just another day

Shirt: VS PINK  Pants: JCrew   Shoes: Sperry Topsider from Nordstrom

I have some words for school right now. People probably think I'm insane for saying some of the things that I am about to say... But here it goes anyway. I have 17 credits this semester. I am working as much as I am allowed right now which is about 17 hours a week. And yet, most days I AM SO BORED! Not that I'm not busy... I am, but it's mostly pure boredom. How can this be you wonder? Well, I wonder the exact same thing. Last semester I had TONS of homework to do. Tons of writing and tons of reading. But I absolutely loved last semester! I learned so much and my classes were so interesting! While this semester I barely have any reading, I do have a lot of Spanish homework, and I have just a few 2 page papers through out the semester. This is where people are probably getting annoyed with me, right? Who complains about not having a lot of homework! It's not the fact that I do not have a lot of homework that bugs me I don't think. I think it is the fact that even when I am in class, I'm prepared for class and I am attentive and listening, and class is still boring. I feel like I am learning nothing new, not being inspired by the lectures, and am just wasting my time. I am paying good money to be here, so come on teachers, inspire me!!

I debate with myself whether this is a fault of mine, or if the class really just doesn't have much to offer me, and I still convinced that it is the latter. I am at a great University where I can learn so much and be inspired to do better and be better and explore the world and soak up knowledge and yet I sit in class wondering why I am there and why is nothing even remotely interesting. Why am I not being challenged at all? I think I complain about being challenged or pushed beyond my limits in general, then again who doesn't? But in reality, I am so glad that I have those things that push me to do and be better. In those moments that I feel like I just can't do it, or where I think its too much, I am able to pull through and get things done. And then after I have struggled and worked hard to get through those times, I look back and I think wow, I did that. And when the next thing comes along, because it always does, I have a little more confidence in myself and my abilities and I keep on learning and growing.

It really is an amazing process and I feel like I am missing out on something. Maybe its good that I have more time because I have been able to get to the gym more often and explore some more hobbies. Maybe my struggle this semester is to find meaning in the seemingly meaningless classes that I have. I am trying to keep a good attitude, interact in my classes and learn and be inspired. What am I going to do when I don't have any of these classes at all? After all, I do graduate after one more semester. Maybe the point of my "blah" mood is that I actually need to be working on my relationship with God, because school ends, but my learning will never stop and my relationship with God should always be my number one priority.

Well now that you've heard me rant about the rut that I am in, I hope that you all think for yourself about your  challenges and what they mean to you, and about the easy times, and what those mean to you as well. But overall I hope you know that God is on your side through it all. And those moments where you think that can't go any further, God is the one who carries you and builds you up to make those hard times you had to endure a strength in your life.


I found these quotes from our Prophet of the LDS church, President Thomas S. Monson, and I think they are at the root of my thoughts today and contain some valuable answers.

On Being Spiritually Prepared

A Foundation of Faith

“If we do not have a deep foundation of faith and a solid testimony of truth, we may have difficulty withstanding the harsh storms and icy winds of adversity which inevitably come to each of us.

“Mortality is a period of testing, a time to prove ourselves worthy to return to the presence of our Heavenly Father. In order for us to be tested, we must face challenges and difficulties. These can break us, and the surface of our souls may crack and crumble—that is, if our foundations of faith, our testimonies of truth are not deeply embedded within us.” ¹

Learn Lessons of the Past

“In the search for our best selves, several questions will guide our thinking: Am I what I want to be? Am I closer to the Savior today than I was yesterday? Will I be closer yet tomorrow? Do I have the courage to change for the better? …

“The years have come and the years have gone, but the need for a testimony of the gospel continues paramount. As we move toward the future, we must not neglect the lessons of the past.” ²

a little creativity this weekend

Since high school I have always felt that school squashes my creativity. I am too consumed with reading, writing, studying, tests, and work that by the time I come home I just don't even want to think anymore. I want to hang out with hubs, or meet up with friends, or watch a movie. But this semester I seem to have a little bit more time to do a few things (how does that happen when I am working 17 hrs a week and taking 17 credits?? No idea.) and hubs is actually busier than I am.

So this weekend, I worked on a project! I wanted to hang up pictures because it has been about 5 months and we still don't have any hung up. We are a little bit pathetic. But picture frames are expensive and I wanted to make something! So here is what I came up with...

I am not completely finished with it yet. There are some things that I would like to pretty up a bit but not bad for an old DI suitcase and some creativity. It's totally me.

the end of a cherished streak

Today was one of those days where you walk outside your house and want to literally turn right back around and not come out for the rest of the day. I was so close to doing this, so close! I got a text from Josh letting me know that it was raining a little bit outside so I might want an umbrella or something. I thought, ok sweet, and got my stuff and headed out the door. The first thing I hear -- a couple yelps and laughing. The first thing I see -- people falling all down our street. It was 20 degrees and drizzling causing EVERYTHING to be frozen over. I had my snow boots on and I still doubted if I would even be able to get to campus. Well, I took one step, and I was fine. I took two steps and I was fine (holding on to the car as I made my way down the driveway) and step three, well that was the end. I completely fell down our driveway right onto my knees!  Ouch. It hurt so bad and I hate ice so much I kinda just wanted to cry right there. I got up, brushed myself off and just stared down the street for a solid minute. I really wanted to turn around and not make the trek up to campus.

