{20} The Start to a Lifetime Adventure

12 Lions holding up a fountain. Look familiar to any Mormons?

It's March. Spring break of 2013. Walking into the airport, my classmates and I realize that our teacher is missing. How could he have wandered off when we were together? He's supposed to be the chaperone, not us. After multiple attempts to recover him by retracing steps and calling his phone, he is finally found. Near the front of the line to check in for our flight, our teacher was the one that left US behind. 

Even with a rough start, my trip to Spain was amazing. Though it was only 10 days, that week and a half long trip opened my eyes to so much. We went to the Valley of the Fallen, Segovia, Madrid, Cordoba, Toledo, and many other cities on our way. Seeing the beautiful architecture and designs that don't exist in United States allowed me to see the influences that religion and history have had on cultures throughout time. My group toured cathedrals, mosques and castles. We walked the cobbled streets of ancient cities and bought souvenirs from gypsies. Spain instilled in me a longing to travel. Not just to see places, but to see people and cultures. It inspired me to learn more about the people that inhabit the earth around us and learn what makes them tick. I love the differences that make up the human race. I love the pasts and experiences that make each of us different. I love the creations that come from within us hearts. 

{19} 4 Things I Bet You Didn't Know About Arizona

Born and raised in Arizona, I like to pretend that I know everything about it. It is a part of who I am and I like to think that I know who I am, and therefore, know Arizona. 

1. Arizona has mountains. Not like the mountains that surround our 
valley here in Provo, or even the mountains that surround the valley that contains Mesa, Phoenix and Gilbert. My mountains are bigger. Standing at the highest point, you don't feel like you are on the peak and could fall off onto one side of the mountain or the other. You feel like you're still on flat, solid ground, but floating in the sky.

2. It snows. At 7,200 feet, my town receives a dusting of snow every year. In fact, we have a ski resort only 45 minutes away. With every new snow form, half of the school is up at Sunrise, spending the day on the slopes.


3. Native Americans. Being close to Mexico, you would think that we would have a high percentage of Mexicans. And we do. But Arizona has the largest amount of land designated as reservations for Native Americans. With 21 recognized tribes, it's no surprise that my school was probably 30% Native. That's saying a lot when there's only 400 kids in the high school. 

 4. There's nothing like an Arizona sunset. Until you have seen a sunset in Arizona, you've never seen a real sunset. 

{18} Why Blog? - Conclusion

      I never aspired to be a blogger. Why on earth would I want the world reading about my life and thoughts? Having to write this blog as a Writing 150 project, I realized that it isn't only about letting the world see me. Instead, it is about letting ME see me. It has allowed me to look back at who I was at the beginning of the class, as well as in my past. I've seen the changes and growth that I've experienced and been able find ways to improve myself in the future. 
      I want to continue blogging. If not for the entertaining of others, then for my own record. Writing down my stories has helped me to learn lessons in retrospect and remember my stories better than if I'd simply tried to keep the memories in my own head. I forget things easily unless someone reminds me of them. I don't want someone to have to remind me about certain aspects of my life and my past that made me who I am. I want to be able to remember those stories and be able to share them with my grandchildren when I'm 97 years old and still kicking. 

{17} "A Christmas Miracle" - Love of Friends

After receiving my December issue of the Ensign, I was flipping through it and found the article "A Christmas Miracle". In it, the author, Lindsay Alder, speaks of the miracle that is her husband's life after a heart attack. She goes on to say how grateful she is for the love and help that they received from friends while Lindsay's husband was stuck in the hospital on Christmas Eve. They cared for her kids, made sure the house was clean for their return, wrapped presents, gave gifts of money and decorations, and even stayed to help decorate the hospital room. Having the support of their friends made all the difference during the Christmas season. Reading her story, Lindsay made me realize how important people are in our lives. I've taken time to look back at my own life and recognize the people that have impacted me for both good and bad. It forced me to reevaluate the effort that I put into relationships and the people in my life. Am I the friend to others that I would want them to be for me? I'll sure try to be.

