slightly obsessed

Life is more than crazy right now. 

Midterms, work, studying, homework, and other adventures abound this week.

But that just makes the few minutes I have to talk to people, prepare an FHE spiritual thought, take a walk to look at the mountains, or just sit and listen to a few songs all the more wonderful.

Enjoy this list of just a few things I am slightly completely obsessed with currently.

this song.

"Begin Again" by Taylor Swift

this quote.

"Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side;
my greatest concern is to be on God's side,
for God is always right."
Abraham Lincoln

this talk. 

"Sunday Will Come" by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

my job.
like a whole lot.
I mean, just how cool is this?!

these people.
otherwise known as mi familia.
aren't they adorable?

this perspective.

"Love grows best in little houses, with fewer walls to separate.

Where you eat and sleep so close together, you can't help but communicate.

And if we had more room between us,

think of all we'd miss.

Love grows best in houses just like this."

missionaries. 

as always.

mountains.

unfortunately, I have no pictures. 

I really need to start using that camera more.

also this song.

"In Christ Alone" cover by Owl City

and this quote.

"Every righteous thought, word, and deed is a victory for the Lord."

Robert C. Oaks

Keep smiling.

Have a lovely week.

Oh and this is just too funny to not share. 

Enjoy all you young single adults out there.

january, mountains, and epic music

I am kind of a movie nerd. which you probably already knew.

One of the best parts about movies: the music.

While I study and work, I often listen to movie scores, such as:

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron

The Chronicles Narnia

The Incredibles

and of course... UP.

[They work wonders for motivation.]

I am still obsessed with the mountains. With snow on them, they are just gorgeous.
And at sunset? Gosh they are absolutely beautiful.

This has been one of the strangest weeks of my life thus far with some random things happening with family and friends.
But it ended wonderfully as I got to spend time with some friends. Oh, and I got an A on my New Testament exam.

Today I washed every single dish in our apartment that had been piling up.
Life is interesting with a Brazilian roommate who pretends to not understand you when you ask her seven times to wash the dishes.
An hour and a half later, my hands are raisins and I'm finally eating some lunch.
But it's clean. And that's what matters for now.

My cousin, Christopher, opened his mission call! 

I am beyond excited for him to serve the people of Paraguay! 

[seven of my good friends also opened their calls that day. craziness]

Last weekend, Rachel and Mom came to visit!
Rachel had an audition for the music school, so Mom flew out with her.
I spent some time with them in the mountains taking "senior pictures" for Rachel.
They explored my apartment and BYU campus. I still don't have a roommate by the way. 
They joined me for lunch in the Cougareat one day. I joined them for dinner with some family.
Basically, it was a blast.

Up Provo Canyon with my sister. Absolutely gorgeous.

Best friends since the days we were born. Gosh I love these boys! 

Mom and Rachel with me. It was great to see them!

January basically consisted of me working, studying, studying, and working.
You know, that fun stuff big kids do.
I have become a pro at HTML programming. sort of.
And I became even more of a history nerd, if that's even possible.
I have approximately zero social life as all of my friends live on south campus, are at home waiting to go on their missions, or work early-morning jobs.
I can no longer stay up past eleven.

Some inspirational thoughts for you:

"A Pep Talk from Kid President"

[basically the most adorable pep talk you will ever hear in your life]

Stop being afraid of what could go wrong and focus on what could go right.

No one looks stupid when they're having fun. Amy Poehler

What would be the point of living if we didn't let life change us.

Happy February to all of you.
It's going to be an exciting month of birthdays, anniversaries, snow, and who knows what else!

thirty days of thanksgiving

Now that Halloween is over, we are entering the [real] holiday season. I love the spirit of this time of year; people are generally smiling more and worrying less, and the time spent with family members creates such great memories.

November is the month for pilgrims, turkeys, first snow, and family traditions. I love it all. In keeping with the spirit of thanksgiving, I thought that this month I would do a small gratitude post each day. This is mostly for myself, but I hope you enjoy it as well.

The first post will be up later today.
For now, please take a few moments to watch this message from Elder Dallin H. Oaks called "In the Spirit of Thanksgiving."

Remember [especially during this season] to be grateful for every person, every trial, and every blessing that comes your way. Find at least one reason to smile in each day, and then give thanks for that moment.

Here's to the happy months ahead!

thirty seconds of hilarity

So I just did a blog post, but I had to share this. I saw this commercial the other day. Makes me laugh so hard!
Watch it first then finish reading.

Lesson learned. I will not be attending my own funeral as a guy named Phil Shifley. Guess we need to upgrade our cable box here to DirecTV.

Find a laugh in your day today!

Happy Monday

HAPPY MONDAY everybody!! It's actually been a pretty fantastic day, though I did wake up late.

So I spent the first part going to classes, doing homework, being as productive as usual. You know, if you're this productive so many days in a row you would think the homework and stress levels would decrease. They don't. Not one bit.

But now I do have a little more time to study for these two midterms I have this week...
Book of Mormon on Wednesday, Geography on Saturday.
yikes.
At least government isn't until next week.

Went to dinner with some of the girls in the hall. Seriously, these girls are some of the most incredible, the sweetest, just fun people I have ever been around. I can't imagine not being in the same hall as them and seeing each one every single day!

