Katie Lynn

I'm about to come out of hiding.

2011-08-06T14:31:00.001-07:00

Don't worry blogging world. Soon i will be back at school and i will return to you. Hopefully with a post of pictures from my summer adventures...

Not that anyone really reads this haha.

but if you DO! here's a quote for you for today. :)

"Don't you quit. You keep walking, you keep trying, there is help and happiness ahead. Some blessings come soon. Some come late. Some don't come until heaven. But for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come. It will be alright in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come."--Elder Jeffrey R. Holland ♥

Life is beautiful.

Is going to the gym productive at all?

2011-04-27T19:06:00.000-07:00

Here's the thing. I went back to the gym today. Which is probably good because i've been paying for it and i didn't go at all last month. But the thing is...after doing 75 flights of stairs on th stair master, 8 miles of bike riding, and who knows how much rowing (on my favorite rowing machine)...I burned probably only about 300 calories according to the machines. Only to come home STARVING and eat everything in sight....So my question is...is it really worth it to go to the gym? I'm starting to wonder haha.

But honestly. The gym is great. It makes you feel good even if you come home and eat twice as many calories as you burned, so i will keep going even if i'm eating more than i burn. That's 300 free calories right?

Journal Writing...

2011-04-26T22:04:00.000-07:00

Today i rediscovered the wonderful blessings that come from journal writing. I admit i am not always good at it. I usually go about a month of REALLY great journaling...and then i don't do it for 3 months (or maybe 6). And then i'll do it again. and then not...etc. But today I took out my journal and i started reading through some old things that i had written in the past year.
I've been going through a little rough patch, but going through my journal i was able to find some things that i'd written and learned in the past year that have helped me. It's kind of funny thinking that something you write can help you feel better later, but it's true. Because really the only person who can make you happy is yourself. So rereading things like your testimony or experiences you had in the past are really great ways to help you feel better.
Anyway, I just thought i would share how good it is to keep a journal.

Life is Wonderful.

I'm so glad the weather is getting better.
And I LOVE this video of Carrie Underwood singing How Great Thou Art!

I feel like Peter...

2011-04-24T06:15:00.000-07:00

As i've said before, my absolute favorite story is the one of Peter walking on water. Right now i feel as though I am being distracted by the Storms of life. I feel like i was walking on water...towards Christ; Doing everything I should be doing, and then life took a turn and the storms started. Then, just for a moment, I let the storms distract me from what is really important. But as always, Christ isn't going to let us sink, he always pulls us up before we drown.

Thank goodness for Easter to remind us that there is someone who knows what we go through. Who is here to help us get through the storms of life.

“In our hour of deepest sorrow, we can receive profound peace from the words of the angel that first Easter morning: ‘He is not here: for he is risen.’”

“As one of His special witnesses on earth today, this glorious Easter Sunday, I declare that this is true, in His sacred name—even the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior—amen.”
—President Thomas S. Monson

It's been a while

2011-04-19T17:30:00.003-07:00

I haven't blogged in a really long time. And I don't even know where to start. So...I don't think i will yet. haha

Today!

2011-02-17T09:24:00.000-08:00

Okay so I've been awake since about six this morning. I'm PRETTY sure my call is in a mail truck right now waiting to be delivered to my house!

I feel like I've been waiting forever haha. But at the same time I'm not ready to open it yet!

Anyway I'm going to go try and do some things to keep myself busy but I guess I can update you all on my life before i do that.

I'm working right now 3 days a week at a flooring company. I'm the receptionist on Mondays and then I work back in the accounting department Tuesdays and Wednesdays making copies and scanning things and filing things. It's a pretty good job and the people are all super nice so it's been good! Still trying to sell my apartment contract because the girl who wanted to buy it never ended up doing that! Shoot. Oh well. I still am able to get the money I need for my mission so it's all good!

What else? Well, I joined a gym. I've wanted to do this for a really long time but never had access to doing it because either i lived too far away and didn't have a way to get there, or I was just too lazy. But I've really been trying to get healthy, so i finally did it last week and I've been going mostly every day except a few when i didn't have an extra hour for that. It's been good and it gives me something to do while I'm at home.

Anyway, that is about it in my life. Work, mission, gym....yep. haha.

I'm so excited!

I hope they call me on a mission....in an hour or two.....

:)

Life is Beautiful.

I hope they call me on a mission...

2011-02-04T17:10:00.000-08:00

in a week or two or three.... (hopefully one)
I hope by then i will be ready
to teach and preach and work
as missionaries do....

this song has been stuck in my head all day.
Wonder why?!

I'm just getting more and more excited/nervous/excited every day. And the more I think about it the more i realize this is what i need to be doing right now. I wonder why this decision was ever so hard for me? Well I know why it was, but it shouldn't have been so hard because this definitely feels right.

One more week...i hope!
You better come back here on Thursday night to see if i got it!

So SO excited!

Life is beautiful.

Dearest Blogging world...

2011-01-30T13:32:00.000-08:00

My mission papers are officially in....or at least they will be by tonight. My Stake President said so!

I can't explain how excited i am right now. I don't think i'll survive 2 or 3 weeks of waiting....but i guess i will have to!

But hey while we wait let's guess where i'm going!

I'll put your guess on my map.
and if you guess right then....you're really cool! haha

:)

My mission papers...

2011-01-21T16:04:00.000-08:00

are almost done!! Everything is actually DONE i just have to get the bishop and stake president to push the SUBMIT buttons and then they'll be on their way!

I am so excited/nervous/just excited about it!

Probably 3 weeks from now i will know where i'm going! That's so exciting.

Where do you think i will go?

My mom printed out a list of all the different missions today. I decided i would love to go spanish speaking because i just think it'd be really useful to know spanish.

But Italy, Greece, and Africa are also high up on my list. Although i heard there are not many sisters in Africa

But stateside would be good too.
I don't know!

Everyone keeps saying Temple Square. So maybe i won't be going too far.
I'm just excited :)

YAY!

Happiness...

2011-01-05T16:58:00.000-08:00

Is something that sometimes i feel took me a long time to find. I think I used to think that things had to be going a certain way for life to be good, for me to be happy. But I've found in the past little while that it really doesn't matter how life is going, it matters what YOU are doing with what you've been given and how you are viewing what you've been given.

Life is just great.

And i just can't help myself from getting so excited when i think about things coming up :)

I have this problem...

2010-12-29T11:57:00.001-08:00

called i never blog when i'm at home.

I'll try to get better seeing as i'll be home until i leave for my mission.

But i'm not really going to start today.

I'll just update on a few things...

Sold my apartment contract!

and got a job!

and i'm flying back to provo next week to perform with Noteworthy again. :)

That is all.

Live is beautiful.

This is all i have for now...

2010-12-22T23:28:00.000-08:00

I love this. My mission prep teacher read it on the last day of class...I need to remember this

Between You and God
by Mother Theresa

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
 Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies; 
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you;
 Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating others could destroy overnight;
 Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous; 
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, will be often forgotten;
 Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it may never be enough; 
Give your best anyway.
In the final analysis, it is between you and God. 
It was never between you and them anyway.

Noteworthy.

2010-12-10T14:58:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm almost done with my time as a Noteworthy Lady. It's a weird feeling. I've been a part of Noteworthy for 2 and a half years...and it feels like it's my identity. I think i'm going to have a bit of an identity crisis once it's all over. Hopefully i can still help out with Noteworthy for years to come, but my time actually performing in the group is almost over. I've had the best and worst past few years of my entire life, but one thing has remained constant and has helped me grow so much, and that is Noteworthy. I can't even imagine life without it. I know that I am moving on to more important things, but it's still a little sad to be leaving.

But on a happier note, The CD is out! and you can buy it on Itunes! It's called Defined, and it's amazing so you should purchase it. Seriously...do it now :)

This song has gotten me through a lot of rough times in Noteworthy and it's on the new cd:

Come, come, ye saints, no toil nor labor fear;
But with joy, wend your way.
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
'Tis better far for us to strive
Our useless cares from us to drive;
Do this, and joy your hearts will swell
All is well! All is well!

Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard?
'Tis not so, all is right.
Why should we think to earn a great reward,
If we now shun the fight?
Gird up your loins; fresh courage take;
Our God will never us forsake,
And soon we'll have this tale to tell,
All is well! All is well!

We'll find the place which God for us prepared,
Far away in the West,
Where none shall come to hurt or make afraid;
There the saints will be blessed.
We'll make the air with music ring,
Shout praises to our God and King;
Above the rest these words we'll tell,
All is well! All is well!

And should we die before our journey's through,
Happy day! All is well!
We then are free from toil and sorrow, too;
With the just we shall dwell!
But if our lives are spared again
To see the saints their rest obtain,
O how we'll make this chorus swell,
All is well! All is well!

Life is Beautiful...all is well

For the past few days...

2010-12-08T19:53:00.000-08:00

Since Courtney has been on the Sing Off again I can't get onto my email without having at least 10 new notifications about people commenting and subscribing to my Youtube page. This would usually be a great thing except EVERY comment I have received has been absolutely disgusting and I just end up deleting it. I'm just sick and tired of people posting inappropriate things on my videos and i'm almost ready to just delete them all because it's just gross.

Anyway i just needed to complain for a minute about how annoyed I am with it. That is all.

Life is Beautiful...but people sometimes ruin its beauty.

Moroni 7:33

2010-12-07T15:18:00.001-08:00

"And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever this is expedient in me"

Oh Sara B.

2010-12-06T21:19:00.000-08:00

"City"

There's a harvest each Saturday night

At the bars filled with perfume and hitching a ride

A place you can stand for one night and get gone

It's clear this conversation ain't' doing a thing

Cause these boys only listen to me when i sing

And i don't feel like singing tonight

All the same songs

Here in these deep city lights

Girl could get lost tonight

I'm finding every reason to be gone

Nothing here to hold on to

Could i hold you?

The situation's always the same

You got your wolves in their clothes whispering Hollywood's name

Stealing gold from the silver they see

But it's not me

Here in these deep city lights

Girl could get lost tonight

I'm finding every reason to be gone

There's nothing here to hold on to

Could i hold you?

Calling out somebody save me i feel like i'm fading away

Am i gone?

Calling out somebody save me i feel like i'm fading

In these deep city lights

Girl could get lost tonight

I'm finding every reason to be gone

There's nothing here to hold on to

Could i hold on to you?

Life is beautiful...even when you have to dig deep to find that beauty.

Seeing as BYU is an LDS school...

2010-12-02T09:43:00.000-08:00

You would think they would have more sympathy for students who need to go home a semester before their mission to make money to actually be able to go on the mission...but no, they discontinue you if you leave before you actually have your mission call, and then when you come back you have to reapply, a pretty risky move i'd say. And even worse they won't let you continue at home doing independent study while you work.

Don't get me wrong, BYU is great, but some people just can't afford to pay a million dollars for books AND be able to help pay for their mission, which i would really like to be able to do.

I need to find a class that's .5 credits that i could do from home NOT through independent study...hmmmmm any ideas?

Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the Same

2010-12-01T14:48:00.000-08:00

Have you ever noticed that there always seems to be a lot of factors that get in the way of doing something that you know is right? Whether it be money, or people, or your own emotions, there's just always something getting in the way.

No matter how hard we try, or how good our intentions are there are always trials that we find a long the way. Sometimes i just wish that doing the right thing could be a little easier; but then again, i guess it wouldn't be as rewarding if it was easy.

But this is all i know, if we know something is right then we need to work for it. No matter how much we have to sacrifice, or how hard it is, when you know something is right you have to go for it. Because our Heavenly Father didn't put us on the Earth to fail. There is always a way to accomplish what we know is right. No giving up allowed.

"Sometimes the hardest thing, and the right thing are the same"

Life is Beautiful

Sundays are great!

2010-11-21T14:51:00.000-08:00

Man i love today.

Sunday's are just great.

Even though it's snowing...it really is beautiful outside.

Me and my roommates are having a wonderful day.

And tonight i have a Noteworthy fireside.

And then tomorrow...I leave for home YAY!

I'm so excited to go home

and now i'm going home for a whole week...because my ride ended up having to be back for work so i had to get a flight back to Provo, and they were all really expensive except for next tuesday. So i'll leave tomorrow and then come back the following Tuesday. I'm just really excited :)

Yay thanksgiving.

And christmas is coming! :)

Do you remember your dreams?

2010-11-20T22:53:00.000-08:00

I usually never remember my dreams when I wake up in the morning, but lately I've remembered every single one. And i've realized that a lot of the time i dream about things that happen to me while i'm sleeping.

For example:

I sleep with a lot of little blankets and the other night one somehow got wrapped around my neck and when that happen i dreamed that one of my friends was hugging me and would not let go! It was pretty funny.

Another example:

This was probably the funniest dream ever.

You know when you're sick so you're forced to breathe through your mouth? I always hate that because number one people say you eat spiders! number two, your throat gets REALLY dry and hurts when you wake up in the morning

Anyway the other night this happened. And when i went to bed apparently my throat was hurting so bad that it caused this dream.

There i was just hanging out with my mom and some friends when all of the sudden these people were trying to get into my safe (i'm not sure what was in the safe but it was VERY important i'm sure). Anyway so i'm trying to hide the key to my safe but i can't find a place good enough to hide the key. After many failed attempts at finding a spot to hide my key I decide to swallow it. I put it in my mouth and start to swallow but it won't go down. I try about 5 times before i wake up and realize that my throat is so dry it hurts...

haha i just think that dreaming is a funny thing. the things our minds come up with. It's great.

anyway other than that i don't have much to say

except HARRY POTTER 7 is AMAZING!!!!! seriously. best movie i've ever seen. I laughed, i cried, i screamed...So great :)

Too much Estrogen in my life...

2010-11-16T21:52:00.001-08:00

I love Noteworthy, I love my major, and i LOVE my roommates but you see none of these things are a way for me to make guy friends. It turns out that since coming to BYU i have not actually made ANY guy friends. It's alright i suppose i mean i love what i'm doing, but there are times like today where i really just need some boys. Not dates, not a boyfriend...just some guys. Is that too much to ask for?

Life is beautiful..just too girly.

It's beginning to look a lot like Thanksgiving...

2010-11-16T17:18:00.000-08:00

Oh man, I have been looking forward to this next week all semester. Even though I didn't even know if i was going to be able to go home for Thanksgiving. But let me tell you I have never been so excited to go home in my life! I need some good ol' California time. I've been so excited that it's kind of distracted me from school (it doesn't take much to distract me from that) haha. But it's actually been good in a way because i was so excited that i just wrote 2 papers today...that aren't even due till thursday! that NEVER happens!

These past few weeks have just flown by...seriously i don't even remember anything that has happened this semester it seems like i just got here! I've been so busy with Noteworthy, doing things with my roommates, STARTING MY MISSION PAPERS...that things have gone by quickly. Which is good. I'm glad time is flying right now because i'm excited for this school year to be over hah.

And yes if you didn't catch that, I started my mission papers yesterday! I am SO excited about that. It took me a while to decide whether or not I wanted to go, but I have had so many confirmations that i know i need to do this. Of course i got the whole "it's better to get married" speech from my bishop when i talked to him, but he was really excited for me and just made me all the more excited! I can't turn my papers in until January so i've still got a while, but I started them :)

So that's exciting news. Other than that I'm just...cold. It's freezing here...and I am NOT ready for the snow to start sticking. It's snowed/rained a few times the past week and i can handle that just fine, but once it starts to stick i'm dead. Especially since the stairs are closed so i'll have to climb up the steep hill to get to class...that's an accident just waiting to happen. Haha.

