#ItWasMom Happy Mothers Day!

Hi Friends! Sorry I've been a slacker at blogging lately. I have been swamped with projects like this...

(This is me doing an infomercial for "The Snuggie" for my American Sign Language class. There are for sure some mistakes so if you know ASL don't mock me.)

My days have been swamped with work the last little bit. I took the AP English Language test yesterday and lets just say I'm glad that is over with.

Since it seems to be a video kind of day I want you all to take a second to watch this video...

My mom is the one who put up with all the tears, all the laughs, and all the banging of pots and pans.

Who accepted the noise while I practiced my musical instruments. From my pots and pan days, to my piano banging days, to my guitar playing days, to the times I insisted on listening to Radio Disney.

It was my mom who held me before I could talk.

Who made sure I made it from here...

To here...

It was my mom who put bandaids on my knees.

Who let me tie yarn all over the house.

Who let me watch High School Musical a thousand times even when it became annoying.
 
It was my mom who dressed me up like this...

 

And this...

It was my mom who inspired my love for this...



which later evolved into a love for this...

and who took me to the doctor when tumbling meant this...

It was my mom who ran to buy poster board at midnight when I notified her I had a project due the next day.

It was my mom who checked my grades and made sure I turned my homework in.

It was my mom that taught me who God was and who inspired my love for this.

It was my mom who installed a version of Photoshop Elements which inspired me to become a Graphic Designer.

It was my mom who taught me, who held me, who loved me, who read to me, who taught me to read by myself, who drove me to soccer practice, who taught me to drive, who I called when my driving resulted in car crashes, who picked me up when I was down, who inspired me to be bigger than myself, who put up with me when I was at my worst, and who clapped for me when I was at my best.

Julie B. Beck said that

“THERE IS NO LIMIT TO WHAT A MOTHER CAN ACCOMPLISH. RIGHTEOUS WOMEN  HAVE CHANGED THE COURSE OF HISTORY AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO.”

My mom no doubt molded much of my life. Things would be different without her here.

I am so glad to have the mother I was blessed with. And I now echo the words of Abraham Lincoln when he said that


“ALL THAT I AM OR EVER HOPE TO BE, I OWE TO MY ANGEL MOTHER.”

i LOVE you MOM! happy mothers day! 

#ItWasMom


 P.S. I suggest you all go read THIS BOOK! I am about halfway through it and I'm digging it... a lot.

 

I hope you enjoy Holland

Dear blog, I'm sorry I've neglected you the last couple of days. I wish I had some great extravagant excuse like I was riding Elephants in India or something, but the reality is I was lazy and that's that.

I just finished a long, well procrastinated assignment that took much longer than any single assignment ever should. So naturally I am rewarding myself with blogging. At midnight.

It has been a good Sunday. It has been an awakening day, or at the very least it has shaken me out the trance I have been in the last couple of days. Not that I was doing anything wrong, but I feel like the last couple of days I have been hypnotized by the things of the world. I think this is a regular occurrence for all of us and sometimes it is good to be reminded to snap out of it, because it feels so much better on the outside.

There was an awesome talk given by a sister in my ward today that really hit me. She talked a little bit about finding joy in adversity and she told a story that her friend sent to her that I loved and imediatly knew I had to share it with you. I am retelling from memory and hope I can tell it as well as she did.

{picture via. Google. view original image here.}

You have dreamed of traveling to Italy for your entire life and you have finally planned your trip. You board the plane and you can feel the excitement among the passengers who, just like you, are so excited to land in Italy. When your plane lands you hear a voice come on over the intercom "Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to Holland." Holland?! Holland?! You where supposed to land in Italy. You have dreamed your whole life of going to Italy and now you are stuck in Holland. How terrible! Now, there are two ways you could approach this, you could either walk off the plane and soon find the true beauty of Holland and enjoy your experience, because after all, Holland is an incredibly beautiful place, or you could spend the rest of your life wishing your plane had landed in Italy and spend the rest of your life moping about the fact that you are not where you had planned to end up.

I think this is what we often do in our lives. Sometimes we have the perfect idea of what is supposed to happen, and when that doesn't workout we don't realize that maybe we were put somewhere for a reason and sometimes we don't realize that where God puts us is much better than the place we dreamed of.

I hope you enjoy Holland.

I think too often we get caught up in how perfect our lives are not, and we forget too often how much our lives are actually worth. This same sister that spoke in my ward today said

        "you may not be seen as

          perfect  

 by the rest of the world,          

         but you are seen as 

     perfect by him."          

