Trials, laughs, and best friends forever!!!

This week has been an interesting one to say the least. I've learned a lot, and I only hope that I am really as strong coming out as I feel. This is my first kind of serious post, and it feels a little weird not sharing a whole bunch of funny stories, but apparently Heavenly Father had a different idea of how this week should go...

I learned the hard way this week that things don't always work out the way we want them too. Nothing serious, but sometimes you get your hopes up just to have them crushed. I have been kind of seeing this guy since I came to school, and things were never really serious, but this week was a 180 from what had been happening since orientation. It was really weird and it kinda sucks getting that close to someone and then being straight up ignored. However, things fall apart so better things can fall together right? That was kind of my motto Friday night. This weekend was homecoming weekend so there was something going on every night and Friday night was the concert. And I would like to let everyone know that I have the BEST wing-woman ever! Fee-La (she requested a code name) knew that I was having a hard week and was determined to find a guy for me to hang out with. Enter Agent Daveed (his code name because we're saving him). Fee-La saw me looking at him and decided that that was the guy she was going to get for me. And she did. I spent the rest of the night hanging out with him and totally forgot about how the rest of my week had been. It was great. He's a great guy, an RM and there's potential for something, I'm not sure what, but I'm excited for the adventure and to see what happens! I have the best friends that I could have ever been given. They know exactly how to turn my nights around and I would be lost without them!

I also remembered how important family is. They are always there for you, even if you live 11 hours away from home and the closest you can be is talking on the phone or skyping when everyone is free (which in my family is very rare!) Living away from my family is hard, but I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for me and that I am supposed to be in UT and I'm doing everything that He wants me to. There are a lot of things that I don't understand (boys, calculus, how to properly curl my hair), but the only thing that really matters is that I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for me, that the Book of Mormon is another true testament of Christ, and that we can live together with our families for eternity. Being a convert is hard, and my family might not believe what I do, but I know that I'll get the chance to be with them for eternity. I'm going to sign off with a scripture about hope, family, and life eternal:

"And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise." Moroni 7:41

Football, more football, and cheering on cheerleaders

So this weekend was one for the books: 6 hours of sleep for the whole weekend, 6 friends, 2 football games, 3 meals, countless shenanigans, a cancelled 7:30 A.M. hike and so much laughter that I better have a 6 pack soon! The whole weekend was crazy fun and it makes me so glad to be where I am in life and to have the friends I do.

So it all started Friday night when Kylene, Lauren and I were trying to figure out what we wanted to do that night. No one had any ideas so we started with frozen yogurt. Having girl time is always a great way to end the week, and this was no exception! Well fast forward a couple of hours and we're hanging out with the guy I'm "hanging out" with and a couple of his roommates. (They're all cheerleaders too). Starting out with the guys getting food, and then us ending up at the football stadium running around and dancing. We all ended up at the guys' house and watched a movie. Before we left they told us we had to cheer on the cheerleaders at the football game Saturday. Never in my life would I have thought that a guy would tell me that before I left his house, o well! It's college, right?

Lauren decided to stay the night at Kylene and I's house since we were all going to get up the next morning and hike Kanaraville Falls. We were going to go early so we could hike in, have lunch, go swimming and then get back in time to shower and get ready for the game. Simple enough. Except for when you don't get home till 3 and you're supposed to be meeting everyone at 7:30. I'm from MT though, so I was just excited to go hiking! Well Lauren and I wake up the next morning and Kylene is refusing to get out of bed. We decided that we wanted to go anyway so she could just sleep and then we'd see her when we got back. So Lauren and I head out on our adventure. We get to where we were supposed to be meeting everyone, and no one is there. Lauren calls the kid who was putting it all together and he informs us that no one texted him so he didn't think anyone wanted to go and that's why no one was there. Lauren and I just looked at each other, started laughing and then decided since we were up we might as well go get some breakfast. After breakfast we crashed at my house and finally woke up at 1:30 and decided we should probably start getting ready. By far one of the best mornings I've had since I've been in Cedar, and definitely one I won't forget soon!

Fast forward a few hours and we're at the game. Needless to say, I was pretty excited because this would be my first college football game as a college student. I yelled so loud that I'm amazed I have a voice today and I'm sure I'm going to be feeling it later. Anyways, we got awesome seats on the 45 yard line, 4 rows up from the track. Awesome seats, awesome friends, and an awesome game! (We won 45-23 too!) We fulfilled our duties as cheerleaders for the cheerleaders and had an amazing time! After the game everyone was hungry so being college students, we find the closest place that is playing the BYU-Utah game. Chilis it is then. Never have I seen more expressions on the faces of 3 guys while eating. Even though us girls couldn't see the game, we knew exactly what was happening just from their expressions! I wish I would have had a camera to capture those moments. Priceless!