{16} Interference

I'm sure that I'm not the only one that hasn't been on a date since moving to Provo. It's frustrating and annoying if you're not avoiding the dating scene completely. People are disconnected and don't bother to try reconnecting (or even connecting in the first place). Coming here, I felt like no one cared to really get to know me. Every conversation went as far as "Hi, what's your name and major" and ended at that before they moved on to the next person. Everyone was so involved in trying to meet everyone and have a solid base of people that they know. What I wonder about that is how many of those people do they really know? It's like a real life friends or followers list. Half the people on that list you may not even know on a personal basis but it makes you feel better to add another person to that number doesn't it? Carrying this over into relationships, technology has become a problem in our generation. BYU recently featured a study on the "technoference." The study shoed that being "dialed in" to your phones and technology leads to lower life satisfaction and relationship quality. Personally, that scares me. I've always dreamed of having the cute, 60's relationship where couples go out and spend time together, just having fun with one another. That vision never included either of us having to update Instagram on our latest venture and hoping for 50+ likes. I'm not saying that technology or social media is bad by any means, simply that it is overused and abused. Today, a group of friends can barely be together without each of them ending up on their phones and not even paying attention to each other. The other night at dinner a friend, after updating himself on everything going on throughout his social media, mentioned a video that I shared on Facebook about putting down your phone and not missing life around you and commented that it was "funny, coming from the one with the iPhone 6." But do you see me on it? No, I didn't think so. So.. put your phone down. Ask someone on a date. Go out with friends and don't look at your phone unless it's an emergency. Disconnect from the cloud world and reconnect to what's right in front of you.

{15} The Real Meaning of Christmas

I hate to admit it, but I'm a little bit of a Grinch. It's a rule in my house that my mom isn't allowed to play Christmas music of any kind until after Thanksgiving. Usually she pushes it and starts playing Amy Grant's Christmas album the second we leave from Thanksgiving dinner. This year, I was blessed to have a roommate that loves Christmas. At first, I was annoyed with the constant Christmas music and references since September, but I soon learned why she loves Christmas so much. For years I have been caught up in the worldly idea of Christmas. The presents and Christmas candy and decorating. What I was missing was the true spirit of Christmas. I came to see where the real excitement of Christmas comes from. It isn't the tinsel and wrapping paper that make Christmas a holiday. It is the celebration of Christ and the time spent with people that we love that makes Christmas such a wonderful time. Why wouldn't anyone want that? In the end, even the Grinch grows to love Christmas and the feeling that comes with it. After watching the Church's new video,"He Is The Gift," is when this realization finally hit me. So now, I'd like to share it with you.

{14} Playing Savior

A few weeks ago my roommate received her mission call. By that Thursday afternoon, her call had still not come in the mail and she had to leave to catch a plane to go home. She had planned on flying home to open her call with her family but had to left empty-handed. She flew home in anger and confusion, wondering why her call hadn't come yet. Friday afternoon, the call came. Being the amazing people that we are, a few of us decided to help her out. One friend went to the mail room to pick up the oversized envelope and delivered it to me and another roommate after we had gotten out of class. At that point, it was 5:00 and FedEx was supposed to close at 5:30. Thirty minutes to get the call to FedEx and overnight it to my roommate. No problem right? Wrong. Neither I or the other roommate have a car. 5:00 on a Friday is a really bad time to find a ride since everyone is already gone and enjoying their weekend. After frantic searching, calling, and knocking on doors, a girl in our ward in the possession of a vehicle was home and willing to drive us. In our haste to arrive at FedEx on time, we went to the wrong place and lost even more time. Finally, arriving at 5:20, we pulled into the FedEx parking lot. $50, a hectic search for a ride and only twenty minutes later, our task was done and the bulky envelope was mailed. The next day, I listened as my ecstatic roommate opened her call in front of her family and close friends. But to where you ask? I'll tell you. FINLAND!! And so it is, a happy ending to an almost tragic story.

And of course we had to take pictures with the prized envelope before mailing it, just to further torment my already antsy roommate

