{life} is a series of a thousand tiny miracles.

i love.

2011-10-11T21:02:00.000-07:00

aaahhhhhhh fall.

i love fall.

i love the colors.

i love the smells.

i love the holidays.

i love the clothes.

i love the traditions.

i love the crispness.

i love the decorations.

happy fall everyone :)

words of wisdom.

2011-10-03T19:30:00.000-07:00

ahhhh. conference weekend. two of the best weekends of the year. i really love october conference. it seems like it just kicks off one of my favorite times of the year.

i love fall! and what a better way to start it out by receiving guiding words from the leaders of our church. i loved how back to basics this conference was.

{pray} . {study the scriptures} . {keep your covenants} .

{keep your standards high} . {follow the commandments}.

these are just a few of many great things that were spoken about during conference. my ward had ward conference last week, and our wonderful stake president asked that we pray specifically for questions to be answered. to go into conference with a question in our minds and hearts. to pray for an answer. he promised that if we did this in faith, our questions/concerns would be answered and our testimony of Jesus Christ would be strengthened.

i did. and did i receive an answer? you bet.

what a blessing it is to have such incredible instruction. here are a few things i loved from conference. please feel free to share your thoughts as well :)

{this is a very condensed list. too many great things!}

{1} scriptures are like packets of light that illuminate our minds that give way for guidance and inspiration from on high...elder richard g. scott

{2} our work knows no boundaries...elder l. whitney clayton

{3} do the right thing, at the right time, without delay...elder jose l. alonso

{4} take hold of your life and order yourself to be valiant...president boyd k. packer

{5} motherhood is not a hobby, it is a calling...elder neil a. anderson

{6} let us be as quick to kneel as we are to text...elder ian ardern

{7} we must be bold in our declaration of Jesus Christ...elder l. tom perry

{8} deal with, learn from, and overcome storms through Jesus Christ...president thomas s. monson

{9} teach people, not lessons...elder matthew richardson

{10} it is never too late to choose eternal life...elder randall k. bennett

{11} lead the world in a return to virtue...sister elaine s. dalton

{12} be loyal to the royal within you...sister elaine s. dalton

i love my Savior. i love His church. we are blessed!

right where i need to be.

2011-09-12T18:56:00.000-07:00

life's been a little hectic lately, therefore blogging has nearly stopped.

week number three has just started for my first school year as a real live teacher. it's been an incredible few weeks and i have come to the conclusion that i'm about as happy as a clam. {i never understood that phrase...like we know how happy clams are...} but still...i love love love my job. my kids are great. my co-workers are great. i cannot imagine being anywhere else right now. i have learned a few things in my short time surrounded by 7th graders, freshmen, and high school kids.

1. kids get restless come 1:00 in the afternoon

2. twelve + hour days are not uncommon as an ag teacher

3. twelve-year-old girls are not the twelve-year-old girls that i remember. they're more like twelve going on twenty-five.

breaks my heart.

4. high school boys are surprised when they find out that a girl knows how to use power-tools.

5. kids are kids. they need someone to love them.

i'll try to update at least once a week. if nothing else, it will be good for me so i don't ever forget this time of my life. being a brand new teacher is hard. it's time consuming. it's stressful. it's busy. but it's rewarding. it's satisfying. it's a blessing. it's exactly where i know i need to be.

oh and p.s. i have decided something.

patience=trust. trust=patience.

someday.

2011-08-09T00:18:00.000-07:00

someday, everything will all make perfect sense.

so for now, {laugh} at the confusion,

{smile} through the tears,

and keep {reminding} yourself

that everything {happens} for a

REASON.

nothin' to complain 'bout.

2011-08-01T16:58:00.000-07:00

why this week is good:

1. spent time with long time friends-some old, some older.

2. saw the hand of the Lord in my life too many times to count.

3. i get to see my bestie lisha after ten long weeks of waiting.

4. i get to see two of my best friends get married...to each other!

life's good.

love me some weekend.

2011-07-24T18:45:00.000-07:00

don't you love those sundays that are just good?

today was one of those sundays.

i was sustained and set apart to be the secretary in my wards relief society presidency, and although an overwhelming responsibility, i accept it gladly.

this will be the third presidency i've been apart of and the previous two times were very humbling learning experiences and i feel blessed that i've been given the opportunity to serve again.

i'm just grateful for the tender mercies and simple things that we have in our lives.

...........

now i'll backtrack a day.

yesterday i spent the day up in burley, and it was so fun! 2 of my best friends, basically sisters, are from up there, and one of them, aspen, is getting married soon. we had a shower up there for her and then spent the rest of the day having fun!!

we went jet skiing on the snake river and later that evening went to a nearby town's pioneer day rodeo and fireworks. all in all it was a jam-packed, very fun saturday!

hope you all enjoy the week ahead. those of you in utah, hopefully you'll be able to do something fun tomorrow if you get the day off for the holiday!

peace and blessins'.

miracles.

2011-07-22T23:00:00.000-07:00

so i'm typing up this post, sitting on my bed, with the air conditioner blowing from the ceiling down on me and i think to myself "brrrrr i'm cold!!"

with almost a slap in the face, i instantly think back to about 3 hours ago while i was sitting in a movie called "17 miracles". i should be grateful i have plenty of warm blankets to snuggle under in my climate controlled home. "cold"? let's be honest here...the house is a cool 69 degrees. i bet the pioneers would have been thrilled to pull handcarts in that temperature.

17 miracles is a movie about the james g. willie handcart company, who suffered so much heartache, pain, devastation and loss.

we had seen previews and heard great things about it, so mom, dad, krista, jason, and i decided to go check it out. so glad we did.

if you get the chance, watch it! it tells the stories of 17 different miracles that happened to people in the handcart company, both in their homelands as well as on the trail. it was such a strong reminder to me of everything those early saints went through just to get to the salt lake valley.

ironically enough, here in utah it's pioneer day weekend. what a great weekend to watch a movie about the pioneers! but be forewarned-it is not a movie for anyone who doesn't like to cry :)

sure, i was expecting maybe two glistening tears to roll down my cheek. but i wasn't prepared for the niagra falls that happened. i literally had tears in my eyes for 95% of the movie. there's something to be said of the spirit of the pioneers, that's for sure.

so today...i'm thankful. thankful for the foresight that the prophet joseph smith had to send saints to utah. thankful for those who sacrificed EVERYTHING to follow the prophet. thankful for my great-great grandmother, ellen showell and her sister harriet who made the trek across the plains with the willie handcart company. thankful for the opportunity i had to pull a handcart through wyoming and camp at independance rock and rock creek hollow, where the willie company took cover during a blizzard. thankful for the faith of those who came before me. thankful for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

a word to the wise.

2011-07-18T17:56:00.000-07:00

when purchasing razors...

don't 'cut' corners

just fork out the extra couple bucks...

and save yourself a band-aid.

no such thing as too much fun.

2011-07-15T16:11:00.000-07:00

talk about time flying while you're having fun.

i can't believe that it's already the middle of july...which means before i know it i'll be takin' roll and making seating charts.

here's a few highlights.

{1.} starting a new job.

coolest thing ever. i'm working with great people, great kids, and in a great community. who knew work could be so fun? my days in the summer are filled with visiting student's supervised agricultural experience projects...i.e helping them with their fair animals, checking out their crops and gardens, and even helping restore an old tractor. highlights from my new job:

{summer ag teacher conference.} eighty-something ag teachers in one place at one time=lots of learning. even more laughing.

{chapter officer retreat.} jason, wayne, and i (the other 2 ag teachers at box elder) took the 8 chapter officers on an overnight campout up to cinnamon creek for a leadership retreat. it's a camp ground owned by the church and operated by senior missionaries couples. we managed to have a lot of laughs and good times and i'm so excited to work with these kids that i already love so much!

{chapter officer leadership training (colt).} i have a lot of fun memories from colt after being a state officer and national officer candidate. it was fun to sit back and relax and let the state officers do the work. hey, i paid my dues! there were about 15 chapters at northern colt and the sitting around and chatting with other ag teachers was definitely a highlight. i left the camp feeling so unbelievably right about where i was in life.

i can't imagine doing anything else.

{2} family vacation.

each year, our family takes a trip up to alberta (usually) and glacier national park in montana. it's easily one of my favorite places on earth. for as long as i can remember we've been going on trips to glacier so it has become a very important part of my summer :). this year, every

one was able to come except for angela, john, and clay. hopefully everyone will be there next year!! we camped for a couple nights at our favorite campground, apgar, at lake mcdonald, and then headed over to the whitefish lake lodge, also a place we grew up going to. this year, as we all know, was record-breaking in the snow department. glacier was obviously not overlooked by mother nature. we arrived in west glacier and much to our dismay, read a sign that said, "logan

pass closed. going-to-the-sun road open 16 miles" what?? it was July 9th! that is unheard of! the pass had never been stayed closed this late before. fortunately, we were able to stay until it opened on July 13th. our family has been there for 2 pretty historic days. first, in 2003 when the largest forest fire hit glacier and we were pretty much caught in it. and now

this, going over the pass on the latest open-date in history. the snow was still covering the restrooms at the visitors center at the top of the pass, meaning it was still at least 10 feet deep!

{lake mcdonald on a beautiful clear morning,

and again later that everning}

{dylan becoming a junior forest ranger}

{the family at the lake}

{ella and papa payne at whitefish}

{at the top of the pass...lotta snow}

{3.} life lessons.

this summer has proven to be one of the most interesting learning experiences of my life. i have learned so much about myself and who i want to be. maybe graduating from college flipped a switch on me. i have always known who i want to become, however it has all really been solidified over the past few months. prioritizing what is most important and focusing on how to get there has really helped me understand the perspective that i need to have.

happy trails.

New Strings

2011-05-26T13:51:00.000-07:00

After all the waiting and patience....I finally have some news!

I am officially Box Elder School District's newest employee :)

It's going to be a bit of a crazy first year....But I am SO excited!

Box Elder may or may not have been my first choice of employment, and I was lucky enough to be offered a job.

Here's why it's going to be a bit crazy:

In order for them to make this offer as close to full time as possible, I will be teaching ag classes between three schools in Brigham. Here's a glimpse of what my schedule will look like:

One section of 7th Grade Introduction to Career and Technical Education class at Adele C. Young Intermediate School. (Intro to CTE is just a basic intro class that goes over the very basics of things like woodshop, computers, business, basic ag, general shop stuff etc.)

