Happy Easter! March 20-27

The Atonement.

The Atonement is personal, continuous, amazing, healing, enabling, constant, endearing, infinite.

Last Sunday Heidi and I took some pretty cute pictures at our ice cream linger longer. They definitely capture our relationship. Love this girl!

 

Monday FHE was Disney night. We were given a movie and had to act out something so the other teams could guess the movie. Then we pulled out Disney related words and had to act them out or draw them. It was very exciting.

We are definitely not artists...haha!

Its been an interesting week on campus. It was election week for our new Executive Student Council. Things got a little crazy and people were not the nicest. There was not the best vibe on campus.

This week, some people liked to steal my phone and take pictures.
 

Friday night I talked to the Stiles's sisters till 1:30am. I quite enjoy them.

Lets just pause and look how pretty VA is!
 

Saturday we held an Easter Egg hunt for the community. Kids are absolutely adorable! I sat and talked to the Rogers, Hiatts, and the Tuttles for almost 2 hours. I love married couples. 
 


Alayna and I went to Goodwill. We had a pile of 28 items.. don't worry. We didn't buy all of it.
 

Saturday was also the wonderful Women's Broadcast. Please go watch it if you haven't. It was beautiful and such powerful lessons and testimonies were shared.

Once I got back home, some of my girls were watching High School Musical 3. I decided I am marrying Zac Efron. I love those movies. Those were my childhood. Go Disney!


Happy Easter!


I have thought a lot about the Atonement this week. In Elder Bednar's book, The Power to Become, he talks a lot about the Atonement and how its so much more than just helping us with our sins. It helps strengthen and enable us. Everything relates back to the Atonement. 

I had a choir concert on Friday night and we sang a song in Forum for Easter.

We sang a song called This is the Christ.
It is absolutely beautiful and I tear up almost every time we have sung it.

When we were at a rehearsal for forum I watched a friend get some disappointing news right as we were singing these words:

I read his words, the words He prayed
While bearing sorrow in Gethsemane
I feel His love, the price He paid
How many drops of blood were spilled for me

I became overwhelmed. The Atonement helps us with everything. With sorrow, disappointment, heartbreak, loss, sadness, confusion, the list goes on and on. I couldn't help but tear up as we sang those words and I watched this friend feeling sadness. We are never alone. Christ is always there.

I have never really thought about Easter before. That seems so weird and foolish to admit, but its true. But, Sunday I really thought about it.


 I thought about how Christ is risen. He suffered for me. He spilled blood for my sins and sorrows. I can be strengthened everyday through his Atonement. I am not alone because of the Atonement. Christ suffered and was resurrected so that I can do the same and return to my loving Father in heaven. 
 

Oh sweet the joy this sentence gives. I know that my Redeemer lives!

March 14-19

We had some amazing weather this week.

Monday for FHE we had a marshmallow gun war. We took over the gym and split in two teams. It was a lot of fun!

I love how service oriented my school is. Everyone always stays to help clean up.

So.. I've really been missing Disneyland. All I want to do is visit London with Peter Pan, cry in World of Color, sing all the songs that are floating around the streets, and repeat all the words to the instructions of every ride. 

STOP! You are making it worse for yourself!

Also, I saw this picture!

So cute. This is my future daughter.

Tuesday I was working the caf and I made my friend Jackson get me ice cream. This was the result.

I was so full after a few bites. It was huge!

Wednesday my package from my Mom came! Thanks for all the goodies!

If you have never read The Power to Become by Elder Bednar..

DO IT NOW.

Wednesday I also worked the game room and cute Kaylee came and sat with me. We always say that we will do homework... ya. No.

Thursday I had to work the game room and it was a blessing that it was quiet because I had a paper to write. It was for my Jane Austen class and the second I got in the zone, it was done in a very short amount of time!

Friday I was having a bit of a rough day. I am learning a lot about myself this semester and some days have just been hard. I needed a break from campus, so after talking to Kadee and turning in my paper, I got in my car and drove to Roanoke.

When I am at home and have a bad day I would go to Barnes and Noble. 

One time a trip to the dentist ended with me coming home, three new books under my arm.

Friday, I would have loved to just drop everything and go to the temple. Its hard having the closest one 3.5 hours away. But I did get to go to Barnes and Noble. I went shopping and bought some clothes at H&M and then went to Panera for dinner.

