I love to see the temples… in Utah!

Perhaps the most wonderful thing about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the beautiful temples that we build.  We believe that they are houses of God and that He and His Son Jesus Christ truly walk their halls.  Our temples aren’t the same as the church buildings we attend each Sunday.  They are special places where we participate in sacred ordinances that help us to be closer to our Heavenly Father.

Around the world, there are 163 operating temples!  In Utah, there is a higher concentration of members of our church than there is in other parts of the world, so there are many temples in Utah!  I lived in Utah for five years as a student at BYU, and I began visiting the temples there when I was a little girl.  While I was in college, I visited different temples on weekends or on days off of school.  After a while, I decided that I would just visit all of them!  So, I have visited all 17 temples in Utah!  I wanted to share some pictures and stories for each one.

St. George Temple

The St. George temple is about 2 hours northeast of Las Vegas.  I visited this temple with my family in 2005 on a trip from Denver to San Diego.  I remember that it was a very hot summer day and that it was the whitest building I have ever seen!  I didn’t take this picture, but we did walk on the grounds of this temple in the evening.

Salt Lake Temple

The Salt Lake Temple is in downtown Salt Lake City and is the center of a beautiful area called Temple Square.  This temple is somewhat of an icon for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I took this picture on a beautiful fall afternoon in 2011.  My mom and I went on a trip to Provo, Utah for a campus tour of BYU, and we made a little trip up to Temple Square while we were in Utah.  I love the peaceful spirit on Temple Square.  It is one of the cleanest, most beautiful places I have ever been.

Provo Temple

At the top of a beautiful hill near the mouth of Rock Canyon, there is a beautiful place called the Provo Temple.  The first time I remember visiting this temple was the same day that we visited the Salt Lake Temple.  This picture is me sitting on the Provo Temple grounds when I was 17.  Throughout the years I lived in Provo, this building grew to be one of my very favorite places.  I spent countless afternoons and evenings inside its walls.  I had the blessing of working as a volunteer in this temple for a few months.  I felt so close to my Savior Jesus Christ as I helped to perform sacred temple ordinances for others.

Mt. Timpanogos Temple

The Mt. Timpanogos Temple is about 30 minutes north of Provo.  The first time I went to this temple was during my freshman year at BYU in the fall of 2012.  My roommate and I visited this temple together a couple times, and I visited it several more times over the course of my time at BYU.  It will always hold a special place in my heart.

Provo City Center Temple

In the winter of 2016, the Provo City Center Temple first opened its doors.  It was incredible to be a part of the opening of such a beautiful temple.  I got to be a volunteer coordinator for the open house in the months leading up to the temple dedication.  My friend and I got to tour the temple together on a cold January afternoon.  This temple is located right in the heart of downtown Provo, and it became a very important landmark in the town as well as in my life.  One summer, I lived seven blocks away and I would walk from my apartment to the temple.  Those walks are some of my favorite Provo memories.

Payson Temple

The Payson Temple is about 30 minutes south of Provo.  It is one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen.  I got to go there with a friend for the first time in April 2016.  I was amazed at how big it was and the beautiful nature themes inside.  Sometimes, I would make the drive down to Payson just to sit in the parking lot at this temple.  I love it so much.

Ogden Temple

The Ogden Temple is about an hour and a half north of Provo.  My aunt lived in Ogden for a while, and I got to go to this temple when I was visiting her in April 2016.  It was such a special moment to share with my aunt.  I didn’t take this picture, but I was there on a beautiful afternoon like this one and I really appreciated the stunning lawns and the peaceful walkways at this temple.

Bountiful Temple

The Bountiful Temple is about 15 minutes north of Salt Lake City.  In May 2016, my cousin was married in this temple, and I got to be one of her bridesmaids!  It will always be one of my favorite temples because I got to be there on my cousin’s special day.

Cedar City Temple

The Cedar City Temple is about two and a half hours northeast of Las Vegas and about an hour west of Zion National Park.  On Labor Day Weekend in 2016, I went with my cousins and my sister to Zion and on the drive back to Provo, we visited the construction site of the Cedar City Temple.  It is a very beautiful place, and I would love to go back there now that it is an operating temple!

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

The Oquirrh Mountain Temple is about 45 minutes northwest of Provo, and I got to go there with some friends on a beautiful November morning in 2016.  I imagine that heaven will look like the inside of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.  Everything inside it is white and gold, and it really felt like being an angel to be there.

Draper Temple

The Draper Temple is about 45 minutes north of Provo.  It sits on top of a hill, and when I walked out after visiting, I saw a beautiful sunset over the valley and a breathtaking view of the mountains on the other side.  I got to visit this temple on a spring evening in 2017.

Manti Temple

The Manti Temple is about an hour and a half south of Provo.  On the drive to this temple, there are some roads that wind through beautiful canyons.  My friend and I visited this temple on a very sunny (as you can see by our squinty eyes… lol) day right before Thanksgiving in 2017.  This temple is gigantic and seems like a castle.  The people inside this temple were so warm and we had a lovely experience.

Logan Temple

The Logan Temple is very close to Utah State’s campus about 2 hours northeast of Provo.  This drive, like the drive to Manti, goes through some breathtaking canyons.  I went with some friends on a day off of school in March 2018, and we loved visiting Logan.  This temple is on a very peaceful hill.  It’s a beautiful place that I hope to visit again someday.

