pet peeve:

when i'm in the library and someone has music playing so loud on their headphones that i can hear it five seats away.

seriously? turn your freakin music down. i'm trying to focus.

a "wintry" afternoon!

this afternoon when i came home, i got such a treat-

it was cold enough for me to wear a sweatshirt!

granted, i'm still in shorts, but hawaii very rarely gives me a chance to wear a sweatshirt without overheating.

so i'm very grateful.

this afternoon it's gloomy, cloudy, windy, and rainy.

AND the waves are rollin in like crazy.

so i took the opportunity to enjoy the wintry-feeling afternoon.

i made myself some mashed potatoes and minestrone soup, turned the big chair towards the balcony, and sat watching the ocean and the gray sky.

the big chair, my soup, my view.

brrr!

we know it's a long shot. but we're still crossin our fingers

for some fluffy white stuff on our palm trees. :)

...did i mention it's 70 degrees right now? shucks.

just because everything's changing doesn't mean it's never been this way before...

okay so i gotta catch up a little bit. a couple saturdays ago a group of us did this hike called stairway to heaven. it was pretty cool. it was really steep, and i would have been much happier if it wasn't so foggy at the top. we couldn't see a thing! oh well, on the way back down i got some good shots.

oh, and did i mention there are 3,992 stairs?

another day, i found myself alone in the back of my friend's truck with my camera.. so i decided to take a few shots of what an everyday laie drive looks like.

i tried.

so, i'm trying to be productive. but the internet at the byu-h library is not letting me! i took a test just a few minutes ago, and the computer that shows our grades was down. so i'm supposed to log in to check my grade, and the page just will not open! and now before my class i'm trying to log in to blackboard to get some reading done and that page won't load either! oddly enough, facebook, yahoo, and my blog website all work just fine. very interesting... and slightly irriating.

there were pictures i wanted to upload from recent events.. but since i'm not on my laptop, i don't have them. hmm.. even this blog post is a failed attempt at faux productivity.

i guess i'll watch last week's episode of glee again til my next class :)

three years.

three years ago today i was baptized into the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints! best decision i've ever made.
the church has given me so many opportunities to grow.
it has helped me know my heavenly father and my savior jesus christ better.
i have developed a greater understanding of the scriptures.
i have made lifelong friends.
i know where i came from and what my purpose on earth is.
i will someday have the opportunity to get married in the temple for time and all eternity.
and i am planning on serving as a full-time missionary.

i know the book of mormon is true. it works with the bible to testify of christ!
i know our heavenly father loves each and every one of us.
i know that jesus christ died for our sins so that we may return to heaven some day.
i know the church is true.

if you want to know more, ASK ME!
or go to www.mormon.org



:)

i yell, "pick me up!!" in my head.

and i think it works.

i've had to walk everywhere since i've lived in hawaii.
and it's taken some getting used to.
i don't mind walking. really.
just, when it's 90 degrees or pouring rain, or if i've just had a long day,
i'd rather not.
so i get rides from people a lot.
and, when i can't get a ride, i walk.
and i yell in my head "pick me up pick me up!"
hoping the person driving by will "hear" me,
and take pity on me and give me a ride.
say what you will, but i really think it works!
not having a car has given me much more compassion
for those of my friends who don't have cars back home.
typically, i'd be annoyed when people asked me for a ride...
like, come on, how old are we? you don't drive??
but now i can totally sympathize.

in other news,
harry potter comes out this weekend!
call me a little kid (really, it's okay if you want to).
but i LOVE harry potter. like sooo much.
and i'm not ashamed to admit it!


