Imagine . . .

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For while knowledge defines all we currently know and understand, imagination points to all we might yet discover and create." - Albert Einstien

That quote really is amazing and true! I think imagination is incredibly important to each of our lives - young or old. I want to share an experience that I had last week while walking home from work after a week of back to school.
I was walking home from work and was near the Quad on Utah State's campus. Four people were jogging a woman, a man, and two young teenage boys (not sure if they were all family but pretty sure most of them were). They had all slowed down near Old Main and then realized they were close to their destination so the woman and man took off again and the boys followed. One of them lagged behind a little and as he was running past one of the buildings he stopped and took a few steps backward, peered through a little corner spot of trees and bushes, and then proceeded THROUGH the bushes as if suddenly on an adventure. This made my whole day and I smiled the whole way home. I don't really know if I got to watch his mind kick into imagination mode while he took off on a quick adventure or not but that's what it appeared like to me and just the thought of seeing that transition made me so HaPpY. I LOVE imaginations!

It's hard to find a photo of a boy in the woods and I quite like this one.

"Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere." -Carl Sagan

School

FiRsT WeEk Of ScHoOl is over and done! Wow - at the beginning of the week it seemed as though it would drag on forever but once Wednesday was done it flew by.

I am currently taking Physics accompanied by TwO recitations and A lab, Organic Chemistry with a lab, Culinary Basics with a lab, and Art Symposium. Fun stuff here folks.

Here are somethings that I have discovered/re-discovered this week:

1. Free food is good and free food with great people is even better - Ward BBQ Opening Social
2. New roommates are ALWAYS different.
3. Summer campus is REALLY empty and LOTS of people return for school.
4. You don't get use to walking up the hill to school - even after doing so all summer.
5. You miss old roommates like crazy - especially those who have become like a sister.

And really there is a lot more but that is all for this moment! Have a great day!

New roommates are always a change - you can't get used to them the first week and you miss the old ones terribly.

So LeT iT . . .

"If you reach for the stars,

All you get are the stars.
But we've found a whole new spin
If you reach for the heavens
You get the stars thrown in.

Anything can happen if you LET it.
Life is out there waiting so go and get it.
Grab it by the collar, seize it by the scruff,
Once you've started living life, you just can't get enough"
(image from David J. Nightingale)
Just some wise words for life from the dear Mary Poppins.

Of Working Summer Days, Parks, Sailboats, Beaches, and Temples

This past weekend was amazing. The week had been really busy and I was thinking the weekend was going to be the same. Friday at work this is what Kendra, Bethany, and I enjoyed doing for a little bit.

Bethany wanted to have a little bit of Utah hair. I was impressed.

I don't look like I got the memo for face making but I AM biting my lip.

If you can't tell our computer screens are the same and we are playing a game . . . (I was answering the phone just as this was snapped though).

Then I got to go to Logan's beautiful temple thanks to both Kendra and Bethany. :) And then taught Healthy Eating 101 with Tiffany. I then returned to work BUT after work I went and got Panda with Will and Natalie. So much fun and it was delicious. We ate it up at Lundstrum Park and we were later joined by Cyri. We had fun - here is some proof.

Natalie's park portrait.

Will being CRAZY.
I discovered some dinosaur bones.
Cyri gives life two thumbs up. :) I love my friends!

Oh so on Friday I had been talking to Bethany about how she had talked to her friend Neil and he asked if she wanted to go to Bear Lake Saturday - he was going sailing and she could join . . . if she drove but hello SAILING! So she invited me to go too. It was so much fun and I will post pictures as soon as I get my hands on some of them. And I think then I will go more in depth with the story. And that night we slept on the Bear Lake beach - not the comfiest thing ever even with an air mattress (ok that WOULD have made it better but it let out some air so it went flat) but it was still quite nice.

Sunday afternoon was the Oquirrh Mountain Temple dedication and it was absolutely amazing - the spirit was very strong.

Wow.

That is the only word I can think to describe this website. . . . givesmehope.com I found it due to my sisters blog post and was utterly amazed when I went and checked it out. I know I already wrote to posts today but this is truly AMAZING and I encourage you to check it out. Here are two examples from the website (and a picture of me climbing a tree because like the website that makes me happy):
My grandma is sick and can't control her body. While mentally alert, she is often treated like a child. My grandpa and I were running to the grocery store when suddenly he turned around and drove all the way back home. When I asked him why he said "I forgot to Kiss your grandma goodbye". GMH.

Today, I was walking in a dog park. I reached this really steep hill, and noticed someone rolling down it, laughing the whole way. At first I passed it off as a just a kid. Then I noticed that it was a woman at least 60 years old, and that her husband was waiting at the bottom of the hill to catch her. They GMH

What gives you hope?

Pictures . . .

. . .ThAt JuSt MaKe YoU hApPy!

That is what I think this picture does - look at Amberly's face! :) (I got this from my sister's blog and it is just ONE of the amazing pictures she captured from their hike - it's the Beautiful Days blog link to the right! :) )

Great people.

