Thankful

• My mom saved my butt today....thanks mom!
• I got to go out with the missionaries today…twice :)
• I randomly had a long chat with a guy from Willie's ward, and strangely enough, it was just what I needed at the end of this STRESSFUL day.
• I am thankful that my sister randomly calls me to tell me about different things that happened during her day.
• I’m BEYOND thankful that I get to go home tomorrow.

Thankful: Day 1

I made it a goal at the beginning of this year to write down 5 things that I am thankful for everyday, and I have missed several days, but I've done better than I thought. With Thanksgiving coming up, and the whole holiday season approaching, I need to start doing a better job. So here you go...

-I am thankful for MY FAMILY. Oh my goodness, I can't even begin to tell you how much I love them.

-I am thankful for candles that make my apartment smell like Christmas.

-Speaking of Christmas, I am so thankful for Christmas music, and that I live with someone who doesn't mind me listening to it before Thanksgiving.

-I'm thankful that Willie's on a mission, and that he write me.

-I'm thankful for what I know.

-I taught my first lesson ever today, to a bunch of first graders and it went really, really well. I am beyond thankful for that.

Overwhelmed.

Overwhelmed and stressed. That's me. Those are probably the perfect words right about now. It's a sad story I'll admit, but there's no getting around it. I have projects and homework and clinical assignments coming out of my ears. How am I supposed to get all of this stuff done in 5 weeks? Believe me, I will be one happy girl when this semester is over, but it's daunting to think that I only have 5 short weeks to get so much work done. The saddest part about all of this is probably the fact that I haven't even procrastinated that much this semester. I'll go ahead and say that that's a bad habit that will probably take me lifetimes to overcome...but this semester despite the occasional "I'll do that tomorrow, or next week," I've actually stayed on top of all my classes pretty well. But the work WON'T. STOP. COMING. I suppose it will just make winter break that much sweeter. I'm done complaining.

On to better news, I came home from institute last night and of course got on facebook and I had this a message from someone whose name I didn't recognize. A little strange. But I opened it anyways, and I'm glad I did. Here is what it said:

Jordan,

I meant to come home from the baptism on Sunday and send you a message right then. I wanted to tell you and Elder Vaughn's family that although I am VERY familiar with the very cool and suave Elder Vaughn - the football playing, cookie eating, chicken biscuit loving Elder Vaughn -- I witnessed the sweetest, most tender testimony given of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I saw him share with emotion his testimony of the truthfulness of this gospel. It was something you can never get enough of. I witnessed the priesthood in action and felt the spirit confirm the truth of all that he said, all that I felt. We love Elder Vaughn.

I am so glad that someone took the time to send me that. It pretty much made my day :) She also told me that while she was typing me that message, her son came in and apparently had just gotten a call from the elders about transfers, and that Willie and his companion are both staying in the ward. That would be so weird, but this will make 10 months that Willie has been in the exact same ward. crazy! But I guess it's a good thing because he loves it, and apparently they love him.

One year

I have only one word.

UNBELIEVABLE.

It has been ONE YEAR since Willie left for Utah. I remember being in the airport [being quite dramatic] thinking that I would never be able to make it 2 whole years. It feels like I've blinked a couple of times and it's half way over. Unbelievable. Time goes so quickly.

Since I'm on the subject of Willie, I'll just give a quick update :)

They just had transfers, but he still didn't get moved. He's staying in the West Hills ward, where he has been since February! He loves the ward, he loves his companions, he loves the people that he's teaching, he loves his mission president, and he LOVES serving.

Do you have qualities about yourself that bug you? Does that even make sense? I am constantly comparing myself to other people and it drives me INSANE...but I still do it. I make a conscience effort to stop doing it, but I just can't help myself sometimes. The whole point of this, is that I have seen Willie change through letters, like you wouldn't even believe. He has grown so much in just a short year. So I look at the difference in him, and then I look at myself and I feel like I'm the same person that I was a year ago. That's not a very good thing. I wasn't a bad person a year ago...my point is that I don't feel like I've made any noticeable progress, and it's a little frustrating. I'm sure I have. I have been through experiences that I couldn't have gone through without changing and becoming a little stronger. I think my main problem here, is that I'm looking at myself compared to others. I think if I really took some time [and took everyone else out of the equation] and thought about all that's happened in the past year, and who I was, and who I am now, I would see some differences.

