Don't Fear the Darkroom: 1

Here, ladies and gents, would be a lovely photo that I took down in St. George this past weekend, which I love and wanted to share with you all. Kinzie was holding my camera and taking some shots and so I decided to take one of her crouched down with the sweet shadow. I added a 2.5 contrast filter and did some touching up because of water spots on my negatives (ha, totally my fault). Anyways, here is this beauty. My first public share of my darkroom stuff. :)

Date: 13 April 2013

Location: Snow Canyon - Utah

Medium: Gelatin Silver

And We're Back - and I'm headed to live in the South! :D

Since juggling two blogs is rather difficult and neglecting a blog that I've had since my sophomore year of high school makes me feel guilty, I've decided that the only choice I have is to just start going on here again. I like that idea. So here we go - I'M GOING ON A MISSION!!!! WOOHOO! I've been called to... well... why don't you just watch the video and find out :)

I get a little teary-eyed every single time I watch it. It kills me! Haha, but I love it so much. It's so... me. Haha, and my dad... gotta love him. Quinn, Kinzie's boyfriend, even said he was sincerely excited for me. I think that is the nicest and most sincere thing I have ever heard him say. Haha, I might come back being more of a redneck than him ;)

Alex, who is currently serving in Reno, Nevada, just caught wind (aka he finally received my letter) this past Wednesday of where I was going. He stated, "When I read where you were going, I smiled cause that is just so you." I took it as a compliment. Of course it's "so me" because that's where I'm supposed to go. Obviously, the Lord knows what He's doing. I'm glad that I'm staying in the states so that I can continue to write him instead of having to switch to emails to save on postage. Same with the family of course. I trust the USPS far more than internationally. There are so many perks of staying in the states, it's crazy. I'm just sincerely so excited. I absolutely love it. I've been shopping a bit here and there and did a lot yesterday, but my next big step is when I go through the temple next Saturday. It's going to be an interesting week leading up till then, but I know that it'll come faster than lightning :)

 

 

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 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 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 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."

That awkward moment at the temple when...

So I go to the temple every week right? Well, we usually go every Tuesday and there just so happens to be a very cute brother there who works in the baptistry and just so happens to be relatively closer to my age than any other brother working at the temple ;)

He also happens to be very cute, and we have had many laughs with him in past weeks. For example, a couple weeks ago, Dallin got called "Sister Openshaw". He usually does get called "Sister Openshaw" because he usually goes after his sisters, but this lovely brother happened to call him a sister IN THE PRAYER. We all busted up laughing after the prayer and it was hilarious.

Okay, so today I go with just my sister and we're sitting in the baptistry where this cute brother is (of course) and we wait for a while and it's totally my turn and I walk into the font and he takes me by the hand (as does he with every girl so they don't slip), we exchanged greetings (and I assume that he remembers me after several weeks). I put my other hand on his wrist and then realized that I didn't let go of his hand. HAHA, seriously, I can't get over it. We both realized that we were basically holding hands.... and immediately (and awkwardly) tried to fix it. He apologized really quickly and oh my gosh. It was just really embarrassing. Hilarious, but TOTALLY embarrassing. Well, I hope that I provided you with a laugh, or at least a smile.

Moral of the story is: if you think the guy working in the temple is cute, don't forget to bring your brain with you. This is sacred work people! Now focus!

Three Hours Worth of Waiting

I woke up to a text message this morning from my good friend, Kiara. She asked what I was up to today and said that I had something going on this evening but just planned on lounging around the house for the rest of the day. She then asked if I wanted to go to the temple. Of course I said yes and asked her what time she wanted me to come and pick her up. She said 9:30. Brilliant. I went to pick her up at her apartment in Provo and we headed over to the Provo temple. We were expecting to have to wait for a bit, but I did NOT anticipate the morning ahead. When we got there, we went downstairs and got our jumpsuits. I started heading to the locker room when they stopped me and told me that there was another room full of kids waiting to do baptisms.

They took us around the corner where there was a small chapel that was about halfway full and they were all singing hymns. AWESOME. I'm glad that we could sing while we were waiting. After a few hymns, someone else needed the room, so they transferred us over to the cafeteria to sing while we waited. It was magical and the little old lady that was there was so feisty. I told Kiara that I wanted to be like her someday :)

After a little over an hour, it was our turn to go into the locker rooms to change. We then came out and waited to do confirmations. That only took about 20 minutes, but then we waited another hour and a half probably to get into the baptistry. Kiara decided that we were in there for about 3 hours. Was it worth it to only do 2 confirmations and 3 baptisms? Absolutely. Anything to help.

