I can't believe that I am about to finish my college career! I am so excited! :] I also have some MAJOR senioritis and do not want to get anything done! But, I am only two finals, two papers, and a couple of weeks away and I can do it!
I've been reminiscing a lot about the past four years. So I thought I'd share a couple pictures of me from my four years of college.
Freshman:
Sophomore:
Junior:
Beginning of Senior Year:
{And you all know what I look like these day! A massive baby bump and all that good stuff! :]}
Now on to the real point of this whole post! Today I want to tell you all about an awesome company that can help any of you who are still in school find your books for cheap! This company is Campus Book Rentals. As you can tell from the name you can rent your textbooks. I honestly wish that I had known about this for the last four years because their company is awesome! I have rented from my school but the prices on this site are even better! Also, my main issue with renting online in the past or buying online and trying to sell your books back was always the shipping. Once you add that to the cost are you really getting a better deal? Well, with Campus Book Rentals you are because they pay for your shipping BOTH ways! You will not be paying for anything other than the cost to rent the book. Basically, if I ever go back to school I am getting my books from here. And I have already convinced my siblings that this is the way to go while searching for your books! Some of the other awesome benefits of using Campus Book Rentals are that you are able to highlight in the textbooks--in other words you can actually USE them and not have to worry about not being able to return them (of course don't completely destroy them!), they have flexible renting periods, meaning if you need them for longer or shorter than a semester the company will work with you, and possibly the best thing of all is that with every single book you rent the company donates money to Operation Smile! If you don't know what Operation Smile is then you should probably go and check their site out. Basically though, adorable children who are born with cleft lips are able to get operations to make their smiles even more beautiful than they already are!
I looked up one of my Psychology books to find out how much cheaper it would have been for me to rent it. I also checked out its cheapest price on Amazon.The cheapest one I found was a LOOSE LEAF copy for $90 that I most likely would never be able to sell back. On Campus Book Rentals {click here to see for yourself} I could rent it for anywhere from 55-130 days with the most expensive price being $50.96! {You do have the option of renting for even longer for just a little bit more money. You can CHOOSE the date you want to return your book by!} And you don't even have to think about shipping! Pretty dang awesome if you ask me!
I know that textbooks are ridiculously expensive and for all you college students out there and ESPECIALLY you newlywed college students this is a great way to save money! Check out Campus Book Rentals for all your summer classes and for any of your future college courses. I am sure you will save quite a bit in the long run!
Until then I hope you all survive the end of your semester--that's my focus for the next two and a half weeks: Survive and TRY to not ditch my last four classes! Wish me luck! :]
P.S. This was a sponsored post {this lovely company is paying me by satisfying my pregnancy cravings with a lovely fruit basket since I currently have no use for credit to their awesome site} BUT the opinions are 100% mine! I just think they are a super great company and I LOVE that they are helping Operation Smile out with EVERY textbook rented. Get your books for cheap and support a wonderful cause! Life is good!
First off I want to thank everyone for the birthday wishes on my last post! You are all so sweet! :] I had a wonderful birthday spent visiting my family with Race. It was just what I needed. Relaxing and perfect! Now it's almost a month later! Eek!
At 5pm today Spring Break will officially start! Woot! Woot! Unfortunately we aren't doing anything too exciting for Spring Break this year. We will be spending the majority of the break moving! We are just moving from one apartment to another in Flagstaff but it is still not enjoyable. I have spent the past couple of weeks packing up our house but it is still not quite finished. Luckily Race's parents are coming up to help us make the move and I won't be expected to do too much heavy lifting because of Little Goose. {Thank you Baby!} I can't wait to have a new, bigger apartment to decorate! I've been Pinteresting it up like crazy to get ideas! Our new apartment also has a washer and dryer and a dishwasher. All things we haven't had in our two apartments so far! We will be living the high life! Ooh! And we have a porch that I want to hang our hammock up on to read in on sunny spring days! I LOVE hammocks! Anyway, we're excited even though moving is killing our spring break. But, we have some other exciting things coming up/going on so read on!
It's been about three weeks since I last threw up!
