A Not So Big Sacrifice

OKay so I know that I just blogged but thats okay.

So my entire life people have always told me that by paying your tithing

you receive huge blessings. I know that I have received blessings,

but today may have been one of the greatest blessings

that I could have received.

The timing could not have been more perfect.

I have needed a job for what seems to be the longest time.

But finally, a job has come through!

Well at least I hope so.

I am going to be a nanny for a set of three year old twins!

Keenan and Kaiya.

Their nanny needs a replacement because she is having surgery,

so she can't work anymore.

So luckily for me, Sister Eads, knew about this a few weeks ago, and

so I called and she said that she would get back to me within about 24 hours,

and I never heard back from her..

SO I wasnt really holding my breath for it to go through,

just like every other job I have ever applied for.

[A little bit of background information, I have been saving my tithing for a while,

I've been either forgetting to pay it, or just waiting until I have more to pay.
BUT, I just kept getting the prompting to pay it,

so I paid it all on Sunday.

Like two months worth of babysitting,

dog sitting, allowance, etc.

and so I paid it all on Sunday.]

So anyways, I know that I got this opportunity for this job because I paid my tithing.

Heavenly Father was testing me.

By sacrificing only 10% of my income,

I will be blessed.

10% really has never seemed that much. I have never wished I didnt.

I have always received blessings from Heavenly Father, and suddenly..
10% doesnt seem like so much..

But my testimony of tithing has grown so much from this experience,

I know that by giving only a little bit,

my Heavenly Father just gives me more in return.

I am grateful for the law of tithing in my life.

Even if this job doesnt go through, I know that I am always blessed for paying my tithing.

Pray that this goes through. I really need the job.

Examples

I am so grateful for the examples in my life.

My mom and Dad are really great.

Yesterday we walked into church and these four guys were sitting on our row,

at first me and Emily were like,

"Man. Too bad none of them are cute."

But man, were we wrong.

Haha so right after sacrament meeting, one of them turned around and was like

"Who was singing alto??"

And I was like "I was"

and he was like "That was really amazing"

and I was like "Oh thanks,"

haha keep in mind that we were pretty sure that they were all returned missionaries.

So anyways we knew they were just traveling because Bishop Hart had talked to them before

sacrament meeting had started and they travel for work,

so they were just here for a few days.

Anyways, so after the one turned around, my dad stood up

and was like "So you guys are traveling huh?"

He got talking to them about what they do for work.

So then my dad said "Well do you guys wanna come over for dinner tonight??"

Emily and I looked at each other like "what??"

But anyways the night was alot of fun, and those guys were awesome.

But I'm really grateful for the examples of my parents.

For helping people around us, and always inviting others into our home for dinner,

or game nights or movies, etc.

I'm really greatful for their examples in my life. :)



Oh Remember, Remember

Today was the last day of seminary and as we were wrappin things up,

Brother Goss (only the greatest teacher on earth). He explained that in his opinion, Alzheimer's was one of the worst ways to past away. He then went on to talk about spiritual Alzheimer's, 

he encouraged us to remember throughout the summer what we have learned this year, 

and to apply it to our lives and to never forget.

So I thought I could reflect alittle bit about a few things i've learned.

The book of Job: Every cloud has a silver lining.

Job lost everything. His animals, and his kids,

and never once did he blame or turn away from God.

To apply this to our lives, we were all given a sticky note.

And on our sticky note we had to write our "Job" trial.

Once we were done writing, we were asked to put our sticky notes up on one of the walls.

Then we walked around the room reading some of the sticky notes,

and let me tell you.

I was so overcome with the Spirit as I walked around,

and read others trials, I realized just how truely blessed I am.

Suddenly my trials didn't seem so bad.

I feel like we have these reminders alot.. But I feel like we all need them,

to remind us that we don't have it so hard,

and sometimes it's kind of nice to have that little kick in the butt, to remind us to

"mourn with those who mourn, and comfort those who stand in need of comfort".

So we all left seminary that day, pretty depressed actually,

but our next day in seminary, we continued with Job.

We were each given a picture of Christ, in which we all taped over our trials.

It was to symbolize Christ is always there through our trials.

So think about some of your "Sticky note" trials and remember that Christ will always be at the center of them. 

It was a really cool lesson.

Another lesson I really liked, probably one of my favorties was:

Trust in the Lord in Every Footstep.

