Another Hair Cut

My hair was looking kinda crazy, so I decided (with help from mom) to get a trim to help it look better while I'm growing it out. Here is is!

Easter Eggs

I suppose I'm too old to participate in an Easter egg hunt... But I'm NOT too old to decorate eggs! Jill boiled some eggs and made whipped up some homemade dyes and we decorated eggs on Sunday.

I'm sure my family remembers how intensely Dad worked on his eggs. They were works of art. I must have inherited Dad's egg-decorating gene, because some of my eggs turned out AWESOME!






It was so much fun! Henry was having a blast! And Lorenzo wanted to take as much time as he could to ensure perfection. :D William tried to get a brown egg and Sam followed my lead with the masking tape.
Easter was great!

(PS that cute flower in my hair was a gift from Melissa (she made it for me))

19:44 and 10!

As you know, I'm now living in a house with a treadmill. I decided it's time to take action against my weight. So For the past week and a half, I've been trying to run a mile and a half each day. I'm slowly getting better and better.


One of my goals is to improve the time I do a mile in little by little. And today was a milestone (har har har)! I ran/walked (i can't run it straight yet) a mile in 19 minutes and 44 seconds! Wahoo! I was super excited.

I also have started to weigh myself periodically. And today I weighed myself and I've lost 10 pounds! Yeah! I'm just so excited about the progress I'm making. I hope I can keep the momentum!

Wish me luck!

New Job

I got a new job! I work at Bath and Body Works (if you couldn't tell). It's a great job. I love it. I can't wait till I get more hours.

I smell so good when I get home from work. :D

Temple and moving

So, I went to the temple for the first time on the 29th of January! It was wonderful! And what made it even more wonderful were all the people who came with me! Mom, Dad, Andrea, Kevin, Jill, Melissa, Nana, Tricia, Boss, Brother and Sister Little, and Brother and Sister Hartvigsen!

All my sisters were there together! It was wonderful. Jill made the trip in one day and because she was going to have to drive back all by herself in the dark someone made the suggestion that I go with her (originally just to visit), but I asked if I could stay a while longer than visiting and I successfully made the transition down to Park City!

Jill and Will are so great to let me live with them. The job market here seems much better than in Rexburg (where it is practially non-existent), so I'm looking for a job. I'm really tired of filling out applications, but it'll be nice to work and earn some money.

Anyway, I'll update you when something happens. :)

Buzz

What next?

Well, I have to admit, I'm at a loss for what to do next. I have a meeting with my bishop tomorrow. I'm going to talk about going to the temple for the first time. I'm excited about that. I'm also planning on talking to him about working on my mission papers. So I guess the next step is to find a job! Wal*Mart seems good. I just need a full time job to earn some money.

I've been working on some "projects." I finished a novel. I guess I should say I finished my first draft of that novel. Much editing is in store. I'm currently working on another novel as well.
For Christmas I recieved from Richard and Laura a book filled with some great piano music. I've been learning those pieces.
I also got "Zelda: Twilight Princess" for the Wii for Christmas and I've been working on that. I like video games! I'll just say that right now. I beat it a few days ago. I discovered that I really don't like to finish things. Do other members of my family have that problem?
I'm trying to clean my room. That is an uphill battle. I'm usually daunted by the task of cleaning my room. There are just a lot of things that have emotional ties to and I don't feel like opening those memories up.
I'm also trying to exercise everyday. We brought the bike in the TV room and I've been doing pretty well at doing that or other forms of exercise. Shoveling was yesterday's activity.


That's a quick update on my life right now. Not terribly exciting, but quite relaxing, which is nice.

Another Haircut!!!

I was looking a little shaggy, and I decided I needed to get an update! So here is the new me!



I like it! What do you guys think?



Silly picture! Anyway, I just wanted to show my new look off!

Orchestra Concert

I recently had my next to last University Orchestra concert. It was really wonderful. I have always felt that Orchestra concerts are among my favorite concerts to perform in.
We played 4 pieces.
A piece by Mendelsson, the first time we played it I just knew Mom would love it. She did.
A Viola "concerto." An old music major friend of mine played the viola part. IT was a pretty fun piece.
A piece called "The Bullfighters' prayer" It was absolutely beautiful.
And The last piece was actually a piece I had played before An Organ Concerto by Robert Cundick. It was awesome!