{13} Mentored Research Adventures

Right before Thanksgiving break I was in the lab trying to get last minute work done before I left for home. I'd already worked for my allotted 3 hours for the day and was minutes from preparing to go home when Dr. Belk came barging in. "Run downstairs and grab some waders, then meet me outside in two minutes" and with that he was gone. Umm.. What? Not knowing what we were doing, my lab partner and I got waders and met Dr. Belk and another student by the truck and inquired after our task. "Electroshocking," he answered. NO WAY!! This is going to be awesome. Electroshocking is when you have a metal rod that you put in the water and drag back and forth, temporarily shocking the fish into immobility so that they can be caught in a net without their resistance. We raced down to the Spanish Fork river and jumped right in. With mud up past my knees in parts of the river, the going was slow and slippery. With one leg freed from the mud and the other still buried, falling into the water was a serious concern. Only one of us ever fell and one took on some water because of the high water level in parts of the river, but that was the extent of our disasters. With our nets and buckets, we caught the fish that we needed. Racing back to campus, we were 45 minutes late for a parasitology class, the one we were collecting fish for. It was amazing to think that while I was out having fun shocking and catching fish, it was actually for a purpose. Those little fish would be dissected in class and the parasites they contained would be examined in the hopes that they can be removed from the river. Science, it turns out, is actually a lot of fun.

{12} How Will You Serve?

Mission oh Mission

Recently I've been reading over some blogs and emails of friends that are on their missions. Every LDS friend I ever had throughout high school is currently in the mission field and I couldn't be happier for each of them. But it puts a lot of pressure on me. With the missionary age change, there was a huge influx of youth deciding to serve and leaving on their missions. In that pack of rabid Mormons were all of my friends. I've never been against serving a mission myself, but I've never had the desire to either. It simply wasn't something that I ever felt I needed to do. Recently, the pressure at BYU to serve a mission has come full force and hit me like a brick wall to the face. I've started feeling like I need to serve a mission and that everyone is doing it so that means that I need to as well.  After praying about it, I realized what was going on. A mission is not in my life plan, at least not right now. While it is always a good thing to serve, it may not be the best for me at this moment. Before I came to this realization, I scanned my brain for everything I knew to be true about serving an LDS mission. So here goes.

1. It is not easy by any means

Everyone tells you how great the mission is, but how often do they tell you the downfalls? Of course, the mission overall is an amazing experience and one that everyone should get a taste of somehow and sometime in their life. However, it is in no way easy mentally, spiritually, physically or emotionally. This would never have been a sole reason to keep me from serving but keeping in mind that whole picture of a mission was important to me. It isn't all dandelions and snowflakes. Investigators often don't show up to church, cancel appointments, and sometimes bail on their own baptism. Sometimes they struggle to keep commandments that are foreign to them and fail to live the gospel standards at all times. It is hard to watch as people that you have taught fall away just as they were starting to grow. Does that make the mission any less worth it? HECK NO.  In many ways, the trials that are experienced on missions make them that much MORE worth it. 

2. It's going to be the best experience of your life

To me, experiencing another person's way of life is one of the most beautiful of experiences. You get to see why they are the way that they are. What made them the person that they are today. It can be an entirely different culture from your own or only a different living situation that makes them different from you. To grow to respect those differences is what makes a real human being. We are all different but we are the same in that we are all children of God. We have to accept each others's differences and that we aren't all going to learn the same way or experience the same things. That, to me, is one of the most important lessons that comes from serving a mission. 

While I don't believe that I myself will be a missionary in the near future, I have the utmost respect for those that do decide to serve. There are few things equal to giving your life to the service of your God and fellow men. My only hope is that I can find another way to be the servant that God needs me to be. 

{11} The Race Against Stupidity

This last week was a little hectic. I felt like I was constantly running from place to place, doing errands for myself or my parents. Saturday was no different. That morning was spent running errands and the afternoon was consumed by last minute wedding preparations. Saturday, my cousin was married until death do they part. I, being dubbed the photographer and being the retard that I am, remembered to take my camera home with me, but forgot the battery charger. Upon arriving in Arizona, I realized my mistake and spent the following days trying to fix it. I asked everyone I knew if they had a charger (or knew someone else with one) that matched mine. With no such luck, I changed my tactics. My past young women's leader in my home ward had cameras. Maybe I could borrow one of hers. I called her Friday morning and learned that she was out of town, but she gave me the code to get into her garage. I found one of her cameras, some lenses that I could use, and one memory card. This card, however, was full. Full of pictures that she had not yet downloaded. Normally it wouldn't be a problem and I would simply use one of my own memory cards. The problem with this thought is that my camera takes different memory cards than hers. Hers are the kind that cost $40 and Walmart doesn't carry. To solve the dilemma, my young women's president called a friend and asked to borrow a memory card. He agreed so I had to call him and find out where he lived so that I could pick it up. My young women's president saved me this weekend. You could say I owe her my life at this point. With a borrowed camera and a borrowed SD card, I went to that wedding. And to think all my problems wouldn't have even existed if I'd remembered my own camera charger. 

