incrediblility.

if we're friends on facebook, you probably know that i'm in slave lake for a bit. my dad is working to help rebuild the city, after it was ravaged by a wild fire, and then a flood. (read this article for details.)

anyways, slave lake has definitely been on the radar since may. i've heard so many things about the fires and the floods and i had this image in my mind of a broken city, sad people, a feeling of loss.

the houses to the right and the left of this lot were completely untouched by the fire.

trees - or what's left of them - along the highway.

remains of a quad.

bbq.

a truck.

what's left of a gas station.

but now i'm realizing how terribly wrong i was. the residents of slave lake did not let the fire - or the flood - break them. they are growing. they are rebuilding. they still have hope. 

we went to church here yesterday. my family, heather, justin and their baby, kevin, sheena, their two kids, and mark joined the ranks of the branch. in total, there were 42 of us. it was fast and testimony meeting, as many of you know. and through the testimonies of the members of the branch, i realized that hope is not gone. tragedies to not define us.

slave lake is a beautiful city. the citizens are so faithful and brave. seriously, if you ever have the opportunity to come to slave lake.. do it. i plan on spending a lot of time up here, getting to know the city and the lake and the people. 

there is hope. there is always hope.

ps, sidenote.. i am loving instagr.am !!! :)

AS LONG AS YOUR MINE!!!!!!

ELPHABA
Kiss Me too fiercely
Hold me too tight
I need help believing
You're with me tonight
My wildest dreamings
Could not forsee
Lying beside you
With you wanting me

And just for this moment
As long as you're mine
I've lost all resistance
And crossed some border line
And if it turns out
It's over too fast
I'll make every last moment last
As long as you're mine

FIYERO
Maybe I'm brainless
Maybe I'm wise
But you've got me seeing
Through different eyes
Somehow I've fallen
Under your spell
And somehow I'm feeling
It's up that I fell

BOTH
Every moment
As long as you're mine
I'll wake up my body
And make up for lost time

FIYERO
Say there's no future
For us as a pair

BOTH
And though I may know
I don't care
Just for this moment
As long as you're mine
Come be how you want to
And see how bright we shine
Borrow the moonlight
Until it is through
And know I'll be here holding you
As long as you're mine

FIYERO
(spoken)
What is it?(etc.)

ELPHABA
(spoken)
It's just for the first time,
I feel ... wicked

*cue the sexy kiss*

GO SEE THIS EFFING SHOW IF YOU EVER GET THE CHANCE. IT IS ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE. AHHHHHHH. Ps. It's 1:16am and we're still 2 hours from home. Ftw. :D

So. Worth. It.

A Challenge!

K guys.. My missionary best friend [aka. Elder Paxman] emailed me this morning. And I am challenging all of you to do it with me!!

Here is a reading assignment from my mission president and he wants
all of you to do it. I have done this once before and it is really
cool and will help you with any and every challenge or trial that you
all might be going through. I love it so PLEASE do it and we can
write each other every week and talk about some main things we liked
and stuff it will be awesome. Love ya

Love Elder Paxman
-------------------------------------------------
Dear Elders and Sisters,

As you know, the Book of Mormon, combined with the Spirit is the most
powerful resource in conversion. The most important person for you to
convert is yourself! You can't do that without the Spirit, and you
can't have the Spirit if you don't read the doctrines of Jesus Christ.
Despite how many times you may have read it in the past, the most
accurate place to read the doctrines of Christ is in the Book of
Mormon. It will draw you closer to God than any other book. The
Spirit will come into your hearts, and you will be strengthened
against temptation, gain a stronger testimony of the Savior and his
Restored Gospel, become a better example and servant in the Kingdom,
you will have greater love for the Savior and greater resolve to live
His commandments, and you will acquire the strength necessary to face
the adversities that are ahead as we advance through these latter days
in preparation for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Thus, I am
asking you to read the following and PLEASE FORWARD this email TO YOUR
PARENTS OR GUARDIAN or others you so desire to join you in this
exercise.