Remember who you are and remember that you are perfect in the eyes of your creator. He knows whats best for you even better than you do. That is why he creates the maps for your life, not you. Follow his map and don't ever stray from the path he has drawn because if you follow his path he will lead you to the "X that marks the spot" and he will lead you to eternal life.

I know that if we strive to follow him we will one day return to live with him and I write these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Feel my Sunlight

p.s. Happy comments are the greatest. They bring me lots of joy.

Blogtember day 6: life flips

Blogtember day 6: Describe a distinct moment when your life took a turn.

I have had several distinct times where my life decided to do backflips. For example, the time I walked into a tumbling class for the first time was a pretty big one. I mean, for the first time I wasn't terrible at a sport! {Okay, I know that is hard to believe but when I was in 1st grade my P.E. teacher told my mom she didn't know how to get me to do anything. I would just sit there at pick grass. And when I was in my early and only two years of playing soccer I ran away from the ball. My parents had to start bribing me with chocolate. Every time I touched the ball=one piece of chocolate. My record was 7 pieces of chocolate. I've always been super athletic I know.} For the first time nobody was slamming into me because they wanted that round sphere so bad and for once my lack in vertical altitude was an advantage. I was also flexible and that was good. I guess this this had a pretty big impact on my life. I mean, I am pretty much in the gym every day of my life. It is also my job so that's kinda fun.

I have had a few other turns in my life like the time I found out for myself the truthfulness of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints. This one is huge. . .I'll save it for another post. Or the time that I decided I liked country music. Thank you Scotty McCreery. Or the time I clicked post for the first time in my life on this cute blog here. Or the time two years I spent becoming a theatre geek. Becoming a theatre geek also came with brainwashing me into forgetting I was shy, and to thinking I liked things like being social, and speaking in church. What the heck?

Other big things were things like my first date hahaha just kidding! That hasn't actually happened yet. I must have too much awesome for boys to handle or something, at least, that's what I keep telling myself. And might I add, I turn 17 next Wednesday on the 18th. Just putting that out there.

This announcement was a huge turn in events for both my life, and changed the lives of just about everyone in the church.

Called to serve my friends. Called to serve.




Feel my Sunlight




p.s. Temple Tuesdays are the best!

blogtember day 3: the best advice

{This picture has nothing to do with this post. I just think these girls are all super cute and I love them a whole lot.}

Hello followers! (I feel like that is something some evil tyrant would say. I hope you don't see me as that. ha) Today marks day 3 of Blogtember and I am pretty happy about today's topic.

Thursday, September 5: Pass on some useful advice or information you learned and always remembered.

My top answer by far would be "an apple a day keeps the docter away. " {but if the docter is cute, ditch the fruit.} or maybe something about never running because I own scisors. {I'm pretty good at that one.} There are so many options I just can't decide.

But as far as real advice goes I will always remember what my grandma says about being short. She always says that being short doesn't matter because you're legs are long enough for your to reach the ground. #Reidswag

Another piece of advice that has stuck out to me recently is this quote by President Hinckley. Someone I met at EFY posted it on facebook and since I apparantly didn't pay enough attention the first time I saw it my mom shared it with me yesterday.

"Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he’s been robbed. The fact is that most putts don’t drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just ordinary people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. . . .Life is like an old-time rail journey—delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."

                       -President Gordon B. Hinckley

I think this is a good perspective to have because we live in a world where we live fake pinterest lives ever wishing we were our pins. We spend our lives looking at how extrodanary our days are not that we think they aren't special. If we remember that our days our average, and everyone around us are having days that are average we will start to realize that average is extrodanary and that we should be thankful for them. I believe that a person, and not their circumstances decide how happy they are going to be. Some of the happiest people I know are the people who live the hardest lives. I want to be like that and today I'm going to decide to be happy.

With that, here is another quote from EFY that I love.

"don't look to your neighbor to see if you have as much as them, look to your neighbor to see if they have enough."

I think the best way to become happy is to forget yourself. I don't know about you, but I think I want to be happy today.

Feel my Sunlight

p.s. Follow me on Bloglovin!

BFF photo shoot

Just a few from our photo sesh today. More to come at www.whitneysuephotography.blogspot.com!

eternally changed

Well my friends, I survived schoooool!! (The first week at least). And I am so glad it's Friday.

