A Wedding of Friends

The start of this week (ya know when all the storms were and stuff), we headed down to a wedding of two of our dear friends.  Tess and I both lived with Brittanie last year and we just love her.  She ended up not living in the house this year, but she was our most frequent visitor, and we love her!  She's always just so happy and full of life and energy.  I admire how she always looks on the positive side of things.  She is so good at looking at the big perspective and having faith that everything will turn out for the best.  She's always so fun and we always have a good time when we're with Brit.

Luckily, Brittanie married a guy who is just as fun and full of life as she is!  Adam has this special way of making everyone in the room instantly happier when he enters.  We passed each other between classes a couple of times each week this semester, and it always brightened my day talking with Adam for a minute or two.  I'm just so happy for those two and I'm so glad they let Tessa and I be a part of their day :)

Between Tessa, Eden, and I we were able to get some fun pictures.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Brittanie asked me to do her hair for her big day.  I was both honored and excited!  I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.  She seemed to be happy about it too :)

 I have been loving the dutch braids lately! 

That temple is just so huge and beautiful!

 Me and my sissy :)

Mary, Tess, Adam, Me, and Eden.  What a guy!  

A great group of friends that all showed up to party at the reception.  We had so much fun talking, laughing, eating, and dancing.

Brittanie and the bridesmaids from the Sherwood House

The fastest stretch of traveling.  Good visibility, 3-4 inches of snow on the road, and no other traffic!

These past couple of months I have been realizing even more how important it is that I marry someone who is not only going to take me to the temple to get married, but who will take me back frequently. The Gospel is not something to be casual about, and being on the temple grounds and waiting for all of my friends to come out from the sealing strengthened my testimony of the importance of the gospel in my life.  

A Weekend at College

When Tess and I were little, our older sisters were nice enough to come and let us spend a weekend, or even a week sometimes, with them at college.  We thought it was so cool and fun!  Since Tess and I have been living together we've been thinking about how fun it would be to have Mylie and Mariah come and stay with us since they don't have older sisters at college to go and stay with.  So, being the awesome aunts that we are ;) we had them come down and stay the weekend.  

First of all, HUGE shoutout to their awesome mom for bringing them all the way down and then coming all the way back down to pick them up!  So, she brought them down on Thursday and we went to McDonalds to eat so that the kids (she brought Brady and Lewis down with her too) could play at the playplace.  After she left we headed to do a couple of college things: grocery shop and get some ice cream at Coldstone with our BOGO coupons.  Then the little girls came home with Tessa and watched Elf while I went and hung out with friends for a bit. 

Friday was an eventful day!  We got up and ate some cereal for breakfast.  Then I headed to work and Tessa headed to take the girls ice skating.  The skating rink was closed so they decided to go bowling.  That was closed too!  So, being the awesome, spontaneous aunt that she is, Tess showed them some of the coolest things around campus and then brought them back to our place and did their nails.  

Then they came to our work lunch party where our boss Wayne fed us a Christmas dinner.  Turkey, ham, stuffing, the works!  So yummy!  After the lunch we headed back to the bowling alley, cause we knew it'd be open for sure!  We had a fun time bowling and then played some pingpong and visited the art museum while we were on campus.  

When 3:30 rolled around it was time to go and pick up Eden (a little girl I mentor for 4H) and head to the rec center for some swimming!  We had a fun time there as well, and it was fun to see the Spanish Fork lights when we took Eden home.  

On the way home we picked up a Little Ceasar's pizza and stuffed our faces quickly so Tessa could leave to a party with friends and we could head out for our next activity--ice skating!  We were all a little shaky at first, but we quickly got the hang of it!  We were bummed when our hour and a half was over and we got kicked off.  Those little girls were getting good!

On our way home we decided to stop at the Redbox where we picked up Mall Cop 2.  We made some popcorn and paper snowflakes and watched it.  Pretty funny movie. 

Saturday morning we slept in and woke up in time to head to our ward Christmas party/breakfast.  The whole ward sang Happy Birthday to Mylie and we just had a good time.  After breakfast we had to do some real college stuff.  Tessa had to go to a review for one of her finals coming up and the little girls and I headed to the bank.  After I got everything worked out at the bank we went to do some Christmas shopping.  We got some good deals and had a fun time!  When we got back we ate some left over pizza for lunch and headed back out the door!  Taffy met up with us at the BYU vs Utah Women's basketball game.  We had fun chatting and laughing, and the little girls rocked it during the "chicken dance."  

