Thinking.

Lately there has been so much on my mind. School, 2 jobs, raising enough money for Belize, Nic, church calling, etc. Sunday it all just kinda hit me so after Sacrament I took a drive. I ended up driving all the way to Bear Lake. But it was worth it. 

Sometimes you just gotta get away. 

If Life Were Easy, It Wouldn't Be Hard

This weekend while I was at home I found a book by Sheri Dew titled "If Life Were Easy, It Wouldn't Be Hard." I am not even through the first chapter and I have already learned so much. 

1. Without trials we wouldn't go as far as we're capable of going. In other words, without something continuously challenging us and making us want to be better  we would be content with where we are and never excel to our full potential. 

2. The gospel requires work. "...surely we couldn't expect to inherit the gift of eternal life or to receive ongoing bestowals of charity or to be taught the mystery of godliness or to learn to communicate clearly with the heavens without making a diligent, consistent effort--in other words, without it requiring a lot of spiritual work."

3. This life was designed to be a test to determine if we WANT to be a part of the kingdom of God more than we want anything else. I was so blessed to be born into this gospel, just like many of you. We need to stick with it and not take advantage of it. ITS TRUE. 

4. Do we demonstrate our faith by our choices and priorities, by how we live out lives? God didn't send us here to earth to spend hours on FaceBook or even Blogging. A little of it is okay, but just watch yourself; I know I need to. Make every decision as if God was standing there with you--BECAUSE HE IS. Would you chose to sit on your butt all day or watch that inappropriate movie or spread that gossip if God was there? 

5. The gospel requires sacrifice. If you never had to prove your faith and beliefs they would be hard to keep. Be constantly finding ways to share your testimony. 

6. If we seek the Lord "we shall be the richest of all people, for [we] shall have the riches of eternity" (D&C 38:39). Can I just say I love the word "eternity"? 

7. Life is an open-book test. We have so many sources available to us each and everyday. We just have to do the work (because the gospel requires work) to learn the answers. 

8. Don't just work harder at the difficult situation your in. Work harder to involve Heavenly Father in the situation. When things get difficult don't ever ease up. Don't ease up on your efforts to seek after Him, to communicate with Him, to learn of Him. Because that is what will get you through. 

9. We don't really know if we care about being virtuous men and women until our virtue is tested by some glaring temptation right in front of us. 

10. Sometimes things happen that test our faith and make us ask ourselves, Okay Ali, do you believe it, or don't you? 

Study the scriptures, pray daily, and grow near to your Heavenly Father in a way so that when that day comes when you're tested you can tell yourself, YES, I BELIEVE. 

Luckiest Girl.

So Nic told his mom to get this cake for me for my birthday. Who even comes up with the idea to have a cake made with a picture on it?!

Yup. I love this boy. 

I'm OLD.

What in the world? I swear I turned 12 yesterday. Time flies by way too fast. And I realized today that birthdays get less and less exciting as you get older. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. When I was younger I had some great birthday parties with lots of friends, fun activities and most importantly to a young girl, PRESENTS. But I'm not young anymore. I'm 19 to be exact. And not gonna lie it's kinda freaky. But I realized today that it's not what you do or how many presents you get, it's about who you're with. Today, on my 19th birthday I attended FCHD 1500, Gymnastics, and Institute. I then went to the gym and worked out with two of my favorite people in Logan, Allie and Mckinsie. We also went tanning, attempted to donate plasma, and ate at this delicious cafe called Kneaders where Steven joined us. YUM. Unlike every other day where I barely text anyone, today my phone was pretty much blowing up with texts from old friends and I LOVED IT. And although I know you're thinking in your head, "Wow, what a boring birthday." It actually was a blast. London got my whole gymnastics class to serenade me in Happy Birthday as I walked into class. My institute teacher made it a point that my birthday was also the same day as Groundhogs Day or "National Sausage Day" as he calls it. Allie, Kinsie and I had some pretty funny experiences while working out, tanning, and attempting to donate plasma. We almost died multiple times from my awesome driving, accidentally ate cheese (long story), and laughed as Steven sang a solo of "Happy Birthday" for all of Kneaders to hear. And it's only 6 o'clock! My roommies still have plans for ice cream later. I'm pretty pumped for it! Then tomorrow I get to go home and see my family! See? Even though I'm old and didn't do anything too great, I'm still very blessed and very happy with the life I live.
And the most important part of my birthday was getting a wonderful package from this guy.

Yes, he is still his crazy self. hahaha He even sang me a beautiful rendition of Happy Birthday over the tape recorder. And for those of you who know Nic, you probably already knew I was being sarcastic. Him and his companion sang a horrifically bad yet insanely funny version of Happy Birthday for me. It was nothing close to beautiful, but it was exactly what I needed. I'm blessed to have each of you in my life. Thank you for all you do for me! 

