The Golden Ticket

I was having kind of a rough time this weekend just with stupid things. So I started talking to Austin about it and he bluntly told me that I need to stop complaining about the one thing I don't have and start being grateful for the things I do have. I have a great family, I'm going to a great school with a full tuition scholarship and I have great friends and I'm doing things right in my life. Who cares if I don't have someone. At first I thought he was just being rude so I was blocking out things he was saying. I thought: "He doesn't know what I'm going through, he doesn't know what it's like, how dare he be that shallow." I told him I just wanted someone to vent to, not someone to tell me what to do. I was pretty mad I'm not going to lie. So he left, me being not too happy with him.

But then later on I started thinking about it, I really do have everything I need, why was I complaining about my one stupid little problem. How selfish. I felt like a complete idiot. I didn't want to admit it to him, but I texted him and told him sorry and thanks for the reality check, I really did need it.

Then later that night I went with my mom to the Relief Society broadcast, just at our stake center. I loved all of the talks, but I was ESPECIALLY blown away and spiritually filled from President Uchtdorf's talk. His talk was meant for me (I know everyone thinks this all the time, but this time it really was meant for me :D) and it spoke to me, and was overwhelmingly powerful. What I really loved was his story about Charlie and the Chocolate factory.

No one was satisfied with regular chocolate anymore. Everyone was searching for something better, the magic golden ticket. They would stop at nothing and do everything they could to obtain this one thing they wanted most. He goes on talking about our golden tickets in our lives. How many times do we want something so bad that we will not be satisfied until we obtain it.

He tells us that we need to slow down and enjoy the sweet chocolate in life that we already have and stop wanting more, or, the golden ticket.

I wanted to cry. He really was talking to me, and after the talk with Austin I felt even more stupid and like I really needed to change. All I was doing was looking for my golden ticket, and that's all I was concerned about. It was slowing down every other aspect of my life and I wasn't being grateful for what I have now and what is here. I really changed my perspective on how I'm living my life and made me want to be better. It didn't make me feel inadequate, it just made me want to be better. President Uchtdorf really has that power over people. Never making you feel like you are worthless or not doing enough, he always tells you how wonderful you are and gives you tips for improving your life.

The next part of his talk that I really loved was the analogy about the Forget me not flower. He gave 5 examples of things we should NEVER forget.

Forget not...

1. To be patient with yourself.

2. The difference between good and foolish sacrifices

3. To be happy NOW

4. The "why" of the Gospel

5. That the Lord loves you

All of those things are thing we all need to remember but especially me and I'm grateful that I had this time to really reflect on myself and what I need to be doing and it helped me so much! It helped me see the whole picture and I loved every second of it :)

Another experience I want to share is what happened in church today.

We have a little boy in our ward named Brandon. He just turned 12. But today he passed the sacrament. He has another boy in our ward standing next to him and guiding him the whole time because Brandon has some disability and can't do it on his own yet. So the boy helped Brandon pass both the bread and the water. It made me really think about Christ and how he is always with us and guiding us. He doesn't do it for us, but he is always there and helps us when we need it, or ask for it.

It also made me once again realize how special these people are. I love them to pieces and admire them. They were chosen before they came here to be in this body. Satan cannot touch them. That's why they are in these special beautiful bodies. They also bless, strengthen and humble the lives of everyone they meet. I can see the light in their eyes. They are literally perfect and have a one way ticket to heaven no matter what.

Another boy in our ward that I know very well bore his testimony today. His name is Sebastian. He has cerebral palsy and is in a wheelchair and can hardly speak or hold his head up. He has always had a special place in my heart. The way he bears his testimony is his dad or mom (this time is was his mom) brings him up and face him towards us and they talk to him before about it but he just has the biggest cutest grin on his face. His mom goes to the pulpit and asks him questions like: do you love Jesus, does he love you, do you love your family, do you love to read the scriptures and simple things like that. He responds yes with a squeal and a huge grin, and a no with saying no. Every question he just gets a huge grin and squeals. You know he knows it's true. He may not say it. But he knows that it is true. It's such testimony builder to me.

Anyways that's all. :) crazy fun weekend but that's how I like them.

The End

Things I LOVE...

I just thought I would make a list of things that I absolutely love just for the fun of it:

All the wonderful things I love...

