Honey, I'm Home!

Perspective

2011-03-15T16:31:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking a lot about happiness lately.

What causes it? Is there a bona fide way to guarantee that one can always be happy? I know that the natural byproduct of obedience to

Heavenly Father is happiness (Mosiah 2: 41) But there have been times that I've felt like I've

been doing everything I could, and still fell short of what I was reaching for. I'm pretty good at finding the mundane things in life to be discontented with.

I love photography, and artists of really any nature. I was thinking about what makes a picture amazing. I'm guessing a lot of the time there are a ton of imperfections in a frame. I'd be willing to bet that there are so many things that could make a picture better. So what changes an unremarkable, everyday sight into a work of art? Perspective.

This is a common sight in the summer, a field of dandelions. Not that incredible. But what if someone moved closer, decided to edit out the imperfections and just notice the beauty of the gift? Then what would you have?

A miracle.

One of the greatest gifts in life is the ability we have to choose. I get to choose who I want to be, how I will respond to stimuli around me, and what I decide to dwell on in life. I am so grateful for the beauty that is all around me and for the miracles that I see daily. I am so grateful for the millions of tender mercies that have been sent my way, and I am so sorry for the ones I chose not to see.

The "Real World"

2011-01-03T13:12:00.000-08:00

Well, 18 months serving the Lord full time sure did end a lot faster than I anticipated, and "The Real World" is a lot different than I remember it being. At the beginning, I felt just like a rock star, seeing my family, my friends people I hadn't seen in so long. All celebrating my return... yup it was great. However a homecoming only lasts so long and they all pack up, say goodbye and go live their lives and I was left in the aftermath, trying to figure out what in the world I was supposed to do with mine. Is there purpose in doing the mundane tasks that are required daily? How could this possibly be more important than a serving the Lord?!? Two months in now, attempting to be social (occasionally succeeding), figuring out what normal conversation is like, hugging boys (ahh!) and working... practicing all of these skills I've lost and yet I'm still not sure how to be an effective tool in the Lords hands.

The neat thing however, is the way that Heavenly Father continues to take care of me. I still see daily miracles, tender mercies, and through the scriptures and attending the temple I can almost hang on to the spirit that once enveloped me daily. Truly, my greatest fear, is losing that spirit, and forgetting the things that I now know. How do we keep our perspective here in the crazy world??? My admiration for the people I taught has only increased since I have come home, because sometime, somehow during that 18 months I forgot how hard "real life" is. I forgot how many distractions there are and how easy it is to stumble. Now I am just trying to live my life in such a way that those who have changed my life forever, who taught me so much, will be able to continue to trust me. That's not such a bad purpose statement I suppose. It needs tweaking, but it will do for now.

I know....right?!?

2009-03-13T08:25:00.000-07:00

So, my family came to visit me in good 'ol St. Geezy, and it was a marvelous time!! We picknicked, and karaoked, and it was pretty much amazing. So for one of the joyous activities that we participated in, I had my friend STK take our family pictures.... let me regress for one moment. Family pictures have always been somewhat of a trial for our family. There has yet to be a good one. One reason for this occurence is that my father (though we love him) DETESTS picture taking. Nobody really knows why because he's actually very photogenic. Anyway, during my youth anytime we went to go get our pictures taken somebody would inevitably end up in tears. Therefore, and henceforth I am proud to present a FEW of the FABULOUS pictures that my good friend Stook took. :) Also, here is a holler out to STK, not only did he take them for FREE but he had them edited and ready to go in less than 24 hours.... I'm not sure if i've ever mentioned it, but I really do have the best friends. I hope that all of you, everybody all of my family and cousins someday end up with the same kind of friends I've been blessed enough to have. Anyway. I had a marvelous time with my family....everybody tells me they are cute and fabulous. My oh-so humble response to those sorts of statements is: "I know...RIGHT?!?" mwah! love to all!

2009-02-03T06:54:00.001-08:00

I haven't blogged in a really long time, so I thought I would just give a quick update about what is going on in my life. I am just running around like a chicken with my head cut off. :) I am working on filling out my mission papers. I am hoping to have them completed during Presidents Day weekend. I am working with my bishop here and the one from home so that I can leave from my home ward.

Everything else in my life is pretty much just chaotic and busy. But that's not always a bad thing-is it? ;) I got a little behind in school because I contracted pink eye and I wasn't allowed to go out into public, but I got that taken care of and now I'm just getting my feet underneath me. I'm taking a bunch of classes and I'm still doing student government. woot woot! :) I am on my friend Dewey's campaign to help get him elected as student body president for next year.

I am completely freaking out about this year ending to be completely honest with you. St. George has become home and I am very VERY comfortable here. I have a niche, friends, a home, and I've created a family here. I know my way around and I know pretty much everybody ;) Although I feel like I've accomplished (or will have accomplished) everything Dixie holds for me, I am incredibly reluctant to leave. I love it here, I love the college, my friends, my ward, the weather, the community.... I love all of it. I am very blessed that this was my first college experience. Very blessed.

Anywho... that's an update on me. I love you all very very much! TTFN! Ta Ta For Now!

2008-12-17T21:54:00.000-08:00

So for my Visual Technology 2500 final I had to draw myself, we only had a couple days to work on it, and this is the end result. I'm kind of proud of it, so i thought i would post it for you to see... there are obviously alot of things that I would have done differently if there was more time, but i ran into computer problems and blah blah blah... anywho. this was the final result...whaddaya think?

Peculiar People...

