3/4

Once upon a time there was a girl. She was in an English 2010 class at Utah State University. She wrote an essay. She really enjoyed writing that essay and was really proud of the final product. It was about her dad and puzzles. The teacher really liked it to and asked her to read the essay in front of other English classes on Thursday. She is kinda nervous.



p.s. I finished my ELED portfolio....ah...relief :)

p.p.s. I went on a date tonight :) :) ;)

p.p.p.s. Francisco got his mission call today! Mexico City, Mexico!

King Penguin

Today I went swimming with Richie. Camille and I gave him an awesome swim lesson. He did well. We saw great improvement. He did a dive for the first time in his life.....it was perfect. I was in complete awe. Here are some other things that remind me of Richie:

home-school

statistics

big lips

fighting dragons

star wars

facial hair

foot massages

Thailand 

legos

king Penguin

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

nose

Don Juan

smile

magic 8 ball

What a goofball :)

Richie is an amazing friend and I am going to miss him so much while he is on his mission! He goes to the MTC on June 29. He is going to be an incredible example to the people of Thailand. 

I Know

I know that He lives.

How great it is to know that for each and every one of us he made this infinite and eternal sacrifice.

Without it there is no way that we could return to live with our Heavenly Father.

"Oh sweet the joy this sentence gives: 'I know that my redeemer lives.'"

Happy Easter to all!

Edwardo the swashbuckling parrot

p.s. I'm sorry this is kind of long.....

Easter weekend. I decided to come home for the weekend to spend Easter with my family. The weekend started with a great car ride with Jerrica! We talked a lot about how our first year of college is almost over. We don't to leave Logan for the summer and say goodbye to all the amazing friends we met there. I am so happy for the guys who are leaving on their missions! I sure am going to miss them!

I got home yesterday afternoon to an empty house. My mom and dad at an appointment, my sister at work, and my brother somewhere doing who knows what with his friends. I didn't really know what do do with myself so I did my nutrition quiz....whew! Only one more of those! I

That night we had salmon for dinner. YUM....there is nothing like Mom's cooking! I watched half of Indiana Jones and Tangled with my parents. My dad, of course, fell asleep. My brother got a new bed and it is so comfy. He went to a sleepover so I took advantage of the opportunity and went and laid on his bed. I wrote in my journal and then I talked to a very dear friend on the phone......for a really long time. What a great conversation it was!  We both ended up falling asleep and I woke up in the morning in my brother's amazing bed. :)

This morning I continued to write in my journal [I'm really behind :( ] Then I got ready and went to lunch with my mom, Maegan, and Spencer. We went to Pei Wei...yum. This is what my fortune said: "Opportunity awaits you on next Tuesday." I will definitely  update you if anything special happens on Tuesday. ;) I came home and crashed on the couch. My dad came home and laid on the couch as well. I love him SO much!

We went to dinner and then went and saw Soul Surfer. Its a good thing I didn't put any makeup on this morning. I didn't just tear up....the tears were streaming. It was an incredible movie and I am inspired. I definitely recommend that you go see it. After the movie I went and filled up my car with gas. What a painful experience.

Now I am sitting in the dining room listening to pandora, writing this post, and thinking about so many things. Maybe later I will fill you in on all the things that have been running through my mind. Tomorrow is Easter. The day we celebrate the Savior of the world. My Savior. I am so blessed to know about this amazing restored gospel. I know that Christ suffered for me, you, and everyone else out there. Isn't it miraculous? Wow. I just got the chills.

Tomorrow the Easter bunny will come. I'm going to my home ward in my Easter dress. :) Easter dinner with my family. What a treat! Then maybe I will go see my grandparents. I also might go to Dallas Olsen's house to see him open his mission call. Then I will drive back up to Logan. What a beautiful day! There is no other way I would rather spend my Easter Sunday than surrounded by my family and friends! The perfect way to start "dead week."

samoht eihcir

Girl walks in the room and is feeling kind of down.

Boy looks over at girl. 

Boy says, "Wow, you look really pretty."

Girl gets a huge smile on her face.

Girl says, "Thanks ________, that made my day!"

Girl's eyes tear up because it really did make her day a little bit better and she definitely needed to hear someone say that.

A five-year-old in a nineteen-year-old's body

Today is a very special day. It is April 17th. It's Jerrica Osmun's nineteenth birthday!

SHE . . . .
. . . . loves to color.
. . . . loves giraffes.
. . . . makes funny sounds sounds with me.
. . . . has blonde hair.
. . . . never has socks that match.
. . . . can quote every line of Tangled.
. . . . is from Cedar Hills.
. . . . doesn't like to do her hair. (But it looks SO good naturally curly.)
. . . . glares at people for fun.
. . . . wears a survival bracelet, just in case.
. . . . loves country swing dancing.
. . . . has five siblings.
. . . . likes sidewalk chalk.
. . . . is going to be a nurse.
. . . . is an Irish dancer.