I got my bangs cut! Cutting my bangs helps me from getting bored with my hair and chopping it all off. I am on a hair growing out streak right now! I haven't super chopped it since before my wedding! Just trims! I'm not sure if you all know how big of a deal that is for me but it is huge! I'm taking advantage of pregnancy hormones and trying to grow it even longer! {Anyway, thank you to my sister-in-law Jasmine for cutting my bangs--they are my favorite length right now! Also, see pictures below to see my bangs!}
February 27th was the first day I felt Little Goose move and it is the coolest thing ever! I love the little reassurance that Little Goose is inside and growing healthy and strong!
March 15th we have our ultrasound to find out Little Goose's gender! I am SO excited and I can't wait to share the news with everyone!
For my 16 week baby bump pictures I used this cute little chalkboard to write a little bit about Baby and take some pictures. It was a lot of fun!
I'll be halfway on March 14th! {I'll be taking more pictures with the chalkboard!}
I'm having a blast figuring out how to dress my little bump! I'm sure that'll change when it's bigger and none of my clothes fit. But for now here are some pictures of my baby bump outfits:
AND finally, just two more months til Race and I are college graduates!! I can't wait!
What are you up to for Spring Break if you have it this next week?! If not, what are your plans for the weekend? I hope you are all doing wonderfully and hopefully this month I'll be a better blogger! If I get around to making our apartment look good and decorating Little Goose's room I will definitely be posting pictures! I'm excited to have a room to decorate and put baby stuff in! And once we know the gender I'll be even more excited! Anyway, have a WONDERFUL weekend and I'll be back!
Race and I are officially into our last semester of our undergraduate careers! It is super exciting to be so close to being done but it is so hard to stay motivated. Just a few more months though...we can do it! I got lucky and only have two classes on campus and then two online. It makes life a bit more relaxed although still plenty busy.
We are also both working on campus and took on more hours than we had last semester but so far it's gone smoothly. I can't wait to be done in May and to figure out where we will be headed from here! We hope to be able to stay in Flagstaff for a while or at the very least until the baby comes but there is just no way of knowing what will happen. Yay for new life adventures!
Work and school are about all our lives consist of these days and that is fine with us. I'm not sure we could take on much more than that! We are excited to spend my birthday weekend in the valley with my family and hopefully do something fun. We'll see!
Before I head out for the day I thought I'd share a couple belly photos. These were taken a week ago (so at 14 weeks along). I think I'm going to start taking more legit baby bump pictures at 16 weeks along. We'll see how that goes. I want to do something cute but I haven't settled on one of the many ideas found on Pinterest. I guess you will all have to wait and see!
P.S. I'm still not super showing to anyone but me but I can tell that my stomach feels and looks a little different than it did before so I had to take a couple of pictures!
I spent the weekend at my home again. I got to go to my sister-in-law's baby shower. She had it after she had cute baby Edmond {from this post} so that the attention wouldn't be entirely on her. Smart idea, eh? I think I might have to do that as well whenever I have a baby. The weekend was wonderful although Race wasn't with me so I was missing him big time. He was at home getting lots of rest and studying and relaxing. I must admit staying home is much more relaxing than driving and hanging out with babies and helping with baby showers all weekend. I was exhausted! But it was definitely lots of fun hanging out with my adorable nephews.
I signed up for Oh, Life last week. It's this thing that emails you and you reply with a short little journal entry of the day. I LOVE it. I haven't been very good at keeping a journal but this has really helped me to write at least a little something about every day. And you can go look at all your old entries. I always check my email before I go to bed so it works perfectly for me! You should all check it out and sign up!
Anyway, that was pretty much my weekend. I'm back home now with three midterms this week. Definitely not excited for that. In fact, this morning I woke up feeling pretty sick to my stomach because of it. The only thing that calmed me down were cuddles with Race and a prayer.
Before I go I'll leave you with some pictures. And before you go you should head on over to this post and ask me some questions!! :] Then head on over to this blog and look at some fun crafty ideas, cute outfits, etc! Have a wonderful day!!
