Jammers.

It is interesting the difference I have seen since I have started texting my sister more often. It's because I think that I tell her a lot more than I actually do. I guess I am not as open with things as I think. I have never told her much about this certain situation with a friend of mine but lately I have been opening up to her more about it. I asked about it today and she told me "all I ever hear is basically little tibits every once in a while" so I have made a conscious effort to try and tell her more. I value her advice and life experience and a lot of times she can see the situations I am in more clearly because she is on the outside of them. I have loved having a more daily relationship with her. :)

"However Long and Hard the Road" by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

This is a talk that greatly changed my perception on life, I first read it on my mission and it was one of those talks that truly changed my life in the most unexpected ways...

"We speak about excellence a great deal at BYU these days, and, by definition, excellence does not come easily or quickly--an excellent education does not, a successful mission does not, a strong, loving marriage does not, rewarding personal relationships do not. It is simply a truism that nothing very valuable can come without significant sacrifice and effort and patience on our part. Perhaps you discovered that when you got your grades last month. Maybe in other ways you are finding that many of the most hoped-for rewards in life can seem an awfully long time coming.

My concern this morning is that you will face some delays and disappointments at this formative time in your life and feel that no one else in the history of mankind has ever had your problems or faced those difficulties. And when some of those challenges come, you will have the temptation common to us all to say, "This task is too hard. The burden is too heavy. The path is too long." And so you decide to quit, simply to give up. Now to terminate certain kinds of tasks is not only acceptable but often very wise. If you are, for example, a flagpole sitter then I say, "Come on down." But in life's most crucial and telling tasks, my plea is to stick with it, to persevere, to hang in and hang on, and to reap your reward. Or to be slightly more scriptural:

Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great.

Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind; and the willing and obedient shall eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days. [D&C 64:33­34]

I am asking you this morning not to give up "for ye are laying the foundation of a great work." That "great work" is you--your life, your future, the very fulfillment of your dreams. That "great work" is what, with effort and patience and God's help, you can become. When days are difficult or problems seem unending, I plead with you to stay in the harness and keep pulling. You are entitled to "eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days," but it will require your heart and a willing mind. It will require that you stay at your post and keep trying. "

There is a song by Josh Groban called "You are loved" the reminds me of this, that we can never give up but that we must keep going. Even when we are at the end of our rope we must keep going... somehow the Lord always pulls through for us. He truly is a miracle worker.

"Faith Like A Grain of Mustard Seed" by Pres. Kim B. Clark

Some blippits that I loved from a BYU-Idaho devotional.

"When we act in faith in Christ, we take action to keep our covenants in the face of opposition, even before we know how things are going to work out."

"President Eyring has taught, 'Increased spiritual strength is a gift from God which He can give when we push in His service to our limits.' That is where we find our personal frontier. There is a personal frontier for each one of us in every covenant, commandment, calling, and assignment we recieve from the Lord. The frontier is defined by the light we have already received and by our knowledge, understanding, skill and experience...

At the frontier we can't see how it is going to work. We can't see how to do what lies before us. We don't know what to do. We don't feel we have the ability to do it. That is the frontier.

The frontier is where the Savior works. It is where we keep our covenants by acting in faith in Christ. We face opposition and hard decisions, and we act in faith in Christ trusting that the Lord will open the way. We pray for help, and then we go to work- we study hard; we see out the angels in the tutoring center; we talk to our roommates; we go to the bishop; we dress modestly; we work to forgive; we raise our hand in class; we take the internship and a thousand other things with faith in the Lord Jesus Christ...

And so the Lord Jesus Christ stands at the frontier-at every personal frontier- with His arm of mercy stretched out inviting us to come unto Him, exercise faith in Him, and be blessed through His power."

This talk helped me to see that I need to keep going. Life is like climbing a mountain... we can't see the end through all the trees, and sometimes it feels like we aren't making any progress at all, but if we were to climb one of those trees and see how far we've come it would change the way that we look at life. My mom always says you just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other, we'll get there eventually. We just have to keep going, we have to keep climbing.

2 Different Relationships

I am required to work on 2 of my relationships with other people this semester, it took me a long time to decide on who I should focus on. I had to pick one good relationship that I want to continue to enhance and develop and the second is one that is more challenging- maybe a communication struggle or personality difference- but that I want to see some improvement in.

For the first one I decided to choose my roommate Ariel! We have started this semester off with a really good friendship and I want to keep it that way! I absolutely love Ariel and we have a lot of fun together. I want to keep this friendship developing in a positive way. Ariel and I both struggle with having friends who are girls and generally just hang out with guys so I think this gives me an opportunity to keep a good friendship with her!

