Floundering

My parents were given a challenge in church last week to share their favorite scripture with their family, so they emailed all of us and encouraged us to do the same.

 Lately i've been feeling like I'm not being my best self, at least when it comes to the gospel. There is so much more I should be doing to live the gospel to the best of my abilities. To truly live my life as Christ would. I know one way to start improving is doing better at scripture study. 

  I was reading a letter that I received from my old roommate who is on a mission right now, and she said some amazingly beautiful things to me, and then she told me to read D&C 78: 17-19. I think this is applicable to everyone at any stage of life, but I feel it is especially good for me now.
   

17 Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are ^alittle children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you;

 18 And ye cannot ^abear all things now; nevertheless, be of good^bcheer, for I will ^clead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the ^driches of ^eeternity are yours.  

19 And he who receiveth all things with ^athankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an ^bhundred fold, yea, more.

It is comforting to know that our Father in Heaven has so much in store for us, that we can't even realize. So while we "bear all things now" and endure the trials of this life with "good cheer", we will be blessed far more than we can imagine. I feel like sometimes I get stuck in a rut with the present, unable to clearly see the future, or see myself as God sees me. As his children, we are entitled to so many blessings and sometimes we just have to be patient and of good cheer until we receive all that the Father has to give us. 

   I've been spending this summer with an underlying terror of what is going to happen in the fall. Student teaching. I've spent the last four years preparing for it, but I don't feel prepared at all. Even if I spent the whole summer writing lesson plans, I don't think I would ever feel ready. I'm sure I'll feel better once it starts and I get a hang of the whole teaching thing, but until then I'm shakin' in my boots a little bit. 

  So with this uncertain future ahead of me and all the fun I get to have in the dating/social scene here at BYU, (catch that sarcasm?) I feel like a floundering fish out in the big ocean; a little lost and confused. I feel like I'm not living up to my full potential, and that I'm missing something....Though I'm not sure what it is exactly.

 I've decided I'm living a little selfishly and I think I would feel better and become a better person if I spent more time serving others and striving to keep the spirit more in my life. These things will help me live up to my full potential a little more and live more like a disciple of Christ should. 

   So just know this, no matter what trials you're going through and no matter how lost you may feel in the world right now, God is aware of your circumstances and he has amazing things in store for you. It may be this year, or may be far in the future. Nevertheless, "be of good cheer, and he will lead you along" this path of life until we reach that future where God will bless us with the riches of eternity.

Fun in Washington

So I decided that I needed to get back to Seattle sometime this summer, and since my freshman roommate was getting married in Washington over Memorial Day weekend, I decided that would be the perfect time. Mom planned a little trip to the San Juan Islands right when I got in, so that was pretty much the first thing I did when I got there (after eating a delicious lunch at Dick's Drive-in, of course). We drove up to Anacortes and took the ferry over to Friday Harbor, a delightful little town on San Juan Island. 

We found our little bed and breakfast, called the Argyle House, and then walked around the town a little bit. It was late in the afternoon and we had about an hour to kill before dinner, so we decided to get a little tour of the island by taking a round-trip ride on the bus to Roche Harbor and back. The island was so beautiful! We saw a Bald Eagle, which was cool and our bus driver was quite the character, so that was fun. Then we wanted to find a place to eat dinner and we heard word that this place called "The Backdoor Kitchen" was the best place in town. It was pretty much in the middle of nowhere, we would never have found it if this weird guy hadn't insisted that we go. And the food was AMAZING. It was a really small menu, but everything was incredibly delicious and gourmet. 

The next day was our whale watching day, and the weather was perfect. We spent the morning looking around in the shops and going to the whale museum, then took off on the boat to go hunt down a Humpback whale that had been sighted. I was super excited to see the whale, because I've lived in Seattle my whole life and never seen one! It was awesome. 

She did a cool little cartwheel for us.

After the whale watching tour we caught the 4:15 ferry and headed back to Bothell, narrowly missing the collapse of the bridge at Mount Vernon (by about 15 min! http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/24/us/washington-bridge-collapse) 

The next day I got up early to drive to Richland, WA for my old roommate's wedding. It was beautiful and so fun. Her reception was right by the Columbia River and the "send off" was out at the docks and they sailed away in a boat, while we lit lanterns and floated them out in the sky (just like Tangled). It was the most original and romantic send off I've ever seen. 

Columbia River Temple

At the reception, by the Columbia River

Lanterns!

All in all, it's been a good weekend. And happy Memorial Day! It looks like mom, dad, and I are planning on seeing a movie, shopping, and doing fun stuff. And then I'm back to Provo for the summer!

Life Goes On

I am a bad blogger. It has been so long! Woops.

Well, I guess there have been some significant things happening in my life. I finished my last real semester of BYU. But I'm not graduated, like everyone else my age. I just have my student teaching left, which I'm doing in the fall! I will be teaching at Kearns High School, in the Salt Lake area. The teacher there teaches child development and early childhood education, so that should be really interesting! I'm excited. And then for the last half of the semester I'm teaching at Willowcreek Middle School, in Lehi. I will be doing FACS Exploration (which is an intro class) and Foods 1! I'm way excited to teach foods. So I guess that is kind of cool, right?

