Tennis. Oh How I Miss You

I played tennis today for the first time since my last day of work- at least I'm pretty sure that's the last time I played. Oh how I miss it! I miss this...

It was tough going pack to preseason and seeing everyone and watching the new team form. It was even harder to see the new team picture up on the Whitman website and the four senior girls weren't in it. But as Jerry Seinfeld says, "To me, if life boils down to one thing, it's movement. To live is to keep moving." We must always look forward no matter how much we just want time to stand still. I'm still grateful I'm even able to play at all and that I have my racket out here. Doubles sign ups are next week I believe...more updates on that later. WWGT becomes BYUGT.

I miss fall...Maryland fall. The only colors that I see changing are super far away up on the mountains. The area around my dorm still looks the same and leaves apparently don't fall off the trees here. Also, it's still hot here. Apparently in the next week or so we just jump from summer to winter...that should be interesting!

I miss HaLloWeEn DeCOrAtIonS. Decorating my house is probably one of my favorite things to do. If I could decorate for every holiday...and I mean every holiday I would. Halloween is my kickoff holiday. That leads to Thanksgiving. Then, I come home from Thanksgiving dinner at Toots and Pop's house playing 97.1 with Delilah (love that woman no matter how cheesy she can be sometimes. Also, you can't play Christmas music until after Thanksgiving--yeah I feel the pain too, but it's a rule!) and I start my favorite holiday decorating. When I say my favorite I really do mean it.  CHRISTMAS makes my world go round! December 26th is my least favorite day of the whole year. It just makes me so sad that I won't be home to enjoy my decorations for as long as possible. This paragraph really doesn't even come close to my love for holiday decorating, but I had to include it.

Ok ok things I'm looking forward to. 

1. My music test tomorrow...for it to be over!! After my test tomorrow I have about a week before my next test. aka-I will finally have time to catch up on (deep breath) 90210, Biggest Loser, My Generation, Glee, and most importantly One Tree Hill!!

2. Hiking this weekend- Ellie and I are probably going to go hiking on Friday. Hopefully we will be able to coordinate a time- I've been craving a good hike and apparently there are some pretty neat ones out here.

3. General Conference is this weekend! I used to whine and moan about having to watch 8 hours of church over the weekend when I was little, but now I love it. I've come to realize the importance of listening the leaders of the church and the information we can recieve through them. Ah-I'm so excited.

Anyway, that's my miss/excited post. Happy Thursday!

Until You- Dave Barnes

I need you now and forever

Just stay right here with me
Don't ever leave
Love was kept from me like a secret
And I swore that I was through
Until you, until you

Finally Made It

This week was extremely hectic for me and all of it was planned to end Sunday after church. Well--it's finally Sunday after church and I feel like a whole different person!

I had two tests this past week and I aced both of them. I have an American Heritage test on either tomorrow or Tuesday (probably Tuesday just so I have an extra day to study) and I'm not sure how that one is going to go--I'm just so excited I did well on my nutrition Exam it doesn't matter!!

I gave my 1st lesson as a gospel principles teacher and I must admit I had a lot of fun doing it! I learned a lot and everyone was really responsive and seemed to like my lesson! The 2nd counselor of the bishopric sat in during the lesson (that was the only thing that made me a little nervous) and he said I did a really good job! Even my RA said it was the best lesson she has had this year!! I am extremely proud of myself-Not only did I manage to pull it off, but I learned a lot about obedience along the way. Side-note: Thanks Toots for the Ensign Article it actually fit perfectly into my lesson.