Vernal Temple

The Vernal Temple is a lovely pink-ish temple in the northeast corner of Utah, about an hour from the Wyoming border.  My friend and I went on a little road trip over Labor Day Weekend in 2018. We were there to visit Flaming Gorge National Recreational Area, but we also visited Dinosaur National Monument and spent some time at this temple.  It’s right in downtown Vernal, and it’s small, but wonderful.

Brigham City Temple

The Brigham City Temple is about an hour and a half north of Provo on the way to Idaho.  It is so tall and absolutely stunning.  This picture does not do it justice (especially since there are huge rain/snow streaks).  I visited this temple on an overcast Saturday in January 2019.  It was a perfect day to take a road trip since I was off school that Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  As usual, I was enthralled with the peace at this temple.

Jordan River Temple

The Jordan River Temple is about 45 minutes northwest of Provo.  It was the last temple I had left to visit in the valley.  It had been under renovation for a large part of my time at BYU.  I went with a friend on a very sunny Saturday afternoon in January 2019.  This was the busiest temple I have ever visited!  I was amazed by how many people were there.  It was another temple that really reminded me of a castle.

Monticello Temple

The Monticello Temple was my 17th and final Utah temple visit!  I went there just two weeks before moving away from Provo.  This temple is in the far southeast corner of Utah, about an hour southeast of Arches National Park.  My friend and I spent the weekend in southeastern Utah at Arches National Park and at this temple.  It was only a couple blocks from the main street in Monticello, and it was such a nice walk from our Airbnb to the temple.  I felt a sweet sense of accomplishment walking on this temple’s grounds knowing that I had achieved my goal of visiting all the temples in Utah!

I had so many wonderful experiences visiting the temples in Utah.  It was a beautiful way to explore the state and see areas that I may have never otherwise visited.  I am so thankful for the gift of temples in the world and in my life.  Each and every temple I have visited has been uniquely beautiful, and they have made me think of this scripture:

“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”

1 Corinthians 3:16

Each of us, like each of the temples, is unique and especially beautiful.  We are each created by God and our bodies are sacred gifts.

I would recommend that anyone visit the temple whenever they can, whether nearby your home or in another place you may visit.  If you live in Utah, you have such a special opportunity to be able to visit so many temples so easily!  I hope the temple will bless your lives as it has mine.

may the sound of hope ring

It’s been over a year since I wrote on my blog!  I guess I’ve just been putting my nose to the ground and pounding through engineering school.  But this is my last year as a student at BYU, and I really want to make the most of it!  So far, I’ve had some pretty cool adventures and taken some great pictures.

On Labor Day weekend, I went with a friend up to northeastern Utah, and we discovered some really beautiful things there.  We stayed the night in Vernal, Utah.  It’s a small town that prides itself on its connection with dinosaurs.  This is my favorite dinosaur that we saw.  We even got pictures with it.  Its eyeball moves!!!  lol…

While we were in Vernal, we visited the LDS temple there.  The temple isn’t the place that we go to church on Sundays.  It is a special place where we participate in sacred rituals.

After spending the night, we set out to discover some of Utah’s natural beauty.  We hiked and had a picnic at Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area.  It is gorgeous there!!

After hiking, we had planned to go to the dam.  The website said that they gave tours of it, and being the engineering nerd that I am, OF COURSE I wanted to tour the dam.  But when we got there, the girl at the desk told us that the elevator was broken and we couldn’t tour the dam.  We did manage to get a dam selfie, though.  lol

We decided that since we had missed the dam, it would be fun to go to the dinosaur museum in Vernal.  As we were driving, we talked about it and we remembered that Vernal was pretty close to Dinosaur National Monument, so we decided it would probably be cooler to do that instead.  MAN, were we right!  We had no idea that Dinosaur National Monument was actually a national park!  It was easily one of the coolest places I have ever been.  The monument is a site where many dinosaur skeletons have been discovered.  It’s amazing the sheer quantity of dinosaur fossils that have been found there.  One of the coolest things is that there is a part of a mountain that has been preserved with dinosaur fossils in it.  One of the scientists who was excavating bones decided that leaving a portion of the bones untouched would be a good learning experience for visitors to the monument.  Seeing the bones embedded in the rock was amazing!

We also drove up the road a little bit and saw some incredible petroglyphs.  They were just breathtaking.  I still can’t believe that we pretty much stumbled on Dinosaur National Monument.  If you ever have the chance, you should go!  I promise, seeing it in real life is way better than my pictures can ever capture!

It’s kind of hard to top an amazing weekend like that, but this weekend I did some pretty fun things.  I got to go to a free concert in downtown Provo and the BYU football home opener with friends.  Let me tell you, it is INFINITELY more fun to go to the games as a fan.  I have worked at the games for the past three years, and I just couldn’t pass up the chance to go as a fan for my last year.

I wanted to end on a spiritual note.  Today at church, I was particularly touched by a verse in a hymn that we sang.  The hymn is called “Our Savior’s Love,” and I have always loved it, partially because it is my mom’s favorite hymn.  Here are the lyrics to the last verse:

“The Spirit, voice of goodness, whispers to our hearts

A better choice than evil’s anguished cries.

Loud may the sound of hope ring til all doubt departs,

And we are bound to Him by loving ties.”

Today, the key line for me was “Loud may the sound of hope ring til all doubt departs.”  Lately, I have been focusing my energies on having hope for the future.  Hope is something that I have struggled with over the past couple of years.  It seems to me that bad things have been following me for a while.  During this summer in particular, I was struggling to believe that better things were coming.  But, as this hymn suggests, hope through our Savior Jesus Christ leads us to let our doubts go.  As I move closer and closer to my college graduation, I feel nervous about finding a job, deciding where to live, moving all by myself, and paying for everything.  But hope in Christ helps me to believe that good things will happen instead of doubting that things will work out.  I know that God loves me.  I see it on a regular basis in perfect blessings that come my way.  I am thankful for the endless second chances He gives me and for the bright future that I can see through hope.