Going along with that - I just took the Praxis test. Which is a National/State test we have to take to be teachers. I passed! Thank goodness. I was a little nervous, but it wasn't too bad at all. :) 

So I am happy this spring/summer to not have to be taking classes. I am working full time. I am still working at Heritage Halls Custodial, but after working here for a hear I have made my way up to being an Assistant! Which is a pay raise, and I get to drive the golf cart, so that's pretty great!

Also, I got hired to be a Foods TA, which is what I've always wanted! But really. When I took the class 3 years ago, I knew that being a TA would be the best. I got to be a TA for credit last semester, and then they hired me for spring! I'm way excited. It will be good experience as I get prepped to actually teach it in the fall, and I get free food! Pretty great all around. So I will be getting a lot of hours this summer and hopefully I can make some $ because I won't be working while I student teach. There's a little update on my life. After I student teach things are a little up in the air, but I will be applying for teaching jobs in Virginia, Utah, and possibly back in Seattle. Who really knows?! 

SO this last semester was good, but busy. I went to some awesome weddings, I turned 22 (weird!), I did a lot of homework, and made some great friends in my ward. 

Katelyn and Dalton got married in January! It was freezing. It was literally 7 degrees outside when we were taking pictures. BRRRRR!

Jeffrey has a cleaning obsession.

His hair is awesome. I did it.

Dear Michelle's wedding. So beautiful.

The cousins!

The amazing D.C. temple.

Baby Phoebe was born! Yay Becky!

She's cute even when she's crying.

Also, this happened. Some girl backed into me. It is a long and frustrating story, but it all worked out in the end. And now my car is fixed and beautiful!

Too cute for words. 

Also, mom and dad came to visit (surprise!) and mom showed us her aunt's jewelry that was willed to her and Rosie. This thing is real, people. Aquamarine. 

It is huge.

Anyway. That's my life. I'm looking forward to a summer of earning money, playing sports, and enjoying Provo. I love summer! Hopefully some great things happen. 

Catching Up

Well, it's been awhile. Another semester is over and another has begun. And it's 2013!

Fall was fun and it went by fast! I joined some of my family at my sister Sarah's apartment in NYC for Thanksgiving. It was pure magic! We got to watch the Macey's Day Parade from her window.

She has a pretty great view.

We had many lovely walks through the Park.

Especially when we took my sister's engagement pictures!

And I got to see this little guy the first time! Nephew Jack. Adorable.

A couple weeks after we all came home for Christmas. And when i say all, I mean all. 10 adults, a toddler, and a 9 month old. It was the best! The first time my whole family has been together in years. 

Jeffrey's careful unwrapping job.

Batman Jack

Day in Seattle!

Jeffrey, looking sweetly mischievous.

He just loves me.

The best moment of Christmas was Jeffrey unwrapping a particular present given by Aunt Ann Marie and Uncle Josh. Too bad the video won't load on here, maybe I'll figure it out someday.

Cultural Diorama - Travelling Runner who Bakes and Reads

So for my Multicultural Education class, we need to create a Cultural Diorama, a presentation of artifacts that represents me socially, culturally, and ethnically. So I've decided to post pictures of these "artifacts" on my blog (as part of the assignment.) 

This first picture shows a few of my Jerusalem souvenirs, which are very special to me. These represent my love of traveling and seeing the world. Though I have done a lot of traveling, the semester I spent at the BYU Jerusalem Center taught more than I have ever learned before! I not only learned about different cultures, but I also grew spiritually. So this picture also represents the importance of the Church and the gospel in my life. That semester shaped me in more ways than I can describe, it had a HUGE impact on my life! Jerusalem (and therefore the gospel) will always be part of me.

This next picture represents my love of running, sports, and the outdoors. I just ran in the Red Rock Relay for the 3rd time (last weekend!) and I so much fun! Our bodies are so incredible to be able to run, jump, and be pushed to the limit. By participating in these things we also get to enjoy the beautiful outdoors and creations of our Heavenly Father. How lucky! I have never had to push myself, physically and mentally, as I have when I run in this relay. The first year I did it taught me that I really can do hard things and accomplish what seems impossible. Ever since then I have make the Red Rock a goal at the beginning of every school year and I continue to absolutely love it! (Even though running 187 miles between 12 people, in 2 days seems a little insane!)

What fun is life without food?! It's not. And it's even more fun when you get to cook it! I am a Family and Consumer Science Education major, which means I love to bake, cook, and do anything else with food. Food is a huge part of any culture, especially mine! It is one of my great loves and many facets of my life revolve around it; my professional and academic, as well as social! Food brings people together, especially family, and my family is very important to me. Growing up with family meals every night taught me a lot about what was important in life, therefore I will continue cook, eat, and share that talent with family and friends.

Books are wonderful, don't you think? Learning is so important and reading is such a huge part of that! We learn from the textbooks we read (sometimes :) and we also learn from the wonderful pleasure reading we can do in all of our spare time (what spare time?!:) It is so exciting that we can just escape from our regular hum-drum lives and let our imagination take us into other worlds, lives, and experiences. They also represent the importance of education and academia. That's why we're all here in college right? Education is important to us, and learning can be so fun! The things we learn in these few short years will stay with us forever (hopefully.) I don't know what kind of person I would be today if I didn't have the opportunity to let my imagination soar over summer break, or get an amazing education at BYU for the rest of the year.