Possibilities

"All it takes is faith, trust, and a little pixie dust."

Life is so strange.

Does anyone really understand it?

Is there some secret?

College. It is the most fun ever! But also the scariest. People keep asking us what we want to do and where we want to be in five years. Trust me, college students don't know where they want to be tomorrow. 

Remember how I've said that I care so much for other people that I forget myself? That has happened. For the first time in my life I have no idea what I want or what I am doing. And it is scary.

So Kadee made me think or all the things I could do. The biggest most exciting thing I could do this summer and made me look it up and plan it.

(Pictures Kadee took as I was planning my life.)

Possibilites.

"No matter our circumstances, no matter our challenges or trials, there is something in each day to embrace and cherish. There is something in each day that can bring gratitude and joy if only we will see and appreciate it"

-Dieter F. Uchtdorf

This week, I've recognized a lot of tender mercies.

-Sunsets

-Random gifs sent on GroupMe

-Adult coloring books. They are amazing. I now have two.

We sat and colored for almost two hours.

-Being an RA. I have some of the most amazing spiritual and testimony building conversations with them. I sometimes think they help me more than I could ever help them!

-My sister ladies and gentleman

-Having my own room this semester

-FaceTiming miss Emma Atwood who I miss dearly

-Mozzarella sticks. 

All I wanted Thursday was a Mozzarella stick. I walked into dinner and they were sitting right there. I was ecstatic and everyone at my table thought I was crazy.

-My dad's stupid puns and jokes that never fail to make me smile

-RA meetings

-The train whistle that I get to hear everyday that makes me smile

-The Book of Mormon. We had a big section in Alma we needed to read for Institute, so they brought in Pizza and you could come in and listen. I stayed for an hour and it was so peaceful.

-My Mom!

-I took someones shift Saturday morning in the dinning hall. John John came in and made me pancakes. It was the best!

I ate them too fast to get a picture.

-RA's that make me laugh constantly!!

We had Al Fox Carraway as our Forum Speaker. She is incredible! She talked about choosing to be happy and how the gospel helps us find that true happiness. 

"Hard times will consistently be there, but so will Christ".
-Al Fox Carraway

Other random moments from this week.

Is your school this cool?

Star Wars meets SVU

We had an open mic night.

We had our Honor Ball.

There was an open house. This is the first one that I haven't been a student guide since I have been a student here.

I took so many people's shifts in the dinning hall this week. I think I worked 11 hours. Our normal is 5.

I am almost done with Sense and Sensibility.

I am a geek and when i'm bored I look up art history quiz's to see how much I remember.

*********

I found a perfect quote this week. Well, I actually found a lot of them.

Another great quote:

"If we look at ourselves only through mortal eyes, we may not see ourselves as good enough. but our Heavenly Father sees us as who we truly are and who we can become. He sees us as His sons and daughters, as beings of eternal light with everlasting potential and with a divine destiny". 

-Dieter F. Uchtdorf

These two quotes have been on my mind this week. I want to work to become the person that I can become and sometimes I am not quite sure where to start. But in that same talk that the second quote comes from it talks about how we start right where we are.

I had a great weekend!

Sunday was super spiritual and full of meetings! But it was a great day!

I had a thought during one of the meetings about how grateful I was to be a member of this church and how much my testimony has grown since last semester! 

I think possibilities could be synonymous with blessings in some ways. Which means that you have to be doing everything you can to be ready for them to come.
 I am excited for the next few months and what possibilities are headed my way.

Be a Snowflake

"We cannot know for certain that every snowflake is unique, simply because we cannot observe them all. But we can address the probability of finding two identical ice crystals, which is vanishingly small. The bigger the crystals get, the greater the freedom for different growth paths, and the lower the probability of finding identical crystals even at the macroscopic visual level."

