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Thursday, September 27, 2012

The Advantages....

.....of studying online via BYU-I are:

1. The ability to do 'go to school' in sweats
2. I can 'attend' 'class' at 2am if I want to
3. I can work ahead and be a week or two ahead
4. I get great student discounts at stores like apple.com :)
5. Free textbooks
6. No sitting at a germy desk next to a mouth breather
7. Listening to One Direction and/or Red Jumpsuit Apparatus during 'class'
8. Laying in bed while working
9. Taking reading, blogging, cleaning, nail painting, facebook, youtube, pinterest breaks whenever I want
10. Paying only $68 per credit which equals $750 for one whole year

 iPhone photos of some of the advantages. Gosh I love my pillow/bed.

Monday, September 24, 2012

ut.

I'm in Utah, land of the crickets, crazy drivers, and cafe rio.

I got here last Wednesday evening with Ty. We've been shopping for apartment stuff for Ty's (DISGUSTING) apartment. We also have gone to approximately 44 bookstores. I may have purchased too many books....One of them is called, The Message. So far so good.

Friday Ty and I drove down to Manti with our aunt. It's just under a 1.5 hour drive, but it's always been my favorite temple and now I can go inside!! Yahoooo. So we got to do a session at the Manti temple which was really cool. It was a 'live' session, if you know what that means, it was cool to be in one of the only temples that still do that.
 oh look, that's us. so cute.....noooot. oh well at least the temple is cute.
another just for the heck of it. After we were done we drove home and made a stop at some turkey farm where they sell free range organic turkey meat and they have a little gas station that makes food with that turkey. Iffy but I had the fries and they were good.

We may or may not have been to Cafe Rio a few times. (Shhhhh don't tell anyone, I prefer Chipotle). Saturday we did more shopping, shocker. Why does ONE person need so much JUNK to move into a GROSS apartment?! geesh. Luckily my friend Michelle was visiting for the weekend so I drove with her and we skipped out early to get happy hour sonic raspberry limeaids and go to some makeup store that was just my fav. (KIDDING) but I did get some nail polish out of it :).

It's been a kind of laid back trip for the most part. I'm pretty sure I'm ready to sleep in my own bed. My mom (who flew up on Friday night) and I are flying home tomorrow evening so that wish will be granted.

The water here is nastyyyyyy gross. Things are just different here, people seem ruder and way snobbier. I don't think I could ever live here, I've only been here a bit less than a week and I'm kinda over it. oh well it was a fun little trip, I especially like all the books I got, oh and the purse, oh and the skirt, oh and the church supplies, oh and the shirts.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

I Vote.

This time in our country getting ready for the Presidential election, I get so frustrated with all the posts on facebook centered around the election and people bashing others and feeling entitled to post their opinions but then don't respect when others with a different view point do the same. Personally, I think about hiding half my friends from my news-feed until it's all over. That includes the people I agree with. That being said, this is my political post and it will be my last. I liked this quote:

"I want to know what the man stands for....
and I care not what his party tag is...Today, our 
duty transcends party allegiance; our duty today 
is allegiance to the Constitution as it was 
give to us by the Lord."- J. Reuben Clark

I totally agree with this. To me, I don't 'fit' in either of the major political parties. I think that entire system is bogus anyway. We should be concentrating on the Constitution, not personal agendas or parties. The amount of money spent on these elections could be much better spent. When I run the world.....

I love this picture of George Washington:
We have a book called, The Constitution: A Heavenly Banner written by Ezra Taft Benson.

For those who don't know, we believe that the Constitution was divinely inspired by God. Therefore, if it is deviated from, we are in trouble. We're in trouble. Here are some favorite quotes.

"The fourth basic principle we must understand is that people are superior to the governments they form. Since God created people with certain inalienable rights, and they, in turn, created government to help secure and safeguard those rights, it follows that the people are superior to the creature they created. We are superior to government and should remain master over it, not the other way around....
....It stands to reason that the government itself has no innate power nor privilege to do anything. It's only source of authority and power is from the people who have created it. This is made clear in the Preabmle of the Constitution of the United States, which reads: "WE THE PEOPLE....do ordain and establish this Consititution for the United States of America."