Me and the only two of my siblings who are still shorter than me! {They are the two youngest. And they are both so close to passing me up in height!}
Jude Boy. :]
Sweet baby Edmond sleeping. Look at those perfect lips!
More of baby Edmond.
{Sadly I didn't get pictures of the twins. :[ They are so stinkin' cute though and rolling around like crazy!}
These are my adorable shoes that I got from my sister-in-law a while back. They were missing buttons though so I added some. They're not my favorite buttons but they were the only two I could find with matches! Haha. And I LOVE the color of the shoes so I had to wear them!
Well, that's all for now! Don't forget to ask me some questions! Here or on the other post. :] I can't wait to answer your questions! So far I only have a couple and I'd love to answer some more! Have a wonderful week everyone!!
First things first, you all should go check out my new blog with my sisters-in-law! There's some fun stuff there and I've put an outfit post up on there with another one coming up tomorrow! So check it out and leave some lovin'! Eh?
Now for some fun stuff! :] Race and I clean a couple of schools to make some extra money. I hate it. But it is nice to spend time together catching up on each others' days as we drive to and from the schools we clean. Yesterday we got to the first school we clean and lo and behold it was SPOTLESS! We're pretty sure the kids must have had a field trip or something. It was super exciting but we were unable to head to our next school because the kids there do not go home until later. Lucky for us there is a Little Caesar's Pizza right in between the two.
We stopped and grabbed a $5 pizza and some breadsticks, opened up the back of the truck and enjoyed some pizza and good weather. It was the perfect little impromptu date and made cleaning our next school not so bad. Also, the weather here is PERFECT right now and the leaves are changing colors so even though we were in a not so pretty parking lot it was still fun to enjoy some of God's beautiful creations!
Now, do you all remember this post where I asked you all to tell me a little bit about yourselves? Well, first off, if you never did that then you totally should because I'd love to learn more all about you! Second, I thought that I would answer all of the questions that I asked you and then see if you have any more questions for me!! I would love to answer ANY and ALL questions that you have!
1. What is your blog all about? Well, I would hope that you would all know this since you read my blog. But, it's all about Race and I and our random little adventures together. I also like to do the occasional outfit post {which will probably be moving to Thrifty {Modest} Threads} and I would eventually like to put some tutorials and recipes on here. I do have one tutorial/recipe that you should all check out!
2. Where are you from? I am from Chandler, AZ and I lived in Redmond, OR until I was eight. {I just went back to visit Oregon this summer and it was WONDERFUL!}
3. What are you? {Student, wife, engineer,hairdresser, fashionista, mother, all of the above?} I am a student and a wife. I hope to someday be a mother. :)
4. What's a funny story that your family always tells about you? When I was about four I went on a roadtrip with my neighbors. On the way we stopped at a gas station and got to pick out a treat to eat. I picked some pixie sticks. I was only allowed to have one at a time but in between having one I asked if I could have one. I said, "Can I have a pissie stick please?" They thought that it was so funny that they just kept asking me what I wanted and I kept saying "Can I have a pissie stick please?!" So, I said awkward things when I was little. Haha. And it amused all of the older people around. :]
5. Anything else you want to share with {Race & Emma} readers! Anything else I want to share...hmmm. I am not really sure. I guess that I'm super sorry I have been slacking big time on the posting since October started! It has been CRAZY around here. I just need to get through midterms this next week and then I will be good. Wish me luck!!
Now, what OTHER questions do you all have for me? I would love for you all to get to know me better so ask ANYTHING!! And I will answer them all in about a week. You can either ask in the comments or you can email me at emsmilesss {at} gmail {dot} com and I will reply to you {as long as you have your email unblocked}. I can't wait to hear what you all are wondering! :] Have a wonderful rest of your weekend! {I'm spending mine with all my cute nephews again!}
I am a Psychology major {You can all laugh or get out your psychologist/psychiatrist jokes out now ;] I will probably never be a psychologist or psychiatrist but people still make jokes or weird noises whenever I say I am a Psychology major. Haha. Does anyone else get funny reactions when they say their major or their career?}.
