Top 3 Refreshing Things That Make Me Smile

1: Fall... in Utah.

I simply cannot believe how incredibly beautiful the mountains are during Fall in Utah. There are so many amazing, beautiful colors. What's even more of a miracle is the fact that it feels like summer still! The sun is out most of the time and there's a light, gentle breeze, and when I drive, I can roll the windows down and turn the music up. For October in Utah, that ain't bad.

2: Solid boys

I don't know what it is, but I seem to be encountering lots of amazing guys lately. (I should mention that most of these guys are 18 or so... just to be clear, I'm not creepin' or saying I want one. Just appreciating, that's all). There is something so REFRESHING about meeting boys who:

1. Aren't afraid of hard work
2. Know how to treat women (with respect)
3. Have good attitudes
4. Are genuinely nice

I've had the extreme pleasure of meeting boys like this recently, and I am amazed at who they are. I so very much appreciate a guy who isn't afraid to smile, who knows how to lead, who have a general energy of positivity. It's just nice to have such good examples around me.

3: Good Family Values... A Blast From the Past

So, random, I know, but lately I've been watching old episodes of "Boy Meets World." There are so many things I love about this show! Besides the awesome dialogue, there are some seriously awesome role models family-wise. The dad is a GREAT father and husband and puts his family first. He cares about spending quality time with his family. The father and mother have a good relationship, and the siblings all care about each other. I compare this show with the kinds of shows that are on TV today, which feature as a majority only dysfunctional families, or broken families, and it breaks my heart a little! What happened to TV shows that actually encourage good families? Families that stay together, that love each other and want to spend time with each other? It makes me worried for the next generation who are growing up on these shows where everybody's getting pregnant or divorced or ________ (fill in the blank.. it's always something).

It's just nice to look back at the past and see a healthy, happy family... even if they are fictional. :)

Do Mormons Believe in Being Saved By Grace?

Have you ever wondered what your friendly Mormon next door believes? Well if you have, let me just give you a quick sum up: the full name of our church is "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." Like the name indicates, we are Christian! We believe in modern day revelation and we believe that the Lord loves his children. (To learn much more about our religion, just go to www.mormon.org.)

A lot of people have asked me if Mormons believe in being saved by "grace," referring to the atonement of Jesus Christ, "saving" us from sin. The answer to this question is a resounding

YES! 

We do believe that we are saved by grace!

We just believe there's so much more to it than that. A lot of time among Mormons, you'll hear the phrase, "Saved by grace after all we can do." We believe that we shouldn't just float along in life, just because we are "saved" no matter what we do. We believe that to be truly converted unto Christ, you'll want to show your appreciation by doing good works in His name.

I recently read an AMAZING talk given by Brad Wilcox (who actually happens to be teaching one of the classes I'm taking at BYU right now!) I'd like to go through his talk and include some great quotes and examples that will help clarify what we believe and that really helped me understand the Atonement a lot better.

Some people think of grace as a gap-filler. We do what we can, but when it's not enough, Christ makes up the rest of the difference that we can't fill. This is not the case. Christ has already paid the price for all of us-- he's not asking us to repay him.

ANALOGY TIME!

(from Brad's talk, "His Grace Is Sufficient")

"Christ's arrangement with us is similar to a mom providing music lessons for her child. Mom pays the piano teacher... Because Mom pays the debt in full, she can turn to her child and ask for something. What is it? Practice! Does the child's practice pay the piano teacher? No. Does the child's practice repay Mom for paying the piano teacher? No. Practicing is how the child shows appreciation for Mom's incredible gift. It is how he takes advantage of the amazing opportunity Mom is giving him to live his life at a higher level. Mom's joy is found not in getting repaid but in seeing her gift used-- seeing her child improve."

As this analogy shows us, we are not trying to "repay" Christ for what He has done for us. Here's another quote:

"Elder Dallin H. Oaks has said, referring to President Spencer W. Kimball's explanation, 'The repenting sinner must suffer for his sins, but this suffering has a different purpose than punishment or payment. Its purpose is change.' Let's put that in terms of our analogy. The child must practice the piano, but this practice has a different purpose than punishment or payment. Its purpose is change." 

Brad then goes on to talk about taking "saved by grace" to the next level, which is being changed by grace. He asks his questioning friends,

"Have you been changed by grace? As my friend Omar Canals puts it, "While many Christians view Christ's suffering as only a huge favor He did for us, Latter-day Saints also recognize it as a huge investment He made in us.'"