Two sections of 9th Grade Intro to Ag Science at Box Elder Middle School. I taught 3 sections of this during student teaching and LOVED it. We cover a little bit of everything. Units on Plant Science, Animal Science, Wildlife and Natural Resources, Ag Business, Ag Communications, Public Speaking and Leadership and FFA stuff.

My courses at the High School haven't been decided yet, but it will be 2 courses of either Greenhouse Management or Woodshop.

It's going to be such a great job and I am so excited to get started. June 6th is my first day because ag teachers work through the summer. In Ag Ed we have something called a Summer Ag Program where we take the FFA chapter officers on leadership retreats, visit student projects, help with the fair and do inservice. I will be working with great people and I couldn't be happier :)

On My (our) Way.

2011-05-24T18:33:00.000-07:00

So here's the thing. I'm a college graduate. From quite possibly the best university in the United States :)

And Landon is now a Seminary Graduate, soon to be Sky View High School Graduate. So here is a post dedicated to him and everyone else who made it to the end in this great year of 2011 :)

So here's a little somethin-somethin that I love...in honor of all graduates, from the late and great Dr. Seuss.

Oh The Places You'll Go

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.

You’ll look up and down streets. Look’em over with care. About some you will say, “I don’t choose to go there.” With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet, you’re too smart to go down a not-so-good street.

And you may not find any you’ll want to go down. In that case, of course, you’ll head straight out of town. It’s opener there in the wide open air.

Out there things can happen and frequently do to people as brainy and footsy as you.

And when things start to happen, don’t worry. Don’t stew. Just go right along. You’ll start happening too.

Oh! The Places You’ll Go!

You’ll be on your way up!
You’ll be seeing great sights!
You’ll join the high fliers who soar to high heights.

You won’t lag behind, because you’ll have the speed. You’ll pass the whole gang and you’ll soon take the lead. Wherever you fly, you’ll be best of the best. Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don’t.
Because, sometimes, you won’t.

I’m sorry to say so but, sadly, it’s true that Bang-ups and Hang-ups can happen to you.

You can get all hung up in a prickle-ly perch. And your gang will fly on. You’ll be left in a Lurch.

You’ll come down from the Lurch with an unpleasant bump. And the chances are, then, that you’ll be in a Slump.

And when you’re in a Slump, you’re not in for much fun. Un-slumping yourself is not easily done.

You have come to a place where the streets are not marked. Some windows are lighted. But mostly they’re darked. A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin! Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in? How much can you lose? How much can you win?

And if you go in, should you turn left or right…or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite? Or go around back and sneak in from behind? Simple it’s not, I’m afraid you will find, for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.

You can get so confused that you’ll start in to race down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space, headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.

The Waiting Place…for people just waiting.

Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or No or waiting for their hair to grow. Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite or waiting around for Friday night or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil, or a Better Break or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants or a wig with curls, or Another Chance. Everyone is just waiting.

No! That’s not for you!
Somehow you’ll escape all that waiting and staying. You’ll find the bright places where Boom Bands are playing. With banner flip-flapping, once more you’ll ride high! Ready for anything under the sky. Ready because you’re that kind of a guy!

Oh, the places you’ll go! There is fun to be done! There are points to be scored. There are games to be won. And the magical things you can do with that ball will make you the winning-est winner of all. Fame! You’ll be famous as famous can be, with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.

Except when they don’t. Because, sometimes, they won’t.

I’m afraid that some times you’ll play lonely games too. Games you can’t win ‘cause you’ll play against you.

All Alone!
Whether you like it or not, Alone will be something you’ll be quite a lot.

And when you’re alone, there’s a very good chance you’ll meet things that scare you right out of your pants. There are some, down the road between hither and yon, that can scare you so much you won’t want to go on.

But on you will go though the weather be foul. On you will go though your enemies prowl. On you will go though the Hakken-Kraks howl. Onward up many a frightening creek, though your arms may get sore and your sneakers may leak. On and on you will hike. And I know you’ll hike far and face up to your problems whatever they are.

You’ll get mixed up, of course, as you already know. You’ll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go. So be sure when you step. Step with care and great tact and remember that Life’s a Great Balancing Act. Just never forget to be dexterous and deft. And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and ¾ percent guaranteed.)

Kid, you’ll move mountains!
So…be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray or Mordecai Ale Van Allen O’Shea, you’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So…get on your way!

Simple Things.

2011-05-15T23:31:00.000-07:00

Just a simple thought from a guy I'm a pretty big fan of.

"God expects you to have enough faith and determination and enough trust in Him to keep moving, keep living, keep rejoicing. In fact, He expects you not simply to face the future (that sounds pretty grim and stoic);

He expects you to embrace and shape the future--to love it and rejoice in it

and delight in your opportunities.

“God is anxiously waiting for the chance to answer your prayers and fulfill your dreams, just as He always has.

But He can't if you don't pray,

and He can't if you don't dream.

In short, He can't if you don't believe."

-Jeffrey R. Holland-

Welcome To My Morning

2011-05-14T15:41:00.001-07:00

Today is one of those "I feel so blessed" kind of days. I moved home about a week ago as I'm not sure what my plans are as a post-college graduate (I'll be sure to blog about graduation day soon) One of the cool parts about being home is this:

It's a beautiful day and I'm sitting out on the back patio, blogging and listening to John Denver. So I'm a John Denver nerd. Go ahead, make fun. But it's one thing that takes me back to some of the happiest memories I have. Listening to John Denver while driving over the Logan Pass and spending time in Glacier with the family have really been some of the happiest times of my life. So although my future is a bit uncertain, I'm content sitting here today. I smell summer...and that alone makes me pretty darn happy :)

For one who has always had a plan, I will admit, it's made me nervous to not have a plan for the fall yet. BUT I resolved last night to look at things positively and follow the counsel of Elder Nelson's most recent conference address.

First quoting President Monson, then continuing:

"President Monson continued: “My beloved brothers and sisters, fear not. Be of good cheer. The future is as bright as your faith.”

To President Monson’s powerful declaration I add my own. I testify that God is our Father. Jesus is the Christ. His Church has been restored to the earth. His truth, covenants, and ordinances enable us to overcome fear and face the future with faith!"

So facing the future with faith is what I will do. No more worrying. I'll do everything I can, and the rest will fall into place.

Pray always. Embrace change. Have faith.

Unwound.

2011-04-28T10:31:00.001-07:00

It's official.

I'm the world's worst blogger.

August Megan? Really?

My last post was a fun memory....but let's be honest...8 months later?

This is my problem: I have good intentions of keeping a blog and a journal, and I honestly think about it often, but for some reason there is a miscommunication between my intentions and my typing fingers.

So let me quickly catch you up on the happenings of Megan Savannah.

Here are a few words that describe my school year and the things I have felt for the past 8 months.

Busy. Crazy. Hard. Sad. Frustrating. Long. Scary. Unsure. Inadequate. Confused. Fun. Happy. Content. Excited. Ready. Lucky. Joy. Blessed.

Talk about a wide range of things to feel, right? The beginning of the school year proved to be....a little rough. Ok, a lot rough. But thanks to some amazing friends and my incredible family, I made it through just fine! We learn from every experience, and I know this experience was something that will shape the way I think about things and has made me a stronger person!

I got through Fall semester without much of a hitch. Student teaching preparation and busy classes made for a jam packed semester, but I was glad for the work I accomplished in order to make actual student teaching run smoothly.

Spring semester was....in one word....unforgettable. Although student teaching was undoubtedly the most time consuming, trying and busy time of my life, it was also the most incredible, enjoyable and fulfilling time of my life. Without question, I am excited to be an ag teacher! I had the best students ever and I wouldn't trade my experience for anything. How I landed into such an amazing career, I don't know, but one thing I know for sure is that this is where the Lord wants me. Everything in my life has led me to this point and I couldn't feel better about my decision to become an ag teacher. The community that we have here in Utah is so incredible, and I will be so lucky to teach with these incredible individuals and to teach the awesome kids.

I am also so lucky to have been able to graduate with 12 of the coolest kids on the block. We went through a lot together over the past year and a half and I am proud to call each of them my close friends.

Although I'm still unsure of where I'll be in even a month, I know things will work out the way they are supposed to! If there is one thing I have learned, it's to have patience and faith. The rest falls into place as it should. It gets hard not knowing...but this is all I can do:

Yee Haw...Jake Owen Style!

2010-08-19T23:32:00.000-07:00

I LOVE country concerts!! I go to at least 2 every summer and I never get sick of them. This one was particularly great because a) it was cheap and b) I got to be right up against the stage. Jake Owen was so much fun! Aspen, Leslie, Malory, Amanda, and I drove up to the Cassia County Fair in Burley to go to the concert and it was definitely worth it. Now I'm hooked again and will be counting down the days to Brad Paisley next month!!! WOOHOO!

County Fair...and a little more.

2010-08-15T21:51:00.000-07:00

It's been such a great week. The girls and I spent a few days at the fair watching the steer show, going to the rodeo and looking at (and buying) cute things. I'll post the fun head band that I bought. You definitely can't go wrong with fair week. Here's us at the rodeo! (Minus Leslie, wish you could have been there!)

The rest of the week was good as well. I made a cute craft that I'll post pictures of soon, got new glitter toes, and hung out with the family before Angela and John went back home to New Zealand. That was the sad part of the week, but I'll just have to look forward to the next time I get to see them! Also on a not so fun note, straw season is Koles busiest time, so we don't have a lot of time to spend together. But on the bright side, he's just over in Tremonton so I got to hop over the mountain and ride in the swather with him.

I'm dead set on continuing with my goal that I talked about in my last post, so each time I blog I'll put it at the very end.

Hope you all have a great week!

Today, I saw the hand of the Lord in my life...

Mandy and I took Ella and Dylan on the River Walk trail today and just being with them reiterated how important family is and how much I just love those little munchkins! I'm so lucky to live so close to them and I love every minute I get to spend with them.

Write This Down

2010-08-02T23:36:00.000-07:00

I have promised myself that I'd be a better blogger if I was using it as a substitute journal. I'm just not very good at keeping a journal so I've been relying on this blog to help me out. However, it doesn't do much good if I don't update it very often. I envy my friends who religiously keep a blog and have vowed to be more like them - mostly so I don't forget things down the road. So for my own benefit, I'm going to try and write something once a week. It may be really short, or it may be a chapter book, as we said in elementary school. Either way, I'd like to be better about writing things down, even if they aren't entertaining or beautifully written.

