"How Shall I Bear So Much Happiness"

Jane Austen once said "How shall I bear so much happiness!" I read that quote and it spoke to the deepest, most personal cavity of my heart. It made me realize how very blessed I am in my little life and how unbelievably happy I should always be because of that.

I seriously don't know how I could ever be more blessed than I am right now. I have my amazing, strong, supportive family. I have parents that love and would do absolutely anything for me; and siblings that are the best role models and greatest friends I could ever ask for. My sweet boyfriend is the greatest man I could have ever found; hardworking, kind, smart, funny, spiritual, compassionate, and loving. I have The Gospel of Jesus Christ to help guide me through my life. I live in the greatest country on earth where I have all the freedoms I could ever desire. I am blessed with the means I need to go to school at an amazing university and to live in such a comfortable manner. I am lucky enough to have a job; one that works with my student schedule and one that I enjoy! Lastly but most certainly not least I have the most amazing friends on the face of this earth. It's amazing the impact that a few people who you at one time didn't even know can have on your life. I am so grateful to be able to claim these people as my second spectacular family. "When everything goes to hell, the people who stand by you without flinching - they are your family." - Jim Butcher. I have to say that there are very few feelings greater then when you realize someone knows you well enough to recognize your many flaws and they still claim you as a friend and love you all the more in spite of those flaws. Growing up, especially in high school, I always tried to remember that it was not the quantity of friends you had that mattered but rather the quality. I was fairly well convinced that I only needed 1 maybe 2 friends and I'd be just fine. I'm still sure that that's all that I NEED, but I am blessed with many more true and great friends than I will ever deserve.

I know that I have the rest of my life ahead of me and I like to think that I am destined to enjoy many more happy moments but I'm hoping to be more observant in my life so that I may notice all the reasons I have to be the happiest person out there! One last quote and then I'm outta here! "Learn how to be happy with what you have while you pursue all that you want." - E. James Rohn.  This is my motto for the next... however it long it takes to get it through my thick skull!

-Dan

Homework? Nah... I'm going to blog

So I'm sitting here in the library... unable to focus on the O-Chem lab I should be preparing for so I'll catch up on my blogging. I have a lot of random thoughts so this is your fair warning that I'm going to be jumping all over the place.

This past Saturday Per went to her first high school dance. She didn't tell me that she had been asked to homecoming until Thursday when I had called her for a different reason entirely and it just kinda slipped out. Last week was one of those weeks that I was absolutely freaking out about living in Salt Lake because I felt clueless and helpless about my family's life. I texted Perri for some reason while I was in class assuming she'd answer me later but she answered right back and kept talking to me for about a half hour. I finally told her she needed to pay attention in class and that I'd talk to her later but she responded telling me she was at home not at class. I asked her why she wasn't at school and she said it was because she had a heart condition and she'd been at the hospital all night. I told her she was a dirty rotten liar and asked why she really wasn't at school. Then she sent me a picture of her hospital bracelet. I began the freak out. I told her I'd call her as soon as I got out of class and that was probably the longest 10 minutes I've had in a very long time. I finally got her on the phone and she was being the basic vague Per that she usually is. I tried to pry as much information as I could out of her but she'd been up at the hospital all night so she was sleep on top of her indifferent attitude. As I was finishing up the conversation with her I mentioned that she probably wasn't going to be coming down to spend the weekend with me like we had discussed before because of the fact that she was on a portable heart monitor. She said "Yeah, and I got asked to homecoming so I guess I've got to go to that" I probably burst her little ear drum when I screamed at her for not telling me sooner! So I decided that even if she didn't care if I was there or not I was not going to miss my little sister getting ready to go to her first dance.

 I worked Friday night and then got up Saturday morning and headed home. When I got there Per was getting ready for her day-date where they were going to go paint-balling and the rest of the family was getting ready to head out to Miles' last regular season football game. We sent Per off with her date and then me and Mom went out in search of shoes for her to wear to the dance. We found a pair and headed back out to Hyrum for Miles' game. They won and when it was over we headed back so I could pick Perri up and take her to get her hair done. When we got back from getting her hair all done we went to work on the large red splotches that were left all over Perri's neck and chest from the stick tabs and tape from the heart monitor. We used some odd remedies that I'd heard friends had used to get rid of hickies because that's what these kinda looked like and then in the end we wound of covering what we couldn't get rid of with make-up. All in all it turned out pretty well and she looked absolutely breath taking when Trevor came to pick her up!  You'd swear I was her mother with how emotional and how excited I got overt this whole endeavor.

