The Right Things

Wow. This last week was such an eye opener.

A true blessing.

I had so many experiences that I was so overwhelmed with the Spirit.

On Tuesday night I had a meeting with the Bishop just because

he wanted to get to know me! I really feel at home in this ward...

I absolutely love my bishop, he cares so much just to get to know me.

I just feel like its more personal in this ward than in my last ward.

I had good hours at work and stayed pretty busy.

My workouts went great. I am starting to feel a difference. I feel like

im getting stronger. I havent felt this good in a long time.

Again, I am so grateful for all the support that I have recieved from so many people.

Sunday was just an incredible day.

It was a "great day to be alive" as we like to sing! Haha

On Sundays we have church at 11:00.

I actually slept through my alarm and woke up at 10:20!

But it was an absolutely beautiful day!! I was actually hot in my peacoat

while walking to church... and that made me really happy because it was such a nice day.

Haha - But anyways, Whitney, Amanda and I decided to all do roommate 

dinner, so I hurried and threw cilantro lime chicken into the crockpot and got ready for church!

[It was absolutely delicious by the way!]

I wasnt even late! [I love that it hardly takes any time to get somewhere in rexburg. haha]

However, we did walk in just before sacrament meeting started...Haha.

Sunday was our ward conference and the talks and lessons could not have been more

spot on. I am so grateful for that.

I have been called as our FHE groups "Ma" and a Relief Society Teacher.

I am so excited and grateful for the opportunity to serve. It is a real blessing and I am really excited for the semester!

Now onto my favorite part of the day! Our neighbor came over while we were eating dinner and

invited us to go sing at the retirement home here in town and it was an incredible experience!

A few of us talked to a lady and she got married when she was 19 and she only knew him for

six weeks!! Thats so crazy!! They were married for 57 years before he passed away. 

It was such a joy to listen to her tell us about her life. She was wearing bright blue fuzzy socks and a bright yellow sweater. She had a light just radiating from her. She is 89 years old and still has a great sense of humor. She sang along to every hymn that we sang and had a smile on her face the entire time.

Tears filled my eyes as my heart was overcome by the spirit as we sang.

It was an incredible experience and I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to sing to the elderly.

It meant so much to them. The group sings ever Sunday and I cant wait to go next week!

 I got the impression that keeping a journal is not just for my posterity but for me as well.

I think that it is a really important thing for us to go back and read through our journals and blogs

and things like that. After reading back through, it helped me realize that as I fill my life with the right things I am happier and the blessings in my life overflow.

New Years Resolutions

It seems like when the new year rolls around
everyone and their dogs go on diets.
I hear so many people say,
"I need to loose some weight!" or "Its my new years resolution to lose weight!"
And so they begin... But not very many people complete
their goal. (I am one of those people!)

So I got thinking about this common new years resolution
and decided to look up the actual definition of "Diet".
And this is what I found.

1. Food and drink regularly provided or consumed
2. Habitual Nourishment

So this got me thinking.
According to those two definitions,
aren't we all on diets?

Now, of course I am not a doctor
but all of this really got me thinking.
Because according to those definitions we are
all on diets.
So can you really decide to go on a diet
when you already have a diet?

I think a better way to put it
is making a new years resolution to
"maintain a well-balanced diet".

So with these thoughts in mind I decided I needed to make my own New Years Resolutions.
I have always been taught that when making a goal,
you should be smart about it.
Smart goals stand for:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Results-oriented
Time-bound

So after a lot of thought my New Years Resolutions are:

1. Keep a well-balanced diet
and
2. Train for a half marathon and run it

Do I sound crazy?
Sometimes I even think im crazy!
A half marathon is 13.1 miles.

There is a program called the
"Couch to Half Marathon"
It lays out exactly what your supposed to do each day of the week
for 14 weeks.
I decided since im not in school this semester to tell myself
that instead of being in school for 14 weeks,
I am going to train for 14 weeks.
Seems like a pretty fair trade off I think.
The Teton Dam Half marathon is on Saturday June 14, 2014.
I have 21 weeks left until the race.
The goal is that by the end of the 14 weeks, I can just keep in shape
and continue to run every day so that by
the time race day rolls around ill be ready for it!