I've also decided to really follow through with a goal I once had that was inspired by President Eyring's Conference talk, "O Remember, Remember". I really recommend going back and reading this talk.

"When our children were very small, I started to write down a few things about what happened every day. Let me tell you how that got started. I came home late from a Church assignment. It was after dark. My father-in-law, who lived near us, surprised me as I walked toward the front door of my house. He was carrying a load of pipes over his shoulder, walking very fast and dressed in his work clothes. I knew that he had been building a system to pump water from a stream below us up to our property.

He smiled, spoke softly, and then rushed past me into the darkness to go on with his work. I took a few steps toward the house, thinking of what he was doing for us, and just as I got to the door, I heard in my mind—not in my own voice—these words: “I’m not giving you these experiences for yourself. Write them down.”

I went inside. I didn’t go to bed. Although I was tired, I took out some paper and began to write. And as I did, I understood the message I had heard in my mind. I was supposed to record for my children to read, someday in the future, how I had seen the hand of God blessing our family. Grandpa didn’t have to do what he was doing for us. He could have had someone else do it or not have done it at all. But he was serving us, his family, in the way covenant disciples of Jesus Christ always do. I knew that was true. And so I wrote it down, so that my children could have the memory someday when they would need it.

I wrote down a few lines every day for years. I never missed a day no matter how tired I was or how early I would have to start the next day. Before I would write, I would ponder this question: “Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today?” As I kept at it, something began to happen. As I would cast my mind over the day, I would see evidence of what God had done for one of us that I had not recognized in the busy moments of the day. As that happened, and it happened often, I realized that trying to remember had allowed God to show me what He had done.

More than gratitude began to grow in my heart. Testimony grew. I became ever more certain that our Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers. I felt more gratitude for the softening and refining that come because of the Atonement of the Savior Jesus Christ. And I grew more confident that the Holy Ghost can bring all things to our remembrance—even things we did not notice or pay attention to when they happened.

The years have gone by. My boys are grown men. And now and then one of them will surprise me by saying, “Dad, I was reading in my copy of the journal about when …” and then he will tell me about how reading of what happened long ago helped him notice something God had done in his day."

So starting today I'm going to take his advice and write down a few lines each night of how I saw the Lord's hand in my life that day. At least it will be something for me to look back on.

For today's issue of my blog, I will share with you how I saw the Lord's hand in my life today.

It was simple, and almost the last thing I heard someone say to me today, but in the circumstance, it meant more than most times. Three little words. I love you.

2010-08-01T10:20:00.000-07:00

Proverbs 3:5-6. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct they paths."

Happy Sunday :)

It's Summertime

2010-07-02T00:49:00.000-07:00

For those of you who actually pay attention to things such as what time someone posts a blog, you may notice how late (or early) it is. Why in the world am I up at this time, no less blogging? Well it's a little thing called I HATE FINALS IN THE SUMMERTIME. I'm trying my best to study, but it's just not happening, so I thought I'd take a little break and blog again. It's way more fun than studying.

So I guess I'll just give a little update on my life.

I currently love my jobs. I work full time in Utah State's new student orientation office and I love it! The people are so great and there is never a day that I dread going to work. My other job is amazing too. I get to travel around the state and check out service projects that 4 FFA chapters have done through a grant called "Living 2 Serve". Last weekend took me to parts of Utah that I've never been before and I sure wasn't disappointed. I put a ton of miles on that university vehicle but had such a good time.

I stayed in a little town called Alton with my friend who's working down in that area for the summer. Alton is about as picture perfect as it gets. With just over 100 people in the town, they are all so friendly and welcoming. I was on a run one night and ended up stopping and talking to this older man for about a half hour. He said that I was welcome back any ol' time I wanted...I think I might take him up on that offer :).

This picture really doesn't do a justice, it's just too hard to see. But this town was so cute. It's located about a half an hour south of Panquitch and an hour East of Cedar City.

One of the cutest parts about this town were the "Stop" signs.

It was so much fun to visit the Enterprise, Long Valley and Delta FFA Chapters and check out their awesome projects. I couldn't believe that I was getting paid to do it!

And while I'm thinking about it, here's a little picture of Kole and I, (especially for you, Angela) who I am hoping stays awake tonight while driving home. He's baling hay right now and not only has an hour drive home, but is leaving for a family camping trip this weekend that he'll have to drive to tomorrow. So thanks, Kole, for keeping me up worried all night!! :) (just another excuse to not study hehe)

I hope you all have a great 4th of July Weekend! Watch lots of fireworks, eat lots of watermelon, and enjoy the warm weather :)

Crazy Train...of Runners.

2010-06-29T08:17:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've blogged! I've been a little busy lately and every now and then I have the thought cross my mind that I need to update my blog, but then it goes away and I forget about it :) So now that I have an extra minute, I thought that I'd get on here and do a little blogging.

A couple of weeks ago, Mandy and I finished the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay. We'd been training for weeks and weeks and we were finally able to put that to use. For those of you who aren't familiar with the race, it's the largest relay in the world (this year 1,050 teams of 12 with a few exceptions for ultra teams which consist of 6 runners). The course takes a back route from Logan to Park City, Utah and covers 188 miles. You load up into 2 vans, with 6 runners in each and run day and night until you reach the finish line. Our team, "Project Runaways" ran it in just over 29 hours, which is actually a pretty good time. The only thing that I didn't like was that my running buddy, Mandy, was in van 1 while I was in van 2. Here's part of our team at the start line at ICON in Logan.

Here's my van and our driver at the first major exchange where the last runner in van 1 hands off to the first runner in van 2, which happened to be me. This is at the Eden City Park. We had such a fun van and there weren't even any fights :)

Here are a few pictures of some of my teammates. I didn't get pictures of all of them because I didn't have my camera, but below is Leslie on her first leg-in the sweltering heat of the day.

And here's Alex trucking it up one of the many hills that the course had to offer.

Here's Isaac and I attempting to get some rest at the 2nd major exchange at East Canyon State Park. I was hoping to get some rest in because I was up next and this leg was sure to be a killer. I began the run at around 10:00 pm and the hills in this run were quite the adventure...

All of the team, minus runner 6, at the 3rd major exchange. I was ready to get my last leg started!

Katie giving Isaac water on his 3rd and final leg, which looks nice and flat right now. He had a nice little hill to climb before he got to his exchange.

This is a view from the top of the mountain that runners 9 and 10 had to climb in a matter of just under 8 miles. It's called the "Ragnar Hill" because of it's crazy steep incline (8.5%!) Katie and Leslie did an amazing job hauling up this hill. So many runners had to stop and walk quite often up this hill because of how steep and dusty and hot it was.

Here's Leslie, runner 10, heading up the Ragnar Hill. I wish that we had a picture of how steep this run really was, because you just can't tell in this one.

When Alex heard that our team was called "Project Runaway", the first thing he thought of was Runaway Bride. This was his 3rd year running Ragnar and he has a tradition of dressing up. So, in honor of Runaway Bride, he purchased a $70 wedding dress from the D.I, complete with an 8 foot veil, and ran his entire last leg in it, which was 5.5 miles in the heat.

It's also tradition to match while running across the finish line, so we all wore veils

And finally, here's Mandy and I after the race was finished. When we decided to run this race, we thought it would be neat to dedicate it to Uncle Jeff who passed away while doing what he loved, running. Family reunions won't be the same without him and his great sense of humor and kind heart. So this one's for you, Jeff!

This was such a fun accomplishment and it will be something that we do every year! So if you're ever in the mood to put yourself through the hardest but most fun time you've ever had, give us a call and we'll help you out :)

It's A Great Day To Be Alive

2010-04-17T20:20:00.000-07:00

I feel like I have so much to catch up on! Life has been pretty fun the past little while and I've been a major slacker when it comes to blogging. For Krista's birthday, Mandy and I took her to the Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan concert in Salt Lake. So much fun! Normally it's just Mandy and I that go to the concerts because Krista is off in some foreign country, but having her there was the best! The only thing that would have made the concert better would be if Angela was there!

The weather has been so great the past couple of days and Mandy and I have gotten in some really good runs. Today was by far the best run of the week-in the difficulty level and weather. BUT...this sunshine has definitely been problematic in my schooling, which isn't a good thing since this semester is so demanding. Only a few more weeks and life will be a little less stressful.

Amidst the stresses of 6 classes, 3 jobs and a demanding church calling, I can't help but be grateful for how blessed my life has been lately. Although this semester has been some of the hardest 4 months of my life, and I have definitely been able to see the old saying, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" come to fruition, it's good for me to step back and take a look at life and realize that my blessings outweigh my trials.

My challenge to you is to look for the good things in life...even when it seems that life couldn't get any more stressful or hard. Take President Eyrings advice and ponder this question each day, "Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today?" As I have done this in my own life, the blessings that the Lord has given me have become much more apparent and I know it will be the same for you!

Have a great week!!

Laughed Until We Cried

2010-03-15T12:40:00.000-07:00

This was a weekend to remember. From Thursday until Saturday, Cedar City was filled with the unmistakable sea of blue corduroy. Two years ago, I was all nerves while running as a hopeful state officer candidate in that very town. Going back to help out with this years team was a blessing and I had so much fun while doing it. It seems like just yesterday that my state officer team was retiring at the Kent Concert Hall in Logan. It was so much fun to watch this years team go through a successful year and to put on an amazing convention. It was full of laughs and even a few tears.

Brittney and I ran the lights, sound and script and I'd have to say that we did a pretty great job being rookies! I got a notification on Facebook telling me that I was tagged in a couple of photos by an FFA member and I just had to laugh because they are quite the pics...but here they are since I didn't take a single picture. Here I am on the headset with Brittney and the SUU light and sound crew! Haha don't I look so serious?

I was also asked to give the invocation for the convention so here's a picture of me after the prayer.
The state officer team did an excellent job and the state president had me in tears as she gave her retiring address from a wheelchair. If there is anyone in this world who has a good attitude, it's her. In January she was in a horrible car accident, she lost the use of her legs, confining her to a wheelchair. She is a TROOPER.