But, I had classes to go to and work to get done. So I set out on my journey. About 2 minutes into the walk I came across this cute girl, dressed in a skirt and fashionable boots. I could tell she was struggling and that she needed help to get over the frozen snow mound blocking her from crossing the street. I took her arm, and helped her over. I had no idea who she was, but we became friends at that moment as we locked arms and continued on our journey. She explained that she was from China and had never experienced this kind of weather before. I told her neither had I and that it definitely was not normal. She continued to tell me how she already fell that morning and was scared to death to fall again. She had hit her head and scrapped up her arm pretty good. The poor thing did not even have gloves or tights on. So I held her up as we made the journey to her class. A walk that usually takes me 10 minutes took me 30! It was incredible, and slow and something I had never witnessed before. People were falling everywhere! And when I finally made it to class, I noticed for the first time that my backpack and coat were completely soaked. I was too busy focusing on my feet to have noticed.

I heard many, many stories about people's adventures in the ice. Some people got concussions, some broke laptops in their backpack, some broke limbs, some had blood streaming from their face (Josh saw this one), and many had bruised bums, legs and arms. I was astonished that BYU did not close down campus and I still think they should have. But it made for quite the adventure today. I made a new friend, broke my record of never falling on ice or snow at BYU (shame, I worked so hard) and saw lots of fun ice skating moves that I hope to never see again unless I am ice skating.

Check this video out and you will get an idea of what my day was like.

somtimes it's awkward because I have no idea what to title my post

 

 

Sunday's are awesome dress up days. Sometimes I wish I had more reason to dress up in heels and a cute skirt. And sometimes I am more than happy to stay in a comfortable shirt and leggings. I dress for my good I guess!

It has been a great and busy week! Josh and I went to the BYU basketball game on Wednesday night and the BYU men's volleyball game on Friday night.  Friday night we also saw Hotel Transylvania in the dollar theater with our friend Derek and his girl! On Saturday we slept in, worked out, ran some errands and spent a few hours with my awesome grandma! And today we were able to go to church,  teach a lesson, and visit family! In the week somewhere we did have class, homework, and work, but who want's to talk about all that boring stuff ;) 

It was a great week filled with a lot of fun things with my hubs, family and friends! I am looking forward to no school tomorrow and for the adventures that we will face this coming week! Life is great. :)

the adventures of the poor, young basement-dwellers

*disclaimer to Josh's angry face. He was not actually angry in these pictures. I told him to make a face while he cleaned up the nasty water, and he just happened to look angry. I think he was more going for disgusted ;)

Its midnight a couple nights ago, and I am in bed, all curled up and comfortable. I have the pillows just the way I want them. I am relaxed and am seconds away from drifting off. And then I hear from the bathroom, "honey... we have a problem...." And of course, instead of getting up right away, I ask several questions first. Like, what is wrong? How much water is there? How far did it go? and... Are
you sure? And then after I was very sure that there a problem, I got out of my warm bed and was greeted by a nice pool of water streaming through our hallway.

Something was going on with our pipes and water was being pushed out of our shower drain. So I had to call our landlord (aka, my boss!) at midnight to figure out what was going on and make sure that our apartment wouldn't flood. Josh took several trash cans full of water outside so that we wouldn't flood. The next day our landlord came and snaked our drains and after him working for several hours on our place, we thought the problem was, ta-dah! fixed. Until this morning when our landlord calls us and asks if we have had any problems this morning. Well, I had not gotten out of bed yet, so I stepped out of bed and walked to the bathroom to find myself in a puddle of more yucky water. Blah. A plumber came out and did some work, and they say that it is all fixed now for sure. Well I will believe it when I see it ;) It was crazy, but I am glad that our carpet and things weren't ruined and that our amazing landlord was so willing to come fix the problem right away!

Oh and you can all witness with us the smallest bathroom in the world! Yay us! ;)

It is funny the crazy things that we deal with as newly-weds. All the adventures that we already have had (good and not so good at the time). They all make for great stories. Even though these things aren't convenient or wanted, I honestly am glad that I have the great memories that I do that keep us on our toes! I love that I have hubby to witness life with me.

here's to another day

Another day of freezing cold and snow. Good thing I have these snow boots and warm jacket to help get me through. It will be tough, but I really hope that I make it through this winter's weather. High's in the teens just is not okay with me and all the walking around outside that I do. Ugh. I am a wimp like that. On the plus side, snow makes everything (but the roads) look beautiful!

thursday night basketball

Thursday we went to the BYU basketball game against Pepperdine with our good friends April and Cole! April and I were roommates a couple years back and I am so glad that our friendship has been able to keep on growing! We had a great time at the game. It helped that we won ;) Josh was even able to get a coupon for a free burger and a coupon for free creamery ice cream! Woohoo!! He seriously finds or gets free stuff where ever he goes. It is a gift. 