We were talking about how our faith is always on trial throughout our life. But how we need to put our trust in the Lord in every footstep. This was the last lesson we had before Spring Break,

and so we were each given a penny because

 on every single penny it says "In God We Trust".

So we were challenged to keep the penny's in our shoes until the Monday after Spring Break.

So that in every step I took, I would feel the penny in my shoe and remember that

I TRUST IN THE LORD IN EVERY FOOTSTEP.

I still have my penny, it is a 1980 penny and sometimes I still put it in my shoe if I remember.

Over Spring Break, Krista, Emly, Allison, and went to Manitou Springs for the day,

and after we went to lunch, we went around the corner and found this!

It was awesome! So we took a picture and gave it to our seminary teacher Brother Goss.

It was totally awesome. :)

Another really really great lesson was:

"But If Not"

Brother Goss started the lesson off by asking us what are three difficult words for us to say,

just a few that were thrown out were

I love you

I am Sorry

Please forgive me

I forgive you

I miss you

But Brother Goss said,

But If Not.

And he went on to explain that we always pray to our Heavenly Father asking him for things,

but we often forget to say "but if not"

He gave the example of a student preparing for a test, asking that he/she will pass it.

But thats all they say.

He explained that having "but if not" faith is saying but if not.

Im not sure how to explain it. Haha - cause maybe passing that test is not the Lords will.

So when we pray we need to say
"but if not, then help me to cope with it patiently."

Or something along those lines.

And let me tell you, those three little words are really hard to say

But the Lord has a plan. He can see the whole picture.

So I really liked that lesson because it was the reminder that we all need "but if not" faith.

So even though there are so many other really great lessons from this past year of seminary,

I just wanted to bring up a few. So as our lives are always moving forward,

let us always remember what we have learned each Sunday at church,

and at conferences, and seminary, etc.

These programs are inspired from God, and I am grateful for them.

So let us never forget to remember. :)

Taking a step back

Okay so I obviously haven't posted anything in a while, but instead of trying to get all caught up i'm just going to    talk about whats going on now. 

First off, I got into the fall play!! It's called "Almost, Maine" and I play the role of Marvalyn. I am so excited. After being involved in theater for so long, I can't imagine not be. I absolutely love it. Of course, I am extremely grateful to my awesome theater teacher Mrs. Keating. I absolutely love her. She is always to loving and caring towards me and always knows the right thing to say. Also, theater has really helped me come out of my shell and comfort zone. People always tell me that I am so outgoing and am not afraid of talking to people, but the truth is, before theater, I was scared out of my mind to not only talk to others I didn't already know, but especially what they thought of me. Joining theater has helped me with stage presence, stepping out of my comfort zone and of course to make new friends. I have so many great friends that I know really will always have my back and I am so grateful for that. Auditioning for the play was extremely out of my comfort zone. Yes, I have done the musicals but I did them because I felt stronger ins singing than I did in acting, but my friends and Mrs. Keating convinced me to audition and I am so grateful I did! ALSO. It gets better! Yesterday, Mrs. Keating told me that I can go to Thescon in the Fall!! EEK! I am so excited! Hopefully next year I will also be inducted to the national thespian society.

Happy Graduation Season!

The school year is coming to an end, and great friends are graduating.

This time of year is extremely bittersweet, as two of my absolute best friends in the entire

world graduated today from Pine Creek High School.

So congratulations to Krista Reed and Emily Downing!! I am so proud of you and all that you have accomplished in the last four years. I am so grateful for our friendship and I love you both so so so much!!

Although its sad, part of me is just ready for it all to be over because that would mean that..

I AM A SENIOR!!! 

Can I get a WOOWOO?!?!

I thought this year would never come!! But it has, and after a short summer I will begin the last leg of High School. My last year of free, public education. 

As excited as I am, I am feeling so overwhelmed. Everything is coming so fast. 

It's a little scary, to think that at this time next year, I will be packing my things for college. 

This is also very bittersweet.

I feel like I ahve been complaining about how much I hate high school for the past three years and now that its my last year, I dont want it to end! I have decided that I actually love going to school everyday (mainly because I have gotten so involved, again, thanks to theater). I just wish it wasn't so early... BUT next year school doesn't start until 7:45 in the morning. It is going to be fantastic.