MEMO: To ALL Missionaries of the Georgia Atlanta Mission, their
parents, guardians, siblings, or other supportive people that may be
invited by a Georgia Atlanta Missionary to join in this opportunity.

FROM: President and Sister Steven H. Satterfield

Beginning 18 May, 2011, you are all invited to participate in reading
the Book of Mormon together over a 12-week period, concluding 9
August, 2011. Fundamental to the "restoration of the gospel" in this,
the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times, is the Book of Mormon
Another Testament of Jesus Christ. "The Book of Mormon is a powerful
evidence of the divinity of Jesus Christ. It is proof of the
Restoration through the Prophet Joseph Smith." PMG page 103

Here are the parameters of the assignment:

1. Begin reading by 18 May, 2011 and conclude no later than 9
August, 2011. This will require reading about 7 pages per day.

2. Before reading, kneel down and pray, asking for the Spirit to
be with you as you read.

3. In your weekly emails (between missionary and those at home)
to each other have "some" dialogue about something that impressed you
about your reading of the Book of Mormon that week. Keep a sticky
note or notebook handy to record those thoughts.

4. Obtain a new, inexpensive Book of Mormon and three different
colored pencils to use in marking scriptural passages along with one
blue pen. Use these three different colored pencils and pen to mark
the following types of scriptures:

a. Colored pencil #1: Mark all passages that make
reference to "Christ", His name, His words (often preceded by a
prophet saying "thus sayeth the Lord", His mission and/or His
atonement for mankind.

b. Colored pencil #2: Mark all passages that refer in
anyway to the The Doctrine of Christ: Faith in Jesus Christ,
Repentance, Baptism, the gift or influence of the Holy Ghost and
enduring faithfully to the end of ones life.

c. Colored pencil #3: Mark all passages that teach
Doctrines of the Gospel (not included in "a" or "b" above) such as:
prayer, resurrection, judgment, priesthood authority, forgiveness, the
Fall, Gathering of Israel, etc., etc. Mark the scripture and write in
the margin the doctrine taught.

d. Blue pen: Circle the word or various forms of the word
"deliver" whenever it is used directly or as a metaphor to refer to
the deliverance from sin and death the Savior will provide for ALL
mankind. (This will include the vast majority of the times you see the
word deliver or forms of that word.) In addition, circle the word
"remember" or versions of the word such as "remembrance" and write in
the margin what the writer is asking us to remember.

SUGGESTIONS: Use a new, inexpensive Book of Mormon. Do not worry
about marking things neatly since you will need to read 7 pages a day
and must "move along". Reading the Book of Mormon at this pace is
different from studying individual verses. You want to get the "big
picture" of the Book so DON'T SLOW DOWN. Read at least 7 pages a day
and quickly mark scriptures. Save close study of individual passages
or doctrines for another time and a different exercise.

Some years ago Sister Satterfield and I were invited to read the Book
of Mormon three times in twelve weeks or once every 30 days! We both
did that, and it was one of the great experiences of our lives.
Heavenly Father seemed to "run interference" for us with our worldly
cares, as we diligently prioritized to put Him first. When I finished
the assignment on the 90th day, I remember setting down the Book of
Mormon, turning to my wife and saying: "No WONDER they changed the
name of the Book of Mormon to: 'The Book of Mormon Another Testament
of Jesus Christ!' You CAN'T read that book without knowing Jesus
Christ is our Savior."

The restored Gospel of Jesus Christ is TRUE. The Book of Mormon is
the physical witness to the truth of the Restoration through the
Prophet Joseph Smith. This we KNOW to be TRUE.

President and Sister Satterfield
Georgia Atlanta Mission

-----------------------------------------------


Why do it? Because, like David said, it will help us through whatever challenge, trial, or tribulation we're going through. And I don't know about you, but I have my fair share of those right as we speak. And the more I think about it, the harder life is getting. Why not try it? :)

Day 19 - A song from your favorite album.

Here (In Your Arms) - Hellogoodbye

From the album: Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs! 

double whammy!

[Usually, when i get emails from my Grandma they're just silly ones. but this one really made me think.]


