I'm just gonna say it.

It's my birthday in FOUR days! I can't help it but tell everyone. Seriously, I am telling everyone. 

I am just so excited to not be 18 anymore! People keep telling me that they might actually like me when I'm not 18... whatever that means...

Today I made the most beautiful chocolate rose! It is so pretty and it smells AMAZING! 

Just like chocolate :) mmm.

amazing right!?

I am so obsessed with my confectionary class. 

This semester has not been easy at all. But I think Sunday may have made up for everything bad that has been happening. On Sunday I got to give the lesson in Relief Society and I was freaking nervous out of my mind. I felt so insignificant and I keep feeling like there is so much more I can learn from the return missionaries than they can learn from me. Sometimes I forget that I have been through a lot in my life, more than most people a lot older than me ever go through. 

I gave my lesson and I look up to finish barring my testimony and I see one of my roommates crying! At first I thought, no, there is no way she is crying because of my lesson. I then opened up the lesson for the other girls to bare their testimonies. Wow. So many girls stood up. I was in shock. They kept expressing about how they felt the spirit so strong during the lesson and the room was just so warm. 

We all know I am not one to get all spiritual on people, I believe the church is true, but I am not going to get all crazy and teary about it. I never cry. But as soon as we closed the Relief Society and the bishop's wife came up to me and told me how amazing the lesson was. I started crying! Where there tears came from... I do not know. But I just could not help it. It was such an amazing Sunday. Knowing that my lesson touched atleast some people in the room means the world to me. I think I have finally got over my feelings of thinking I am inferior to people. I can be a good teacher and I know what I am doing, thanks to all the crazy and hard things that have happened in my life. It is weird to actually be thankful for those things now, when there was a point in my life that I couldn't help but absolutely hate my life because of those things. 

This blog is out of hand. I am not enjoying the cold, at all. Hello, I am from Arizona, stop asking me if I am enjoying the cold. I don't even think people from Rexburg are enjoying the cold.

I am so excited to come home and visit for a weekend. Even if it is just a short break from the cold it will be really nice :) 

10 days till home!

the sweetest thing.

Sunday was a very stressful day for me. I had lots of homework to do and on top of that I got a call from the Relief Society President the night before telling me that I needed to go to the ward council meeting in the morning before church and that I was in charge for Relief Society and there seemed to be a lot that needed to be done. New Ensigns needed to be passed out. Visiting teaching needed to get recorded and done. Just too much for little Erin to handle. 

But, in sacrament meeting I got the great opportunity to sit next to one of my FHE brothers who was just so nice and just asked me about my weekend and just nicely was talking to me. During sacrament meeting he decided to make and airplane. Immature was my first thought... Then he leaned over to me and said "I am going to write you a note on this airplane, but you can't read it till after sacrament meeting." and again I think, immature. But I say okay. He hands me the airplane and I set on my lap, waiting impatiently while all the speakers began to speak and finally the meeting came to an end. I have no idea why I was so excited to read this note... seriously. I was just so excited. So I open up this note and I was floored at what it said.

"Dearest Erin, First of all you are awesome! Next I would like to tell you I think it is really cool that you stopped texting when sacrament meeting started, thats really mature and a lot of people your age don't do that so thanks for being so reverent and a great example to me :) Love your fhe bro, Ryan"

I was having a crappy day, this note made me feel so much better.
Who knew that me putting my phone away during sacrament was such a big deal!? It was something that I always just did. The Lord doesn't sit and text while we are praying to him, so why should we be on our phones during sacrament when his servants are trying to teach us about his gospel. Putting you're phone away is the least you could do. I am so grateful for parents who made sure that I didn't have my phone with me at church, ever. I need to stop taking it to church again.


16 days till I am in Mesa  for my lovely cousins wedding :)

what makes me feel better

The only thing lately that has honestly made me feel better is writing. Weird, I know. Especially since in high school that was my least favorit subject. But I have been so confused and frustrated since the semester has started, writing is the only only only thing that has helped. I don't know why, maybe because it is just a release of all these emotions I have pent up in my little body. Who knows. All I know is that it makes me feel better. That is all. 

I love my Family Home Evening group. Tonight we got the chance to go to President Riggin's house! Such a freaking awesome time. We had a lesson and then he made us the greatest waffles I have ever had in my entire life. Such a great guy. I got so lucky this semester with 12 awesome fhe brothers. wassup.