I'm so excited to see this new team fill their year with awesome memories and good times. They are 6 amazing kids!!
This weekend was also a blessing because of a very special girl I met only 5 short months ago. As most of you know, I was Utah's National Officer candidate. Last October at the National FFA Convention I was able to meet some pretty incredible individuals who were sharing the same goal that I was at convention. I obviously wasn't elected, but have seen reasons why every day of my life. I am so content with the life I have today and I know without a doubt that the Lord knows what you need, when you need it. I know that He wanted me to run for National Office for reasons other than being elected. So anyway, back to the girl I said that I had met. The first time I met Miss Randa Braune was in the room that we took the test for office. Thanks to alphabetical order, that sweet, blond Texan and I were placed next to each other. One of the first things she said to me was, "I just feel so good about this, and about you and about everything, but I'm just so nervous and I just don't know how I'm going to do, but this is all for Jesus and He's lookin' out for us and it's just all for Him, all for Him, and can we just pray?......" At this point all I was thinking was, "this girl is one of a kind." I liked her a lot, but I just didn't know how to take her. As the week went on, I came to just love the girl. I was so excited when they called her name to become the Western Region Vice President and even started crying when she left the seat next to me to run to the stage.
We were fortunate enough to have her visiting for our convention this year and I am even more fortunate to have her staying with me until Tuesday. You see, her flight was supposed to leave from Cedar on Tuesday which would have left her stranded and alone from Saturday until then...and if you know Cedar City you know that it would be a boring place to be left. So they changed her flight to leave from Salt Lake on Tuesday and has been staying with me. She came to church with me yesterday, where my secretary in the Relief Society spoke in Sacrament and shared her conversion story. Isaac, her and I drove out to Dallin's missionary fireside in Lewiston and were able to answer the many questions that she had about the church. We gave her a Book of Mormon and bore our testimonies to her and my heart was so full the entire day. I had been praying for the past couple of weeks for a missionary experience and I know that the Lord answers our prayers. It was so incredible to talk to someone about the gospel and share the light that we believe in.

If for no reason other than meeting this sweet girl, the hard work it took to run for National Office was worth it. The Lord puts people into our lives for special reasons and I am so grateful to Him for that.

American Honey

2010-03-03T13:45:00.000-08:00

Current favorite song.

That's all.

Enjoy.

Lady Antebellum More CMT Music More CMT Music Videos

Oh Canada!

2010-02-24T09:53:00.000-08:00

In the spirit of the 2010 Olympics...and in the spirit of being a true blooded, native born Canuck....I figured that I had better write up a little blog post about that great northern country of Canada. Aunt Connie posted a video on her Facebook page that I loved because it gives such a positive outlook on the relationship between Canada and the United States. Check it out below-well worth the 6 minutes!

And here are a few reasons that I love my home and native land :)

It's where my forever family began

Thanks to grandpa and dad, I have a deep love of agriculture that has helped me in more ways than one

Where the mountains meet the prairie...who can ask for more?

As much as I dearly love my home today, there will always be a piece of my heart left north of the border!

Love Like Crazy

2010-01-27T09:37:00.001-08:00

I know I just blogged last night, and even though I really don't have time to do another post, I'll be quick because I decided that I better dedicate a little post to this!

Miss Brittney-my teammate, my sister, my friend....is getting hitched! So I thought I would just say congrats to her out in the blogging world! I am so excited for her and Tyson to begin a new chapter in their lives. Anyway, that's all :).

Lessons Learned

2010-01-26T19:08:00.000-08:00

Tonight, before I get all ready for bed and such, I thought that I'd sit down and share a few experiences that I've had over the past month and half or so :).

In the middle of December, I was called to serve as the Relief Society President in my ward. Overwhelmed. Blessed. Inadequate. Excited. What? Just a few of the words that popped into my head as I sat in Bishop Weaver's office. It has taken me a good month to get a semblance of a feel for this new responsibility that has been given to me. And even now, I don't feel like I'm anywhere close to where I should be in order to fulfill my calling the way I should. But, I take comfort in knowing that I don't have to do it on my own...and that is Lesson #1.

Lesson #2: I'm just an ordinary person. I haven't done anything to make me famous and I'm not the one to stand out in a crowd, but the longer I live and the more things I experience, the more I realize that sometimes, no, almost always, I learn the most from "ordinary" people. Maybe being "ordinary" is an o.k thing to be.

Lesson #3 is stolen from a phrase you may have heard before...Just Do It.
I've always had a fear of sharing the gospel with people, for fear that they might think I'm "pushing" something on them or that I might offend them. This is not the attitude I need to have. This is the truth we're talking about here, people! I've had the opportunity to share the Book of Mormon with one friend and have had 2 experiences with the missionaries over the past 2 weeks and it has been such a testimony builder for me. It has pushed me from an attitude of "someone else will" to "Just Do It!"

Our ward mission leader has started up a Preach My Gospel Sunday School class and a good 30 or 40 people attend it each week. I've enjoyed it so much and the emphasis that is put on having a testimony of the Book of Mormon is something that I love. This past Sunday the teacher challenged us to something that he lives by every day, and that is to keep a study journal while reading the scriptures. He showed us a full backpack of about 15 notebooks that he had filled and shared his testimony of how much his study of the scriptures has improved since he has started this practice. I've begun my own and it's amazing how much of a difference it makes when you go into your study asking and expecting to learn something new. Lesson #4: Ask for it, you'll get it.

If one thing has become evident to me over the course of the past month, as I alluded to above, it is that ordinary people can do extraordinary things. We're all pretty ordinary and normal,I hate to say it-but with the Lord on our side, anything is possible.You guessed it: Lesson numero 5.

And last but not least, I have a new thing that I love to do. Instead of listening to music while I'm getting ready for church, I'll listen to a few Conference talks. Lately, with this emphasis on the Book of Mormon that I've had in my life, it reminds me of the moving and powerful talk given by Elder Jeffery R. Holland in October's General Conference.

"I ask that my testimony of the Book of Mormon and all that it implies, given today under my own oath and office, be recorded by men on earth and angels in heaven. I hope I have a few years left in my “last days,” but whether I do or do not, I want it absolutely clear when I stand before the judgment bar of God that I declared to the world, in the most straightforward language I could summon, that the Book of Mormon is true, that it came forth the way Joseph said it came forth and was given to bring happiness and hope to the faithful in the travail of the latter days."

I encourage you to go back and listen to that incredible talk. It's amazing how uplifting just listening to these talks over again can be!

Lesson #6:Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Whether it's listening to a Conference talk, staying on track with a homework schedule, our scripture study or keeping up with a running program so you don't make a fool of yourself while running in an insane relay race, repetition is what gets us to do things and realize things that we wouldn't normally.

I know that some of this may not be relevant to you or really even mean anything at all, but as I said in a previous post, 2010 is the year that I try new things, my year to turn over a new leaf. The leaf's turning folks!

The Race is On

2010-01-22T12:45:00.000-08:00

Everyone has New Years Resolutions and this year is no different. However 2010 is not only a new year, it's a fresh decade which means it's time to try out new things. This year, Mandy and I have decided to compete in the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay. It's a relay race from Logan to Park City with a team of 12 runners, each running 3 separate legs. From what we hear, everyone who has done it says it's one of the hardest things they've ever done, but we want to challenge ourselves so here goes nothing! We still need a few runners to complete our team, so if you're up to the challenge, we'd love to have you!
Check out details on http://www.ragnarrelay.com/wasatchback/index.php/
It's been about 5 years since I've done any races so I'm nervous but really excited to get back into it. If you hear of any random 5K and 10K races, let Mandy or I know so we can do them!

We're also planning on running the Top of Utah Half Marathon in August...wish us luck!

Anyone have fun New Years Resolutions they'd like to share?

Living and Living Well

2010-01-19T08:19:00.000-08:00

Today marks week number 2 of my second to last spring semester at Utah State. It's a little bittersweet, knowing that college is drawing nearer and nearer to an end...but then I remember that when I'm done I'll have a real job with a real paycheck and I won't have to worry about walking all over campus in the bitter cold.

I started Level 1 (of 3) of the teaching program and have really enjoyed it so far. It's going to be a very busy semester but a great one nonetheless. (Except for my ag fabrications class...I don't do math) One thing that I'm really excited for are the 30 hours of clinicals that I'll be doing this semester. One of the requirements is to observe a teacher and ag program for 30 hours and take notes, participate when needed etc. One thing that's difficult in the ag ed program is that they are fewer and farther between than say, an English or Math education class-so this requires most of us to travel anywhere from an hour to 6 hours away. We can't go to a school that already has a student teacher for this semester and all of the nearby schools do and you aren't allowed to go to the high school you graduated from. I'm actually excited to have to go somewhere completely different and see a new program and a new teacher.

We haven't been assigned yet but we were able to choose a top 3 list from the options we had and mine were 1) Grace, Idaho-1 hour 15 minutes away 2) Malad, Idaho-1 hour away and 3)Blackfoot, Idaho-2 hours away. I had a couple of reasons for choosing all Idaho schools. The first being that those 3 schools are all closer than any of the Utah schools available for me, as I am from the most northern part of Utah. The second reason being that I have only been retired as a state officer for less than a year and want to have a fresh pair of eyes for whatever program I get to go to. I want to go where the kids and teacher don't know who I am which is hard to do after being a state officer. I also want to go somewhere that I don't know the kids or teacher either so I don't have any preconceived notions about them or their program.

I'm so excited to finally be at least ankle deep in the program and so happy to finally be in the classroom-even if only observing. If there's one thing I miss about being a state officer it's being in the classroom. It's what made me want to teach and I can't wait to do it for real.

But the most important part of this post is this: I can't begin to describe how good it feels to be excited about my future occupation and that I know I'm where I need to be. Life's been a bit eventful, to say the least, since the middle of December but I've been tremendously blessed through it all.

Summer? Seriously?

2010-01-12T17:09:00.000-08:00

Guys...it's January 12th and I'm already in major anticipation of SUMMER!!! Since I know it is not even close to "just around the riverbend", I needed to change my blog background to something that reminded me of sunshine. Thus, the palm trees. I guess that the long winter is just something that we deal with here in Cache Valley, and since I love it so, I'll deal with it. But can I just vent for like...2 seconds? Top 5 reasons winter is NO BUENO!