All I know for sure, is I still have a lot of work to do. I supposed it's a good thing I have another year to focus on just me.

Bored.

I'm bored. So I'll just write about whatever come to my head.

I made it through the first two weeks of school! I still like all my classes and professors.

I heard a really funny/scary story yesterday about a girl (who happened to be on crutches) getting hit by a SUV. My roommate witnessed it first hand. I know that shouldn't be funny, maybe it's just the way Becca tells it.

I get to go HOME for the long weekend and I'm so excited. I don't know why, I was just home last weekend...I'm just a homebody.

Yesterday was Willie's birthday! It was really weird, but we still celebrated :) Hopefully he had a really good day.

I am about to start filling out the application for my yearlong internship/student teaching. I can't believe I'm old enough to be doing that. It's so weird. It seems like I JUST graduated high school, and I only have a little over a year of college left. So, so weird.

A few months ago, I started making a list of 100 goals for my life. I know that sounds kind of funny, but I read it in a book and it sounded like a good idea, so I've been doing that. It's so much harder than you would think. I've finally made it to around 80, and I'm all out of ideas. But I'll probably post some of those when I finish. It's kind of funny what you can think of when you have to come up with so many.

The whole reason I'm bored is because I'm waiting on Carly, so that we can go to the gym (because she's getting married in a month...we usually wait until the last minute...this is no exception :). But she just called, so I've got to go.

:)

Working on me

The start of school always causes me to do a little self reflection. Sometimes I don't even want to think about all the things I need to work on, but with a new beginning, I can't help it. One of my favorite classes this semester is a class that teaches me how to teach writing to elementary school kids. I love to write, and I actually write every single day but my professor challenged us to follow 7 rules as we write.

Rule #1: Keep your hand (or your fingers) moving.

Rule #2: Lose control

Rule #3: Be specific

Rule #4: Don't think

Rule #5: Don't worry about punctuation, spelling, grammar

Rule #6: You are free to write the worst junk in America

Rule #7: Go for the jugular

I love my professor! Obviously, these are rules for just free writing, but if you follow them, they make such a difference. So, that's what I'm going to do with this post. I'm going write whatever is in my head. Sorry if it doesn't make sense, sorry if it's the worst junk in America, sorry if it's boring....feel free to stop reading if it is....

Happies:

-Believe it or not, I LOVE school this semester. My professors are great, the classes are actually interesting and useful. I'm pretty sure this is the first semester of my college career that I've enjoyed every single class...it's pretty great.

-There was a talk in sacrament meeting this past week that talked about studying the scriptures and I've been trying to get better at that. I usually just read them and I always get something out of the time that I spend doing that, but Sunday evening I was looking back through some of the things that I wrote down at church and I decided that I was really going to STUDY. So I started with a prayer and did my best, and it was AMAZING. That's all I have to say about that. :)

-My sister is getting married in 45 days! It's pretty exciting. Speaking of my sister, I saved a pretty good bit of money at Target today thanks to her.

-I get to babysit Caiden on Friday. I haven't seen him in so long. It actually hasn't been that long, but it feels like it's been forever. I miss little Caidy-butt.

-I have a really cute apartment thanks to Rebecca.

-Willie has been gone for a year...well, actually just 11 months, but that's close enough.

-There are more happies, I just can't think of them right now.

Crappies:

-I'm really bad at parking my car, and backing it up.

-On Monday's I'm in class for 9 hours.

-I can't find a good planner anywhere. I'm so lost without one.

-Thankfully, I don't have very many crappies.

So let's go back to the whole, Willie's almost been gone for a year thing. That's crazy! I can't believe how fast time has gone. He LOVES everything about what he is doing. He's still in his second area, he has been there FOR-EV-ER. I guess it's a good thing he likes it. His birthday is coming up and I have NO IDEA what to get him....no idea. Seriously, I got nothing. I think my favorite thing about this whole experience is reading his letters and e-mails and seeing how much he has changed and how much his testimony has grown. It's not very often that a person changes that drastically in such a short time, and I know that I definitely haven't. I have a lot to work on, lots of thing to improve. But that's what so great about this life, we have so many opportunities to change and grow and become better. We don't have to do it all in one day, or one year, it's just a constant tiny change from day to day. Trying to do better....that's all we have to do. It's pretty cool to think about.

