Sisters and School

I guess my sister Lizzie takes after me. She burned peanut butter and chocolate chips in the microwave last night. (She microwaved them for three minutes or so.) The kitchen smelled ALMOST as bad as the time that I burned my quesadilla. I guess it's prone to happen to everyone every once in a while.



So...school. Almost anyone who reads this blog (which isn't a high amount, I'm sure) would think that I'm incredibly indecisive. "First she decides to go to BYU-Hawaii, then she decides to stay at BYU-Idaho, and then she transfers to Hawaii afterall," they'd say. Now, I have my moments of indecisiveness and being noncommittal, but this time is not one of them. All I have to say is that the Lord's timing and plans are incredibly different than ours.



I am going to BYU-Hawaii because it's where the Lord wants me to be. I promise. :)

Here's the story that's been waiting:

Last April, our family visited Hawaii, and we happened to stay on the island of Oahu, which is where BYU-Hawaii is. We were about an hour away from the campus, but we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC), which is right next to the campus, and I did set foot on campus once or twice. We also went to the temple visitor's center quite a few times, which is also next to the campus.

I loved it there so much that I wanted to transfer. We talked to some people at church there who work at BYU-Hawaii, and they said BYU-Hawaii needs more Elementary Education majors, and some of the people worked in the admissions office-or had connections. ;) They said to let them know if I applied, and when I was done. So I started on my application while we were still there. But I stopped. I can't really say why, but I know that there was something that just wasn't quite right. (I was REALLY leaning on the Spirit, or at least trying to.) However, I never withdrew my application.

I ended up deferring fall semester at BYU-Idaho because I didn't have quite enough money to go, which you'll see turned out to be a good thing. I just worked during that time.

One night during winter semester, my roommate Tiffany and I were in the library. I had actually finished my homework, so I was waiting for Tiff. (Usually I had more homework than she did, so it was rather impressive that I finished!) Since I was waiting, I was on the computer. Somehow I found myself on the BYUH website. I was just reading stuff on there for fun, and I went to the admissions page. I started reading some information, and suddenly I was hit with the Spirit, which told me that it was okay now and that I could/should apply. I couldn't believe it! I didn't say anything to anyone, but I felt happy, and actually, a tiny bit scared.

That night, I went home and prayed to make sure that I was supposed to apply to BYU-Hawaii. I also prayed the next morning. Both times I wasn't really hit hard either way like I was at the library. All day long that was on my mind, and I just wanted to make sure that it was really the Spirit which told me to apply, and not myself, and asked Him for help to know. I had some time after a class, so I went to the Taylor Chapel to pray, read my scriptures, and meditate. I really had to make sure this was the right thing. Before I read or meditated, I just said a silent simple prayer, telling Heavenly Father how I felt the day before, and how I just wanted to make sure that was His will for me, and not just my high hopes or something getting in the way. I then meditated and read my scriptures, which helped. In fact, I came across a scripture in 2 Nephi 32:9. It's one of my favorite scriptures now. It really came alive to me just then.

"9 But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul."

Right then, I knew that I did indeed feel the Spirit at the library and that I needed to move forward with my application. So I did. And since I had started it 10 months before (AND HADN'T WITHDRAWN IT), I just picked up where I left off. All I needed to do was have an interview with my bishop and a member of the stake presidency.

Even though that was all I needed to do, I fixed my application essays, too. I went to library from the chapel, and worked on them for about two hours. When I got home everyone asked me where I had been, and I just told them the library. That appeased them enough (thank goodness)! I enjoyed keeping the secret to myself for a few days. It's kind of fun to have your own secrets, I found out.

I made an appointment with the bishop, and then with the member of the stake presidency. After the stake presidency interview, some of my roommates were suspcious, but I told them I couldn't talk about it yet. At this point, one of my roommates knew (out of 15...). Also, one friend Lindsay, who goes there, knew. I had to ask her some questions. Eventually I told my dad so that I could ask him if we should tell the people who we met at church that work there. He never really gave me an answer, but I decided not to tell them. I knew if it was to be, that the Lord would take care of it. But I made my dad PROMISE he wouldn't tell anyone, not even my mom.

I don't think I even had to wait a week for my admission status, although I will tell you that it felt a whole lot longer than that! There were nights of fitful and halfsleeping. I didn't even know you can worry in your sleep, but you can! Worry isn't really the best word for my condition during that time, though. Although I really did want to get in, I wasn't worried about it, because I was just leaving it up to the Lord. I would be happy to finish out my schooling at BYU-Idaho.