 

If someone wants to buy this for me, I would not complain.

I was casually scrolling through Facebook on Saturday when I saw this glorious picture.

We had an open house Saturday and this funny and very talkative lady named Ann stayed in my room. She was very cute! I helped swipe cards at lunch and it always happens that we could have the prettiest week ever and then open house day is freezing.

After lunch I went and sat in Kadee's room. We wrote letters to a missionary, ordered pizza, and watched Pride and Prejudice. I left before the end to go to the showing of the new Star Wars.

This is Kadee. She is my favorite. I love her. That's all.

Sunday was wonderful. I love Sundays. Everyone should make sure they know that Sunday's are a delight.

I saw this quote this week and loved it.

Trials shape us. They make us better. They help us become who we are suppose to become. 

Spring Break

Monday I woke up and went to Heidi's house for breakfast! It was delicious and I love Heidi. 

The rest of the day I deep cleaned my room and packed for NYC.

NEW YORK

Tuesday we met at 5:30am and got in the vans to start a our drive to the city. Now.. no one told me that the Big Apple was only 6 hours and 45 minutes away!
Maybe that was a good thing..

The drive was hilarious. We tried to sleep but we were also crazy. I love the people here and I love how fast all of us just click. 


With stops and traffic we got into our hotel around 3:30-4ish. We got checked in and then a group of us headed to times square for pictures and dinner. We found this little bakery. It was kind of a crazy night and I think all of us were frustrated by the time we got to our first show.
 

We stopped at the Disney store and when you ride the escalators the whole thing is Tangled themed!


Confession time. I really don't like Fiddler on the Roof. When I heard we were seeing this show I looked it up on Broadway.com to see what this production was all about.

Well. IT WAS INCREDIBLE. Oh my goodness! They put a very small modern twist to the show which I thought was beautiful. The set was one of my favorite things I have every seen! They had a pit in the back of the stage that set pieces would come out of or characters would walk out of. It gave me chills! The cast was amazing. I loved the person that played Tevye and Hodel. They were just stunning. I loved the costumes and everything! We were all just blown away! I would highly recommend this!!!



The next day we woke up kind of early and ate breakfast at the hotel. We stayed at the Sleep Inn in Queens. They have the best complimentary breakfast I have ever had. 

We headed to Times Square to buy tickets for an evening performance. We ended up going to the actual theater and getting rush tickets for Something Rotten. It worked out perfect.


I saw this and became very depressed.


When we were in Times Square I was figuring out where to go, when the guy behind Kat in this picture, asked in a beautiful Australian accent if we needed help. I didn't but I obviously said yes. He's my future husband.


I would like to take a second and thank my Dad for teaching me how to use a map. I never got us a lost. I was known as the navigator. 

Buying rush tickets!


We headed towards the public library when we found one of the bakery's from Cake Boss! I bought one of their famous cannoli's.



 The Public Library. It was the prettiest library I had ever seen. 
 




 

We wandered around there for a while and then headed to Grand Central Station. We ate lunch at the Shake Shack there which was delicious as always.

 


We then headed to the Lincoln Center to watch The King and I. We were pleasantly surprised to walk out of the metro station to see the temple! It was a wonderful surprise. 




It was hard to see the matinee performance of King and I because that is a very long show and 3:30 is nap time. But I thought it was beautiful. If I could wear every dress Kelli O'Hara wears, I would be the happiest girl in the world. She is so elegant and enchanting. She was my favorite part of the whole show! I also loved the dancer who played Eliza in the whole dance story part. We met Kelli O'Hara after and she is just so lovely and generous. We saw the understudy for the King, and we talked to him after and he told us how lovely Kelli is to work with. I love that!
 






We sat outside the show for a bit and then headed into Central Park. We were spoiled rotten by the weather. It was just gorgeous!!! 

This meadow was called Sheep meadow.

 

After that we headed back to Time Square. We looked around the Broadway Bookstore for a while and then went to Something Rotten. My tickets ended up being on the front row. That was fun! 
I had flashbacks to when I saw Once via rush tickets and sat on the front row. Good times.


