Be Still My Soul

Last night I received some distressing news about my sister-in-law (yes, the one who just had a baby). I received a text message from my Dad while I was at a game night asking if I would fast for Nini today. I immediately left the room and called my Dad to find out what was going on. Apparently Nini has had a temperature of 103 degrees for the last three days. They finally took her into the Emergency Room last night. Dad and Mom were asked to watch Scarlett while Stephen and Nini went to the hospital. That was all the information my Dad had for me; immediately I felt my stomach tighten and an very unsettling feeling came over me. I asked my Dad to text me when Stephen and Nini got home, and he said he would. I stayed outside for a few minutes after I called my Dad and said a quick prayer for Nini.

When I went back inside I told my friend Megan what was going on. She asked if I had called my brother. I didn't think to call him because I didn't think he'd answer . . . but I felt prompted to go out and call him. He did answer, and, to be honest, part of me kind of wishes he didn't. His voice sounded weak and worried. When I asked how he was doing he gave a weak "Eh" I then asked when he thought he was going to get out of the hospital and he said, "I'm not sure . . . sis, can we call you back tomorrow?" I told him that I loved him and that I was praying for he and Nini both.

I went back into the game night feeling very uneasy, but I stayed the rest of the night. As I walked home I talked to my Heavenly Father expressing my concern about what was going on. My mind kept jumping to all sorts of conclusions and I just broke down and began to cry. Nini has been such a fantastic influence in my life, I'm so grateful for her love and her example to me! And the love that she has for my brother is amazing! Seriously, the cutest couple I've ever seen! I love them both! It was really difficult for me to think of her being ill and I couldn't be there to help comfort her or my brother.

I got home and I told my roommates what was going on and asked if they would be willing to fast for her with me. The agreed and we immediately knelt down and said a prayer. I have such wonderful roommates, and I'm so grateful for their strength, love, and support. We talked about it for several minutes, and I wasn't feeling any better. I tried to change subjects and hear about my roommates exciting evenings, but my mind was weighing very heavily on Nini. After a little while my roommate Amber asked if I wanted a blessing. After thinking about it for a moment, I felt that I really needed a blessing of comfort. As I thought about who I would contact I had two people come into my mind; I don't know them incredibly well, but they were there the day that I found out about Scarlett. Amber contacted both Sam and Nate and they came over to give me the blessing (*Note: it was about 1:00am and I still hadn't heard from my parents on whether Stephen and Nini were back).

Before the blessing I told Nate and Sam what was going on. After I told them I said, "It sounds silly, I know." and I truly thought it sounded silly to ask for a blessing, but at the same time, I felt that I needed one. Neither of them seemed to think it sounded funny, and we knelt down and said a prayer together before the blessing. After the prayer, I continued to pray that Heavenly Father would open my heart and help me feel at ease about Nini. I wanted to know that everything would be okay, I wanted to know that within the next 24 hours she would be up and moving. I just wanted to know something.

The Priesthood power of God on the earth today is real. There's no doubt of it in my mind. As Sam gave the blessing, I know that it was not Sam speaking. In the blessing, God told me more about me than about Nini. He told me that I strengthen people, that He knew how to take care of His children, that God is pleased with the tenderness that I feel for my family, God is aware of me, and several other things about me. As I sat there and listened to Heavenly Father speak to me through my friend Sam, I kept thinking, "But what about Nini? I don't want to hear about me, tell me about Nini!" Without fail, every time I thought that Sam would say something about Nini. But then it would come right back to me. God knew things I was feeling that I didn't say to anybody else, and that was what I really needed to hear. In the middle of the blessing I received a text message from my Dad. They have diagnosed Nini and have given her the antibiotics that should have her on the mend within a few days.

I'm so grateful for both of these incredible young men (who I'm convinced are modern day Stripling Warriors) who were willing to come out at one o'clock in the morning to give me a blessing that I truly needed to hear. I felt comfort wash over me and my mind began to clear. God truly does love His children. Another important thing I learned, nothing is "silly" to the Lord. I felt genuine concern for my sister-in-law and needed my mind and spirit to be at ease about the whole thing. Nothing is silly to the Lord; if it's important to you, then it's important to Him. I'm so grateful for the wonderful friends I have in my life who are willing to be a support and strength.

