Bucket List #40: Watching some Whales (and other adventures)

To finish off the summer my family and my Shelby-girl went on a little trip to Maine.

We spent some time in Acadia National Park-being the first to watch the sunrise in the U.S Then we did a little camping and some awesome White Water Rafting. Unfortunately I don’t have pictures from the rafting but I do have some from our camp. 2 days of camping along the river was quite the adventure for us. We forgot the tent pole to the big tent so Dad and Zach had to use a little ingenuity and rig the tent up using sticks, rope and the surrounding trees. Shelby and I slept in a “two-man” tent. And I can no add in a river to the list of places I have washed my hair. We spent the last two days in Kennebunkport and I got to check Whale Watching off my bucket list! It took us a little while to find these surprisingly stealth beast, but once we did it was awesome!There were a few that were only a few feet from the boat. It was truly amazing to see this HUGE creatures up close.

The Magic Realm

This isn’t much of I post but I would really like to share one of my favorite quotes with you:

and also this picture I took at sunset ( and then edited on my phone) from the top of the hill i walk down to get home from campus everyday…i thought it was a little bit magical. You know, I do believe in magic. I was born and raised in a magic time, in a magic town, among magicians. Oh, most everybody else didn’t realize we lived in that web of magic, connected by silver filaments of chance and circumstance. But I knew it all along…You probably did too; you just don’t recall it.

See, this is my opinion: we all start out knowing magic. We are born with whirlwinds, forest fires, and comets inside us. We are born able to sing to birds and read the clouds and see our destiny in grains of sand. But then we get the magic educated right out of our souls. We get it churched out, spanked out, washed out, and combed out. We get put on the straight and narrow and told to be responsible. Told to act our age. Told to grow up, for goodness sake. And you know why we were told that? Because the people doing the telling were afraid of our wildness and youth, and because the magic we knew made them ashamed and sad of what they’d allowed to wither in themselves.

After you go so far away from it, though, you can’t really get it back. You can have seconds of it. Just seconds of knowing and remembering. When people get weepy at movies, it’s because in that dark theater the golden pool of magic is touched, just briefly. Then they come out into the hard sun of logic and reason again and it dries up, and they’re left feeling a little heartsad and not knowing why. When a song stirs a memory, when motes of dust turning in a shaft of light takes your attention from the world, when you listen to a train passing on a track at night in the distance and wonder where it might be going, you step beyond who you are and where you are. For the briefest of instants, you have stepped into the magic realm.

-Robert McCammon, Boy’s Life

Our Opportunities to Shine are Limitless

{November 1, 2011- President Thomas S. Monson gives BYU Devotional Address}

Since hearing President Uchtdorf’s “Forget me Not” talk I have been trying to be mindful of the small wonders that everyday has to offer and doing my best to diligently record them in my journal.

Somedays lots of awesome things happen and I have no problem filling multiple pages with these blessings-other days I have to look a little closer to find the small wonders that day has to offer. I have found that this small task has helped me, to put it simply, be happier.

Let’s pretend for a minute that yesterday had been one of those more difficult days. I probably would have come up with a couple silly things that made me happy..like maybe: “It’s November 1, 2011 which means I got to date all my notes 11-1-11…kinda cool” or “Today it rained. I got to wear my rainboots. I love my rainboots.”

However, yesterday was not a difficult day at all and here’s why:

That man is a Prophet of God and he came to my school and addressed our student body. And I got to be in the same room as him {for the second time in the last 30 days}. I wish I could describe to you how amazing it is to feel the Spirit when the Prophet enters the room and a hush comes over the crowd of almost 18,000 people as they rise to their feet.

I may not be able to explain that feeling to you but I can share with you some of the invaluable words he shared with us:

“We know where we came from, why we are here and where we will go after this life. We know that we are children of our Heavenly Father and that he loves us. We know we want to return to him after we leave this earthly existence. We know what we do and don’t do here in mortality is of the utmost importance.”

