What I'm Thankful For: 10 days worth of thankfulness

So that whole blogging everyday didn't really happen eh? Lol. Here is a rundown of my Nov 2-11 in terms of thankfulness.

2nd: I am thankful for amazing friendships and the ability to laugh with those friends.

3rd: I am SOOOOOOOO very very thankful for the Temple and for making covenants with my Heavenly Father. The blessings that have come into my life since being endowed are innumerable.

4th: I am thankful for the opportunity to serve and help within my family! My sister was really sick and I had the chance to help. I love my family!

5th: I am thankful for talents. Those that have been given to me, hair cuttin especially has helped me this year, to use and especially those given to others to share with the world. There truly are so many talented people in the world I love it!

6th: I'm thankful for my sister being born 35 years ago this day. She is an amazing person with such patience and the ability to love and care about everyone. She is a great example of how to be a good listener.

7th: I am thankful for the ability to apologize for my imperfections, for the power of the words "I'm sorry".

8th: I am so thankful for the ability to to teach. I'm not Miss Amazing at it, but I am thankful all the same. Here is where I throw out there that I have the goal to become a Seminary/Institute teacher and will pursue that route after my bachelors is done. Yay teaching teenagers about Christ and the Plan of Happiness!!! Funny side note: after deciding I wanted to teach the youth I just got extended a new calling at church... I'll be the new Laurel advisor (teacher for the 16-18 year old girls) lol. The Lord truly does know what we need! It's also amazing I'll get to teach the new curriculum! Woot! Woot!

9th: I'm thankful for all of my family! My mom for loving me and teaching me so much and always being willing to look past my imperfections, my dad for showing me I can do anything if I put my mind to it and for his ability to see beauty in what's around him, my brother Scott for being so smart and being the kind of person I look up too, his wife Mindy for showing me by example how to live and sacrifice for a family. She is an amazing mom who I hope I can be like someday. Sam for being so fun, smart, and feisty. Katherine for being amazing! I love that she loves we have so much in common(drawing/art, cooking, and playing dress up for those who didn't know ;) Ben for being here and adding another amazing person to our family. Karatcha got a whole thankful day of her own, but I really am thankful for our friendship and how she calls me out to be better. I'm thankful for Patrick and his ability to love his family. I'm thankful for my babes, Jakob for being funny and for asking so many questions wanting to learn everything, Kirsten for how sweet and kind she is, Jonah for his ability to crack me up and for loving people so freely, Kaylah for being my princess babe and helper in the kitchen, she makes me smile. Riley for being an amazing artist and someone I look up to for all the talents and abilities he has, his wife Silvia for being one of my best friends who freaking cracks me up and helps me to have perspective on life. Their combo of spirituality has helped me out a lot. I truly am thankful for my family!!!

10th: I am thankful for my car, for the ability to go and do things I need to do and the things I want to do. Coug has taken me many places and I hope he'll be able to keep doing that. He's a great little car :)

11th: I am thankful for my freedom and those who serve to protect this country I love. I am thankful for America being a promised land of The Lord. (Check out The Book of Mormon for perspective on that coolness:)

At Stake Conference today I loved that we were told to be wise optimists, not pessimists. Everyday we truly do have something to be thankful for and that can help us to be better people. Now onto another week looking forward with optimism and thankfulness!

What I'm Thankful For: Things That Make Me Go Grrrr

Happy November 1st!!! I'm going to try and post everyday this month with what I'm thankful for and why...

I am sooooo thankful for the ability to learn. Even when learning makes me go Grrrrrr! I've recognized in my life whenever I'm learning something new I tend to be frustrated with it a little, okay maybe a lot, but once I've overcome the challenge of learning and I know something, my grrrr goes away and turns into joy for the knowledge I've acquired.

I really do appreciate the learning that is happening in my life especially all the cool stuff I get to learn in school. I'm learning how to draw better, use a soldering torch, and throw taller pieces on the pottery wheel. Believe you me, all of those things have made me go Grrrr!! I however still love learning even though sometimes its tough. I guess it just makes things that much better when we have to go through the hard part, learning, to get to the joyful part, knowledge.

