The MET

August 1, 2019

Fire, ca. 1750-40
by Jean-Pierre Defrance

Boiserie from the Hôtel de Cabris, Grasse, ca. 1774

The Virgin from an Annunciation, ca. 1390

Amor Caritas, 1880-98
by Augustus Saint-Gaudens

Diana, 1893-94
by Augustus Saint-Gaudens

Basket of Flowers, 1848-49
by Eugène Delacroix

The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer, 1922
by Edgar Degas

Chrysanthemums in the Garden at Petit-Gennevilliers, 1893
by Gustave Caillebotte

The Daughters of Catulle Mendès, Huguette, Claudine, Helyonne, 1888
by Auguste Renoir

The Manneporte (Ètretat), 1883
by Claude Monet

Washington Crossing the Delaware, 1851
by Emanuel Leutze

Ernesta (Child with Nurse), 1894
by Cecilia Beaux

February 14-18: Valentine's Day and Las Vegas

February 21, 2019

I’m a lover of all holidays, but Valentine’s Day is really up there on the list of my favorites! I love all the pink and red that pop up around this time of year, and I’m all for spreading a little extra love in this world.

Valentine’s Day was pretty lowkey this year. It landed on a Thursday and sadly Valentines is not a holiday that we get off school (We don’t even pass out valentines anymore! Being a high schooler is no fun haha).

An anonymous boy in my student government class gave all the girls a valentine. I still don’t know who it was, but it was the sweetest gesture and it made my day!

I ended up going out for pizza and pasta with my family that night and watching Return to Me (such a cute movie!!), so overall it was a great February 14th.

That next Friday I drove to Las Vegas for the weekend to watch my cousin perform at her national cheer competition.

She did a phenomenal job and I’m so proud of her! It was so fun watching her do what she loves and has worked so hard at.

The rest of the weekend consisted of shopping, dinner at Joe’s (THE best!!!) and meeting up with some good friends. Nothing super exciting, but it was a weekend I’ll always remember.

The Pursuit of Happiness

January 2, 2019

“Quit looking forward to the next break in your life and just enjoy the Tuesdays before they run out.”

I think one thing we all have in common as humans is the idea of happiness. We all just want to be happy. The problem, I think, is that for so many of us, happiness always seems to be somewhere else.

I’ve seen this in myself. I’ll tell myself, “Oh, I’ll be happy when this school assignment is over”, “I’ll be happy when I have a boyfriend”, “I’ll be happy when I move out”.

I’ve been keeping a journal consistently since the 8th grade. I read through them often, and it’s weird seeing how different all those phases of my life were and how different I was. Life changes fast-and change is good, but wow it hurts. When I go through journal entries and photos from the past few years, I ache to go back to those moments. I ache to go back to 8th grade and watch episodes of Lost in my history teacher’s classroom during my lunch hour. I ache to go back to freshman year and play a round of tossups with my quiz bowl team. I ache to go back to last year, wear my annoying, meticulous AHA uniform and go to Sonic with my friends after school.

I told myself that I was happier then, and for so long, I spent my time wishing and hoping I could go back to those times.

“I’d be happy if I could go back.”

But I’m realizing now that it won’t be long until I move out and move on and ache to be where I am now.

I’ll miss going to school everyday and smiling at that cute boy on the way to third hour.

I’ll miss waiting in the parking lot of the sports complex for my brother to come running after his soccer practice.

I’ll miss living 5 minutes away from my best friend Hannah and our spontaneous Target trips.

I’ll miss hearing my sister pluck the piano keys of her new intricate Bach piece in the formal room.

I’ll miss going to church every Sunday and getting a hug from my Sunday school teacher after her lessons.

I’m beginning to realize that those things, those moments, however small and insignificant they may seem, make me happy. I’m beginning to realize that happiness isn’t just going to come to me. It won’t be something that I’ll haphazardly stumble upon one day in the future.

I’ve found happiness now- right where I am. And that’s something everyone ought to realize, sooner rather than later.

“We would do well to slow down a little, focus on the significant and truly see the things that matter most.”

a (very short) collection of tiny, happy moments:

ditching a ward party to jam out in the car. typical of kylie and me. freshman year

boone dressed up for church with his pocket square, lapel pin, a twisted tie, and 2 (TWO) watches. take notes, boys.

lake powell pit stop for ice cream and root beer floats.

bella, my best friend from that arts school in the mountains i went to freshman year.

everytime scott and kylie come over, they bring a pile of books and ask me to read to them. don’t skip pages, they always know when you do.

hannah, a real one, who drove 25 minutes away to get me balloons at party city.

Gary and Hannah's Baptism

June 12, 2018

This last weekend, my cousins Hannah and Gary got baptized! I'm so happy for them and so proud of them!

Kennedy and I had youth camp the whole week before and we were exhausted! We woke up at 5am to drive up to their baptism at 9. I'm so glad that I live closer to them(and my other cousins) now that I'm in Arizona!!

After the baptism at the church, we went to their house where we had brunch and went swimming and had a little program.

My grandparents talked about baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. They played a video clip of my great-grandpa Jensen speaking about his baptism and the importance of the Holy Ghost in his life. That video was taken at my sisters baptism, just a few months before he passed away in 2013. It was a special video to watch, and I'm grateful that someone had the idea to record and keep it.

