Sleeping Wee Ones

I got home last night at like 2 in the morning because I was wrapping all of these presents for this lady, and this is what I see. I laughed. I don't know why it was so funny, but here it is.

They are so funny.

Hair Smair

New hair cut, with no where to go, and no one to see. Very unfortunate. But I like it.

With bangs...

without bangs...(plus a big zit in the middle of my head.Wow, I feel as if this is a very self conceited post. Two whole pictures of just me, and nothing else. No good. :)

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

I went cross country skiing for the first time last Friday! It was so much fun! My friend Sam took me up Cedar Mountain. Here are some pictures of our adventure. But before the whole skiing thing we stopped at the park on the way up so I could make a phone call and I saw this rock with a thingy on it with my great great grandparents names on it! Lehi Willard Jones and Henrietta Lunt Jones. :) I love Cedar City! This was Sam's first good fall of the day. I was laughing so hard! She thought she could take on this little hill, but apparently she couldn't.
It was so pretty up there because the sky was perfectly blue and ahhhh, I loved it. :)
This was my first epicly big fall. I'm not going to lie. It hurt. I'm pretty sure I gave myself whiplash because my head hit pretty hard, knocking my hat and goggles off. I couldn't move my neck at all the next day. No good. It's Wednesday and I'm just barely getting full movement back. It was hilarious though!
More beautiful trees and sky.
Another sweet fall.
....
Sam is racing very quickly, to nowhere.
Me looking like a studly skier person.
Oh baby, stop it Sam! You're so hottttt!!!!
I looked like the person on this sign. Pretty freaking professional.

Samantha is sporting the deer in the headlights look, while I'm am looking pretty phat in my goggles. (Well technically they're Sam's goggles, but whatever.) The road was clear where we were, but the sides of the road where they had plowed we crazy! The piles were as tall as me! ( Not that that's hard to do because I am short, but still...)

Sam conquering the world! Go Sam! You can do it!!!! One of my favorite things about Cedar City is the red rock, but the red rock with snow on it is awesome! This is a little view of Cedar Breaks.
I had some sweet hat hair when I got home. I will say no more.

Mystic

I'm in my room basically doing nothing, and I saw some pictures of a camping trip I went on with some friends last May. I am now going to post about it, yes, 7 months later.

You've probably never heard of the little town of Monroe, UT, but if you have that's where the Monroe Mystic hot springs are located. I don't even know how to begin to describe this place. It's easily one of the most white trash places I've ever been. It's run by hippies. The first thing I saw when I pulled up were these painted buses that they're finishing so people can sleep in them like cabins.
The paintings are actually really cool. At the very top of the hot springs they have bathtubs that you can sit in. I did NOT sit in them. Partly because I didn't want to get a disease from some needle in the bottom of the tub, but also because it was WAY too hot. Obviously because you can see the steam coming off the rocks, even though it was a warm day. More disgusting bathtubs. I still laugh everytime I see them. It's crackin me up. At the bottom of the hill, right behind the hippie's house they built a man made pool where the water runs off. It's still pretty hot, and takes some getting used to, but this is where we spent most of our time. There are two pools and the one behind has a waterfall and everything. One of my favorite stories of the trip took place in this pool. It was midnight and we all decided to go back up to the pool, so there we were, frolicing in the hot water, and some drunk ballerinas show up from Salt Lake. They were nice enough, except for the fact that they were practically naked, and I'm pretty sure they were lesbians...or maybe it was just the alcohol. Not sure which one, but it got a little awkward. I love awkward situations. I learned how to ride this motorcycle on this little trip. I love riding motorcycles!!! It was soooo much fun. Especially on this little bike. We found a toad in the road. He was bleeding. He was almost dead. Then he died. For real. Poor guy. We put him to rest behind a rock. A camping trip with the Booth's wouldn't be a trip without their dogs. This is Lady.

...and Jack. They were only 2 of the 5 dogs that were with us. This camping trip was actually to celebrate my best friend's 20th birthday. Meet Ari. (below) This was her homemade pinata. (I don't know if that's how you spell pinata, but whatever.) It's a sun! We had a lot of fun blind folding people and hitting it. Anyway random post. The end.

