True Inspiration

One of my life dreams is to be a part of the show

This show is so incredible! I love that there is this kind of show that is out there in the world, helping people who really need help. I have watched so many episodes that have left me feeling a desire to go out and do something to help change the world. I would love to be a part of the staff, working behnd the scenes, experiencing all these amazing stories and helping incredible people. Go Extreme Makeover! :) :) :)

Quelf

For many, including me before last night, who have never heard of or played Quelf, you're missing out! It is an incredibly fun, incredibly random game.

I had to wear a necktie for the whole game.

Kiersten had to be a dog and learn tricks, like play dead.

Amanda's brother had to put the bowl ofver his head and bang it with a spoon, calling out, "Billy are you there?! Let me in!" haha.

Dallin and Amanda had to share the card of wearing some sort of neck strap (we improvised since we didn't have any helmets or anything).

It was a game full of laughter and lots of fun! :)

A Truly Remarkable Woman

In Memory of Louie Mae Jordan

May 15, 1913-September 11,2010

This morning, one of my favorite people on Earth passed on from this life. She was 97 years old, and lived a full life. I just want to write down some of the things that I remember most about her, so I can always remember, and maybe share some of the inspiration that I felt from her with you.

• She would make the best cheese spaghetti in the world when we all went over to her house to spend the night.
• She also made the best ice cream cones, with vanilla ice cream and a cake cone. Nothing has ever compared.
• She and I would drive to Macey's to get groceries, and always get ice cream.
• Whenever I had money, like $5, she would get all excited for me and say, "You've got enough money to pain the town red!"
• She kept a journal every single day.
• She always had her scriptures open and she read them often.
• She survived breast cancer.
• We loved doing puzzles together.
• We would go watch the last session of General Conference at her house and I would sit in front of her and she would rub my back until I was almost asleep.
• We loved watching The Price Is Right.
• She loved Everyone Loves Raymond.
• She loved hearing anyone play the piano, especially her grandkids.
• She would give us a dollar if we gave her a foot massage.
• We would garden in the backyard, followed by many games of soccer that she would watch us kids play.
• She always made homemade grape juice.
• She loved her rosebushes, and her apricot tree.
• She and I read Work and the Glory together every Sunday for several years.
• She would come to our soccer games and cheer us on.
• We would go to her house every Halloween and find the hidden candy in her house and then watch a movie.
• Every Christmas we would decorate the three-foot-tree and decorate (the the random Haunaka candlestick). And she would give us a paper sack Christmas Eve with peanuts and oranges and popcorn.
• Every Christmas Eve we would go over to her house and listen to "The Little Clockmaker"
• New Year's Eve we celebrated by banging pots and pans outside at midnight.
• She said she would never catch up to President Hinckley's age; well, she finally did. :)
• She loved her family so much! (2 sons, 14 grandkids and even more great-grandkids!)

She will be missed by all that knew her. She always was a bright person, and loved to make people laugh. But she is walking with God and with her husband now. She is pain free. She has peace.

New School Year

Well, school has been in full swing for a couple weeks now, and it is so weird to be back. There aren't very many familiar faces here, which I should expect coming to a 2-year college. School is going fairly well. Had you asked me at the beginning of last week about it however, I probably would have unleashed my fury for a certain class on you. Astronomy. It is a killer hard class and I think that I've about got everyone on campus determined to never take it. Oops.... It is seeming better though, now that I'm back into the swing of things. It is still going to be my toughest class, but I'm ready for it!

My eating behaviors class is by far my favorite! This is stuff that I'm really interested in! I love learning about how people respond to food in different ways and how we can help them be healthy. I would really love to do that with my life, help people be healthy. Because if I can do it, anyone can! :) And I'll tell you right now, it is a GLORIOUS feeling.

My roommates are awesome! We have already done so many fun things this year!