After the game was over (BYU won an exciting one!) Taffy and the girls headed home.  We LOVED having them here for our last weekend of college together.  They were so fun and were so good to go with the flow.  The past two days were actually nothing like our real college life (see previous post haha), but it was just fun to give them a glimpse of what it's like to live without parents and little people around.  They were champs at it!  

A Day in the Life

Yesterday was just a normal day in the life of Livi.  I decided I needed to document a normal college day.  Nothing too exciting.  Nothing terrible.  Just a normal day.  

     5:30     Woke up and headed to the temple with Tessa to do baptisms for the dead.
     7:10     Got back from the temple, ate breakfast, and got ready for school.
     7:45     Left my house and rode my bike up to campus.
     8:00     My practicum class.  I forgot to bring two assignments to turn in and was given 3 more assignments to be completed by next week.
     8:50     Went up to the student services office in the McKay building to talk to an advisor about changing the semester I student teach.  The appointment scheduler was the guy who baptized me this morning!  He worked some magic and got me in right then!  I met with my advisor, Kelly, and got the low down on what I needed to do.
     9:30     Pumped up my tire at Outdoors Unlimited (those darn flats!) and arrived at work.  At work I worked on giant pads for the walls in the gymnastics room on campus.
    11:30    I left work and headed up to campus to meet some friends to go and get free donuts :)
    11:45    Arrived at the location to receive free donuts with my friends, and they were out of donuts.  A little depressing, but honestly, I shouldn't have been eating a donut anyways!
    12:00    Had my literacy class with Brad Wilcox.  One of my favorite classes.  We talked about teaching speaking and listening.  Then he talked to us about being busy and having a lot of things to do in life.  He talked about prioritizing and how that never seems to work because we're supposed to put God first, but in a world where our jobs and school take up most of our time, that is often difficult.  Next he talked about balance and how that is another hard one, because can we really balance every single thing we need to do every single day?  It's nearly impossible.  Then he read us this awesome book, The Clown of God.  It was so good and it talked about this clown that juggled.  He would juggle all of these different balls, but the most important ball (which he never let drop) was a big, golden ball.  This ball represented our relationship with God.  I loved the moral this old folktale told.  Juggling life.  It's real and it's hard, but if we make sure we keep our golden ball up (our relationship with God), then it won't matter so much what other balls drop.  As we get a better handle on our lives, we can pick the other balls up again and keep trying.  This is one thing I love about BYU.  The opportunity the teachers have to teach us about spiritual topics.  Brother Wilcox is great!
     1:00    Class got out an hour early?!  I went and got everything done that I needed to to change my student teaching date.
     1:25     I ran into Andrew Petersen!  It's always fun to see people you know.
     1:40     I met up with an advisor to talk about my scholarship eligibility for next fall.
     2:00     Math class.  We had a fun lesson on teaching Place Value.  Very helpful.  I also ate my lunch during class.
     3:30     Rushed down from campus and hopped in my car to go and tutor out in Mapleton.
     4:00     Arrived at the first house I tutor at, and helped Kamae with math.
     4:30     Arrived at the Ryskamp's where I helped Faith write a fun persuasive paper and helped Reed with his math.
     6:25     Left the Ryskamp's.
     6:45     Arrived at the WILK for a 4H meeting that was supposed to go from 6-7.  I knew I was late, but I didn't want to miss the whole thing!  I forgot my phone at my apartment, so I didn't have any way to communicate that I was going to be late, and when I got there they were already cleaned up and gone.
     6:55     Went over to the HFAC for a minute to watch part of the dress rehearsal for a concert that a couple of my friends are in tomorrow and Saturday.  I would have just gone to the real thing, but it's sold out!  I just listened to one song, Oh Come All Ye Faithful.  Amazing.  I sat by and talked to a nice boy.
     7:25     I left campus and came home for some dinner!  Tess and I had creamed corn and chicken.  It was delicious.
     7:50     I put together some things for my calling as compassionate service committee member and delivered them to some girls in our ward.
     8:20     Returned from the deliveries (and chatting, let's be honest!) and did some homework.
     8:50     Tess and I headed to our intramural co-ed volleyball game, which we lost :(
     9:45     Faith, Tess, and I stopped by a dance party and shook it for a minute.  I'm a horrible dancer.  We ended up outside talking with Dillon and Andy.
    10:30    We went to a Christmas pie party at our friends' apartment.  Zach and Ty were awesome hosts, and it was really fun!  We got there at the tail end of the party, so we actually got to visit with friends and have a good time cause it wasn't so darn crowded.  I met some new people too.
    11:15    We left the pie party and I came home and did some more homework!  
    11:45     I finally crawled into bed.

