O Remember Remember the... month of November!

            Hey y'all, how's it going? I hope it's good :)
November has been a pretty uneventful month so I'm just going to give you the highlights, like I usually do. 
     I got a job interview with Deseret Book and I got so nervous that my home teacher graciously gave me a blessing and it definitely silenced a majority of my anxieties. So I woke up put on my shorter skirt and my shirt and my flats come to find out that it is snowing!! I love the snow but not when I have a job interview for Deseret Book! The interview went fine but I didn't get the job but I'm not stressed out about it. People in my Spanish class tell me it's easier to get a job during the spring... we'll see!
     I got a "beautiful" lesson from Heavenly Father about my Pride habit. After my first blessing, I spoke to my roommates about weak it made me feel to ask for help and how I like to solve my own problems and crap like that. I'm pretty sure Heavenly Father raised an eyebrow and went "Like to solve your own problems eh? We'll see about that!" skip to Wednesday, waiting for my math class to start. I get hit with a massive head ache! I'm thinking "oh I haven't drunk enough water" so naturally I down my water bottle and fill it up before class starts. Six hours, three Ibuprofen and five bottle of water later and the headache worsens. It gets so bad that I  can't concentrate on my homework, can't even wear my glasses. It's making me upset because now I'm going to have to miss Life Prep because I just can't handle this stupid head ache. I decided to google "types of headaches" come to find out that I was experiencing a tension headache. Not fun. So in the midst of my pain a thought entered my head. 'You could always get a blessing' and you can bet I shut down that idea so fast. 'No way! I'll be fine tomorrow!' I would argue. A little after 8:00 a couple of guys from our ward came over, and started talking to me and my other roommate who was in the living room. It was just casual talk until he asked. "Is there anything we can do for you?" without a filter I blurted. "Do you know how to get rid of headaches?" I explained the whole thing and one of the guys goes, "well we'd be happy to give you a blessing." After all my big talk about how I can handle it, on my own came crashing down in that single moment. I knew I couldn't handle but I really didn't want another blessing. I have had so many this semester it's been crazy. I fought against it but then consented and I kid you not the moment those guys walked out the door, my headache vanished. Talk about a humbly experience.
     I came home for a weekend to see Robert's Play, I won't give my honest opinion because this is public but if I'm being honest Robert was the best part.
   OK so fast forward to last night. Mom picked me up from school around 3 and we did her shopping ate at Culvers and went to SWIG before her presentation called "Stand and Deliver" from 3 Key Elements by Kirk Duncan, it was basically a condensed public speaking class. We could stay for a short amount of time because we parked our car on a 2 hour parking spot. The whole time we were there I felt like I had to go to Deseret Book by Temple Square but I didn't want to go by myself for one thing and I knew mom really wanted to see this guy so I kept my mouth shut. Around  8:30 we got up and left and waited for the TRAX. Getting on I sat by the window and we passed the Deseret Book, inside was a gorgeous Nativity display... and a rather big group... plagued with curiosity I focused more closely and standing inside the store was none other than my absolute FAVORITE apostle, President Uchtdorf. Surprised by my discovery I screamed and began to bang on the window. My poor terrified mother asked me what was wrong and I told her who I saw and said that we had to get off. Slight side note: It's my dream (and on my bucket-list) to meet Uchtdorf and express my love for him and tell him how his "Forget Me Not" talk changed my life and I saw an opportunity to do so on the TRAX.
So we waited for the next stop, jumped off and literally ran to the bookstore in the blistering cold only to find that we were too late. Disappointed but thankful for the walk we decided to just walk the rest of the way to our van. We got it and started driving home. It's been fine, mom ran over an already dead deer's chest, which was disgusting by the way but we're having a nice conversation. Now we're about 15 minutes away from the house and in the middle of the road is a buck! It's too close to us for mom to even remotely slow down. I clamp my eyes shut and begin to scream and a thud goes under our car. Mom hit her first deer... it was a little traumatic on both ends... Not even a mile later we almost hit ANOTHER BUCK! LIKE WHAT THE FLIPPING HECK?!? Thankfully, we moved out of the way so we wouldn't hit that one too. Now the front of our car is just about busted but we made it home safely.