Those are my new years resolutions.
Between the two,
if I work as hard as I can at both of them,
naturally I should lose some weight.
Instead of just having to goal to lose weight,
my resolutions have helped me to lay out a plan as far as how
I should go about losing weight.
My goals might seem a bit big, but they are smart.

In having a goal this big you cannot allow a single bit of negativity inside your head.
I've heard it said,
"Believe you can do it, and your halfway there."

I am grateful for the support from my family, friends, and my roommates!
And I ask that you would continue to support me as I train.
Some go running with me and some are supporting me from far away,
but I am grateful for it all!
So here's to the New Year!

I hope that everyone has made smart goals for this year
and I pray that you can be successful in whatever it is that you do!

First day of Training:

Quite the Learning Experience

I cant believe that 14 weeks has come and gone!

I feel like the days go by slow but the semester went by so fast.

Although it went by so fast,

let me be the first to say that it definitely wasnt easy.

Working and going to school made for a very busy
semester but I did better than I have ever done in school!
I know without a doubt that my Heavenly Father blessed me this
semester with time and the capacity to do so well.

Recently I read a quote that I love so much
and words it so perfectly:

"The difficulties which come to us present us with the
real test of our ability to endure. A fundamental question remains
to be answered by each of us: Shall I falter, or shall I finish?...
Your Heavenly Father loves you-each of you.
That love never changes. It is not influenced by your appearance,
by your possessions, or by the amount of money you have in your bank account.
It is simply there. It is there for you when you are sad or
happy, discouraged or hopeful. God's love is there for you whether
or not you feel you deserve love. It is simply always there."

I think that this knowledge helped me get through this semester.
My testimony has really grown in my knowledge of
his knowledge of my personally. There are
so many things that I would not have been able to do without his
hand. I witnessed so many miracles not only in my life but in the lives
of others around me. I am so grateful for that... I really needed it
especially like a month into school when I was having
a really hard time. He knows us and is gonna pick us up when we
stumble and fall. That brings so much comfort to my life as
this semester was quite the learning experience!

I am grateful for all of the support that I have
received from friends and family throughout
the entire semester!

I hope that everybody had a great Christmas filled with
the true reason for the season and
lots of laughter with your dear friends and family!

Faster Than the Blink of an Eye

HOLY COW.

I am so sad that by how long its been since I have blogged.

I guess I will just start at the very beginning...

[Prepare yourselves this is bound to be a pretty long post.]

First off,
I wrote this after my first week of school and I guess
I never finished the post and so here it is! Haha
I feel like it fits right in perfectly with the rest of this post:

Holy cow!

I cannot believe that my first week of school has already come and gone.

I have a heard time realizing that it went by so fast

because seriously, it was such a long week.

The first week of college is so overwhelming.

All of your teachers are throwing tests and quiz's and syllabus's

at you and you just dont even know where to begin.

My roommate Cassie and I decided to skip out on the whole I-team, get connected

thing but we did go to the talent show and I-night which was the weekend 

before school started and way fun.

After the talent show we hooked up with Allison and Kelsey

(two good friends from high school),

and Kelsey;'s roommate and decided to go grab some

froyo from Kiwi Loco.

 [Left to right: Stacey, Cassie, Allison, Kelsey and Kelsey's roommate]

We were so excited for the semester to start!

 The day before classes started,

Carissa, Kyle, Klyer, Mom, me and Scotty went on a walk around campus

to find each one of my classrooms.

It was definitely a huge help the next day

as I was so nervous for my first class!

If you were to tell me a year ago,

if my mom and I would share the same first day of college

I would have never believed you.

My mom has always wanted to go back to school

but it was just a matter of doing it.

And she did!

We both started college on Monday September 16, 2013

Pretty crazy if you as me,

but I really am so proud of my mama for deciding to go back to school

and so far shes been kickin butt,

so go her for working so hard and being successful!

It is a cool oppportunity to be able to be chasing my dreams along side my mom.

