WARNING: Avoid Stress. Or Else...

I am back in the Frozen Tundra! I have made it through the first week and a half of school, but just barely. 

(I know it's a little gross, but I have to warn you) 

(Haha! Savannah's mom gave her this sticker)

  

   Coming back to school was really stressful. I didn't think I was that stressed until one day I woke up with a shooting pain in my back. It then proceeded to move to my hip and eventually down my leg. It felt like I pulled some kind of muscle in my hip and I tried taking it easy for a couple of days. On Tuesday the portion of my back that had started to hurt started to itch. My leg started to break out in little red bumps. At first I thought it was some kind of rash, but then I thought maybe it was hives. My back and my leg started to really hurt so I finally went to the Health Center on Friday hoping they could give me some kind of explanation.

Doctor: "You have Shingles."

Me: "Oh, ew, that's disgusting!"

Doctor: ...Blank stare...

  Haha! That is exactly how my conversation went. I was in shock. The doctor gave me a prescription and sent me off, but not before telling me that my rash would bubble up, blister, pop, and then crust over. "You'll have some scarring too." Okay, EW!! I am a walking disease! I went straight home and looked up Shingles on WebMD.com. The first thing that I read was that it was adult chickenpox and that usually people 50 years or older get it. Haha! I told my family and the first thing that they thought was that 1. I didn't clean my clothes. 2. I was rubbing my body on gym equipment and not showering. Thanks Family. Haha. I am a clean person. Shingles is the dormant chickenpox virus that becomes active if you have a weak immune system or if you are stressed. So, my warning to all: take time to relax or else you'll get Shingles.

Okay, on to some better subjects. Besides the pain from Shingles, my life is fantastic!

Highlights:

• Roommates that are amazing!

 Hailey Warwood and Kaylee Duke

Me (I was really excited!)

Savannah Thorpe

Karen (can't spell her last name :\ )

This is us enjoying the Amazing Australian tradition, TimTam Slams. This was first introduced to me by the Amazing Sandberg Family.

• The Biggest Winner Competition

  On campus this semester the Fitness Activities group is having a competition called The Biggest Winner. It is based off the T.V. show The Biggest Loser. I have volunteered to be a personal trainer. I have a partner and a team of six individuals. I honestly don't know what I am doing. All I know is that I love these people and I want to help them reduce their risk of disease, motivate them to establish a healthy lifestyle, and increase their confidence so they can do everything they want to. There will be more coming as the program starts to pick up. 

•  School

   I go to the best school. I am truly blessed. The Gospel is integrated into all aspects of my education. Each of my classes are so interesting. I love to learn. There is power in working for an education. "Good books are as friends, willing to give to us if we are willing to make a little effort." -President Hinckley The Lord also blesses you greatly when you are trying to stretch yourself. He never lets you down.

That's pretty much my life right now. Everyday is filled with tender mercies of the Lord.

Oh, last night my mom called me and guess what? I received a package from Jordan! Apparently it got kind of mangled in the mail, but I think it is okay. My mom is going to forward it to me, but because it's a holiday tomorrow I don't think I'll get it for a while. It was amazing to hear from him though. His testimony strengthens my faith and adds an extra measure of the spirit in my life. His friendship blesses my life.

Okay, almost done, just one more thing...

 (Dropping Jamie off at the MTC)

This amazing man is coming home in SIX weeks! Where has the time gone? I am so excited to have my brother closer to me and be able to communicate with him more directly and more often.

All right, this is too long. I just had so many things to write. It's definitely time for bed now. Good night, Sleep tight, Don't let the bed bugs bite!

I have this habit of going to the Library and checking out too many books for me to read in the amount of time that I have them. Usually this happens when there is something in my life that I am running away from. Sitting down on one of my couches, preferrably by a window, with a blanket over my lap and a good book is my greatest escape (or hiding place). Emotionally, I dive into the plot of the book and forget my own problems. I guess this is one of my coping techniques.

Yesterday I went to the Library looking for just the right book to shut out my own thoughts. Honestly I was looking for a romantic, mindless read (I know, I am extremely pathetic). As I was skimming titles and authors Max Lucado caught my eye. This author struck me as familiar so I grabbed it. Taking a minute to scrape my brain for how I knew this guy it hit me. He is the author that wrote You are Special.

This book changed my life in 8th grade. It strengthened my ability to trust that God loves me even if I didn't have any friends. I have relied on that testimony many times.

Anyway, Outlive Your Life was the title of Max Lucado's book I grabbed. In it Mr. Lucado discusses that Jesus Christ uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. He alludes to the Bible quite a bit as he proves this point. The original twelve apostles were just ordinary people. They weren't rich or famous, uniquley beautiful, or even super righteous. "The one thing they had going for them was a willingness to take a step when Jesus said, "Follow me." is what Mr. Lucado wrote in his book.