It was a fantastic concert. I can't wait for the CD to come out. :D

Stress

STRESS!!!! It's a new semester, it's true, and with said semester comes a whole new bundle of stress. It is FINALLY my last semester. That's right, I graduate in December. And although I only have two more required classes for graduation, they happen to be the hardest classes of my school experience. Maybe I'm jumping the gun; I haven't really had them long enough to judge.


(ha ha, Geology joke)

Rocks and Minerals (4 credits) held Tuesday and Thursday. the scheduled class time is 11 AM to 1:45 PM. But most of that time, says the teacher, is going to be lab time. I'm really excited for this class.

(Smoky Quartz--so beautiful!)

Stratigraphy and Sedimentation (also 4 credits) MWF from 7:45-9:45 AM. Early, but looking to be a fun class. Brother Little is the teacher. (That's Ben's dad for those of you who don't know--I'm still good friends with his family.)

Then just to ensure that I have enough credits that I'll be able to have a job at the reading lab I'm taking University Orchestra (from Brother Call--who is the best!) and an online Book of Mormon class.

Well, that's an outline of my semester. And please don't ask me what I'm going to do after I graduate...because I don't know. And I'm trying not to think about it at this point because it depressed and/or stresses me.

New woman

Well, I got a haircut! It's true. And it's about time too. I have been thinking about getting my hair cut for quite some time. As you can see it was quite long.


And there is nothing wrong with long hair! I really loved having it long. But it was high time for a change. So when I went to the girl's weekend with my sisters and Jen mentioned that Gwendolyn was growing out her hair to donate it to "Locks of Love" it was just the push I needed to finally go through with it. Here is the hair I'll be donating:



And another view:



I haven't had my hair short in a very very very long time. And I have to say that I love it! It is really refreshing to have this change. Here is the new me:





It's so AWESOME to have short hair! I feel like a new woman!

Happy Mullet Day!

No, I don't think it's an actual holiday. But it should be. I've been perusing some funny websites and I think it's only fair that I share some of my best finds with you. This post is dedicated to my brother-in-law Travis, who instilled in me a great respect of mullets.



I am not a mullet expert, so I don't know all the names. Please leave a comment if you know the names of any of these. I just call this one "fab-mullet." Because it's FABULOUS!



A common misconcetption is that only men can have mullets. Not so. As proved by the above picture. I call this one "cascade," because the little poofs at the bottom remind me of the mist that comes up at the bottom of a waterfall.



"Famullet" A family of mulleteers. :) (Like musketeers, but with mullets! I'm so funny.)



BuzzMullet. A beautiful sample. Something about him being blond makes this mullet even greater to me.

There are many more mullets that could appear on this post, but at the risk of being too long, I'll end with this final mullet:



The "Speechless Mullet." Because more than any other mullet, this one, leaves you without speech.

I take my leave.

NEW JOB!

Hey ya'll,

I got a new summer job! I'm actually really excited. I start today. I am now employed at Western Wats; which is a market research company. Basically, I call people and give them surveys. I am aware that not everyone is going to be nice to me, but I think I can deal with that.

I'm also excited to be able to pay my siblings back. Thank you guys incredibly much for loaning me the money so I could go on the Brit Lit Pilgrimage! It was really a life changing experience. I'll be able to pay you back by September, probably sooner. :)

I can't really write much about what I do on the job, because I haven't started yet. But I'll give you updates on how I'm doing!

Love you all!


This is me leaning casually against the wall in Chester, England. :)

About me

So, occasionally I like to fill out surveys of myself. So here is one that I just did. It was fun.