Rexburg got a tonnnn of snow today. It snowed all day long. My favorite part about the day though would have to be that it wasn't freezing cold and windy like it usually is! I was so happy. Weird how weather can effect your day like that... I love it. Sledding = amazing. But with ice underneath the snow... ouch. Good thing I was completely numb anyway so it didn't even matter. I am looking forward to more and more snow. I am almost positive when I walk to class tomorrow I will fall about twelve times and have to walk in ten feet of snow... okay, I exaggerated a little bit, maybe. 

Well, we had a puppy. For a weekend. 

it's from my phone camera. 

our baby:)

his first bath ever :):)

gahhhhh:)

The story of our puppy. 

Friday night my roommate Syd brought home our lovely puppy. We had the greatest time together. Giving him a bath and snuggling with him. He was so so scared the first day. He just kept on shaking because he had nooo idea what was going on and who these crazy girls were. (well, the crazy girls were my roommates... and me) The next day puppy was just so happy and playful. But, what we didn't know is that he kept Syd up all night. She ended up not going to church and just napping with the puppt all day. Sunday night was hell. He was crying and barking all night. SOO not okay, especially since we are definitely not allowed to have pets here in the lovely Ivy Apartments. So, today Syd and her brother Craig went down to Walmart and sat outside looking to give away the cutest puppy from hell. Eventually two little kids with their mom got to take him home. It was a good experience and we know that we do not want to try and have a puppy in this apartment again. Such a fun weekend though :) 

This was probably the best and most shocking part of my day today:

I got a letter. Hand delivered. You know who you are, thank you. I don't have the courage to see you. Or even talk to you right now. But eventually, I will come around. There is so much I want to say but I have to wait for the right time. 

We will definitely maybe fly to the moon.

I am ready for more snow Rexy. Bring on the negative temperatures. 

As of lately.

The semester has been rough. But I think it is looking up. :)

I honestly don't think that I have ever been on this many dates in my entire life. I had a date last friday, monday and tonight! wow. Really, I have not been on this many dates ever... It is quite an exciting thing. Maybe it is because I'm not a first semester freshman anymore... ;)


So one night, we were just sittin around and then... i found tattoos.

mine says fun. cause obviously, I'm fun.

he's a little buff :)

Casey's tat says true, because.. yeah. 

On Monday, we got a mysterious knock, no, pounding on our door. We opened the door to find this.

what.... hahahahahahahahahahahhaahha.
 all we could do was laugh. I was the first brave person to try the cookies. They were very interesting.. definitely not my first choice of cookie... ever. But it is the thought that counts. Thanks fhe brothers :)


Hello Rexburg :)

Thank you for being such a mild winter.

honestly?

Wait I am confused... I thought we were in college now and past all that stupid hook up crap that was before your mission and before high school. 

I guess not. That is funny though. Yeah, just keep walking around doing the same thing to every girl. That is going to earn you an even better rep than you already have. 

Boy are soooo dumb. I wish that when you got to college everything would end up being different and boys would finally have this realization that it is not cool to just hook up with girls and pretend you like them, when in reality, you don't. Unfortunately, boys know the extent of the power they have over girls and they definitely use that to her advantage. 

you must watch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atBg9zLI2bA

Don't worry, I will be praying for you.

Another topic.

Boys, if you want girls to like you, you have to BE NICE! Not all girls dig the big mean guy thing.

Not attractive at all. Insulting? soooo elementary school. I don't want you to tease me all night, I want you to talk to me and have an intelligent conversation. If you can't even do that... then there is no hope. Just kidding. There is still hope, you will just end up dating a girl that cares all about her looks and how many friends she has on facebook, rather than all the important things in life.

Another topic. 

What the heck is all this hate about? There are so many high school kids on facebook posting on others walls and commenting on peoples status' saying things that are just downright unacceptable. And now they think that this is funny? or even cool?  I will admit I do spend a lot of time on facebook, more than I should. It very much distracts me from homework. But that is a completely different subject.

Anyways, hate. whattheheckhighschoolers. 

It honestly repulses me that these are the kids that people actually want to be friends with, makes me so sick. If this is what our society is coming to... we are all screwed. So glad I am done with that embarrassing stage of life. Looking back, high school was a waste of energy. Being social is great and all, but once you are graduated... how much did all that money spent going to school basketball and footballs matter? And what about those weekends where you just decided you were going to spend the whole weekends with your friends because you were just so sick of your family? 