31 days til i go home for christmas!!!
i love and miss my family.
:)

all i want for christmas is regina spektor.

i'm seriously obsessed with her music right now! ahhhh sooo good. i only knew a couple of her songs until this week when i started searching for some more. she is one talented artist. one of my new favorites for sure. so, if anyone wants to make my christmas, you can make me a cd with her music on it :) just sayin.

i go home in 43 days! how exciting. i miss my family, they are so good to me. my dad's planning on coming to visit me in hawaii next semester, which will be tons of fun. i love hawaii. i'm going to chicago with my mom for a week in may. and then of course my study abroad to the mediterranean which i still can't believe is actually happening... and then next fall, i'm planning on serving a mission for the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints, and who knows where that will take me. :) lots of good things coming up.

also, these pictures make me happy.









here's a little song for you. one of my new faves by miss spektor :)

roomies.

i just wanted to say that i really love my roommates. somehow, we got everyone together at one time to go down to waikiki friday night for dinner. everyone meaning my ten roommates and three other girls that are honorary roommates... not an easy feat, getting us all together at one time, but it was great fun!

caitie, my roomie.

becca and kristal.

sierra.

the ten roommates :)

all thirteen of us! <3

it's always a party with these girls. love them!

"you change your mind like a girl changes clothes."

yeah, katy, i know.

in the past two weeks, i've changed my mind more than my ten roommates do in a day. BUT i'm pretty sure i've got the next year figured out. yes, i know i thought i had it figured out a week ago, but, looking at things more logically has caused me to change my mind.

i really wanted to go to provo for spring/summer. it sounded like a great idea. but i made a pros/cons list of both options... and being home has waayy more pros... i'm guaranteed two jobs, i'd live at home for free, eat for free, AND get to start on my mission papers in april. i'd also have the opportunity to be an efy counselor. if i went to provo for spring/summer, i'd get a couple more psychology classes in, and have a blast living up there, but i'm not guaranteed a job and i'd be paying for half of my tuition, books, my rent, and my food. and i wouldn't start my mission papers til mid-august and i want to leave in october so that's not going to work. also, my mom is going on a trip to chicago for her 60th birthday at the beginning of may. if i was in school, i wouldn't be able to go with her so that will be another good thing about being home!

i just found out today that i got accepted to the mediterranean business study abroad with byu!!!!! we'll be going to italy, greece, turkey, and egypt for about a month this summer!
i'm SO excited!

so, new plan...
home mid-april, work, go to chicago, mission papers, maybe efy, study abroad, then mission in october.

thanks everyone for the advice and for listening to my insanity! :)

decisions, decisions.

there are currently far too many options for what i'm going to do with the next year of my life.
here they are.

for spring:
-stay in hawaii
-go to chicago with my mom
-go to provo

for summer:
-go on a study abroad (i've applied, just haven't heard back yet)
-work at home
-be in provo working
-be an efy counselor

for fall:
-go back to hawaii
-go back to provo
-go on my mission

here's the conclusions i've come to thus far (plans ARE subject to change):

for spring:
go to provo and take classes. i'll be able to go home for 2 weeks between winter semester here in hawaii and spring in provo, seeing as i'll be done in hawaii april 8th and spring session in provo doesn't start til april 26th.

for summer: stay in provo, working.
or, if i get into my study abroad, i'd have to be back in provo by july 8th-ish and i could go home for a week or two to visit after spring session and before my study abroad. which i will probably do seeing as i'll need to bring my car back home (and i'll miss my family)!

for fall: go on my mission!
i've wanted to serve a mission for 2 years now, and i could actually leave next september!! i'd have 2 months to be home between getting back from my study abroad and the time i want to leave for my mission, in october.


so, this is the plan for now. the only problem is my parents don't entirely support my decision to be in provo all spring and summer... which is tough financially, as well as emotionally for me.
regardless, i'm at the point in my life where i need to start making decisions for myself.

so this is what i think i'll be doing with my next year. what do you think, any advice or ideas??

i know there's a God, and i know He loves me.

here's one reason how i know this.

i have a quiz tomorrow in my east asian buddhism class, on the countries and cities and provinces and rivers in asia. primarily china, korea, and japan. i've known about this quiz for two weeks, but of course i haven't studied in detail until two days ago. today, i didn't go to school cause i'm sick, and so i had all day to sleep and study for this map quiz and my psychology test that i'm taking tomorrow. the problem is, i lost my asia map! it's not on blackboard, and i wouldn't be able to get another copy from my teacher until class tomorrow... and that's when i'm taking the quiz so that wouldn't be very helpful in studying. i facebooked my friend from that class and she didn't get back to me... i was freaking out.