Randomness At It's Best

I'm finding it hard to sit down and write about my summer since so much is going on in my life right now... I still plan on expanding on my feelings and experiences over the summer, but I'll let you know what's going on right now in my life.

School is in full gear. 18 credits, six classes, three campuses all in only three days a week. Tuesdays and Thursdays are my 8am-10pm away from home days.

Sociology isn't my favorite, but I love my metal work jewelry class... life drawing is hard, but I have to keep reminding myself drawing is pretty new to me so it's okay that I'm not as good at it as I would like to be. History is chill, three hours of slow paced lecture usually ending with a video has been pretty cool. Ceramics is always amazing and yesterday I totally threw a 14inch high vase on the wheel!!! hehehe. Finally math, math is cool, but my teacher not so much. I'm having a hard time learning from his way of teaching and am finding myself avoiding homework at all costs. Hmmm. I should change that, I would really like to not retake this math class. Then there are my Institute classes which are AMAZING! They make up for the classes I don't like at Pima and make me feel way better whenever I go to them. They are the lift and light I need during the week and I am sooooooooooooooo thankful for them.

On the guy front: There is a cute art professor I've met (he's not my teacher [and he's close to my age], so it's okay ;), he seems pretty amazing... So if you amazing art proffesor ever stumble upon this here blog, and you're also interested in getting to know me more, you should probably ask a girl out on a date. Im just sayin. There was a guy in my jewelry class that seemed interesting, but hes turned into annoying vs appealing, but there is a guy in one of my insitutute classes that I wouldn't mind talking to/getting to know more. Lets see what happens.

My social life is kinda eh, my really good friends are all up in Phoenix I haven't been able to go out the the fun restaurants or outings that I usually enjoy, but this has made it possible for me to spend way more time with my family which has been amazing. So I guess my lack of "cool" social life is totally worth it *grin* My sister and I can always laugh and have good times. We both think that I am the "old" person and my 5 year old nephew Jonah agrees. He thinks I am the older sister. It's not as funny when you write it down, but it was freaking hilarious when he told us he thought I was older (which I am not! Kara is five years older).

I've been reading (quick reads, but still good ones), learning how to knit (crocheting is so much easier, but knitting looks cool and seems more versatile), and cooking. I guess I've become a vegetarian. I'm not against eating meat per se, I just don't think I need to consume it with every meal or eat it everyday; I haven't had any in over a month and I feel great. Fresh veggies and fruits with fun things like polenta, quinoa, barley, all types of beans, and flax seeds have been my staples for food consumption. I've been juicing too! :) I've lost 10lbs and it feels pretty good. I'm still all about dairy and eggs though. I've decided I'm going to learn to sew better so I can modify the clothes I already own into fun new things that fit better. It'll be a fun adventure!

I'm the "sub" primary teacher at church right now since my class went to another teacher over the summer. I had the chance to "sub" as the singing time teacher (side note: I don't know a lot about music nor can I sing in tune all the time, but I sure love primary songs and feeling the Spirit while hearing kids sing them). I got to teach the kids, 3-11 year olds, for two Sundays in a row and can I tell you what... IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! We got to sing songs, learn, and laugh for 20 whole minutes. The kids seemed to enjoy it as much as I did! That is a calling I think I would have fun doing, which means I'll probably only ever be a sub. haha.

I am SUPER excited for General Conference! I got to go to a Regional Fireside where Elder M. Russel Ballard was speaking via a webcast and I learned so much... It was such a good preperation for what GC will bring. To watch it for yourself, tune in October 6 & 7 from 10am-12pm and 2pm-4pm Mountain Standard Time at LDS.org The Prophets and Apostles of God will be speaking and telling us the things that will help each of us in preparing ourselves to live with God again. Here is an example of what will be said: It's one of my favorite talks from General Conference "Love Her Mother"

Okay, randomess is done. I have homework I have been avoiding while writing this, so I'll be heading back to it now. More posts are sure to come!

The Spirit of God

I had a lot of different experiences over the summer that helped me to grow mentally, spiritually and physically (but I guess both mental and physical growth have something to do with spiritual growth too); this post is going to be perspective specifically from part of my spiritual growth from camp. The learning started at camp, but has snowballed into amazing learning experience after amazing learning experience since I’ve been home.