SOME GOALS

1. Gain a better friendship

2. Communicate with her so there are not arguements from miscommunication
3. Continue to invite her to do things and exercise with her
4. Try not to get into any disagreements

For the challenging relationship I chose to do it with my sister Jamie who is 20 and currently going to BYU. We actually have a very good relationship and are pretty close and very good friends. The reason I chose to work on this is because sometimes my communication with her is a struggle. Iremember coming home for Thanksgiving and she was mad because I hadn't told her about my latest crush, she told me it doesn't take that long to text or call and let her know what is going on in my life. I thought about this for a long time and she is right. She's pretty much my best friend and I want her to know what is going on in my life. We sometimes

miscommunicate and don't understand each other very well, and I want to strengthen our relationship in that way because I love her and want us to continue to have a good friendship and I know the best way for me to do that will be for our communication to get better. :)

SOME GOALS
1. Call her at least once a week
2. Text her the latest news in my life
3. Try to understand her point of view if she doesn't want to do something
4. Let her know frequently that I love her!

The Great Measure of Discipleship

C.S. Lewis once wrote, "It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would strongly be tempted to worship... all day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations — these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit..."”

We have been talking in class this week about the way that we see and percieve other people. We even took some time in class on Monday to go and and write down our first impressions of the people that we saw when we were out and about... man... some of the things I thought were fairly negative. Not all of them, some of them were nice and positive, but a majority were negative. Then we read a talk called "The Measure Of Discipleship" from a BYU-Idaho devotional by Kenneth L. Southwick... it was brilliant and totally helped changed my view of how I look at people so I ask... how do you look at and perceive people? It's probably something that could be improved on. I know I will keep trying to improve so that I can see the people around me like Christ sees them.

Something Kenneth L. Southwick says in his talk, that goes along with the CS Lewis quote is, "Let me say it this precisely, our judgments about, our conclusions concerning, and our actions toward others all grow out of how we view them. If this is the case, then the question becomes, “do we see others as a spirit son or daughter of God, as a person, as a human being, as a soul of infinite worth?” Or do we see them as something less? Or do we fail to see them at all? ...How does that work? When we see others in the proper way, we cannot help but love and lift them, just as the Savior would. When we fail to see them in the proper way, we almost always devalue and dismiss them, like Christ never would."

How do we really view people?

Elder Dallin H. Oaks shared an experience,
"I was assigned to visit a less-active member. A successful professional many years older than I. Looking back on my actions, I realize that I had very little loving concern for the man I visited. I acted out of duty with the desire to report 100 percent on my home teaching. One evening, close to the end of the month, I phoned to ask if my companion and I could come right over and visit him. His chastening reply taught me an unforgettable lesson, ‘No I don’t believe I want you to come over this evening,’ he said, ‘I’m tired, I’ve already dressed for bed, I am reading, and I am just not willing to be interrupted so that you can report 100 percent on your home teaching this month.’ That reply still stings because I know he had sensed my selfish motivation.”

How do we really treat other people?

Alma 26:27

'Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success."

This is a scripture that has helped me get through many things because I know that when I am going through hard times the Lord will always be there to help bless me, help me and lift me up. There have been times when I have not been sure how I can keep going, I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, there are obstacles in my way that I don't know how I can overcome. I know that when those times come and I don't know how to keep going, my heart is depressed and I am about to turn back or give up... just at that very moment the Lord seems to comfort me... to open another door when I feel they are all shut. It is one of the remarkable things about this gospel. No matter how bad or hard things get the Lord will always be there to comfort us, to help us, to bring us peace and to help us find success in this life, we just have to believe in Him and trust Him. I know that is true because it has happened to me countless times throughout my life.

The Positive Three...

Three Meaningful Experiences of My Life That Had a Positive Impact

1. Trek

Before I went on my mission this experience would come to my head every time I thought of something that positively impacted my life, hands down, first one. When I was 16 years old our stake decided that they would do something called trek, in the Mormon community this is not unheard of. Basically you dress up like people from the 1800's (pioneers) and "trek" across the wilderness pulling handcarts just like the Mormon pioneers

