Good things to Come Feb 19-25

Can you find the sleeping child?

I love days when its warm and we all just sit outside together.

God wants to tell us things. He is not a God of secrets. We have to be ready and willing to just listen. 

Tuesday I got home from work and while eating dinner had the strongest feeling I needed to leave and go walk around campus. It was a beautiful night and as I wandered I ran into lots of people and had lots of good conversations. I looked at my phone later and found out I wandered for 2.5 hours. It ended with me having a really good conversation with a good friend. God is patient. The second I left my house I knew that that was who I needed to talk to, but it took me almost 3 hours to get over there. 

Men's volleyball is ranked #8 in the nation!!!! Lets GO!

Wednesday there was a volleyball game and Steven on the team opened his mission call! Its so fun to see all the people here supporting everyone. Love it!

The weather was absolutely perfect this week.

Sometimes you just need TacoBell when others want Cookout. So you go buy TacoBell and eat it in Cookout.

Friday was the first night of SVU idol! We cheered very loud for everyone, especially Colby. He had quite the fan section going on! We all ended up going to Cookout after, like any good SVU event haha!

 


Seriously love this kid.

Saturday afternoon I went to Macadoo's! Rachel's parents took some of us out to lunch. It is always delicious and always so fun! I love Lexington :)



I just kind of ran away after that. I drove to Staunton to get food at Sharp Shopper and then went to SVU's production of An Ideal Husband. I then went to the last of the second night of SVU idol. I just felt really overwhelmed. 

Some days are just a little harder than others. It might be more difficult to hold back tears, or harder to smile. But I still find that people are beautiful and Christ gives us many reasons to be happy and keep moving. In church we talked about not looking back and dwelling. Elder Holland said, "Faith is always pointed toward the future. Faith always has to do with blessings and truths and events that will yet be efficacious in our lives. Faith builds on the past but never longs to stay there. Faith trusts that God has great things in store for each of us and that Christ truly is the "high priest of good things to come"". 
Things might be hard in the moment. But God expects us to turn to him and keep moving! Find people who make you smile, feast upon the words of the Lord, and never forget to pray. never underestimate the feelings you have. You are smarter and more in tune than you realize. answers might not come when or how we expect, but with Faith and diligence. God will answer!

(Grateful for Rachel and our many talks! Plus look how cute our random matching dresses our!)
 

Biggest Volleyball Weekend! Feb 12-18

This new obsession with Taco Bell is getting out of hand.. But Monday we decided to make our own homemade Taco Bell! I am extremely grateful for Alayna who constantly makes me food :) 


Look how cute my brother is! Miss this kid!

Tuesday was Gallentines day!! Mikayla Skousen is one of my favorite people ever. She always plans these super fun events with tons of food! We took fun pictures, had cotton candy, and watched the Bachelor. It was a party!

Picture feature Quinn in his nature habitat.

Wednesday was Valentines day... it was a rough day for everyone! But the highlight was my 4 year old at work who made me a valentine the day before, and then Penn, who is one of my favorite kids!, I have been teasing him for weeks and telling him that he needs to bring me cookies. Well he did!! He saw me and goes, "Did you see I brought you cookies in the office". Love that kid!

 Some friends had a game night in the dance studio. We played the paper bag game and feather volleyball. It was an adventure!

Thursday was such a pretty day!! I wore my jumpsuit and sat and talked to Christian outside for while. I love days like that!
 

That night I got to babysit one of my kids from work. We ate food, read books, and had a full on Disney dance party in the kitchen. I laughed and laughed. It was so fun!!

Alayna went out of town for the weekend, but look at this super sweet Valentines present. It was delicious!


Also spring is in the air!

Friday started the craziest weekend ever! The volleyball team played 3 nationally ranked teams this weekend starting with Marymount. It was such a crazy game AND WE WON! It was nuts! I get so anxious at these games. I just love these boys! 

We then had a date night with this crazy magician guy.. It was so weird. I went with Sarah who was in charge of taking pictures. It was so funny and awkward and exciting all at one time.