I thought a lot about the companionship of the Holy Ghost while I was at camp. I thought a lot about how I felt in general; I thought about what I had to do to keep the Spirit with me throughout my days, but since I’ve been home I’ve thought a lot more about the role and mission the Spirit of God plays in the lives of Gods children; our lives which are richly blessed because of the role and mission of the Holy Ghost. I realized I didn’t know how blessed I truly am to have His constant companionship as long as I am living worthy and obeying the commandments of God.

As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, after being baptized by those who had authority from God (or the Priesthood of God) I had been given the Gift of the Holy Ghost (by someone having the same authority from God to bestow such a gift). The Gift of the Holy Ghost differs from the Power of the Holy Ghost which is fleeting; the Gift means having the constant companionship of the Spirit of God to guide and direct us on this life’s journey as long as we are faithful.

The First Article of Faith from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is “We believe in God, the Eternal Father, in His Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost”. As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints I know the Godhead is made up of three separate, intelligent beings. Three individuals who are able to think and act for themselves, but who think and act so similarly, that the scriptures say they are “of one heart, and of one mind” which testifies of Their unity in purpose.

I believe that our Father in Heaven has a body of flesh and bone, that Jesus Christ has a resurrected body of flesh and bone, but that the Holy Ghost is a personage of Spirit. I believe we are spirit children of God who lived with Him before coming to earth. As part of the Plan of Salvation (which was a plan made in Heaven by God in case His children sinned and became unworthy to return home to Him) we are now living in mortal bodies experiencing life so we can prepare to live with God again. We are on earth to learn/obtain knowledge; knowledge that will help us as we experience what it means to be in and have a family. I know ALL of Gods children who have ever lived on the earth will be resurrected and live forever, more importantly though, I know through promises made in the Temple that we can have eternal families; families that are forever living in the presence of God. All of these blessings depend on if we are faithful to Gods commandments while living here on earth though. These are things I know for myself, but if you don’t believe me? Ask Heavenly Father yourself. “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:” “For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened” Matthew 7:7&8 The Lord has promised to answer our faithful prayers and that good feeling you will receive will come through His Spirit.

 

Sage way to more talk about The Spirit of God…

The Spirit of God confirms truth. He brings peace to your spirit, He brings peace to your heart. The good feelings we have come from God through His Spirit. They are feelings that are a confirmation that something is true, something is right, or something is good. Think about a time when you just “knew” something because your whole being felt good about it… then think about a time when you felt “icky” because something just didn’t feel right. Which do you think was The Spirit of God?

 

I had the chance to speak to a couple of really good friends over the summer about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it reminded me of whenever I go out with the missionaries of how good it feels to have conversations where the Spirit of God is invited to confirm truth to all who are there and willing to receive Him. During these time’s I could see countenances change… the look of peace. One friend over the summer commented on how good he was feeling while we were talking about the Gospel; as if he had never recognized that good/peaceful feeling before. I pray for him, I pray that he recognizes the good things in life and has a desire to have the feeling of good/peace again. That feeling that comes from talking of and learning of Christ.

My pondering on the Holy Ghost has also got me thinking a lot about how the Holy Ghost “speaks” to me, how I feel Him in my life. I had the sweet realization that He speaks to each of us Spirit to Spirit. He does not speak to our brain or our body, which are both mortal, but He speaks to our hearts. The Spirit of God speaks to my heart! If you think about it our hearts are what validate our living… our hearts are the key to our souls. I know it sounds cheesy, but it’s totally true! Our hearts pump oxygen, our hearts pump nutrients, our hearts pump life. Our bodies can continue “living” if our brain is injured or if our limbs/organs have been traumatized or fail, but it’s when our heart stops beating that death occurs. Our spirit leaves a mortal tabernacle and returns home to the God who created it.