1Where do you go to shop for clothes? Kohl’s
2Do you buy your own groceries? Nope
3Do you think people talk about you behind you’re back? Probably, but I don’t really care
4When’s the last time you had a sour gummy worm? Oh wow…too long!
5Whats your favorite fruit? You’re asking me to narrow this down? Apple, watermelon, raspberry, strawberry, orange, banana, pineapple, it goes on
6If there was a fire, what would be the first thing you would grab? After making sure everyone (including pets) was safe…I might grab Polar (my teddy bear) and my scriptures and journals
7Do you have a picture of yourself doing a cartwheel? I don’t think so, but I should get one!
8Have you ever tried to build something? Maybe…I don’t really remember
9Do you play with legos? I love legos!
10Do you play with barbies? Yes. Mostly with my nieces.
11Who’s your favorite Disney Princess? Hmm…I like Belle, I like Ariel.
12Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend? Not at the moment
13Would you rather have blue skin or purple skin? Depends on the shade. Purple might be pretty cool.
14Have you ever gotten a sunburn? How can I not get sunburned?
15Have you eaten snow? Yep.
16Have you watched Star Wars, any of the six? I’ve seen all of them. The originals are amazing. The new ones…bad…worse…and horrible!
17Do you have a fuzzy pen? A fuzzy pen? What do you mean?
18Do you fix your bed? Nope.
19What color are your bedsheets? Blue
20Do you wear slippers? Only in winter
21What is the coolest lamp you own? I wish I owned a lava lamp…
22What’s your favorite flower? Lilacs
23Did you go or do you want to go to prom? Nope. Oh well.
24What does your tissue box look like? Like a tissue box
25Did you ever open a lemonade stand? Yes. It was a great summer activity
26Were you or are you in ballet? No.
27Do you listen to classical music? Of course!
28What’s the longest book you’ve read? 1000 pages Wheel of Time
29What smiley best represents you? The one with the tongue out—indicating that I’m always joking or silly or feeling a little dumb. :P
30What do you do when you are stuck? Write, music,
32Do you have your own pool? I wish. The climate isn’t that allowing.
33Do you have a website where you put your pictures on? I put a bunch of pictures on facebook and I have a blog
34Do you watch Sponge bob? YES! I love SB
35What kind of car do you want? Anything that runs at the moment,
36Last food you ate? Hard-boiled egg and a bagel
37Last nice thing you did for someone? I cleaned the living room
38Do you make presents? Yes. I think they mean more that way
39Do you make your own jewelry? I don’t. But my sisters do and it’s really cool
40How many questions are left in this survey? A lot
41Are you in advanced classes? College is advanced everything
42Do people consider you as smart? As far as I know
43Do you collect anything? Glasses, rocks
44Do you collect a series of a certain book? I collected Series of Unfortunate Events, I also collected Animorphs a long time ago, I also have the Artemis Fowl books
45What time is it? 12:08 PM
49Have you ever been to Jamaica? No, mon…
50Do you make your own cards? I made a bunch of flashcards a while ago
51Have you ever tried gluing your fingers together? Yep.
52What was the stupidest thing you’ve done? Hmm… I can’t really narrow it down
53How many languages do you know? Just English, fluently
54Can you skip stones? No, I wish I could
55Where did you get this survey from? Well, I had it in my Word Files, and I wanted to update it.
—————
Today ::
& What’s the weather like? Nice and Warm
& What did you do? I struggled to get up, watched TV, and cleaned a bit
& Have you eaten breakfast yet? Yep
& What did you eat? Eggs and a bagel
& What do you see when you like out the window or door? Green trees, greenish grass and blue sky
& Have you exercised? Not today
& What do you plan to do for the rest of the day or tomorrow? I’m going to watch a movie with my mom. I need to do some homework.
& When did you wake up? Around 10:30
& Have you eaten lunch yet? Not yet
& What did you eat? I said I haven’t eaten yet!
& Have you gone out to eat and where? Not today
& Did you buy anything? Nope
& Has something changed drastically today? Hmm…Well, I started on penicillin so hopefully my sinus infection will go away
& Are you happy? I’m kind of emotionless right now
& Did you sing aloud today? Not yet
& Did you talk to a friend on the phone? Nope.
& On AIM? I don’t do IM anymore
& In person? My mom is my friend
& Did you get mail? I wish…
& What was it (junk, bills, personal letters)? I haven’t checked my email yet
& How many times have you gone to the bathroom so far? Just once I think
& Have you taken a nap? I would love to!
& How long have you been on the computer? Too long
& What are you listening to at the moment? My keys clicking on the keyboard
& What is one thing that happened today that you will never forget? Um…I don’t think I will remember anything about today
& Is anyone in the room with you? Not at the moment
& Are you feeling lazy? Well, I’m feeling sick. Is that the same?
& Are you feeling bored? Just tired
& What have you accomplished today? I cleaned
& Was there any questions that were repeated? Yeah
***L*I*E***
How often do you lie? I really try not to lie
Are you a good liar? Unfortunately yes
Do you get away with it? Um…I haven’t lied in a while, so I don’t know
What is the worst (horrible) lie you have ever told? Telling people I wasn’t mad at them, when really I was
What is the worst (stupid) lie you have ever told? Telling my teacher I didn’t cheat after he saw me do it
Are white lies okay? No lie is okay
What is the last white lie you told? “I’m fine”
Did you lie a lot when you were younger? Yes; sorry, mom.
About what? About stealing candy
Did you fool your parents? Sometimes
Have you ever been caught in a lie? Yes, fortunately. It taught me that it’s not okay to lie.
What was it about? Stealing candy and cheating
Do you have a guilty conscious? I do when I think too much about it
