The Power of Prayer

I went to institute for the first time yesterday, although it is a special class just for graduated seniors it still counts. And WOAH! The spirit was SO strong there! 

One thing that our teacher made us commit to doing was reading one general conference talk every day. He even made us make this pinky promise with the people near us. He made us promise that if we didn't do it we would never get a kiss. And let me tell you, I take pinky promises very seriously. So last night, I (half because I promised I would and half because I was interested in seeing what blessings I would get, because our teacher promised blessings to us) listened to a talk last night. I didn't notice any super awesome blessings right away, but holy cow was it a huge blessing when it came! 

So I'm listening to another talk tonight as I was getting ready for bed and as I was putting aloe vera on, I burn easily so what, the speaker talked about Alice in Wonderland. He referred to the part where Alice asks the Cheshire Cat which way to go and he says it depends on where you want to get to. That was a direct answer to my prayers. For over a year I've been praying about if going up to USU for college will be the right decision to make. I've heard that you shouldn't necessarily ask Heavenly Father what to do, instead you should ask Him if your decision is right. So I tried that. And when I heard this quote I knew it was. I want to, in addition to being a pediatric nurse, be a music therapist. And USU is one of the best, and only, colleges that has that program. I didn't know if that was the right thing I should be doing with my life but when I heard that quote it was like an immediate yes. 

I know that Heavenly Father answers prayers. I know that deciding to go to institute was the right decision, if only because I got the challenge to read one conference talk a day. I will not ever just read one every day just to fulfill my promise. I will do it because I want to hear what the prophets have to say and because I know that I need to listen and apply what they are saying into my life. I am so grateful for this gospel and for the knowledge that my prayers will ALWAYS be answered. 

Here's the web address of the conference talk, I strongly encourage you to read it! 

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/04/if-you-will-be-responsible?lang=eng

Gradiation and All That Jazz

Once again, whoops! I write blog posts in my mind, but for the last few weeks have been to busy (kind of, I've also been too lazy) to actually write them out. So, life lately has been, well, a little crazy.

I GRADUATED! That's right! I can now check the box that says high school diploma on all of my future job applications. 

Added this pic just 'cause

The last few weeks of high school were pointless. Really. I took naps, watched movies, Facebook-ed, and read. But I did it! Woooo!!

So what's next in life for me you ask? Practicing my flute for June, getting ready for my trip to.............EUROPE! I'm going to seven different countries on a band tour with Utah Ambassadors of Music. I am so stinkin' excited! I play the piccolo part. The band is HUGE. I'm talking 96 people total! ELEVEN flutes. And SIX tubas. (Every time I think of the glorious low brass section, actually all the brass, I sigh. I LOVE low brass!) It's glorious. Megan and I decided we have to come home with boyfriends ;) 

Hey look! I got my letter saying I'm a real CNA.

After Europe, I hope to get a job working as a CNA. Did I mention that I'm a CNA? No? Oh, well I took the CNA class at the tech center during my senior year of high school. That sounds so weird to say it like that! I love working as one and it makes me SO SO SO SO much more excited to someday work as a nurse! I love health and taking care of people! After a year or two at SLCC I want to go on a mission. I'm hoping for Ireland, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, or some other place like that. But anywhere would really be fantastic. And then, for now, I want to go to USU and get my nursing degree and also hopefully be a music therapist too. But that's not set in stone yet. Well, the nurse part is but where and what else and all that isn't. I've wanted to be a nurse since I was 12 and visited my baby cousin in PCH when she was visiting from Canada. 

So, that's my recent past, present, and future-ish.  

PROM PRIM PRAM PROM

Do you know how fantastic friends are? Way more than fantastic. So fantastic in fact that they practically make you go to prom stag since we are obviously way to cool to get asked. Who needs boys anyways? Not us, that's for sure! But really, that was one of the best days I have lived through. 

Where to begin? The beginning, I guess. I woke up early, we're talking 6:30 early, to go running so I could shower before my brothers friends came over. And then my favorite mother and I went to the place where we rented my dress from and picked it up. Then it was time to frantically clean before everyone came over to bake sugar cookies at mi casa. And then was the superbly fun part of doing my hair and make up, which I couldn't be happier with how they turned out. And then came making a huge mess in the kitchen (a.k.a. making sugar cookies) which involved a lot of eating the dough and laughing. Next, my best friend let me do her hair! I love doing other people's hair and once again I was thoroughly satisfied with how it turned out. 

Spaghetti Factory deserves it's own paragraph. We got there, feeling like princesses. And as we were waiting for a table a family walked in and a little girl, no older than 3 or 4, said something along the lines of "Look, Princesses!" Needless to say I have been hung up on that line since then. It gave me chills. It was like the greatest thing of my life. Next came the fabulous people working there. There was a busboy who, hopefully, thought we were gorgeous because he cleaned the same table three times and no one had sat there in between! It was hilarious! And then our waiter was super kind, he gave me a free salad, even though I'm pretty sure they don't let people just order side salads there, he let me! And for our desert when I said I couldn't eat it he assured me that he had something in mind that I could eat. He came back out with one of those little popsicle things that they serve in like elementary school. It was the sweetest thing. And then there was our hostess, who was the greatest lady. We saw her again in the restroom and asked her to take our picture, so she clocked out and came outside to take it! She was so kind and lovely.

Did I mention that I seriously felt like a freaking princess? Because I did and you should know that.

We got lost on the way to the dance, and ended up at a cemetery. If it wasn't raining so hard I'm pretty sure we would have gotten out and danced there. It probably would have given those old bones quite a hoot. The actual dance was hot. Like Nevada in the middle of July hot. Plus wearing a dress that had like a billion layers. I thought I was going to die. But oh my goodness, everyone there was so gorgeous!! It was wonderful! I twirled quite a bit, but who can blame me, the dress twirled wonderfully! 

After the dance, we were all tired and so we went back to my house and played a game of Apples to Apples. And then we went home. All of us dead tired. 

And of course, I wore my dress to church the next day. And it was darling and all the little 8 year olds were enchanted. I wish I could stay feeling like that forever, but I guess that makes me even more excited for my future wedding, because I know that's the kind of dress I want to wear. Even as I write this I think about that dress. *Sigh* And that adorable girl who called us princesses. That pretty much made my life. Unfortunately, as all good things, it had to come to an end. But I couldn't have asked for a better day with better people. Except maybe if all of us had actual dates, that would have been nice ;)

 

Edit: This post was supposed to be posted like 2 weeks ago but spacey me apparently pressed save instead of publish. Whoops! Oh, well!