Life is Good

Im guessing that some of you are interested in how I like byu-i. I don’t suppose I can give an accurate and full report yet seeing how I have only been here for about 6 days but what a six days it has been! The doubts and concerns that I had about whether or not I was supposed to come to this school have been completely erased. This is a holy place. The only thing I can really compare it to is the MTC but with less razor-rash and its okay to hug girls here. In fact, I guess the hugging is encouraged because its called byu-I do. But back to the seriousness of it, it has been a far greater spiritual experience than I could have hoped for. No, I haven’t found my eternal companion, or not that I know of, but this campus is Zion. There is a spirit of unity and dedication that It is ridiculous how friendly people are here! My new good friend Vanessa makes it a habit to say hi to everyone that she passes by- even if they are across the street or quad. Its more like an obsession but it makes me laugh every time all the same. I have been on a couple dates already and have plenty more in the works. Don’t worry; my self esteem is rather healthy with all of these wonderfully spiritual (and cute) girls smiling at me. And yes, they smile at everyone they pass but I don’t care! Haha

I have a large group of really good friends as well as an amazing ward. My Elder’s Quorum President is nothing short of a spiritual giant and he gave one of the most powerful eq’s lesson that I have ever heard. I love how I can go up to a random apartment pretty much anywhere around and knock on the door and make new friends just like that. I’ve done that a bit (girls’ apartments mostly) and its been a lot of fun. I haven’t drowned in homework yet but I have plenty to do. I still am hopeful to get a job because that would make life considerably easier on the pocketbook. If I don’t get one this semester then I will just focus all the more on my classes and getting straight “A”s so I can get a scholarship here.

My teachers seem to be pretty cool and reasonable thus far and I am very happy with the class size because it is a very intimate teaching setting with no class larger than 50 thus far. I think that these teachers may actually CARE about our success, which is a rarity in the rest of the world. I had an interview with one of the Stake Presidency councilors and I’ve been called to serve as (I think) an assistant ward clerk. Or something like that. I figure I’ll just show up on Sunday and they will tell me what they want me to do.

The weather has been thus far-sunny to cloudy and warm to cloudy and cold to crazy intense thunderstorms. I had fun with that last one because I took a friend up out of town to get a spectacular view of the fireworks. Right now its windy and rainy and I have discovered that my brown shoes are not water tight anymore. You learn something new every day here!

Beginnings and Endings

The end of one thing is the start of another, or so some random person once said. Maybe not a random person, but i just don't have the desire to look it up. As I come to the end of this particular chapter of life, I find myself reflecting on the past two years and what has transpired. It seems somewhat unreal to think back on how many amazing experiences I have had. All of which has led to who I am today in one way or another. I had very specific goals that I have been working on and it has been very rewarding to see some personal growth. I've got a long way to go still (everyone does) but I feel like I've finally accomplished what I set out to do before I went to the temple with someone.

Now don't go thinking that I'm gonna go marriage crazy here but rather that I finally feel ready for the next step in life. I'm more concerned about keeping up with the 17 units and finding a job somewhere, at this point so that will happen at some point. haha So here I sit on my bed, chatting with an old friend, listening to some good music and feeling excited for the future. Mom is saying that Idaho will never live up to what I am making it out to be, but we'll just see about that. Life is what you make of it, and I plan on making this a memorable semester! Life for the next three days will be a whirlwind of work, stress, packing, last minute visits and then a drive thru the night into the dawn of a new chapter of life. :)

Mountains to Lakes

On Tuesday night Adam and I went on a adventure of a sort to take pictures of the stars. After driving an hour and half to get to clear skies, we arrived in a bank of fog. Yeah. We still shot some pics and I got startled by what turned out to be noisy and curious white tailed deer. Not the yeti I had envisioned, darn it. haha So we went down the road and found this spot to shoot from.
It was slightly hazy still, and the moon was out so the stars weren't really visible but we still shot away and got some pretty coolish pictures anyway.
Today we met at Donely Park in Turlock, after work, to feed the ducks and geese and boy did Jake enjoy that! His throw with saltine cracker was somewhat short but the people-friendly birds seemed to do alright.
The crackers in the water did more than just attract birds... fish! This is a shot I got of a fish trying to get the cracker from out of a Mallards beak. Either that or I stumbled on a private moment... awkward. haha
We had a good time playing around the lake and then the others went to the playground for a bit so it turned out well. I went to visit less-actives and was successful (YES!!) while the ABSs packed up and left for Riverside. In fact they should be somewhere around Bakersfield right now... Anyhoo, the next family on the list is the Haymonds in 3 weeks! Woot!

