Balance

I feel like this year is an off-blogging sort of year for me. I think I've done about max two posts per month if that. Maybe I feel like there's nothing quite blog worthy to post on here lately. I'm a grown up girl now working about full time. I'm dating someone. I'm taking voice lessons. I'm developing another random hobby of embroidery. (Okay I guess I should blog some pictures of that goodness because it is fantastic.)
But I feel like life has gotten into a rhythm. A rhythm where I am keeping afloat and just riding the wave. A quite rhythm, more to myself and who is around me day-to-day instead of something shouted online. Maybe it's because I want to really experience something, relish deep in it without having to be the person behind the camera making sure every one else can see what fun we're having.
A friend of mine recently returned from her mission and she had a companion that talked about not being able to take all of our photos with us after we die. So she just focused on enjoying the moment while she was there. I think that's a great thing a lot of us need to learn in this new technological world. Sometimes it's hard to be "there", in the moment, because we have something else calling our attention. A text message, email, facebook notification, instagram, snapchat... we get so caught up in everyone else's life. And then it's a war and challenge to make ourselves look so fun, perfect, outgoing and living life online that I sometimes wonder if that's really living. But then again, I love the connection to people. I love reading their blogs, hearing their thoughts, seeing their pictures.
It's the world we live in.
I guess balance is the real answer.

But isn't it to almost everything anyways?

Gateway's Chalk Art Festival

This year I tried out chalking with a team and can I tell you that it's so fun and nice! With all three of us working it still took us eight hours to finish our piece. We didn't finish until 10 pm that night. 

Sadie Dodsen and Amber Johnson were my lovely team members. Can you believe that they've never done chalk art before?! They're amazing and I loved doing this with them!

*Sadie*

*Amber*

Some Things

Beautiful summer is here. I love how late the sun sets and I love the warm weather. Work is always interesting considering the fact that I pick up shifts at five different locations. (AF Hospital, Riverwoods Urgent Care, Utah Valley Sports Medicine Clinic, Provo InstaCare, and American Fork Clinic) Really my schedule just keeps me on my toes.

I'm participating in another chalk art festival this next weekend. I've been stressing quite a bit but things are falling into place and I feel better. Two friends of mine are going to be working with me as well. Our team is called Queens of Chalk and this is the image we're doing...

Very fun yes? I love Alice in Wonderland. I'm stoked! 

I went to Texas for the first time last weekend. Houston, Texas it was, where the humidity is abundant and the traffic even more. But don't worry, I had a fantastic time!

Case in point.

*Galveston*

*Kemah Boardwalk*

Elation

Just wanted to share a song.

Catch Up

I almost completely ignored this poor blog my last semester. So much has happened since I don't even know if I should bring things up to speed. But I'll do a quick recap anyways.

-I got a new calling in my singles ward as the Relief Society President. (Seriously, this had to happen right with my last and most stressful semester?! Good one...)

-I turned 22 in February. 

-I bought a car! A Nissan Sentra 2005 whose name is Richard Parker. 

-I got two new jobs during the last month of my semester. (So stressful but hey, it was a good opportunity.) So I now work at American Fork Hospital, a Sports Medicine Clinic, and Riverwoods Urgent Care.

-I finished all 1500 clinical hours and passed my last bunch of classes. 

-I graduated with a second associates degree. (So lame. Why couldn't it have been a bachelors?)

-I passed my Radiology Technologist boards exam. Do you remember how stressed I was about taking my Limited Practical Tech exam? Well this was way worse. But all is well, I passed.

It's so strange now knowing that when I come home from work I don't have homework or something to study for. I don't have school or tests. My time outside of work is completely my own. I love it. Life is so good right now and I am constantly grateful for it. 

Monday's Music

Learning from Hinckley

I'm still reading the biography of President Gordon B. Hinckley. It's a big book if you've never picked it up before. I've come to find that I hardly knew anything about Gordon B. Hinckley's life and his time serving the church. One thing that I've loved though is the details that have been given. President Monson's biography never quite delved into the hardships that the brethren go through when serving in high positions of the church but President Hinckley gives it straight and true. It's something that I've really appreciated as I've been stumbling around trying to figure out how to fulfill my calling in the way it needs to be. I know that I'll never have the amount or type of stress that this man went through every day but it's comforting to know the human side of him. The side that felt lonely and weighed down. President Hinckley gave a BYU devotional address in 1969 title The Loneliness of Leadership. He talked about the Savior and how he was a man who walked in loneliness. He talked about Joseph Smith. He talked about missionaries and converts, the loneliness that they each go through. He talked about the loneliness of testimony. It seems like such a downer talk but I think just the fact that one of the leaders of the Church addressed this and put it into perspective makes it easier to carry on and keep going.
"And when the declaration was made concerning the only true and living Church upon the face of the earth, we were immediately put in a position of loneliness, the loneliness of leadership from which we cannot shrink nor run away and which we must face up to with boldness and courage and ability."

President Hinckley is amazing. He is such an example to me and I've loved reading about his life. He is so human but yet so incredible in all of his many talents. I can't even begin to try and spill some sort of summary of his talents but this next quote from him helps give a small understanding. 

"None of us... knows enough. The learning process is an endless process. We must read, we must observe, we must assimilate, and we must ponder that to which we expose our minds. I believe... in the evolution of the mind, the heart, and the soul of man. I believe in improvement. I believe in growth." -President Hinckley

Obviously the learning process is going to be uncomfortable as well. It's going to pull us and push us till we feel we're being ripped apart. But all I want to say is I am so extremely happy with my life right now. I love where I am at. I'm almost done with my program. I have a fantastic ward where I'm surrounded with friends who I always have a good time with. The group is always extending out and making new friends and I love it. I love living at home where I'm surrounded by family. Life is good. I'm happy.

Snapshot Year

Goodbye 2012.
This last year I survived another 3 semesters in my radiology tech program. I got a straight up 4.0 GPA for each semester. (Once I got my system down, school was easy.) I stopped working at the mall. I turned 21. I officially became an aunt. I got my limited practical licence in radiography and got a job at the hospital. I worked my first 12 and 13 hour shift. I totaled a car and came away with just a bruise on my knee. I read the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants. I went to the World Superbike Races. I went sailing on the Great Salt Lake. I went paddle boarding. I participated in a chalk art festival and got my picture in the newspaper. Heather and I celebrated our 11th bone marrow transplant birthday. A friend and I tried out a dating website for fun and I totally ended up dating someone. I, as always, learned a lot from the experience. I got a new calling as the Relief Society President in my singles ward and I have the best group of friends from that ward. I fell in love with the band Imagine Dragons. I'm still living at home and I'm perfectly okay with that.
Hello 2013.