21. Reflection

This has been a great assignment for me to do for this class. It has been fun to keep a blog and I think that I will keep this blog going. It has also helped me to realize that I need to keep a personal journal. Rereading my blogs, it has helped me relive my memories in college and how it is so fun to read back through my blogs and re think about the fun memories I wrote about. I thought this was a great idea to do for a class, I really do appreciate doing this assignment. It has helped with writing and I look forward to keeping it up!

20. Cannon Center food

So I have decided that sometimes the cannon center food can be so friggin delicious. But sometimes, I don't even know what the food is. Don't get me wrong it is good food for a college cafeteria. It just is not the same as a home cooked meal. The one meal I love in the cannon center is the breakfast. They have the BEST omelets. They also have the best chocolate milk EVER!!

19. Skype

So, one thing I have discovered in college is skype. I seriously have decided this is one of the sweetest things in technology. It has been so nice to actually see my family and talk to them like they are actually there It has also been nice to see my friends and talk to them. It is amazing how far technology has come.

18. Rick Millett

This is seriously probably the sweetest guy I have ever met. He is the best person I have met here at BYU. I met him actually two weeks before I came out here to BYU and then we ran into each other at New Student Orientation. Ever since that first night that we started talking after New Student Orientation, we have either hung out or talked on the phone. This guy has seriously made me feel so important and he has made me feel like I am so important to him which really does mean a lot. He has understood me so well and knows so much about me within such little time. He has became one of my best friends and I feel like I can tell him anything and just be myself and he will still just laugh and be understanding. He is nice to everyone and always thinks the best of people. He always looks at the positive side of people and is overall a genuine guy. He always does what makes me happy and does so many funny things that puts a smile on my face. This guy is my boyfriend, Rick Millett and he is awesome in every single way!!

17. Friends

One thing I have realized since I have been here is realizing who my good friends where at home. I had a really fun graduating class and all of us were really close. But I also did realize that I do not keep in touch with all of them. The three friends people that I keep in touch with the most are my three best friends and my sister, Jehan, Shelley, and Taylor. We were all basically sisters. We all swam on the same swim team, and saw each other almost everyday. We were there for each other through the hard times and the best times. Swimming was the biggest part of our life for all of us. We all had goals and that was to all swim at Division one colleges, and we all succeeded. Jehan goes to Nebraska, Shelley goes to San Diego State, and Taylor goes to Rutgers. All of us were so close, and we all did everything together. We have still been talking a lot and it is so good to see them over break. It has also amazed me about all of the sweet and fun people I have met here. It is crazy how I just got here four months ago and I have made great friends that will probably last me a life time. It is crazy how many fun and awesome people you can meet in your life and how many of them stay with you.

16. My Family

So I know that everyone says that they have the best family but I honestly can say that I have the best family ever!! I have so many people in my family, my extended family, and my mediate family is awesome. Now I have a different type a family that a lot of people I know don't have. My parents are divorced, which has been very hard for me through out my whole life. Although they split when I was two, it has been hard to deal with seeing two different families and spending time with each of them for the same amount of time. But they both remarried and now have plenty more children. My mom remarried my step dad, and they had three children, two girls and a boy. Chandler, Elle, and Hogan. My dad remarried my step mom and they had five children. Three boys, and twin girls... Seth, Gage, Savanna, Rachel, and Jace. I am the only one that was born with my mom and dad, all of my siblings are half. But it really doesn't matter to me, they still feel like they are my full brothers and sisters. I honestly could not have asked for a better family. Both of my step parents have treated me like I was their own child. I have just realized that I have such a wonderful family and they have done so much for me. During this Christmas season, I have just been thinking of all the stuff that I am thankful for and my family keeps popping into the picture. I love them so much.