so i'm talking to my roommate and i go to sit on my bed, and my shorts were in the way of where i wanted to sit. so i toss them a couple feet so they're not in my way, and somehow they fall between my bed and the wall. i seriously have no idea how they fell because there's only like 2 inches of space and nothing's ever fallen back there before. so i crawl under my bed to get them, and lo and behold, my map is sitting on the floor under my bed!!! this is a TOTAL miracle! i am so grateful that the Lord helped me out on that one, cause i reeally needed that map. thanks Heavenly Father :)

island in the sun

so, as many of you know, i transferred to byu-hawaii this fall.

and, as you can probably guess, i absolutely love it.

this place is just my vibe. i get to see and hear the ocean from my house, i get to be at a small school where i can get to know lots of people, i live in a house with ten girls so it's always a party, there's sunshine by day and rain by night... it's awesome.

umm.. i don't have much else to say except that i'm really happy here and it's been a great first few weeks. how about we let the pictures do the talking, since i hear they're worth a thousand words?

the gorgeous view from my balcony

waimea with the girls

a lovely day at lanikai

foodland. longest green onions ever!

til next time! aloha :)

keep on keepin' on.

lately i've been feeling like i keep messing up. i don't live up to my divine potential, and sometimes i straight up fail at doing what i should. i know we all make mistakes, but that doesn't stop me from being hard on myself when i do.

today i had the opportunity to bear my testimony in sacrament meeting. i randomly thought of matthew 5:48-
"be ye therefore perfect,

even as your father in heaven is perfect."

being perfect is a tall order, one i fall short of constantly.
but i know the savior wouldn't give us a commandment we couldn't live up to.
no, we will not attain perfection in this life. but if our ultimate goal wasn't perfection, what would we strive for? i am grateful that i will always have something to work on. i am grateful that no matter how good i become in one aspect of my life, there are a hundred other things i can work on next. yeah, it's kinda exhausting sometimes. intimidating, too. but i'm grateful that so much is expected of me, because when someone expects a lot of me, it gives me a reason to keep trying!

i love the gospel of jesus christ. i know that jesus christ died for the sins of the world. i know that through the cleansing power of the atonement, we can all return to live with him someday. the book of mormon teaches that "we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do" (2 nephi 25:23). we could never make it to heaven on our own. contrary to popular belief, the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints does not teach that as doctrine. we know that "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of god" (romans 3:23). THANKFULLY, heavenly father loves us very much and he provided the atonement so we can live with him again. we need to do the best we can: keep the commandments and endure to the end, and the atonement will take care of the rest. :)

all this is a result of me feeling down on myself for making mistakes. look how the spirit and the scriptures can turn a negative outlook into a positive one! i love the church. i am so grateful to be a member of the lord's kingdom on earth, what a blessing it is in my life! :)

piece by piece and bit by bit, i will break this down for you real slow.

ahh. how i love something corporate! i got to see them in concert friday night! they've been my favorite band since 8th grade and the last time i saw them live was t10th grade... they sound as good as ever, and i got to go with the lovely elaine. :)
i don't have any pictures from the show, but i just wanted to express my love for this awesome band. if you haven't heard any of their stuff, i suggest you look them up!

so right about now, i really miss provo. everyone's back up there, starting school and having fun. of COURSE i'm soo excited to go to hawaii. but i had such a great semester there and i can't help feeling a little sad that i won't be going back. i miss my roommates! and i miss living by annie!! -sigh- oh well. i probably won't miss it once i'm settled in laie. :)

on a random side note, i really really love it when my friends burn me cds. i've gotten so much new music this summer and it makes me super happy!

annddd i think this is the end of my really random post! bye!

summer ending.

so! as promised, i went to yosemite and to my dad's house. i was in jen's wedding too, but my camera was dead so i don't have any pictures of that. :(

HALF DOME:

without a doubt the hardest physical test i have put my body through. 17 miles, 4,800 ft elevation increase... insanity. so hard, but definitely glad i did it. :)
the three of us on top of the dome! love them!!

on the way home from the lovely yosemite, we spent the night at my dad's house and woke up early to take the boat out on lake isabella. the water was PERFECT. so glassy, and warm. got some great wakeboarding in!