{10} The Call of A Lifetime

The wail of the phone ringing, vibrating against the cushion of the couch, is a sound that will never be forgotten.     

     “Slide to answer,” the screen tempts. Having a mind of its own, my hand reaches for the phone, as if detached from its owner, knowing that the reason for the unexpected call can’t be good. The words coming from the caller seem as if from a dream. My heart drops, feeling like a weight in the pit of my stomach. “What?” I ask, not actually needing the information repeated. Aaron, a friend that had graduated only months earlier, had committed suicide late the night before.
Charlie confirms the news over the phone, his baritone voice bursting into tears and choking out the end of the sentence, cracking more with each syllable. Sounds fade and the walls collapse around me. Suddenly, I’m alone in space. There’s no sights or sounds, only the oblivion that exists in the furthest reachable corners of my mind. Nothing to distract from the catastrophe that I’m coming to realize is reality. The walls spin around me, my mind races, snapping me back to real life. This isn’t supposed to happen. It’s my junior year of high school. It’s supposed to be a good year, but it seems that with each month comes a new tragedy. With the weight of an elephant sitting on my chest, I finish the day in my own world. November 30, 2012 would be a day never forgotten, even if only by me.
Days pass me by without a glance. Without realizing it, Aaron’s funeral is upon me. “Weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth” does not only exist in times of battle, but in times of pain. My heart breaks for the pain that surrounds my life. Watching as a family is torn apart by recent events, the love that I have for my own eternal family grows within. Walking up the hill to the cemetery and the dark, open grave in front of me looms from between the trees. The cold, frozen ground envelops the coffin, accepting it for safe keeping. A slight breeze carries the grieving cries across the valley, letting the world know of a mother’s pain.
         As per Apache tradition, I watch as some of Aaron’s personal items are placed into the grave with his casket. An old detention slip, an unreturned textbook, and a crate full of his collection of used shotgun shells are among those that are placed within the hallowed ground. Charlie’s muffled sobs become a soundtrack to the tune of his scarred and battered, tattooed hands breaking Aaron’s guitars and cutting strings before placing them alongside their owner. As I stand at the top of the hill, burying a friend that December afternoon, my eyes open. I look around and see the pain that comes from living a simple life on earth. I know I shouldn’t let Aaron’s death affect me this way. I know I should be strong, but I just don’t want to be anymore. The weight crushes my resolve and I give in. Atop a hill of cedars in the heart of the reservation, a switch is flipped within. It’s too late for me now, the pain is turned off.
Days turn to weeks and then into months. Our group of friends pulls together, splits apart, and pulls together again. Days at a time are spent without so much as a text between us. My heart longed to reminisce on the crazy days with Aaron at our side, but I was alone. Being the only active member of the Church in my group of friends, I hold it together the best, but still not as well as I should. I question everything. I asked myself, 

What went wrong? Why wasn’t he happy? He was so gentle and kind, how could such a storm be raging within? Was there something I could have done for him? Was he reaching out for me and I just wasn't paying attention? 

With torturing thoughts racing through my mind, emotions went from the pain of loss to the guilt in wondering if in some way it was my fault or if I could have prevented it. 

Through the next few months it seems that nothing can help what had happened, I will never heal from this shock. Months continue to pass and all I accomplish is attaining record amounts of sleep and somehow passing all my classes with only giving minimal effort. Mornings are plagued with the thought of having to return to school, pretending that all is well in my world. Teachers barely notice as I let my work slide. My mask is so effective that they have no idea as to what is going on behind it. I spend my hours at school doing homework in class to avoid having to do it (or anything else) at home. All that I can emotionally handle at home is sleeping until dinner and returning to my reclusive cave the second that I am allowed. My parents’s faces don’t hide their concern. “Talk to someone,” they plead with me. “I can’t. I have nothing to say.”  It was like being in a trance. I have no memory of what has happened in the months that I’ve given up hope. 
Finally, March. Please let spring be a new start, I beg. After weeks of incessant pleading and bribes from friends, I walk into the office of the track coach and join the team a month into the season. Having been one of Aaron’s coaches in high school, he knows what I’ve been through and why I am here: I need to run it out. Running is my own cheap form of therapy and I haven’t been running since Aaron’s death. This first day at practice is just what I’ve been needing and looking for in all the wrong places. The brisk air freezes my fingers and ears, propelling me forward. The emotions that I’ve held bottled within for months come bubbling out and fuel the pace at which I work. I run the workout with the distance team and finish with hill sprints, pushing myself to exceed the limits of what I can handle. With each practice, I push even harder. For a few hours after school each day, I act as if nothing is wrong and, for once, it feels true. The track and weigh room workouts clear my mind and allow me to think clearly, without the pressures of the world surrounding me. It’s just me and the task at hand. I can’t escape forever and the crushing weight falls upon my shoulders as I leave the track to return home each day. 