It's hard to keep up a blog with Honors, AP, and CE classes. Especially when I don't have any classes where I just sit at a computer the whole period like I did last year. That is, except for CE digital media, where we actually made blogs for class. That was kinda fun. CE digital media is kinda the best class ever, I mean, we made blogs for crying out loud!!!

So I am sitting here at the sunny yellow computer desk at 10:36 at night planning on writing a blog post. Lets see how this turns out.

This week has been crazy. And by crazy I mean stressfully phenomenal, dreadfully stupendous, hopefully wonderful, excitingly tiring, newly tedious, and strangely not that bad. I actually love most of my classes and I got some pretty dang good teachers this year. I am predicting it is going to be a fantastic year and I can't wait.

I learned something this morning while I was reading my scriptures. (5:30 am scripture study is where it's at! Brown Sugaring it up! By far the sweetest part of the day.)

In 1st Nephi 3:29-31 Laman and Lemuel are visited by an angel, and immidiatly following the angels diparture they begin to go back to complaining and begin to revert to their old ways.

I sometimes wonder how many times we do this in our own lives. How many times do we have a very spiritual experience that seems to change us, but then immediately revert back to our old ways when trial comes? How many EFY sessions, treks, girls camps, and youth conferences experiences have "changed our lives" but, in the end leave us unchanged? How many times do get home from church and begin to block out everything we felt that day?

I think this is something we could all work on a little. There is always room to change, but we must remember to remain changed when the wave hits. We must be able to not just remember what we felt, but to feel it again and again as the rocks begin to crumble. If we strive to hold on, how much easier it will be to hold our ground in this crazy war of life.

I often joke that I wish I could just go to EFY all year long instead of school because I love the atmosphere and everything about EFY while I'm there. But I think we can create that same kind of atmosphere in our daily lives if we are doing whats right.

I was once told that I should make the week after EFY the greatest week of my life because that's when I get to apply what I learned. If you have ever been to EFY you know that the week after is always the hardest week because that is when you are thrown back into the world of immodest clothing, bad language, idleness, and temptation. When you are thrown back into a world where the less virtuous choices are easiest and sin surrounds you. But I truly believe that we can see an angel, and be forever changed by it.

I decided to make this my goal for the next week. (and forever hopefully) To always be remembering and having spiritual experiences and not sitting and waiting for next years EFY to have another one. When I was baptized I was given the gift to have the constant companion of the Holy Ghost. Why on earth would I want to only use this gift every once and a while?

I have a testimony of this gospel and it's changing powers. I know that it is the only true church and that it can change lives. I know that if we strive to live what's right, we will be forever changed.

On an entirely different note, please take a second to look at this picture. These girls are from all over the nation. They are all from different teams, and they are supposed to be rivals. But regardless of all of that they still support one another and have peptalks before competition. I think the world needs a little bit more of this kind of awesome.

Jr Elite Girls at the Stars and Stripes Cup today

Feel my Sunlight




p.s. This blog post from NieNie just about sums up what I think about TV. And people wonder why I don't watch TV.

p.s.s. I went to the football game tonight and we lost sadly. But I got a cookie dough shake so I'm happy.

What I love today

I love when people tell me they read my blog. I also love when I nail something and my coach cheers for me. I love when I can feel the eyes of the little ones watching me and when I can hear their cute little voices say "lets go Whitney!" behind me right before I tumble. I love temple trips with friends. I love that even though the two closest temple were closed today, the furthest one was still only 30 minutes away. I love when my former students run up and give me hugs. I love things that remind me of EFY. I love filling my journal and I love the things that fill my journal. These are the things I love today.
Oh! I also love this quote...

"If a man owns a million dollars worth of gold, he possesses approximately one 27-billionth of all the gold that is present in the earths thin crust alone. This is an amount so small in proportion as to be inconceivable to the mind of man. But there is more to this: The Lord who created and has power over all the earth created many other earths as well, even "worlds without number" (Moses 1:33); and when this man received the oath and covenant of the priesthood, he received a promise from the Lord of 'all that my Father Hath' (D&C 84:38)"

-President Spencer W. Kimball

And lastly, I love songs that are titled "home".

Feel my Sunlight


p.s. Uh, so what's with this whole no-upper-levels-showing-up-to-tumbling-and-leaving-Whitney-to-fend-for-herself-thing? Well I'll have you know I had a fantastic time during adventure time with Steph and you didn't get to participate. Ha!

