Long-time-in-coming Update

We're coming up on two months since I've last posted. Whoa! Life goes by (and comes at you!) at break neck speed and a lot of living is about learning to love running fast enough to keep up with it. I feel like as of late, I've really been enjoying the run for the most part. It's great when you've got good running buddies. :) Okay, I'll abandon the analogies for now and talk like a normal person.

I started a few posts through May and June, but none of them made it off the press. Oh well! There is a lot I could say, but I'll just kind of update you for what's currently going on and what's on the horizon.

• I successfully made it through Winter Semester! My roommate works for the college of Family, Home, and Social Sciences and came home one day with the news that she'd mailed a Dean's List letter to my parents. Such a happy day. I love school. (Usually.) I love BYU. (Always.)
  
• Some of my roommates are fans of making paper chains for big occasions. I whimsically took the opportunity to make two of them one night when I was sick of studying for finals. One is for me at school and the other is for my family at home and as of today, each has 43 links. Hermana Briggs is on the home stretch!
• I took a pretty hefty load of classes Spring Semester which for the most part were successful. (I'm not particularly stoked about one of my grades, but I did learn a lot in the class and that's more important I guess.) I took Floral Design to fulfill a GE and I came away with way more than I expected to. I love feeling confident doing something as girly and domestic as arranging beautiful flowers. Am I an expert? Definitely not. Could I fool the untrained eye? Yeah, I like to think so. :)
• I made some new friends. Meet the Hull Family. :)
  

Kyndal, Courtney, Sydney (this picture is a poor likeness of her--she's got one of the best, happiest smiles I think I've ever seen. I love it!), Brynn, Blake, Me, and Jace. (Quinton is currently on a mission.)

• So it turns out I really like this Mr. Hull. And his family. A LOT. It'd be interesting to calculate the number of hours (within BYU curfew) I've spent with Blake in the last few months. Maybe THAT'S why I haven't posted in so long. ;) There are lots of stories there, but here's the most recent: yesterday, we decided we both needed to get out of Provo for a while and go on an adventure. After I took a final online, we headed up the canyon and hiked Timpanogas Caves. I hadn't been there for probably at least ten years! Some divine sandwiches (no, seriously... SO GOOD.), two BYU shirts, a trip to the Timpanogas Temple, and The Sound of Music in Highland made for just about a perfect day. You know, I think I could get used to this! ;)
  
• The recent holidays have been great. General Conference was amazing. (I know, not a holiday, but it practically feels like one.) Easter and Mother's Day were some of the best ones I can remember. I had a great extended weekend with my family over Memorial Day, and I'm really looking forward to going home for Father's Day on Sunday. I'm also looking forward to a 12 hour car ride to Washington for the 4th of July with the entire Packard Family. (Blake's Mom's side.) Confession: I won't particularly miss watching surrounding city fireworks from the seat of a tractor.
  
• After weighing all of my options and after much deliberation, I decided not to do EFY this summer. I'm going to be taking classes through the summer and I'll be starting an internship at a local assisted living center in a week or so. Ready or not, here we go!

Well, I think that about covers my bases. I was going through my binder today and found some notes that Mom gave me when we trekked up to Rexburg for my EFY interview:

"The Lord will try us until He knows what He can do with us. He tried His son, Jesus, thousands of years before He came upon the earth. The Father had watched His course and knew that He could depend upon Him when the salvation of worlds should be at stake. So He will continue to try us in order that He may place us in the highest positions in life and put upon us the most sacred responsibilities." -Lorenzo Snow

In Return to Me, Grace's Grandpa says to her, "It is the character that is the strongest that God gives the most challenges to. I would take that as a compliment." Whatever life is up to for you, be flattered that the Lord has decided you can handle whatever it is that comes your way. Whom the Lord calls, he qualifies.

There's a lot more on that, but I'll save it for another post. Bottom line: thank goodness for Moms. Thank goodness for perspective. Thank goodness for challenges overcome, insights gained, and lessons learned. Thank goodness for a good life! We've all got one!


P.S. Thanks, Jake, for reading and commenting. It made me smile to think of you reading the sometimes aimless musings of a silly little sister. :) Carry on. {The General}