There is a lot that I love about Psychology and also a lot that really bothers me. I am sure that every discipline is somewhat like that.
Anyway, today when reading my textbook {Human Motivation, Robert E. Franken} I read something that I really liked. It said:
"You fall in love through your actions and you can stay in love through your actions."
"Staying in love depends on making the decision that you love someone and that you are willing to invest the time and energy necessary to stay in the relationship."
"It is ultimately your decision whether you stay in love or fall out of love.
It is so sad to hear stories about people who got divorced because they "fell out of love" with each other. I love that these quotes put the decision right on Race and I. And I am so glad that we made the decision to stay in love with each other for eternity. I really like the first quote because it is a reminder to do things every day/week/month/year to stay in love. So, I think that our goal for the next year {and the rest of eternity} will be to find things that we can do for each other every day that say "I love you."
"Somewhere Over the Rainbow" is a song I used to {goofily} sing all the time {with my best friend/sister-in-law}. In fact, we sang it in front of Race the first time I met Race. Haha. Good time! Anyway, later it turned into a phrase I doodled all over my notes in school. When I doodled it all over things it would make me think of all the things I am looking forward to in the future. Things that are "over the rainbow". This phrase has come to mean so much to me and has come to encompass all of my dreams and wishes.
Here are some of the things that I am looking forward to "Somewhere Over the Rainbow":
Graduating college {oh so close!}
Having more time {okay I don't know if this one ever really happens...someday!} Raising cute babies!
Learning to SEW {totally working on this one now!}
Learning to cook healthy meals for my family {and ones that Race actually likes even though they're healthy}.
Buying a cute dog to be best friends with Race, me, and our children.
Going on vacations with Race and with our future children.
Making memories together {we are definitely already doing this}.
Being pregnant and wearing cute maternity clothes with a cute lil belly {Is this a weird one? Haha. Probably but since I haven't experienced it yet I can be excited for now}!
Going to a live temple session in Manti or Salt Lake City.
These are just some of the many wonderful things
I look forward to in our future. But for now I
will enjoy our simple, school filled lives.
Being married is a blast. There is so much
fun now and so much fun to look forward to.
What a wonderful time to be alive!
What do you all look forward to Somewhere Over the Rainbow? And what are you enjoying in your lives now?
ANOTHER "outfit-y" picture I found. Goodness. I hope these outfit posts aren't boring any of you! They're getting me all excited and making me feel stylish or something. Haha.
I wore this outfit to present my group's research project that we did for our Junior Level Writing class for my Psychology major. I also got complimented on it while there. Apparently some girls were giggling and pointing at me while my group got our awards{I didn't notice} and one of them came up to me afterwards to assure me that they were just talking about how cute I looked. I hope she was telling the truth!
Anyway, here's the breakdown:
Shirt- Anchor Blue, I believe?
Cardigan- Old Navy
Belt- Nordstrom's Rack
Skirt & Black undershirt- Forever 21
This outfit totally won me this award! {Just kidding, my group's awesome research project won the award.}
Anyway, I am glad that I actually look nice for the important things in my life {since I don't bother to look good on normal days...usually}. And I love red and yellow together {wedding colors!}. :] Also, once again don't mind my mess of a house!
Mostly school is just kicking me in the butt. But other things are too {like trying to find a job while kinda half working, and searching for books for cheap was a LOT of work}. Anyway, I really don't think it will be that bad eventually but this first week I feel like I have been running nonstop. {It didn't help that I had cramps ALL week from that obnoxious thing that has to come visit every month. Sidenote: How are you supposed to talk about periods in blogland without it sounding nasty like it is?} Anyway, I should be sleeping, reading books, studying, cleaning, packing, etc. right now but I just finished washing {with the help of Race} and folding {without the help of Race} a billion and one loads of laundry. My back is sore and I am exhausted so I am going to sit, relax, and blog instead of doing more important things.
I have some exciting news to share! First, Saturday is Race and my ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY! :] It has been the most wonderful year being married to the most wonderful person and I love that we still have eternity to go. I plan on doing a legit anniversary post when we get back. I'll do one about being married and how awesome it is and then one about our awesome mini vacation that we are doing this weekend.