I find it to be a bit frustrating when people (like the ones that left early) are frustrated with the long wait. Well, in all honesty, I make it a big deal to not go to the temple unless you have the time to be there and to be there patiently. If you're in a hurry, you tend to focus more on where you are going to be rather than where you are. It's okay to go other places; we're all busy people in this busy world, but the temple is a place for peace and NOT contention.

While I was waiting to perform the ordinances, I sang, read out of the Book of Mormon, pondered, meditated, prayed. . .all of which are great things to do. So if you're in need of some great pondering and meditation and are more than willing to be patient, Saturday is a great day to go to the Provo temple. :)

A List of Gratitude

This is what I'm grateful for from yesterday:

I got to. . .

• sleep in.
• write a blog post about Elder Erekson.
• do my scripture study in the morning (which I've been working on)!
• pick up the chub and head on over to the campus.
• get my textbook reading done for the week.
• go to class and sit next to my twin, Hannah :)
• finish my homework and go eat lunch at Sensuous and chat with one of my childhood besties, Lexi, while doing so.
• go pick up Drew, take him home, and rush to my house to hurry and gather everything for a photo shoot.
• take pictures of the most wonderful family EVER, the Youngs (here's a sneak peek) :)

 

 

Aren't they wonderful looking? I thought so :)

 

• Then I was able to enjoy dinner with them and their kids. It was delicious... I'm kind of wishing now that I hadn't given my leftovers to Dad when I got home last night... ah well. What's eaten is eaten. I won't ask for it back!

So I would vote that yesterday was a successful day and all in good company. As for today... I would consider it equally as brilliant. Today I...

• had a midterm in my English class and it was pure extra credit. 29 points of extra credit and I got to choose which category the 29 points went in to and divide it however I wanted. It was freaking sweet!
• got to sit and chat with Hannah, cause let's be honest, she's my favorite, before my history class. It's so great :)
• got to listen to a lecture in my American Civ class about Mormons. The teacher told us that no one was allowed to proselyte during class. I laughed because that sounds like something I might consider doing. Okay, maybe not so much preach, but of course correct. ;)
• got to hang out with Brit and Kinz for a little bit. After my last class and before institute I headed over to the grandparents where they were hanging out and started making spoon rings with them. (Shh... don't tell grandma we used her old silverware ;)) And just a shout out to Neal for helping us. I can't wait to see how they turned out!
• went to Institute. I'm currently in a class called "Teachings of Joseph Smith" and let me tell ya, it's freaking awesome. I love it. Sometimes it's hard to go, but it's worth it every time.
• signed up for TWO more institute classes. I feel as though the adversaries are fighting against me since I've been proclaiming my desire to serve a mission. Therefore, I shall fight back. Go. Fight. Win. I signed up for "Teachings of Thomas S. Monson" and it only seemed appropriate to sign up for a missionary prep class. Besides, every mission prep class is different and the one that my stake offers is only once a month. A girl needs a little more than that.
• picked up the Drewmeister, took him home, and then made my way to the temple with my lovely neighbors. It's such a blessing to go every week. And it's super hilarious whenever they call Dallin "Sister" Openshaw. Seriously, at least four times in the past two weeks. It never fails. It was the funniest when the elder said it in the prayer without realizing it during the confirmation. Seriously, I had to cover my mouth because I was barely able to hold in the giggles. Of course after the prayer, both his sisters, as well as myself, busted into laughter and they asked what was wrong and joined in our laughter with us. They then redid the prayer, but seriously, SO funny.
• got to see one of my best friends before he got set apart as a missionary. I rushed over there after the temple in order to catch him before he left. I knocked on the door and when they said to come in, I rushed in to meet Izak and ask if he had been set apart yet. When he said no, I rushed to give him a hug. Seriously, the best hug ever. I'm going back later in order to visit with him, along with other friends, but gah, I'm gonna miss him so much. He's my first CLOSE close friend that is leaving. It's so hard, but it's totally worth it. So about an hour ago, I got my last hug from Elder Erekson for more than 2 years (because I won't get home from my mish till a few months (give or take) after him). Love you buddy.

Dear Elder Erekson. . . (A Tribute/Condensed Memory Book)

Disclaimer: Because there are so many pictures, I only included the ones with Elder Erekson in them. Of course there may be a few others if I felt they were important, but I had to minimize. . .