EVERYONE MAKES MISTAKES

Sometimes, it feels overwhelming to constantly try to be better. The simple fact is, everybody makes mistakes. Tons of mistakes. BIG, HUGE, overwhelming mistakes. To reference the analogy again, Brad says, 

"When a young pianist hits a wrong note, we don't say he is not worthy to keep practicing. We don't expect him to be flawless. We just expect him to keep trying."

This is not a journey that we make on our own, trying to do all that we can do, and then letting Christ's grace take care of the rest. 

 "Christ is not waiting at the finish line once we have done "all we can do." He is with us every step of the way." 

Brad also quotes Elder Bruce C. Hafen, who said, 

"Grace is not a booster engine that kicks in once our fuel supply is exhausted. Rather, it is our constant energy source. It is not the light at the end of the tunnel but the light that moves us through the tunnel. Grace is not achieved somewhere down the road. It is received right here and right now."

I believe this with all of my heart, and it gives me hope and joy! I believe that one of the main purposes in this life is to become the best versions of ourselves we can be. Life is a learning process, and we will make mistakes. We just have to keep realize that we keep trying, and that the grace of Christ is what enables us and encourages us to keep moving forward and to continually change and grow. 

To me, being truly converted to Christ is not to float on through life believing there are no consequences to our actions because we are "saved." To me, being truly converted is to go through life trying to show my appreciation to Christ for saving me, through my actions, and acting as He would-- helping others, loving others, and keeping His commandments. I know that we are saved by grace, and I know more than anything that God loves me, and He loves you.

If you'd like to read the full talk by Brad, click here. 

Here's to New Beginnings

Well, first of all, I suck at blogging. The end. Sometimes life gets crazy and I forget, okay? :)

So, quick lil recap here. I am currently out of school and I am working as a secretary part time. In a month or so I'm headed down to Texas to be an EFY counselor for a few weeks! Can't wait to road-trip it up with my bestie, Jess Dall! As of right now, I'm just enjoying life to the max and having fun with my first real summer in Provo (last summer I was up in the mountains, so I don't think it counts).

So far, it's been pretty great! I've been to a couple parties, I chopped off a ton of my hair, I bought a guitar, I've ridden a tandem bike AND a motorcycle, I've taken a cake-decorating class, and I've been garage sale-ing like crazy. (The garage sale-ing is my own personal form of relaxation and happiness. Seriously, nothing feels more rewarding than finding a killer deal.) The cake decorating was seriously fun, and I'm so glad that I did it! Here's a couple of pictures of some cakes I've decorated:

I've really enjoyed having a creative outlet, let me tell you. I love that it's summer and I have time to do craft projects and baking projects and most of all, that I have time to READ! I've got two stacks of books in my room: the stack of books that I've read, and the stack of books that I have yet to read. The second stack just keeps getting higher and higher. I LOVE IT! 

I'm just feeling so great today! This morning I spent some time organizing and categorizing some goals that I have (life goals, really) and I'm so pumped and motivated to do some serious self-improvement! Here are a few of my goals (remember, these aren't for the NEAR, near future. just someday):

• Learn how to reupholster furniture
• Sing in a famous theater
• Learn how to do cool spins or tricks while ice skating
• Learn how to drive a stick
• Go sailing
• Wear a princess dress and go to an actual ball
• Exercise more regularly

So as you can see, some of these are more realistic than others, but they are goals/dreams nonetheless. The last one on that list there, I just made a step in the right direction! Gold's was having this great special, where it's a month-to-month plan, so no crazy contracts, and it's super cheap! It's only $10 a month, and the activation fee was like a dollar. There aren't any cancellation fees and I'm so excited! The gym is way close to my house, and I'm feeling way motivated. Maybe I can FINALLY get rid of that stinkin' freshman fifteen! Haha.

Anyways, I'm so excited for the rest of the summer. It just feels like a fresh start, quite honestly. No school, nothing to focus on but just being the best me that I possibly can and having fun! I just know that this summer is going to be great. And I'll try to be better at posting blogs more often... We'll see how that goes!

Jimmer, Thanks for the Memories

March Madness. To be honest, before this year I never really understood what it was. I had never experienced it, didn't really care about basketball.

But then, something wonderful happened. It was magic. It was Jimmer.

All of a sudden, I found myself caring! I read article after article, went to games at the Marriott Center, tweeted and updated my Facebook status. Heck, the boy has been the background on my phone for at least a month now. I have never, in my entire life, followed a sport with such vigor and anticipation before.

