A Lovely Sunday

What a lovely Sunday it has been. Church was so nice. I think that was the most spiritual Sunday I have had since I came to BYU. I felt the spirit so strongly in every single meeting. And I learned something about myself in each meeting. I received answers to questions, and the whole time my heart felt so big and so full of love for everyone around me. I have come to love my ward so much and I am so sad that this was our last testimony meeting and that we only have a couple more weeks together.

And to make this Sunday even more lovelier, someone left me a rose outside my dorm that was addressed "Dear, Beautiful Celeste." How sweet is that?! I absolutely love flowers. Seeing the flowers blooming on the trees outside, and the daffodils planted by the Creamery, and the new flowers outside the Conference Building all made me so happy. When I have my own home, I plan to have a flower garden because I really love flowers of all types. So you can see how happy receiving that rose would make me. I really wish I knew who left me the rose so I could thank them.

Well this weekend was nice and relaxing, compared to the beginning of the week. I haven't been getting very much sleep in lately, and Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I was so busy and stressed out with school, that by Wednesday I was exhausted. No joke, I literally felt fatigued. I fell asleep in all of my classes except for Dance. It would be pretty hard to fall asleep during Dance. And I had no energy when walking around campus. I came home and even though I knew I had to study, I fell asleep the instant I put my head down on the pillow. I took an hour-long nap and it felt so good. After that, things went by a lot better. I was able to get my homework done quicker- probably because I finally had the energy to do it. And then Thursday I finally got to slow down with my work load. We had cleaning checks, I finished my homework speedy-quick, and I took some time out for developing my talents, namely drawing. I haven't done too much drawing this semester, so I drew a picture from the movie "The Princess and the Frog." Friday was a very productive day for me and the first day that week where didn't feel exhausted. I went to class, did laundry, wrote a letter, took pictures of flowers, went shopping, got quarters for laundry, did my geology homework and studied for geology a bit, cleaned my room, went to a practice for my Medals Exam next week, and then that night my roommates and I went and saw "The Hunger Games" movie.

First I want to talk about my Medals Exam. Medals is where we are tested to see pretty much how "proficient," I guess you could say, we are in dancing. I didn't do it last semester because I had three other things going on the same night as Medals. But I am doing it this year and I am really excited. Medals is on Tuesday, so Friday I practiced with our TA and he gave me some really good tips. He said I'm pretty good on all of my moves for the Cha-Cha, it's just cleaning up a couple of things. He said my waltz was really good, that I've got it pretty much down. I really just need to work on taking longer steps and keeping good posture during a couple moves. It's Triple Swing I need to work on the most. He FINALLY taught me how to do the Triple Swing correctly, so I've been doing a lot of bouncing around my apartment lately and I will continue to do so until Tuesday. I'm happy to have gotten some one-on-one attention so someone could tell me exactly what I am doing wrong and how to make everything better. I love ballroom dancing!

Well yep I saw Hunger Games. I did read all the books, but it's been a while since I read number one, so as far as I remembered, I thought the movie stuck pretty well to the book. I really enjoyed it and loved it a lot. I actually cried at one part. The only thing is, it's pretty disturbing. There is a huge difference between reading something and imagining it and watching it before your eyes. Watching children kill each other was really quite disturbing.

Yesterday we went to the Festival of Colors. So weird! And it was hard to breathe with all the chalk in the air, but it was fun and we looked very colorful afterwards with chalk covering every inch of us. In the pictures, we mainly look brown, but that was because the colors started to mix together. We were very colorful though. And last night we went Country Dancing. That was...interesting. It was really fun, but I danced with some pretty strange and awkward guys. One guy told me I had pretty eyes like five times, a pretty shirt, and pretty earrings, all to which I said "thank you," and then he told me I had pretty lips, to which I replied "oh." I felt really awkward to say the least.

But that was my week. There is only one more thing I would like to write about for this week. I love it when boys use their priesthood, and I love that we have a whole building full of worthy priesthood holders if we girls ever need help. Monday I was already feeling stressed out and super tired from schoolwork and then my ear starting hurting me. I've had kind of an earache for two weeks now. It's not very serious; it just feels like I have a lot of pressure in my ear. I thought it might be fluid in my ear so I put alcohol in it since that is supposed to get rid of any extra fluid, but that didn't do anything. And since I was already tired and stressed, my ear just made everything worse. So I went to the Creamery to finally buy me some medicine. On the way there however, the cold air actually made my ear start to really hurt. I was almost in tears by the time I got to the Creamery. I tried calling my mom to ask her what medicine she recommended for my ear, but she had already gone to bed. I literally started crying in the store. I was so embarrassed, but I was stressed out, my ear hurt, and I couldn't even talk to my mom. I bought myself some medicine, hoping it would help me, and told myself that if this medicine doesn't work, I would ask for a blessing. But then I thought, why am I putting medicine before a blessing? I haven't had a blessing since I came to college and the Bishopric had recommended all the girls to get blessings. So I made up my mind. I would go home, take the medicine, and without waiting to see if it worked, I would get a priesthood blessing. My roommates were so great too. As soon as I told them I wanted a blessing, they ran and got my home-teachers.

It was amazing! They were so ready and willing to give me a blessing and the words they said were exactly what I needed to hear. I felt so much better afterwards. Guys, you don't know how great it is when you use your priesthood. It is so comforting to know that even though we don't have our dads with us, we still have a building full of guys that are worthy and willing to help us any time. And the Church must be true because there is no way they could have known that those were the words that I needed to hear. And it helped! While I still feel pressure in my ear, it doesn't bother me any more and it doesn't hurt when I go outside anymore. I love this Church and I love my ward. I am sad that this semester is ending, but I'm glad to have had so many spiritual experiences to help me grow.