"Every true American and true friend of liberty should love our inspired Constitution. Its creation was a miracle."

"The Consitiution was designed to work only with a moral and righteous people. "Our Constitution," said John Adams (2nd President of the United States), "was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

As the Constitution is shifted and changed, we are releasing some of our Freedom little by little until it is no longer relevant. I personally like freedom, and I do believe the Constitution needs to be upheld if we are to be a prosperous and free people.


I watched this video last night at work. It warns of the dangers that our country is headed towards communism as the Constitution is changed to fit the agendas of our government.


OK that is my political post. You can agree or disagree but I respect your opinions and beliefs, respect is different than agreeing with. Respect along with freedom are very important. That is all.

Monday, September 17, 2012

I'm a big kid now!!

At least that's what it feels like. This last Friday I was able to go up to the Vancouver, BC temple to go through for my very first time. I would recommend it to everybody who can. You're never too old or too young to start preparing for that experience. If you are considering it, you won't regret it. There isn't anything in this life that is worth missing out on the temple for. If there is something holding you back from getting a recommend, fix it, change it, do whatever you gotta do.

Everybody kept telling me that I would probably be overwhelmed with information and that I probably wouldn't understand some things and that I might be nervous. I remember having a moment of 'flippy stomach' walking to the temple when my mom asked if I was nervous. I think I had that feeling because it wasn't something I wanted to be nervous about but it felt almost expected that I would be (not anyone's fault at all). But that went away after just a second or two. I remember thinking several times throughout the session, I wonder when I'm supposed to be overwhelmed, then the session was over and I was confused. There wasn't anything that I felt overwhelmed by, nothing that didn't make sense or confused me. Sure it was a new experience and some learning involved and it will be a lifetime of attending the temple to continue learning.

The temple is not something that is secret, but it is sacred and not something we discuss just anywhere. Anybody can enter the temple if they are baptized and deemed worthy to do so. My overall thoughts on the temple are that they are designed for individuals to better themselves. To make promises to be good, virtuous, faithful, and to have integrity. To help us understand who we are, why we are here, and where we are going. It's a very uplifting and peaceful place amidst a world that can be very overwhelming and scary.

You can go here to get some more info about our temples if you're interested

Here is my favorite little blurb from that link:

"The temple experience is a deeply personal one for each participant. Since they consecrate their lives to God in the temple, each member is expected to reflect the highest Christian ideals in the way they live. In the temple, Mormons focus inwardly on their relationship to God so they can serve outwardly when they leave the temple."

It's so great. It was so neat to have so many people there with me. It just confirms that the choice to go through the temple was the right one.
 my parents, grandparents, and brother Ty were family that were there. There were many other friends there as well. I was so surprised when I saw everyone who was there. I know some great people.

The temple as I was walking to the car. Usually I take 46 pictures of temples especially at night but I forgot about it until I was almost in the car, so it is what it is.
 then I realized I hadn't eaten all day so the most logical plan of action was to stop at Wendy's to get frosties and fries duh.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Fiery Darts

(side note: I find it odd that when I really don't have time to blog, I blog, but when I do have time, I don't want to. oh well)

I just got to work literally four minutes ago. I unlocked the door to my 'bedroom' and put my stuff down. Then for some reason I went over and stood in front of one of the many book shelves (my 'bedroom' at work is a big room that connects the GH to a private residence home of the couple that used to run the GH --if that makes sense--and the couple has lots of church books stored in here). (here's a picture for reference)
there are even more books around the corner.
The shelves on the wall were where I was looking for some reason. There was a little book wedged in between several larger books. The spine said, "Whom the Lord Loveth. The Journey of Discipleship" (By Neal A. Maxwell). Well today I was coming up with topics for my church topic journal and I had just added Discipleship. I grabbed it from the shelf and opened to a random page. The title was, Fiery Darts. Ok.....this is very 'coincidental'. I sat down and read the page. It was only a couple small paragraphs but it was something that I was meant to read. This is what it said:

"The scriptures warn of incoming "fiery darts'; unless deflected or estinguished by the "shield of faith" (D&C 27:17), some get through to sting and burn. Included are intellectual barbs dipped in doubt and deliberately designed to get under the skin.
Fiery darts may not disable, but they certainly can discourage and distract. Very individualized, these fiery darts can be like "time-on-target: artillery, thereby achieving maxium effect.
Yet we have the promise that 'God would have extended his arm and supported you against all the fiery darts of the adversary; and he would have been with you in every time of trouble." (D&C 3:8)
No wonder the shield of faith serves us so well. But it had better be sturdy and in place!!"

