Double Rainbow!

On my way out of the testing center on Friday, I saw this.
<---

(I stole this picture from facebook... When I get my hands on a card reader, I'll post my own pictures)

It was STUNNING.  Pictures don't do it justice.  Could I live in a more beautiful place?  

Roommateless

 I can't believe how many people have already left for vacation!!  We have two more days of school left before the break!  Several girls on my floor (including Erica) are already home, though.  Those of us who are now roommateless decided to sleep in my room last night.  Of course we didn't go to bed until the wee hours of the morning... We had fun taking pictures on my laptop, watching North and South, eating, talking, eating... It was a good time. :)  Please enjoy our lovely pictures.

Thug Life

Drinkin' Skim

 Chipmunk

I don't even know what to say about this one...

 Kim. :)

Cyclops!

Oh my goodness, Rachel...

So sleepy!

Voices of Earth

Sometimes I forget how powerful music can be.  It is so pure and honest.  Tonight Rachel and I were able to listen to Concert Choir and BYU Singers perform Songs of Birth and Rebirth.  I spent the entire concert teary-eyed. The musicality and the repertoire were unbelievable.  Just one text that I found particularly inspiring is from Voices of Earth. 

"We have not heard the music of spheres,

The song of star to star, but there are sounds

More deep than human joy and tears,

That Nature uses in her common rounds;

The fall of streams, the cry of winds that strain

The oak, the roaring of the sea's surge, might

Of thunder breaking afar off, or rain

That falls by minutes in the summer night.

There are the voices of earth's secret soul,

Uttering the mystery from which she came. 

To him who hears them grief beyond control,

Or joy inscrutable without a name, 

Wakes in his heart thoughts bedded there, impearled,

Before the birth and making of the world."

-Archibald Lampman

 Music has always been such an integral part of my life and now I feel a lack of it.  Yes, I am in a conducting class... And yes, I am the ward choir director... There is just something so incredible about creating beautiful sound.  But singing has never been easy for me.  To some it just comes so naturally.  To me, it is so hard that I struggle to enjoy it.  Singing makes me sad because I realize that maybe I wasn't meant to sing.  But I've always wanted to create something beautiful.  I'm not a dancer, I'm not a photographer, I'm not a singer.  What am I?  Some are meant to create, some are meant to enjoy.  Maybe I am supposed to simply enjoy beauty.  Why, then, do I feel so strongly that I was meant to create it?  In an earlier post, I talked about lacking drive.  THIS is my passion.  I am passionate about music.  I love the way it makes me feel.  I love the things it says that nothing else in the world can describe.  I love the simplicity and the complexity of sound.  I love it. I love it. I love it.  But I know I could never be successful as a musician.  If I am not successful, I am not happy.  As an observer, I am happy for a moment, then I'm left with a pit in my stomach.  I should be making music.  But I can't.  But I wish I could.  I wish.

Temple Hopping

We had our first real snow!!!  It snowed pretty steadily all day on Friday after raining all night.  It is beautiful out here!  To celebrate the snow, we bundled up and went to Walmart to buy sleds.  We were deterred by the prices, though, so we improvised.  We all chipped in $5 to buy a few cheap sleds, some baking sheets, and tin lids to slide down a hill on.  (Mara, notice my beardo!)

I also got to brush up on my snowman-making skills!  The huge snowball is mine. :)

A while back, Erica had the wonderful idea to take advantage of living in Utah Valley and visit as many temples as possible in one day.  We've been planning our "temple hopping" trip for several weeks now, and it finally happened!!  It was incredible.  If I could describe the day in one word, it would be "breathtaking."  Not only were the temples and the snow and the mountains gorgeous, it is also a beautiful experience to spend time in the House of the Lord.  It was such a wonderful time of prayer and contemplation after a couple of challenging weeks. Check out this video about temples!  It's short and I love it. :)

We spent over seven hours in temples and did ordinances (baptisms and confirmations for the dead) for over 250 people.  What a neat experience!  Please enjoy the beautiful pictures. :)

Provo Temple

 Draper Temple

"Holiness to the Lord, The House of the Lord"

This is on all of the temples.