15. SNOW

SNOW!! It is my all time favorite thing ever! I am from Colorado so of course I love snow. I love to snowboard, ski, go sledding, and play in the snow. The cold is so much easier to deal with when it is snowing outside. It is so pretty and white and it just looks like the Earth is so clean. Now, in Colorado, there have been three snow days! So, I for sure miss the Colorado snows, but the snow here in Provo is also so pretty. I really don't think I could live anywhere where it didn't snow. Having snow during Christmas time is also so nice! To me, Christmas doesn't feel like Christmas unless it is snowing. I don't know how people can live in a place where it doesn't snow over Christmas time. The snow looks the prettiest when it is snowing in the mountains. To me that is seriously the prettiest site ever in my life! Just looking at the snow made me want to write a blog about it. :)

14. Laryngitis

So....Laryngitis..... ewww right? Yeah I for sure had that this week! At first I thought it was just a cold. But then I started losing my voice. Now, I usually don't lose my voice when I am sick, it has only happened to me one other time and that is when I had strep throat. So of course I went to the doctor, it wasn't strep but it was Laryngitis. So I was fine with that, it's just a cold in your throat. But I realized something.... I HATE NOT TALKING. It sucks! I was completely mute for two days, and the other two days I sounded like a guy going through puberty. I knew that I loved to talk, but I didn't realize how much I talked. It was seriously so hard for me to not talk. Everyone was so shocked that I couldn't talk. I didn't realize how much I took my voice and talking for granted, I know that sounds kind of weird, but it is seriously so hard to not talk to people. Talking to people is such a big part of.....well.... your life. It was seriously so hard to have people not understand you and in order for them to hear you, they have to be like an inch away from your face. It stinks. It didn't help that I had three Reviews to go to and I had plenty of questions for all of them. I had to write all the questions and have the TA read them and then answer my questions after the class how sad is that? But I just thought it was crazy how much I use my voice everyday. Crazy what you take for granted.

13. Weekends

I never realized how much I loved weekends. I mean, I knew I liked them in high school, it was a good thing to have a break. But in college, I feel like I am so much more grateful for them. Not only is it a time to hang out with friends but it is also two days of rest basically. I mean, it is for me at least. I sleep SO MUCH over the weekend. It is seriously probably the only two days I can relax and actually get a good amount of sleep. This idea just popped into my head randomly and I really didn't realize how much I love the weekends. I seriously couldn't imagine not having a weekend or a break through out the whole school year... gosh that would not be fun at all. Not only is it a break academically, but also it is a break from swimming for me. Swimming seriously wares me out so much and by the end of the week I am just exhausted. The weekend gives my body time to, regenerate, if you will. Weekends are seriously such a nice two day break each weekend and I really couldn't imagine it any differently!!!

12. New Moon

So I know all of the other girls out there were all so stoked for the movie, New Moon to come out. I know that I was!! I am in love with all of the books and have read all four books of the Twilight Saga. They are so good!! I know I probably sound so cliche with all of the other girls out there, but honestly the books and the movies so far have been so good! In the books, Edward (the very attractive and dreamy vampire) I imagined to be so dreamy looking and that no other man would look as good as Edward. In the movie, to be honest, I feel like they could have made Edward a little more attractive. Don't get me wrong, Robert Pattison is still very very VERY good looking guy. I just think that the producers could have made him look a little better and not as vampireish if that makes since. Maybe this is just me, but that is what I thought in the Twilight movie and in New Moon especially. I think that the producers did a really good job with Jacob's character. For those of you who don't know Jacob, he is a werewolf who starts to get really good looking in the second book New Moon. The producers for the movie version of New Moon did an excellent job! Jacob is so good looking! Even better looking than I imagined in the book. Jacob compared to Edward, Jacob honestly looked better than Edward which isn't really how it is supposed to be in the book. But I don't know maybe that is just what I think. But I for sure became part of "team Jacob" after seeing the Movie version of New Moon. :)

11. Eating Healthy

Ok, so I have a weakness... It is a sweet tooth. I LOVE sweets, from chocolate to cake, I almost love it all. Especially with Christmas season coming up, it is the best time for sweets. Candy galore! Gingerbread aka my biggest weakness of the holidays. But anyways, I really decided that I would try to be a good girl and try to watch how many sweets I eat. Especially doing a sport in college, I need to make sure I am being very healthy. Our coach reminds us every day not to eat a lot of sweets. Now, for some people this might not be so hard, but for me, it is SO HARD. Now to be honest, I haven't really been thinking about how many sweets I have been eating each day. But within the past couple of weeks, I have started to watch how many sweets I have been eating per day and really trying to eat more healthy. As good as sweets taste, I have physically felt so much healthier and I have also felt like I have had more energy. Now don't get me wrong, splurging on sweets every once and a while has been good. And I know that I don't really need to watch my weight or anything. I just have felt better eating more on the healthy side and not eating sweets as much. I have also seen an improvement in my swimming at practice and at meets. Also, I am not as tired and have been more awake through out the day. It has been really interesting to see how big of an effect food has on your body. So cool to see that!!