How can someone tell when you are lying? They would have to ask me straight-up “are you lying?” I can’t lie to that.
***C*H*E*A*T***
Do you cheat on tests? Once, in middle school
Have you ever been caught cheating on a test? And I did get caught. Thank goodness. It really taught me.
Have you ever caught someone else cheating on a test? Not that I remember.
Have you ever cheated on a bf or gf? Nope
Have you ever been caught cheating on your bf or gf? No, because I’ve never cheated on one.
Would you ever cheat on your current bf or gf? What kind of question is that? No!
Would you ever cheat on them with some famous model/actor/actress? NO!
What if you were completely sure you would never be caught? NO! Like that would make it better!
Have you ever been cheated on? Yeah
***S*T*E*A*L***
Have you ever stolen before? Yeah
If so what? Candy from my mom
Do you think stealing is a serious crime? It is.
What would you do if you caught someone stealing from you? It depends on what they were stealing. But I would make sure they knew it wasn’t okay.
Have you ever stolen someone’s heart? I don’t think so.
What was the last thing you stole? More than likely candy
Ever had anything stolen from you? It’s probable
If so, what? money
What is one thing that you would steal if you could get away with it with NO consequences? Music
***L*O*V*E***
Are you currently in Love? Nope
If so, with whom?
When was the last time you were in love? About 2 years ago. (Has it been that long?)
How long does it take you to fall in love? I used to fall in love quickly. But something tells me it would be a lot longer now.
How many times have you really been in love? 3
Do you think there were times you thought you were in love when you weren’t? Oh yeah. High school was full of that.
How fast do you tell a significant other that you love them? It depends on the person really.
How often do you tell your parents you love them? Everyday, I hope.
How often do you tell your bf or gf? Everyday, if I had one
Do you tell your friends? Only my closest friends
Have you ever said I love you and not meant it? Yeah, unfortunately
Have you ever said I love you but I’m not in Love with you? Interesting question.
Are you a slave to love? I used to be
Do you love yourself? Yes. Sometimes I don’t, but mostly I do.
What is the best thing about Love? Knowing that they accept you completely
If you were______ what would you be?
[a flower] a lilac
[a fruit] watermelon (hard on the outside, soft inside)
[a vegetable] a gourd J
[a spice] lemon pepper, the heat kicks in the more you eat
[a color] dark green
[a bug] a pill bug (rollie pollie)
Short Answer
[are you left handed or right handed?] right
[are you smart?] yes
[what’s your middle name?] I don’t have a middle name sadly
[how many personalities do you have?] two
[how many piercings do you have?] none
[tattoos?] none
[do you like v-8?] Ick, no.
[what was your first word?] Geek!
[are you superstitious?] With some things
[do you read your horoscope?] when I need a good laugh
[do you believe in that stuff?] nope
[can you do a cartwheel?] I hope so
[do you have bangs?] no! never again!
[do you have contact lenses?] glasses
[can you drive?] yes and I do
[what do you drive?] a grey chevy impala
[do you snore?] I’ve been told I do sometimes
[Do you drool in your sleep?] I haven’t for a while
[do you lick your envelopes or use a sponge?] lick them
[do you keep a journal?] yes
[what languages do you know?] English mostly.
[what's the best awards show?] ugh…no
[do you like onions?] they hurt
[do you like cotton candy?] Love it!
[do you like Pina coladas?] Usually only with another flavor involved
[what instruments can you play?] cello, piano, guitar, and I sing
[what words do you overuse?] “I know, right?” “For real, right?”
[what do you sleep in?] pajamas… they change
[what’s your bedtime?] whenever I get tired
[how many pillows do you have?] just one
[do you like to dance?] yes, but not in front of people
[do you like to sing?] I love to sing
[are you any good at it?] yes
[how many cds do you have?] many, but I use my iPod
[do you like to talk on the phone?] no. I like texting
[how many times have you moved houses?] Never! Yay!
[what do you think of chain letters?] sometimes they can be fun
[do you like where you live?] I love it here
[is your room messy?] yes, of course
[how many people go to your school?] a lot
[do you like your writing?] like, my handwriting? It’s okay
[do you like to finger-paint?] yes! I haven’t forever though
[what do you smell like?] I smell like me…
[are you organized?] I can be, with certain things
[what do you put on hotdogs and hamburgers] usually just ketchup
[do you sleep with a stuffed animal?] yes. Polar
[do you sleep with socks on?] only in the winter
[are you ticklish?] It depends on who is tickling me
[are you shy?] depends on the surroundings
[do you talk to yourself?] yes, all the time
[is your house 1, 2, or 3 stories?] well, I guess 3…
[do you have a basement or an attic?] both
[what flavor fluoride do you get at the dentist?] um…I’ve never been given a choice
[did you go to preschool?] I have vague memories of it
[are you a morning person?] no
[whats your favorite outfit?] anything that’s comfy. My family reunion shirt
[do you have a friend that you wish wasn't you friend?] um…I don’t want to answer that question
[who has the most annoying voice in the world?] Perez Hilton
[do you believe in ghosts?] yes
[do you believe in bigfoot?] yes
[whats your favorite feature (on yourself)] my hair or skin
[what do you do when you're nervous?] bite my lip, twiddle my fingers
[who's your role model?] I have a lot of role models.
[do you like classical music?] yes
[how old do you wish you were?] I’m good with my age.
[have you ever thought you were gonna die?] yes
[where's the farthest place you ever traveled?] Paris, London
[where do you wanna go?] I’m good with staying here for a while
[what is the best advice you've ever been given?] “Make it work”

