20. Evaluative Conclusion

As I look back to my first blog post I'm reminded of the beginning of my first semester of college. I barely knew my way around campus and was still adjusting to being away from home. I know it was only a few months ago but I feel like I'm grown so much intellectually and spiritually since then. I feel so much closely to my Sacior, Jesus Christ. He has helped guide me through the ups and downs of this semester. Looking at what most of my blog posts have been about I see how important my family and the gospel of Jesus Christ are to me. I'm so grateful that families can be together forever and I'm grateful for a Savior who understands and feels everything I go through. He is my greatest teacher and biggest fan. I couldn't go through life without him! I love him and I'm grateful for everything He does for me.

19. Temple Square

I had the opportunity to go to Temple Square this week and see all of the beautiful Christmas lights. It was such a surreal experience. I'm so grateful for temples and the beauty of them. We also had the chance to walk around and look at the visitors centers. You could just feel the spirit dwelling in and around temple square despite the large amounts of people. I'm glad I got to experience temple square. I definitely recommend it!

Pictures to come!

18. My Roommate

Can I just say I have the best roommate ever! And lucky for me she's one of my best friends, too. She puts up with all of weirdness and goes along with it. She laughs at me jokes because she either thinks they're funny or because she's laughing at me laughing--I'm not sure which, but I still appreciate it. Haha. She surprises me with little notes and gifts just because. She has doubled my wardrobe (; and introduced me to new things. She does so much for me that I'm grateful for but I'm most grateful for a lifetime of memories that she has given me. Someday we'll tell our kids stories from our first semester of college--stories we're creating now!

Pictures to come soon! 

17. Words of Wisdom

For a sociology assignment I was to ask for advice on a social media network. So being a freshman in college, I simply just asked my Facebook friends for some advice for college or just life in general as I am still adapting to a new chapter in life. The majority of responses I received were similar. All of the responses were positive and encouraging but some were more serious than others. Those that were similar referenced in some way, making the most out of life. For example, “It’s never too late to become what you might have been,” or “Don’t pass up any opportunities. Time only speeds up as life goes on.” An example of one that was a little less serious or different from the majority was, “just keep swimming” (which movie I love). One comment referenced food and included a link to a free downloadable cookbook which was different but interesting. But overall, the comments were much alike and very useful. Comments came from close family, friends, and coaches and some people that I don’t really interact with or talk to much at all. It was nice to see that so many friends care about me and want to share advice with me so that I may have the best life that I can! So for any of you who may be experiencing change, here's my advice to you: 

Be positive. Be happy every day. Always thank Heavenly Father for the blessings He gives to you. Try and experience new things. You never know what you'll like until you try it. Just don't do anything you will regret afterwards. (;  

16. Christmas Time!!

It's officially the month of December which means CHRISTMAS! Oh how I love this time of year. The holiday spirit, the giving mood, the celebration of Christ being born, family traditions--I just love it all! my roommate and I just finished decorating our door for Christmas! We looked like the definition of a DIY Pinteresr board sitting out in the hallway making our decorations for our door. It might have taken us almost two hours but it was well worth it!


One of my favorites things about Christmas are family traditions. My Family always goes to Grandma's house on Christmas Eve and we always have the same Christmas dinner, do "snowballs", read the story of the birth of Christ and the book "'Twas the night before Christmas." But may we all remember the true meaning of Christmas--the celebration of Christ being born. Here's a link to a video about our Savior, Jesus Christ. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful time spent with family.

https://www.mormon.org/christmas

15. Come Unto Christ

I think we can all learn from the example Enos set. He was heavy with sin and he heeded his father, Jacob’s counsel to repent. But Enos didn’t just ask the Lord for forgiveness, he said, “my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul…” (Enos 1:4). When I think of hunger I think of my stomach being empty and in great need of food. Relating that concept to the gospel, a hungry soul is one that has sinned and is missing the peace of the Lord and our soul yearns to be feed with the spirit again! We learn from Enos that through faith in Christ and diligence we can receive a remission for our sins and our guilt swept away. In verse 15, Enos teaches that, “whatsoever thing ye shall ask in faith, believing that ye shall receive in the name of Christ, ye shall receive it” (Enos 1:15). Enos asked with sincerity for forgiveness and received it just as we can. Another thing that we must do to return to live with our Father in Heaven is what Amaleki invited us to do, “to come unto Christ…” (Omni 1:26). If we come unto Christ and seek a remission for our sins, we can be found worthy to return to live with our Father in Heaven.