[Left to right: Kristen, Sydnee, Cassie, Stacey]

I was asked to speak on the second Sunday of the semester,

and Carissa, Kyle, Kyler, and Scotty

all came to hear me speak.

It meant alot to me actually.

I guess I could introduce you to all of my roommates!

Left to right: Cassie, Sammee, Ashley, Kristen, Stacey, and Sydnee

I am grateful for the chance to get to know these girls.

They have all affected my life and I sure have learned quite a bit

from them and for that I am grateful.

Sammee and Ashley are sophomores and the other four of us are all

first semester freshman.

There is a gas station called Horkley's,

(well thats what it used to be called but it was recently bought out

is now called Great Scott's)

and it's way cheap for us poor college students,

so we go quite a bit.

We especially love Thirsty Thursday's

when you can get a refill for only 60 cents if you have a plastic cup!

(We have lots of plastic cups.. Haha)

We love our snuggle time!

At the beginning of the semester,

we all made predictions for when we thought

our first dates in college would be and when

we though we thought we would all be engaged and married.

Its been a fun game throughout the entire semester!

We love October and we love pumpkins!

I havent has as much time to skype as I would like,

but when I do its been so great catching up with the best friends

I could possibly ask for.

I miss Sarah Nelson SO MUCH!!!

Dont worry, we were both physically and 

spiritually fed during General Conference,

and both were so great. 

I am so grateful to have living prophets who

lead and guide this church everyday.

It is an incredible blessing to be able to

hear from them every six months

There was a bee (and I am terrified of bees) in Kyle and Carissa's apartment during conference

everyone got really crazy all of a sudden so

I huddled under a blanket right in front of the TV

and everyone found it to be funny,

as they thought I was joking about hating bee's,

but I was terrified

but Scotty took a picture and

created this meme which

every one thought was quite funny,

and i'll admit it is pretty funny.

We love decorating and being crafty in apartment 113!

We made a super cute set of signs.

The grey chevron goes in the middle and it says,

"Home Sweet Home"

The idea was super cute,

but confession,

we still havent put them up on our living

room walls yet.. Haha

This was taken before we actually finished the signs, haha

Our craft night may or may not have turned into

us painting war paint on our faces

and attacking our FHE brothers apartment and

without realizing that it was after cerfew! Oops!

Haha anyways,

it was a way fun night that created great memories!

Sydnee and I have lots of little dates together,

she is so great!

In our apartment

we love to hashtag and

on of our favorites is

#our500poundlife

and you cant get a better description than this picture

haha - I love this girl!

Guess who is movin up to Rexburg in January!

Jentrie is! I am so excited to live near her again,

I think she is going to love it up here.

Well...maybe not the freezing cold weather,

but other than that she is going to love it!

I am so blessed to be here at BYUI,

and whenever I am feeling down,

it seems like its always the smallest things that remind me

of just how blessed I am.

I have fallen in love with the leaves during Rexburgs fall,

(No pun intended, haha)

I have found that I am obsessed with hot chocolate

as it is absolutely freezing in the Iceburg,

as I like to call it.

And I have made an awesome new friend this semester

through work, his name is Todd,

and he never fails to make my day with perfect timing

by sending little random texts.

He's a pretty great friend!

One of the last pictures I have before...

DYING my hair!!!!!!

I was seriously freaking out the entire time.

I really do love my natural hair color,

and so it was extremely nervous,

It was pretty spur of the moment,

I did it within a few days of thinking I wanted to do it,

but I really wanted to do it,

so I did it!

And I am so glad I did!

I decided to a

Ashley went with me, 

and was so patient as I freaked out the entire time!

We decided that it would be kind of fun to leave

the end product to be a surprise...

And Ashley took pictures as I turned around,

they are so funny! Haha

My FHE brother Colby snapchatted me during church when

he first saw my hair.. Haha he's the best!

It looks so dark in this picture!

Kyler now knows who Jesus is and its so stinkin cute!

Scotty and Sammee! :)

Allison and I get together about once a week to catch

up with each other

This girl is hilarious.