My Thoughts on Web 2.0

I think that Web 2.0 is positive in the way that it is easy to keep in contact with friends and family on a regular basis that do not live nearby. I also think that Web 2.0 effects our society in a negative way sometimes. Children and adults spend too much time online chatting, updating their status or adding apps to their Facebooks, playlists, My Space, and blogs. In fact sometimes I am appalled to see how much time is spent on Facebook by parents that have children at home. Spend that time with your kids, and not your stupid computer. That's all, but I will add one last thought to this assignment. I am so so so so happy that this is the last assignment for CSIS 1000.

Take that world.

I'm going to make it through this week, whether it wants me to or not.

sha la la la :)

Why do I have to be such a girl. I'm ridiculously excited. It's retarded. This one particular boy that I haven't seen in a long long time just called me...for the second time this week! :) I get to see him on Wednesday. The End.
Ok, I lied it's not the end. I am SOOOOOOOOOOOO excited. He called me to "catch up," but really he just misses me. At least that's what I'd like to think. I'm going to kiss him. I don't care about this girl not kissing guy first thing. I've been waiting way to long to just sit around anymore. I'm just going to lay it on him.
Ok Kjersti, talk is cheap. I'll probably just chicken out again. (Why. Why.) But,...if all goes well we'll be "catching up" for real.
Speaking of catching up. My life. I can't catch up. I have too many to do lists that aren't getting done, but what do you do? Life goes on. Life is hard, but because it's hard I can recongnize all the amazing blessings I have. Such as my friends. Really, I told my mom the other day, "I have the best friends ever, I don't think I deserve them." I have a job. (Paychecks are good.) I go to college to make my brains smarter. I am a member of the only true chuch. I have a family at home. etc etc. Thanksgiving is next week so I'll write my thankful list next week. Anyway, life is good. I hope life is good for everyone.
The End. (for real)

I Think I'm Growing Up?

I can officially say I'm almost 20. That is because it's my half birthday. I like my half birthdays. It has gotten me thinking though; what have I done with the the first 19 and 1/2 years of my life. I've done some cool stuff, but I probably haven't been nearly as productive as I could have been. So here's my plan. I am going to live up my last 6 months of being a teenager!!! (Ah, and then I'll turn 20! That's scary.) It's too bad I'm over 18 because I can't do anything fun and illegal without getting in trouble. Really the only thing I can do as a 19 year old is buy some cigarettes. Maybe I'll do that. (Oh wait, I'm not stupid. Can I tell you how glad I am that I don't smoke. I won't go off on that tangent right now though.)
So quick (or maybe not so quick) update on my life. I've been working for 3 weeks now, but this week was the first week I worked three graveyards in a row. (Thurs, Fri, Sat) I slept like 7 hours in 4 days. I think I almost died. I do love my job though. I spend 8 hours a night wiping butts, cleaning barf and diarrhea, emptying catheters, getting coffee, opening the door so the residents can go smoke at all hours of the night, emptying garbages, and taking a 20 minute nap on my lunch break at 3 in the morning, and answering call lights every 2 freaking minutes. It's a wonder I get anything done at all. Here's my favorite story from Thursday night.
One of the aides was like "Have you ever put on a condom catheter?"
me: "um, no."
her:"ok, come help me then so you know how."
So we get into the room, and she was like "it's just like putting on a condom." (Inside my head I'm laughing really hard because I have most definitely never put a condom on anyone, or anything...she said it like it was common knowledge to sheltered Mormon girls who are very single, and never been married.) and then outloud I was trying to pretend like I knew what she was talking about. Then she was like "I don't know if you've ever put a condom on, but I wasn't a good little Mormon girl." I had no comment to that. Anyway, I don't know why I thought it was so funny at the time, and maybe it's not funny now, but I am now more knowledgable person I suppose.
I'll tell you what though, I'm going to be an awesome mom. I have a great stomach for nasty things. My kid is just going to pukin' and I can see myself just holding my hands for them, and what not. (or maybe that's just a mother's instinct thing.) And for your knowledge, whether you care or not I'd way rather clean up poop then pee. I hate the smell of urine more than anything. I always just gag. But I suck it up and do my job anyway. So if you ever have some poop that needs some cleaning, you know who to call.
Here's a picture of me just about to go to my first night of work. (Please excuse the psycho look on my face, I'm not sure what I was doing. I look slap happy.) My first paycheck was nice.