Sunset at Cress Creek

Last night I got to go out on another date! That's three dates in three weeks! Holy cow! Anyway, this one was with my friend Alex. We've known each other since our first semester here (Winter 2009) and it was a lot of fun to get to know him better.

We started off going to his parents house to get wood to make a fire. Because his family was already doing a fire, we decided that we'd come back and join them in that fun after our hike! We then went to Cress Creek Nature Trail near Ririe, Idaho. We followed the trail and on the trail there were signs with information about Cress Creek. Alex would read them in different accents, which was quite entertaining. After following the trail for a little while we decided to go off! I was fine when we were on the trail; heck I felt like I was in pretty awesome shape! Then, when we went off, I was like "Dang girl, you need to hit the gym a little harder!" Ha, Alex was like a mountain goat! He was just running all over the place! It was great! Anyway, we hiked up pretty close to the top! As we sat there, we got to watch the sunset; it was gorgeous! I love sunrises and sunsets; they are just amazing! Alex pulled out some Aaron Copland music and we listened to that while the sun was setting. It was amazing how well the music reflected the sunset (I'm convinced Alex planned that)!

We sat there for several minutes and then started to head down. Alex tried teaching me how to run down hill . . . it didn't work so well! Don't worry, I didn't fall . . . but I was pretty close a few times! We went back down to the trail and found the look-out point where most people watch the sunset. We sat there for a few minutes and he showed me some Paul Mealor music, which is gorgeous! Oh my goodness, absolutely amazing stuff! We listened to that while we sat and we just talked. It was great. After we got down we went back to his parent's house to make banana boats. A banana boat is when you take a banana (still in the peel) and cut through the peel and part way into the banana. Then you stuff it with mini marsh mellows and chocolate chips! Then you wrap it up in aluminum foil and put it in the fire so that it can cook. It was delicious! We also made s'mores and just sat around the fire and talked.

As we traveled home we heard this amazing violin music being played. We decided that it sounded Russian/Czech and so we wanted to know who the composer was. Alex kept guessing, the only one that kept coming to my mind was Tchaikovsky . . . but I knew it wasn't Tchaikovsky. Alex said that he was going to keep driving around until we found out who the composer was. Well, about half an hour later we found out who it was . . . sadly I don't remember the name! But, it wasn't anybody we thought it was!  It was such an enjoyable evening, we even quoted a little bit of Doctor Who (yes, I got him addicted to it)! It was a lot of fun talking to Alex and getting to know him a little bit better.

Scarlett Anderson

Well, this last weekend was fantastic! I got to go home and see my niece, Scarlett. She is beautiful! She's so little!! She was born on Friday (May 24th).  Scarlett weighed in at 6lbs. 9oz. and 19 inches long! She has a head full of black hair! Scarlett is so beautiful and I'm so grateful for the chance I had to go see her.

I left for home Saturday morning so that I could see Scarlett! It was so fun to have everybody together to see Scarlett. Nini and Stephen both looked really tired, and for good reason too! I'm so excited for Scarlett to be here! She's already been such a wonderful blessing in my life, and I've only seen her twice! I'm excited to watch her grow up!

LtoR: Anna, Sarah (me), Scarlett, and Ben

Scarlett and I; I'm such a proud Aunt!

LtoR: Mom, Dad, Scarlett, and Ben
This is one of my favorite pictures from that day!

Scarlett Maureen Anderson

Pizza, Canoeing, and my Niece!

Last night, at 5:33pm I received a text message from my brother, Stephen, saying: "Scarlett is here. Both she and Nini are resting. Talk to you tomorrow. Love you." I was so stinkin' excited! I kind of screamed it at my roommate (Amber)! For the next hour or more I was incredibly hyper and excited! It ended up being quite hilarious because I had a date that night and I kept hitting my face to make music because I was so excited! I'll talk more about the date in a second. But I wanted to express how excited I am for Scarlett to be here!! She is beautiful!

