Step outside for a minute.

This weather loves me. And I love it back.

This morning as I was driving back to Orem to go to my ward here for the last time, it was warm, my windows were down, and I was feeling very blessed. I love Sundays.

Some places in this world that I love:
My dance studio.
Ogden.
My room.
The temple.
My home.

Some people in this world that I love:
My mom.
My brothers and Alison. 
My entire family.
Ben.
My roommate Barbara.
Itzel and all of my friends.

Some things in this world that I love doing:
Driving.
Dancing.
Being in the sun.
Eating. I am so hungry today.
Writing blog posts. :)

"The Best Things in Life aren't Things."

I feel like every time I get on my blog, I write the same things. I write about how lucky I am to have the people in my life that I do, with dance and my family and the gospel and everything. There's a reason for that. It's because it's true and that's my life. So. Once again, I am writing about how grateful I am for some of the people in my life. I'm actually grateful for all of them, but I don't want this post to be ridiculously long (which will probably happen anyways) so I am only going to write about a few of them in this post.

My mom is so great. I say this all the time, but I couldn't ever say it enough. I try to be a good daughter, but I don't do a very good job of that sometimes. My mom is always so great to me regardless. I hope I can always be there for her the way she is always there for me.

My extended family is one of the biggest blessings of my life. Always has been. My cousins really are my best friends and I love spending time with them. There is no where I would rather be than at a family party. I wish there was a way to describe the feeling that I get when I spend time with my family. It's a sort of peaceful, happy, loved, content feeling. Almost like the feeling you get at the temple. I know that I am loved where ever I go and whatever I do, because of them.

Jon, well, I couldn't ask for a better younger brother. I love talking with him. These past few weeks I have had more of a chance to drive around with him than normal. It's felt like last year, when we would drive all over the place together. We don't 'hang out' together or 'do activities' necessarily, but we run errands and go to temple and just drive home, talking, and that's the best thing in the world for me sometimes. He never ceases to cheer me up and he understands certain things about my life that no one else does.

My ballroom class this semester has been something of a miracle to me. I really needed it. This semester was really good, but it was also pretty hard, for a lot of different reasons. The friends I have made in that class have helped me so much, every single one of them. I love spending time with them and I love that we can always laugh together. I am so glad I signed up for that class.

Quinn is one of my friends from that class and I am so glad we met. He has helped me so much, in ways that he has no idea of. There are lots of people in this world that you can talk with, but there are not very many that you really talk to. He's one of those people. I hope that no matter what happens in our lives, we stay friends.

My dance class is the thing I probably talk the most about here on this blog. I'm sorry, I can't help it. When I think of good things in my life, people that have helped me, or big things in my life right now, I automatically think of them. The thing is, though, I honestly don't know what I'd do if I didn't have them. They make my life 110% better every time I'm with them. We laugh our guts out and eat so much pie all the time and just work hard together. They are true friends to me. I know I annoy them sometimes and I don't always put in my best. Sometimes I get overbearing and put in too much. Because we're so comfortable together (and spend so much time together), they get to see a lot of my flaws. They have seen me at my worse, sweaty and gross. And yet, for some reason, they are still my friends and I love them for that. No matter where any of us go or what we do in our lives, we'll always be best friends. There are some things you can't go through together without that happening.

Jeremy Troff. Of course he's on this list. He's my other half. Even on his mission, he helps me so much. I've been missing him a lot lately. I don't know why. I miss talking with him. Luckily, I get to email him every week and every once in a while, I even get a letter. So much time has gone by since he left, it's crazy. It feels like no time has passed, but at the same time, when I think back to when he left, it feels like that was ten years ago. He is such an example to me, though, and such a great missionary. I can't wait to see him again.

Ben is such a wonderful part of my life. It can be hard, with him so far away sometimes. I miss him a lot. That's something that has made this semester a little difficult. Something a couple of girls have told me when I mentioned this was that I am lucky to even have him. And they're right, one hundred percent. He is so wonderful to me always and it won't be like this for too much longer. I don't ever want to forget, even when we don't get to be together, how blessed I am to have a guy like him.

The Lord is also an 'of course' on this list. I am so grateful for His love and blessings in my life. I don't do enough to show that gratitude or even express it enough. I'm working on it though and He's always patient with me and always, always there for me when I need it.

I don't know how anyone could look at my life and the wonderful people who love me without seeing how truly blessed I am. I hope I never can.

Now that the semester is over, let me tell you about my classes.

My English class is one of the easiest classes I've ever taken in my life. Everything we've learned, I already knew how to do. In class, we go over punctuation rules, like how to use a comma. I learned this in sixth grade, pretty sure. I guess it's a good thing because that means I'll get a good grade in the class.

My American Heritage class is actually easier than English. I don't know how this is possible, but it is. My teacher doesn't start setting up for class until twelve, which is when the class starts. It usually takes him about five minutes to set up. He then proceeds to take roll, calling out every person's name. EVERY person. There are a lot of people in that class. After calling out our names, he has us go up and and then back down the roll saying our name. He does this still, even though it's now almost the end of the semester. By the time he finishes this, it's twenty minutes into our fifty minute class. He stops lecturing (not that he lectures much, it's more him talking to us about philosophy and things) ten to twenty minutes before the class is over so we can read the Constitution out loud. In class. Our book isn't much better than our teacher in talking about actual facts and history; that's probably why he chose that book. I have learned nothing new and I have an A.

