exhausted...

This week, I haven't gotten much sleep, considering it is finals week, and I just have tons of things to do besides that.

Today, however, was really crazy. I had to move out of my apartment today, and clean for my check out today at 3:30. I did almost all of it alone, because Chris was still finishing finals.  He had a good reason not to help. Basically, I ran up and down stairs all day long, carrying lots of stuff. Then, I cleaned. After that, I ran about 5 different errands (which included getting my nails done for the wedding, haha).  I think I did some other stuff, but I forget. I was constantly on the move.

Needless to say, I am pooped.


I still have to finish packing for the next two weeks, and unpack all the stuff I dumped in the apartment, and finish laundry.  After that, I will pick up my sister Erica at the airport and then go to bed.

But my nails are pretty, right? Makes it all worth it.

Frightful Finals.

Finals.

The word that will strike fear into any student's faint heart.

 I think I seriously looked like this guy when I looked at my Infant Development study guide.  You think a final only covering the last half of class would be a little shorter.  Nope.

In addition to the dreaded finals, I am also finishing up wedding details, moving, packing, cleaning, and pretty much anything else that you can imagine.  Random things keep coming up (like the headlight burning out on my car). Thankfully, I have taken 3 finals already, and only a presentation and a final left.  Unfortunately, the final that is left is the horrid Infant Development.

However, there are a couple things that relieve me from all this stress. One is Chris, who made me laugh a lot today.  He's been watching Avatar: The Last Airbender episodes lately, and today he threw me a clementine and shouted "ORANGE BENDING!" I know, he said orange instead of clementine. If you've never seen The Last Airbender, then you probably won't get it. It's funny though - trust me.

Also, I have a wonderful sister named Erica who has introduced me to several fun blogs to follow. Such as, The Daybook, Clothed Much, and Kristine. Or Polly. Best thing about these ladies? They are all LDS and show off fabulous MODEST outfits, usually accompanied by giveaways and tutorials and just fun facts about their life. I enjoy blogstalking.

I have another wonderful sister named Jenna, who just had a baby 4 weeks ago.  She's gone through some rough patches, but now she's enjoying time with her son Landon, until they all fly out here for my wedding!  She's been putting up a few posts about Landon, and I love reading them, because I haven't seen my nephew for a couple days.

Anyway, the best way to cope with finals in my opinion is to have a couple distractions.  Not major ones, but little things that take up 10-20 minutes of your times, so that you can have short study breaks and not feel too guilty wasting a ton of time!

To all you students out there, good luck!

Hip Hip Hooray!

just as an FYI, I have "turned in" this project (my blog) so i'm probably going to get a lot more lax with my capitalization and stuff. I'd rather not have to press shift. even though I keep doing almost every time I type "I". weird.

Anyway, today is the last day of classes (insert huge sigh of relief). I have turned all my last projects and papers and whatever else.  All I need to do is take my 5 finals, make sure everything is set for the wedding, and move everything out of my apartment in the next week. Not too bad, considering everything else I've had to do lately.

I've also spent way too much time in the library today and yesterday. I think combined it was about 13 hours, based on how many hours I used on Pandora.

Also, I only got four hours of sleep last night, and I haven't found a job yet.

Life is awesome. And I'm being serious. Life is awesome when you are 12 days away from getting married.

Raging Rollercoasters

You're waiting in line.  It's hot outside and you've been in the same line for what seems like half an hour.  Screams pierce the air intermittently.  The people in front of you keep shuffling forward until you're first in line.  You start to feel butterflies in your stomach and get a little jittery.  The car comes to a fast stop in front of you, and you see people file off with windblown hair, and some a little shaky.  The attendant shows you where to sit and you pull the bar down over your head.  All of a sudden, the car takes off, gaining speed quickly, taking twists, turns, and flips at high speeds.  Everyone around you is screaming, and you realize you are screaming too, but with a huge smile on your face.  All of a sudden you're slowing down and come to a stop.  It's over, and you can't wait to do it again.