If there has been anything that I have learned over the past few months, 

it has definitely been that I am so blessed.

 Even in the hussle and bussle of life. I have learned to just take a step back and enjoy the little things.

 To seek out the positive. And I have realized that it has blessed my life immensely. I am so grateful for a loving and merciful Heavenly Father in Heaven who loves me unconditionally. 

Another little life lesson I have learned is make every second count. Act as if every moment you have is the last. Make the best of the time you have with those you care about. Have fun and just enjoy the time that you do have. And remember that it's never goodbye, its just see you soon. :)

So with all this in mind, I have realized that I am just really happy, with who I am
and where I am at in my life. :)

So here's to my last summer of high school,

sleeping in,

memories made with best friends,

the barbecues,

the crazy adventures

soaking in the warm sunny days,

driving with the windows down,

the flip flop tan lines,

the starry nights,

So here's to the SUMMER OF OUR LIVES <3 <3 <3

Your never fully dressed without a SMILE

Can you believe that it has been a month tomorrow since I have last posted?

On Friday (the 9th) Sister Elaine S. Dalton came and visited Colordao Springs!

Friday Night, there was a fireside for the Young Women. It was broadcasted to

a few other buildings, but I just feel so blessed to have been able to meet her. 

She was at the Stake Center until 11:00 that night, so hug and meet those that wanted to meet her.

When she gave me a hug, I could feel her love for me, as well as the Savior's love for me.

I got out of there by like 9:30, luckily. 

But what an incredible woman she is. Seriously she is amazing.

She truely loves us young women.

She is beautiful and strong and such an example to us as individuals and as a whole.

The light of the Spirit literally shines from her.

A few things she talked about that I really liked:

• Our theme is "Arise and Shine Forth", and she talked about how she is continuously asked why this theme is being repeated for a second time. She says that she always answers by telling the one who asks, that she believes in President Monson and knows that he prays about it. It is what the Lord wants, because he knows what time were in and what we face, and we really do need to "Arise and Shine Forth". 
• She asked us, why we think the people in Alma 13 were asked to have not just faith but EXCEEDING faith, even though they were in the presence of Christ and our Father. We furthered in the conversation, and came up with a few answers. Go read Alma 13 and ask yourself that same question and see what you come up with.

Anticipation

 Sometime I think I have a serious problem with anticipating things.

Just to name a few..

- High School Graduation

- Getting Married/ having kids

-Summer

- Movie releases

- Sometimes even school projects. (But let me explain this one so my mom doesn't go off

about why I procrastinate them if i'm excited about them. I procrastinate them because

the only reason why I am excited about them in the first place

is because I have a grand plan about all the ways 

that I could make the project really awesome. But the key word is GRAND.

My grand plans for projects are generally to difficult to do them. Or I simply loose interest. Ha ha)

- Vacations

- Results of some sort (Choir, Musical, jobs, etc)

- Holidays such as mine, a friend, or a loved one's birthday, Christmas, etc.

- And believe it or not, mom and dad, occasionally books

So what I think I am trying to get at, is that we all anticipate things. It comes naturally,

and is pretty difficult not to.

 So, currently some things are coming up in my life, 

that I am definitely anticipating!

Just like it says above,

HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION! Now don't get me wrong, I have had plenty

of great times in high school, like dances, and choir, and theatre, etc.

BUT I have been going to the same school since 6th grade.

With the same people.

It's gotten pretty old, especially having the background of a military brat,

moving every few years or so.

Had my parents let me, I probably would have switched on over

to Pine Creek High School where Carissa graduated from.

Although I say that, and at the same time, I think of all the memories that I have

at DCC. It's a hard thing to think about. Because I do have great friends and have been blessed with some pretty great opportunities while at DCC.

Which leads me to my next anticipation vacation.

Four days from now, I will be in New York City.

Where I will have the opportunity to sing in Carnegie Hall with Chamber Choir.

And let me tell ya! I. AM. STOKED!

We have all been looking forward to this for so long, 

that it almost seems so surreal that it is finally here. It's almost like it feels even farther away.

We even made T-shirts to wear on our travel days! :)

It's great because even though the pretty much all say the same thing, 

they are all so different.

Everyday since we've had 10 days left we have counted down on our fingers,

cause Sarah realized we had 10 fingers! Which is just a hilarious joke we have with her now.

