Weekend

Oh my goodness..

Im obsessed with ballroom dance.

But really. I love to do it, I love to watch it. I love the beautiful dresses and the way it makes you feel pretty or sassy or cute, no matter how you were feeling before. I love that it's a team effort. The boys lead the girls, yes, but they have to work together. And when they both try really hard and practice, it turns into something beautiful.

Good thing I have kathryn to enjoy it with me :)

Last Saturday was dancesport. Kathryn and I both competed triple swing in the morning... then we may or may not have come back at night for another 5 hours to watch the other events....

So just a few things that have been on my mind...

(1) do you ever feel like right when you get to the point where you think you're handling everything pretty well, God feels the need to test you and see how much you really can handle? I literally wrote in my journal just the other day... "I'm really busy, but I feel like I am handling it better than ever"

Then this week came, and has stretched me more than a little. I took a test before class this morning, visiting teaching tonight, have a BYUSA overnight retreat/training tomorrow night, a bridal shower Saturday when I get back, I am giving a talk and teaching gospel doctrine on Sunday, and have a test and three assignments due on Monday :) So I'm considering that stretching. And if I'm going to have stress, I'd rather that it be this kind, because if I have Him to help, I can do it. This is about what my next few days look like....

GOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGO

...thanksgiving... :)

On that subject, I can't wait! I love my family. I just blogged about them, so I won't overwhelm you, but really I love them.

(2) So I always end up sharing these embarrassing stories on here....oops?
 I went to classic skate on Thursday.
I haven't rollerskated since mayyyybbbbbeee 3rd grade?
needless to say, my skating skills were lacking.

I fell three times in the first 10 minutes. My date helped me out and for the next hour I made wild improvement (aka no falls!) then came the end...
Ready? Let's slow down he says
I make a frantic beeline for the nearest pole and use... my heel to brake? no, my toe.
....still fell.
Then came the finale. I'm awkwardly making my way to sit down.
The waitress walks directly in my path.
In an awkward attempt to avoid hitting her I make a failed attempt to stop.
I think I kicked her in the shins anyways.
my bad.
But you haven't heard the best part yet!
As I fell my ankle may or may not have buckled underneath me.
And made a bad noise accompanied by a bad feeling.
Yesterday I bummed a ride to school
and was gimpy all day.
But it's not bruised.... just awkwardly large
....i dont know?

Because now I know how much you are dying to view my hideous ankle...
I will show it to you.

 eh... you can't really see it from this angle,
but let's remember how that foot on your left should not be connected to a canckle
(calf-ankle for those of you struggling),
but rather a normal ankle....

You should know these photos are a labor of love.
Note Above: the awkward positioning of my body.

Mostly that is all I have.
Hope you're having a great day :)

thanksgiving today.

I just was thinking today about some of the things that make me happy.

Things that aren't dependent on other people, or myself.

This happiness is inspired by the things that are already there.

They are the things that inspire inward, true, real happiness.

Those things... you know the ones I'm talking about...

when you see them... you stand up a little taller.

and your eyes go soft

and your mouth turns up.

and you know everything will always be ok.

Things like

birds in flight.

leaves floating as they fall. 

sunsets.

people in love.

snow flakes.

childrens laughter.

blankets.

deep breaths.

hugs. good hugs. 

flags flying.

people helping.

shooting stars.

Am I ready for Thanksgiving?

Absolutely.

"This is a wonderful time to be living here on earth. Our opportunities are limitless. While there are some things wrong in the world today, there are many things right, such as teachers who teach, ministers who minister, marriages that make it, parents who sacrifice, and friends who help. We can lift ourselves, and others as well, when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude. If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues"

-Thomas S. Monson



Football

What a good few days! 

So yesterday night I went to Erin's baby shower (which I will blog about with pictures soon)

and went to Divine Comedy for the first time. Consensus? So funny!

Plus, my date and I got an individual shout out on the big screen :) 

Then today...?

FOOTBALLLLLLL!!!

Who had front row seats in the south endzone?

i did.

Who got a high five from.....

JIMMER?

me :)

Whose hand did COSMO hold for a full five seconds?

that would be mine.

And who demolished UNLV?

WE DID.

Winnemucca and so much more

The Fall Colors are out and I'm loving everything. 

Thursday Night i didn't get home from school until 6:30 or so. Long day.

Jess called and came straight to my room.

She stood at my doorway with

Butterscotch

Lemonade

And a rose.

And stated simply,
"I hear it's a two cupcake kind of week"

Indeed it was.
We went to Thai Ruby.
My treat.
What would I do without her?

Friday was... wonderful....
for many reasons.
But mostly because we headed off to Winnemucca.
What in the World is in Winnemucca you may ask??
The NSPRA end of the year rodeo finals!
Some of you may still be wondering...
So... I have this dad that's just, well, way too cool.
He competes in rodeo.
I like to support him :)

And plus I got to hang out with the kind of boys I like...

the dedicated kind...

