Jamie

Jamie is a fantastic sister, she really is. I went home for the long weekend and was able to talk with her face-to-face about some things that are going on. What's better than having a sister who is also my best friend. I remember when I was younger one of my cousins lived with me... she was older than us by a few years. I remember one night I got into a big fight with Jamie and told this particular cousin that I would never be friends with Jamie. My cousin said she used to fight with her sister all the time as well when they were younger and that as they became older they came to be best friends. Of course I didn't believe her and told her that would never happen with Jamie. Well... I guess sometimes we have to eat our own words like I did at this time. As I look back I can see the progression of my friendship with Jamie and as we've gotten older our communication skills and maturity have grown so much! It's interesting to see that progression of how communication and maturity (especially in this case) really work together to build a stronger relationship. We're still sisters, and we don't agree on everything but we don't fight about the things we don't agree on, we respect each others opinions and I'm glad to have someone who does at times challenge me and the things that I do or think.

The Sound of Thunder CH 2

CHAPTER 2

5 YEARS PREVIOUS

The first time she ever saw Charlie Madisen she knew there was something different about him. She saw him standing in the crowd of people at the latest college dance that Saturday talking to her friend Mara. To be honest, in looking at him you wouldn't think him to be anything more than what he was. He was a few inches taller than her with short brown hair, attractive but not gorgeous, but he certainly caught her eye and she didn't understand why. When she saw Mara walking towards her with two boys in tow, including the one who had strangely caught her eye, she felt her heart flutter in her chest and she got a bit nervous which was surprising.

"Ellie!" Mara said loudly over the loud music, "This is Charlie and Ryan."

Then turning to the two boys she said, "Charlie, Ryan, this is my very best friend Ellie MacIntyre isn't she fantastic."

The two boys nodded in succession and Ellie couldn't help but notice that Charlie had a hard time taking his amazing blue eyes off of her. They then wandered off with promises that the 4 would meet up later that night.

"Ellie, oh my gosh isn't Ryan just so hot! I couldn't help but go up and talk to him, and now they want to hang out, isn't that great!" Mara exclaimed.

Ellie just laughed and shook her head, "Yeah Mara, that's great, haha! It is so typical of you to drag me into your search for a new man."

"Whatever," Mara retorted, "I saw Charlie practically drop his jaw when he saw you! He is pretty cute as well, you two would make a cute couple, hint hint!"

Ellie went quiet, "Charlie is pretty attractive, I'll admit that much but I'm not sure how ready I am for anything that."

Mara just laughed, "Ellie it's not like he proposed! We're just going to hang out with them, not a big deal, I promise! Please come with me." Then turning a bit serious she said, "I know that you are wary after everything that happened last semester but it's a new semester, a new start! Let's move past that and just enjoy this."

"Ok, ok! We'll hang out, but not tonight. I am super tired."

Ellie didn't see Charlie later that night, except for a few more glimpses of him on the dance floor. Mara went to hang out with Charlie and Ryan after the dance, but Ellie went home to get some rest. She couldn't seem to get Charlie out of her head. Even as she put her head on her pillow that night the memory of those deep blue eyes seemed to penetrate her mind as she drifted into dreamland. Mara couldn't stop gushing the next day about how much fun she'd had the night before with Ryan and Charlie. Of course her and Ryan had made-out while they watched a movie, she wouldn't have put that past Mara at all, she just felt bad for Charlie, the apparent third wheel in Ellie's absence.

Despite her excitement that morning Mara calmed down while they went to church and went about their usual Sunday activities, just relaxing and hanging out with friends and roommates. While Ellie was in class on Monday morning Mara text her saying that Ryan had finally called her and wanted to hang out with her that night, nothing was mentioned about Charlie so Ellie forgot about it. Monday's were Ellie's busy day, she had four classes and a lot of homework, so she decided that night she would treat herself and go with some different friends to a music show on campus that night, since Mara was with Ryan. Halfway through the music show Ellie's phone vibrated in her pocket, Mara was calling. She didn't pick up the first time, but when Mara called again a second time Ellie excused herself from the row of people she was sitting on and left the auditorium to answer the phone.

"Mara, is everything ok?" Ellie questioned.

"Yeah it's fine, I was just wondering where you are at." Replied Mara.

"I'm at that music show in the Kirkham building on the north part of campus with some people." Ellie said.

