Catch Up

So I admit I suck at blogging, there it is, out in the open. I am hoping that this post will help all of my 5 followers to realize I am not dead. In fact I am very much alive. Man where to begin.. A LOT has happened since August when I wrote last. Most of the major stuff you all know so I am only going to touch on a couple things but I am going to give details. We will go chronologically, first my brother got engaged :) I am going to be honest when I tell you that I was excited but at the same time I was a little sad. It was the start of the end of our single siblings era. That was a hard thing to let go of, I knew things would change and I was having a hard time embracing that. Luckily for me David picked a girl that exceeded all of my expectations. She is the only sister that I get by choice, and I wouldn't want anyone else. I realized that if I still wanted that same relationship with my brother I was going to have to go out of my way to work for it. But having a relationship with both David and Diane is worth the extra effort. I have found my heart has loved her as much as a blood sister. I know there is a lot more time for our relationship to grow and I look forward to it.

Second major thing was my decision to serve a mission. Yes this may come as a shock to you, because it certainly shocked me :)! As you know the age for mission service has been changed and girls can now serve starting at 19. This is a huge change and it has caused a huge surge of girls my age leaving. When the announcement came out I was dating someone and I brushed it off because I didn't ever think that a mission was for me, but it kept nagging at me and it was constantly on my mind. I started praying for direction because my head kept telling me the opposite of what my heart was telling me, but I knew that the Lord would answer my prayer and I needed to be ok with whatever he had to tell me. So as I was driving to work one day the song "Come Thou Fount" came on. As a listened to the words of that song the line "Prone to wander Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love" stuck with me. I could not get that phrase out of my head and it was frustrating because I couldn't figure out what it was supposed to mean. I thought about it for the rest of the week. The following Sunday I was visiting my home ward and they were doing a special musical sacrament meeting where the speaker would talk about their favorite Hymn and then we would sing it. Music has always had such a powerful effect on me and I strongly believe that it is one of the strongest connections between me and my Father in Heaven. So as I was sitting in that chapel listening to the songs we were singing, it hit me. I hadn't been focusing on the whole phrase from "Come Thou Fount" I had gotten stuck on a little part of it. The remainder of the phrase fled through my mind, "Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above." and at that moment I knew what I needed to do. I knew that my heart needed to be in it. I knew that I needed to stop focusing on the little parts and start looking at the whole picture. I was holding myself back by not seeing the whole plan. Yes my life would change drastically, yes I would have to sacrifice a lot, but I knew the blessings would outweigh any of the sacrifices I would have to make. I know that a year and a half is nothing compared to what He did for me. I know it isn't going to be easy, in fact it is going to be really hard, but I also have a sure knowledge that He would not ask me to do anything that I couldn't do. I am ready to take on this task! :)


So I know that this isn't the funny, strange, and crazy post that I normally do, but I needed some place to write that story. So if you skimmed over it I don't mind, haha I do the same thing all the time. I promise to get better about blogging and maybe my Mom can take over the bloggity blog blog once I leave so that ya'll can still hear from me! I know you all want to. So there it is.. the update on my life :) thanks to all 5 of my followers for following me! Maybe when I become famous I will give you a shout out.

Goodbyes

Goodbyes are hard for me, they always have been. I am not good with them and I am not sure I ever will be. Which is why I am writing this post. My cousin Tyler recently went on his mission, with any missionary this was hard for me. Annie Tyler and I have been best friends since before we can remember. We did as much as we could together when we were all in one state. Everything from baptism to Glamour girlz. We even tried three way calls when we would miss each other. All in all he has been one of my best friends. I was able to attend High School with him and it was nice to know that he would be there for me unconditionally. He was in the choirs with me and it always made my day so much better when I saw him walk through those doors because I knew that no matter what we would be there for each other. He gave an amazing farewell talk that brought me to tears. It is hard to realize that he wont just be a phone call away anymore. At the same time I know that he needs this mission and they need him. He is going to grow and learn so much that I wouldn't want him to be anywhere else. I know he knows that the Church is true and he is going to go out and change peoples lives. I am so proud of him. All of these things are what make the goodbye easier. So here is to you Ty-man. I know you're going to do great things and Annie and I will be right here waiting for you to return!