A group of students were asked to list what they thought were the present "Seven Wonders of the World." Though there were some disagreements, the following received the most votes:
1. Egypt's Great Pyramids
2. Taj Mahal
3. Grand Canyon
4. Panama Canal
5. Empire State Building
6. St. Peter's Basilica
7. China's Great Wall




While gathering the votes, the teacher noted that one student had not finished her paper yet. So she asked the girl if she was having trouble with her list. The girl replied, "Yes, a little. I couldn't quite make up my mind because there were so many."
The teacher said, "Well, tell us what you have, and maybe we can help."
The girl hesitated, then read, "I think 'The Seven Wonders of the World' are: To see, to hear, to touch, to taste, to feel, to laugh, to love."
The room was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. The things we overlook as simple and ordinary and that we take for granted are truly wondrous! A gentle reminder - that the most precious things in life cannot be built by hand or bought by man.


How true is this?! How often have we overlooked something so simple as the heat of the sun, or the touch of a friends hand, or the color of the grass, and instead become overwhelmed the height of a tower, or the enormity of a bridge, or the cost of gasoline? When was the last time you ["you" is hypothetical; I'm writing this for myself..] bundled up for a walk in the chilly evening air with a friend instead of becoming brainwashed by the garbage they show on television? Even while visiting a natural wonder, like Waterton, I become more concerned that my cell phone has bad service than with the fact that there is trash littering the streets. 


New goal : To enjoy the natural beauty of the world around me more fully.

take that!

Childhood is the most beautiful of all life's seasons. 

~Author Unknown

last night, carter and i had a heart to heart about.. life. both of us come from completely different situations - different families, different towns, different childhoods. and in talking to him, i began thinking about what my childhood meant to me. what reminders of my childhood i had. my memories. my favorite toys, books, and smells. and then i thought. "blog post!" :)


my favorite toys were beanie babies. remember those? but i didn't play with them. i had a pocket quilt hanging on my wall FULL of beanie babies. it was my ''collection''. you know, instead of rocks or marbles.


another collection i had was babysitter club books. i swear, i owned every single one.


my favorite color was pink. baby pink. and white. together. i loved drawing, and i loved taking pictures. i loved riding my bike.


i was a loser in elementary school. seriously. everyone can attest to this. no one actually liked me. i didn't have any friends. and it hurt. but once i got to junior high, i realized that i didn't care what everyone thought of me. this was the best moment of my entire life, even up till now. because it still stands true. 


my favorite smell was that terrible cotton candy perfume. i know you know what i'm talking about.


i loved cats.


i hated pizza and cheese. the only yogurt i liked was nielson's.


i liked jumping on the tramp and playing playstation with my brothers.


i was a huge nerd. i loved msn.


i had a few different best friends, none of which lasted for very long. amber, sarah, ashley, juhee, whitney.. i have terribly fond memories of each of them.
[dear juhee... my best memory of you was that sick american girl doll book that was like.. educational? regarding puberty and menstrual cycles and all that business. and the fake msn girl we made up.. hahaha. remember that?!?!]
but then, as all prepubescent teenage girls do, we fought. and fought and fought and fought. so unnecessary. but i guess we grow with each friend we love and lose, right? makes sense to me.


i was jealous of all the girls who got to be in clogging. or ballet. or gymnastics. all i had was piano. and i hated it.


i loved living so close to my grandparents.


i loved sleepovers.


i loved running through the sprinklers, and playing 500, and making prank phone calls.


i loved - i still do love! - my little brothers.


i was scared of boys.


i loved how supportive my whole grade was after our house fire.


if i could taste my childhood.. it would taste like macaroni and cheese with hot dogs, red koolaid, and fudgsicles. and hoagies! oh my goodness. hoagie day was seriously the best day of the month. the mayo, the cheezwhiz, the fake meat.. sick. now i'm craving a freaking hoagie. oh, and chokecherry syrup at grandma's house. mmm.


i loved computer games that tested my smarts. 


i hated my glasses and retainers. which, i suppose, is why i just barely got my braces off.


i was super jealous of tycee's perfect teeth. always. still am.


i wish i had played basketball.


i wish i hadn't been such a nerd.