May we all look toward our future with hope.

 

the road trip summer

This summer, I have had the privilege to travel all across America.  To be honest, I didn’t really think about it until it happened.  I didn’t have all of these road trips planned at the beginning of the summer.  But, one way or another, I ended up with a lot of adventures, a lot of pictures, and a lot of stories to tell.

This summer, I:

*visited 4 graduate schools

*saw 5 new LDS (Mormon) temples

*visited 13 family members

*spent time in 7 cities I had never been to

*went to a country I’d never been to

*went to the beach in two different oceans

*rediscovered that Walmart is truly the same all across the country

*saw countless interesting things

*and, in total, drove in 21 U.S. states and 1 Canadian province.

Wow!  It has been an amazing summer.  I really would be remiss not to be grateful for the travel I’ve been able to do and all the things I’ve been able to see and learn.  I have just been so excited to write this post!  As you can imagine, I have lots and lots of pictures, but rather than spam you all with those, I wanted to write something I noticed about each state I visited.

0–ALBERTA–Alberta has the most beautiful mountains I’ve ever seen, and its lakes are still frozen in May.  I’m so glad I could go to Banff National Park

1–MONTANA–Montana is a secret paradise created by God for sure.  If you ever have the chance to drive through it, please do!  You won’t be disappointed!

2–IDAHO–Idaho Falls is one of the most magical cities I know.  The Idaho Falls temple is right on the Snake River, and it is quite truly one of the most lovely, peaceful places I’ve visited.  (I’m excited for my sister to serve as a missionary there!

3–UTAH–Utah’s geographical diversity blows my mind.  I love the mountains and the red rocks, and I have never seen anything like the salt flats in northeastern Utah.  Pretty weird stuff.  lol

4–WYOMING–Wyoming has the chillest gas stations I’ve ever experienced.

5–COLORADO–Colorado is glorious.  Denver is one of my favorite places and I really like the atmosphere of Boulder.  It’s also stunningly gorgeous.  It brings back so many beautiful memories of childhood and has a certain home-y, welcoming feel to me.

6–KANSAS–Kansas is the perfect place to harvest wind energy.  The windmills there are so stinkin’ cool, I can’t even stand it.

7–MISSOURI–I like Columbia.  We’ve stayed the night there several times and it’s such a nice little city.

8–ILLINOIS–Southern Illinois is quite literally the middle of nowhere.

9–KENTUCKY–Kentucky is breathtakingly beautiful.  I love the forests on the rolling hills.

10–TENNESSEE–Tennessee has so many cool places to visit.  Nashville and Chattanooga are at the top of my list.

11–GEORGIA–Georgia is such a friendly place and I will always have a special place in my heart for it.  Since I went to high school there and my parents still live there, indeed Georgia is always on my mind.

12–SOUTH CAROLINA–I-85 in northwestern South Carolina may seem like the middle of nowhere, but I have never experienced it without traffic.

13–NORTH CAROLINA–North Carolina is so perfect.  I was truly blessed to live there for two months.  Raleigh is close to the beach and the mountains, and it’s one of the points on the Research Triangle.  I love it so much.

14–ALABAMA–The signs at the Alabama state line say, “Welcome to Alabama the Beautiful.” I wish everyone could visit it so people would see why my family and I love it so much.

15–MISSISSIPPI–Pascagoula smells fishy.

16–LOUISIANA–Louisiana has some of the most beautiful bridges I’ve ever seen.  It’s kinda nice to have so much water nearby the major cities there.

17–TEXAS–Texas is so impressive.  I enjoyed Houston, Austin, and Dallas.  Austin is one of the coolest cities I’ve visited.  I love its personality, its humid heat, and its fun & eclectic atmosphere.

18–OKLAHOMA–Oklahoma is fantastic.  It is such a beautiful state to drive through.

19–NEVADA–Nevada is big and dry, but Reno is a really nice city.  I like that.  I also had the chance to see the Hoover Dam and it was AMAZING!  Half of it is in Nevada and the other half is in Arizona, so I got to walk from Nevada to Arizona.  lol 🙂

20–ARIZONA–There are only about 30 miles of Arizona on I-15, but somehow they are some of the most beautiful red rock miles I have ever seen.  Just gorgeous.

21–CALIFORNIA–California is so amazingly diverse.  From big cities to beautiful vineyards to mountains and beaches, it is a very impressive place to drive through.  I discovered that Sacramento is one of my new favorite cities, saw how simply glorious San Francisco is, and felt how the Pacific is so much colder than the Atlantic.

Traveling through my country is a treasure trove of natural beauty, interesting cities, and impressive opportunities.  I am so thankful to live in a country that offers countless blessings.  I know that Heavenly Father truly loves me (and all of us) if He was willing to create all this.

I also decided to proclaim myself a road trip queen.

 

 

for the pioneers

In Utah, there is a holiday called Pioneer Day, and it is celebrated on July 24th.  For the past two summers, I have been in Utah for Pioneer Day.  This summer, I’m in North Carolina–and I almost forgot about Pioneer Day!  It made me sad a few days ago when I realized that I had almost forgotten Pioneer Day.  I have loved celebrating the past two Pioneer Days in Utah, and have actually had the opportunity to speak in church (yes, two years in a row) about pioneers, heritage, etc.