Now, I wasn't worried about getting accepted, but I had started to think about some other things, and became concerned. Finally, the Spirit said, "Don't worry about that right now! You don't have to worry about that until you get accepted. You'll find a way to make it work." So I stopped, and never worried again (about that).

Well, I finally got an email saying an admissions decision had been reached. My heart started racing. I spent a lot of time covering up my tracks so my roommates and other people wouldn't find out. That was okay, though, because the decision was made. I went followed the link, logged in, and read the word "Congratulations!" That was enough for me. I then thought, "Should I scream, or should I not scream? Should I or shouldn't I?" I finally decided to scream...and it came out a lot louder than I thought it would. My roommates yelled, "Are you okay?!" and came rushing in. I told them yes, and to wait just a second. I had a phone call to make.

I called Lindsay, and told her I was accepted. I promised her that she'd be the first I'd tell, and she was. I told her that I would call her back in a few minutes, because my roommates were slightly confused. So I gave the news to everyone, and all of them got really excited. Then I told my brother and my parents, and I called my other brother who didn't answer. We'll just say I was excited....

Actually, I was bouncing off the walls for the rest of the night. The next morning our ward was going to do baptisms for the dead, and I said I'd go. Needless to say, I got very little sleep that night. I think I amused quite a few people with my behavior, though.

The rest is pretty much history. That's the story of why I applied, and why I'm going there. As you can tell, I didn't make it the short version. It's the whole thing.

Tribute to Tiffany

Well, today I figured out how to activate my student BYUH account! (Holy cow...I don't know why it took me so long. It wasn't even that hard.) So, that's in use now...I had 56 lovely emails/student updates awaitin' for me! They do run things differently there; there's a shuttle that you can pay $5 for to go to to the Pearl City Mall, Aloha Stadium Swap Meet (which is really quite awesome), and Wal-Mart. Hahaha. I love the Wal-Mart part.
My good friend and roommate, Tiffany, got set apart as a missionary today. Off she goes to the MTC tomorrow! She's going to be an Hermana (speaking Spanish) in the Fort Worth, Texas mission. I am so doggone excited for her, it's incredible! She's going to be a great missionary- she already is. I know that she is going to bless the lives of so many people in Texas. The only bummer part? We can only correspond through letters for the next 18 months. I'm a decent letter-writer, but sometimes I get too caught up in my own life to be as good as I should be.
Well, that's all I have to say.
And if anyone happens upon this blog, you can visit www.mormon.org to see all about what Tiff's doing and her purpose.

Home Again Home Again

I'm back from BYUI now (and not going back...weird) and working as a sub teacher's aide (EA). Staples is also going to take me back. I have some mixed feelings about that. The pollen in the air is really high...so I got some in my lungs from breathing it in. When you have pollen in your lungs, you cough a lot. Last night I coughed so much and so hard that I woke myself up at least 3 times. It hurt.
Today I pretended to be a mom. Moms run a lot of errands, and I did just that. I took some books to Aimee that she left home, the key and money to the tow truck man (our car randomly broke down in front of our friends' house), and Lizzie's lunch box to her at school because she left it at home (she was in a rush). All of this was walking (or running), so I got lots of exercise. I also thought, "No wonder moms get hungry at lunchtime." I acknowledge that I have a weird stomach, and therefore, am not always hungry at lunchtime.
I also helped Lizzie make pretzels, which she wanted for an afterschool snack. They weren't so great. They tasted like yeast and eggs. Oh, and I helped make dinner.
So, I was pretty much a mom today. To prove my point even further, I'm babysitting Sarah and Lizzie right now, while my mom, Aimee, and Stacy are at Young Women, and my dad is at scouts (11 year old boys).

Luck and phones

My brother, John, just gave me his old phone about a month and a half ago. The phone is over 2 years old. It slowly started acting weird when I charged it, and became harder and harder to charge. Now it's like the thing inside that holds the charger is a loose tooth, and I have to hold the charger in, with lots of pressure, in order for my phone to charge. It's really quite lame...and it's just going to get worse. So...I have to look on ebay for another phone. Woot woot.

