Spring Break! March 13-18

I desperately needed Spring Break! I needed a break from classes and responsibilities...

But to tell you the truth. I feel like I didn't get that big of a break. But I told myself that if I was working long and hard now, I was preparing for my real break which is my trip to LONDON! 

Monday I worked a 10 hour day, 7:30am-5:30pm. It was a little crazy... but its a good thing those kids are cute.

Nap time was a highlight. Look at all their little bodies! Ah! But in reality, 

Nap Time=Homework Time.

  

Monday night involved a trip to Walmart, pouring rain, and two BV teenagers who smelled like smoke who were attempting to walk 10 miles to get to one of their girlfriend's... yeah don't ask. Haha! It was so funny!

Tuesday I had the opportunity to do a little day internship at the Marshall Museum in Lexington. I spent the morning reading letters written from 1942-1945. It was amazing!! 

 

Then we went to lunch at one of my favorite places, The Blue Sky Cafe!

And it was a little blessing because we woke up to snow and work was canceled that day as well!

 

I worked Wednesday and Thursday and then just came home and watched movies and chilled.

Wednesday I was getting snapchats from people in Harry Potter world. I was so jealous. I finally let them know the reason I wasn't meeting up with them. 

Thursday we went and saw Beauty and the Beast! AHHHHHHHH! It was amazing!!!!!! I was completely in awe! And I cried 4 times.

Friday I worked another 10 hour day at work. This time it was super long.. the kids were a little crazy. For gather time we watched a little music video of a few kids songs. Then the teacher I was working with decided to show them a Veggie Tales video...There faces of concern and confusement (yes I made that up) were hilarious!

God is truly aware of his children. Sarah and I went to the temple. There was some people from the stake going up to for baptisms and I was asked to help but I REALLY wanted to do a session. So we went up earlier so I could do the 12pm session! This is when Gods hand became so evident.

 

1) I had been thinking about texting Andrea to ask if she wanted to or was able to join me for a session. Life ended up happening and I didn't get around to it. I even mentioned it on the car ride up. I was sitting in the temple waiting for my session and there was Andrea!!! She had just finished her session but I just needed her hug! It was awesome!

 

2) I met this super nice couple from Utah who just moved here. It was good to sit and talk to them.

3) My friend Molly Farnsworth is in one of the Washington DC missions. I have been thinking a lot about her and Friday night thought, "That would be so cool if she was at the visitors center!" Even though I knew she isn't assigned to work there. I finished my session and walked over to the Visitors Center where I found some people from my school. I started talking to them and then I turned around AND THERE WAS MOLLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

We both lost it. We hugged for the longest time. It was soooo good. I think we both needed a little bit of home that day! AH!

4) I got to do a session and help in the baptistry. I loved passing towels and being in there with the wonderful men and women from my stake. I just loved it.

5) Cafe Rio.

And of course it was raining!

So it definitely was kind of a weird spring break... but the temple was AMAZING!! I am so grateful for temples and peace and the amazing people in my life! I say it often, but I think God knows I need the reminder.. He is so aware of his children! What a blessing that is!

A Seemingly Simple Week March 6-12

Um, everyone stop and look at this first picture released for the new Mary Poppins movie. AHH! If someone can find me that outfit, shoes, and bag, I would be eternally grateful.

How can it go from 71 degrees to 45 and snowing?

For my fiction class we finished a book called Remains of the Day. It was super interesting. There was this message about losing people, and wondering about the "what ifs" of life and not getting stuck in them. It was really beautiful.

I love cardinals. Their bright red color is just stunning! I love the classroom that I am in at work because there is a bird feeder that the birds just love! We have a very nice cardinal friend that likes to stop and say hi. 

 

Wednesday night our class met at the professors house to watch the movie. It has Emma Thompson in it who did a fabulous job. I think the most entertaining part of the night was when the whole class showed up to an empty house, waited 40 minutes till we finally called him, and then were instructed to show ourselves in while we waited! HAHA Got to love it.

I missed a group RA meeting to watch the movie for class. If you look in the bottom corner it says that I have 58 messages on the GroupMe. Yup. Thats what I get for missing the gifs that are sent!

Saturday, I walked up to the softball game after lunch and sat and talked about life with my friend Brandon. It was quite chilly so we didn't stay long.. but it was still good!