I want to be able to explain that what we feel, when we feel something different within ourselves, when we feel something good within ourselves, (even when it’s a feeling that we are being corrected because we’ve done something wrong) is The Spirit of God testifying of “Jesus Christ, of His work, and the work of his servants upon the earth” (Bible Dictionary Holy Ghost). Every aspect of our lives is touched by the Atonement of Jesus Christ; that’s why the Holy Ghost can be felt by people who don’t know Christ or don’t know what He did for us. Christ Atoned for our sins, He bled from every pore. He felt every pain we would experience, He felt every heartache we would feel, He knows what it feels like to be hurt, embarrassed, or alone. Jesus Christ then was crucified for each of us, setting an example of an unselfish life, a life of hard work, a life of love and service, a life devoted to God. He gave His life so we might live again with our Father in Heaven. It amazes me that we, through following Christ’s example, by having faith in Him, repenting, and being baptized, WE can have the Spirit of God as our constant companion; A companion who will confirm truth, eternal worth, and the love that God has for each of us.

How truly amazing and sweet it is to know we are children of God and we are not alone in this life. He is sending us the help we need to overcome the trials in this life so we can find eternal joy in the life to come.

I .Love. God.

 

Amazing? YES! Fun? NO!

As I'm reflecting on this summer I am a little overwhelmed with the idea of writing one GIANT post and have found that I don't want to do that because it doesn't seem fun. Multiple smaller posts are a lot more appealing! I don't know if the posts will be in chronological order or random because that's they way things sometimes go in my noggin'.

For now I'll give you a teaser... I have found that I have been correcting people a lot when they say that my summer must have been so fun! I say no my summer was NOT fun. Amazing yes, fun no. I've realized that amazing doesn't always have to be fun.

During this last summer I learned a lot about myself, a lot about people, and a lot about the love of God for His children. I learned to think and process thoughts differently, I learned to be okay with spiders and bugs that I would never have been okay with here at home. I learned that in every situation there are opportunities to teach and re-enforce good values. I learned that eating the same kinds of food every day for two months gets really old, but eating meals with a "family" was highly enjoyable; enjoyable because of the ecclectic group that was Bunk 2. I learned that I hate not being able to cook for myself, but didn't mind that I didn't have to do my own laundry.

I learned that it is important to have a happy place to go to when the stresses of my reality are getting to me. I learned that a happy place can be a great friend with an amazing attitude that is funny and can make you laugh; I learned I love Scottish accents! I learned how important it was to stand in holy places by not always standing in them. I learned that reading The Book of Mormon and praying really are the "easy" answers to keep our lives on track with peace and joy and close to our Heavenly Father. I learned that if I don't have something nice to say, I shouldn't say it at all, but I should try harder not to even think it. I learned it was important to try and have a good attitude even when things were hard, because people who are used to getting upset need to know that we don't always have too.

I learned to love teaching and being around youth even more. I learned that I can do hard and embarrassing things as long as it is for a good cause. I learned to love crafting and the arts even more! I learned how thankful I am I love to learn, create, and try new things. I learned I could be a better Sarah.

Keep an eye out posts will soon come with reflection on some of the learning that is mentioned above.

Maine. It's pretty amazing!

Short post...

God is amazing! Maine is amazing! The camp I am working for is amazing! The people I am working with are amazing!

I won't have time to post probably until I get home in August, but I'll be writing in my journal and will post a couple of my entries for ya'll.

This experience in my life is amazing! 

Oh sweet goodness this is going to be a summer to remember! *grin*

You're not crazy. You're just impatient.

That EXACT verbiage came to mind during a prayer/pondering moment about my ore. Just thought I would let ya'll know; I'm not crazy, I'm just impatient. bwahaha

I guess I really need to work on more patience and not bwahaha laugh at it right? I'll let ya know how that goes.

I'm a little afraid to pray for an increase of patience; I've prayed for that before, remember a few posts throughout this little "findin' my ore" adventure about me and patience? Apparently I'm not gaining enough of it. Which has me asking what else might have to happen for me to learn it?!

Yikes!

Yup, I'm scurred.


I'm positive it will help me with my future family and even more with life right now though, so prayer for patience, you're being said.

Drawing Final

Since I officially changed my major to Fine Arts I am super excited I get to take all of these fun art classes! This semester as I was figuring out what I wanted to do with school, while I was still officially a business major, I took a drawing class since I felt it would help me whether I pursued art as a career or not. I LOVED the class! I knew from last semester that I really like realistic drawings and so I aimed to get better with shadows and highlights.