This is what I needed to hear this week. I was given a blessing when I was 15 or 16 and included in that blessing was the phrase, "you will be able to avoid the fiery darts of the adversary".

So that is pretty coincidental, but this Friday I will be going to the temple for my very first time (as an adult). Last Friday I was up at the temple to get a few things and the lady helping me told me that it would be the most important thing I would do in my life (going to the temple). That the adversary will work very hard on me this week because he does not want me to go to the temple. I told her that I wouldn't let him effect me, that I have always been able to ignore temptation (smoking, drinking, partying, etc....). What I didn't realize was that there are other types of fiery darts. It makes sense and I just though 'duh!!' to myself.

The last several days I have been on edge for some reason. I'm not breathing all the way and feeling really overwhelmed with all the stuff I have to do. The school program that I signed up for started this week (when I was told it would start on the 17th). I hadn't paid for it, I hadn't even looked at emails to see what I was supposed to be doing, I had to plan and book flights to Provo next week and was having all sorts of issues with the reservations. I had four photo sessions to finish on the computer, plus 4 more to schedule, projects for the YW, I didn't get to sleep before 3:30am almost every night last week and I was exhausted and dehydrated. Blah blah, I could go on. You get the point. It was all very overwhelming and I just haven't been feeling like a good or productive person.

Then today coming to work and reading that short page in a 'randomly' selected book off a shelf next to hundreds of other books, I recognized what I have been feeling and where all those feelings and stress was coming from.

I was able to completely catch up on my photo sessions yesterday and today, complete all of my assignments for this week except for one I have to do on Thursday, got confirmation emails for my flights, and got started on next week's homework assignments (since I'll be gone). Today was good. I might have stayed in yoga pants until noon but I got what I needed to done. I feel 'lighter' and more able to focus on what needs to be done and what can wait.

My thoughts are more organized and I don't feel so overwhelmed. That is good. This week is good, despite it's horrible start.

I like this little book and I might ask to borrow it for a day or two.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Sookie and Lorelai

Are you familiar with this reference? If not, you've never seen the popular syndicated (I just use words when I don't know what they mean) TV series, Gilmore Girls, it's about a mother and daughter duo making it on the hard streets of Stars Hallow. I'm lying, it is about a mother/daughter but they have a 'fluffy' life and most of the show consists of them making quipy remarks back and forth and solving their boy troubles. It's one of my favorites because you don't have to watch it, you can listen and you don't miss anything :).

ANYWAYS. My very favorite house is for sale. Kind of sad, but kind of happy too!! Back 'in the day' it was a popular bed and breakfast in our little town of Ferndale, but it hasn't been used as a B&B for several years now. I actually went to elementary school with a boy who's family owed it. Here's a few pics so you can see why I love it so much:


ahhhh it's like a real live doll house. Quaint is the word I'm looking for here.

 Love everything down to the outdated wallpaper and wooden floors
 YES, YES, YES, YES
 Be still my heart.
love it.

I am obsessed with this house. I look at it every time I drive by. When I was a kid I always wanted to stay the night there but never did. I still want to stay the night there but never have. 

So my grand plan. Nicole and I will become Sookie and Lorelai (who's who to be determined), win the lottery, buy this house, update it a little bit, restore it to it's former glory and reopen this B&B. 

I'll even let you stay there if you help finance it!! FOR FREE!! ok it's a deal.

