Thankful For So Many Things

This week I had a nice Thanksgiving break with my family who came up from Texas. Monday and Tuesday was a time to visit BYU campus, time to go to the temple, and visit with my mom's side of the family. We spent Thanksgiving and Friday with my dad's side of the family and ended up braving the freezing weather to see the lights on Temple Square.

I love my family and I am super grateful for them. I love the Thanksgiving holiday mostly for the attitude of gratitude that everyone gets around this season. President Uchtdorf said in his April 2014 talk that God commanded us to be thankful because He wants us to have joy. I know that to be true.

On Monday night for FHE we all sat down for a timed five minutes and wrote everything that we are grateful for. Then we went around and shared at least two things we wrote down. All the adults were saying all their unique ones like hot water for showers, or fruit smoothies, or a certain plateau. All were great, but when it came time for my little 6-year old brother to share his he shared that he was thankful for "Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and mom". It really hit me that although I had those also on my list, I needed to ask myself what really matters in life. I reflected how grateful I was for those things make the top of my list. I am grateful for the atonement, temple blessings, Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, my family and friends, the simple gospel and many more important things.

Also I love how right after Thanksgiving it is the Christmas Season. Bring on the Christmas music, yummy food, reflection on Christ, and more family get togethers!

It is Great to be Alive

"I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!"

This is a quote that my sister sent me this week by Dr. Seuss that I love. I always need to remember to have an eternal perspective when I am going through trials. I don't need to be sorry for myself. I need to take that big bat and face them. I can be strong and overcome these trials.

This week I have been able to see many tiny tender mercies from Heavenly Father such as a person giving me a call out of the blue, or people coming to visit me while I am staying home with a concussion, or even a mislabeled package in our mailbox which allowed me to get out of the house and deliver it to the correct person.

Here is also a beautiful sunset from last week that made me really happy:

We Thought Playing Kickball in the Dark was a Good Idea

On Monday night for FHE we combined with another FHE group and decided to play kickball in the dark because we couldn't turn on the lights to the field. While I was guarding second base the person kicked the ball and I unfortunately misjudged where the ball was. All I remember is a big red ball coming towards my face. My vision became blurry for a few seconds and I decided to sit out the rest of the game, but I was not concerned considering I have been hit in the face with a ball before. I continued to have a constant migraine the rest of the night and all of Tuesday.

Wednesday morning my favorite roommate Kassi (who is the same favorite roommate typing this blog post for me as I speak) kindly took me to the BYU Health Center. The doctor established that I did indeed have a concussion and cannot do any school work, work, or focus on anything for a week (hence why Kassi is typing this for me).

I have never been so thankful for a busy schedule, work or school work. I can't do what I would normally do if I was sick. It hurts to watch a movie, listen to music, or read. I explained to my sister that my head basically feels like I have a constant brain freeze.

The good thing that has come I also have to take a break from technology. This has been good because it is a goal I have tried to keep and now I have a concussion to help me achieve this. ;) I am also so grateful for the wonderful friends and family that have been taking great care of me.

Food Making Skills...Nunchuck Skills...Bow Hunting Skills

I love my Food Preparation class I am taking this semester. It isn't part of my major, but I signed up for it just to fill in some credits. We have a short lecture on Wednesday and then lab on Friday. For lab each week we get to work in groups of three or four and make some assigned dishes. Then we all share our food with the rest of the class. 

With this class I have been able to taste and make new things. Each week we have a different theme like meat, grains, eggs and dairy, and sugar. I have helped make chicken cordon bleu, crepes, creamy zucchini soup, pretzels, quinoa salad, and much more.

With this class I have become more confident with my cooking skills. I also have realized that it really isn't that hard to find time or ingredients to cook a good meal in college. I hope to use these recipes and skills I have learned in this class to be more motivated to make yummy meals throughout my life.

Online Mock Interview

Tonight I participated in a digital mock interview with Kimberly. We just used FaceTime since both of us had an Iphone. Sometimes the picture was a bit glitchy, but the sound was just fine. Before the interview, I felt a little flustered and rushed because I had just gotten home from my Econ 110 midterm. Besides that I felt like it went really smoothly.  We both read over each other's resumes beforehand and then we asked each other questions.

It was interesting to do an online interview compared to our in class interview. It was different to interview with just one person rather than the whole panel like we had in class. I was able to focus on and connect with one person better. It felt more relaxed and casual since we didn't have to shake hands and we were only able to see the top half of each other. It was also different interviewing with a friend. If it was the actual potential employer I would have dressed up professionally and prepared a little more.

Virtual Meeting

Last week our group did our group meeting on Google Hangout. We started out with some technological difficulty. We were kind of worried it wouldn't work out smoothly, but it turned out just fine. It began with a few jumpy parts with the sound and picture, but towards the end it worked out. We talked about our plan for recording our complaints and working on our project. It was a pretty easy way to have a group meeting because we could all be in the comfort of our home and didn't have to set up a place to meet.

Halloween

 

I love Halloween! I love seeing people dressed up. There was some amazing costumes on campus on Friday. Tonight my roommates and I planned out a Halloween party for friends.We all dressed up. I along with my roommates dressed up as cats. We played murder in the dark and mafia. It was so much fun. Before the party we were all supper busy all day. I had two midterms to take today and other big projects to do. We found that you don't have to have too much planning to have fun.