That's what every rollercoaster ride is like for me.  I love rollercoasters so much, and I've been hooked on them for years.  I can ride them over and over and over, and never feel sick. I do get nervous and scared right before I get on a ride, but I don't really know why.  I guess it's just part of the experience.  The thrill of being on a speeding hunk of metal, twisting this and that, is really one of my favorite things.  I love the feeling I get in the pit of my stomach as I fly down a huge drop.  Normally, my life is kind of boring and I don't really do any "thrill-seeking" stuff.  Even riding my bike on the street scares me a little.  I always think that I'm going to get hit.


So, when it comes down to it, a rollercoaster is where I can pretend like I'm facing danger and overcoming it. 

Blessed to be at BYU

At this very moment, I'm sitting in the Periodicals section of the Harold B. Lee Library.  This is often the dreaded area, where you only come to sit and study for hours.  But this time, I'm looking around a little differently.  I see people with their heads bent, cramming in all the knowledge they can.  I see a few people chatting, and one person who has given up, asleep on top of all their books.  We're all different, these people and me.  Some are married, and some have served missions.  Every one of us is from a different place and has a different life story.  There is one thing though that connects us all though, and it is our religion.

BYU is truly a unique and special place.  There are tons of silly stereotypes and stigmas (such as being a freshman bride).  When you really get down to it though, we're all here to gain an education in the best way possible.  I've lived on the East Coast my entire life (and I'm not saying that I'm such a stronger and better person that you for it) where there are few members.  I remember going to girls' camp for the first, and just marveling at the fact that we were all LDS.  I couldn't believe it - so many people my own age who believed the same thing I did!  I loved having that, and I knew that's what I wanted for a college experience too.  People I know from high school have posted pictures on Facebook which show that the weekends are full of drinking and who knows what.  I'm glad I'm not a part of that whatsoever.  I love being on this campus and feeling like I belong.  Even though there are thousands upon thousands of people here that I don't know, that's okay.  They all bring something wonderful with them.

Another awesome thing about BYU are the classes.  The religion classes I've taken so far have been wonderful.  Where else could I take such in depth Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants classes?  Besides the religion classes though, most of the classes work religion in somehow, even if it's just saying a prayer to begin the class.  I've learned so much since coming here, and meet some of the most amazing people.  If I had to choose it all over again, I would still come to this school, without a doubt.

Drama? Definitely!

Now, I don't mean drama as in "oh my gosh, he totally broke up with her last week and he's dating some other girl already!" No. I don't like that type of drama.  In fact, I don't think many people do. But, I digress.

Halfway through my junior year, I decided on a whim to try out for the school musical (which happened to be High School Musical. Don't mock us too much please) and I didn't get a big part or anything, but I was in the chorus.  We spent months rehearsing, and it was during rehearsals that I started to make really good friends.  I was the new kid in school that year, and making friends in a town where no one ever moves in or out can be a little difficult.  The musical really blessed my life in that way.  It made me happier and more comfortable in our new life in Massachusetts.  Also, it was just fun!  Even though the last week leading up to it, performing the show was a BLAST! I had no idea it would be so exhilarating.

This experience lead me to try out for the fall play, beginning of my senior year.  Much to my surprise, I got one of the leads!  I had never had lines during a play before, so it was nerve wracking.  The play, "You Can't Take It With You" was so much fun to perform.  Being on stage as a different person was something still new to me, and I was enjoying every second of it.  For the school musical my senior year, we performed South Pacific.  I didn't have a huge role, but I had a few lines and a short solo, which was fine by me.  Once again, it was just a great experience for me.

I do miss performing now and then.  Being up on stage is just something very unique.  But, I've made room in my life for other things, to enjoy other opportunities.  I do know that drama was one of the best things for me during high school.  It brought me so much happiness.  Have you ever been up on stage?  If you haven't go find something to get you up there! It's a wonderful experience.

Enthusiastic EFYers!

E - F - Y!

Those three letters bring a lot of joy to my heart, along with thousands of memories.  You may ask, what is EFY?  Well, it's a program called Especially For Youth, and it's a week packed full of awesomeness!  It's a 6 day program, filled with dances, classes, games, service, laughter, and friends.  I attended four weeks of it as a youth during high school, and this summer (as mentioned in a earlier post) I worked on BYU campus as an EFY counselor.