Amanda, Merissa, Katie, Kiersten, Me, and Camille

We have gone rock climbing in the canyon (it was so scary!!!), hiked the S, had a paint fight (which was incredibly fun!), gone boating, had a chocolate fondue night, had apartment dinnners, gone toilet papering, and been absolutely crazy in our apartment together! What can I say? I love my roommates! :)

Jelly fish and sand castles

I am definitely adding to my list of firsts here in North Carolina. Today, I built my first sand castle EVER!!! I know, I know, I am deprived. It was so cool though! I made this fortress castle thing, Ariel made a dinosaur to protect my castle, Jay made half of a gate around the perimeter and Eva made the Provo temple, so we were complete! :)

Also, I'm having my first experiences with jellyfish. In the warm ocean on the east coast, there are, at the moment, MANY jellyfish! We haven't been going into the water as much as I would have hoped we would be because there are so many jellyfish roaming around. Yesterday, we were so excited because there were hardly an jellyfish, even though the water was like numbingly cold. And yesterday....Jazon got stung by a jellyfish! Ironic, huh?

Happily Ever After

Recently I heard this new song, "Happily Ever After" by He Is We. Here's just a little bit of the lyrics that have been in my mind a lot, a wonder I guess that I have for myself.

"We all want to know how it ends.

Oh, happily ever after, wouldn't you know, wouldn't you know
Oh, skip to the ending, I'd like to know, I'd like to know
Author of the moment, would you tell me, do I end up, do I end up happy?

Inhale, breathe steady, exhale, like your ready, if you're ready or not.
Just a boy and a girl trying to take on the world, and we wanna get caught.
In the middle of a very happy ending, let's see what we've got, let's give it a shot.
Let's give it a shot.

Oh, happily ever after, wouldn't you know, wouldn't you know
Oh, skip to the ending, I'd like to know, I'd like to know
Author of the moment, would you tell me, do I end up, do I end up happy?"

I guess that everyone in the world has this question: do I end up happy?
I've never been one to have much luck with romance or anything, and while I don't enjoy being alone and I hate it, I have high hopes that one day, there will be someone for me.
However, over the past couple of days this question has been more prevalent in my mind. I have cared a lot about someone for a very long time, but I recently came to the realization that I need to let him go. Not like never speaking to him again, but just to look at him more as a friend. If not to save our friendship, to protect my heart.
So, what it boils down to is my continued hope that I will someday be happy, loved and loving a wonderful man who I can build a family with, raising them in the Gospel, and be with for eternity.

Long time, sorry!

Hey guys, I'm so sorry that I haven't been able to keep my blog up to date. I didn't have Internet access nearly as much as I thought we were going to. In fact, this is the first time the whole trip that I have had it for enough time to even think about writing.

So far, the trip has been great! I have had so many new experiences, some great, some...not so great. But I am learning a lot about myself and about the rest of the country.

I've been to Glacier, where I hiked 17 miles in one day!!! It was insane, but the views were amazing! Next was Teddy Roosevelt National Park, which was kind of hard to appreciate just having come from Glacier. Then came Mt. Rushmore, which was really cool. There is so much about the mountain that I didn't know about. Like, not a single person died during the entire construction of Mt. Rushmore. And 90% of the mountain was formed by dynamite. Only 10% was actually chiseled.

Then, the Mall of America!!! It is gigantic!!! My favorite was by far the Puma store. :) There was this amazing jacket, but it was $60...and that was 40% off! I couldn't bring myself to buy it. Oh well! But, I did get to meet and even hug DORA THE EXPLORER!!!!! How cool is that?!

Then came my favorite part of the trip yet: Loiusa, VA! This was Jazon's house, and I LOVE his family!!!! We went to the fair to sell pigs, and it was amazing! I was really sad to leave, but...BEACH WEEK IS HERE!!!! :) I'm in North Carolina at the moment, and I'll be spending the next 9 days here, just lounging around on the beach, having a good old time. :)

I'm sorry it's just an overview and that I didn't get to keep it all up to date, but I'll try to be better while I"m here.