That being said–today I didn’t get a chance to give a Pioneer Day talk, none of the lessons were about pioneers, and Pioneer Day wasn’t even mentioned.  At least we sang a couple of hymns that pay some homage to them.

I am so thankful for and proud of the pioneers.  Two years ago, I found through some research that I have some direct pioneer ancestors.  But I love and revere all of them, not just the few that I am related to.  The pioneers’ faith, determination, and persistence are amazing.

I want to say something about their faith.  Obviously, the pioneers had incredible faith in Jesus Christ.  After listening to the words of the prophet–a servant of the Lord–the pioneers voluntarily picked up their entire lives and walked across the country into the West.  I attended a pioneer trek 9 years ago and I remember one of the ladies I went with saying, “The pioneers weren’t physically fit.  They weren’t prepared for the journey.  They were just like us–normal women living their normal lives, who were asked to go.”

But more than their faith in their religion–I am impressed today by the pioneers’ faith in the good things to come.  My pioneer ancestors heard the gospel in England and Wales.  They were living comfortable, perfectly normal lives in their homelands.  But they still listened when asked to make the journey.

CAN YOU IMAGINE?  After two months in the bliss that is North Carolina, I am dreading the three-day drive back to Utah come end of summer.  My pioneer ancestors traveled for weeks in a boat just to get to the United States, and then journeyed for months to arrive in Idaho.  And they were leaving their homelands, fully accepting that they would probably never return.

The journey was not easy.  For many pioneers, it only got harder as the weeks wore on.  People were malnourished, sick, tired, and injured.  Many even died.  Even so, they had faith that better things were coming.

This makes me think of one of my favorite verses in the Book of Mormon:

“Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.”  –Ether 12:4

I try to be a positive person.  But often, I am not successful in that quest.  My homeland is the South.  I could live here forever and be happy.  Utah is just not for me.  I have tried to have faith in better things to come, but over the past couple years, many things have just not been working out for me.  Rather than getting better, I just keep getting sicker.  Finding roommates who are the right fit for me is proving to be impossible.  And–to be honest–I do not want to make my personal trek back to Utah.

But I will.  I will because I know that it is what God intends for me right now.  I am trying to learn from my pioneer ancestors–to believe, deep down in my heart, that better things are coming.  Sometimes, there is suffering along the way.  Sometimes that suffering is so great that we simply do not know how we will manage it.  But I hope that if we continue pushing through the pain of life, always looking to the Lord, that one day things will be as we dream they will.

I am thankful for the faith and courage of my pioneer ancestors.  I once found a quote that said: “We are standing on the shoulders of giants.”  Because of the faith of James Bank Latham (my great-great grandfather) and Llewellyn Griffith Jones & Jannette John Jones (my great-great-great grandparents) my family has had the blessing of the gospel for generations, and the ones who already had it shared it with others.  There truly were better things coming.  I know that they could not have pictured me in 2017 holding a computer in my lap and writing about how much they inspire me.  They could not have seen as far as Heavenly Father saw.  But they listened with faith.  I love them and all the other faithful pioneers.  May they always be celebrated and remembered.  

My ancestors–all of them, really–inspire me to be brave in my life.  Many days will be hard, but they are just brushstrokes of a great painting that we cannot yet imagine. 

Come, Come Ye Saints

(Please enjoy the link above.  It is a music video commemorating the pioneers.)

dreamweaving

When I was a teenager, I decided that I was going to get married on June 24, 2017.  No real rhyme or reason to why…I just thought that June weddings were the best, and almost-23 was a reasonable age to get married.  It just sounded like it made sense.

Well.  Needless to say, my life has not gone as I thought it would.

A couple months ago, I met a really cute guy at work.  I just started flirting it up with him and I was feeling pretty happy.  Until I asked him about his summer plans…and he was getting married June 24, 2017.  It seemed kind of ironic to me…

So, yesterday was June 24, 2017.  And I never could have guessed that instead of being in love with a man, I would be falling in love with a city.

God only knew that Raleigh would be my dream city.  Raleigh is the most amazing city I have ever lived in.  The people here are so diverse and so wonderful!  It’s beautiful and there are so many things to do.  NC State is everything that I have dreamed of and more in a civil engineering department and a place to do research.  The opportunity available here astounds me.

But for now, the best thing about this summer is the friends that I am making.  I live at the end of a hallway in one of the student housing buildings, and there are 3 guys and 3 other girls who live in the rooms around me who are all doing summer research in civil engineering.  The guys are from India, Puerto Rico, and Paraguay, and the girls are from Jamaica, India, and the Florida keys (Cuban-American).  With my new friends and all the other people I have met in the civil engineering department at NC State, I have felt things that I’ve been wanting to feel for a long time.

My friends here make me feel respected, accepted, welcomed, and wanted.  I am a white, single Mormon woman studying civil engineering.  I love to decorate for holidays.  I lived in Chile for a year and a half.  I have some significant mental health challenges.  I want to be a wife and a mom one day, but I also want to pursue higher education in civil engineering.

My friends here don’t ask me why.  When I say I don’t drink, they say, “Okay, let’s go somewhere else.”  When I put up my decorations, they say, “Oh, how cute!  That is such a good idea!  I like how home-y our apartment feels.”  When I say, “Sorry, I’m not feeling so good and I need to take a break,” they ask if there’s anything they can do to help me to feel better and they truly mean it.