1. Making a long list of things I love
2. The smell of clean laundry
3. When it's cold outside and your clothes for the day just got out of the dryer and you put them on... mmmm cozy. ;)
4. The smell of the heat going on in your house in the middle of the winter in the morning
5. Chick Flicks that give you butterflies in your stomach because of how cute they are :D
6. When a boy kisses his girl friend in public :>
7. When old people hold hand and kiss
8. Listening to the rain cuddled in a blanket (with or without a boy ahhhaha jk... kinda) watching a chick flick in the night :)
9. Walking into your house when it's really hot in the summer and feeling the cool air
10. Running your body till it's dead and not being able to move.
11. A really warm hot shower in the middle of the night in the winter
12. Love songs :]
13. Sharing food with my family
14. Being kissed gently on the cheek
15. Collapsing on my bed after a long productive day.
16. Laughing so hard you cry
17. The stupid things in movies that no one else laughs at but me
18. Putting my toes in the sand
19. Dressing up as anything and acting like a maniac...
20. Shaving my legs and not missing one spot
21. Getting a really thoughtful letter from someone
22. When your heart jumps when you see a certain person ;)
23. Getting a back massage
24. When a new Daddy talks to his unborn baby in the Mom's tummy
25. Singing along to songs when no one can hear you
26. Honey Mustard. With anything
27. Anything chocolate
28. Anything pink
29. Anything BYU
30. Getting mail, it doesn't matter what it is, as long as my name is on it.
31. The sweet little things husbands will do for their wives, like vacuuming, cleaning or getting her favorite treat without her asking
32. Inside family jokes
33. Having your friends and family say they miss you
34. Eating till you literally can't move
35. When a man is protective of me
36. When I get called a princess by little girls
37. Feeling the spirit so strongly that I ball my eyes out and can't stop
38. Riding and a ride and having your stomach fall to your feel, or swallowing it
39. When someone texts me:)
40. Getting hugs from my sisters and cousins
41. Holding a little baby
42. When a small child hold your pinky instead of your hand
43. Painting my toe nails
44. Feeling pretty'
45. When you don't feel pretty and people compliment you
46. The sound of the Rascal Flatt's voices
47. When my mom calls me because she just wants to talk
48. When a boy comes and sits me
49. Smiling so much your face hurts
50. Remembering something you totally forgot and were trying to remember... even if it's a day later
51. When you walk down the street or at school and someone says hi to you or smiles at you
52. Dancing in the rain
53. Kissing in the rain
54. The rain.
55. Understanding something in the scriptures you didn't before.
56. Falling into the new fallen snow
57. Getting new clothes and wearing them for the first time
58. When you have those confirming moments that your friends really do know you too well
59. Swimming so much your legs are jello
60. Any church activity with the fun people in my ward
61. Finding something you forgot you ever had
62. Learning something new and then being able to teach it to someone else or use it in my life
63. The smell and taste of coconut
64. The random things I love my mom does for me
65. Doing something new you have never done and finding out how much you love it
66. Watching old tapes
67. Brushing your teeth till they hurt
68. When a boy wraps your arms around your waist
69. The smell of BYU football games
70. Anything that has to do with mustaches
71. Halloween
72. Seeing my family so much
73. When your uncle tells you that you're going to major in "Pre-Wed"
74. When you actually look decent in a picture and don't have to crop yourself out.
75. Winning a video game... (I'm not that big of nerd. It's only happened twice)
76. The smell of camp fire (but not the day after on your clothes)
77. Did I already say love songs and movies...
78. The random random random things me and my friends do
79. TAKING PICTURES OF EVERYTHING!
80. Drinking till your drown yourself because you've been thirsty so long.
81. The smell of craft stores around fall

There are so many more... I'll probably be adding as I think of more. :)

School in Zion!

OK so this is totally random but I thought I would tell the story about how I made my decision to go to BYU.

So I never ever thought that I would get accepted to BYU but I thought I would apply anyways just to see. So I applied for 3 schools: BYU, SUU, WSU. I had been to the SUU campus before and I really liked it there, they had the programs and everything I wanted, I just didn't like how far away it was. But I was planning on going there.

So one day I get an email on my phone saying something about go to this website to see if you have been accepted or not. So I run to the computer and go right to the website... it's like waiting for Christmas waiting for the page to load even though it was only a few seconds, it literally felt like an eternity. I held my breath and waited...