(2008)

(2010)

i love this girl. erica, thanks for being my best friend. :)

let's see. besides that trip, mostly i've just been working and hanging out. having a great time meeting new people and hanging out with old friends. it's been a really great summer and now i'm almost off to hawaii! two and a half weeks and i'm outta hereeee.

more summer

so! it definitely has been awhile since i've posted anything.
well, let's see. since last time, i got a job, went to the river, went to my dad's house, took a road trip to san francisco, worked a lot, and went to the beach a little. river= freakin awesome. dad's= fun. road trip= highlight of my summer so far!

the river trip was with the saddleback ward. it was so much fun! hot, relaxing, great friends, great wakeboarding- couldn't have asked for more (except maybe one more day there!) hanging out at my dad's for the weekend was really nice. we rode his motorcycle up into sequoia national forest, and went out on the lake- i got to do some more wakeboarding!

now for the road trip...aryanna, erica, and i drove up to san francisco to see our friend madeline, who goes to school at sf state. on the way up, we stopped in santa barbara for lunch, san luis obispo for dinner, and stayed the night at our friend sutton's, in santa cruz. the next day, we backtracked a little bit and went down to the monterey bay aquarium! that was so fun. i'm obsessed with the sea horses and penguins :)



we got up to san francisco later that night, and spent the next 3 days exploring the many faces of this fabulous city.






it took awhile to get there, but it's turning out to be a really great summer.
coming soon: camping trip to yosemite, jen's wedding, and possibly wakeboarding at my dad's again. ohh yes. :)

summer!

hi! well, it definitely has been a long time since i've posted anything new!

last semester was great: classes were tough but i did pretty well. missed california at times but got used to utah. got accepted to byu and byu-hawaii. had my first calling as a teacher. had wonderful roommates (whom i miss very much). and lived next door to my best friend (miss her too). such a great four months!

i learned so much and i definitely know i was supposed to be there last semester. i am transferring to hawaii in the fall... which is of course WAY exciting, but it's also hard. i mean i just got used to provo, had a wonderful roommate, lived 2 seconds from one of my best friends, finally got into the school i've been wanting to go to for 2 years... and now i have to start all over.

-sigh-

oh well. i am excited for what my new adventure has in store for me. :)

it's so good to be home!!! i just love southern orange county. a lot. it's been gorgeous; between 70 and 80 degrees and perfectly sunny and breezy for the past three weeks. no more worrying about a freak snow storm. yay! i'm just hanging out with friends and looking for a job right now... i need a job, bad!

that's it for now.
i'm off to the beach. <3

burnt out.

oh, i am so tired. so so so so so tired. i have two more finals tomorrow and i don't know how i'm going to get through them. well, biology won't be too bad. but math, ughhh math. math is gonna be the death of me! i did some extra credit, and there's a curve at the end, so i'm banking on that to help my grade. without those things i'd be toast. in 24 hours i will be done with the semester. (21 actually). oh boy. that is exciting.

on the bright side, i've had a nice relaxing day with my roommates... becky, whitney and i went out to lunch (britany was already on campus studying so she couldn't get sucked into our plot to not study). then, whitney and i went and laid out by the pool. it's such a lovely dayyy! we laid out for almost 2 hours, got some color... and studied a little bit.


as a nice study break, (okay i'll be honest i wasn't even studying) I GOT TO SEE ELDER HARDER! yep, cody's been set apart as a missionary for the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints :) he was up on campus today so i got to see him for a few minutes. how exciting.

and then, i bought us some german chocolate fudge from the byu bookstore. since he's going to germany i thought it was appropriate. and i just wanted chocolate...yeah. it was delicious.

so, now that it's 7:30 and i've done about an hour of studying all day, i'll wrap up this blog post so maybe i won't fail my finals tomorrow...

(disclaimer: despite all this complaining, i really am happy. no worries :) life's great.)

oh, you know.. just.. going crazy.