-http://news.psu.edu/story/141325/2009/02/18/research/probing-question-each-snowflake-really-unique

Be a SnowFlake

Monday I went on a DC Adventure! We left at 7am and drove to the temple. We walked around the grounds and then drove to a music store where John John got to play an electric base and we just admired all the beautiful guitars. 

We both love cathedrals and at the begining of the semester John John told me we had to go to the National Cathedral. So we did. We walked in and saw that you had to pay, but John John had never actually been in a cathedral, so I said we had to go in. I was being a true Lambert. We probably spent like two hours wandering around. It was so beautiful and we had such a great time!

We ate lunch at Chipotle and then went to the Thomas Jefferson memorial. They have a little exhibit underneath all about his life. There is a timeline that covers one wall and I took it upon myself to find ever mention of Alexander Hamilton and sing lines from the musical. It was freezing! And we ran back to the car and just started laughing because we couldn't feel our faces.

I learned a lot this week.

And every lesson goes with that quote that I put at the beginning of this post.

"We cannot observe them all"

Although I love sitting on a Friday night coloring, I really enjoy people. People are fascinating. How we think and feel amazes me. I don't fully understand it but I figured out that it comes down to one thing.

Our hearts.

Our brains help us think and send signals to our body that helps us move and think.

But our hearts are what make us.

The brain is the lock, with its cogs and wheels. And the heart is the key.

I love observing people, and I would say that I can understand people pretty well by watching them. But just like we can't see every snowflake and really understand them all, we can't observe everyone. I can't pretend to understand the actions of everyone or how everyone feels and thinks. And frankly, especially when it comes to good friends, I want to really understand. But I have to learn to let that go. 

This week we had to prepare for Stormageddon, or Storm Jonas. The school made us all move our cars into the two gravel lots.

Meanwhile, I prepared by working the game room and watching Music and Lyrics.


"The bigger the crystals get, the greater the freedom for different growth paths"

"Trials come from God"- Kadee Avila

Trials make us grow. One trial builds us up, another one continues to strengthen it, and so on. Just like the snowflakes, the bigger we allow ourselves to grow, the greater we are able to fully go in the direction Heavenly Father needs us to go in.

It goes back to a lesson Jared taught me last year.
"Patience brings joy."

As we go through trials and endure them through patience and faith, we are proving to Heavenly Father that we are submitting to him and putting all of our trust in his will.

That is what allows us to have blessings be sent our way and "different growth paths", or opportunities come.

We can't rely on someone else to fix our trial. We can't think that someone else will get us to the destination we want. 

You have to rely on the Lord.
Its up to you.
Not someone else. 

Alma 37:36 
Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support;
yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord,
and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord;
yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord;
yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.

Storm Jonas did hit! And classes were canceled Friday.



It started around 8 or 9 in the morning and never really stopped.

I spent the majority of the day cuddled in my room doing laundry, homework, and deciding to re-watch all of Downton Abbey. I really do have a fuzzy sock addiction. All donations welcome. Our school still had a movie night and they showed Goosebumps. I thought it was quite funny!


Saturday I had to clean my room and do homework but I kept getting so distracted by watching the blizzard outside my window. It was beautiful.



This week was not the easiest. 

But I am strong.

I have a lot to learn and grow so I can be ready for blessings to come. I need to make sure that everything I do is with the Lord. No one is alone. I am not alone. Heavenly Father is aware of all my wants, wishes, and desires.

"If one focuses only on the beautiful eastern sky that they know so well they will never realize all the other beautiful sceneries in the other directions God has given them." 
-The Infinite Atonement

Trials are from God. What a blessing it is that if we rely on him through the trials he has given us. He knows how to get through them better than anyone!

I cannot forget to open my eyes not only to the trials, but to all the blessings in the many different "beautiful sceneries" God has sent me.

The Value of Time Alone

This week I found myself alone a lot.

This is quite unusual compared to last semester. 

I now have a huge room all to myself so I end up doing homework in the Lofts more and with a new schedule you sometimes don't see the people that distract you as often.

