“Laugh as much as you breathe and love as long as you live.”

Is it crazy that I LOVE my classes?! I haven't taken any tests yet and that may change things but I really am learning tons of great information that I find super interesting. And the work load is not overwhelming. I currently have time for socializing, homework, church and exercise. Hopefully that can continue throughout the term, but I am currently loving my life. I have great friends and an awesome family. I laugh so much at all the great things that happen in life. Life is so happy. I belong to the true church and I get to go to college! Life is SO AWESOME, right?

"And I, God, created man in mine own image" - Moses 2:27

This semester I am taking Humanities. I was not oober excited to take this class, but my teacher seems SO great. We already had such a great lesson on the Sistine Chapel and Michelangelo's incredible paintings therein.  So one of my personal favorites that we talked about was "The Creation of Adam" (also called "The Creation of Man"). Michelangelo, while painting the Sistine Chapel, disappeared for a while. The Pope had him brought back to finish his job. When he came back, his style was drastically changed and he painted the great masterpiece of "The Creation of Adam." This painting is so interesting because it goes against SO much of Catholicism. But interestingly, much of it matches that of the doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Here is the picture:





As you can see, Heavenly Father (God) is pictured on the right. Heavenly Father has a body (which is SO opposing the doctrine of Catholicism). Heavenly Father also has Christ as a child underneath His arm. This is contrary to Catholicism in that it shows that we are all children of Heavenly Father and that we have the potential to divinity. It also shows that Heavenly Father and Christ are two separate beings. It makes you wonder what kind of spiritual experiences Michelangelo must have had when he disappeared for a bit. This is just the surface of this painting! CRAZY, huh? It just goes to show that the truth is there for those that are looking for it. I already love all the great things I am learning. It looks like it will be a challenging class but a fun and informative one. I can't wait. I love how at BYU we have the great opportunity of uniting both spiritual and secular knowledge into a great atmosphere of well rounded learning.

“There is more to life than increasing its speed.” - Ghandi

So this last weekend I was able to go home to Las Vegas and just have fun. I didn’t have to worry about homework or tests or quizzes. It was very refreshing and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I got to hang out with Sara (one of my best friends) for her graduation party. Then the next day I ran into tons of people I knew! One of which was Jade Mack, my best friend all through elementary and middle school! It was so great to catch up with her. Then later that night Julianne (one of my best friends mentioned in a post before) and I got to go on a “blast to the past.” We went up to where we went to seminary, to our high school that overlooks the city, to Wal-Mart (where we used to get prank supplies) and then we did a prank. It was so fun!

 

Not only did I do all of that, I also got to spend lots of time with my family. It was GREAT! We played tennis, swam, saw a movie together and ate together. Needless to say it was a much needed break and I know feel refreshed and ready to take on this term.

Speaking of this term, today was my first day of classes. I only had my Nutrition class today. It seems really interesting! Though it is a lot of memorization, I am thinking it should be a bit easier than the classes I have taken considering this is a 100 level class and I have been taking 300 level classes. I have my Humanities class tomorrow, and I am hoping it will also be fun. But I am really looking forward to my Nutrition class and making my lifestyle healthier! So here is to a new semester and making it a great one. I got this!

"The healthiest response to life is joy" - Deepak Chopra

Life is great. That is honestly all I can say. Yesterday I got to have a mini roommate reunion. It was SO fun. We went to J Dawgs, ate ice cream from the Creamery on Ninth and, of course, watched our personal favorite "She's the Man." We were laughing, quoting and talking together like we hadn't been apart for the month and a half that we have been. It has been so great!

Times like those make me remember how blessed I am. I am so blessed! I am blessed to always have great roommates. I am blessed with the best influences someone could ask for. I am blessed with a job. I am blessed with the opportunity to attend a great school. I am blessed with the ability to be in the true church. I am blessed to be around beautiful nature. I am blessed to be near a temple. In the end, there is no doubt in my mind that my Heavenly Father loves me because He has blessed me SOOOOOOOOOOOOO much!!

Summer Term??!!

So this is the last week of Spring term.... kinda crazy! I feel like it went by so fast. So far this term has been so eventful. I traveled to Reno, Wyoming, Vegas, went into California and Arizona a few times too. Ya all within like 6 weeks. I am crazy, I know. I also met tons of new people in my new ward. And they are great!! I also practically owned a quote wall (i.e. I am sadly the main contributor to the quote wall). I also probably have more bruises than ever that I have no idea where they came from. I still blame my roommate for beating me in my sleep. I have also injured my head more than normal. Practically every weekend my poor noggin takes a beatin'.