All I could do was stare at the page. Did it really say I had been accepted? I read it over and over and over again. I seriously couldn't believe my eyes. I even made sure that it was my name and went back and clicked on the link again.

Yep. It was mine. I was completely speechless. I couldn't breathe. I didn't know what to do. I walked over to my mom and just looked at her. She could tell something was different. She said, "What is it?" I got a huge grin on my face (it probably was bigger then my face), probably the biggest grin I have ever grinned and said. Guess. What. I. Got. Accepted. To.... BYU! She looked at me in awe and said NO WAY! (We both knew this was impossible) We both celebrated for a short time and started wondering how this happened. My great mother pointed out that my both of my Fathers in heaven were REALLY REALLY looking out for me! I have never felt so blessed! But she also pointed out that obviously BYU doesn't just look at test score and grades, but they really look at the kind of person you are. I had to write 3 essays to apply. (I might add they were pretty good essays and I worked very hard on them) I wrote about different things... I've kinda forgotten what they were specifically about but there were topics. But my first essay I wrote about my dad. That must have been what got them ;)

So, you know me, I stink at making decisions. Of course BYU was the school I had been dreaming of since I knew what BYU was, but I didn't want to make the wrong choice. After all, this is a really big step in my life that literally will change the whole course of my life. Why would I want to mess up on that!?

Now of course my Dad's side of the family was no help (biggest BYU fans in the universe) the answer was obvious for them. They asked my why I even needed to make the choice! BYU or bust!

But I really needed to make the right choice.

So for about the next month I prayed and prayed to My Heavenly Father with all my whole might and heart. This was one of the hardest time I have ever prayed.

So, I didn't get the answer right off. But as I have always learned, you need to be patient. So I was patient and explored the school so I wasn't just sitting there doing nothing.

Then one night after I had prayed to really know where to go I opened up my scriptures and started reading. As I was about to turn the page in D&C 97 I just silenced prayed again that I might be able to find the answer in the scriptures (I hadn't done this yet). (Oh and btw I was pretty sure I was going to BYU I was just waiting for Heavenly Father to confirm to me that I had made the right choice). So I turned the page and the next line was: "Concerning the School in Zion" My face beamed as I read the whole verse:

D&C 97:3

"Behold, I say unto you, conceding the school in Zion, I, the Lord, am well pleased that there should be a school in Zion..."

I literally almost screamed in complete JOY! I knew where I was supposed to go! It was right there! Plain as day! (at least to me)

Verse 4 has a little in it too and I smiled as I continued:

D&C 97:4

"And inasmuch as he continueth to abide in me he shall continue to preside over the school in the land of Zion..."

Wow. I was shocked. I have never had more of a direct answer to my prayer. I felt the spirt so strongly and just started to ball. I could feel of His love for me as well as my Dad in heaven. It was the greatest feeling the the world. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

So, the verses probably aren't that cool to anyone else or maybe don't even make sense in their eyes, but to me they are just AMAZING! I will NEVER forget this experience.

As I kept reading this night I came across verse 27 of the same section..

D&C 97:27

"...I, the Lord, have accepted of her offering..."

Yes. It literally says that in the same section. I balled again. It even said her, not him.

I knew where I was supposed to go, and had no doubt.

I drew a big fat blue BYU Y over those verses in my scriptures and every time I turn through my scriptures I can see it, plain as day, just like the answer was given to me.

I know that I'm supposed to be here, and I'm grateful for the gospel that I have in my life that can help me make big decisions in my life, and help me make the right one. :)

Honey Mustard and a whole roll of toilet paper.

First: One of my favorite things is honey mustard, especially if they are with my other favorite thing, chicken nuggets. So last night I was eating chicken nuggets and I put some honey mustard on my plate. Then me and Emily got talking about chicken nuggets and she told me she liked honey on them. I had totally forgotten how delicious that thing was on chicken nuggets! So I poured some on my plate. Then I thought, hey, what if I put regular mustard on my plate and then I would have Honey mustard, honey, and mustard! How cool!

So, I did and ate all 3 of them with my chicken nuggets. Yum :D

(ps if you mix regular mustard and regular honey, it DOES NOT make the normal honey mustard, how come I always try these things...?)

So I've been sick for the past couple days. I haven't been sick in a very long time and let me just say, it STINKS! I was in bed all day for 1 day and half the day another. I used a whole roll of toilet paper (literally this isn't an exaggeration) because my nose was running like a faucet on steroids.

