I don't do this a lot but I just have to

Anyone who knows me but at all knows that I am not necessarily the most out spoken person when it comes to my testimony. I have one but I tend to keep it close to my heart and to myself. However, while I was sitting in fast and testimony meeting today, an experience that I had recently kept coming to mind and I just couldn't get it to leave me alone. Trying to find an open slot to get up and bare your testimony in a singles ward is really tricky though so just stayed in my seat and told myself I'd come home and blog it to the cyber world.
This week I had the opportunity to go down to St. George to watch one of my best friends Bri play basketball at Dixie State. Bri plays for BYU Hawaii and I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I told my mom that I wanted to go but she wasn't thrilled about me driving 8 hours all alone and I couldn't find anyone to go with me. I'd about given up hope that I would get to see her when at 11:00 the night before one of Bri's boyfriends and my friend that goes to the U sent me an instant message. I had totally forgotten that maybe he would like to go with me and was so pumped when he said he had been trying to find a ride down.
This friend that decided to go down with me is honestly one of the smartest guys that I know. This friend is from Logan and since he doesn't have a car down here at school he occasionally rides back and forth from home to Salt Lake with me. We have very different tastes in music and as a result we tend to have some very interesting and deep talks on our drives. I mentioned that this friend is very intelligent. At a young age this friend decided that he didn't quite buy into the church and has been somewhere between an atheist and agnostic ever since. This is so sad for me but I try my best not to be pushy. It's always interesting whenever we find our way to religion because surprisingly we both are very good at respecting each other's views. On this trip he ended up bringing up a few of the key points that he disagrees with. I was able to listen to his thoughts and respond to them with words that I know are not my own. I pointed out some facts that he had neglected and when it came to me telling him that there is reason behind everything that God does he asked me something to the effect of how I knew that well enough to claim that. My response wasn't very intelligent but all I could muster was this simple phrase. I told him "I am going to play the faith card. My faith can't prove anything to you but you can also never disprove it." Our religion based conversations carried on for a while long but they always seemed to end on that note. I could make my case as best I could but I always ended up relying on my faith. My mom once shared a quote with me but I didn't know who originally said it until recently. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said "All that I have seen teaches me to trust the creator for all that I have not seen" This is what I fall back on when my testimony is tested. I find it interesting how an conversation with someone so smart who brings forth many good questions about the church can only strengthen my testimony. I'm so glad for the testimony that I have.
I know that my Redeemer lives, that he came to this earth to be and example for the world and to atone for my sins as well as the sins of the world. I know that God the Father and his son Jesus Christ appeared to the boy Joseph Smith in the grove and that he did under their direction establish the only correct gospel on this earth today. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a living prophet called of God to guide us in these latter days.
I know that was a bit of a random tangent but I'm thinking about having this printed for a journal so felt I needed to include it.

Sugar Cookie Maddness!!!

Happy Valentines Day everyone! I am currently having a rough start to my Valentines Day because of the fact that I am running on 3 hours of sleep for last night. I may have mentioned all ready that the restaurant I work at has it's own bakery attached. We make all of our breads, cookies, pies, dressings, really just about everything in house. So, when holidays roll around my cute owner Kim makes sugar cookies to match the season. Valentines Day is our biggest cookie holiday! Sunday night I got a text saying we had a Cowboy Grub SOS that we had a huge order or cookies for Monday and Kim needed help in the bakery. I love her to death and wanted to help out so I agreed to go in. I got there about 10:00 Sunday night, we made cookies, brownies, decorated boxes, organized the shipping orders and sang our hearts out until the wee hours of the morning. at 3:15 AM I finally pulled my little bum into my drive and crashed in clothes and all on my bed. Last night was basically an exact repeat. I'm glad we all went to help other wise she would have been there all night and still not finished. But, Man! I am tired! So after classes are over today I get to head in to work again this time to waitress!! You could say it's probably going to be a rough night. Oh by the way the huge amount of Sugar cookies I said we had to make.... It was 3,500!! Both nights. That's not counting the mini cookies, the cookie cakes, the brownies, or the special order cookies!!! We used 140 lbs of powdered sugar to make all the frosting the first night!!! Haha oh goodness I laugh just thinking about it. Oh well, who needs sleep! Happy Valentine's Day!!