That's all. If anyone made it this far, I apologize, because this probably was the worst junk in America. But I don't care :)

Carly's Bridal Shower

This past Saturday morning, Haley and I threw Carly a family bridal shower at our house. Before Aunt Judy left, she made sure that I would post pictures so that you could see them Laura, so this is for you. Enjoy :-)

The gift table with cute pictures of the future Mr. and Mrs.

The cake. I decorated this one, Haley decorated one that looked like a tux, but I accidentally deleted it and it takes forever to load pictures. But it was REALLY cute!

Grandmother Holmes and Aunt Jill

Rebecca and Carly

Carly and Grandmother Holmes, trying to figure out where in the world she was. :)

Grandmommy, Grandmother Holmes, Aunt Judy and Carly

Jenny, Aunt Judy, Carly and Grandmother Holmes

Grandmommy was trying to keep Campbell occupied...it was really funny.

Aunt Judy and Jill, during one of the games

The beautiful quilt from Jenny

My Aunt Angela got Carly cleaning supplies, an ironing board, and a cleaning uniform. haha.

Candle holders.

Cute wall art.

Can't remember who this was from...but it made Carly a little bit uncomfortable.

Silverware!

Vicki, gave Carly a bunch of chocolate...including syrup.

And now, it gets really embarrassing, thanks to Rebecca Hilton.

I think all of this speaks for itself.

It was hilarious to watch her open this.

It gets better...

More syrup.

Red Bull.

Yeah.

So funny.

The shower turned out great. We definitely have good pictures and good memories. Hope you enjoyed it....we wish you could have been here Laura!

Caiden :)

Caiden is getting so big. It's crazy how fast he is growing! These are some pictures that I took of him a few days ago, which are pretty cute if I do say so myself :-).

My poor little car...

What a sad day...at least no one was hurt! Except for my little car, bless it's heart.

Count your many blessings...

What a weekend. Isn't it funny how you don't really realize how blessed you truly are until something not so good happens. Well, that's what happened this weekend for me....

Friday: I worked and rode down to the temple with Brandon. We got there early so we went to the bookstore, and I bought two books that I'm really excited to read. The temple was great as always. So, that was a great day.

Saturday: I woke up early for the day of service. I had to give the sisters and elders a ride and after being lost in Concord for about 30 minutes, we finally made it there. We worked hard to clean up school grounds and it was actually a lot of fun. Later that day we got to go back to Columbia to hear Elder Anderson speak. I drove down with Rebecca, and Brandon and that was fun all on it's own. :) We listened to Elder Anderson speak and it was amazing. It's so neat to see an apostle in such a personal setting and really get to see his personality. He was so funny! So that was amazing...we even got to shake his hand and talk with him for about 5 seconds each...so cool! THEN....on the way home (long story short) I got in a wreck :( It was so scary. I've never gotten a ticket, or even been pulled over...so much for that. So, not surprisingly, I had no idea what to do. Thank goodness for my friends. Brandon Pace is a lifesaver! He was sitting right behind me and I guess he saw it coming and he grabbed my shoulders and kept me from hitting the airbag. He went and checked on the guy we hit (who was fine...and very nice), he somehow made me stop crying, he made me laugh a couple times, he talked to the cops and firefighters and rescue people, he talked to the guy in the gas station where we had to leave my car, he talked to my parents. He did everything. Thank goodness he was with me. And Donald gave us all a ride back to Charlotte...he's the man. So everything turned out fine. No one was hurt!! We were all very blessed.

Sunday: We had ward conference and it was so good. I love having all the Stake leaders come, they are awesome. Bishop was conducting sacrament meeting and announced to everyone about my wreck which was rather embarrassing. :) All of the talks and lessons were really great! Jenny taught Relief Society and it was amazing...she said exactly what I need to hear. I love her! After church Jake took me home (thanks Jake!) and as soon as I got there I got a call from my Grandpa who said he had picked up my car earlier and was coming through Charlotte on his way home...so I got to come home and see my family! :)

Like I said...what a weekend.