Being a counselor was probably one of the best things I've done.  Now, don't get me wrong, it was also the dang hardest, plus the pay kinda stinks.  Waking up for 6:30 am meetings when your youth refuse to go to bed until 11:30 and when you're on your feet all day is not fun.  But, I did it.  I (mostly) refrained from yelling when I was upset when the youth were just ridiculously out of line.  I managed to wake up on time, which is a huge feat for me.  All my past and present roommates know I have issues getting up in the morning.  Some days I was really stressed, frustrated, and just plain down.  Some nights I wanted to cry because I felt like I wasn't doing my job right.  But that's okay.  There are so many other things that make the week worth it.

I loved Thursday nights during a week of EFY. Why's that? Two words: testimony meeting.  This was a time where we got to hear the youth's true feelings about the gospel, what had really stuck with them through the week, and what they want to change.  I heard so many teenage boys reaffirm their decision to go on a mission.  I heard teenage girls proclaim with a strong voice, that they, no matter what the world things, are daughters of our Heavenly Father.  Every Thursday my heart swelled with joy and the Spirit.

Thursday nights weren't the only enjoyable part by far.  Dances were fun, games night was always a blast, pizza nights were amazing, and meals were amusing.  Seeing the youth bond together and really become true friends was another amazing thing.  If any of you have the chance to be a counselor, do it, even if it's just for one week.  It's an amazing learning experience, for the youth and counselors, and such a testimony builder too.

Music Moves Me

I have loved music for a very long time.  My mom tells me about the times I would be in the bathroom, and they would hear me belting "Somewhere Out There" at the top of my lungs (don't worry, I was three).  My mom has a great part to do with that.  She is very musical, and would start us on piano very early.  I started to learn how to read music as I was learning how to read books.  I grew up learning piano, and then started learning flute in middle school.  In high school, I also started doing choir and musical theater.  Music basically is a huge part of my life, and why shouldn't it me?

In D&C 25:12, the Lord tells us that the song of the righteous is like a prayer unto Him. To me, that tells me that music should have a big part in my life.  There have been a few times where music has helped me feel the Spirit so strongly.  This summer, as an EFY counselor, I was able to attend a few of the classes taught by CES educators.  One was extremely talented at the piano.  During one of his classes, he gave all of us a few minutes to write in our journals about what we were feeling.  While we were doing so, he sat down and played an absolutely beautiful arrangement of "Be Still, My Soul". I felt so at peace because of the music he played.  It helped boost my testimony of why music can play such an amazing role in a person's life.

Music doesn't necessarily have to be spiritual for a person to enjoy it.  When I'm doing homework, I often go to my Pandora radio and listen to my Broadway station.  It helps me feel relaxed and helps me work harder.  I love going to all sorts of concerts, whether by the Utah symphony, or student recitals.  I took Music 101, and I enjoyed so much listening to all the clips of music.  I know that my love of music will stay with me always.  I hope that all of you can feel the same about the power music can bring into a room.

Finding Faith

I think this post will be a little different than my previous ones, but it's about something I truly care about.  Awhile back, I heard about Stephanie Nielson, and the tragic plane accident that she and her husband suffered from.  As a result, she was in a coma for about 3 months, and suffered burns over 80% of her body, drastically changing her appearance.  However, that doesn't stop her from leading a normal life, and she blogs about her inspirational everyday life at http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/.

Back in May, the LDS YouTube channel MormonMessages made a video about her - called My New Life.

I have watched this video many times, and it strikes me each and every time.  The gospel and the knowledge we have of our Savior Jesus Christ is one of the best things we have in this life, and we are so blessed for it.  I love this gospel from the bottom of my heart, and I know that it has shaped me to be who I am today.  It is intertwined in every aspect of my life, as it should be.  It affects my schooling, my family, the way I conduct my self, who I am marrying, and so many other things.  It is so deeply rooted within me, it truly is part of me.