Scared to New Heights

Spoiler alert: I'm afraid of heights. This is a fact, and it is something that I have accepted. On top of that, I am a scaredy-cat. I just am. So the fact that this Saturday, I did the high ropes course here at Aspen Grove was a big deal.

So here's a little summary of what the ropes course is: there's a log that you climb up with notches in it (the log moves, just by the way- that was a nice little surprise.) Then, you go and climb a rock wall, which was probably the scariest part. Then, you go and you walk along these wires and go around trees and stuff, and then you come back and repel down. (Yes, I know that was incredibly clear.)

Anyways. So I decided that I was going to do the ropes course before I actually went down there. Once I was there, I started getting all of the equipment on and that's when the freak outs began.

(This is my friend Jimmy. He is basically like my best friend and he kinda talked me through the whole thing. :D )

So then I get to the point where I'm about ready to start climbing. I almost don't start, but they drag me over and make me do it. Suddenly, I'm climbing, and then I'm halfway up this swinging log, and I look up at all that I have to do and I have this overwhelming desire to quit. I just get so incredibly scared and I want to come back down while I still can. But Jimmy, on the belay, kind of pulls me up so I have to keep going.

So finally, I get up this log thingy. Once I get up to the top, I realize that I'm going to have to make it over to the climbing wall and do the rock climbing portion. I almost didn't do it. Seriously, I was shaking and I just had this horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. Somehow I got the courage to stick my foot out and put it on the rock, and  then Jimmy and Josh talked me through it, step by step. I finally reached the top and almost started hyperventilating. Luckily, Josh helped me breathe. :)

(you can tell by this picture how not happy i am at this point.)

So then I move on to the wires, shaking the whole time. Seriously, the wires were literally shaking. My whole body was shaking and I just wanted it to be over. But I kept going, cause the faster I went, the closer I was to getting to the end.

 It was really nice though, because the whole time, my friends were really encouraging me. I don't think I could have handled the tough love approach, so the way that it worked out was very nice.

Here's a picture of me and Anna, my coworker in the store and one of my bestest friends :)

and here's my super scared face:

Then came the funnest/second scariest part: the repelling!! It was super scary, because first you have to just lean over the edge with just the ropes carrying you. But before I knew it, I was over the edge and then it was fun. Ish.

Once I got kind of to the bottom, Jimmy started swinging me around and I was actually having fun. :)

...And that was my high ropes experience. I was scared to death, but I did it.. kind of against my will. But did it I did! And I feel great about it. I did something that I didn't think that I could do. And no, I haven't defeated my fear of heights, but I think I'm making steps in the right direction. :)

There's one thing I know for sure. It's something that I've known for a while, but now I'm okay with it. I am not, and don't think I ever will be, an outdoorsy kind of girl. It's as simple as that. I am not the sporty, rock-climbing type. I'm just not! And that's okay. That is completely 100% okay. :)

Music Makes the World Go Round

So every now and then, I get obsessions with different songs. Right now, I'm totally in love with like five different songs and I just keep listening to them over and over again, so I just thought I'd share! :)

First, there's Dynamite by Taio Cruz.  He's the one who also sings Break Your Heart, which is another good one. (Who knows how long Dynamite has been out, since I don't have a car, I hardly ever listen to the radio anymore. But I heard this at the last dance I went to and fell in love with the melody!)



K, then there's Everybody in Love by JLS. I've never even heard of this group before, but I totally love this song. It's been played a few times while I was working on someone else's ipod, and it's also part of a skit in our opening show.



Next, it's more of a new artist obsession, but I'm really partial to these two songs, both by Mika. 1) Blame it on the Girls: (PS- music video is very strange.)



2) Lollipop (this one I mostly like just because of the whole message: don't stress about love, just let it happen, otherwise it'll "get you down" :)




And last but not least, I am so extremely excited for Sara Bareilles' new album that comes out in September!! It's been SO long since she released her first album, which I loved. I've been waiting and waiting and now it's finally here! It looks like it's going to be amazing. But she's already released her first single, King of Anything and I love it. The music video is especially cool!




So I guess that's my Friday Five, music-wise. (Maybe I'll start doing this every Friday! Putting five of my favorite songs on here. Hmm..)