       
       At such a small school like mine, even a large track team becomes a family. We support each other through thick and thin. Study sessions become a regular thing to help keep everyone’s grades up. My track family are the ones that I know will be at every race, cheering me on through the end. As I come around each bend in the track, I know that most of the roaring of the crowd is coming from my track team. They cheer and encourage until their lungs can’t handle any more, they warn me of competitors getting close behind me. They push me and support me, carrying me when I can’t stand on my own. Through early morning bus rides, stops at grungy gas stations in the desert, and group naps on the bleachers, we’ve become not just a team, but a family. They stick to my side through sweaty practices and snowy meets, always being the support that I need, not just through the good, but also the bad.

{9} BYU Experience

BYU has been an interesting experience. I came from a small town where everyone knows everyone, to BYU where even by the end of the semester you still don't know most of the people sitting in class around you. While it's been nice to get away and be able to start new with no one knowing me, it has also been hard to not have people around me that know my life story and know who I am, where I came from and why I am the way that I am. At first it was lonely here in Provo. I felt like I didn't have anyone to talk to about the things that are important to me because no one understands who I am. Since I have roommates, they helped to lessen that feeling of loneliness since roommates have a self-proclaimed duty to find out your every dream, secret and fear. Needless to say, they now know more about me than most people that have known me my entire life. Once I realized that these crazy roommates of mine are in fact here to be my strength, I realized how very much I am not alone. Somehow by having them here I also realized that God has my back too. He's never gone unless I want Him gone. I don't know why I was so worried about not having anyone here that knew me, but I was and I was wrong. God (and it seems my roommates too) is everywhere. Once I realized how present God's hand is in my life, I see His work in everything. And I am not alone.

{8} Pressing On

This week we had stake conference in the Marriott and Elder Ballard came and was one the speakers. At our smaller stake conference, Elder Ballard was more relaxed and grandfatherly than he is when speaking in general conference. Being able to hear him speak on Sunday was a new experience for me. It was amazing to see and feel the difference in the two experiences. He went from being a general authority of the church, a hot-shot so to speak, to being a grandfather figure that was willing to tell us how it is and be completely honest with us. It was a further testament to me of the truthfulness of the gospel. These men, the ones that we call the Quorum of the Twelve, are just ordinary men. They are humans just like the rest of us and they are children of God. What makes them different from us is the calling that they hold in the church. It put into perspective the reality that we are all on the same level. We are all trying to grow and be better while flailing through this mortal life. Now, knowing that, it makes it easier for me to try harder and do better. Knowing that even Elder Ballard isn't a perfect human being and still survived mortality so far, tells me that I can do it too if I just keep trying.

{7} From She to Me

Lately I've been thinking a lot about why I am here at BYU. I was never the kid that dreamt of coming to Provo, UT and being a Cougar. In fact, I wasn't even going to apply to Provo. Most LDS kids are the product of at least one parent or grandparent that attended BYU at some point in their lifetime and has a continuous flow of anecdotes from their treasured BYU days. Not me. I never wanted to be the "typical Mormon kid" that went to BYU and got married during their freshman year of college. I was not about to willingly submit to that stereotype. But.. somehow I did and I am here. And I've realized that I'm better for it and now can't imagine a better place for me to be.