Meet the conditions

Today was a sad day for my sport. The World Games are underway in Cali, Columbia (for those of you who don't know, the World Games are the equivalent to the Olympics for non-Olympic sports.) Due to circumstances regarding safety the FIG (International Federation of Gymnastics) has requested a waiver to be signed, and the US has refused to sign it because it puts the athletes at high risk, and therefor, the US has been forced to pull out of the World Games It is very sad for me to think of all the work that these athletes have put into this sport, only to be pulled out at the last second. {Read more about what happened HERE.}

Now all this EFY, relate it to the gospel, lifesaver stuff made me think "what in our lives are stopping us from signing our waiver to allow us to enter the Temple?" I know this is a stretch, but bear with me.

In our lives we all have the goal of the temple, yet there are things that could stand in our way from being able to sign our "waiver" or our temple recommend. These conditions (temple recommend interview questions) if not met would force the bishop to have to refuse our participation in temple ordinances.

I now challenge you to "meet the conditions"

To me "meeting the conditions" doesn't mean do as little as you possibly can, but enough to still make it. It means strive to be your very best so that when the time comes there is absolutely no question as to weather or not you are fit to enter into his kingdom. "Meeting the conditions" does not mean you train like you are going to the "spooky spectacular", but to the World Games. "Meeting the conditions" means you are anxiously engaged in a good cause, and are in constant prayer with your Father in Heaven. It means that you study and love your scriptures, and you apply them often. It means you attend church, and you pay attention. It means you give 110% in your callings and you look for opportunities to serve. It means you are a good example and you let your light shine. It means you strive to be perfect, but because none of us are, you recognize your faults and you work at making them better. It means rising to the occasion.

Now since none of us are perfect and we all slip up sometimes there should be no way we would be able to sign our "waiver". But we have been given a mediator, a person who will sign the parts we can't sign as long as we have done what we must do for him to sign them. Through the Atonement Jesus Christ has taken all of our hurts, our trials, and our heart aches and has suffered that we might not have to suffer. Our sins are taken from us when we repent and they are remembered no more. Through him we are able to be made clean again and are able to sign our waiver allowing us to enter into his Kingdom.

I have a testimony of the Atonement and I know Jesus Christ suffered for all my sins and heart aches. He knows what I have been through, and if we call out his name he is more than willing to reach down and lift us up out of the water, no matter how deep we are sinking.




Feel my Sunlight



p.s. I feel like if my life were a movie this would be the part of the movie where they show a montage of me staring out of the window of a car dramatically with clips of me going back to normal life while they play the song Home by Michael Buble. It feels fitting.
p.s.s. post-EFY-withdrawls stink! Lets go back.
p.s.s.s. Going back to the gym is hard. But it feels so good. <3 I love my team!

I have learned

I’m not sure where this post is going to go so I guess we will just flow with it and see where it ends up. It has been a nonstop party for the last three days and I have had a lot to think about. Last night I had a talk with an old friend. I had had a talk with this same friend exactly a year before, the subject the same, but the circumstances very different. We learned this year that the world hits us and it hits hard. We learned that things aren’t always what we think and that we are stronger than we previously thought.

I learned over this last year that my world doesn’t float on a cloud and that that cloud thought I was floating on wasn’t a cloud at all, but a deceiving mist that would soon bring a reality check. I learned that boys aren’t needed to be happy, in fact, they sometimes make you very unhappy. I learned to ignore the taunting about being a part of the VLs and never have been on a date. I learned to accept the fact that the world doesn’t always bring a piece of cake; sometimes it brings a table spoon of “grape” flavored medicine. While this medicine may not taste remotely of grapes, but the tears of small children, it is the only thing that will make you better.  It is the only thing that will make you stronger, and we could all use a little more strength to face the world. I learned that sometimes people are put into your lives for a reason, and sometimes they are taken out of our lives for another reason. I learned that having fewer friends makes you appreciate the ones you do have much more. I learned that sometimes the greatest friendships only last a week, yet still last a lifetime. I learned that there is a lot more to life than the pictures you post on Facebook and that the things people pin on Pinterest are both unrealistic and unattainable, and that they certainly don’t matter in the long run. Because the things that actually matter in life aren’t things that you pin. They are things that you feel. I learned this year that you don’t go to parties to be more popular, you go to parties to strengthen your relationships with the people in your life. I learned that a party can be 5 girls in pajamas in the morning. I learned that people aren’t always who you think they are and sometimes their actions will surprise you. I learned that sometimes people are kind and sometimes the world is good, and that sometimes people are EXTREMELY kind and sometimes the world is EXTREMELY good. I learned that blogging is a very good way to get things off my chest. I learned that while I may not be the greatest singer, and that nobody would ever want to buy my album, I should sing anyways. I learned that guitars can be the most comforting when used correctly. I learned that country music and sunshine make everything feel all right. I learned that fake isn’t fun and that rude isn’t respectable.  I learned to accept the fact that not everyone feels the same as I do and that it isn’t worth it to try to impress everyone. I learned that the things I want the most are things the world would laugh at. I have had my worst days, and I have had my greatest days. While I learned many things this year, the thing I learned about the most is that the greatest work we could do is the work of our Father in Heaven. We have a great responsibility. Let’s get to work.

