The luckiest.

Man, he makes me weak in the knees. Honestly guys, that's a real thing...didn't even know that until I started dating my man! My legs give out mostly when he talks about what he's going to do with our kids, and then when he talks to other guys about cars. I know, the second one is kinda weird--maybe not--but he just knows everything about them. Mmm.

Speaking of engines, I have to brag. I just heard this last week. When he was just a kid, he got an old riding lawn mower that didn't work, researched every detail, took it apart, put it back together and got it working all by himself! He keeps telling me he's some normal guy, but I don't buy it.

I'm just so proud of how hard working and super dang smart he is. I always tell him I feel like I'm 10 years younger than him just because somehow he always knows what to do and is way more mature than I am. What a catch.

It's so funny how it took him a few tries to get into that little car!

My own little (big) mechanic/financial extraordinaire/real man.

95 days!!!!!!

We do not doubt.

Who knows if I've posted this before...I don't think it really matters. It's just like reading the scriptures, different things jump out at you at different points in your life, and I guess that's just what happened to me today. 

In the last part of Alma 56, Helaman is talking to his brother, Moroni. Now, to put it in context just a bit, there are a million things that Helaman could have said. There was a huge war going on against the Lamanites, and if I were him, I'd probably tell him my war strategies, maybe something funny that happened...I don't know! But look at what he immediately tells him:

"And now I say unto you, my beloved brother Moroni, that never had I seen so great courage, may, not amongst all the Nephites." (v. 45)

He is referring to these two thousand little boys that are in his army. Okay, the only people that make up his army. He calls them "young" men throughout the chapter, and I really start to think of what he means by "young." Remember back then how it was normal for girls to have babies at age 14? And how you became a real person at age 12? I might be exaggerating, but probably not by much. Helaman keeps on commenting how extremely young these men are, and I figure that he would lightly dust over the topic if they were of a mature enough age. Apparently they weren't. Here's just one example:

"For as I had ever called them my sons (for they were all of them very young)... 

And check this out, this is what they were thinking while in the middle of the war...no wonder God told us to be like little children:

"...even so they said unto me: Father, behold our God is with us, and he will not suffer that we should fall; then let us go forth..." (v. 46)

Wow. All of them said that? Well, look at what else Helaman has to say about them. And another thing to remember...he really wants us to know this because he is not just typing this all out on a Word document, he is etching into brass/copper/gold with a hammer all of these letters one by one. You think they're important? Yeah. Anyway, check this out:

"Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death..." Whaatttt?! "...and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea..." and this is my favorite part, "they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them. And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it."

The moral of the story is not that we should travel back in time and be like the two-thousand stripling warriors, it is that we still have time left to be those mothers and fathers they are talking about. Obviously, I think about this subject a lot! I am so excited to have my own family. I want to teach them principles like these from the Book of Mormon and the Bible. I want to give them life experiences that will help them grow farther than they ever thought possible, just like these very young strippling warriors. I know it will be challenging, and I'll won't be able to take one day off.

But from what I hear, it's worth it.

23 years young.

In Provo years, I'm 30. But to the rest of the world, I'm just 23!

This whole weekend was celebratory...really, because any excuse we can find to celebrate, I'm totally there.  Linda's birthday was on Monday, so we made a week out of it. On her birthday, this was the message I received:

And then on my birthday...

Now, you understand. It was just a great week. I think I'll just continue to let pictures tell the story.

That was for the night of the 14th. As for the 15th...

Little Bobby's baptism--how wonderful it is to have family close by.

Yeah, we can't believe we live here, either.

Peace with the unknown.

As most people do, I was listening in church. Even if you catch a fourth of Sacrament meeting, you're golden. Thankfully, this phrase was one of those things I caught:

"Be at peace with the unknown."

So it's probably a heck of a lot easier to just say that, but to actually do it? That's a different story. It's called the eternal perspective. My poor companions have heard me talk about this, but it really is the thing that saves my life. It's something I've been experimenting with since I was little kid. It all started with my dad. He is easily the most loving father on the face of the earth, and through just being who he is, he taught me how Heavenly Father works: as long as you work as hard as you can, no matter how cute you are, no matter how much money you have...you'll always have enough. So, "become as a little child, meek, submissive, full of love," and it's OK to not know what you're going to do tomorrow, next year, or even in the next five years. If you work, and the key word is IF, you'll always have your hands full...