We all know them. We all strive to be like them. And we all love them.

This past week my family and the world lost a great person - my Great Grandma Davies. She was a wonderful person. I remember going to her house at Christmastime and seeing her GORGEOUS trees (yes treeS- all decorated extraordinarily and themed), being fascinated by all her dolls when I was young, her always telling me how much she loved my hair when it was curled, listening to the songs about her or that she wrote with her face beaming with pride and joy, sitting in her yard watching the beautiful Snake River, along with many other little things.

She raised some of the most amazing women that I know and thanks to her I have an amazing grandma and mom. She left an extraordinary legacy.
I LOVE LDS funerals because of the knowledge that we have of the next life. Life and death are both just stepping stones on to greater and bigger things. I also LOVE that we get the privilege of reading loved ones patriarchal blessings after they die and seeing them fulfilled as well as finding comfort in them. My Grandma's had some very powerful statements that were read. The service was amazing My aunt Jeanette gave the life sketch, my mom's cousins shared memories, and my great uncle spoke - he started one sentenced with an Eleanor was and immediately corrected himself with a she is an great woman as it's unnecessary to refer to her in past tense.

I love this lady and KNOW that she has been reunited with those that have gone on before her. :)

Where the Wild Things Are

So I think that most of us have seen this:

It makes me HAPPY! Now yes the Wild Things look a lot like something made in the '90's but they also look a lot like the things in the book. I dunno that song is just happy and it just looks like a feel good movie. And today I found this:


So good! :)

Man of La Mancha

So last night my friends Jackie, Claire, Ashley, Kendra and I headed out to the Old Barn Theater to see Man of La Mancha which I have got to tell you was pretty darn good. I loved tons of the lines and wish I had taken a pen and paper to have written them all down. It was both funny and toyed with your emotions. Such a good performance too! Mike and Jordon and I think we saw Jordanne  were AMAZING! Here is a picture of them (I wish I had one of the whole cast or something - and OH I took this photo from Mike's photo almbum on facebook)Also funny story about the blond guy on the very right below:

My roommate Ashley swore he was Joseph Smith from the Joseph Smith movie and Jackie and I BOTH informed her it was not. Well after he was taken to be burned by the Spanish Inquisition (our row was laughing SUPER hard even though most of the audience was quite solemn- I mean come on one of us believed the kid had been Joseph Smith before) and the play was over Ashley was convinced to get to the bottom of it all. So she asked him if he had ever seen the Joseph Smith movie and he said yes and then she said, "Were you in the Joseph Smith movie? I mean were you Joseph Smith in the Joseph Smith movie?" He replied no and kind of laugh and also that some of his friends were in the Joseph Smith movie. :) Just a great ending to a fantastic night.

The Ultimate Gift

So this last Sunday I decided that I wanted to read The Ultimate Gift again. I love this book and haven’t read it since I watched the movie. In fact I remember the movie being more accurate than it was – it’s REALLY not the same and I still stand by my opinion that everyone should read the book because it is small and very good. It’s also better than the movie and goes more into each of the gifts. I kind of wanted to share the gifts and how they affect my life but that would be a HUGE post so I think I will share some of the things that really jumped out at me (Each of the gifts had stuff pop out and I cried a few times but I am really just going to share a few right now).

The Gift of Problems:

We are like a baby bird and must go through the difficult process of hatching in order to be strong. Problems make us great. "If we are not allowed to deal with small problems we will be destroyed by the slightly larger ones . . .When we can learn from out own problems, we begin to deal with life. When we can learn from other people's problems, we being to master life."

The Gift of Family

I was blessed with a great one. I am thankful everyday for my parents and siblings and the things they teach me and the love they give me. I am grateful for my aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and friends who have become like family. Families are built on love and I am so thankful for all that I get to feel around these wonderful people. Thanks! I also want to throw in the Gift of Laughter here because with my family I laugh A LOT and I love it. When we learn to laugh at ourselves and our problems and the funny things in life we are healthier and happier.

The Gift of Dreams

Your dreams need to belong to YOU! It needs to be a custom-fit thing that grows and develops with you. The book discusses two people one person had a passion for his dreams and loved to share them. Although he had his own share of setbacks and failures he kept going and even on his deathbed he still had a dream (in fact he had a poster of it hung above the bed) - his name was Walt Disney. While Walt died with passion and excitement for his dream another man's dream was to be successful and retire by age 50 and he did so. However he had enjoyed work and his life felt absent without it and the passion he had once had. A month after accomplishing his dream this man committed suicide. Make the dream yours so fulfilling it only makes you better and you are left busting with joy and not empty.

The Gift of A Day

"If we are living our lives the way we should, everything should be in such an order that we wouldn't change the last day of our life from any other day. . . We're not guaranteed anything but today." Also remember that "Life's tragedies are often made up of the simple pleasures and kind gestures missed" - so look for those always.