Top-Notch Tuesdays

I go straight from my early morning practicum at the high school to work every Tuesday and Thursday. So once I get t work it usually takes me like a full hour to actually start doing something productive. I've decided I'd rather blog during that hour than stare at Facebook and Pinterest. (Even though I dearly, dearly love Pinterest.)

So how's about something I like to call Top-Notch Tuesday! I would just like to make a list of favorite things I think are top-notch this week. And hopefully that will get my brain going a little bit faster.

Things that tickle my fancy this week....

Noah and the Whale (the band)

pumpkins
swimming laps
The third season of The Office

creative costumes

my African Dance class

jeggings
reading on Old Main hill between classes
leaf-crunching

South African poetry

my youngest sister's laugh

The Spectrum
labradoodles 

Alicia's cheesecake

confetti
Just Dance 4
ticket stubs
sand mandalas

some monks built one on our campus this week!

Starbucks' salted caramel hot chocolate

small-town traditions
advice from my mom
old-school roller skates
hiking
Emma Watson
 ninth graders getting excited to learn about Greek Gods
fried ice cream
Ryan Woodward's Samoan folktale animations.
Try clicking on this one: The Turtle and the Shark


...back to work!

Let's talk about Fall Break.

I didn't really have much planned for fall break. But it turned out fabulously! First of all, I cam home to...

JUST DANCE 4

I am obsessed with Just Dance. We have every version. But let's talk about how this one has Justin Bieber AND One Direction. And a lot of other really great stuff.

Also, I went Halloween shopping with my sisters, which was great...I will be debuting my costume tonight and I can't wait.

I was lucky enough to attend my youngest sister's 8th birthday party. She opted for a safari theme.

Janie's snake cake

After Janie's party I took her on a just-the-two-of-us date to the dinosaur park.

So great! They had it all lit up and decorated for Halloween. Janie enjoyed all the Halloween crafts and activities. She is just the greatest kid. We walked through the little spook alleys and all the dinosaurs and she just sang nonstop the whole time about everything we were doing. And she also kept saying, "I'm having such a great time!" Easiest child in the world. If I knew my kid was going to end up like Janie, I would probably reproduce sooner.

Also....my friend Micaela came to visit!

We were BEST friends from 2nd grade through 5th grade when I lived in Virginia. Now she is going to be a missionary in Taiwan! I got to tell her that I'm going on a mission too. It was so happy and exciting. I'm so glad she came to visit Utah before heading to Asia!

We hiked in Adam's canyon...

...and got a bit lost. Love you Caela Bean!

I also got to visit Delanie and tell her about my mission plans.

And I told Nollie too. I'm so grateful for all the amazing support!

If you start singing Called to Serve I will probably murder you.

So........it turns out I'm going on a mission.

I was just as shocked as everyone else.

I've never wanted to go on a mission, ever, in my entire life. Not even when I was in primary. Not even a couple of weeks ago. I literally told everyone, "I would hate it." I knew I would hate getting up early, hate not being able to listen to music or read, hate not seeing my sisters, hate following all the rules, hate knocking on doors...all of it.

My life has changed a lot during the past two years. More than I ever could have anticipated. When I think about the person I was when I was 18 or 19 I don't even recognize myself.

But I still was not expecting to ever go on a mission. I knew I would have younger sisters go, and I was excited for them but thought, "It's not for me." I had other things I wanted to do. Like always, I had my own plans.

The rest of this post is going to be pretty personal, but I want my loved ones to know that I take this decision very seriously. I know that it's a big commitment and a major life change.

This whole semester, I have felt like there was somewhere else I was supposed to be, something else I was supposed to be doing. I kept telling myself that it just meant that I wanted to go travel and volunteer again. Almost every day I would think about where I wanted to travel next and I would plan imaginary trips to try to get my mind off the nagging feeling that I wasn't in the right place.

Usually, when I think of a good idea, I just do it. If I have an opportunity to do something that will help me grow, something adventurous, I just go for it. I don't waste time wondering if it's the "right" thing. That's why this semester has been so weird. I had about 17 really good ideas for what I wanted to do in May, but none of them fit. None of them were right. I was getting so frustrated and I didn't even know why I was so stressed about it.

I decided that I wanted to do student teaching abroad. I still wasn't feeling great about it, but I knew I would love it, so I made an appointment with the woman in charge of the program and told her that  I wanted to go to New Zealand. She told me that they only send students to New Zealand every other spring, so I would have to wait two years unless I could somehow graduate by January. I left feeling really bummed. As I was walking home, the thought came to me, "Well...perfect, I can go on a mission and then come back and go to New Zealand." I freaked out.

When I got home I called my mom and started sobbing. I told her what happened and she was kind of like, "Okay but why are you crying?"

"I don't know! Nothing's wrong, I don't know why this is happening!"