SHE IS ONE OF MY BESTEST FRIENDS!!!

I love her.

p.s. i'm sorry that this is the third post today. one of them wasn't actually me. 

Anonymous

This isn't actually Lauren submitting this post. But since I am using her computer, I thought I'd steal a moment to say that Lauren Kasteler is one of the finest young women in the world. Let her know it.

Missionaries

Called to serve Him, heav’nly King of glory,
Chosen e’er to witness for his name,

Far and wide we tell the Father’s story,

Far and wide his love proclaim.

Called to know the richness of his blessing—
Sons and daughters, children of a King—

Glad of heart, his holy name confessing,

Praises unto him we bring.

Onward, ever onward, as we glory in his name;
Onward, ever onward, as we glory in his name;

Forward, pressing forward, as a triumph song we sing.

God our strength will be; press forward ever,

Called to serve our King.

I'm 19 years old. Most of my friends are either 18 or 19 also. This means that a lot of them are on missions or are leaving soon. I am so proud of them and their courage, determination, and decision to serve the Lord for two years. 

Bryan Pistorius: Montreal, Canada

Conner Winegar: Quadalajara, Mexico

Chris Gibbs: Rosario, Argentina

Richie Thomas: Bangkok, Thailand

Taylor Strickler: Chicago, Illinois

Michael Zajac: Richmond, Virginia

Josh Gathro: Tempe, Arizona

Aaron Cragun: Tokyo, Japan

Ben Harrison: Lubbock, Texas

Jaron Stevens: Salta, Argentina

Caleb Baker: Brisbane, Australia

Taylor Dolbin: San Salvador, El Salvador

Francisco Arrieta: Mexico, Mexico City

That is not all.....There are a bunch of my friends who haven't quite finished their papers or are still waiting for their calls. I am so proud of every one of them and I am so glad they are worthy to serve the Lord. I love you guys!

I talked to you on the phone today. You did not act normal and I want to know why. I know that you have a right to be upset sometimes but this is the first time you have been so distant. I'm sorry today didn't go as well as you would have liked. I'm sure your frustrated. Why is this happening? I wish I could answer that but I know only God knows that answer. He has something planned for you, for us. I guess we just have to make the best of what we have. One thing I do know is that this will make us stronger, increase our faith, and help shape us into who we are supposed to become. Knowing that doesn't make this easy.

I can't wait to see you tomorrow.

overwhelmed...eh?

Here is a list of all my classes and all the things I need to do in them over the course of the rest of the semester.

Creative Arts

Final Project

Fiddler on the Roof

Quiz

Humanities

Quiz 3

Final Paper

Intro to Elementary Ed.

IQ #9

IQ #10

Fieldwork Portfolio

Final Comprehensive Exam

English

Final Paper/Project

Statistics

Quiz 9

Quiz 10

Final Comprehensive Exam

Nutrition

Exam 3

Quiz 11

Assessment 9

Quiz 12

Assessment 10

Final Comprehensive Exam

Can't you see why I'm feeling a little overwhelmed on this windy, overcast afternoon?

Today

Mundane-its whatever
Obnoxious-why can't the weekend just last forever???
New-at least there is some sort of motivation because its a new week
Delicious-especially on days like today when you get free dinner at FHE :)
Average-not the worst, not the best
Yellow-well at least today the sun was shining!

I think it is stereotypical to say that all Mondays are bad. :)

Dirty Windows

Today I was reading a talk given by President Thomas S. Monson and this is a story he told....

A young couple, Lisa and John, moved into a new neighborhood. One morning while they were eating breakfast, Lisa looked out the window and watched her next-door neighbor hanging out her wash.

“That laundry’s not clean!” Lisa exclaimed. “Our neighbor doesn’t know how to get clothes clean!”

John looked on but remained silent.

Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, Lisa would make the same comments.

A few weeks later Lisa was surprised to glance out her window and see a nice, clean wash hanging in her neighbor’s yard. She said to her husband, “Look, John—she’s finally learned how to wash correctly! I wonder how she did it.”

John replied, “Well, dear, I have the answer for you. You’ll be interested to know that I got up early this morning and washed our windows!”

"Are we looking through a window which needs cleaning? Are we making judgments when we don’t have all the facts? What do we see when we look at others? What judgments do we make about them?

Said the Savior, “Judge not.” ¹ He continued, “Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” ² Or, to paraphrase, why beholdest thou what you think is dirty laundry at your neighbor’s house but considerest not the soiled window in your own house?"

Thanks President Monson.

One of those days.....

Today is one of those days. I don't know why but I'm not really all there. I locked myself out of my room. I NEVER do that. Anxious, pensive, quiet, uneasy, restless, contemplative....there isn't even really a word that adequately describes how I feel. I played the piano for an hour, that was nice. I need to do some studying. We'll see how that goes.

and so it begins.....

I finally started a blog. It has been a while since Jerrica Osmun started bugging me about starting one. Who knows how often I will update it. I guess you'll hear from me whenever I feel like it.