Farewell for 18 months!

This is my last blog post before I head out on my mission. In fact, tonight is the night that I get set apart as a missionary!!! SO insane. I can't wait, yet I'm filled with nerves, anxiousness, excitement, and just feeling overwhelmed by it all. How grateful I am for this amazing experience. I know I will be stretched and tried, but I also have faith that I will have many joyful moments. The best part is that I know that this is what the Lord wants me to do. I have faith that He knows what he's doing.

Tomorrow we fly out west and begin our "mini" vacation before I enter the MTC on July 16th. We are going to meet up with the couple that were instrumental in my parents becoming members of the church, and they've been close friends ever since. I'm excited to meet them. It's nice to know that they will be out there in Utah with me for the next year and a half of my mission.:)

So, my dear family and friends, I'll miss you all! Continue to be the amazing people that you are and continue to live and love life. I'll see you when I return.:)

God speed!

What I've been doing...Part I

I went to the TEMPLE!!! It was so great to be able to finally go inside. Although a lot of it went over my head, I did leave with a stronger testimony of the power I had when I left. It is so beautiful inside. I honestly felt that it was the closest thing to heaven on this earth. Probably because it is. It was a gorgeous day which is so fitting because I the experience was equally gorgeous. I am really looking forward to going back a few more times before I go on my mission. (which is only about a month away!!!)

Here are a few pics that we captured from that day...(May 24th)

This was Jim talking to Dad who was sitting in the SUV...I love the pic of the temple in the background.

Eating lunch after I took out my endowments:

My parents and I: The girls (Lisa, Amber, Me, Sara Smith):

What I've been doing...Part 2

Last week I went to Pittsburgh to visit one of my best friends, Erin. I decided that since the price of gas is so astronomically high it would be cheaper for me to ride the bus. I haven't had a ton of experience with public transportation but after this trip I can honestly say I've had my fill.


The harrisburg bus station is dodgey to say the least. My bus was supposed to leave at 3pm and didnt leave until 4...and waiting there for that extra hour was rather unnerving, considering all of the strange and dangerous looking folk I was forced to be around. Just thinking about it makes me shutter. It is a miracle I arrived in Pittsburgh unharmed. Seriously.


Once I finally got to the Pittsbugh bus station Erin was there waiting for me, so it was nice to be among "friends" if you know what I mean. I had such an awesome week with her. She has a beautiful home, and I felt like I was staying at a resort! She has a lake in her backyard (pic above) and two adorable yellow lab dogs: Gert and Ben. They were gentle and kind, so I didn't mind being around them in the least.


Since I'm pretty lazy I'm only going to post a few pics of my trip, but if you want a full photo-journal account, go to my facebook and view my album.

Erin's backyard...there is a part of a golf course AND a lake on her property...

What a cute dog...
By the lake...

Out in front of her house...

Erin in the kitchen...

Driving to the bus stop to go home on Friday morning:(.

Driving in to the city of Pittsburgh...

Room Cleaning

Since the semester ended, I've tried to keep myself busy by totally deep cleaning my room. It's not that it's a total pig stye or anything, but I have bins of old papers from High School and even elementary school that I needed to go through and purge.

It is taking me way longer than I thought...But it seriously gets worse before it gets better. I wish I was like Samantha on "Bewitched" so I could just wiggle my nose and then magically everything would go into place and be perfectly organized! But that's definitely not reality.

Other than cleaning my room I am also trying to get to the gym way more often. I decided not to work for the two months before my mission, so that means I have no excuse to waste time.

My life is pretty non-eventful these days.:)

A Hate-Hate Relationship...

Do you know how some people say they have a love-hate relationship with someone? Well let me tell you, i have a hate-hate relationship with finals week. Whoever came up with the idea of having a week full of end-of-term exams was, at best, STUPID. So, while i am in the thick of this ridiculous thing called finals, I hope everyone else is actually enjoying their week and weekend. I won't be.

But, as I like to think of it, this is my last round of finals for about 2 years...which is crazy and WONDERFUL!!! Hallelujah!:) When I come back home from the mish I might be one of the oldest "undergrad" students at Messiah, but hey, who cares right?

Welcome Home, Jimmerooo!

So I am about to hit the hay (dad's expression for going to bed) but before I do I just have to say that I'm really glad Jim is home from his business trip. He got in on Sunday, and I'm so glad that now Lisa and Jim are reuinited and the fun can begin again!!