The second thing that I have to share is that I will be having three awesome guest posters! This is my first time ever having other people post on my blog...other than the couple of times that Race wrote on here forever ago. Anyway, I am excited to announce that Kaycie of {Redhead} Memories will be visiting on Saturday, Autumn of Stay gold, Autumn will be visiting on Sunday, and Katie of Sparky will be visiting on Monday! I can't wait to share all of the sweet things that they wrote about love, marriage, weddings, engagements, and all things good. :] I will be back on Tuesday and ready to share all of my adventures with you! But, please give my guest posters some love and go visit their blogs because they are all awesome!
Well, I hope to get in one more post before I head off in the next 24 hours but if not come back during the weekend to learn all about some cool ladies while I enjoy Lake Powell and spending some quality {much needed} time alone with my hubby. No TVs, no phones, no computers. It will be pure bliss!
I will get to be with him for hours instead of seeing him while he's on his way to class while I'm headed home as seen in this progression of pictures:
He's cute. :] And he started walking funny right when he realized I was taking pictures. But yeah, I am really excited for this weekend!
August 29th, 2011 is the first day of my last day of school {until I decide I'm bored and want to learn again}!
Here's how my day has gone so far:
Wake up early{ish} to make Race breakfast and to pick out his outfit. :] Give him a kiss and send him on his way to his first class {Spanish, all the way across campus} Hang out around the house. Think about wearing a cute outfit. Get lazy and wear my husband's shirt. {I really was going to try and wear a cute outfit for the first day of school but let's be honest...that NEVER happens during the school year.} Head off to my two classes. Show up late to both of them because of our new bus route {it's pretty dumb}. Be really bored going over first day of class syllabus lectures. Head to the institute for some free food, to sign up for a class, and to find out that technically I should have graduated from the institute last year. Play the piano at the institute for a while. Chat with the two{ish} people I know in my classes. Head home. Catch up on reading blogs and on blogging some. And now I'm headed out the door to spend a FORTUNE on all the books and school supplies that we need. BLEH! Wish me luck! {And I'll probably update the blog again later since my day isn't quite over. :]}
Oh, also my phone has decided that it can't connect to the internet, get on my blogging app, edit pictures for me, update any of my apps, etc. So I don't know if I will be able to post pictures for a while. I guess we will see! When I do figure it out though I will post our cheesy first-day-of-school photos. {Mine are in the mirror taken by myself because Race was already gone for class and Race's are taken by me while he ate his breakfast. Haha.}
School starts on Monday and I am so not ready. I bought some supplies a few weeks ago but I haven't gotten books, I don't have paper or pens or pencils, and I can't even remember what my class schedule is. I will look it up tomorrow and figure out where all my classes are. Luckily though Race and I will be spending one week in school and then we will be heading to Lake Powell for our anniversary weekend! And all of you will be lucky to have three guest posters on my blog! They will be my first ever guest posters so GET EXCITED!! :]
Anyway, this weekend Race and I headed down to his parents' house with his sister and cousin. It's been a wonderful, relaxing weekend. We got to his parents' house around 10 PM last night and stayed up chatting and then today we headed out to Lake Patagonia. We spent the day in the sun swimming, tanning, kayaking, reading, talking, and eating. It was a nice day {just a little hot} and I loved hanging out with Race's family and relaxing. It has been the perfect way to end the summer.
On the way back to his parents' house we stopped at a restaraunt called Velvet Elvis Pizza Company and had DELICIOUS pizza. We got one called Chicken Saltimbocca which had Herbed Cheese, White Sauce, Roasted Chicken, Prosciutto di Parma, Sun-dried Tomatoes, Fresh Basil, Gorgonzola, Asiago, and Mozzarella. How amazing does that sound?! It was super delicious and we downed it super fast.
Anyway, that was our wonderful day and we will be heading home sometime tomorrow. However we will be stopping to see more family in the valley. And then we have to get everything ready for the first day of school. I will be setting out first-day-of-school outfits Sunday night and we will be taking pictures Monday morning. We will look cute. :] It is our last day of college...at least for our Bachelor's degrees. So that's exciting!