And what a ride it has been! I feel like I've been a part of history, to be a student at BYU in this time of unforgettable craziness. Jimmermania, the Jimmerisms, the obsessive mentality that buzzes all around campus, I've seen it! I've participated in it. This man, this legend... I walk the same campus as he does. I share the same values as he does. I SIGNED THE SAME HONOR CODE HE DID.

Jimmer brought this school together. That team brought this school together. Such incredible talent, with such incredible humility! Our BYU Cougars have done us proud this season. I feel so blessed to have been able to enjoy the ride.

There are countless videos and pictures I could put up, but this one says it all.

Their pain is our pain, but at the end of the day...

We rise. And we shout.

We are BYU.

bloggity blog?

My mama calls this my "bloggity blog". Sadly, I've been neglecting it, and so I have a LOT of catch up to do. Let me just post some highlights here:

I've been to a couple concerts in the past few months:

Iyaz/Jason Derulo/ Auburn/ B.o.B.- I went with my friends Kyle and Heidi.

I also went and saw Sarah Bareilles (see my Facebook for videos) and she was INCREDIBLE! It was so amazing. I love music! :)

Let's see. I've just been crazy busy with school and work and just everything. Oh yeah! I ended up driving home and surprising my mom for Thanksgiving! My friend Jess came with me and we had SO much fun! Plus I was able to be here for my friend Jackie's baptism, and it was just a really great trip.

me and jess :)

with jackie at her baptism!

It was seriously so much fun! When I got back to Provo, I was part of the BYU A Cappella Jam, which featured several a cappella groups on campus, including the club choir of which I am a part! It was really cool cause we just totally rocked it and it felt great! (See Facebook for video! :) )

And now I'm back at home for the Christmas break. Finals went well, and I'm so relieved to have a break!

And now, a little exploration into the subject of Disney Channel Movies.

Now, I will unabashedly admit that I am a Disney Channel fan, despite the fact that more and more of their stars turn into slutty drug addicts... but that's another story. I will tell you up front that I do, in fact, enjoy Hannah Montana and Wizards of Waverley Place, not to mention the old school ones, like Lizzie McGuire and That's So Raven. I love these shows.

But lately, thanks to my handy-dandy Netflix account (courtesy of my grandparents), I've been able to watch more and more of the Disney Channel movies. Oh, I've watched them in the past, and yes, there was always a bit of cheese (HELLO, High School Musical??!) but for some reason, I still find myself watching them! And for some reason, I can't for the life of me figure out why.

Literally, (and I counted), the movie that I just finished watching (give you one hint: whiny boy band and dyed-her-hair-so-ugly-it-matches-her-whiny-voice star meet up for another summer of fun! oh boy!) was almost unbearable. I think that I must have slapped my  hand to my head and rolled my eyes at least 15 times... and that is not in any way, shape or form an exaggeration. Seriously. I had so many moments where I was just like, "Really? They really just used that line?" Or in some cases, "They really couldn't afford a screen writer?" 

Not only are the lines bad, but the acting itself-- oh my goodness! I mean, come on. Last night I watched Avalon High, cause I've always kind of been a fan of King Arthur. I kept watching, waiting for it to get better but it never did! I guess for Avalon High, I have no excuse. I should have just turned it off, but they had a super weak romance line going through and I wanted to see if they ended up together (not that I ever doubted, but the romantic in me made me hold out...)

But as for Camp Rock 2-- oops, did I ruin the surprise for you?-- well, I think I figured it out. Because for as many times I slapped my head and rolled my eyes and asked myself for the millionth time, "WHY ARE YOU STILL WATCHING THIS??!" there was that one song where I couldn't stop smiling, and I had that classic Disney moment. In this case, I think there were actually two songs that I really liked! Because cheesy though these movies may be, they're like thrift stores. You kind of have to endure/sort through the bad stuff to find those little gems that are hidden. And maybe you have to put hand sanitizer on your hands afterwards and maybe you feel like you've wasted an hour and a half of your life, and hey- maybe you have. But somehow those little moments make up for it, and you feel somewhat vindicated. 

Plus, when they've got eyes and voices like this-- I mean, you can't really complain THAT much :) And since it won't let me embed it, you're just going to have to follow the link to see what I'm talking about. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UILg-PIt_l0&feature=related 

And then there's this one, which kind of infuriated me, but I liked the lyrics so much that it kind of made up for it. I mean really, who just goes and picks up the guitar like that? And the song counteracts how they're treating each other. It's just a little bit ridiculous. But here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cL5Df8FX10

I guess my point is that sometimes it's worth it to put up with the crap acting and cheesy lines if sometimes you can hear songs like that... although I'd rather someone had just showed them to me. And even though their voices annoy me (except for Nick... he could sing to me ANY day, and that'd be just fine), I am a musician and I appreciate good melodies and lyrics and the romantic in me eats up the cute moments, and of course I'd die if any boy ever wrote me a song so cute as the one Nick did. I'm just sayin'.