 

That night we decided we wanted some really yummy food, so off we went to the Palms! I had a delicious burger and tried crab dip! I was a big fan! So delicious!!

 

I called my Grandma and Grandpa D this week. I had this feeling that I should call Grandpa because he would tell me something I needed to hear. It was very good to hear his voice and grandma's! Grandpa reminded me to stay close to the gospel. We talked for a minute about how sometimes it is easiest to let those things go and he said, "That is the whole purpose of earth, is learning to overcome that". It is a challenge but that is so true! That challenge is part of our journey.

It was a busy week, (as always), but also like always, it was filled with so many small, simple, and happy and perfect moments. 

And Happy Birthday to my amazing sis! I love this girl!!

Feb 27-March 5

Sunday night was really rough. I had something I was thinking and working through and then about 11pm I had an RA emergency. Sarah and I didn't get to bed till 4am.

I knew I needed to go to Institute at 8am. I was exhausted but the second I walked in and felt the spirit in that building, tears sprung to my eyes. 

I have never missed one class in my history here at SVU. 

...But Feb 27 I didn't go to my classes. I physically couldn't think or emotionally cope with things. I was really shook up and so was everyone involved that night. The thing that gave me comfort was that Bishop Rasmussen informed me that "You came to Institute. Let that count for all your classes today." If Bishop can tell me that, than I am okay. 

Instead of going to one of my classes I sat and talked to Bishop Rasmussen for about an hour and than got a blessing. Men are called of God. I walked into Institute and he knew something was wrong so he was the one that asked me what time I could come in and talk to him. He acted immediately. He always just sits and listens and most of the time I want him to just tell me what to do! But that would take away my agency and decisions. 

God is good. He knew I needed some peace on somethings, and Tuesday I got that! I was sitting at lunch and I mumbled, "I just want to hear about EFY.." I opened my email and BAM! 

AHHHH! I am going to be an EFY counselor this summer!!!!!!!

Wednesday I opened up Facebook and a memory popped up from two years ago. Its so funny to look at the picture and the people in that picture and see how gratefully I am for everyone but also how much times have changed. I love those people in that picture. And I like seeing the growth that each one has experienced but also the growth they have brought to my life. 

God is also good because work got canceled on Wednesday!(for a giant thunderstorm that was suppose to hit...it never did) But I needed a day off so bad to try and get caught up on homework and sleep and laundry. It was such a blessing! 

It also smelled like rain and was beautiful all morning!

Last big group meeting, all the Lofts RA's won RA of the month. We convinced them to let us go out to eat for our prize. So we rented a van and drove to Lynchburg to eat at Blaze Pizza. It was soo yummy! You design your own pizza and they cook it fast and its ready to eat. So good! We also ran through Target and got ice cream cones from McDonalds before we came back home and I cracked down on homework. 

Cute things that you should ask a two year old to say:

-Ostrich

-Elephant

-New Zealand

-Gorilla

-Chimpanzee

-Brocoli

Friday I went to the SVU orchestra and band concert. They did a good job. My friend Joanna sang a gorgeous solo with the orchestra. She looked and sounded amazing!

I also made a stop at the sparkly girls concert.

Saturday I slept in and let me tell ya.. it was so wonderful! I woke up and went to lunch, then the lacrosse game, stopped at the tennis match, and then tried to work on some homework. I definitely should have been more successful in that area.

We were sitting at dinner and I randomly said, "We should all go get gelato." So thats what we did! We sat and ate gelato and discussed books. I haven't done that in so long! I was in heaven.

After gelato we went to the first SVU Mr. Congeniality. Basically it is a "beauty pagent" for guys. It was the weirdest night ever. HAHA! It was so random and all over the place! Highlights for me were Stockton coming out in a t-rex suit, the contestant that tried to get the audience to sing Man of La Mancha, the contestant whose talent was just random things including having two girls stand on stage blind folded. 

So random!

This has been our winter.

I say it often, but Sundays are so great. Church was good today and then the CES missionaries assigned to my ward, the Buckleys, invited my presidency over for dinner. It was delicious! She even made three homemade pies! But really, I haven't had food that good in a really long time.

I was able to take an almost two hour nap. It was awesome! Im exhausted after this week!

I love talking to my family. Im glad they are mine forever.

Now enjoy Will's green face.

