I like life. Life likes me. Life and I fairly fully agree.

What a blog slacker I am! Life has just been kind of ridiculous lately...no joke. Anywho...

Well, two weeks ago, we had stake conference and for the adult session I got to conduct the music and the special musical number!! It was so much fun. I almost forgot how much I LOVE doing it. Music is just such a special thing. I read somewhere that "music is what feelings sound like" and it's totally true. It has a was of expressing the inexpressible and communicating. Good music has the amazing power of inviting the Spirit, more than almost anything else. That week I also made some delicious chocolate-chip cookies with my  friend Mark.

{Mark and I}

{the delicious cookies we made}

Last week was a really fantastic week as well.
On Tuesday had a dentist appointment an then went straight to devotional. I was sitting there by myself when two rather attractive guys asked me if they could sit next to me. In my I'm like 'yes!!!!!!', but then I came to the realization that have my face was still pretty numb and I could neither smile nor speak properly...dang it! So I just kind of mumbled and half-smiled and hoped that they didn't think I was a total idiot. Oh well, I guess it just wasn't meant to be :P
On Wednesday, I was standing in line at Subway and I happened to glance at the guy behind me in line and I was like 'whoa, I recognize him'. who was it? you may ask. well, it happened to be one of my brother's companions who had just gotten home. why did I recognize him? because Matthew had sent a picture of them to me and told me to keep an eye out for him. So I awkwardly asked if he was who I thought he was and he says 'you must be Emma'. Huge sigh or relief there. I was afraid he wouldn't recognize me and just think that I was a total creeper. We talked while we waited in line and it turns out he's a pretty cool kid.
For Spanish class, for a cultural activity, I watched 'La Misma Luna' or (en ingles) 'Under the Same Moon'. It's a really fantastic movie that gives you a whole different perspective on immigration. It is also very touching and I'm pretty sure I teared-up at least once. I definitely recommend it.
Thursday was our 3200 Third Thursday, which was fantastic (as always).

{us and our ridiculousness :) }

Last Friday I had the wonderful opportunity to go with Graham, one of my RA friends, to the MTC and volunteer in the TRC. That's where missionaries who are learning a foreign language go and they get to practice by teaching volunteers in that language. It was a really great experience and a wonderful opportunity to work on my Spanish and help the missionaries out a little bit. There is such a beautiful
spirit in the MTC among the missionaries.
Speaking of missionaries, my brother gets home in 25 days!!!!!!!!!
I saw this video and I'm pretty sure I teared up a little bit:

This week in Human Development we talked about worth in connection with self. Dr. Nelson reminded us that we have worth because we are children of a loving Heavenly Father. Nothing we do can rob us of our intrinsic and eternal worth.

Last Saturday I went to the BYU vs. ISU game with my cousins Cathy and Richard to watch my cousin Dustyn cheer for ISU. And then on Sunday Cathy and I went over to Richard's for dinner (Richard made some really yummy chicken enchiladas).

{Cathy, Dustyn, me, and Richard at the game}

This past Tuesday I tried a new recipe for cinnamon roll cake. It was so good!!! luckily I was on duty that night so I could pawn it off on people or else I might have eaten way more of it than I should have.

{cinammony, glazed goodness... yum}

Wednesday night was the traditional Helaman Halls RA Thriller dance-off! I was so much fun to do and our make-up and costumes were pretty sweet. I also got my hand mixer in the mail!! It makes me feel so legit :P and I'm really excited to try some new recipes.

{us, doin our thing. you know, being zombies}

{us, being cute :) }

RA class on Thursday was fantastic! We had a beautiful discussion about upcoming missionary week here and about missionary work in general. One of the hall advisers had a quote that included the phrase "pray as a missionary prays" and it really got me thinking about how I'm doing and how I can be better. I went the the TRC again yesterday and that was also a topic that came up. We discussed prayer and revelation in the first two discussions and then the last companionship of missionaries that we had taught us about the Restoration of the Gospel, but it was different than any discussion about the Restoration I have ever heard. They focused on the love of God and that the Restoration was a manifestation of that love that He has for us. He loves us so much and wants to bless us. Like Joseph Smith, all we need to do is ask.

{trees :) }

Life is just really fantastic right now. The weather has been gorgeous, I got a letter from my best friend, I love school, I have so many amazing people in my life, I have a family that I love with all my heart,  I am so blessed to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I have a Heavenly Father who loves me, I know that I am of great intrinsic, eternal worth. Does it get any better than that? I don't think so.