Also, ever since I was a kid I've wanted to be able to draw people and make them look real in the picture so for my "final" in the class I chose to draw my brand new nephew Ben. In the pic he is only a few days old. It's a graphite drawing with tissue paper as his blanket. Since I'm proud of this drawing I'm posting it *grin*

I TOTALLY DREW THAT! I really don't mean to come off prideful, I'm just in awe that drawing people was apparently in me somewhere, I just hadn't been patient enough with myself or disciplined enough to actually sit down and do it. I will throw it out there though, noses are freaking hard! Also, with his eyes being closed it made it way easier. I'm trying to fill up my sketch book with different parts of the face so I can get better at each part. I LOVE ART!

Hopefully art will continue loving me.

Haircut from a Mormon

Back in December I was out food adventuring with Tyler and Gina. We went to a food truck event that was by downtown Tucson. It was a we bit chilly, but as an adventure goes, totally worth it!

*I secretly, or not so secretly, would love to food truck it. When I was fourteen I went back to Ohio for the summer and I got to work with my cousin at a portable doughnut stand they owned at different fairs around Lima. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! Apparently I loved cooking and talking to people then too, because I would totally love doing something like that again!*

Now back to the story, we had fun, we tried some different foods and ended up standing by a Cuban sandwich truck munchin' on the Cuban we just bought. Talking about it like we were flavor experts (which is something we always do together, so warning to whoever may come out with T&G and myself for food, we dissect and talk about food like you can't believe :) Anywho... while standing by said truck, there was a guy who was eating a popsicle (and yes, it was CHILLY outside, yet there was an homemade popsicle vendor out and people were eating them!) that we randomly started talking to, his name was Andy.

I don't remember who started the conversation, but the four of us ended up talking for a bit... I remember us talking about Cuban sandwiches and who made better/worse ones than the food truck in town. We talked about the popsicle he was eating, which was some tart berry one (I personally would have gone for the spicy chocolate fudge one :) and I'm sure I said he was crazy for eating it in the cold. It was a friendly enough conversation, but soon enough we started to all get cold and decided to move around, heading our different ways for more food tasting. So we said our byes and nice to meet you's. By the time we were done talking, he had turned into the cute guy with pretty eyes that seemed to smile whenever we made eye contact.

T&G and I moved on and ended up by the BBQ truck. Then Andy popped back over from where he had gone and we all started talking some more. We all talked about what we do and where we're from. We found out he was from the same town Tyler is from; Andy is a few years older so, no they didn't know any of the same people. We asked if he knew any Mormons growing up because Tyler would probably know them, small towns and being Mormon, we tend to know each other. No such luck, he didn't remember knowing any. He asked a few questions about the church and we answered them and probably told him more than he wanted to know :)  I remember asking him questions about himself and him asking some back. It was the four of us talking, but sometimes I focused in on just him. Come on, he was cute and really nice, it just made sense. We ended meeting a few of his friends that he was with and talked to them for a bit too.

By the end of this last conversation, I had found out he would be working an event that I was doing someones hair and make-up for the next night. It was funny, I told him I would have to tell her to go and show off my handy work to build his confidence in my haircuttin abilities, because by then I had offered to do his hair. Tyler and Gina however complimented my skills with shears so I think he felt more comfortable with my abilities ;) He had also given me his business card and told me if I ever needed a DJ to call. We then said our byes again, he headed with his friends and the three of us headed to the car to warm up. It was really freaking cold by then!

That night when I got home, I shot him an email telling him it was nice to meet him and to holla if he really did want a haircut. I also pulled missionary (because that was when I was first in the missionary zone) by sending him the mormon.org website that could answer any questions/clarify The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for him. He emailed me back a nice reply and said he might take me up on the haircut offer, we had exchanged numbers a few emails later so he could call when he was ready to chop his mop (He obviously wasn't interested in muah since he had my email and later my number, but never called, so even back then I figured he must just smile and be nice to everyone and not to worry about it... Look at how grown up my though process is about guys, aren't you so proud?)... Now fast forward to last Thursday.

