Warmer Days Are Coming

Goodness I haven't blogged in a while. Here's a poem. :)

Oh the warmth of a single ray

After weeks of the darkest,

dreariest days.

It seems to be warmer than

the constant summer sun.

We gain more when

important things are gone.

When at last they return

there is so much we learn

from the warmth of a single ray

after its absence for many days.

Spring is just around the corner and it makes me soooooo happy. :)

Grateful for Experience

      It being the season of gratitude, I decided I might share a few thoughts. When people ask me what I'm most grateful for, I usually say I am grateful for my experiences. This might kind of be cheating, but I feel it is the best way to sum up all my many blessings. I'm so grateful for each and every person I've had the opportunity to work with and get to know in my athletics, dancing, performing arts, debate, different jobs I've had, church callings and activities, high school, college, family experiences, and many more. I'm so grateful for the talents I've been blessed with, as well as the ones I've not been blessed with but that I've been able to obtain. I'm grateful for the opportunities I've had to share those talents with others. I'm grateful for my parents allowing me to have so many of these experiences. I'm grateful that I've been able to travel and see different parts of the country and the world. I'm grateful for the education I have and am receiving. I'm grateful for Snow Canyon High School. I'm grateful for Southern Virginia University. I'm grateful for America and the founding fathers. I'm grateful for the gospel and for the many people who have suffered in its defense.
      Since it's been a while, here are some recent adventures and experiences I am grateful for:

I voted! For the first time ever. :) 11.06.2012

The USCAA Nationals Cross Country meet was held in Lake Placid, NY.
This is the view of  Mirror Lake from our hotel window.
Lake Placid is an "Olympic Village" where many train for the Winter Olympics.

Some of my teammates eating dinner at the banquet the night before the race.
Ashley, Shelbi, Kera, Elle and Tori.

Amanda dared me to drink the entire container of cream...

I felt this photo was necessary to properly record the banquet - we spent
at least 20 minutes doing the balance-spoon-on-nose trick!

Academic Honors! We've all kept a GPA of 3.5 or above in college.

The ladies team :)
[Me], Elle, Tori, Leah, Jacey, Katelyn, Kera, Shelbi and Ashley.
The twins were MIA.

One of the least snowy parts of our snowy course.
I used to hate hate hate running in the cold. But now I only kind of dislike it
a little bit.

It was a close race, but WE DID IT! We won the USCAA National Championship!

Go Lady Knights! Second National Championship in a row.
11th Women's Cross Country National Championship in 15 years for SVU.
I love this team so much. Katelyn, Ashley, [Me], Leah, Shelbi, Tori, Jacey,
Kelli, Kera, Elle and Nicole.
We laughed together, cried together, ran together, grew together and
WON TOGETHER.

Yeah. It was that cold. Brrrrr.

A few of us (me, Jacey, Amanda [the athletic trainer], and Leah) sneaked away
during our free time to watch the Bobsledding World Cup!

National's took place on November 9, 2012. It was one of those experiences that will always stick out in my memory, one that I will always treasure.

Slacker McSlacky Pants

      Oh dear...it's almost been an entire month since I've posted anything! I am such a slacker sometimes...I'm sorry. But! I'm posting now, so it's better than nothing, right? :) haha.