Ireland

For those of you who don't know, I recently went on the British Literary Pilgrimage. (A 3 and 1/2 week trip to Europe) We spent time in Ireland, Wales, England, and Paris. Here are some pictures from Ireland. (I'll do more posts later)

Cliffs of Moher:

This was our first day in Ireland and it was cold and windy but I was so happy to be there! The Cliffs of Moher are also the cliffs of insanity from Princess Bride.

Inishmore CLiffs:


Inishmore is an Aran Island of Ireland. We took a ferry out and biked all over the island! It was a great day!


We also went to Dublin and went to Dublin Trinity College to the Book of Kells exhibit and The Long Room (Which was my number 1 of the whole trip). It is just a beautiful long and tall room filled with books. Amazing. (No pictures allowed :(

More to come.

Winter

Those of you who don't know, I'm in a creative writing class, and it is awesome! We are just finishing up our poetry unit, and even though we already have at least 2 amazing poets in the family (todd and dad), I'm going to risk it anyway and share one with you.


Winter

Oxygen level low
Praying hard
In the snow
Angels marred
With a stone's throw

Blink twice
and the sun's away
low light--
A darkening day

Praying hard
A singing soul,
Yet failing heart
and falling snow--

Life level low




Let me know what you think. I like it, but I welcome your comments. If you have questions, ask! Love you all!