My first week went really well! I have so much homework it's insane. After the first day I thought, "So this is what College is actually like."

I am excited to dive into the symbolism of Dante, read the beautiful stories of Jane Austen, bang my head into the wall because of Macroeconomics, be creative in Intro to Business, yell at my computer as I keep attempting to learn Spanish, and sing my heart out in Choir.

So.... yes. I have a lot of work this semester. 

But don't worry, I still managed to have some fun this week. 

We discovered that my window it magical. I yell out what I want and it happens. I wanted a response back to a text so I said it out the window and BAM! It came! After this happened a few times I spent a good hour yelling for someone to throw rocks at my window. 
Alright. It was probably ten minutes and no knight in shinning armor came. But Kaylee and I sure had a laugh!

John John and I watched the movie Max. I was grateful for the homework break! The movie was not my favorite but I still thought it was cute.

We had our first snow flurries on Tuesday. It was crazy for about 30 seconds. 
But Sunday we did receive some snow that stuck for an hour.

I HAVE THE BEST JOKE!

What do you call a bagel that flies???

A Plain bagel. 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Thank you Brady Tuttle.

You can just say, "Plain Bagel" to me and I bust up laughing.

Friday there was an institute activity. We played some fun games and I kept getting teased for not being able to whistle. We also shared our best dance moves.

I spent my Friday night Coloring by myself. I quite enjoy coloring! And if I may say so myself, I think that it looks quite good.

Saturday was the day I spent pretty much all day in my room. I caught up on Downton, watched Once Upon a Time, colored, read Dante, read my business book, unloaded my things from Walmart, and kept watching Anne of Green Gables. Yes. I should have done more homework.

I do think there is value in spending time alone though. I offered to drive to Richmond with a friend but they said "I think I'll go by myself. I need me time."

I thought that sounded good. I decided to embrace that myself!

I have never been one to have a lot of friends. I know a whole lot of people and would consider a lot of them my friends. 

But I am someone who likes to have a few CLOSE friends. Best friends. All I need are one or two people that I can tell anything.  Just a few that know me inside and out. 

President Wilcox always says, "Relationships are what make the world go round." 

I am happy to say that I have those close and best friends. I am sure grateful for them and everything they have done for me. Sometimes this can be a problem though. I want to spend all day with them. 

So when I was alone on Saturday I desperately wanted to be with my friend. But ya know what? I actually quite enjoyed my day. 

I think the value in time alone comes in reconnecting with yourself. I always hear that it is important to take time to mediate and be alone everyday. We can get very caught up in everyone else's life, and classes, and work, and family, and responsibilities, and dogs, and cats, and so on and so on.

So stop.

How are you doing? 

What things do you like?

What are things you want to improve on?

How are those 2016 goals looking?

I would like to say that I was super inspired with my time by myself on Saturday... But I kind of just turned my brain off and watched the computer. But, with as busy as we get, I see the value in that too.

The spirit speaks to us in many ways. I get a lot of answers through other people, but I also think clearly when I am by myself. 

Relationships do make the world go round. Especially your relationship with Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. In the Second Lesson from the Howard W. Hunter book, some beautiful pictures are shared. 

This first one describes how Christ rescues us. When we struggle and feel like we are drowning (which can seem like everyday), Christ's hand is "stretched out still".


The next picture describes the relationship I want with Christ. I want to always be humble enough to come unto him. 

I love this gospel and the peace it brings. I can't describe my love for the Book of Mormon and how powerful even a verse a day can be. I love my friends and everything they have done for me. 

I value the moments I can be alone. Even if I am doing absolutely nothing. 

I am excited for the week ahead and I hope you are too!

Life is like Ice Skating

I made it home!

Thank you to the Garfields for picking me up, fun games, yummy food, and a place to sleep!

I had lots of thoughts driving home from the Garfields house.

-Im so excited to be back in Virginia!