I went to church with Waylon and Zach on Sunday and then of course hung around long enough for my parents to feed me dinner before I headed back to Salt Lake for a fireside I was planning on going to with a friend. I picked her up and we headed to the Institute building to hear Elder Paul V. Johnson from the first quorum of the seventy. I was so impressed with the talk he gave. One of the first things he asked was how many of us in the audience were married so I was worried it was going to be one of those "Get married and have babies other wise your life is incomplete" sort of talks but it definitely wasn't. He talked about adversity and trials and things we can use to help us get through those things. He talked about how we can be doing everything right and trials still come up; sometimes again and again and again until we just don't think we can stand it any more. We think that we've just barely made it over one trial, that we're doing life just great and then the next one is there waiting and glaring down at you. Then he said one thing that I really loved, he said, "Life is not a theory class, it's a lab class." Granted this probably meant a whole lot more to us students than it would to someone who's been out of school for a while but it struck home with me. Sometimes you're doing everything right, you know exactly what you should be doing in life and how and why you should be doing those things and that's the theory part which everyone has to figure out at some point. But then you have to go to the lab where you actually have to get your hands dirty. You have to act on the things that you know. And sometimes that means trying the same thing over and over again until you get the right result that you have read about in the literature but everyone has to figure it out. Now my best friend that is a sociology major didn't really love this because she hasn't taken a lab in the 2 and 1/2 years she's been here going to school (Pretty sure they don't exist in the sociology major's world) but for me as an ESS-Phys kid that just basically spends my whole life in the chemistry building it just made so much sense and I loved it!

So now I've rambled on her for a while I still don't know what I'm doing in my Chem Lab that starts in just over an hour. Moral of the story.... I don't know :( Haha All in all it really was a fantastic weekend. I'm super pumped for the USC vs Utah football game on Thursday. Per has softball game in South Jordan on Saturday and then I'm headed home for General Conference and the first part of Fall Break before I have to come back and work :) Well... I hope you all have a fantastic week! Laters!

Love Dan

3 Weeks Down!

So 3 weeks later I think I'm about as back in to the swing of things as I'm going to get. There has been a lot going on but I love it. It helps the time I'm in school go by faster. 

Classes are going well. I've been doing better at balancing my time thus far, I don't know what it was about last semester but I did a terrible job of it. This semester is going a lot better. 

I'm still spending a fair amount of time driving back forth from Logan, It's hard not to when most of my family and Waylon are there.  I've been back for Farewells, football games, and Labor Day. I'm not complaining, the drive isn't that bad, I think my car and my wallet are getting a little sick of all the miles I'm putting in though :/  Oh well, it's worth it.

Right now I'm just living one day at a time and loving it, life's good for now. We'll see what tomorrow brings :) 

U of U Take Two!!!

Well it happened, as much as I begged, and hoped and pleaded for it not to, it did. Today was the first day of school for  us Utes down here. I really don't dislike school as much as it might seem that I do, I just got so comfortable in my routine this summer that it's hard for me to let go. All things considered I am pumped for a new school year. I only have 2 classes on Monday so it wasn't a terrible first day. This semester I only have a 7:30 class on Thursday's which is a nice change from having one every day of the week last year. I started my morning at 8:30 in my familiar old chemistry building... I have not missed that place since May! The first day is never that bad, My professor seems okay. Last semester the professor was so bad that I feel like there is nowhere to go but up! I did however totally space the fact that when you go to school sometimes you are supposed to take pens, pencils, and paper : / talk about embarrassing! Luckily I didn't have to write much and everything that I did need to write I just typed into my phone and copied it down once I got home.

My other class, besides O-Chem, on Mondays is Institute. My first semester last year I didn't take an institute class. I figured that I needed to keep my schedule empty for all my classes. I couldn't have been more wrong. Last spring Zach was just getting home from the mission and he told me how I needed to get my butt to institute. I humored him because I also learned that if you take a class from them you can park in the parking lot which saved me from riding the bus all the time. I eventually learned that I actually enjoyed my class. I adored the teacher and he had such great things to say. So much so, That I decided to take another class from Brother Marshall this semester! I'm taking gospel doctrines and after just today I can tell it's going to be great.

So Mondays and Wednesdays aren't bad at all and Fridays I only have Chemistry which will be nice. Tomorrow I only have one class its ESS 2500 I have no idea what that means so I guess we'll see tomorrow. I usually will have a lab that lasts from, get this, 12:55 until 5:00!! That is a whole lot of Chemistry! Thursday's are similar except that I have a 7:30 Chemistry class and I later Chem Lab discussion. I also took 3 online classes this semester. I'm hoping that I can stay motivated and on top of them so wish me luck!!

I'm excited to get this year rolling! Happy Back-to-School everyone!!

Slow Down!!!

