i love byu football!

can i just say how much i love byu football?? it's really very great. and it's even better that byu beat our biggest rivals... university of utah. =) yes, it is true. i am a proud COUGAR fan... with the screaming and cheering and singing and all (including the cool shirts)!


for those of you who haven't heard my interesting experience of meeting wonderful children of God, a utah fan was sitting behind me and jennie at the game (happy birthday to jennie) and she had a high shrilly scream (yes, worse than mine), and she kept yelling how ridiculous our team was, how ugly byu girls are, how she hoped i'd fall, how her team was doing "what she thought" and that "anyone who knows football would know" certain calls (which weren't always the calls she apparently "knew"). it was rather irritating but i was very nice about it. =P anyway... there was an older man in front who was a byu fan. i liked him, because he cheered along with me, AND every time there was a touchdown, he gave me a high five! =)

for the actual game... byu won in overtime, 26-23. i have a picture to prove it! =P


AND just to show how dedicated (and possibly crazy) byu fans really are... lol... this is what the field looked like about 10 minutes after the touchdown.


isn't it great?? i love byu football!

first thanksgiving

this thanksgiving has been my FIRST at byu. and in order to celebrate it, i went with margo and mackenzie to margo's auntie's place in salt lake where i met a lot of her extended family. it was good fun. we went to red robin for my first time, went to temple square (and got attacked by sister missionaries.. but isn't it SUPER pretty at night???)

and then mackenzie (my fhe mom, margo's current roommate, and one of my good friends) and i stayed up and watched a movie.

in the morning, i helped margo's aunty cook and then we went for dinner. that's where i met one of meagan's old friends from her freshman year... it was pretty cool. finally we all ate at a really long table my first thanksgiving meal. it was so ono.

i like thanksgiving! =)

birthdays are special days

it's official... i'm EIGHTEEN! wow, that's a weird thought. but thank you to everyone who participated and helped me to celebrate my birthday!

mauri was the first to wish me a happy brithday at 12:01, on the way to his dorm after the lobby closed. then for the rest of the day, i was eating to celebrate. i was woken up at 7:30 in the morning and brought breakfast from kneaders. it was ono (thanks cam, josue, brother, meags, and nell). mom, dad, ally, and evan sang to me over the phone (which was greatly appreciated) and then mauri and his brother, marcos, took me to orem to eat at a restaurant that serves local food called matiki's (thanks guys). we had dinner at cam's house (i requested potato casserole and mom's jello dessert)

and then just hung out until everyone had to leave. thanks for the birthday wishes, the calls, the facebook messages, the blouse, the earrings, the socks and beanie, the food, the coupons, and the time all of you spent making my birthday a special one! =)

a good day

there were many little things that just went well and were wonderful "day uplifters". first, BOM was canceled so i didn't have to wake up earlier and rush to class. i turned in a lab way BEFORE it was due. i had my MSS scholarship appointment with melba, and i turned in my grad plan WAAAYY before it is due. i finished all my classes for the week. and to top it all off, i came out of class to see mauri holding this...


today has been a good day! =)

i love visting teaching!

yesterday my roommate and i planned to do our visiting teaching. this month was to choose a talk from general conference and talk about that. i chose to do The Love of God, by President Uchtdorf (read it, i highly recommend it)

anyway, one of my visiting teachees just had a relative pass away and it was very difficult. i figured this could help her. the wonderful thing about it though was that as i was preparing for it, I got more out of it than i think she did. last night, i was kind of stressing about lots of things (tests, homework, church calling, room swaps, etc.) and i was just feeling overwhelmed and not adequate enough for everything. but as i read through this talk there were a few quotes that really stuck out to me:

1. "No, God does not need us to love Him. But oh, how we need to love God! For what we love determines what we seek. What we seek determines what we think and do. What we think and do determines who we are—and who we will become."

i thought about it and it's so simple, and yet it's so true. if we love God, we will do things to make sure that we are able to be with him later.

2. "Think of the purest, most all-consuming love you can imagine. Now multiply that love by an infinite amount—that is the measure of God’s love for you... Though we are incomplete, God loves us COMPLETELY. Though we are imperfect, He loves us PERFECTLY. Though we may feel lost and without compass, God’s love ENCOMPASSES us completely."

i needed to hear this. sometimes it's hard to comprehend or remember how much our Heavenly Father loves us, but this was like a gentle reminder that i AM loved and remembered and someone does care about me.

3. "My dear brothers and sisters, DON'T GET DISCOURAGED if you stumble at times. Don’t feel downcast or despair if you don’t feel worthy to be a disciple of Christ at all times. The first step to walking in righteousness is simply to TRY. We must try to believe. Try to learn of God: read the scriptures; study the words of His latter-day prophets; choose to listen to the Father, and do the things He asks of us. Try and keep on trying until that which seems difficult becomes possible—and that which seems only possible becomes habit and a real part of you."

this was an answer to a prayer. as i said, i was feeling like nothing i was doing was going the way i wanted it to, and that i was incapable of making things to work out because i wasn't good enough. this was exactly the encouragement that i needed.

God answers prayers, sometimes not how we expect. but he answers them. today, he answered mine with visiting teaching! =)

thanksgiving epiphany

so today in church, an idea hit me. the speakers were talking about being grateful for everything that God gives us. and i realized something... we aren't REALLY being grateful until we DO things to SHOW that we are grateful. so in preparation for an FHE lesson, i thought i'd think of little things that we could DO to SHOW our gratitude for the usual things that make it onto our "gratitude lists":

1. God- sing songs/praises to him
2. church/doctrines- listen to the prophets
3. family- keep in contact with them, and thank them for their support
4. friends- do small acts of service to brighten their day and let them know that you appreciate them
5. education- study hard
6. material things (clothes, house, etc.)- share extras with others
7. food- don't waste it
8. talents- SHARE it
9. nature- look, admire, and remember that God provided that for us
10. country/freedom- vote