My only hard class is biology. It's hard mostly because I am not really into science, and a little bit because we have to memorize a lot of stuff. It's way easier than my Physical Science class last semester. Waaaaay easier. As in, I actually understand most of what he's taught us. It really isn't too bad of a class. I was so worried when I signed up. I should get a decent grade in that class as well.

Psychology is the class that I love. It's all so interesting to learn about and, thanks to a fantastic psychology teacher in high school, most of the stuff we're learning is just a review for me. The tests are easy and my teacher is great.

My favorite classes, though, are my dance classes. I'm in an International Ballroom class and an American Social dance class. They are so great, I love everything about them. I have not missed a single time (which is, unfortunately, more than can be said for any of my other classes). I love the people in the class especially. Some of them have become such good friends to me. These classes are one of the biggest things I'm going to miss after this year is over.

Believing Christ .. Happy Easter!

Well, I finally read this book, Believing Christ by Stephen E. Robinson. I loved it. I thought he did a wonderful job of explaining concepts and of giving applicable examples. I also found, reading it so soon after General Conference, that there were a lot of correlations between this book and Elder Holland's wonderful talk on Saturday Afternoon.

Here are some of my favorite lines and phrases from the book:

"Sometimes we assume that everyone else is doing better than we are. We think that other people are not sinners, that they keep all the commandments all of the time, and we loathe ourselves because we cannot do the same thing." He then goes on to use examples from both the scriptures and his own life to show that every one of us makes mistakes and that we all need the Mercy of God, so we shouldn't feel better or worse than others. We all are in the same boat.

"Atonement means taking two things that have become separated, estranged, or incompatible, like a perfect God and an imperfect me or you, and bringing them together again, thus making the two be "at one.""

"Of course you're not celestial material. Neither am I, neither is any of us. That's why we need the atonement of Christ, which can make us celestial."

"Do you really think that exaltation is a matter of reaching down into your guts and pulling out the energy and determination you need to live a perfect life? If so, you don't want a savior, you want to do it all yourself."

"The most important goal in mortality is becoming one with Christ through the gospel covenant and gaining access through that union to his perfection ..."

"Too many of us expend our precious energy worrying about our relative times (in the race) instead of keeping our eyes on the goal, putting one foot in front of the other, and enduring to the end."

"There is no heavier yoke than the demand for perfection .. and many Saints still struggle under its load. But the good news is that in Christ, we are set free of that crushing burden. He bore that particular burden for us ..."

"We must believe in Christ and we must believe in the justification by faith in Christ. We must be committed to both."

"We agree to give our Savior our best effort, to give him everything we have. We agree that perfection is our ultimate goal and that we will work with him toward that goal."

"He never requires more than I am able to give and what he does require of me is always appropriate to my knowledge and circumstances. That is why I mustn't be discouraged that I haven't made as much progress as Brother X or Sister Y."

"Have faith in Christ; do the best you can; don't try to do more than you can."

"The covenant must be renewed and reaffirmed on a regular basis. we need frequent opportunities for course corrections."

"I can't keep the commandments all the time no matter how hard I try ... I can with absolute honesty witness that I am willing to. I can swear that this is the desire of my heart. I can affirm that I hunger and thirst after these things, that I will do all I can do be obedient."

"Above all else, God wants our hearts. Imperfect performance can be corrected, sins can be remitted, mistakes can be erased--but God can do nothing with an unwilling and rebellious heart until it repents. Weakness can be save; rebellion cannot."

"It isn't fair--it's merciful, and thank God it is so."

"Jesus Christ does not mind this unfairness. He is willing to suffer unfairly and compensate justice himself out of his own person in order to extend mercy to weaker beings like us."

"Trying our hardest to keep the commandments and be like Christ is part of our covenant obligation, not because we can succeed at them in this life, but because the attempt, the committment to try, demonstrates our sincerity and our committment to the covenant; it is a statement of our goals and desires. Our valiant attempts show that we really do hunger and thirst after righteousness."

"There is a difference between being unable to conquer all my sins right now, in which case the covenant promises me hope, and being unwilling to even try."

"God requires the best and the highest within us. He requires our loyalty, our service to God with all our heart, might, mind, and strength. He demands ongoing repentance and continual re committment. And he .. asks us to trust him, to accept his word on faith."

Ok, so I know this is so many. SORRY. But it's that good a book. If you haven't read it, I would highly recommend it, as well as Holland's conference talk.

I am so grateful, at this Easter time, for the love of my Father in Heaven and the atonement of Christ. Happy Easter everyone!

My life in a nutshell right now

If keep eating so much pie at dance, I'm going to begin gaining weight, instead of losing it, at dance.

I need a job. Desperately. Or two. That would be nice.

I have less than three weeks of school left. What?? I think this year decided to go by so fast to make up for senior year of high school going so slow. Also, I only have finals in two of my classes. Good news.

My book is really happening. It'll come out in September. I can't really believe it, but it's exciting.

I got new dance shoes! And I love dance. And my family. I know that I am very blessed and am so grateful for that.

If I had one wish right now, that would come true ...

I'd be talking to Jeremy right now.