Later that night we went to Pinnacle Peak. It's a cute little park that has rides, and shows and a restaurant. It's cowboy/western themed, and Gary LOVES everything having to do with cowboys and rodeos and the wild west(John Wayne is his icon, haha). The food wasn't that great, BUT the gun show was super cute.

I'm so glad I made the move to Arizona! I love being closer to my family!! It's sad to think that I only have one summer left at home before i move out and go on my own, so I'm grateful for the time I have to be with them now.

"Oh, brothers and sisters, families can be forever! Do not let the lures of the moment draw you away from them! Divinity, eternity, and family - they go together, hand in hand, and so must we!" -Spencer W. Kimball

Sophomore Summary

May 22, 2018

I thought freshman year was hard. On the last day of school, I came home and said, "Ugh that was the hardest year of my life, but at least it's over!! It's all downhill from here!!"

HAHAHHAHAHAHHHAHAHAHAHHAH

Little did I know...

Sophomore year was a whole other level of hard, and I clearly had no idea what I was in for.

I started at a new school, so I was already nervous about the year. Then, about a week and a half before my first day, my dad got a job offer in Arizona....and he took it.

I've cried a sickening amount of tears over this move. Las Vegas is where I've grown up, and I've never known any different. I know moving to Arizona is what's right, but that doesn't make it any easier. It's hard to leave everything I know behind and move to a place I know nothing about. I'll talk more on this topic later, haha.

BUT regardless, I made it through! and I've compiled some highlights from this otherwise dreadful year.

1. Chicago

For my 16th birthday, I went to Chicago with my mom, sister, grandma, aunts and cousin. It was a blast! Chicago is way underrated! It's definitely my favorite city! (click here to see the video)

2. Nevada Youth Legislature

I got appointed to the Nevada Youth Legislature where I represent and advocate for 42,000 12-18 year olds. We had a training in Carson City before the school year started, but we had meetings and trainings every month. I've loved being a youth legislator. I've met so many amazing people and learned so much about politics and life in general.

3. Licensed!!

I got my drivers license, which resulted in all my friends piling in my car and me driving them to Sonic alllll the time, haha.

Getting my license was a bit of a hassle. We had moved out the weekend before, so some of the documents I needed were packed up. But, we got them and I passed my drivers test with a 95% (I didn't do so well on the parallel parking portion though, but lets not talk about that, haha).

4. Cedar City Temple Open House

I went with my ward to the Cedar City temple open house in November. Once a temple is dedicated, you have to hold a temple recommend to go through it, but before the dedication it's open to the public. It was so pretty! My favorite room was the brides room! AMAZING!

5. Maycie's Baptism

My cousin Maycie got baptized in January! I remember attending her blessing day when I was 8 years old, haha! Crazy to think that she's 8 now! It was so fun taking her baptism pictures. (you can find her pictures under the "photo gallery" tab, and her video here).

6. General Conference

I went to Salt Lake City for General Conference in April. I'm so glad that I had a chance to go. There were so many changes made at this conference! A new prophet and first presidency, two new apostles, the end of home and visiting teaching, and seven new temples announced!!

Conference was exactly what I needed. Life was really hard with school and the move, but throughout conference, I was constantly reminded that Heavenly Father loves me and is looking out for me.

7. Moving to Arizona

While balancing the everyday challenges of school, relationships, extra-curriculars, etc., I had to deal with a move on top of it all. Heres a brief recap of this move and how quickly(not so quickly??) it all went down.

My dad had an interview early June 2017 about a job offer in Arizona. I knew it could be a possibility, but he had lots of potential job offers in other states, but nothing had really come of it, so I didn't think much of it. The first few weeks in August is when it really hit me that this might actually happen. He had more and more interviews and was writing up a contract with the new company. A week before school started, he officially accepted the job. He started his job in Arizona the first week in September, but we hadn't sold our house in Vegas, nor had we found one in Arizona, so he worked in Arizona on the weekdays and flew to Vegas every weekend to be with us. We sold our house in Vegas in the end of September and lived with my grandparents in Vegas until we closed on our house in Arizona just before Thanksgiving. My siblings finished the third quarter of school in Vegas and moved to Arizona in February. I stayed in Vegas to finish out the school year which ended last Thursday and moved to Arizona two days ago, haha. So yeah, it's definitely been a crazy year.

At first, I was so mad that we had to move. I was finally in a good spot in my life, going to a good school with some really great friends and I was involved in some really awesome extra-curricular activities. I would have had to leave that all behind, and I was not about to do that. I somehow had convinced my parents to let me stay in Vegas for junior year, and then we could reevaluate after that, but as time went on, my parents and I both felt that moving to Arizona was right for me, and that was a hard pill to swallow.

I've had to learn that God's plan is not our plan, and as hard as it may be to align our plans with God's, I take heart in knowing that His plan is better than my own.

So far, I've loved Arizona, and believe it or not, I'm grateful that God gave me this trial, because it's only made me a better person and brought me closer to Him.

"God is aware of you individually. He knows who you are and what you are, and, furthermore, He knows what you are capable of becoming. Be not discouraged, then, if you do not get all the things you want just when you want them. Have the courage to go on and face your life and, if necessary, reverse it to bring it into harmony with His law." -Hugh B. Brown