Such an amazing weekend! This post doesn't even capture half of what happened, but trust me, it was a weekend to be remembered by all! I came out of this weekend with a couple more friends than I started with, sore abs and exhausted beyond reason...overall a very successful weekend :)

Me and Ky

Me and Nick post-game

Besties for life :)

Me and Lauren :)

Ky, me, and Lauren

Me and my favorite cheerleader :D

The completely true story of ME!!!

Wow! Well I can now officially say that I've started this adventure! This is a new experience for me, so please forgive me if I'm illiterate at times, or mess things up until I get the hang of this! I know that at times, this might be really confusing, but I'm using this as an extension of my handwritten journal, in the hopes that someday someone will be inspired, and maybe, just maybe, find the peace I have found these past few months.

Well first off, a little about me! I was born and raised in MT (yes, I'm kind of a hick). I have an absolutely wonderful family that I adore and wouldn't trade for anything in the world. I have two loving parents and a little sister who is a huge pain in the butt, but who I wouldn't give up for a million dollars. I love to do anything outdoors. On the weekends in the fall you'll usually find me out hunting with my dad or baking with my mom (that's a huge thing back home)! I'm currently going to school in Utah to pursue a history major and get my teaching license. I have the best friend a girl could ever want and I am so blessed to have her in my life. I also have an unofficial second family with my best friend. Her parents call me their adopted daughter, and love me with a love only parents can give a child.

So I know you're probably thinking, "Wait, I thought this girl said she was Mormon." Hold your horses people, I'm getting there!!! To know my whole story, you  have to realize it hasn't always been a happy, easy journey to get to where I am today. In fact, there's been more bumps and twists in the road than I could have ever imagined possible to be in one person's life. I'm currently a sophomore in college, but when I was a sophomore in high school, my life changed very dramatically overnight. On October 23rd, I lost my big brother. He was working on a fishing boat in Alaska, and while they were coming in from the last trip out of the season, they got caught in a storm. The boat was full of fish, so it was way heavier than usual, and the hole in the hull hadn't been sealed as well as the crew had thought. It was the middle of the night when the Coast Guard lost contact with the ship and it was on midnight the next day that they called off the search. My brother and one other crew member were never found. You never realize how short life is until someone you love that much is ripped from your life with no warning. Fast forward 2 years...I'm going to school in MT and  trying to convince myself that I love life and I love school (when I really hated it with a passion and hadn't been happy for awhile) and my best friend comes home for Thanksgiving. Just what I needed, some girl time and a good venting session with the bestie. Now, my best friend, Kylene, had been raised LDS and was a wonderful example without ever meaning to be. I hadn't been raised in any religion and had pretty much given up on the whole believing in a higher power when my brother died. My best friend always had this  happiness about her, and even when times were tough, she was calm and took everything in stride. Needless to say, I was always confused and perplexed when she was like, "Everything is going to be okay. I know it is. Trust me." Well when she came home, I asked if I could go to church with her one Sunday. Never have I seen anyone's face go through so many emotions in such a short amount of time (if I remember correctly, her jaw literally dropped at one point). Well things didn't work out while she was home, but I called her not even two weeks later and asked if when she was home for Christmas if I could go to church with her. She screamed a bit on the other end of the line and then said of course I could. Christmas day was the first day I went to church, and from that moment, I knew that I would be baptized. I AM A CONVERT!!!!! I wear that title proudly and am eternally grateful for the principles I have learned the past 9 months and the knowledge I continue to gain daily through scripture study and going to church. I had two of the most AMAZING missionaries that a girl could have ever asked for! Elder Nuttall is from California and Elder Price is from a tiny town in Alaska. I think I made their jobs a little easier by asking to take the lessons and being very open to learning. I took the lessons for 3 months and was baptized on St. Patrick's day of 2012. It has been almost 6 months exactly since I made that covenant, and every day is such an adventure. I've dealt with hate, disbelief, questioning, confusion, the purest love I've ever seen, and acceptance in its most wonderful form.

This blog is going to be my adventures as a college student on my own for the first time, what I learn from the Church, and everything else that decides to happen to me the next few years! I encourage anyone who stumbles upon this and is questioning what they know to search for those answers. Your Heavenly Father has an absolutely wonderful plan for you and He will not let you fail. If your curious about my faith, or my church, I encourage you to go to www.lds.org or www.mormon.org. Your questions can be answered, you can read the words of living prophets, and even find churches or missionaries in your area.

And now...for some pictures!!!!!!

My best friend's dad who baptized me!

My best friend, me, and my parents

Just before the baptism

Me and the bestie!!!!

Me and my sister <3

Elder Nuttal, Me and Elder Price

me and the bestie again!

me and my best friend's little brother

me with my best friend's little sister and mom

My sister, mom, me and my dad just before the service