Here's an overview of what I kind of talked about:

How we should Obey:

1. Willingly (Consider why you obey the commandments...love for Christ, rewards or a virtuous life, or maybe even fear of punishment?)
1. Sometime Blindly (Nephi creating the small plates, Adam/Eve--Moses 5:5-10)
3. No matter how big or small (story of Naaman--2 Kings 5:10-14 VS. Abraham sacrificing his son. Joseph Smith once said "I made this my rule: When the Lord commands, do it"--Make that your rule!)
Outcomes of Obedience:
1. Knowledge (Adam/Eve story and D&C 130:18-19)
2. Blessings (D&C 130: 20-21)
3. Grow Spiritually (Jeremiah 7:23-24 and D&C 58: 31-33)
4. know mysteries of God (D&C 76:7)
5. Eternal Life ("The kicker" as I called it D&C 14:7)

So...in college you tend to have more down time than in high school; therefore, you tend to master your napping skills maybe more so than your studying skills. This week though...I missed out on A LOT of nap time. Now you all can guess what I did the moment I got back from church- yes, yes...I took a 3 hour nap and it was phenomenal. I encourage you all, whoever is actually reading this, to find time to take a Sunday nap. They are the best!

Phew!! All I can say...I made it!

Gospel Principles- Obedience

Just a quick entry! I have to teach Gospel Principles on Sunday (yes, not only was I called to be a teacher--I have to teach the first Sunday too) and I'm looking for ideas on how to keep college freshmen entertained. The lesson is on obedience...any tidbits would be appreciated!

More on my week later..it's been a little busy over here in Taylor Hall.

Late Night

It's 2:25am and I would like to go to bed, but I have been neglecting my blog and I'm looking at a pretty busy week ahead.
I got my calling... you are looking at a gospel doctrine teacher for the 95th ward out here at BYU. AWESOME RIGHT?! Ok, so that wasn't my first thought, but I've accepted my calling and I've reminded myself that callings are given for a reason knowing that you are capable if you put in the time and effort. Plus, I will sure as heck learn a lot!

There was a NEON party on Friday so a total of 6 (the guys weren't in the picture...don't worry I can count!) of us headed up to Salt Lake dressed up in our lovely neon attire (although I must say- out of my friends I think I did the best job)

finally got to wear silver spandex

Saturday night Em, Lizzie, Lindsay, and I went for a scooter ride around campus (I'm the loner without the scooter, but I do have my post-prom raffle bike!). However, did you know that scooters weren't allowed on campus?! But bikes are...I'm not sure the reasoning. Anyways! It's been "Scooter Week" here in Taylor Hall.

BIG NEWS!! One tree hill came back on last Tuesday! I caught up on Hulu last night and boy! have I missed that show. Fall series are slowly returning and I must say it's starting to fill up my weekends-trying to catch up. Who believes in doing homework anyway ;)

Speaking of work- I have 2 big tests this week in Nutrition and Book of Mormon. They happen to be two of my favorite classes so I'm ok about studying for them--but wish me luck just in case! :)

It's strange to think I'm at the start of week 4. Some days I feel like I've been here forever and other days it seems really short. Alright, next blog update--probably next weekend, but we shall see... Happy Monday! Hope everyone has a good week. :)

Ketchup Catch Up

Time to play catch up and try to fill you all in for the past 5-6 days.

This week flew by for me. Not sure if it was the homework, or the fact that we had a 4 day school week-but I can't complain! Although this past week was Rosh Hashanah and everyone back home got the day off when we out here in Utah still had to go to school. I miss the Jews. Anyway, the work load is starting to build, but I'm still not super stressed and I feel like I can keep it up.

We had a devotional on Tuesday and the President of BYU and his wife spoke. Sister Samuelson talked about how we should constantly acknowledge the source of our blessings and that gratitude is a commandment and a promise. President Samuelson warned us about over-zealous behavior. He told us to not focus on one specific thing while we are here at BYU.  (Mosiah 4:27 and D&C 10:4)

Wednesday, Amanda and I went swimming for the first time at the gym. (not the first for triathlon training) Not going to lie-that pool is extremely gross. Can't see past 10 feet in front of you...it's was just gross. And for some reason my knee has been hurting me ever since...I blame it on the dirty pool.

