Appreciation for things I used to not appreciate

When I was 8 I got 6 journals for birthday presents (plus I already had one)- because apparently the age of 8 is just perfect for journal writing. I'm not one to get a gift and not use it. So you know what my 8-year-old self did? Made each one into a journal for each separate day. Sunday's journal had a butterfly on it, Monday's had smiley faces, Wednesday was a fuzzy Winnie the Pooh one. I remember this because one day I went back to try and see what my 8 year old self deemed worthy to write in a journal and found that I could not- for the life of me- follow the story line through the 7 different journals. Since then I'd like to think I've gotten a bit better- I still have my life story separated in between letters to missionaries, my blog, my old paperback journal, and my journal on my computer. Four's better than seven? I think it's improvement. The point of the matter is that forever ago when mom used to have to remind me to write in my journal daily I definitely did not see the point in it all. The other day I got a bit bored and started reading over my computer journal from last winter semester and a bit of the summer and it was definitely inspiring. Just looking back and seeing that the questions that I had that I most wanted answers to- I got answers to them, the things I was struggling with changed me so much for the better, and the things I worried about didn't end up mattering in the long run. It really is incredible. In one of my entries I went off for like a whole page about how stressed I was with my major- should I really keep Horticulture or would I ever find something that I really loved.  I had always felt like I was a bit inspired when I chose it but on that particular day I seemed to be doubting everything. Let me tell you- this past week when I was in Hawaii and was constantly educating everyone who would listen about nerdy things like that tomatoes are infact classified as a berry, and making them memorize different plants (which also made me think oh! I'm turning into my mom!) I realized that I couldn't see myself doing anything else. Which just goes to show- God knows us pretty well- when he tells us to do something, he knows what he's talking about, even if we don't catch on for a while. Sometimes I feel like he reminds us of these moments when he has made everything turn out alright as if to say "I know what I'm doing- you should trust me by now."
One of my favorite quotes about this is Richard G. Scott in his talk "Finding Happiness"

"Although it may not be a welcome insight, you will grow more rapidly through challenge and trial than from a life of ease and serenity with no disturbing elements. The intent of your Father in Heaven is to lift you from where you are to where he knows you will have eternal purpose and unspeakable happiness. By using the talents, abilities, and latent capacities developed in the premortal existence, he will lead you through growth experiences here on earth. When faced squarely and lived fully without complaint, they will raise you to glorious heights of accomplishment and service. To do all of that during the brief period you are on earth is a tremendous challenge. To accelerate your growth and attainment in his plan for you, sometimes he employs a pattern described on the label of some medicines: "shake well before using."

And Neal A. Mawell in "But for a Small Moment"

"The future "you" is before him now. He knows what it is he wishes to bring to pass in your life. He knows the kind of remodeling in your life and in mine that he wishes to achieve. "

The other thing I never thought I would find myself saying that I appreciated was Geneology/Family History. You know...that thing that 'only old people do'. Well today after being encouraged to get involved with it in church, and after I had talked to my roommate about it- I was introduced to the Family Search. She had been saying that since our ancestors are the ones that help us out in this life, and she's preparing to go on a mission and she could use all the help she can get, she thought it would be a good idea to find them and do their temple work for them. And then she taught me how. And no joke- I was on there for 4 hours straight and only stopped because my eyes were hurting. It is SO COOL! Plus I was able to trace myself all the way back to Adam and Eve!

I also thought it was funny that there's a space to fill in Seth's wive's parent's...because you know...:)

 Anyways. That was my Sunday- reading old journal entries and doing family history. Oh the craziness of my college life...right?

Maui, Hawaii- in collages

warning: this entire post is collages and there are lots of plant pictures. 

Thanksgiving 2012. The first year we did not make apple cider. And I was fine with it. You know it's going to be a good week when you can pack nothing but short sleeved shirts, swimsuits, and coverups, and go fly to Hawaii to a condo right close to the beach. My little horticulture brain went crazy. And when I got home I realized that more than half of my pictures were of plants. I guess this just goes to show that I chose my major for a reason. Anyhow. Good weather, forests, fish, snorkeling, beaches, luaus, fruit, and other such adventures in Maui...sounds like a good idea for me. 

"Things that you struggle to grow in greenhouses...they grow like weeds on the side of the road there."