I’ve been feeling old lately because I’m almost-23 and I’m still a couple years away from getting my bachelor’s degree, and that is all I am doing for now.  I’m not in grad school.  I don’t have a grown-up job.  I’m not married.  I’m not even dating anyone.  And I graduated from high school 5 years ago.  And….my friends here don’t care.

One of my friends gave me a really great piece of advice.  A few days ago we were talking about the difference in pursuing a masters or a Ph.D.  One of my big dreams right now is to pursue a Ph.D., but I have been feeling unsure because if I go for a Ph.D., I will be almost 29 when I get it.  She told me–“Well, some people get their Ph.D. when they’re 50.  If it’s what you want to do, then you should go for it!”

It’s an invincible feeling to feel like the world is your oyster.  This has the been the best summer I’ve had in a long time, and it’s because I am dreamweaving.  There was a software I had to learn in a computer programming class called Dreamweaver, and I stole that name for what this summer is.  What is dreamweaving?  To me, it’s letting my dreams go free and making a blueprint of the dreams I want to fulfill one day.  I can’t actually move to Raleigh for graduate school for two years, but it’s a dream I’m weaving!

I LOVE it here.  I am so excited to come back and further my education.  Will I pursue a masters or a Ph.D.?  I’m still not sure, but I will decide sooner or later, and I get the feeling that I will know the right thing to do.  (But right now I’m sort of leaning toward a Ph.D.  I mean, how cool would it be if one day you all could call me Dr. Latham?)

I love dreamweaving.  I’m planning a trip one day to Australia.  I want to save up money to buy my own car, and to live in an apartment where I can have a queen-size bed and a cat.  I’m also hoping for the day that I will marry a wonderful man and we can start a family together.  That day wasn’t June 24, 2017.  But yesterday was a great summer Saturday anyway, and I loved spending it in Raleigh with my friends.

What dreams are you weaving?

 

None boring, left adventures

So, to explain the tag line–my best friend and I have created a joke based on a Tumblr post we saw.  A man was ordering a pizza.  On the order form, under options for sauce, he checked “none.”  Under options for cheese, he checked “none.”  Under options for toppings, he checked “beef,” but only for the left hand side of his pizza.  The post is hilarious (and a bit profane, which is why I’m just summarizing it instead of posting the link).  It shows a picture of a pizza crust with pieces of steak thrown on the left hand side, and beneath it people make comments about why anyone would order a “none pizza, left beef.”  Sooooo…taking advantage of how “left” can have two meanings–i.e. the side of a pizza, or an amount remaining–hardly a day goes by when one of us doesn’t use the formula “none __________, left __________.”

That said…the past few months have been just that–none boring, left adventures.

 

Back in March, I had an unparalleled choir opportunity!  I was invited to participate in a special choir for a worldwide women’s meeting for my church (General Women’s Conference).  I got to sing with about 350 other women from BYU and we were broadcast live from Salt Lake City!  It was like living a dream!  I’ve always wanted to sing at the conference center in SLC.  My best friend came to watch me in the audience, and so many of my other friends and family members saw me via satellite.  I have never felt so proud of a performance.  It was beautiful and I got so many compliments from so many loved ones!

(Here are the youtube links if you would like to listen to our performance.)

Come O Thou King of Kings

I Feel My Savior’s Love

My Heavenly Father Loves Me

Throughout the spring, I took tons of pictures of the marvelous plant life surrounding me in Provo, Utah.  Things have been particularly hard this spring.  My depression and anxiety have been overwhelming.  But taking the time to notice all of our Heavenly Father’s beautiful creations has made such a difference in my life.  It is so surprising to me because normally, I feel sad about how there aren’t many flowers and trees in bloom in Provo like there are in my home state of Georgia.  But, to my joy, Provo has been in stunning blossom for the past two months.  Here are some photos I captured. Enjoy!

 

I just love spring flowers!  It was so wonderful to see all these beautiful flowers and trees.

Easter was on a nice spring day, and we had our Easter dinner outside with friends.  It will be an Easter that I will remember for years to come!

I got to go hiking with my sister!  We went to a local park about 10 minutes from where we live called Rock Canyon Park.

Then, the semester FINALLY ended and I got to do some road tripping!  I have always dreamed of seeing the Canadian Rockies, and my best friend is from southern Alberta, so we drove up to her parents’ home and spent a weekend enjoying the city of Calgary and the mountains and lakes of Banff National Park.  Who knew that May is still winter in Canada?  We saw Lake Louise, but it was completely frozen over!

Isn’t Canada AMAZING?  It is Canada’s 150th anniversary this year, so we got into the national park for free (go to Canada in 2017, folks).  We saw the Calgary Alberta Temple, tried poutine, and saw some inspirational graffiti.  (What is that?  I guess it only occurs in Canada.  lol).  I also sprained my foot while walking in Calgary (because why should a vacation be perfectly enjoyable?  haha).  I will spare you the pictures of my swollen, purple foot.  But yes, I sprained my foot and it was enormous and painful and one of the worst things that could have happened the day before a trip to the Canadian Rockies.  ha.

A couple weeks ago, I got to go up to Idaho Falls with friends and enjoy the open house at the Idaho Falls Temple.  It is actually getting rededicated in three days!  Woohoo!  It was well worth the drive.  SO beautiful, and so many tulips in bloom.  It was neat for me to be able to go to the very place where one of my sets of grandparents got married!

So those were my small ventures into the unknown.  Then…I made a huge one.  I packed up all of my things and cleaned out my apartment, and my mom flew out to SLC and we drove together from Utah to Georgia.