After everything that happened I feel overwhelmingly blessed. I'm thankful for:

-Being safe

-My family

-Brandon

-Rebecca

-Jay

-Heather

-Tyra

-Jamie

-Donald

-Carly

-Jake

-The guy we hit...he was probably the nicest person I've met in a long time.

-All of the firefighters and rescue people were great!

-My parents!!

-hugs

-hearing an apostle!

-being able to go to the temple

-ward conference

-My Grandpa

-the list goes on and on and on...

-I am sooooooo blessed-

Maybe one day

You would figure that eventually I would learn my lesson about putting things off until the very, very last minute...newsflash...I won't, at least I haven't yet. This past Thursday night I made a list of all the things that I had to get done, homework, project, lesson plans, studying, activities, all of that stuff. My plan was to get all of my homework done on Friday so I wouldn't have to worry about it the rest of the weekend. Surprise, surprise, it didn't happen. It didn'thappen on Saturday either, or Sunday, or most of the day Monday. I got home from class last night at 8:45 and decided that since I had a lesson plan and a clinical report due today and a final exam on top of that, I should probably get started.

I finished my clinical report in about an hour, which wasn't too bad, but then I had to start my lessosn plan which was another story. I was stuck! I called my mom around 11 and she helped out a lot...thank goodness. So I worked on that for a while, but still didn't finish. I decided that since I had a final exam before the lesson plan was due, that it was probably a good time to start studying. Well, that lasted all of 30 minutes and then I couldn't stay awake, so around 2 I went to bed.

This morning my alarm clock went off way to early. I had to take a quick shower, submit my clinical report, sign up for seminars for a summer enrichment program that I'm going to, and hopefully study sometime in between there before my exam at 11. Thankfully, it all worked out and somehow I got it all done. Now I usually don't get stressed about anything, but this morning was a different story. You would figure that eventually I would stop doing this to myself. Maybe one day :)

he took it well

I got a letter back from Willie today and thankfully he took my little joke pretty well. When I started reading the letter I wasn't even sure if he had gotten it because he didn't mention anything about it and then all of the sudden he said...

"Ok, so your little april fools joke...NOT FUNNY!! haha, that was a good one. Just so you know I had tears in my eyes while I read it until the very end. I'm still shaking right now. That was a good one. My companion really like it. I'll admit, it was pretty funny...just don't ever do it again!"

April Fools!

I usually don't get into April Fool's Day, but this year was different. This might possibly be the meanest thing I have ever done. It's kind of funny though, actually it's really funny. I wrote Elder Vaughn a fake "Dear John" letter. I went on and on about how it will best for both of us to "take a step back" and stop writing each other so much and maybe when he gets back, we can see where it goes. So mean, right? Yeah, it is...I know. Anyways, the last line of the letters says, "Just so you know this is an April Fool's Day joke, I'm totally kidding about all of this. I love you!" The only reason I did this is because I know Willie has a great sense of humor, and I really think that once he figures out I'm kidding, he will take it very well. But until then, he might be a little sad. Ever since I put it in the mail this morning, I've been thinking of all the things that could go wrong. What if he only reads half of it and gets so upset that he doesn't finish it and he never knows that it was a joke? That would kind of suck. What if he writes back and says that he totally agrees with everything I said? That would be even worse. I just keep telling myself that he can take a joke. Hopefully he will find it funny. I'm pretty sure he will. I guess I'll find out shortly :)

The Tender Mercies of the Lord

p90x

Carly and I started p90x this past Monday and it is kicking our butts!

That's all I have to say about that.

faith.

"Each of us faces the time when the powers of reason come in direct conflict with faith. All the logic, all the understanding of men may swell in unison and there alone, in opposition, stands faith--unalterable, unassailable, unmovable--the anchor to our souls. The tides of trial can come, the ocean waves of wordly reason pound against our souls, the current and popular trends tug with all their mighty sway, but there unmoved, unfuzed, unharmed is the soul that is anchored by faith."

drum roll please...

So, I have BIG news.

DRUM ROLL PLEASE.... :)

I'm going on a mission!