 Jordan River Temple

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

(look at the beautiful snow-capped mountains!!)

Salt Lake City Temple

(my parents were married here!!!)

Photo credit to Erica Ernenwein... She did a good job. :)

If you ask me, visiting five temples with someone pretty much makes you family.  Here are my beautiful hall-sisters. :)

I always thought that going into the temple should make me feel very different.  It made me feel a little guilty that I still just felt like my normal self when I was in such a holy place.  After having spent so much time in the temple this weekend, though, I've realized that it's a good thing to just feel like myself in the temple!  It means that I am living close to the spirit on a daily basis.  In the temple, I am just blessed with clearer thoughts and I feel closer to my Heavenly Father.  This time, I felt more sure than ever about my decision to serve a full-time mission next year.  I can turn in my papers in the spring and I'll know where I'm going sometime in April!  I am so excited to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others. It makes me so incredibly happy and it has made me who I am. 

Halloween

After hearing that Grandpa Hansen had a seizure and was in the hospital, Erica and I went to visit and bring him flowers.  He was on a lot of pain medication and not communicating very well on Wednesday.  It was good to be there to support him and my sweet Grandma, though.  I am so grateful to have had the chance to spend lots of time with them this summer.  I feel like I really know them for the first time in my life.  They are absolutely incredible.  I have never known two more selfless people.  When I asked Grandma if there was anything we could do for them, she expressed concern that no one would be passing out candy at her house.

Erica, Lisa, Kim, Rachel, and I happily went to Orem and handed out candy.  There weren't a whole lot of kids knocking on the door, but it was nice to be in a real house for Halloween.  Erica and I decided to capitalize on the situation and go trick-or-treating.  Everyone thought we were 14 or so anyway.  We even got silly stringed by a 12-year-old boy!  Why didn't 12-year-olds hit on me when I was actually 12?  It was a fun night and we were happy to help in our small way.

On Thursday, I colored my hair again! I'm not going to be working in a salon for the rest of my life, so I might as well enjoy it while I can.  I just added some subtle low-lights. Hannah colored her hair too. 

I visited Grandpa again on Friday with my cousins Jen and Spencer.  He was much more coherent without the pain medication, but clearly in a lot of pain when he moved.  Grandma is still faithfully watching over him. She is an angel!

After visiting the hospital, some kids from my ward went to Wreck-It-Ralph.  It was soooo cute and I highly recommend it!  We also hit up Deseret Book and had to resist buying a million pictures of the temple.  I love that store...

Sorry this is such a huge block of text.  I figure that those of you who want to will read it and everyone else can look at the pictures...  :)  But I want to have it written down.  Saturday I did a lot of studying, then I went to the basketball game to man a booth for Studio 1030, then went to Walmart with the same ward friends.  We bought some hair chalk and a pet plant named Stanley.  We also took a ton of paint chips to decorate our window!  I'll show you the window when it's done.

This week was sort of the calm before the storm...  I'm grateful to have had a nice, calm week, but next week I have two major essays due and three mid-terms.  I'm really struggling to find the motivation to do the things I know I should do to prepare.  My biggest struggle so far in college is that I haven't found my drive.  So many people have something that they are fighting for or something they are passionate about.  I need to find what that is for me.  If I want to be successful here, I need a goal.  Right now I feel like I'm just surviving with no real vision.  Wish me luck and keep me in your prayers!

Oh, and here's my schedule for winter semester.  It's still going to be revised... Let me know what you think I should change!