1. Scraping the car windows!
2. Not being able to breath the red day air!
3. School!
4. Slippery ice!
5. Short days!

Have a great day :)

Potential Singing Act?

2010-01-07T18:57:00.000-08:00

Ok so this post is mainly for my 3 sisters. Seeing as how there are conveniently 4 of us Peterson gals, I was somewhat inspired when I saw this video clip. All I have to say is, why not?...what about now girls? This could be our chance to make it big. So, with no further ado, please enjoy the inspiration to the possible future Peterson Sisters Act.

P.S-The video isn't working very well on here, so here is the link so it might work better.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/37752/saturday-night-live-the-lawrence-welk-show

New Decade, Old Memories

2009-12-29T10:55:00.001-08:00

As we approach the end of yet another decade, I can't help but look back on the past two decades and think of the changes that have taken place.

Having been born in the 80's (barely) I lived a few quality years in the 90's and they seemed to be pretty rad if you know what I mean. I spent the past couple of days transferring all of my music onto my laptop and came to the realization that at least 90% of my music comes from the 90's. Mostly country.

But really-you've got to agree that the 90's was a great decade for all genres of music. Who can't help but sing along to Bust a Move or Ice Ice Baby? Or to Chatohoochie and the Grundy County Auction? Maybe it's just because those years were my most imaginative and life as a kid was pretty care free. Either way, I loved the 90's and I hope you did too.

I do realize that we're a decade off of the 90's, but we don't want to forget those years too quickly, so here's a tribute to a most memorable decade-in fashion, music and television.

You may have lived in the 90's if...

You know all the words to The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air theme song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBe0VCso0qs

Goosebumps and Are You Afraid Of The Dark scared you

You collected (and maybe played) Pogs

You remember people fighting over Beanie Babies and Tickle Me Elmo toys

You had a short-lived slap bracelet phase

You know the Macarena. And you do it well.

You loved your pair of overalls

You hoped that someday you could climb Agrocrag like the kids on GUTS

Your shoes had flashing lights

Oregon Trail Day was your favorite day in class

Bill Nye taught you something

You’d have a cassette tape in the radio so you could record your favorite song when it came on

You predicted your future with one of these:

You knew every detail about each Saved By The Bell character

You thought gas was expensive when it was over $1

You (or someone you know) wore Jelly Shoes

And to my family, this is a reminder of the 90's

Remember the good times!

Done. Finished. Completed. Ceased. Terminated. Ended. Cuh-put.

2009-12-09T16:30:00.001-08:00

Fall Semester 2009=Over!
As of 35 minutes ago, when I turned in my highly procrastinated take home final for Soils, (due at 5:00, it is now 5:34) the first half of my junior year is over. I don't think I've ever felt so much relief at the end of a finals week as I do today.

Christmas break is strategically placed on the calendar for more than just one reason you know.

December is a month to get together with people we love.
It's a time to remember why we celebrate Christmas.

AND

Every college student deserves a break. We've all been working hard. We've all had our stresses, struggles and our flat out "I"M DONE!" moments. Please, everyone, do me a favor and have some fun this Christmas break. It won't be long before people will laugh at us for wanting a month long break from life, so enjoy it while you can.

And to you old fogies who don't get to take a 30 day leave of absence, enjoy your holidays anyway...and be jealous. Be very jealous.

But really, Happy Holidays from me to you.

One Late Night and a Sleeping Foreigner

2009-12-08T08:31:00.000-08:00

I lost my keys last night.

My spare key doesn't work in my ignition...only on the doors.

We checked the chair in the library that I was sitting in. It took a while as there was a sleeping man in it. It took much shaking and many "excuse me's" to wake him up out of his deep slumber. They still weren't there.

Because of my luck, the snow has come down hard in the last 48 hours, therefore most likely sending my keys into the abyss of snow drifts on the edges of the sidewalks.

No one has turned them in to any lost and found.

My car is stuck in the parking terrace.

Please pray that I find my keys. I'm going to need all the help I can get.

Thanksgiving!

2009-11-28T11:16:00.001-08:00

This Thanksgiving break was much needed in the school department for me. School is going well, but it was definitely nice to have a few days off to get rejuvenated before finals week comes. I was able to get a lot done and even put up my Christmas tree! :) I left my camera at mom and dad's so I can't post a picture of it yet, but by tonight I will.

I thought I'd post a few pictures from Thanksgiving day. We didn't have a big elaborate celebration, just mom, dad, Landon and I, but it was still a lot of fun. Dad and Landon were burning a bunch of the brush that we needed to get rid of so we just hung outside for a while so that was fun.
This all needs to be cleared out so instead of hauling it they decided to have a bonfire! It will look so much better when just the trees are there instead of all of the shrubs and dead brush.

I also rode the motor bike around and I was so proud of myself for not crashing! I wish I would have gotten a picture of me on it but at least I got one of Landon.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, here is a short list of the things I'm most thankful for. (Not in any particular order) :)

1. My family
2. The Gospel
3. Good friends
4. Opportunity to go to school and work
5. Warm bed and warm showers
6. A car
7. Music
8. Agriculture
9. Technology
10. People who do the jobs that no one else wants to (if you don't know what I'm talking about, just watch Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe on The Discovery Channel)

Happy Holidays!

Life...or something like it :)

2009-11-18T08:16:00.000-08:00

The weeks following convention have been so much fun for me. For the first time in a year and a half, I'm living the normal life of a college student which includes: late nights, Aggie Athletics, and plain ol' fun. So I thought I'd post a few pictures!

Halloween proved to be a fun and eventful night. The night was started off with a party and then a few of my friends and I headed over to the infamous Howl at Utah State. Don't worry folks, it's cleaned up a lot over the past 3 years or so, so it's not as scandalous as one might think :) Here I am, Betty Rubble, with Ginger, Scary and Posh Spice.

It was a bit crowded throughout the entire TSC...can you tell?

Really...it was wall to wall.

In the Ballroom, there was an illusionist and a performance by one of the teams from America's Best Dance Crew. They were pretty sweet to say the least

I can't forget to mention Aggie Sports...I haven't been able to make it to a basketball game yet and it's kind of been killing me. I have, however, made it to a couple of hockey games which are pretty entertaining as well. I guess it's the Canadian coming out in me that gets me so excited at the games. We have a really great team which makes it even more fun.

Here's Sasha, Audrey and myself cheering on our Aggies against San Jose State

This year we've been really good about celebrating everyone's birthday. This is our party planner, Shoat. He makes sure everyone's birthday is celebrated in style. Ironically, I don't have any pictures of the night mine was celebrated! (Don't worry about the beer sign in the back, we're just at Texas Roadhouse!)

At Texas Roadhouse, if it's your birthday, they make you sit on a saddle while the entire restaurant yells, "Saddle Up! Saddle Up!" Apparently Jeff and Sid just couldn't fathom saddling up alone, so they did it together..

Waiting..waiting...waiting...you wouldn't think that it would be too hard to get a group of 30 in, right?
I know this was a forever long post, but I had to put these pictures up sometime! :)

Contentment.

2009-10-28T08:09:00.000-07:00

To me, one of the best feelings in the world is that of being content. Content with where you've been in life. Content with where you're at. Content with where you're going. I've felt very content in a lot of different situations. For example, I feel content on Christmas Eve when the family is together and we're just sitting around enjoying each others company. I felt content the moment I decided what my major was going to be. I feel content while sitting in church. I feel content when I'm reading a good book. So with this new little chapter in my life coming up, I am so happy to feel content and at peace with it. I have had such an incredible past year and a half and I wouldn't trade the things I've learned for anything. I'll be starting my first semester of the secondary ed teaching program in the spring and that will last for 3 semesters....and once they're done I'll be a teacher! How weird! The majority of the time, I do not feel old enough to be taking care of and teaching high school kiddos! But man, am I excited about it!

This group of kids are some of the other states National Officer Candidates. We went ice skating the night before elections and just had a fun time. These were some great people! The girl on the far left side is from Idaho and is actually going to BYU-I. Our first Sunday in Indy we took a cab to a ward a few minutes away so that was fun to have another LDS person (we were the only ones). Anyway, I loved, loved, LOVED that week and I met some really incredible individuals.
'Til next time!

It's Here!

2009-10-16T07:15:00.001-07:00

You got it! Convention time is just around the corner...literally! I'm leavin' on a jet plane tomorrow for Indianapolis and then it's off to the races. I know it's going to be one of the most challenging yet rewarding weeks of my life and I'm so excited to get started. Dad and I talked for a long time last night about a lot of things. He gave me some really great insight into a lot of the different ag topics that I'll need to know inside and out. Thank goodness for him because I got some really great information. He also gave me a lot of really great personal advice-man am I grateful for him. And am I ever grateful for my mom who knows how to sew!!! :D (Oh, and she's kind of been a big support through this all) I wish all my sisters could be here tonight for our little going away party, but know that I'll be thinking of you! This will most likely be my last blog post until I get home from convention so know that I love you all and thank you so much for all of your support-through my year as a state officer and through the last 5 months of preparation! Off to Indy I go!

Kindness...Isn't it about time?

2009-09-28T21:32:00.000-07:00

I don't know if anyone else has noticed this, but the topics of charity and kindness have seemed to be so prevalent throughout church lessons and talks lately. Those two topics have really been on my mind lately, so maybe that's why I've noticed it so much. To me, they compliment each other and often times go hand in hand.

We definitely live in a world where kindness, service and charity are put on the back burner. Sarcasm is a common means of communication and many live on a one-way street named "Me". I was grateful for President Monson's talk in conference this morning about service and kindness. I think that it was a very heartfelt and thought provoking message for all who listened-members of the church or not.

"I have wept in the night for the shortness of
sight that to somebody's need made me blind;
But I never have yet felt a tinge of
regret for being a little to kind"

I'm challenging myself to seek out ways to be charitable and kind this week. As President Monson invited us to, I will ask myself each night, "Have I done any good in the world today?" I know that the Lord blesses us with opportunities to serve when we are looking for them, even if they be small acts. It's so easy to fall into the routine of every day life and forget what is really important, so it is my hope that I will become more conscious of all of my words and actions so that I can answer "yes" when I ask myself each night if I have done any good.

Here's a youtube for thought. :)

23 Days and Counting!!!

2009-09-24T11:23:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, I leave for Indy in only 23 short days! Preparation for National Office has been one of the most enjoyable things I've ever done. Call me a nerd, but I guess I just have a good time studying something that I love.