Microwaves

I know that I'm terrible about updating this thing. I forget about it when I have homework (or something else) to do.
So today...I decided to make a quesadilla in the microwave. The microwave setting was already on for 7 minutes because no one cleared it when she took her food out. So although that usually bothers me and I clear it and then redo the setting, I decided to let it go that time because I'd remember. So I stuck my tortilla with cheese in there and let it go. Then I took my computer to my room. I started to watch some youtube movies. Partway through one, I leaped from my bed and ran to the microwave, because like I told myself, I'd remember about the quesadilla. Well. I RAN to the microwave. Before I quickly opened it up, I saw the timer for less than 20 seconds. I cooked that sucker for over 6 minutes. I opened up the microwave, and had to take out the plate with an oven mitt. The tortilla was burned. The cheese, well, I think I made a new type. I took it outside and threw the tortilla in the dumpster. I then cleaned off the plate, which was easier than I thought it'd be. Nonetheless, our house smelled like smoke (although no smoke alarm went off). In fact, it still stinks.
On another note, a few weeks ago I applied to BYU-Hawaii. I didn't tell anyone. Except for my friend Lindsay, ONE of my roommates, Kelly, and my dad. That is it. And they didn't tell anyone. The admissions office received my last form on a Friday, and I found out Tuesday night that I was accepted.
I wasn't surprised, because God told me to apply, so I figured I'd get in. (That's another story I'm going to have to tell later.) I was surprised because it's BYU-Hawaii, meaning it's mainly there for people from Central Asia and the Pacific Islands. I'm a white girl from the mainland. Only 35% of people there are from the mainland. But I got in, and now I'm going. And I'm super duper excited, except for the part that my brother who is not graduating in a semester (John) is staying here and I'm leaving him and that'll be sad. And now this semester is a little bitter-sweet because it's my last one here, and I found out halfway through the semester.
It's exciting though. I'll take the beach over snow just about any day (just as long as there's nota tsunami or hurricane, or something of the like.) All in all, things are good and not how I would have ever expected them to turn out. Heavenly Father definitely has different plans for me than I do, and I'm okay with that, because they always turn out to be better for me.

School

I love being at school! I love where I live, and I love my roommates! It's always fun, even if I do have 18 credits. I live in a two-story, yellow house, to the side of the stadium. The floors are split up into apartments; therefore, upstairs (where I live) has 10 girls, and downstairs has 6. But it's kind of like I just have 15 roommates... I thought it wouldn't be very cool, but I love it. And the house is pretty big. People are always gone, but there is almost always someone home, as well. We have 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms upstairs. 3 of the bedrooms are 2 girl bedrooms, and then the one where I reside is a "shared room-" we have 4 girls in it...but we get our own bathroom. :) It's pretty rockin.' I don't mind sharing with 3 girls. I share a room with Tiffany, Alayna, and Kelly. (By the way, our room is really big, and I rather like it!) My other roommates are Tina, Breanna, Tara, Katie, Megan, and Kristen. They're all really awesome and fun. The girls downstairs are Annalise, Lindsey, Courtney, Ashley, Diana, and Emily. (Yes, there are two Emilys in this house...4 in our ward...we also have 4 Megans in our ward.)
Our house is also very reminiscent of the '70's. We have a wooden accordion door closet in our front room. Despite the weird quirks about the house (like the door freezing shut, or the bathroom fan not really circulating air correctly), I still love it. It's a blast, it's fun, and I enjoy it very much!