did in the late 1840's, only our conditions are considerably more favorable then theirs were, and we only went for a few days rather than a few months. They split the youth up into families that had a "ma and pa". We had 4 boys and 6 girls in my family. Ranging from age 14-18. I think We put our stuff into a handcart and started pulling. I think that the reason this experience was so positive for me is because on the first day the women were separated from the men and read a story about a woman who had to cross the plains without her husband, he had died from something along the way, and she had to pull this handcart by herself, and take care of her children. After being told this inspiring story we were told that we would have to pull the handcart, as women, up this hill without the assistance of the boys in our families. Nevermind that we had already pulled the handcarts several miles that day and the hill in front of us looked formidable at that point. The 6 girls in my family got around the handcart and into the front handholds and started pulling. The family in front of us were struggling and

some of the girls were crying, it was not an easy task. I was pulling as hard as I could as were the other girls in my family, it was not easy and as we came to the top of the hill all of them men were up there lining the hill, it was a touching sight as they took off their hats, some were even crying... we stopped to pray and thank Heavenly Father for his help. We then had to go down the rocky side of the hill which may have been harder than the uphill and I kept slipping. The guys still weren't able to help at this point, but they walked beside us and gave us encouragement and told us we could do it. I was exhausted... it had taken a lot of energy and just when I though it couldn't get harder we were told we had to go up another hill... this one looked steeper than the first and we were already tired, but we started up the hill. About halfway up we started slipping backwards, that was when our "brothers" were allowed to jump in and help us... they were like angels to the rescue and they were just the thing we needed to get the rest of the way up the hill.

-I think the reason that this is a meaningful experience in my life is because it showed me what I am really made of, that I can really do things that seem impossible. It showed me that I have a great inner strength and a determination to do what I must. It helped me realize how important the gospel is to me and that God will a

lways be there to help me up the hills of my life. I know that experiences like this teach us how strong we really are and how much stronger we are when God is there to help us as well. I have never forgotten this experience because it changed my view on life, and changed who I am.

2. A Friend's Death

I guess it's weird to think that a death could have a positive impact on my life, but this one did.

Justin Michael Ure, also known to his friends as "Euro" was the funniest and happiest person I have ever met. He had the uncanny ability to make others always smile, he was just hilarious. I met him when I worked at an amusement park in Utah called Lagoon, since we pretty much worked all day every day I got to know him and a few others really well and we used to do stuff together all the time. Well that summer came to an end and I went back to school in Idaho, but we still kept in really good contact and talked pretty much every day. He was one of my really good friends at that time. It was December 18th, 2006 I had to get up for a final at 6am, I had just sat down to take my test and was turning off my phone just as my friend Ernie called. I couldn't answer because I was taking my test, as soon as I got out I was walking home and listened to the voice-mail he had left... he said that our friend Euro had collapsed in his kitchen the night before and his parents couldn't wake him up... they took him to the hospital but weren't sure what was wrong with him. They thought maybe he'd had a stroke. I couldn't believe it and rushed the hospital as soon as I got back to Utah. I spent the next 5 days at the hospital here and there... He started to get better... breathing on his own, but he still couldn't move the right side of his body... he'd truly had a stroke. I remember December 23, 2006 I went to the hospital in the morning... Euro had gotten worse and I just went to say goodbye to him. I went home and sobbed for three hours, later that afternoon he died. His funeral was the day after Christmas, it was a hard time.

-I think the reason this had a positive impact on my life is because, even though I lost a good friend very suddenly, I found out what I was made of when challenges come along. To be honest I really struggled with this because he was in my life for such a short time, but I came to recognize that everything happens for a reason. People come in and out of our lives for a reason and I learned a lot from my time with Euro. I also found out that my testimony and belief in the gospel was solid. My foundation was shaken a bit when this happened but it stayed strong because I know that God loves us. I know that this experience made me stronger and gave me a greater perspective on life. It made me grateful for the things that I have and for the people that I have known. It has definitely impacted my life positively.

3. Living With Friends

Often times you hear that you shouldn't live with your friends because then you just end up not being friends

after all. In the end it all comes down to the fact that some people are easy to live with and some people are hard to live with. My sophomore year at college I was asked by some friends to live with them and I told them

that I would love to live with them! I was a little worried because I didn't know any of them super well but I was excited for what was to come. All of my life I have struggled with girls as my friends. I had never really had good experiences with friends in general but especially with girls, they have been mean and vicious to me and have never really made me feel like I fit in. I could go on about the tough times I've had, but I won't, it will suffice me to say what I have, it was a struggle. I came to college and met my best friend, Melody Smith and that changed a lot of how I thought about myself and she was a GINORMOUSLY positive thing in my life and still is. There are some other girls I could mention as well along with Melody but she wasn't one of these girls that I went to live with. She moved down to Provo to be closer to

