Yellow Canaries

Over the summer, I developed this insane liking for birds. They are officially my favorite :) Ducks were my favorite animal, but I have now broadened my favorite animal to all birds. Something that sparked this interest was this article by President Thomas S. Monson, titled Canaries with Gray on Their Wings. If you have not read it, READ IT!!!! It is so wonderful, and inspiring. As a Residential Assistant, I based the theme of my hall off this article. It has been wonderful. Just yesterday, we decorated yellow t-shirts with silver spray paint. Wonderful.
I hope you all are having a fabulous Sunday! Much love

Flying Ballerina's

Leaping. Soaring. Extending. Floating. Fly ballerina, fly.
Today I am merely a student of dance. In the tomorrow's of the future,

I will fly as the great ballerina's do fly.

Broken

Have you ever done something that you deeply regreted later? We all have, right? I had one of those experiences this past week.
There is this movie that has been out for years, and lots of people have referred to it since it's release date. This last week, I had the opportunity to borrow this movie from a friend. However, before watching the movie, I was told by other's that it was a crude. While they may not have seemed like warnings at the time, I look back on that and recognize that they were flashing red lights. As I started the watching the movie with my best friend, I felt these promptings telling me that it wasn't worth it-- that the movie was not worth watching and that I'd be better off stopping it before it even started. I pushed these promptings away. I regret that deeply. While the movie wasn't terribly evil, there was still enough material in it to make it innapropriate, and to drive the Spirit away. Upon finishing the movie, I felt empty. The next few days that followed contained that same empty feeling. The Spirit of God was not as close to me as it had previously been.
As I have been working on repenting, I have have come to gain a greater testimony of the Holy Ghost and how powerful and important it really is in our lives. Those days that felt empty, I will never gain back. However, I have devoted myself to do all that I can to make sure I never go through that experience again. I am so grateful for the gift of the Holy Ghost. It helps me gain joy in my life and stay close to the gospel so that I can recieve eternal blessings. Through this, I have also gained a greater testimony of the Atonement, and understand it in a whole new light.
To help take a stand for my decision to get my life on a better track, myself and the girls that live in my building broke the majority of my CD's today. I don't own an iPod, or anything of the sort, so my music supply is in CD's. While my CD's contained wonderful songs, many had at least one song that was innapropriate. In order to get rid of that one song, I would have to destroy the whole CD. It was worth it. While my collection of CD's is now incredibly small, I feel more joy in my life. As a dancer, it is hard to imagine not having a good stock of music on hand to dance to, but I know that what I did was for the better and that I will be able to move through this with peace of mind.
I love the gospel with all my heart, and I never want to do anything again that takes the Spirit of the Lord away from me. I know that God the Father lives, as well as the Son, Jesus Christ. I know that they love each and every one of us and that they want us to return to live with them. Be strong, and remember-- "God did not send us here to fail."

Swagga of a College Kid

First off --- Happy Homecoming Week to all you BYU peeps! It has been a great week :) Tonight, we won our football game, so that was pretty much awesome.

Today, I was in the Homecoming Parade with Club Style; the best club in the world! ;) We are the official Hip Hop club at BYU. It was so much fun spending the morning with everyone, just handing candy out to little children along the parade route, goofing off, and dancing. What a spendid way to spend a Saturday morning! Here are just some pictures of those of us that were the in parade. (The actual club consists of at least 3 times this many people.)

Marci and Me with our Matching Shoes :)

Hanging Picture Frames

This past summer, I went to a wedding reception with my older sister. It was darling! The reception took place in the brides parents backyard. Lights were strung around the tree's, tables scattered throughout the yard for guests to visit and eat their refreshments at, a dance floor with a band, and my favorite-- picture frames hanging from the trees. While many of the frames had pictures of the newly wed couple, there was a fair share of picture frames without anything in them. My older sister plans to be getting married in the next year, and at times I wonder what type of decorations her reception will have-- what will the staples of it be? That's neither here, nor there, through. Once she has the engagement ring on her finger plans should start being finalized :) (So what's with her wedding dress in the closet? This had better be official!)
In the end, let's just say I love wedding receptions. While some may be a bit too traditional for me (the colors, the cake, and the location), I tend to find little things at most receptions that catch my eye and I fall in love with them. Who knows when (or if) I will get married, but when I do, I know I will have a very hard time settling on the little things. I find that it's the little things that help pull together the wedding (i.e. how the wedding announcement and staples of the wedding fit together). I'm no wedding expert, yet I think it's fun to analyze weddings (mainly the receptions) and pick out what I do and don't like about them.
Have a lovely Sunday day! Remember, families are FOREVER! What a beautiful blessing to have the knowledge that we can be together with our loved ones forever :) Much love