Anyways, not too much going on as of now. The store has been absolutely CRAZY this week, and I have been busy busy busy! Tonight, we're having a girl's night! We're going to go to Provo, possibly go to Plato's Closet and DI, then come back and watch Win a Date With Tad Hamilton. I'm excited.

And then tomorrow, a new week begins!

Just Another Sunday

The weeks just seem to be blending together like crazy! I can't believe it's another Sunday and another week of campers already. I think that I'm the unofficial substitute for Primary, because this is the third week that I've subbed for someone. Some days I like it, others not so much. I love being a big girl and going to Sunday School and Relief Society and actually learning new things, but then again I also love going to Primary and singing all of my favorite primary songs. Then of course, at night we have our weekly fireside and then I do my choir practice afterward. (Quick side note- the fireside speaker tonight is Elder Groberg, of Other Side of Heaven!! So exciting- I can hardly wait!)

In other news, nothing too major has been going on. I've started working on a much bigger and better list of my life goals, as directed by Randal Wright's book, "Achieving Your Life Mission". I've surprised myself by how many different goals I've been able to come up with. Some of them are pretty random, but I'm just excited to have them written down.

I finally stopped procrastinating and wrote to quite a few of my missionary friends. I feel kind of guilty about waiting so long to write some of them, but I guess writing them later is better than not writing them at all!

Oh! I also went and saw How to Train Your Dragon the other day, which surprisingly I didn't like very much! It just wasn't my cup of tea I guess. But I also went to Walmart and they had strawberries on sale so I bought some of those and I got some chocolate chips and.. you guessed it! Made chocolate-covered strawberries. :)

Also, I started reading the Hunger Games series. And by started, I mean, I read the first two of the trilogy in a matter of three days. They were SO good! I love those kinds of books, and it totally lives up to all of the hype that everyone gives it. I just can't wait for August when the third book comes out! It's going to be great. Although seriously, I'm in the middle of at least 3 or 4 different books right now. Sometimes it's easy to read, other times, it's hard to find a quiet place and a solid block of time and the motivation to get through a book, which is odd for me. Guess I'm just having too much fun being social.

Okay, so time for my random thought of the day. It's actually something I've been thinking a lot about lately. Basically, I'm wondering: what is a true friend? I mean, I know what it is to me, but sometimes I feel like people have many different definitions of the word. To me,  a friend is someone who is always willing to listen, and often willing to offer their opinion and give advice. A friend is someone who asks how you are doing and genuinely wants to know the answer. Friends notice when you're happy or sad, and they take time to find out the details of your life. They're considerate of your feelings and they express their love for you often. Now granted, there are different degrees of friendship, and with this comes varying degrees of these qualities.

I've been thinking about it a lot, and I think that at the end of my life, I would like nothing better than if everyone who knew me could say that I was a good friend. I remember learning at the personality workshop that I went to a little while ago that a big part of my personality (expressive) is based on relationships with others. As I've become more conscious of it, I realize how true this is for myself. I really do care a ton about my friendships with people. It consumes my life! I have to be involved in the lives of others around me, because that's how I show that I care. Whether it's a girl's night or a phone call at 1 in the morning, or just chatting while walking to dinner, I crave it. I need it. I need to show my love for other people so that they know that I care about them.

I think part of the reason for this is the other end of the expressiveness in me; the reciprocal end of relationships. I guess part of me hopes that if I be the best friend that I can be, that I'll get the best friends I can get. I guess I hope that by caring so much for others, that maybe, just maybe, somebody will care that much for me.

So a lot of the time, I think this is what gets me hurt. Maybe I'm expecting too much of the people around me. Maybe it's me being an expressive again, but we expressives feel emotions deeply. So as detrimental as it is to my emotional and mental health, there's a part of me that is hurt when my care and energy isn't reciprocated. Sometimes it leads to drama, even if it's only in my own head, other times I'm just able to let it go.

I don't really know what I'm trying to say. I guess it's just that I really really try to be a good friend, because I think that besides building a strong family and getting a good education, building good friendships and relationships is the most important thing you can do.