But what makes it even worse, no mom. When your at home your mom takes care of you when your deathly ill and gets you whatever you want/need. Well, my mom wasn't here and it was very very sad. Also, the ONLY thing I was craving though out this misery was a stupid 1$ Arby's chocolate turnover. I didn't get it until today when Austin came down and I begged him to get one for me and told him I would pay him 2$ if he would just give me one! He did. I payed him. But guess what I realized, ya, I could have just gone and gotten my own. But I couldn't have when I was sick so I guess I was still in that mode.

But no worries. I'm feeling a lot better today. Still not 100% maybe more like 80% minus the stuffy nose and I sound like a man.

So my life right now...

Busy... kinda, it should be but I'm not making it. I really should be doing more reading for my classes. I realized the change from summer to your first year of college, your used to summer and the laid back senior year, so it's super hard to get back into the habit of things, especially when it's self motivation.

Anyways, school going good. Still not making much progress on my goals: 1. Make more friends, 2. Develop good habits in study skills, and 3. Pass all of my classes.

Well, I guess 3 doesn't really apply until the end of the semester. But I guess things are going good. Although, being sick did put me a little behind.

I just need to work harder but keep having fun at the same time. I really don't have a problem with keeping myself unstressed, but I think I do need to be a little more stressed.

So that's this week for ya. Nothing exciting at all. Kinda been a slow week.

Oh ya! I do have my very FIRST college exam tomorrow! How very exciting! (....not)

The end.

MY BEST FRIEND!

Today is my sister Ashley's birthday.

We have been together since, of course before birth.

We were even born on the same day, both on the 19th.

We are exactly 17 months apart.

We were even born in the same hospital in the same room at around the same time. My mom said it was almost like Deja Vu.

We hardly fight, we really are the best of friends and have the best time together.

All throughout our lives we have hung out with the same friends and the same people.

Haha she and my mom are the people that I always look to for advice on everything and I trust her 110% in everything.

She always makes me smile and ALWAYS has a good attitude.

She has the strongest faith and keeps me on the right path.

I love her so much and can't wait till we get to grow up and get to be mommies together!

:)

STILL a True Blue family

My fondest memories from a kid were when I would get to go to the BYU football games with my dad. I always got spoiled with treats and got to see my family and of course I got ALL the attention! I always loved going and looked forward to it often!

Well this weekend I did the same thing as always, went to the football game. Yes, I know, we lost, badly. But that doesn't change anything, I'm still completely true to my team :)

Plus just seeing my family there was all worth it! I just love my family more then anything in the world! My aunts, uncles, cousins, and of course my immediate family Ashley, Karly, Katelyn, and my Mom, and Dad. But man right now I'm even getting a little teary eyed. I literally have the best family in the world and I love to see them and just be with them. They make me feel safe, happy, and ALWAYS make me laugh :) I can start to visualize what eternity will be like when I'm with them :D I can always count on them to make my day, even if we do lose the football game 10-54 :/

Something else I did this weekend, I went to the Blue vs. Red dodge ball game. It was the BIGGEST dodge ball game ever! There were over 2,500 people there! I went with Ashley, Christina, Austin, and Andrew. We had a BLAST! There were free shirts, hot dogs, entertainment and just fun!

But, something that I'm very grateful for is my friends, I'm so glad that they share the same values and standards as me. We were having a blast throwing balls and laughing so hard (and getting hit very hard in the face I might add) but then Ashley and Christina went back to sit down by our stuff (because they got out ;)) and then Ash realized that she didn't have the keys.

She called us and we tried looking for them everywhere. We scanned the grass where we had played searched with my phone by where we put our stuff we were asking people and just looking everywhere we had been.

So we were getting really frustrated because we thought for sure someone had stolen them because Ashley had set them down and we couldn't find them. So we getting angry with each other because we were trying to find different options on what to do. Then the same idea came to our mind at the same time. Of course, we need to pray.

So we got in a circle just out in the open and I said a pray so that Heavenly Father could help direct us by the spirit to find the keys and for us to listen to the spirit, and if we couldn't find them for him to help us come up with another option. Literally 2 seconds after we were done saying the prayer the announcers said we have some keys here at the tech booth so we start walking over there and then Austin comes running with the keys in his hand (him and Andrew didn't say the prayer with us, they were looking somewhere else when we said it, but they told us they had said their own prayer as well).