I'm so excited!!!!! All of the people that I have told, with the exception of a few, have looked at me like I was completely crazy. I don't really blame them though because if someone would have told me this a year ago I would have thought they were crazy. It's funny how life unfolds so much differently then you imagined sometimes.

There's a long story that goes along with this decision, but it's a little personal. But all that's really important is that I have finally made up my mind. I definitely know without a doubt that this is something that I am supposed to do and I am so excited!

So, here is how the next two years look for me...

I'll be busy with school for the rest of this semester and next year. Next summer I'll take some classes and then WILLIE WILL BE HOME! :) I will have one more semester of school (student teaching...scary) and then I will graduate in December and leave asap after that. I really hope that I go somewhere where I have to learn a different language. That would be awesome.

If you can't tell I'm so excited!!

By the way...my sister is engaged too and I guess I'm okay with that :) just kidding, I'm so excited for her!

what a weekend

Friday:

-Taylor and I left for Columbia (giving ourselves and hour of disaster time...thank goodness)

-Taylor and I stopped at Bank of America to deposit her check.

-We drive about 45 minutes to a gas station to fill up Taylor's empty tank only to realize that Taylor's debit card was still in Fort Mill in the Bank of America ATM...not good.

-We go to Taco Bell and while waiting in the drive through line decide to call one of the smartest people we know (Jasher...duh) and figure out what we should do about the whole debit card situation. Of course, he got it all worked out for us.

-Taco Bell gets spilled everywhere in the car...mostly on Taylor :)

-Finally....................we make it to Columbia.

-Awkward dance

-Not enough sleep.

Saturday:

-First stop: the bank to get Taylor a temporary debit card.

-Chick-fil-A

-Temple Bookstore!!!! We got some awesome stuff...and it was great to see the temple!

-Stop #4: zoo!!

- Put-Put! Taylor was the ultimate winner....and I came in second. We totally dominated all of those Columbians :)

- There were 3 seminars that we wet to later in the day. The third we definitely my favorite. We talked about starting with small things like prayer, scripture study, etc and building on those things because they are what make so much of a difference in your life. It was a really great lesson!

- After all of that we headed home. But we decided that since were already in Columbia that we COULDN'T make it all the way home without stopping at the MELLOW MUSHROOM...yum! Sooooo goood!

-Then we went home.

Taylor and I had so much fun! The temple, zoo and mellow mushroom were definitely the highlights of the trip. It was awesome...don't be jealous :-)

?

I'm not really sure what is going on in this video besides a bunch of elders practicing for a ward talent show. It makes me laugh though :)

Things I've learned lately

1- I'm not having kids until I'm about 300 years old (maybe not quite so old...but you get the idea)

2- I am no match for 12 year olds

3- There is such a thing as diet water..who knew?

4- Thinking about things that will never happen but you totally want them to can make life much easier to deal with.

5- 5 year olds do not understand sarcasm

6- My room mate can make really awesome birthday cakes!

7- Just because you want to dream about something really really really bad doesn't mean it will happen..unfortunately

8- Waking up early never gets any easier

To Be Continued...most likely.

Happy Birthday To Me!

I love my birthday! It's like Christmas all over again, except it's all about me :-)

Today I woke up and I was about to walk out of my room when I saw a cute little sign that said...HAPPY BIRTHDAY JORDAN, I HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY....from my sweet roommate Becca! She is awesome.

Then I got ready for school and went downstairs and my amazing sister made me cinnamon rolls :) When we were younger and still lived at home our parents made us cinnamon rolls on our birthday, so that made me really excited, and I ate way too many (but it's my birthday and I can do what I want)

Then I went to school :( I should have done the same thing as last year and just skipped all my classes, but everyone else was in school, so I figured I would go.

Anyways, I got home from school and Becca had made me a beautiful TARHEEL cake! It is awesome! Carly, Jake and I took it and drove to meet my family at SOGO's (the best Japanese restaurant ever) and had a really good time there with all of my family.

I love my birthday! I love all of the nice texts and face book messages that I got. I also got a really awesome e-mail from a very sweet missionary, which pretty much made my day :)

It's been great.

Success!