And that's my two cents. :)

Pumpin' Vitamin C

So it seems that tragedy has befallen Aspen Grove, in the form of the flu. Apparently, one of the campers brought in the sickness with them and now it has circulated to a very large number of our staff. Luckily, (knock on wood) I haven't gotten it yet. It's so horrible though, seeing everyone feel so gross! I feel so bad for them. My plan is to drink a lot of orange juice and eat oranges and blueberries. Yes, I know that blueberries, or "blueburries" as I like to call them, don't have Vitamin C in them. However, I got them on sale from Walmart for $2 each and they are my favorite fruit. Plus I feel healthier when I eat them. So there. :) Anyways, so I'm just hoping and praying that I do not catch this horrible bug that is going around.

Yesterday, we had some minor thunderstorms and the power went out! That was sure fun. Luckily, the store had some generators so we were able to keep operating until the power came back on for real.

Nothing else too huge going on. I did yoga the other night again, which was perfectly lovely. Oh! And I went down into Provo and finally got my direct deposit set up, thank goodness. While there, I visited Walmart and picked up my yummy blueburries and I got a cute dress for $12. (I seriously think I'm addicted to buying dresses...)

Anyways, tonight's the last night of camp for this week, so the store will be crazy, as always. But it'll be fun, I'm sure. The weeks are seriously blending and I feel like the summer is rushing by. It's seriously July 1st? When did that happen? How did that happen?? It's utter craziness, if you ask me. I guess this next week is the 4th of July celebration-type thing, but I don't think that fireworks are allowed in Utah, and certainly not up in the mountains, so it might be a fireworks-less 4th for me. :( Oh well. I'm totally jealous though, because Mom and Mike are in New Jersey visiting Grandma Helena and Grandpa Jim and they will be participating in Grandma's annual 4th of July Party. (It's epic.) SO jealous. Beyond words, actually. But it's okay. I know I'm where I'm supposed to be and I guess that's all that matters.

Have a great day! :)

Simple Things

So I feel like there are just a ton of little random things that I want to blog about, and while that may be boring to some people, I think that it's the little things that make life so great. :D

For example, just last week was a very exercise-y week. There was a group of people that got together and did yoga, taught by one of our staff members that knew how to teach! And then the next day I went with a group of girls to the pool and we totally did water aerobics. I just love it how even though I'm all the way out here in the mountains, far away from any yoga studio or gym or anything like that, that it's still possible and fun to exercise! Plus I get to do it with all of my friends, which is better than exercising alone.

Let's see. Oh yeah! Even though it can be a little slow and boring sometimes, I'm really loving working in the store up here. I kind of like that I've trained myself to be an attentive store worker- what I mean is, when I walk around the store, I automatically see things that need to be done, whether it's restocking or cleaning or whatever. It's like a second nature and I love knowing how everything operates and finally feeling like I'm out of that phase where I'm still not sure what goes where and what I should do if this or that happens. If anything, I'm the one who does know what to do when crises arise. I feel like I'm getting some really good skills with dealing with stress under pressure, or dealing with hectic situations. I totally love it!

I have to say though, that one of the downsides of being at a BYU/Mormon-ish camp is the serious lack of caffeine. I mean, if I was working somewhere else, it wouldn't be a problem, cause I'd just go to the store and get some when I needed it. But since I'm all the way up here in the mountains, car-less, no less- I'm stuck without it. Fortunately, there are some generous people who are willing to share when I am in desperate need. It's not like I'm addicted and I have to have my caffeine, but sometimes the late nights add up and I just need the extra boost to get me through the day. (PS, thanks Scott for the Dr. Pepper... I knew you'd give in eventually.)

The lack of caffeinated beverages aside, I have to say that I absolutely love my job. I really do. This last weekend, our managers totally set up an activity for us to go ice skating at Seven Peaks and paid for us and everything! It was soo nice of them, and it was lots of fun skating with all my friends. I hadn't been ice skating in a while, so I fell a couple times.. but just a couple. Now I have a real big nifty bruise on my knee, but I think it was worth it. :)