This last weekend, I was coming back to school from Arizona with a friend and stopped for lunch. We were in the heart of the Navajo reservation and were approached by two Native men. One was extremely stoned with the deep red eyes of a long-time user and the other, drunk. After inviting them to church (typical of an RM) and talking to them for a while, they asked about us. They asked where we went to school, our major, what we want to be. As two white, LDS, BYU students (one a neuroscience major and RM and the other a biology major) we stood out in that Burger King full of Native Americans. It was at that moment that I realized I AM the stereotype. It isn't just what I do with my life, but who I am. And I'm proud of it. I don't want to sit back and blend into the crowd, I want to stand out. I want to be "that Mormon girl," the one that planted a seed in a couple of men's minds that may not grow to be anything, but at least that seed is planted. I'm not at BYU to fit the stereotype. I'm here, at Brigham Young University, to become the person that can make a difference in the world that I live it. Maybe I won't affect much, but it will be enough. There's a plan for me and I plan to fulfill it.

{6} Research Paper Review

Turning in my research paper today was one of the most relieving things that I have ever done. Getting that out of my hands and safely into Sister Steadman's was a great feeling. Needless to say, this paper was pretty stressful. If I hadn't liked my topic then I probably wouldn't have been very involved in the research process. I'd like to be able to take the time to do more research on my topic on my own, even now that the paper is done. I really liked having checkpoints to turn in different parts of our papers so it kept me on track better than if I had been on my own until the end, as well as having it this early in the semester so that it is over with.

When deciding a topic, it really wasn't hard for me to decide. I went straight to my family. The minute after class when we started talking about the paper, I texted my grandma. I asked her about some family traditions that we have and where they came from. She helped me to get some of the background on my topic of family traditions and get the ideas flowing. After talking to her, I got really interested in family history. It was cool to see where my family came from and the stories about who each of them were. If I hadn't decided to research the effects of traditions then I probably wouldn't have become any more interested in my family history than I was before the paper. It got me to start asking questions about who I am and where I came from, why we do the things that we do, and what can really come from it. One of the best parts of the research paper in my eyes was the realization that research papers don't have to be boring or irrelevant to anyone but the author. Instead, my paper can be applied to everyone's lives. I know that I personally plan on taking some of the things that I learned from my paper and applying them in my life and family. Some good (other than getting a grade for it) will come from this.

{5} Come and See - An Invitation to the Gospel

These guys are ready to talk to you

      In Elder Bednar's talk "Come and See" in the October 2014 LDS General Conference, he directed most of his message towards those who are not of our faith. He answered the question of why it seems that Mormons always want to share their faith with those around them. Elder Bednar used an understanding and informative tone, scriptural references from both the Bible and Book of Mormon, and anecdotes to illustrate the Latter Day Saint culture to those that are not members of the LDS faith.
      Elder David A. Bednar opens his talk saying that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints "always has been and always will be" a missionary church. He uses this phrase multiple times in his talk to point out that Chrost's church never changes. It is the restored gospel and is the same as it was when Christ was on the earth. Because our teachings are the same as Christ's, members are encouraged to be Christ-like and teach others and He did.
      Throughout his talk, Elder Bednar uses quotes and references from both the Bible and the Book of Mormon. By doing this, he showed that as Mormons we do not replace the Bible with the Book of Mormon, but instead use them together. This allowed his audience of nonmembers to better understand that we are not turning away from all other Christian churches by having our own scripture, but only adding to it with the teaching of Book of Mormon day prophets.
      Christ taught the principle of brotherly kindness. Elder Bednar used an anecdote from when his children were young to illustrate how this principle can be applied to each of our lives in an everyday setting. When one of his sons was hurt, the elder boy took care of him and made sure that he was okay after the younger boy's minor accident. After being bandaged up, the younger boy took bandaids and ointment to his friends and put ointment and bandaids on them, just as the elder brother had done for the younger. This story illustrates how natural it is for us as human beings to want to share the good or healing parts of our lives with those around us.
     While Elder Bendar's talk was directed mostly toward nonmembers, members of the church can also gain insight from what he had to say. Bednar made his audience feel the need to go out and be a missionary, whether in the field or at home. Whatever our lot in life may be, we should be caring for those around us and wanting to share the gospel that we have in our lives with those that have not had the opportunity to learn of its truthfulness.

{4} Family Stories Ideas and Thesis

Every year at Christmas, my family has two traditions that we participate in without fail. The first one we call the Dumb Baby. When she arrives from Norway or Denmark, we find her wrapped in blankets. We each get a chance to ask her questions and she'll answer us by nodding yes or shaking no. Most of the kids will ask something along the lines of "Does Jay have a girlfriend?" or "Am I getting anything for Christmas?" It's not anything super meaningful and it doesn't have much of an impact on any of our lives, it's just fun. Where did that tradition come from? Is there an old story about a baby answering people's life questions? How is it that the Dumb Baby is one of the only traditions that has continued in my family for so many years?

