happy girl.

i decided i needed a better title for my blog.

basically every single post is "i love life" &  "i am so happy"

and i wanted my title to reflect that.

sunshine and daisies are outward reflections of my happy nature.

but i want people to understand that my blog is just the random writings of a happy girl.

i picked happy girl because it is a song by martina mcbride 

and i think the lyrics fit me very well.

really it is probably one of my very very favorites.

i'll add the song ... just in case you haven't heard it.

so that's that.

this is the story of me.

here at byu.

living at liberty square.

loving my roommates.

working hard.

playing harder.

and most importantly...

being a happy girl.

number two.

Sorry this is a little late... I wrote it and then forgot to post it.

I cannot believe how fast the time is going by. I feel like I have been in school for at least a month rather than just two weeks. There has been so much going on. ALL the time. I never ever stop. Which is okay. Because I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I know I keep saying that all the time. But seriously. I LOVE LIFE!

So what made this week uniquely wonderfully amazingly fantastically happy?

Talking with My Roommates.

I love that we can talk all the time. And that we do and that we talk about everything and anything. We talk about our scripture study, the gospel, our classes, boys, healthy eating, exercise, stress, family, money, boys, hair, makeup, church, BYU, silliness, mail, cars, boys, stairs, the hill, time, goals, energy, food, did I mention boys? :D But really, I feel like I can share anything with them and they will totally and completely listen to me without judging, giving advice when I need it, building me up, strengthing my testimony. I LOVE them. (Although this is wonderful it also led to some, okay, a lot, of wasted time and later nights.)

To Do Lists getting Checked off.

I love the feeling of writing up a To Do List and then checking things off of it all day long. My life is in my planner right now and so my To Do Lists are very important but there is nothing better than the feeling of accomplishment you get when you check one more thing off. On Friday I actually got every single thing on my list done! WAHOO! It was AMAZING. I also love To Do Lists because they keep my stress level WAY down. I don't have to remeber all the things I need to do because they are all right there in my planner and if something else comes along I just add it to the list and then throw it out of my mind. And if I find myself with a few minutes and need something to do I don't have to try to figure out what needs done. I just open it up and bam... I have stuff to do.

Jordan's note on my computer.

I am obsessed with London now.  And the picture on my computer at work is of Big Ben and the Palace at Night.  I love it.  Well Friday when I went back into my office after the lunch break Jordan had left for class but on my computer were sticky notes.  One of them said London with a heart and was pointing to Big Ben and the other two were pictures of us in front of the Palace! I really really really hope that we get in together!!!!

Cold Mornings with the Ward.

We had a stake activity Saturday morning. It was breakfast and a movie. We only went to the breakfast because we had things to do but it was great to go spend some more time getting to know our ward. I am so excited about them. I LOVE our Bishop. He is from Kuna, ID (which is not far from home) and grew up on a farm so he appreciates my love for pigs, etc... He promised I can come visit his house... he has goats and some other animals... YAY! It was freezing during breakfast but it made me appreciate the sun so much more.

BYU vs. UCLA: 59-0

That's right. That's right. Saturday was our second home game and it was against UCLA. This was supposed to be a way intense game. Last year during our bowl game against them we won 17-16 by blocking a kick. That wasn't to be this game though. First half, we sacked UCLA's quarterback, they fumbled multiple times and our offense was consistant. I called Dad during half-time and told him it was 42-0. He said "Not possible." But it was. It was. And second half was just as good with BYU holding UCLA to 0! It was amazing. Although, we have amazing seats (South Endzone, Row 15) and by the end I had lost my voice.

Pizza Party.

Celebration time! I went to Lauren's house after the game with Jenni and Sarah and Rachel and we had pizza and just talked forever. It was wonderful. I had missed Jenni a lot. She is really one of my very favorite people. And I love the other girls too. They are just too good for me. I don't know why I deserve them.

Walking home.

I walked back to Liberty from Wyview with Lauren. This was wonderful for two reasons. One because I was with Lauren who really is more incredible than she knows. I love her to death. Two because I am loving walking now. I walk everywhere. Up to school, home from school, to church. It is bliss. I can even do the hill without totally dying now. Although, the one downside to walking is that I don't get to drive my cute new Focus. :(

Bean War.