Enough of work. It's consuming my life already, and I've only worked there for 3 weeks.

School. Only 17 more days of class before finals week. That is very scary, and also very exciting. It's scary because my thousands of dollars of hard work went by too fast, and also I have too much to do before the end. Exciting because the end is in sight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wahoo! Yahoo! Yay! Yippee! etc etc

Random tidbits:

1.I think I try not to like boys because I don't like feeling vulnerable. They control my feelings. I don't like that.
2. I'm in love with Spiderman.
3. I think the world would be a lot better place if everyone got 8 hours a sleep every night.
4. I saw this cute little couple with a tiny baby girl, and then I wanted a baby, and I said bad Kjersti. That's a problem because I do not want to get married right now. I'll get over the baby thing.
5.I like to eat. I love food. It's like my boyfriend that I don't have. I'd rather die fat and happy than little and not happy. ( I will never be obese though, because if I end up in a nursing home, I don't want the poor aides like me breaking their backs trying to lift my fat rolls over on top of the bed to change me.
6. My eyeballs are burning like fire because I'm so tired. Good night.

What's the number for 911?

Once upon a time it was a beautiful November day. It was my friend Annie's 20th birthday. Opus, a choir at school, was asked to sing at a funeral out in Enoch. Before meeting to go to the funeral, a bunch of girls had gone out to lunch at the Pastry Pub (yum, yum) to celebrate Annie's becoming a woman. Then Annie, Geneil, and I packed up into Annie's car to drive to Enoch for this funeral.
There was some nice pointless construction going on on main street, and surprise, surprise people were following too close. We had just been joking with Annie saying it'd be funny if she got pulled over on her birthday. That would have been the nice alternative after we got slammed into from the back end. It was so nice of the white dodge truck to hit us so conveniently as we were already running late. Lucky for us I know the number for 911, and quickly filed a police report. (Quickly in police terms was an hour later). We most definitely missed the funeral.
Everyone was seatbelted, and ok. Except for the poor birthday cupcakes that flew rapidly towards the floor. The trunk doesn't open now, and there is no right tail light, but who needs a right blinker anyway? Well, Happy Birthday Annie! I hope getting your car rammed into will make it a memorable one! :)

Don't Worry, Be Happy

Today I prayed. I try to pray everyday, but today I prayed specifically to be happy. I'm sick of being unhappy, because I'm just a happy person. After I prayed I opened my scriptures to Mosiah 2. There were a lot of things that were really good in that chapter, but verse 17 stuck out to me. It said: "And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."
I prayed again and asked for help to find people to serve today. I am happy now, because I was able to serve others, and I was not thinking about me and myself. The things I did weren't even big, but little things like listening to someone cry, or asking them how their day was. I gained a greater love for the people I did these little service things for.
I also just listened to the CES fireside that was broadcasted yesterday. It was amazing. Pres Uchtdorf said a lot of things that needed to be heard by me, and I'm sure by a lot of other people. I think everyone should listen to it. The church is true. I want to be a good person, and live by the commandments of God so I can return to him. I'm going to work harder to serve others, and be happy!