-Where is the 75 degree weather from when I left?

-I am so excited to see all of my friends!

-Hamilton rocks!

-How am I going to move my room around?

-AHHH! I am so excited to see people

Overall... I think I was pretty excited.

I got back to school and started to unpack for a few hours and then got back in the car to go to Roanoke to pick up John John. It was so good to see him and we went to Cook Out for dinner! Got to love Cook out :) 

We went to the both the basketball games and it was fun to see a lot of people. Then I went back to Roanoke to pick up Kadee. The next day I also went to Roanoke. I really know how to get to the airport now.

I don't think you can read this.. But it says 'My mom loves John-John more than me." He wrote that on my car. 

There has been a lot of hanging out, eating food, sitting and talking, buying books, organizing, unpacking and laughing.

Friday one of the Orientation activities was Ice Skating.

Ice Skating is hard. I clung to the wall the whole time unless Genny pulled me. I apparently have no balance.

Life is like Ice Skating.

Its hard. It takes balance. And the people surrounding you make all the difference!!

I have thought a lot about how we are creatures of habit. 

We do things in a set way, but not only are our habits restricted to our nightly routine and the way we study. It also goes for how we think.

Our minds are crazy powerful.  

We convince ourself of so many things that aren't true. And that is just a tool that Satan has! We have to learn how to combat that.

That is not easy. But its something we can work on everyday by praying, reading our scriptures, following Gods will and surrounding ourselves with wonderful people!


Some amazing scriptures I found about following God's will are 2 Nephi 10:24 and Hebrews 10:36.

Thoughts of a Traveler

The airport.

Airports are one of those places that always fascinate me.

There are thousands of people at almost every airport in the world, scurrying from gate to gate catching flights, missing connections, trying to get to new places or return to old ones. I look around and realize how many people there are in the world, and how few I actually know.

You have the guy working on his computer over at the front of the gate. The teenager sprawled on the floor asleep to the world. There is the energetic mid-twenties girl already on her third cup of coffee before 9AM. You have the couple about to leave on their honeymoon. The mother chasing her two year old down the hallways as she tries to make a break for it because this is the biggest place she's ever seen and all she wants to do is explore. 

I've always thought that you really need to stop and look at the people that are in your life. Think of the billions of people that have come before us, the billions that will come after us, and the millions that are on this earth right now. Everyone that is in your life is suppose to be there. 

So maybe all these people at the airport are suppose to teach me something!

All right... I don't think that is necessarily the truth. But I do think observing those around us really does teach you something. 

In theatre they say that observing others is one of the key things to do when preparing for a role. You look at the character and think of times you have encountered or watched someone similar to that character you will be playing. It makes it more believable. You have to learn to understand people and one of the best ways to do that is to observe them. 

Everyone has their own way of doing everything. The way they hold their phones, read their books, sit on the uncomfortable black airport seats that have no arm rests (really? Who thought that was a good idea?). 

So I guess as I sit here waiting for my first flight, I think about people. How amazing they are. How we are living, breathing, thinking beings. 

Even though we can't meet every person that is at the airport let alone the planet, we should work on being aware of those we do know. Observing them and being aware of them are completely two different things. 

Observing someone implies just watching. No conversation is really necessary. 

To be aware of someone means that you know them. You are able to help when they need it and are ready to do so. 

One of the lessons I learned last semester was that the only way to be truly aware of someone is through the spirit. That is something that I still find very very true. Heavenly Father has allowed me to be over some amazing girls as an RA. I want to serve them to the best of my ability and that comes through being aware of them. I love the quote below.

Im sitting here in Denver now and I had this epiphany. A lady sitting across from me is in a wheel chair and can't reach down very well. Her cane fell off her lap and I could see her start to reach down. I thought, "I need to grab that." The guy to the left of me and the lady to the right of me both got up and grabbed it. 

Why didn't I?

The thought was good, but thats all it was. A thought. 