BUT there is not a single part of my childhood that i would take back or change in anyway.


i was so blessed to be raised in a wholesome home with amazing parents, in a little incredible town, with the true gospel. 


and i can't wait for the rest of my life. 

inspiration.

here's some food for thought.

while we have girls like rebecca black roaming the music industry, singing terrible songs like friday..

we have girls like selena gomez singing who says. if you've never heard it.. listen to it. the lyrics are incredible. 

I know ya know.

have you guys ever heard of stephanie aurora clark nielson? you may have seen her on oprah or other talk shows. her story is amazing. seriously. follow her. oh man. and ps. see my new button? on the left column? yeah, get it. because she is amazing enough that every single blog on blogger.com should have that button.

mm. blair.

k, watch this video. i found blair like.. 2 years ago, probably. and no, i'm not into her fashion channel [juicystar07], unless i need to watch how she curls her hair or something.. but i LOVE her vlog channel [otherjuicystar07]. she does these tag videos all the time, and i decided i wanted to do one. i was going to actually vlog it, but i look terrible right now. haha. :)

question one.
- what do you think you can do, but can't?
     draw. i pretend that i love drawing people, and flowers, and just all sorts of garbage.. but i'm actually a terrible artist.

question two.
- what is a difficult word for you to pronounce?
     wensday. and congradulations. [weDnEsday and congraTuations]
     also, carter says i pronounce "cheerios" weird..

question three.
- what is your favorite tv show from your childhood?
     the amanda show. hands down.

question four.
- what are your virtues (good qualities) and vices (bad qualities)?
     i think my good qualities are that i'm easy to talk to, and a good listener. but on the other hand, my bad qualities are that i have too much to say, and i'd rather say what someone wants to hear than what i want to say.

question five.
- what is more important: love, power, fame, or money?
     uh, love. duh.

question six.
- if you could live in any era or time period, what would it be, and why?
     i would have loved to be born in the early 1940s, so that i could live in the most inspirational time period EVER. the time of poodle skirts and sock hops, the beatles and elvis presley, the invention of so many amazing devices. would i have been a hippie, or a rebel? ah. i don't even know. but that's what i would have loved to grown up in. not that anything is wrong with this time period, but it just seems so... boring.

question seven.
- if you could recreate your wardrobe using only two stores, what would they be and why?
     k, this is such a hard question. um.. i think definitely warehouse one, and pacsun. or aeropostale, and pacsun. or wet seal and aeropostale.

question eight.
- can you recall what you were doing exactly a year ago today?
     march 21.. hm. it's safe to say that i slept in until about 1030, then got up and went to church.

question nine.
- do you have reoccurring dreams? if so, explain.
     not really, but i have dreams that continue from the last one!

question ten.
- what is your horoscope?
     k, i've never understood this question. does it mean like what is my sign? or do they want to know what my horoscope is today? because i'm a leo. and this means my horoscope for today is right here.

question eleven.
- what does your dream bedroom look like?
     i want.. here. i'll draw a picture. the floors will be hardwood, and the walls will all be off white, except the wall that my bed is on. it'll be like.. a light blue. and also, under the window is where my little puppy dogs will have a bed. :)

question twelve.

- what position do you sleep in?

     i usually fall asleep on my left side. sometimes on my stomach. but i wake up on my back.

question thirteen.

- who is your favorite vampire of all time?

     it's a tie. between.. jasper hale, and emmett cullen. jasper is just so awkward, and emmett is so funny! i love them. haha. :)

question fourteen.

- what are you wearing on your feet?

     nothing. they're really cold.

question fifteen.

- do you have neat handwriting? show us!

     here. another picture.

in a perfect world:

stickers all peel off clean.

the weather man is always right.

the most wrinkled dollars are accepted by machines.

bags of chips are full.

markers do not bleed through the page.

there is always milk for the cereal.

the other sock never goes missing.

the pencil lead does not break off when you sharpen it.

the perforated page tears out clean every time.

all of the popcorn kernels pop.

people respond to texts immediately.

someone always has a pen.

in other news....