But it's okay because after thanksgiving it's only a few more weeks until Christmas break and i'm even more excited for that than i am for Thanksgiving. I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!

Life is Beautiful.

Exciting things are in the very near future...

2010-11-14T17:44:00.000-08:00

and i just thought you should know.

Today is wonderful despite the rain and freezing cold temperatures.

I am starting something wonderful tomorrow...

something that will change my life

and hopefully change many other lives once May rolls around

And I am SO Excited.

That is all. :)

Life is Beautiful

P.S. The Noteworthy CD is also going to be submitted tomorrow to get printed.

Not a cloud in my personal Sky...

2010-11-06T12:40:00.000-07:00

Well at the moment i'm waiting for my kitchen floor to dry, i just mopped it. I'm listening to Sarah B., Noteworthy, and Sara Haze. And i'm thinking about how wonderful life is and how lucky i am to have such an amazing life. Seriously, I know i complain a lot but in the past few weeks i ahve really learned how to be happy. And not the fake "yeah i'm fine" happy, but really truly happy.

After rehearsal me and Cassie went to Walmart to go grocery shopping. I've really been trying to get healthier foods at the grocery store lately. And i must say i did a really good job today. Eating healthy is a little more expensive, but it just makes you feel better when you actually eat your fruits and vegetables everyday. Plus we've been talking about health a lot in my family meal planning class, and if i ever expect my kids to eat healthy foods i better start!

Now i'm cleaning. I came home and I finally discovered what has been making our apartment smell kind of funny...our trashcan was moldy on the bottom. Gross. Apparently someone had put something in there without a bag and yeah...it was gross. So i cleaned that. Then did the dishes cleaned the kitchen, swept, mopped, cleaned the living room. Man i just love to clean sometimes. Is that weird?

Anyway the kitchen floor is almost dry, and i've got to finish cleaning the apartment before i have to leave for my gig tonight.

But i just wanted to say that life is so much better when you learn to love yourself and when you learn to just be content with where things are, even if you don't quite know where they are going. And that Heavenly Father answers prayers, even though sometimes we feel like he isn't, we just need to remember that he knows when we need them answered and we just need to learn a little patience. When we are trying to do the right things we can be happy, no matter what is going wrong and answers will come in the Lord's time.

Life is beautiful.

Here, have a song :)

Beautiful Day - Sara Haze

Saturday is the smile on Mona Lisa’s face

A little spare change given

to the stranger on the corner

A pile of leaves deep enough

for my soul to jump into

And all my doubts fall away

and lead me here to say

It’s a beautiful day,

summer songs outside my window pane

And I don’t need my umbrella ‘

cause I’ve already been through the rain

I can feel the sunshine on my face,

not a cloud in my personal sky

It’s a beautiful day, It’s a beautiful day

Change the world,

you know I would if I could

But all I have

are my blue jeans and my black t-shirt

And that’s just fine,

‘cause everyday you know I try

To make art not war,

let love reign and lead the world to say

It’s a beautiful day,

summer songs outside my window pane

And I don’t need my umbrella

‘cause I’ve already been through the rain

I can feel the sunshine on my face,

not a cloud in my personal sky

It’s a beautiful day, It’s a beautiful day

The light will shine in my perfect sky,

The morning sun will be yours and mine

And I’ll hold my breath and pray

It’s a beautiful day,

summer songs outside my window pane

And I don’t need my umbrella

‘cause I’ve already been through the rain

I can feel the sunshine on my face,

not a cloud in my personal sky

It’s a beautiful day, It’s a beautiful day,

It’s a beautiful day, It’s a beautiful day

Halloween

2010-10-31T14:38:00.000-07:00

Alright so i never posted about last weekend, and now it just seems like too much to post about haha. So you get a post about this weekend.

Halloween.

I usually i'm not a huge fan of Halloween. I think it's great for families with kids, but once you get to college i just find it kind of dumb. But, Cassie (one of the noteworthy girls) took me to a theater that rents out costumes and I ended up renting one...AH. haha. I am not one for wearing costumes. I feel like they bring too much attention to me, even though it's Halloween. But this one definitely brought too much attention. It's a little fairy costume, but the wings are GINORMOUS! oh well, it was fun i suppose. but i was excited when

the time came to wear normal clothes again. We just went to a party where Amy Whitcomb played some songs.

Then i went to one of my roommates houses and we ate food at chatted and then watched hocus pocus.

Last night Savannah came to visit, but since neither of us had a car we were stuck home all night. We ordered a Pizza online and watched parts of a few scary movies on TV. It was nice

Today was Stake Conference, it was great. I'm not gonna lie i don't remember anything the first 4 speakers said because i was having a REALLY hard time focusing, but then the Presiding Bishop spoke and he got my attention. Some of the things he said really hit me definitely, and something i was looking to be answered definitely was. I'm really excited for things that are coming up in the future. I think it's been a pretty good Halloween...I'm becoming less of a Halloween bah humbug...

Best weekend ever!

2010-10-24T12:20:00.003-07:00

Seriously this weekend has been amazing. I'll write a blog about it later but just thought it should tell you.

Life is beautiful

I'm debating making my blog Private

2010-10-22T10:26:00.000-07:00

After just looking around the site and seeing that people from other countries that I don't even know are reading it...that seems a little strange to me. But then again, making my blog private seems like too much work. So i'll just let them read it. :)

Appreciating Illness

2010-10-21T18:45:00.001-07:00

All i have to say is that even though i hate the feeling these drugs give me and being in pain is really not fun at all, I've actually really appreciated being sick. I haven't been worried about anything the past 3 days and my stress level has gone down a lot.

Life is great and i really don't have anything to be worried about. I'm sure i'll still worry a little once i'm off these pain meds, but still, It's good to feel at peace with life and to feel like i'm ready to just go with wherever it leads me.

It's good to know that Heavenly Father always knows what I need...even if he has to give me illnesses to make me realize that life is good. haha seems a little backwards i know.

Anyway I'm feeling better for the most part...still hurting but better. I've got two noteworthy performances this weekend in Boise..we'll see how that goes ah! wish me luck. :)

Life is beautiful.

I'm sitting here in my bed

2010-10-20T11:43:00.000-07:00

wondering how anyone could ever think that being on drugs is fun? Seriously, I feel so useless and if i had to actually do anything right now i would be able to focus for about 5 seconds. And it's not even like i feel good...sure the pain on my side is a little less, but i just feel weird. And i just want to pass out. Yuck. Anyway just wanted to put that out there.

On a happy note i've been watching a lot of these today while sitting in my bed. And i really liked this one so here it is. Oh and also me and my roommates redboxed how to train your dragon last night LOVED IT! I would highly recommend it :)

My Day...

2010-10-19T18:47:00.001-07:00

Trip to the ER for what i thought was appendicitis. Turned out to be ovarian cysts. Sounds fun right? yeah not really. But at least i didn't have to get any surgery....

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

2010-10-19T10:06:00.000-07:00

Me and my roommates were taking the other night about motherhood. This was right after we had ward prayer and some guy asked me what my major is...the dreaded question i hate. I said "home and family living" and he goes "that's a major?" as if it wasn't worth anything. Of course his major was Microbiology which will help him do SO much more good than my major will do right? Wrong. I get so annoyed when people act like my major means nothing. Does anyone realize how important being a mother is? I want to cry when people tell me I won't be able to do anything with my major. HELLO i'm going to be raising children is there anything more important than that? no there is not. People act like being just a mother is degrading to women...like women sit at home doing nothing all day when they are a mother.

But there is nothing more important than being a mother...and if you ever listened to our church leaders you would realize how true this is. This made me feel good about my major today. :)

This is something i Needed today.

2010-10-18T23:52:00.000-07:00

Things I've Learned today....

2010-10-18T20:16:00.000-07:00

1. Whenever you think life is great a trial is on it's way. Don't we all know that's how it goes? And yet we are always still so shocked when the trial comes! It seems as though just as soon as everything is fine and dandy BAM! Something hits and you feel like you have to start all over again.

2. This week i have heard this story a few times. It has become my favorite story in all of the scriptures, from Matthew 14. At the end of this chapter Peter and the other disciples are in a boat. They see a figure coming across the water and they become afraid. Christ tells them "be off good cheer; it is I;be not afraid". After hearing this Peter says that if it is in fact the savior to let him walk on the water to Christ. Peter gets out of the boat and walks on the water. However, he starts to get distracted by the storm that is raging and takes his eyes of the Savior. It is at this point where he begins to sink into the water and has to as for the Saviors help. The Savior, of course, comes and helps him but asks him why he ever doubted. I always think how could he doubt the Lord when he is walking on water?!! But as i think about it more i realize that we all do the same thing. We have all seen amazing miracles, we've all felt that God is there and yet we still let our fear of storms keep our eyes from looking towards God. How stupid are we to let the storms around us get in the way of our faith?

3. and that brings me to my next discovery of the week. Fear always competes with Faith. My New Testament teacher today was talking and made me realize that we are the same person. She said that she worries a lot and is afraid of a lot of things and that she always feels awful because people say that you cannot be afraid and have faith at the same time. Even in the scriptures it says perfect love hath no fear. How is it that i can show people the love of Christ if i am so scared? This is EXACTLY how i have been feeling lately. But then she said something that made me feel so much better. She said that it is not that we are not allowed to be scared at all, but that "we have to let our faith be STRONGER than our fear". Well duh, we all knew that right? but still it made me feel so much better to hear that today.

4. Service will make you feel better, even if it's just for a little while. So i wasn't having the best day today if you didn't get that. For FHE we were going to go to this school for mentally handicapped people to just play some games and chat with them. I wasn't going to go because i have a late class, but last minute i decided i needed to go so i asked my roommate to come get me. It was actually really fun and I really enjoyed myself. Plus there was ice cream after and that always helps a rough day right? i concluded that the best way to make your day a little better is this: Service, Ice Cream, and a roommate group hug. I felt a little better after that. :)

5. Dr. Suess knows a lot of things.

You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself any direction you choose.

You’re on your own.

And you know what you know.

And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.

I just really liked this poem today...because even when we feel like we're on our own and when there isn't really anyone physically there who understands...we have a brain, we have feet, we have knowledge, so we need to act and do something!

6. Once again my mission prep teacher knows everything. And let me tell you he has made going on a mission SO appealing. Two things he said today really hit me.

"Just before or after every

significant spiritual experience

you will always have an equal

and opposite temptation by the devil."

And

"The greater the threat you are

to Satan the greater the opposition

you will face from Satan."

Hello...these quotes are a little depressing i must say, but at the same time make me realize that i really have some great things to do in life if Satan is working so hard to make me not do them. But here's the thing...we all suffer in this life and we all knew we would suffer, yet we still decided to come here. So obviously it'll all be worth it? Yeah i hope so too...

7. Faith is probably one of the most important things to have. At least for me...Let's face it. I worry a lot and i have a fear of the unknown. If i don't know where things are going...i go into panic mode. I believe that my lack of trust in people has somehow brought me to sometimes have a lack of faith. So goal number 1 of life at the moment...don't WORRY so much! Let life happen and control what you can control, but don't worry about the things you can't control (way easier said than done) but i'm trying...

8. and most importantly. God is always there. He knows you. He loves you. And he always has a plan.

This blog was completely for my own benefit. Me trying to make myself feel better. But hey, maybe it'll work!

Life is Beautiful, even when it's not. And there's always some silver lining somewhere. :)

Today.

2010-10-17T09:32:00.000-07:00

Today

Today is here. I will start with a smile, and resolve to be agreeable. I will not criticize. I refuse to waste my valuable time.

Today has one thing in which I know I am equal with others—Time. All of us draw the same salary in seconds, minutes, hours—24 Golden Hours each day.

Today I will not waste my time, because the minutes I wasted yesterday are as lost as a vanished thought.

Today I refuse to spend time worrying about what might happen. I am going to spend my time making things happen.

Today I am determined to study to improve myself, for tomorrow I may be wanted, and I must not be found lacking.

Today I am determined to do things I should do. I firmly resolve to stop doing the things I should not do.

Today I begin by doing and not wasting my time. In one week I will be miles beyond the person I am today.

Today I will not imagine what I would do if things were different. They are not different. I will make a success with what material I have.

Today I will stop saying, "If I had time," for I never will "find time" for anything—if I want time I must take it.

Today I will act toward other people as though this might be my last day on earth. I will not wait for tomorrow. Tomorrow never comes.

Elder John Longden (Assistant to the 12 Apostles) Conference Report, Apr. 1966, 39; or Improvement Era, June 1966, 512

Best 24 Hours Ever.

2010-10-09T11:56:00.000-07:00

So yesterday me and Cassie decided it was time for another "best 24 hours ever" day. We started at about 2 yesterday.

1st- We went to costco! (you have no idea how much i needed to go shopping!) We basically ate 500 samples. It was great. I bought some delicious things and i'm excited to have at least a little food for now. I'll have to go to a grocery store to buy other things next week some time.

2nd- Cassie's brothers were playing at a place called Sammy's that night so we went to go sing back ups for them. We practiced for a bit :)

3rd- Went to cassies and had chips/salsa/guacamole and chicken burgers for lunch. SO good! Ate while watching an Oprah episode about people with multiple personalities! this lady had 20 different personalities...very interesting.

4th- Went to Sammy's and sang. It was pretty fun/funny because we had only practiced with them for like 15 minutes.

5th- Went to a soft serve ice cream place. It was probably the best soft serve ice cream i've ever had. It actually tasted like ice cream...not yogurt. mmmmmm (I got vanilla with graham crackers, nilla wafers, strawberries, and dark chocolate pieces.)

6th- Went and saw a movie called "Life as we know it". I would highly recommend it. It was SO CUTE!! your typical chick flick, but i enjoyed it.

That was our day yesterday, and today to finish it off we are driving up to Rexburg because her brothers are playing at the Sammy's there tonight. Which is exciting because I get to see Savannah!! YAY! i haven't seen her since summer. She came up for conference but we missed eachother....sad. Anyway we are staying there tonight so that should be fun. :)

Life is beautiful.

Cheese...from scratch

2010-10-07T15:44:00.000-07:00

MMM Cheese. I love it. And today i learned how to make it from scratch in my family meal planning class. Cooking is nice therapy, and if you are looking for a good meal this is definitely it! :) and then you can say you've made cheese from scratch! it's pretty fun actually. I'd do it again. My mom wanted the recipe so I'm just going to put it up here.

This is to make the cheese, then make it into a filling for noodles you also make from scratch!

then there's a spaghetti sauce you can make from scratch as well as some bread sticks :)

Ricotta Cheese:

4C whole milk

1 C heavy cream

3/4 C buttermilk

½ t. sea salt

Cheesecloth

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients in a 2 qt saucepan. Slowly bring to a boil over medium to medium high heat, until curds begin to form (190-200 degree F)

2. Remove from heat and pour into a cheesecloth-lined mesh sieve set over a large bowl. Let drain for 15 minutes gather cloth around the ricotta and gently squeeze out a little more liquid. Don't squeeze it dry or you will end up with dry ricotta. Leave some moisture in there.