If I just "think" of my girls not much can happen. If we just "think" of those around us that we can help, it won't do much good. We all have a responsibility to serve. Service is an action. Service is key. Reaching out and just genuinely being a good person is a service. 

There is another goal I want to add to my 2016 list. It is not enough to just think of something good to do. Start seeing others through Heavenly Father's eyes (and this will take prayer and help from him) and I believe the world will grow a whole lot brighter. 

See??? I did learn something from the people in the airport! 

My 2016

Highlights of my 2015
-Finished my Freshman year of College
-My best friend flew to Virginia for my birthday and to drive home with me
-Sent my best friend on a mission
-Went to Disney World and a Cruise
-Parasailed
-Swam with Dolphins
-Read all of Harry Potter in a summer
-Saw Laura Osnes perform twice
-Saw Newsies with amazing friends
-Became an RA
-Made some new wonderful friends at SVU
-Spent a day in Roanoke with one of my best friends
-Had a very relaxing Christmas break (complete with a Tardis bluetooth speaker)

Now, stop everything and watch this wonderful 3 minute and 8 second video! 

Every year I think we all look back and say, "That was the hardest year yet!" "That was the most fun I've had in one year." "I sure learned a lot last year." Etc....

I don't doubt that this is the truth. Every year the world grows more difficult to live in. New and harder challenges come our way. We meet new people, experience different job opportunities, have many different trials; no wonder each year is the toughest, most fun, and biggest learning experience. I for one am quite grateful for this. Wouldn't life be so boring if it was the same monotonous thing over and over again?

My 2016 is kicking off with my second semester as a Sophomore at good ol' SVU. I am more than thrilled with this start to my year! But I do know that this will also be a challenging semester. I have much harder classes than ever before. I have more responsibilities as an RA (which I wouldn't exchange in the entire world!). I have a calling that I want to be better at. I have friendships that are so important to keep strengthening.

I want this to be an amazing semester. 

So....
I got thinking.

Every New Year people around the world set goals. I have always loved the idea of goal setting, but never seem to follow through on very many of them. This semester, if I am going to be focused and get the most out of all my opportunities, I am going to have to set and stick to some 2016 goals. Goals for fun, religious goals, friendship goals, just to name a few.

One thing is for sure, I can't set very many goals or I will get very frustrated and confused! 

Now... I am not going to share my new goals with you. They are my secrets and I don't feel like sharing them is the important thing. 
What's important is that I have set them. Have you? I think asking the question that Larry R. Lawrence talked about in the October 2015 conference, "What Lack I Yet?", is the perfect place to start when setting goals for the new year. 

Now back to the video at the top. Some of my favorite lines for the video above are, "You can't go back. So you might as well live foreword in the best way you can." And "Everyday is the beginning of a new year, and its the first day, literally the first day of the rest of your life."

Now, it could be the English major inside of me, but I love the analogy of writing our own lives. Life is our very own personal story. My own adventure story, love story, travel journal, fantasy, and isn't that the best? We would't every book to have the same story over and over again, so why would we want to live the same story? 

I am grateful for everyone that has been apart of my story so far. My life would be a sad novel without all these wonderful characters. It would be like Old Man and the Sea-part two. 
(It's still a great book and many valuable lessons can be taken from it!)

Now a friend of mine shared a quote with me on in the first hour of the New Years. Dieter F. Uchtodorf said, "In His plan there are no true endings, only everlasting beginnings." They pointed out that we get new beginnings not just every year, but every Sunday. Goals and new beginnings don't just come once a year. 

So if one of your goals is a complete fail by week two, don't give up. Continue to adapt and change and make new goals. The most important thing is that you are accessing the potential that you have inside of you to become the person you are suppose to become.

So here's to another year, another chapter, another page.

And personalizing one of my favorite quotes from Dieter F Uchtdorf:
"I am a princess, destined to become a queen.My own wondrous story has already begun. My "once upon a time" is now."