Those four sentences are things that I know. Think about that for a second. I KNOW those things…not think they might be true or think they sound logical. I know them. And most of you reading this probably do too, but I know that some of you don’t. But you could and wouldn’t that be awesome? Check it out!

 “Our opportunities to shine are limitless. They surround us each day, in whatever circumstances we find ourselves. As we follow the example of the Savior, ours will be the opportunity to be a light, as it were, in the lives of those around us – whether they be our own family members, our coworkers, mere acquaintances or total strangers.”

Reading this quote while looking at this picture brings a smile to my face. I just picture each individual in that crowd being an example of the Savior to one person they come in contact with. Think of how many lives the Gospel of Jesus Christ could reach. I know that many of the young men and some of the young women in that arena served a full-time mission for the church and for two years let their light shine.

The part of the quote that gets me, however, is the “in whatever circumstances we find ourselves”. I love being a student at BYU but sometimes being surrounded by people who share the same faith and belief system as me makes me feel like missionary opportunities are rare. But that doesn’t mean living the Gospel and being an example of light is a necessity.

Then, I kid you not, the man quoted The Lion King. Obviously he’s inspired (:

“Look inside yourself. You are more than what you have become. Remember who you are. Remember.”

Don’t worry President Monson I haven’t forgotten that I am a daughter of God.

P.S. Fun fact: I decided to use the first picture because when I went to the original source and blew it up to full size I was able to find myself in the crowd. Yeah, I know I’m a nerd.

Awkward and Awesome

I haven’t done one of these suckers in a while. Not to say that Awkward and Awesome things haven’t been happening, I just haven’t been writing about them. So this post is to catch you up with the semester thus far.

Awkward:

• Meeting a kid in the ward for the first time and upon learning only his first name responding with “Oh you live in apartment 17”. Yeah, he had no idea who I was-so I definitely didn’t seem like a creep at all.
• Me taking gymnastics this semester. It seemed like a great idea at the time but now I realize, not so much. I have pretty much lost any talent I ever had. I can barely do the skills my 6 year old self had mastered. It’s really quite embarrassing.
• Answering the door in my short-short cheerleading shorts and then instead of just letting the guy in and going to change, I slammed the door right in his face. Then stood up against it like I was in a horror movie and he was gonna break in and kill me or something.
• Direct quote from a friend referring to the fact that my head is at his chest level “Yeah, I could probably pinch your nose in there”. Uhmmm…WHAT?! Yeah, he’s a real charmer.
• My closet door fell on me. Yup. I hung my skirt up, closed the door, turned around and then BAM! Door on my head. Luckily, I heard it coming and put my hands up to protect my noggin. But then I couldn’t figure out how to move the door without dropping it on me further so I just stood there under the door, until I managed to maneuver myself out from underneath. But what’s worse is that my roommate just sat there the whole time and didn’t even help!

 Awesome:

• Lighting floating lanterns Tangled style. I was just chillin’ in my apartment, playing games with some friends and one just went floating on by. So I ran outside and got to light one. It was magical.
• Watching movies that were childhood favorites. This list includes The Lion King {in the movie theater and 3D-and we got the special edition kids glasses}, Beauty and the Beast and The Land Before Time. {Also, if you want to really enhance your viewing experience of movies or tv shows, assign the different characters to be people you hang out with…makes it 20x more entertaining}
• General Conference. Having the opportunity to hear Prophets and Apostles of the Lord speak is something I truly enjoy and it should never be taken for granted. Also, to be in the Conference Center and on Temple Square for both Sunday sessions was amazing. I even got to watch the second session in ASL…beautiful.
• Lunch with my twins. They get cuter and cuter {and smarter and smarter} everytime I see them. They kept asking to hold my hand and I got lots of kisses (:
• Fall weather=Fall clothes…which means boots and sweaters-COZY. Also, hot coco and tea (herbal, or course). If only Utah had the same foliage as back home *sigh*