The first post...

5:30pm: I head home after being up for nearly 12 hours studying, going to school and working.  All I want is to sit on my butt and do nothing!  So I did.  And then the blog called...

Multiple people encouraged me to start a blog, but I just didn't feel like I had the time.  Then I read a blog from an acquaintance that opened my eyes.  She talked about simplicities of life in such detail that made me look at life differently, so I thought Oh, what the heck. I'm going to start a blog to try and focus more on the simple things.

I was reading Dieter F Uchtdorf's talk from General Conference last month, and it was just what I needed to help me start on my journey towards a simpler life.  Whether you are Mormon or not, I highly recommend that you read it.  It gives us all very good advice on how to slow down and remember the basics: http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-1298-7,00.html

Here are a few quotes that I enjoyed:

"...it wasn’t long after astronauts and cosmonauts orbited the earth that they realized ballpoint pens would not work in space. And so some very smart people went to work solving the problem. It took thousands of hours and millions of dollars, but in the end, they developed a pen that could write anywhere, in any temperature, and on nearly any surface. But how did the astronauts and cosmonauts get along until the problem was solved? They simply used a pencil."

"...[M]ost of us intuitively understand how important the fundamentals are. It is just that we sometimes get distracted by so many things that seem more enticing.

Yet amidst the multitude of voices and choices, the humble Man of Galilee stands with hands outstretched, waiting. His is a simple message: “Come, follow me."  And He does not speak with a powerful megaphone but with a still, small voice.  It is so easy for the basic gospel message to get lost amidst the deluge of information that hits us from all sides."

I know can easily get caught up in being busy, and too much of a good thing can definitely be bad.  Stress levels jump out of the green zone, I'm not as happy, my body gets out of whack, and the list goes on.  Once I stop and be still for a little while, I regain my simple perspective and get back on track.  I am excited to see what this blog will do for me!

As I was taking my Evergreen I.D. midterm today (which consisted of being quizzed outside on 75 out of over 120 plants we memorized), I was blown away at how beautiful the crabapple trees looked that morning.  They have no leaves, but tons of bright red fruit that took my breath away.  These plant identification classes have literally given me a new set of glasses to look at the world from; I see beauty in not only flowers and leaves, but fruit, bark, leaf shape/structure, habits... OK, OK, I'll turn the plant nerd off.  :)


... Maybe not.  One more plant thing!!!  I went to California on a Horticulture field trip a few weeks ago, and I found this card:

Isn't that SO TRUE?  If we don't take risks on our lives, we will never reap the benefits that life has to offer.  I don't know about you, but I don't want to eat leaves and bark all day.  I want fruit!  But I'll be honest: It's scary to climb out on that limb.  On that same trip I got stuck in a tree because I got up but couldn't get down without feeling like I was going to die.  But I got out (even if that meant having to jump on Lanae's back "koala style"), and it's one of our favorite memories!  Life is all about getting out of your comfort zone to learn and grow.

I get to be home on Thanksgiving Day for the first time since 2006, and I CAN'T WAIT!  I am so incredibly grateful that I get to go home and be with the people I am most thankful for.  I'll be home in 67 hours.... But who's counting?