      I'm not going to try to catch you up on all the little details, because that will take far too long. Basically I've been working at the SVU call center (which I very much enjoy; we call donors, alumni, and prospective students), doing homework, going to classes and running. Also, very significant was general conference on October 6th and 7th. Goodness, I learned so much! I went away from conference with the overall impression that I have important things to do on this earth, that we all have important things to do on this earth. It is time for the gospel to continue to roll forth and grow even bigger as we prepare the world for the second coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ. It is not enough to just go through the motions, go to church weekly, and read one verse of scripture a day. I'm not saying going to church and reading one verse a day are bad, by any means, and if you're not doing either of those it's a great place to start, but the adversary is working so hard right now to deter us. Since he is working so hard, it's going to take extra strength to resist temptation. We must be actively engaged in the gospel. Our thoughts and actions must revolve around it. We must be disciples of Jesus Christ. The biggest announcement made at general conference was made by President Thomas S. Monson in the Saturday morning session. He announced that young men who are worthy can now serve missions at age 18. Young women who are willing and worthy can now serve at 19 years of age as opposed to the previous age requirement of 21. As soon as he announced that young women can now serve at age 19, the first thought I had was 'I can go RIGHT. NOW.' and tears started streaming down my face. I could not stop crying! I was (and am) just so excited! The kid sitting next to me asked if I was okay and I said, "Yeah, I just can't believe it!" He then proceeded to stand up and bring me back a huge wad of tissues. Haha. I just felt this relieving feeling of finally. Finally I can go. I can go on a full time mission and immerse myself in the glorious gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to share the message with others. The fields are white and ready to harvest! The Lord needs more missionaries at this critical time in earth's existence. I have not made a definite decision yet, but my thoughts are definitely leaning towards serving a mission more often than not. I think about it everyday actually, and I plan to set up a meeting with my bishop soon to discuss it.
      Yesterday we had a cross country meet in Frederick, Maryland put on by Hood College. It finally went well! I say finally because ever since I started running with the team again, my body, mind, and spirit just have not had the desire to run. It is so discouraging because the two weeks I couldn't run were during some of the toughest conditioning weeks for the team, so while I was doing nothing, they were all working extremely hard and getting considerably stronger and faster. When I started back up, it was like starting all over again! Everyone except for one person is faster than me now. I used to be 6th on the team and now I am 10th. That has been really difficult and frustrating, but I know I need to be patient. Yesterday Elle Dryden and I finished shoulder to shoulder at the race, Elle coming in .01 (or so) seconds before me. It felt so great though! My body, mind and spirit actually wanted to run and I actually felt like racing again. Running was something I wanted to do! It was really nice. I improved from last week, when I finished about a minute behind Elle, which is good. Speaking of last week, we raced in Gettysburg, PA. Gettysburg! Like the Gettysburg address! So we were basically running on a battlefield. How cool is that?! haha. But I did really badly and felt sick the whole time. It was still a cool experience though. :) And at the Hood College meet in Maryland, we won first place out of ten teams! :) Woohoo!
      I also went to Homecoming last weekend with D.J. Palmer, my old roommates younger brother. I had a lot of fun at the dance, despite being exhausted from the race.
     Autumn has fallen upon us! Ahhhh it is so beautiful! The pictures posted below do not even show just how beautiful it is, but it's the closest thing I've got. Plus the feeling of an Eastern fall is just so wonderful! For those of you who have experienced it, you know what I'm talking about, but for those of you who haven't I will try to describe it. Imagine walking down a path, the weather just right, a light breeze blowing yellow and orange leaves all around you. It is almost a magical feeling, really. I have always loved fall, but I love it even more in the East where there are actually a lot of trees. I'm so grateful for the fall season.

Oh yeah, there were almost 300 girls in the race...Here's the start!

Main Hall in the Fall :)

Gettysburg!

A monument at Gettysburg.

Ben, Tyson, [Me], Dan, Katelyn, Spencer, Patrick, Jacey, Kera, Leah, Shelbi, Elle and Tori.

Another monument at Gettysburg.

Hey look! I actually did my hair! Haha.

All dressed up for Homecoming!

D.J. and I at Homecoming.

I found these in the first floor lobby of the Lofts. Aren't they cool?!

Leah.

Jacey.

[Me].

Leah and I playing in the leaves :)

Jacey and I playing in the leaves :)

I just thought this was a cool fence, a cool house and a cool angle. That's all.

I was sitting doing my homework at my desk and I realized you could see my
 reflection in my laptop with the temple right behind me...so I decided to take a picture :)

SO MANY BEAUTIFUL COLORS!

Fall trees and sun rays :)

The Lofts stairs, covered with colorful leaves.

Kailey, Caity, Caitlyn and Joanna, all ready for a costume dance party. I love them :)

My team! :) First place, baby! (Hood College meet in Maryland).
[Me], Shelbi, Kera, Leah, Jacey, Tori, Elle, Katelyn, Kelli, Nicole, Ashley.

KNIGHTS! and AMERICA! :)

Taken in a moving vehicle...those trees are actually very colorful.

The view of Harper's Ferry. This picture does NOT do it justice, as it was
taken in a van. It's actually breathtakingly beautiful at this time of year.