Anyways, I kind of felt like I needed to get this out there if only so I would feel vindicated in my own mind for completely wasting a good chunk of my day today on the Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato... 

That said, MERRY CHRISTMAS! :)

Recipe For Fun

Well, hello there! Yet another week of my life has gone by, and I must say I have been thoroughly exhausted through and through. It's the third week in the row that I have been waking up consistently early, and it's starting to take a toll. I'm just way tired all the time! Silver lining: I'm entertaining the people in my class with my lack of awakeness. Apparently I'm funny when I'm tired.

Side note: Did anyone else know that there were Rudy's BBQ restaurants outside of Texas?? I tried calling one of my teachers out on it and he totally turned it around on me because i didn't do my research. Oh, the life lessons I am learning in college.

Yet again, this has been another successful and not-so-successful cooking week. (I'm thinking I should just give up and make this into a cooking blog- but I won't. I like writing about the other things in my life too, you know!)

So first: baked ziti. I called my Grandma Helena who is a FABULOUS cook, and she talked me through it, gave me a recipe that I almost followed exactly, and it was very successful. I made a whole 9x13 pan though, so I had LOTS of leftovers when I was done. I invited one of my friends over and we talked and ate and it was great!  I was very happy with how it turned out.

A couple nights later, I decided to try my hand at TEXAS SHEET CAKE! I called Heather from back home because I remembered that hers was amazing, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. I took these ingredients:

And turned them into....

which I then turned into....

ta-da!!

Haha. So a few quick notes about the Texas Sheet Cake. The cake part tured out marvelously. I got a little creative with the topping. I'm not a huge fan of pecans, so I decided not to do those. Instead, I bought chocolate and vanilla Charleston Chew and put them in the freezer (a trick I learned this summer @ Aspen Grove) because it makes them brittle and really easy to crack and break. So I ended up smashing those and sprinkling it on top. I felt pretty creative.

However, I definitely struggled with the icing. It was a combination of mistakes- me not taking it off the heat, me putting too much powdered sugar in, me probably whipping it too much. In any case, the icing turned out to be a thicker, almost fudgy substance, and it was very rich. It covered most of the cake, but not all of it. I was really disappointed when I first tried it, just because I knew that I'd messed up the icing and that I'd had better. But then my roommates tried it and they absolutely LOVED it! So, with that boost of confidence, a roommate and I brought some over to some boys in our ward and guess what? They loved it too! So I guess in the end, it did turn out quite well.

Now for the strawberry cake adventure. I found this recipe that looked absolutely DIVINE online for a strawberry cake. I wanted to try it so bad. So my friend Jess came over and we made it! But we ran into some difficulties along the way. So here's what happened. We started with the cake batter. We mixed the batter:

(that's supposed to be "light and fluffy"

and we pureed the strawberries using my roommate's magic bullet. it really is MAGIC!

then we mixed some more!

(these are my artistic mixing bowl pictures.)

and we peeled the strawberries!

We also made icing, but we forgot to take pictures of that. You get the gist of it anyways. And here's a picture of the finished product:

It looks impressive, right? Well let me tell you a little secret. About 5 seconds after we took these pictures, everything started melting off! It was horrible! The strawberries on the side kept falling off, and it looked like everything was sliding off the plate. Then when we tried to cut it, it turned into a jumbled mess!

But.. that's not to say that it wasn't PLATE-LICKIN' GOOD! :) 

:)

And it was very scrumptious. Although it made a HUGE mess of dishes. Oops. But it was definitely a fun night, and another fun cooking adventure. I think I'm going to make a goal to try at least one new recipe a week. (I know I have to say only one a week because anything else would be very unrealistic.) 

OH WAIT. I have to mention a story that happened to me this week really quick.

So I was walking home from school, totally zoning out, in my own little world, and all of a sudden, this guy JUMPS out of a cardboard box and SCREAMS at me! Well of course I scream like the little girl that I am, and he just starts laughing hysterically. As I'm walking away, he points across the street and tells me that his friend is filming it. Gee, that's just really great, buddy. Yikes. Anyways. That would happen to me, right? I know.