Hello!

so last weekend was general conference. and easter. and some friends from home came up to utah. it was a great weekend! saturday, i went up to salt lake for conference. saw both the saturday morning and saturday afternoon sessions, and hung out with drew, cody, and our new friend louie in between the sessions. it was great fun. my favorite general conference talk was "You Are My Hands" my President Dieter F. Uchtdorf. It was about love, and how we as disciples of Jesus Christ are called to love and serve others. watch it! it's a two-part video on you tube, or read it at http://www.lds.org/ :)


on easter, i watched conference at home, and then went up to salt lake to have dinner at drew's grandparents' house with a few friends. it was way fun. it was nice to be with a family on easter; this was the first easter i wasn't with my family. it was a great weekend and a great holiday, though! cody code is going on his mission in t-minus 9 days! how exciting. he's gonna be so great, but i'm gonna miss him tons!! here's a picture of our last hug (for two years)!






(okay i lied. i actually snuck in one more after this was taken.)

this past weekend, i got a whole lot of nothing done. i did go to the temple twice, to a volleyball game, and saw the last song and alice and wonderland... but not so much homework or studying. oops. yeah, it's good now and then to have a fun, relaxing weekend... but i start finals on thursday so maybe this past weekend wasn't the best time to take a break. ha. i'll make it through finals.... i think.

i have a 7-page biology paper i just started today due tomorrow, two math assignments also due tomorrow, two finals on thursday, teaching a lesson in relief society sunday, and two more finals next tuesday. hahaha. crazy 9 days. but after that i am done!

okay. i should probably stop blogging and get back to all the stuff i need to do!

seven things!

Okay so my wonderful best friend Annie tagged me (do you call it tagged? well, she linked me, or something) in this award thing... Which is kinda cool...

Here are the rules: List seven things about yourself. Link back to the person that gave you the award. Pass the award on to seven bloggers.


Okay so, seven things about me, here i go.


1. i'm pretty much obsessed with planning. i have a little day planner that i would not live without. i say would not, because technically i guess i COULD live without it. but i would just go crazy and not know where i was or what i was supposed to be doing, it would be ridiculous! any chance i get to write something down in my planner i do it. it's kinda a bad habit, especially cause when i'm bored in class, i look through the upcoming weeks and see what i need to do and write it down. ha. i do plan on channeling this weird passion of mine, though. i want to be an event planner! i do it on a daily basis for myself, and i did plan a bunch of the high school dances for my group, so why not do it for big corporations and get paid? i'm hoping to do mostly corporate planning. but maybe some weddings on the side :)

2. i'm an only child. yup, boring, huh? i don't think i'm spoiled... but i guess i would have less things and attention if there were 3 or 4 or 10 more kids in the family. i love family, and i wish i had siblings. but it's not too lonely, cause i have a lot of really good friends that i pretend are my family. my parents are so great. they're divorced, and they have been since i was four, but they are still best friends. i know, weird. i'm so lucky, though! i love being close to both of them. although they are different, and by different i mean like polar opposites, i truly admire them both.

3. i've lived in the same house my entire life. in beautiful southern orange county. my parents bought the house in mission viejo and my mom still has the same house. my dad moved out when they got divorced, so i have lived with him in san clemente and dana point, which i am super happy about. i love it down there! i think that is why i have such a love for the beach: i've lived less than five minutes from it (w/dad anyway) since i was four. i think i'm the only person i know that's been in the same house their whole life... i moved up to provo, utah at the beginning of this year. so i don't technically live there right now. but i will again in 4 weeks!

4. i'm a member of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints. :) and if you know me, you know that this is a huuuge part of who i am! i'm a convert, i joined the church a little over two years ago. i was raised catholic, went to a non-denominational christian church for a little bit, and had a lot of confusion in my life until i found the lds church. i always wanted to be really religious, but i felt like something was in the way, something was stopping me from progressing. anyway, long story short, i joined the church november 17, 2007 and my life has improved in every way since then. i'm much happier, i'm nicer, i love and appreciate my parents more, i know what my purpose in life is, and i know my savior jesus christ and my heavenly father so much better! the church is TRUE and i know it with everything in me!!! (if you are not lds and you have questions, i would looove to answer them for you. or, you can go to mormon.org to check it out.)