"Be still, my soul, the Lord is on thy side...all safe and blessed, we shall meet at last." -Be Still, My Soul

I'll be home for [Thanksgiving.]

The holidays have arrived! We're leaving right now to go up to this place:

Tetonia, ID

It's obviously not this green anymore...

And there is now snow on the ground.

So remember how I was talking about my bridge the other week? It keeps getting better. I think the only reason it gets better is because I've kept a miracle journal, and I can go back and actually see what I prayed for and what happened. It's amazing the things you think you'll remember, but you really don't until you go back and look. Like this for instance...

...I got my job back at BYUtv! I start right after I get back from Washington, D.C.. Before my mission, I worked as a PA for BYUtv sports--total dream job as a student, right? That was one of the hardest things to let go to serve, and I prayed a lot to be okay with it. Although sometimes it's hard for missionaries to come back and start sprinting right as they rush into life, that was something I knew The Lord would help me out with. Not specifically that job, but enjoying life and working hard to make it seem seamless.

Speaking of being on TV and Thanksgiving...they would have never allowed me to if I had worked there ten years ago:

Thanksgiving 2003/2013 with Felicia and Mary

Happy Thanksgiving!

Song of the week:

"I've got nothing left to lose, but I'm no pair of dancing shoes...Don't push but don't hesitate. 
Wake me from this slumber...Rush me, but leave time to wake." -Gavin DeGraw

What a great day!

I have to thank everyone. Especially Rebecca, who planned a wonderful 21st birthday for me. She took me to dinner with Ashley, then shopping, then got most of the BYUtv Sports crew together to go out for frozen yogurt. How do I top that for her birthday?! (Ideas are always welcome.) Also to my dad for making me breakfast and taking me out to lunch. And for the cake Sarah made for me not knowing I'd be back in Provo...I'm sorry. I can't wait to try it!

Also, a HUGE thank you to everyone who called, texted, facebooked...whatever. That really means the world to me. The only reason I love my birthday is so I get to talk to (most) everyone who I love all in one day! It's amazing, that never happens on any other day. All of my friends come together, even if it is for a few seconds. I could care less about getting older...I feel so blessed to have the coolest people in my life and I'm grateful for it. So, thank you to everyone who celebrated with me. I really mean it. 

Top left: I love Kaitlin and Stephie for letting me come home to this. Also for the gifts. Best roommates ever.
Top right: Stephie made me CHOCOLATE CAKE BALLS! Oh my goodness...so yummy. We still have a few left, anyone is welcome to come over and eat away.
Bottom left: My purchase at Banana Republic...huge thank you to Caroline for the gift card (you know me too well.)
Bottom right: Yogurtland! Minus Brooke. She wasn't there yet. But we (I) still love her.

I know I'm missing something/someone...I apologize...but it was fantastic. I'm 21!

He said what?

Have you ever had a person tell you that there was no way you could do something, or that you weren't good enough?

It's definitely happened to me. By a professor, actually. He even laughed at me. I was very surprised and very taken back. And you know what? I did it better and faster than I even thought I could. Well...that's embarrassing. Ha!

So if you're on the side where you are telling someone they can't do something, you're going to look stupid. Even if you have a PhD attached to your name, it doesn't mean you're automatically mature. They'll just take it as a challenge. Be careful what you say.

If you're on the other side...just do it. You can do it, and you can do it well. I'm a strong believer in accomplishing whatever you set your mind to. Don't let anybody step in your way for anything. 

"When something bad happens, you have three choices. You can either let it define you, let it destroy you, or can let it strengthen you." -Anon.

It's not cheating, don't worry.

As many of you know, the iPhone has many uses. Very helpful uses, I might add. One of them is our dear friend, Siri. Not only is she every man's dream girl, she's every girl's...well, dream. Finally, we've found a robot that can tell us what to wear and where to throw a dead body. 


Today while at work, we discovered a new feature. She did our homework. Well, she did Ashley's homework. Haven't we been dreaming of this since the second grade? Let me repeat, she did homework. We won't call it cheating because it was only busy work. Typing up SOT's aren't exactly "learning experiences."

It was probably the greatest thing we did today. Until Ashley and I smelled Brick Oven on the way home from class, walked in and sat down to eat. Just like that. Because we were hungry. Being independent ROCKS. 