I don't really know if I can explain the amazingness of the rest of my Saturday night in words or even in pictures. I just don't know that either one would do adequate justice to the craziness that was our kitchen. Alyssa and Heather went to go country dancing with a bunch of people but Eva and I didn't really want to. We probably should have sat down and worked really hard and gotten a lot of work done but instead we decided to do something crazy fun and spontaneous. We sat brainstorming and came up with the logical thing to do of a war. :) We ran to Smiths, bought some essentials and came home to set up. We built forts out of cardboard boxes left from moving in. We got all set up with beans (we figured they would be the easiest to clean up) and straws and spoons and paper plates (and even some silly string... ;D ) Before we were ready to begin we decided to tape a whole bunch of straws together to see how long we could make it and still drink out of it. I being the brilliant person that I am said, Ah, now that I have a super long straw I can put my drink safely on the cupboard and still drink while we are in battle. I decided to practice and put my cup on the cupboard and started to drink out of my straw while sitting on the floor. This worked great until I was done. Because water doesn't stop when it is pouring downhill. I tried plugging it and eventually it got all over me as I tried to pull the straw out of the cup to stop the water. I was soaked. Eva challenged me to a contest to see who could drink the most water the fastest out of their long straw. I totally won and then to start the war I dumped her cup of water on her. :D. It was on. We also had found some of those balls that soak up water and threw those at eachother. We started chucking water balls and flipping beans and yelling randomness at eachother. And an hour and a half later, when the other girls got home we were still at it. The kitchen was covered in beans and was soaking wet. And we were soaked. But it was the most fun I think I've had in forever. The goal of the night was laughing until we cried. I don't know if we got there but we both went running for the bathroom a couple of times. We were right that the beans cleaned up well and before we went to bed the house was perfectly clean again including a mopped floor. :D

Sunday. Sunday. Sunday.

I love our ward. Period.  I love our Bishop.  I love walking to church in heels and trying not to fall down the hill.  I love talking to people.  I love the Gospel.  I love Courtney, our new Relief Society President.  I love Church.  It really is one of the highlights of my week.  After church Lyssa and I went over to some of the boys in our ward and played piano and sang. (They have a keyboard.) And then I took a gloriously long nap and enjoyed the day.  I think Sundays are marvelous.

School!!!!!

I LOVE MY CLASSES! Enough said.

FHE.

I am going to explain this one in my next post but I just love being with people!

I LOVE BYU!  I am blissfully happy.

week one.

Well I am officially done with Week #1! I can’t believe that it has only been a week with all that has happened and all that I have been experienced and felt and changed and grown but it really really has. 

I am so happy. I love our apartment. I love school. I enjoy work. I love the goals and habits I am working toward. I love the girls I live and am friends with. I love the gospel. I love BYU.

Explanations.

First, our apartment is perfect. I am totally and completely in love with it. First of all on Monday (9/1) we all went shopping together to finish decorations for our apartment.  Alyssa had brought a lot of beautiful stuff from her home with her and we used that along with stuff we already had plus some new frames and pictures to decorate. The front room is green and red and cream with blankets and pillows on the couches. We made an end table out of a cardboard box and covered it with $1.00/yd fabric and put a vase of flowers on top of it. On one wall we have Alyssa’s Simon Dewey Christ painting and my Greg Olsen Angels. On the other wall we have a big red flower that Alyssa painted. By the door we have The Proclamation and The Living Christ. In the Kitchen we have a blue and yellow flower arrangement on the table and a yellow basket with flowers in it on top of the fridge. We have Christ and the Temple with the clock above the microwave and we also put up the Gratitude and the Quote Walls. It looks WONDERFUL. And the best part is that it has been clean. The whole week without fail. Not because someone has worked really hard but just because we each just stay on top of our own little bit and it stays that way. It looks Beautiful and has been so nice because it hasn’t caused any stress at all. We just put the dishes in the dishwasher right away. We take our shoes off in our room. We only leave out books we are using. And it is FANTASTIC!!!! It makes me really happy. I also love how close we are to campus. It takes us 12 minutes to walk to the JFSB. 12 minutes. That is beautiful. (Although, it is going to take a little while for me to get used to the hill coming up to campus. It is a killer!)    Eva did a video tour of our apartment... you can see it here. It is fantastic.

I love school. Tuesday and Thursday all four of us have an 8:00 class so we all walk to school together. It was so nice waking up the first day and getting ready together and then walking up to campus. So classes. Tuesday and Thursday I start at 8:00 with Pearl of Great Price from Sister Burgon which is probably going to be my favorite class. For one thing I am so excited to take a class that is based on such a short book of scripture so we can really get deep into in. Also because it ties into the temple a lot I am excited to study it in depth as I prepare to go to the temple. And because of that I am glad to have Sister Burgon because I know that she will be so careful about what we discuss and how we discuss it. Next I have History 201 (World Civ to 1500) from Hamblin. I am not very excited about this class but I have it with Dawn and it will allow me to study things that I haven’t before. I also have SFL 210 (Human Development) from Larry Nelson on T/Th. I am so excited for this class. I think Dr. Nelson is going to be an amazing professor and I am so excited to get started into my major! Monday and Wednesday I have 1st Aid from Thygerson which is going to be AMAZING. I am so excited to take this class and apply it to my life! Also I have World Politics from Champion. I am looking forward to the perspective this class can give me but at the same time I feel very right about my decision to do Human Development. So far, I have stayed on top of my readings and am getting back into the groove of classes. But I am so glad to be back. Really I missed it so so so much!