Born at 2:05; weighs 6lbs. 9oz. and is 19 in. long

Last night I also had a date, as I mentioned above. My dates name is Sam. I went in a group consisting of my roommate, Amber; and her date, Nate; Stephanie, who was Amber's mission companion; and Tucker, Stephanie's boyfriend. We started off at my apartment where we made Chicken Cordon Bleu Pizza. It was delicious! We went to the Porter Park to eat, which proved to be quite funny. We ended up people watching and we saw people sword fighting in one part of the park and other people learning how to dance in another area. We ended up playing Tunnel Tag. It's freeze tag, but when you freeze you have to keep your feet far enough apart so that people can run under your legs to unfreeze you. It was hilarious. We started off individually at first, but then we ended up hooking arms with our dates and having to run together. Unfortunately for Sam I used most of my energy and speed during the singles, so when we were linked I wasn't nearly as fast as he was. But, that's okay. Amber and Nate were pretty much the champions! Holy cow, they got everybody within a few seconds of being it! It was crazy!

After we played at the park we went back to my apartment to make "Pizzookies". They're Pizza Cookies. They're crazy easy too! You make sugar cookies (or you can buy pre-made, non-frosted cookies), put the homemade frosting on, and then add whatever fruit you'd like! We did blueberries and strawberries. They were really good!

After our dessert we ended up blindfolding Nate and Sam so that they couldn't see where we were going. We went to Warm Slough (a river) to go night canoeing. We wanted it to be a surprise for them; the surprise ended up being on Amber and I when we got lost! It was quite funny! We were lost for, probably close to an hour. We took a few turns that we shouldn't have and we weren't quite sure where we were. Tucker and Stephanie had gone ahead because they knew where we were going and they had the canoes. One street we turned down and something got caught in Amber's front passenger side wheel. We all jumped out to try and find what it was, but we couldn't find it. After several minutes Amber put her vehicle into reverse and the awful noise it was making was gone. It was weird, but I'm glad her car is alright.

After a while we finally met up with Tucker and Stephanie at the Shell station so that we could follow them to our destination. We felt kind of bad, but it was okay. When we got there I felt so excited! I've never gone night canoeing before! Sam and I grabbed our canoe and we headed out! It was hard for me to balance myself for a few minutes, but I got it eventually. It was so peaceful and so tranquil there! The moon was out and that in it of itself was gorgeous! Tucker suggested just letting the canoe float, so we didn't have to paddle that much. We would if we got too close to the shore or if we wanted to back-track, but other than that we just floated. It was a lot of fun to get to know Sam better during that ride. I know I was kind of quiet when there was a big group of us, but when it was just the two of us it was really nice. We were able to have a really nice conversation!

Warm Slough; picture via

Warm Slough; picture via

After we canoed we went home. It was such a great date! Honestly, one of (if not the best) date I've ever been on. Amber and I were talking about it when we got home and we think it's because it was a really well-rounded date. There were activities where we were working together as a whole (making the pizza), then we had activities where we were in smaller groups helping one another (tag), and then one-on-one (canoeing). Seriously, such a fantastic night! I loved it!

Collegiate Singer's Opening Social

The past few days have been awesome! On Thursday night I had the opportunity to go to the opening Collegiate Social. It was a blast! We were catered by Costa Vita and then some of the Collegiate Singer's brought desserts; I brought stuff to make personal "pizzookies" (pizza cookies). I baked some sugar cookies, made the frosting and cut up some fruit. It was really good!! I enjoyed it a lot anyway.

When I got there nothing was set up (no tables, chairs, etc.) I text my friend, Nykele, and asked her if she wanted me to start getting things set up. Long story short I went to grab a table and when I got to the door I accidentally dropped the table on my foot. It was painful, but funny all at the same time! Anyway, we started off playing games that helped us get to know each other better. It was quite hilarious! We played a game where there was a sheet straight up in the air and we had one person on each side of the sheet. When the sheet was lowered the person to say the other person's name first won. It was fun to see who didn't know who and their struggle to try and guess their name. Then we played "evolution"; everybody starts off as an egg. Then, you play "Rock, Paper, Scissors" and whomever wins evolves into a chicken. Then you play it again, whomever wins evolves into a monkey, then a human! It was quite funny actually. I'm normally really good at that game, however that day I was very off!