My Recent Life

Okie dokie....I have a feeling this may possibly be a long-winded entry, so prepare yourself...
I deferred fall semester because I needed more money to pay for school. I worked ALL the time and pretty much didn't have a life. I'm with the Issaquah School District as a sub Ed Assistant, so it's pretty good practice and experience for me since I'm an Elementary Ed major. It also pays very well. My nerdy job? Working at Staples. Now one would normally say that working at Staples isn't that nerdy because it's just a retail job. However, I'M WORKING WITH OFFICE SUPPLIES, HERE. As a matter of fact, on the schedule, I was under both Cashier/Customer Service AND Office Supplies... When I punched in at work, the title said "Office Supplies Expert." And it is sadly true. I know more about office supplies than the average person...a lot more. I'm not sad that I know stuff, but I have to admit, and will be the first person to do so, that first of all, office supplies are not that interesting, and secondly, it's a nerdy thing to know a lot about those particular things... Anyway...work=money, two jobs= no life, and Emily=enough money to pay for school.
While I was home, I had the awesome chance and opportunity to do a lot of missionary work with my coworkers, especially Sarah. She committed to baptism and then dropped the missionaries because she did not feel ready. That's okay, because I KNOW she felt the Spirit, and I know that she will get baptised one day. (Hahaha. I just spelled "baptised" the Canadian/English way. I'm not changing it. Just because I do stuff like that every once in a while and actually like it a little.) I also had other missionary experiences with my coworkers, and found out that one was baptized when she was 13...which was 7-8 years ago. She's less active, and I think that the gospel would really help her life and guide her, as well as answer a lot of questions. Actually, I know that. I brought her to a FHE activity with me, but unfortunately it was a combined activity in Redmond, so she didn't meet the missionaries because they weren't able to go (Redmond is in the Everett mission, and we are in the Seattle mission). We had a really great talk on the way there, and she feels the influence of the Holy Ghost everytime she hears the story of Joseph Smith. Sharing the gospel is one of my favorite things to do. It makes me so happy. I was so incredibly blessed to be able to have many chances to share the gospel while I was home!
Cassie, my friend, got married on January 2nd in the Denver temple. She married a pretty cool man, Timmy. They're great for each other. I have known Cass since I've been at school, and let's just say that from the beginning, we hit it off really well. Tiffany, my other friend, and I, flew into Denver on Wednesday, December 30, for Cassie's wedding. We all had a BLAST together. We saw "The Princess and the Frog" on New Year's Eve, which was fun. (We also did other random things, and almost got kicked out of Walgreens.) Tim is from Roseville, CA, and his family drove to Denver. On their way there, they slipped on ice and rolled their van. It ended up totalled. His sister, Megan, also ended up breaking her jaw, but that's the worst that happened. They were really blessed, and ended up getting to Denver on Thursday night instead of Wednesday afternoon. (Unfortunately, Megan had to fly straight back to California, in order to get jaw surgery, and also had to get a deferrment so her jaw can heal.)
Cassie's and Timmy's wedding was great. Since it was in the temple, Tiffany and I couldn't go in for the actual wedding and sealing part, but we were in the annex building next to the temple, and we just waited for them. (By the way, there were a lot of people getting married that day.) We also helped with pictures afterward. That was fun, minus the cold feet and frozen toes. Cassie's brother-in-law Kevin stated that he didn't think the bridesmaids were supposed to be the ones to get cold feet. Hahaha. That was funny. On the subject of Cassie's family, I love them- they are great!
Cassie's and Timmy's luncheon was fun and good. Tim's friend Keith talked about Tim a bit, and I gave a bit of a speech on Cassie. I am really not a serious person. I really am not. The reception was also good and a lot of fun. It looked really nice. Cass chose the colors eggplant purple, cranberry red, and chocolate brown for her wedding. Not everything ended up being those colors, but it still looked great anyway. And not tacky or cheesy, considering the fact that it was in a church gym, and some receptions in church gyms can be silly looking.
Tiffany, Keith, and I decorated their car- a blazer. It was actually rather lame. Post-it notes work when you have a lot more and they don't have a Peter Rabbit design on them. We were looking for a window marker, and much to our dismay, could not get ahold of one. To make matters a bit more hilarious, Tim's parents showed us a window marker they had in their car that we could have used- AFTER the reception and Cassie and Tim left...on OUR way home. That was a good night. Some drunk person started texting Tiffany almost illegible texts, but we deciphered them. Those texts brought us great amusement. Even though drinking alcohol is not a good thing, drunk people are really funny.
I am now at school. We started classes on Tuesday. It's only the first week and somehow I already feel behind. LAME. I like most of my classes though. They are really fun. For the most part. I AM taking 18 credits, so it's possible I might have some near-death experiences this semester...from homework. Just kidding. It'll be a bit hard, though. 3 more semesters after this one!!! (By the way, I seriously can't believe that- it's so close and I know I have time, but I don't feel ready yet.) I've seen a lot of people on campus who I know. I love that about coming back to school. I really love BYU-I and the atmosphere of it. Even if the "I" stands for "Iceburg." Plus, now John, Matthew, and I are all here at the same time. That's fun.
I like my new laptop. If I would have had even more money, there's a chance I would have gotten a Mac, but I went the more temporarily inexpensive route and got a Dell...it's white with yellow polka dots, adorable, and pretty much me. That makes me happy.
Remember how I said this was going to be really long? Well, it is.
I want to go to Hawaii.