So my best friend Anna sent this one to each of us.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA I about died laughing so hard!!

FOUR DAYS!! :)

I am currently reading the Hunger Games, 

I have like maybe 80 pages left of the second book, Catching Fire.

I definitely would recommend these books. 

I have never felt so many emotions while reading one book.

Suzanne Collins is a fantastic writer!

Hunger Games the movie comes out on March 23, 2012.

I want to go at midnight SO badly! 

This was the first trailer that came out.

And this is the second one, that I just found.

Doesn't it look fantastic?

OH and the music is phenomenal!

Read the books, they are so worth it!!

I'll have to let you know if I make it to the midnight showing or not. Ha ha

Another thing I frequently anticipate are results.

Of any kind really.

I waited to find out that I am in the spring musical.

We are doing Oklahoma. It is going to be a great show!

And even though I am just an extra, I still think it's gonna be a lot of fun.

In the fall, I auditioned for The Colorado Allstate Honor Choirs,

which I clearly didn't get into. But hopefully my senior year I will!

This was my score card.

I didn't do so hot overall but i got a 47 on my solo!!

I am so proud of myself for that. The audition is out of a 100 points and I got 66 total. Ha ha. 

I completely blanked on my intervals because of nerves.

But I am just bad at sight singing. Ha ha I am not gonna hide it. Ha ha.

But its finally starting to click with me and I am finally starting to understand,

which I am really grateful for.

I had two goals going into the audition. 

1. Get an 85 or higher overall

and

2. Get a 45 or higher on my solo.

So even though I didnt get the 85, I got the 45 and I am so proud

 of that score because I worked so hard on it.

So now it's time to focus on the hard stuff. 

Bummer. Ha ha.

Also coming up towards the beginning of March are auditions for

next years choirs at school.

We have:

Men's and Womens Choirs (Non-Audition)
Stormsingers (Audition Show Choir)
Prism (Audition Acappella)
Chambers (Audition Large Group)
and coming next year, an audition Jazz Acappella choir!
Don't worry though, i'll let you know which ones I get into.
Right now, I am currently in, Stormsingers and Chambers.
And that is ideally what I would like to be in again next year as well.

And of course I look forward to the Summer.
Hopefully I will have a job since I am only going to girls camp and probably Idaho.

I hope everybody has a great Valentines Day,
Even though I am not a huge fan of the day because I think that you should tell that special someone or whoever you love for that matter, that you love them every single day and not just once a year.

But Valentines Day just happens to be one of my best friend, Bailey's, 18th Birthday!
So Happy Birthday Bailey! It was so fun to celebrate with you last night! I love you girl! :)

Have a great week everybody! :)

Where has the time gone?

The days really are going by so fast!

Juust as a fair warning, this is going to be a very long post!

So my parents headed to Utah on January 21, and I headed to Krista's.

I stayed at krista's for 10 days, 

it was a blast, and im so grateful for their hospitality.

While staying at her house,

we celebrated Mama Reed's Birthday!

She turned 29 again.

Thanks for letting me celebrate with you Mama Reed!

We also celebrate Allison's 17th Birthday.

 Allison was looking out the window, because she suspected the surprise!

I mean really, who does that? Haha

But we still had a lot of fun!

 Her yummy cake that we brought her,

We ended the night in the hot tub,

followed by a movie called,

Midnight in Paris.

If you were to ask me, i would say

don't watch it!! 

It was SO boring!

Krista, Shyloh, and I all fell asleep,

and I don't fall asleep watching movies.

It's a bummer though because the preview made it look

really cute! But its not.

Oh, also on the morning of the 21st,

Krista, Shyloh, Sarah, and I 

all went to a spinning class up on base.

And it was much more fun the second time around,

because my bones weren't sore afterwards!

After the class, we decided to go grab some breakfast at

one my favorite places ever,

CHICK FIL A :)

Thanks for coming girls! It was so much fun.

Which also reminds me,

after breakfast we went to Walmart just up the road, 

and bought a window marker,

planning on decorating Allison's car

because she was at musical rehearsal 

all day.

So we buy the marker,

ask Matt if he knew if Allison drove to to school or not,

so you know what he does? 

He just asks her. 

Like its no big deal.

ha ha so once again, Allison was just looking out the front windows of the school

when we drove up.

