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.