Friday, December 31, 2010

2011. What will you do with it?

"As a new year begins and we try to benefit from a proper view of what has gone before, I plead with you not to dwell on days now gone nor yearn vainly for yesterdays, however good those yesterdays may have been."

"The past is to be learned from but not lived in. We look back to claim the embers from glowing experiences but not the ashes. And when we have learned what we need to learn and have brought with us the best that we have experienced, then we look ahead and remember that faith is always pointed towards the future. Faith always has to do with blessings and truths and events that will yet be efficacious in our lives."

"Faith builds on the past but never longs to stay there. Faith trusts that God has greater things in store for each of us"

"Keep your eyes on your dreams, however distant and far away. Live to see the miracles of repentance and forgiveness, of trust and divine love that will transform your life today, tomorrow, and forever. "

-Jeffery R. Holland
ps. Watch this.


Wednesday, December 29, 2010

December 29, 2010



Doug's mission call is just miles away from the same town we were at this time last year!! Couldn't be more excited for him!!

ps. check out this picture of me being WAY too intense while he opened his call...
I had my phone on speaker in one hand and the ollld flip camera to document every second in the other.
Also, I'm sorry for the super obnoxious screaming...jussst the way I am :/

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Loves of my Life.

How cute are they!? right?!

These amazing, wonderful, beautiful people have been waiting on my hand and foot for the last week. (Literally, its hard to lift my leg up onto the couch, so one of my siblings comes running to lift it up and tuck a pillow under it for me.)

Maybe no one else cares, and maybe this might come off a little vain or pretentious to people not in my family? I apologize. But what's a blog for, if not to write about things no one else really cares about just because it feels good to throw it out there to cyberspace...?

Anyway.

My little sister brought a christmas scentsy into my room so it would smell like christmas this week while I was cooped up in there.

My older sister, Kelsey, strung about a billion little christmas lights on the palm tree in my room.

Jamie's done up and undone my brace about 800 times.

Jamie will run upstairs to grab my computer, and then downstairs to look for my phone charger, and back upstairs to grab me a shirt to change into, and downstairs for a blanket, and up and down, and up and down....And she never complains, or rolls her eyes, or normal 12 year old kid things--Not even once.

Sean scrambled around to finish the last minute Christmas shopping I couldn't do before the family party.

He brought me flowers when I got out of the hospital.

My mom, has brought me breakfast in bed, for the past 5 days. (and lunch and dinner whenever I want it)


She went to the store to get all my favorite snacks and brought me 3 different movies from redbox. (plus, Doug supplied the 1st season of modern family. SO funny)

My mom brings me things I need before I can even think to ask for them. She's patient and loving and selfless...she's seriously gone above and beyond this week, one of the busiest, most stressful weeks of the year.

(I honestly feel so blessed to have Sue Brian as my mother. Sorry for the rest of the world that didnt get so lucky.)

Doug heard me crying in the middle of the night when the meds wore off and came running to my rescue.

He also came running to catch me when I almost tripped down the stairs on my crutches. Super graceful.

Sean (and my cute grandparents) went to like 4 different stores on Christmas Day to find me some stupid ice.

My dad took extra care to make sure I got to and from our family parties without breaking anything.

He's stayed by my side and watched hours and hours of modern family with me.

He offered to skip work the day of the surgery in case I just wanted him to be there.

He gave me a blessing before I went in, and put me at peace.



I could seriously go on and on and on...

But let me just say, this was a really special Christmas for me.

I felt completely overwhelmed by the love I feel for my family.

I am so blessed.

Throughout this year, for whatever reasons, some friends I really love grew distant. Others just dropped out of my life altogether, and that kind of change is always hard to deal with.

It means everything to me to know these people are a constant in my life. And they always will be.

Forever.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Just Gross.

(Nicole, did I not tell you I found a wayyy worse one? Just awful.)




PEOPLE!!! I'm freaking out here!! Tomorrow they are gonna slice me right open and play around with my insides!


And these 3 little words won't quit haunting me---6. months. recovery.


6 months recovery.


Oh. My heart just broke. My stomach is sick, and my heart is broke. GREAT.


Anyway, if anyone wants to sit around this break and marathon through every episode of Modern Family with me, you are most welcome.


p.s. any great movie (or series) suggestions? (I've got a lot of sitting around to do)






pss. I wish I was in California with Nicole. Or in Boston with Brooke. And not in Kaysville with...by myself.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

one more week.



Eeeek. I'm nervous.
Also, finals are AWESOME, thanks for asking.
Also, I'm wayyy sick of eating chic-fil-a everyday.
Oh AND, I hope I dont jinx it by saying something...but lately I'm the luckiest person alive. Felix Felicis Status. Everything I need or want keeps falling into my lap somehow...? Amazing? Definitely.
Hope it works on test scores too..

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

This Semester at USU....

The much anticipated/dreaded physiology 2420 with Dr. Habashi:

I got more acquainted with the library.

Learned a whole lot about negative feedback loops.

I disected a pig heart.

Spent my fridays daydreaming about me and this super attractive guy in my lab...

Memorized a lot of crap for tests and then promptly forgot, everything.

This class wasn't as impossible as everybody made me feel it would be..

Also, the scientific term for goosebumps is , arrector pili


Psychometrics 5330 with Kyle Hancock:

I learned the word, 'psychometrics.'
(A branch of psychology that deals with test design, administration, and interpretation of tests for the measurement of psychological variables such as intelligence or personality.)

Reliability & Validity. Reliability & Validity. Reliability & Validity.

"High school is.. a huge...social conundrum" - Dr. Kyle Hancock

I learned that psychological tests aren't perfect but they are better than nothing at all, and in order to put test information to good use, you need to not be an idiot.

LOVED this teacher and surprisingly grew to really look forward to this class.

Scientific Thinking and Research Methods with Jennifer Grewe:

I wrote a big fat proposal about creativity. I hated it.

Sometimes she brought us treats.

One time we spent a class period watching power rangers to count the frequency of aggressive behaviors and compare our observational differences.

Abnormal Psychology with Dr. Twohig:

Took a whole semester to learn how to correctly pronounce 'twohig.'

Trichotillomania: psychological disorder in which one can't stop pulling their hair

Looked forward to daily "Mustasheo" comments. This crazy older man with a mustache would sit in the back of class and pose the weirdest questions about hippies and ghostbusters and spirit rituals..bless him.

Dr. Twohigs cure to most disorders: "Give life meaning, make it worthwhile, accept yourself. Be active, have people that care about you--you'll do okay in life" Amen, Dr. Twohig, Amen.

Drugs & Human Behavior with Donna Gordon:

Donna, Donna, Donna...bless her and her gloriously easy classes.
Sat in the back and chatted with Kelsey & Sam for a whole semester.
Did some interesting research on prosecuting mothers for their drug addictions during pregnancy..
Highlight was when the Athletic Director came in as a guest speaker to talk about steroid use and was wayyyy too intense about it. Seriously hilarious.

Institute

Reinforced my desire to have a family and be a mother. Cannot wait.

Seemed like the first half of the semester I focused a lot on grace, and the second half a ton about agency...so, spent a good deal of time this semester thinking about that interesting little interplay..

Learned and felt the power of testifying through music.

Couldn't stop thinking about this quote:

"The man who so walks in the light and wisdom and power of God, will at the last, by the very force of association, make the light and wisdom and power of God his own--weaving those bright rays into a chain divine, linking himself forever to God and God to him.....beyond this human greatness cannot achieve" - B.H. Roberts



All in all, a semester well spent.