Got a big week ahead: my first big paper and my first big test are due this week. So hopefully those go well! Fingers crossed. AND I'm going to try to get more sleep. I'm gonna. :)

Toodles!

Wake Me Up When September Ends

So every time that September rolls around, particularly near the end of September, I always think of that song by Yellow Card. (I think it's Yellow Card at least?) It kind of encompasses how I've felt about the last two weeks- it'st just been so crazy, I just needed to make it to the end.

Of course, that in no way solves my busy life, but that's okay. Why, might you ask, has my life been so busy? Well, let me tell you! I got a job! :) FINALLY. I'd been trying for at least a month to find a job and I finally got lucky! I now work at the Wheatley Institution, which is supported by BYU and located in the Hinckley Center. I am working as a secretary, and my hours are 8-12, M-F. I'm SO grateful for this job. Seriously. If you wanna learn more about what the Wheatley Institution is, you can go to this link: http://wheatley.byu.edu/.

I'd like to once again emphasize HOW MUCH I LOVE MY CLASSES!! Well, my English ones at least. I am seriously loving both of them. Now it might just be that I have awesome professors in both classes, or it could be that I love the subjects we're learning about. Probably it's a combination of both. But we always have great discussions, and I love learning new things. It was so amazing, the other day one of my teachers gave us a poem, talked to us a little bit about the author and told us that we were going to have an appreciation of art day instead of focusing on the technical. So he gave us the poem and told us to find our favorite spot on campus and read it, and then we were dismissed. Cool, huh? The same teacher also gave us the day off of class on Friday so that we could get our homework done for Monday so that we could appreciate General Conference weekend! I love BYU. So much.

I have to say, I've really been missing my freshman guy friends lately. Like a ton. I don't know why- probably because I used to hang out with them all the time and now they're pretty much all gone. It's just sad that I can't call them or hug them or talk to them. Of course, I'm so proud of them and I know that they are all where they're supposed to be, but it's still hard.

Cooking update, anyone? I swear, lately I have been so inspired to cook. I find inspiration in all shapes in sizes, whether it be Julie and Julia (such a great movie), or MasterChef, or even my roommate Cristy who cooks/bakes lots of yummy goodies all the time. There are just some days that I want to create a masterpiece. Of course, that's somewhere in the very distant future. I'm just at the beginning level right now. But, let me tell you about two dishes that I made and loved this last 2 weeks or so.

First: orange chicken! I bought a packet of frozen chicken that came with the orange sauce from the grocery store. While I was cooking that, I made some rice and I cooked some veggies and then I combined them all together and it tasted divine.

Second: Last night I made monkey bread! This was a classic from my childhood. I always used to love making it with my dad. I decided to make it for myself last night and it turned out PERFECTLY! I was so happy, cause it was my first time making it on my own and I was quite nervous, to be honest. But it was all good :)

So yeah! Those were just a couple of my cooking adventures recently. I also made Shepherd's Pie, but I didn't take a picture of it because it doesn't look as good as it tastes. 

I went to dinner with Haley and Alison today! It was so nice to get together and catch up. It actually made me kind of homesick. Well, that and the fact that I booked my ticket to Austin for Christmas this week! I'm way excited to go home, but it seems like it's a lifetime away. 

Let's see... I got new glasses! I don't have to wear glasses all the time, I just wear them when I need to focus or concentrate, but the ones that I had were old and scratched and I figured that it was about time to get new ones! So I picked out some way cute frames, and I'm really happy with them!

Oh yeah! I totally forgot! Last week, Haley and I went to a TEXAS PARTY! That's right. It was hosted by the BYU Alumni chapters from San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas. They brought BLUEBELL ice cream! They gave out door prizes and had a costume contest and it was just awesome. I was really anxious because I wanted to get a Texas door prize SO badly, but they just weren't calling my number. Slowly, I watched the prizes dwindle until there was only one left. Then, they called the very last number... and it was MINE! That like never ever ever happens to me so I was super psyched. Like hard core. It was a Texas plate, and it is my favorite.

Also, with September has arrived the FALL PREMIERES! My favorite shows are back! Community, the Office, Merlin, Grey's Anatomy, GLEE!! Ah. It's been a great month.

So I guess nothing too incredibly exciting to report. I'll try to be better on posting more regularly, but there are a lot of things I'm going to try to be better at- cooking, exercising, cleaning my room, doing my homework..... etc. etc. etc.

Oh, college life. You are turning me into a grown up. Yikes.