Sookie and Lorelai are quirky friends who talk a lot.
For reference: Sookie on left, Lorelai on right
So Nicole said I should be Lorelai because I'm bossy and tell people what to do to get stuff done. Which is very true. But Sookie gets to cook/bake all day and just hang out. I like that too, I'm not a 'people person' so I would probably prefer to be back in a kitchen. Well once the purchase is made, we'll iron out the details. Next we'll need to find a Luke, Rory, Emily, Richard, Dean, and Lane.

If any of that makes sense to you, we can be friends. 

Sunday, September 9, 2012

What do you get when....

.....You pack twenty 12-18 year old's and 7 adult leaders into 6 vehicles?

Apparently you get a fun and productive weekend.

I started 'pushing' for a planning retreat for the YM and YW in our ward (youth ages 12-18). The planning retreat would let us get away for one night and plan an entire years worth of activities. WOAH. I think some people didn't think it would work, but I guess I'm kind of pushy and bossy so I started planning one. (Note: I'm pretty sure we had finally agreed to do this by the time I started planning but I could be wrong :)).

((I am working on Personal Progress with our YW so I actually used this retreat as one of my projects, double score.))

Anywhooo, I set up a reservation with the camp site that we use for Girls Camp. We almost had to cancel because another group had reserved the cabins and the tents were all taken down, but at the last minute, I got a call that it was all ours!! Awesome. We had 4 cabins and a huge covered pavilion and bathrooms/showers at our fingertips and we were the only group up in that field. It was great.

After planning for a month or two, and sending about 86 emails :), we were ready. I made up an itinerary that I just shook my head at, there would be NO way all that stuff would happen in the time frame I set up for us. Not with 20 teenagers. It just wasn't gonna happen and I prepared myself for that. I knew that I would get frustrated and anxious about not sticking to our schedule and everyone getting distracted, but I was pleasantly surprised with myself. The last day we were there it was really hot and I was VERY dehydrated I realized so I felt sick/overheated/annoyed. I ended up bringing a blanket into the shade to take a nap while everyone else was slip n' sliding (my favorite), my 'nap' lasted 4 minutes then I decided to just start packing up camp while everyone else played.

Man I'm getting so sidetracked.

We got there Friday evening, set up, ate dinner, played a get to know you game, and hung out while we waited for the later group to arrive. This set us off schedule a bit, but we worked with it and it wasn't a big deal at all which was very good. We had a little 'lesson' from our YW President and EVERYONE participated, I was shocked. It helped that we threw candy to everyone who answered the questions. Then our Bishop held a 'mock council' where the youth learned some leadership skills and problem solved. Then we broke out the smores/starburst, started our fire, sat around, star gazed, etc....Then we had everyone get ready for bed and the leaders went in the separate YM/YW cabins to have 'family' scripture study & prayer. That part was nice and a great way to calm everyone down before bed.

The next morning I SOOOO did not want to get up. After flailing around trying to sleep for 6 hours I got to sleep only to be woken up by my lovely alarm 1.5 hrs later. Awesome. oh wellll it was just one night.

Saturday we got down to business and stayed on task and were even ahead of schedule most of the day by 30 minutes. We ended up getting planning done earlier than expected and had a whole extra hour and 15 minutes for archery or the slip n' slide.

We planned an ENTIRE years worth of activities, had fun, made new friends (several non-members/inactive girls attended!!), learned skills, and ate lots of food.

Our YM president signed up to be in charge of leadership games. There were two going, one for YM, one for YW then they swapped. The first was a blind folded maze thing where one person was blind folded and the others had to direct her through this maze without touching the tape that was on top of cones. This was harder than it looked. The other was a puzzle type game. Everybody in that group had to stand on a small rectangle tarp. Without anybody touching the grass, the group had to completely turn the tarp over while maneuvering the tarp. Imagine 9 boys ages 12-18 five of these boys are older and pretty large guys, the rest are average size, standing on this small tarp trying to flip this thing over. I thought there is NO way this is happening, it's physically possible. Well after having to restart 2 times for touching the grass, they finally figured out a way. Much to my surprise I looked over at one point and the four big guys each had one of the smaller guys on their backs while one other guy was directing/holding them up and moving the tarp. It took awhile and there was lots of laughing/nervous yelling as they worked, but they did it!! Crazy. They were so good.