This morning I was reading The Book of Mormon in Alma. Alma is grieved because of the wickedness of his people and so he gathers his sons and counsels them. The very last verse in chapter 37 Alma tells his son Helaman "Look to God and live."

WHOA!!

This has irritated me all morning. What does this mean? I understand that there is a spiritual meaning behind this, but there is a word that is bothering me. Really bad.

LIVE

Dictionary.com says that this means: to have life, as an organism; be alive; be capable of vital functions. So is that it? Living is just breathing and preforming vital functions, half of them involuntary? Well, CHECK. Can cross that one off my list.

No, that's not what I'm searching for.

Okay, what's the point of all of this? Going back to Max Lucado and his book that I grabbed from the Library, the sub title of Outlive Your Life: You were made to make a difference.

Hmm.....

Oh yes, this is what I'm searching for.

Here comes the horrible truth, realities that I have been running away from since I moved to St. George.

First, I really am not comfortable in social situations. More times than not I am awkward and closed off. I am afriad of showing who I am and truly speaking my mind. Maybe it was learned or maybe this is how I have always been, but it makes it pretty hard to make and keep friends.  

 

Second, I really do have a testimony, but my destructive weakness of comparing myself to everyone and even my own expectations slow my progression down. I don't know how much time I've wasted comparing myself to whatever; magnifying my insecurities. This does not help my social handicap either. At the end of the summer, right before I left for college I wrote my brother asking for advice. He wrote back an amazing email that made me realize that he knows me better than I thought. "Be yourself and don't try to be others." This was just one of the many impacting pieces advice he gave me.

 

Third, I am really sensitive. Small things can really hurt me. Part of the reason why I am afraid to be myself in public is because I can't handle thinking that someone doesn't like me. I get this from my mom. Most likely there will be someone that doesn't really like you, but I can't handle that. So I give a surface "me" to guard myself from potential hurt or conflict. I don't really know when I started doing this, but I have gone so far that I have lost opportunities to really get to know people and be able to help others. I think when I realized how far I had let this go was when I graduated from high school. I realized I had been so afraid to let people get to know me that after five years of going to school with these people I really didn't know any of them very well. 

 

Live. You were made to make a difference. It's time to stop allowing these personality traits from holding me back. Yes, I am only one weak, sensitive, socially awkward, lost girl, but I do have a desire to follow; a willingness to step when Christ invites: Follow me.

I was made to make a difference. So here I go, new year, new semester. Wish me luck! 

Remembered Wisdom

When I was a sophomore I met this amazing kid named Jordan. He is on a mission right now in Lisbon, Portugal and lately I have been thinking about two things he used to say.

1. It's good for me.

2. Smile...it's contagious.

There were times that Jordan would be asked to do hard things or things that he didn't really want to do. He would first say that he didn't like it or didn't want to do it and then add at the end, "but it's good for me" and move on to do whatever it was. Hard things are good for us. Jordan understood that and his character shows it.

Smiling is truly contagious. This was a phrase that I said once to Jordan and then he continued to remind me. One specific day, it was not a very pleasant day for me, Jordan reminded me to smile...it's contagious. So I tried it and it turned my day around. There has to be some kind of chemical reaction that happens in your brain when you smile. It's impossible to be unhappy or sad when you smile.

Thank you Jord, for your words of wisdom and always helping me to be better.

St. George!

Things I've missed in St. George:

• Mom and Dad
• KrisAnne
• SUNSHINE
• Pizza and Pasta Factory
• Ivins 2009/2010 Royalty
• My car/Driving
• My running routes
• The Thornton's (Holly, Mark, Joshy, and Beka)
• The Sandbergs
• The Gines'
• My primary class
• ST. GEORGE TEMPLE
• My bed/own room and bathroom
• Aunt Marsha
• MY PIANO

Things I miss in Rexburg:

• Rexburg Temple
• My roommates
• Walking everywhere
• The Bowman's
• The special spirit
• School
• My own food

After a week home I think I'm ready to go back to my home in Rexburg. I am ready to finish out the semester and definitely ready for Christmas! :) Overall this week has been fun. Coming home was harder than I thought it would ever be, but it was so nice to spend time with friends and family again. Life has changed. Better? Worse? No. Just changed.

Fear? No...

This morning I walked up to the Rexburg temple to go do some baptisms. Lately I have been studying out of an amazing book called The Infinite Atonement. It has taken me a while to read because it gives you so much to think about that I have to stop, ponder, and let it all sink in. This has helped me so much to apply the Atonement more fully in my life. It has helped me dig deeper into the Atonement and what Christ really did for each of his brothers and sisters. I reccommend this book it is great.

