Extended Break

I skipped class today already knowing that it was just a second review of the test... it probably wasn't my brightest idea ever - but it just comes to show that I wanted to get a lot done today, but haven't really. I wrote down a list of stuff that I needed to finish today and I think that I've only finished one thing besides "breathe" and "eat" since 2 o'clock this afternoon. But that's not much considering that my food handlers permit took me two and a half hours to do. Today has just been kind of a lame day and that's all there really is to it. Kinda stinks. Well, I'm basically done with this semester and ready for a new one - too bad I still have finals in the way. Looks like I'd better get down and dirty with the books. And starting a new job. And a presentation tomorrow. Should be exciting? Yippee.

Expressing Thankfulness [Day 14]

Today is an especially good day. I just love it. I'm grateful for one of my best friends who got called to the Alpine German speaking mission - I'm grateful for his upbeat and happy attitude all the time. Love this kid :)

Expressing Thankfulness [Day 13]

Well, I'm not staying caught up very well, but I would like to express gratitude for my institute classes. They're freaking awesome. Mission prep AND Teachings of Joseph Smith. It's so fascinating. I love all of the spiritual uplifting that I get from them. They're magical. I also love the people that I have met at school. They definitely make it worth going to.

Today I'm especially grateful for Clayton and the intellectual conversations we have (haha, if you could call them that) and the merciless teasing even though we've only been friends for a short while. I enjoy listening to his opinion and look forward to getting to know him better. Granted, I can't answer a lot of his questions - but I enjoy his company nonetheless.

I also love Scott - we're like BFFs. He sits in front of me in my Joseph Smith class. My ginormously tall friend has the sweetest smile and always makes my day when I see him. He's just fun to mess around with. I know you'll get married some day Scott ;)

Of course there's Devin. He sits next o me in my Joseph Smith class. He shared his candy with me today. And I can't forget to mention the cheesy grin on my face when he shared his Sour Patch Watermelon candy with me today. It was fantastic! :D

And last, but definitely not least, there's Lexi, who I've been friends with forever - we finally have a class together! Mission prep! Yay! :) We even joined it around the same time. It was fantastic. And I'm looking forward to going into the MTC with her next week as an investigator. It'll be an amazing experience, I already know it.

Now I'm going to go and suffer through some homework and quite possibly work out how I'm possibly going to work full time now that I have a new job. Woo. Wish me luck.

Expressing Thankfulness [Day 11]

I got pulled out of Sunday school today and was asked if I would teach a primary class today - I was hesitant at first but then realized that hecka yes I wanted to teach today. It was super spur of the moment, but it was well worth it. I'm grateful that I was able to teach them today and that I was able to get to know those kids who had just been baptized this year! Go CTR 7. Woot :)

Expressing Thankfulness [Day 10]

Today I am most grateful for a wonderful night spent with a wonderful friend. Even after spending very little time with each other in the last year, we are still great friends and can talk about just about anything. It's fantastic. We sat and chatted while he made dinner for his sister's date tonight. I got some too and it was DELICIOUS! I told him he could make me dinner any night. I just miss being around him a lot. I miss all the jokes and just sitting and doing nothing for long periods of time. I just miss him all around. We've already made plans to do stuff over winter break. It shall be marvelous. Be prepared for magicalness my friends.

Oh, and just so you're aware, he'll start spreading rumors that I drop hints very subtly and he's finally catching on. Don't believe anything that he says ;)

Expressing Thankfulness [Day 9]

Today I had the chance to go back to my old high school (Timpanogos) after getting let out of class early and went to get my official transcripts transferred. It was pretty great. Then I ended up walking around and sitting in on A Cappella and such. I really really loved seeing everyone. I guess the easiest way to explain what I'm thankful for is to say that I love all the wonderful people that see me and not only remember me but are excited to see me. It's so fun. It makes me feel really special and loved and it just makes my day even further. So if I saw you at the high school, it was REALLY great to see you. :)

Expressing Thankfulness [Day 7]

Today I'm grateful for proactivity. Not because I've been proactive today - in fact, quite the opposite, but I just thought I would let you know that I have a book report due in the morning and I haven't exactly started it. Let the BSing begin. Not to mention that I have the beginnings of an English paper due in the morning as well. Heck yes. I rock at this whole procratination thing!