{the beauties of Autumn}

life has taken over my life

It certainly has been a while...a long while...so much to catch up on...*sigh* Well, here it goes...

So, September 25th (that's a Sunday) I went with my cousin Richard to my cousin Cathy's house for dinner (which was so yummy, especially the peach crisp). I love having family so close! Even though I don't get to see much of my extended family, when we're together I feel at home.

{ :) }

Tuesday night I went to the library to study and, until then, I had kind of forgotten how nice it is to make new friends. You know, those people that you meet and you just click with. Something else I have noticed recently in my life, is how much people actually care. Especially people who don't really have a reason to care or reason to even remember that stuff is going on in your life. When people ask how I'm doing and actually want to know the answer, it makes me feel good :)

{insert previous post about General Conference weekend here: Today was just one of those days...}

This past week has been pretty typical. Exercising, studying, class, temple, farmer's market, the usual. The only unfortunate thing was the fact that the temperature dropped about 40* in 72 hours. Wednesday and Thursday were just plain cold and miserable and we were even lucky enough that Timp now has snow on it. But it has warmed back up to a lovely 60ish and sunny. Absolutely gorgeous weather the past couple of days. On Friday I tried out a new recipe for chocolate chocolate-chip muffins and they turned out pretty well. 

{yum}
[you know you want one...]

On Saturday I had a fantastic culinary experience when I went to The Awful Waffle with some of the girls on my floor and got the most delicious crepe that I have ever eaten in my entire life, no joke. I got a crepe with pumpkin pie filling, cream cheese icing, and raspberries, with cinnamon sprinkled on the top.

{if you ever come to Provo, you must eat here. it's a requirement.}
[so yummy...]

{I'm afraid I didn't get a picture before I actually ate it}
[yes, it was that good]

Sunday was probably my busiest day of the week (go figure...). For dinner I went to Codie's apartment where her and her mom had made curry and rice and naan bread. The curry was so delicious it had sweet potatoes and onions and red peppers and bamboo and peas in it...yum. I'm pretty sure I need to get the recipe. And on Monday night I went over to Daniela's apartment and we made pumpkin chocolate-chip pancakes (the best kind) for dinner. I love it when people are kind enough to feed me :)

{mmm...}
[yes, I know what you're thinking. this is indeed a waffle , not a pancake]
(we tried doing waffles first, but it just didn't quite work out)

Yesterday the weather was perfect. I wish it could stay that way all year round. I also randomly felt like making some muffins yesterday...so I did. This time I made pumpkin chocolate-chip muffins (I just can't get away from the pumpkin, it's just so good...one of the best things about fall). They turned out relatively well. Well enough that I've eaten too many of them.

{gorgeous weather}

{pumpkin chocolate-chip muffin. mmm...}

Today was pretty fantastic. The weather was again, really gorgeous and I got to play in a soccer game and run a 5k. My time wasn't even that bad, I managed to run close to my high school best.

{me and Bre and Nicole (two other fantastic RAs) after the 5k}

And now I'm sitting at my desk writing this when I should be going to bed...so I must bid you farewell for the time being. I'd like to promise that I'll be better at keeping up, but life gets in the way of promises like that, so I won't :P

Today was just one of those days...

One of those awesome days, that is :)
I absolutely love general conference weekend! It is so wonderful to be able to spend hours just sitting there listening to the servants of the Lord and hearing them tell me what the Lord would have me hear. That is one of the most fantastic things about it, even though everyone hears or reads the same words, we all get something different and uniquely personal out of it.
I started off the morning by getting up nice and early and going on a lovely run. I ran up by the temple and decided to just go and have a sit for a few minutes on the temple grounds and what a great decision that was. Just being near the temple, you can feel the special spirit that it holds and it gave me a jump start to preparing to listen to conference. Then I made pancakes and scrambled eggs and had breakfast with Terra and Morgan (two of my wonderfully fantastic co-RAs). And the best thing about this breakfast was that it was all natural and local. That's right. We had 16-grain pancake mix from the farmer's market, real maple syrup, and fresh raspberries from the farmer's market...yum :) This is the kind of thing that just makes me so excited, it's kind of ridiculous. I just love buying and making and eating food that's good for my body and makes me feel good. Then came the first session of conference and President Monson announced that they are renovating the Provo Tabernacle and that it will become the the second Provo Temple!!! So exciting :D
Both sessions were great and I look forward to tomorrow.
Today I also cleaned my room, did some laundry, did some homework, and took a nap. so...a very productive and uplifting day indeed.