3. Place fresh ricotta in an airtight container and refrigerate= for up to 2 days. (don't have to refrigerate)

4. Yield: about 1/1/2-‐2C or 300 grams.

Manicotti:

2 eggs

¾ C flour

½ C water

½ T butter or margarine

Directions:

Beat eggs and water with an electric beater. Add flour slowly. (Batter will be thin). In a small skillet, place butter, add 2

T of batter making a thin round pancake. Turn cake once. Pancakes should be small.

Filling:

1 lb ricotta cheese (just use as much as you just made :) )

1 egg

Salt and pepper to taste

½ C Parmesan or Romano Cheese

¼ t parsley flakes.

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together. More cheese can be added according to taste. The mixture will be

the Filling for the manicotti noodles.

Sauce for Manicotti

□ 1 sm. onion, chopped

□ 2 cloves garlic, minced

□ 1 1/2 c. water

□ 1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste

□ 1 tsp. sugar

□ 1/2 tsp. basil

□ 1/4 tsp. salt

□ 1/8 tsp. oregano

□ Pinch of pepper

1 C Grated Mozzarella Cheese for topping

Combine onion and garlic in a medium sauce-pan-saute 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in all remaining

ingredients. Cover pan; simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Simmer, uncovered for 20 minutes.

Serves 4, makes 2 cups.

Combining:

Add 1/2 cup spaghetti sauce to the bottom of an oblong baking dish. take one pancake and put 1-2 T of filling in it, and roll it up tightly, and fit it in the bottom of the baking dish. Spoon sauce on top of the rolls, and sprinkle with grated mozzarella cheese. Bake 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees.

Garlic Bread Sticks:

1 Cup warm water

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup oil

3 cups bread flour

2 1/2 teaspoons yeast

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients to make dough using your favorite method-bread machine, mixer, hands

2. Roll out into a 10/12 inch rectangle.

3. Cut into strips about 3/4 inch wide.

4 Give each strip a twist and place on a greased cookie sheet.

5. Let rise for at least 20 minutes or more if you have time.

6. Bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes.

7.Brush with butter and sprinkle with garlic salt and Parmesan cheese.

I worry too much.

2010-10-04T23:03:00.000-07:00

Do you ever find yourself alone for a little too long? And you start thinking about life and where it is or isn't going? I find myself in that situation a little too often.

I'm in this place right now where life seems to be hitting me in the face.

I'm potentially really close to being done with school in a major that really will only help me to become a mother (and that probably won't occur for quite some time) meaning i'll need a job when i finish school most likely, and my major won't help with that.

I'm wanting to go on a mission...but I can't seem to find a sure answer of whether or not I really should go. I am never good at decision making. Well that's not true. I know i really want to go, and really should go, but i still keep feeling doubts. My mission prep professor said today that "God does not answer questions with feelings of doubt or fear". Meaning these doubts and fears i am feeling are coming from one person: Satan. I know that a mission would be so great and that I could help so many people, but still i can't get these doubts out of my head!

I just hate these in betweens. I have so many decisions to make that will ultimately affect my entire life. It's scary when you think about it, and really exciting at the same time. I'm so excited for the future, i'm just ready for some of those decisions to be made...and Satan stop trying to stop me from making good ones by giving me all these doubts! Thanks.

Haha. That is all about that subject.

Anyway, last weekend was great.

Friends were here.

Conference was great.

I got to go to one session.

Tucanos on saturday.

New book about sister missionaries.

Cassie's birthday party.

Hulu.

More Conference.

More friends.

Life is beautiful.

Don't let your worries consume you...Everything will be okay. Patience!!

General Conference weekend.

2010-10-02T08:40:00.000-07:00

Well general conference starts in about 20 minutes and i am SO excited. This weekend has been great so far and i'm so excited to watch. This blog is going to be a little short/lame but i just thought you should know how excited i am. :)

Happier post :)

2010-09-27T22:14:00.000-07:00

Haha okay so now like I knew i would i just feel dumb for writing a post that wasn't so happy. Life is great. It always is...no matter what. People are great. And this week will be great, even though i have TONS to do. Wish me luck with that.

But great news friends are coming to visit this weekend for conference. I feel like it's going to be one big party here in Provo. Samantha Busath is staying with me so that should be fun and Savannah will be here too!! ah so excited!

Life is Beautiful. Just thought you should know :)

Moose Meat...

2010-09-16T18:33:00.001-07:00

Well, today was a pretty good day. I only have one class thursdays but it's a cooking class so it lasts from 11 till about 3 or 4 usually. There's a lecture and then we cook something. Instead of cooking today though we went on a field trip. First to Macey's (grocery store) then to Macy's (Department store). At Macey's they basically just showed us the layout of grocery stores - i pretty much already knew it all because i worked at Raley's for a summer- but it was pretty cool. I was starving at the time because all i'd eaten was a granola bar, so everything looked especially delicious. Then after the tour we went to Macy's department store to look at their kitchenware and appliances. Oh man...i can tell you already that once i get married i'm going to have to steer clear of any store with kitchen appliances. I easily could've spent thousands of dollars buying fun gadgets for my kitchen not to mention all new dinnerware. AH! There are so many fun things to buy these days and i want it all haha :) (but mostly just a kitchenaid)Anyway i came home at about 3 oclock and realized i would have 5 hours before rehearsal, so what do i do? Reorganize my closet of course!! haha don't ask. I'm a little OCD when it comes to my closet. I reorganized it about 5 times before finishing. But it looks nice and neat now so that's good. I'm definitely going to need to do laundry in the next few days...the basket is full. I also took some time to organize the rest of my room too. It feels so nice when things are neat. :)

So i'm sure you'll all wondering about the title of my blog (i say all - as if that many people actually read my blog). Well you see, one of my roommates, Tisa, is from Alaska (cool i know). She made us dinner tonight and guess what was in it?! MOOSE

MEAT! so yes...i can now say that i have eaten moose meat. It was pretty good. Just tasted like a cow for the most part. But it was yummy. :)

And that was my day...

P.S. My mom is coming into town tomorrow. YAY!!!!! :)

Mission Prep.

2010-09-13T21:04:00.000-07:00

Monday's are slowly becoming my favorite day of the week. Weird i know, seeing as most people hate Monday's. It's also weird because I have 5 of my 6 classes on this day and i'm on campus from noon to 7 at night. But despite all of this, I absolutely LOVED today, and i LOVE everything about Monday this semester.

The biggest reason that I love Mondays is because of my Mission Prep Class. This class is usually given twice a week, but i am in a class that is one day a week for 2 hours instead. Brother Bott is the professor and he is absolutely amazing. I have never learned so much in one class period. He teaches so much doctrine, and also is SO good at getting everyone, or at least me, excited for missions.

Today we talked about talking...which (if you know me) you know i hate. I am not one to ever make small talk with people or go out of my way to talk to strangers. I don't enjoy talking with people i don't know and it always makes me feel extremely uncomfortable. This is the biggest reason why going on a mission scares me. In class though he talked about this exact thing and instead of just telling us we have to get over it, he gave us ways to make sure we are always prepared. It made me a little less scared about talking to people, and a little more excited about preparing for a mission.

Brother Bott has so much experience, so much knowledge, and so many stories. I could sit and listen to his lectures all day.

anyway just thought I would just let you all know how much i love that class...because i really do :)

It took long enough...

2010-09-10T08:59:00.001-07:00

So, I've been biting my nails for as long as i can remember. It's just a nervous habit that i have picked up and I could never seem to stop. I've tried multiple times to stop biting them but for some reason I was just never able to. Anyway, i didn't really have a good reason to stop this time but one day i was just like...eh i'm going to stop biting my nails, and now I have some nice girlie nails :)

Just thought you might like to know. I'm pretty excited about it.

Sara Haze...

2010-09-09T15:46:00.001-07:00

I discovered her music today. You should listen to it :)

That is all.

THE BORDER

(Sara Haze / Eric Fraley)

Gotta get away from THE BORDER
There’s too many memories here
And all the things that I used to love
Became everything I fear

And I wanna recognize
But I just don’t think it’s you
Cuz every time I look into your eyes
I swear I can see right through

So I run and I run
Just to find I’m standing still
Cuz I’m trying to move
Without breaking any shells
And I’m frozen in this state
Trying not to cross the line
But I guess it’s just a matter of time
Till I cross THE BORDER line

The water tastes like poison
The air’s so hard to breathe
And the skin I’m in is starting to drive me crazy
I gotta get away from me

Time till I can finally breathe
Go whereever my heart leads
Get to know myself again
Learn to be my own best friend
Left this weight up off my shoulders
And finally be free

But I run and I run
Just to find I’m standing still
Cuz I’m trying to move
Without breaking any shells
And I’m frozen in this state
Trying not to cross the line

I run and I run
Just to find I’m standing still
Cuz I’m trying to move
Without breaking any shells
And I’m frozen in this state
Trying not to cross the line
But I guess it’s just a matter of time
It’s a matter of time
Until I cross THE BORDER line
It’s a matter of time

Today is...

2010-09-08T10:01:00.000-07:00

Today is better than yesterday, and tomorrow will be better than today.

D&C 78: 18-19

"And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for i will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours.

And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious..."

First day of Junior year

2010-08-30T19:17:00.000-07:00

So it was the first day of classes today. Usually i dread this day and am not very excited about it but this semester I was pretty excited to start. My schedule was completely changed in the past few days but I felt really good about all of the changes. And let me tell you my classes did no disappoint!! :)First off, my classes don't start till noon which is always good news. (i've discovered in past years that i won't go to any class before 10 so i've tried to just make my days later this year. one of my goals is to go to class everyday that i possibly can this year)

So last night, i basically didn't sleep at all. I wan't THAT excited for classes that i couldn't sleep but my body just didn't want to sleep. Plus my roommates all have classes early in the morning so i woke up every time they did anything (our walls are like paper). But anyway, i got to campus and did last minute purchases for my classes and then at noon went off to Family

Finance....

FAMILY FINANCE:

First thoughts.... this room is REALLY HOT!!! I really thought i might die when i got to that class. It was probably about 100 degrees

inside and the best part is this is also where my stats

lab is!! GREAT!!! haha. But other than the heat i feel like i won't hate this class. The professor is really funny and he has a way of incorporating the gospel into everything which i ALWAYS enjoy about professors. That is why i am so lucky to be here at BYU it is okay for us to pray and sing hymns before class. I always feel like i'm so high spiritually here because there is no time when i

am not thinking about the gospel. I'll enjoy this class.

My next class (all the way across campus by the way so i have to pretty much run...)

NEW TESTAMENT:

First thoughts...Wow i'm going to have to climb over people

EVERY DAY to get a seat in here...everyone sits on the ends and leaves spaces in the middle...i love that! no way i'm going to get a left-handed desk here. OH well. Aw the professor looks super cute i'm going to love this lady :) And sure enough she starts talking and i can tell that i am going to love her as a professor. She tells us that her main focus is for us to find a love for the 4 gospels. I'm already excited to start reading because i can tell

how much love she has for what she is teaching. YES!

Next class (also all the way back across campus to the classroom i was in for finance)

STATS:

First thoughts...Oh my, they haven't fixed the air conditioning in the past hour shoot. Okay stats, i'm going to beat you this time! Whoa this professor looks

young he's pretty cute...but definitely married. Oh hey there's my roommate! sweet i know someone in this class. Okay already i can tell this class is going to be better than the last time i had stats. The professor isn't stuck on the power points which is something i hated about my last professor. He starts off class by throwing the book across the room and telling us we don't need it. I also love that; Me and text books don't get along very well. it'll be good...for a stats class anyway

Next class (...back on the other side of campus :) )

BIOLOGY:

First thoughts...i honestly don't really have any haha. no idea what to expect in biology...crawl

across another 50 people to get a seat...and THEN i see laina (from noteworthy) on the other side of the classroom but i can't get out to sit with her. oh well. This professor looks a little kooky...and sure enough he starts off class by saying..."Class before we start there is something you should know about me...i am NUTS!" haha love him already. The first class is a slideshow of his summer adventures which took place on 3 different continents. and he talked about baby flies a lot (aka Maggots) okay that part was gross but i'm excited for this class. Wait what? katie excited

about science?! no....

Last class (same room as biology...)

MISSION PREP:

First thoughts...Professor bott looks nothing like i imagined him. He's really old. Wow so many girls in this class...who knew. and a lot of married

people...alright. Okay professor Bott = the coolest person ever. Seriously if you or anyone you know has the chance to take a class from him. DO IT! i've already learned SO much today about the gospel. He's amazing. I love this class. :)

So basically this semester will be probably the best i've had at byu so far. I still haven't gone to my family meal planning class but i'm excited for that one too. YAY! :)

Back to Provo: New Semester, Same apartment, New Noteworthy year, No more money left in the bank

2010-08-27T11:27:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm back in Provo again. So far things have been pretty great... I'm not going to lie i loved summer so much i was not in the least bit excited to be back. I actually had a day of depression when I got here because i missed california so much haha. But things are getting better as i start to settle in. I just tend to have a hard time with change so it's taken me a few days to remember that i really don't hate it here as much as i thought i did.

I got back on Tuesday and unpacked for most of the day...I'm sort of annoyed because whoever was here during the summer left all of their food and all of their pots and pans, so we are still not all unpacked because no one knows whose stuff this is and none of our stuff fits anywhere. We finally got the living room figured out so that's pretty much done except for a few odds and ends.

My classes have all changed since i got here. I was originally taking Mission prep, New Testament, Sewing, Intro to Interior Design, and Stats. After remembering how much time

noteworthy takes up i realized that six hours of sewing lab every week wasn't going to work so i got rid of that. Then i also realized that Interior Design was going to also take up a lot of time that i don't have with noteworthy so i got rid of that. Replaced those with Family Finance and Family Meal Planning...These are both still in my major so no big deal. Then i was looking and saw that Professor Bott had one spot open for his evening mission prep class...For those of you who don't know, he is probably the best professor ever and he's got the highest ratings on ratemyprofessor.com. He has over a thousand students this year and all of his classes are always full so i was really lucky to find this one opening!! :) Then i had to change my new testament professor as well. And i realized that i still have two sciences left i have to take in order to graduate so i also added a Biology class. Stat's is the only class that's stayed the same. So i went from 13 credits to 16 credits, but ultimately this schedule is better than the one i had. And super exciting news...I only have about 10 or 11 classes left to take in order to finish all my generals and my major!! So i will most definitely be done in the next few semesters of school. I don't know at this point if i'll try to graduate before my mission. It seems like maybe i could do that if i went to school in the summer...but we'll see. It's just exciting to see an end in sight!! Crazy, i feel like i just started college and i'm already almost done.

So after changing all of my classes around i had to go back to the bookstore and take back the books i had already bought. and buy new ones which ended up being much more expensive. There goes about $300. Then i realized how unreliable my laptop is so i went onto amazon and bought an acer net book. There goes another $300.Then i had to go shopping for cleaning supplies, groceries, and other fun things. There goes $200. And i'm also going to pay rent for the semester ahead of time. There goes $1000. Oh and noteworthy dues: $150 (yeah i have to pay to be in noteworthy). man, suddenly all the money i made during the summer is almost gone. Good thing it's all going towards things that are helpful to my future right?!

Other than that i've got noteworthy starting up again soon.

We have auditions next friday and saturday and i'm pretty excited. The returning girls all had a meeting last night and figured out the plans for auditions and also talked about this next year. We've got some pretty fun things planned. Hopefully it won't be as crazy as last year.