Feel my Sunlight

p.s. Sorry it has been a few days, like I said, I have been partying hard. Have a fantastic summer!

p.s.s Notice how nothing In this post has anything to do with Columbus or radical numbers? Just saying.

p.s.s.s. I am in a fantastic mood, and have been for three days. Please don't rain on my parade.

perfect.

 
I know I am supposed to be doing homework right now, but my mind is filled with words and I am afraid I will loose them If I don't record them now.

I learned something today. I learned about perfect. True perfect is not what the world sees. Today wasn't perfect. I heard a few swear words, and had to do some homework, but there were moments that rocked my perfect world.

There are moments in life, though they may be but little, have a great impact on your life. Today as I stood at the end of the mat preparing to do a skill I have been doing for years, I heard a little voice. Little Kennedy, the little girl I coached once, the girl I convinced that she was good enough. Said the words "Lets go Whitney, you've got it." And in that moment all was perfect. I did that skill better than I had ever done. As I walked back she said "good job Whitney". At that moment, all flashed through my head. I was suddenly the little girl watching Shawn throw his big skills and wanting so badly to be like him. I realized that while It may be hard, and it may not have been what I thought it would be, It still is. I am one of the only 5 competing at Nationals this year. I realized that it matters less the medal you receive, or the score you get, but the impression you leave on the younger team. I realized that I cannot and I must not fail. I can't fail them. But with them, success doesn't come from a medal or trophy, it comes from accepting them, and making them feel good. That is why I looked up so much to B, Ashlie, Stirfry, and Shawn. Not because they did cool tricks and won shiny medals, but because they made me feel good about myself and made me feel wanted. They made me feel like I was worth something. I can fall and break my leg at Nationals, but if I am excited for the little ones when they land their back tuck, I have won. And that is the greatest award I could ever ask for.

I also learned something about goodbyes. If you know me at all you know that they are my greatest weakness. While goodbyes may be bitter and they may hurt. While they leave a sour taste on your tong of unfinished words, and unspoken love, they are never truly lost. It may never be the same, but you will always have your memories to hold close. While you think it may be the last time you will ever hold them close, they may come back, even if only for a moment, and it can be exactly how it once was. For just a moment. For a perfect moment




Feel my Sunlight



p.s. Morning side TOMORROW! Ya'll better be there!

Al Fox

{ In The Head Of Al Fox }

{picture stolen from her amazing blog  HERE}

I know it is past midnight but I have words in my head that just need to get out.

Tonight I had the chance to go to a fireside given by the lovely Al Fox. It was fantastic and just the thing I needed to give me that extra push to help me survive these last painful weeks I have to spend at the great and spacious building school.

High school is rough. I know it may seem that in Utah I should be surrounded with God's angels and Helaman's army as I walk from health to math every day, but the reality is far from that. The reality is that high school is a nasty place. I often feel as if nobody wants to talk to me and I am often ignored during class. It is in the classes with an abundance of bad words and suggestive sayings that I usually remain to myself and keep my head down. Because in a class with 18 loud, obnoxious, less virtuous boys, what is the little 4'9" girl going to do? Now, This isn't every class, and this isn't every person. There is plenty of Helaman's army roaming the halls at the high school, but there are many that want to make it known that they are on a different side.

Why do I tell you this? Because of the story of Al Fox. The way she learned the church to be true, the way she left her home, her family, and everything she knew to pursue a reacquiring thought sent from God. The way she pressed forward during the hard times and kept going. The way she knows the church is true and wants the world to know it. This is inspiring to me.

