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?

BYU Basketball Game @ ESA

This last weekend I drove up to Salt Lake to attend the BYU vs USF basketball game at Energy Solutions Arena. As we approached the stadium, we were stopped behind cars and I noticed a homeless man on the sidewalk ahead of us, holding a sign that said, "Homeless-Anything will help." Usually when I see people on the street, I don't stop and just continue on my way, but for some reason I was in better spirits and decided to help him out. I pulled out my wallet and found that I only had one dollar in cash. I pulled the dollar bill out, but felt I needed to contribute more. Since I didn't have any more cash, I decided to give him my ticket to the game. The snow made it extremely cold outside, so the arena would give him a warmer place to go. I felt a great sense of happiness knowing I helped someone out, even if it was just something small.
I got to the stadium along with my friends, and with our all-sports passes we were able to get 4 more tickets next to each other. We entered the arena and found our seats. To our surprise we were on the 7th row in the lower bowl seating of the stadium! They were absolutely great seats and we had a great time at the game (which of course ended with a BYU victory)! Now, I don't know if we were blessed with better seats because we gave to a homeless man, but i would like to think so.

Christmas Season Challenge

Christmas is a great time of year. Snow is falling and neighborhoods are illuminated with Christmas lights. Amidst all stress that comes from school it may be difficult to fully experience the spirit of Christmas, but I hope that you will find time to serve others and focus on giving. With all the hustling shoppers ans latest games and toys, the real meaning of Christmas seems to have been buried. I would hope that we will all remember Christ this Christmas and act as he would-- always serving others.

Beer Pong

This weekend, I went to the University Mall to get some Christmas gifts for my siblings. Upon wandering around Sports Authority, my friend and I came across a beer pong set. We both looked at each other, and the next thing we know, we walked out of the store with the beer pong set in our bag (after purchasing of course). That was our first mistake.
The second mistake was the our choice of beverage. This is BYU, so of course we did not use beer. We decided to use orange-strawberry Sunny Delight. The dark pink liquid looked very tasty inside the jug, but we would soon realize this drink would be one we will forever avoid.
We got back to our dorm, filled the cups about half full of the Sunny Delight, and set them and set them in the triangular formation on both sides of the table. One by one, each cup was eliminated and we drank the juice. The taste made me more sick with every cup I drank. By the end, I had the sickest feeling in my stomach; I had to lay down on the couch and could not move. What a horrible idea for some Friday night fun: drinking way too much Sunny Delight.

Social Dance

Back in July as I began to plan out my classes for the semester, I never had the idea enrolling in a dance class. When the time to register came, I added my freshman academy envelope and still needed a few classes to surpass the 14 credit requirement. I happened to come across the social dance class and found an openings. Initially, I still didn't add it because I felt dance classes were for girls. My father, however, said that he took a beginning dance class in college and really enjoyed it. I consulted with a few of my friends and came to the conclusion that I would register after all.
This semester, my social dance class has been one of my favorite classes. I've discovered that dancing is a great way to communicate and get to know different people. With the rise of texting and online social networking, dancing is one way you can actually communicate in person. This semester I've learned the foxtrot, cha-cha, waltz, swing and polka! I have had so much fun learning all of these dances, and the class has been a great way to get my mind of stressful matters such as biology and chemistry homework.

Max Hall's Postgame Comments

As anyone reading this probably knows, Max Hall expressed his feelings of hate towards Utah and their fans after the victory on Nov. 28th. Max was still feeling a lot of emotion from the game, and given more time to calm down, probably wouldn't have said what he did. Nevertheless, what he said indeed had some truth to it. Hall stated at last years game that members of his family were spat on, had beer poured on them, and had very inappropriate things said and done to them. So, Max definitely had a good reason to express his strong dislike for the Ute fans in saying that they were classless. I agree with Max that there are indeed A LOT of classless Ute fans. Every fan I saw at the game was obnoxious and was only trying to get on the nerves of the BYU fans around them. However, I am sure there are some decent fans of the U of U that just come out to enjoy a great game and not cause trouble.
Max later apologized, which was the right thing to do, but still stood up for his family. The bottom line is: There are fans and players from both BYU and Utah that are very passionate about their team, and really have a strong dislike for the other team and their fans. Hall just expressed his feelings publicly, but everyone else was thinking it.