New Beginnings

Yesterday held a couple of firsts for me, first day of school and first day at a new job. I love firsts because it is a time you get to start new. You can forget everything that has happened last year and move on, you can grow in a new place and know that you are going to have new experiences. You can learn from the mistakes you have made and move on. With this new school year I have set many new goals that I know I can achieve if I put my mind to it. This new job is a place that I can grow and that is exactly what I would like to do. I have a lot of things coming up in my life that will require decisions that I know will change the course of my life.  The greatest part about college is that you are there to make your own decisions and learn and grow from them. I am finding more and more about myself every single day. I got to go on an awesome vacation with my sister Kristy and her family. It was so great being able to spend time with them and grow closer to my nieces. There were moments where I wasn't sure if I would ever stop laughing. Definitely a trip to remember. We got to go to Disneyland and it makes all the lines worth it to see a kid meet one of her favorite characters. It would be like any of us going and meeting a celebrity. Seriously one of the coolest things ever.

Even I was excited as I turned the corner and there stood Minnie and Mickey and Donald and Daisy. Even though I know it is just people in costumes for a split second I had forgotten and the nostalgia of childhood came flushing back to me. My niece Eliza loved these matching glasses that we had it was fun to watch her get such a kick out of them. Definitely one of the best trips I have ever been on, I don't think I will be able to ever thank Chris and Kristy enough for letting me join them.

So along with a new school year comes along the challenge/excitement of new roommates. I will admit that I was nervous when I heard that we would be getting 3 new roommates and we only really knew one of them. But yet again I got lucky and so far my roommates have been phenomenal. It is an interesting group of people and I think it will balance out pretty well. We went to a movie in the park last night for FHE and I think it was the first time all 6 of my roommates were at an FHE (thanks to my new job I was able to go.)

It was a night of adventure and getting to know each other. I have a feeling this is going to be a really good year! 

Take Me Away

This passed week has been out of the ordinary, it has been filled with a lot of thinking and wondering. I have thought long about what I could write in the post and maybe I just need to write it out to get it out of my system. It is time for something new. I have been stuck in Utah and sometimes I feel like this isn't where I need to be. I want to experience somewhere else something else. I want to go out and meet new people in a place where they don't know me at all. I want to start somewhere new where I can be whoever I want to be without who I used to be coming up. I want to see the world. Even if that means moving somewhere that I don't know anyone. Or visiting a place on a different continent to do something worth while for my world. I see all these people going out and having once in a lifetime experiences growing on their own. I know I have other things to do like school and work but sometimes I feel that those things are just the little parts of life. I want to be able to see the world and the beauty it consists of. I want to travel to places that I have only read about. I don't want to be one of those people that only live in one area their whole lives. So I am going to start looking. Looking for opportunities to take me places that I want to go. Now don't get me wrong, Utah is a beautiful place to live and I do love it here. But I have a soul that longs to wonder, and seek adventure. I feel that if I ignore these impulses I will loose this spirit of adventure and I may never get it back. I don't want to grow old and look back on life and think, I wish I would have traveled more when I was young. I don't want to have any regrets. So here is to change. Here's to grasping every possible opportunity and seeking for chances. Here's to doing what I know will make me happy in a time when everything seems to be working against me.

Session #1 :) Laughing unconditionally.