Orchestra Concert

Last night The University Orchestra (of which I am a member) had its' concert. And it was AWESOME!!! This is probably my last sememster in orchestra and I tell you we went out with a bang. I'll tell you about the pieces and which ones were my favorite.

We started out on the right Foote... Ha ha ha! Just a little joke. Okay, I'll explain it. Our first piece was Air and Gavotte by Arthur Foote. (hence the pun...it's lame I know).
Air--very pretty and slow.
Gavotte--passionate, fun, angry, with a bouncy middle part.

Next piece Little Suite by Carl Nielsen (He's Danish--can you tell by the Picture?) (two student conductors for this piece)
At one point while we were practicing this piece I said to my stand partner (and very good friend Anna) "the composer must have been a cellist" "or really liked cellos" she added. Because this whole piece had many parts featuring the cello. We had a solo in each movement, which was fun. They were fun to play, but not my favorite of the pieces, but still fun.

Merrill Jenson is the composer of the next piece (he is a famous LDS composer). It was a composition that used 3 melodies of hymns to form the basis of this (kinda crazy/sonata form) piece. He even came and conducted it for us! It was a difficult song but we pulled it off. This also I didn't care much for. It seemed...a little frantic and went through too many keys in too short a time. But there were some really cool parts and it was satisfying to conquer such a challenging piece.

Forth piece is my favorite. (He's pretty handsome...) Ralph (pronounced Rayfe) Vaughn Williams' Concerto Grosso for String Orchestra. AMAZING. A Concerto Grosso is basically an Orchestra accompanying a smaller orchestra who has the solo part or "concertino." I was lucky enough to play the concertino along with 3 other cellists. So only four cellists playing the hard part (and often we split into 2 parts so there were only 2 of us playing one part! so exhilirating!) I'll have to do a play by play on all the movements.

Intrada-- My favorite. So powerful. Polyphonic (many voices), complex, and deep. I actually cried one day playing it.

Burlesca Ostinata-- Really fun. fast and challenging. a lot of tempo changes, which are always difficult.

Sarabande-- So heart wrenching and powerful. I felt I was ripping part of my heart out everytime I played it(sorry for the drama).

Scherzo-- literally means "joke" and it was very... almost schizophrenic (hmm..scherzo..schizo...) But I really loved it. It was really cool for its' weird ness. especially the last chord. because it seems like we're building up for a huge minor bang ending, but the song just breaks and then we come in with a soft major chord. kinda like saying "haha! Just kidding!" It was awesome.

March and Reprise-- the march was interesting, I liked it least (but that's definitely not saying that I disliked it because I still loved it). It was cool. but the best part about it was that it went back into the first piece. And the whole Concerto ended with the first piece.
It was one of the best pieces I've ever played... amazing.

BUT THEN! The band came onto the stage and for our finale we played higlights from the Carmen Suite by Georges Bizet.
(you know, Carmen, the Opera about a Spanish seductress, an officer who she seduces then dumps (he kills her because of it (it's opera--it has to be dramatic)) there is also Toreador (bullfighter) in there somewhere) It was awesome!!! It was so fun to be with the band. It just added another element that made the whole piece really powerful and so fun. It was a great piece to end with. We went out with a bang!


This concert was WONDERFUL! I wish everyone could have come. But I am so grateful that Mom, Dad, Steve, Andrea came. I also invited two friends from my ward, who came. The Littles (Ben's mom and dad) came. And surprise, I totally, jokingly invited Ben to come up for the day (he had the day off from work, but he lives in Utah, so I was joking), but he came! So that was a cool surprise too!



I know most of you know this, but I LOVE MUSIC so much. This concert was so fulfilling and so satisfying. I was just beaming and glowing afterwards! It was the best feeling ever. I pretty nervous beforehand, but afterwards the feeling makes up for it and more. It was awesome. Spectacular. Amazing. FANTASTIC!!!

Bright Future

If those of you who don't know, I've been struggling with health issues for the past while. My psychiatrist has been playing with several (many) medications that may or may not have been causing more adverse effects than good. So I've been struggling with knowing what to do about it. I've felt confused and even sick about it. So Andrea encouraged me to ask for a Priesthood blessing this weekend while the guys were up.
So yesterday I asked for a blessing from Dad, Kevin, and Will. It was a really wonderful thing.