One of the girls in our ward has revived the 119th ward curse of the girls ending up in the ER. Jamie was up skiing at Sundance and because it was so icy that night, couldn't stop and ended up crashing. The major problems: one of her lungs collapsed and she has a three-inch gash in her liver. She's fully coherent and conscious, but she can't move so that her liver can continue to heal on it's own. She is now in the ICU recovering, and so our FHE group went to visit her since she's one of our siblings :)

Family love :) Peter (the dad), Elise, me, Jamie, Hannah, Haley, Lacy (the mom), and Kelcie.
Just to clarify: in our ward, we are organized into Family Home Evening Groups. Peter and Lacy are our Family Home Evening Group Leaders. It's a whole lot easier to refer to them as our parents though. Hence, mom and dad. The end.

It's always an interesting experience visiting people instead of being the patient. I'm not sure if I'm a huge fan - I honestly think I'd rather be the patient. I brought what I could (my book and movie that were hospital staples for me) and asked some questions that everyone else probably thought were strange... anyways. Going to visit her again later on Tuesday to keep her company.

I came back from FHE and worked on homework (you're shocked, I know). I shared some popcorn with Hattie and Haley. I skyped with my family which is always a blast...

We're dorks. with matching PJ pants. super cute!! and I look strange because I had to take the picture which requires me to look at the keyboard. just letting you know.

And I got to skype with Newel! I miss that kid...and his humor. It was fun talking with him! Unfortunately, Angela was not present, so Newel had me dictate a sign to give to her. Hence the photo below.

After picking Angela up from her friend Will's place over in Heritage, we had a little party back at the dorm. Dance party: me playing "Hold On" by Wilson Phillips, Angela dancing/jogging/doing jumping jacks/running in place/burning excess energy/wiggling to that "work out" song. So entertaining. Still don't feel inspired to work out, though apparently she does. I'm so glad to have her to make me laugh even when I'm dead tired!!

Day 1 of the week of craziness done.
Only 5 days left.
I will survive.
maybe...

Late Night

So tonight just might be my first (and only) college all-nighter. I just have so much due tomorrow and a ton of reading to get done over the weekend in preparation for midterms. yes, midterms already.

Where has the semester gone?

On the bright side, only 33 hours until Angela and I find out about Regency Apartments!
And only 2.5 more months until I get to cook my own food and move into my own apartment and I get to leave freshmen dorm life.

Growing up is becoming more appealing very quickly.

Anyways, too much to do to say a whole lot. Just wanted to share my new most-played iTunes song, which just also happens to be my midnight study motivation song.

Kelly Clarkson "Stronger"

By the way, BYU Men's Basketball won their game tonight against Gonzaga which was actually super exciting! And I have a game to go to on Saturday... :)

Sleep well world.

Days 2, 3, and 4

Ok so I haven't done as great for my goals. And there really isn't a great excuse for that except for the fact that I am getting sick. Don't panic - I'm not seriously sick, just a normal cold. I won't go into specifics of what I haven't done because that's depressing.

Instead, I'll focus on what I have done: I have been doing homework, I have been studying for some upcoming exams, I have researched housing, and I've been going to classes and figuring out the next few months of my life.

So besides a couple extra naps, it's been a fairly productive past few days.

Some highlights:

• having a nice BYU guy scrape the ice off the windshield of the car before driving up to class
• taking a friend to the Student Health Center and then to the ER. She just has a nasty case of the flu. She'll be fine, thank goodness!
• I mailed in paperwork for a textbook reimbursement program. One of the benefits of having cancer.
• eating for the first time at the Blue Line deli in the Tanner Building. Angela, her friend Will, Austin, and I all met there for dinner after my personal finance class. I do believe that will become my dinner place for Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Angela, Will, me, and Austin after the Blue Line.
Will broke his leg a few days ago, hence the scooter.

• watching Angela make moccasins out of paper bags for her Visual Arts for Elementary Education (or something like that) class. yes, it is as entertaining as it sounds. check her blog for pictures on that.
• cleaning the room for cleaning checks. I am so thankful to have a clean roommate and to have had parents (Mom) who taught me to be organized and tidy. It definitely makes getting ready for cleaning checks a whole lot easier.
• ward prayer!! we actually had spotlights tonight, and a friend came to show us all how amazing he is with a whip. (yes, a whip. He's from a ranch in Florida.)
• finding out who my new team-teacher for Gospel Doctrine will be...
• talking with friends. eating with friends. driving with friends. lots and lots of time with friends.

And now, because I feel bad this post isn't media-rich with photos or videos, please enjoy this song that is currently my most-played song on iTunes.

Scotty McCreery - The Trouble With Girls

On another note, I was going through some old blog posts to look for some inspiration for my Book of Mormon insight paper. I came across this old post about chemo. I am so thankful to be done with that, even if it is only for a short while. It's nice to review those past events as a reminder that, with the Lord's help, I can get through these exams, classes, choosing housing, and other hard decisions that are fast approaching as I grow up.

Coming soon: 

apartment hunting, apartment contracts signed, grandparents visiting, and more studying.

Looking forward to the weekend!

Positivity

My good friend posted this on Facebook the other day as a little optimism boost for our upcoming week of tests...

Wouldn't it be great if we could all have this attitude every day? Especially on a Monday morning...or any morning for that matter. But especially Monday. And Wednesday, the hump day.

As my cousin always says, Remember to SMILE!!!!