So we found the keys and were VERY VERY happy and thankful to Heavenly Father for helping us find them so we could get home.

As we got in the car to drive home Ashley said. "we need to say a prayer so that we can all be happy (we were kinda tense) and get home safely and have a fun rest of the night." So we bowed our heads and prayed again and yes, we did have a fun rest of the night. It was awesome!

I'll never forget that experience and the faith and strength that my friends and I can share with each other. :) I love them!

Then on Sunday we had this AMAZING speaker in my singles ward that came and spoke to us in Relief Society and Priesthood combined. She really touched me and she talked on service, hope, faith, and trials both in Relief Society and in Sacrament. She has been though more then I can imagine and is actually a breast cancer survivor and as such a spirit and light about her. I loved listening to her talk and give me advice!

Then I went to my home ward because my mom was giving a talk so I wanted to see her. Her, and a couple other people spoke on how to prepare for conference. She did AMAZING! So did the other people. Then I went to my home ward Sunday school and loved listing to my teachers talk about their cute marriage and the importance of it. Then, since I had already gone to church that day I decided it would be fun to go to my Young Womens, so I went and we had a really fun talk on guess what, marriage. That's all I hear about anymore. I love learning about it though!

Then I hung out at my house the rest of the night and had so much fun with my family :) once again, this is what heaven is for me, hanging out with my family on Sunday nights :)

Count your MANY blessings

First, I was going to say that it really stinks to have a blister on the top of your mouth (clarification, I was eating a delicious burrito that I made, but I microwaved it just a little too long and that outside is definentially not as hot as the inside so I bit into it and ouch! Don't forget that, and be careful burritos are very deciving), but then I thought, hey, at least I have a mouth!

That's why Count your many blessings is the name of this post, plus, I'm just so incredibly blessed and I so grateful for all of the many many blessings I receive every day!

I'm not going to lie it's been a stressful rough past week, well, past few weeks getting everything with school worked out. But it's finally working out and I have nothing to complain about.

I have a WONDERFUL school that I'm going to that I've only dreamed about my whole life.

I have a GREAT scholarship so I don't have to worry about having a job my first year.

I have FANTASTIC family and friends that help me though and support me in everything I do :)

I have a FABULOUS place to live with EXCEPTIONAL roommates!

and... I have a LOVELY fun ward that I love so much!!!

plus MANY MANY more things that would just take all day to list.

(*Oh, and today I found out that my FIRST visiting teaching partner is my relief society president! I'm so excited! She is so fun and wonderful I know that I'm going to grow so much with her!)

I know all of these things came from my Heavenly Father and I'm so thankful to him for giving me all these things that I really don't deserve. But I thank him and love him for it. I couldn't be happier right now :) I have a perfect life! Well, my kind of perfect ;)

WARNING!! Do NOT change your major 2 weeks into school!!!

Today my day made my brain cry a few tears.

I have been dealing with issues since last Friday because I decided that I really really couldn't do chemistry and so I changed my major to Athletic Training (don't worry, I prayed and I feel good about it for now and I'm very very excited about the major.

One problem.

The man who is in charge of the nursing center told me in a meeting with him a while back that if I didn't get admitted into the nursing program that it wouldn't be a problem to change because Athletic Training and Nursing have the same Pre-Reqs. False. Although I didn't know this until Thursday when I went and talked a consoler about it.

Great.

So, obviously I didn't want to stay in my chemistry class because it was very hard for me and you don't need it for Athletic Training.

So I decided to drop that class and add in another class that wouldn't be too difficult to pick up on 2 weeks into the semester, or that I didn't necessarily have to get a good grade in. I decided on American Heritage. I thought it was a good choice, I didn't really have to get a perfect grade in it, and it's a GE I can get out of the way.

Wrong.

Everything was good until on Monday I was looking at my class schedule for some odd reason (I think it was inspiration) and I didn't have my Human Development class anymore. I was like oh no... (I have a scholarship that I have to have at least 14 credits for and since this class was dropped I only had 11!)

So I went to the registration office (I didn't go straight there of course I didn't really know where to go so I went a few places to find out) and they looked at the thing and it said that I had done it. I swear I hadn't. So they said to go and talk to my professor.

I did and he said he would be happy to keep me in the class even though it was past the add/drop deadline. Oh, and when I talked to him I figured out why it had dropped his class, it was because apparently (I had no idea) when I dropped Chem it also dropped his because it was in a bundle.