Well, that's all I learned today...how not to do my homework. I don't think I could ever have lived back in the old days with my parents and their typewriters. They're SO OLD. I hope anyone their age reads this. 

Complete.

And finals are done! I can't believe I'm halfway through my Junior year. This is so nuts. I don't feel old enough. But then dinner tonight basically proved to me that I actually look the part. One of my awesome friends took a couple of us out to the Cannon Center. (She had extra money on her meal plan...definitely a plus to having freshman friends.) While we were eating, a boy came up to me and said, "what grade are you in?"


What grade am I in? Wow, I haven't gotten asked that question in a while. And from a fellow college student. In my head, I proceeded to count up from the 12th grade, then thought, "what am I doing?! I'm not in a grade!" I then replied with a simple, "I'm a junior." He gave me a weird look and said, "So, what are you doing here? You're OLD!" 


Oh great. I'm not even 21 yet, and I just got called old. As I was doing the math however, I learned I was in the 15th grade. A 15th-grader. That just makes me sound like I was held back, or better yet, a Super Senior. (Which I have never been, or will be, thank you very much.)


Anyway, here are just some bullet points of the wonderful parts of my day:

• I finished Fall 2011 semester. Finished. I took three finals and wrote one paper, all today. 
• One of those finals, took ten minutes. Another one took fifteen. If you're wondering, yes I did get a good grade on both of them.
• On my way out from the testing center, some nice ladies had a kiosk for textbook sell-back. I earned an extra $25 bucks giving them my very unwanted textbooks. Looks like I'll be raiding my closet for more textbooks tomorrow.
• Free breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Breakfast: a nice work party put on by BYUB. Lunch: a nice catered meal from my former Cougar Club co-workers, overlooking the stadium in the President's Loge. Dinner: see above.
• Sports Staff meeting. Okay, not exactly all hour and 15 minutes was gripping, but it was awesome to hear new ideas being put into BYUtv Sports. Stay tuned.

Tomorrow, all I've got to do is work, pack, and go to a party. Oh, and textbook sell-back. Then I'm headed back north and I'm free for two whole weeks...except on December 19th. That will be a very long, but fun, day at work. (Again, stay tuned to BYUtv, Bowl Preview Special is comin' up!) But I'm super excited to go home, sleep, and not have to think about anything...except happiness. 

Twenty.

You're not a child, teenager, OR an adult. But, you're treated like you know what you're talking about. When people ask me my age and I say "twenty," they look at me almost waiting for the other number to follow. But nope, just twenty.  I'm in this awkward stage where I don't really know where to categorize myself.  I can run from a meeting with international businessmen to a dance party up in Salt Lake with no thought of, "was that weird?" I feel like it should be weird. But it's not. Because I'm twenty.

Being a mature 20-year-old.

The pros of being twenty are simple. People take you seriously when you say you're in your "twenties," although, lets be honest, they probably will more so when I'm in my thirties. Anyway, I can start thinking about career jobs because I'm almost a college graduate, my friends are coming home from their missions (finally), I have a couple of "independence years" under my belt, and I know how to successfully put air in my car tires without male assistance. (If you didn't get the sarcasm in the last one...it's in there.)


The cons aren't that bad, but they are limiting. Say for example, I want to go on a cruise. I can't go unless there's someone goes up with me that's at least 25. It happened to me this summer and it was possibly the saddest day of my life. But say on that cruise I wanted to rent a car. I couldn't have, again, because I wasn't old enough. Renting a car and going on a cruise are obviously two things that hinder my life. (Again, with the sarcasm.) Although not being able to go to some concerts makes me feel like a 12-year-old. Not like I've tried to go, just simply the fact that I can't bothers me a bit.


Okay, so the moral of the story is--age doesn't matter. Just because I'm twenty doesn't mean the world stopped or started. It just means that I'm growing up and realizing I'm becoming an adult. WEIRD. I still feel like I'm a senior in high school, and probably will until I have a kid. However, the thing I've learned is that it doesn't matter how old you are, it's how mature you are. What's the definition of maturity you ask? My 20-year-old answer: act like you know what you're doing, until you actually do know what you're doing, or in other words, "fake it 'till you make it." Maturity can get you a lot more places than age, that's for sure. But just think of what I can do when I'm 21...i'll let you know.