Salmon and Dry Ice

Today was a good day!  I had all of my homework done ahead of time AND I completely understood what we were talking about in PD Bio 120.  Couldn't get better than that!  At work, I got to make a giant card for the receptionist that quit and everyone told me I looked super cute even though I only spent ten minutes getting ready this morning. Erica and I were invited to eat a salmon dinner with some boys from Heritage Halls today.  That was very, very nice.  They're the same boys that fed us antelope a month or so ago... I prefer salmon.  But they sure can cook!  And Heritage boys are much more nice, normal, and mature than Helaman boys.  After dinner, we went to our ward Halloween party dressed as pigs.  We found matching pig hats at the dollar store and decided it was an appropriate costume due to the condition of our dorm room... While we were cleaning up, we decided that the best way to dispose of the root beer was to flush it down the toilet.  The dry ice at the bottom of the root beer caldron was certainly a nice surprise for the next person to use that bathroom. >:)  After doing a little homework and a lot of research on possible classes for next semester, I got to create my schedule!  I'll fill you in on that once I've finalized it.  I think today's blessing is that I will definitely be able to start class at 10:00 every day.  There is no way I will be able to take 8:00 classes again next semester...

Fat Club

Here are our Fat Club shirts!  Aren't we cool? :P  I should probably explain what Fat Club is... But I don't really know how to describe it.  One night we just decided to work out with Jillian Michaels because we realized we were becoming very sadly out of shape.  We have a few Fat Club regulars now, and other girls from our hall that just join in every now and then. It's a good time!  At 9:00 every night, we go for a run or use a workout video.  Since we didn't wear our pink shirts to the Zombie Chase, we matched at Ward Prayer last night!  We got photo-bombed by my home teacher in the second picture... They visited last night!  I have good home teachers. :)

Personal Revelation

Today started early! We had a ward choir performance today (I'm the ward choir director) so I had everyone meet at 8:30 in the "chapel."  Naturally, I woke up at 8:15 and got there at 8:40... We still had a very nice warm up before sacrament meeting, though!  I was very satisfied with our performance.  We sang "Behold the Wounds in Jesus' Hands."  It's a little-known hymn that was published in the Ensign several years ago.  I think the words are a BEAUTIFUL testimony to the importance of the Savior in our lives.

The meetings seemed to me to really be focused on the big announcement from earlier this month.  The talks were very well prepared.  They were about personal revelation and prayer.  I feel that President Monson's announcement was a real and powerful answer to my prayers about whether or not I should be preparing for a mission.  In relief society, we talked about acceptance of others' reactions to the announcement.  Some, like me, intend to serve as soon as possible.  Others feel that the Lord has a different mission prepared for them.  Either way, personal revelation and communication with God is key.

Dad challenged to make an inventory of prayers that Heavenly Father hears and answers in our lives, so I'll try to share something every time I post.  This week has been a rough week- definitely the hardest since I left home.  I really, really wanted to see my family.  Today it wasn't looking like I would get to go to family dinner, and I was very sad...  Erica was sick, Jen and Spencer were out of town, and I had let Sami borrow my bike... So I was out of a ride.  I texted and called Grandma and Grandpa, but didn't want to make them come and get me for a short dinner, so I wasn't very persistent when they didn't respond. As a last resort, I texted Scott and hoped he would get my text before it was too late... I said a little prayer that I would get to see my family today.  When I woke up from a blissful, three-hour nap, Scott had texted back!!  He picked me up shortly thereafter and I was able to go to family dinner in spite of all of my set backs.  It was small, but it was a blessing that I needed today. :) It's nice to know that Heavenly Father even cares about the little things in our lives. 

Sorry there are no pictures with this one... We did wear our Fat Club shirts to Ward Prayer tonight and took pictures, but I don't have them! I'll post them when I get the chance. 

Zombie Chase

This morning's Zombie 5K was surprisingly fun!  Although I strongly dislike running, I have enjoyed training with the wonderful girls from my floor.  "Fat club" ran a good race today.  The faster group finished quickly and Angel, Annie, and I finished... well, we finished!  The obstacles were lots of fun and we got sidetracked. Kim came and was our cheering section/ professional photographer!  (She took this picture!)  I am happy that I am learning to enjoy jogging a little bit more, even if I'm not the best!  After we got back to the dorms, we celebrated by eating the entire Cannon center.  Unfortunately, I am very good at that!