I'll probably post another entry for Thanksgiving and stuff. I hope everyone has a fun and SAFE weekend.

Love y'all
Allanah

The UVU Chapter

    Hello friends! It has been a while since I've posted on here, mostly because all summer I was working for the Girls Scouts of America as a Kitchen Assistant at Trefoil Ranch. I had no internet all summer and close to no phone contact either. It was quite the experience, from that I learned new things that go on in a Kitchen, that my children (if I should have any) will be angels when it comes to manners and patience, also I loved being called "Belle" all summer, I think that was the highlight ahah.  I am thankful for the people I met and befriended whilst in the mountains for those 10 weeks.
        I've been a UVU for about a month and it's not anything that I expected it to be. I live in place called "Village On the Parkway", which is a nice place. There's a shuttle that takes its residents to and from  UVU and on Friday's it'll take you to Walmart. The people I've met on the shuttle have been kind and nice. There's one girl, called Alana (Uh-LAN-Uh) and she's super nice but it's peculiar meeting a person with the name that people have been calling me for years only in the wrong way. Allanah (Uh-Lawn-Uh) and Alana (Uh-Lan-Uh). There's another girl I met, her name is Charlotte and we both have a love for Supernatural -BAM instant friendship haha.
       My roommates are fantastic and BEAUTIFUL girls, there's Savannah, Myra, Bethany, Ellen and Regan. They are all younger than me, leaving me to feel like an old spinster but they make me laugh and they go to church with me, which is more than I asked for so I'm truly blessed.
         My classes are a little challenging this time. I'm taking Ethics and Values (not the hard class, just incredibly boring). I'm taking Spanish I (learning a language is hard no matter what but my teacher is fabulous). I'm taking Math 1030, this potentially is the LAST math class I'll have to take but I may have to take it twice because my teacher kind of stinks and teaching and I always end up leaving class with confusion and no hope but I'm still trying hard to pass! Finally, I am taking my first MAJOR (the class that actually deals with my major) and that is American Lit. It's a little boring and a few of the kids in the make me upset but I love listening to the conversations we have. I am also taking an institute class, which is the just the best thing ever! It's called "Foundations of the Restoration" with Sister Heapworth and let me tell you, it is one the best institute classes!! In addition to that I'm taking a "Life Prep" class on Wednesday nights at my church building and oh my gosh that class is the just the most amazing blessing I've received since coming to Orem. It's just a good glass that helps me improve myself and how I can be better and better those around me. I could literally write an essay on the benefits I've gotten from that class alone. It's amazing.
          My Ward is pretty cool, it's fives times the size of my ward in Ephraim, I think they said that there are 200 members? The best part is that for once the guys outnumber the girls, not that'll help me find a boyfriend any quicker but that's alright, I'm not really looking for a relationship, I'm too focused on my schooling. The nice thing about my ward is they actually care about home teaching more so than my other YSA wards. I've already asked for a blessing from my home teacher and it was a good experience and you could tell that they were really happy to do it, which makes me happy.
   Still jobless but have applied to several jobs that are relatively close and may be able to fit with my schedule and it's definitely stressing me out. So if you're reading this would you mind praying that I find a job that's nearby and fits with my schedule? It'd be much appreciated, thanks.
   Back to staying positive!! I have some news, which for me is the most exciting thing to happen since I graduated high school. For the first time since puberty.... I HAVE A CLEAR AND PIMPLE FREE FACE!!!!!! I literally can't express to you how happy it makes me to look at myself in the mirror and see a clear face, it's like "oh that's where you were hiding!" It's definitely a confidence booster and I have Doterra and my mother to thank for that, because if my mom weren't involved with the oil company she wouldn't have found that face wash and then I never wouldn't have used it and would still be suffering from a pimply gross face!
    Not sure what else really happened that is of significance, OH I WENT TO COMIC CON AND IT WAS SO AMAZING EVEN THOUGH WE ONLY STAYED FOR 2 1/2 HOURS!!!!! If you haven't seen my "Comic Con" photo album on Facebook, check it out and you'll see how awesome it was! Besides that nothing has really happened, I just feel blessed and though I'm still single, jobless and struggling with classes I'm thankful that I listened to the prompting that I got and came here even though it's still not where I want to go. It just goes to show you that blessings happen when you listen to God and the revelation He sends.

