It's the last day of July. Summer is basically over. School starts again in less than a month. What do I have to show for my summer? Well... I have become more and more acquainted with my bed. I've had a terrible time trying to wake up, mostly because I have nothing to do, so I have zero motivation. I haven't read any books like my plan, I haven't done any service unless you count my sisterly duties to help Hannah with her wedding. Basically I've done nothing, and I hate that I haven't. I know that I really don't have very long left. I have 2 weeks before I go home for Hannah and Danny's wedding. But in those two weeks I am going to attempt, to do better. I'm going to try to wake up before 11 everyday. I would prefer if it was at least 9. I don't know what I'm going to do when school starts and I'm so used to sleeping in. Having a little motivation to do something is my goal for the next two weeks. Hopefully I have the motivation to fulfill it.

On a random note, I found this quote today, and basically I just really like it.
"Education is not the filling of a bucket but the lighting of a fire." - William Butler Yeats

Reasons

There are a whole bunch of little things swirling around my mind, things that I'm really thankful for right now. Reasons that I'm happy.

This first one is a little random. I happen to maybe, just slightly, be in love with David Archuleta. I have since he was on American Idol, but it has been renewed lately. His music makes me happy. No matter what mood I am in, I am always in the mood to listen to a little David. Especially lately. Plus look at his smile, how can you not be happy when you see that?

Anyway, I just think he is super adorable and sweet and it is my goal someday to meet him. And as he does things at BYU every once in a while it shouldn't be too hard. The only problem is that I never seem to find out about them until after. Anyway, his most recent album The Other Side of Down is full of amazing songs. I can't decide which one is my favorite, but I love My Kind of Perfect and Falling Stars.

Another thing that makes me happy is my friends. On Wednesday one of my old neighbors, with whom we were super close, was in Provo for a few hours and came by to visit. We got together with my old roommates Morgan and Ashley and it was so great to be together again. I was super sad when Shelley had to leave but I know that Fall semester starts in like a month so it's okay. I can't wait when all of my Fall/Winter roommates and our neighbors Sara, Jen, and Shelley can all hang out like old times.

Last summer, in my first term, I made this really amazing friend Michael Wray. He was always there for me, and I still don't know why. He is just a really amazing guy. When I am stressed or depressed I have this desire to leave, just leave wherever I am until I'm okay again. Sometimes I just take a drive, but other times the desire to leave is stronger and I can't really get rid of it no matter where I go. Michael saw me leaving one night last summer, we were already sort of friends at that time, and asked me where I was going. I honestly didn't know and I told him so. He made me come talk to him instead, and that continued throughout that Summer term and into Fall semester. Whenever I needed to leave, I went and talked to Michael instead. And he always listened. I have no idea why, we had a class together and we were in the same ward, but there wasn't really any reason for him to be so nice to me, but he was, because he is just an amazing person. He helped me with so many things, and we had a lot of fun together. Anyway, he has been on a mission in the Denver, Colorado North mission since late January. When I want to run away and leave now, sometimes I still take that drive to nowhere, but I also sit down and write him a letter. Even though most of the time I don't actually tell him what is stressing me out (he has enough to deal with), just knowing that he will read it and care makes me feel better. However, he is terrible at writing back, but I forgive him for that.

I don't think I would be making it through this summer without my lovely roommate Laura. She's such a fun person to be around. We have been slightly anti-social this summer and not really made any new friends so most nights we just sit in our apartment on our computers. But we talk a lot in all of this. And we go to get froyo together when we feel a need for sweets. She makes me laugh because she honestly has more clothes than anyone else I've ever met. She never stops buying them! Granted, the majority of them she gets from second hand stores and saves a lot of money, but she honestly doesn't have space to contain them all. They spill over from her half of the closet and her drawers onto shelves right outside our room. She also loves them, she probably tries on 4 different outfits before she leaves in the morning, all of which are adorable, and then when she comes home from work she will probably try on another 4 or so throughout the course of the evening. She is probably super embarrassed reading this, but I find it endearing. I love all of her outfits, and her clothes. They're fun. Also when my sister Moriah was in town she was really helpful in my attempts to entertain her. We went to a blog reading thingy that Stephanie Nielson read at and I pushed her to meet her, because basically nienie is her hero. It was really inspiring, and made me think about motherhood in a little more favorable light, (sometimes I have issues with it, but that's a post for another day). Anyway, I'm so glad that I have been her roommate this Summer. It's been fabulous.

