Starting Again! Jan 3-Jan7

I left super early on January 3rd and it was crazy! I was delayed because of the snow and ice and I ran to my connecting flight in Denver, arriving just in time. Needless to say I was very happy to arrive back in Virginia. 

I hung out with Raquel for a bit before heading back to the airport to pick up my friend Stockton. It was nice having someone in the car to drive home with and keep me awake!

I hadn't ate basically all day, so I went on an adventure to Cook-out. I was absolutely exhausted but I had a new resident text me saying she was arriving at 2am... So I had to do something to stay awake. We ended up renting Me Before You and watched that in the art hallway till she arrived. 

Life jumped right back in with work on Wednesday. I really did miss their cute little faces and laughs. They are some of my favorite little human beings ever! Its amazing to see how much they grew up in a few short weeks.

Classes started on Thursday the 5th which was a little crazy. Half the school wasn't back yet, and everyone was thrown off by the middle of the week start. But I think I am really going to like my classes!!

I have Institute, Choir, Museum Studies (This is the best!), Organization and Leadership, Pilates, British Literature, and Genre Studies: Fiction.

So along with classes starting Thursday, I got called in to meet with my Bishop. 

I am now the Buena Vista YSA 4th ward Relief Society President.

I had a feeling this was coming! I am excited and nervous and anxious to get everything in place and moving along. But I have such a love for the women in the ward and am excited to work with all of them!

And just to keep a theme going... 3 out of 4 of us in the presidency are named Lauren. :) 

Friday Anna, Alex and I played Bananagrams. We were throwing it back to Freshman year. It was great!

Saturday we got some snow! It was such a relaxing day. I slept in, did some homework, watched a tv show.. It was so nice!

 

Saturday night I was reading in 1 Nephi. In 1 Nephi 3:5 it says, 

"And now, behold thy brothers murmur, saying it is a hard thing which I have required of them; but behold I have not required it of them, but it is a commandment of the Lord."

The Lord often requires hard things from us. That is how we grow and change and progress towards our eternal home. But because he requires hard things, he also has provided the way for us to accomplish those hard things if we just have faith! 

Lessons from Junior Year

After every semester I have always posted a sum up of things I learn. That list is for me to remember and see the growth that I have made each year. I don't know why this semesters post is so hard for me to write.

I feel like I did a lot of coasting last semester. I went to class, I went to work, I ate, I did homework, I slept. 

That was it.

But through those consistent and seemingly simple days, I did learn some things.

******

When it came to classes this semester I really felt like I was learning nothing. I felt like I was going through a redundant cycle of sitting in class but learning nothing. I struggled retaining information and forming opinions for myself. So a lesson I learned

Its important to think.

I am going to work harder at really thinking in class. Its not enough to go to school just for the sake of going to school. Pray for help to fully grasp what you are learning and don't just do the assignments, but really look at how it effects you and what you are learning.

*****

When it comes to work I learned a million things! But one of the biggest lessons was that

God works through Children.

Those kids are so amazing. They can be absolutely nuts and crazy and hard, but they are so amazing. I have thought a lot about how in the scriptures it tells us to become like little Children. They are so kind, quick to forgive, funny, welcoming. They are amazing.

And even when we tell them three (or twenty) times to stop doing something that isn't safe for them or those around them and they won't listen, there is a lesson there too. My co teacher Anna always looks at the child that is throwing a fit and turns to me to say, "how many times do I do that with the Lord?" That has made me think a lot this semester. How many times do we know we are being stubborn and that there is a better way, but we keep fighting it? 

******

The Middle of October will always bring a melt down.

I don't know what it is. But about the same week every year I have some crying break down to someone! Its always this point where people and classes and homework and callings and everything just goes BAM! 

....and I just lose it.

But guess what? Those moments are very healthy.

******

Life is always unexpected.

No matter what you think, life is always going to throw you a curve ball. 

******

Marriage is essential. 

I was in the Eternal Families Institute course and when you pair that with working with children five days a week, it taught me the real value of two people raising a family. A husband and a wife who are teamed up in the same goals, working together, helping out where the other needs it. Its essential. And so important to Heavenly Father's plan.

******

Trials are there to benefit us.

I didn't truly realize this one till I was home. My mom asked all of us to say our highlight from 2016. I sat there and just said, "My 2016 was awful." But if it weren't for all of those trials that taught me valuable and hard lessons, I would not have gone through the temple when I did. 

And let me tell you. I NEEDED the Temple. What a blessing! I needed it so bad. And if it weren't for a lot of the pain and experiences I had, I probably wouldn't have gone through when I did.

Trials bring blessings.

A Quick Dec 12-17

Finals Week is always such an interesting week. You have all these test that are usually 30-40% of your grade, yet you have lost almost all motivation to do anything. 

This was my hardest finals week BY FAR!

They all turned out pretty good though.

Here are a few moments from that week:

Institute provides breakfast all week. Its a nice break from the caf and so much fun! They have christmas music and hot chocolate and the Institute couples are my favorite. 

A Bird.

Shannon! I love this girl!

I love this quote that my friend posted

Messages from Kaylee :) I use to do this when I was her RA. I went looking for her one day and couldn't find her so I wrote her a giant message and this was her reply.

This is exactly how I feel!

A picture after one of my study sessions. This consisted of studying for 3 minutes, getting a knock on my door. Study for 5 minutes, go check a resident out of their room. On repeat for hours. Not very effective studying...

Look how cute and creative this little christmas gift was!

I went on an adventure to Walmart where we made a list in the car of random things we had to find. One of those things was "Find the Grossest Food". I don't think the picture does it justice. But whatever this was it looked disgusting!

