Thanksgiving

As Thanksgiving approaches, I feel its only right to express my gratitude for things in my life.  I have a lot to be grateful for, but sometimes in the thick of things, I tend to forget.  So, here's my list of gratitude this year:

First and foremost, I am grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ.  Over the past year, I've been trying to become more like Him and I've been trying to get a more personal relationship with Him.  I have read the talk from the May 2012 General Conference that talks about being being converted to the Gospel versus the Church.  I have taken that to heart and am trying to be better.  I think by strengthening that relationship with my Savior, I can become that solid, converted member.  I hope to continue to improve myself.

Second, I am grateful for my family.  I probably don't show it a whole lot, but I am grateful for them and the fact that they still love me, after all of these years.  They are all great people!  I have had so many wonderful adventures and hope to have many more through the years.

Third, I am grateful for the possessions I have been blessed with.  I have a beautiful home and a vehicle to name a few.  There is so much work to all of it, but in the end, its all worth it.  For that, I am grateful.  I am grateful for the value of work and the fact that I am not afraid to work.  I have my parents to thank for that.  :)

Fourth, I am grateful for my job.  I have had some rough spots of late, but I feel that the lessons and principles I have learned over the last year in my job have given me a depth that I don't think would have been possible anywhere else.  Although I haven't liked every moment of it, I am grateful for my work and the people I have an opportunity to work with.  Its been a great blessing in my life.

Fifth, I am grateful for friends.  I have been blessed with some great ones, other have left my life.  I am grateful for all of the impacts they have had, negative or positive.  I believe that every person comes into my life for a reason, to teach me, to inspire me, and to support me through the thick and thin.  Friends have been hard to come by sometimes, but I have been blessed profusely with those people that have come into my life.

Sixth, I am grateful to live in the United States of America.  Yeah, its true, life hasn't been bliss here, but I have so many freedoms that many don't have.  I hope not to be one of those complacent Americans that take everything for granted.  I have the freedom to vote, to work, to own property, to speak my mind, to practice my religion.  What a blessing it is to be a citizen of this great land!!

Seventh, I am grateful for my life.  There have been extreme cases of health issues and much sorrow in my life.  I still have some of those health problems, where others have disappeared.  I am grateful to be alive, to be able to enjoy the sunshine.  I have so much to enjoy and many opportunities to enjoy it.

So, this is just a small list.  But I am grateful for everything my Heavenly Father has blessed me with and continues to bless me with.  Looking back, my life hasn't turned out how I planned it, but it has turned out how my Heavenly Father planned it.  I hope I am able to continue going in the direction I need to go.  Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

Registered

So, I registered for classes to start my Bachelor's degree.  BYU-Idaho has a program that will allow me to use my AAS degree I earned from LDS Business College and will let me apply for an Applied Management BS degree.  I decided to start small (since its been 9 years since I've been in school) and I'm only registered for 9 credit hours.  I'll be taking a Science, Math, History and an orientation course.  Needless to say, its slightly nerve-wracking, but its the right choice for me right now.  I'm grateful for a boss that has encouraged me to go and get my Bachelor's degree.  I think she is very wise in the fact that it is probably the best time to do it.  So, as of now, I am an official BYU-I student with classes set to begin January 7.  Here we go!  :)

No, I never have pictures, except today

Sorry to everyone that reads my blog and how boring it is.  I usually never take pictures.  I do have some to share today.  I hope everyone enjoys :)

My friends, Liz, Jackie, Cathy and I went to the Brigham City Temple Open House.  It was lots of fun.  This is the first open house I've been to since I've received my own endowments, so it made more sense and I was able to enjoy the beauty of it all the more.  I was grateful for the invitation and the opportunity to spend time with friends.

I went camping in July with my family to Fish Lake, UT.  It was a blast with my brothers and my good friend, Paul.  It rained 6 of the 8 days we were up there, so everything was green and lovely, and of course, I didn't take the camera out much.  I need to be better at that.  Here are some shots of Twin Creeks that feeds Fish Lake and pictures of the Lake itself.  I love it up there.