Welcome Nephew #6 Mason Christopher Lindley

On Monday the 6th of February my sister in law, Sabrina, had her and my brother Chris's first child; Mason Christopher Lindley, 7 lbs 15 oz and 20 in. He is basically the cutest little buddy ever. I just love him so much. I was home last weekend for the Super Bowl and I decided that I didn't want to drive back to Salt Lake Sunday night so I decided I would drive back early Monday morning. The drive is way worse in morning traffic! When I got done with my last class I had a text from Chris letting us all know that Mason was here so I decided to jump back in my car and head home to see him. I haven't got to hold a brand new little baby like that since Miles was born. He was just so stinking tiny and adorable. We visited up at the hospital for a little bit and then headed back home. I decided that I didn't want to make that drive a third time in 24 hours so I stayed the night at home again and left early in the morning again. All the driving was totally worth it to see and hold the cute little friend. After I am done at work tonight I'm heading home again to see the family. I am pretty sure that my car just makes the drive home on it's own I just have to sit there, don't tell my mom though!!

 Grandpa and Baby Mason 

 Grandma with our new little friend

I love this little guy so much!!!

January Catch-Up!!

I had been doing really well at blogging more often until school got started up and then it all just went right down the drain. My classes this semester aren't hard, it's more that they are just time consuming. This semester I'm in Music 1010 Chemistry 1220 Chemistry 1225 and Biology 2325 which is a Human Anatomy class. The anatomy class is my favorite by far. I've always loved that stuff, this class is basically just memorizing what everything is made out of and I can't wait to take the Physiology class that is more about what everything does and how it works. The Anatomy class has two components a lecture that is the normal class basically and then a lab section too. I was really nervous going into the lab the first time, the cadavers (just a fancy name for dead bodies) really weird me out. The class is only once a week and the first week was about bones. That lab wasn't bad because the bones we were working with and holding didn't seem real or I could at least pretend that they were fake or super super old but this week the lab was about soft tissues and the cardiovascular system :/ I was really nervous when I went in and it was weird that there were bodies sitting on the table but I did ok for the most part. Our first stations were about the heart and we held human hearts! I made it through that just fine and thought that it was actually kinda cool. then we looked at a leg and that was kinda weird cause the skin was still on it and it was all leathery but I got over it. Next we looked at our first full body cadaver that was showing the major blood vessels. I was nervous about that but it wasn't a big deal. I was feeling really good as we headed into the last station that was about joints. We were looking at a knee joint and then all of a sudden the room started to spin. I stumbled back into a table and one of my friends in the class apparently tried to tell me that I looked really white but I couldn't hear him only see his lips move. So I had to leave and go sit in the hall for a second to try to compose myself. I was really frustrated that I got faint and I was in a really foul mood last night until I talked to my mom. She told me that she thinks it was maybe the formaldehyde getting to me. That makes me feel a little like less of a wimp. I feel like that is really all I do down here. School and work. I am kinda lame that way. Nothing exciting seems to happen.

 I had Perri and Jordi down here a couple weekends ago. That was quite an experience. I met my parents at dinner to pick up the crazies and then they went to the Zac Brown Band concert while I took the goobers to the mall. After they shopped around there and bought some sweet nerd glasses we drove back to my house which took about 3 times longer than it should have due to all of the snow. When we got back here we decided to go play in the snow but since we didn't have snow clothes we just wore sweats in it was freezing. When we came back in Per told us that her bum was totally frozen and that she needed to get in the shower IMMEDIATELY so she walked through my house and jumped into my shower with all of her clothes on including shoes!! It's a good thing I found it funny or I would have pounded on her. Then we played poker with the cards and poker chips Per bought. I of course slayed! Then we decided we need to go on a midnight In-N-Out burger run and it was delicious!! When we finally made it home I went to bed and left the crazies in the living room with a stack of movies. In the morning we went and took Jori to meet her aunt down town and then met my parents for breakfast down at their hotel. After breakfast we went on a drive up the canyon to Park City, it was beautiful with all of the new snow. It was a good weekend.