SNORKELING. Every Day. Obviously not many pictures for this one because we were underwater. But Maui has some incredible beaches with insane amounts of the coolest fish ever. We went out in a little cove, to the airport beach, and the black rock beach (favorite) and swam with schools of fish, watched eels, looked at all the colorful fish that I'd never heard of, and (my favorite) almost swam right into the face of a turtle. SO SOO cool! 

The Smoothie Bus that we found on our drive around the mountain (best. smoothie. ever.). Giant shark jaws in one of the windows on the Lahaina street (like the Hawaiian version of Park City's main street). Giant coconuts that are fallen all over the road and giant avacados. Basically all the fruit is huge and delicious. The streets are just strewn with flowers and fallen fruit. I love how the paths in the jungle smell like guava and are covered in these orange flowers. Little crosses all along the road. And geckos jumping on the leaves of the flowers I bend over to smell.

I learned very quickly the power of the ocean. It's so incredible the energy that is in the waves. But it was not so fun before I realized that a small slow girl like myself cannot, in fact, out run the waves of a rising tide when trapped in the awesome little cove she found with her faster sisters. So yes, I did get a few battle scars from being knocked over and then rolled on the lava rocks and feeling like Tom Hanks on Cast Away when he gets smashed on the coral. Thank goodness for sisters who can save you from those kinds of things. 

And yes. I was very much pleased when we got to make stops like 'Arboretum' and 'Kumu Farms' and I got to name off flowers and see the things I've been learning about in person..and just be amazed at all the tree types and how they grow SO MUCH produce there. 

BEACHES!

Hey Sabrina- lay down next to your Hawaii sign and I'll take a picture of you *as a big wave is on it's way*....the things we do to little sisters :)

Banyan trees + an art in the park type of deal...coolest thing ever- the tree takes up the entire park because it has expanded so much. It's in Lahaina.

 The Old Lahaina Luau. They made us a Hawaiian style Thanksgiving dinner, I actually ate some of that pig (yes, after seeing it in the pit with a face), had orchids and live music everywhere, and the hula dancing was awesome. Plus...the desert was super good- except that white thing was like some kind of coconut tofu tasting deal.

 Oh! The fancyness of the tropical flowers and orchid leis - and I was in heaven.

 And what happens when your server takes your camera...

Here's some Hawaiian dancing videos...

The Road to Hana (some of the previous pictures were from this as well).

Hiking through the jungle and swimming in hidden waterfall lakes. 

Native villages where they grow taro and eat fish they catch from the ocean, and Scotlandesque beaches. 

Black Rock Beach

Red Rock Beach

The Seven Sacred Pools

And more plants....because who knew that left-picture is what the inside of center-picture looks like, and right-picture is what the center of a banana tree looks like?

And awesome flowers that I had never seen before.

Parent-Birthday week

Once upon a time I started taking a family foundations class in which much advice is given on how you should have a fantastic family and get married to a fantastic person and have fantastic children which you raise in the best way possible. All this learning has actually just made me realize that I've had a wonderful example right in front of me my entire life. They seriously did a good job/are still doing a great job.

So pretty soon I finally get to hang out with them for more than a few hours and it's in the time between their two birthdays. This also happens to be the time of the greatest holiday ever- Thanksgiving. Anyways...Shout out to both of them...here is a list of (a few of) their combined qualities that I admire as parents and as people. 

I don't think I've ever head either of them yell at each other or any of their kids...or anyone. 

Passion for traveling and learning everything you can about the world.

Saturday chores when I was little- a combination of doing all the yardwork and practically spring cleaning the entire house. Every. Week. The reason...six kids.

The way they wake us up in the morning: mom=coming in and dancing the Ketchup Dance dad=consistent annoying bell ringing or blasting music

Lots of memories of eating dinner together...some of those dinners not so good. Like the yams that got spit all over dad's t-shirt when zoie told him she didn't want them, and mom thinking ox tail soup was a good idea. But mostly good food. 

The value of music. So many family home evenings when all we did was sit around the piano and sing hymns until we couldn't anymore. And then of course there's the 'you must pick an instrument and play it until you're 16' which only ever resulted in good things.
Watching movies as a  family when everyone would eventually falls asleep except me and dad. But mom's not asleep...she's just 'reading her book'...with her eyes closed.
The way they raised their kids and let them develop into whoever they wanted to be (with guidance to be a good one) and to not chose everything for us.


To name a few. 