"This is exactly how I reacted the first time I felt like I should go on a mission - it's okay."

"No, Mom, that's not what's happening! That cannot be it."

My very wise mother told me I needed to let the idea in my heart. She knew that I'd been completely resisting it and that I needed to open up to the idea and just see how I felt about it.

On Sunday I tried to make myself some space to think hard about it and let myself feel what the next step in my life should be. I tried to set aside my own plans and just feel what was right. Nothing huge happened, but I started to WANT to go on a mission, and to hope that that would be the answer. WEIRD. I didn't know what was happening to me, but I let it happen.

On Tuesday, I went to the temple. On the way there I decided to make an appointment with the bishop just to talk about my options. I thought, "Okay, I have to work tomorrow, so if he doesn't have time to meet with me...that's obviously a sign." Turns out the bishop was willing to come in early just to talk to me. As I pulled up to the temple I thought, "Okay, if they give me a hard time about not having an appointment or something, that's obviously a sign." The man at the front desk was overly nice to me, nicer than anyone at the Logan temple has ever been to me.

I sat and stared at people getting baptized for about twenty minutes, still trying to fight the whole thing. But when I finally opened my heart it was made very obvious that I needed to go on a mission. I left the temple and drove to Hyrum by myself, and finally felt calm and like I was headed in the right direction.

When I met with the bishop the next day, I was a little nervous because I didn't want him to see me as just one more girl rushing into a mission; I wanted him to let me know that I'd made the right decision. He did! Every single thing I was worried about...the bishop said something that addressed that worry, without me bringing them up at all. I felt so blessed that he could be my bishop during this time. I started my papers right then! As soon as he said, "We don't have to do this right now. This is 100% your choice," I knew that I was ready to make the choice to go. Once he gave me the option, I was filled with an intense desire to be a missionary, which I assure you I had never felt before.

On my way to work, I called my mom and told her, "Mom, I'm going on a mission." She was a bit surprised, since I had talked to her that morning and told her I still wasn't sure. I started filling out my papers while I was at work because suddenly I was just SO excited. I also made a list that was literally called, "People I want to tell."

If you were one of the 17 non-family members on that list, thank you. Every single person I told was so supportive and so happy for me. I felt so overwhelmed with love and encouragement.
 

Today I was thinking about how blessed I was to be able to share my news with people I met during so many different phases of my life. I met the 17 people on my list everywhere from elementary school, junior high, high school, every year of college, my time in Samoa, and this semester. I have grown and changed so much during each of these phases, and now I get to move on to a completely new chapter.

On Monday morning I met with my adviser to work out a new plan for graduation. She told me she didn't know of any other secondary ed. majors who chose to leave right before student teaching. She wasn't sure what to do at first, but we worked out a plan and she told me she'd have things ready for me when I returned. That was such a blessing. This whole semester nothing else has worked so smoothly.

I know there are some things I'm sure I won't like about being a missionary. Like getting up early. And singing Called to Serve. But overall, I am so happy.

People (myself included) are always telling return missionaries, "Now it's time to adjust back to REAL LIFE." But I realized over the summer that when we are devoting ourselves fully to serving others...that's who we really are. That IS real life to me.

I have been so blessed with this one wild and precious life, and I'm glad that it's taken unexpected twists and turns.

I wish my life were a perpetual weekend.

This post is about last weekend, so I'm a little behind and I have a lot say. Look for some big news in my next post!

Last weekend was all about...

.Halloween Shopping.

This is Kim at Halloween City. And I finally decided what to be for Halloween. A peacock!

.Just Dance.

Thank you Aubree's parents for letting us use your house while you were away, and thank you Alexa for being my dancing partner.

.roller skating and laser tag.

Aimee and Alexa

roommates

I have a really cool life and sometimes people include me in the 30 friends they invite to play laser tag in the Fun Center after it's closed. You're the best, Wiglama.

.the farmers' market.

Me, Colette, Alexa

I love the farmers' market in the fall! The park was so pretty this week. Plus, tamales for $1.50?!?! Best day ever.

My tamales

.Storytellers.

I love reading to kids at the Hyrum Library with the Storytellers! We had a lot of kids this time (a few tables full) and we read Halloween books with them and did Halloween crafts. Love these kids!

.fall walks.

Logan has been sooooo pretty this month I can't handle it. Love walking through cute neighborhoods with the roommates!

me and Aimee. Aimee loves cute trees.

.theatre-going.

Alexa had to go to this play for her class, and I'm glad I went with her! It was moving without being horrific, like I was afraid it would be. Really cool true-life stories about the people who knew Anne Frank and how they survived. Happy ending!

PoBev

Went to Poetry and a Beverage with my dear Lauren and her pals. It was great because there were doughnuts. And because I was with these hilarious people.

.a lovely Sunday.