HAPPY NATIONAL SAUSAGE DAY EVERYONE! 

I Finally Figured It Out.

Ever since I've been up at college I have slowly but surely been gaining weight. It's tearing me apart. I hate going home and feeling like everyone is looking at me and thinking, "Wow. She really has put some weight on." I want to go home and have everyone say "Wow, Ali! You look great!" So it became my New Years Resolution.
For the past month I kept telling myself "I'm going to work out! I'm going to lose weight! I'm going to blah blah blah blah blah." Let's just say it's a lot easier said than done. But today, I realized something. I realized that every night I feel inadequate. Every night I regret what I did that day. I regret eating that dessert at the MarketPlace. I regret NOT going to the gym. I regret sleeping in through my 8:30 kickboxing class. I just regret the habits that I've made. And even though I continue to tell myself tomorrow, tomorrow, TOMORROW. "Tomorrow" never comes. It's like that sign on the side of the crab shack that used to be my the University Mall. "Free crab TOMORROW." But guess what everyone? It will never say "Free crab TODAY" until you actually do something about it.
As I was driving home tonight from work and feeling inadequate yet again, I realized I should go to the gym right NOW. NOW is when I'm actually motivated to do something. Tomorrow morning when I'm laying in my warm bed I'm not going to be able to get my fat butt out of bed and go to the gym. NOW is the time to do it.
I finally figured out that for me, sleep erases every emotion of the past day. No matter how badly I feel about myself every night, I will wake up and feel completely different. Not good, but not bad enough to do something about it.
So tonight I went to the gym. And guess what?? I LOVED IT. I forget how amazing it feels to actually work out. You know how people always tell you the exercising makes you happy?? Well guess what folks? THEY'RE RIGHT. I found my missing piece. I figured out what I need to do to be happy. And I hope that by reading this, you were able to find a little piece of your puzzle.  Love you all.

PEEING MY PANTS.

Okay, it's not 100% sure yet but...

 I'm quite possibly going to Belize this summer for a humanitarian trip!! 

Ahhhhhhhhh! I could not be more excited! 

Hopefully it actually works out and I'm not getting excited for nothing. 

Cross you fingers. Because I'm definitely crossing mine.

BELIZE!!!

Hey, I'm doin' alright.

It's just been one of those days. But I listened to this song and it made me happy. I am blessed so much more than I give credit. Its a great day to be alive ladies and gents. And don't you forget it.

I Am a Child of God

We had the best lesson in Relief Society today that I have ever had. One of my favorite people, Britnee Bromley taught it and she did a beautiful job.  This was one of the videos we watched during the lesson and it really touched me. I love the diversity of people in the video. The rest of the lesson was about how the Savior is our best friend. He knows everything we feel and is ALWAYS there for us. He is the only one that is always for us. He loves us. I hope you enjoy this video as much as I did. 

42.58

You may be wondering what the number 42.58 means. Welp, unfortunately it is $42.58 and it's the amount of money in my savings account. Awesome, right? After paying for text books, groceries, packages for Nic, and then tithing $42.58 is what it equals out to be. So much for my goal of only spending 40% of each pay check. Looks like I only have 40% left.

So...for the time being I will be living off of top ramen and popcorn. Woop woop! I think the envelope system is in my near future. 

Cleaning the Sink at Angies

First off, I would like to welcome McKinsie Barker to Logan! WOOT WOOT!

 So excited to have her here! 

In Logan, there is one thing that every college student must do to REALLY be able to call themselves an Aggie. And that is... drum roll please...to clean the sink. Angie's (a local restaurant) challenges anyone who eats there with the famous kitchen sink which includes: 1/2 gallon of vanilla ice cream, 4 bananas, massive amounts of thick whipped cream, and topped with cherries and 3 toppings of your choice. Steven and McKinsie had never accomplished this amazing task and received the coveted bumper sticker, so Allie and I thought we should take them for their first experience. Here are some pictures.

This is ONE of the SIX attempts at a serious picture. I thought I should spare you the other ones. haha

Finally! 

Kinsie was really excited! 

Seriously though. SO MUCH ICE CREAM. 

Steven was getting boxed out the whole time. I'm pretty sure Allie was on her knees so she could have some leverage on the ice cream. It was hilarious. 

YUM.

So pumped to have her up here in Logan with us! 

Steven finishing it off with a straw. Obviously I was disturbed.

So those of you planning on visiting Logan anytime soon, go to Angies and clean the sink! Its guaranteed to provide good memories, laughs, and stomach aches. You know you want to.

Guaranteed Laugh.

hahahahahahahahaha This is honestly the funniest thing EVERRR. Guess who it is singing? Yep. You guessed it. Elder Nicholas John Searle himself.