I really do enjoy work. I am working 11-3 now which is kind of a weird shift but it fit well into my schedule and Ruth said yes. I am working in the back; I am going to be focusing on the Alumni Database and some things like that. Mostly work is good because of Jordan. I am so glad that we became good friends and that I get to work with her. She makes me happy. And the new girls Kayla Sorenson and Noelle Hemingway are really sweet too. All in all it is great. And I sat down and worked out a budget yesterday. Mostly because I am trying to get to London as well as paying for a car which both require planning. So I did. And I can do it. The way it looks right now I can pay $250/month on my car (which is more than the payment) plus all of my other expenses and still save about $195/month. We’ll see where it goes from there. But now I have sat down and worked through it.

 I love the goals and habits I am working toward. I have been asleep by about 10:30 every single night this week (except Friday). I wake up early in the morning and I feel AMAZING! I was talking to Dad and said “Whoever said “Early to bed, Early to rise” totally knew what they were talking about.” And he said, “Um, that was God, Rach.” It made me laugh a lot. But really. I feel so great. My body is so much happier and I have so much more energy. And it is so easy because all four of us are doing the same. Also, eating is going really well. I have had breakfast every day and am eating really well in general – lots of fruits and veggies. Also, my personal scripture study has been wonderful as well as us doing family scripture study every night!

These girls are AMAZING. I could not be more blessed with the people that I am living with/friends with right now. Truly they are just about the best thing that ever happened to me. :D. It is happy and comfortable and uplifting and wonderful to be with these girls.  Example: Friday night we decided to go meet the people in our building/ward. We baked a lot of cookies and then took them around knocking on doors asking peoples names and introducing ourselves. Sometimes we spent quite awhile talking and other times it was just a few seconds but I was so glad. I got to know a lot of people and it will help so much with putting names to faces. And as a plus hopefully people will remember us… if nothing else as the girls with the cookies. It was really fun. While we were out though Sarah called Eva to ask where we were. She and Rachel Jane wanted to come and visit. We told her we were out and they said they’d probably come on Saturday instead. We said love you and then continued with our deliveries. When we finished our building we still had cookies left over so Alyssa was going to call Spencer (a boy she met Spring who lives at Liberty) and see if he wanted them. She was going up to our apartment to get her phone but we weren’t coming – we figured we’d be right back down. She was saying come up guys and then she opened the door and yells “No really you guys come up NOW!” We ran upstairs to find our living room COVERED in sticky notes with happy thoughts on them. We were reading them as Alyssa went to the back and she found Sarah, Rachel Jane and Allie sitting on her bed. They had left us happy thoughts. :D. It was the sweetest thing. (To finish the story Spence and his friends Mark and Gordy came over and hung out… Gordy is a real cowboy… Yes, they exist at BYU!) Anyways, the moral of the story is I love these girls. They help get me out of my comfort zone – to meet people and remind me how much I am love and yeah… just about the best people ever.

I love the Gospel! On Wednesday our bishopric came and sat down with us for a little while to get to know us and say hello. I love the leaders of the church and I am so grateful that they are a part of my life. I really appreciate all of their work and sacrifice for us. I am so excited to get to know our ward more. And Sunday was amazing! We had a regional conference and got to hear from Elder Jensen of the Seventy and Sister Dibb of the YW Presidency (& Pres. Monson’s daughter) . And then we also heard from Elder Packer and President Uchtdorf. It was incredible to be in the presence of these people and feel of their spirit and learn what they had to teach us. And then we had a CES fireside from Elder Holland. (Yes - 3 apostles in one day!) He taught us about Liberty Jail and the lessons we can learn from it.  He gave us homework to read D&C 121-123 (Go look at D&C 123:17 and then do it!) and left us with a blessing "as if his hands were on our heads" and closed saying "the Lord's promises are ALWAYS kept. " I am so grateful for the opportunities we are blessed with here, that we get to be taught at the feet (literally!) of apostles of the lord.  I am also so grateful for missionaries.  I got a letter from Curtis who is in the MTC and was just amazed by what he said.  Truly they are servants of the Lord.  And although I think the boys might get sent away so they can grow up a little bit I also know it is where they are supposed to be.   I sent cookies to two of them today (it is a dollar and same day delivery for me) but for future reference it takes longer to write letters than you expect.  

All in all what this comes down to is that I love BYU. I love life right now. I am so happy and am so grateful for the things that I have been blessed with. I cannot believe how fantastic life is and I only hope that I can keep doing my part to deserve all of these amazing things.

P.S. Last week when I wrote I forgot to mention that we went to our first football game of the season. It was so much fun. We have seats in the South Endzone about row 15. Yeah, really good!!  We played North Iowa and won… by a lot. It was really fun. 

P.P.S.  I am starting my application to go to London on Study Abroad next spring.  I want to see the world.  I want to see history first hand and learn all of the things that it has to offer.  I love history for history's sake and I just want to travel the world.  So I am going to.  And I am starting in London. I can't wait.  Jordan and I were talking a lot about it today.  And I looked at a lot of pictures. And I got really excited and started planning for it.  I'm going.  Period.  As soon as I get accepted. :)