The Kat Gardner box

Something Rotten was absolutely hilarious! I loved sitting on the front row to admire their costumes and the detail on the set! It was incredible! We had a partial view because the stage is so high, but it was still wonderful. I thought the music was awesome and super creative! I don't think a smile left my face the whole show. I had prime view of the conductor and he was putting on his own show, mouthing every line. He was just so happy! We saw the Understudy for Brian Darcy James which I was very upset about at first... but no worries. The guy we saw was incredible. We are getting married on Saturday.

After the show we went to this pub where Kat was promising us the best mozzarella sticks ever. She made us walk 12 blocks, but she was right. They were awesome! I must remember this place.
 


The next day was the perfect Lauren day. I told some people of this bookstore I really wanted to go to, and a lot of them got really excited. So we went to The Strand. It is like a 5 story bookstore! It was beautiful. We spent a few hours there and quite enjoyed ourselves. One of the exciting surprises is that they have The Fault in our Stars bench!
 
 
 
 

After that we ate at this place that is in Europe that I've ate at before. It's called Pret A Manger. We took our food and ate on the steps of Union Square. Caleb then had to run to Barnes and Noble (I think he is worse than I am). 
 


Then we headed to the Met.

Here is my conclusion about the Met: It is completely unfair how much art is in that building.

Its super overwhelming, and crazy, and big, and its hard to get around anywhere because none of their maps make sense and how they have set up the art makes no sense. Its very frustrating.
 

Like.. what museum has a replica of a 1800s house and a french palace...?


But its art. Art is beautiful.
At one point I saw this Pissarro painting that I have always seen in text books. I looked at it and whispered, "I wonder what they are saying?" 
And then I started to cry. 
Yup.


This was one of two times tears sprung from my eyes.

We spent three hours in the Met. Im grateful I was with a group that let me wander and do my thing but also wanted to spend time there. 

The last half hour we all went a bit crazy though. I think we were so tired from walking around.

Conversation we had about this painting:

Lauren: Caleb, what do you see when you look at this painting? 
Caleb: I see a dancer.
Lauren: Kat, what do you see?
Kat (sarcastically): I see a commentary on the downfall of our society.
*Lauren stands up to go look at the description. She sits back down on the bench.
Lauren: Its a birds eye view of the artists dogs running along a river...
HAHAH!

Here is my future job. I would love to give tours!


I loved looking around at everyone taking in all the art. I loved to see which paintings people were taking such interest in and I wanted to know what about that specific work of art intrigued them and why they loved it. 


Lauren=Art Nerd

So what do you do when you have been walking all day and can't feel your feet?
Walk through Central Park.

We ended up kind of wandering a little lost and out of nowhere this lady asks if we needed directions. She was crazy and decided to lead us to the metro station.. haha!

We sat down on a bench close to the edge of the park and just kept laughing. We made Caleb find us a dinner place and off we went. We ate at this italian place called Bellini. It was amazing! We had this pizza with peaches and bacon and cheese. And Basil.Never forget the basil! It was heavenly.


 

Then we went to the cafe that is in the movie You've Got Mail. Its called Cafe Lalo. It was super cute and I got mint cheesecake and it was so picturesque. I was in heaven. I think that was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip! 
 
 
 


We rushed off to the Theatre to see our last show called She Loves Me. This is based off the same thing that You've Got Mail is.
I really enjoyed it. The set was incredible and Zachary Levi was the lead. He is a beautiful human being. The music in this show is super cute and its a wonderful and fun love story. The last ten minutes before intermission really didn't fit the feel of the rest of the show. It was super weird and made me just confused at intermission. But the second act picks up normal again. That was really my only complaint.
 


I adore New York City. It will always hold a little piece of my heart. Thank you to Mom and Dad who let me go! It was very much needed!!!!



*******

The next day we got home about 5:30pm and it was so beautiful outside. I ran into Kaylee and we sat and talked for awhile. I took a shower and then developed this craving for orange juice. So Kaylee and I went to the store and bought a very college meal: Orange Juice, Hot pockets, chips and artichoke dip. 
We then watched You've Got Mail. (Obviously).

I love this girl.



Saturday I got a few things done but just relaxed.

Sunday it was just beautiful outside. After church I went and sat on a rocking chair outside Main Hall. 


(Shout out to my sis who I love!)


I love the hustle and bustle of the city, but this tiny town where I live is everything. Its my home.