Slow Me Down

This song sung by Emmy Rossum pretty much explains my life. I feel like I'm running in too many directions and I can't stop. If you don't want to hearing whining I'd suggest not reading this post. First off, why is motivation such a hard thing to find? I'm struggling hardcore with finding any ounce of motivation to do anything. I don't want to practice, do homework, go to work, clean, or get out of bed. I want to sit on my butt and stare at the wall. All day. Every day. I'm pathetic. Basically I have a badittude (bad attitude) about everything. I'm trying hard to be positive about stuff, but sometimes I guess you just have to have a craptastic week. I know I'm not alone though because I've talked to a lot of my friends who are experiencing the exact same thing. I think it's the weather. It's cold. It snowed. It's almost the end of the semester. Stress is building like crazy. I'm homesick, and on the verge of tears most of the time. And no, it's not PMS, and I sure hope I'm not pregnant. It's weird being homesick because I've never experienced it before. Last year was all good and dandy because I was out doing my own thing, without my parents, but after being home for the summer and seeing how much my siblings changed while I was gone I'm having a hard time being away from them. I don't like how everytime I see my brother he's taller, or his voice is lower. My sisters get prettier, and more mature. I don't like it one bit. *breathing*
Ok, I think I'm done. For right now at least. Life really is good. I have great friends, and am surrounded by good people that I love. Church was really good today, and a lot of things were said that I needed to hear. I'm really trying to become spiritually a better person so I can better handle crappy weeks. I need to do better at reading my scriptures and praying, and I know after I put my effort into things everything will go better. I love the church, it's true.
The end.

Friday Fun

After a long hard week I figure everyone needs a good laugh. I bolded my favorites.

Here's a list of children's books that never made it to print:
1. You Are Different and That's Bad
2. The Boy Who Died From Eating All His Vegetables
3. Dad's New Wife Robert
4. Fun four-letter Words to Know and Share
5. Hammers, Screwdrivers and Scissors: An I-Can-Do-It Book
6. The Kids' Guide to Hitchhiking
7. Kathy (Kjersti) Was So Bad Her Mom Stopped Loving Her
8. Curious George and the High-Voltage Fence
9. All Cats Go to Hell
10. The Little Sissy Who Snitched
11. Some Kittens Can Fly
12. That's it, I'm Putting You Up for Adoption
13. Grandpa Gets a Casket
14. The Magic World Inside the Abandoned Refrigerator
15. Garfield Gets Feline Leukemia
16. The Pop-Up Book of Human Anatomy
17. Strangers Have the Best Candy
18. Whining, Kicking and Crying to Get Your Way
19. You Were an Accident
20. Things Rich Kids Have, But You Never Will
21. Pop! Goes The Hamster...And Other Great Microwave Games
22. The Man in the Moon Is Actually Satan
23. Your Nightmares Are Real
24. Where Would You Like to Be Buried?
25. Eggs, Toilet Paper, and Your School
26. Why Can't Mr. Fork and Ms. Electrical Outlet Be Friends?
27. Places Where Mommy and Daddy Hide Neat Things
28. Daddy Drinks Because You Cry
29. Sharing is For Chumps [NEW!]
30. The F-Word, a Great Attention Getter [NEW!]
31. Farting in Public, a First Amendment Right [NEW!]
32. Daddy's Secret Friend, Trixie [NEW!]
33. Mommy's Secret Friend, Ralph [NEW!]


haha I still laugh everytime I read them. I hope you enjoyed.

I Have Been Blessed Part II

I got a job!!! I knew my CNA class wasn't for nothing. I actually took a CNA class at the beginning of summer so I could get a job in Cedar City. It's almost impossible to get a job here, especially with the budget cuts on campus. I'm excited to start working again. I hate having any sort of free time because I feel like I'm wasting time. (Since I have a butt load of free time because I only have 18 credits and am in only 6 different ensembles) I did just make my life a lot harder though because I will be working graveyard shifts. I figure if I work Thursday night from 9:30-5:30 then I can sleep 4ish hours before my 10am class on Friday and then sleep Friday afternoon until I go to work again Friday night, sleep Saturday, work the Saturday noc, sleep a little before church, and then sleep again after church....then, if all goes well I'll be caught up on sleep for the next school week..... (oh, geez it sounds crazy when I type it out.)
So my job is as a CNA at Kolob Regional Care & Rehab. I miss my job at the nursing home in Spanish Fork, and I can't wait to start at this one, even thought it's a lot bigger then any nursing home I've worked in before. I also have another little part time job. On Tuesday afternoons I drive to Parowan to teach 5 little violin students. They're really cute, and it's a good experience for me to be teaching more students.
Why all the work? I'm trying to earn money for a trip to Italy in March with one of the choirs I'm in at school. If I don't spend any money and eat very little (I need to do that anyway because I'm getting fat.) then I should be able to make it to Italy. It only costs more then a whole semester of school. haha