It was great getting to tell Jim where i'm going on my mission....he is seriously the LAST person to find out! And it was also nice to hear how excited jimmer and liser are for me, even if i am going to utah.:) I'm actually really excited for the adventure headed my way.

And the other thing i'm way stoked about is the fun fest this that will occur this weekend because jim and lisa are coming up to the homestead here in pa to PARTAY!:) No joke, mom and dad have already planned a food-filled weekend. So, watch out J and L, you better bring your "fat pants" because as dad says, you're gonna have to "let the belt loose" after the meals yet to come!

Ok folks, i'll sign off now. (clap clap) => that was me "clapping" off the lights. you know, like in the "clap on clap off" commercial with the old lady who is in bed and suddenly "clap claps" her lights off and then abruptly rolls over..... I know, great visual, right?!:)

NOTE: I do not really own the "clap on clap off" lights....it would be pretty sweet if i did though.:)

Mission Call

I GOT MY CALL!!!
Just two days after my last post (Saturday) I got my call in the mail! Me and Amber were actually out at the mall and my mom frantically called us to tell us "you're packet is here!" So we pretty much rushed home to rip it open.:)

Drum role, please.....

OGDEN, Utah!!!

"I'm goin' to Ogden!" You know the movie Singles Ward...when Dallin opens his call and he gets sent to Boise?! And he's WAY excited but all of his friends feel sorry for him?! Haha...well, i must say, for me it was sort of the other way around. I was slightly shocked and disappointed to be going to UTAH (of all places!) but everyone else has been SO excited for me. I think I just needed to let it soak in a few days. I'm still sort of processing it, but I am getting more and more excited each time I think about it.

Plus, I also came to realize that it doesn't matter where you go. It's really just about humbling yourself and doing and going where the Lord has a purpose for you. I've felt that particularly strong.

I leave July 16, which is a month later than I thought, but I think it will be great to have some time off from school and just be with my family.

So, YAY OGDEN!:) Mom said she is going to frame the letter...haha!!!

Going batty

Hi everyone. How's life? I hope everyone is doing ok. It's such a crazy time of the year for everyone, especially if you are in school. I've been so maxed out with school work and concerts it has really been insane.

No. I have not received my mission call.

I thought I'd just get that out of the way. I have had so many dreams about this it's not even funny, and now my friends are starting to dream about where i might go too! Can you say, weird?! I feel like such a ball of nerves and on top of that I am going nuts over school. But, I guess I need to just take a chill-pill and stop dwelling on what I have no control over....

....yeah, well try telling my brain that!!! Even when I try not to think about it...yep, you guessed it...I think about it.

So, I figured I might as well have a little fun with this...

I'm taking a poll (this is extremely immature of me but what the heck, who cares...)

Where in the WORLD do you think i'm going?????

While your thinking about very vexing question, check out my new website i had to create for a computer science class: Click here. (You're going to laugh when you see what it's about....can you say "wow, she really can't stop thinking about it..."????)

Tour Pics

Hi everyone!

Sorry it's taken me so long to post...I think I got a virus on my computer from the mean cruel people who posted a comment on my blog and I (naive as can be) clicked on it only to find out that it was a virus! So my computer has been very fussy lately...Anyway, oh well what can you do?!

Here's pictures from our spring break concert choir tour. We toured Pittsburgh for five days. It was fun...and tiring, but I lived to tell the tale.:)

Ok, let me explain this pic: This is Matt using a marshmallow gun on the bus...the object of the game was to project it into someone's mouth. It's obvious we spent WAY too much time on the bus.

This is everyone in the back of the bus with their mouths open trying to catch the marshmallow...(no joke, someone actually DID catch one in their mouth!:)

And again, another weird game these two had to play...I think they were acting something out...??

Yay! Me and my girls...we kept each other sane this tour. Jenna is on the left, brittany on the right.

Me and Brittany were bus buddies.:)

Me and Brittany on the first day of tour...notice we're smiling....on the last day we were not. Haha!
Brittany got these rotten teeth from her secret pal (we called them "Prayludes"...) She actually had to wear them the next day and sing a tune in front of everyone in choir. It was priceless.:)

Cereal Girl goes to Philly

There's nothing like a spontaneous road trip, right?! Last friday Amber had to go to Philadelphia for her old college roommates wedding. Sara was planning on going, but in a last minute change of plans wasn't able to... SO.... I decided I'd skip my classes that day and go along for the trip! Even though the weather was very treacherous we were able to make it there safely and had a grand old time.