Andy text me during my drawing class to know if I had time that day or Friday to cut his hair. Funny enough my Institute class got canceled for that day (Thursday) the previous Tuesday (my teacher was going out of town), so I had time to cut his hair that I normally wouldn't. I had made some homemade limeade, brought it with me and headed his way to chop a mop. Which by the way he liked, mmmm, homemade limeade!

Now here is the real reason for this post, holy momma! When I saw him again, my jaw dropped. I didn't remember him being as hot, having as pretty of eyes, or being as tall as he was. No joke, I don't know if I hid my attraction that well when I first saw him, I even asked him if he was sure he wanted to cut his hair because it looked so nice. Whenever I would look at him during any of our conversation I couldn't help but smile. Thankfully he smiled back every time... maybe it was because he felt awkward with the girl cutting his hair checking him out? I don't know ;) I might have stammered my words a little too. Seriously yo, he is a looker, and he is nice, and smart, and a hard worker, and has a passion for things (music and bicycles were the obvious ones :) and it was so comfortable talking to him; I enjoyed our conversation! I'm looking forward to the next haircut for some more talk time, I'm just sayin'. I for sure didn't mean to take too long on his haircut, I just think I was enjoying talking to him, so his haircut might have taken a weee bit longer than a guys cut normally would. lol. Positive note: He didn't seem to mind.

 I can tell you one thing for sure and end this post with a smiley face... this was the first haircut I have given a cute guy that gave me a great thank you/goodbye hug when I was finished (besides my cute nephews of course, I make them hug me though, so they probably don't count) Let's hope Andy stays good on his word of being in touch soon. I'll let ya know :)

New England Baby!!!

Hehe.

Let me tell you a little story...

Once upon a time, there was a girl who loved to adventure. Granted, she doesn't get to do it as frequently as she wants, but still, she tells herself adventuring is in her blood. She is finishing up her first year of college (which by the way she really loves!), getting over a guy (who wasn't blogged about all that much, but future "lessons learned" post may be written about him), and learning to be a better disciple of Jesus Christ, which is hard, but such a blessing in her life!

Okay, Okay, I don't know if I can write in that context until the end of the story, so I'm going to translate it into Sarah speak for the middle part of the story and then give it a happy The End. K? k.

So life has been a little hectic with school and work. I have been doing hair like crazy and having to keep up on tons of homework, but thankfully, the Lord has kept His promise in helping me with school. Institute is the way to go! It has been a HUGE blessing in my life spiritually on so many levels, and it is absolutely amazing to me that by "sacrificing" a couple hours for class each week, the Lords promised blessings are happening in my life. School is busy, but somehow I'm getting everything done, even with good grades A's & B's baby! 

I'm completely exhausted some days and am very ready for the summer though; which is what this blog post is really all about... I'm throwin' in a hehe again. he.he.

So I didn't know what I was going to do for the summer. I had multiple options, school full time, summer job p/t with school p/t, work full time, go and visit family for a good chunk of the time, go on a work adventure out of state or just try something new! I had been praying though, and felt a little confused that I hadn't received guidance on what to do exactly, but I felt peaceful that I didn't have to worry, everything would work itself out. So, I stopped worrying about it. I felt peaceful that much I knew, so I was going to trust the Lord and hang out til I knew what I was supposed to do. However, the lease was going up on my apartment April 30. Thankfully I felt I should do a month to month for May, but nothing more... so hopefully the "everything" working out would also include a place to live!

And as of today, everything is working out!!! My summer plans, work and living situation fell into place within a five day period. It was just cool! It's kinda like how everything fell into place when I moved back up to Utah a few years ago. Fun adventures are for sure ahead of me, but I'm thinking there is going to be a few lessons to be learned too. I LOVE seeing the Lords hand in my life. I LOVE IT!!!

My summer will now be spent in Maine! Remember from posts a few years ago how much I wanted to go to New England?! Well, now I get to and get paid to do it! I get my flight paid for and I get to live in the amazing mountains next to a lake for two months teaching pottery! Seriously! I get to teach, play with clay, live in a farm house, and adventure on my day off every week in New England! *hands randomly clapping right now and a huge smile is on my face*

The Tuesday before last, right before I left school to head to Institute I had the impression to look on craigslist for a summer job (which side note: I had been doing a few weeks previous, but felt I wouldn't find anything so I quite looking) so I did. The job at the top of the list was titled, Potter Instructor for a Summer Camp in Maine. I clicked on that bad boy immediately and read what was required. Low and behold, I was qualified! So, I headed to my Institute class and right before class started was able to forward my resume and a cover letter to the posting.