Refocusing: minimize distractions

Occasionally in life frustration will set in for a reason that may not be apparent for quite sometime. For me I had this building frustration for a couple days in a row and I wasn't sure why. This morning I figured it out Thanks to a random conference talk that I found where Uchtdorf told me what's what.

If life and its rushed pace and many stresses have made it difficult for you to feel like rejoicing, then perhaps now is a good time to refocus on what matters most.

So I began to question what I was doing and what mattered most. We all have goals of what we hope our lives to be like. I guess what happened is the activities I was giving time to were not those that were contributing to the goal of what I want life to be like. Not that any activity in and of itself was bad, just that it was distracting me from doing something better with my time.
In one of my classes we were talking a lot about how certain things in the media are distractions from what is really important. I think that's what was making me so frustrated- spending lots of time doing things that were not important to me. So as part of refocusing myself I am setting weekly goals for myself. This week I am starting with controlling how much media I spend my time on.
I found this program called 'stay focused'- you type in all the sites that you constantly find yourself wasting time on (some blogs, facebook, pinterest) and once it knows those sites it times how long you are on them. You only get 10 minutes a day to spend on time wasting sites. Once your ten minutes are up it says ...

Other inspiration was gotten from an article I was shown once by a friend called 'Focus' by Leo Babauta.

It contains some serious good stuff if you ever want to read it...click here. It's free, it's somewhat long, it's inspirational. 

Some great quotes pulled out...

There are days when I wake up and refuse to turn on the Internet, and sit still with my cup of coffee in the hush that fills the hours just before dawn. I’ll listen to the quiet. I’ll reflect on life. I’ll lose myself in a novel. Some days I’ll sit down and write, just my thoughts and the quiet and the gentle tapping of the keyboard. And it’s beautiful.

It’s not technology we should be afraid of. It’s a life where we’re always connected, always interrupted, always distracted, always bombarded with information and requests. It’s a life where we have no time to create, or connect with real people.

I also realized that so many turn into movie nights and nothing else. Why the need for so many movies? So another of my week goals is to not watch any movies. Not even this weekend. Think of something more creative to do, or if you can't and everyone around your wont, go to something productive instead. Don't get me wrong, I'm not giving up movies entirely- just taking a break for a week.
 There is no need to be pulled into media constantly. Not that it's a bad thing, there are just better things I could be doing.

So as part of what I hope to be many weeks of goal setting- this week is dedicated to minimizing distractions in the media. We'll see how it goes.

To each his own

Welcome to my little discussion about my major- which lately (okay- midterms are scaring me to death and assignments are piling up) are taking over my thoughts. And lately I've been getting a lot more questions along the lines of 'what in the heck are you doing with all your time?'

Sometimes when people realize how much time I actually spend in the library and how much I stress over my classes they say things like 'what could you possibly be doing' and 'how do you even have homework for classes like that' and 'how much can you really learn about flowers.' OH let me tell you though. It is not always easy. But I do always love it.

When I initially explain my major to people...most likely the thought that goes through their head is "oh wow. I can't imagine why you would need 4 years of college to learn that". Because with something like 'Horticulture emphasis in floral design' how could you possibly even ever have homework assignments. Right? WRONG! Flowers may just seem like a cop out to some people- but you've got to learn some complicated stuff in order to really know how it all works. It's such a huge field and there is so much more to it than anyone thinks. Yes, arranging flowers is fun and relaxing. But like any other thing out there- if you don't absolutely love it, you may find yourself wondering why you are putting so many hours into it. 

First off... the nerdiness of it all: One million experiments about one million factors that could possibly affect the growth of corn. And taking at least a half hour a day just to water the dang things with precise measurements and data charts and different nutrients. How many people actually just love doing that kind of thing? And how many people are totally willing to become a nerd that memorizes things like '43560 sq ft in an acre' just so they can know different facts and numbers about the soil in a field. And pH levels and nutrients and the intricate process of photosynthesis and memorizing scientific names of hundreds of plants and SO MANY COMPLICATED THINGS TO LEARN. But I mean...this is biology and science type of stuff which I usually hate- but for the sake of the plants I don't even mind it. Sometimes I tell people about things I do for my classes- which seem normal to me (like how we went to the sand dunes just to dig holes and look at the root systems of the grass) and they think it would be a total drag to do that kind of thing. 