her boyfriend this particular semester of college. So I moved in with Pierina Amadori-Alberoni (Stutz), Shelly Babcock, Carly Walker, Alyssa Lamprecht and Maegan Tracy and had a really good time. We had so much fun together and I loved living with them. We became more like sisters than we did friends and this semester at college made me feel like I really belonged. These girls were great influences on me and just wonderful people in general. I still consider them very close friends and I just love them so much. This was a positive impact on my life because it increased my self esteem and changed my self concept. These girls are some of my favorite people. I guess now that I reflect on it it was a lot of those girls I met on college that really changed my life and have become my life-long friends. Not only those girls I lived with but other friends I had at college as well... friends make a huge difference. Here are some more pictures of my good friends that I made at college who were there for me then and continue to be. I love them.

A Birthday Party We Threw

Friends and Sisters and Roommates :)

With Some Old Roommates and Good Friends

My Best Friend's Wedding

Love These Girls :)

Hanging out in Rexburg

Blue & Yellow

Last friday in class we spent some tiem talking about different colored personalities: red, yellow, blue and white. I am a blue/yellow personality and it's interesting to hear in class about the different things that I do that are a blue personality... such as making lists. I always make lists and plans and like to have those kinds of things in front of me. I think that it's interesting to see that depsite my blue side making lists my yellow personality makes me more spontaneous than a lot of people who are blue. I am always up for some playful adventure outdoors. I guess a lot has just been self reflection on what I am like and seeing how I do things differently because of that blue/yellow personality. Sister McKenna said that blue/yellows tend to get pretty high but can also go very low and I was suprised to see how well that explains me. I am normally very happy and high up in the sky with laughing and smiling, but when something happens to me or someone I love I can get kind of low I think luckily I have that yellow side to pull me back up. I love learning about personality types and have taken some other personality tests in light of talking about this one.

Skiing Disaster

Wow. Talk about trying something new. I mentioned before that I love to snowboard! Well this past Saturday I went up to Targhee with my roommate Ariel and our guy friend Payson, who both ski. As we were talking on one of the ski lifts I mentioned that I always have wanted to try skiing so Ariel told me that if her ski boots fit her then I could try out her skis. Ohhhhh man... hahaha! The last run of the day we decided to switch, "lucky" for me her ski boots fit perfectly. I was a bit nervous as I walked out of the lodge, picked up her red skis and clicked the boots in. I can't imagine what was going on in everyone's minds at the bottom of the lift watching this skier trying so hard to just get into the line to get on the ski lift, who knew that scooting along in skis took so much effort! Getting off the lift was easy-peasy, much easier than getting off on a snowboard that is for sure (although Ariel did a good job on my board). Neither Ariel or Payson knew what to tell me as we started off on the run except that I could "snowplow" or turn my skis inward to slow down (I had seen little children using this same method although their parents/ski instructors would tell them to "pizza"- I'm glad that Payson and Ariel didn't say that to me because I don't want my favorite food ruined by the image of me trying to do that while skiing.) Well the first bit down the cat track I was just laughing at myself because I kept getting nervous when I started going "too fast" not that my snail's pace would ever have been too fast, but still. I kept just falling over if I got going too fast. Well never fear... I got the hang of just going straight and that helped a lot. Going straight on skiis is easy peasy and a lot less intimidating than cruising straight on my board, at least to me. Well I got a little better at turning back and forth on the skis but was better turning right then left which was sometimes problematic. Overall it was a good experience except the time I crossed my skis somehow and smacked my head super hard on the cat track and this little kid (on skis, of course, who was pro) comes past and stops right in front of me and just stares at me laying on the cat track with my arms sprawled out and the ski sticking straight in the air. Haha, then his sister and parents stopped too to see if I was all right, good thing I'm resilient. It was pretty funny. I'd love to try skiing again because I thought it was really fun, and definitely a totally different experience from snowboarding!

Self Concept Song

I chose the song "Beautiful to Him" sung by Rachel Thibodeau. It just helps me remember that in the eternal scheme of things it should be God's opinion that really matters. Obviously we are affected by the way other people look at us, and the things they say to us, but if we remember that God loves us and sees us to have great worth then we can see ourselves that way too. Our self-concept can be seen a lot differently if we are only trying to please God and be what He wants us to be. Listening to this song has helped me a lot to find the strength that I need to get to life at some difficult times. Not just concerning beauty but remembering that my biggest goal is to get back to Him. The one who truly cares about me. Reminds me also of the book, "You Are Special" by Max Lucado. It only matters what the Maker thinks, and when we remember that it changes the way that we look at life because He loves us, no matter what we look like.

