Nine-Eleven

Last Thursday, while I was working at Wal-Mart, one of my co-workers said, "Today is 9/11." I responded by saying, "It has been 7 years. I can't believe it!" Then she asked, "do you remember what you were doing?" I did remember. I was at Highschool and my friend told me in between my early morning class and first period. It was unbelievable. I kept working hard until later that night when I went to Idaho Falls to the Temple for Sisters in White. The stake reserved the Temple for one night for all the sisters of the stake to come. I went to the chapel meeting and President Groberg and his wife spoke to us. As I was listening to them speak I remembered that today is 9/11 and thought about the freedoms that we enjoy in this country and how I could be celebrating this day. Many people came to buy cupcakes or other party supplies in red, white, and blue. The longer I thought, the more I realized that the Temple was the best place to be to better ensure that we keep our freedom longer in this country. The United States has freedom because it is the promised land. Many people have forgotten the Lord and there is definitely an Anti-God feeling among people. It is as if someone who expresses a feeling of faith is infringing on the freedom of the ma who doesn't believe in God, but why should one person be able to express their feelings of atheism and be considered in the right, but anyone who expresses a their beleif in God is politically incorrect. I am grateful for temples which dot the earth. I am grateful to be alive now in a time when prophets saw and prophesied of as the last days. Days when the world will be in commotion, but the Lord will have a house in every nation. It is so amazing. I hope that I can help keep the promised land blessed a little bit longer by keeping my promises to the Lord so that we don't need any more 9/11's to keep the nation close to the Lord.

new days

It is Tuesday morning and I get to return to Rexburg! I really do need to overcome my longing for Rexburg, but life was just so much more exciting there. I decided to make my life more exciting here by getting a job with the school district as a substitute teacher. I also signed up for an institute class on Thursday nights. I won't be able to attend until next week because of a temple trip with the stake. I really hope that I can attend every week, but I have no idea what my schedule will be like. All this excitement gives me hope for exciting days to come, and I hope to be busy. I will continue to work on preparing for student teaching. I need to study for the Praxis and Technology tests in order to be certified to teach after graduation. I might get a job in Salt Lake if I like it down there. I never really wanted to live in Utah, but the idea is growing on me. I guess I don't really need to worry about it. Life is good and the Lord is merciful.

Island Park

Well, I just got home from a vacation in Island Park. We had the whole family there for about two minutes after Brian got there and then I left. It was a miracle that I got home safely. I was driving the truck at night with one headlight out. A cop pulled me over and graciously only gave me a warning, even though I was driving without a license. Oops. I love being out in nature. On Thursday, we went rafting even though the temperature wasn't the best for a water activity. I enjoyed being on the water with my sisters and Dad in one raft and James, Angie and Charli in their raft. On Friday we went to Yellowstone and saw Old Faithful and the stink pots that smell like sulfur. It was a good day. Life is about to get exciting because I have another job offer with orientation on my day off and I need to go to Rexburg to turn in some forms for student teaching. Life is full of fun.

observation

As my mom was driving home from going grocery shopping, we had to turn left from Yellowstone Avenue onto Siphon Street. My mom waited for an oncoming truck which she thought might run us over, anyway we had to wait a little longer because the truck was going slow. I heard her say quietly with some frustration, "You're going slower than all getup." That sounds like a very country-town, farmer thing to say. Although she did grow up on a farm, I don't remember her saying things like that as I was growing up. I wondered if the change could be from the move from the little house in a friendly neighborhood within walking distance to the church, library, and park to the house in the middle of nowhere with nothing in walking distance except for a field. Despite the fact that our neighbors are doctors, engineers, and entrepreneurs in a little gated-community, (so it's not really gated, in gact it only has a little picket fence, but it comes with by-laws outlawing chickens running around, or having junk cars in the back, in fact the garage door can't even be open for an extended period of time without suspicion), the country life is apparently rubbing off on my mother's vocabulary. It's strange how things change!

nostalgia

My parents have planned a little family reunion this weekend at Island Park for just our family. It seems weird that we can have a family reunion with just us, but now that Heidi and James are both married, we have to plan things to have all of us together. I helped my Mom go shopping for the groceries that we will be needing and Sarah for the food she is taking back to Rexburg. I am jealous of Sarah in so many ways. I am not jealous of having to worry about homework or worrying about money or any of the other stress that comes with college life, but I am jealous of the Tuesday Devotionals that I am going to miss, and the Room-mate bonding, Purple-chairing, and ice-cream runs. I will even miss the classes. I loved going to class and learning about the world. I guess there are some advantages to being a college-graduate once I am finished, but I will still miss BYU-I.

Introduction

I am a soon-to-be college-graduate, lives-at-home, single adult who is content with my life. I decided to start a blog as a sort of way to keep a type of journal. I have never been very good at keeping a regular journal and so this may keep me more interested. I am going to use this blog more as a way to vent my thoughts and feelings than to be a track of what I am doing.

Right now my life is relatively boring, with not much going on besides working as a cashier at the Chubbuck Wal-Mart and enjoying the company of my ever so lively family. I just finished my last two semesters at BYU-Idaho on July 18, 2008. I will be student teaching somewhere in Salt Lake, UT from January until April before I graduate with a BS in Social Studies Education. I will teach anywhere from grade 6 to grade twelve any subject from Geography, History, Economics, and Political Science/Government.