Okay, for reals though:

• I'm very grateful for all of my friends who got their mission calls tonight.
• Nate: Alpine German Speaking Mission (consists of Germany, Austria and Switzerland
• Cam: Germany Frankfurt
• Several others got theres, but these are the ones I'm most excited for! These two guys are stellar and are such great examples to me and everyone else around them!
• My counsellor, Juanita, IS THE BEST! She is just so fun and spunky and loves to have fun. It's just hilarious! I mean, who else will suggest we shut the door and watch YouTube videos in between our meeting. Seriously, she is the best :)

Expressing Thankfulness [Day 6]

Happy National Election Day! Woo! So I skipped half of my English class this morning in order to go vote with my parents. I met dad there where he was already standing in line and it was a good time. I laughed inside (out of irritation) when one person said, "I bet I know who YOU voted for." I told him that I voted straight Democratic - which is a lie - but it's good to keep the world on it's toes. Just because I'm a Mormon and just because I live in Utah and I'm getting ready to go on a mission does NOT mean I support Romney. I support Romney for other reasons - NOT JUST BECAUSE HE'S MORMON. Come on people, I'm not a total idiot. I'm grateful that I have the right to vote and that it is my civic duty to do so. It was all in good fun. Besides, I didn't have to sit through the entire LAME library lecture in English today. Yay for bigger and better things! :)

Fun little story:

During this time of the year FOUR years ago (aka the last election time), we were rebellious 9th graders and decided to put together our own party. I'm not quite sure WHAT we were party wise, but we had fun doing it either way. Izak ran for president and Craig was his partner as VP. Oh, it was just fantastic. If Izak wasn't on his way to Mexico in a month, I might have been tempted to write him in... ;)

Expressing Thankfulness [Day 5]

Today was quite a bland day, but what I do know is that it doesn't make an excuse to not find something to be grateful for. Today I want to express specific gratitude towards my self-confidence. I have several things (friends, family, personal choices) that I have to thank for it and I couldn't be any happier. Sure, I have my off-days, but we all do. Today was especially interesting since I wore a dingy white t-shirt, a pair of jeans and my favorite pair of shoes - not to mention that my hair was in a messy braid. But I was still perfectly fine in my own skin. I love those days where it does not matter what I look like, it just matters that I'm living, breathing and smiling. :)

Expressing Thankfulness [Day 4]

There are so many things that I can be grateful for today! It's fantastic!

• I'm so very grateful that I have the courage and self-confidence to go visiting teaching by myself. Some stuff happened with my companion and so I ended up doing half of my teaching for the month and got to meet with my sisters. It was fantastic. 
• I'm also extremely grateful for this wonderful fall weather that we're having because I got to walk to the sisters' houses and it was just a nice breath of fresh air.
• I got to visit with Grandma Jean tonight. I don't make it over there often, but I felt that I needed to go over there today. I've been thinking about her and it was fun to see her :)
• I spent time with my sister last night. That hasn't happened in a while, so I was grateful for our adventure at Wal-Mart. We never did end up watching a movie because by the time we could, we were both super tired. Kind of ridiculous, but WHATEVER. I did get new curtains and they are black. and magnificent.
• Since I struggle with fasting from food, I've decided to take a break from Facebook tonight. It's ridiculous to realize how hard it is... but it's also a nice breath of fresh air. I've filled my Sunday with so many great things rather than wasting my day away on social networking and homework. (Homework is still important, but I had a friend challenge me not to do any on Sundays... we'll see how this goes over... haha.) SO I am grateful for my abilit to find wholesome activities and not waste time.

