Three months?!?

And just like that, my third month in Kansas has ended! It has gone by so fast, as cliche as that sounds. I can't believe that in 2 short weeks, I will be headed back home to Idaho. I get a little teary eyed just thinking about it! These past 3 months have contained some of the best, most fulfilling days, as well as some of the hardest days of my life up to this point! I am so grateful that Heavenly Father led me to Kansas! This experience has changed me for the better and given me a better understanding of who I want to be and what I enjoy doing. I still don't know what I want to do after I graduate but I've realized that it's okay. I will figure it out when the timing is right. Kansas has really become a second home to me and a little piece of my heart will always be here! ❤ 

2 months down??

How two months have already gone by since I've been in Kansas is still a mystery to me! I can't believe that I am more than 1/2 way done with my internship! This month has been a hard one, to say the least. My grandma passed away on October 11th. While it wasn't completely unexpected, (her health has been deteriorating over the past year) it still hit me really hard! Being away from my family was really hard but I was incredibly blessed to be able to go home for her funeral! I also had the opportunity to share some memories during the funeral. My main goal was to bring a smile to the faces of my family members and all of the people who were there. My grandma was an incredible woman. While no, she didn't have a filter most of the time, she taught me so much about life, service, sacrifice, hard work, and perseverance. I will miss her phone calls while I'm at college asking me about the things I'm learning and whether or not I'm taking time to have fun. I'll also miss stopping in to see her when I'm in Weiser. Me and my siblings were so extremely fortunate to live so close to both sets of our grandparents all growing up. I wish I would have appreciated them more when they were all still alive! I'm grateful for the legacy that my grandma left behind! All of my siblings were able to make it to Idaho for the funeral and it was so great to spend time together as a family. We were just missing my brother in law.

Anyway, it was so great to be able to spend a few days at home, but I was definitely ready to come back to Kansas and get back to work!! Being in Kansas for the past two months has been SUCH a blessing in my life. It has gone by way too fast and I don't know how I'm going to leave when the time comes!! 

One month in Kansas!!

I cannot believe one month of my internship is officially over! So far, I have had an incredible experience! I have learned more about myself, my strengths, my weaknesses and my insecurities over the past 4 weeks than I thought possible! Surprisingly, I haven't been homesick at all! I have met so many incredible people who have made me feel so at home and welcome! When I first decided to move to Kansas, I thought I was going to really miss the mountains! While it has taken awhile to get used to how flat it is here, I still find it really beautiful. Also, the storms here are amazing! And I thought the stars were amazing in Idaho but they are just as beautiful here! I can't say enough how much I love it here and how grateful I am to have a semester off from school where I can do some soul searching and maybe get a little better idea of what I want to do with my life!

After a day of moving cattle!! Soooooo dusty!!

Bryce sent this to me last week after I thought I was going to get eaten by a crazy cow!!

A gorgeous sunset!! 

Reminiscing

Seeing as how I'm completely done with finals (I got A's in all my classes by the way!!), about 75% done packing, and I still have a day to kill before my roommate's wedding on Saturday, I figured I'd write another blog post.  I just have to say how hard good byes are!  Most semesters, I don't really mind leaving.  I've had just about enough of Rexburg and I'm ready to leave.  But this semester, knowing that I really won't be back to Rexburg (for more than a few days at a time) until January is making it really hard to say good bye to everyone.  On top of that, I only have two semesters left at BYU-Idaho! (Crazy right?)  I have no Idea how the past three years have gone so fast!!  It seems like just a few weeks ago that I was finishing my senior year of high school and stressing out about scholarship applications and graduation requirements.  It seems like when you are in High School, time moves really slow, but the second you walk across that stage and receive your diploma, life goes into hyper speed!  (At least that's how it felt for me!)   Sometimes I'm very thankful that time moves so quickly, but at other times, I really wish that it would just slow down a little bit.

Another End But Many New Beginnings

With only one week remaining in my JUNIOR year of college, I've gotten to be pretty sentimental.  I won't be coming back to Rexburg for 9 months due to some amazing opportunities that have come my way, so leaving this time is a little harder than it's been the last several times.  I'll be doing an internship this fall (more about that will be coming at a later time because I don't have very many details yet) So I won't be coming back to school till January which is absolutely crazy to think about!!!  This semester has been amazing, hard, emotional, stressful, and I have grown a great deal.  I have made some of the best friends of my life who have helped me to become a better person.  One of my really good friends left today so a few of us got together last night for dinner and it really started to sink in that we won't see each other for at least nine months, if not longer.  I'll most likely be in Kansas this fall, one will be in Nebraska this summer and one will possibly be in Colorado for her Master's degree this fall.  As I was driving home after dinner, I started to reminisce about all of the fun times I've had since I've been in college as well as the amazing people I've met.  I've grown closer to some of the people I've met here and known for only a few months than I ever was with any of the people in Weiser that I've known for my whole life!  I was also thinking about how fast things change and how being an adult is so weird!  Change is a natural part of life, but it's always been something that I struggled with.  There are a lot of changes coming my way in a really short period of time so I'm trying to prepare myself in advance for the added stress and responsibility.  I know that without a doubt my Heavenly Father is mindful of me.  I'm so thankful for the amazing blessing that have come into my life from being at BYU-Idaho and I am really excited for the new and amazing experiences I'll have in the next several months!  I know that when we put God first in our lives and remember to give thanks to him in all things, everything else will fall into place!!

God does give us more than we can handle!