We stayed in this really ritzy swanky hotel called the Omni...it had a five star ranking and boy was it the royal treatment! They had these little bell-hops that were dressed in cute little suits and everything was very rich looking. The wedding was actually there inside the hotel. While Amber went to the wedding me and Bethie went out on the town... We got to do all the classic Philly things...

We got some yum-o Cheese Steaks (And no, I did NOT eat both of them!!! one was for bethie!)

Admire the really funny window displays (This suit is either really trendy or just butt ugly):

Go into vintage shops and try on oversized ridiculous looking shades (Bethie wanted to buy them but I had to put my foot down...):

We went to this old fashioned diner and got really great malts. (Mine had huge chunks of apple pie mixed in!):

Then the next day we all went to the great and powerful KOP (King of Prussia Mall). The bathrooms alone were a funfest in themselves!

It was so fun just spending time with my sisters... It seems we don't get to be all together very much and so it was like old times with our weird little trio.

There's no turning back

Soooo...
As many of you know I'm going on an 18month mission for my church in June. In preparation I had to fill out a lot of paper work, get a bunch of doctor's appointments, and interview with my Bishop and Stake President. Yesterday I had the interview with my Bishop, which went great. And, I also finished all of my portion of the paperwork, so I submitted it and now it's really REAL. This means the ball is officially rolling and i'll probably (hopefully) find out where they are sending me in a month or so.

It's really real. Crazy!

I'm sooo excited, though. Lately it seems as though each day is one day closer to me doing this. I am really looking forward to having the opportunity to serve the Lord. I think that although this experience will be extremely challenging in some aspects, it will ultimately help me to grow and lot. If there is one thing I've learned through this whole process it's that the Lord always knows what is best for us. Even when we have no idea how our lives will turn out, somehow He does. That is so comforting.

Yesterday I found out that the President of our church passed away. He was 97 years old. What an incredible man he was! I'm happy that he is now with his wife and that we had the privelege of being led by a truly inspired man. The song, "We Thank Thee, O God For a Prophet" seems to have even more significance now.

I know what you're thinking...and no, i'm not dead.

HELLO FOLKS. Ok Ok...I know that i've been a real slacker when it comes to my blog, but aren't we all at this time of year? Here's the recap of my wildly fascinating and entertaining life:

These are from our church YSA trip with all of our friends to NYC on Dec. 16. It was so fun and we got to see the brooklyn bridge, ride the subway, visit 3 churches, see ground zero, see the tree at rockefeller center and tons of other stuff. It was tiring...but we made some fun memories. Plus, it was at the height of the holiday season!

Then on Dec. 22 Bethie graduated from Penn State. It was a glorious day for all.:)

Christmas was pleasant as we spent time visiting lots of friends and family, and then rang in the new year with some of dad's amazing food. I also went to my friend Becky's house for a church party on New Years Eve (pic below). We had fun drinking sparkling grape juice and lots of good food. As usual, i overdid it by eating WAY too much and not really listening to my body when it told me, "Stop eating. You're full." But I tried to catch myself halfway through the holiday season and managed somehow to only gain 3 pounds...which isn't good but isn't entirely bad either. Well, back on the sadle. I resumed Weight Watchers and have been doing pretty good.

I started J-Term on Jan. 9th...which at Messiah is one class for three weeks. I'm taking a Children's Literature class from 8-12 everyday. It's WAY more work than I anticipated, but i love it. My prof is excellent and I'm actually enjoying learning about all of the things about children's literature. It's like going to preschool everyday....and who doesn't love that? Today our group presented our final project. We transformed the room into a barn and literally brought in bales of hay from a local farmers market. It was a total nightmare to clean up, but everyone loved it and our prof was so impressed that it was worth it. We had to basically teach the three hour class by doing activities, powerpoints, presentations, etc... As you can imagine it was so much work, but we're so glad we're done and now can just sit back and enjoy the other groups presentations.

Among many other things going on in my life I managed to finish a lot of my missionary application... Now all i have to do is go through interviews and send it in..... then i find out where i'm going!!!! Crazy crazy thought. It will be a BIG blog the day i find out where i'm going.

So...what's new with everyone?