good to be back!

It's good to be back in VA, even though I miss Rexburg and my friends like crazy! I got back late saturday night after traveling ALL day.. and I do mean ALL day, and I started work on monday! No time to waste... gotta make that money! It doesn't hurt that I absolutely LOVE my job though... I'm working 11-13 hours a day right now, and I wouldn't trade it for anything! Thomas is such a sweet boy, and I'm excited that I get to work with him until the end of December. I get paid to play all day.. who could ask for a better job?


Here's a picture from yesterday of him and I on the couch watching this cute cartoon baseball movie called Everday Hero. (i think)
(see, i told you he was a cutie!)

So other than work, nothing else is new. I haven't seen any friends yet but I'm planning a trip with some of my old co-workers to "the sound". That'll be really nice and I'm really excited to spend some time with all the girls! And that's really all I have to say for today...

except here's a list of things that I didn't realize I missed about VA until I came back:
-Humidity (oh wait.. i didn't miss that AT ALL)
-Narrow, windy roads (they're fun to drive on)
-Dorky white guys that think they're "hood" just because they sport baggy jeans under their butts and wear Ecko shirts. (they make me giggle)
-Thunderstorms (i love to watch them!)
-Cheaper gas prices (even though I didn't drive in Idaho, I'm glad gas is cheaper in VA)
-My momma's porch swing.
-Trees (lots and lots of trees!)

goodbye rexburg.

This week was hectic! Packing, cleaning, going to class, arranging rides, saying goodbye…. it’s hard to believe I fit it all in! Although it was all a little stressful, I sill managed to have some fun! I think if I had to pick my favorite day of this week, it would probably have to be Thursday. Earlier this week Erica’s car was making funny noises, so I took it over to Dan’s house to see if he could take a look at it. Since he is such a manly man, he figured out in 2 seconds that she needed new brake pads. So I went to the store, picked some up, and he took time out of his busy schedule to changed them as soon as I got back. I know he was really busy, so I promised him I would take him out to dinner one night before we parted ways. So, he came over to pick me up and to my surprise he drove his motorcycle! (I used to be really scared of motorcycles, but since I’ve been on them so much this past semester I’m starting to get over my fear.) We went to Joe’s diner, ate dinner, and afterwards he asked me if I was busy, and even though I had a massive amount of things to do, I said no. He said good, and started driving. We went outside of Rexburg and got on the highway, which I don’t recommend that anyone drive/ride a motorcycle going 70 mph without a helmet. ONE-it’s extremely dangerous. TWO-the bugs really sting your face when they hit you (not to mention it’s really disgusting too). THREE- if you are female, your eyes will water which could cause make-up to smear (luckily I was wearing waterproof mascara, but I was still concerned this would happen) and FOUR-my hair was impossible to get a brush through when it was all over with!
Finally we reached our destination (I don’t know if finally is the right word, it makes it sound like I didn’t enjoy the ride, which isn’t true. I love looking out at all the farming fields and staring out at the mountains when I’m out riding). We turned into the BYUI livestock center where our friend Vance was shoeing horses. After watching Vance do that for awhile, Dan asked if I wanted to hop on a horse. I’ve never ridden one before, so I told him I was kinda nervous and declined. Naturally Dan told me to stop being such a sissy, and he walked over to untie one of the horses. He jumped on it and I sat on the fence and watched. After he rode around the arena a few times, he pulled up beside me and told me to jump on. We trotted around for a little while, and then Dan told me I was going to ride by myself, but first he made me jump off. He wanted me to jump up on the horse on my own. I told him I was too short to, but he assured me that I could still do it. So I grabbed a hunk of the horse’s mane and jumped up. I failed at my first attempt, but I got up somehow the second time around. I think it would’ve been much easier to do if he had put a saddle on that thing!
Anyways, it was really fun to ride the horse around the arena on my own. I couldn’t always get it to go where I wanted it to go, but I didn’t do too bad of a job for my first ride! Dan said he was gonna make a cowgirl out of me one of these days...haha... first he took me to a rodeo in Arco and now I was up on a horse! I wish I would’ve had my camera with me!!...i took it out of my purse 5 minutes before we left that house because I didn’t think that I would need it! Oh well… maybe next time!

this is a long one!

Here's a blog to catch you up on the week!

To sum up Monday, in my physical science class, we talked about growing technologies and how we need to start using them in more productive and uplifting ways. I really liked this class discussion because it was a little bit of a reality check for me. Take my ipod for example, let’s say I have 200 songs on my nano… how much of that is uplifting me or turning my thoughts to the Savior? I’ll tell you... little to none. Don’t get me wrong, I love all types of music and I don’t think it’s sinful to listen to it, but after this class I thought to myself- how nice would it be to walk to class and have an inspirational word pop up on my shuffle in between songs? Or instead of spending countless hours watching youtube videos and reading random articles on AOL news about the top 10 places to vacation or how the latest pop star went to rehab, I should probably set some of that time aside for reading literature that will actually impact me or have meaning in my life.
Anyways, I’m just ranting on, but it really made me think... on to Tuesdays adventures….

Tuesdays are always loooooong days for me, but over the past few weeks I’ve learned to love them. Yesterday started out like any other Tuesday, I woke up, read my reading assignment for class, got ready for the day, and biked to class. And I’m not going to sugar coat the day, class was extremely BORING! I’m pretty sure everybody was confused about all the nanotechnology talk, some of it was really interesting, but we all kinda stopped listening towards the end. But once class was over, it was straight to devotional! I’m a little sad that I won’t be attending another Tuesday devotional until January, but I suppose I can always read them online J If I had to pick out one thing that stood out to me from yesterday’s devo, it would have to be a quote that was shared by Spencer W. Kimball. It said:

“God does notice us, and He watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs.”