While I had the chance, I thought I'd write a post that had all of the information for convention that you might want in case I don't have time to before I leave. You can watch the election on TV/Online on Saturday the 24th during the final session (starts around 1:30 and goes until it's finished) Regardless of the outcome, as candidates we will all be introducing ourselves on the Friday afternoon session at 1:30. Come check us out!

Thanks to modern day technology, anyone who wants to watch any of convention from home will be able to starting October 20. That way, you can feel like you're with the other 55,000+ FFA members, parents, teachers and guests that will be attending convention! If you have RFDTV, (comcast channel 203) they will be broadcasting it. If not, you can go to this website
http://www.ffanewhorizons.org/index.php/convention/2009
and check it out!

You can also check out this website for the convention schedule if you are wanting to watch any of it!
http://www.ffa.org/index.cfm?method=c_convention.events

Do we have any "Dirty Jobs" fans out there? One of this year's convention keynote speakers is Mike Rowe, the host of the TV show. Here's a little bio on him if you're interested.

Mike Rowe has had more jobs than you. In fact, Mike has had more jobs than anyone. As the creator and executive producer of Discovery Channel's Emmy-nominated series Dirty Jobs With Mike Rowe, Mike has spent years traveling the country, working as an apprentice on more than 200 jobs that most people would go out of their way to avoid.

Dirty Jobs is entirely unscripted, and Mike doesn't cheat; he actually does the work, with a sense of humor rarely portrayed in such professions. In fact, the notion of depicting hard work as noble and fun is central to his personal mission. On Labor Day 2008, Mike launched a website called mikeroweWORKS.com, where skilled labor and hard work are celebrated in the hope of calling attention to the steady decline in the trades and bolstering enrollment in trade schools and technical colleges.

Hope you all have a fantastic day!

212 Degrees

2009-09-17T18:54:00.000-07:00

Today in one of my classes my professor showed us a video on youtube. It's just a few minutes long and I think it's worthwhile to watch.

Going just a little farther, pushing a little harder, and focusing just a little bit more makes all the difference.

Enjoy!

Catching Up

2009-09-16T08:48:00.000-07:00

So....looking at the title of my last post got me thinking. It is such a good thing I'm going into Ag Ed and not Math Ed. How many summers have I had? You guessed it, only 20. Anyway!
School is going well so far this semester. My classes are ones that I know I will actually use in life, especially in the classroom. Work is going well and it's so nice to be able to work on campus! Studying for national office continues to go well and I hope I'll be as prepared as I need to be with only just under 5 weeks to go! I'm flying down to Las Cruces, New Mexico for 3 days in October to do some training with my old professor who is pretty much the king of FFA. I'm so excited to see him again and do some training with him. He is the one who did most of my training when I ran for state office and national office run offs. Such a selfless person.

This week should be a blast. Once I finish up the week of school I'm heading down to Brad Paisley and Dierks Bentley in concert with Mandy and 2 of my roommates....it will be amazing! And the best part is that I only had to pay around $15 for the tickets!

The day after the concert will be fun as well. It's state fair time which means...livestock shows! My favorite part of the fairs. This year I'm showing a heifer for my roommate so that will be fun. I haven't shown any livestockin a show since high school when I did heifers at the Black and White Days show, so I'm really excited.

Hopefully you are all planning something fun for the weekend! Have a good one!

My 21st Summer Comes to a Close

2009-08-19T11:45:00.000-07:00

Summer always seems to go by so quickly! It feels like there isn't any time between the professor handing out a final and handing out a syllabus! My summer was, however, very great! The past couple of weeks have been busy but so much fun! Hours and hours were spent at the county fair this year-running ribbons to the exhibitors of the Junior Livestock show, weighing in pigs, lambs and steers, taking money from generous people donating to the Jr. Livestock program and a few other responsibilities. All in all it was a great time, as it always is at the fair. I was able to go up to the Franklin and Rich County Fairs as well, which were both a lot smaller than Cache's, but still a lot of fun. My new roommate, Shelly, was the judge for all 3 shows at Rich, and her brother was the judge for the pigs and sheep in Franklin so we went up to watch them. They're talented livestock judgers and I think the kids learned a lot from them.

Earlier this week I had the opportunity of joining the Sky View FFA Chapter Officers on their summer leadership retreat to Bear Lake. It brought back memories of my own time as an officer at Sky View and how fun of a time it was. The 2009-2010 team is going to do a great job and I'm so excited for them to get the year started and "Lead out Loud".

I was checking out Mandy's blog today and watched a couple of videos that she posted. The church has a little thing called "Mormon Messages" on Youtube and I think they're great ways to share messages of the gospel. I really appreciated those videos today and with school starting in less than a week it's good to be reminded of the things that help us become who we want to be.

Each day we have a million little choices to make. Hopefully we are directing our lives in a manner in which we can be led to make the right choices. I feel like I have a few big things coming up in my life right now and it gives me so much comfort to know that I'm being watched over as long as I'm doing all I can to be the best that I can be.

What are you grateful for?

2009-08-03T13:18:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago I was thinking about how many things that I have going on in my life that give me reason to be a very happy and content person. So I thought I'd list a few.

1. An amazing family.
I would venture to guess that most people are pretty satisfied with their family. I for one definitely am! I really can't ask for a better set of parents or siblings. I am so grateful for the memories that I've been able to make and continue to make with my younger brother and 3 older sisters, along with their great hubbies. I also have a hilarious nephew and an adorable niece. What a blessing it is to have family! Although half of them are spread out across the world (literally) I still love the phone conversations, random facebook chats and the occasional email.

2. Great friends.
Some people get pretty lucky when it comes to the friends that they have and I can happily say that I am one of them! I really do have the best friends in the world and I am so grateful for the examples they continuously set for me. Happy times, funny times, hilarious times, sad times, stressful times...you name it, we've had them.

3. The Church.
I love that each Sunday I can leave the cares of the world outside and focus on the things that are really important for a few hours with no distractions. I have the wonderful opportunity to be serving in the Relief Society presidency and it has been such a blessing. The love that is there for each of the sisters is incredible and I love the camaraderie between each of us. I love that I have a family who is strong in the gospel and a father and brother who hold the priesthood. We are truly blessed to have such an amazing church in our lives.

4. Being apart of the National FFA Organization.
I can honestly say that without the guidance that I have received from being apart of this organization I would not be the person I am today. I have learned so much about myself and others through the experiences and trainings that I have had. I have spent hundreds of hours dedicating my life to it and it has truly been a rewarding 5 years. I truly hope that I will be able to serve the organization for another year as a national officer, however I do know that whatever the Lord has in store for me is the right thing. I am working as hard as I can and will do so all the way until the week of interviews and that is all I can do. If I do my best and still don't make it, then I will know that it isn't where I am supposed to be at that time. If nothing else, I have grown so much as a person solely from the preparation.

5. Living in a BEAUTIFUL place.
I live in such an amazing valley. Utah State, beautiful canyons, rivers to float down and fish on, mountains to ride horses in, all the necessities...it really is a great place to live. Not to mention that there are so many great people everywhere you go.

These are only 5 things that make me so ridiculously happy. But I hope that you try to find the things that make you happy each day. Remember back to President Eyerings talk in General Conference when he challenged us to find the hand of God in each day and to write it down. You'd be surprised how many things you're grateful for when you have to really think about it. Try it, I dare you!

Publish Post

Help!

2009-07-11T12:45:00.000-07:00

So I know how to do posts and how to leave comments, but I have no idea how to add followers or become a follower or any of that stuff for other people's blogs...and I would love to know how! If anyone could help me out in this department, it would be greatly appreciated :) Thanks!

Megs

Lanae's Farewell Party

2009-07-11T11:43:00.000-07:00

One of my best friends, Lanae, is leaving for her mission to Scotland in just over a week. A couple Sundays ago we had a goodbye party for her before she moved back home to Idaho. Lanae is going to be an awesome missionary and we're all so excited for her, even though it will be sad not to have her around!
Amy and I thought we'd be clever and make our own ice cream cake. It was so easy and everyone loved it!
The all-time best part of the night was probably the prank that the kids across the street played on us. They were just kidding but it sure gave us a good laugh!

Good luck to Lanae! We know the people of Scotland will love that little dairy farmer from Idaho!

Manti Weekend

2009-07-11T11:13:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago some friends and I headed down to Manti to watch the Pageant and just play for the weekend. Our friend Amy is from the area so we stayed at her house. It was quite the campout we had! Her brother goes to BYU and brought along some friends as well, so all together there were 20 people staying at her house! The Washburn family was so generous to let so many college kids take over their home! Not only were they happy to cook us meals, they kept us entertained by letting us use their horses and four wheelers all day Saturday!

The Pageant is quite the little experience, to say the least. Hehe. Considering the script was written in the 60's I guess I'll give them some slack. :) Words like "eutopia" and "interum" were commonplace and although the play was even humorous in parts, it was still a fun time with the friends. We were able to get excellent parking thanks to my gimp-ness on crutches! They let us right in to the handi capped parking which was only 100 yards or so away from the chairs!

I was looking down at this newspaper they handed out and saw this little girl in the picture. When I looked up and over, I saw the very same girl standing up on a chair in the very same hoodie! So we got a couple of the boys to go get her autograph. It made her night!

We went back to Wales to spend the night and woke up the next morning ready for some fun! We spent almost all day Saturday playing outside, which is just fine by me!

We rode the 4-wheelers for a good couple of hours and just kept going and going up this mountain. It's just an area that people summer their cattle so there are trails everywhere but no one to bother you. We finally stopped and took a picture at the top overlooking three different vallies. It was such a pretty ride.

Amy's family has a small herd of hereford cattle (which the Peterson family is a little partial to I'd say) so they keep a few horses around. I was lucky enough to be put on the crazy one since I was the only one who had done much riding. It was a fun challenge! By the time we were out of the corrall the horse and I were buds and he was great for me the rest of the time...well most of the time :)
We had an awesome time riding horses and 4-wheeling and none of us wanted to leave, but all good weekends must come to an end!

A Little Catching Up To Do!