I think this may have been their first exposure to PhotoBooth. I don't know why it's taken me since July to introduce them to it!! Haha!! Anyways, they loved it! And after this we went to Ethan's farm and he let us pet some cows! It was pretty fun, and Taylor LOVE LOVE LOVED it. Madi, not so much. She was afraid that the mama cow was gonna come attack us cause we were petting her calf. Or that the calf was going to lick her, which I don't really understand, since her dog licks her all the time. But whatever. I really enjoyed it. Thanks again to Ethan for taking us on a farm tour!!

AND THEN! GUESS WHAT I DID!

I dyed my hair. It's basically black. I think that Lori (our director) or Pudge (our hairstylist), or both, are going to kill me cause now I might look like one of the Native kids instead of a show girl. Ah, well. I really like it. Thoughts?

You will notice me.
I'll be leaving my mark, like initials carved in an old oak tree, you wait and see.
Maybe I'll write like Twain wrote,
Maybe I'll paint like Van Gogh.
Cure the common cold, I don't know.
Maybe I'll compose symphonies.
Maybe I'll fight for world peace.
'Cause I know it's my destiny to leave more than a trace of myself in this place.


I wanna do something that matters, say something different, something that sets the whole world on its ear.
I wanna do something better with the time I've been given.
I wanna try to touch a few hearts in this life.
And I know that I will do more than just pass through this life,
eave nothing less than something that says 
And I'll leave nothing less than something that says,

it's the weekend.

{I dare you} to tell someone how much they mean to you.

{I dare you} to apologize to someone you hurt, or to forgive someone who hurt you.

{I dare you} to put away your phone, or your computer, and talk to someone you miss.

{I dare you} to dance.

{I dare you} to tell someone they're beautiful.

www.operationbeautiful.com

{I dare you} to build a snowman. A real, legit snowman.

{I dare you} to smile at a stranger. It might make their day.

{I dare you} to cheer for the underdog.

{I dare you} to spend time with someone you love. Feel free to lose track of time.

some hearts (carrie underwood..)

i don't know what i did to deserve to have such an amazing life, but i'm sure glad i did it! everything about my life makes me smile, makes me laugh, makes me grateful to be alive. i love my family, my aunts, my uncles, my cousins, my cousins' children, my brothers, my parents, my grandparents.. did i leave anyone out? i love carter. i love the girls i work with. i love the opportunities i'm given. i love my hair and my eyes and my body. i love the gospel. i love jessica and viktoria and david. i love marshall and adrian and ethan. i love my new friends. i love my old friends. i love that i was able to graduate high school. i love that i can sing and play the piano. i love being in love.

don't get me wrong. i am in no way perfect. my life is full of ups and downs and flips and flops and turns and dives and jumps. but it's the highs that make the lows worthwhile. it's the smiles that wipe away my tears. it's the giggles that counteract  angry eyes and confronting words.

as we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to let us down, probably will. you'll have your heart broken - probably more than once - but remember how it felt, because you'll break others' hearts too. you'll fight with your best friend, or maybe even fall in love with them. you'll cry because time is flying by. so take too many pictures, laugh too much, forgive freely, and love like you've never been hurt. life comes with no guarantees, no time outs, no second chances. you just have to live life to the fullest, tell someone what they mean to you, and tell someone off; speak out, dance in the pouring rain, hold someone's hand, comfort a friend, fall asleep watching the sun come up, stay up late, be a flirt, and smile until your face hurts. don't be afraid to take chances or fall in love. and most of all : live in the moment, because every second you spend angry or upset is a second of happiness you can never get back.


i hope you can find something to be grateful about every day. i hope you can love everyone you come in contact with. i hope you can let go of grudges, and hold on to the precious moments every day that make life worth living. i hope that someday - today or tomorrow, or a hundred days from now - you can be as lucky as i am.

'some hearts just get lucky sometimes.'