5. along the same line as that last one, i want to serve a mission for the lds church. i won't be able to go until i'm 21, so a year and a half from now, but i want to go so bad. it would be an eighteen month mission and it could be ANYWHERE in the world. alabama or peru, south carolina or indonesia, you get it- anywhere. there is nothing i love more than my heavenly father, and i want to share the restored gospel of jesus christ with my brothers and sisters, wherever that may be! i've still got some time until then, many things could happen. so i'm not saying i'm for sure going, but i for sure want to! ...i'm going on a mission unless the lord has other plans for me :)

6. i LOVE theatre and dance. i've acted in lots of plays and musicals, and by lots i mean like... 25 ish in 6 years. i haven't acted since my senior year of high school and i miss it soooo much. it's really sad. whenever i see a play or a dance performance i enjoy it, but i get really depressed because it hasn't been ME up there for years! ugh! but i kept up the dancing... until i came up to BYU this semester. i miss that too, and i'm probably really bad now cause i haven't danced in 6 months. i'll get back into it in the summer and i will start taking polynesian dance for sure, maybe some others in the fall. (oh yeah, i'm going to BYU hawaii in the fall, failed to mention that ;) )

7. i think i'm crazy. i think too much, worry too much, plan WAY too much. i stress more than is necessary (especially since i've been going to BYU), i over-think everything, and i'm just weird. like a super big dork. i often wonder why people are friends with me, i dunno, i just think i'm really weird. i'm naieve, for sure, which is bad and probably gonna get me hurt sometime. but i just think since i'm pretty much an open book, everyone is. i assume everyone is nice and has good intentions until their actions prove otherwise. and even then, i'll try to give them the benefit of the doubt. i get distracted easily and there isn't any skill i'm really good at.

but while these things are definitely true, i guess i'll have to give myself some credit... i am a loyal friend who truly cares. i try my best to be nice and to be the best person i can be. i try to show people i care by asking about their lives and i love being the person my friends call when they need help or just someone to talk to. i love my life and i strive to be a good person and to be happy :)


well, now that you've read entirely too much about me, let's pass this on to some others, shall we?



the game said to link it back to the person who linked you, so, Annie, you're first. one of my best friends, whom i currently live across the hall from! it's been sooo nice being able to see her almost every day up here.

her roommates, who have also come to be my friends, Alicia and Lauren . i am really glad they're annie's roommates or else i wouldn't know them! they put up with me.

my friend from home, Nicole . i miss her!! she has a blog that i really enjoy reading. and a smile that i am always happy to see.

Brooke . so her blog is mostly pictures (she's an amazing photographer!), but maybe i can get her to actually post something about herself for once.

Rebecca , this great girl i got to meet back home who has since gotten married and moved off to new mexico. i love reading her blog and learning about all her new adventures!

Sister Starr ! one of my favorite moms for sure. i'm super close friends with her son, drew, and so therefore she sees a lot of me around their house. seeing her blog makes me feel not quite so far away.



well, that was fun :)

oh, life.

my life is crazy and stressful and unpredictable and amazing. yep, all rolled into one. i have been learning this semester that things DON'T work out as planned. and that's a problem for me, cause i'm a big planner. i love planning. i do it all the time. way too often. heck, i even want to be an event coordinator for a living. so when something i've planned for my life turns out, well, completely different than i'd planned it, i tend to stress out.

this semester there's been about 3 or 4 major changes, and a ton of little ones, but i'll spare you the details. just know that it's been weird. but so so good. everything that hasn't worked out my way has turned out great all the same. this experiences are helping me learn to trust my Heavenly Father. He really knows what to do with my life better than i think i do. it's been a great comfort to me, seeing His hand in my life as He guides my decisions and circumstances. yes, i still stress. and i think way way too much. (unfortunately for my roommate, it's not just thinking, it's rambling on and on to her about my crazy life, almost nightly... i don't know why she puts up with me)... but at the end of the day, i know that God loves me and He will make things work out for me.