This past weekend my big brother Zach came up to hang out with me. He's going to school down in Cedar City at SUU and he's not loving the super small town feel of it there. So, he came up to hang out in the "Big City" of Salt Lake. I had to work Friday night so he hung out at Erin's house and spent the night there. Saturday morning I went over to Erin's to  go to Brayden's basketball game after that Zach had to go get his oil changed so I rode with him and tried to make myself scarce while he was flirting with the cute girl that worked at Jiffy Lube ( really weird that she worked there). When we got back to my house we did some homework and played Dominos with Whitley. We rented movies to watch that night and just hung out. Sunday morning we made breakfast and watched some more movies. Zach had to head home around 6 and I had to go to a concert for my Music 1010 class. It was overall a really fun weekend.

 Not much is going on this week. I'm just trying to make it through 2 tests and work to get to the weekend so I can go home and see the family and watch the SuperBowl! I don't really care who wins I'm mostly just excited for real food and to see my family! Have a good week everyone :)

 Getting ready to go play in the snow with the girls

 Time to thaw her bum!

Ready to play some poker in their sunglasses

After I poned them at Black Jack

Bring it on 2012

Well, another year has come and gone. I had a fantastic Christmas break with my family, I loved every minute I got to be home with them. Thankfully Santa found the Lindley/Eck home this year. I was a little worried cause us kids had a hard time falling asleep at our sleepover in the basement. I've been back and forth from home and Salt Lake through the whole break. It's been really hard to come back down to my house for work because I just wanted to be home with my family. Hopefully it gets easier once I am back into the swing of things and busy again. I was able to be home for New Years and it was a lot of fun. My parents took Zach, Me, Waylon, Perri, and Miles to the New Years Eve Buffet at the Coppermill. It was delicious! When we got done me Zach and Waylon took Miles out to my cousins house and then went home to wait for my parents to get back from taking Perri to a party. When they got back we watched True Grit (the new one) in the basement. I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend my New Years Eve!! I got to stay in Logan until this afternoon because I had to be back to work tonight. I have to work tomorrow and then I get to go back to watch Perri's basketball game against Logan, and my cousins' wrestling match against Box Elder!!  I am really excited.

While the break has been totally great I am still thinking about how I have to go back to school next week :/ Part of me is really excited because I get to take anatomy this semester and I absolutely love that stuff. Another part of me is scared to death. I have classes that take a lot of time outside of class time and it's going to be hard to make sure I spend enough time studying to do well. Oh well, I made it through the first half of the year, the second half can't be that much worse... I hope

First Semester of College: Check!

I survived! I was honestly a little bit worried about it for a bit. I learned a couple things from this Semester that I didn't expect to get out of it. 1) I need better study habits. 2) I need to be more social so I make friends. 3) I am so excited to go home for Christmas!! Ok I am always excited for Christmas and I'm always excited to go home but I am so super pumped to be home for Christmas this year that it is unbelievable! I am not, however, thrilled to have my wisdom teeth taken out :( I have to do that on the 20th and I am extremely nervous. I haven't gone under anesthetic since I had my tonsils taken out and I don't remember that. Oh well, it'll all be ok right? The best part is that I am no stranger to the swollen jaw thing. This should be a piece of cake! Wish me luck!!

Ah! Finals!

What are two of the scariest words to a first semester college freshmen? Finals week. I've been scared of tests before, who hasn't? However, a whole week worth of tests!?!? This is one of the most intimidating things I've ever heard of!! Almost as bad as Finals Week is the week before. I have had so many homework assignments in all of my classes that I swear I haven't had a second to breathe until tonight! So on top of all the last projects and assignments we are studying for all the finals we have to take!! I have 2 final exams next week. Calculus 2 is on Tuesday morning and then I have my General Chemistry 1 test Thursday morning. It's not that bad considering I have friends who are taking 4 tests but it's still really scary. I think I need a survival kit for my long study sessions that are coming. Any suggestions for said kit would be greatly appreciated!! On the up side I get to go home this weekend!! I am driving home after work Friday night then I get to go the the Voice Male concert with Per my mom and my aunt and cousins. Then Saturday night is Waylon's Work Christmas party. Well, good luck to any of the rest of you taking finals in the nearing weeks. May the force be with you!