...the innocent kind



the kind who have smiley eyes

and love our country

...the kind that know how to put on work gloves.


and use them...


And did I mention I got to hang out with my favorite kind of Girls too?


the kind who are willing to drive the whole way so the lovebirds can nap in the back seat

and the kind who aren't afraid to be themselves.
(and did I mention beautiful?)

Mostly I love my family.
It was so good to be reunited, even if it was only two days.



And a shout out to my daddy.
who couldn't possibly be more awesome.
Way to win 5 buckles and a saddle in one weekend.

Love, A Cowboy's Daughter

One of those...

10.25.2010
Dear phonealarmclock,
You are the bane of my existence.
I never wake up on time when I rely on you.
Literally. Am I the only one without enough self discipline to get up when I want to?

So what has been happening lately?
Well, currently I'm sitting in the library. My mind is too bogged down to write my paper.

Last night my car got towed. I have to pay $175 dollars to get it back. That's a lot of Christmas gifts.
This morning I didn't wake up on time. like every other day of my life.
On my way to class (20 minutes late) I fell up the stairs. hard.
And forgot to read for my New Testament class.
And forgot my paper I needed to turn in.
...and my lunch. 

My mom said, "when it rains it pours"
And assured me I could break down when I get to Winnemucca this weekend.
I'm planning on it.

Jenna somehow could tell, and reminded me that cute sweater weather is here.
I appreciate her.

10.27.2010
Then the devotional was on being pruned.
And how it's good for you and in the end will make you better.
And a beautiful young lady passed on.
And I reset. And realized that I'm ok.

And tender mercy... snow is here.

Appreciate what you have. No matter how hard it seems.
Sometimes it is easy. Other times it's not.

Lesson.

Beauty of life.

Everything relates. Every story worth telling has a hero. In the Bible it's Christ. In my life it is still Christ.

Christ.
He walked and talked, but have you ever noticed he didn't just say to people "I am the Savior. worship me." At least not outright.  He preached and taught (why some still think he was only a prophet) and for some people, it was plain for them to see and recognize that he was the Savior. But for most... they knew of Him. They had heard of His glory, but they had to find for themselves that he was their Savior.

Example, the woman at the well. He let her ask questions until she figured it out.

We too must ask questions, he will answer them. And as he did then, he still does now....he might answer in riddles. He may ask us questions in return. Because how often do we ask Him questions we already know the answer too?

He is eternal. and the same today as forever. We have to come to know Him ourselves.

Just a thought.

fall into happiness

one day... jess and I decided to get together and it may have turned into a little bit of a photo shoot. 

because who doesn't love taking pictures in the park?

she had to be inspired for her outfit. 

i had to make her be inspired for mine too.

(who knew the style genes could be so unevenly distributed?)

so we went. 

we played with fall leaves. 

and took photos in black and white. 

 we wore hats

and played like homework would never come.

 we might have even whipped out my tripod for some sister pictures. 

Then where did we go? 

Our favorite place!

it just seemed to fit the occasion. 

and, as always, she made me finish hers along with mine. 

i ask if she wants me to gain weight.

she looks at me with puppy dog eyes and says she is just too full.

i tell her "i hiked this morning"... and proceed to eat it. 

someday I'll learn to resist her. but not today. 

probably not tomorrow either if we're being honest here. 

that's just us though. 

i'm vanilla.

and she's chocolate. 

different. 

in fact, very different. 

but complimentary. 

and essentially, we're made from the same stuff. 

we go well together :)

"Stressed spelled backwards is desserts.  

Coincidence?  I think not!"

-author anonymous

This morning the plan was to get up early.

Go to the temple.

Hike the Y.

& do homework.

All before I went to school.

Did it happen? No. But I did hike the Y with lin.

Somehow we ended up arriving the same time as a family activity.

The Family President's council or something.

We met a girl named Anna, who I learned was 8.

Bright eyed, gap toothed, and happy as could be to hike the Y (which, may I interject that the Y is no walk in the park). She asked right off if we were BYU students and when we answered yes, her eyes sparkled and she said, "That's where I'm going to go!"

It seems like only yesterday that I was 8. Her birthday was in January, mine was February.

And I too only ever wanted to come here. To this magical place we call BYU. Lessons learned from Anna today...

1. Time flys. I can't believe that was 11 years ago.

2. I'm here. I attend Brigham Young University. For so many years I dreamed of these days. Every once in a while it's surreal to realize that I'm living the life I live.

I hope you're having a great day :)

-Tay

Vegas: chandeliers and dirt.

This past weekend (General Conference Weekend) we went to:

VEGAS.

(For a rodeo... but in all honesty, for a father daughter weekend....)

We stayed:

HERE.

and i got to hang out with cute people like:

THIS.

we got to see things like:

THIS.

and on the way here, we went to classy gas stations

that sold things like:

THIS.

And we celebrated a B on an Econ Test.... with treats like:

THESE.

Thank you Heavenly Father, for sending me to such a cool family

and giving me opportunities to spend great weekends like this with them.