Laura is in my English class and im pretty

sure that the teacher hates us because we are constantly

laughing in that class. Im so glad that we got to know each other so well

throughout the course of the semester.

I got a a 92% on the hardest assignment ever!

(At least it felt like it.. haha)

I was the happiest girl in the world that day haha

I hate math homework so much!

My FHE brother Isaac,

he is the best! :)

I am so happy that I captured this face!

Kyler boy is getting so big!

He always keeps us laughin!

Im thinking this will be a wedding video picture... Haha

This world lost an incredible young man on October 10,

 my lifelong friend Andrew was serving the Lord 

as a full time missionary in California.

He and his companion were on their bikes and he was hit by a car.

I am so grateful to know that families can be together forever 

and that God has a plan for each and every one of us.

My thoughts and prayers go out to Maggie and the rest of his family,

and other friends that were close to him.

Andrew, may you be "encircled about eternally in the arms of His love." (2 Nephi 1:15) 

I Love You.

Sometimes we just need a little R&R

in the middle of all the hustle and bustle of the semester.

I am pretty proud of this edit,

I feel like its something you would find on Pinterest.. Haha

In case you were wondering, I live in Iceburg, Idaho.
It is so bitter cold ALL the time!

Brielle had her baby!

Brooklynn Jeanne Rucks

was born 7 pounds and 6 ounces at 4:05pm

November 2013

Isn't she so beautiful?!

Gramma and Brooklynn :)

Parker LOVES Brooklynn!

Haha I absolutely love these two pictures!

He is so stinkin cute!

Parker lovin on Brooklynn haha

She is SO cute!

So I was sitting in the kitchen one day and I got
this snapchat from Sammee and I dies laughing so hard.

Our cute little FHE family.
We love each other :)

I LOVE getting Emily's letters!

She is doing great and loving the work

in Russia.

Although I miss her more everyday I

know that she is doing incredible things in Russia

and the Lord is watching over her.

Again, I dont think she can get any cuter!
She is just so tiny and cant even get enough!
I cant wait to meet her!

 Setting up Kyle and Carissa's Christmas tree!

I still cant believe that I got see Anna Starnes!
Even though we only had a few hours to catch up,
it was so much fun!
Oh how I have missed this girl!
I am so happy that she is loving her life in California
(Even though I wish she was here with me!)

 When Carissa, Kyle, Kyler and I flew to Colorado
for Thanksgiving break
I got to board the plane from that little ramp thing!
That might seem lame but I have always wanted to do that!
It was so cool!

Once I got to Colorado,
I had planned to surprise my best friend
in the world Ashley!
Here's how it went down:
So I had an appointment at her mama's salon
the night that I got into town and she called Ashley and
was like hey can you bring me something from home?
It was completely random like a curling iron
and Denise just told her that she needed it for her client and so
Ashley came in and I turned around
in the chair and Ashley
FLIPPED!!!! 
Her reaction was even better than I had hoped it would be!
That day marked my five month mark since I moved
to Rexburg which means I hadn't seen her in five months!
That is such a long time!
It was so good to catch up with her.
I sure do miss her everyday up at school.

Within like 3 days of being home,
mine and Cassie's room exploded!
I promise that it hasnt been like this all semester
but Cassie was like
"You know finals are almost here when a bomb hits
your room and you dont even have time to care."
Hahaha
seriously though it was so bad. Haha
clean checks were the next day
so we had some serious cleaning to do that night.
And we got it all done that night which is crazy but we
managed to get it all done that night!

So this post definitely does not sum up the entire semester

but I think it gets pretty close!

I am so grateful for all of the opportunities I have had this semester.

I am grateful for everything that I have learned

not only in school but about life itself.

Heavenly Father has placed people and events in my life to learn

and grow from them.

And although it may not always be easy,

I am so comforted to know that I am not doing it alone.

I am grateful for my Heavenly Father and

all that he does for me because I know without a

doubt that I would not be able to do any of it without his

help every single day.

I cannot believe that in less than a week,

my first semester of college will be over...

It went by Faster than the blink of an eye.

What an incredible journey it has been.

So here's to finals week!

May the odds be ever in my favor... Haha