Life keeps going. If I could sum up this week in one word it would be 'think'. I've just sat and done a lot of thinking. Thinking about me, who I want to be, what I need, what i've lost. I've just thought and thought and thought. And I think that is what we are suppose to do. But I have a serious habit of overthinking to the point where it causes me stress. And I need to talk a step back. I can analyze my life all I want. And I do think you need to figure out who you are, but you also need to stop. God is in charge. If I am doing my part and believing in me, which includes sticking to my standards and not compromising on what I like and who I am, then I will be blessed. God fulfills all of his promises to his children and gives them ten more.

So I don't know what tomorrow holds. I don't know what people around me will say or do or effect me. I don't know what I need to do fully. I don't know what capacity some thing need to change or not. But I just keep going. And I need to keep trusting. Through that trust God will help me. This is not me sitting idly. Its praying, and doing, fasting, and hoping. Its moving forward always.

So don't give up. 

Here's to hoping.

Keep going.

Whistling, Library, and Singing Feb 20-26

Monday was Presidents Day which meant no school!

..But I still had work. 

I went a few hours earlier than normal and they had me help Heidi with the older kids. Let me tell ya, life with the 5-9 year olds is COMPLETELY different than life with my 1-3 year olds. We walked over to the gym on the W&L campus and they played around. There was a little girl named Claire who was sitting by herself on the side. That was totally me in school, so I went and sat down next to her. She told me all about her life and it was the cutest :) One of my favorite quotes, "I eat at Wendy's a lot especially with my dad because he cannot cook." 

The worst part? Having to read a book that was all about a little boy that learns to whistle... it made me self conscious. No matter how much I practice I still cannot whistle. 

I think one of the cutest parts were my little children smiling and waving and calling to me from their lower playground to the upper playground I was on. Oh man. My children are cute!

I have been fighting a sickness for a few weeks now. It was pretty bad when I was in Utah and then it kind of went away, but Tuesday night it came back strong. I went with Sarah to the end of the Mens Volleyball game and then assumed my library position to study for hours. 

I have really enjoyed going to the library almost every night this semester. Except when days like Wednesday night happen. Everyone in the world was at the library! I finally escaped to one of my favorite places on campus. It was nice and quiet and warm. I finally walked home around 11pm and ran into John John so we sat and talked for a while. Again, our weather has been so nice that it wasn't cold even at 11pm.

Sometimes you don't see Sarah...and something happened that you NEED to tell her. So you blow up her phone. 

It was 74 degrees on Thursday! We were HOT. Like...complaining that it was hot. HAHA! Studying outside is one of the best things ever!

 

I got back from work and after dinner I made Sarah set up her hammock so we could night hammock for 20 minutes till my meeting. Than 20 minutes after my meeting until I had to go to a choir rehearsal. It was some of the greatest 40 minutes of my life. 

One thing that I really like to do is edit essays. Sometimes I feel like I can't edit or even form a complete thought when it comes to writing my own papers, but I like reading and helping others! Especially when its in a google doc and you can type messages to each other.

The Library is a crazy place! And this is Charles.

Some of my friends have a hammocking spot. I walked out of class and laid in the empty hammock. :) So delightful!

Also, THIS.

Friday was our choir concert. And I completely failed at taking one picture... I don't think i've ever done that before. It turned out well though! It was Dr. Carters last concert that she will conduct before she retires. It was emotional for a lot of the choir members and the audience. Hopefully we did all the music justice!

The weekend was filled with a lacrosse game, studying, hanging out. Nothing too exciting.

Sunday was absolutely crazy! It was Ward Conference. I was in the church building from 7:30am-3:30pm. I had ward conference, church, 2 stake meetings, and 8 individual meetings with girls. It was busy but I was so empowered by the strength of women all day. 

We have to make decisions in this life and sometimes, I think usually, they are hard decisions and decisions that might not be what you were expecting. But God has a plan. And goodness and righteousness bring about goodness and righteousness. So I can't see what the future holds. But what I can see and hold on to is hope. 

Its so not easy. I think trusting in the Lord is one of the greatest challenges in this life.  I want to know what is next and I want control of my situations, and that is just not how life works. We need to learn to trust and keep going. By doing that we place ourselves in God's hands and are ready for his will. But when we talk about this we cannot separate it from Agency. God knows our desires and he will never take away our choices. Thats why we do have to make decisions everyday. And sometimes you have a decision that is going to effect another person and maybe their decision is opposite of what you think your decision is. But clarity will come. We just have to keep going.