2008-11-18T08:41:00.000-08:00

So last week I went to NACA West (National Association of Campus Activities) that was being held in Ontario, California. All of the western colleges send delegates and all sorts of entertainers come and perform in the hopes that you will book them to come play at your college. I had never really left the "bubble" before, you know? By the bubble I mean everything Mormon. :) I have been to CA before, but with people who are LDS. Everywhere I've been, I've been surrounded by people of my own faith. Last weekend, however, I was a DEFINITE minority. I am WAAAY more innoncent than I ever perceived myself as being. It was definitely a good experience...although I'm not going to lie, I'm happy to be back in the bubble. It was hilarious because comedians would get on stage, and crack a few jokes about the schools from Utah... "If you are from Utah, you're going to want to cover your ears..." "...(something super crude)..."oops, sorry Utah" the funny thing was... it's TRUE! I did want to cover my ears, because they were practically bleeding... but we just left instead. It was nice though because a lot of the Utah colleges left with me. SLCC would get up and leave too. BYU doesn't even attend anymore because it's so crude, and honestly I have no desire to return. There were a lot of super cute, super nice boys there... but when they found out I don't drink they were less than impressed. Everybody there voted Obama...and were extremely upset about Prop 8. I'd heard that Mormons were a peculiar people...but I've never left them for long enough to find out if that statement was in fact, real. Hey everybody! We are super wierd! ....and can I just say, I'm so happy and blessed to have lived (and be living) such a life to be considered peculiar. We must be doing something right! :)

Halloween 411

2008-11-09T22:26:00.000-08:00

So this year for Halloween we threw a pretty rocking party, but since I had to go to a school dance on halloween, our party was actually the monday before. We had homeade orange rolls, 7 layer dip, homeade root beer, and caramel apples... and a TON of people.
This picture is when my friends Dan (in the black) and Jeff (in the orange) both tried to swing dance with me simultaneously. lol.
This is a cute little picture. This was at the tail end of the party... right before the cops came and told us to quiet down, I think. We have Dan, Hans (who is sort of creepy but is always inviting himself to my house) Gish (in the blue) Me, Kelli, Jenny, Kort, Jeff, and Rachel.

My roomates thought it would be way cute to go as barbie's... so I decided to be the 80's barbie... you know, to spruce things up a bit. The very best part of my entire costume, is that i didn't have to buy ANY of it. My roommate Rachel (in the pink) had pretty much everything i needed. lol!

The Danger of Sassy Shoes

2008-11-09T21:58:00.000-08:00

So, I was just heading out the fireside this evening, looking pretty hot, if I do say so myself. I had on a black knee lenghth skirt, a fuzzy white sweater, my pearls, and the crowning glory, these sassy black high heeled shoes. Well, I got out of the car successfully and was striding confidently into the institute when all of a sudden I felt something out of the ordinary, something that made me lurch and........ well, folks... it's true my sassy shoe got seriously stuck in the crack in the sidewalk, and down, down, down I fell. it was rather embarrassing. It could have been worse though, cuz i was early, and so very few individuals saw my disconcerting downfall. (and yes, it's true. i was totally early!) And that, my friends is the danger of sassy shoes.

Adventures in provo!

2008-10-29T12:27:00.000-07:00

So Friday afternoon I headed down to the land of marriage. I got a ride with my friend Jentry, which was super fabulous because we split gas money, AND she likes country music too, so that was pretty much amazing. I got to provo where I was staying with my way good high school friend Kelsey. She made me amazing twice baked potatoes, and my amazing Thomas Jensen made me foccacia (sp?) bread... which was AMAZING (see above). It was a cute little Grace reunion, there was me, and Thomas, and Michael, and Kelsey, so that was super fun. Afterwards we went to and amazing presentation of final projects for the Theater, Music and Arts program (or something like that) and it was AWESOME i would LOVE to get into that program. They were super good. THEN the next day i got to hang out with mom, dad and my ashleigh at the byu football game... which we won! woot woot! I loved seeing mom, I haven't seen her in a loooong time (middle pic). Dad was there, but I didn't have a pic of him. Jim Dear has one, I'll get it from him when I go home later. So that night we went to the Bell Tower on campus, the lights there were so hot we made amazing s'mores on them. (have you ever made s'mores with snickers? it's a really good idea. they are YUMMY) So then I went to church with Mike and Kelsey and ran into an old friend from here so that was really fun. And... yeah it was a pretty splendiferous weekend. It was super amazing to see my family. I got to hang out with old friends, and made a couple new ones, too. it was splendiferous! love you all!!

Hey! I'm a blogger! yay me!

2008-10-21T15:56:00.000-07:00

Hey Hey Hey! Well hello all of my fabulous friends... I thought I would join the world of bloggers.... so here you go! ;) Things are really good for me, I have two more midterms today and then I'm done. Thank goodness for that. Midterms and homecoming week were way too close together and I think that I am going to write up some sort of formal complaint! However the fateful homecoming week is over and the verdict is in... it was a success! Jonathon Morrell, who has been at Dixie for something like 15 years says that it was the biggest success he's seen since he's been here. YAY! and to top it all off with a cherry, there were about 3 times as many people at my homecoming dance than there has been in YEARS. (also the decorations rocked!) therefore and henceforth, homecoming was fabulous. Now I just have to get caught up in all of my classes... :D hehehe. (sheepish grin) I feel slightly burnt out, but i think that is normal. Also... my loving roommate shared her cold with me... so thoughtful! She's so nice like that. lol. My new ward is super fun, and I love my new bishop. Now if everybody would just pray that I can find a job flexible enough to fit my schedule. That would be amazing. Lots of Love ~Forever and Ever!!
Me.