After we went ice skating, one of my friends up here, Becca, had a birthday party at her house, which was also great fun. I got into a pretty serious game of Curses, and afterwards my face hurt from smiling and laughing so much. Don't you just love nights like those? Where you literally are in physical pain because you were having so much fun laughing and smiling, or whatever you were doing? I've only played Curses a couple times, but I think it's quickly becoming a favorite, because it is SO much fun. Basically, you do "challenges" (give a beauty pageant acceptance speech, place someone under arrest, tell why dogs are better than cats, etc.) Once you've completed the challenge, then you draw a curse card, which you can then place on any player. Examples of curses: Every time you laugh, you must follow by saying, with a serious face, "That is not funny." Or, every time someone touches you, you have to say, "You're always after me lucky charms!" with an Irish accent. Or, every time someone rings the bell, profess your eternal love and devotion to them. Basically, you ring the bell when you catch someone not doing their curse. As the game goes on and people get more and more curses put on them, it gets funnier and funnier. It's seriously an awesome game.

I also went and saw Toy Story 3 this last weekend! I LOVED it! I think that it was everything a Toy Story movie should be, and yes, I definitely cried at the end of it. There are a couple other movies coming out or that are already out that I still want to see.. Letters to Juliet, Despicable Me.. those both look super good.

Okay, also- I can't remember if I've blogged about this before or not so I'm just going to talk about it anyways. At the end of May, Aspen Grove brought in this professional who does personality assessments. All of the staff had to take the personality assessment online and then bring our results to the seminar and he taught us about them. It was seriously so cool, and it totally opened my eyes to a lot of different perspectives. It was super interesting because most of the stuff was super dead on for my personality. Basically, it's broken down into four different categories: Dominant, Expressive, Amiable and Analytical. Everyone has their first prominent trait, and then a second one that's your second most prominent. So you could be Dominant/Analytical or Analytical/Expressive. Usually it's two different things. For me, I was Expressive/Expressive, which honestly, wasn't a huge surprise. Basically, Expressives are the ones that talk with their hands, who feel their emotions deeply, who need to talk out their problems. They mostly care about relationships with others and they need to see the big picture in situations. Basically, it's me, completely. Anyways, it really helped me understand myself better and now I totally recognize my "expressive" tendencies. Here's a brief overview of the other ones: Analyticals: they're the thinkers- they like processes and they usually wait to think a little longer before answering a question because they don't want to give an answer that isn't right. Amiables: they avoid conflict at all cost, and they like keeping people happy. They're usually quieter and are more at ease when you're on the same level with them, talking in a softer tone. Dominants: these are the ones that would be labeled "Type A" personality- the ones that just want to get the job done. They don't hold grudges; once something's resolved, they move on. They see things in black and white and they don't tiptoe around people's feelings. I learned SO much from the seminar thing and I use what I learned every day. Here's the blog that can tell you more about it: http://persogenics.blogspot.com. On that page you'll find the link to take the free assessment. It's a little frustrating at times because you have to pick what you're most and least like, and sometimes it's hard to pick just one. But just do it and it'll give you a full, detailed explanation about how you see yourself, how others see you, and how you are at work. It's really cool!

Oh, on a more disgusting note, we found a dead mouse under the couch today! There was a horrible smell in our lobby and we couldn't find or figure out what it was. So we moved some furniture, and there he was, Mr. Dead Mouse. We ended up vacuuming and air-freshening and what not. It was super gross, but at least the smell is gone!

Like I said, I just keep thinking about the little things that I love up here. The simple things that make life so great. They just keep popping into my head! Like how there's always some kind of activity going on. We have a white dry- erase board hanging up in our lobby and it's always full to the brim with announcements about FHE or some sports tournament or a movie night or a game night or some hike that someone is planning. It's so great. I think a friend of mine and I are going to try to have a swing dance night sometime soon, which I think would be awesome. I haven't been swing dancing in a while, and I wouldn't mind learning a few new lifts!

Also, I think I'm a part of an unofficial late-nighters club. Lately I've been staying up late, and there are usually the same 3 or 4 people that stay up as late as I do. Sometimes we talk to each other, sometimes we just do our own thing. But we're usually up as late as 12- 2:30. Unfortunately, I'm very much starting to feel the negative effects of this. So I've decided that I'm making it a personal goal to go to bed early this week- and by early I mean by 11 or 11:30. It's hard to go to bed earlier than that because of the way the dorms are set up- it's just too noisy and you hear everyone talking because it's an open ceiling and a curtain for a door.