14. Finish Strong!

Finals week is approaching which means everyone is starting to stress and the urge to be done is stronger now than ever! It's important that you don't let yourself get too overwhelmed. Every now and then, take a little break, laugh a little. I know that sometimes you feel like you just can't do it anymore--it's too much and your brain is fried, but remember there is always a light at the end of the tunnel! Just keep swimming! You can make it through! You're on the home-stretch! So to lighten the mood and maybe take your mind off of everything for a minute here's a little pick-me-upper! (:

Motivation from this cute little guy

Feelings everyone can relate to during finals week

When you finish you last final... As told by Parks & Rec

13. The Porcelain Throne

In my sociology class, we were assigned to deviate from a social norm toward a stranger. For the deviant act which I preformed I went into a public bathroom with numerous stalls. I chose to go into a stall that was beside one that was already occupied by an individual. I then knocked on the divider between us and said “hello,” trying to start a conversation. Before I deviated I felt really nervous and unsure about how the individual would respond because talking to a complete stranger—who you haven’t even seen I might add—while both using the bathroom is typically not socially accepted. Usually when you’re in the bathroom you don’t talk to those you don’t know unless it’s a friendly, “hi” or “how are you?” and even then it’s usually when you’re at the sink washing your hands—not on the toilet. It definitely felt really awkward and I’m sure the girl in the other stall was really confused. Typically, people don’t like to deviate from their norms and when they do they feel uncomfortable and out of place. I felt relieved when it was over because I was able to go back to my norms—to what I was familiar and comfortable with. 

When I first tried to start the conversation the girl hesitated before responding. For her, as was for me, she wasn’t use to something like this happening. Her hesitation made me a little more nervous and somewhat embarrassed, discouraging my attempt to converse. But after she responded I felt a little more encouraged to continue on with the conversation. She also laughed, lightening the mood a bit which led me to think she was okay with the fact that I had started a conversation with her. The laughter was another encouragement for the deviant act which I had preformed. After the matter, when we washed our hands we talked and laughed about it and she told me she thought it was so funny. It was a fun, humorous experience and who knows, maybe it’s a new way to make friends? 

12. Remember Him

A couple weeks ago, in my Book of Mormon class we talked about what it means to remember. We broke it up into two parts. "Re" means to begin again, or start over. We likened the word "member" to being a member of the church. When we become members of the church we are baptized and cleansed of all our sins. Taking the sacrament each week is a chance to  renew those covenants we made with God and be made pure again. In the sacrament prayer it says to "remember Him," so when we take the sacrament each week, we are, in a sense becoming new members, being cleansed, given another chance to receive eternal life. I just want to say how grateful I am for my Savior, Jesus Christ. I know he was sent to save us from our sins. I know he was the perfect example and we should all strive to be more like Him.

11. "Procrastination is a Beautiful Thing" -What I'm learning in college

This post is for you Professor Steadman. I will forever remember the story you told us about the young lady who stood up to speak in church before your daughter and the first thing she said was, "procrastination is a beautiful thing" and proceeded to talk for the next 20+ minutes leaving little time for your daughter to speak. It was a story intended to be a lesson about not procrastinating and clearly I have yet to follow that counsel. Procrastination is something I have always struggled with. In some cases, I feel that I can't help it--I just have so many other things that need to be done that I push off the things that don't need to be finished at that time. But there are also times where I could work on something but choose not to. I guess it's all apart of exercising our agency. We choose our consequences. I have learned though, that if I just go ahead and try to get things done in advance that I'm not as stressful and I feel more productive. When I try to do things last minute, it often creates a lot of stress. That's one thing I want to work on fixing--I want to prevent the stress of procrastination to the best that I can. I think that by doing this, I will be able to enjoy my college experience a lot more.

10. BYU Football

Can I just say that BYU football games are one of the craziest, most exciting things to attend. Everyone is filled with so much pride in their school. I love it. The student section is always loud, cheering, singing, sometimes yelling at the refs haha. There's always a theme. The week of Halloween, BYU had a home football game and it was a costume theme. Everyone dressed up and it was great. I dressed up as Darla from the movie Finding Nemo. I was already a huge football fan to begin with so it only made since to experience what it was like to camp out at the stadium the night before a game and it was definitely an experience I will never forget. It was so much fun! A group of girls on my hall camped out together and it was a little bit cold but we survived. It was so worth it too! I guess it helps that the football team is doing well this season. It just feeds the excitement that comes with the football games. There’s nothing quite like BYU football.

Oh! And I finally got my picture with Cosmo!