In the middle-of-nowhere Kansas, we saw these:

I guess they thought fake palm trees would make this gas station seem more appealing than others?  lol.

I picked up the last leg of my trip from Atlanta to Raleigh…because I was accepted into a summer research program at North Carolina State University!  I have dreamed of doing research for years, and I applied to a bunch of summer research internships in the hope that I could start to make that dream a reality.  I am so thrilled to live in Raleigh for a couple months and participate in a team that does research in water resources, climate change, and environmental engineering.  It is truly a dream come true!  This place is beautiful, diverse, and amazing.  In my first meeting with my research advisor, he told me that North Carolina is sometimes called “the sticky state.”  I asked him if that was because of the humidity (which I thought was funny, but he didn’t…oops lol).  But he told me that it was because when people come here, they love it so much that they never want to leave!  Judging by what I’ve experienced so far…he may be right, in my case!  I have two years left until I finish my bachelor’s degree at BYU, but honestly, I would love to come to NC State for grad school.  This place is a total dream.

It’s kinda hard to capture the beauty in pictures I stole from Google, but at least you can sort of see the brick buildings, lovely green trees, modern engineering library, and the Raleigh temple!  I love it here.  I can’t wait to share all of the amazing adventures I’ll have here over the next couple of months.

So, from my cute apartment in Raleigh, bye, y’all!!!

How to make it through the winter

Brought to you by a sweet Southern girl battling depression.

I’ve been planning on making this post for a few weeks now, but I’m finally getting the chance to sit down and write it!  Since I started planning this article, the weather has gotten MUCH better, which will ultimately help me to make my point.

I hate winter.  Hate it like you wouldn’t believe.  It’s cold.  There isn’t much sunlight.  The sky is white.  There is frozen precipitation (snow, hail, sleet, etc.).  And for most of it, Christmas is already over.  😦  I was spoiled for a few years living in Georgia when I was in high school, but as a college student in Utah, I get to experience the full brunt of winter.  This is a text that I sent my sister on a day that the snow was particularly dragging me down.  It is a little poem inspired by Jenna Marbles videos.  If you look up her videos about her dog Cermet, then you will be able to imagine the voice that goes with it:

“Sometimes I feel bad for how much I hate winter,

But then I think, ‘If winter wanted me to love it more, it should’ve thought twice before it became WINTER!’

Winter pelt me with snow like it is an game, but it is not an GAME!

Pelt winter back with ANGER!

HA!

TAKE THAT!”

So.  Hating winter was dragging me down, and taking up too much energy.  I decided I would come up with things I loved about winter.

First–mugs.  Who doesn’t love a nice relaxing moment with a warm drink in a fun mug?  I have gotten particularly attached to herbal tea this winter.  It is truly the nicest thing in the world.

Next–sweaters.  I am convinced that Heavenly Father gave us a socially acceptable way to wrap a cozy blanket around the top half of our bodies in the winter so that we could remember that He loves us.

Finally–the snow on the mountains.  I wish I had a picture to share with you.  Normally, I hate snow.  But on the mountains, it is amazingly majestic.  It is gloriously beautiful.  I think it even makes the snow and the cold worth it just to see how breathtaking the mountains are every winter.

There are also a few specific things I would suggest you need to get through winter:

1. EXERCISE!  A few months ago my doctor challenged me to exercise four times a week, and I took him up on it.  Not to be cheesy–but it truly has changed my life for the better.  It makes me happier, it gives me more energy, and it makes me feel glad to be alive.  I feel sorry for the old me who told herself she didn’t have time to exercise.  That was a lie she told herself and a chance she missed out on.  It’s not about having a hot bod (although that can be a positive consequence 😉 ) It’s about how much your body will thank you.
2. Friends.  It helps so much just to remember that you are not alone.  Your friends are plodding along through winter with you.
3. Things to look forward to.  Even if they are little things, these things will give you a reason to get out of bed in the morning.  My doctor told me that I could look forward to the spring.  I do–but that’s also way too far away.  So for now I am looking forward to Valentine’s Day.  Throwing my energy into Valentine’s decorations and gifts for my friends and family has helped me feel so happy!
4. Hope.  I cannot stress how important hope is to the equation.  A healthy dose of hope for the future, hope for a brighter tomorrow, hope for the springtime, and hope in our Savior Jesus Christ.  I have been given many reasons to hope this winter, and that has been the key.

When I started this blog last summer, I was in a very dark place.  I suffer with chronic depression.  It has been a battle that I have waged for a good portion of my life.  After returning from a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, my depression began to worsen.  It worsened and it worsened and it worsened until I just couldn’t take it anymore.  My classes were killing me.  I felt alone.  And my summer was so dark.  About that time I made my famous failed meatloaf.  And my mom suggested that I blog about it.  Somehow, writing about it and laughing about it made me feel like things were going to be okay.  So I have been using this blog to catalog the things that make me smile, and it has been so wonderful.

Over time, with medication, therapy, and an unbelievable amount of help and support from my wonderful friends and family, I am on the mend.  Things are getting better.  And that is what I mean about a healthy dose of hope.  I have huge dreams!  I want to go to grad school.  I want to have a family of my own.  I was starting to believe that my life was going to be a dark, gloomy, oppressively difficult one.  I wasn’t sure that I could make it to my dreams.  But the sun has gradually started to peek its way back into my life.