Speaking of goals, I've recently had a renewal in my determination to see through my goals that I set at the beginning of the summer. So far (and by so far, I mean in the last week and a half-ish) I've been doing pretty well! Here are my goals:

• Read more! In particular, the Work and the Glory series. (I've read it before, but I want to read it again after taking LDS history last semester.) Right now I'm in the middle of like 5 different books, and only one of them is Work in the Glory.
• Get tan! (What's great about this one is that I can tan and read at the same time, knock two birds out with one stone!)
• Exercise- well, I'm working on it. :)
• Write more. I'll be honest, I haven't done this one at all, besides blogging. I really need to do some poetry and short stories, cause I really haven't in a while. 
• Sing more! This one I'm definitely doing. There's the down time in the store which I use to sing, not to mention singing in choir and the random solos that I'll do in church and at firesides. (That happened last night, I sang How Great is the Miracle by Sally DeFord with one of my friends- go to defordmusic.com and check it out: it's got some serious gorgeous harmonies in there.)

So I know that this has turned into a crazy long blog, and I'm sorry. I just get rambling sometimes- must be the expressive in me. :) But to conclude, I just want to say how grateful I feel to be up here. I've made some seriously great friends, both male and female, which is surprising to me. Usually I make friends with guys a lot easier, and I definitely have made some super amazing guy friends up here, but I've gotten so close to so many girls as well! I guess we're kind of forced to be good friends since we're all breathing the same air and living in such close proximity to each other. It's funny, everybody knows everything about everyone, because of the open ceilings and the lack of privacy. We live in a place called Snowshoe lodge, so whenever we talk about people knowing everything, we call it the Snowshoe gossip.. seriously, the only place where there's privacy is the laundry room. But it works and I love it because you hear about everyone's life and you care about them.

And the best part is that after the summer is over, we're still going to be living in the same city, going to the same school as each other. I love that it doesn't have to be over after this summer.

OH! Okay I promise this is my last little thing. I just love the firesides up here. We have a fireside every week, with different speakers and different topics. I just really love being so spiritually enlightened and to be able to learn so much. I feel like I'm really learning things that are important to my life, and I'm more open to receiving answers to my prayers . AND I love my choir that I conduct up here. We have fun together and they sound amazing.

Anyways. Basically, nothing's changed. I still love it here, and I still am so incredibly grateful for the opportunity that I have to be in this beautiful place with these beautiful people. :)

Livin' it up at Aspen Grove

I cannot believe how blessed I am to live in such a beautiful place. Seriously, every single day I am astounded by all of God's amazing creations. For anyone who knows me well, you know that I am not a nature outdoorsy type of person. But much to my own amazement, I am in love with nature out here. I love taking walks and I love just sitting outside. There's usually a nice breeze, and the sun is shining and there are just a few clouds in the blue, blue sky. (Of course, that's Utah weather permitting- half the time it decides to be bipolar and get freakishly cold). But for the most part, I'm seriously enjoying the gorgeous scenery.

Although, to be completely well-rounded in my description, I do have to mention one downside of being up here. It's something I only thought I'd have to deal with in Texas, not Utah: allergies. I just started having the symptoms a little while ago but they're not going away without a fight. I think that it's because of all the cotton floating around in the air- seriously, there are flecks of white stuff floating around EVERYWHERE. It almost looks like it's snowing sometimes! But I'm hoping to kick these allergies in the butt sometime in the near future.

So, work has been going really well. As I've said before, I work in the store, and for the most part I really love it. It's great interacting with the guests and getting to know their faces as they come in throughout the week. Of course, working with BYU creamery ice cream isn't so bad either- my sample-a-day keeps the smile on my face :). Probably my favorite part of working in the store is the people that I work with. At night, we have people that come in and work on standby, to help out whoever the store people are. Basically, they scoop the ice cream and clean while the clerks (me) ring people up. (I'm training myself to say "ring up" because I've said "check out" often and created some very awkward moments...) I love love love the two girls that I work with on a more full-time basis, Anna and Hilary. They are so great! We get along so well and we have each other's backs.

(This is a picture of me and Anna, and of course the ice cream machine from Hades. It doesn't like us very much.)

So yeah! I'm getting better at scooping ice cream, thank goodness, and I'm hoping with all my might that I will eventually get better at making a soft-serve cone that doesn't topple over.

