Life is Crazy!

Can I just say, life is nothing short of crazy right now?! General Conference is this weekend and I am heading down to Utah again so I can go to my mission reunion. Also, during the Sunday afternoon session I get the awesome once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to watch conference in the media room at the conference center! This is where they control all of the cameras for conference! It should be amazing! (P.S. A special BYU-Idaho Conference Choir will be singing during the Saturday afternoon session of conference. My roommate will be singing in it. Pretty cool!)

Next week are finals. I've got a huge project due on Monday for my PR class. I'm also moving my stuff to my new apartment at the end of next week. Also, I'm going to my roommate's wedding and reception next weekend. My Mom and Dad are coming up at the end of next week to pick me up and take me back to Utah for my week-long spring break(before I start up again for spring semester).

I've also got my ward closing social, white glove apartment cleaning, three finals, and I need to do my end of the month reports for my calling. Whoa. Life never slows down.

P.S. Random fact I learned today- a person is 24% less likely to get divorced if they get married after the age of 25. That's happy news for me.

Michelle's Wedding Reception

I was able to come home this weekened and attend the wedding reception of my friend Michelle & her new husband, Rich. Michelle and I lived in apartments next to eachother in Provo over 6 years ago (crazy how time flies!). It was so fun to see her and see some old roommates and friends!

Night Photography

My latest photo assignment was night photography. My roommate and I went out to take pictures the other night and it was freezing! But, we did get some good shots.

Persuasive Speech: Don't Text While Driving

I had to give a persuasive speech in my PR class the other day. Speaking is not my favorite thing to do, but it went ok. This is something I feel strongly about, so I thought I'd share it. (By the way, we were required to use a non-electronic visual aid, so I used my phone.)

Intro: (Hold up phone) This is my phone. I could call or text one of my friends right now, but that would not be appropriate. There is a time and a place for cell phone use. In addition to the classroom, one of those times and places is not while driving in the car. Today I am specifically going to talk about the dangers of texting while driving.

Driving is an activity that requires complete attention. Composing, reading and sending text messages while driving compromises the driver’s attention and can lead to horrible consequences. In fact, some say that texting while driving is as horrible or worse than drunk driving. Studies show that a person is 4 times more likely to get in accident if they are drinking and driving and 8 times more likely to get in an accident if they are texting while driving.

Texting while driving is a serious issue. It causes accidents. Lives are changed in an instant because of the choice of others to send a text message. In fact, over 16,000 lives were lost due to texting while driving during the years of 2002-2007, according to a study conducted by The University of North Texas Health Science Center. That number continues to rise today.

One teenage girl from Texas should not have lost her life in 2009. Seventeen year-old Alex Brown was on her way to school when she sent a text message as she was driving and her truck went off a rural road and rolled, costing her her life. Her father stated, “we had to learn the hard way about the dangers of texting while driving. This is an epidemic… no text message is worth a life.”

Texting while driving also resulted in the death of a 55 year-old Ohio businessman. The man was striving for a healthier life, and often went walking near his home. One day, however, his life was taken. A 19 year-old girl was texting while driving and veered off the road, running over the man. His daughter stated, “that is right. She didn’t hit him, she ran over him. She left tire tracks up his right leg, across his pelvis and up his right arm. He didn’t stand a chance because she fractured his pelvis, pulverized multiple major branches of his right femoral artery, and bruised over 25 percent of his liver.” He died later that afternoon. But he shouldn’t have. Thousands of people out there should still have their dad or mom, or husband or wife. Texting doesn’t have to kill.

I personally have been touched by the effects of texting while driving. Last Thanksgiving I got a ride home off the ride board. It was snowing and the roads were bad. In addition, the driver was texting the whole time. I should have said something about it, but I didn’t. We ended up going off the road into a ditch. We were lucky that no one was hurt or killed. I am thankful to be alive today and feel strongly about the dangers of texting while driving.

I was fortunate enough to not be part of a fatal accident caused by texting while driving. Every year texting while driving causes nearly 51,000 non-fatal injuries, according to passenlaw.com. That’s 51,000 lives which are affected.

Something needs to be done about this epidemic. The good news is that texting while driving is now banned in 30 states. However, it needs to be banned in every state. A law regarding texting is currently in legislation in Idaho. The law would allow residents to text while driving as long as they are not distracted. But, texting IS distracting all the way around. We need to make sure texting while driving is completely prohibited.

My message to you today is: don’t text while driving and don’t allow others to do so. Whatever text we want to send can wait until we are off the road. Our lives and the lives of our friends and family members are worth the wait.