Temples

One of the most fantastic thing about living in Utah, is that there are so many temples! Unfortunately I am really quite terrible at taking advantage of being surrounded by this many temples. Maybe it's because back in Iowa, going to the Nauvoo temple was an event. It took 2 1/2 hours to get there, and all the Young Men and Young Women would go, and we could only go like every 6 months. So maybe it is weird to me that you can wake up one morning and decide you want to go to the temple that day and then it takes like 5 minutes to get there. It's basically a foreign concept to me.

Today though, I went to the temple, it was wonderful. My visiting teachers came over on Sunday and at the end of the lesson they asked me if I wanted to go to the temple with them sometime this week, so we planned it for today. I'm so glad that they asked me, because I really needed to go. I'm so glad I did. There is something about the temple that just makes you feel super calm about life, because you know that the Lord is directing you. That is my opinion anyway. So right now I just feel quite okay about everything that is going on.

It was really weird for me to go to a temple other than Nauvoo, I never realized how huge the Nauvoo temple's baptistry is compared to other temples. We went to the Mt. Timpanogos Temple because Provo is closed for cleaning until next week sometime, it was so pretty. I know that my roommate Laura and I are planning on going to Provo as soon as it opens up again, and I hope that I can continue to remember to take advantage of having the temple so close while I can. I hope I can go at least once every 3 weeks, I can do that! There is a temple literally 5 minutes away. I can take out a few hours of my day and go so I can grow closer to my Heavenly Father and feel the love that He has for me.

Everything

So I'm not even sure what I want this post to be about. There has just been a lot going on recently. I'll start with last night, in which I saw the last Harry Potter movie! It was really good, it amazed me how they were able to include so many emotions. You felt like crying, cheering, and laughing all within seconds, it was fantastic. It also made me really sad because it was the end. I honestly started reading the Harry Potter books when I was seven (I was a very advanced reader). Harry Potter has been in a majority of my life, it boggles my mind that it is ending. I also found it amusing, because at the very first movie I was really frustrated because I felt like nothing was the same as it was in the book. I've echoed those sentiments from my 8 year old self in almost every single movie since. But last night I just wanted my little sister Moriah to stop pointing out the things that weren't right because it was such a fantastic movie. I know I'm a nerd, but I honestly do love all things Harry Potter. I have been dedicated since the very beginning and now I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with that dedication. I'm sad it's over, but it was such a fabulous journey.

Okay, now that I'm done with that, I am back in Provo. I have been since Monday evening. Moriah came back out with me, and I have realized that I am terrible at entertaining people. When I've been here in Provo I have always been in classes, so I would go to school, do my homework and then relax in my time left over. So I'm not entirely sure what to do with her, because I'm pretty boring. Oh well, it's been fun to have sister time anyway. Speaking of sister time, all of us 5 biological girls are in the same place at the same time. That hardly ever happens. Like at Christmas and weddings is basically it. So it has been quite fantastic to be able to be all together, we talk about the strangest things. I love being with my sisters.

My sister Hannah is engaged! It's crazy because it happened really fast, but she is so incredibly happy, that I can't help but be beyond excited for her. It also scares me a little bit, because it leaves me as the oldest single child, and strangely, even though I know that there really isn't any pressure being put on me, I can still feel some. I don't know how to describe it, but it terrifies me that I could be next. Let's just say I know that I am nowhere ready to get married, thinking about it makes me a little nauseous, so I'm going to stop thinking about it.

There is so much more that is going on in my life right now, but I don't have the time to talk about all of it. Right now I need to go conquer a massive pile of dishes that are in the sink. Eww.