Apparently I also got sunburned. I didn't even notice it but then RaceFace pointed it out. And then he so nicely slathered me up with Aloe Vera. Good stuff. :)
That's all I wrote in my journal yesterday.
I guess I am in shock a little bit.
I know that's not all that old or anything but I am FINALLY out of my teens.
So it's kind of a big deal!
I have been twenty for about forty hours.
Gooood stuff!
I am excited for this year.
It will be good.
But, to be completely honest I am having somewhat of a hard time dealing with being twenty.
I am not really sure why it's hitting me so hard.
But here's a quote that I found the other day that really helped and is just really good.
It says, "I have learned that I really do have control to a great degree over my circumstances.
If I don't like them, I've found there are certain things I can do to change them.
If I want to move to higher ground, if I want to have more positive experiences, I must think about life in positive terms, not dwell on the negative." --M. Russell Ballard
So, I am going to write twenty things that I have been very grateful for in the past year.
1. My parents
They have been there for me a TON in my first couple of years of college.
Always ready to give me advice and support me in my decisions.
And just talk to me when that's all I need.
2. My siblings
I have so much fun when I go home and my family always makes me feel welcome again.
Also they have been very kind as to write me letters while I'm away.
3. My sister Helena
Helena talks to me through my problems and she also asks me for advice with things she is dealing with which makes me feel good. :]
4. My best friend Jasmine
Jazz and I are SUPER different but we get along really well.
Jazz has helped me learn to be crazy and just laugh through things.
And whenever I am in a bad mood she does little things to cheer me up.
She has taught me a lot and I love that she is also now my roommate and we get to have sleepovers/camp outs EVERY night cause we live in a little TINY room (called 'the cave') with two beds and sooo many clothes that we are afraid they will soon attack us or explode throughout the entire room.
5. My friend Sterling
He knows how to make me smile. And I have learned a lot from him.
We have had some gooood chats.
6. My roommates
I moved in with four girls who all knew each other from high school.
To be honest I was SCARED OUT OF MY MIND!
And the first couple of weeks I was SUPER quite but these girls made sure to invite me to things and include me in the things that they did and we soon got to know each other and let me tell you, we have a heck of a lot of fun together!
7. Institute
My second semester of college I didn't take any institute classes and it was not too great.
The last two semesters I have taken at least two classes and I love it!
Right now I am taking a class about the first half of the Book of Mormon, a class about the
Teachings of the Modern Day Prophets, and a class about the Hymns.
I love them all and I learn so much whenever I go.
It has really helped me build my testimony and come closer to the my Heavenly Father.
8. My first motorcycle ride
My friend Ben Patterson took me on my very first ride on a motorcycle and it was lots of fun and
I felt super cool! :]
I felt like everyone was looking at us riding around and thinking we were really cool and then
I realized that I don't usually think that of people when they are riding around on their motorcycles but
I still like to think that I looked cool on the back of the motorcycle!
9. Spanish
I made it into Spanish 201 after not taking Spanish for two and a half years and
I LOVE it!
I forgot how much I love the Spanish language and
I am so happy to be learning it again.
10. Utah
I went to Utah twice in the past year.
The first time was to go to General Conference with Kylie Hassell and the Tenney boys
(Preston, Edwin, and Darrell).
This is where I met one of my future roommates, Kylie!
And I got to see my grandparents while they were on their mission in Temple Square.
This was super fun because I got them ALL TO MYSELF for a little bit. :]
And the second time was with Orson, Angus, Helena, and Jasmine.
We went to Utah/Idaho on a long road trip and I learned that
I can drive more than two consecutive hours and we got to visit lots of family and take TONS of fun pictures!
11. My camera
I got a new camera on Black Friday this past year and
I was super excited about it and then we were waiting in line and
Jasmine saw that someone had put the same camera down before buying it...except for this one was RED! Which is my all time favorite color.