Do you have family from Norway or Denmark? You could research if that tradition came from either of those countries. Ask your parents, grandparents, etc, if they know how that got started with your family.

Whats the dumb baby? Sounds funny. I think Jay does have a girl friend. 

What was the other family tradition? Has there been a time where dumb baby made an impact in your families life?

Caleb: Yeah, I have never heard of that tradition. It sounds super fun, though. How has the tradition affected your family culture? Do you think it has lasted simply because it is fun to do every year?

Maybe look into the symbolism behind the tradition. Do the different aspects of the "Dumb Baby" have further meaning behind them. Why do you do it at Christmas time?

Hi Kelci! Tell how the story influences your family. Good luck!


Thesis:
Although not all families have or care about traditions, studies have shown that having lasting traditions brings families together in closer unity, gives each new generation a sense of belonging, and sets the tone for family dynamics.

{3} Analysis Response

Well... that was a little more rough than I thought it would be. I have never written an analysis essay before so it was a very different experience to write about what the author, or in this case speaker, was feeling at the time and how they made their audience feel. To prepare to write my essay, I read President Reagan's speech over and over, looking for hints that would give away his emotions. After reading the speech, I watched the video of it. I paid close attention to his tone and facial expressions. Both of those are dead give aways to the emotions that are felt within. After so many readings and viewings of the speech, my mind was closed off to any new thoughts concerning the content. To solve that problem, I had one of my roommates read what I had written so far and give me feedback. Her thoughts on what I had already said helped me to gain momentum to move into my next points of topic. I also had a roommate listen to the speech with me. I asked her how it had personally made her feel so that I could get an idea of how Reagan's speech most likely affected his audience the first time that they heard it. Both of these techniques helped me to see the speech from point of views different from my own. It helped me to be able to see as others do and understand how the speech could affect people differently. Next time, I plan on utilizing the resources that I have here. The Writing Center is always available to me but I never even thought to go in and get help. That is a valuable tool that I hope I'll use more efficiently in the future.

{2} The Old Piano Bench

Every child in the Owens and Lewis families grew up spending time on Grandma Roxie's piano bench. Actually, most kids that grew up in the town of Show Low within the 40 years that she lived there had spent some time on that bench in the family room. Along with learning to play the piano, we learned all the crazy stories of our family. We learned how she had sold sewing machines door to door to help support their young family, that a "Norris Bowl" is an ice cream bowl completely full (because if you're going to eat ice cream then go all the way right? None of this small portions nonsense.) and that the Dancing Doll was powered by the magic of our Christmas caroling. Reading Bruce Feiler's research on the family, "The Stories That Bind Us", reminded me how big of a part of my life that my family stories have been. Without the stories that I heard on the piano bench growing up, I wouldn't have any idea where my family came from or the trials that they had to go through to get us to where we are today. I wouldn't be involved in timeless traditions passed down from ancestors. Being a part of such a big unit, that I know goes back for generations, has helped me to keep an eternal perspective. It reminds me that there were people before me and there will be people to come after me, so I need to make the best decisions that I can to best benefit them, as well as me. It is a testament to me that God has a plan for each of us and that He would never send us here alone, that we have a whole support system both on earth and in heaven, if only we will build our relationships with them.

{1} As They Are or As They Should Be

In Elder Bednar's talks "To Sweep the Earth as with a Flood" and "Things As They Really Are", he talked about the positive and negative sides of using technology. He gave examples of the many different ways that technology is used and the effects that it has on those users. There were positives, such as pre-design for temples and sharing news with family, but also negatives in meaningless relationships and past-times. While good uses will bring us up, inappropriate and improper use will only bring us down. In my (and many others') opinion, too many of us today are using technology for things other than its greatest purpose. Sharing the gospel. What could be a better use than that? Along with technology, he spoke about Easter of 2014 and the video "Because of Him" and the effect that it had. Members' posts online were shared worldwide and largely aided in the efforts of spreading the word of Christ. It was amazing to see so many examples in the video of things that were made possible because of Christ. Things from technology and freedom to spiritual advances like the Atonement and Resurrection. It made me realize that all good things really do come from God, but our use of what He gives us is what ultimately makes the difference.