My Rexburg Bucket List.

I realized today that I have lived in Rexburg for too long and have done too little.  There is so much I need to do in the area before I leave.
Bowling in Rigby and St. Anthony
Hike "R" Mountain
Sled down the sand dunes
Go to the sandbar
Go bridge jumping (or watch others do it)
Go snowboarding at Targhee and/or Kelly Canyon
Go to a hot springs
Go to a concert
Ride a tandem bike
Learn how to long board
Build a huge igloo
I am sure there is more that I will add to the list, but  would say this is a good start.

Cough Drops.

I am sitting in bed totally relaxed and having some time to go over the day.  I cannot, for the life of me, fall asleep.  I could go for a run, read a book, or sit there completely thoughtless while eating a cough drop.  Yes, I cannot sleep and have no desire to do so.  So anyway, back to the cough drops ( I promise there is a point).  Halls amazing ability to make me happy did it again.  On the wrapper it says fun things like "High-five yourself," "Dust off and get up," "Don't wait to get started," and "A pep talk in every drop."    All I can say is, thank you for the uplifting little moment, Halls Cough Drops.
Here goes it.  I, like everybody else, has made a mistake.  That is why the atonement is so amazing.  It gives you a little push to start over.  In a way, the atonement is a little pep talk to get up and do better.
I know I already wrote that pivotal "A year ago today" type of blog, but, wow...times change and so do people.   We win some, we loose some, and sometimes we barely scrap by.  It doesn't matter what you are going through.  Everyone is going through something.  Chances are, they are going through the same thing as you.  If you do not want to have pity on others, do not have pity on yourself.  Yes, we get it, life is hard...but guess what.  It is for just about everyone else.
With those hard moments, there is always something good that comes out of it. Every cloud has a silver lining, dang it.  It gets better.  It might only be better for a day until something else happens...but it gets better.  These waves of good things and bad things are almost like gravity.  What comes up must come down.  So have patience with yourself, others and the situation.  You can only control yourself.  It is up to you to make life worth living, or to make yourself and others around you miserable as hell.  So I sure hope you try to make things worth while.  It is so much better.  

I used a lot of cliche phrases in this post...

What a Year

It is basically my birthday so I thought it was time for another post for my invisible readers.  I really don't think anyone reads this, but I guess I do this for personal records.  If you do read this, thank you for taking an interest in my life, I appreciate it.

At midnight tonight I will officially be 22 years old.  I am trying to remember what has happened this past year and I don't have much.  I completed a few more semesters of college, got a promotion at work, realized I couldn't stay sane with my job while going to school, quit my job, got into animal rescue, met a few awesome people, and made it through a few rough patches.  That is the recap of my year.  No shattered elbows, or extremely life changing events...just life.  

However, I would like to think that I grew a lot.  My testimony of the gospel has grown so much and I feel like I am growing closer to Heavenly Father daily.  Honestly, for almost the first time in my life, I can say that I believe in Christ and mean it 100%.  About a year ago while my brother and I were driving down to school an accident happened.  (He will probably hate me for telling everyone this, but I feel the need to write it.)  He fell asleep at the wheel.  That whole entire day I had the worst feeling in my stomach, I was flat out uncomfortable about the drive.  I felt the need to pray the whole way, so I did.  When we were about two hours or so away from Rexburg, I got this prompting to call my brother and make sure he was okay.  I thought to myself "He is a big kid, he can take care of himself."  Every time I ignored the prompting,  the feeling to call him got more and more intense.  As I went to get my phone, he was already on the median.  I watched him spin in circles.   Their was not any major damage to his car, so I waited for him to get out.  Luckily he did.  After the accident we had a strange encounter with a weird tattoo faced guy, and a cop pulled out in the middle of no where. I guess where I was going with this is having the knowledge that Christ is always there.  He is, he is only a prayer away.  I honestly think that if I did not constantly pray the whole way down, things could have been worse.  I know that this WHOLE problem could have been avoided if I listened to my prompting, but my brothers safety was in the Lords hands and I am beyond grateful for the love that he showed us that day.  

Another weird thing happened this year.  All of the sudden I am not afraid of children.  The thought of them used to freak me out.  Now I just realized how amazing they are and how much life they add to yours.  I want to have a family someday. 

Oh, I also had a frightening encounter with a moose and its baby.  I probably could have been ran over by that thing, but it shouldn't have been snacking on the neighbors tree or freaking my dog out.  Somehow I was able to make it annoyed and walk away when I made a whole bunch of frantic and clapping noises.  Yay, aside from that random blurb about the moose, this year has been a good year for growing older.  Bring on the next one.  

Maybe I am really tired.

Has anyone else had the day where you seriously thought you were paying a visit in hell?  This week has been the weirdest.  I hate going into things completely blind.  Apparently that is what I have to do lately in order to do something with my life. Even though I thought things were stepping into place I have no idea what is going on right now, other than that tomorrow will be another day.  Is there anyone else out there who hates going into things blindly?  When I do not have control over some things, I kind of just freak out a little.  The word "wait" is probably one of the most evil words out there.
I guess it is a good thing to be reminded that you do not always have full control over the things that you want.  This is a good reminder to trust in the Lord and rely on him through prayer.  If you do take your time and really listen to what he has to say, he does have a plan for you and he only wants the best for you.
In other words, even though I really do not know what is really going on I should just keep moving forward taking these blind steps knowing that I will get somewhere sooner or later.
From one of my favorite movies Meet the Robinson's  I would like to say "Keep moving forward."