I also set off the fire alarm while cooking, gave a talk in church, wrote about 10 papers, donated 10 inches of hair to Locks of Love, didn't miss a single class, volunteered over 15 hours and didn't take a single day off of work. The lack of sleep is starting to become the norm. My schedule is like death but I love every second of it. I hope to keep volunteering at the Utah State Hospital this next term, only in the Physical Therapy. I can't believe that Summer Term is almost here but I wouldn't trade anything for this great time I have been having!!! Life is GREAT!  Peace, love and happiness!

< Donating my hair!         


Las Vegas (home sweet home)>

“The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.”

My supervisor at work yesterday was such a great example to me. She and I were talking about how there really are tons of tender mercies in our lives and we just need to recognize them. She also told me one of her favorite scriptures that I often overlook. It is 1^st Nephi 1:20 and it reads “…But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance.”

So a recent story that really illustrates the tender mercies of the Lord watching over my family has to do with my dad. In February, he had a large tear in his retina. When he went into the doctor, their main goal was to try and save his eye sight but they were unaware if they could. This resulted in surgery after surgery on my dad’s eye due to it continuing to tear in different places. With each surgery, my dad lost some of his eye sight. I remember the despair I felt during this time. I just wanted to be home, helping my family. I wanted to have this happen to me instead of my dad. I was worried about the implications of my dad missing work and the possibility of him losing his job. I remember just fasting and praying that my dad would be able to keep his eye sight. I remember those nights that I would cry just begging my Heavenly Father to let my dad keep his eye sight. I am happy to say that after about 7 eye surgeries, my dad still has most of his eye sight. Though he doesn’t have much peripheral vision, he can still see. Yet this is not where the tender mercy stops. Just two months before this happened to my dad, my old young womens leader had a tear in her eye’s retina. She had described the experience and symptoms to me and I had talked to my parents about it. If this had not happened, I don’t know if my dad would have seen a doctor due to his general dislike of doctor visits. Another tender mercy was that my dad was able to keep his job. Even with all the time he had to miss, his employers still kept him which is a miracle in and of itself.

I am so thankful for all the tender mercies that constantly surround my family. From my dad’s eye sight, to my mom’s life being saved by a couple of inches in a car accident to my little brother’s life being spared during his seizures. Many may comment on my families lack of luck due to all our physical problems, but really it is the abundance of luck, or tender mercies, that the Lord has graciously given to us.

“Music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul” - Plato

So I really SHOULD be doing homework. But I just have to talk about one of my secret obsessions... classical music. When homework is out of hand or I feel there is a lot of work to be done, classical music always soothes my turbulent soul. When I don't know what to do or how I am going to get through something, some how listening to classical music always gets me through.


So since I play the cello, I am sure you know what type of classical music is my favorite... YES! You got it- those that exemplify the amazing-ness of the cello. So one of my favorite modern cellists is Steven Sharp Nelson. His albums "Tender Mercies" and "Sacred Cello" are indescribable. So he also does a lot of duets with the great Jon Schmidt, and I LOVE them. So I am including them. The first one is probably the most peaceful, the others are just FUN. Please listen and enjoy. You may not like classical music but listen to each for like a minute and you may fall in love with this cellist like I have. Enjoy:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVRcbc5_WoI


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXtVBJDPs6k


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR94NDIfGmA


Ya for cello parts! They are such a great pair. Music has always had such a great impact on my mood, so if you ever need to just feel at peace I highly recommend classical music. And for those of you that just LOVE the glorious sound of the cello listen to Bach's Unaccompanied Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major. This song is SO fun to play and just sounds great. Well I realize you may not all be die hard classical fans, but hey, I tried. 

“Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music"

“Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be”-Abraham Lincoln

The past month or so I have had the great opportunity to volunteer at the Utah State Hospital. It is a short term mental facility. It was such a great experience. Though I may have had a few scary times, it was all worth it. I am only going to be in my unit that I have been volunteering at for 4 hours a week for only a couple more weeks and then I am going to be volunteering as a Physical Therapist there. I learned to love all people. I learned to love the George that just follows you around to be your friend. I learned to love the Lee that is one of the most caring people I have ever met. I have learned to love the Karen who tries so hard, and even though she falls a lot, she keeps trying. I learned to love the Julie who just loves to sing and dance all the time. I am so glad that I had these people, along with many others, to help show me that just because you are classified as having a disorder doesn't mean you aren't a person They also taught me to appreciate the simple things in life such as being a good friend, having a heart of gold, the will to keep trying and just having fun whether it be by singing or dancing or whatever other means. So here is to all the George's, Lee's, Karen's and Julie's that are my friends, the most caring people I know, those that keep trying hard and those that just love to sing and dance through life. Keep up the hard work! Everyone is great and God loves us all more than we could ever imagine. Always remember that!