Little update on my love life. Exciting I know. I went on a date tonight. It was fun. I laughed a lot. (I suggest seeing the Complete Works of William Shakespeare, it's very funny) But, ............ (always the big But).............. why do I only get asked out by boys/men/whatever I would probably never be really interested in? Plus he's 30...I'm only 19. I'm still a baby. (I just have to keep telling myself "It was just a date, I'm freaking not getting married.")
But, he asked me out again already! AH What am I supposed say? I don't want to be mean, but I don't want to be too nice, and lead anything on. I dislike this game.

I Have Been Blessed

I knew life was going to well. As soon as things are going smoothly you know it's going to change. Not that I'm complaining. I like suffering sometimes. Maybe suffering is too strong of a word in this situation, but whatever. None the less, I've been blessed. (hehe that rhymes) so,........ instead I'm complaining, and telling pointless stories of self pity I'm going to brag about my cute siblings and roommates instead.

On the left is my sister Jenny on her first day of high school. I can't believe she's in high school. The other two girls are her friends Caroline and Kyrsten. Jenny is amazing at the violin, and has taught herself the viola and cello. She's an amazing forward in soccer, and is amazing at whatever else she decides to be good at. We secretly like each other, but pretend most of the time not to. I think it's because our personalities are so freaking similar. Yes, freaking. So for the record Jenny, since I know you don't read this I'll say I love you. :) which is not a lie.

This is Cammy. She's skinny, 3 inches taller then me, and way cuter. A little obsessed with her hair, make-up and clothes. She's also really good at the cello. It might have something to do with her actually practicing. She sits first chair cello in Chamber Orchestra. She's really involved with orchestra, choir, PTSA, and NHS at school. Oh yeah, and she's also part of the Springville Art Royalty. I can't believe she'll graduate in May. It's freaking crazy. Also, let me talk about the skinny part. Why is it that she can eat whatever she wants, sit on her butt, and still stay skinny? Life is not fair. That's all I have to say. Here's what I have to say about my cute little muffin tops, and big boobs. A man likes more to handle. (At least that's what I've heard, not that I would know, seeing as I have no man.)

Cammy I'm glad we get along better, and are better friends now that we're older. :) I love you.
Nathan. What a turbo. I probably miss him the most. He is hilarious. I don't know any other 13 year old kid that can sing like he can. He got up every morning this summer at 7 to play tennis. Dedicated kid. He plays that bass too. I love him, even with this ridiculous face. I love bugging him about the girls he thinks are cute. It's so funny to watch him blush. I went home last weekend, and almost cried when I saw him because he's as tall as I am now, even though that's not very tall. His neck got a little bit longer, his voice a little deeper, and I always have to ask him how his armpit hair is coming along. :) Although I don't like this puberty thing with him. Not one bit.
I don't know which picture he looks more like himself in.

Now for my roommates. I lived with Briana and Challis last year, and Hali, and Jessica were in my ward last year so I knew them already too.

left to right is Challis , Hali, Bri, Jessica, and me.
These pictures were all taken in our front and back yard. We live in the coolest house/bed and breakfast ever. We have two other roommates that live in the basement, but we don't see much of them. I need to get to know them better.

Look at all these amazing people I have been blessed with.