As much as i enjoyed being on tv...i obviously need to be focusing on school right now! ah. I'm so excited though. I really had a hard time deciding if i wanted to do noteworthy again this year because of the time commitment, but then i realized that this really is probably my last opportunity to do something like this so i just need to go for it. I'm not working this semester so i should be able to focus more on school anyway. :) Exciting things to come this year! yay.

Summer...

2010-07-06T19:44:00.000-07:00

Well...i never come on here anymore except to read other people's blogs. I think it's a good thing though because it means i'm keeping myself busy with other things. Mostly just work. I have a full time job at the office of voter registrations and elections. And let me tell you it's a BLAST! well actually no it's the most boring thing that has ever happened to me, but i am SO thankful to have this job. I know there are so many people out there looking for jobs who can't find them and i was able to get this one really quick and it worked for me to just be here for the summer full time! I think with this job i won't have to work next year at school which is also a blessing because i am doing noteworthy again and helping out a lot with that...it's weird that i will be the most experienced member (meaning i've been in it longer than any of the other returning girls). CRAZY! but i'm excited. Anyway back to summer. It's been good i pretty much just go to work, come home, hang out with friends, sleep, and then it starts all over again. I'm also doing Strauss festival so i get my exercise in by dancing in the 100 degree weather hah. I love that i get to be outside sometimes though since my job is 8 hours indoors everyday.

Before this summer i'd ne

ver had a full time job so it's taken some getting used to, but i'm surprised that i've been able to get up every morning (i can't ever do that at school). It's also been great because we've had a lot more work than expected. I was supposed to be done working last week, but since there's so

much i will probably be

working until i go back to school. it's kind of bitter-sweet i guess because it's not my favorite thing to be doing the whole summer, but at the same time it's great money so i'll take it.

I'm also attempting to work on my guitar skills this summer. So far i haven't had TONS of time to practice, but i've done it as much as i can. I just wish i could wake up one morning and all of the sudden be able to strum and sing at the same time! it's a lot harder than it looks trust me. But hopefully i'll be able to see some progress soon.

Other than that i've just been hanging out with the family and friends. That's the extent of my summer and i can't believe it's going to be over so soon! ah...back to provo (i'm not that excited to go back to be honest)...but it'll be good i guess.

p.s. i got too lazy to move all my pictures to the bottom so they're just randomly placed all over this post haha.

Sisters.

2010-06-22T18:20:00.000-07:00

I was looking back through my old e-mail account and i found this poem that i'm pretty sure i wrote and my sister fixed up for me back in high school. I just love my sisters and i'm so grateful for them in my life :)

Ode to Sisters

Sisters help you when you’re down
When no one else seems to care
They’re always their dry your tears
And for you they always say a prayer

They’ll let you borrow their favorite shirt
And always be there to give you a ride

They will be there to lend you some extra cash
And in them you can always confide

Sisters will love you no matter what
Unlike friends who come and go
They don’t care about your looks
Or about how much you know

Because they’re the ones who know the real you
Everything that you feel inside
And their the ones who won’t hesitate
To wipe away the tears you’ve cried

Your sisters are the ones who you always look up to
They teach you everything you need to know
You always want to be just like them
And you try your hardest as you grow

And although at times they can be quite annoying
You always love them just the same
And everyone knows life couldn’t be better
As long as you have your sisters to blame.

I just love california...

2010-04-29T13:12:00.000-07:00

Yes it's true. I'm one of those people who, not matter what sort of issues are going on here, will always LOVE California more then any other place. Sure it's pretty liberal here, and sure sometimes we're not smart with our money, but i LOVE IT HERE. I've been home for about 4 days now, and i haven't really done a whole lot while I've been here, but just being here makes life better.

I love the smell.
I love the weather. (even though it was hailing yesterday)
I love the people.
I love my house.
I love palm trees.
I love that here in Sacramento i am the perfect distance from everything...mountains, ocean, city, country....
I love having family so close.
and most of all I LOVE that it's not snowing.

I just love California...

Things I would like to do this summer...

2010-04-21T22:24:00.000-07:00

*Spend time with my family :)
*Get a good job (and SAVE SAVE SAVE!)
*Read TONS of books (I'm talking like one every 2 weeks at least)
*Get caught up on all the movies I've missed out on while in Provo
*Go to the beach at least 5 times
*Go camping at least 2 or 3 times
*Finish this round of the BOM
*Sew something (I'm taking a sewing class next semester! YAY)
*Get some good music on Itunes
*Go to San Fran
*Go to a taping of The Sing Off: Season 2 in SoCal
*Eat lots of Round Table, Chipotle, and In-n-Out (i know they moved in-n-out here but it's just not the same)
*Get less attached to Facebook because I'll have more important things to do like be social and work :)
*Get some running shoes and USE THEM to get in shape!

Yep there's tons more I'm sure but this is it so far. I'm So excited to go home and I'm SO excited to be with my family and friends from back home. I've missed them.

What do you do...

2010-04-19T18:33:00.000-07:00

when you finish finals and there seems to be a lack of friends around?

*do the dishes (three times)
*watch 2 episodes of house
*watch 2 episodes of vampire diaries (i wouldn't recommend unless you are EXTREMELY bored haha)
*reread the last half of breaking dawn
*watch 2 episodes of bones
*watch a cheesy hilary duff movie on abc
*start packing for home
*sweep
*deep clean the kitchen
*talk to the census lady that's walking around
*check the mail
*write a missionary or two
*turn up the music really loud and do some more packing :)

this has been my past day or two haha. sometimes i don't like not having anything to do, but i must say it has been quite relaxing. I'm ready to go home and find a job though.

Hong Kong Part Three (We're Singing In The Rain)

2010-04-10T15:53:00.001-07:00

SO I STARTED THIS POST WHILE I WAS STILL IN HONG KONG AND JUST NEVER FINISHED IT BECAUSE I RAN OUT OF TIME. BUT IT CONTINUES FROM THE DAY AFTER MY LAST POST. I'LL POST SOME PICTURES ALONG WITH IT LATER TOO. SORRY ABOUT THAT...NOT THAT THAT MANY PEOPLE READ MY BLOG ANYWAY HAHA.

Well, yesterday was another fun filled day in Hong Kong. We woke up super early in the morning again...after getting about 5 hours of sleep because we had been out until about 1 in the morning the night before. We had to be ready by 10:30 in the morning so we all showered and got ready and ate our breakfast (mine consisted of Frosties which are what frosted flakes are called in China). We had an outdoor performance scheduled for yesterday afternoon, so we left at 10:30 to go rehearse. It was raining off and all all throughout the morning so we weren't sure if we were going to be able to do the performance, but we went to the site anyway.
We got there and had a little bit of time before our sound check time slot, so we went to go eat some lunch. Most of the girls wanted sushi so we went to this Japanese sushi place. However, me and amber both do not like fish at all, especially if it's raw, so our options were limited at this place. We ordered a Salad which looked pretty safe, but when we got it it had salmon on it (just our luck)...so we figured we'd just drench it in salad dressing, but i guess they only serve thousand island dressing here (which neither of us is a huge fan of). We drenched it anyway thinking that dressing we didn't like was better than the fishy taste we hated. Then we ordered some cream puffs which were DELICIOUS!
After eating we went back to the stage for our sound check. It was sprinkling a little, but we went ahead with it anyway. The sound was AMAZING and we felt good about it so we finished up, and then went into the starbucks that was right next door to wait until it was time for the show. We sat in there for about an hour and a half talking pictures and being obnoxiously loud haha.
Then we went out for the show, it had stopped raining for a second so the show started early. there were 4 groups that were going before us, including the group from Japan VIP. The weather was great until VIP got up. Then it started raining a little more then the sound people felt comfortable with, so VIP performed while carrying umbrellas...they told us we were only going to do 2 songs...then as soon as we were about to go on the rain stopped...so we performed in just a little bit of sprinkle...it was actually really fun because the rain here isn't cold.
After the show we took a bunch of pictures again and also sang happy birthday to Kenneth, one of our tour guides. Then we all hopped onto the bus and did a little bit of shopping, and we were going to go to the ladies market (which is a street market where you can get really cheap deals), but we were all exhausted and all we really wanted was some good american food and sleep. So we went to CPK (California pizza kitchen) and ate some DELICIOUS pizza. It was still laina's birthday so Snowy and Sofia got her a cake and we sang to her and ate cake and it was a lot of fun. Can you guess how much the meal cost in Hong Kong Dollars?? $1008!!! it's so funny how expensive things look here. i took a picture of the receipt.
Anyway after we ate we just went home and fell asleep at about 10:30 again...which was nice because then when we woke up at 6:30 in the morning we had still gotten our full 8 hours of sleep. haha
Sunday was a day when we didn't have anything planned for the festival so we were able to do whatever we wanted. We really wanted to go to church so we met at about 8 in the morning and went to a church building. We didn't realize it was going to be General Conference here (they do it a week later because saturday and sunday mornings in the US would be Sunday and monday night here) So we just went and watched half of the first session and then headed to the Hong Kong Temple. The hong kong temple is beautiful, but it's like all of the other buildings in Hong Kong...surrounded by other buildings!! it made picture taking pretty hard because we had to run across a busy street to get the whole temple in the picture haha but it was fun anyway!
After the temple we went to eat at a Tai food restaurant. it was SO good...i feel so cultured now when it comes to food hah and i'll probably try a lot more things now which is good and bad. When we walked out of the restaraunt we saw the CUTEST child, we sat there for about 10 minutes just being girls and talking about how cute he was and talking with his parents...i got a video of him blowing us kisses so i'll see if i can upload it.
We wanted to go shopping after tai food because a few of us had a lot of money left to spend, so we headed to some local markets and shopping centers. There's a street here called ladies market that's kind of for tourists so they set the prices REALLY high and you have to try and barter them down...This was really fun, in fact probably TOO fun. It made me buy a few things i shouldn't have because i just enjoyed getting things for super cheap haha. There was one thing i got that started at $59 and i got it for $15! but that's okay it was fun...at least for the first couple of hours/miles....then our feet started to hurt (as well as my head). By the time we had walked multiple blocks we were all SUPER TIRED.
There's a light/laser show that the tourist board in hong kong does every night so we went to go watch that next. It was pretty cool, although i was a bit too tired to REALLY enjoy it. It lasted about 10 minutes and all of the buildings light up with the music...i got some pictures and videos.
After the light show we were walking back to the bus, and decided we should sing on the street and see how much money we could get...so we sang a few songs...we got about $90 HKD which comes to about 15 american dollars. haha that's not too bad for only 5 minutes of singing.
Then we went back to the hotel and fell asleep pretty quick. and i was actually able to sleep until 8:30 today! yay!
Monday we went to a high school and performed for them. It was really funny because in Hong Kong people don't really like to participate all that much...we did a little beat boxing workshop and had to force kids to come on stage to do it. there WAS one little boy who was very enthusiastic and a few teachers who joined in on the fun so it was actually a great show and i loved it! After that performance we just went back to the hotel because we were exhausted and needed to pack and get ready for when we would leave the next morning. We went back, packed, bought a ton of candy from the supermarket to bring home with us...and went to bed.
The next morning (Tuesday) we left at about 8:30AM to go to the airport......and one of our bags was too heavy...so amy rushed to buy a box to stick half of our outfits in so that we wouldn't have to pay $350 the lady told us we'd have plenty of time to do this, so we weren't worried until we realized that the plane would stop loading at 11:25 and it was now 11:00...AND our terminal was all the way accross the airport. By the time we finished checking everything in it was at least 11:08...so (in typical noteworthy traveling fashion) we RAN all the way to security (they were so nice and opened up a line especially for us so we could get to our flight on time!) ran down about 4 escalators to the tram, rode the tram....ran UP a few flights of escalators...ran about 1/4 mile down to our terminal...and made it!! to be honest though we were talking about it and a noteworthy trip wouldn't have been complete without SOMETHING going wrong with our travels so it was okay.
The flight home was about 3 hours less then the flight there, so that was nice...although i didn't sleep through the whole thing!! We got to san fransisco at about 9AM tuesday morning which was quite confusing...considering we LEFT hong kong at noon tuesday morning. we had a layover for a few hours and then flew home to provo. I had never been so excited to see those snow-covered mountains.
We've been home for a few days now and my sleeping schedule is still REALLY messed up. I don't sleep one night...then sleep 14 hours the next...then don't sleep at all the next...and so on. it's terrible. but the weather has been great here so i can't complain.

Tonight is our last noteworthy show of the year...and it's also potentially my last noteworthy show EVER. I've been thinking about it a lot and as much as i love noteworthy, it's not the most important thing for me to be doing in my life. I need to focus on school a lot more than i have these past two years...i also REALLY need to get a good job so that i can pay for it all. I'm not 100% sure i'm not doing it, but as of now it looks as though i won't. This noteworthy year has been SO amazing and i couldn't have asked for anything better. We've been so blessed. :)

Hong Kong adventures part two (Jet Lag at its worst)

2010-04-09T16:44:00.000-07:00

yesterday was a crazy day! ...we didn't have to be ready until about one o'clock and we all woke up at six in the morning again so we decided to get breakfast and do a little shopping before we had to be anywhere...Cassie was taking a shower, and we were all at our computers she gets out and all of the sudden we hear this scream!
Our showers are just in these rooms that don't have any sort of protection from the door and the hall outside...so apparently while she was showering TONS of water was coming out through the crack under the door and into the hall and almost all the way to my bed! there was a HUGE FLOOD! we didn't want to tell the people at the hotel, so kelsey went and got some extra towels, and we mopped it all up...but not before i got a video of it...i'll try and post that!
anyway after we cleaned that up and got ready we went and got breakfast at our home away from home (mcdonalds) again. the mall is right next to our little hotel so it's nice...we bought a few things (i got a purse and some stuff for the fam).
We are actually staying at the place where we were going to perform that night, so at one we just headed downstairs to the theater and then we had a rehearsal with noteworthy for our show that night.
After our rehearsal it was about 2, we stopped at the supermarket and got some snacks, but we were all SO exhausted because our sleeping schedules are a little mixed up, so we came back to take a "quick nap" before we had to go back and rehearse with all of the groups at 5:00. First of all, we should've realized this was a bad idea because we were all so jet lagged and back home this would be the time when we would all be actually going to bed for the night, but we didn't think about that and we accidentally all slept through our alarms and we woke up at 5:45 to Snowy and Sofia knocking on our door. we felt really bad considering this is the whole reason we are in hong kong and we just slept through it!! haha i guess jet lagged girls should never try to take a "short nap" haha. that sleep was the best sleep i've gotten all week though...so it was kind of nice. so we rushed to get ready really fast and then headed down for rehearsal...we had only missed one of the group song rehearsals so it wasn't so bad (although our director made a joke that if anyone was late for the show they'd have to pay 200 american dollars) OOPS!
anyway after the final rehearsal we came back and got ready for the concert. The concert was great. I really enjoyed listening to all of the chinese groups even though i couldn't understand a few of the songs. There was also a girl there who won their version of "America's got talent". She was pretty good too! it was also fun to see some of our tour guides singing in the groups. We were the last to perform, and it was SO FUN! it's nice because this year there have been quite a few times when we've been competing in front of audiences who didn't exactly love us haha, but this audience did! afterwords we took about a billion photos with people haha. it was great.
after the show it was about ten thirty and we were all going to go take a nap, but then Snowy told us that some of the other groups were going to some restaurant that's authentic Hong Kong food. It was outside on the street...one of those places that looks really sketchy, but is actually REALLY good ya know? so we went with them. It was really fun to get to sit and talk with them since we haven't really been able to do that. they taught us a little Cantonese, and were really impressed with our usage of chopsticks (thank you panda express!)...
The food was really great, which is nice because that is something that i was really worried about before i came. I am not a huge fan of seafood and i'm not very adventurous usually when it comes to eating, so i wasn't sure if i'd like anything here, but i actually think i enjoy it all a little TOO much...i'm gonna have to work some of this off when i get home haha...but guess what? i tried squid! haha it was actually fried squid, but it was good and i ate quite a bit of it...i got some photo proof because i didn't think my mom would believe me haha...it was kind of just like french fries. There was also pig intestine but i couldn't bring myself to eat that after both amy and laina said it was gross hah. anyway so then we just came home and went to bed...
Hong Kong has been such a great experience and we're so happy to be here. Although the one thing i will run to first when i get home is ICE!!! i miss ice. anyone who knows me knows i love to eat ice...and there just a HUGE lack of it here. At most restaurants they just give us hot water to drink because we don't drink tea or coffee. and we drink mostly bottled waters which obviously don't have ice in them...but other then the ice problem, Hong Kong is great. :)

This is an artpiece right out side our hotel that we keep wanting to take a picture with, so yesterday a few of us climbed on it...then this lady runs over screaming at us and we look over and see a sign that says (in plain english) "NO CLIMBING" haha oops.