Thanks for the fun night April and Cole! I love you guys!

Picture of April and me from Fall 2010... Wow, we look so young ;)

somebody that I used to know STOP MOTION

My awesome sister in laws, husband and I created a stop motion video to the song "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Walk Off The Earth. I still have a lot of needed practice in creating and putting together stop motion videos but I sure enjoy the whole process!

Thank you Cami and Chari for playing with me! You guys had awesome ideas and I had a blast spending time with you! :)

resolutions

I always have a love-hate relationship with new year's resolutions. As kids I remember my sisters joking with my parents around this time of year saying, "Why set goals? You will just be disappointed when you don't do them. That is why I don't set goals." Or something along those lines. They were kidding, but I still find myself wanting to think like this sometimes. Goals are easy and fun to make, but extra hard to keep. Especially because that list you just made will probably get lost in the trash or forgotten on your computer in a month anyway. And because being extra healthy and 100% in my scripture reading seems impossible thinking about the whole year at a time.

I do love goal setting though because it gets me excited thinking about how I can become a better person and become the person that I really want to be. It helps me explore who I am and what I want in life. It helps me think of where I have been and who I will be. I look back on this past year, and I don't remember a single goal I set the year before at new years. but I remember things through out the year that I wanted to accomplish. I also see a lot of change that has taken place in me. I feel like I have grown, in ways I will never recognize or even appreciate in the moment, but cherish looking back on.

So as I keep this in mind for this new year and the goals that I want to accomplish, my list looks a little different than most years. I still have things written down that I want to do, but I have a different mindset on how I want to accomplish them. I want to start off each month with a renewed attitude of doing and being better about the goals in mind instead of thinking about my goals with next December as my final destination. This is a journey to discover myself, grow closer to my husband and grow closer to God and as I go through out the year I will hold on to those things and not let go. These things are the most important and as long as I give it my all, I will call each day a success.

happy new year!

America's next top model? probably not. I should take some posing classes or something, because I need some help to not look so awkward. ;) But I at least have fun trying and playing around. Josh and I found this old river bed filled with some kind of plant that we thought looked pretty cool. We liked the way that it turned out for the background of the pictures.

We had a fun New Years Eve spent going out to dinner with our family and hanging out with friends that we haven't seen since this summer. Kayla and her husband Josh along with Kaylani her husband DJ and their 2 1/2 week old baby came over to hang out with us! It was fun to catch up with them, see the beautiful baby and play some games! We played a game I had never played before and I really liked it! It was called Logos and you pretty much were quizzed on all sorts of logos, advertisements and slogans. I came in dead last haha but it was still a lot of fun. Kaylani and Kayla's Josh kicked bum in the game! They were awesome. We watched the ball drop and I got my New Years kiss at midnight. ;)

2012 was a crazy year that I am so grateful for! I got engaged to and married my best friend. We have moved 4 times since we have been married (Utah to Omaha, to Montana, to a different city in Montana, back to Utah). I finished my Junior year of college and am officially a Senior with one year to go. I became an aunt to an amazing and beautiful little girl, Brynlee. I've learned many lessons. I've gotten sick, A LOT. I went on a cruise and out of the country which are two firsts for me. I've had to do more grown up things. I've cooked more, loved more, recognized more than ever before my weaknesses and have never been more motivated to try and be a better person (which I think is what marriage is all about -- humbling ourselves, recognizing that we are imperfect and striving to be a better person and spouse). I've discovered more about what I like to do and what I do not like to do. I've recognized that it takes real effort to have and develop hobbies. I've had to face the fact that bad and unfair things happen in life. Life has been wonderful and difficult and such an amazing learning experience.

This new year should bring many new experiences that I have to look forward to! I haven't set official goals for the year yet, because I figure that we have a lot of time on the car ride home. ;) I hope you all have learned from the year that you have had, whether good or bad, and that this next year brings brighter days, new beginnings and more smiles. For the first day of the new year, I slept in, ate a delicious breakfast and am still in my comphies. It is a great beginning of the year to me! :)

another shooting adventure

Dad Peterson

Kyle

Bryn

Me

Chari

Cami

Mom Peterson

Hubby

It was loud!

While at the cabin with the Peterson fam, we all went shooting. It was SO freezing cold. Which seems to be a common theme of this break for the most part. ;) Luckily we had hot cocoa, lots of layers and a warm car and cabin. It was fun making memories with our fam and enjoying the experience!

hey you

I have no idea what I am even pointing at or doing in this picture. But it was awkward and awesome so I had to include it. New shirt, new hat, new boots. It was a good day.