Life is Good

Can I just tell you how good life is. Yesterday was probably one of the most fun days I've had in college so far.It was so random and fun. (This song that is playing right now is one that we kept breaking out in everywhere we went.) I picked up two of my new best friends Geneil, and Annie, at their dorms. (They're both RA's). We had to go grocery shopping for our Opus choir party. We went to Smith's and eventually we eventually got separated from Geneil. Annie and I got a text at the same time that said "Marco," and then I automatically yelled "Polo" pretty darn loud. This older guy that was stocking the produce asked if we had lost somebody and we replied yes. He said with a lot of enthusiasm let's go call her name over the intercom. He went back to a room and then we heard "Polo" over the intercom at Smith's. I don't know why it was so funny. This guy was just so excited aobut it, he said if we couldn't find her soon we were welcome to yell "Marco" over the intercom. So that was our adventure at Smith's. We then continued by making a stop at Whittlesticks, Cedar Music (where I can spend too much time and money...), and then to Great Harvest for lunch. Geneil insisted I try a Tuscan Chicken Panini, which was worth it. We ended up staying there for an hour and a half just talking. I love random conversations where you get to know someone so much better, and respect and love them that much more.

Anyway, I had to return a book to the Cedar City Library so we headed there. We had just been there a few minutes when Geneil said "There's a bat in here!" Annie and I were like yeah whatever, and the next thing I knew, there was a bat flying at my head in the library! haha oh my gosh, I screamed. I can say that's the first time I've ever screamed in any library...We spent the next few minutes dodging the bat, and telling the ladies at the front desk there was a bat in their library. Super hilarious, but maybe you need to be there. I don't know. Then we ended up in the children's section of library, and for a whole hour we looked for all our favorite childhood books. We ended up checking out 19 books to read that night. We seriously were so excited, we were squealing like 5 year olds. I called my mom, and thanked her for reading to me when I was little. Now I appreciate it, after being around all those books.

We went to our Opus party, ate good food, watched Little Mermaid, and had some laughs. But the fun hadn't even begun yet. We headed back to my house to begin our storybook reading. We read The Little Mouse The Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear, Owen, Mrs. Peachtree's Bicycle. Miss Nelson is Missing, Blueberries for Sal, Ox-Cart Man, Little Black Sambo, The Napping House, The Velveteen Rabbit, Fortunately, and Heckedy Peg. Oh the memories. :) I hope some of those books sound familiar. I'm so excited to someday read to my kids.

After we finished reading it was like 1:30 in the morning, and everytime Geneil, and Annie got up to leave we started laughing again, or talking about a whole new random thing. We had the TS's (Tired Sillies) all night. 4am rolled around and they finally decided it was time to go home for real. I love days like this. The ones where your stomach and cheeks hurt from laughing so hard. I'm also grateful for the new great friends I have made this year, and the good friendships we have already created, and that is why life is good.

What Is Love?