Me kelsey and lizzy after breakfast at McDonalds..
it's SO humid here! and then one of me and lizzy at the supermarket.

I'm in Hong Kong

2010-04-07T19:37:00.000-07:00

well. It's 6 in the morning in Hong Kong. Which means it's about 4PM in Provo, Ut. And since there's not much else to do at 6AM in provo i thought I'd write a little blog talking about our adventures so far. (PS this is my new favorite candy Bueno's SOOOO GOOOD!)

We left for hong kong on tuesday morning. I didn't sleep the night before because we had to be at amy's at 4 in the morning, and i had an 8 page paper to finish and i also had to pack. I figured i'd be able to sleep in the 15 hour flight (turns out i didn't really) haha. anyway so we got to amy's and then headed for the airport. Here's a picture of all of us at amy's house before we left.

We first flew to san fransisco. This flight was nothing compared to our hong kong flight. only about and hour and a half. i slept the whole way which was nice. I was by the window so i had a nice little headrest. Our layover in san fran was about 4 hours long. i attempted to sleep on the airport floor but i was unsuccessful, sadly. So after some airport food and a little bit of rest we got onto our plane for Hong Kong....and let me tell you this plane was HUGE! it was a double decker...with two seats on each side and then four seats in the middle of each of them. we were all in the middle. in rows 50 and 51...i sat by kelsey and cassie and there wasn't anyone behind us so we got to put our seats back pretty far. that was nice. They also gave us a blanket and pillow...so we attempted to sleep again a little...i got about an hour or two of sleep. then they fed us some rice and chicken or something...it wasn't too bad. i'm not a huge fan of plane food though. we watched about 4 movies on the plane. i really enjoyed the young victoria...it was a happy movie. Anyway here a few pictures from the plane ride. One of the flight attendants was super nice and he asked if we wanted a picture of all of us.

after 15 hours of flying we finally got to hong kong! this city is crazy! it's like a jigsaw puzzle of buildings and they ran out of room on the ground so now they have to start building up! EVERYONE lives in apartments and they spend their whole life savings on them. but although it's super city-like, it's also very wet and green...it's like a city in the middle of a rain forest. i LOVE IT!

We had a few people showing us around from the acappella festival. 3 guys (kenneth, julian, and simon) and then 1 girl (Snowy) they were all really nice and julian kept telling us everything there is to know about hong kong. We were about 30 minutes from our hotel so we took a bus to get there...it's not really a hotel...it's more of like a super nice hostile for youth. it's called Y-square. and it's also where we're going to be performing tonight. It's super nice. it's only about 6 months old. It's like government owned and is some place that was built just for youth to be able to have a performing center and stuff. There are 6 beds in here so we pretty much all fit in one room they gave us another room with 2 beds but we didn't feel like being separated so we all are just staying in the one room. ANYWAY....so the first night we went to bed at about 10pm...which is 8am provo time. we all kind of had a restless night. and we woke up at 6in the morning and couldn't fall back asleep. so we went to mcdonalds for breakfast (this would be my home away from home haha) here's a picture of my meal. It's not quite the same as mcdonalds in the US. there are definitely significantly less options here, but the hash browns are still just as good! and that's really all that matters anyway :)

That day we went and sang on a radio show and sang a little bit it was pretty fun. Here are some pictures from that

After the radio we went and had Food at a Chinese restaurant. which is just a normal restaurant here i guess hah. It was surprisingly REALLY GOOD! which is saying something cuz i'm pretty picky when it comes to foods from different countries. But i told them before we went that i didn't like fish so they knew. We had a lot of BBQ pork! SO GOOD. BBQ pork dumplings, BBQ pork and rice, BBQ pork and rice rolls....and then we tried one other thing...which you may not believe i actually tried...but Cassie got a picture of it so I'll post that at some point haha. but it was JELLY FISH!! oh my...it was gross. it was cold and chewy and just...gross. i didn't swallow it...but it was just gross. here are some pictures from the restaurant.
laina is eating chicken feet and amy tried some squid...ew.

So anyway this post is already a little TOO long i'm sure for anyone's liking if you actually read the whole thing you get like 40 points! haha i'll just add a few random pictures to the end. The last picture is of us and two other girls that were showing us around hong kong their names are daisy and candy. We loved them :)

5 Hours Until i Leave for Hong Kong

2010-04-05T22:00:00.000-07:00

Wow. It's finally here. I'm about to leave for Hong Kong.
Just wanted to take a second to thank everyone who donated through paypal!
You guys are great! I'm so excited to head to Hong Kong and sing with noteworthy for a week.
We'll take TONS of pictures/videos don't you worry!

I still need to pack and shower and finish up a paper so this is a short and boring post, but thanks again for all of your help!

Love Love

HONG KONG DONATIONS?

2010-03-31T08:58:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys,

So i need a HUGE favor! I'm trying to raise money for Noteworthy's Hong Kong trip coming up.We were invited to go sing at the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Group's 2010 Internation A Capella Festival (that isn't a mouthful). We will be there April 6-13. What an AMAZING opportunity. But in this world you kinda need money. Fortunately they are paying for a lot of our funds.
I need to raise at least $300 to pay for a quarter of my flight...So i've come up with a super easy way for you to help me out! I made a paypal account where you can just donate as little (or as much) as you want to help me out! I'm sure just a dollar or two would be a HUGE help!!! Just click the "donate" button below! Thanks so much! Love you :)

and i PROMISE i will post tons of pictures and all that fun stuff after the trip in return for the donations

In the words of my marriage professor...

2010-03-14T10:49:00.001-07:00

"Life is hard, but you can do hard things." - Dr. Hill

i just have to say

2010-03-08T18:41:00.000-08:00

i know i complain sometimes about my lack of friends.
but that's not fair.
cuz i really do have amazing friends.
and my life is SO wonderful.
that is all.

I feel like a person now...

2010-02-28T00:17:00.000-08:00

So i bought my first actual piece of furniture today.
Yes...an $8 end table from IKEA.
I have been dying to decorate my apartment the past few days...
I have even been losing sleep because i can't stop thinking of ideas, the sad thing is...all of those ideas involve money...and usually a sewing machine.
SO instead of going with my wonderfully amazing ideas, i had to settle with trying to use what i already had, and 10 dollars in hand at IKEA to try and come up with something.

And let me tell you...I never knew that buying a Table and trying to decorate would be the thing to make me feel like i'm actually a person. Ya know what i mean?...I feel like when i'm living in an apartment full of someone else's furniture i'm not an actual person. because nothing is MINE.... it's like I'm paying to live someone else's life with all of their stuff. haha.

but i am happy to say that i now own a cute little black end table that is sitting in the middle of our living room. with a little bouquet of flowers that savannah sent me the other day.
Then i stuck some pictures on the walls...moved a couch...made a collage...and well...there you have the best i could do with what I've got.

Now all i need is like $100 to actually make it look GOOD haha. I would love some throw pillows and curtains. but it looks a lot better than it did this morning so i won't complain TOO much. :)

Well...

2010-02-27T09:16:00.000-08:00

I don't really have anything exciting to say...but i'm trying to keep up with the blogging these days so i'll just catch you up on the events of last week.

Noteworthy has been pretty crazy.
We're going to start recording this week for 0ur next cd.
We already recorded about half of the songs for the cd last year, and we are finishing up by doing some songs from this year.
I'm pretty excited! it's always funny when i'm trying to sell people cd's and they ask me which songs i sing and i have to tell them that i'm not actually ON the cd. But this time i'll be one the whole CD so i'm pretty excited :)

This week we went and sang for the BYU mens basketball game against San Diego. It was pretty fun. Although singing in a basketball arena is different than any other singing experience. You can't hear each other...you can't hear yourself...the sound takes a few seconds to come back to you so the timing is a little wonkey...haha. but it was fun anyway.

Then on thursday we went and sang at an even that was being held by Miss American Fork. It was an event to raise awareness/money for Domestic Violence. This was also a fun gig. Even though it wasn't a big audience. I think a lot of the time the smaller audiences are more fun than the big ones because you feel a more personal connection with each person.

Now we took a break from rehearsing today so that we can be ready for the full speed ahead weeks coming up. With recording and Semi-Finals coming up it's going to be pretty intense from here on out. Wish us luck! haha.

I think i'm going to head over to IKEA today with courtney and one of the Noteworthy girls. I have been having this problem where i can't study at all because i only focus on how disgustingly boring my apartment looks haha. I don't have any money, but i feel like just going to ikea will at least give me some idea of how to make it better. But if you would like to donate to my "katie can't focus with cinderblock walls" fun. then i would greatly appreciate it haha.

anyway i hope you all have a great day!

i'll put up some pictures from the basketball game/ Miss american fork thing. :)

Love Love

Noteworthy & COSMO!

Noteworthy and Miss American Fork

Noteworthy & another guy who performed...his name escapes me at the moment haha he was really good though! :)

I Got My Passport in the Mail today....

2010-02-22T15:34:00.001-08:00

and i have a new goal in life.
To fill every page with a stamp.

First stop....Hong Kong :)

Song of Tonight.

2010-02-21T23:21:00.000-08:00

"Stand Still, Look Pretty"

I want to paint my face
And pretend that I am someone else
Sometimes I get so fed up
I don't even want to look at myself

But people have problems that are worse than mine
I don't want you to think I'm complaining all the time
And I hate the way you look at me I have to say
I wish I could start over

[Chorus]
I am slowly falling apart
I wish you'd take a walk in my shoes for a start
You might think it's easy being me
You just stand still, look pretty

Sometimes I find myself shaking
In the middle of the night
And then it hits me and I can't
Even believe this is my life

But people have problems that are worse than mine
I don't want you to think I'm complaining all the time
And I wish that everyone would go and shut their mouths
I'm not strong enough to deal with it

I am slowly falling apart
I wish you'd take a walk in my shoes for a start
You might think it's easy being me
You just stand still, look pretty

Who do you want to be?

2010-02-21T16:01:00.000-08:00

Well, I was woken up from my peaceful Sunday nap today when the home teachers stopped by. I will admit i wasn't too happy to be woken up because i DO love my Sunday naps, but in the end I got some good spiritual enlightenment so it was worth it.

While we were talking about the First Presidency Message from the Ensign this month, Courtney mentioned how she liked a line that said "in the search for your best selves...". We talked a little about how this life is really a time for us to become our best selves. It's not a time for us to get by by doing as little as we can to be good people...it's about trying our hardest to be the BEST we can be every day. It's about growing every day so that when this life is over we will have become the best possible person we can be.

One of my home teachers said that one day he decided to make a plan of who he wanted to be in the future. He made a 5, 10, and 20 year plan. And this wasn't just a plan of "I want to be married and have 5 kids and a good job"....It was more than that. It was who do i want to be spiritually? What can I do to become the best version of me in the next 5,10,and 20 years? Sure we all want to have a family and a steady career, but we can't exactly MAKE that happen...sometimes things don't work out the way we want them to. But when it comes to our spiritual, emotional, and mental selves...that we CAN make happen. That is something that we CAN do on our own (with the help of God of course).

It really made me think because any time i think about the future i admit I'm one who just makes the "i want to be married with 5 kids" goals. But I think we all need to spend a little more time making goals just just ourselves.

Because it's like my Marriage and Family professor always says "to become a better husband, wife, child, friend, etc.....we must first become better disciples of Jesus Christ" when you are being a disciple of Jesus Christ, those other things will come naturally. Your other relationships will be strengthened and it can make each of us a little happier.

I think I definitely need to take some time to be come a better version of ME. I think we all probably do. No matter where we are in life...there's always time to improve.

Realizations of the past few days...

2010-02-20T20:11:00.001-08:00

1. I don't like snow. Like really...i don't. It looks all pretty in the movies and people look all cute in their little scarves and cute little jackets...but movies don't show you the reality...wet socks, make-up smearing all over your face, the bottoms of your pants all wet because you are too short and they drag on the ground, you walk up stairs and you're freezing but burning up at the same time. and driving in the snow is really not all that fun when you feel like you could die at any moment. I just...don't like snow.

2. Being in noteworthy is great. It's so fun to perform and to be able to be on TV and all that jazz, but I've come to realize that i have ZERO friends outside of noteworthy. It can get kind of depressing when you've been spending every moment with noteworthy...and then you have a little break and you realize you have no one else to hang out with so you sit at home in your apartment all weekend with nothing to do...except clean and do some laundry...not my idea of a fun weekend.

3. Has anyone ever been on the facebook site called overheard @ BYU. because i have become obsessed with it. It's a group where people post funny things they heard on campus. I spend approx. 30 minutes a day reading those. once you start you just can't stop.

4. A clean apartment is the happiest thing that could ever happen. When the apartment is clean it's okay if nothing else is great, because you have a clean place to live in. It's wonderful.

5. I don't know how to cook many things, but i LOVE to cook. One of my favorite things is being in the kitchen listening to music and cooking. If only i had money to buy more things to cook with. hah. I can only afford mac n cheese these days.

6. I like to have set plans for life...not in the crazy way where i have to know what I'm going to be doing every minute of every day, but i like to know where life is going. I like to see where the future is going to lead, and when something happens to change those plans in a big way...it throws me off for a few days.

7. I really need some new books to read...does anyone have some good ideas? or a book you could lend me. I'm having withdrawals from reading.

8. I have a wonderful mother and some amazing sisters. Without them i might literally go insane.

that is all.

<3

ICCA 2010 Quaterfinals

2010-02-08T14:23:00.000-08:00

Wow. what an experience. Noteworthy went up to Oregon this weekend to compete in the International Competition of Collegiate A cappella (ICCA). The competition was in Eugene at the Hult Center. There were 8 groups competing and the top two would go to the Semi-finals at USC next month. We were pretty excited/nervous because this was going to be probably THE toughest quaterfinal that has ever happened, but we were mostly excited because we were going to be able to see our very good friends DIVISI (they are the all female group from University of Oregon).