For the next few minutes Mara just small-talked with Ellie about random stuff, Ellie felt bad for just having walked out of the show so she told Mara that she needed to go so she could finish watching the show. All of the sudden someone grabbed her around the waist, shrieking Ellie realized that it was Ryan and Mara. They picked her up and took her through the building. Her pleas and questions of what they were doing and where they were going were completely ignored. Once they got Ellie outside they jumped into the back of a car parked next to the curb, allowing Mara to sit in the front seat next to the driver, Charlie.

Charlie laughed and said "Surprise."

Ellie laughed back at him. "I thought I was getting kidnapped!"

"You were, and you are. You didn't think I was gonna just sit around with Ryan and Mara for another night while they 'do their thing' did you?" Charlie questioned.

Ellie laughed again, "While they 'do their thing' huh? Well I suppose I shouldn't subject you to that again alone, but now I have to deal with it as well!"

Ryan and Mara protested in the back and the four of them burst into laughter. They drove to what was apparently Ryan's apartment, in the basement of this man's house. They wandered down the stairs and it was decided they would watch a movie. Ellie was a bit reluctant to sit next to Charlie on the couch hoping that he didn't expect her to just make out with him like Mara had with Ryan. Charlie could sense her reluctance and led her into the kitchen leaving the other two on the couch with a movie playing in the background. They sat down on two chairs facing each other, as Ellie looked up into Charlie's eyes she realized that she felt like she had known him for a long time.

But she still was shocked when the words tumbled out of her mouth,"Charlie, what is your biggest secret?" and she was even more shocked as her hand went to his face and touched his cheek with familiarity.

He looked deep into her eyes and said, "Well it's not much of a secret I suppose since I'm not the only one who knows it... I'll tell you, but do you really want to know?"

Ellie nodded.

I la you!

"I La You" is a phrase that Ariel and I and some of our other friends use to say "I love you." I guess you could say that this is a quirk in our friendship because it is something you could probably pick up on, but that is unique to this particular friendship I have with her and our other friends. I found this past week that Ariel and I tend to think a lot on the same level. It's so funny that after something happens our through process is the same. For example we found out that our friends were out of their apartment and wouldn't be back for like 20 minutes and both of us thought, "let's go prank them". It was pretty funny, we stole their lightbulbs. Unfortunately they caught us right as we were about to leave. It ended up being a fun night.

Writing Books

One of the best ways I communicate personally is through writing. I have always been much more open when I am writing letters, poems, blogs etc.. There is just something about writing that persuades me to open up and I love having that release. I guess one thing a lot of people wouldn't know about me is that I have always wanted to write a book. I love to read and I have a pretty vivid imagination. I always start to write the beginning of books, but so far none have gotten farther than the first chapter. Here is an example of my latest attempt/idea:

The Sound of Thunder

A smile slowly crept across her otherwise emotionless face as the storm clouds rolled across the mountain tops. She had been sitting on her roof for only a few moments waiting for this storm to arrive in the small valley where she now lived. The smile grew wider across her face as the first thunderclap permeated the otherwise quiet scene before her. She only had to wait a few moments before the first raindrops dripped softly down her face eventually soaking her through in a torrent of droplets. She knew this was the best part about moving here, nowhere else had she seen storms of this magnitude and wonder.

She loved thunderstorms, rain, lightning, the way the thunder sometimes seemed to shake houses, the overcast skies, deep and darkened storm clouds; she loved all of it. They first captivated her as a little child, her mother used to take her onto the back porch and make her watch the storms over the lake in the little town where they lived. They had scared her at first, the thunder so loud and the lightning so bright and powerful: but once she came to love those storm clouds she could never get them out of her heart and she was excited about every potential storm. She could never explain to anyone else how much she loved the rain (and snow) and the clouds that accompanied the precipitation; how she almost preferred the cloudy skies to the sunny ones. Nobody understood that, at least almost nobody.

Once she was thoroughly soaked through, she climbed down off of her little roof and slipped into her back door, the thunder still sounding all around her. She warmed herself in a quick shower, threw some dry clothes on and grabbed her favorite blanket off the bed in her room. She excitedly bounced down the stairs, through her front door onto the veranda. Thankful the storm was still going on around her she settled down with her blanket into a chair and started to read a book, the sound of rain and thunder as her background noise. She was so lost in the book she was reading she almost failed to hear her cell phone ringing.

With the smell of the rain still fresh in her nose, she scrambled around to find the phone she'd left somewhere in her small two-story house. By the time she found the phone it had stopped singing her favorite song, set as her ring-tone of course, but the icon popped up indicating that she had one missed call and a new voice-mail. It was from her sister Kayla, she sighed to herself, grateful she had missed the call. She fidgeted with the phone in her hand for a moment wondering if she should listen to the voice-mail. Finally she flipped the phone open, and after another long hesitation she decided she'd just listen to the first part of the voice-mail and then make a decision as to whether she needed to listen to the whole thing.

