Christmasy Temple Square!

Let me just say that I have not been as excited for the Christmas season as much as this year!

It probably just has to do with the fact that I'm away from home right now.

The sight of anything Christmas gets me so happy!

LIK and I took a trip up to SLC to visit Aunt Christine and see Temple Square!

I love, love, love this picture.

This mini nativity scene is on the reflection pool.

Gorgeous.

I hope these pictures bring you some joy and get you a little more excited for the celebration of our Savior's birth!

Just to Prove the Awesomeness of My Bro

There were three and a half of us eating Thanksgiving dinner together... Kris, Leslie, me, and Isaac.

Kristopher made four pies.

Coconut cream, apple, cherry, and pumpkin.

How was your Thanksgiving?

But Who's Counting?

Two weeks, to the hour exactly until

....

I AM HOME!!!

Vacay with Isaac & Fam

BYUI students get the whole week of Thanksgiving off. It is fantastic. So, I came down to stay with Kris, Leslie, and Isaac. It has been a blast; thankfully, it has been relaxing at the same time. Isaac is awesome! He has a ridiculous amount of character and is just super happy. I've only captured a small amount of hilarious things that he has done, so I hope you enjoy.

1st video: what you don't do while babysitting. Afterwards he ran to the door and kept saying "Dada?" and eventually started crying.

2nd video: Kris had put him in the Christmas tree box and brought him to Leslie and I guess he really liked being in the box...

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are having an amazing start to the Christmas season!! Play that Christmas music (we are)!!

Dr. MLK Jr. Incredible Letter

For my Farewell to Art class we cover a ton of history. The reading for tomorrow concerned the Civil Rights Movement. We've all heard a ton about MLK Jr. and his well-known speeches, but I guess I have never realized just how incredible and brilliant of a man he was. We had to read a ten page letter of his for tomorrow and it was so worth it. I don't know if anyone will read this (which I highly, highly encourage), so for now I am posting this for when I someday look back on my schooling and learning.

This letter was in response to a statement made by eight white Alabama clergymen entitled "A Call for Unity." In it the clergymen agreed that social injustices existed, but argued that the battle against racial segregation should be fought solely in the courts, not in the streets.

It is truly inspiring and deserving of some pondering. I hope to be able to apply this to our world now. I also wish to apply it to me personally: how I treat people, my ability to work for greater causes, and to not sit idly by.

November Pics

Our quote wall is coming along quite nicely.

I'll have to blog some of them someday.

The BEST outfit ever.

Instead of shorts, imagine a white skirt and you have one of my Sunday outfits ;)

Snow! This was early in the month and hasn't snowed in a while.

It only stuck around for a couple days.

We've had highs in the 40s and 50s all month. Very grateful.

Random roomie pic.

Sara is excellent at stick figures.

Sara, Anny, Me, Kaylie

This is our neighbor Alyson.

Kaylie wouldn't give Aly her shoe back.

Sara, me, and Dusty at our FHE Thanksgiving!!

Kaylie is definitely our main form of entertainment.

One night she decided to dress up as a librarian and prance around.

Meet our stalker squirrel.

If Thou Art Merry

All of the devotionals we have here at BYU-I are incredible.

I have not been disappointed in the least with any speaker.

My favorite so far is Wendy Bone, "If Thou Art Merry."

I highly encourage you to read or listen to her message.

It is truly inspiring.

To read.

To listen.

Please. Do it.

You can also find any past devotional here.

I also recommend Elder Yoshihiko Kikuchi's talk on October 28th.

Drama doesn't equal Importance

So, last night we saw Ghost Town.

We couldn't stay for the last 10/15 minutes, because we would be late for curfew...

BUT

It was good. I recommend it. There was an incredible quote in it.

I can't remember it word for word, but it went something like this...

"Just because you think that your life is boring and not exciting doesn't mean it's less important than those with drama."

I just love this. I don't think my life is boring in any way, but (and I'm sure you've heard this from me) I think that I haven't had any trials or hard times in my life. I never get depressed or bummed out about it, I feel very grateful and blessed. However, I just feel sometimes like I have such a weak testimony and way of thinking about life compared to others' whose lives have been ridiculed with hardships, or even just a couple noteworthy hard times.

Sometimes we (I) crave drama. Sometimes we (I) want controversy. This isn't how our Heavenly Father wants us to think. He wants us to be appreciative of what we have. Lately, I've been looking at my longing for trials as selfish. I should take my good life and circumstances and use them for good and to help others. Being at school and around so many LDS kids with such different backgrounds and with such tough trials and circumstances I feel like a spoiled brat complaining about my easy life. I'm going to work on it.

Prop 8 Fast

Hi everyone!

I'm not sure how known it is, but...

Tomorrow there is a 24 hour fast going on for Prop 8 to pass.

Spread the word and I hope you participate!

Halloween Fun

Kaylie was gone for the weekend.

Her brother got baptized!

So, her water bottle was representing her.

Here are our costumes!

Me: Rainbow

Sara: Carrot Top

Anny: Miss Sunshine

Kaylie: Water bottle/rain

Hope everyone had an excellent Halloween!