Once upon a time my family took a trip to the Ehlers residence to look at the collection of nativities. We went Christmas Eve and saw dozens of beautiful nativities. The three below were my favorites:
I like how tall and simple this one is.. :)
I love the simplistic detail in this one...
I think this one is just SO cute:)
There was a LOT of driving all around (usually to and from Bethesda, MD) and on one of the trips I look in the back of the car and this is what I see-
cuuuuuuute!
Ariel Stong gave me an off brand pillow pet for christmas and I let Emmeline ride it one evening, isn't she cute on her rabbit with her cowboy boots (actually.. they are Addie's).
And on another fine evening I took this dashing picture of mister kenneth barlow wearing his "harry potter glasses" that he found laying around the house after hannah stokes made them:) They became the family Christmas joke as he put them on for every family picture, each caroling trip, etc.
Anways, that's all for now. More confessions to come.
The Barlow Family drove up from South Carolina to visit, and to retrieve Kenny and Natalie. It was probably the best 36 hours of my life. We had SUCH a blast playing board games while staying up late. I love this family to DEATH, and I am excited for my trip down to South Carolina to spend time with this family.
So I FINALLY got Hannah Stokes over for more than just a chat... She and Kim Hodgdon came over and spent the night. Talia Lagerberg also came over and hung out before she headed back home, but still... She came over and Talia and Hannah made this hand out of wire that Molly was trying to make a 3-D project out of. It was awesome.
We started out the evening watching a bunch of youtube videos including a lot of target commercials, and toyota sienna commercials, and we laughed our heads off. Seriously, I loved all the black friday commercials. That lady is hilarious. Take a look at one of my favorites:
Hilarious? I know. Check out some of the other ones featuring this lady. They are just great.
After that we just played around and hung out until we decided to watch a movie. First we watched Despicable Me, which was suuuuper funny! Look at the trailer for it:
Then we watched Red Eye, which is one of my all time favorite movies! It is super intense and is slightly realistic, if you are in an important job and can influence people in dynamic ways... If not, well, maybe not so realistic. But still, it is kiiiinda really creepy. I think Hannah was the only one really freaking out ;) But hey! It was a great movie!
After the movie ended, we went upstairs and just laid there and talked until we fell asleep. It was a really fun night. That is for sure. I'd love to do that again soon:)
I really am grateful for my good friends who are always there for me and who bring such joy to my life. So Kim, Talia, Hannah... thanks for being such good friends!
Anyways, that's all for now. More confessions to come.
Me, Allison, JeanMarie in front of reflection pool
Me with lovely temple
Me with our stake christmas tree
Allison and I with the Christ statue
Picture 1 with camel
Picture 2 with camel
Picture 3 with camel... I know, I'm cool ;)
Allison, Me, JeanMarie with temple!
Isn't it beautiful?!
So JeanMarie planned this little outing to the D.C. temple with two of her friends from high school, and invited me along. I, of course, invited Allison VanGilst who is my life long neighbor and invited her along. Surprisingly, Allison had never been to see the D.C. temple, or the temple lights before, so it was great! And even though I had gone up to the temple two days before, I knew that it would be a lot of fun to go again, this time with friends.
First we went to the This Is The Place store next to the temple and I bought some little gifts for my mother and father and some yummy lollipops that I shared with some friends. We came across these posters that were of presidents and book of mormon "heros" and they were HILARIOUS! It made all these men look all mystic and it was so funny. Allison, JeanMarie and I were losing it.
Then we went to the temple and walked around the inside, looking at the trees. Then we looked at all the nativities. It was a lot of fun because we all picked out our favorites and told eachother why we liked them. Then we went out and looked around the visitor's center and talked to different missionaries and just listened to the different displays around about the book of mormon. Afterwards, we went outside and looked at the lights and the nativity. We decided to take free camel rides. Aka, sit on the camel and take pictures. It was so much fun. At first I was worried that the camel would break if I sat on it, but everything turned out juuuust fine :) We each got multiple pictures on the camel. All I can say is "good times good times". Of course, those good times were in between very long drives to and from the temple as we got stuck in lots of traffic. Even when it wasn't rush hour! Oh well, totally worth it!
Anyways, that's all for now. More confessions to come.
Me on top of the Washington Monument (55 stories high!)
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Me with Molly, Natalie and Kenny (50 stories high..)
Me on top of the Washington Monument :)
Natalie and Kenny flew into town Sunday night (Natalie's birthday). Molly, Pops and Mom all went to pick them up from the airport. My mom convinced them that I was at a YSA (young single adult) activity, that Katie and Connor had to go back to MD to put Emmeline to bed, and that Allie was out with Steve. Sneakily though, we were plotting. We turned off all the lights and hid. Katie put the baby in the middle of the room (in her car seat) with a sign that said "Surprise!" And after Kenny turned on the light, and they noticed the baby, we popped out and yelled Surprise as well. They were SO excited! We sang Natalie "Happy Birthday" and ate homemade icecream cake made by Katie! It was delicious!
