There's no place like home...There's no place like home..

I love, love being home. There really is no place like home especially during the holidays. I think I am more excited for Christmas then I have since I realized Santa didn't exist. I was able to go shopping with Saydie today. It was fun to walk around the mall with her and talk since we don't get to spend as much time together as we used to. I also have been able to spend loads of time cooking with mom. We have made more candy delights then I have the whole time I was at school. Our poor chocolates had a meltdown and the divinity only worked once, but it was very fun (and very tasty:). Sometimes I wish that time would stop on the moments you enjoy and make it last forever, but then I remember that if I look for the silver lining then I will always have moments like these that I enjoy. They will just be a little bit different. Only five days till Christmas!

Lost and Found

Sorry I know two posts in one day is a little overkill, but I wanted to add one thought. In college it is very easy to get lost in the crowds especially at a big campus. I feel like a little fish in an ocean. Then finals come along and I essentially become a hermit because I'm bad at balancing friends and school. So then there comes the stress and feeling of being lost, as I mentioned earlier.
Then out of the blue someone steps out of their comfort zone and shows that they notice you and care. I had a friend like that today. Her name is Maveny and after class she just walked and talked with me. A simple thing I know, but I felt noticed and not so lost in this big sea of college. So if you don't think what you say or do affects someone, it really does and they really appreciate it. Even when life is crazy try to take a moment and look outside yourself to someone else they need you as much as you need them.

The Bark Yorkshire

I love surprises, so it is good that life is full of them. My surprise happened the other day in the family history lab. I have been given the project to learn about a family in my history that had a child born before 1900 so kind of randomly I chose to search for my Grandma Carter's Father's family. I had to find dates of birth, marriage, and death and record them for the first few projects.
This final project, though, had me searching for the actual story of the family. This has been really neat because there is so much to find, it is a lot of work but I love it! So anyway back to the family history lab. I was trying to find information about Walter St. John (my great great grandfather) and I couldn't seem to find very much so I decided just to go back a little bit further and see what I found. At first I didn't find very much then like buried treasure I found that Walter's father and immigrated to America in 1843 and then I found his immigration records from the boat The Bark Yorkshire! I found some of his family and learned more about his story.
He and his family had been converted in England by some elders and had promptly left for America. On the way they hit a storm that broke the foremast, mainmast, and mizzenmast! So they came into the port in New Orleans with just the hull of the vessel. They lost two children on the voyage and the mother and another daughter died on their trek across the plains. I can't even imagine the hardship they went through and my Great great great grandfather was only 4 years old! I am so grateful for these ancestors who sacrificed so much for me and made it possible for me to have the gospel in my life! So now I am happily addicted to genealogy. :)

Snow, Stress, and Sleep

It snowed on campus the other day and I loved it! I wanted to run around with my arms spread wide and my face up toward the sky, but of course there were classes to get to and the little problem that people might think I'm crazy. My goal is to be able do what I want without caring about what other people think..someday. So I didn't run or jump or play, but I loved the snow anyway.
Finals are coming up and I am stressed out so pray for me, please. The good news, though, is I get to come home in one week and then I can sleep! See you all soon!

My BIG Announcement

Oh how I love Thanksgiving! This year it was especially sweet since I was able to truly appreciate being with my family because of being away at college. The fun part about visiting them is they believed I had a BIG secret. Let me explain and show you how my crazy family loves to blow things a little out of proportion.

I have never been the one to pamper myself, go shopping, or get my nails done (I'm too busy playing basketball or reading:). So I decided to surprise them and get my hair done- highlighted and cut. It was a perfect plan, they wouldn't know that I'd stopped by sister Peck's to get it done and she wouldn't tell them. Then poof! They would see me on Thanksgiving with a whole new hair style.

Well as anyone knows plans don't always work out. I decided to head home a little early and say hello to my grandparents the only problem being that my Dad was visiting them because of the infamous BYU vs. U of U game. He saw me and asked why I was there. I of course couldn't tell him. He then proceeded to jump to conclusions ( I was engaged, going to soon be engaged, I had a secret boyfriend that I was secretly visiting or something along those lines). He then called mom and my other family and it became this big fiasco over a silly hairstyle. Needless to say I didn't tell them why I was there and they continued to fret over what my BIG announcement was. I think they felt a little silly when they found it was just my hair:) I fear for my family's sanity when I do have a BIG announcement to tell them.

I also learned to make the famous Carter pies as you can see from the pictures. I was tempted to add another picture because of the warmth it brought to mine and my mother's hearts, but I fear Saydie might shave my eyebrows off if I post it :) so these will have to do.

Precious Moments

Right now I am pretty happy with who I am. Of course I would like to be a little bit better ballet dancer and I would like to be able to resist ice cream, but other than that I have only one thing that really bugs me. I have trouble living in the moment. There are times I wish I could go back to moments in my life and enjoy them more. If I had maybe they would have lasted longer or I could have appreciated them more, but then I lose moments that are happening right now. Like last night when I was able to school some guys in my ward in basketball (not really, but I didn't shame the family name so I think I did ok:). So I guess there is only one solution and that is to not dwell on the past and make my own moments that I can cherish without worrying they will end too soon.

You actually think?

One thing I love about college is it actually teaches you to think. Crazy huh?:) But really, when you are in elementary through high school you are given theorems and rules that you have to drill into your head. Your taught, in a sense, to act like a parrot. Say what everyone wants you to say. In college I am actually invited to share what I think about the subject the class is discussing and I love it.
In a way it helps me to open my eyes. I especially love my writing class for this reason. There are people in my class who paint amazing pictures with words; not just of subjects and scenery, but feelings and life in general. The colorful trees of fall are no longer just stark images on the horizon, but splashes of color on a canvas that give off the aroma of a crisp Thanksgiving morning and glisten like colorful diamond tiaras in the dawn.
Another amazing thing about college ( I know the mind reels that there could actually be more) is that I have come to realize that nothing in this life is simple. Think of a table. A boring, brown, square table. In reality, though, it is very far from boring. It is constantly exerted on by forces and gravity, it is made of wood which is made of molecules and atoms and quarks that are constantly moving, but you can't see them. Then you add the chemical reaction of the staining of the wood and so on. It never ends.
I know your thinking "It's a table...so what?" But what boggles my mind is that this complexity goes for everything. Nothing in the world is simple and that is what makes it wonderful. You can constantly be discovering new things the only problem being we only have a lifetime to learn and discover all these things.
All this thinking makes me so awed and inspired by my Father in Heaven and that he has created such an amazing world, and even our own bodies, so that we are constantly learning and growing. Again the only draw back being we only have this life to discover it; so why not live it to the fullest?