So I got a red camera and it has taken more pictures than
I can count in the past three months. Thank you camera for many memories. :]
12. Cute clothes/shoes
Jasmine and I have a combined wardrobe so it makes for lots and lots of cute clothes.
I love picking out outfits and then having cute shoes to match and all that fun stuff.
And I love finding cute clothes and shoes on sale. :]
I got a pair of shoes a little bit ago and they are so cute that
I just can't help looking at them lots and lots whenever I wear them.
(I'll put a picture up sometime...)
13. Interesting Classes
So I need to be better at picking my classes but
I have had some good ones in the past year.
Some of my favorites have been Psychology,
Developmental Psychology, World Religions, and Public Speaking.
I like when learning is enjoyable and these classes helped a lot with that.
Oh, and Spanish but I talked about that earlier.
14. Missionaries
I have a couple friends out on missions and they are very good examples to me in the dedication that they have.
And the faith that they have.
And of course it is fun to get letters in the mail!
15. Cute sister-in-laws--
I now have two sister-in-laws and they are cute and fun!
On my birthday I was talking to my mom and she asked me if my brother
Neal called me and I said "No, but Nikki texted me."
And then she asked if my brother E.B. called and I said
"No, but Jackie texted me." Haha. Thank goodness for brothers with sweet wives. :]
And Nikki is super skilled and makes way cute hats and she made me one and sent it to me in the mail.
It was beyond exciting to get it and it is my all time favorite hat!
16. Phones/Skype/Chatting
I am super grateful for all the different forms of communication we have these days.
I love long phone conversations and fun web chats.
I remember dreaming about seeing the person
I was talking to on the phone and now I can do that...weird (and awesome)! Haha.
17. Blogs
Blogging helps me let people know what is going on in my life
AND I love reading other people's blogs.
They are so fun and creative. :]
18. Learning about myself
I have been learning to analyze myself and define myself.
I am not quite to defining myself...it has been harder than
I thought it would be but I am learning lots about me and what I want in life.
It's gooood.
19. Changing my major
I changed my major from Elementary and Special Education to Psychology.
I am not sure if I will stick with that as my major yet but I am thinking that I want to go into either Occupational Therapy or Recreational Therapy.
So we'll see where my life heads.
20. And last but not even close to least...THE GOSPEL
I am so grateful for the gospel and all that I have learned this past year.
And that my testimony has been strengthened.
I am grateful for the love that my Heavenly Father shows me in so many different ways.
Through music, through my friends, through my family, and through my church leaders.
I am grateful for the scriptures and what
I am able to learn from them when I take the time and really read and ponder them.
I am grateful for the teachings of the modern day Prophets and Apostles and for the hymns.
I am grateful for the organizations that are set up through the church like institute and seminary.
I am grateful for the Restoration of the gospel and that we have the Priesthood on the earth again.
I have been blessed by the power of the priesthood so many times in the past year.
I am also grateful for the power of the Atonement.
There are so many things to be grateful for in the gospel.
In the Hymn With All the Power of Heart and Tongue it says,
"I'll sing thy truth and mercy, Lord;
I'll sing the wonders of thy word.
Not all thy works and names below
So much thy power and glory show."
I know that there is no way that
I am able to thank the Lord for all that he has done for me because there is so much.
But I am grateful and hope to always be able to recognize the guiding hands of the
Lord and the presence of the arms of His love in my life.
Twenty will be a good year. :]
Just like nineteen was!
I am going to make it that way with a positive attitude and a smile on my face!
"It's even enough to smile when life goes along like a song, but the [woman] who's worthwhile is the [woman] who can smile when everything goes dead wrong."
(Not to say that everything is going to go dead wrong but hey, if it does I will find a way to smile through it!)
Above is my cute little study room at Cline Library on NAU campus. The picture is a little bit deceiving because I like to sit/lie on the floor rather than sit in the chair using the desk but you get the general idea.
