I Like Tortoises

I have had a long time fascination with tortoises and turtles. It started back when I was really young, around three years old I'd say. My youngest aunts lived with my grandparents still and they had turtles. I loved to go over and play with them! I even kissed one! (this did not end well for me, my tongue got bitten) I eventually got my own turtles and then tortoises. I like tortoises better than turtles because I find that turtles have more flexible necks so when you hold them they can put their heads back and snap at you. NO THANKS! Not a fan. Tortoises are way more inflexible and nice, they will even let you stroke the top of their head. I haven't had a tortoise since my last one got sprayed with insecticide, he was mistaken as a rock. Thanks pest control guy, so great. That was around my sophomore year of high school and now I am being reintroduced to the world of tortoises and I can say that I am totally smitten! My sister just got two new babies. I loveee them, they are darling. It is like a piece of my youth has been given back to me. I love it.

Pictures!!

So I just wanted to post a few pictures of life lately!

Hey!

Hello all!
Today in the lovely college town of Provo, Utah it is FREEZING! I mean sun out, wind blowing, face numbing freezing! I always feel like its colder when the sun is out because then there isn't cloud cover to insulate me! I must admit that I absolutely loveee the beautiful mountains. It is so heavenly to be walking across campus and look up to see the snow dusted mountains right at my finger tips. They are so clear and gorgeous today. One great thing about the cold- we get to use our fireplace! It is so awesome! I loveee it! Definitely the highlight of my winters!!
So here is a quick rundown of my life as of late!
-Today I participated in a study at the business school, it was a food consumption study. I got to eat a cup of peanuts and answer some survey questions! The best part was at the end I got five dollars! I didn't even know I would be compensated! Talk about awesome! What did I do with my five dollars?? I booked it to the nearest building with a vending machine and bought myself a water! I was so thirsty! And to my delight the vending machine spit out my change in gold coins, with the lady on the back! I can't spell her name so we will just go with gold coins ha :)
-I leave for Arizona in t minus 49 hours. YAYYYYY. I am really excited. I can't wait to spend 10 whole days with Grantler!!! We are going to go hiking, country dancing (maybe, pray that Grant won't back down!), have Thanksgiving, go to the dunes, and just enjoy life together. I am thinking it will be pretty blissful, maybe even perfect.
-I am excited to see if they use the full body scanners at the airport that everybody has been chattering about. hhmmm I will definitely let you know.
-I love fall in Utah. Falling leaves=lovely
-Falling leaves makes me think of yesterday when I was walking across campus and I happened to see the most delightful thing! (and ok maybe a little odd too) This boy jumped onto this tree trunk, hugged it, and proceeded to monkey climb it in like 15 seconds. Once he got like halfway up the tree he reached out and shook a branch with lots of leaves on it. The leaves then shimmered free, down onto the girl standing below with her arms outstretched. I am pretty sure he did it just for her. It was rather cute and illegal too! But cute.
-I did bad on my epidemiology take home test. I knew I would do bad. It was my worst grade since like one year ago. Sort of hard to take. But oh well. I can rebound.
-I am preparing for my departure to Israel. Less than 2 months. WoW. I really don't know how to feel. I am excited but I don't think the full excitement has hit me yet, I think that'll happen once I am at the airport. This trip will be amazing.
-The semester is ending and that means my time with my roommates is almost over. It is definitely bitter sweet. I love those girls and am sad that they will be moved on with their lives when I get back up to the Y. But I am so excited for them.
- I reallyyy need to find someone to buy my contract at my house. Holy moly I try not to stress about this too much but it definitely weighs on my mind.
-I am realizing how amazing my parents really are. They are the best examples to me. I love them.
-I am trying to really develop the gift of faith. We had a great lesson on Sunday and I read some really awesome quotes about faith in the Bible Dictionary. Love that resource, its amazing. Trusting in Heavenly Father and His plan will bring me peace. I know this.
Anywayyy sorry my posts are always so long! Have a great week! I hope your Thanksgiving is as good as mine will be! :)

Studying... or Not

At this very moment I am sitting in the Harold B Lee Library trying to study for my epidemiology test that is looming over me. What I would really like to be doing is cuddling at home, next to the warm fire, not thinking about school or anything. But alas that will not be happening anytime soon. So I will go back to my epidemiology book. And I will study. Yayyyyy.

Fall Semester

So fall semester has definitely been one of my favorite and least favorite semesters. Some reasons why it has been my favorite. One- I love my roommates. Rebekah, Amanda, Eno, Melanie, Kathryn, and Mary are six of the best girls I could ever ask to live with. We all get along so well and we all have a ton of fun together. No one is too stuck up or too high strung to jump into our impromptu dance parties with music videos projected on the wall or to spend 2.5 hours doing just dance on the wii. It is always so fun at our house. Its nice to always have someone to chat with and just hang out with. It is my first time living with so many people and it has been so fun. Thank you girls, you have influenced my life for the better. I am going to be so sad to leave them when I head off for Jerusalem in January. I seriously will miss them.
Number two reason- Grant! My relationship with Grantler has become so wonderful. We have had some tough moments but we have been able to work through everything to come out as an even stronger couple. We have been dating for a little over 5 months now, all long distance. It will be six more months before we aren't long distance but I know we can do it. We have been so blessed to see each other about every three weeks with a month being the longest we have been separated. When I leave for Jerusalem that will change but then I will head straight to AZ to be with Grant and hopefully never leave him :)
Number three reason- My schedule is great! School has been great this semester. I enjoy my classes for the most part and I have plenty of down time even though I work too. It has been great.
Number four reas0n- I feel peace in my life. I feel good and happy and ok. I Know that my Savior loves me and that He has blessed me. I know that my Heavenly Father loves me and that He is always there for me, willing to help me. I love the scriptures. I made a goal to read them everyday since the semester began and so far I only missed one day! While not everyday do I have an intense study, I am always putting the effort forth to at least spend a little bit of time in the scriptures. This has blessed my life. I hope that I will be able to keep achieving this goal and that I can improve and do better in my scripture study.
Now that I have talked about all the good things of the semester, the bad have faded away. Life is GOOD. We are supposed to be joyful and happy. That is what life is about, creating happiness for ourselves and for those around us.
Sorry for the long post. I just wanted to write a bit how I was feeling. I hope you have a wonderful day! Remember the good.

Ironic

This semester I am enrolled in a stress management class. The past two times I have attended I have had upsetting events occur before class. Talk about an ironic situation!! I sit in stress management feeling super stressed with tears welling up in my eyes as the teacher is in the background babbling on about stress. Its definitely a little humorous. At times I will take a short break from my pity party and I will hear what the teacher says. For example today he mentioned soreness in the muscles being a sign of stress leading me to think about how my neck hurts every morning. After this he shows the chart about how cortisol, the main stress hormone wrecks havoc on the body which then makes my mind run off on how I will die early from stress. WOW! Maybe I am supposed to be in stress management to help manage my stress but as of now I just think it makes me more stressed having to sit through a class on stress thinking about how upset I am. Dear stress management,
PLEASE LEAVE!
better yet,
Dear stress,
GOOO AWAY.
Thanks!

Fall Semester!

So fall semester has officially begun! I am broadening my horizons and taking an accounting class and marketing class this fall, both of which I am actually enjoying!!! Accounting is a lot of work though! I found out that I got accepted to Jerusalem and I am really excited to go spend time there in Israel!! What a great opportunity. I am so thankful for my parents who are supporting me in my decision to go. They are great and always so supportive. I really am blessed to have such wonderful parents who sacrifice everything to for their children. They are always striving to be the best to us and to give us the best. I love them.