Saturday we had two more nationally ranked games! I was so stressed out. First we played Juniata. It was a crazy game to! It went to 5 sets and we won! I think I am going to be the first person to die due to stress at a volleyball game. Yup. Me. After that game I had to go home and take a nap! I was exhausted. We then played UC Santa Cruz. WE WON! It seriously was the craziest weekend ever!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Totally lost my voice.

I gave a talk on Sunday about Godly Fear. I have never really liked that term because in my head I would never want to Fear God. I need him on my side! But Elder Bednar said, "Godly fear is loving and trusting in Him. As we fear God more completely, we love Him more perfectly. And "perfect love casteth out all fear". I promise the bright light of godly fear will chase away the dark shadows of mortal fears as we look to the Savior, build upon Him as our foundation, and press forward on His covenant path with consecrated commitment." 

 Sunday night Ashely and I made some brownies while dancing in the kitchen with Christian haha! We then went over to Kaipo and Colby's house just talking about the games, and life, and just laughing. It was fun! I am so grateful for those guys! 

Birthday, TV, Volleyball, Olympics! Feb 5-11

Monday was Sarah Fosters birthday! We went to Macadoo's for a yummy dinner and then had cake at Chalae's house!


Tuesday Alayna and I sat and watched Covert Affairs till way past midnight.. It was awesome!


Wednesday Ashley and I drove up to Harrisonburg to watch the volleyball team play EMU. Now I don't hate anything basically....but EMU I really do not like! It was a very interesting game to say the least.. After the game Ashley and I met Quinn and his cute nephew at Chick-fil-a!
 


When I get home from work I sometimes just sit in my car to relax for a minute. I love sitting and staring up at Main Hall and just marveling at this amazing place I live. 
 
I had to work all day Friday, but they let me take an hour or so off for lunch. So obviously I went and got some Tacos! Taco Bell has become my strange new addiction. Whoops!


That night there was a benefit concert where our local band The Birds Club performed. (Go look them up! They are soo good!) It was so fun being all gathered together with professors, families, friends. We all just sang and laughed. I love the feeling of true community here. Its beautiful.

Find yourself a friend who marches you over to the house of someone you need to talk to to give you a trial run of walking to the door...HAHAHA! It was so funny. Love you Ash!

Saturday morning I got the lovely surprise of a Facetime from Ryan! It was the morning after cousin sleep over and I was given the stop hand via video! Greatest moment ever! After a long week 
 


That afternoon I went and picked up Magic. We went to the end of the track meet in Lexington and then came back to my house for dinner, homework, and figure skating!!!

 


Things turned upside down this week. On Tuesday I received an email from my boss that was not very nice dealing with the fact that I was going to miss the last week of my current job because of EFY. I was sitting in Institute so overwhelmed when I had the idea to quit my job in March. I instantly felt so much peace. 

I don't know what God has in store for me. I don't know what is coming. But I do know I need to trust more completely and I do know that God is far more powerful than I am.
 

Forts, Caffeine and Photo Shoots: Typical week in the BV Jan 29-Feb 4

Monday for FHE we build a giant blanket fort in my basement, and I mean giant! We brought out all the blankets in the house (which is a lot in our household) and strung them on pipes and pinned them up. It was quite exciting!

Im not entirely sure how it happened, but someone Wednesday night Rachel, Emma, Sarah and I were in my car, blasting sassy songs, on our way to McDonalds where we each got a large soda. For various reasons it was that kind of night. It was so much fun!

While we were in the parking lot of McDonalds I also got the email saying I was hired for EFY as a BC!!!! AHHHHH! Craziness here I come!

I was walking around campus on Thursday and I stumbled upon a giant photoshoot. Quinn has taken up photography and there right in the heart of campus was Colby, Kaipo, and any other soul that walked by, got wrapped into taking photos. I love these guys! I have not laughed that hard in a super long time!

Thursday we had such a fun Relief Society activity! Dinner was made and served to us by the Elders Quorum. They went all out. They were dressed nice and acted like servers. It was a three course meal full of a lot of laughter!

Friday night Ashley came over and we streamed the Volleyball game in our blanket fort. It was quite exciting! Wasn't the best game... but it provided a lot of screaming and yelling at the computer screen. 