As I was lying in my bed tonight, trying to fall asleep but stressing out about all of the things I have to do tomorrow and knowing that the longer it takes me to fall asleep, the less time I'll actually have to be asleep, I couldn't help but feel a little overwhelmed.  When I planned out my schedule for this semester, I knew it would be challenging, I mean, I'm almost 3/4 of the way done with college.  It's pretty much a given that classes will get harder.  But the amount of homework that I've had this semester has far exceeded any of my other semesters.  The thought came to me that God does give us more than we can handle.  ON OUR OWN.  He gives us hard things to go through, sometimes to turn us back to him.  With God, ALL things are possible!
 There have been many times in my life where I never would have had the courage or the strength or the over all ability to perform a task without the help of my Heavenly Father.  Before I came back to school this semester, my dad gave me a priesthood blessing.  One of the many things that he said in it was that I would have to experience hard things but that I would be able to get through them through the help of my Heavenly Father.   When I first heard that, I almost wished that I hadn't gotten the blessing, but even in just the first three weeks of this semester, I've been thankful for that blessing and for the promises that were made to me.  I KNOW that no matter how hard this semester is or how hard the trials I have to go through in my life will be, that I can get through them through my Savior. God really does give us more than we can handle on our own.  But when we put our trust in him, we CAN get through anything!!

Why am I at BYU-Idaho?

There have been countless days since I started college 2 1/2 years ago where I really wanted to quit and where If I would have been completely serious, my parents would have come and picked me up.  I literally called home (most times crying), my first whole month of college.  I asked myself so many times if I really had what it would take to be successful.  I doubted myself more times than I can say.  I struggled to find my place and find what I love.  Every time I would have these thoughts, I would remember why I came here in the first place.  My initial decision to attend BYU-Idaho was not very thought out.  I'd prayed about it but all along, I had been planning to attend BYU in Provo.  I had good grades in high school, I did pretty well on the ACT so there was really no reason why I shouldn't have been accepted so I really just applied to BYU-I because it was the same application.  I never felt like I received an answer to my prayer and looking back now, I'm almost positive that the reason for that is because I wouldn't let go of my pride.  I always thought I was "too good" for BYU-Idaho, I thought that it was not as good as BYU.  When I didn't get accepted to BYU, I had a really hard time but it only took me a few days to realize that it was really an answer to my prayer.  I would never have come to Rexburg if I'd been accepted to both schools!  I've made some of the best friends of my life here and it has blessed my life in countless ways!  I'll forever be grateful for the fact that I did not get accepted to BYU Provo!  But the real reason why I'm writing this is because of an experience I had yesterday that reminded me of subsequent experiences I've had every semester I've been at college.  While I was at devotional yesterday, I just had the overwhelming confirmation that once again, I'm supposed to be in Rexburg, RIGHT NOW!!  On September 30th, 2014, I wrote this in my journal:

      "I have had the spirit whisper to me sooo many times in just the short three weeks that I have been in Rexburg of the fact that I need to be at BYU-I right now.  My decision to come here has been confirmed countless times and it so comforting to me to know that this really is where I need to be right now.  I'm so very grateful that Heavenly Father allows us to receive personal revelation."

I'm really thankful that I wrote that down because when things have gotten, hard, it has helped me to remember that Heavenly Father TRULY needs me to be here right now.  Every semester that I have been here, I have received that same witness.  I have been asked several times why I didn't serve a mission.  This is why! I know without a doubt that this is where I'm supposed to be!

Lots of Pictures!! And my thoughts about 2016

So, since my computer crashed before Thanksgiving, I'v had a lot of pictures that have just been sitting on my computer, so here are a bunch from Thanksgiving and a few from Christmas!  I can't believe that 2016 is over!!

The SUPER amazing Pinata that Lindsey and I made for Thanksgiving! 

Keith LOVED it!!  He kept on calling it the Dino-roar :)  I sure love my adorable nephew!!

Giving the dino-roar hugs before it gets smashed 

The only kind of decent picture I got with Keith haha :) 

CHRISTMAS BREAK!! 

I made this for my cousin Lexcie for her bridal shower!  I was pretty happy with how it turned out!!

The yummy cookies my mom and I made!

Feeding the cows!!

So much snow!!  (This is after it had all been plowed away!)

These next few pictures were taken with my cell phone which, if you've seen it you would be very impressed with the quality ha!! :)

My SUPER adorable nephew Paul on Christmas morning :) I love him soo, so much!!! 

I just love the sunsets at home! 

A lot happened over Christmas break!  My Brother and Sister-in-law flew in from Phoenix Arizona to spend Christmas with my family.  My nephew Paul was so much fun to play with!!  My grandma also had to go to the emergency room on Christmas night.  She ended up being life flighted to St. Luke's in Boise where she spent about two weeks.  We found out that she has heart failure which was pretty unexpected.  She is now back in Weiser at the Nursing home.  I'm so grateful for all that happened in 2016.  Some things weren't very fun at all, but other things were great!!  I learned so much about the person I want to become and the things I need to do to get there!  I'm thankful for my Savior, for his sacrifice for me.  I know that if it weren't for him, the hard things in this life would be unbearable!  Being faced with the possibility of losing my grandma a lot sooner than we thought has really put life into perspective for me.  We need to show more love and appreciation for those we love, especially our family members.  We don't know how long we will get to spend with them so we need to take advantage of every minute.  Stop putting things off because you don't have the time.  I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true.  I know with all of my heart that it is the only way to find true and lasting happiness!  Here's to 2017 and to the many adventures, happy times and trials that I'm sure await me.  I know that when we put our trust in God, we can get through any hard time!