I want to tell you that the winters of this life do not last forever.  Just like this week has been giving us sunshine and warmer weather, what may seem to be insurmountable trials will subside.  Things will get better.  When we trust in our Savior, they get better.  Sometimes it takes time.  But never stop hoping.  Never stop dreaming big.

If you are currently battling depression, or if you ever find yourself in a dark place, know that I want to listen.  I want to help.  My friends and family have been invaluable to me as I have been tackling this life challenge.  Also, if you have any questions about depression, feel free to ask.

This is one of my favorite songs.  If you’ve got a minute, listen!

Even the Winter–Audrey Assad

My Thanksgiving: potatoes and a can costume, among other things ;)

A few months ago, I changed my profile picture on Facebook.  It’s not really anything out of the ordinary–just a picture of me wearing a T-shirt and a cardigan.  I ran into somebody I knew on campus, and he said, “I saw your new profile picture!  I liked it.  It was so Melanie-ish.”  I was a bit confused since it was just a typical picture of me.  But anyway, I’ve spent some time over the past few months thinking about what things I do that are Melanie-ish.

I’m pretty sure my Thanksgiving break was chock-full of them.

First–a couple days before Thanksgiving, I sat down on the floor with my roommate and we cut out the last of our thankful leaves.  It has been so much fun watching the tree fill up with blessings and thinking of more to put on it.  Here is our final thankful tree for Thanksgiving 2016:

I knew I was blessed…but I never quite considered how much.  It’s completely true what the song says, “count your blessings, count them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.”

One of my greatest blessings this year has been the wonderful friends that I have made.  I really had no idea just how much friends could bless my life until things got really hard and I needed them so much.  One particular friend and I have just clicked so well and we decided to spend the Thanksgiving break together since neither of us could go home and neither of us has family in Utah.  So, the first day of the break, we went to Idaho for a day trip to see the potato museum and the Idaho Falls LDS temple.

It was just so fun to go on a little road trip together.  The potato museum was hilarious.  I learned more about potatoes than I ever really thought possible, and watched some informational potato videos with epic background music, and even bought a potato peeler with a potato shaped handle.  It totally exceeded my expectations.  😉  Then–even though the weather wasn’t great, it was really special to see the Idaho Falls temple!  I had never been to Idaho before, and my grandpa grew up in Blackfoot (where the potato museum is) and my grandparents were married in the Idaho Falls temple.  So, I felt a cool sense of kinship and a little bit of family history just being there.

Thanksgiving day itself was great–we watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, and the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, and got the chance to eat a lovely meal with some local church members.  We also got to go to the movies!  We saw Fantastic Beasts and I really liked it.  Then, of course, it just wouldn’t be Thanksgiving if we didn’t go to the mall on Black Friday…so my friend, my sister and I had a ball finding stuff on sale.

On Saturday, I had to go back to reality a little bit and do some service hours for a club and then go to work.  I volunteered at a food drive, and there were three students working at the table I was at.  They told us that one person needed to wear the can costume.  Neither of the guys there seemed particularly enthused to wear it, and I have no shame, sooooo… here is a pic of me in the can costume.

It was surprisingly fun to wear the can costume.  And now I have an idea for an easy, unique, DIY Halloween costume.  🙂

After my service hours, I worked at the last home football game of the season.  It was pretty cold, so especially necessary to dance lots.  So, I just gave it all I’ve got and had a good time dancing when the songs came over the stadium speakers.  I was completely blown away by how many people complimented me or thanked me for my dance moves, energy, and for being a fun usher throughout the season.  Too often I think that we are afraid to be ourselves, or apologetic for the things that make us unique.  But this experience helped me to learn that I don’t need to be afraid to be myself…because there will be people who will like it.  Who knows if they will always be as vocal as the fans at Portal GG in LaVell Edwards Stadium, but I know that there will be people who will like me for me and that I am happier being myself than I ever could be otherwise.

I lost a little patience with myself when I started going back to my homework at times throughout the break, and I found myself needing to take breaks and then  come back to my work.  I felt like I should have had reserves of energy and focus since I had been relaxing for a few days.  But a thought that came to me went like this:

It doesn’t matter how many breaks we need to take, as long as we always get up and keep going.

This is something I’ve been working on learning over and over again over the past few years.  It is okay to take breaks, and, in the end, they help us to be happier and more productive.

I am so thankful for the infinite blessings that fill my life, and for the chance to celebrate them with this beautiful holiday.  Even though life doesn’t come easy, I am thankful for the chance to try again every day and the ever-present gift of my Savior’s love.

Holiday-a-holic

Hi, I’m Melanie, and I’m a holiday-a-holic.

If any of you have been to my apartment, or remember my addiction to epic holiday pencils, jewelry, socks, etc., then you already knew this…

But I wanted to share this post because the past couple months have been hard, and holidays have been providing me a very needed dose of happiness.

So, this post is gonna have a lot of pictures.  🙂

Halloween

The stuffed animal is named Ghoulie, AKA the best impulse buy I’ve made in a long time.  I found him when I was at the mall with my sister and I simply could not leave without him…and he made me so happy every time I saw him on my couch!  Also, everyone who came by to visit my apartment loved him too.  So he spread some cute Halloween joy. 😉

Double the costumes was double the fun this year.  A group of my friends and I decided to be the characters from Inside Out for a church Halloween party, and I was Sadness.  This is my best sad selfie.  lol.  Then I went to a Halloween dance and I was Rosie the Riveter!