Her sister's familiar, yet worried voice came over the speaker as she put her ear up to the phone, "Hey Ellie, it's Kayla... *sigh* I was hoping you'd pick up but I guess I can understand why you want to be left alone... I just want you to know I love you and I'm here for you. Please call me back. We're really worried about you, especially since you just took off after... well anyway... I know you're going through a hard time and..."

She quickly shut the phone before the tears could form in her eyes. Angrily she threw the phone back onto her kitchen counter and went back onto the porch. Taking a deep breath in she inhaled the smell of the rain and took a few minutes to calm herself down. Ellie told herself that she didn't need to get worked up about all of this, that everything would be fine, she could do this on her own. A few hours later after she had finished her book and the thunderstorm was gone she went back into the kitchen. Two more missed calls, both from Kayla, but no new voice-mails thankfully. She knew Kayla was just trying to help, but she just needed to be alone.

Ellie didn't realize that coming here to Leadville, Colorado would make her sister worry so much. But surely even Kayla could understand she needed space, a twinge of guilt passed through her mind because she knew that Ellie was all the family the Kayla had left in the world, except for her new husband Jackson. Kayla and Jackson Sanderson, the happy couple had married just a few months ago, right before Ellie ran off. Her younger sister was small, brunette and beautiful, the sweetest person you have ever met. She would be fine without Ellie, she had Jackson now and they were the perfect fit.

Ellie knew she needed to get her mind off of "home" and off her sister and just clear her head. She slowly walked up the stairs into her bedroom and stood in front of the long mirror, just staring at her reflection. She was quite tall, 5'8" with an athletic build. Her long dirty blond hair cascading in waves beyond her shoulders and halfway down her back. She looked into her green eyes and wondered when they had started looking so sad and tired. She was a naturally pretty girl and hadn't ever had trouble getting the attention of men. Of course then she had met Charlie... at the very thought of his name Ellie sank to her knees in uncontrollable sobs, willing the world to just go black.

Non-Verbal Communication

1. What is one thing you do well - that has a positive impact on your communication/relationships with others? Give an example.

I am a really good listener. I always have been. I listen to what people have to say, give them ample time to talk and ask questions that help them to open up more or understand what they are going through. I have always been someone that people felt like the could talk to.

2. What is one thing you need to improve - that has a negative impact on your communication/relationships with others? What will you do this week to improve?

Although I am listening, I sometimes give the impression that I am not, by doing other things with my hands. I am a fidgeter and I suppose it sometimes gets in the way of my communication. I don't like to sit still.

3. What did you enjoy most about your nonverbal "field trip" with the class? What are two of your personal observations and conclusions?

I loved watching the reactions of people when we did something out of the norm to see how people would react to non-verbal communication. For example the guy in the bookstore. 2 people came up on either side of him and crouched down and started passing things between his legs and then I came up and stood right behind him with my back to him looking at the bookshelf. We essentially had him blocked in and he panicked a little and took off, we didn't need to say anything but we were still communicating.

a. I noticed that people react sometimes very strongly to the non-verbal communications even though we don't say anything.
b. I decided that it is fun to use non-verbal communications to help get our point across even more. I especially loved how some people didn't even notice that my sweatshirt was on backwards and other people had to do a double take. Sometimes I guess we don't really notice our backgrounds.

"Wise men still seek Him"

Well this weekend an unexpected chain of events came to play in my life. Basically it came down to a life-altering 5 minute phone call. While talking to this particular person in a rather disheartening conversation I looked up to the top of our entertainment center... and there was a sign on top of our speaker that said, "Wise men still seek Him" and I just knew that despite this person telling me this news I knew that I wasn't alone. God showed me the answer and I was overcome with feelings of peace and love. I knew that despite what happened in my life I simply needed to seek Him. I needed to be wise and remember that I need to first follow the Savior, to seek Him out and follow Him and I know that when I do that God will take care of the rest of it. I know that when I put my trust in God all other things work themselves out. It may feel as though my life is a set of building blocks, being broken down and constantly knocked over; but when I look to God, I know that He will always rebuild me into what I need to be. I am so grateful for the Holy Ghost that whispered peace to my heart at that time. I know God loves us and wants us to be happy and He will always be there for us.

