Whoaaaa! Somebody get me a glass! 'Cuz I just found me a tall drink of water.

This here is a poem written by a convert to the church from Ukraine, where Elder Zach Stanford is serving. I thought it was pretty cool so I thought I'd share it!

Who are you boy?  You journeyed to this land of ours.
This land where I have endured my days,
And felt oppression kill my soul,
And forced me into some tight mold,
And teach me that I should not hope,
Unless I care to smell the smoke,
Of dreams that the Red Army tamed.

Who are you boy?  From this land of plenty,
Teaching of God, if there is any.
You have all, we have none.
Do you know what that feels like son?
And yet, you ask me to believe,
In something that I cannot see,
Some force you say will bring me joy,
Do you know what that feels like boy?

Where are you from, faith is free,
But it has a price for me.
When I have pain, I have a bottle,
Hurt dies quick when you down it in vodka.
That's enough to warm my soul.
I work, I sleep, the days go by,
I am waiting for the day I die,
You don't understand this place,
You say you believe, obey, have faith.
Live life well, serve and give,
Here in Russia we just live.

Who are you boy?  Why did you come?
To save a soul who once was numb?
To teach a wretched hateful man,
Who cursed your help, refused you hand.
I thought that we were worlds apart,
So how is it you knew my heart?
A fraction my age, you calmed my rage,
Mercy paid my generous wage,
I should have been left behind,
It is hard to love my kind,
Hope in your heart, power in your hands,
Why did you come to this distant land?

I know now, it was for me.
The red curtain fell, but I was not free,
Until a boy from nations away,
Brought me my Lord, I bless the day.
He led me to weep at my masters feet,
The American boy I met on the street.
New and naive, still in his teens,
With a message to bring the world to its knees,
I thought that the truth would come from another,
I did not know this boy was my brother."

Sweeeeeeden things

Sweden is a week and a half away!! I can't wait to leave the country and experience a new culture. It might be hard, fun, and crazy but I'm so excited!

I took school off for a semester, got two jobs and thats all I've been doing for this trip since my parents told me they would not be paying a singe penny. My solution was to drop out of school for a semester haha.

Probably not the best idea, but I did it anyways.

And no I don't know a single word of Swedish, but my host family told me it will all work out.

I will be nannying two kids ages 7 and 9.

Heather was born in Germany on the army base, and for her birthday her mother is coming over to get us and take us there!

We also have a plan at the end of July to attend this YSA week-long fireside thing and that should be a ton of fun. 27 different countries are coming together for it! http://www.festinord.org/2011/ thats the website if you wish to check it out!

Blog post that broke my heart

Letters Between Lovers
(The Things We Leave Unsaid)
By Ashley Shaw

Danny,

It is sunny here,

But not as warm as expected.

Dusty yellow rays bounce off

The shiny red paint

On my car,

But I still shiver.

I never realized how

Cold it could be

In Florida

-Leslie

Leslie,

I, too, am cold.

But for a different reason.

I miss you.

I wish you would come home.

I can still hear your tentative footsteps

Walking through our bedroom.

It still smells like gardenia,

Even though all of the flowers

Have died.

It is brisk here.

Love,

-Danny

Danny,

Yes, I am aware of your brisk temperatures.

Like the cold tone of your letter.

I made it to the beach today

And let my toes drift lazily

Against the water's edge.

I wore my black bikini.

The one we picked out together

In one of those little stores on the

Jersey boardwalk.

I caught men staring at my

Rounded bottom.

I don't know why I'm telling you this.

I chased the seagulls

Into the foaming surf.

It's so beautiful here.

But I still long for home.

I hope you are keeping occupied.

-Leslie

Leslie,

I am keeping busy.

To distract myself from

Thoughts of your hair

And toes and skin and shoulders

And scent.

I feel your ghost in each

Breath I take, and

I keep thinking I see you

Out of the corner of my eye,

Your lips stretched into a smile.

It was so rare to see you smile

During the past few months.

I wish you were here.

Yes, I'm very busy.

-Danny

Danny,

I'm having my lawyer send up the papers.

Please sign them at your earliest convenience.

Why couldn't you just talk to me?

We could have resolved this.

I'm sorry it worked out this way.

Why didn't you just

Love me?

-Leslie

Leslie,

The papers are signed.

I'm sorry.

I wish I could have fixed this,

But I know

I could never be what you need.

I wish I could tell you

How much I love you,

How much I long for you,

How late I stay awake each night

Just thinking of your eyes,

But some things are

Better left

Unsaid.

-Danny

Life. Is. Amazing.

I am very completely and happily satisfied with life right now.

Brad and I are doing fairly well... I'm not complaining ;)

Sweden is coming along- less than 3 WEEKS! 

Summer is CLOSE

Got into some classes for the fall. Some.

We had a roommate Easter party! It was a success. Sure I got a LOT of strange things... oh well.

I have decided I'm really going to miss Golden Corral! I've grown to love all the customers that come in, and I've loved serving them

My family is healthy and back to normal- finally. My dad was really sick for a week or two with pneumonia and I'm GLAD its over.

With Autumn leaving on her mission, Kelsey almost getting engaged, me and Heather dating, and Haley leaving for Ukraine it has been crazy trying to get together. I'm glad I will see them on Tuesday. In two weeks! 

Roommate easter dinner!

We were exhausted after.

Love the Satchel. 

I got underwear in my basket! Yah..

They liked bitting my silly-putty

Don't ask...

This would be my bum. and my xxxxxxlarge underwear.