a scripture that i love (from the book of mormon):
"and i have been supported under trials and troubles of every kind, yea, and in all manner of afflictions; yea, God has delivered me from prison, and from bonds, and from death; yea, and i do put my trust in him, and he will still deliver me."
- alma 36:27

i love this scripture so much because i have a testimony that it is true! i see it happen in my life literally every day. there are so many little things that just should not work out for me, but they do. like getting to school right on time even if i'm stuck in a ton of traffic. like having enough energy to make it through all my classes even when i'm up way too late the night before. and literally hundreds of little tender mercies every day. i KNOW God loves me. and i know that because i do my best to do what is right, He blesses me! it's a wonderful little exchange we've got goin. ;)

school, of course, is a significant chunk of my stress. but i'm finding that although i'm so excited to be home for the summer, i also don't want the school year to end as quickly as i'm sure it will. in five weeks from today, i will be done with all my finals. and be ready for summer. it's so exciting, but truly bitter-sweet. i miss all my friends back home but i don't know what i'll do without my roommates :( i never thought i could live with three girls and see them every day and not get tired of them. i am an only child, after all, and i've never had to share a room or a bathroom or anything. also, when i'm around one person for too long i almost always get sick of them and need my space. but i've come to love these girls so much in the short time i've been here. i'm going to be so lonely this summer in my own room with my big bed. i'll take a twin bed and a shared room anyday, to be able to chat with britany WAY too late every night. we literally do not know how to go to sleep. we fail. but i love it.

well, it's not quite time for the "end-of-the-school-year-wrapup" yet. but thoughts of my life these days definitely include school and my roommates, so there ya go.

life's nuts. but it's so, so good. :)

california girl at heart

last weekend, i got to go HOME! my mom had surgery on her shoulder on the 19th, so i went home to take care of her a little bit. my mom lives by herself so she's been pretty stressed out about this surgery. but my friends from church have been SO amazing and have helped her every day with things she's needed around the house. THAT is the definition of a christian. not in word alone, but in deed. thank you, friends. :)

drew and cody... love them.

<3

i didn't get to see many friends while i was home, but spending some time with three of my closest friends was just what i needed.

i loved being home. i've realized i'm definitely a california girl.. ha. but the weekend away did make me appreciate provo more. i was glad to come back. i am enjoying my time up here- i'm learning a LOT and seeing why i'm supposed to be here this semester.

i'm loving life and i'm so glad i'm in utah. i will miss it when i leave. but i am so excited to be home in sunny southern california for the summer. i miss the beach. and my tan. -sigh-

i love sundays. and my roommates :)

so today was a great sabbath day. all the talks and lessons at church were so great and it just brought the spirit into my day and made me feel so calm. i was really stressed before church because i taught relief society today. the lesson ended up going well, better than i thought it would, because of the great comments from the wonderful girls in my ward. and mostly because of the spirit.

my lesson was on agency: our freedom to choose. i love the topic of agency, it is such an amazing blessing to us. our Heavenly Father loves us so much that He won't force us to choose what is right; He loves us so much to want us to make our own decisions. we are free to choose our actions but we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions, however. i know that the commandments are to make us free, not to be a burden or to restrict us. when we choose to keep the commandments, we are then free to do so many other things that negative choices may have prevented us from doing. for example:
"if there is a sign that says 'no swimming, whirlpool' we might think that this is a restriction. but we still have many choices: we are free to swim somewhere else, we are free to walk along the beach, we are free to go home. but once the whirlpool has us in its grasp and we are pulled under, we have very few choices. we can try to escape, or we can call for help, but we may drown" (gospel principles, lesson 4).
i have a personal testimony that obedience brings blessings. i have seen it in my own life and in the lives of others. it is truly an amazing principle and as we are obedient to some commandments our desire to please God only increases as we recieve blessings and feel good for our righteous actions. :)

after church, my fabulous roommates and i FINALLY took roommate pictures! (we've been meaning to since the beginning of january). here are a few of my favorites:







i feel so blessed to have these crazy girls as my roommates. they're the best. <3