SELF-CONCEPT: This song helps change the way that I percieve myself and the way I look at who I am.

SELF-ESTEEM: This song changes the order of importance of the things I think about myself. My standing with God and who I am to Him becomes more important. I place less value on worldly concepts of what is most important ie beauty, slenderness... etc.

BEAUTIFUL TO HIM
So much noise
so much peace destroyed
i can hardly hear the voice
leading me through the void
just so much noise

the world's little lies
destruction in disguise
opportunities to compromise
to make me beautiful in their eyes
but i'm not going to buy
the world's little lies

cause i define myself and find my beauty in
the light he gives
i'm refined by his divine intentions every day i live
it doesn't matter what the world believes
or what they say that beauty means
it comes from within...
i wanna be beautiful to him.

he's given me his trust
so i'll be strong enough
to run from a dangerous touch
i don't need THAT kind of "love
"i don't need that crutch
he's given me his trust.

cause i define myself and find my beauty in the light he gives
i'm refined by his divine intentions every day i live
it doesn't matter what the world believes
or what they say that beauty means
it comes from within.....
i wanna be beautiful to him.

I know how to shine
my life's not really mine
it's not about a worldly climb
it's all about HIS design
so in his eyes...
i wanna shine.

cause i define myself and find my beauty in the light he gives
i'm refined by his divine intentions every day i live
it doesn't matter what the world believes
or what they say that beauty means
it comes from within...
i wanna be beautiful to him.

i want to live to have his peace
and feel the holiness he sees
it comes from within.....
i wanna be beautiful
to Him.

Color Code Profile

Took a color code test for my Interpersonal Communications class this week, these are my results:

Red- 18%

Blue- 37%

White- 11%

Yellow- 34%

This means that I am mostly a blue-type personality with the support of yellow-type personality.

Blues:

Core-Motive: Intimacy

Emotion Based

Control

Natural Gifts

Service & Quality

Needs & Wants

To be appreciated

To be understood

To be good (morally)

Acceptance

To reveal insecurities

To please others

Security

Most Common Strengths

Creative

Disciplined

Loyal

Reliable

Respectful

Sincere

Understanding & Caring

Most Common Limitations

Judgmental

Moddy

Perfectionist

Self-righteous

Suspicious

Unforgiving

Unrealistic

Hmmm... self-reflection time. This is a required assignment for my communications class and may take me some time to decide which ten things to put up here... It's interesting because some things have already come to mind that I like about myself, but they may be the things that other people don't like haha I guess we'll see!

1. I love that I can pretty much laugh about anything, or even at most anything. Whether it's a funny movie, a book I'm reading, friends teasing me, me teasing them or just things that happen in life in general. I love to laugh, and I love that I love to laugh haha. :) People say that my laugh is infectious. It can also be very loud!

2. I also love that I am just a little bit crazy ( I mean who isn't). Most people would describe me as "crazy... but in a good way." What can I say? It keeps life entertaining and I like to spice things up. I love to get other people to laugh and my craziness allows me to do that.

This is on the way to Disneyland in California... we found "tree-stars" Haha

A friend Chris and me... he's used to my craziness... haha

Just over the border of Canada... RAWR

3. I also love that I am "half-Canadian". My dad is originally from Magrath, Alberta, Canada and we have gone up there at least once every summer since I can remember. I love it there, it is my second home and I would claim myself as Canadian anytime. It's a beautiful place and has become a huge part of my life and who I am.

My favorite waterfall in Jasper Natl Park Canada, Athabasca Falls

Cameron Falls in Waterton Natl Park Canada

4. I love that I am naturally athletic. I have played soccer since I was about 5 years old and have found a great love for that sport. I also love playing lots of other sports: frisbee, football, volleyball, raquetball, basketball... pretty much everything else too! I love to play sports and be outside including hiking, snowboarding, camping, mountain biking etc.

Me Taking a Shot on Goal

Me With One of My Soccer Teams :)

5. I don't know if this 5th thing counts, but as I was thinking about things that I love about myself this came to mind. I love that I am an RM (Return Missionary). I loved my mission, I spent 18 months in England talking to people about the gospel of Jesus Christ. It changed who I was and how I see the world. Those were the best 18 months of my life, nothing could ever compare to that time in my life. I loved it with all my heart.

