Winter Semester

So winter semester is underway. I had a fun Christmas break...went to a few Jazz games, and enjoyed being home with my family. Now I'm back at BYU with a a new apartment and a new schedule. My roommate Evan and I moved to Wyview Apartments and are liking it a lot! People in our new ward are very friendly and its a nice place to live. My new classes consist of Math 112, Intermediate basketball, Chemistry 106 & 107, American Heritage, Book of Mormon 122, and Missionary Preparation. I'm liking my classes so far. All my teachers have a sense of humor, some more than others, but it makes class fun sometimes. They are challenging as expected, but I will survive!

Personal Narrative Reflection

After our strenuous research paper assignment, I really enjoyed the chance to write a personal narrative. This assignment gave me a chance to reflect on my life and remember a time in my life where I experienced growth and learned valued principles. The criteria of the personal narrative is different than any paper I have written before, but I feel I was able to adapt well to this new assignment and wrote my paper in accordance to narrative format.
After pondering on my life, I concluded that I learned a valuable lesson when my family moved here to Utah. It was a trying time for me, and through perseverance I was able to make the transition. My narrative deals with my feelings about the move, and a few things I experienced during my first few weeks in Utah. I also included what it was like being able to visit my grandparents more often. This was the biggest change I have had to deal with in my life, and I personally feel that I learned a great deal from this experience.

My Family

Living in the dorms in college has really made me more grateful and appreciative of the time I had living at home. I lived in a house and had control over the temperature,my mom was there to provide me with food and clean clothes. I have had the opportunity of going home a few times over the semester and have loved that time I have had to be back home and not having to worry how I will get my next meal. I am truly grateful for my family and their support! I should have expressed my gratitude more while I was still living at home, because now looking back, living at home was such a gift! I'm really looking forward to Christmas break and being at home for at least two weeks!

The Freshman Fifteen

So its pretty much proven that many freshman college students gain around 15 lbs in their first year of college. It does not happen to everyone, but it is not uncommon for it to happen to many of those that are away from home for the first time. Personally, my diet has been cereal, pasta (in many forms), granola bars, and whatever is being served at the Cannon Center. I often find myself very hungry and did not think I would be a victim of the freshman fifteen. I even started a weekly workout routine with my roommate that consisted of push-ups and ab workouts every other day. Between working out, walking to class and around campus all day, and marching band practice, I assumed there was no way I would gain the common 15 lbs. However, I went to the doctor a few weeks ago to get my mission physical and to my dismay I clocked in 11 lbs heavier than I was at the start of the semester. I'm hoping the majority of the weight is from muscle I have gained through working out, but I'm sure alot of it is due to my stress, sleeping patterns, and diet. Indeed I still have a few more pounds to gain to get to 15, but there still is a whole semester left.

BYU- A School Unlike Any Other

Looking back at the semester, I have really enjoyed my time here at BYU. I'm so glad I chose to come to this university. I knew it wouldn't be the easiest road to take, but I really did not want to end up anywhere else. The thing I have loved the most is the overall atmosphere and the gospel's influence on every subject. Having the spirit contribute in your learning process is something you won't find anywhere else. My teachers have continuously made gospel insights in class over the semester that have tied into what we were learning very well.
Today in PDBio, Dr. Jellen pretty much summed it up. Today was his last day because of a trip to Israel, and he left us with his humble testimony. He told us that above all, the Gospel is what is truly important. He bore a very uplifting testimony that brought the spirit. Where else can you find that in a classroom? I am very grateful for the chance I have to be a student here at BYU, and for the Gospel that has blessed my life this semester in school and in many other ways.

Snow is Upon Us

Once again winter is here. I've lived in Arizona for most of my life and always loved Arizona winters! They're not too cold and usually in the 60's during the day. After moving to Utah, I experienced my first "white Christmas" during the winter of 2007. I really don't mind the snow falling on the ground, but i absolutely dislike driving on snowy roads. I have had my share of mishaps on snowy roads and this is one of them:
It was winter of my senior year and I was driving to work after school. The roads were covered in snow and I was going faster than I should have been. The road i needed to turn onto was coming up and I hit the brakes, but just started sliding off to the right side of the road. I was headed right for a stop sign and was about to slam into it, when suddenly I hit a curb and was launched over a ditch on the other side of the curb. I flew through the air and landed in the front yard of someone's home in between a tree and a telephone pole. I sat there and felt so lucky to be free from harm. To add to my luck, about 45 seconds later, a truck pulled up and asked to pull me out. I gratefully asked for their help. The owners of the house must not have been home because nobody every came outside. The only damage done to my car was my front bumper became somewhat loose. I was very lucky that nothing worse happened to me or my car! Be careful driving in the snow!

BCS Never Fails To_____

The college football bowl match-ups were announced yesterday and teams were selected for each Bowl Championship Series (BCS) bowl and non-BCS bowl. There has been a long debate whether the BCS should be eliminated, and college football should adopt a bracket playoff postseason similar to NCAA basketball. BYU ended up ranked 14th in the BCS and therefore is once again headed to the Las Vegas bowl. The discussion of this postseason, however, is the match-up between TCU and Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. TCU and Boise State are both non-BCS teams and were probably looking froward to playing a "harder" BCS team. The BCS, however has matched them up against each other, so there is no chance for a team from a non-BCS conference to take down a BCS team like Utah's win over Alabama last year. TCU and Boise state were looking for a chance to really shine and prove that they are BCS caliber teams, but they have been deprived of this chance. I really do not agree with the BCS staff on this one, and really would like to see the end of the BCS. Its very unlikely, but one can dream, can't they?