(Not) The Little Mermaid

I have found that the more you open up to people the stronger your relationship becomes with that person. Since we have been talking about non-verbal communication I have been trying to use that to show that I am a better listener. Ariel is a great listener, she just sits there and listens to me whine! I am generally a pretty good listener and so I have just been working on being better. I hadn't seen Ariel for quite a few days because of the long weekend so we had a good opportunity to chat and catch up last night and I think we had some pretty good communication. She is a good friend and I am glad to have her. I guess one thing I learned about our conversation yesterday is that even though I was unpacking my luggage while she was talking to me I was still able to listen very well and ask questions and respond to what she was saying. I learned that I am pretty good at listening even if it appears that I am not paying full attention.

Jammer-Pies

Well my communication with my sister has been going very well. A once difficult relationship has blossomed into a really good friendship. We went snowboarding today and I said to Jamie, "I have been better at communicating with you huh!?" And she just laughed and said, "Yep! A lot better, but only because I yelled at you." Haha well there you go. We had so much fun today up at Park City Mountain Resort snowboarding. At one point I got my board stuck in the snow and couldn't get out, but never fear Jamie came to my rescue and we were both laughing and having a good time. I love this new relationship that we have!! :)

Stake Conference

I was reminded today in Stake Conference about the importance of listening to the Spirit and reminding ourselves of the covenants that we have made. The Spirit brought an interesting memory to my mind when I was thinking about all of this. I was going through a rough patch my senior year of high school, a lot of it dealing with certain friends I had at the time. Without going into detail I was really having a hard time and I had a friend invite me to go to the temple with them every week, and I started going with them. It changed everything about that year of my life. Even though things just got worse with my friends I felt a lot of peace and I knew that was coming from the time that I was spending at the temple.



I am glad to know that we have a temple nearby that I can attend every week. They talked in stake conference today about the experience the apostles had when they were on the sea of Galilee and there was a sudden storm about them, waves and wind. The apostles went to Jesus who was sleeping and asked, Master, carest though not that we perish?" And Christ arose and said "Peace, be still" the seas calmed and the wind ceased. The same thing happens in our lives... the winds and storms arise but the Lord can calm our hearts. I always, ALWAYS feel that peace when I attend the temple. I was just reminded today that the temple is extremely important and it definitely keeps my heart at peace no matter what is going on. I love the temple.

"I Hope They Call Me On a Mission..."

I learned something this week throught the Spirit, an answer that I have been waiting for, for almost 10 months now. 10 months ago I came home from serving a mission in Leeds, England and when I came home it was very hard to adjust to "post-mission" life. I remember the day after I got home I went shopping with my mom at a store, I was accustomed to walking into a store (or other public place) and having people stare at me, my clothes and especially my little name badge that said

"SISTER WHEELER"
"The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-Day Saints"

but this time no one paid attention to me, I was just another person in that store. In that moment I ceased feeling important, I ceased feeling like I was somebody... I had felt important and of worth on my mission because I was doing the work of the Lord, I was His servant. Well I have struggled for 10 months to understand what the Lord would have me do now that I am home, what is the role that I must play here. I went back to school in Rexburg (though I did not want to) and one night that fall semester a roommate of mine, Carrie Akemon, and I went for a walk. I think we both just needed to talk. So we walked around this block several times just chatting and it was brought up that she had thought about serving a mission, but of course had her doubts... the things that she would have to sacrifice, the fact that she was 22, the money it would cost, the fact that she wouldn't quite be done with school and a few other things. I didn't think much of it then, but I told her that we all have qualms about serving a mission but we have to first put our trust in God. We have to believe that He will provide for us and take care of us. It's not always easy because we can't see what He sees, and we don't know what He knows; but we do know that He loves us and knows what is best for us. I promised her that if she went it would be the best thing that has ever happened in her life because that is what it was for me... and it changed my life forever.



Well. Sister Carrie Akemon went into the Provo MTC on February 2nd, 2011 to learn and be instructed before she heads to the Colorado Springs, Colorado Mission. I got to see her a few days before her entrance into the MTC and she told me that the talk we had that night was the reason she had decided to go on a mission... I was really touched, and the Spirit has whispered to me that that was part of the reason I needed to come back to Rexburg for school. That the Lord still needs me serving in His church and that I still can make a difference in people's lives. I am grateful I could make a difference in her life. She will be a fantastic missionary. It just goes to show that when we put the Lord first He blesses us and those around us.