After a fireside in the Spectrum, it was time to kick back and watch Baby Mama with Lauren and Haley, while eating Alicia's homemade Butterfingers. Love having a roommate who bakes every weekend!

I love college weekends!

We always play BYU right before General Conference.

Most of this post is going to be a conference thought dump, but first let me tell you about my long, long, journey to Provo, of all places.

I was so excited for game day, like I always am. I got work off so we could all caravan down as soon as possible. We took two cars, and I was one of the lucky drivers. Little did I know my fate.

It took us two hours to get to Layton to drop off Abbie and trade her for my dear Lauren. Just waiting to get on the freeway in Brigham City was a huge mess. We felt like we'd been sitting in traffic FOREVER but it was just the beginning. Luckily, humans make things fun sometimes.

Alexa making friends with the other cars

The car full of boys in front of us happened to be very entertaining. They were hanging out of their car, jumping out to pick up random items from the side of the freeway (like a yellow sled), and eventually held a a notebook with one of their phone numbers written on it outside the window. Kim talked to them for about half an hour which helped dull our pain.

After grabbing some tacos from my house (thanks, Mom) and grabbing Lauren, we got back in the car hoping to get from Layton to Provo in two hours.

Try three.

Yep, hours-wise I basically drove to Las Vegas on Friday, but only made it to Provo. One of the most stressful drives of my life. But as we walked into the stadium and I could hear the Utah State fans and not BYU's? Well I was pretty pleased.

A Utah State flag in the BYU Stadium!

You all know that the game totally sucked, and not just because we lost. 3-6? Nothing happened. Ever. My dad (who had met us there and was sitting with Lauren) kept texting me things like, "Don't worry, Chuckie's saving all the magic for the end." But it wasn't meant to be. Pretty much what I walked away with was....I'm glad I don't go to BYU. We all knew that already, but it was a nice little confirmation. BYU fans are so boring. First of all, half of them are over the age of 60. But even the student section doesn't have any fun cheers, and even though their stadium is a lot bigger than ours, I swear they're half as loud. The peak of excitement at a BYU game is doing the wave. I am not exaggerating. So all you Aggies out there....you should still be proud! 

me, Kim, Neil

Alicia, Cody

It was just as crazy trying to get out of Provo as it was trying to get into it, so all you Provo people...if I told you I would try to see you before or after the game and then I didn't...I am truly sorry. It was just such a stupid day.

Once I got all my roommates off on their separate ways, my Dad took Lauren and me to In N Out, which helped, and we really did have some nice life talks on the loooong drive home. Longest day of my life!

The rest of the weekend was all about General Conference. I haven't been able to watch every session of conference for like...five years...so that was great!

Here are some thoughts.

Over the summer, all six of us sisters got to meet with Sister Dalton, the young women's General President in her office. She is one of the top 50 coolest people ever. We got to tell her all about our summer travels, and she kept saying, "You're going to change the world! I know it!"

Janie and Sister Dalton

 She also asked us, "What if girls could go on missions at 19? Do you think more of them would go?"

OF COURSE! I remember telling Sister Dalton that it would be so much easier for girls to leave at 19, and how so many of them want opportunities to serve and make a difference. She said, "I'm just dreaming.  That's just my dream for my young women."

Our girly family with Sister Dalton

 As soon as President Monson started talking about young men in other countries leaving on their missions at 18, I thought, "You did it, Sister Dalton!!"

I looked at my 5 sisters and thought about each of their unique gifts and abilities and was so excited at the thought of them getting to use those gifts as missionaries. Over the summer I was able to see that there are some things only sister missionaries can do. This is for real!

So for a few hours I was ridiculously happy about it.

But then, like everyone else, I started feeling overwhelmed. Wait...my sister is 19...all of my roommates are 19...AAAHHHH.

By the next day, I was ready to be done hearing about the mission thing. It was all anyone would talk about, and I was like, HELLO there are other talks going on! But it was because the stress was getting to me to the point where I was thinking, wait what if I'M supposed to go too?! Luckily my mom was there to say, "Stop. You're on the right path."

S let's talk about my other favorite conference moments.

When President Packer said the words, "Western Samoa" I immediately had tears happening. Just imagining all the people there who would be so happy to hear a prophet say the names of their own places.....it got to me.

This is Abbie on the boat ride between the island of Savaii and Upolu: the same trip President Packer was talking about, only ours was quite peaceful.

Abbie - Savaii

We landed in the harbor President Packer's boat was supposed to land in.

This is Apia Harbor, where President Packer's boat actually landed.

Apia Harbor

And this is Pesega, the place where President Packer was going to organize a stake. The place where we lived. A piece of my heart will always be there.

Pesega

 (You say it "Pay-SANG-uh" with the accent on the second syllable. If you wanted to know.)