I cried about a freaking boy today. Oh, and the other night in bed. Are you kidding me. I hardly ever cry anymore, and I waste time crying over a boy?! I don't even know why. I've only been in "love" with this kid for like five years. I haven't even seen him for four months, and I still can't "get over him." What is my problem? Actually what's his problem? He's a wuss. That's what. He's always making up excuses as to why we can't be together. He's scared of commitment. Scared of getting hurt and way to scared to even kiss me. Ahhhh! That's the worst part. How many times could we have kissed? Too many to count. Wuss. His excuse everytime is that it wouldn't be perfect enough. I'm sorry my friend, but my first kiss sucked, and almost everyone's does so it doesn't even matter. I really should just go and lay a big one on him, slap him, and then walk off. Yes, that would be nice. Oh wait, I can't because he lives on the other side of the country now.
Ok....now that I'm done being bitter/frustrated. What is love? Seriously. It's such a simple concept, but it's super confusing. Why does is have to be like that. It's this stupid "game" that single people are expected to play if they ever want to find love. Now I'm not looking to get married anytime soon, but being "single" sucks. It doesn't matter how many friends you have, you always feel pretty freaking lonely. (It does help that the ratio of girls to guys in Cedar is 3:1, and most of the time that one boy is married, has a girlfriend, is a jerk, or who knows what else. Boys really are like parking spots. All the good ones are taken, and all the rest are handicapped.) This was one of the first things I learned when I came to college. Girls get married young so they're not alone, and older single adults get really bitter and onrey towards young married people, or couples in general. (Personally I think it's because they're not getting any action, but who am I to judge, neither am I. My friends are right, I get onrey when I have "built up sexual tension.") haha funny side story, one time our student teacher for choir was writing onrey on the whiteboard, and she accidently wrote horny. It was super funny. We never let her live that one down. (She apparently wasn't getting action either.)
I'm done. It's out of my system. No more crying over boys. No more pity parties for being single. Here are three positive things of the weekend. 1.I went to Lake Powell yesterday! Amazing/awesome/everything Lake Powell should be...until the boat breaks down. Wake boarding and cliff jumping was really fun too. I'll post pictures eventually. I had forgotten how beautiful Lake Powell nights are sleeping out on the beach under all the stars, and then to wake up to some of the most gorgeous sunrises every. *sigh* Now really I'm in love with that. Now I'll just have to stop being sore from wake boarding and swimming. My car didn't even break down going over Cedar mountain! wahoo!!!! 2. I made baked potatoes, pork, and steamed cabbage, onions, broccoli, and carrots for dinner with chocolate pudding for desert. (But I ate all alone, once again because I don't have a boyfriend...oops I thought I was done complaining.) 3. I got e-mails from my two best guy friends in the whole world that are on their missions. One in Samara Russia, the other in the Dominican Republic. I'm so excited for them to grow and learn in the gospel. Ok, that's three. I will post something positive this week.

Life's Like an Hour Glass Glued to the Table

You know what's daunting? Time. Time is daunting. As far as I know it's the only thing we can't get back, besides someone's mortal life. I don't know where it disappears to, and that scares me. It goes too fast, and there never seems to be enough of it. The hours seem to go by slowly, but the days and weeks speed by. Thus making the time I have for my life go far too fast. Time is a mystery to me. But, despite all of this I know that someday I can get all the time I could possibly need or want. That's how much my Heavenly Father loves me.
I think it's interesting that in good vs. evil the bad guy never wants to die. They want more time. More time to live life, but they waste it trying to do the impossible. Take Voldemort for example. He goes about destructing himself and everyone around trying to find a way to become immortal. In doing so, he even loses his own body. But does he become immortal? No. Ok, so maybe that's a lame example, but here's what I'm getting at. I'm one of only 13+ million people that has hope for unlimited time and immortality. wow. I am so blessed to have the knowledge that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has given me. So, here's my plan. With the time I have been given on this earth, which I don't really know how long, I will live life to the fullest. Learn all that I can. Try not to be stupid. Love as much as I can. Have a good family, and raise them in the gospel. and teach what the gospel means to me by being a good example to all those around me. I love quotes and this just came to my mind. "Live so that those who know you, but do not know him, will want to know him, because they know you." So, after this random post, which I'm not really sure made sense I'll finish with this quote. "Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. It comes to us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." -John Wayne

My new goal for the school year is to use my time wisely, I'm going to have to if I'm going to make it to all the tomorrows.

Life is a Highway

As I come back to the new school year I have thought back a lot on the past year I have experienced. I am grateful to be able to attend school, and learn new things in the classroom, but I am especially grateful for the life lessons I have learned. It seems crazy to me how much I have learned about myself in this past year. I am excited to see the changes I will make for myself in the coming year, and my life.
Something my mom always says is "Life's rough, and then you die." It's kind of morbid, but the majoriy of life is going to be, not easy. I love President Hinckley so much, and here's what he has to say about life being hard. "Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around and shouting that he has been robbed. The fact of the matter is that most putts don't drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is like an old time rail journey...delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts, interspered only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."
I love how this quote puts life into perspective. This summer I had virtually no fun, but I did learn a lot (A LOT) about hard work, because it's what I did all summer. Then two days later I get myself into another 18 credit semester. I hope to bring what I learned about hard work from the summer into my schooling. For the most part none of this is fun, but it has to be done. I know I will later thank the Lord for everything I have because I have not had an easy life.
I realize that I have already been showered with an incredible amount of blessings. Before this summer I never really got along with my family. I was lucky enough to have this change this summer. When I wasn't working I wanted to be at home hanging out with my siblings (most of the time). This is a video of my brother Nathan and my sister Jenny. This was a highlight of my summer, just because we were actually having fun and getting along.