My Family

Its all about family. Adam and Liz have been staying with us since Friday night and its been a lot of fun. We visited Grandma and Grandpa yesterday and got to spend some time with them. Today a high councilor gave a talk about families and their importance. I feel overwhelmed by how awesome my family is. We're not perfect, and we have a dysfunctional way of showing love and concern but we all love each other and love spending time together. We all live the gospel, and my brothers and sisters are raising their children in the gospel. I don't deserve a family as amazing as mine. I certainly don't deserve a rich heritage of faithful members giving their all to the church in spite of what life throws at them. I can't wait for the day when I will get to be in the temple with all my brothers and sisters and see what Heaven is like. I love my Family :)

Cali isn't so bad in the spring

On Friday, Monique and I went on a really fun and adventurous date to Black Diamond Mines. We Arrived a little before 4 and explored around the main facility before blazing trails and running down crazy embankments. After finally making it to an actual trail, we ran into a large entourage that were "taking pictures for a catalog." Yeah right! They were shooting film, and we KNEW they were lying.... all lies!! From there we headed up the mountain with the goal of making it to prospect tunnel some 2 miles away. Yeah... we instead decided that we didn't want to hike all that way with our limited amount of time...

... so we decided to hop a barb wired fence and had a lovely picnic here! I totally spaced on taking a picture of the remarkable view from there but trust me, it was pretty phenomenal.
After a yummy lunch with egg-shaped sugar cookies we decided to head back down the mountain and check out the cemetery. Before we left we stopped and snapped a couple of shots of the beautiful view from the top.
As we got near the cattle gate, Bessy the cow decided that she didn't care for us much. She (a fatty fatty cow) first climbed up onto the road we were walking on and stared us down. When that didn't stop our advance she retreated to higher ground and proceeded to give us the most evil cow-eye I have ever seen. Evil cow!
We survived that encounter and made it to the cemetery. We noticed the "catalog shoot" (liars) had moved locations and we attributed that to them realizing that we were onto them... The cemetery was pretty cool but also sad because the majority of the people buried there were just kids... Came across a "Davies" there and I have been meaning to ask Emily if she is distantly related or something. From there we hustled back down to the parking lot and sped towards the exit. I kid you not, the park ranger came and locked the main gate about 30 seconds after we made it out. That was CLOSE. haha We headed back to esaclon and watched "New in Town" and spent the rest of the evening talking to each other with a Minnesotan accent. Not gonna lie, it was hilarious at the moment. haha Made it back to the house about 10 minutes before Adam and Liz arrived, and then crashed after a very fun, adventurous, eventful, awesome day. :)

Manresa Beach... was awesome!

For our regional YSA activity the Merced ward organized a beach trip. In winter. Yeah. On Friday the weather was bleak, gray, and very wet. However come Saturday morning, the weather was GORGEOUS. Got to Manresa about 12:30 and there were about 15 of us there in total. Turns out that the beach was really warm- warmer than the valley was that day. So unfortunately for everyone else on the beach, I felt like going for a run up and down the beach. Felt SO good. When I got back from my exercise, there was about 40 of us there so we started to play games. Made some new friends- Monique and Chantal, (pictured above- i already knew scott) and had a blast playing catch with a football.

Lunch was pretty decent, and you could not have asked for a more beautiful day. I went on several more walks accompanied by friends and I just had an all-around good day. :) The sunset was spectacular and its a good thing that I listened to Monique about getting my camera because I woulda regretted that BIG time. My car was packed to the brim with two additional persons and off we went. Made it home by about 9:30, stuffed my face with food, and then hit the hay. Good times!

Ps. I am no longer pasty white!!

My Passion

Since creating this blog, I have found that I feel a greater desire to share thoughts and feelings that normally I might just keep to myself. I guess its a good thing to see my thoughts written out because its like I am learning more about me.

Music is such a powerful thing to me. I know some individuals that music is practically meaningless to them and I just can’t relate to them in that sense. Take a powerful conference talk, put it to some beautiful music, and the message seems to grow in intensity. Take a miserable day and go for a drive or a walk listening to a favorite song and the world’s problems seem to melt away. Take a boy who is excited for the future and give him a moving and passionate score to listen to and his feelings become all the greater. Music is such an integral part of me- I just wish I could create the kind of music that inspires and uplifts others.

I have often mused what it would be like to have a soundtrack to life- every mood or situation would be mirrored by a brilliant score. As I write this, I am listening to a soundtrack that is a personal favorite and I feel motivated to go do something amazing. Its truly remarkable how it can affect me, and often does affect me. I am passionate about music, and life.