Throughout the day I was texting planning a 4H activity, scheduling things for the weekend, etc.  Looking back on yesterday I'm reminded how blessed I am on a daily basis.  I am so lucky to be able to do all of the fun, educational, sometimes frustrating things that I do.  Life is busy and great, and I'm going to just keep on juggling my way through it :) 

     

Tessa. My BFF Forever.

It's Tessa's birthday today.  She's seriously the best little sister anyone could ever ask for.  I can not imagine life without her.  Here are some of the reasons I love Tess.  

She always has an awesome attitude, even when times are tough.  

She likes to watch sports with me.  And she came to BYU.  

She has the coolest/weirdest talents.  

 She likes going to concerts with me.

She's always got me laughing out loud.

She has the best booty.

She's my favorite ski buddy. 

 She loves America, and she loves going fun places. 

She went on a million hikes with me and only complained once. 

She accomplishes any goal she puts her mind to.  

Really though--always laughing!

Our names just go together.

She loves hanging out with me and my parents.  

She lets me cut her hair. 

She's just so pretty.  

We have the same brain which often leads to us saying the same things and dressing the same.

 Again...

and again.  

I really don't know what I'm going to do without this girl being there for me basically every second this next year and a half.  I'm so happy for her though and her decision to serve a mission.  She is going to be such a great missionary.  She is going to bless so many lives.  I know that the message she is taking to the people of Argentina is true.  God loves us and has a plan for each of us, and right now His plan is for us to be apart.  I know this is starting to sound dramatic, but people!  She is my BEST FRIEND!  You don't just go without seeing your best friend for 18 months unless it's for a very worthy cause (a mission just so happens to be the only qualification...).  Anyways, happy birthday Tess.  You're the bomb.com.  

Fear = Hate

A couple of weeks ago I had to read an article for my math methods class.  It was talking about why kids hate math and what we, as teachers, can do about it.  The article started out addressing the fact that most of the time students hate math because they fear it.  They don't know how it works, they don't want to make a mistake, so they hate it.  Of course!  This made me start to think about some of the things I strongly dislike (I really don't like the word hate...).  There's really only two things I strongly dislike, but the dislike is pretty strong.

First of all, there's my strong dislike for endings.  I dread the end of summer, the end of the semester, Christmas break, my practicum month, basically the end of anything good.  As I got thinking, I dread them because I fear them.  I fear losing relationships with people I think are great!  I fear losing my fun schedule that I've finally created.  

I also dislike snakes.  I'm highly terrified of them.  They are creepy, and slithery, and dangerous.  They're the worst.  

As I looked at these two things and thought about things that other people don't like, I was convinced that hate directly correlates with fear.  So, to get over disliking things we don't like, we've got to get rid of the fear of them.  Bringing it back to my teaching life, to get kids to like math, I've got to help them to not be fearful of math.  I've got to make it fun, exciting, and relevant.  So, to conquer dislikes, we've got to find ways to get rid of the fear.  Anyways, I just thought this was very interesting, and I love when I'm able to make connections between my schooling and my personal life :)

   

Fall Loves

There are so many things I love about fall.  The cool crisp air.  Sleeping with the window open.  All of these things: 

All things pumpkin.  Even if it's your stairwell.  haha!

Hikes.  The colors are unbelievable! 

Homemade salsa.

The cool, crisp air.  On bikes.  

Football season. 

Colorful sunrises and living with these girls. 

Parties on parties on parties.  

Fresh apples and Farmer's Markets. 

The Cemetery Girls

This post is LONG overdue, but I just needed to write a post about three of the most influential girls in my life.  They all have something in common--they were all my work partner up at the cemetery :)  When you spend about 30 hours together every week, just you and them, you get to know each other pretty well!  

Holly and I worked together the first two years.  Boy was it fun!  Neither of us had any clue what we were doing, but we had fun figuring it out together!  We were pretty good friends all growing up, but in those two summers she became one of my best friends!  I was lucky enough to get to watch her fall in love and marry Ryan.  Now she has a baby and lives in Germany?!  Where has the time gone?!  I can't go too long without a good chat with Holly.  Since she's moved to Germany we've had some good skype chats.  I just love her and her little family!  Holly has taught me to never give up--even when there seems no way out.  She taught me to laugh when you want to cry.  She inspired me with her diligent training for her half marathon.  She's a great friend to all, and I'm so glad I was able to spend so many hours with such a great girl!  