Something that I've been working on lately is writing in my journal...and a couple of days ago I finished one! I can see why we're told to keep one, because when I go back and look through it I can see how different I have become even over the past several months. There were a couple of times that I had to laugh at myself because I was a little too dramatic, or just had no idea what I was talking about...but I guess that happens. :)

I've been thinking about a huge decision lately and looking back through my journal has given me a lot of clarity and direction...it's awesome. I'm so glad that I stuck to it.

decisions decisions...

Decision making is a skill not yet mastered for me. Seriously. They don't even have to be big decisions, they can be tiny insignificant choices during the day, and it takes me so long to make up my mind.

For example:

-When I leave school in the afternoon it takes me a few minutes to decide which way to drive home.

-When I want to go to the grocery store I can't decide which one to go to...and once I get there what in the world am I supposed to buy?

-I have no idea what news channel is the best to watch in the morning because I flip back and forth between so many that I never watch one long enough to see.

--what a life!--

It's bad...I know. But the thing that is so weird is that I don't have any trouble at all deciding on the BIG things. That comes easy, which is a blessing :)

my parents

-love-

-sacrifice-

-patience-

-faith-

-determination-

-kind-

-selfless-

-charity-

-integrity-

-teachers-

-thinkers-

-spellers :)-

-firm-

-bold-

-inspired-

-obedient-

-examples of everything that is good-

My parents are all of these things and so much more. I have never seen two people who are more devoted to one another or to their family.

Every morning, way before the sun comes up, my dad is out the door an on the way to work. He wakes up that early so that he can get all of his jobs done and make it back home, usually to go to a ball game but mainly to spend time with our family. Over the years my dad has taught me so many things...hard work is important, good grades are mandatory, honesty, respecting others, standing up for what is right and so much more. When I was in high school I played sports every single season all four years. I could always count on my dad to be at every single game. He didn't miss one. I made the volleyball team when I was a freshman and the first week of practice I hated it. I remember coming home crying every single day and begging my parents to let me quit and I remember my dad talking to me about how once you start something, you finish it (I LOVE volleyball now :-) My dad is willing to listen no matter what I need to talk to him about. Two days ago I was on the way to the grocery store and I called him to ask which store had the best prices. That was it, that's all I needed, something so simple but he was there...like he always is.

I don't know how my mom does it. She is hardcore. :) On top of having 5 children and one grand baby :) she has a full-time job and she goes to school for herself! I look at my mom and am constantly amazed by her perseverance. No matter how hard her life gets she never stops. I know that I can call my mom and she will be willing to listen, give advice and make me laugh. A lot of people say I look and act a lot like her...I like to think so. My mom has taught me things like...most of the time laughter is the best medicine, sometimes it's better just to be quiet, hard work pays off, helping others brings happiness, I have what it takes to become the person that I want to become, giving up is not okay...I will never be able to repay my mom for the example that she has been to me.

I don't really understand why it takes people so long to really appreciate their parents. I have always been grateful for what they have done for me and the things they have given but recently I have gained a greater love and respect for my parents then I have ever had. They have always taught me and my brothers and sisters that family is the most important thing. No matter what trials come our way, no matter what people say, no matter what people think, our family sticks together; they always have, and I know they always will because that is what my parents have taught us.

snow days

I love snow days. The main reason is because EVERYTHING closes down around here. It started snowing Friday...it's now Monday and most schools are still shut down (including UNC-C) I love it! I love how life slows down for a while...it's nice to have a little break every now and then.

Friday.

(: I got a letter today :)

Elder Vaughn is doing sooo good. It is crazy to see how quickly his testimony is growing. He LOVES being a missionary and he and his companion are having a lot of success. This past Saturday they just had two more baptisms!!

The experiences that he tells me about through his letters teach me so much.

...Taking time to pray and listen to the promptings of the spirit can work wonders...Being bold and bearing your testimony when you don't know what else to say can make the biggest difference...Finding humor in the small things can make a bad day turn around for the better...You never know how much of an impact a simple smile can have on someone...