Now I may not have had to leave my family, or move across the country, but I did find the church to be true as I prayed that one Thursday night. I came to know that true happiness that Al spoke so strongly about, saying "I love that". And I love it too. But sometimes I forget about that when the kid next to me is swearing, or when my health teacher makes me write poems about sex. {No joke, this happened today. Last week she made us draw "pictures"...} I forget what I am really fighting for, and why I am doing what I am doing. I forget that I should be standing as a witness of God at ALL TIMES in ALL THINGS and in ALL PLACES... even in my health class.

The story Al told was about overcoming something hard. This is my hard. Your hard may be something completely different, but we all have our very own hard. Our hard can and will be overcome if we rely on the Lord for guidance. If we rely on him every single detail will workout in his timing. He will not let us fail if we do everything we can possibly do.

Al Fox has this enthusiasm about the gospel that shows that she truly knows it to be true and loves it with every ounce of her being. She is generally excited about telling others about the gospel. I relate to this. When I came home from EFY the first time I think my family was annoyed with how weird and spiritual I had become. When I cleaned out my iPod of the garbage taking up gigabits and became obsessed with EFY music my family knew something was different. I felt weird showing of my new self to the rest of the world because the world didn't like what I knew to be true. Even at church I felt that many of those around me didn't have the same enthusiasm and would think it was weird that I refused to listen to anything but music that was worthy to be played at an EFY dance. I felt weird at times, and am sure I will always continue to feel weird about being different, but the example of people like Al who are so enthused do live their lives in a higher manner make me realize that it's not that weird at all, it's awesome.

Now I am in no means perfect, and I have lots of areas to work on, but through God, things are a heck of a lot easier.

I am super glad I went to the fireside tonight and that I got to hear the story of such a fantastic person. If any of you ever get the chance to hear her speak, listen. You won't regret it. Thank you so much Al for being such a great inspiration. You rock!




Feel my Sunlight




p.s. Um I am going to EFY all by my self this summer. I am freaking out, but am so excited I can not even stand it.

p.s.s. Do you like the new "look"? I adore it. I just wish I could get rid of that ugly blue strip at the top without ruining my layout.

p.s.s.s. Oh, and did I mention that Al was a graphic designer, and is now a motivational speaker? My two professions that I dream of doing. I feel like we should be BFFs. Just saying.

no sugar

I've been slacking on this blog lately. Guess it must be getting close to the end of the year.


    My time has been preoccupied lately by nothing but tumbling, coaching, and the occasional school. Now that Regionals are over we have begun our Nationals training and it has been kicking by butt. I have been to the gym every single day this week and have tumbled all but one of those days. I have done 6 times the conditioning I usually do. This is why I am in workout clothes at school today. Because who am I trying to impress really? My best friends are at the gym and they see me at my very worst state and they still like me right? I will impress the kids at school when they watch my videos of National Championships this summer. This is the pep talk I gave myself this morning. And low and behold, I am in workout clothes.

Next week I am going off sugar for the next 46 days. 46 days until National Championships. I am going off sugar. Who wants to do it with me? And I would also appreciate it if all y'all wouldn't try to make me eat your sweetened deliciousness because that makes it hard. If you don't want to drop that sweet stuff for the whole 46 days I challenge you to try it for a month, a week, or whatever you can. Because we could all eat a little less of that stuff.

On an entirely different note, has anyone ever heard of this awesome lady?

 

 

Her name is Al Fox and I get to hear her tonight if it doesn't rain. Oh please, oh please don't let it rain. You can read her blog HERE.


Life is good.




Feel my Sunlight



p.s. Did I mention Nationals are in 46 days? I did? AHHHH! I freaked out a little bit.

The army stands strong in times of fear.

Hello friends! It has been a few days. I guess that is what happens when I try to get all my computer tech work for the entire unit done in two days. (Turned in! Now I have the rest of the week to do nothing but post in that class! Whoo!)

So a quick update on myself and my fab life would probably start with mentioning that imaginary boyfriend and I are doing well in the sense that our relationship status hasn't changed one bit. But even though I have been sixteen for eight months now and haven't been on a single date {COUGH COUGH} I am happy and loving life. I am still weirded out by the fact that FamilySearch already has a spot for my husband. I mean who just "adds a husband"?