Well this is long. I didn't take much/any pics so I'll have to see if I can get some. Overall it was very successful. An entire years worth of planning what the YOUTH wanted to do, and delegating tasks to the youth to each pick an activity or two to be completely in charge of. It was great.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

#

are you on intsagram? oh me too. Let's be friends. Although I have no idea what my user name is, sooooo.

There are these things that I never really understood until just a couple weeks ago these: #.

I don't twit or tweet and I think it originated there, I have no idea. But the point of the # is to link to a specific category that relates to your pictures. I don't always do this but it is kind of fun. Example: if you take a picture of a sunset you can hash tag your picture with words like #sunset #beach #orange #pink, etc etc....kind of silly but it's really fun to make up your own hashtags, which I seem to do often. It's fun though when you think you are making one up then you click on it and see other people who have used the same hashtag. Anyone can make a hashtag that says anything. The point of hashtags is to combine photos of similar things into one big group so others can see your pictures.

This brings me to the point of this post. I had (what I think is) a REALLLLLY good idea. Pretty much everyone now days has a smart phone, instagram just recently became available on Droid phones too. If you're having a party, wedding, event, etc....you can create your own #hashtag that would be specific to your event, tell everyone to take pictures with their phones and hashtag their photos to that events hashtag name. It would need to be pretty specific to make sure others aren't using that hashtag. So much better than the old fashioned disposable cameras, does anyone even develop film anymore?
(side note, I LOVE film and developed my own photos when I was in High School, like a boss.)

So that's my grand idea. Say your cousin Billy Bob Zoosman was getting married, your hashtag could be #zoosmanwedding2012 and everyone could put that tag on their pictures of his wedding and they would all show up in one place!! Fun.

Just in case you wanted to see some photos here are a couple collages of just a fraction of my instagram photos, I have almost 800 BTW :) I've been using it for several years and last year I took at least one photo everyday with it for my project 365. Cut me some slack. PS I found my username it's @aduhhp makes sense.




k I obviously love sunsets/sunrises/bridges/clouds/mountains/temples/pink 80's jackets. GOSH Tina, go eat your dinner.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Eve

I am obsessed. Like I can't stop thinking about it ever obsessed. Maybe a month or two ago for FHE we spent a few weeks going through the Proclamation to the Family. We started out thinking we would get it done that first night. Well apparently we are either theologians or just dense. It ended up taking us like 4 weeks to get through it. Every paragraph turned into a big discussion and several books were brought out and looked at to 'prove' our points about certain subjects. The paragraphs that I found the most interesting are  #'s 3-4. I really love to learn about the Plan of Salvation (or Happiness). I've drawn many versions of it for various reasons and studied it a lot. When the Proclamation to the Family mentions Adam and Eve we got into a big discussion about the difference between a Transgression and a Sin.

It seems like Eve gets a bad rap from people now days. There is so much misinterpreted and misunderstood. We came to the conclusion that Eve had to follow the 'higher law' which was to multiply and replenish the earth (and here we are!!). So eating the 'forbidden' fruit wasn't a sin, just a transgression. I could go on....and on....and on......annnnnnd onnnnn (name that song). But I won't.

Anyways last Thursday night I picked up a book off the shelf that my mom had taken down during out discussion about Adam and Eve several weeks ago. I kept seeing it in really random places, like down by the laundry room, random shelves, counter, bookcase, etc....somehow it ended up back where it belonged and I started reading it. Then I realized that I'd need a highlighter, pen, paper, sticky notes, etc....It's one of the best books I've ever read. It's called, Eve and the Choice Made in Eden. It makes the Garden of Eden saga make so much sense. It clearly lays out where man is messing up the story. It explains words and phrases that are misinterpreted all the time and are thought to be very negative, when in fact, they are not. Eve wasn't dumb, she didn't just happen to grab the fruit and say what the heck, this looks good. It lays out the entire process in easy to understand ways.