(PS, I really hate this stupid bundle thing, it makes things more complicated and has done nothing for me and caused me a whole lot of problems)

So I find out where to get the paper, I go and get it, but before we can do it I have to talk to the freshman mentoring people to see if it's still ok if I have the class (see there it is again, oh the bundle)

I walked over there and talked to this old lady that smelled like... well... old ladies for about 30min trying to work it all out. She was willing to help, but not too happy with me. (what can I say!? I'm only a freshman and no one ever told me these things) So we ended up going though all these options of things calling people me running places like to the scholarship office and the academic advisement center.

She's wanting to put me into a 1 credit class, and a 2 credit class because she though it wasn't a good idea for me to be in american heritage without a mentor and a study group, and because I switched into it 2 weeks in. (Did she not think that she is putting me into 2 new classes and they are more then a week in when the American Heritage teacher and TA have already worked with me?) I didn't get her. I went along with it and then thought it was a bad idea so I'm sticking with the plan and just getting my Human Development class back. (silent "yes" I love this class)

Plus I lost my iclicker, so I was trying to work all of this out as well.

That was the short version.

Holy Cows that was confusing.

So I was going crazy and then my dear friend Austin called me and asked if I wanted to hangout. YES! That's the ONE thing I need right now! I was so glad he called! Perfect timing!

So after my 11:00 class he comes and we go to Golden Corral for lunch and had a good time there. An old lady standing in line behind us saw us order waters and said, "Why water? It has no flavor?" Then I chuckled and said, "Ya, but it doesn't cost anything." She said, "True." And then the cashier gave her her pepsi, I think she's been there more then a few times, they new her name and what she wanted, she didn't even have to say :) She was so cute. I love old people.

Then we went to the mall and had a blast at the halloween store and other stores.

Sorry for the creepy pictures. Halloween is my favorite holiday for some reason, I don't know why I love it so much.

Also, I'd like to clarify that me and my friend have an unhealthy obsession with mustaches.

AND, I would never be caught dead in that hat but it's HUGE!!!!

BYU myths... busted.

So I just want to clear BYU's name on some common myths I've heard and want to explain...

BYU has huge class sizes so you can't get 1 on 1 help: Fact- they are huge, my biggest class is 600 people. But my smallest is 20. The big one is a GE, and so is the small one. But... the teachers have office hours where you can go and talk to them, plus like 50TA's who are paid and trained to help you and they are available all the time. PLUS, they have a tutoring lab open from 8am-8pm every day (except Sunday of course). I feel like I have MORE help here then I did in High School, and that's no even a joke. The professors are very willing to help and so are the TA's. It's just your job to contact them.

BYU is sooooo expensive to get into: Ya. Big lie. It's less expensive then USU or SUU or even UVU. All of BYU is paid for by the LDS church. It's a scholarship just to get in. Plus, a lot of people get scholarships from BYU, I'm pretty sure they are giving out more money then making in tuition.

People get married super fast and you get dates all the time: Ya nope. I have met more single people then married, I have met a TON of girls that are RM's and it's just not true. The percentage of people getting married at BYU is just the same as people getting married at UVU. That used to not be the case, but it is now.

Their is a higher percentage of girls then boys: Nope. That's BYU-ID. Here it's about the same. More guys are on missions for 2 years that are going to BYU, but that still doesn't mean their are more girls. From what I've seen there is just the same.

The nursing program isn't that good at BYU: FALSE! It's very good! Why would it have a bad nursing program if the school itself is hard to get into? I've heard people say the UVU's is better, nothing against UVU it's a WONDERFUL school, but they were on academic probation for a while in the nursing program because they were letting people though and their test scores weren't high enough.

You can't wear shorts at BYU: That' BYU-ID once again. We can. We do have an Honor code, but if you are following what the prophets say in the For Strength of Youth then nothing will change. You can wear shorts as long as they go with the honor code.

You have to have really good grades and ACT to get in: I only had a 20ACT and a 3.7GPA. I actually learned this just 2 weeks ago: before they accept people into the school or any program they fast and pray about it to know by inspiration who to accept. I know that I'm here solely because I'm meant to be here. It has nothing to do with my grades or test scores. That's one thing that's different about BYU.

Hardly anyone gets accepted: Well, ok this one is kinda true. They only accept half the people that apply. I say if you wanna get in, work hard do your best, do extra things (service is a big one), be engaged in church, and last but not least PRAY.