Ha I love that family search already has a spot for him. It's cool to think about really. I mean, he is out there somewhere. What is he doing? Does he ever think about me? If my future husband ever reads this I hope he knows that I expect, and hope that he is fighting on the Lord's side and that he has joined the army of Helaman. {look teacher! I just foreshadowed something in my writing! *fist bump*} And oh how excited I am to meet you someday. Now like I said, I am happy and enjoying life. I learned something from a fantastic lady this weekend. This is a former teacher of mine that taught me several years ago. She has fought some hard battles including a battle with cancer. She gave me some wise advice that was something I really needed in my life. She told me to be like the little duck that as it surfaces the water, lets the glistening liquid run down it's neck. She said to the happy one that rubs off on other people, because life is too short to spend your time being sad, and it may be shorter than you think.

{Picture via Google. christophermartinphotography.com}

Now those words have stuck with me over the past few days. "Life may be shorter than you think." It makes me think of the children, and the runners and spectators whose lives have been shortened. These two events, added to thousands of others have brought much fear to the lives of many people. Many people are living in a state of fear that limits what they do. Just yesterday a pipe bomb was found in an elementary school very close to where I live. It hit home when I drove past a bomb squad vehicle on the way to the gym and got there just to hear stories of my teammate's schools being evacuated. Events like these make you think a little bit about your life. I am reminded of one of my favorite Mormon Messages that has given me great comfort in these difficult times.

I remember wanting to share this message with the many people who stayed home from school that day that the world was supposed to end. Because no matter how difficult the world gets, we will be okay if we only have hope in our father.

Now these huge calamities have startled the peace of the world, but what about the peace of ones soul? This is my favorite talk. It was given last April by Jeffery R. Holland and I listen to it often.





I know with out a doubt that Jeffrey R. Holland is speaking truth. In the last days even the very elect could be deceived if they stray from the iron rod and let fear overtake their lives. The hour is nigh at hand, but we still have work to do. Do not fear, and do not let the influence of Satan govern the way you live your life. We are the army of Helaman.

{Pic via google}

Feel my Sunlight



p.s. I know that was long, but I really hoped you watched all of those videos since my words are no where near as powerful as the words of our wonderful prophets. Stay strong army, stay strong.

Lets all take a minute

Hate.
Lets all take a minute to hate the swelling of my ankle.
Lets all take a minute to hate.... that's basically all I have to hate right now so I guess we are doing pretty good.


Love.
Lets all take a minute to love the sunshine.
Lets all take a minute to love the inside jokes with our best friends.
Lets all take a minute to love the company of our family.
Lets all take a minute to love no homework.
Lets all take a minute to love tomorrows.
Lets all take a minute to love our favorite song.
Lets all take a minute to love Sunday school teachers.
Lets all take a minute to love late start.
Lets all take a minute to love office supplies.
Lets all take a minute to love little brothers and sisters.
Lets all take a minute to love food on the table.
Lets all take a minute to love flushing toilets.
Lets all take a minute to love country music.
Lets all take a minute to love team mates.
Lets all take a minute to love blogger.com
Lets all take a minute to love young women leaders.
Lets all take a minute to love books.
Lets all take a minute to love the work of a teacher.
Lets all take a minute to love great examples.
Lets all take a minute to love thank yous.
Lets all take a minute to love our students.
Lets all take a minute to love new leotards.
Lets all take a minute to love peanutbutter.
Lets all take a minute to love kindness.
Lets all take a minute to love guitars.
Lets all take a minute to love not saying goodbye.
Lets all take a minute to love our roll models.
Lets all take a minute to love good grades.
Lets all take a minute to love little children.
Lets all take a minute to love hellos.
Lets all take a minute to love photography.
Lets all take a minute to love movie quotes.
Lets all take a minute to love the word TEAM.
Lets all take a minute to love cute boys.
Lets all take a minute to love seminary.
Lets all take a minute to love laughter.
Lets all take a minute to love happy birthdays.
Lets all take a minute to love EFY counselors.
Lets all take a minute to love technology.
Lets all take a minute to love compliments.
Lets all take a minute to love concern.
Lets all take a minute to love helping.
Lets all take a minute to love new friends.
Lets all take a minute to love musicals.
Lets all take a minute to love pretty things.
Lets all take a minute to love CTR rings.
Lets all take a minute to love driving fast.
Lets all take a minute to love making the good times last.
Lets all take a minute to love ice cream.
Lets all take a minute to love you're welcome.
Lets all take a minute to love the grace of God.




Feel my Sunlight.



p.s. My lunch friends are the greatest. Shout out to them. <3 Katie, Marissa, and Hannah. Thanks for staying true. You are loved.

p.s.s. FamilySearch.org is fun. Yesterday I learned that I am royalty. Y'all better bow down to me from now on... just kidding please don't. I also started indexing yesterday. Thank you Mr. Conner for making us write in cursive, because grading and deciphering assignments of my classmates has helped me be a better indexer.

