The Short List of Things I Am Thankful For

Well, Thanksgiving came and went quickly, as it always does (I mean, it's only one day!) It was a step up from last year... last year at this time I was in Madrid and some friends and I went to TGIFriday's for a Thanksgiving meal. Although they did offer an actual turkey platter, I was just in the mood for anything "American" so I think I got nachos or something.

This year, I spent Thanksgiving with my friend Tiffani's family up in Fruit Heights, UT (north of Salt Lake). It was a lot of fun! We had a huge traditional meal with lots of Tiffani's extended family and lots of pies :-) That evening, we went and saw "Enchanted," which is pretty adorable, in case you wondered. I think the boys in the family even liked it!

The only bummer was that I got a flat tire while I was up at the Stevenson's, but thankfully it was a slow leak and Tiffani's dad was kind enough to fill the tire up and give me a coupon for a local tire store, so I got it patched up in no time before I headed back to Provo on Friday.

To top it off, the Stevenson's shared one of their BYU football tickets with me for the Utah vs. BYU game, which was possibly one of the best football games I've ever been to! We scored a touchdown with about 30 seconds left to win the game.

Anyhow, I thought I'd share the short list of things I'm thankful for this year (in no significant order):

-the discovery of homemade oreos (seriously.... amazing)
-my family (seriously, the older I get, the more I love 'em!)
-having a washer and dryer in my apartment (makes life a lot easier than having to go to the laundromat!)
-being in college (I'm savoring my last few months of undergrad and looking forward to the prospects ahead)
-the Stevensons (seriously, they have been SO good to me since I've met them! They really made me feel like a part of their family for the holidays... and always, for that matter!); thanks Tiffani for letting me come hang out with you guys! :-)
-friends old and new (I love how the circle ever-expands and the appreciation for the old and new friends grows over time)
-facebook (ha, it's just fun and it makes keeing in touch SO much easier)
-dinner group (Because I'm in a rotating dinner group where we take turns cooking meals, I save money and eat much better!)
-my health
-the gospel
-my calling as a gospel doctrine teacher (I've learned a lot and it's fun!)
-adventures (I've had a lot of fun ones in the last year)
-the fact that you can play Oregon Trail online at www.virtualapple.com (flashback to elementary school!)
-Cougar Video's edited movies
-my favorite fleece blanket (well worth the minimal investment)
-discovering new music (there is a forrest of great music out there waiting to be explored!)... pandora.com has helped me discover some great new stuff
-musicals (I like to sing out loud and they make me happy... I don't care if this sounds corny)


Well, that's just a few of the good things I have to be thankful for!! Hope everyone also had a great holiday. I love this time of year :-)

Sampling vs. Savoring

I was one of those kids who wanted to do EVERYTHING. I went through a phase when I wanted to play every sport. Growing up, I tried soccer, basketball, tennis, swimming, baseball, track, gymnastics, volleyball, and powder puff football. I wanted to learn instruments; I took violin and piano lessons and since college I have really enjoyed singing and learning the guitar. I loved art. I wanted to be the president when I was in fourth grade (and I really convinced myself for a couple months that I would be the first female president of the United States). I wanted to be an Olympic athlete, and I thought about doing this via figure skating, gymnastics, bobsledding (I seriously looked into it after the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake), and the skeleton. I've gone through MANY different ideas of what I would be when I grew up - marine biologist, fiction author, doctor, psychologist, English teacher, college professor, journalist, corporate trainer... I've always thought it would be neat to spend my life learning languages. So far, I've only gotten anywhere with Spanish, but I still dream about it. I loved to be involved in clubs: SOS (Students Offering Service), Student Council, Honors Student Advisory Council (at BYU), the English Society, tutoring, etc.

Now, I don't share all of this to win your praise. I look at it and it is almost overwhelming sometimes all of the things I've tried or want to try. Since college, I have had to learn some hard lessons about time management and the reality that we can't do EVERYTHING. I've fought this for a long time, but more recently, it has become apparent that in life, we must pick and choose between different and equally good options.

Does this mean I'm giving up on my dreams? I certainly hope not. I still want to try new hobbies, learn languages, play different sports, do interesting things in a career, be involved in the community, and enjoy all that life has to offer. Variety will forever be the spice of my life. But, I'm realizing the simple truth that life is about the quality of our experiences.

As much as I want to be a Renaissance woman, I also want to be able to be able to say that I actually focused on a few things and accomplished something. I want to actually be good at one or two things. As I've grown up, I've realized that people who accomplish great things often had to sacrifice many other good things in order to achieve goals like becoming Olympic athletes or world-famous scholars. Passion and pure talent usually aren't enough; work is required to reach such potential.

Anyhow, I've found the process of widdling down my interests a challenge. Picking a career, for example, is not easy, because no one career has EVERYTHING that I want. But, refusing to make a choice will never result in satisfaction, only in the empty hopes of a possibility. Growing up means making choices, and I hope that I'm finally learning how to pick and choose the best of what's available to me, and I'm blessed to have a more-than-plentiful basket of choices.

I guess I'm cursed in a way with an interest in everything. I always thought it was a good thing to love everything, and I still think it is, but lately, I've been more envious of people who have been able to make solid decisions and stick with them, even when tempting alternatives present themselves. Open-mindedness is important, but so is focus. In the end, I don't want to just say that I sampled everything, but that I actually savored a few things.

Any thoughts on this? Is one mode of living better than the other? What have you done that's helped you to achieve this balance?

The BYU Fight Song

One of the first things I learned at New Student Orientation my freshman year at BYU was the Cougar fight song. Being able to sing it like a pro was one of our first rites of passage as BYU students. Now, I can't deny, I think "On Wisconsin" will always be my favorite, but the Cougar fight song is pretty fun (despite way too many "ra ra ra"s) and definitely part of the BYU football experience.

My roommates and I went to the BYU football game today against Colorado State. We definitely got a lot of chances to sing the fight song (we sing it after every touchdown). Here's a clip of us singing it for your enjoyment (don't hate us if we're off-key). Go Cougars! :-)