10. BYU beat Utah!

One of the best games I have every watched. The last touch down in over time was so sweet! Way to go Cougs! You did beat Utah! I think the rivalry is so awesome. Rivalry between two teams is one of the coolest things about playing a sport. It gets your adrenalin going. It makes you get into the sport so much more intense and fun when you are playing against your rivalry team. I think the BYU football team really did deserve to beat Utah this year. They have all been working so hard. I'm sure everyone knows about what Max Hall said about the U of U football team. I honestly don't understand why so many people are freaking out about what he said. The U of U fans did terrible things to his family. I think he has a right to voice his own opinion about the U of U team. Everyone has a right to their own opinion. I really don't understand why so many people were upset with him. I am sure that a lot of people from Utah that have said some even worst things about BYU and the football team. A prime example is when the fans dumped beer all over Max Hall's family. I think that is ten times worst then saying what Max said about the U of U team I don't know, maybe that is just my opinion

9. Finals

Ohhhh finals.... JOY! I am not going to lie I am very very nervous for finals. It is the first semester of finals in college and I have a feeling they are going to be very difficult. Especially with how hard the tests have been here at BYU. Back in High School, tests were no problem for me! I would study somewhat and do very well. Although here at BYU, I have studied for over 10 hours for tests and still don' t do very well. I am scared to even imagine how hard the finals are going to be for my big classes. Oh well, I guess I will study as hard as I can and see how it goes. That is all I can really do. I just don't like the fact how college makes me feel like I am not smart sometimes. College equals the hardest thing I have done mentally.

8. Christmas Season

It's the most wonderful time of the year! It is so true! I love the christmas season, it is seriously the best and happiest season ever. I know that is cliche to say because everyone says that about the Christmas season but honestly it is!!! Everything about it is so happy, the music, the movies, the christmas light, the christmas decorations, SANTA, gingerbread houses, christmas caroling... the list goes on! During Christmas, I can never be in a bad mood during this season. Everyone is in the mood for giving, all the children seeing Santa Clause, cooking and FAMILY TIME! Especially this year I think that I will appreciate the Christmas season more, especially being away from home. It will be nice to spend time with all of my family and being able to have a wonderful christmas at home! One of my other favorite things is walking around the mall, during christmas time, the mall by my house always goes all out during Christmas season. Everything is decorated, christmas music is playing in every store, the Christmas sales are going on. I don't know what it is about the mall but it is my favorite place to go during the holidays. My family also has a tradition that the week before Christmas, we go drive around town and look at all the Christmas lights. There are so many traditions that my family has for the Christmas holiday and it is always so much fun how long the Christmas season last. I love it so much and I am so happy it is that time of year!!!

7. Personal Narrative- Breaking my leg

Vail, Colorado, one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Also, one of my favorite places to travel. I always get so excited to go to there with my dad’s side of my family. My dad is one out of seven children of Grandma and Grandpa Clawson and they have over 40 grand children. With this big of family, we obviously have such a fun time together no matter what type of vacation it is.

Almost everything about Vail is amazing. I love waking up to the smell of camp fire or just beautiful mountain freshness. I also love waking up to either a new fresh coat of snow on the ground or the birds chirping in the nice cool summer daylight. Snowboarding at the Vail Ski resort has the prettiest snow and such fresh powder that it feels like heaven on Earth.

Our family has had so many fond memories at Vail and there are still more to come. There was incident back when I was six years old that was such a scary thing for my family and I that we haven’t forgotten it but now look back on it and just remember it as a crazy event that happened to me when I was a young child.