My Dear Mother,

I love you very much, and I'm so grateful to have you in my life.
I know I've blogged about you before, but I think its time to do it again.
Everyone has trials in their life, and I'm sorry cancer is the one you had to deal with.
Having cancer wasn't part of your plan, or at least I hope it wasn't.
I hated coming home from school and walking strait up to your room to see if you were ok, and to see you lying almost lifeless on the bed... was hard to watch.
I am very glad that part of our life is over now, and we can move on stronger than we were before.
Do you still have that one eyelash, by the way?
My mom has really short eyelashes. She lost most of them due to chemotherapy BUT one. And now it's longer than the rest!
One thing I did learn while you were sick was the act of selflessness, and service.
We had free food brought to our house for almost a year! Can't beat that.
People were serving us constantly, and it really has made an impression on my mind to do better, and try to be a better person.
I know you're having a hard time with your teaching job and your calling in church, but you can do it!!
The school year is almost over.... close I believe.

Just know that I love you forever and always :)

i Stepped in A bowl of Pudding

I may or may not have worn a bright pink gross thing roller skating.

AND.... I don't know what I'm doing here.
This is such a grosss picture, I have no idea why on earth I'm posting it.
I had a blast, but now that I look at it... why didn't anyone tell me how gross I looked?!

Well. Enough about that.
Why am I not asleep?
Why is my head pounding?
Why did I get proposed to 3 times this week?
Why was this man who proposed to me 92 years old?
AND why was this at Golden Corral??
I keep telling him I'd think about it.
Then he told me he could offer me a lot of money... hummm...

This is my roommate Brittani (Berrrrrrnice Dahling) and myself.
We made a goal to go on 2 or 3 hikes a week before school ends!
We only made two this week due to the weather.
Snow=LAME
Don't get me wrong, I love Logan weather where it is warm 1.5 months out of the  9 months during the school year.
HINT: there may or may not have been sarcasm in my voice.

YAY for good weather!! And hikes.

April. May. June. July. School?

Here is a few updates on my current life:
A) My dad is really sick at the moment with pneumonia. Please include him in your prayers.
1) Not being in school this past semester has made me miss it. I miss learning now that I have a goal in mind!
2) If you didn't know, I'm planning on being getting a graduates degree in Art Therapy.
3) In other words: I'm thinking about helping out kids (maybe adults) through art! Possibly at Primary Children's, or through LDS family services. I haven't looked into it all quite yet, its all still new to me! I figure I love working with people and I love art, so why not? And it feels good :)
4) Brad gets off his plane at 10:30 a to the m tomorrow (SUNDAY!!)
5) General Conference. Nuff said.
6) I have recently decided I am definitely a night person. I have to stay up late every night, no matter what. But the weird thing is I can wake up in the morning easily. So I guess you can say I don't get a lot of sleep...
7) I love my coworkers at Golden Corral. Sure all the senior citizens that come in are hilarious and they go on and on about their dead cats... I love them, but my coworkers are awesome.
8) Favorite song of the week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmLoppYXkoM
9) Recently I've been going through an "I hate makeup month". I guess I haven't been wearing a lot lately because 4 people noticed tonight at work I was wearing some! My manager jumped when he saw me and thats the first thing he said. Weird.
10) I'm really not a gold-jewelry-wearing person. Not one bit.
11) Working. Working. Working. So flippin much. Sweden is going to be soooo worth it!!
12) Josh Browning: this blog post is for you.
13) On Thursday, April 14th at approximately 12:30 I will be getting the final crown on my darn tooth! Bout time to be done with this mess if I must say so myself.
14) Megamind and Tangled= my two favorite movies at the moment.
15) Alma 60:20-23 :)

Taylor Swift U R Mi Heero

First of all I would like to start off dedicating this blog post to Kelsey Donaldson.
For those of you who don't know her:
-She is definitely one of a kind. -She has been my best friend for three years, and we've known each other since kindergarten. -We are almost completely opposite in every way.

Anyways she has a man downstairs. Not just any man, a REAL one. Like, a potential man! Its weird seeing her happy all the time, I'm not gonna lie. I can tell if she's comfortable around him when she teases me to no end, and doesn't feel bad about it. For heavens sake she made soup for him tonight! It stunk up our apartment worse than the last time she made fish...
Mad and Kamille, do you remember when she made fish last year? It was bad, I don't know how you could forget it.
Well Colby (this so call man downstairs just in case you forgot) is an awesome guy. He treats Kelsey with so much respect and has a love for the gospel which I admire.
Lets just say Kelsey found a keeper for sure!

 In the words of Forest Gump: That's all I have to say about that.

Tight Pants / Body Rolls

Thank you Madeline Newhouse :)

My life is now complete. 

Fitness and Health is coming my way! Hopefully.

Yes. You might have guessed it, but I am going on a diet! 

WHY?? Must you ask.

"Because, I would really love to stay healthy!" Is my reply.

You see, I definitely have a sweet tooth. And It is pretty dang bad if I must say so myself.

So I decided to do something about it!

I'm not really in it to lose weight, more to change my eating habits and stay healthy.

I had already made up a contract with a friend up at school to work out 4 days a week, but I still wasn't eating the greatest.

I gave my dear father a little ring ring and we came up with a plan, and I sure hope it works!

We're doing Body For Life!

Its a twelve week program where I eat 6 small meals a day, and work out 6 days a week.

There is a list of food to eat, which is my fuel for the day.

Since I work so much, its slightly hard to fit in all 6 but I'm still working on it. 

Ok its really hard for me to fit in those 6 meals haha.

The nicest part is going to the gym! I do cardio every other day, and lift the other 3. 

Not to mention the workouts are usually 30-45 minutes (which is short to me I suppose) :)

The easiest part for me is going to the gym, I just need to work on my darn eating habits.

If I feel like it I might post the before and after pictures... hopefully there is a change ha!