Within two hours of sending that email, I got a call back from the camp. The Assistant Director lived in Tucson and wanted to ask me a few questions and tell me about the camp. He told me if I was still interested to go online and fill out the online application, which I did right after getting off the phone with him, and he said I would hear back from them once they got my application. The following day, I got a call from the Camp Director, wanting to set up an interview. I set up the interview to meet with the AD in Tucson the following day. Thursday came, I brought some of my art work and ceramic pieces with me to the interview at Raging Sage (a cute coffee shop here in town), a good attitude, and a lot of faith. Prayers were for sure being said ;) The interview went really well!

It was amazing to see that working at a summer camp a few years ago (random right?), taking and LOVE ceramics this last semester, taking and LOVING all of my art classes really, being a teacher at church for kids, and being an educator for Zotos all played a role in me being qualified for this little adventure. The AD said he wanted to speak with my ceramics teacher and as soon as he did, he would let me know if I got the job. Monday came, the AD called in the morning and said he still hadn't talked to my teacher, so he couldn't offer me the job. I told him I was heading to school and would talk with my teacher to see if he would be able to call him back... I got to school and my ceramics teacher was late to class, but as soon as I saw him I knew he had just talked to the AD. Apparently he said good things because within a half hour the Director called and asked me if I wanted to work at the camp!

Ahhh yay! I even get to fly out a few days before needing to head to camp and visit Boston and New Hampshire and play with Megan and her family!!! I even found out that there is a chapel I can go to that is only a few miles from camp. What a blessing right... Maine is not full of Mormons, but there is a place close for me to go to church :) I even got permission already to have Sunday mornings off so I can go! I'm going to call the Bishop out there in the next few weeks and see if he knows anyone who would be able to pick me up and take me back if I am unable to get a ride there.

So the moral of the story is, the Lord knows and loves this girl so much and understands that she needed a break and an adventure all at the same time so He blessed her with an amazing opportunity to use the skills and talents she has acquired over the last few years... She is going to be working long days, but see's it will be such a good working break. Now she just need to pack up her stuff and find storage for it for a couple months! And maybe a place to stay from June 1-June 12 *grin*

This is for sure one happy girl, with one adventurous summer ahead!

The End.

Talking of Christ

This past month I have realized that I talk about God A LOT! People God is amazing!

I talk and recommend prayer to almost everyone. I recommend prayer because a faithful prayer offered in righteousness can call down the Powers of Heaven! I guess I always recommend prayer to people because it's one of the only sure ways I know how to find peace and answers for life situations. I talk about the scriptures and how they’ve blessed my life and how I know you can find answers to life’s questions by reading them. I know that the scriptures are another sure way to find peace, but it’s sometimes easier to bust out in prayer (silent or vocal) than busting open some scripture. *putting it out there that sometimes it essential to bust out both to get an answer to a prayer*

I talk about the Temple and the Plan of Happiness because without those two things, life wouldn’t be worth living because we wouldn’t be able to have Eternal Families and live with God again. My testimony is strengthened each time I talk about these things… maybe being an over-thinker in other areas of my life has its benefits in Gospel living. However, not everyone appreciates my talking a lot and over-thinking skills. I have recently been told that my talking about religious things “all the time” bothers some people.

At first I felt bad and thought I should change and shouldn't talk about religious stuff as much... and then I thought, DUH, that's a REALLY bad idea!!! I had been prompted to memorize another scripture last month and when this conversation about talking “too” much about God came up, said scripture came to mind. I love having the companionship of the Holy Ghost to lead and guide me. (I'm officially plugging that everyone should memorize scripture, it’s pretty much amazing to have the words of Christ swirling around in my noggin’ I’m not gonna lie). Here is the scripture:

2Nephi 25:36
"We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophecy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins".