Election Day

Maybe Election Day isn’t a holiday that you can decorate for or buy socks for, but I still think it is such a wonderful occasion to celebrate.  This week, one of my favorite moments was filling out my absentee ballot and taking it over to the post office.  I am so thankful to live in a country that gives us so many freedoms, including the power to voice our conscience by voting!  If you haven’t done it yet, get out and vote!  It’s the best.

 

 

Thanksgiving

I don’t know if there could be anything that could make me love Thanksgiving more.  It’s amazing how gratitude makes life so much better than ever imaginable.  My heart overflows in November as I think of the countless ways that my Heavenly Father has touched my life.  So, after the glorious success of Ghoulie at Halloween, I decided I needed a stuffed animal turkey.  I ordered him from Amazon, and when he came in the mail…he was super tiny!  So he is not on my couch….but I like him on my countertop just as well.  😉 I got the idea from someone last year to make a thankful tree.  This is just the beginning of our thankful tree!  I printed out a ton of leaf templates that we are working on cutting out and putting on the tree throughout the month.  I’ll have to post an update at the end of the month.  🙂  I want to fill up the tree with my gratitude and joy.

(a little early) Christmas

My world history professor assigned us to make a Christian-themed mosaic.  I didn’t think about it for very long before I decided I wanted to make a mosaic of the baby Jesus in the manger.  It was so wonderful to work on this mosaic and think about how thankful I am for my Savior.  Also–normally I am vehemently opposed to Christmas music before Black Friday (because how can anyone in their right mind want to gyp Thanksgiving?!?).  But this year I made a playlist of the beautiful, soft songs that talk about the birth of our Savior, and I listen to it multiple times a week.  It helps me to feel calm while I work on my homework.  He is inarguably the best blessing that I could ever be thankful for.  He is my best friend and He is a gift to my life each and every day.  I love Him.

I’m also currently addicted to pepper jack cheese and cranberry juice.  I made an A on my history test.  I have lovely friends who bless my life every single day.  And last month I asked two cute boys out and they both said yes.  My blessings help me to know that things are gonna work out.

So, happy holidays to everyone!  I hope that celebrating will bring as much joy to you as it does to me.

 

My new mascot

This semester has been particularly rough so far.  For some reason, my classes seem so much harder and I feel like I’m drowning in homework.  The days seem to pass by like snails.

However–I notice more and more consistently how much Heavenly Father is looking out to bless me.

This week has been particularly tough.  Somehow, my to-do list seems to be a mile long regardless of how much time I spend on it.  We are in the thick of midterms, and this week was the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) career fair.

But, as hard as this week was, it has been one blessing after another.

I have been praying and searching for months to get a research opportunity in water resources.  Recently, I was offered a volunteer position to help a graduate student!  My first day was Tuesday and I am SO EXCITED!!  It truly is the beginning of my dreams coming true.  My graduate student mentor helped me to prep my resume, and I went to the career fair this week and handed out seven copies of my resume.  I felt so proud of myself!  I can’t wait to see what happens.  Hopefully, one of those people will offer me an internship for next summer.

After all was said and done with the career fair on Thursday, Friday seemed like an impossible day.  I hadn’t had the time I needed to study and prepare for my midterm exam.  I went home after class to study, and felt overwhelmed by the sheer amount of material I needed to know.  I really wanted to do well on the exam, so I ultimately decided to give myself the weekend to study and to rest that afternoon.  That was a huge blessing, because I could take a nap, put up my Halloween decorations, and then talk to my little brother on the phone.  I felt energized and ready to go to work.

I work as an usher at the BYU football games.  I always pray before I go to work that I will be able to help the people in my section of the stadium to answer their questions and to enjoy their experience at the game.  Many of you may know that I love to dance.  I especially love to jam out to pop music.  So, when they play great songs at the stadium, I just dance and sing and rock out and I really don’t care what other people think.  I mean, heck, I’m standing in my little booth for about 5 hours.  Gotta have something to do.

You would not believe the number of people yesterday who came up to me and thanked me for being a fun usher.  They told me about how their kids appreciated my dancing, and how other ushers seemed really boring just standing in their booths.  One lady even wanted a picture with me!  Their reactions seemed like an answer to my prayers.  I felt like I could help my section to enjoy the game.

The game ended late at night, and I was starving.  So, like a champion, I went to McDonald’s and waited at the drive-thru to get a Happy Meal.  The drive-thru girl asked me if I wanted a girl or boy toy.  (Haha I always forget that they give out toys.)  So I told her I wanted a girl toy and didn’t think much about it.  I took my food home, ate it in record time, and then opened the toy.  This is what it was:

I was ridiculously excited (as one can be only at 1:15 am).  I decided that Wonder Woman is my new mascot.  (this is a picture of her on my desk.)  She is brave in the face of difficulty and, ultimately, she wins.  She is awesome.

Today has been the greatest gift after a long and challenging week.  I got to watch General Conference, which is a weekend at the beginning of October and April when members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormon church) get to hear from church leaders.  I was reminded, as I frequently am, of my Savior’s love for me, and that with Him, I can be Wonder Woman.

I am so thankful for all those who love and support me as I navigate through this crazy life.  I know that my Heavenly Father and my Savior live and love me, because they have sent me so many wonderful friends and family members to help me.  I love my Savior, Jesus Christ.  I know that He truly cares about me, that He is the master healer, and that He wants to make me into Wonder Woman by helping me to serve others and to achieve my dreams.

Here is a picture of me with my sister and a lovely friend at a special women’s session of General Conference from last Saturday:

I hope you all have a wonderful week!!  Happy October!