This first session of swimming lessons definitely had its ups and downs. It started off with my first class that all had super similar names. Jayden Braxton and Brayden, talk about a tongue twister! Some of the highlights of the session were the following quotes, "I CAN'T DO IT! MY LUNGS ARE BROKEN!" "What do you mean your lungs are broken?" "I mean I forgot to put toothpaste on my toothbrush this morning and now my lungs are broken!"-Zander Level 3. Another good one "TEACHER TEACHER I HAVE 2 GOOD NEWSES! First we are going to Disneyland and second we are all adopted!!" haha Caleb Level P2. Today though we had some pretty good ones that included "My mom is pregnant. But its a really long and gross story!"- Zoey Level 3. "My belly button is my girlfriend!"- Austin P2 and "Oh man I made bubbles with my bum again!"-Braxton Level 1. All in all it has been a really good session. One of the best parts of it though was the chance I had to teach a 35 year old man named Fernando who has had a stroke and is now mentally and physically handicapped. He had such a sweet way about him you couldn't help but be happy. He couldn't do much but he used to swim competitively so he knows all the strokes. To help him my aide (Ian) and I would put a noodle under his belly and work with him on each stroke. The hard part was that he did not have the ability to move his left arm. This is different than anything I have ever done but definitely the most rewarding. I could actually see these lessons making a difference in this mans life and I felt like I was actually helping. He always had such a positive attitude even when he knows that he used to be able to do everything just like everyone else. There was one day in particular when he was really really happy and I asked him why he was laughing his answer is something I will never forget. He stopped and looked at me and in his slurred way of speaking said, "I laugh for joy because at times it feels like that is the only thing I can do. I can laugh unconditionally." It really put my life in perspective to see this man whose life had changed completely and now he has to rely completely on his mother but he still knows that all he has to do is laugh and things don't seem as bad anymore. He is someone that has made an impact on my life even though so far I have only gotten to work with him for 2 weeks. So that was a very serious post for this blog that sometimes seems not so serious but I felt like I needed to put it down some where that I can look back on on those days when it feels like I can not do anything else but laugh for joy.

The Beginnings of the Summer Bucket List!
Beat Super Mario for the N64- Complete
Catch a baby duck- Complete
Buy a car
Go to lagoon
Skinny Dip- Complete
Sky Dive
Go to the Abandoned Jail-complete
Stand outside while it pours rain-Complete
Hike to a Waterfall
Go to a concert-Complete
Light fireworks-Complete
Learn to surf in the Ocean
Visit the beach
Learn to slalom-Complete
Gain at least 15 new friends-Complete
Swim in Utah Lake- Complete
Have a MASSIVE bonfire- Complete
Go to a Bees game
Go to a ReAl game-Complete
Do something that legitimately scares me
Get a really good tan-Complete
Pull an All-nighter
Watch all 6 Star Wars
Volunteer at the nursing home
Go on a picnic
Visit the temple
Read a whole book in one day-Complete
Sleep outside-Complete

Sorry it has been so long since my last post.. for those 5 of you that actually read this ha! Summer has officially started which makes me way happy! I've started on my playlist for Lake Powell and I'll tell you this one is a keeper! It already has 156 hand picked songs which is roughly around 9 hours. I have started working on my summer tan and it is coming along quite nicely! I have spent the passed couple of weekends at home just laughing it up. Some of my favorite quotes from the trip include "Alyssa! Don't turn so fast I'm going to have a wrenched elbow and my curve ball will be off!"- Said by Dad on the way to the solar eclipse party. Another one of my favorite moments is when we got into the car to go up to the Hunts to see the Eclipse and I look over to see my dad with two pairs of sunglasses on looking out the window just to hear him say "OH GOSH THAT DOESN'T WORK!" ha. I have started my guarding at the Lindon pool and let me tell you it is something else. Today there was a party for the Elementary School which meant 600 kids with about 10 adults. It was complete chaos. There was one time where this little girl came up to me with a panicked look on her face and she said "You have to stop the lazy river RIGHT NOW!" when I asked her why said replied "BECAUSE I LOST MY GOGGLES IN THERE!!!" The poor little girl didn't understand why I couldn't stop the lazy river for her to find her goggles. Good news though she did end up finding them. This new pool makes me miss good old Alta Canyon but it is fun meeting new people. Some random things that are making me happy include, the summer music, the sunshine, the tan lines,  5:30am shifts, warm nights, family, whistles, toms, sonic's happy hour, and the most random thing is the color of my tanned legs against the blue of the pool. I know that may seem weird but there is something about those two colors that seem to make all my cares go away. The best season of the year is upon us! This weekend I get to go boating for the first time and I am more than ecstatic! Maybe I will be able to get rid of this lovely tank top tan line ha. This post may not be as funny as the others but it explains the reasons I am happy :) and I really truly am happy! Best summer wishes to everyone! Also last little thing, one of my new supervisors at the Lindon pool looks just like King Peter from Narnia. I have the hardest time not calling him Son of Adam or saying things to him like FOR ASLAN! You know that kind of stuff :)