We left for Oregon last friday. When we got to Oregon we all stayed in 3 different homes of People from the ward there. (Apparently EVERYONE wanted to house us and were fighting over us haha). The family me and Courtney stayed with was a nice family with 3 little girls. They were so cute and we had a nice little bed to sleep in which is always good :)

On saturday we woke up and had breakfast and then went to the Hult Center where we got to meet up with Divisi. It was really fun to see them and we were all glad that we weren't in crazy competition mode...there wasn't any tension between the two groups, and we all did each others' hair and just hung out since our dressing rooms were right next to each other.

We had a meeting with all of the groups to pick the order in which we would all go...We got number 5. not too bad...opening the second act! :)

Our sound check was at about 3:40...courtney and amy had warned us that we would not be able to hear each other when we were on stage and they weren't kidding. The monitors didn't really do ANYTHING haha. we couldn't hear each other, so it's good that we trust each other so much, because we still felt really good about it.

Then we had to wait until the show started at 7....and then keep waiting until about 8:30 when we would go on stage. I found a lucky penny on the floor of our dressing room just as we were about to go on...that seemed like a good sign. Before we went on we were in the hall SOOOO excited and SOOO nervous...even though we'd already been on national television we had never performed in front of a live audience this big (there were over 2,000 there i believe). But once we got out on stage we all did the best we could and we felt pretty good about our performance.

We were still pretty nervous, however, because like i said before this was a REALLY tough quarterfinal and we hadn't really been able to hear any of the other groups perform. But we tried not to stress too much because we knew we had done our best.

So the judges finished deliberating and we went out on stage for awards and such.

First award:
Best Solo:.......AMY WHITCOMB!!! (we went crazy...she definitely deserved that one!)
Best Vocal Percussion:.....COURTNEY JENSEN!!!! (oh my...i'm not gonna lie i had tears in my eyes haha i was like a proud mother) [and also another guy from one of the groups got this award as well]
Best Choreography:.....COURTNEY JENSEN & AMY WHITCOMB....("wait what? are you serious? oh man") [divisi also got this award]
Best Arrangement:....CATHERINE PAPWORTH for "staying alive" (wow...did we really just win awards?) [divisi also got best arrangement]

then the judges gave out a special award to Jo from Divisi for her amazing bass skills it was funny how excited we were for each other. it was great!

Then they named the 2nd runner up: OUTSPOKEN
1st runner up: DIVISI

and the winner is.....:NOTEWORTHY (oh my...i didn't even realize how good it could feel to make it to semi's after all of our hard work. We got to sing Listen for the audience....i can honestly say that this is probably one of the best feelings IN the world)

then we all went of stage and cried and prayed and screamed....we were so excited!

but i think the best part of the night was when we got back into the dressing room....after divisi had finished performing earlier we had made a tunnel for them to come through on their way back into the dressing room (you know one of the ones you make after a soccer game when you're little?)...well after we had won we went back into the dressing room and there were all the divisi girls lined up to make a tunnel for us. It was amazing.

I'm so glad that both of us were able to make it to Semi's...it's going to be pretty tough!
Their score was only 9 points lower than ours...that's not a lot. but we're all just really excited to go.

anyway sorry this is kinda scatter brained haha. but yeah...ICCA was amazing. i love noteworthy, i love divisi, i love singing, i love performing there is no better feeling.

:)

Okay so it's been forever...

2010-01-27T13:46:00.000-08:00

and here's the thing...you're gonna have to wait a little longer.
cuz i have a 6+ page paper due tomorrow.

but just so you know.
LIFE IS WONDERFUL.

<3

New semseter

2010-01-07T15:08:00.000-08:00

Well. It's a new semester. and that means...new classes.
This semester more than half of my classes are for my major.
I'm taking two marriage and family classes and one class on home and family.
My other two classes are the second half D&C and Human Development.
and if you've been keeping track...yes i've already taken Human Development, but...i'm taking it over cuz i didn't do so well in it last time.

So far classes are amazing.
The only problem i have is i can't really keep all of my classes straight. I'm currently reading out of 4 marriage books for my marriage classes and when i go to class i can't remember which information is for which class. i'll have to figure out a good way to keep it separated. haha.

Anyway, i've also started another new thing this semester. My LDS marriage and family professor requires us to keep a journal of things that we learn every day. I think this is a great idea, so i actually bought a few little journals and i'm going to be taking notes of good quotes and things i get from each of my marriage classes. It really helps me to be able to focus on what i'm reading when i'm looking for things to write. So last night i had a ton of reading, and here are a few quotes that i got.

"Please remember one thing. If our lives and our faith are centered upon Jesus Christ and his restored gospel, nothing can go permanently wrong. On the other hand, if our lives are not centered on the savior and his teachings, no other success can ever be permanently right."
-Howard W. Hunter

"Sometimes to be tested and proved requires that we be temporarily deprived-but righteous women and men will one day receive all- think of it...all that our father has! it is not only worth waiting for; it is worth living for!"
-Pres. Kimball

"of course we cannot know the meaning of all things right now. but we can know, right now, that God knows us & loves us individually"
Elder Maxwell

That is all. I have to go to class now.

<3

I just wanted to say...

2009-12-16T18:08:00.000-08:00

Thanks to everyone for all of their support from the show.
I am so blessed to have such great friends and family.
My heart is bursting with love for all of you.

Here are a few pictures to keep you occupied until a big long post about the sing off...it's coming i promise...maybe not till after christmas though. <3

The sing off

2009-12-15T14:36:00.000-08:00

Alright so here are a ton of things from the sing off last night.
enjoy

This is us on the front page of byu's website...this will only be up for a day most likely

http://www.byu.edu/webapp/home/index.js\

here's us on primetime in no time Yahoo review. this will also only be up today

http://primetime.tv.yahoo.com/

here's our number "think" on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgJpmv-VP-8

here's the big group number "under pressure" on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaHvu-TywxI

here are some photos from last night

http://www.nbc.com/sing-off/photos/gallery#item=111419

and that's all for now. after the show is over i will be able to post pictures and such. i can't right now because of contracts and such. but enjoy these. :)

I'm having a realization...

2009-12-15T01:35:00.001-08:00

as to why britney spears went crazy
and why many people in the media go insane

after watching the sing off tonight...
i was dumb and started reading reviews.
there are so many people out there who like to comment and just be rude.
so many people talking about how we're Mormon and saying terrible things about us.
things that aren't in any way true.

and i realize that the media is one big joke.
people find it entertaining to ruin other people's lives by starting rumors because for some reason it makes them feel better about themselves.

i'm not saying i'm in any way a celebrity or anything, but i got a little taste of how terrible it feels to have people saying such awful things about you.

the sing off has been a great experience for us, and so i will not be reading anymore reviews because i don't want that to be ruined by ignorant people who speak without thinking.

those are my thoughts of tonight.
i love you all. :)

OH and also...

2009-11-24T19:56:00.000-08:00

Here are some picture updates. :)

Noteworthy Photo Shoot (Molly Hunter Photography)

Recording Studio
Vocal Point Concert

KSL Studios

IN-N-OUT

I have this problem called i can't focus on my assignment until it's the last minute...

2009-11-24T19:45:00.000-08:00

does anyone else?
i swear every time i try to get a paper done early i just can't focus on it. nothing comes to mind and i find that i just sit there and do nothing for hours and end up giving up. I'm trying to get ahead because I'm going to Burbank on Saturday and will likely be there for a lot of the month of December. i have a lot of papers due in my intro to family processes class as well as my D&C class. i know i need to finish most of this stuff before i leave but i just can't bring myself to do it. it's a problem.

i admit that i think i do a lot better when i know i HAVE to get it done that day. mostly every paper i have written in the past year and a half of college has come back with an A or B...so it's not like my procrastination is bad for my grades when it comes to papers...

but i really should be getting these papers done...

AH

P.S. I saw courtney on tv today! After watching TV for 2 days straight i finally saw the Sing Off commercial that she's on! woo!!!

THE SING OFF :)

2009-11-23T10:55:00.000-08:00

Okay...so here's the big news that noteworthy has been waiting to talk about for the past few months!!!

we are going to be on the new reality series on NBC called "the sing off". this is a mini series of only 4 episodes with a sort of american idol feel but for acappella groups. the first three episodes Dec. 14-16 are done by judges votes, and the finale Dec. 21st is done by america's vote. We have been working really hard to prepare for the show and we are so greatful for this opportunity. we leave for LA on saturday and we will be there for most of december! crazy!! we will definitely keep you updated on how things are going. but i hiope all of you will watch the show because it's going to be really fun!! :) here's some info on the other groups and such.

LOVE YOU ALL

The eight groups in NBC's The Sing-Off—competing for $100,000 and an Epic Records/Sony recording contract—will be: The Tufts Beelzebubs from Boston, Massachusetts Brigham Young's Noteworthy from Provo, Utah Face from Boulder, Colorado Maxx Factor from Baltimore, Maryland Nota from San Juan Puerto Rico The SoCals from Los Angeles, California Solo from Omaha, Nebraska Voices of Lee from Cleveland, Tennesse It's on. NBC will premiere its new singing competition special The Sing-Off on Monday, Dec. 14. The four-night show will feature a cappella groups from across the country competing for a recording contract with Eric Records/Sony Entertainment.

http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20091123nbc01

YEEE.

Exciting things are about to happen...

2009-11-21T16:53:00.001-08:00

Can you feel it?!

The Best 24 Hours EVER

2009-11-20T12:34:00.000-08:00

The power of positive thinking...Is quite amazing.

Yesterday Courtney, Cassie (one of the Noteworthy girls), and I went grocery shopping in between classes. None of us were really having a super great day. So on the way back we just decided that we would stop by the newly opened IN-N-Out. [I'll admit, i was not fond of the idea of in-n-out being built in Utah. First of all, it's like bringing the beach here...you just can't do it. It's MY thing...MY California thing, the thing that i get really excited for when i go home, the first meal i have once i get close to home, the place we went to after high school football games and dances, the place where i have so many memories...having it so readily accessible here just didn't seem right.] ANYWAY that was a big tangent. So we went into In-n-out...and all three of us just looked at eachother and almost started crying. It turns out that having a little piece of home here is Provo is just what we needed to start the best 24 hours we've ever had. We got through the line pretty quickly, and after we got out we started formulating a plan to make that day the best day ever. Starting at 1 p.m. yesterday, we decided to have the BEST 24 HOURS EVER. and to change our normal, boring days into something exciting. So after a wonderful round of in-n-out burgers, we went home, put away our groceries, and headed to the dollar theater. We were too late for harry potter so we decided to see love happens...it was about 3:30 and the movie didn't start till 4:50...so the three of us sat around in the movie theater for an hour and a half just messing around. it was great...from that point on...the day just seemed to get better and better. and to be honest...nothing REALLY exciting happened. we just decided to make it a great day, and it was. So i think the moral of the story is: your attitude really is everything...you can make ANY day the best day of your life as long as you put your mind to it.

Here's a list of some other things that made the day wonderful:
*hide-n-seek in the movie theater
*leaping down the theater isles
*old man Lyle giving me a grocery cart
*Love happens (great movie)
*The song we'd been listening to in the car all day (Dream by Pricilla Ahn) just happened to be in the movie!
*We got a good cry in during the movie
*Mr. Napkin Head
*Cassie's in-n-out bag throwing up on her
*my wonderful reflexes to catch the burger before it fell into a million pieces
*perfect seat placement for feet
*Cassie Matching our theater
*Singing Listen at the top of our lungs in the car
*Exciting new movies coming out (it just so happens that the last two books i read by Nicolas sparks are both coming out next year :))
*9 Days till Kelsey's wedding
*5 Minute interval Texts
*Wonderful Intro To Family Processes class
*Best Chicken Nuggets, and Sundae ever from McDonalds
*New Moon
*Courtney sitting by herself in the theater
*free Popcorn
*PB&J in line for the movie
*me and amber getting lost for about 15 minutes tryin to find our line for New Moon
*Hot Tamales
*Good rehearsal :)
*NEWS

It was just a wonderful day. and i needed it...badly.

P.S. there will be pictures/ videos soon...i feel like my posts are so boring lately without them.

The Many Faces of the Testing Center

2009-11-12T14:46:00.001-08:00

So today I went and took a test in the testing center. Before i took it I thought i'd get a little studying in. So I sat in the hall right by where people come out after they are done with their tests. As i was sitting there...i didn't really get much studying done because i kept looking over at people as they looked up onto the screen that tells you how you did on your test.

This screen is both loved and hateed by every student at BYU. It's the screen that'll say "GOOD JOB" if you got an A, but it's also the screen that will display your 42% for all the world to see. I realized that you can tell a lot about how a person did just by the look on their face as they leave the testing center. So here are the many different faces i saw today:

First, we have the "ignorance is bliss" crowd. Those are the people who don't even glance up at the screen. After all of their studying (or lack of studying), they'd rather not see what they got on the test.

We also have the "everyone should know how good i did on this test" crowd. These are the ones who's facebook status's will probably change in the next few minutes to "so and so got an A on his/her test!" or "so and so is a genius". Mass texts are about to be sent to everyone they know. You can see as they stand there looking at their score that they feel like they are on top of the world, and would like everyone passing by to ask "how'd you do" just so they can yell out "I GOT AN A!!".

Then we have the "i wish i was a magician" people. These people stand in the hallway gazing at the screen as if they are thinking "if only i was harry potter and could change my test score with the flick of a wand from a 40 to a 95". Or maybe they are hoping if they stare long enough the screen will blow up into a million pieces.

We have the "i am a failure" category. This was probably the category I fell into most of last year haha. These people stare at the screen...trying not to look sad so that people don't know they failed, but secretly on the inside a few tears are falling. These people try not to make eye contact with anyone so that no one will ask how they did, BUT if anyone asked they would merely say..."eh i did alright" while knowing that they failed epically.

Then there's the category of "whew, thank goodness i didn't fail". These people glance up at the screen for approx. 2 seconds. They look up...see that there are no happy words by their score...but also see that they didn't fail...and walk out into the world no different than when they walked in.

Finally, we have the "I DID IT" category. These students went into their test KNOWING they would fail, but somehow came out with an A. These are the students that every other student who is not in this category hates. The look at the screen and their whole face lights up...these people know that miracles DO happen, and suddenly everything that was sad about their day is now wonderful. :)

So i know you're all wondering which of these i fell into after my test today. I would say i fell into the "whew, thank goodness i didn't fail" category....I ended up with a pretty good score for how much studying i did...which was not very much. So my day hasn't really changed because of my score. I'm okay with that.

My goal of this year is still to have happy words by my score. This has never happened...i got about 1% away from happy words on my Family Processes test the other day so it's coming soon. I feel it.

Anyway, those are my thoughts for today.

Love.

Thought for today

2009-10-29T10:19:00.001-07:00

"Whatever you focus on expands whether it be positive or negative"

Let's try to focus on the positive today :)

Biggest Reason why i love Biggest Loser

2009-10-27T20:08:00.000-07:00

So i don't think many people quite understand why I have this HUGE love for the Biggest Loser. It's actually kind of pathetic. I can't NOT watch it. It's kind of addicting and i'm pretty sure it's for a different reason than most TV shows. If you've ever seen the Biggest Loser and not cried...then you weren't really watching. Not only is this show helping people to change themselves for the better, but it is probably one of the most inspiring things i've EVER watched. That may sound a little stupid considering it's a TV show about overweight people learning how to exercise, but it's SO TRUE.