I am so not ready for summer to be over :( and the fact that I start classes in like 2 weeks makes me want to lay down on the floor kicking and screaming and throwing a tantrum like the giant 5 year old I really am. I don't feel like a bunch has happened lately since I blogged last but I know some stuff has so I'm just going to do a mass mental download.

Perri finished her last summer softball tournament this past weekend and now has a little bit of a break until fall ball when she is going to play with the 18U team.

Miles is just starting football practices he has lots of friends on his team and Papa Sam is helping coach again.

Waylon is just finishing up his Northern Utah Baseball League (or something to that effect I can't exactly remember the exact name) and says he is retiring at the end of this year due to age ;) We'll see if he really means it when next year rolls around and he can't live without it.

I just got back last week from a girls trip to St. George with my friends Lindsey and Lexi. We went and stayed with Lindsey's grandma, shopped, swam, tanned, watched the Olympics and played dominoes. I'm just finishing up my last couple of weeks at The Country Club before I have to start school back up and stay in Salt Lake a lot more. Last night I had to buy textbooks/ actually more like a had to rent them but it still cost me a small fortune.

In other new's, this weekend is our trip to the cabin and I'm totally stoked. It's most definitely my happy place. Something about the cabin makes it so easy to relax even if we do have about a billion small children running around. Plus, the fact that my family are all excellent cooks doesn't exactly hurt. So, I will try to take some pictures but I make no promises.

Per, bugging me to go get a drink so I'm outta here. Laters

So Much Happiness!

So, I think everyone that reads my blog already knows this but; MY SWEETIE GOT BAPTIZED LAST SUNDAY!!!  I'm so proud of him :) It makes me heart smile every time that I think about it.  I know it was a huge decision for him and I'm so glad he decided to be baptized and join the church. He was quizzed pretty hard by friends and family close to him about making sure that he was doing it for the right reasons and I'm happy to report I definitely believe that he did! It was such a special day and I'm so glad that I got to be a part of it. I loved being with him while he took the missionary discussions. I learned a lot that I didn't know and it helped me to value my testimony that much more. All in all it was a wonderful experience and I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to be a part of it. 

Simply Blessed

So... I'm sitting here at my computer not exactly sure where this post is going to lead me. We'll see how it ends up and what I wind up titling it. Tonight my heart is full, and I don't know how to describe the feelings I'm having. I feel so blessed. You know those days where you're just kinda going along and all of a sudden you realize how amazing your life is. Let me tell ya, I don't have those very often cause there is usually something going wrong and most of the time I let one little speed bump throw me for a huge loop but; this week is different. 

First things first, my sweet boyfriend Waylon recently started taking the missionary discussions. It's funny because a lot of my friends and family don't realize that he isn't a member of the church yet because he's such a great guy. I'm so very proud of him for his choice. I know that the gospel will bless his life as much as it has blessed mine. We've been having the missionaries over at my parent's house and I feel so blessed to be a part of this very special experience. The missionaries keep asking me to share my testimony during the lessons but it's so hard for me because, well, I'm basically an emotional wreck! I guess you could say that the spirit reaches me through my tear-ducts! But, honestly I am so grateful for this experience in my life, and I know it will help me avoid taking the gospel for granted in my life. 

As I've mentioned I'm currently driving back and forth between Logan and Salt Lake working two jobs. It gets tiring sometimes but I am grateful to be working so that I can save money for school in the fall (coming way to quickly :/) This past week when I got down to Salt Lake my new roommate Aleisha was already here. I'd been feeling a bit guilty about her because I helped her move in 2 weeks ago and then headed to Logan and hadn't seen her since. Luckily she forgave me, as far as I can tell, and is still such a sweetheart. I'm so grateful that everything worked out for us to live together and I am so lucking forward to a great new experience.  

After work on Wednesday my sweet friend Lindsey came over to chill. I sure do love her. I feel so lucky to have met her and had the opportunity to make her a part of my life. As strange as it may sound I feel like I was supposed to meet my wonderful quirky new best friend. She brings so much of what I need into my life and I'm seriously so thankful that we fell into each other's lives. We're very quickly becoming experts on how to deal with each other's special issues! Because if we're being honest; our issues have their own issues! And I wouldn't have it any other way. 

Tonight when I got done with work I came and picked up Aleisha and we hurried over to Per's softball game in West Valley. We only caught the last little bit (I did get to see Per's homerun, she's hit one in each of the 3 past tournaments, woman stud) of the game but it was a good time. I don't know if it's normal for a 19 year old to enjoy hanging out with my parents as I do. My mom is one of my best friends and even though Papa Sam and I give each other a hard time, all the time, we really do love each other. 

All in All, as I'm laying here in bed, I feel so extremely blessed, and looked over. I know the rest of this year isn't going to be easy, It's not supposed to be. But nights like this do help me realize that I am going to make it through whatever life has to throw at me.