I know the Lord has blessed me, and will continue to bless me if I try my hardest. I am thankful for the ride, because my life is a highway. :)

I'm confessing my love...

...to Cedar City!

Today I am more happy than I have been all summer. I came back to Cedar City! Just for a quick day trip to turn in scholarship stuff, but I feel like I am home. I drove down by myself late last night, and I couldn't stop smiling. I was singing and loud as I could a lot of the way down. It was about time I was smiling and laughing to myself. I am sitting in the library at SUU right now thinking about all the good (and bad) times I had this last year. I love it all. I learned so much my first year out in the "real world." I can't wait to come back.

Being home for the summer has been interesting. Whether I liked or disliked my family before I moved, I'm stuck with them now. Once you move away and then come back you realize no one else really cares anymore. You have virtually no friends, because they have their separate lives now too. All I've wanted to do all summer is come back to Cedar City. I'm here, and I'm happy.

This summer has been pretty mediocre when it comes to exciting things happening. All I do is work. I'm not complaining since a lot of people can't find one job, and I have like 5. It's good to be saving some money for school. I'm working part time for a lady in my ward, so every morning from 8 until whenever I have to go to my next job I work for her. Then I work for a place called Home Helpers, where I go to peoples homes and help them there or take them grocery shopping, or to doctor's appointments. I work at an assisted living center in Mapleton. I drive for Snelson's Photo Lab 3 times a week, and I have a violin and viola student. My favorite job of all is as a CNA at Spanish Fork Nursing and Rehab. I love the little residents there. They are so fun and cute, even though it's really really hard work. So you're probably wondering how I do all of that. I'm not quite sure myself, but it happens. I don't get much sleep, especially since a lot of my hours are on the weekend. I've worked several 36 hour days with not sleep and just work.

This post is probably really boring, as is my life. Oh well. I did go on one really fun trip to Jackson Hole. I'll post about that eventually.

(I Love Calvin and Hobbes)

Oh What Do You Do in the Summertime?

I went boating for the first time this summer on Memorial Day!!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!!!!!!!!!!!! I go with my "summer family" (I call them this because they're the ones that I go camping, hiking, backpacking, boating, etc etc with) My summer family consists of Ari, Joyce, Kevin, Anthony, Tig, Woolsey, Megs, and whoever else is at their houes at the moment. I love them. Anyway, I forgot was it was like to be out behind the wake getting sprayed and trying to get up on the knee board, skiis, or wakeboard! I love it! I also forgot how easily you get tired and sore, especially if it's you're first time out for the summer. We just went knee boarding (I'm going to do a freaking 360 this summer if it's the last thing it do) and tubing! Tubing is so fun because you do it in choppy water. Oh my gosh I love it. We got thrashed on the tubes. One of the time I crashed my whole body skipped across the water at least 3 times before I started sinking. I was bouncing on my butt for 2 of the 3 skips and then my head hit for the 3 one, and then I sunk. haha so awesome. Ari and Anthony had a pretty awesome tube war. We had 2 tubes out at once and you fight until you can get someone off their tube. Ari had Anthony off, at least we thought she did until he came out of the water like the lockness monster holding onto the tube with one hand. I seriously don't know how he did it, but it rocked. (oh yeah, Ari and Anthony are boyfriend/girlfriend. not that that has anything to do with the story). I will probably eventually get skin cancer from the sun, but right now it's worth it. I LOVE BOATING and I LOVE summer!
These are some pictures from last summer at Bear Lake. The water is beautiful. That was a really fun trip too.
Holly, Me, Ari (I think)

Anisa, Ari, Me, Holly, and Holly's sister

too many people to name, but all are awesome. :)

What do you do in the summertime?