1st day of spring

Happy 1st day of spring! Hope everyone had a fantastic day! {Now mother nature... it is officially "spring" now, therefore, you no longer have permission to use the snow machines. So please continue with the rain and maybe bring us some sunshine.}

Today one of my five year olds got very excited when she found out that I was a "REAL LIVE TEENAGER!" {her words, not mine}. I thought it was cute. Then she said to her sister almost giggling "she can drive!" gah! I love my kids.

Today my entire team decided to pretend we're British... including my coach. We spent the entire two and a half hours perfecting our hopeless accents. It was fun and I don't think I've laughed that hard in a while. I love you guys!

Note to the wise: clean your room. There is a possibility the bishopric could come over and want to see all your medals, and your hanging bed. I was not so fortunate to have receive this memo and greatly regret it. Consider this your only warning. 

Well, it's a short post today. I guess this is the second one of the day so that makes up for it right?




Feel my Sunlight



p.s. I'm bad at waking up on time. Anyone else have this issue?

Lessons from our friends from accross the pond

This weekend I learned a lesson about sportsmanship from our friends from accross the pond, and I believe we taught them about one in return.


This weekend was the Third Annual Kalon Ludvigson Invitational. This is was an international meet held in my own state not too far from my house. Before I go into how the actual meet was I want to share with you something I learned from the Brittish.

As a result to the fact that this meet lasted about 5 hours on Friday, and 12 hours on Saturday and the fact that awards were held at the very end we ended up sitting for a very.... long.... time. Although this ordeal was painstakingly long, it proved to be one of my favorite meets I have ever been to.

Yesterday I competed early in the morning and had to wait all day for my little sister who competed in the very last flight of the night. Like I said before we spent a lot of time sitting. Well, yesterday I sat by some very fun people with cool accents. The British team.

I talked with them for a bit {because well...  they're BRITISH!} We talked about the difference in the way things in the tumbling world are run between the two countries. One thing that realy stuck out to me was the way we recieve our awards. One of the British moms asked why we salute on the podium. I trulthfully didn't know. I had never thought of it before It's just something everybody did. I guessed it was for pictures. We also talked about how when we recieve awards we don't hug and shake hands like the British do. When you watch the British competitors recieve their award you see them either shake hands or hug every competitor that has already recieved an award before they stand on their place on the podium. I had seen this done before when watching Olympic awards ceramonies, but had never seen it done at a normal meet. In one particular awards ceramony I watched a few international competitors recieve their awards and show this act of sportsmanship, but then as I watched one of our Americans recieve an award and walk strait to her spot on the podium it seemed quite cold to me even though I know it's not a custom here in America. One of my favorite moments was when one of the young British competitors recieved first place. She was very excited as any young athlete is when they recieve gold. She gave every single competitor a hug as she climbed up the podium, then climbed down the other side to hug the rest of the girls before making the climb again to stand on her place at the top. This small act took time, but it realy showed her sportsmanship in the way she acknowledged her competitors. I think we Americans could learn from their example.

As I talked to these competitors they told me that they were very suprized and thankful for how friendly everybody is durring competition. They said that at home competitors are usualy more resurve and keep to them selves, where as here all the competitors talk to eachother and encourage each other during the competition wether or not they know each other. I thought this was cool that this was the impression we left on them and that they didn't think Americans were totally cold hearted.

I was talking to one girl and she jokingly said "ya we kind of keep to our selves durring the competition, but then get friendly on the podium telling everyone well done." {now read that as if you are one of the children from Narnia and you will know just about how that conversation sounded!}

I think there is something anybody could learn from this. Be friendly like the Americans, and show good soprtsmanship like the Brittish.

Now I know you are all dying to know how I did at this fantastic meet. So I will tell you.

I placed 7th out of 20 girls. I was proud of this seems how I have a sprained ankle, and with the magnitude of this meet. I had some fantastic competition and would like to say thanks to everyone who helped me get here. {including my doc for not telling me I have to stay off my ankle, because my mom would have enforce it had you said it.} I would also like to say thanks to Justen and Kalon for putting this meet on and for all the hard work that was put in to make this meet work. It was a great meet and I can't wait until next year!









Feel my Sunlight





p.s. Anyone want to do my homework for me?