I love you all and I'm thankful for those who read this blog, I'm sorry I'm not out having exciting adventures but I'm sure I'll have a blog for that when it happens. God be with you and bless you. Love you all :)

~Allanah

The End of a Chapter..

 
       Well that's a wrap on Snow College. I passed all of my classes (including Math, so excited!) and actually ended up graduating Institute but only because my bishop had asked me and I couldn't really say no to the bishop but he assured me that I could continue taking Institute! The thing I want to focus on in this blog post is about all the things I learned during my year and a half at Snow.
          1) I learned to be patient and tolerant of people, who I don't get along with. It's incredibly important to try to love those who don't love you. I can tell you from experience that having my first roommate was the first challenge and it was the hardest challenge but I'm sure that there are many bad roommates to come.... hit me with your best shot...

         2) God is our shoulder, our anchor. I lost a very special person that first semester of school and it was the hardest thing I had to go through so far in life and for the longest time I thought I was going through it by myself because I didn't have friends at school to cry to, to listen to my pain (not that I would have told anyone anyway..) but through that trial I learned through going to church, institute and my own personal scripture reading that God is there when we are hurting, he wants us to talk to Him when we are in  pain. He loves us so much.

         3) Opening up to people has always been a trial for me, I think it will continue to be a trial but last fall I learned that not all new people are nice for the sake of being nice or because they have to be. Sometimes there are people out there who do genuinely care and it's okay to let them in. Not all at once but little by little.

        4) For being perpetually single (by choice) I found out that I give pretty good guy advice! I have four people (who will remain nameless but you know who you are) who have come to me and either laid on my bed, sat on their floor/or chair,  in front of the Bistro or just on the phone and asked me about some guy advice! So in the future when I'm ready to immerse myself in the dating scene I should be pretty ship shape haha (not...)

       5)  Marriage isn't that bad! Not that I'm close to getting married anytime soon, I no longer resent when people in church talk about the importance of marriage and it's something that I want, one day... I don't cringe nearly as much when the topic in conference is marriage. I'm still rather terrified of the concept but I know that if my future spouse and I keep Christ in the center of our marriage we should do okay... hopefully!

        6) God has a plan for us! A lot of the times it isn't going to be the one we want. For a while my plan, my set plan was to finish at Snow then go to SUU and if that didn't plan out then I was going to rejoin some of my friends in BYU-I but for some strange reason it isn't what God wants me to do. I struggled for a long time comprehending with the fact that god wants me to go to UVU, a school I never had any interest in, I was avoiding that place because of certain people I desperately want to avoid (they shall remain nameless as well). I learned that I need to trust God more and that's the reason I am going to Utah Valley University with an open mind and blinded footsteps.

       7) Love is hard and most often it hurts, especially when you have to say goodbye to the first best friends you made since moving to Utah. Most of the times you can get so caught up in the happy memories, the hilarious nights and the entertaining days then forget that one day it's all going to end. One day you're surrounded by a fantastic group of girls who make you feel loved in a way that you hadn't felt in over two years.  They're always there to listen to you and you're there for them as well. It's not easy to find a group of friends who make you feel special, valued and encourage you to love yourself and to follow your dreams. As of now, I've got a group of friends who are like that in two states but the one thing they have in common? They are so far away.. I hate goodbyes, I've always hated them. Leaving on May 1st was the hardest thing. To walk through the door and to my mom's van, knowing or not knowing rather, when I would see these people again had broken my heart.  Now I just feel like a hollow shell, doing what I have to and nothing else.

The year and a half I spent at Snow College was the best and hardest days I've lived so far and the way my life goes I count on plenty more hard days ahead...

Thank you to all who contributed to my journey. Let's start another one this fall!