Blessing Day

The Sunday of the week I graduated my sister and brother-in-law blessed my niece, Caroline.

It worked out perfect because my parents, my oldest sister and her kids, and my grandparents were all able to be there.

I was able to steal just a few pictures during the day :)

Miss Audrey 

Sophie and Audrey.

Cousins coincidentally wearing matching dresses :)

Sam :) 

My sister Jen, brother in law Eric, Sophie, Sam, and Caroline!

Grandpa playing with Sophie, Jaden, and Sam

Jaden, Sophie, Audrey, and Sam

Worn out and watching Lego Movie :)

It was a really great day and a fantastic way to kick off a week of family time!

Settling

I had a thought today while I was at church. 

A woman bore her testimony (click here for further information on what in the world I am talking about!) about Joseph Smith and how he sought out many different churches and church leaders to find what he felt was the right or true church. 

As she was talking about this I realized how grateful I was to him for not settling. Instead of going to a few different churches and then weighing his options and deciding to go with the best fit, he was honest with what he was feeling and did not settle for "good enough." 

He didn't think to himself, "Well, I guess this is the best one out of the five I've been to, so it'll do." 

He knew it didn't feel right. 

He didn't stay in his comfort zone, but instead, he sought growth, he sought a challenge.

Being the word lover I am, I looked up the definition of "settle," and this is what I found:

"Adopt a more steady or secure style of life."

Now trust me, I know how wonderful that sounds, particularly now as I am going through so many changes and uncertainties.

But we know that it is times of uncertainty, times of trial, that allow us to grow. 

"The stuff of growth was never made of ease..."

-Elder Dallin H. Oaks

(Full talk here)

So this is where I had my thought:

How often do we settle?

Settle for knowledge, truth, relationships, education, blessings, service, and on?

How often do we allow ourselves to stay in a "more steady or secure style of life," because that is just it, it is more comfortable, more sure, and more steady?

How much are we missing out on by settling and not reaching our full potential, the full potential that our Father in Heaven has had in store for us from the very beginning?

There is always a good, better, and best.

I am so thankful that Joseph Smith refused to settle with good or better, but went for the best.

Yes, it brought on more trials than he ever could have imagined, but without those trials he would never have been able to bless the lives of millions who have accepted the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, all because he refused to settle.

Think of the possibilities of what you could do and experience by never settling, by always aiming for the best.

I am going to try my hardest to stop settling and allow those times of uncertainty and discomfort to work to my advantage.

(Quote made by yours truly!)

That one time I graduated college...

My graduation day was truly fantastic in every way.

We started off the morning with a breakfast in the park, provided by my amazing mother.

We had a dutch oven breakfast, which we call "mountain man" in our family, as well as delicious fruit and homemade banana and pumpkin bread. 

Yeah, my mom is fantastic.

Then I spent a good part of the day packing up my apartment and running errands.

After a quick nap, it was time to get all dolled up for the big night!

I'll provide pictures in chronological order :)

These are some of my fellow Child Development graduates!

Commencement was so good!

It felt so surreal to be sitting in the I-center for the last time in a long time.

I had the privilege of singing at the dedication of that incredible building nearly four years ago, and now I was sitting there listening to President Clark and others give me advice for the future.

I loved every minute of it!

After Commencement we went outside to have a little photo shoot, courtesy of my sister Jen :)

All four of my grandparents were there! It was such an incredible blessing that they were all healthy and able to attend and be a part of such an important day in my life!

My sisters (plus Caroline)!

I love those women and look up to them both so much!

The original five!

I love this family of mine :)

From there we had to speed up to the Hinckley building where the convocation for my college was held.

I quickly freshened up my lipstick and got up on the stand because I was honored to be asked to speak at my convocation!

That meant my family had VIP seating ;)

I loved every minute of the convocation program as well, almost more than commencement! 

Then it was finally time to walk across stage and receive my diploma (or rather, my diploma cover).

All of the family!

  

My parents finally got to meet my favorite professor and best boss ever!

I learned so much from Brother Rarick and was fortunate enough to be able to TA (teacher's assistant) for him for a year as well! Mackenzie was a TA with me :)

After all of the festivities were over, we were starved.

My grandparents all left to head back to the hotel and my nieces and nephews were all safely tucked in bed and being watched by babysitters, so we took advantage and went out to a quick dinner!

I realized that this was the first time we had all been together, just the five of us, no husbands or kids (with the exception of little Caroline), in nearly a decade! 

We had the best time talking and laughing.

My dad recognized the novelty of the situation and snapped a picture of his four leading ladies.

Even a fellow dad passing by commented that he was one lucky man!

I was able to end a truly fantastic day with the people I love the most, and I will cherish that hour or so for a very long time to come.

Thank you to everyone who made a trip to help me celebrate!

I am officially a college graduate!

:)

Finals week festivities

It seemed like the end of the semester came and went before I could even blink.

It was a very busy two weeks, but in the sense that I had a lot of activities to attend, not that I had a lot of finals.

This was actually one of the easiest finals weeks I've ever had, and I definitely wasn't complaining!

It all started with a field trip to Utah with my Child and Family Advocacy class.

We went down on a day trip to visit with LDS Public Affairs as well as various representatives at the Utah State Capitol. 

It was also 7/11 that day, and not having any 7/11's in Rexburg, we had to make a stop (twice) in Utah to get free slurpees! 

A few days later my ward had our closing social. It was at our Bishop's dad's property in Saint Anthony. It was gorgeous. We did some canoeing, paddle boating, volleyball playing, and dutch oven eating :)

Then it came time to spend my last night all together with these lovely people pictured below.

We went to G's Dairy and had some delicious Reed's ice cream and then went back to our apartment for a couple cutthroat rounds of catchphrase, just like old times!

Then before I knew it, it was Grad Night!
I was asked to give the opening prayer, so this was my view...

That really made it set in that graduation was coming, and it was coming fast.

On the second to last day of my Child and Family Advocacy class we had a huge breakfast.

It was so much fun and I'm definitely going to miss that class!

I spent the weekend before finals and graduation busting my booty to get everything done for the rest of my undergraduate career!

It was an insanely busy and incredibly exhausting two days of over 12 hours working on homework, but it was so worth it. 

My family came into town on Sunday for my niece Caroline's baby blessing, so it was nice to have everything out of the way for some good quality family time.

(More on all of that to come soon!)

Needless to say, it was a very busy but very great last couple of weeks in Rexburg.
Now I'm moved home and not-so-patiently awaiting September 23rd, when I will be on a plane headed to Europe to study abroad for three and a half weeks!

Stay tuned for more about Caroline's blessing and my graduation!

And so it begins...

Today my department held the Grad Brunch for the graduating seniors in the Department of Home and Family.

This department includes culinary arts, so as you can imagine, the food was so good.
All of the department grads (that could make it) were there, as well as all of the teachers.

This cute, perky, funny, and always incredibly happy lady pictured above was my teacher when I took a cooking class a few semesters back!

She always made 7:45 classes so much fun :)

It really made it sink in that this is the beginning of the end.

Today started just under two weeks worth of graduation festivities, and I kind of can't believe it!

So here's to a crazy busy two weeks worth of grad fests, grad nights, grad parties, graduation speeches (I'm speaking at convocation... eek!), and finally, becoming a graduate!

Here goes nothing!