CP Memories

(all of these pictures were taken circa 05-06)

I've been thinking about some of my past experiences and people from my life lately. One thing I've been thinking about particularly is my time in Provo. I have a special place in my heart for that time of my life. It was so fun and I learned and grew so much. Looking back on it, I can see how certain things about that time of my life prepared me for other things- like my mission. I got a job cleaning Campus Plaza Apartments, which helped me learn how to work hard- physically. I also got a job at a Dry Cleaner's in Provo, which also taught me hard work. I also made friends in Provo who really helped me come out of my shell.

It was so fun to live at Campus Plaza with fun people. I mean, I remember throwing things (DVD player, Christmas tree, etc.) off the balcony with one of my roommates. Or, having random "Constitution Day" and "National Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day" parties. I miss those times.

Boy, I am sure grateful for the different places, people, and experiences Heavenly Father leads me to.

Bannack Ghost Town

I took this photo, and made it into an HDR. (That's why the banner is at the bottom.)



On Wednesday I headed up to Bannack, Montana with my photo class (along with the other section of the class). It was an all-day affair. We left Rexburg at 8:30 a.m. and got back at 9:30 p.m. Bannack Ghost Town is about 2 1/2 hours away from Rexburg. It was really cool. The town was a bustling mining town in the 1860s. But, eventually everyone moved on. The last person left in the 1950s.

You can walk the town in a matter of minutes, but there are a lot of neat buildings to explore. Since my photo teacher has been going there for years (and is friends with the park rangers), we got special access to locked buildings. It was just really cool to see (and photograph) old things. One of the buildings was an old school house. The desks were still there.

Basically, we took pictures all day. We had several shots we were required to get- including a ghost shot. :) To do that, we had tripods. We had long shutter speeds and someone went in and out of the shot quickly. It was pretty cool. (Check my photo blog in the coming days to see that shot as well as more Bannack shots.)

I got a really bad sunburn on Wednesday- probably from being outside for many hours. Luckily it didn't hurt too bad.

All-in-all, it was a fun little excursion. Glad I got to miss class for it. :) P.S. Random fact- the park ranger guy said it is possibly the coldest place in the U.S. In the winter it can get as cold as -60 degrees! Yikes! (No wonder it's a ghost town now.)

My Love

As you may know, I'm in a photography class this semester. (The official title of the class is "Digital Imaging.") I am learning soooo much! There is so much to learn about photoshop. It's insane. Some of the cool things I've learned so far include: how to change the color of someone's shirt, how to blend images together, how to remove blemishes on people's faces, how to remove something from a picture and make it look like it was never there, how to create a panoramic photo... the list goes on and on.

This week's assignment was portraits. Luckily, I have roommates who are willing to be my models. :) I spent 3 1/2 hours today editing the pictures and working on the specifics of the assignment! Insane! This class takes up so much of my time, but again, I am learning so much. I just wish I could afford photoshop so I could have it when I graduate. (Right now I am using the school's computers.)

On Wednesday of next week we are going to Bannack Ghost Town in Montana to take pictures. I'm really excited. (Not excited about everything I have to do before then...) I can't wait to get some shots up there.

Photography really is one of my biggest loves in life. It's so satisfying to me. I hope to be able to do a lot more with it in the near future... maybe even get some business once I am back at home with access to a car. We'll see.

Cleaning the BYU-Idaho Center

The past two sundays at church volunteers were asked to help clean the BYU-Idaho Center. I signed up, not thinking much of it. Actually, my initial thought was, "don't they have student employees who do that?" (They do. I know a girl who is an employee at the BYU-I Center.)

So, today came and of course I am tiiired. Seriously, no energy. Today was a very busy day. I was in class until 5. I was slightly tempted to not go clean, but I knew I had said I was going to go and I should do what I said I would do.

To my surprise, it was actually a stake effort. There were quite a few people there. We gathered together and received some instruction from an elderly sister missionary. Apparently she and her husband have been called on an 18 month mission to help keep the BYU-I Center clean. Interesting, huh? She talked a little bit about the building. There are 4 acres on top, 7,000 light fixtures and 214 toilets.
When the building was being built, President Hinckley asked that the students help clean it. So, that's why we were there. There are student employees who clean outside of the auditorium (the bathrooms, etc.).

The auditorium is huge. There were 105 people who showed up to help clean and it took nearly 2 hours. We were divided into groups with specific tasks to complete. Some groups vacuumed, some wiped down the backs of all the seats (15,000). My group's job was to dust all of the wood. We were to get in the grooves of the wood. The wood really wasn't very dirty at all. I mean, this place was just finished in December. And, it is cleaned every week. But, we dusted the wood never-the-less. You wouldn't think you could work up such a sweat doing that, but believe me, it's possible! Great exercise. There were cookies and punch for us when we were finished.

Grateful For the Temple

I've been in the process of renewing my temple recommend the past couple of days and I've had the temple on my mind. I felt the need/desire to share some thoughts about the temple here.

First of all, I know the temple is a Holy place, the House of God.

I'm so grateful to live near a temple. Even though I don't have a car, it is only about a 20 minute walk. There are so many people in other countries who sacrifice so much to be able to go to a temple. I was able to go on a walk up near the temple a few nights ago and just sit in an open field, admire the beauty of the temple and ponder. (I took the above picture that night with my phone.) I love that place.

I'm so grateful that because of my Savior and ordinances of the temple, one day I will get to be together forever with my family.

Something I've thought of lately is how grateful I am for this time of my life when I can go to the temple often. Not only do I live close to a temple, but I don't have many responsibilities that make it so I can't go (i.e. when you have kids you can't go as a often, etc). I've realized how much I need to treasure this time in my life.