Jim-Jam-A-Lam

What used to be a sometimes challenging (in good and bad ways) relationship with my sister Jamie has now become a very good relationship. :) She text me yesterday and told me that she was famous, but that I would have to check her facebook to see why. Last semester I could have gone weeks without texting/calling her but now it's weird if I don't hear from her everyday. I may not have ever heard about her being "famous" if we only talked every few weeks, but she was able to share with me this fantastic video that she is in. The background story is that a girl down at BYU in Provo was sick of hearing about Jimmer so she wrote a letter complaining about him...

"I can’t walk across campus without hearing Jimmer Fredette’s name a dozen times. His name comes up everywhere: in class, at work, during lunch … really, people? Cut it out with the Jimmer worship. Last time I checked, idol worship was very much frowned upon in the scriptures.

Don’t you have a life to live? Then quit wasting it in front of the TV or in lines at the Marriott Center. At the very least, stop trying to convert those of us who don’t follow BYU sports and don’t care that baseball and badminton are two different things. Pushing basketball on us isn’t going to make us like it any better. I’m not blaming Jimmer for all this; was it Nephi’s fault in the Book of Mormon when his brothers worshiped him?

As far as I’m concerned, Jimmer is perfectly free to live his dreams. If he reaches his goals and lives his dreams, more power to him. I would like the same courtesy from his fans: let me live my own dreams in peace, even if they don’t include ever sitting in the Marriott Center screaming my brains out."

Michelle Peralta
Apple Valley, Calif.

Then she proceeded to post pretty much the jist of it as her Facebook status bringing upon herself almost 1,000 comments before she blocked it and eventually deleted her Facebook profile!

My little sister was in a video made by a student at BYU to get Michelle Peralta to go to a basketball game. I love being a better communicator in this relationship with my sister because I get to hear about stuff like this!!

Here's the website for the video: http://www.mwcconnection.com/2011/2/8/1983413/video-byu-fan-leaves-byu-tickets-to-jimmer-hater

"Earl"

Well, when you communicate with someone for long enough you get to understand the types of things that they would say or do. I don't text Ariel very often but have done it enough that I would recognize if someone else had her phone and was texting me. This is sometimes the problems with texts, you never really know who sends them, you just assume it is the person who's phone it is. Well yesterday I text Ariel to see if she was coming to a basketball game and this was the text conversation:
(Just as an fyi we also sometimes call Ariel "Earl")

Me- Are you guys coming?
Ariel- We havent gone yet k just chill
Me- Woah simmer person who isn't ariel but has ariel's phone!
Ariel- 11:1111:1111:1111:1111:1111:11it earl k
Me- Lies
Ariel- Sorry this is Ariel now...

I could tell that it wasn't Ariel who had sent me the message so I wasn't offended by the "k just chill" which may have seemed a bit harsh. Interesting how that kind of communication works.

"Not Bothered"

Today in class we were talking about language and my group did "equivocal language" and we learned about how language has a huge impact on what we think people are saying and what they are actually saying. Something came to mind that I shared with the class:

When I was on my mission in England, even though we all spoke English, they said some things that were a bit confusing sometimes. The example I shard today is that we would knock on people's doors share a quick intro and then ask if we could come in and share more and sometimes people would look at us and say "I'm not bothered" I took that as meaning they weren't bothered about us coming into their house and sharing this message... well to them they were saying that they didn't care and they weren't bothered about the message that we had to share. It was something that I had to learn to get past.

Another time was when I was talking to someone and they were sharing something with me. For instance this guy was telling us how the current snowstorm (which was weak by Idaho/Utah standards) was the biggest England had seen in 10 years and was stopping everything dead in it's tracks and I would say, "Are you serious?". In America most people would respond with a "Yeah, I'm serious" but in England their response would be "No." To this day it still confuses me, but I just went with it.


Just interesting how even within the same language we miscommunicate things.

Pon & Zi

Something new about me is that I love these little cartoons called "Pon & Zi" because they just make me laugh. :) I think that it's important to find little things in life that make you laugh or smile, that is what I try to do, even if they are just dumb little cartoons and no one will understand why you like them. They still make me laugh and sometimes that's just what I need!

Ariel

The other night I went to a friends house and he said that Ariel was just another Amanda, haha that made me laugh. I guess I learned this week in trying to maintain my ralationship with Ariel that we both feel things very similarly. When I get upset about something or stressed out I tend to become very introverted, and I am not a very effective communicator because I just push everyone out. I didn't want to do that to Ariel though and I could feel myself doing it. So I took a little bit of space and then communicated with her and found out that we were both bugged about the same thing and it helped to talk about it! Turns out we both needed to talk and then we went running which definitely helped me. I am learnign not to push people out as much as I used to.