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon in summer. Our family just got back from church (A branch up in Vail). It was nice and warm which meant bike time. My cousins and I loved to ride our bikes whenever we got the chance and we weren’t busy with family events. My cousins and I always loved riding our bikes and that’s usually all we did.

“I call yours Tayler!” I yelled. I always wanted to be like my older cousin Tayler. We would always trade each other’s bikes and I always wanted Tayler’s bike. We usually ride our bikes down a “really steep” hill (we thought it was really steep at the time), and then across a bridge and we would do that over and over again until someone told us to stop.

My dad was dating this girl named Melissa at the time and I really liked her. She seemed like such a cool girl. Melissa came out for a little bit to watch all the cousins ride bikes. I really wanted to impress her.

“Melissa! Watch how fast I can go down this hill.” I said excitingly.

“Ok! Just be careful!” She yelled, I was already half way down the hill. I could feel the wind in my hair I knew I was going SUPER fast. I looked back just to make sure Melissa could see my awesome speed that I was catching. She was. Right after I looked at her… BOOM! My front tire hit the pole of the bridge that we cross. All I could see was my self flip over and myself getting closer and closer to these huge boulders by the Colorado River. All I heard was bang and then a crack, and then blackness. The blackness finally went away and I saw my leg just laying there, limp as can be. It was the worst pain I have ever felt in my life, all I did cry, I couldn’t breath because of the pain. Melissa already went to go get my dad, and my cousins ran away, they were scared and didn’t know what to do.

A softball team was walking by and they saw me in pain and balling my eyes out. The carefully brought me up from the river, my father was already there, as well as the ambulance. Every minute that passed got more and more painful. All I heard was “hospital,” “broken,” and “give her oxygen.”

“Am I going to die daddy?” That’s all I could ask because I had no idea what was going on.

“Oh honey you aren’t going to die I promise, I’m right here.” My dad said as he was crying.

The put an oxygen mask on my face and all I started to fall asleep, I woke up and I was in an ambulance. I kept wanting to go back to sleep to get myself away from the pain but they wouldn’t let me. All I could see was my leg cushioned with a huge temporary cast. And all I felt was piercing pains and I would start balling every time that happened.

“ You are such a strong little girl!” the paramedic kept saying. “We are going to need to take her into surgery once we get to the hospital in Denver.” She whispered to my dad. I was so scared. When I got to the hospital, they put me right into the operation room. They gave me some medicine and then I started to just talk to the doctor. The next thing I knew I had 4 metal rods sticking out of my femur. It felt so weird, especially that I couldn’t walk or bend my left leg.

“The Surgery went great!” The doctor was telling my parents. “She broke the hardest bone to break in her body, the Femur. She is very lucky she didn’t hurt her head and she was wearing a helmet, this could have turned out a lot worst!” My mom just prayed right then and there to thank Heavenly father that everything is ok.

This was probably the scariest thing I have ever had to go through for my family and I. It made me realize how lucky I was to not have any other complications and also how I was being watched over. It also made me realize what handicap children have to go through with being in a wheel chair. It made me have a different perspective in life.

6. BYU going to Cali!

This week the BYU swim team went to California for a swim meet (Nike Cup). It turned out to be a really fun. It also made me realize how much people notice our standards everywhere we go. At the beginning of the year everyone kept telling us athletes that we represent BYU wherever we go, we therefore represent the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. When we came to the meet, people could tell that we had different beliefs unlike other churches and colleges. We could all just tell by the atmosphere that people thought of us differently. Swimmers tend to have pretty bad language especially at intense meets like this. Many of the swimmers would look at us when we would just be nice to people and say good job to our competitors. At the end of the meet we had so many coaches come up to us and tell us how much they appreciate our humbleness and how we were good sports and how well we represented our university. I just thought it was really cool how as BYU we send out such a good message to everyone we come in contact with. I also think it was sweet how other people noticed our good example and how we care about our beliefs and how we know that we need to respect our University.