(IF you haven't watched biggest loser yet this week, and you really care about the results you probably shouldn't read the rest until you watch it)

For example:
This season on the Biggest Loser there's a woman named Abby. Abby is a woman in her 40s who came in weighing about 250 pounds. 2 years previous to being on the show, her husband, daughter, and 2 week old son were all killed in a car accident. Now i don't know about you, but if this happened to me I would be a complete mess, and when Abby first came on the show she was a little bit. But as weeks went on you began to see how amazing this woman is...Not once did she stop working out because she was too depressed to do that, and NOT once did she sit there trying to feel sorry for herself. She took this terrible thing that happened and turned it into a reason TO live...not a reason to be sad. Then, when her team had lost the weigh in she told everyone to vote her out because she had discovered her purpose and realized that she didn't have to use food to be happy. She could be happy because she has been given the chance to help others. If that's not inspirational then i don't know what is. I think we should all take a little of Abby's advice and turn the bad in our lives into something good, a reason to help other people. Because even if something terrible happens, there's a reason for it. And if she can keep going when everyone she loved died...then we sure as heck can keep on going when bad things happen to us.

and that is why i love Biggest Loser.
If nothing else...it gives me a little inspiration for the week.

FACT:

2009-10-26T20:33:00.000-07:00

Fact: School is SO Much easier when you are actually studying something you ENJOY
Fact: Being home alone for days at a time is not fun
Fact: Being sick WHILE being home alone for days at a time is even more not fun
Fact: Nyquil tastes Disgusting
Fact: Learning about how families work is So interesting i could do it all day
Fact: There are A LOT of spiders around here
Fact: I HATE spiders
Fact: The walls in my apartment are really thin
Fact: I enjoy hanging out with boys more than i enjoy hanging out with girls. and not just because i'm a girl and i like boys...but because i don't enjoy the drama that girls bring with them.
Fact: I DO however love my noteworthy girls, and could spend countless hours with them without getting bored
Fact: I tried 5 Guys hamburgers - don't tell in-n-out - but i think they might be better
Fact: I love online tv shows. I'm addicted
Fact: I got my first A on a test in the testing center today...sad that that was my first A in there...but it was a happy day.
Fact: I am not excited for the cold that is coming in the near future.
Fact: My internet isn't the greatest and really annoys me most of the time
Fact: I can't think of any more facts...so that is all for now.

You learn the most about yourself when you're sitting at home doing absolutely nothing.

2009-10-23T13:46:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you've all realized this...that when you sit at home by yourself for too long, you start to think a little TOO much. You start to think about everything that's going wrong, things that need to be getting done that you AREN'T doing, reasons why everyone else seems to be busy while you sit there bored out of your mind. And you start to wonder...why am i alone? And then, most of the time, those thoughts start to take over you...and you end up getting depressed about something or other, or maybe about nothing at all.

So you try to keep yourself busy - cleaning everything in sight, wasting away on faceook, farmtown, blogger, or whatever you can find. But eventually there is nothing more to clean, no status updates to read, or pictures to tag. So now what? What do you think about when you have ABSOLUTELY nothing to do? Well I'll admit. I'm usually one to do as most people do - sit there and think about how pathetic I am.

I only go to school Tuesdays and Thursdays so that i can work on Mondays and Wednesdays. My work was closed this week so I've had a few days where i haven't really had anything to do. Most days like this i just try to keep busy by sitting around on Facebook and turning on some Missy Higgins. But today was something different...I thought to myself, what good am i doing just sitting here like a bum when i could be doing something productive? The answer is obvious...I'm not doing ANY good.

So today I decided that while i had nothing i HAD to do...there were plenty of things that i COULD do. So i cleaned my entire apartment, looked up some conference talks just to get a little spiritual uplifting, went through my e-mail and sorted everything out, and then did a little studying. And even though none of things things are necessarily making the world a better place, they all helped to make it so that when i DO have tons to do...my life will be that much easier. And more importantly than that...i feel great. I feel like even though i haven't stepped out of the house today, i have accomplished something. I think I'm starting to realize that sometimes doing absolutely nothing is more tiring then getting up and doing little things around the house.

So next time you are going to have a "relaxing" day. Don't just sit around doing nothing. Because even though we think this is going to make us feel better. It will most likely lead to depressing thoughts and make you feel like you did nothing productive. Let's all try and do at least a little something everyday that will help to make us feel better about ourselves and that will help to make those busy days a little less stressful.

Those are my thoughts of today.
<3

"You need to know that there is nothing that can separate you from the love of Christ."
-Barbara Thompson

Well...Time to Update.

2009-10-21T20:00:00.000-07:00

So i don't really have anything exciting to report, but i figured since i don't have too much going on today i should at least blog a little something. :)

Everything is still great here in Provo.
I keeping busy with Noteworthy rehearsals which we now have 12 hours a week. It's gotten to the point where we all can't handle being apart for more than a day. We are pretty much together every spare moment we all have. It's great. We have some exciting things coming up in the future. You should all be really excited! I know i am.

School is...well school.
I love my Family Processes class
i'm learning SO much...but i've started getting to the point where i analyze people A LOT.
it's probably rather annoying, but i think it's so interesting to dig into people's lives and to see why they are the way they are.
It really makes you think. You really have NO idea what people have been through and so we all have no place to judge. Even though someone could be a jerk to you it could just be that they can't help it. Things in their life have been hard and that's all they know. It puts things into perspective and makes it a lot easier for me to be able to see things as other people see them.

However, it has also made me think a lot about my future family. I've been trying really hard to start changing negative things about myself so that i don't do things that could potentially negatively affect my children. It's really weird thinking that i will in the next few years probably be raising another person. I'm not too worried though. I think as long as i focus my life around the gospel then it will be just fine :)

Also something great that my professor talked about the other day was revelation. He was talking about how we all need to be in tune with the spirit for personal revelation as well as for revelation about our children and such. And something that really struck me was a quote by President Hinckley i believe:

"We cannot afford to do anything that could put a curtain between us and the ministering of angels in our behalf"

He then proceeded to talk about some TV shows that we could all do without. Nothing i watched was on that list, but i can certainly think of a few that i watch that aren't the most wholesome shows. It really is true though that all of these little things that really "aren't that bad" can get in the way of personal revelation. I think I personally will start to be a little more careful about what I spend my time doing. Because really, God wants to help us, he wants to be able to help us know what to do, but when we are spending all of our time focused on other things, we can't hear what he has to say.

Oh and i just realized...i haven't ever blogged about Natalie's wedding. I drove down to sacramento the other weekend with some people from BYU-I to go to Natalie's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and even though i was only home for about 48 hours it was still great to see everyone. She was married in the Sacramento temple. It's so crazy to think that one of my best friends is married now. I remember talking about these kinds of things in high school and it seeming so far off, but it was really right around the corner.
I got to hang out with my family a little bit, got to see some old friends, and just had some good ol california sunshine. I really do love being home and i love that most of the time it's like i never left. :)

Anyway that turned into a way longer post than i thought it would haha. Sorry about that. Here are some pictures and such to make it a little more exciting :)

Life is a Beautiful Thing.

2009-09-29T23:48:00.000-07:00

It's funny how things can be totally the same, but when you have a different attitude about them they seem completely and utterly different. I'm not sure if that makes a lot of sense, but that's how life is at the moment. It's not much different than it was a year ago, I'm going to school, working, doing noteworthy....and that's about it. The difference is that now i actually am trying...and I'm actually working hard to be happy...and the best part is it's working :)

In my D&C class a week or two ago my professor said this:

"God can not direct your steps if you aren't moving your feet"

that really hit me because that's exactly how things were for me...i was asking for direction but i wasn't moving anywhere. How is God supposed to tell you if you are doing things right if you aren't doing anything at all? So that is my piece of advice for today...always be moving, always be striving to grow, to learn something new. Even if life is hard there's always a bright side to things...ALWAYS.

This is what I've learned from a year of crap...is that no matter what there's always something good to be found. I have grown in more ways than i could've imagined this past year...and now i feel like i actually have a direction that my life is going in. That's the best feeling in the world...feeling like you have a purpose, and just doing things for yourself...and not depending on other people to be happy.

I just love life.

And you.

Drumroll Please...

2009-09-05T16:27:00.000-07:00

After a very long day of callbacks and a very emotional few hours of deliberating we have chosen the 5 new girls for noteworthy this year. Call backs were amazing and we thought we were going to have such a rough time choosing girls this year, but having prayed many times throughout the past week we knew things would work out perfectly. and they did! These girls are so amazing and they are exactly what we need this year. If i have ever questioned whether god answers prayers...today shattered any of those doubts. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be in noteworthy. Last year was a hard one for me and i don't think i got out of noteworthy what i could've. I'm so ready to go full speed ahead into this next year and to really find my potential as well as the potential of the group as a whole. Not only are we going to have so much talent this year, but we are going to grow such a strong bond and i know my testimony is going to grow immensely. SO anyway without further adieu...here are the names of our new girls :) love them.

Siri Alemany
Lizzy Early
Amber Catherall
Cassie Crabb
Laina Walker

Life for the past month :)

2009-09-02T09:03:00.001-07:00

Okay once again, time for a much needed update.
Now that i am finally moved into my apartment and i finally have working internet.
I'm back in provo again, and wait for it....

i'm actually enjoying myself.
who'da thought huh? haha
i'm sure you were all preparing yourselves for another year of depressing blogs about trying to have fun when i really wasn't.
but i don't think we have to worry about that this year.
me and courtney are rooming together
so we don't have to worry about bad roommate situations.
and all of my other roommates are nice girls too
so this is looking up.
i'm only taking 3 classes this term.
*Intro to family processes
*D&C and
*Nutrition
i'm not one of those people who can focus on 50 things at once.
so i'm taking it slow for a bit.

i'm also in the process of looking for a job.
i applied to be a dish washer and pot washer today...didn't know there was a difference but apparently there is...we'll see how that goes. hah

and also NOTEWORTHY auditions are friday
i'm really excited to be on the other side of the auditioning process
being the auditionee is definitely scarier than being the one who listens to the auditions. :)
i'm really excited to be doing noteworthy again.
we're competing this year so that will be intense...in a good way

anyway, i miss my friends from home but i think this year will be a great one. :)
yay for that.

anyway here are some pictures from the past month.
Beach
Nat's bridal shower
and such.

P.S. so weird that 2 of my best friends are getting married in the next month or so. AH

Me and Lexi at the beach

ME and Ashlie at the beach

Me and my sammy

My dad wanted to take a picture during my last week at Raley's...awkward but that's okay :)

Nat's Bridal shower...and no we didn't plan the whole matching thing. it just happened.

Past 2 days at BYU =

2009-08-31T21:55:00.002-07:00

better than all of last year combined. :)

That's all for now.

more later.

LOVE LOVE

Mormon Times Summer Showcase + Some things i've pondered.

2009-07-10T19:50:00.000-07:00

Hey, so one of the Noteworthy girls, Rachel Sonderegger, is taking part in a summer showcase. it's a competition each month and the top four go on to the semi-finals, and then the finals and the 1st-3rd place winners get some money...if you saw any of our shows last year you probably heard "Step Outside". It's an original by her and that's they song she's using for the showcase. She's in 5th place right now and she's only behind 4th place by a few votes, so i was thinking it would be wonderful if everyone would go and vote for her. This song is A-MAZING! and i LOVE it. and I'm sure you will too if you haven't heard it. You can vote once a day. It'll only take about 30 seconds out of your day so you should DEFINITELY do it. I love you all...and here's the link:

http://music.mormontimes.com/contest.php?id=3563&nocache=1

P.S. some things i have discovered recently:

1. If you want things to happen, you can't just sit around waiting for them to happen...you have to MAKE them happen
2. This goes with prayer. If you ask for something you can't just expect your prayers to be answered if you aren't trying your hardest to get that answer
3. Boys should ALWAYS tell you what you're doing on your date or else you don't know what to wear...and if it's a surprise, they should at least tell you if it's casual or not. (But IF they don't tell you it's best to wear a nice shirt, dark jeans, and flats...not too casual for a restaurant and also not too fancy for a movie.)
4. It's annoying when you're meet a person and the only thing that person does is talk about themselves while you sit there listening for an hour or two - make sure you ask the other person about themselves too.
5. Sometimes you don't HAVE to be talking in the car. Silence isn't ALWAYS awkward... sometimes it's nice. and relaxing.
6. It's hard to work in a grocery store and not buy food...even though you should be saving your money for your future rent.
7. Life is full of hard choices. The hardest ones are the choices between two potentially good things.
8. Some things AREN'T worth waiting for...sometimes you just have to realize that it's not that important and you'd be happier if you weren't constantly thinking about the possibilities...if it happens in the future...it happens. but don't dwell on it if it's bringing you down.
9. But also...a lot of things ARE worth waiting for. You've just got to decide how important it is.
10. A LOT of people buy alcohol at the grocery store...seriously I've discovered this the past few weeks working at Raley's. i would say that about 85-95% of people who walk into the store, walk out with some form of alcohol. That is disturbing to me.
11. It takes a lot of hard work to get good at something...but if it's something you love, it will always be worth it.
12. Guitar playing will get out any frustrations you may have - it's therapeutic
13. Music can be the most powerful art form if you REALLY listen to it. Even I'm a little tea pot could make you cry...
14. Keebler's Fudge Stripe Cookies are quite possibly THE most addicting cookies I've ever had.
15. No matter how hard it is to read the scriptures every day...it will ALWAYS, ALWAYS make your day THAT much better. and help you get THAT much further on your way to happiness
16. Smiles from strangers may be more wonderful than smiles from those you know - so take the time to smile at those around you.
17. AS long as it's taken me to discover this...i finally have realized the point and truth in visualizing...if nothing else...it gives you the hope and confidence you need to do your best.
18. It's not always a good thing to try and make everyone happy...especially if it causes people to walk all over you - It's sometimes appropriate to just stand up for yourself.
19. Farm Town on Facebook is addicting...even though i feel there's no real point to it.
20. Love the life you live. Live the life you love. Smile daily. and remember the song i learned in 1st grade: "4 hugs a day, that's the minimum, 4 hugs a day, not the maximum".

i feel like i need to post something.

2009-06-29T17:11:00.000-07:00

Since it's been 5 weeks since my last post i feel like i should post something to let everyone know how life is...but i really can't think of anything to post...right now my days consist of work, and hanging out with friends from my singles ward. not much else. I'm loving the summer, loving the heat (to a point), loving everything that is happening right now. So i'm just posting to say that life is a beautiful thing. We should all enjoy it :)

That is all.

Then Sings My Soul.

2009-05-24T09:16:00.000-07:00

I have an overwhelming amount of gratitude today....for music and the power that it can have, and for the talents i have been given to be able to be a part of the beauty of it. I have sung my whole life, and I've always known that the BEST feelings come from hearing/singing a heartfelt song, but i don't think I've ever truly known the power that a song can have until this past year in noteworthy. I have seen how one song can affect the lives of SO many people, and can turn nonbelievers into believers of Christ. I have also seen how this song has made myself grow stronger in the gospel and made my faith grow more than i thought it could. Music is one of the few things that can tap into any and every emotion that we have, and although i feel that music can do this even without a single word being sung...when it is paired with such powerful words as these...you can't help but feel how wonderfully Amazing God's love for us is.