                                                                                 
Anyway, that's not what I wanted to write about. My Sophomore year of high school we studied the Old Testament in Seminary. The theme that year was Fear Not. Over the summer and throughout this semester the Lord has brought this phrase into my mind over and over again. Sometimes in the temple I like to read the Bible dictionary. There are tons of little treasures in there. Today I was skimming through and the word Fear caught my eye. The last part of it says, "Ever since the Fall God has been teaching men not to fear, but with penitence to ask forgiveness in full confidence of receiving it." Recently this has been true in my life. The Lord has been trying to teach me how to have faith in him; how to trust the Atonement and let it work in my life. Which leads me to one of my favorite scriptures. Mark 5:36 "...Be not afraid, only believe." There is a footnote on the word believe which says GR exercise faith. Our merciful father doesn't want us to fear his Son's sacrifice. He wants us to believe or exercise faith "in full confidence." The Lord Jesus Christ did indeed suffer all things; descending beneath it all. He conquered all things and is willing to give us power to conquer all things. So.....

Be Not Afraid, Only Believe.

"We are shaped and fashioned by what we love." –Goethe.

     

So...maybe this isn't what Goethe meant when he said what we love shapes us, but it works. Midterms are officially over and out of all my classes my Nutrition class is my favorite. I'm not exactly sure when it happened, but one day I realized whenever I read about fitness or health I get really excited. Eating is one of my favorite things to do and I find myself thinking about it more than anything else. Since the beginning of the semester I have tried to pay extra attention to my body and what it tells me. Our bodies are truly the most amazing thing. Our overall health is a huge part of our happiness on this life. I can't wait to be done with my foundations classes and get started on my degree full time.

I have these great roommates that share my interest in health. We like to exercise together and find new ways to do it. Running is what we do most of the time. It's amazing how much easier it is to exercise when you have someone with you. This is Alicia and I after a great run.

We look a little disgusting, but it just means we were working hard and our bodies are healthy. :)

One of the things I was looking forward to in college was buying and cooking my own food. Due to lack of funds I have only eaten food that I make. This is great for my bank account and for my hips! One day Alicia, Eliza and I made a roommate dinner.

At Broulims they sell locally made tortillas and I thought it would be great to buy them. Well, having little preservatives they got moldy fast. So we decided to make Holy Taco/Burrito/Enchilada's. As I poured the enchilada mix, water, and the tamato sauce in with the hamburger I realized that our taco's were going to be really soupy. Yeah, Enchilada and Taco mixes aren't inter-changeable.

Just a couple of weekends ago my amazing sister Adell came to rescue me and give me some company. We had a great time talking and sharing our experiences. Without fail everytime I talk to her I am uplifted and understand life a little more. BUT while she was here I had to take advantage of her amazing cooking and teaching skills. I had her help me pick out good, easy recipies that I could make and freeze so I wasn't spending so much time cooking dinner. We went grocery shopping and before she left she instructed me what to do to make these meals. So I spent that whole Saturday night cooking. At the end of the night I had made Swiss Steak and Autumn soup, portioned them into the perfect serving tupperware, and organized them neatly in our freezer. With my limited cooking experience I was quite satisfied. The best part is that now when I come home starving from class, or soccer, or the library I can heat up an instant dinner that is nutritious. The other great part is that I am learning some great recipies that I can feed my family with. WIN-WIN!

The beginning of summer I made a goal to lose ten pounds by the time I got up to school. I just wanted to get into better shape and establish some good habits for being on my own. I've heard a lot of scary Freshman Fifteen+ stories. Starting at 130 lbs. at the end of the summer I had lost 8 pounds putting me at 122 lbs. I have been at school for two months and yesterday I weighed myself. 124 lbs. I just want to say...TAKE THAT freshman fifteen!!! (hopefully I can keep it that way!)

Well, eat your fruits and veggies. Your body will appreciate it. Take time to eat right. It is worth it! Yay Body!  



The Power of Yes

First, I want you to watch this video. :) My sister Lucy first showed me this and then my roommate Jenna showed all of us.

Jessica's "Daily Affirmation"

This has become one of our favorite things to quote. This little girl has it all figured out. My roommates Eliza and Alicia like to work out with me in the mornings. This has been such a wonderful blessing. I learn so much from these two girls. They are amazing. The other day Alicia and I were running to the temple and after running up the first big hill we turned the corner to run up the next one. This started a conversation about the power of YES. She was explaining to me the phsychological effects of saying yes. So to get ourselves pumped up to make it to the top of the hill where the temple sits we started yelling YES! Yes to the temple, Yes to our lives, Yes to school, Yes to our amazing bodies! The list went on (we also quoted little Jessica). I don't know for sure how it works, but it does. If ever you are in need of a little lift, just say yes. :)