It promised a bright future and that made me very hopeful. Hope is something that has eluded me for quite a while. I meet with my Psychiatrist this Thursday and I'm going to ask him about seriously cutting back on a lot (if not all) of my meds. It's kind of a scary prospect and I know it will be pretty hard, but I want to see if something else will work better, and the only way to know is to try.

So there is a brief update. Things are looking up. Down times will come, but sunny days are ahead.

Gratitude: I'm grateful...

For the Beauty of the Earth
*For my family
*For the love my family has for me
*For all the things my family has taught, teaches, and will teach me
*For the examples set for me by my family
*For compassion
*For second chances
*And third chances
*For forgiveness
*For kisses
*For hugs
*For fireplaces and soft rugs
*For cuddling in warm blankets
*For a nice warm bed
*For food
*For MUSIC
*The piano
*The cello
*My voice
*For all the choirs I have been in and will be in
*For learning
*For my fingers
*For safety
*For freedom
*For agency
*For the Ultimate Sacrifice
*For The Lord and Savior
*For Heavenly Father
*For the Holy Spirit
*For tender mercies
*When I'm having a bad day and I get in the car and one of my favorite pieces just happen to be on the radios
*For my future husband
*For all my past and present counselors
*For my friends
*For Lindsey and Anna
*For new opportunities
*For the new day
*For Life
*For LOVE


There are so many more. But I want to finish with the lyrics to a song I sang in a choir long ago:

Pilgrims' Hymn

Even before we call on Thy name
To ask Thee, dear Lord;
And we seek the words to glorify Thee
Thou hearest our prayer

Unceasing Love! Oh, Unceasing Love:
Surpassing all we know.
Glory to the Father and the Son
And to the Holy Spirit.

Even with darkness sealing us in
We breathe Thy name;
And through all the days that follow so fast
We trust in Thee

Endless Thy grace! Oh, Endless Thy grace:
Beyond all mortal dream.
Both now and forever and unto ages,
and ages. Amen


Happy Thanksgiving

Snow

Well, it finally snowed... It's true. I am actually amazed that we lasted so long without it! It was crazy how long it stayed dry. Well, there are some good things about snow: snowmen, snowball fights, there is something about being out in nature when it's covered in snow that is so peaceful, sledding, (skiing for those of you who do that), and my favorite, clear winter nights where the sky is so absolutely clear where the stars look so near that you can almost touch them. If it wasn't so durn cold, I could stay out there for hours just looking at the sky (oh and another great thing is one of my favorite constellations is out: Orion. I don't know why, but I've always liked him).

There are a lot of negatives associated with winter as well. BUT, I'm going to focus on the positives and hopefully I can make it through! I'll just remember that the Lord gave us winter so we can love summer. :) And trust me, after 5 months (sometimes 6) of the white stuff, we need lots of summer! Even if it means I have to say goodbye to my good friend Orion.

HURRAY!!!!!

Pi-tui! Pi-tui! (that is the sound of fireworks going off... Richard will know what I mean ;) It's done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My 10 Page Research Paper entitled "Weary of the Shadowy Self": The Quest for Virtue in George MacDonalds the Wise Woman and C. S. Lewis's The Great Divorce phew. Even saying the title wears me out... It was quite a lot of work and I am so grateful for everyone that helped me on it. Thanks to Lindsey for encouraging me and helping with my works cited page, thanks to Andrea for her encouragement (I could not have made it without your pep talks), and thanks to DAD for your revisions! I might actually get a good grade because of your coaching! and thanks most of all, to my Heavenly Father for His sustaining power and help. I definitely could not have done it without him. It was SOOOOO HARD!!! But I did it! YAY! I don't even care what grade I get... well, maybe just a little... :D But I'm DONE!!!! (Now all I have to worry about is the next paper... which rumor has it is supposed to be even longer... waaaaaaaaaaaaa....) But OKAY!

CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES COME ON! LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA!!!!