She came home for a little bit to bless her baby, and I was lucky enough to get to visit with her and snap this picture :)

After Holly decided she wouldn't be coming back, I was devastated.  I didn't think that I would ever be able to find someone that great to work with.  Then along came Sierra!  In high school Sierra and I referred to each other as "church friends" cause we were besties in our ward, but we both had different best friends.  Well, we became more than church friends that summer.  We did literally everything together!!  The summer started out pretty rough, but we got it turned around.  At the start of each week we would plan all of the fun things we wanted to do, and then we would plan our work schedule around it.  We did so many fun things!  From fishing to shopping, we did it all!  Sierra has such a deep love for our Savior.  She knows that He knows what's best for her, even if it doesn't make sense to us.  Many of our conversations revolved around the Gospel, and she was so good about sharing her testimony with me.  She taught me to love our little valley more than I ever thought was possible.  All summer long we would say we were the same person because we thought so much alike.  Most days we laughed until we cried.  This last month I was lucky enough to be one of her bridesmaids.  I was so excited for her to meet and fall in love with Trevor.  All the heartbreaks were worth it--he's great!  I felt so honored, and I absolutely LOVED getting to spend some extra time with her and her family preparing for, and enjoying the day.  She was a stunning bride, and had the happiest, best attitude the whole day!  What an awesome, inspiring girl!  

Her wedding day was seriously the best!  She didn't seems stressed at all and was smiling to the last minute!  

When Sierra wasn't coming back, I really thought I was in trouble.  I had already lucked out twice, and there was no way I was going to find a third girl that I would get along with that well.  Then along came Kalbie!  I cannot even begin to tell you how much this girl has impacted my life.  When we started work up there in May we had only talked to each other like 3 times.  We were practically strangers.  After the first day, I knew we were going to be great friends!  She is so happy and outgoing and fun!  You can't help but like Kalbie Harmon.  She has that same love for the outdoors as me, and we had fun doing a few adventures together.  We were always thinking about the next place we wanted to go hiking or running.  It's also convenient that she married one of my best friends from high school, cause now I get to see both of them often!  Kalbie taught me about how important it is to constantly be progressing.  She is always trying to become the best person she can be whether it is spiritually, physically, or improving her relationships with others.  She greets everyone with a big smile, and she just makes you feel so loved!  It wasn't unusual to see Kalbie and I talking for another hour after work, because we never seemed to run out of things to talk about.  I'm glad she lives in Cokeville and that I get to see her, but I also love a good phone chat with Kalbie.  She's just so great!

We actually do have a photo of us in nice clothes, but I just like this one better :)  

When I started working at the Cokeville Cemetery in 2012 I had no idea it would have this large of an impact on my life!  I'm forever grateful for these girls and the things I've learned from them.   

"Como un niño pequeñito"

Tonight Tessa planned an awesome FHE "Banana Boats and The Book of Mormon."  So, we made banana boats and shared one of our favorite scriptures from The Book of Mormon.  Everyone's scriptures were so good!  (Imagine that...haha!)  When Tessa told me that this is what we were doing I immediately remembered a scripture I had read in El Libro de Mormon three days earlier.  I had been reading in 3 Nephi when Christ is talking to the people in the America's before he appears to them.  Chapter 9 verse 22 really stuck out to me.  Maybe it was because I finally understood a whole verse, but I just loved it.  I read, "Por tanto, al que se arrepintiere y viniere a mí como un niño pequeñito, yo lo recibiré, porque de los tales es el reino do Dios.  He aquí, por éstos he dado mi vida, y la he vuelto a tomar; así pues, arrepentíos y venid a mí, vosotros, extremos de la tierra, y sed salvos."   

Today I went and read it in English.  "Therefore, whoso repenteth and cometh unto me as a little child, him will I receive, for of such is the kingdom of God.  Behold, for such I have laid down my life, and have taken it up again; therefore repent, and come unto me ye ends of the earth, and be saved."  

First of all, this verse stuck out to me because I am an Elementary Ed major and I love kids.  I think about them all day.  At the start of the verse it says to come unto Him as a little child.  I can not think of any group of people more pure and Christlike than kids.  They are so innocent and they just want to do good.  They truly are closer to God, and I'm so glad I'm going to be able to surround myself with them everyday.  

The second part that stuck out to me was when it said, "for such I have laid down my life..."  Christ died for us that we could have the chance to repent and live with Him again.  He knew that we were going to make mistakes.  None of us are perfect, but He was willing to pay the price so that we could all return to live with our Heavenly Father again.  

I love my Savior.  I know that I can return to live with Him and our Heavenly Father again, but only through the Atonement.  I am far from perfect, but He helps me out all the time.  Almost daily I am able to have an experience with the Spirit, just like the one I shared above.  It's moments like that where I truly feel His love for me, not only from the sacrifices He made for me as He atoned for my sins, but the love He still has for me as He cheers me on and helps me out each day during this journey here on earth.