Saturday my sickness was getting the better of me. I literally have not stopped coughing. I lied in bed most of the day until somehow I was convinced to go to the honor ball. We had a great time dancing our hearts away!

Sunday I was sitting in Relief Society when my friend Jordan called me! It was the greatest surprise ever! I finished church, rushed home, and called and talked to him for an hour. He was here last spring and it was so nice to hear his voice, advice, and just laugh! What a blessing friends are!

Something we talked about was conversations, like hard conversations. Its more important to just tell someone what you are thinking so you don't compromise the way you live. Jordan told me a story about how one of his housemates when he was here for some reason was mad at him. He had no idea why, but he would walk to weights every morning as his housemate drove. Jordan was like "Why didn't I just say something? I lived like that all semester!" Its sometimes hard to just say what we are thinking and I don't know why that is. But it is important, especially if its someone close to you, to really talk with them. 

Thanks Jordan for the phone call! Sad we missed each other in Utah by a week!!!

For Grandpa Jan 22-28

This made me laugh!

Monday I was a little flustered. It was so nice outside! It was almost 60 degrees that day, so at about 10pm I went on a run. Thats right. Off I went! I ran around and then up to campus where I met Ashely and we sat and talked for a while. Somehow after that I ended up at Chalae's house with Seth and Adam. Laughs were had all around! 

I would like to thank my Dad for teaching me the art of block building. I think my kids are also doing a great job!

Wednesday I went and brought a coke to my friend in the library. I decided to buy a drink for myself as well. Well I got in the car and started to hear a quiet sizzling sound. All the sudden the Dr.Pepper I had gotten for myself exploded in the cup holder! Sticky soda everywhere! I just rolled my eyes. I guess it wasn't meant to be.

Also, I think someone lost their horse...in the library.


Thursday, bright an early, my friend Andrew came and picked me up and off we went to the airport. Poor Andrew sat through me belting Greatest Showman and Taylor Swift the whole way. He's the best. I had a long day in airports, but I was grateful when I finally arrived in Utah!

I don't know why these made me laugh, but they provided much joy on each flight. Each plane had a different animal that would accompany me on my flight. It was very comforting haha! 
 

The weekend was really special. There were so many tears and so much laughter. That was the first time all the cousins had been together in a really long time. 

My Grandpa really did have the best oatmeal!

Starting in high school he would always give me relationship advice. Knowing I am an avid Jane Austen fan and in a moment of complaining that there were no good guys he told me, “there are plenty of Mr. Darcy’s in this world, honey”. 

There were some days that I knew I needed to call and talk to Grandpa. He would always ask how things were going and in those phone calls he would try not to bring up guys because he didn’t want to bug me haha. But he would always tell me he believed in me. I remember one conversation telling him how hard balancing life and scripture study and everything else going on was and he reminded me “that is the challenge and purpose of life. To figure that out.” 

I always remember him with a book in his hand. And he’d always answer my questions when I wanted to know about them. I also remember him frequently sitting at the kitchen counter studying the scriptures and never shying away from sharing new insights and his testimony with me. 

I love my family! I love the laughs and inside jokes. We spent hours reminiscing about all the funny trips and stories. Im glad they put up with me (especially as we ate dinner and I watched the Men's Volleyball game on my phone...whoops). Also, props to Rose who had to climb through the car in a dress to try and figure out how to open the back door so we could put flowers in there. HAHA!

Saturday was the fun Lambert lunch up at Sundance. It ended up working kind of nicely that I happened to be in town for such a fun event. Thank you Paul and Nicole for the fun Christmas present! So glad I got to join in on the excitement. 

 

Sunday I woke up bright and early and headed off to the airport. I spent the majority of the day in the Denver Airport. If you need to find something in that wing, I have got you covered! 

I love my Grandpa. I am so grateful for countless memories of him and many lessons from the best cleaning supplies to life. I am grateful for all my family who I was able to cry and hug and laugh with this weekend. What a blessing family is. They really are the people that are going to love you forever...because they get to :)