 Second off. I've maybe become obsessed with it all- plants and flowers. I can't walk past one of the greenhouses without going inside and smelling those three plumeria flowers we have growing, and I can't walk out of a single grocery store without examining their flower selection, and if I see a plant in a pot you'd better believe I'm going to stick my finger in the soil and make sure it's getting proper watering. Little things like that. Except there are probably like 20 more habits that I've developed due to my obsession.
Anyways...that's my ramble-rant about my major.

PS ...Tropical flowers just get me crazy excited for the day in the not-so-far-future when I will be able to see them in their natural environment rather than just in a greenhouse. !

Best Friend Weekend

Hurray for my best friends coming up to visit me. So nice to feel that comfortable aspect of being your old crazy self and laughing about good times and eating cupcakes and ice-cream and all sorts of good food and being WEIRD and laughing until you fall asleep. 

Spent a good deal of time on campus looking at the art and the gardens and the greenhouses while I nerdily explain how everything works and what's going on on the campus. 

Teaching the ones who haven't had art history classes how to appreciate art. "It's like, when you're far away it looks like a picture, but then when you get up close it's just a bunch of freaking smudges!" OH the comments of understanding Impressionistic paintings. 

This was my favorite show in the Spori (ps) that's why all these pictures are everywhere. It's a ton of little pictures like the one above all on the same wall- incredible.

Awkward pictures with bars through them.

Chillin in the gardens

There's just something about a friend that you can be absolutely crazy with and they think it's completely normal. I don't know exactly how to explain how much I loved this weekend. Just that my soul felt very happy to see a familiar face and remember good times and LAUGH and act like it loves to act. 

Snowflakes on Eyelashes

There's something enchanting about a soft snow- especially when it's the first one of the season. Waking up in the morning and the world is white and tells you it's finally time to break out that notorious red hat and all your techniques for staying warm so you can tromp about The Gardens and take pictures of the trees- it's such a romantic scene. And I mean that in a completely not mushy way. I mean it as...remember all the paintings from the romantic era in art history and how majestic they were...and as in an aren't you just falling in love with how the world works...way.
How can you not be in a good mood when you're a second year Rexburg resident. Remembering the horror the snow brought the first time and I had cute boots that got soaking wet and gave me the chills all day long, and I thought the only way to survive any temperature below 50 was to cut through all buildings every chance possible. Things like that which happen to people who have never experienced the harsh weather of Rexburg. Although today was not one of those harsh days (it really was beautiful) I'm facing this winter much more prepared feeling. I know what to expect. I've bought myself some TALL and WATERPROOF boots that will keep me dry. My mom gave me wool socks. And I know that if you ever want to walk outside in a blizzard the way to get through it with clean makeup is to wear sunglasses. Slowly but surely I'm learning how to do this whole Rexburg thing. And enjoy it.

So first day of snow with no fear!

My favorite are all the people not from Utah or Idaho who think this is as bad as it's gonna get. And those same people from the states that believe in canceling school for snow- those ones that went back to bed this morning when they saw snow, only to find out that school does in fact not get cancelled for anything. Yeah, that happens often.

For the rainy sick days in which homework should not be done

Today was the first cold rainy winter day of Rexburg. Not quite snow- but really cold and really wet. That's how it is here a lot of the time. And considering I had just gone through a particularly not-my-favorite weekend and was in a grumpy mood from being sick...the part of my brain that hates doing homework (this part does not win very often mind you) reminded me that Cara was waiting for me to be done with class so we could walk to the library and be responsible. And then it reminded me that Cara can always be counted on to encourage me to sluff (yes, I know that's such a Utah-girl word) homework and do more fun things. So it developed a plan that was only meant to last about an hour but ended up lasting most of the day. And it didn't take any convincing at all to get her to make me go through with it.
That plan started out involving a lunch of cupcakes and hot chocolate for lunch. And it ended up involving caramel apples and the presidential debate for dinner. C'est la vie...

Oh the rainy small town streets of Rexburg.

This note on the glass door to a staircase that led up to a little alley apartment- made. Cara's. day. "I still love you daring. Have a great day!" Such a little glimpse into a life.

 Puddles and pictures of feet slowly getting soaked. But really it wasn't that slowly.

On a random side note- found these cars in a parking lot and took stalker pictures of them because both were beautiful and I would be proud to be a driver of such a car as these.

Happy fall!

"Try and dip your apples while I move this pot in circles."

What a way to start the week. Tomorrow will most likely be more responsible and less fun.