I realized this is why I talk of Christ. When I think about my eternal family (both the family I have now and the family I hope to have in the future), I want them to know I know that it is through Christ that we may gain our eternal reward. I want them to know that even though each of us has our flaws and imperfections, God loves us. He gave us a means by where we can repent and return to live with Him.


I love my family and friends, their examples of faith uphold me and I hope I can set an example for them too by continuing to talk of and rejoice in Christ. I truly am blessed with all of the people in my life and am blessed to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I love this life and all the learning that is available to us! How sweet it is!

*UPDATE* I have realized recently that it may not only be that I talk of Christ, but how I do it. I need to work on being more sensitive to people. Being blunt is a natural gift... not always, or even most of the time, a good gift, but still. I know I need to work on charity and loving people and when I have a lover for people, the way I say something will come out more kind and loving rather than pushy and condescending. Oh how I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the knowledge that we each can work on the faults that we have so we can become more like our Savior!

Geology 101

Simply put, the earth is made up of rock! Lots and LOTS of Rock! I had a spiritual thought process (after memorizing a scripture in The Book of Mormon [side note: which by the way is one of the coolest experiences of my life to be able to memorize scripture and I KNOW that it is not because I am cool like that, but because the Lord is helping me too! Ahhmazing and highly recommended!]) one night after leaving my Geology class that went something like this…

Rock is EVERYWHERE… it’s on the earth, in the earth; it is something that is always replenishing. When it gets put into the atmosphere because of a volcanic eruption, it comes back down to earth and goes through the rock cycle… coming up in the earth and going back down in a continuous cycle of recycling (remember I said “simply put”). It will even go through the erosion process mixing with dirt, it will be swept in the oceans and be deposited on the sea floor and go through the rock cycle there too!

Okay, rocks are pretty cool now that I know a little bit more about them, but I LOVE the fact that in a science class I am able to learn even more about Jesus Christ and how I can live my life according to His Gospel too! Now onto the scripture and connection with Rock *grin*

“And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build, they cannot fall”.    –Helaman 5:12

Jesus Christ is the ROCK! He is EVERYWHERE! He is even as the earth (in oh so many ways, but I’m only going to touch one main thought process here) in the sense that He is made up of Rock… the earth has three layers… the crust (rock) which we can see and what we can literally build our foundations on… the mantle (more rock) where pressure and heat are necessary to refine and makes rock stronger through physical and chemical change… and the core which is made primarily of iron (think of what “The Rod” is made of ;) which I look at as Christ being centered on the word of God!

If we build/center our lives on the ROCK our Redeemer Jesus Christ WE CANNOT FALL! What a glorious promise! I don’t want be like the foolish man who built his house on the sand, because we all know that when the rains came down and the floods came up, the house on the sand washed away! I want to be like the wise man and build my house on the rock because after those rains and floods the house on the rock stood still!

30 x 30

One of my goals this year is to be in better health. This includes living my old mantra of "No Fried, No Sweet, No Soda" while continually trying to eat better and exercise more. I'll be focusing on the Word of Wisdom as my dietary guideline and starting to bike (which is possible in the winter in Arizona :) and taking an exercise class this semester at Pima.

I already wanted to get healthier and then my brother Riley suggested he and I compete in a weight loss competition against one another during this semester of school. Yeah, I am totally down! This semester I also happen to be turning 30! Woot! Woot! My birthday is in April so my goal is to lose 30 by 30.  Achievable? I think so! It'll take a lot of hard work and determination, but healthy eating with healthy exercise and a healthy competition between siblings success is inevitable and will be a great story in the life of Sarah!

Plus, I hope this will be the nudge I need to stay up with my food blog! As of today I have not posted since November (Eeeek!), but when I get home (since I'm out of town til Friday/Saturday) PlanCookTaste.blogspot.com will be back in action! Keep an eye out and hands ready to cook.

I am so excited!!! Better health and a stronger testimony of the Word of Wisdom? Yes please! Thirty by thirty here I come!

p.s. Thanks to you both, the amazing Ereeen and Selica for being great examples of determination and will power. Truly you are both SpecTaCulaR! (picture lots of fire works going off with this word :)