2009-07-09T23:26:00.000-07:00

The past little while has been pretty busy for me, so I haven't spent time updating my blog at all! Since my last post was about running for National Office, I guess I better share the news! I was able to receive the candidacy as Utah's Candidate, which means I will be representing the state at the National Convention in Indianapolis in October. It's a pretty rigorous process but I'll keep you updated! I'm going to post about the 4th of July but stay in tuned for more posts on my other fun weekend adventures so far this summer!

I love the month of July. I love the fireworks, picnics and warm weather! This past 4th of July weekend was especially fun, and I don't think I could have topped Friday. It started out by going fishing with a good friend first thing in the morning. Afterwords we had a fun family picnic at Mack Park.

It's such a fun park and days like that make me so grateful to live where I do. We spent quite a few hours just sitting around and chatting, playing a little baseball, and watching Landon and Clay wrestle :) I think it surprised Clay that Landon could almost take him! It used to be that Clay could flip him around in 2 seconds flat! I think we can all agree that Landon is turning into quite the strong, and handsome, I might add, young man.

Ella and Dylan are such fun little kids to be around. I never get bored when I'm with them, that's for sure! It's been such a fun summer getting to know their little personalities more and more. Grandma is so fun with them too. She just loves her little grandkids!!

After a fun time with the family at the park, I headed off to a BBQ with a bunch of friends. We had a good time watching the fireworks at Romney Stadium.

After the fireworks 3 of my friends and I headed up High Creek Canyon for a campout. My friend and I set up camp the night before so we had a nice place reserved and ready to go! I'm pretty sure it's the nicest little campspot in the whole valley! We were very proud :)

Our friend Kyle had a very clever little way to cook breakfast. Toaster's Strudel in a Coleman Toaster. Who'd of thought?

We woke up the next morning and went on a drive to the trailhead of the High Creek Lake hike, which is SO beautiful. Angela used to take me up there when I was in Jr. High and let me tell you, it is gorgeous!

Smelling like campfire, looking like hobos, and wearing really cute clothes, we headed over to the little fair at Lewiston. They've always had a fun 4th celebration. That night we went out again for the fireworks and then the weekend was over! All in all it was one of the funnest 4th holidays I've had yet!

Having a Destination AND the Drive to get there

2009-05-22T16:28:00.000-07:00

In preparation of running for National Office, I've been doing a little bit of soul searching to really find out what makes me happy, why I want to serve the FFA for another year, and what skills I can develop to help me do so. At one of our conferences this past year our trainer, Andrew McCrea, was a past national officer who is now a well known public speaker and radio show host for "American Countryside". He gave each of us a book that he wrote, entitled, "Making Molehills out of Mountains". I've had it since December but came upon it a week ago and began reading it. I had been missing out! This book has a lot of really neat insights on how to learn leadership strategies that reduce your work without reducing your goal, how to inspire individuals to personal and team success, and getting more out of life by making "quality investments" in family, faith, work, and friends.

I came across a section that really struck me for some reason, so I thought I'd share it. He started out with a story about accidentally taking the wrong road and heading miles and miles in the wrong direction in his upgraded rental Mustang. When he realized he was going the wrong way, he knew he had to turn around. It didn't matter how pretty the day was or how fast he could go in the convertible, the only thing he would accomplish would be heading farther in the wrong direction if he didn't stop and get his bearings.

He says, "Yet, in real life, we sometimes don't give as much thought to our destination. We might fail to turn around.

The destination and the drive must go together. If you have a destination without the drive, you will have goals to achieve, but you will never see those dreams fulfilled. If life were about just the drive, you would develop skills that would make you an effective and efficient leader, but you would never be headed toward achieving any specific goal.

Think about it: If life were about just the drive, you would have been given the tools to move as fast as possible in the exact opposite direction you needed to go!"

I think this is so true. So many times we have goals that we want to achieve, and have so much drive inside of us to do it, but if we don't sit down and think about how we are going to achieve them, we could very well be headed in the wrong direction.

Moral of the story: Set high goals AND give them direction!

Here we go!

2009-05-21T19:19:00.000-07:00

Well here goes keeping my blog updated! I haven't been lately, mostly because I just put things on the family blog, however, I want to get better at blogging, so I'm going to keep this better updated. The next several posts are probably going to be boring for anyone who reads them because they are mostly for my benefit. I'm posting memories of each chapter visit I did as a state officer so I can have a better recollection of them. Feel free to read the posts and comment if you'd like.

Tabiona and Manila=Crazy Road Trip!!! Part 2

2009-05-20T14:19:00.000-07:00

Part 2-Manila and Who Knows Where Wyoming!

Manila is a really fun town and chapter. It's a super small community-only just over 300 residents, but has a ton to offer. You may have heard of Flaming Gorge Reservoir before, well that's where Manila is. I had been there once before for our State Officer team retreat. It's Blake's hometown and since he has a boat and a place to stay, we went there. It was a lot of fun! However, this trip to Manila panned out a little differently than my first one did. All was well when I got to Blake's parents log cabin. Only his mom was home so we settled in and watched a movie. I was pretty tired from the long day so I headed to bed. When I woke up in the morning, Sue, Blake's mom was already gone to work as the Manila School secretary. I gathered all my things up and headed for the school. I got out to my car after locking the house up and realized that my keys were nowhere to be found. I had left hem on my bed. Thankfully, I had my cell phone with me and I Cha-Cha'd the school's phone number so I could call her. There was a spare key in the garage and I was only 15 minutes late to the visit. Luckily, Manila is pretty laid back and Sue went in and told Mr. Schell, the ag teacher, what had happened. When I walked in the room I was pummeled with a million jokes about where my keys were etc. Those kids are hillarious! I already knew many of them from COLT in the summertime so it was fun. BUT...the classes seemed even more empty than they would normally with a graduating class of 12. Why? The Deer Hunt. Everyone goes out for the deer hunt. It was still fun though and it was good to see some old friends.
This is where the story gets interesting. To get back home to Logan, you have two options. A) You can go on I-80 West to Evanston, and from there get on I-84 to Ogden and head home from there. and B) You can go to Kemmerrer and head to Bear Lake from there. The Kemmerrer way is about 50 miles shorter and I had been on the road with my dad once or twice before. I asked Mr. Schell which way he thought I should go and he told me to definitely go the Evanston way, seeing as how it was the deer hunt and a weekend, so more people would be heading to the Bear Lake area. So, I went on my way heading out of Manila. Rain started to come down a little bit, but it wasn't bad..yet. I got on I-80 and headed toward Evanston. I've always been taught that if I feel something strongly, and it tells me something, it's the Spirit. So when I saw a sign for the Kemmerrer exit, and felt very prompted to go that way, I decided I had better. When the exit came, I knew that I had to go that way. I hadn't felt this strongly about something in a long time. So I exited and headed that way. I got to Kemmerrer and decided I should fill up my car before I started the hour and a half trip to Logan.

I asked the gas station attendant specifically, "What's the best way to get to Bear Lake?" He asked a fellow co-worker just to be safe and confidently said, "Take a left here, and follow the road until you see a sign that says 'Big Piney'. Go to Big Piney and follow the highway until you see signs that say Bear Lake." It sounded simple enough so I followed his directions and sure enough saw the sign that directed me toward Big Piney. I got to Big Piney and hadn't seen any signs yet, but since he was son confident about it, I kept going. Now, what I should have done was stop in Big Piney and make sure I was in the right place, but I just wanted to get home and me, being a trusting person, knew I would see a sign that directed me to Bear Lake somewhere up there. Mile after mile I drove. And drove. And drove. Cell phone dying. Gas tank still quite full luckily. What should have been ugly Wyoming scenery had turned into some really pretty scenery. This is when I knew I was on the wrong road. Below are pictures of my road. The one with the North 189 sign is what Wyoming should look like where I wanted to be. The other ones are what I began to see on my little excursion. The one with the river is Big Piney, the other, with the big mountains, is Daniel, 20 miles before I turned around.
I was able to get a little service at the top of a mountain and called Dad and asked him to look at a map and tell me where in the heck I was. As soon as he saw Daniel on the map he said, "Oh my word you need to turn around" Well, I was only 150 miles in the wrong direction. I was paralell with Idaho Falls and only about 50 miles from Jackson Hole. The man at the gas station had failed to mention that at the Big Piney sign I needed to go the OTHER WAY. Needless to say, I was a little upset. Rain was pouring for part of the way and at the moment, I hated Wyoming. 2 and a half hours later, I was back in Kemmerer and I had never been so happy to see the ugly sagebrush and weeds. I so wanted to go into that Maverick and chew the guy out-but you all know me, and I would never have the guts to do it. So instead I went to a grocery store and asked the old service desk lady. She gave me very clear directions and I was in Garden City in less than an hour. What should have been a 3 hour drive home from Manila turned into an almost 7. Isn't it funny how one person can tell you something and it ends up making you on the road for 4 hours more than you should have?

I was pretty upset about it but I did get to see a lot of Wyoming that I wouldn't have seen otherwise. The next day was General Conference. One of the apostles gave a talk and part of it was about having a good attitude. He told a story about his family getting lost on family vacations regularly and one time they had even driven almost 3 hours in the wrong direction. Sound familiar? He said that all they could do was laugh about it. Wow, apparently I needed to hear that! To this day I don't know why I felt so prompted to go the Kemmerer way, nor do I think I ever will. But, all I know is that I'm glad I listened to the Holy Ghost, even if I made a mistake and went a few hundred miles out of my way. Maybe it was just a test for me. Looking back on it, it really was a beautiful drive once I got out of the yuckiness of southwestern Wyoming :) At least I could come home and tell a good story.

Tabiona and Manila=Crazy Road Trip!!! Part 1

2009-05-20T13:51:00.000-07:00

Part 1-Wolf Creek Pass and Tabiona School

Two of my chapters were pretty far out of the way and both in the Uinta Basin area, so I decided to make a road trip out of it and hit both in one trip. I headed down to Chase's parents house in Coalville so I'd be a little further ahead when I got up in the morning. From Coalville, I headed out past Kamas and over a mountain pass called Wolf Creek Pass.

