Another One Bites the Dust. . .

I am very happy (and yet admittedly a little sad) to announce that I will soon be losing yet another roommate to that wonderful institution we call marriage.

But, seeing as how she is marrying my fourth cousin, I know we'll be together forever.
So I can deal with that.
:)

Congratulations, John and Allison! I love you both and wish you the best!

I'm like a vault, baby. Locked down.

All I can say is that it sure is a good thing that I am such a good secret keeper.

Nothing's harder than having really good news and the few people who are allowed to know already do.

Sometimes I'm afraid I'll burst and let something slip. . .

But then I realize I'm stronger than that.

I'll just be really glad when I am free to talk about it openly. :)

It's coming soooon!

Funny how one picture can evoke so many emotions. . .

This is my dear friend, Nathan Bridges. He is currently serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Rancagua, Chile.
I recently learned that Nathan performed his first baptism about a three weeks ago. Seeing this picture caused about a thousand emotions to go through my heart at once:
Happiness, because I know he is out there serving the Lord and doing such amazing things with his life.
Pride (the good kind!) and admiration, because I know that he has worked so hard to get to where he is now.
Gratitude, because I know the Lord's work progresses through strong, dedicated young missionaries like him in such a way that brings so many people unto the truths of the Gospel that I know and love.
And even a little bit of that bittersweet kind of sadness, because I miss him.
But the bottom line is, I am grateful for worthy Priesthood holders in my life who are such wonderful examples to me. They truly possess the power to perform the Lord's will here on earth.

I'll Color You Yours!

This past Friday a bunch of my roommates and friends and I went on a group date to Color Me Mine, a magical land of ceramics and paint. Basically it would be an awesome place to work. Or live, even.

This is the bowl I painted!
I am very proud of it.
Even though I do not have much artistic capability, I am a bit of a perfectionist and my date Nefi and I stayed after closing time a little bit to make sure we finished our pieces to our liking. But it was totally worth it! I plan to use this bowl every day of my life from now on.

My meals will never be the same!

Nefi painted this soccer ball bank. We had a bit of a lesson in geography and world culture as he had to look up the different flags to paint a similitude of different countries' flags on each hexagon. . . and also the occasional random pentagon.

And here is the plate that Allison and John painted. So cute! I think it looks like something you'd see in a store. Way to go, y'all!So hennyways, it was a great weekend. I'll see if I can get pictures of everyone else's pottery pieces. If so, I'll put them up soon.

Today, I had a headache right from the moment when I woke up. It's lasted all day, but I'm living still. But when I saw Jazlyn on campus, we ran toward each other, only to collide in an embrace that left me speechless. . . .
No, seriously. I was in so much pain that I couldn't speak for a minute, as I had smashed my face into her shoulder, thanks to her jumping up right as we met. I'm just grateful that I did not break my nose or any teeth, even though my nose hurt so bad my eyes watered non-stop for a few minutes (I wasn't crying. . . my eyes were just a little sweaty today). My bottom lip did feel tingly for a little while, but luckily it did not bleed. Also, we thought I might have had a miniature concussion.
Actually, that was just the joke all day for whenever I said something stupid (which for some reason was quite often). But yeah. All's well.

Also, today is Jazlyn's birthday. Happy Birthday, Jazlyn!

Positive thinking never got ME Wheaties.

Everybody (and their Grandma) is headed to the beach for Spring break.
But not us.
We are the few, the proud, the ones without a Spring Break:

The BYU students.

Thing is, I'm actually okay with this.
Our semester ends pretty early because of it.
Also, I don't mind it so much here.
My roommates always make me happy.
I have some other great best friends, too.

I get to wake up early in the morning (to my clean room!!!) even when I don't have class until noon. . . or later. Then I get to sit around and, well, basically do whatever I want. Whether or not it is actually something productive is a different story. But this has been a good week.

Monday was perhaps an exception (you know those days where everything goes wrong, like when you're on your way out the door you re-twist your ankle that you sprained a couple of months ago and can't walk for a couple of hours, and then when you're cooking dinner you burn your finger with boiling stuff. . . twice!?!?!. . . Yeah, it was one of those), but all that has been made up for by now.

Tuesday was probably the best day ever.
The weather: glorious.
Classes: enlightening.
Life in general: fantastic.

Wednesday was great, too. I was awake for all of my classes, even though it was my long day and usually I'm dead about halfway through it!
This was also the day that I made the decision that I am definitely going to stay here during spring and summer. Financially, it makes sense. Emotionally, spiritually, and socially, it's what I want. And I feel good about it. So that's what I'm doing!
As far as the weather goes, it was quite windy, but still very nice during the day.
And then it rained.
Oh, and the smell of that rain. . . dear me. It was beautiful.

Yesterday, Jazlyn and I were able to go to the temple early in the morning. I'm grateful for the peace and joy that come from doing what the Lord asks of us. I know He blesses us every day with things that we do not even recognize.

This morning, the girls and I got up early and went to Einstein Bros Bagels.

Long story short,

Cinnamon sugar bagel with strawberry shmear
+
squishing and car-dancing to Barbie Girl
=
my own personal piece of heaven this morning.

Hopefully my good week was setting me up for an even better weekend!

P.S. Positive thinking is truly a powerful thing. Try it. You'll like it.
It gives you strength.
It gives you even more strength than Wheaties.
Meaning, of course, that it gives you more strength than Wheaties gives you.
But also it gives you more strength than it does Wheaties.
Positive thinking never gave me Wheaties, anyway.