My other favorite talk was President Eyering's. I am going to be graduating soon, and I have way too many ideas about where to go afterwards, but none of them really fit or make logical sense. That is scary. President Eyering talked about making decisions about where to go based on where it would be easiest to feel God's love and to be close to Him. That helped!

I loved spending a couple of days with my family, laughing a lot and celebrating my sweet Mom on her Birthday Eve!

I also loved coming home to these girls.

I don't know where I'm going from here, but I promise it won't be boring!

Homecoming Happenings and Other Lately Things

Just some of last week's events...

Kim's powder puff game

Wow, how proud am I of my roommate for being a football player during homecoming week. So proud. 

Alexa, me, Aimee, Alicia

During the game we took awkward pictures and yelled obnoxious things at Kim. And got really mad when Kim wasn't playing. "Put Kim back in!!! Let her play!!!" She is lucky to have us.

Next up, dinner at Center Street Grill. 

Center Street Grill

This is not what I ate there, but is an example of what can happen to you at Center Street Grill.

On Saturday, I had a great morning at the temple with Alexa!

Logan  temple

We probably should have taken a picture beforehand, instead of right after we showered, but ya know. Our morning was especially great since we swung by the farmers' market on our way back. We sampled Lebanese food, the best tamales I have ever tasted (which we went back for more than once), and lots of fruit and bread. Life's good to us!


That night was the Homecoming Game! 

White-Out Game! USU vs. UNLV

I am in that picture somewhere; I found myself at one point. We got to sit in the 6th row on the 50 yard line! So great. I love my Aggies! I cannot WAIT for tomorrow night!

After the game I met up with my dear Lauren Hillman at McKenna's house. I had seen McKenna earlier that day at her lemonade stand....of course...but it'd been more than a week since I'd seen Lauren so I was excited! McKenna lives in this great big house that's always full of people. We ended up playing night games..in the house. We were playing this terrifying game called Minotaur... I always get scared super easily in situations like that, so I was freaking out, but the fact that Lauren was basically having heart palpitations was making it a bit better for me. But when we started playing Murder in the Dark...Lauren and I just silently slipped out of the house when they turned the lights off because we couldn't take it. I was the murderer too. Sorry, guys! We went and got Wendy's instead and had a life talk in Lauren's apartment. Love you, Lauren!

Sunday, our friend from upstairs, Caitlin, took our roommate pictures for us.

Roommate pictures

I am the blue pants roommate. This is just a preview she showed us and I'm excited to see the rest! We had a good time.

Monday was Alexa's birthday! She is a great room roommate! We had kind of a white trash party for her but she loved it. We wrapped her presents in tin foil (she got teddy grahams, decorations for her side of the room, Spongebob boxers, and a zebra striped thong), wore party hats and blew noisemakers, and danced around the kitchen for probably two hours. I got Alexa a crown at the dollar store that just said, "Birthday" on it. Not Happy Birthday. Not Birthday Girl. Just Birthday. Alicia made the most amazing, beautiful desert! Nutella cheesecake with whipped cream and shaved chocolate on the top. With all the baking and cooking that girl does, she's gonna snag a husband soon for sure!

Alicia, Aimee, me, birthday girl, Kim, Colette

 Let's just say the night ended with Alexa dancing down the hallway outside in her new thong. Don't worry, she had her leggings underneath. Otherwise we'd have a lot more friends.

October 1st was also my sweet Mallory's birthday! I am so proud of her and inspired by her decision to serve a mission. Miss you, Mallor!

Living it up on Mission Beach! Those were good times.

Mal always supports my dreams of being a model.

This week, I finally got to teach an entire class period. The students in the 7:30 am class I help in usually act dead and will not talk. But today they did! And they were all writing too! Just get them talking about the dress code and suddenly you can't shut them up. Ninth graders are smart. Smarter than we give them credit for.

Also, I have been trying to be a responsible citizen lately. I watched the first presidential debate during work on Wednesday night. Ruined everyone else's evening. But I loved having Abbie and Rachel texting me about it the whole time because they are hilarious. We try to mock everyone equally, but Mitt makes that hard with his creepy smile. And today during work I got on vote.utah.gov and looked at my sample ballot....read about every single candidate for everything. It took about three hours. I know, you can imagine the wild times. But I am really excited to vote!

Vote responsibly!

Tonight I finally saw the new Spiderman movie at the dollar theater! Alexa, Abbie, and Aubree and I went together and had some good times. I really have only been hanging out with people whose names start with A. I like going to the dollar theater because you basically have it to yourself, so you can bring blankets and put your feet up and act like you live there. At least that's what I do. I also like to be able to talk loudly enough that at least all the people who came with me can hear my hilarious commentary.

so awkwardly cuuuute!

I'm so pleased that it is almost Friday right now that I am almost excited for the boys downstairs to start playing the Rebecca Black Friday song exactly 12 hours from now. Never fails.