6. I also like how tall I am. I am just over 5'8" and I love it. I always wanted to be 5'10" but I didn't quite make it that far. I usually tell people that I am 5'9" because I am pretty close to that. Anyway I love being tall!

7. Here comes out my "nerd" side but one thing I love about me is that I am a bookworm... I love to read books! I read a lot of fantasy books and quite a few of them are children's books as well. I also like to read books about people who lived in the 1800's like "The Work and the Glory" or "Little House on the Prairie". I read books like crazy and read 5 over the 2 week Christmas break that we had just a while ago. One of my favorite series is by Christopher Paolini called the Inheritence Cylcle including the books "Eragon", "Eldest" and "Brisingr" with the 4th and final book (soon) to be realeased! One of my other favorite books is called "The Host" by Stephanie Meyer. Just to name of the few of the books that I have come to love in my lifetime. Nobody should ever be suprised if they walked into my house and my whole family was just snuggled up under a blanket on the couch in our living reading our own seperate books. We love to read!

8. One of the first things that people will notice about my physical features is that I have big lips. Haha. People always comment on them which is sometimes embarassing, I don't think they're that big but they're great I guess.

9. I love that I am LDS because it has given me a strong foundation to live my life on. It has given me a good set of values and strong convictions on who I want to be and how I live my life. My religion, my beliefs and sense of who I am have shaped everythinga bout my life. It has really made me who I am.

10. I guess the last thing is that I love (that I love) the SNOW and RAIN. Sometimes they are literally my sunshine. I can look out the window and see it snowing and get the biggest smile on my face. It never ceases to make me happy! I also love rain. Maybe I just like to mix it up and not have sunshine all the time. I am content and happy with rain/snow all the time!

Snowboarding

I guess talking about one of my favorite pasttimes isn't a bad way to start off this blog. I have to do it for my communications class, so it will probably be a pretty random blog. The chosen subject for today is snowboarding. I only started snowboarding in the winter of 2005/2006 when I was 18 years old. I remember the first time I went my little 12 year old brother was the one that was responsible for teaching me how to snowboard. I had no idea what was going on. Wasn't sure which foot to put in the binding first to ride up the ski lift. Then I remember being on the ski lift and asking my brother, Chris, "How do we get off the ski lift?" He said that he couldn't remember. Haha... don't worry that I fell getting off a ski lift probably the first 15 times I ever did it. I am much more skilled at it now. :) Well I decided to include this in my blog as part of my BYU-Idaho experience because I have signed up for zero classes on Tuesday and Thursdays so that I can go snowboarding up at Grand Targhee Resort as much as possible. Everytime I go it's a new experience. For example when I went last Saturday I decided to follow some friends off a jump, I have been off jumps before but everyone before me did something "cool" so I thought I should too. Nevermind that I went off the jump, did a little twisty with my board and then totally ate it on the landing a powder flew everywhere, I still tried to do something new. I really enjoy snowboarding for that reason. There is so much to do and a huge mountain to explore! I absolutely love being out on the mountain, despite the fact that it is sometimes freezing! It teaches an interesting lesson, Grand Targhee resort does, usually the top of the dreamcatcher lift is really foggy, windy and sometimes snowy. There have been times when I could barely see in front of me, forget about seeing a tree that is 10 feet in front of me! It gets a bit intimidating at times. This is when I put my trust in my friends that I go skiing/snowboarding with, they will take the lead even during those times when none of us can really see. As long as I can keep them in my sights I know they won't lead me off a cliff! Good to know that I have good friends that I can trust up there on the mountain with me. For example the last 2 times I went up to Targhee, a couple of times the top of the lift was pretty foggy, visibilty was horrible (not to mention that when visibilty is that bad it is really hard to tell how fast you are going... eek! Not a good thing especially when you have to stop quickly haha) I could hardly see but my friends would go ahead of me that knew their way better than I did; as long as I could see them I would know where to go, I could follow them and avoid what they could see and what I couldn't, I would also know if there were bumps in the snow that I could prepare myself for. It's fantastic to be able to follow someone in those situations. But anyway, I love to go snowboarding and hope to have many more good experiences up on the mountain!

GLEE - "Forget You" Full Performance feat. Gwyneth Paltrow!

Here is something that I have always loved. Music. Musicals. Love it all. I especially love this song and have been singing it to my new roommates for the past days since we've been at school and I've gotten two of them hooked on this song. I love music and the ability that it has to touch something deep within you that sometimes nothing else can. I find that I have some of the most profound thoughts when listening to music. It is a huge thing! I especially love some of the songs that they have done on the newer T.V. program called "Glee" love it!