Now just think about that for a few minutes.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve just needed somebody to talk to, and I’ve received an unexpected phone call from an old friend or someone stops by to check in on me. It’s moments like that where you know God is mindful of you.

But moving on, devotional ended at 2:50 and I have class at 3:00, so I had to weasel my way through the crowd to get to class on time. Then the teacher showed up late and I realized I could’ve gone to the MC to get lunch before I got there. Boo. I was hungry, and the lab lasted a little over 3 hours. I was ready to go home when it was over! So it was about 6:30 when I got home, and I needed to go to the gym to record my weight before and after I worked out because I’m seeing how much I sweat while working out for 3 days for a friend’s class. I don’t know how I get myself into these things, but I’m going to continue to work out even after it’s done. Even though I’m tired after exercising, I feel really good when I’m done. So after the sweat-fest, I came home and showered and then my friend Tyler came over with the motorcycle he bought on Monday. Naturally I had to ride on it, [even though motorcycles SCRARE me], but I figured that Tyler would just take me around “the burg”. But I was wrong, we went down some roads out past the water tower, and suddenly we were cruising through miles of green farming fields. Here are a few pics I took while I was on the bike.
(I hope you appreciate these cause I had to release my death grip on Tyler to take them)







Look at that sky! It was BEAUTIFUL! It's nice to just slow down and take a break from everything every once and awhile. Everything was so still and quiet, which I think really magnified the beauty of everything. Even the pivots looked majestic as they spread water over the fields, and they're just big pieces of metal! [I'm really gonna miss the peacefulness of Idaho. Life isn't running at such a fast pace here, and I know when I get back home it will be.] So the sun continued to set, and we turned around to go back home. As we got closer to Rexburg, the temple popped up from around the corner.
It was breathtaking. I love the way it just glows. I wish I had my camera with me, but this is the best I could get going 35 mph on the back of a bike with my phone.

I'm grateful for "that beautiful temple on top of the hill." (people always say that around here, but I really am grateful for it!) It doesn't matter where you are around here, you can always look up and it's there. What a blessing.

Greg Olsen ♥

This morning I was looking through some of Greg Olsen's work, and I saw one that I've never seen before...

I really like it and when I saw it, some scattered lyrics from a song popped into my head:

"I heard a voice through the dischord of a deluge of passers-by.
I saw one gaze frozen in time, watching me passing by.
And I swear I'll know your face in the crowd,
And I'll hear your voice so loud... when you're whispering...
Hey unfaithful I will teach you
To be stronger, to be stronger.
Hey ungraceful, I will teach you
To forgive one another"
...
"Oh sweet angel of mercy with your grace like the morning, wrap your loving arms around me."
...
and the last part of the song goes:
"Hey Unfaithful, Hey Ungraceful, Hey Unloving, I will love you."

I love that last line because it is so true. Jesus Christ is ALWAYS by my side. At times I am unfaithful and unloving, but I know through His example I can be better. He understands me when no one else can, and I am grateful that He loved me so infinitely that He gave up His life so that I can live for all eternity with my Heavenly Father.

My thoughts are usually jumbled and don't make sense.

Today, as I was sitting at my brother-in-laws parent’s house, I was surrounded by multiple married and engaged couples. Everybody had a special someone to talk to and hang out with all night long…except me. We’re talking MAJOR fifth wheel here, and in a situation like that I think most people would feel a little lonely and sad, but it actually made me really excited for the future. I couldn’t help but smile as I watched all the giggling children running around and all the couples snuggling up together as we watched fireworks going off in the driveway. I could just picture having my own little boys (hopefully some girls too) running around, and my totally dorky husband running around right there with them. Nothing makes me happier than family (present and future). I have already been incredibly blessed by being born into a wonderful family, even if we are a little strange sometimes. They are always by my side no matter what. It’s such a strength to me to know I always have a support group to turn to when things aren’t going well; a support group who will pray for me and drive or fly hundreds of miles just to make sure that I am alright. I’m excited to go back to Virginia for the next 5 months to see them all. I’ve missed my mom, dad, brothers, sister in laws, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins… there are a lot of them, so can you see why I’m excited? All of my family is on the east coast with the exception of my sisters, and don’t get me wrong, it’s been really nice being closer to my sisters the last seven months; they are my best friends. While being out here, I have realized how much I’ve missed laughing about the most ridiculous things with Chelsea, and I have loved the opportunity it has given me to build a stronger relationship with Erica. I’m coming to the conclusion that coming out to BYUI was a good decision for me after all. I doubted it after all the fiancé drama I went through, but for lack of a better description I must say, I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Although it’s been a little rough, I am thankful for the learning and growth the last 7 months have brought into my life. It’s been an adventure to say the least, but its all part of life. Life is full of change and change is good; therefore, I am content.

Misc thoughts:
-I’m really glad Baxter (my puppy) found a new home today.
-I’m proud of my brother who is currently serving in Iraq, and hope everyone keeps our troops in their prayers.
-I watched some of The Fiddler on the Roof today and the dancing made me laugh really hard.
-I realized I need to lay off the mountan dew and junk food because I’m starting to get love handles.
-Copeland [Beneath Medicine Tree] is STILL one of my all time favorite CDs.