They have a whole row of these and so far I think I've used each one at least once and some a couple of times. These little rooms are my new favorite places. After and between classes I head over to the library to get my homework done, read my scriptures, and meditate (I'm going to write about meditating in another post). I get so much done in a waaay shorter time than I would back at the apartment when I go to a study room. You see, I get distracted really easily and when I am at the apartment and I don't want to do something I cook food, clean, watch movies, get on facebook, read a book, play a game, slide down the banister or basically anything to get out of working on my homework. And I'm sure you all know that that does not turn out too great for me in the end. So these little study rooms are my little focusers. And let me tell you, they do a dang good job. :)
Right now I think I'm locked out of my apartment so I am in my cute little study room lying on the floor and finishing up some homework and catching up on my blog. Dang good stuff!!
So today, I am grateful for study rooms. :)
Oh, and I would like to add in that Elder Skylar Pond is officially in the MTC! And he is going to be an awesome missionary. Here is a picture of Elder Pond and I just before he got set apart. (Sorry it's sideways...it's from my phone and I'm not sure how to change that. I'll figure it out eventually though.)
This is actually not a super new love.
When I was little I was OBSESSED with my dad's watch and always wanted to borrow it.
This didn't work out too great since he needed it (this was before EVERYONE had cell phones).
So one year I got a watch for my birthday but it was never quite as cool as my dad's watch.
Over the years I got over watches but they have returned to my life. :]
I have two now. A white one and a brown one and they are pretty dang awesome.
I feel really cool when I wear them.
The funny thing is that I still check the time on my phone.
The first day I had my very first watch (a cute white one) I was walking around downtown
Flagstaff with my friend and staring at my watch since it was making my wrist look so dang cool
and he asked me what time it is and as I stared at my watch I reached into my back pocket
and pulled out my phone. Skilled, huh?
Even when I do check the time on my watch I double check on my phone since I'm not super great at reading the clocks with the big hand and the little hand.
That is an art that has been lost over the years with all the fancy digital clocks.
Now that I have a couple watches though I'll have it down in no time, right?
Here are some pictures of my cute watches:
Pretty dang cool looking!
So I figured that while I was on my blog I could write a little bit about what's been going on in my life as well as blab about watches and the like.
So here goes!
I am done with two weeks of my fourth semester of college.
I just switched my major to Psychology although I am sure it will switch again before I graduate.
What I really want to go into is some kind of therapy.
Either Recreational Therapy or Occupational Therapy.
I really want to work with children who have disabilities.
If anyone has suggestions for other majors or anything I would love to hear them.
I need all the advice that I can get.
But anyway, this week barely even counted as a full week of school because...
We had MLK Day off. And then I went to school Tuesday.
Wednesday they cancelled all 8:00 and 9:10 am classes because of the snow.
And then Jasmine and I drove down to the valley with our fingers crossed that we would get snow days on Thursday and Friday.
And...those crossed fingers paid off!
So, school was canceled for TWO days!
And we are enjoying the nice-ish weather of the valley.
There has been a lot of rain but it's much warmer than the snow.
And rain in the valley is always a treat. :]
Of course along with nice valley weather I have been able to enjoy being home and having my Aunt Suzanne in town. So it's lots of good stuff.
School this semester should be pretty fun.
I got into Spanish 201 which I was SUPER excited about.
I haven't taken Spanish for about two years but I remembered just enough to place in 201 (or the third semester).
And if I do well I can pay just a little bit of money to get EIGHT credits for 101 and 102.
That was a happy way to start out the semester and so far Spanish is my favorite class.
I love the language and I have a fun teacher.
We interact and get to know the other students which is different from most of my other college classes.
It is definitely a nice change and a nice way to start my day.
I am also taking a PE class again this semester and I learned how to use all the weight machines.
I also had my teacher tell me how many reps to do and all that fun stuff so I work out FOR SURE
at least twice a week.
I am looooving feeling sore again. :]
Overall:
Life is good.
All is well.
And to end this all, a quick quote that includes my favorite word and some very good advice, "If you are waiting for tomorrow, why not do it today? Because if tomorrow never comes, you certainly will regret for the rest of your life not having spent some extra time for a smile, a conversation, a hug, a kiss, because you were too busy to give that person what ended upbeing their last wish." --Elder Claudio R.M. Costa