Dear Elder Erekson,

Oh, how the years have FLOWN by. I remember going through elementary school thinking you were weird but really smart. Then in 8th grade I laughed at you because you knew where every hymn was in the hymn book. The summer after 8th grade is when I feel like we really started becoming friends and then we just hit it off really well and since then, I can't even imagine what I would do without you! I don't even know where to start. . .

So, remember in 9th grade when you and Craig ran for president and vice president in the last election? I seriously think that you should have won. . .

 

Remember when we all dressed in the same color for election day.
Thanks for photo bombing our really nice picture Alex. . . haha

Don't forget all the cheesy campaign posters :)

 

And remember when I took a TON of pictures at choir concerts festivals? We had way too much fun, let me tell ya. . .

 



Haha, okay, random memory - do you remember me wanting to use your bowtie as a bow in my hair and you thought it was weird because then that would mean we were "dating"? HAHA, sorry, I randomly remembered that, and found it to be hilarious!

Oh and please don't forget about walking home together. We always had a blast with that :)

 

And let's not forget your love of cats. . .

 

And of course your "high" voice. . . (this video is golden).

 

 

OH! And remember when you, Jordan and I went bowling? THAT was fun times and you totally kicked butt! :)

 

 

 And remember when the field outside was completely untouched still and you, Kallie and I went and played in it? Heck to the yes!

 

 

And of course don't forget about some of the best days of our lives! The end of freshman year: sad, but good. :)

 

I have a video that goes along with this picture, but it kind of
drags on forever, so I decided that the picture would suffice :)

 

Oh, and remember when I used to steal your glasses and pretend like I was taking cool pictures? I really wasn't. I look like an idiot... haha!

 

 

Remember when you filmed this and took these photos? :)

This was definitely the good life.

 

 

 

Please don't forget about these :)

 

 

Stake dances were a blast!

 

 

So it currently just crashed my computer and deleted a whole bunch of stuff, so here's a condensed version of what I just did... #frustratedbeyondbelief

 

Here I am jumping to high school, which I need to condense anyways or else it will take me DAYS to finish. Haha, there are just so many memories!

 

Sophomore Year:

 

Your Obsession with the Beatles:

 

 

Geneva Carnivals and monstrous amounts of food!

 

 

 

Coincidental Color Coordination :)

 

 

Alex's House

 

 

 Our very first Spirit Bowl!

 

 

Don't forget the various football games:

 

 

 

Junior Year:

 

Of course, the one thing I remember the most of us is Homecoming. Not only was it my first dance date, but I was lucky enough for YOU to take me. It was marvelous. And we take pretty awesome pictures if you ask me :)

 

 

 

Remember how I didn't want to wash my hair till
right before the dance to do my hair and so my hair
was still green for the day date from the game the
night before? Yeah, I remember that... :)

 

Haha, this picture makes me laugh every
time I see it. And it's hanging up in my bedroom
as well. It's just epic.

 

 

Our senior year, we didn't do anything extravagent together, but that doesn't mean that it has to be discredited at all (even if I don't have nearly as many pictures than from years past) :)

 

 

 

I'm gonna miss you buddy. Have fun in Mexico and I hope that I'll be able to write to you and support you. I wish you the best of luck and I love all the fun times we've had and the wonderful memories we've made. You seriously have influenced my life for the better.

 

P.S. Here are a few more things that I didn't have pictures for that are definitely worth mentioning:

 

Remember when we made a private blog to send messages through? I wish we still did that, but obviously that's not gonna work out now. I guess we'll just have to communicate through snail mail! It's the best kind anyways. It's authentic ;)

 

And remember when you asked me to Homecoming through the blog with bold letters? And I didn't catch on until Kallie said something about it? How did I respond anyways? Or did I? I actually don't think I did!!!! GAH! I'm a terrible friend! If I did please remind me...

 

Remember when you, Kallie and I went to the movies for my 15th birthday? I had just gotten my braces on and I could only have a smoothie, but I bought you guys a sandwich and then we walked down to the dollar theater. And then remember the picture (that I have evidentally lost) where you and Kallie were both in Orem and Provo. Obviously we were so cool.

 

And don't forget about riding the bus every day in 10th grade. That was always a party :)

 

 

And one more picture of us, just for good measure :)

 

(insert picture of us the night before you leave - here)

 

I'm sure that there are plenty more memories that I didn't mention, but I'm sure that this will more than suffice. I love you buddy. Remember that God is mindful of you and that he loves you more than anything. See you in two years (give or take, considering I'll be leaving on my mission within the next year as well). Til we meet again,

Love, Savanna <3 font="font">