40 degrees has never felt so warm

Well folks... it's starting to warm up! And by "warm up" I mean 40 degrees! Heat wave! We've got people having a bonfire at the fire pit at our apartment complex, others are playing football at the stadium. Side note- I walk by the stadium everyday on my way to class. Late last week I noticed I could actually see part of the track! For months now the track has been completely covered with snow. As of today, the whole track is visible and mostly snow-free. There is still a bit of snow on the ground, but not nearly as much as there was just a few weeks ago. The sidewalks aren't icy anymore, which is nice. No longer do I need to walk with fear for my life!

It's kind of funny, the dedication of the BYU-I Center was three months ago. There were sidewalk signs in the grass on campus advertising the event. Apparently snow just accumulated over the signs over the past three months because now that the snow has melted there are a bunch of them lying on the grass everywhere around campus. (I've come to learn that the snow doesn't melt in the winter here. Down in Utah it comes and melts and comes back and melts and so forth. Not the case here.)

Also, the other day I saw some flowers peaking up out of the ground! It's exciting to think that spring may actually be around the corner (although, I'm sure we've still got snow coming at some point...). I love spring!

Photo Shoot: Outdoor Portraits

I've been very busy with my photojournalism class lately. Things have really picked up, and we have a lot of assignments due soon. However, when I'm out taking pictures I forget that I am actually doing homework because I love it so much! :) This week I did indoor and outdoor portraits. Here are the outdoor portraits I took, featuring my roommate, Alyssa. (Doesn't she look like she could model jackets?!)

Graduation... Here I Come!

Today I registered for my last semester of classes at BYU-Idaho!!! I am SO SO SO excited (can you tell?!)! I will "walk" July 22-23rd. I will still have a religion class I'll be taking after that (online) and an internship to complete, but I will be done in Rexburg.

I have to officially "apply" for graduation and pass all of my classes next semester, but we should be go to go. I talked an academic advisor last week, and he said I'm good to go, which was reassuring. I hope I am, because my Mom's already got the motel scheduled (since Rexburg is so small, it's crazy trying to find a place to stay at graduation time).

This a huge accomplishment for me, something I've been looking forward to for a long time. It feels so good to finally be moving on with life. I finally get to close the "college years" chapter of my life. Happiness abounds.

Lunch with Nicole

I got a text from my good friend Nicole at about midnight Friday night, right after I hopped in to bed. To my surprise, she told me she was in Rexburg! Her cousin lives up here. I joined her and some of her other family members for lunch today at Pizza Pie Cafe (formerly Craigo's). It was so fun to see her, even if it was only for an hour!

Motion Blur

The past two weeks in photojournalism we've been doing sports photography, specifically basketball. This week we worked on getting motion blur. The idea is to follow your subject by panning so the subject will be somewhat in focus and the background will be blurry, showing motion. I can't say sports photography is really my passion, but it was good to get some practice. This coming week's assignment is indoor portraits, which I am really excited for. It should be fun.

Sister Beck Comes to BYU-Idaho

Today I had the opportunity to hear from Sister Beck, RS General President, for nearly 4 hours! She spoke at the new BYU-Idaho Center to the Relief Society sisters in the southeast Idaho area. She also did a training meeting for the Relief Society Presidents and Secretaries.

I just love how bold she is. She tells it like it is. Like, she talked about the fact that many sisters have issues and excuses when it comes to visiting teaching. But, she said something to the effect of "The Lord doesn't care about our issues. I'm hear to tell you on his behalf to get over it." She definitely has the authority to do that!

Speaking of visiting teaching, I guess I didn't think about the fact that she has a visiting teahcer. Her visiting teacher contacts her weekly. A few weeks ago her visiting teacher called her to see if she could do anything to help her. She could hear that Sister Beck had a cold. So, she brought some soup and rolls over and starched and ironed Brother Beck's shirts. Sister Beck was going out of town soon, so her visiting teacher said something like, "I know I didn't give you the message, but can we count this?" Sister Beck said, "Of course! Dear, I WROTE the message!" Too funny.

Most of both meetings were question and answer sessions, which was neat. I was impressed with how well she knows the scriptures. A question would be asked and she seemed to know right where the answer could be found in the scriptures. It also seemed like most of the answers always involved getting on your knees and asking the Lord.

Here are some quotes/thoughts from the meetings which stuck out to me:

*"We don't have to be worried, we just have to be faithful."
*"We can't do everything, but we can do something."
*"It's as we work in the Lord's work that we become sanctified."
*"You have to have the words in you to have them come out of you." (in reference to teaching the gospel)
*When the problems are bigger than we can handle, the solutions come from heaven.
*Having families is not a life-style choice. It is a gospel choice.
*We should crave family relationships.
*We want it to be easy. We want perfect, easy children. But, the Lord is sending us his toughest, strongest Spirits. They need strong leadership.
*The Lord owns our gifts.
*Don't underestimate the light that comes from someone who has a new, fresh testimony of the Gospel.
*We prepare for the Lord's coming by making and keeping covenants. Our examples should exude strength.

As you can imagine, the meetings were incredible! I'm glad I got to be part of it.