I love it. I love letters. I love Friday's. I love p-day's. I love e-mail's. I love missionaries...one in particular :)

thank goodness

What a day. It started out great. I love going to institute on campus. I can't think of a better way to start off the day. Work was good. Class was even great...I made a 100 on my first quiz in Earth Science :). My home teachers gave an amazing spiritual thought. Dinner was delicious (thanks to me and Carly...but mostly Carly). The movie that we watched was really funny. Good day, right?

Right, it was a great day. But I think I've gotten into a bad habit. After I am done with everything for the day I come to my room and sit on my bed and just think. Instead of thinking about all of the great things about my day I think about the things that maybe weren't so great. Like tonight for instance, (I'm going to warn you that this might not make any sense) I have been sitting here thinking about something that is going on my life right now and it FRUSTRATING! On top of that, I think about how I can never keep my room clean, I never get enough sleep, I never finish my homework on time, I don't read enough, I don't write in my journal enough....there are so many things that I don't do as well as I should and it frustrates me.

Thank goodness for the sister missionaries (and all missionaries for that matter :) They were here for dinner the other night and they shared the scripture Mosiah 4:27

"And see that all things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order."

When the sisters shared that scripture they had us commit to making a list of our priorities in life. So I did. Surprisingly, all of the things that have made me so frustrated lately, aren't on that list. I know that I need to improve on those things...I have a lot of things to improve on, but instead of worrying about little things that don't make much difference one way or the other I'm going to start concentrating on my list of important things :)

And I'm definitely not going to run faster than I have strength...I don't think that's possible anyways. :)

Beautiful Day...

It is such a beautiful day. Sixty degrees, very windy, and the sun is shining bright.

On days like this, it's easy to get out of bed...it's nice to walk around campus and feel the warm sun...it's awesome to be able to ride down the road with the windows down and the music up loud. I love days like this :)

Life is good.

I have an amazing family.

I find humor in very, very simple things (for example the sonic commercials).

I have a pretty amazing future ahead of me.

I laugh a lot.

I know the truth.

I don't have classes on Friday's.

In my personal opinion, I have the best boyfriend in the world...aww :)

I have clothes to wear, food to eat and a house to live in.

I get pretty great e-mails every Monday and letters every Friday.

I know people that give the best hugs in the world.

and many more...

Crazy little thing called LOVE.

One week and one day ago my family received a precious little miracle by the name of Caiden Brian Starnes. While my family was busy at the hospital, I stayed home for a little while with my brothers and we worked on cleaning up the house a little bit. I was about to walk out the door to head back to the hospital and my little brother, Dylan told me to wait a second because he wanted to write Haley a note. The note took all of about 15 seconds for him to write, but the two sentences that he wrote meant so much.

Dear Haley,

I just wanted to tell you that I love you. I know sometimes it seems like I don't, but I really do...I love Caiden too."

Love, Dylan

This little gesture of love meant so much to me and it taught me a lot about the love of a family. Love should be spoken and expressed often and I'm so glad that in my family, it is.

good attitude

School starts today!

That was my attempt at having a good attitude about it. I think it's pretty obvious to people that know me that school is not my favorite thing...not even close. It was so hard to leave home after a long Christmas break of spending time with my family and not having to worry about anything but them. A couple days ago we got a sweet new addition to our family so that made it even harder to leave. Bless my heart :) But on the bright side, when I'm in school the time seems to go by faster and for me that's a good thing for the time being. So I suppose that I'll just suck it up for now and push through. But I do miss home, my family, baby Caiden and no school work. But from here on out I'm going to work on having a good attitude about school, or I will at least start wanting to have a good attitude about school.

...baby steps.

update!

We got a package from Willie yesterday and it had his memory card in it with some great pictures! Transfers are this week so he is pretty anxious to find out if he will be moving to a different area. He is still doing great and loves being a missionary. :)

In the MTC the sisters in his district drew him as a superhero.

This was in the first package that I sent him

This is kind of funny. Willie spent the last couple of months before he left home trying to grow his hair out because people kept telling him that he needed a part. Then, the day he got to the MTC they cut his hair (really short) and then used a shop vac on his head...he thought that was so weird.

He misses home :(

But loves where he's going :)

I'm not sure who the two other guys are...but I just love this picture.

Finally in San Diego

Willie and his trainer, Elder McCormick

First visit to the San Diego temple...this is one of my favorite pictures.

:)