Getting a sunburn and loving it

This has been a great weekend! The weather in Provo is beautiful! It feels like spring! Yesterday, Lexi and I studied outside in the sun and it was so nice. And today some more friends and we had a picnic outside and laid in the sun for hours. I got so sunburned! It's actually kind of painful, but I don't mind it. It was just so nice to be outside in short sleeves. We had Stake Conference yesterday and today and it was so good! Really felt the spirit. And I got to skype with my family and that was so much fun. I love family :)
Well it's really surprising how fast this semester has flown by. Only one month left! I'm starting to get sad, because I love my roommates and my friends so much. I'm really sad to be leaving them, especially my roommates. It has been a blast living with them. They are so funny and entertaining. Every day is an adventure with them.
Well I have decided to stay at BYU for the Spring and Summer terms. That means it's going to be a long time before I go home to Las Vegas again, but I feel like I made the right decision. And I have decided that I am going to do a Study Abroad program somewhere Spanish-speaking in the future. Don't know exactly when, I still need to look up when the next one is, and I'm not sure exactly where either, just so long as it is safe and Spanish-speaking, but I really feel like I need to do it. I have progressed so much in my Spanish this past year and I feel like I really need to immerse myself in the language so I can finally master it. I've always wanted to do a Study Abroad, but I wasn't sure about the Spanish part, because living in a country where the people don't speak English scares me, but now that I've made the decision, I feel really good about it and I'm excited. My parents really support me on it, too. They agree that I need that experience.
I am excited for next semester too because I'm finally going to be taking a drawing class (always wanted to) and I'm going to take a country dance class. Country dancing is so much fun I have discovered! And for those of you who do not know, I love to draw, especially Disney pictures. My bedroom is covered in my Disney drawings, and I finished a drawing of Rapunzel not too long ago. So I'm excited to further my skills. I hope this means I will be able to get real pencils and erasers and all the special stuff that real artists use. I just hope I don't have to read too much out of a book, because I have a hard time doing that with art. My dad gave me a "How to draw faces" book, and instead of reading it, I just flipped through the pages and found faces I liked, then copied them. haha I suppose I would get better if I actually read the advise it gave me.
Well, that's all of the update I have for now. About to go to ward prayer and then have a desert party. Yay! I made really good cupcakes. They are really fun flavored. I hope people like them. :)

Missing my family but staying optimistic

Lately, I've been missing my family more and more. Part of it is talking with my brother on the phone and laughing my head off at how hilarious the two of us can be once we start going. Part of it is my job since I have to listen to conversations about parents and their involvement in their kids' lives for hours on end, remembering all the wonderful memories of elementary school with my mom. Part of it is my roommate's family came down for the weekend and so of course I was reminded of my own family. Part of it is that they brought me a package from home that was full of random stuff from the pantry that my mom grabbed for me, reminding me of how funny and sweet she is. Part of it is that my family is coming for my birthday in April and I seriously cannot wait. Is it Easter yet?

Well here are my words of advice to all you who have your family nearby: enjoy every second of it! Because more than likely, someday you will not live nearby and you will miss them. So hug them every chance you get, tell them you love them every time they walk in the door, be patient with them when they can get annoying, and act totally crazy with them. Because when you can't, you will miss that. I sure miss driving in the car with my dad listening to the radio. I miss acting absolutely crazy with my brother and sister. I miss curling up in my mom's bed to talk to her. I miss reading scriptures as a family and acting out the words and laughing so hard we can't even get through prayer.

Even though I miss my family, I have managed to stay happy and optimistic. Because I have been so blessed to come to BYU. I have an amazing FHE family and we were lucky to play soccer last night with one of our brothers from last semester. We missed him so much and it was great to hang out with him. And two Saturdays ago we went to a dance that BYU put on for Heritage Halls and YView. It was AMAZING!! The best dance I have ever been too! Seriously, the decorations were beautiful! I have never been to a school dance that was as beautiful as that. And it was FREE! Didn't have to pay a dime. And they had catering and Italian sodas and carriage rides and caricatures and it was CLEAN! Clean music, clean dancing, modest clothing. It was awesome! And it didn't matter that I didn't have a date. I wore a gorgeous dress of my roommate's, did my hair all pretty, and went with two of my very good friends. Most of the slow songs I had to interpretive dance again, since most guys came with dates, but I did still get asked to dance a couple times. I was seriously flying that night I was so excited.

Last Friday, a large group in the ward went ice skating and that was so much fun! I seriously love ice skating. I used to take lessons way long ago and I still remember how to do some tricks so that was so much fun to practice my moves again. It's sad though how much I've forgotten how to do. It's true when they say if you don't practice, you'll lose it. I felt like flying on that ice though. I want to go ice skating with someone who is really fast though because I love going fast and I wish I could race someone. Maybe someday.

And today we had a real dinner for once! Like with multiple courses and all the food groups and everything. We had lasagna, green salad, fruit salad, seasoned bread, and jello. It was so much food. We loved it! And later we played makeshift baseball in our FHE brother's dorm with plates and water bottles. Oh yeah, we can be pretty creative.

Well, bottom line is, I love my family, and I love BYU. I truly have been amazingly blessed. And now I am going to bed, because I am so tired. Good night!