Then in August, I went fishing with my Dad, my friend Liz and Jason (He's my coworker and good friend Tamra's husband.  They happened to be up there camping when we went fishing.  It worked out well for all parties).  Most of the pictures are of Liz trying to bait her hook and her cleaning her fish.  Jason caught the biggest fish that day, so I snapped a picture of that as well.

Overall, life has been good.  Sorry for the lack of posts.  I will try to be better.  :)

Stress . . . you can have it!

Let's just say life has been stressful of late, some of which I cannot talk about at this point in time, but may expand at a future date.

When I was listening to General Conference this past April, I really enjoyed President Eyring's talk about trials.  The thought came to my mind that I've been living comfortably and haven't had any major trials of late.  Boy, I will never have that frame of mind again :)

My home life switched around quite a bit and its been an adjustment for me, but not a huge one.  Gibby moved out and left a huge void in my life.  I did have another roommate move in a few days later and she's been wonderful.  Her name is Natasha and we met in my ward.  She's a sweetheart and has helped me in a lot of ways.  But with any change, there comes adjustments.  They haven't been bad, but I think because everything else in my life was seeming to fall apart, it was accentuated a whole lot more.  I'm grateful for Gibby and the wonderful things she taught me.  I'm really grateful for Natasha and her big heart and compassionate spirit.

Going back to school is freaking me out.  When I graduated from the BC, I figured I was done with school for the rest of my life.  The Lord has other plans for me and I found an amazing program at BYU-Idaho that will take my AAS degree and transfer it directly into their BS program.  Its called the Applied Management degree and I am starting Winter 2013.  I am still taking a Math class this Fall, because I will have to take three Math courses to accomplish the MAT 108 requirement.  I am excited for the adventure, but I'm walking cautiously as well.  Its been over 8 years since I graduated from the BC and I have lost my study skills I had in school.  So, here's relearning how to be a student.

So, the moral of the story, don't ever think you're life is too comfortable or too stress free, because there will be opportunities for you to learn and grow.  I can say I've learned a lot and am grateful for the opportunities, but I will definitely be more grateful when its behind me and I can walk away stronger than before.  Yeah, I totally got this :)

Going Back

So after many a prayers, many discussions with a very wise boss and mentor and discussions with a very wise roommate . . . I've decided to go back to school this Fall.  I can take all prerequisites at the BC for free, with the cost of books and I may be able to get my bachelor's for free as well.  We shall see, but for now I'm registered for a Math class.  Its been 11 years since I've been in a math class, so wish me luck!

To go or not to go . . . that is the question

So, I've been asked by both of my bosses and have received countless other questions about the fact that I should consider going back to school. The problem with me . . . .I absolutely and utterly hate school. I love learning and doing things on my own time, but the thought of going to school, having homework and tests absolutely scares me to death. My biggest fear though, by far, is math. There is not words to describe how dumb I am when it comes to math or science. I just don't get it, no matter how hard I study or pray. My brain is just not wired for it. I haven't taken math since I was a junior in high school, so I would have to start at the very beginning. As you can tell by my ramblings, its intimidating.

With that said, the good part is that I can take classes at the BC for free since I work here and hopefully get my prerequisites out of the way. I've also been thinking about getting my Bachelor's online. I am so busy most of the time, I don't think I would have the time to go and sit in a classroom. I found a program at BYU-Idaho that is Marriage and Family Studies and it has as little math and science as I could find and it could interest me. I just haven't though too hard about it because I'm nervous about it.

What do you think I should do? Do you have suggestions? Any words of wisdom would be wonderful.

My addiction to Quilting

My name is Dawn and I'm addicted to quilting! I have been doing the quilting thing for about 4 years and I absolutely love it! The hard part about quilting is the cost associated with it. Fabric runs about $10 a yard, so a queen sized quilt could cost up to $600 including quilting costs.

My New Year's Resolution was to complete all of my started projects and finish them. I have about 14-18 projects going and I figured it would just save me money to finish what I have and then start new projects. That Resolution lasted 3 weeks until I found something I could not do without. I had gotten an extra paycheck in December which allowed me to splurge a bit, so I did.

My solution to my quilting addiction . . . find a rich man to support me in my habit :)