The next day (Monday morning) we drove into D.C. and went to the Washington Monument. I somehow convinced everyone that the building was 500 stories high... It was 55. But hey! Good for me in sounding so convincing :) It was BEYOND FREEZING. When I say it was cold, that it was freezing, that is an understatement. We were not prepared for that kind of cold. I didn't have a hat, or gloves, or a scarf or anything! Natalie, Kenny, Molly and I all stood facing eachother in a close "circle" where we tried to stay warm. It didn't work. At one point Kenny and I ran around the exterior of the building because it was our last resort to staying "warm". And by warm, I mean not getting hypothermia and dying. We FINALLY got inside, only 20 minutes later than our tour time, and we were able to go up to the top and look at the view. It was awesome! I took pictures out of every window, and posted them on facebook.
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Jesus Christ - in the Washington D.C. Temple Visitor's Center
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Annanadale, VA Stake Christmas Tree
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Me with the Nativity from the Philippines. It was BEAUTIFUL!
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Me and My Father in front of the temple.
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Siblings and I in front of the Temple
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Me in front of the Nativity
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Me with the lights :)
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Me with the temple
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Me with the temple
Last night, my family drove up to Maryland to see Katie and Connor's Christmas tree and to have Natalie's birthday dinner. It was delicious and super fun. After we ate, we drove down the street to the Washington D.C. LDS Temple where we walked around and saw all the Nativities and all the Christmas lights. First we went inside and walked around and saw the Christmas Trees and the Nativities inside. The Christmas trees were represented from stakes all around the D.C. area. The tree from our stake was hand decorated by Shelley Detton. It was really detailed and I was impressed. The Nativities were awesome, they really were. And the detail was incredible in some of them. Also, the majority of the Nativities were international. There were ones from the U.S. to Germany to Peru to the Philippines. Afterwards we went outside and saw all the lights and the ... formerly "live"... nativity. It was a very fun night.
I testify that the temple is the house of God. I know that when we attend the temple, we are blessed. I also know that if we live worthily to attend the temple, even if we can not get to the temple as often as we'd like, that we will be happy, and that we will be able to receive the richest of blessings. I testify that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true church and if we live according to the words of the latter-day prophets, and if we are obedient, we will be able to return to our Father in Heaven again.
Anyways, that's all for now. More confessions to come.
Take advantage of your professor's office hours! They have office hours to help students succeed, so don't be afraid to go get help if you need it. I often could get all the one-on-one help I needed during office hours because it seems like very few students use them.
Student teaching assistants are great too. When I was TA, I loved helping students! I sometimes felt badly when students came after doing poorly on a homework or test when I knew I could have helped them if they had come earlier.
My one regret from my time at BYU was that I didn't get more involved. I mean, I worked and had a busy calling and did my school work. But I wish I would have taken advantage of some of the clubs and service groups and things like that. Done something more meaningful. You know? Even if I just explore my talents and interests more. So that's my advice. Be involved.
And don't waste time. There is so much great stuff to do there. Wasting time (watching tv too much or surfing the internet or sleeping or whatever) is the worst habit to get into. Okay. So that's all my advice. Except this...have fun! :)
Make sure you come to some compromise with your roommates at the VERY beginning. I got along really great with most of my roommates, but one just kept crazy hours, and I had a hard time getting any sleep. We ended up fighting a lot before coming to a compromise. It would have made things easier if we figured it out in the beginning.
Also, NO MATTER WHAT, don't stop reading your scriptures. Even during finals week and busy times. It is so easy to get out of the habit!
Boston
I would also suggest taking advantage of your teacher's office hours. It is very helpful to have personal feedback from your teacher. It will improve your grades and make you more of a somebody in the class. I always found I did better in a class where the teacher knew me.
Get involved. Go to performances and things on campus and take others with you. It helps you de-stress and it supports all the people who work so hard for their performances/shows.
Don't feel like you have to have a major right away. Take a variety of classes to find what you like. Sometimes you'll find something you really like in what you never expected.
I also suggest not worrying too much about getting married/having a boyfriend. There will be a lot of girls in a sort of competition to get a bf or get married... don't get involved with it. Just have fun with friends, go on dates, and just be your best self. It will come in due time. I noticed that when I let go of the worry, the thing I wanted to happen, happened.
Be creative. Don't feel like you have to spend money to have fun. Brainstorm with people to come up with some fun activities/ group dates.
It is easy to get discouraged in school, but you don't have to be. Make sure you are doing all those things that keep you spiritually strong. Don't weaken your standards because people around you do. Look for positive influences and avoid negative ones. Find ways you can improve each day. You may not get perfect grades but if you just try to learn as much as you can, it won't matter what grade you get (well for the most part) because you will have learned & changed from it.
and Don't forget you are a cherished daughter of God and that he loves you! Remember you have a work to do in this life and that the experiences you experience are there so you can use them to help others and bring them closer to Christ (as well as yourself.
I wish you the best of luck! College is so fun. You'll love it!
No dating returned missionaries!! Uncle Steve (using Babydoll's account)
Gotta love family! So, to all my family members reading this- I love you. Thank you for everything! For looking out for me, for keeping me in your prayers- for your support and love. You're amazing. Truly. Thank you for never giving up on me!
Anyways, that's all for now. More confessions to come!