I got a church "assignment". We're not a real ward, we're just a "group", so they can't give us callings, only assignments. Big shocker here, I got assigned to be choir director! I love it. There are tons of people that come and sing and they're all really talented, and it's so great! Every week we have a fireside speaker, so we'll probably sing at a couple of those, and of course, we'll sing in church. INCREDIBLE news: Elder Groberg and Elder HOLLAND (of "THE BOOK OF MORMON IS TRUE" Holland) are both coming on different Sundays to do firesides!! I am so incredibly psyched, I can't even express how excited I am.Wow.

The social atmosphere is really different now than it was during May, when there were only 30 or so staff members. Now we have almost 80, and it feels like there are people everywhere all of the time! It's good and bad in both ways. I love all the new people, and I get along with them great, but I'll admit there are sometimes when I just wish there was an empty couch cushion in the lobby! But it's great getting to know everybody and making new friends, etc. I've finally gotten used to the whole opened-ceiling dorm living arrangements, and now I kind of like it. In a way, it makes the girls who live here closer because we're all involved in each other's lives. I love having girl talk in the hall, talking about somebody's date that they went on, or a first kiss or something like that. It's nice cause we all get excited for each other and we just all get along really well, no drama, no nothing.

One of my favorite parts of Aspen Grove is Frontier Night, if only for the awesome Kodak moments that pop up left and right. Frontier Night is basically where the staff dresses like cowboys and indians and they run different activities, like tomahawk throwing or archery or driving the train, etc. It takes place in Cowboy Village, which is a little makeshift old western town that we have by this big field. Most everybody dresses up and it's soo much fun. Here are some of my favorite pictures :)

me and the Duke :)

chief skinny :), aka Dallin, aka Mr. Awesome-at-guitar-and-life!

roommates! :) (heidi, karen, stephanie and kelly)

Jordan, just brandin'. You know.

haha oh my how I love this picture. :)

the lovely camille, just indian-ing it up!

this boy is crazy photogenic. seriously.

kelly get your gun :) please take note of the texas flag in the background, thank you very much. :)

i'll let you decide if brandon's mustache is real or not.

i wasn't so great at the tomahawk throwing... :(

ride 'em, cowgirl :) just reconnectin' with my roots :)

the overall gals

this is a serious duty, this duty of ours.

just look at that view!


Like I said, I am incredibly lucky to be where I'm at. I love my job and all of the social and spiritual and mental and emotional perks that come with it. I'm so happy to be spending my summer in the mountains. :)

Wonderful World :)

I just can't get over what an incredible month this has been! I have seriously had such an incredible time up here. I have literally never had such a fun time with such fun people.

It's been so nice getting to know different people, and getting to do different types of work. This last week the whole entire staff came up and we've been doing training. There are SO many more people up here than there was for most of the month of May. I have to admit that it's really crowded and definitely an adjustment.

I love that now I'm getting to work in the store more regularly, because that's what I'm going to be doing all summer. I got to meet the girls that I'll be working in the store with and they're so great! I'm really looking forward to it.

Oh! So funny story. This past Saturday, I had to work in the store. The day started with a bit of a hitch- I was supposed to be at the store at 8:45- my alarm did not go off and I woke up at 8:41. I grabbed my shoes, threw on a shirt, brushed my teeth at the speed of light and sprinted out the door. But as soon as I opened the door, much to my surprise, I was greeted by SNOW! I threw on a sweatshirt, put on my shoes and literally sprinted to the store, getting there at exactly 8:45.

Then, the day got even better. A Youth Conference was in camp, and they were doing an Amazing Race activity. They asked me to be one of the people that gave out the clues, and they gave me this ridiculous looking hat that I had to wear all morning. (See picture below)

Anyways. It was pretty fun. I really enjoyed it!

Then this last week has been really nice. We've been doing some general staff training as well as some individual training. For example, yesterday, my job consisted of making shakes and eating them, then learning about my personality from a personality test that I took. (It was actually really interesting- It's called Persogenics, I think? Anyways. I definitely learned a lot about myself.)

Just to sum up, I love it up here. It's so gorgeous and I'm having such a good time. I couldn't be happier! :)