The religion classes are the hardest classes at BYU: Well, it is a religion school, but so far, by religion class is the easiest. So I will let you know when I find that to be true.

Everyone is super smart and full of themselves: Don't we have people like that everywhere? I've found the exact opposite is true. Everyone (ok not everyone, but a lot of people that I've met) is so nice and friendly and wants to help you do your best!

You have to be LDS to get accepted: Not at all! Not a lot of NON LDS people apply, but they are willing to accept anyone. They exact statistics are: 32,486 LDS members, 69 catholics, 62 protestant, 57 hindu, 16 islamic, and 156 no religious preference (this was in 2010, but I'm sure it's similar this year). But again, it is an LDS run school. But the professors are aware that not everyone is LDS and are sensitive to those that aren't (not that they even know who they are). So it's not really a problem. It's a great university, they can't limit it to only LDS people.

The classes are hard: OK this is true. At least for me.

*Of course BYU has their problems, but every school does. BYU students are held to a "higher standard" but isn't every member of the church? No one is perfect. That applies to BYU students as well.*

Sorry if I rambled I just needed to get that off my chest. I LOVE everything about this school and I want everyone to know it :)

First blog post. Wow. I can't believe I'm doing this... I'm not a big fan of writing in my journal, but the prophets really encourage it so I feel like this will be a fun way to do it :)

Oh and I would like to thank my amazing cousin Aubrey for her inspiration for this blog. I love reading hers so I thought that this would be a fun thing to do. :D

The scoop on school. It's

really not what I expected. It's weird because you will walk around all day meeting new people in your classes and at devotionals and stuff, but then guess what? Ya, you never see them again. It's kind of depressing. My ward is really what is getting me though this rough time.

This weekend we had a Relief Society retreat for our stake. It was like one night of girls camp, just with a lot older girls. We had Jenny Phillilps came and spoke to us (She is seriously the best ever) and she brought the spirit so strongly to the meeting and made me want to be better. I think that's what really makes a speaker special, is when they really can inspire their audience to want to change for the better. Her music is truly amazing and really has gotten me through some of my down times.

Then after that we had a big HUMONGOUS slumber party! (Believe me, it was a PARTY!) They had karaoke (I pretty much wet my pants laughing so histarically) and we did glitter toes and ate food.

A pal and I in my ward (a red head, obviously we automatically clicked, it's just a rule) were getting literally addicted to these wonderful pickles they were giving us (I know weird that part of the meal was a pickle) So after everyone had had some we asked member of the relief society stake presidency if we could have some more (we talked to the right person because she is the wife of one of the member of our bishopric so we knew her well). She told us of course we could have some! So we went into the kitchen and opened the fridge, right as we did that the lady in the red shirt comes up behind us, "Can I help you with anything?" We said, "well we were just getting some more pickles." So she kind of made us get out and she gave us each 3 pickles.

Now of course that's NOT enough for me and my obsession with pickles and the other food we had that night wasn't the best (I'm not going to lie to you) so we were a little hungry. About 1 hour later we were taking a group picture kind of by the kitchen, the door and serving area were open and guess what I saw... yup those darn delicious things were just sitting right there. It was tempting, so I followed my evil heart and grabbed those things shoved them under my awesome jacket and ran for the door, me and Emily (my cousin and roommate) didn't want to walk all the way to our cabin in the dark (not lazy just thinkers) so I decided to hide them in the bushes until it was time to go back. As we walked back in we saw the red shirt girl and she looked like she was looking for something, we chucked and went on with the party. The party was over, so I grabbed them (my ward thinks I'm super crazy by then but they were glad to have the pickles) and we walked back to camp. We ate the rest of that pickle jar happily and told stories around the camp fire, actually, I even roasted one (I will not take credit for the brilliant idea, it was a girl in my ward, I just followed though with it) it gave off a weird fume so we decided not to do it anymore, well, actually we did, it just fell in the fire, so that was the end of that.

All in all it was a WONDERFUL weekend and I really bonded with my ward even if it was a short time!

Plus, those pickles had so much sodium (about 250% of the daily recommend value). No calories. But so much sodium. It was completely worth it. It's a good thing I didn't go with my temptation to drink the juice.

Hence, the inspiration for the name of this great blog. (not really, my best pal Christina came up with it)