Then, we ate and just sat around and talked. It was such fun to talk to people and get to know them better. After we ate we had individual sectional talks/goal making time. My altos are so cool! I'm hoping I can help everybody feel that they have an important role to play, because truth be told they do! Everybody is so important and my personal goal (as section leader) is to make sure everybody feels that they are important. After our little sectionals we rehearsed some of the pieces we are singing this semester. I'll tell you what, I'm really excited! A couple of pieces we're performing this semester are the "William Tell Overture" (yes, it is a choral arrangement and it's hard purely because of the words), "Let Me Fly", "Water Night", and "Dark Night of the Soul" (we're doing it with piano, not a small chamber orchestra). It's going to be so good!

I'm so grateful for my Collegiate family! They are all so wonderful and I'm excited for this semester and the fun we're going to have!

Happy Mother's Day!

"A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts."
               ~Washington Irving

I'm so grateful for my Mom and everything she has done for me throughout my life. Just like the above quote said, she has been there with me through good and bad times. I watched 'Music and the Spoken Word' this morning and they had recordings of children saying what they learned/got from their Moms. I'd like to do the same!

1. My Mom taught me what true love is! My parents have been happily married for twenty-five years! Through all of that time, my parents have gone through so much! Their lives weren't easy, and yet they still love each other. In a world where people are constantly marrying each other and then divorcing because it was "too hard", I'm grateful that I have the example of my parents.

2. How to be a good wife. My Mom and Dad are so cute! Through the hard times that my Mom had and the entire family had my Mom stood next to my Dad and never let her faith falter. She is an incredible woman and I strive to live and be like her!

3. I am beautiful! Growing up I had a hard time believing this because of what some of the girls at school would say. But, because of my Mom and her constant love for me, she continuously told me who/what I am: a beautiful daughter of God.

4. My Mom taught me faith! Life isn't easy; but with the Lord it can be easier!

5. My Mom also taught me that the best person I can be is me! Everybody is different, but because of that we are not less important than another. Everybody has a role to play, and I am important!

6. It is possible to love unconditionally! I always thought that God was the only person who could love somebody "unconditionally"; but that isn't so. It's a Godly trait that we all can posses; and my Mother does! I don't ever have to doubt of her love for me or my family. She loves me despite mistakes I make, despite things that happen, no matter what!

Mom, thanks so much for being a rock in my life! You have brought me through so many hard times without even knowing about it! I love you and am so grateful for the example you are to me and everybody around you! I love you so much!

President's Club Banquet

Happy Cinco de Mayo!!! Today has been quite a week, but in a really good way! Thursday, however, was quite enjoyable. I went into Collegiate and we got a couple of new pieces. At the end of class I learned that we didn't have a pianist for the President's Club Banquet that we would be singing at later that evening. So, Brother Kempton asked if I would conduct the Singer's while he played piano. I nervously agreed and we practiced a few times before I had a rehearsal with Sister Ashby for the CES Fireside--which we'll be performing in tonight.

Later that evening my home teachers came over and I could feel my heart rise up into my throat as the nerves started to settle in. As I walked over to the Manwaring Center I remember shaking my arms a few times to get the nerves out . . . it didn't work very well. I could feel my arms and shoulders beginning to tense, I started to feel nauseous, but I knew that everything would be okay. As we practiced before hand, I felt my nerves getting the better of me and my whole body began to shake. But I remember thinking that I had to have a pleasant look on my face to help the Singer's feel the message of the songs. I don't know if anybody could see my body shake, but I most definitely felt it!

As we walked down I could feel my face begin to flush as the nerves moved up into my face (I know that sounds funny, but I really did feel "butterflies" in my head). I began to feel slightly dizzy and my throat began to be tight. When we arrived and went out to sing, I felt a release from some of the tension. We started to sing and I honestly don't remember much that happened whilst I was conducting! I remember that, towards the end of the last song I felt more confident and was much freer in my conducting. As we walked out, I felt a huge sigh of relief! Brother Kempton came up to me and asked how I was feeling. When I told him that I was nervous, but that I enjoyed it, he gave me a smile and simply said "Good." All of those feelings I had when I was nervous, oddly enough, gave me more energy to get through the performance. While we were singing, one by one, they began to diminish. It was quite a memorable experience for me. I learned about some things that I think I'm doing when I conduct, and I'm not. But, I also learned some things that I'm doing really well when I am conducting. All-in-all, it was a fantastic experience for me!