Anyway, I just hope we will never take the temple for granted. I know it's a wonderful blessing in my life.

Party!

Alyssa and I

Jen and I

Jake (Morgan's fiancee), Morgan, and Kelsee

Abish and Alyssa

The other night we had a get together at my apartment, thanks to the suggestion of my roommate. She did most of the work, and I invited a few people. It was really fun. We had about 20 people here. We just hungout, played games, and ate cupcakes and cakeballs. If you don't know what cakeballs are, you should find out. They are delicious!

I'm really grateful for my friends. That's one thing I've pondered a lot, the Lord has sure blessed me in that area. I'm going to miss all of my Idaho friends when I leave!

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood!

It's 75 degrees and sunny here. I'm so happy right now. It's amazing what warmth and sunshine can do for the soul.

Today has been a great day. I've been working on my homework for my Digital Imaging class and have really enjoyed it. This week's assignment is panoramics. I'm amazed at what photoshop can do. You give it three or more photos and it will merge them together for you. I'll have to post my pano (that's what the pros call them) soon.

I was walking to the library today and I guess I sort of had a realization- oh my, I am really graduating in SIXTY-NINE days! What in the world?! It's hard to explain, but you know how sometimes you know something, but then, all of the sudden it hits you. Bam! Yeah, I had one of those experiences. It really hit me that I'm going to be done in Rexburg, I need to find an internship for fall, and I really need to get going on my Senior project. But, folks, this chica is really, seriously, going to get her Bachelors of Science degree in Communication, with an emphasis in Public Relations and clusters in Advanced Writing and Child Development. Yeah, that's a mouthful. But, it's happening! It's really going to happen!

I don't know what life has in store for me in the next few months, or even in the next year, but thankfully Heavenly Father does and He's
going to help me along.

Oh, by the way, I'm going to design my own graduation announcements pretty soon. I'm excited about that. :)

Side note- after I had that realization today, I got in the library, and checked my e-mail only to find a "graduation denied" e-mail. I tell ya, that's the quickest way to give a girl a heart attack! I headed right over to the advising office to see what was up. Apparently, the advising office reviewed my application and thought I was missing a class. So, we're still good to go- to walk- in July. Whew!

Looking Up

Sorry for the "Debbie Downer" post the other day. Sometimes my blog becomes my venting spot. Things are looking up.

I worked hard to get everything done last week and had hoped to be able to go home to spend Mother's Day with my Mom, but it didn't happen (I found myself spending my weekend in the library instead). But, my roommate and her parents invited me to dinner at their house in Idaho Falls, which was really nice. I had an enjoyable time. They live in what I'd consider the "country." (I'm such a suburb girl) I think that was kind of humorous to them. They are only a few minutes away from town. My roommate commented, "well, we don't live on a farm." True, but from her bedroom I could see a barn (that looked like it was falling apart) and horses. I think I about died when she told me they have cows every other year. The cows graze and then they butcher them and the meat lasts them until they get more cows. Anyway, dinner was delicious. It was so nice to have a home-cooked meal. (For the record, we had chicken for dinner.)

I keep reminding myself that I've got to soak-up the Idaho "experience," because in just a couple of months it'll be over. As much as I want to graduate, and as much as I hate the weather here, I know I'm going to miss it. (Hmm...maybe sometime I will do a post about the things I like about Idaho. That'd be really refreshing for me.)

As I said, things are looking up. I've finally been getting more sleep, which is soooo nice. My laptop power cord came in the mail today, I sold a book online that I've been trying to sell for a month, and today I got a letter from my friend who's in the MTC, and an e-mail from Christi on her mission.

On another note, I came across this article today. Things like this really affect me. I went to their family blog and read more. I can't even imagine how hard this must be for the husband. But, having the Gospel in his life is probably what's helping Him through. It's things like this that remind me that no matter how hard I think my personal trials are, there's always someone out there who has a heavier burden than I do. It's important that we don't get so wrapped up in our own problems that we forget those around us who are struggling.

Crazy Week

I've had quite the week! It's all kind of a blur because I've had so much going on. I had a test, presentation, my senior project proposal due (and I had hard time tracking down my mentor to approve of it), 28 papers to grade (for my job), my laptop power cord died, 1/2 my parents' house was ruined by a laundry room disaster (that didn't affect me directly, but I feel really bad for them), the list goes on and on... and I've been averaging about 6 hours of sleep per night (if you know me, I need more like 8-9 to function properly). Unfortunately it's not over yet, either. I'm sitting here at the library on Friday night. Exciting times I tell ya. I just keep telling myself I've got to finish strong. Only a few more months. A scripture that keeps running through my mind is Philippians 4:13: "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."

Despite the difficulties and craziness, here and there I have seen some funny (and serious) videos this week. Kind of random, but I wanted to share, as I've enjoyed them.

"Swagger Wagon" I saw this in my Foundations Capstone class. My teacher is hilarious! (We were talking about family finances)


"Asian Mob" My roommate showed this to me the other night. It's kind of an Asian knock-off of "Candid Camera." Funny.


"The Power of Words" This one isn't so funny, but I really liked it. It has a great message. Words can be so powerful.


Anyway, I hope everyone else has had a better week than I have!

I Had a Birthday

This is the best picture I've got of me with the cake.

My niece and I playing around.

Yes, I had a birthday. It was a couple of weeks ago... I can't believe I'm just now posting about it! It was a nice, relaxing day. I got up in the morning and listened to church music while I got ready. I wore my new favorite shirt to church. I got it on sale at JcPenney's with some bday money. :) Then, I went to church and then had dinner-including cake and icecream of course- with the family. All-in-all it was a nice day. I'm glad I got to spend it with family (I had to head back to school the next day).