Happy Sunday everyone! :)

Expressing Thankfulness [Day 3]

For as long as I can remember, my family always separates our cans from our other garbage, and every once in a while, we gather all of these cans up and take them to the recycling plant down on Geneva Road and trade them in for cash. So what I've decided to do is collect all of our cans and put that money towards my mission fund. I absolutely love the fact that we are able to do this. Granted, aluminum is only about $0.60 a pound, but hey, every penny counts. I'm so grateful that our family has been doing this for forever and that I can collect all these cans for a good cause. Of course this won't get me all the way to $10K, but it's a good start :) (Just for a rough estimate, this is only about $15-20 worth of aluminum, BUT it's better than nothing! :))

Expressing Thankfulness [Day 2]

Today I'd like to express gratitude to my friends who always make me better and love me for who I am. Especially when we laugh uncontrollably at movies or when we get together and just make memories - kind of like trespassing while longboarding and hiding from them like a two-year-old in a grocery store. You guys are seriously so wonderful and without you, my life would be boring. You rock :)

Oh, and if you haven't had the chance to go see "The Perks of Being a Wallflower", you need to. That is all :)

(Don't worry if you're picture isn't here, I love you all the same. These are just the pictures that I have on my computer currently :))

Expressing Thankfulness [Day 1]

Today I am grateful for my ability to find the good in people. I played a game (and am continuing to play) on Facebook and the main idea is for someone to send a random number of their choice to my inbox on Facebook and I post a status using that number to write to them. The idea is to tell them the good things about them. It's fun because it forces me to think in a certain way and sometimes it's hard for me, so I like to find the good in people and share it with them. Some friends I've known for a long time and I some I don't know as well, but I still did my best to be genuine.

Here are a few things I said about some people:

5,000,000,000: hey there little brother :) you are so fun and spunky and are always looking for a new adventure. You're so lively and wonderfully fantastic and I love all of your witty jokes. They make me giggle. I wish we lived a little bit closer so that we could hang out more often, but of course you are closer than you used to be :) miss you booger :)

13: Well, we've had our ups and downs in the last few months, but they were all worth it. I love how close we are and I love spending time with you. I'm sorry I've been so crazy lately. You've been a good friend to me and I love you. I love that you're so open with me and that you're so comfortable around me. I also love how funny you are and when I get you on those random tangents about things that you love. It's fun getting you to talk a lot because it doesn't happen very often. I also love that you're so spunky and full of life when you wanna be. It's magnificent. I love that you're so passionate about what you love and you treasure those that you love. You're incredible. Never forget it :)

2: You are, no joke, one of the FUNNIEST people I have ever met. And by far the best story teller. How do I know this? Because of how you made our ENTIRE group of like 20 people bust up laughing and die while rolling on the floor because we were all laughing so hard at your stories. One of the best dates ever. You always have a smile on and are doing your best to make everyone around you feel better when they're down. You are a sweetheart. You are going to be a wonderful missionary. Always remember to keep smiling and lifting others up, because that's what you do best. Love you kiddo :)

3212333: First of all, what you wrote about me - you SERIOUSLY made my day. In fact, you made my week. Nope, scratch that, my LIFE. That is seriously what I hope everyone will see in me. Of course I say stupid things sometimes, but I'm only human. Okay, this status isn't about me, it's about you. Whenever I think about you or see a post written by you on Facebook, I always subconsciously wish that we were better friends. I watched you all through high school wishing that I had gotten to know you better, but the opportunity just never came up. We never crossed paths much, but I know that people look up to you. I don't know what kind of challenges that you've overcome in your life thus far, but I can tell that you didn't make it to this point in your life by giving up. Keep on smiling and remember who you really are. Thanks for looking for and seeing the best in me (and everyone else around you). You are absolutely wonderful. If you ever need anything, I'm here for you, even if you just want to talk :)

 

Now with this girl ^^^, I need to post what she wrote about me, because well... you'll just have to read it...

 

7: You mentioned that we don't know each other very well. You're right - but let me share with you what I do know about you. You want to be good; you have a desire to be good and to spread good. You are one of the least judgmental people I know. You're friends with so many people; so many entirely different groups of people who are all so diverse. You have goodness within you that attracts so many others because you make them feel welcomed and good about themselves. I think you are darling. Thank you for accepting me.

 

Doesn't that just make your day? I almost started crying and the amazing thing with that, is that I hardly ever cry. I mean, I cry a lot more than I used to, but I usually don't get too emotional in that way. I don't know how you feel about people cloggin up your newsfeed with a bunch of random people that you don't know who they are, but in all seriousness, it's better than that crap that people have been posting now-a-days. It's positive, uplifting and I am so grateful for that. The more time we spend on being positive and optimistic, the less time we have for being negative and destructive of others. I'd say it's a good trade.

 

"If you look for the good in people, you'll find it."