I have learned not to regret anything, so do I regret those crazy experiences I had? Of course not. But I do wish that I could have spent more time with the people that really matter. My family. Just don't take advantage of them. Don't take advantage of the amazing home cooked meals, family movie nights, family vacations, family scripture study, family prayer, and just those times you would just sit down and just talk.

I would give anything to be able to be at home and experience all that again and not take advantage of it this time. Yes, I still do have a family, but my residence will never be in a home with them again. I love them with my whole little heart. 

Now, the point of that rampage was to explain how stupid high school kids act sometimes. I am a person who believes that everyone is a good person, until they prove me wrong. Which I do not like to be proven wrong if you know me. All you high schoolers are doing on facebook is putting other people down, acting like you know everything, and telling people information about you that should not be online. 

Obviously, I cannot tell high school kids what to do. But I can voice my opinion about how dumb they are. No disrespect, just an observation that I have been making since I came back to school after Christmas break. 

This blog went in a crazy direction that I wasn't even expecting it to go... whatever. 

we are getting a dog. shhhh. :)

missionaries.

i love letters from missionaries.

<3

I really cannot get enough of them! Ever since I was little and my dad was the ward mission leader I have totally loved missionaries! Just the amazing sacrifice they give for our church and the love the emanate for everyone around them.

"They leave their families for two years so others can be with theirs for eternity."

I love that quote.


Alright everyone, we are getting serious now!

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about serving a mission. I know it is still two years off, but I have never thought about it this much or this often. It could be the fact that half of the girls in my ward are return missionaries and I now have a roommate that served a mission. But nonetheless I am really thinking about it. And these woman are probably some of the strongest and happiest that I have ever met. And the knowledge that they have attained from going on missions is incredible. Since I am the first counselor I got the chance to call some incredible girls to be our teachers for Relief Society. I cannot wait to here from some amazing sister RM's :)

^look how happy I am to be writing missionaries^
(yes, if you are my friend and you go on a mission you will get multiple letters from me)
The greatest thing I have been able to be experiencing this year are mission farewells and mission call openings and the best are mission homecomings. I have the most amazing respect and love for all of my guy friends that are going on missions and are ready and worthy to serve the Lord. I can't believe we are already at this stage of our life! Girls that I graduated with are already MARRIED! whoa. slow down.

I even have more respect for those boys how struggle to go on missions. I think I almost cried when my best friend told me he decided he wanted to go on a mission. It came in a text that said something like... "I wanna go." I think that was the most beautiful thing I have ever read on my phone. You know who you are and you know how much I love you. You are making the right choice and you will not regret it. Stick with it boy. I am here supporting you one hundred and fifty percent. I love you.

best feeling ever. :)


Keep up the good work my lovely friends.

changes.

Saturday morning I got a very unexpected call from a member of my Bishopric from my new ward. 

Let me preface this, my new ward is my brother J.R.'s old ward. 

So, automatically I am already being called J.R.'s little sister....again. I really thought I got away from that after high school, apparently not. I guess that is what I get for choosing the same university as my brother. But then again, in 100 wards I end up in my brothers old ward...? really..?

Moving forward. So I get this call not knowing the number, thinking it was another Chinese person calling me looking for a nail salon, this happens frequently to me. So said Bishopric member tells me that I have a meeting with the bishop at 12:30 before church. 

ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh.

I was freaking out. I was so so set against getting a calling, I was scared out of my mind. 

Sunday rolled around and 12:30 came and there I was sitting in front of the Bishop. Then he spoke words that I had never heard before....

"Erin, you have been called to be the FIRST counselor in the Relief Society"

....what....

I was shocked and scared and nervous and excited and did I mention scared?

The only other calling I have ever had was a Beehive Advisor and they basically just ate up everything I said... This might be a little bit different seeing as I am going to be teaching a whole group of college girls that are older than me. Seriously, nerve racking.

So to every friend, family member, peer, student, teacher... if I am on edge, bare with me.
I do not want to mess up!
<3


More fun news, my FHE brothers are the greatest ever! Probably the funnest guys in the ward. Apartment 2211 got super lucky this semester with 12 handsome return missionaries as their FHE brothers <3
We are going to have the funnest semester ever.
 

Bring on the new semester.


Now, I must go pray.