Thursday- I took my first test in the testing center!! And guess what I got...100% (Now it was only a syllabus quiz and I was able to have the syllabus with me BUT STILL) The most exciting part was when you leave the testing room and walk down the stairs you see your score on the projector and if you get 100 it says PERFECT SCORE! next to your ID number...I felt so smart. :)

Friday- LIZZIE'S BIRTHDAY! My roommate turned 18 yesterday so a few of us went to CPK and had  a birthday dinner for her. After we ate a ton of pizza we went back to campus and went to Fall Fest 2010. There was a dance at Brigham Square and tie-dye tshirts for the first 1000 people. We got there  30 min after it had started and they were all out of the dye, but we did get a shirt! We're planning a tie-dying party later. Two of the guys we were with were trying out for Divine Comedy and we were allowed to go and watch auditions so all of us headed over to the Tanner Building. It was awesome, because we were there for support but we also got free comedic entertainment. Unfortunately the boys didn't make it because they are pre-missioned bound...super lame. THEN, we decided to buy cookie dough from the creamery and make cookies at the bell tower. The lights at the bell tower are so bright that they heat they generate is actually capable of making cookies. Cool beans, i know! However our excitement died when some mean people decided to throw water balloons at us. Surprisingly, I wasn't super angry especially being the only person who actually got hit by one. I was just wet and now cold-so we moved our board games back to the dorms and hung out in the lobby for a little bit.

Saturday- This morning Katie Walton and I decided to hike the Y. She had never done it before and I somehow convinced her to climb it with me. Let me tell you though. It's a hike...an all-up-hill hike. It took us about 20-30 minutes to get up there and it was worth the walk up. I had actually been to the "U" before I went to the Y but the U is 20 feet away from a road so it's not super hard to hike to. Anyway, it was a lot of fun- Thanks for coming with me, Katie!!

Tonight I'm off to another girls soccer game against Marquette.  Seems like things are looking up here in P-town :)

One Week Down and the First Cougar Victory

I have officially completed my first week of college. It's weird that only a week has gone by-it feels like I have been here for a million years. I've met some more people in my ward and in some of my classes. I still feel a little out of place but that's me over analyzing everything. Classes are a little bit more intense than high school, but that was to be expected. I'm not too overwhelmed and I think it'll stay that way as long as I keep on top of my work.
We won our first football game. Go Cougars!! We had really nice seats that were close to the field, but one debbie-downer was we had the sun shining at us for the majority of the game. It was quite toasty.  The stadium was filled with BYU blue and white and Cosmo made his rounds getting everyone excited. I felt a little bit like a idiot because I didn't know any of the cheers, but I caught on fairly quickly! Nice work Cougs! Next up Air Force.

(I tried uploading a video of the B-Y-U-Cougars cheer, but it didn't work! so sad)

We had a lesson in Relief Society today about Visiting Teaching and I have to remind myself that I'm not the only person who has challenges. We should remember our visiting teaching and not focus on ourselves at least once a month, and learn what we can do for others. Don't be nosy-just be there to listen.
Then in our hall meeting we talked about the theme of our hall: Celebrate Good Times. I'm in college. These are the last few years I have before I start work and hopefully raise a family of my own. These are the years that I become the person I want to be and I can't do that if I over-think every instance in my life. I have to recognize the tender mercies in my life each day and enjoy the good times now. Here are some things I'm grateful for today:
1.The fact that my blisters from breaking in my new shoes have finally healed!
2. Sunday Cannon Center meals :)
3. Sunshine and 80 degree weather instead of 95
4. My roommate-we have our moments but we laugh during most of those moments
5. Church and the lessons that were given today
6. Emilee Crowder-I love her to death and she makes my day better every time I see her
I loving it out here when I think about the positive things. To this day I remember my tennis coach telling me I focus too much on the negative that I never appreciate the positive. I'd get frustrated over 1 shot I missed when the first 10 when spot on. Life isn't perfect and I know this sounds cheesy but it isn't-we instead should focus on the perfect moments we have throughout each day and our lives. On that note-the second week begins today!

Mailbox Disappointment

My roommate told me I had three orange slips in my mail box. Now, when you have orange slips it means you've gotten a package that won't fit in your mailbox and you have to walk in and get it from the front dest of the Cannon Center. I'm all excited...today is my lucky day!!!...and what do I get. 3 packages all for my sister. The only reason why I have to lug them back to my dorm room is because there is always someone at the Cannon Center to sign for the packages. Major disappointment.
Amanda, if you are reading this please come pick them up.
Love, your favorite sister.