  4. My Brothers
  5. The Prophets and Apostles of God
  6. My Roommates 
  7. My Teachers
...and the list goes on. But there's one in particular that's not on this list that I have been looking up to a lot lately. Her name is Anne Shirley. Anne is a young girl, about 10 or so. Her young life was spent as an orphan until she got adopted by Matthew and his Old Maid Sister Marilla. Her best bosom friend in the whole wide world is Diana Barry. She's got beautiful bright red hair and freckles. 



She can imagine anything, anywhere, whenever. Anne's smart--she's the top in her class. She is mostly obedient and she's extremely loyal. Anne likes to have a good time and having her around always seems to stir the pot just a little. She can make you smile when you're not expecting it. She says the most hilarious things! Anne is one of my role models. She's said a lot of things that have inspired me to do better. Here are some of my favorite Anne Shirley quotes:

"What a splendid day! Isn't it good just to be alive on a day like this? I pity the people who aren't born yet for missing it. They may have good days, of course, but they can never have this one. And it's splendider still to have such a lovely way to go to school by, isn't it?"



This is how I feel when I think about Olivia sometimes: "I love Diana so, Marilla. I cannot ever live without her. But I know very well when we grow up that Diana will get married and go away and leave me. And oh, what shall I do? I hate her husband--I just hate him furiously. I've been imagining it all out--the wedding and everything--Diana dressed in snowy garments, with a veil, and looking as beautiful and regal as a queen; and me the bridesmaid, with a lovely dress too, and puffed sleeves, but with a breaking heart hid beneath my smiling face. And then bidding Diana goodbye-e-e--."

When Anne got a dress with "puffed sleeves" for Christmas: "I don't see how I'm going to eat breakfast. Breakfast seems so commonplace at such an exciting moment. I'd rather feast my eyes on that dress. It's at times like this I'm sorry I'm not a model little girl; and I always resolve that I will be in the future."



"Oh, Marilla! I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers. It would be terrible if we just skipped from September to November, wouldn't it? Look at these maple branches. Don't they give you a thrill--several thrills?"

The thing I like most about Anne is how she can love people and love life so deeply. She has a knack for seeing God's creations how we all should see them. If I could go through my life seeing things and people as Anne does, I think I'd be one step closer to becoming like my Heavenly Father. He created all things for us to find joy in, for us to notice and love. He is the Father of all the people on earth. He loves them like Fathers do and more. And that's what Anne does. She's amazing and I hope I can grow up to be more like her.  

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Love MY Sister-in-Law :)

You guys!! Check out my new blog design!!

Obviously, if you're reading this, you can see it.. But did you know that my
SUPER AMAZINGLY TALENTED 
sister-in-law Michelle did it for me?!?!

She's the best. If I didn't have two sister in laws, I'd say she's my favorite!! ;)

Pretty much, I love her.  && I LOVE my "new" blog.
That about sums it up.

THANKS MICHELLE!!! You're the bestest EVER!! :)

Sunday, September 20, 2015

Behind Social Media

Olivia and I have a lot of fun. It seems like all we do is have fun! At least that's what everyone sees and comments on. People say to us a lot, do you do anything but play? And the answer is yes. Playing is actually a fairly small part of our lives. We do a lot of things, but things that nobody really cares to see. Here are some of the things that we do, that we don't show on social media.

We...
   Both are enrolled in 16 credit hours of school.
   Read, Study and do Homework for all 16 credits.
   Work about 16 hours a week.
   Wake up every morning at 5:50 to work-out.
   Wake up at 5:20 every Thursday to go to the Temple.
   Donate Plasma twice a week.
   Are on 3-4 intramural teams.
   Go to bed between 10:00 and 10:30 every school night.
   Grocery shop and cook meals together.
   Do laundry.
   Work all summer to pay for our own school.
   Apply for scholarships year after year to help pay for our education.
   Sometimes feel like we can't do it.
   Almost crack somedays.
   Read our scriptures every morning before school/work.
   Attend FHE each week.
   Make our beds every day.
 

And we play. We work so we can play. We get everything that has to get done, done before we play. We balance our lives so that we can play without feeling guilty. We like to show people the fun things that we do, because the rest of this is kind of boring to everyone else. To us it's real life and we are doing it and enjoying it. Playing is how we reward ourselves for the many hours of hard work and dedication that we put in every day to becoming better people. And playing makes us better people as well. So the next time you see a picture of us and think, Do they ever do anything but play? The answer is yes, but we make time and means to do the fun stuff too.
 

Sunday, September 6, 2015

2 Funnies and a Serious

The first week back to school was a big success. I was a little overwhelmed on Monday when I had to go from one building to another building on the other side of campus. I had 10 minutes to get to my next class... My first class was chuck full, and I didn't get out of that classroom until my other class had already started. That's a lot of kids in a classroom. It's been hard when I try and make eye contact with people to say hi and they make a point to look the other way. Nobody says, Hi! How ya doing? They don't even wave. And there are stop lights that I have to stop at and I can't run down the middle of the street. It's an adjustment, but it'll get better. So you're wondering how was this a success? My classes were awesome! For the first time I'm excited about all my classes. There's not one that I'm dreading. I think some of my classes will be a challenge for me, but I'm excited for them all. And that's a wonderful feeling. I also love living with my sister. It's a good life. Now for my stories.

1st funny:
    Monday night we were sitting in our living room waiting for someone to come and fix our plumbing. When the guy showed up, he had his girlfriend with her and she came in and was immediately friendly. She asked what all of our names were and she looked at me. Without even thinking, or realizing, I said, "I'm Olivia." I shocked myself so badly! I looked at Livi and she's looking at me like I lost my mind. Then I just started to laugh and our roommates all bust up laughing and then I said, "No I'm not. I'm Tessa!" It was seriously so funny! Now I can't give my parents a hard time when they can't remember my name! I can't even remember it. Olivia and I have become so similar that I can't tell myself apart from her.

2nd funny:
    Wednesday Olivia and I saw each other at 7:45a.m. before work and school and then we didn't see each other again until the afternoon. I got to our beginner tennis class at about the same time as Olivia. We looked at each other and just said, "Oh my heck. We match!" Without any coordination or seeing each other all day, our telepathic minds put us in the same outfit. It's incredible how often that happens! We're horrible at tennis, but we had a good time in that first class. I think that the people in our class think we're wacko! And Wednesday night we both signed up for weight lifting together, so we get to do that together too! It's going to be a great last year together!

And my Serious:
    I was struggling a little with going back to school. I have had a wonderful summer. So I started praying that I would have a good attitude about going to school. On Wednesday I was sitting in my chronic disease prevention class, talking about diabetes and cancer and good diets, and things like that, and my teacher shared a talk by President Ezra Taft Benson called "In His Steps." While I was listening to a Prophet speak about good health and about the things I'm going to school about, I really felt the Spirit so strong tell me that I need to be at school. I need to be learning what I'm learning. What I'm doing is important to Heavenly Father. It was an answer to my prayers. And I was so touched that I was feeling the Spirit in a Chronic Disease Prevention class of all the classes. I feel so blessed to go to a school where our curriculum can be faith based. That I'm not just learning the secular things, but what Prophets say, what the Lord thinks and feels about my schooling. I am blessed to go to school where I go.

So although I'm going to miss home and Cokeville and all the things and people that I love there, I really feel like I'm bettering myself and doing what I need to be doing right now. It's always nice to feel reassurance. Heavenly Father cares about little things.