5. Facebook Addiction

Everyone has a facebook, I honestly haven't met one person that doesn't have a facebook. I am not going to lie, I love facebook. But I think it is getting to the point where I am kind of becoming addicted.... I don't know if that is the right word to call it but I know that I am for sure on it way too much. Every single time I am on my computer I need to have facebook up. Sometimes while I am doing my homework, I get distracted and start facebooking and get caught up in the "facebook world" and then I finally realize that I wasted an hour or more on facebook when I should actually be doing my homework. I really need to figure out how to stop looking at facebook so much. Especially with finals coming up and important papers to do. I honestly don't even know why it is so addicting but it just is. I don't think I am the only one that is in this situation.... or at least I hope not. I was just thinking about that today while I was doing some homework and realized that I really need to get better about not checking my facebook all of the time.

4. Going Home

I didn't realize how much I miss home until about a month into college. I realized that I need my parents more than I thought and how much I miss my family and my friends, home cooked meals, my car, etc. Don't get me wrong, I love college! It is so much fun and I love living on my own. I am just really looking forward to going home for a couple days just to be back with my family and in my own bed. You really don't realize what you are missing until you have been away from it for a while. I am also very excited to see my coach and my swim team. My swim team was like my family. I saw them more than my family on hard training weeks. It will be really fun to go back to the old times. Hopefully college hasn't changed me too much! :) I love being at BYU, just sometimes, the dorm rooms and the Cannon Center food doesn't feel as homey as I would like. I also realized how much a mother does for you. With me being sick in the past couple weeks, I realized how my mom took such good care of me when I was sick. Now, at college, I actually have to get the medicine for myself, and figure out ways to make me feel better. I really missed my mom just comforting me and also just knowing exactly what to to with every sickness. I guess this just comes with the price of growing up.

3. Music and Mood

What I have realized lately is how much music affects my mood. Or how it also reflects the mood you are in. Whenever anyone is listening to a certain kind of music, you can tell what mood they are in. If it is rap, it usually means they are getting excited, or pumped up for something. When you are listening to slow, alternative rock, it usually means you miss you someone or are just in a chill mood. The list goes on. Especially living the dorms, while I pass every room, I usually hear different music coming from different rooms, it is actually pretty cool because I know what type of mood each person is in. It has just made me think how interesting music really affects your mood.

2. Tests....

So this weekend I realized that tests here a not just a piece of cake exam. I kind of did realize this going into my physical science test. I really did study harder than I have ever before in my life but apparently that didn't really help seeing that I got a terrible score on it. I went to TWO test reviews, TWO tutor sessions, and have read ALL of the chapters, taken notes.... all that jazz. What the heck is that supposed to mean? Should I just not study and see what I get? Because that is what a couple of my friends did and the got above an 80% on the test. Why is it that I work so hard and can never get a good grade on a test? I felt so good about the test while I was taking it also and then once I saw my score, I was in complete shock.

I think that tests at BYU are here to trick you. Especially science tests. This is what made me realize that I really need to figure out a different testing stragety. I feel like the tests here make me really dumb about myself. I really hope I'm not the only one that feels this way. Hopefully other students here are in the same boat as me. Oh well, I guess I will just have to study harder than I have been which is so crazy to say because I really did study as much as I thought I could. I guess that is college tests for ya!

1. President Monson coming to campus

Mormons on other campus's around the United States don't have a chance to hear from our prophet Thomas S. Monson in person. BYU is the only place were we can come listen to our prophets voice in person. It is so amazing to actually be in the same room as the prophet. It is such a different feeling and I personally feel the spirit more strongly. Thomas S. Monson gives the best talks. He is funny but also inspires everyone he talks to. He wraps so many stories into the his talks and makes sure we are taking the talk to more of a personal level. It was also aweome to hear about all the Latter-Day Prophets. It was awesome how he told us a funny story about all of them. It was also cool to see how he added a lot of the terms we have been learning about in class.

Last night after the game my friend and were walking back to our dorms and say President Monson walking into his car and he waved at both of us, and everyone around him was silent in reverence for him. It was so cool to actually see him that close and person. It really made me realize how lucky we are to be going to this school and even knowing the gospel and that we do have a true prophet. I really got a comformation about that this week.