O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder

Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made.

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,

Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee;

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee:

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

When through the woods and forest glades I wander

And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;

When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur

And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee;

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee:

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing,; Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;; That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,; He bled and died to take away my sin:
: Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee;; How great Thou art, how great Thou art!; Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee:; How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

When Christ shall come with shouts of acclamation; And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!; Then I shall bow in humble adoration,; And there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art!
: Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee;; How great Thou art, how great Thou art!; Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee:; How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

How lucky are we to have the gift of music? And how lucky are we to have the great opportunity to partake in the joys that come of it?

Wow. Time to catch up.

2009-05-17T19:01:00.000-07:00

Okay so...it's been a really long time...SO since I've got a while on this beautiful Sunday i thought I'd do some catch up on everything that's been going on lately :)

Well right after finals in Provo me and the other girls in Noteworthy were able to do something that i have ALWAYS wanted to do...Meet the prophet. and not only that, but we also got to sing for him. He shook my hand as well as 3 of the other girls in noteworthy. He talked to us for a minute or two and even though it wasn't a "church" event, he has such an amazing spirit about him and i couldn't help but let a tear or two fall.

Amy, Me, Courtney, Cooley...right after shaking the prophet's hand

The prophet...and a man blowing his nose...

After leaving Provo i went to Oregon with my noteworthy girls. We spent the week with the AMAZING ladies of Divisi. The are Noteworthy's Lost half...we are the same in every way and we LOVE them. we performed in a bunch of places around Eugene and Portland, Did a News Appearance, and sang on a radio show, had a tour around UofO campus (which is BEAUTIFUL by the way), and hiked up by some waterfalls. Divisi was generous enough to let us stay with them and follow them around for the weekend...it was SO fun. Definitely an amazing experience. Oregon is so pretty and if i didn't like california so much i would probably live there. :) Here are some pictures from our trip there...and a video of Divisi and Noteworthy's combined song "If You're Out There" i had a solo :)

After Oregon i flew home and i've been here for a few weeks now. I LOVE IT!! I love the sun, I love having friends, I love having my family around, i LOVE california :) Since i've been home i've just been doing a lot of stuff with my friends in my singles ward and people i've known forever, and with my family. Some days i feel like a soccer mom driving ciara and david around...but i don't mind. It's been amazing. But i still can't find a job...i'm doing some odd jobs...delivering flowers, feeding people's dogs, roofing with my dad (and getting 2nd degree sunburns on my ears)...but i still can't find anything. hopefully something will come up soon. i'm trying for khols so we'll see how that goes. But until then...i'm okay just having a little break...even though i despereately need money for next semester...AH

LIFE IS WONDERFUL :)

<3

Starting Over

2009-04-11T14:48:00.000-07:00

Okay guys so...since my past year of college was a little less than amazing i have decided to move into a different apartment complex for fall...by myself. I think it's time for me to get some new roommates, and start over. So if anyone has any idea of an apartment complex near BYU that's basically as cheep as they come...but not falling apart...let me know...cuz i really don't even know where to start looking haha. Nothing over $300 a month...i'm going to try to make enough money over the summer so that i don't have to work all year at least. anyway that is all.

Love you all

New Fad?

2009-04-08T19:10:00.001-07:00

Really though?
what is this new fad with getting tattoos?
and not just little tattoos....HUGE COLORFUL tattoos.
ones that will get all nasty and wrinkly when you get old...
ones that you will hate when you are trying to get a job in the future...
ones that are really just not very attractive...
HUGE FLOWERS on your back?
WORDS on your wrists?
i dunno i'm just feeling like it's much better to spend that money elsewhere
like maybe on your COLLEGE TUITION?
and i have friends who have spent even more money to redo their tattoos when they fade away...AHH...it just seems like a waste...
and honestly...tattoos just aren't something i see and think...wow that's a great piece of art...
at least i don't think so anyway...

EXCITING NEWS :)

2009-04-03T09:00:00.000-07:00

Just thought i'd let everyone know of some exciting news that noteworthy got last night.
The other day we had a gig for BYU Philanthropies...which was a bunch of older people who seemed kind of bored by us...but anyway hah.
So after we sang for them a man comes up to us named Ray. He told us that he LOVED our version of "How Great Thou Art" which we had just sung for them. He said that he was in charge of some big press thing...At the Marriot Hotel that was going to be happening April 21st. It's a big celebration type thing honoring people who have worked for the deseret newspaper and press. He asked if we would be willing to sing "how great thou art" for this big thing, and told us that the person who they'd be honoring is PRESIDENT MONSON. At this point we were all secretly screaming inside...but trying to keep it professional..we said...yes i think we are available that day (HOW COULD WE NOT BE?!). So the man said that he would go to his meeting tuesday and talk to everyone else about it. (after this we all went outside and had a crazy screaming/dancing party in the parking lot hah.)
Well tuesday came and went...as well as wednesday...and we hadn't heard anything...so i kinda started thinking that maybe it wasn't going to happen...but then last night at rehearsal Erica came in and had us listen to a voicemail message she'd recieved earlier that day...and yes it was from RAY!!! :)
He told us that they would love for us to sing. and we'll be singing RIGHT after President Monson speaks....AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH :)
I'M SO EXCITED!
We had made it a 10 year noteworthy goal this year to sing for a prophet, and we did it in just ONE year. That is AMAZING :)

YAY

Patience is a Virtue

2009-04-02T18:10:00.000-07:00

For A long time now I've been praying and searching and hoping and wishing for answers as to where the heck my life is going...wondering if I'm at the right school, what I'm supposed to major in, if noteworthy is the right thing for me to be doing, what classes to take, and just if I'm doing the things I'm supposed to be doing at the point in my life...and i will admit...patience has NEVER been one of my virtues...although I've been really working on that lately. But there comes a point...after months and months of prayer when i begin to wonder if answers will ever come...or if maybe I'm missing them. Maybe i haven't quite figured out how to understand the promptings that I'm getting...or worse what if I'm doing something wrong? I always have faith that things are going to get better and that i will eventually know what i'm supposed to be doing with my life, but i hate the waiting. I hate feeling like i'm not going anywhere...I want to be doing something worthwhile with my time...I want to have a direction that i'm going in...not just this awkward stage between high school and a career...I want to find those lifelong college friends that everyone seems to be finding except for me...I want to be able to look at my life and say...yeah i like where this is going...
I just wonder if maybe i'm looking in all the wrong places for these answers...or maybe i already have them i just don't see it. Lately my goal has been to just "enjoy the journey" of life and try to be happy...but shouldn't happiness be something that i shouldn't have to work so hard to find? I know that there are always bumps in the road, but there should be smooth patches too right? I'm not saying that my life is all bumps...I do have fun and i do love a lot of great things in my life and I'm SO blessed, but I just wonder when i will actually feel good about what i am doing here and now...and when i will feel content and not feel like I'm just...waiting...for something to happen. Because i keep feeling like something is about to happen...and then...it doesn't.

I just have to say...thank goodness for mothers and their words of wisdom...my mom sent me an e-mail a little bit ago with some quotes...they help me get through the days. and maybe this is my trial for now...to learn patience...why can't i learn it now and be done with it? haha

"When we seek inspiration to help make decisions, the Lord gives gentle promptings.. These require us to think, to exercise faith, to work, to struggle at times, and to act. Seldom does the whole answer to a decisively important matter or complex problem come all at once. More often, it comes a piece at a time, without the end in sight" Elder Richard G Scott, 1989 Ensign

Elder Boyd K Packer - "Sometimes you may struggle with a problem and not get an answer. What could be wrong? It may be that you are not doing anything wrong. It may be that you have not done the right things long enough. Remember, you cannot force spiritual things. Sometime we are confused simply because we won't take no for an answer... put difficult questions in the back of your minds and go about your lives. Ponder and pray quietly and persistently about them.The answer may not come as a lighting bolt. It may come as a little inspiration here and a little there, line upon line..."

As mom says...updating time

2009-03-30T14:19:00.000-07:00

Fab 5...our last time together for over 2 years!

Adam's Farewell

Oakland Fireside

Singing in Gerber Ward Sacrament Meeting

Covey Center Show

Nocalpointy!

Working in Connie's Classroom :)

FESTIVAL OF COLORS

My Hair after the festival

Noteworthy girls at festival

Before the Festival

Here we go. time to update.
Recent happenings...
noteworthy show in sacramento :)
noteworthy show at covey center
many other noteworthy shows.
adam's farewell
working at connie's classroom
festival of colors.
less than a month till i go home
a free facial today! :)
la la la la la

2009-03-09T20:33:00.000-07:00

Vocal Point Show, Sammys, Noteworthy <3

2009-03-09T19:55:00.000-07:00

Saturday was amazing...Full of Noteworthy fun :)
Had reahearsal, went to Sammys (P.S. if you've NEVER been there...you should definitely consider it...let me just say...they have pie shakes...with an actual piece of pie in them! SOOO GOOD!), then we went to the vocal point show (also AMAZING!!). Here are some pictures and such from the weekend :)

Noteworthy Wants to be on ELLEN!

2009-03-06T15:36:00.000-08:00

So Ellen has been having this...singing in the bathroom contest these past few weeks
where people send her videos of themselves singing in the bathroom
and whoever's s the best...they get to come on her show and sing with her in the bathroom
noteworthy thought we'd give it a try.

here's our video...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?page=2&aid=3345&id=502574776#/video/video.php?v=606645131309&oid=28897219685

I'm getting really bad at this...

2009-03-03T12:58:00.000-08:00

Once again it's been weeks since i last said anything.
Things are still good. I just got my wisdom teeth out about a week and a half ago.
I'm eating real food now :) yay.
School is school. Everyone knows i'm not a fan so there's not much more to say haha. But i'm getting through it. Trying to enjoy it. I'm loving my ward here in Raintree SOO much better than last semester. well everything about this semester is better than last. So i can't complain too much.

My mom just came to visit this past weekend.
it was fun. I love having mom around :)

i'm still just trying to figure out what to do with my life...and i still have no idea. so if you have any ideas for majors or anything like that just let me know...i'm clueless.

Noteworthy's sacramento show is next week! how crazy is that?! i'm SO excited tho! it's going to be amazing. buy your tickets if you haven't already...

I lost my phone the other week...well it ran away...so i have a new one now...so i don't have a lot of phone numbers...let me know what urs is...

and...that's about it...i'm just bored out of my mind sitting in my apartment by myself...needing something to do...hmmm

here are some pictures and stuff from recent events.

We all happened to match when we were going on a triple date.

I think it's about time...

2009-02-04T21:29:00.000-08:00

For another post.

A lot has happened since i last posted.
I guess i'm getting in the bad habit of never posting anymore.
Sorry about that. But seeing as i have done ABSOLUTELY nothing today
i figured it was getting time to catch everyone up on my life.

I've had my ups and downs since the beginning of last month.
The weekend of Martin Luther King's Birthday A bunch of friends from home came to visit. Sam, Logan, Johnny, Kurtis, and David. And then later that weekend Savannah, Natalie, and Spencer Joined them. So me, sam, nat, and savannah had a huge sleepover in my apartment. It was so fun.

But then, that very same weekend, i found out that my Grandma Jensen died. We were at my friend Ashley's house when my mom called me. She said that grandma wasn't doing very well and that they were calling an ambulance to come get her. About ten minutes later i got the call...saying that she had passed. I didn't know what to do. So i went out side by myself and just cried. I have never had someone close to me die before, so i didn't exactly know how to handle it. My grandmother had alzheimer's so i knew that this was a good thing for her. She was now able to remember everything and she has knowledge far beyond any of us. I was happy for her, but at the same time...i realized that i wasn't going to see her again for SUCH a long time. I was so sad for my family. For my Grandpa and my Dad...i wanted to be with everyone, and instead...i was sitting outside in the 20 degree weather bymyself...crying. So i called up Savannah and Natalie...(who weren't here in provo yet)...and i just cried with them.
After that i didn't really want to ruin everyone's vacation...but i didn't want to go home and be by myself. because we all know it's not good when you are so sad to have too much time to think about it. So i went along with them to the nickelcade and just kind of walked around not really feeling anything. After that i came home, and got a blessing from my FHE brothers. And i have to say. that i have SUCH a testimony in the power of blessings. Since i've been here in provo i can't even tell you how many times blessings have helped me. I used to be afraid to ask for them, and now i don't know why. They are so amazing and everytime i get one i am blown away at how much my heavenly father knows exactly what i need exactly when i need it. So after that i felt at peace, but i still wanted to see my family.

Savannah and Natalie came the next day from Idaho to be with me, and i can't even tell them how much a appreciate that. It's been really hard for me to be away from friends while i'm here in Provo, and i love that even though we are a 4 hour drive away...they are still here for me when i need them...

So I decided that i would go home that weekend for the funeral. Now this seems like it would be an easy decision to make, and it was, but the thing is, i had a Noteworthy retreat that VERY same weekend. It was a three day two night event where we had workshops that i probably REALLY needed, and it's HUGE bonding time and spiritual growth time. I knew that this was a really important thing, and i was afraid that if i didn't go...i would be behind and i would miss out on those bonding experiences and maybe be a little left out for a while. But after praying about it, i knew that i was supposed to be with my family for this. So i called up the director and told her that i wouldn't be there...she was really understanding. So i took the car over to Sacramento and i was able to be there for the funeral. It was an amazing funeral, and just being there made me feel so much closer to every single member of my family. The day after me and some of my older girl cousins went out for lunch and it was something that i think we all needed. we were all able to talk about our grandma and reminice on good times when we were little and much closer. I LOVEd that. I suddenly feel the urge to be so much closer to my cousins like we were before, and i'm so excited for christmases and summers when we can go to lunch again. Family has always been important to me, and my testimony of families has grown SO much in these past few weeks.

Well anyway so that sunday i drove home with my dad's cousins, and we were almost home (we were in draper) when all of the sudden we hit an icey patch in the carpool lane and we spun the WHOLE way accross all 5 lanes of traffic...i don't know how, but no car hit us as we spun into the center divide. We hit pretty hard and i got a huge bruise on my back which is still there, but other than my bruise no one got hurt. I was definitely blessed. it could have been so much worse.

Anyway since then everything has just been the same ol same ol. I still hate school...and i always will haha. but i'm learning to deal with that. I feel myself getting back into my old habits though...the ones of not really doing as much school work as i should...and just wanting to sleep all the time...and not really having motivation to do anything. I'm really trying to be better...but sometimes i have a hard time...since i'm not really sure where i'm going with school...I've even thought seriously about transferring to Idaho...I do realize that i have a purpose, and i kind of know what direction i want to go in, but i just don't know where exactly that is leading or what exactly it is i'm supposed to be doing in order to fulfill the goals that i have. I'm doing a lot of pondering on where exactly life is taking me, and what i need to be doing in order to get where i need to be. It's been a hard 6 months for me trying to figure it all out. But i realize that sometimes you just have to go along with the breeze...and eventually you will get somewhere...and i'm ready to be somewhere. i'm REALLY ready.

i'm sorry this blog has been kind of scatter brained.
i'm in a scatter brained mood
and just need to get thoughts out...
so there you have it.

I love you All. :)