We tried to cover up what we were doing, buut who knows how well that woked.

A few days later, one of my favorite people and cousins

in the entire world entered the MTC on January 25, 2012.

Ethan will be serving a two year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ 

of Latter-Day Saints in Benin, Africa.

I am so beyond happy for him! :)

So good luck Ethan!

I sure do love ya! 

To see what Ethan is up to on the mish,

you can read his blog which are letters he sends to him mom,

and she them puts them up on the blog for 

everyone to read.

http://togotobenin.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

That following weekend,

The Fierce-some four performed in the school's talent show,

Thundapalooza.

We sang in an a cappella quartet and sang

our own arranged medley of 

Ain't no mountain high enough and Where you lead

It was so much fun, and we did great!

This is what you get when we spend 2-3 hours a day

in a practice room everyday after school.

But we get the work done, and pull through successfully :)

I think we might get a few more songs down and see if we can

perform them at our next choir concert.

I don't know though, we will just have to wait and see what happens.

The paper chain hanging up behind in the last picture,

is the countdown until we leave for NEW YORK CITY!!

NBD. But we go to New York in 13 days!

These three fabulous girls are my roommates, and I seriously cannot wait,

as it is going to be the trip of a lifetime for sure!

 We are going to New York to sing in Carnegie Hall.

I mean, how many people can say that they have sung in Carnegie Hall??

While there, we will definitely be doing our fair share of sightseeing! 

We are going to the Statue of Liberty, the 9/11 Memorial, and the Metropolitan Opera

for a backstage tour, and of course going to see A musical on Broadway, just to name a few.

13 DAYS, AND OUR CONCERT IS SOLD OUT.

NBD.

On another exciting note,

CARISSA IS PREGNANT!!!

She is due on August 25, 2012.

I am so beyond happy for her!
(I am secretly hoping its a girl!)

So congrats Carissa and Kyle to starting your cute little family!

I can't wait to meet that precious little child of God. <3

Going back to the weekend of the talent show,

Krista, Bailey, Emily, and I all had a slumbover at Krista's house and

 we even built a fort like we did when we were all kids! 

It was so much fun.

 It was so much fun to hand out with these girls!

We thumb tacked all the sheets to the ceiling. Haha

I'd say that we earn creativity points!

Even though it looks kind of ghetto.. 

it was fun to make we thought it was awesome!

So at DCC, as a sophomore, you have to do this thing called a Personal Project.

(I didn't end up doing one.. ha ha)

But at the beginning of my Sophomore year in high school,

they introduced us to what a personal project is and all the fun stuff. 

I really wanted to do a quilt, about me. That may sound conceded,

but i didn't do it for that. I did it almost as a genealogy project (because I think everyone knows that I am horrible at keeping a blog!). That way my posterity can see

who I was, what some of my interests were, and what was important to me while i was in high school.

Over a year later,

I am still not finished. Here is my rough plan of what I want it to look like:

- There are 9 squares

- Inbetween each square, my background are music notes

- Each square (except for the pink) is a Young Woman Value (faith, divine nature, etc.)
- When i'm done, each square will say what value they are down the side. :)

 BUT i do have a few squares done!

This was the first square that I did.

I cross stitched the 2010 Mutral Theme, in the Fall of 2010.

This was the 2nd square that I did, in the Spring of 2011.

Each flower is a color of o Young Women Value, 

as well as a square on my quilt. :)

This was the third square that I did in the Spring of 2011.

I lettered in Choir my Freshman, Sophmore, and hopefully will my Junior, and Senior years.

Finally, I did this one yesterday on our snow day.

I painted the Salt Lake City Temple, I had a pattern that i found online,

but it was still fairly difficult.

I will keep you updated on what I get done. I think I am actually going to switch my

Choir letter to purple and do my handcart from the trek on the white.

I'm not quite sure though, just brain storming here.

And last but not least,

Yesterday we had a snow day!!

This was yesterday...

And this was today! 

 Sometimes it would be so nice to have a 4 or 5 car garage...

 Poor gladys..

 32" drifts!

Bahaha today we saw this guy just cross country skiing like it was an everyday thing!

It was so funny!

 There he goes!

Anyways, thats what has been happening on this side of the mountains!

I hope you are warm wherever are. 

OH! And enjoy the super bowl tomorrow! 

May the Patriots win! :)