Love this girl!

Discovered an obsession with these.

Thanks Raquel for the homemade soup! It was delicious!

I love airports. I always manage to find the coolest people. One women on the tram saw my London phone case and we got talking. Turns out her husband is British and they met in Germany when they both worked for the army. They still have a house in London and go all the time. She was very cool! She then bought me breakfast! It was delicious by the way.

Utah!

The Death Week Dec 4-11

This is always the craziest week in the semester. Finals week is great because you only have one test and then the rest of the day free. But the week before finals is always CRAZY! More projects and tests and papers were due this week. Plus they added a Lofts activity, and a fire drill. I wish I took a picture of my to-do list. I think it had almost 20 items on it. 

Monday I came up to my room and my whole door was decorated! I still don't know who did it, but I love it. 

For FHE we decorated Christmas Cookies to give away to people in need. I was having way too much fun!

 

This is how I felt after my Financial Accounting Test. But don't worry! I actually did well!

I think my favorite class this semester was Shakespeare. I loved the professor and the material he had us read. We read many plays but also a book on Shakespeare's life and another about plays in general. On Tuesday we put on a scene like it would have been done in Shakespeare's time. You get just your lines and your cue line on a scroll. Thats all you get. It was an interesting and really cool activity!

Tuesday started the nights of going to be at 1am. This was due to getting distracted and procrastinating...not because I was diligently getting done all the many things I needed too!

I love when our school is all decorated for Christmas!

I discovered my new love in life. Salted Carmel Hot Chocolate from Jonzzey's. It's basically the best thing. 

Thursday was by far my busiest day! I went to classes, straight to work, straight to an RA dinner/christmas party, worked on a paper for a few minutes, went to a choir rehearsal, went to the big group RA meeting which finished at like 10:15pm. AHHHH! It was nuts!

But look at this cute bag the Tuttle's made me which had a cute mug and goodies in it.

I appreciate this meme immensely.

We had our Christmas Concert Friday night! I don't know what I'd do without Genny and Alex. They have been by my side since orientation. I LOVE them. And that could be an understatement. 

After the concert it hit me that it was Christmas time! I was sitting there and then BAM! 

"Wait.. Its Christmas!

I started to watch Elf with Genny, Alex, Travis, and Catherine. I left early to go on a drive with another friend, but can I just tell you how much I adore Elf? That movie is the best!

This is Anna Taylor. She works with me and is incredibly talented! I wish all of you could hear her sing because it is truly incredible. She is also one of the most Christ like people I have ever met.

Saturday was our only reading day. I woke up and worked hard to finish my Essay that was due that night. I went down to Heidi's house to finish it up and then went to lunch. I headed over to the basketball games with full intention to stay for a minute....

Three hours and two games later I left to go hurry and print the essay off and turn it in!

We all needed a massage!

Paper done!

After dinner I went over to Alex, Shannon's, and Anna's house where we sat and talked and then went to the live nativity that another church puts on. It was really cool! They have built the city of Bethlehem and they give you money to pay your taxes. They had horses, cows, lamas, and SHEEP! Romans were walking around and then the nativity is presented. It was absolutely freezing. We couldn't feel our bodies. But it was an awesome experience.

 

We came back and attempted to study for our final on Monday but we were not very successful. 

 

I went home and naturally started to watch Harry Potter instead of work on anything!

It was our last Sunday in our Ward's this semester. Its crazy to think next week I will be home!!!

(Also, God is real! I told Camille all I needed was chapstick because my lips were so chapped and then I went to a Presidency meeting and we got little gifts and one of them was chapstick!)

Laughter is the best medicine Nov 28-Dec 4

I woke up and Monday and funny thing after funny thing kept happening. We were all half out of it from break and all trying to find the determination and motivation to get through the next few weeks. 

But funny random people are the best. They would tell me a story or just be funny. I really appreciated it!

Camille likes to Facetime me and help me in my procrastination efforts :)

Look how cute my girls are! Their whole room is decked out for Christmas and they spent last Sunday making these graham cracker houses!

Friday was our annual Christmas Forum! I made sure to get a picture with Genny and Alex because this was our 3rd Christmas singing together! Where has time gone? It went well, besides the fact that I was standing right in front of the speaker so I couldn't hear anything! Haha it was quite comical!

Hows your week going?

When I arrive at work the kids are just waking up from nap time. I saw this on Friday. Yes, a sleeping child was in there somewhere!

After work on Friday I went to the Theater activity at Professor Stoddard's house. Picture the most perfect holiday house complete with two actual log burning fireplaces and lots of goodies. And then we sang christmas carols while Professor Stoddard played the grand piano. Could it get anymore magical? 

 

Do you ever have those moments where one thing after another keeps getting more and more frustrating? That was my Friday night. I was texting my friend and they asked if I wanted to go do something Friday night. So off we went on an adventure consisting of hot chocolate, star gazing, spying on W&L parties and watching all the drunk kids, and Walmart. It was crazy! And a ton of fun! I'm very grateful for friends.

I slept in Saturday and then went to the Basketball game. It was SO close! We lost just barley.

We had an ugly Christmas sweater dance. I bought mine last year and I think its quite cute actually!

 

I was walking home and this deer just kept staring me down. It was so close to me!

Sunday was really good! I taught Relief Society and I decided to do things a little different. I had a silent lesson filled with quotes and videos and questions that everyone responded to. It was all about Mary the Mother of Jesus, someone who I have such a testimony of. There was a strong peace in the room. I think everyone needed the quiet and to feel the power of the spirit that was in the room as we pondered and studied and learned of Mary and Jesus Christ.