A Road Trip to the City Beautiful

A couple of weeks ago I had the amazing opportunity to take a road trip to Nauvoo with a few friends from Latter Day Voices.  It was my first time in Nauvoo, and it was such an incredible experience.  Five of our friends from Latter Day Voices are in Nauvoo as Young Performing Missionaries this summer, so the main purpose of our trip was to go see and support them.  We spent most of our two and a half days in Nauvoo just following our YPM friends around and going to their shows, and it was a blast.  We had fun cheering them on, and I also enjoyed an outpouring of the Spirit from each performance we went to.

One thing that really touched me a lot during our trip was the friendships I came home with.  Both old(ish) friendships that were strengthened and new friendships that were made with many of the other missionaries in Nauvoo, including YPM's and even senior missionaries.  We made connections with people all over the place and the Spirit brought a special bond and feeling of love between all the people we came in contact with in Nauvoo.

I also got to do a session in the Nauvoo temple, which was a really great experience that I enjoyed a lot.  We got to see Lucy Mack Smith's home and also John Taylor's home, and we also made the 30 or so minute drive to Carthage jail, which was also an amazing experience.

Nauvoo was such a great experience.  It is such a great place and the Spirit is so strong there.  I'm so glad our trip worked out.  The only bad thing was the deer we hit in the middle of Nebraska on the way home...

Don't worry, nobody got hurt, except the deer and the car. It caused somewhat of a delay on our way home, but we were able to get a rental and make the rest of the journey home safely.  And we were able to meet a lot of really nice people in Nebraska who helped us out along the way.  It was a stinky situation, but we were really very blessed in every possible way.  I'm so thankful the Lord was watching out for us and that it was such a wonderful experience overall that week.

In other news, I got the job at the preschool, and I absolutely love it!  So I've just been working both my jobs this summer, and playing some.  I've been going home when I can to help with wedding stuff, and my sister is now getting married in less than three weeks!! Crazy! I'm super excited for them.

Anyway, that's all for now.  Hope everyone is having a great summer!

The Best Semester of My Life

Well, it's been awhile.  This past semester was absolutely amazing, and definitely the happiest I've had of all my college experience.  It was obviously so great that I never had time to update my blog about my life because I was too busy living it.  I'll try to give a brief rundown of what has been going on in 2013 so far.

The first week of the semester I hesitantly and at the last minute decided to audition for Latter-Day Voices (LDV), the Institute choir on campus.  I had considered auditioning since Fall semester but had kinda decided against it, but last minute decided I'd better give it a shot.  I fully expected to not make it, and almost didn't even want to make it. But I did. And I will forever be grateful for that.

I don't know if you know this, but my first semester here at Utah State was a pretty rough one for me. I felt incredibly lonely and didn't know where I fit. After joining LDV my life completely turned a 180.  I met some of the very greatest people I've known in my life, and the best friends I've made in my three years of college. These people are so incredibly Christ-like in every sense of the word.  I've never been around a group of people who are more service-oriented, more welcoming and kind, or more in tune with the Spirit.  When I auditioned for LDV I didn't know I needed to make 80 new, wonderful friends, but my Heavenly Father did, and I'm so glad.

On the first day of LDV rehearsal, I met a cute boy who caught my attention from that first day.  I discovered that day that he had visited Ecuador a couple of times and I instantly liked him.  We went on our first date a week and a half later and we've been dating ever since. So aside from meeting 80 new wonderful friends in this performing, missionary-minded choir, I also met this guy, who makes life so fun, and who makes me so happy.  

This semester was always exciting and spontaneous with Paul around. It was busy busy busy balancing my part-time job as night manager at Apple Spice, 15 credits, choir rehearsals/performances 4, 5, sometimes even 6 times a week, teaching Mission Prep in my singles ward,  and spending time with my friends, family, and boyfriend, but I've never been happier, and somehow I still managed to pull mostly A's in my classes.  Heavenly Father was definitely watching out for me this past semester, and continues to do so. I'm so grateful and so blessed.

I decided to stay in Logan this summer to work and save money for school, and (let's be honest) to play.  It's my first summer not moving home, and so far I'm loving it. Luckily Logan isn't far from home, so I see my family at least every other week usually.  But I'm having so much fun being in Logan.  Life continues to be busy even though I'm not in school for the summer.  I'm training for a potential job right now at ASSERT, which is a preschool on campus for children with autism.  I really hope I'll get the job! I'm loving it so far.  I also changed my major (again) for hopefully the very last time.  I am now majoring in Family, Consumer, and Human Development with an emphasis in Deaf Education. I know, I know. You're all thinking "Oh, she's getting a "Mom" degree." But that's not it. The emphasis, and the best part, is Deaf Education. I will still be getting my Masters in Communicative Disorders (specifically Deaf Education with an emphasis in early intervention) but I just have to take a somewhat different route to get my bachelors.  I'm really excited about this, and as of right now what I think I would like to do is work with parents and families who have children who are Deaf. So working at this preschool for children with autism would be so great and definitely give me hands on experience that will relate to my field.  I finally feel like I'm starting to figure life out and have some direction of what I want to do with my life and my future.  It's a good feeling.  I'm very blessed.