Needless to say, whenever I have a free minute, I am reading. I've reread so many pages already and I'm using this book and the story in Genesis/Moses/Abraham to create 'Topic' journal pages. I'm defining words, writing my own thoughts and recording scriptures I like. It's really turning in to something much longer than I first anticipated. I have like 6 pages filled out already and the other day I spent 45 minutes defining the word, 'transgress' and today I spent 25 minutes studying the symbolism behind the word 'nakedness'. I keep getting excited to pick the book back up to continue reading. At this rate I might be done by next month :).

Well, I'll end it there, I'm just enjoying this book and recommend it to everyone. 

Monday, September 3, 2012

The Trek Home

I never finished my 'driving home from Utah saga'.

So I was driving with the Hoyts instead of flying home like I had originally planned. We planned on leaving between 6-7am, but there was a large house that needed some packing and cleaning so we ended up leaving around 9:30ish. The car was a big puzzle to pack everything in, it was difficult, but we did it :).

We drove for about 2 hours and we were in somewhere(nowheres)ville Idaho. We stopped at a rest stop to use the facilities. Once everyone was back in the car, driver David turned the key over to start the car. Click. Tried again. Click. Stay calm, try again, and again, and once more to make sure. Nope that car was not starting. We all said a bunch of prayers and crossed all our fingers. Hailey and I checked all the inside stuff to make sure it was in working order (seatbelts, mirrors, door handles, cupholders, etc.....) it was really just to distract us while David and his mom found some guys to help us out. There ended up being 4-5 guys who tried to come to our rescue. To no avail. That thing was not budging.

A tow truck was called, they are an hour and a half away so we laid out the one blanket we had and grabbed out a box that had some food in it and made ourselves a little picnic on the side of the freeway. Cute. People looked at us like what in the world are they doing. We also tried to take naps and fed the birds crust from the bread we were eating. Luckily there was a breeze otherwise it would have been a HOT wait.

Finally we see a small little tow truck pull in, to haul a huge suburban 1.5 hours down the freeway. Alright.

(I have pictures of this whole thing but my phone is charging and I am much to lazy after playing on the mountain today to get it).

We put the car in neutral and pushed it back so it could be loaded onto the truck bed. David did a good job helping the guy load it up. I had to climb in the car while it was on an incline to get in the passenger seat. Because you know, little tow trucks only have room in the cab for 2 people. Guess what that means?

We got to pretend we were in a parade and drive in the suburban on top of the tow truck flat bed. It was the most odd, exhilarating, terrifying, hysterical moment of my life. It felt like we were tipping the entire time and it was SOOOOO hot in that darn car and rolling the windows down made it really loud and windy so we only had them open for a bit. I might have had to implement lamase breathing into our ride. 1.5 hours is a LONG time on bumpy, uneven roads. I was looking forward to waving at cars and trucks as we passed but we maybe saw like 14 cars/trucks and only one guy saw me wave.

Is that even legal? I would think not.....but it was an experience.

We sat at the little podunk car shop for maybe 4-5 hours while they found the part they needed and fixed it. We were nervous because we could hear them working on it and after they installed the part, it still didn't turn on. About an hour later they finally got it to work thank goodness. We tried not to stop at rest stops after that.

We ended up driving like a quarter way home that day. We found a hotel that was way nicer than the other motels we were seeing in the middle of nowhere town. There was a car show and the hotel was FULL as we walked in to see if there were rooms available, the lady on the phone said she would cancel the reservation, turns out she just cancelled 2 rooms for that night, the ONLY 2 rooms in the entire building that were free. Score.

It was nice to lay down in air conditioning. Hailey and I shared a room and talked and slept.

The next morning I washed my hair with lotion. That felt nice......

Then we were on the road again. We stopped at Miners Diner for lunch which apparently is the hip place to eat. It was pretty dang good. We felt sick afterwards though SO SO full.

We finally made it home around 6pm Saturday, after leaving at 9:30am Friday. I would have been home at 1pm Friday if I had flown hahahaha. Hailey kept saying, you'd be sitting on your couch right now. I'll be honest, that thought crossed my mind several times.

It was an adventure.

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