It was absolutely beautiful! It's only open from about April-October, so I was lucky enough to get to go over it. The fall colors were amazing and I couldn't help but have a smile on my face the entire time. The smell of pine trees and fresh mountain air got me so excited to start my day. My destination: Tabiona. Population: 149. As I neared the end of the pass, I entered into a valley that is home to Hanna and Tabiona, Utah.
You can't really see the town but it's litteral just at the end of the rainbow in this picture :) Around the corner. It was a very quaint little ranching valley surrounded by mountains. A little peice of heaven on earth. Tabiona School reminds me a lot of Stilring School, but is half the size. It's K-12 and has about 8-10 kids in each class. Mr. Jenkins is the ag teacher out there and he and his students were very welcoming. They aren't a very active chapter but great kids nonetheless. Their officer team took me out to lunch at the famous Hanna Cafe where we ate the greasy regular cafe food. They even took me off-roading a little bit! On his prep hour, Mr. Jenkins took me up to an elk ranch with the CTE director who was visiting. Mr. Jenkins is doing a lot of work at the lodge and so he wanted to show it to us. BEAUTIFUL. It's a 4,000 acre elk ranch up on the mountain and the lodge looks straight from what you'd see at a fancy ski resort in Vail, Colorado. When my visit in Tabiona was done, I sadly headed on the road towards Roosevelt and Vernal. (I met up with a friend from EFY in Vernal and chatted a while before I headed to Manila)

Beautiful Morgan

2009-05-20T13:47:00.000-07:00

The Morgan FFA Chapter is amazing. The end. Their advisor, Ms. Megan Haslam was a lot of fun to work with as well. Each class was so willing to have fun and participate and I switched my workshop up a bit to make it more personal. I felt very, very happy about this visit. We had pizza with whatever members wanted to at lunch and I was able to chat with some of them one on one. Chase, Blake and I spent the night before at Chase's parents house in Coalville. Chase had a visit in Heber, Blake at North Summit in Coalville, and I was at Morgan so we carpooled down. (Well, Blake met Chase and I there) I drove Chase's grandma's little green car to Morgan and I had to be a little careful because the spedometer didn't work. :) Great visit!

Lehi

2009-05-20T13:45:00.000-07:00

Lehi seemed like a pretty quick visit. Blake and I were supposed to split this chapter because there are so many classes, so I only went to half. I think I only taught 3 class periods, then went over to Orem High School and helped Brittney finish up her day there. The Lehi group was a lot of fun though, and they were very participative and willing to have fun. The night before, Brittney, Chase and I stayed the night and Mr. Deimler's home which was fairly close to all of our chapters. All in all, Lehi was great!

Fremont

2009-05-20T13:38:00.000-07:00

Fremont High School= HUGE. They have 5 ag teachers and lots and lots of long hallways...Chase and I would have been very lost had we not had our trusty guide, chapter president Aubrey to take us where we needed to go. Mrs. Egelund, or "Joe" as she prefers was so much fun to be with that day. Mr. Demorest, Mrs. Selman and Mr. Ellertson were the other teachers we taught with. This visit was a little rough to be honest. Not because of the kids-they were great. But this visit was 2 days after we got home exhausted from National Convention. Not to mention I was sick with an aweful caugh and who knows what else. All I know is that I didn't feel good at all and during the workshops I would have to step out every now and then to get water. Not fun at all. Chase and I did a total of 23 workshops that day. It was a little tiring to say the least. But, it turned out ok and no one died of tiredness :)

Delta!

2009-05-20T13:34:00.000-07:00

Delta was a chapter that I had a lot of fun with! It was kind of thrown on me in the middle of the year because Amberlie was never able to coordinate schedules with them, so we switched a couple chapters around. I had never been to the Delta area before so this was an adventure! I left the Cabella's Co-op quiz in Lehi and headed down to Delta to stay at Brittney's aunt and uncles home. The dark and unfamiliar roads made me a little nervous, and the no cell phone service factor didn't help much, but I got there safely. Brittney's aunt and uncle were such nice people! They opened up there home to me as if it were my own. I was able to participate in family scripture study and prayer with them in the morning and that seemed to set the day off right. Mr. Warnick and his chapter had tons of energy and were an awesome chapter to visit!

Box Elder Visit

2009-05-20T13:27:00.000-07:00

Oh the Box Elder kids! Most definitely some of my favorite! I was able to really get close to a lot of the members from this chapter and I will love these kids forever. The visit went as well as it could being one of my first. I'm sure I wasn't as confident and exciting as I was in later visits, but this was only my second visit to a chapter ever so I felt pretty good about it. Mr. Bingham and Mr. Burrell are two of the most down-to-earth, decent men I have ever met and it shows through the way their students talk about them and act around them. I spent most of the day at the high school and then for the last period of the day went with Mr. Burrell to the Junior High to teach his freshman. They were so much fun!!
Over the course of this year I have been able to become friends with some of the members, not just to be nice, but truly friends. John, Becky, Chet, Aneese, Joe, and many more. Chet was an amazing kid and ran for state office, but didn't make it to many people's dissapointment. Aneese is an incoming sophomore who really has her head on her shoulders and is going to make an incredible chapter officer next year! Hanging out with the Box Elder chapter was definitely one of the biggest highlights of my year!

Bear River Visit

2009-05-20T13:22:00.000-07:00

Bear River High School and Junior High Schools were a lot of fun! Chase and I teamed up for this visit and visited mostly freshman classes. It was fun for me because the teacher who takes care of all the 9th graders at BR was my old ag teacher at Sky View, Mr. Rhodes. He was really the one who got me involved in the FFA and I really attribute much of my success to him. It was fun to see how excited the freshman aged kids are about new and exciting things such as the FFA. We went to the high school to finish up the day and the kids were a little less enthusiastic about what we had to say. Many of them were already FFA members so they seemed bored with anything we told them. But, we tried to do some fun activities and I think it was an overall success. Since the visit, we've been to a lot of fun activities with the Bear River chapter. Parades, donkey basketball, chapter contests and late nights at Denny's with leg wrestling on the floor to name a few. Go Bears!

ULC Numero 2!

2008-12-17T18:25:00.000-08:00

So I posted last week about our leadership conference in Richfield and now that we're done with our second conference which was held in Salt Lake I'll give you the low down on it! Overall I felt really good about the conference. There were a few glitches, such as our main presentor's wife going into labor the night before so. He had to call in a replacement less than 24 hours before the conference started. We made it through though! It was a bit of a different feel at this one, mainly because of the numbers. There were over 300 people at this one, whereas last weeks was just under 150. The kids were awesome at the Salt Lake ULC so we had a lot of fun. There were a few kids there that I really look up to. They've got their head on straight and I definitely learn a lot from them.
We couldn't have pulled the conference off had it not been for our amazing group leaders. We had 12 come help out and they all did such a great job. We all had to pack up and head out fast as soon as we were cleaned up though because the weather turned a little ugly on us! A lot of the group leaders were heading home for the Christmas holiday going over mountain passes and into the middle of nowhere such as Emery, Altamont and Manila. So we wanted them to get on their way safely.
We came home to quite a bit of snow! Finally, winter decided to show up. December 13th isn't late is it? I'm just glad that we'll have a white Christmas.
I'll eventually get some pictures of ULC up and posted so everyone can see how neat it was!
Happy Holidays!

Utah Leadership Conference #1!

2008-12-06T19:36:00.000-08:00

This weekend my state officer team, along with some great presenters and the help of some awesome group leaders put on a leadership conference for 150 FFA members from across the state. We held it in Richfield at the Snow College campus down there. It was a lot of fun! So much preparation went into the conference and I'm really happy with the way it turned out. We had great main presenter from Missouri. Andrew McCrea is a motivational speaker and a past National FFA officer. He was awesome! He really knew how to connect with the members and did some great activities.
Our state's theme this year is "Ignite the Flame, Blaze the Trail" and we followed that as our conference theme. The meaning we want kids to take from it is to find their passion (igniting a flame) and then going somewhere with what they love (blazing their trail) We focused on 5 different flames at the conference. The flame of vision, guidance, brotherhood, leadership, and self-awareness.
Our workshop presenters were so good as well. We had a man from the state office of education come and talk about leadership and he was awesome. My roommate, who was the 07-08 president and our 07 and 08 national officer candidate gave a workshop on taking risks, being bold, and adaptability. Our college of ag senator at Utah State and the 03-04 state vice president gave their's on premier leadership, personal growth, and career success. Another amazing workshop. I really feel like the members got some good things from this conference...I know I did!
There was one very sad thing that happened though... Our awesome president, Blake, has been really sick for the past while (blood in his kidneys that wasn't supposed to be there and a really severe case of strep) and the day before we left the doctors called and told him he needed to go down to the U of U hospital to get some tests done. Apparently he's super contagious and Mr. Evans, our state adviser told him that he was going to have to stay home. It just wasn't the same without him there but we survived. Hopefully he'll be better next weekend when we put on our 2nd leadership conference that's over twice the size, being held in Salt Lake. I'm so excited for next week and hopefully we can even improve on this weekends conference.
P.S...our hotel was...awesome!!! The live-in hotel 'guests' that were our neighbors were rude though, they didn't even invite us to their parking lot barbeque/fiesta!!!
I'll post some pictures soon!

Blogger-Itis

2008-12-03T10:12:00.000-08:00

So this is my first blog that is for my own personal enjoyment, not for a class or something, so I'm pretty proud of myself. Two of my sisters keep a blog up fairly regularly and during Thanksgiving a few of my cousins gave me blogger-itis. It's true, I've been hit. I've really started to enjoy reading blogs and have decided to get in the loop. It's a great way to see what everyone's up to and to share a little of what's going on in life. I've also thought that it's a neat way to keep a journal, something that I definitely need to work on.

For those of you who don't know, I'm up at Utah State University majoring in Agricultural Education. I was really active in the National FFA Organization in high school and have since become even more involved. This organization has done a lot for me as far as personal growth and learning a lot of really great leadership skills, and most of all, the people I've met throughout the country because of it has been amazing. I want nothing more than to be able to teach students and members of the FFA at the high school level and help them realize their potential and show them what's available in the FFA. You might wonder what got me involved in an agricultural leadership organization and I guess I'd have to say it's because I love my roots.

My dad and grandpa planted a love for agriculture in me through their example of a love of the land. Although my family hasn't been involved in production agriculture for some years now, I still have that love of wide open spaces and yes, even the smell of cows every now and then. (It reminds me that where I live is beautiful and decently far enough away from Salt Lake) I love going back to the farm that my dad grew up on and later farmed with my mom in Alberta. It's truly beautiful in it's own way on the prarie, and I'll definitely always have a love for that area.