We've come a long way since Fall 07 haven't we?

WOW!!
So now I am allowed to say things out loud about how excited I am!!
Meet Rochele and Kevin Fillmore!
My first semester up here at BYU-I I moved into Chapman Hall, aka “the box”.

The apartments were small and didn’t have a kitchen, but we had a lot of fun! It was all of our first semesters up here and we hung out constantly. Among those I lived with were Janet Brown, Sara Strawberry Cocanour, Grace Tobler, Gracie Bickel, and Rochele Stanley (now Rochele Fillmore). We have all had a lot of changes since our first basketball games in the Hart building. Some changes that happened are: Sara Strawberry now goes to UNR (we miss her a lot up here!!), and Grace is about to be married in just a few short weeks!! Most especially, Rochele married Kevin, who went to the MTC with my sister.
This blog post is mostly about them.
I have always had some issues with the whole BYU-I get married young situation. This time didn’t seem like it would be any different. I met Rochele on my first day in Idaho. She and I both talked about how we would wait to get married, after all we were still both so young! We would hear about marriage up here all the time and even roll our eyes a little. Only a few days earlier I had dropped my math class but kept my book. So since I wasn’t using it I told Rochele she could borrow it since I would need it the next semester. Apartment 456 made nightly visits to the Hart to play Basketball. One particular night soon after starting the math class Rochele announces that a boy from math class asked if she could join our game. Of course being the wonderful roommates we were we teased her about how this boy liked her and how she would probably end up going on a date with him. She reassured us saying that it wasn’t like that and he was just coming for fun. By the end of the night we were all determined that they would spark a relationship, especially since he walked her home, even though all her roommates were also going home.
There were very few days after that night that we didn’t see Kevin. After dating for a few weeks they had started to talk about marriage. My first reaction to that was that it seemed entirely too soon. But for some reason these two pieces of an adorable puzzle just seemed right. I told Rochele that if she wanted to marry him, I couldn’t be happier for her. He is a good man, and they were just so right.

And so to fast forward a few months the following new years day was also Rochele’s 19th birthday, which is the same day that Kevin popped the question, lovingly taking into consideration her previous lack of wanting to be 18 and engaged. They were married in March, it was fast and that fast is not for everyone, but it certainly did work for these two!
Fast Forward again to today. It’s just over two years after we first met Kevin on that basket ball court. They have been married for about a year and a half and now baby Fillmore is on its way! I’m so excited!! They will make amazing parents! Congratulations you two! I love you so much!

"PIONEER SONG" cast and crew I LOVE YOU!!

“Our work, our everyday labor, our whole lives are within the scope of our religion. This is what we believe and what we try to practice. Yet the Lord permits a great many things that he never commands ... The Lord never commanded me to dance, yet I have danced ... while the Lord has never commanded me to do it, he has permitted it. I do not know that he ever commanded the boys to go and play at ball, yet he permits it. I am not aware that he ever commanded us to build a theater, but he has permitted it, and I can give the reason why. Recreation and diversion are as necessary to our well-being as the more serious pursuits of life.” - Brigham Young
I am not commanded to love theatre the way I do, but I am permitted to. I am not commanded to rise and fall with the curtains, but I am permitted to. The way I live my life is good, it is not commanded, but my Heavenly Father has permitted me to live a life full of joy. I am happy. I have always loved this life, and am blessed that the things that I love are permitted for me. What a blessing.
My days are full of rehearsals. I live and breathe this play. I get up for it in the morning, and sleep for it at night. And yet, I know that it is for a good and wise purpose. The members of this cast are so wonderful. I learn something from each of them daily. We have such a diverse range of people. I am grateful for all of their dedication. Some of our cast members are parents, and spouses who work, or singles that have jobs while going to school, we even have a member of our cast who isn’t yet old enough to be in high school. We all have busy lives, and could be doing other things, but I am grateful that we have all come together to create something amazing. This has truly blessed my life. Thank you cast and crew of “Pioneer Song”. You are my inspiration!

And so the lack of sleep intensifies....

Hello and welcome to this semester’s first all-nighter! I am so exhausted and it is all downhill from here! But if I go to sleep at this point I won’t wake up for my eight o’clock class. So the plan is that I’m going to go hit the showers and get ready for the day now, I know its early, but I will get ready now so that when I am ready I can head to the snow building really early. I plan to nap until my classmates arrive and hopefully wake me up! There is so much to be done today, and if I don’t explode it will be a really productive day. But, that is only provided I don’t explode. It is now 4 am on a Thursday morning…. Ouch!
Three years ago I would have woken up in a half hour to get up and get ready for seminary. Seminary started at six, but we always left at five thirty so I wouldn’t be late. Well, I’m going to go take that shower now so I can have a longer nap later! K, have great sleep all that were so lucky!

enjoy the simple things in life!

Tonight Karlan, Emilia, Dan and I baked a sacher torte! and the ganache was amazing! we just sat and laughed until Emilia tried to get up and almost smashed my toe to a bloody pulp. there was no big extravagant thing happening... and then after some drama Karlan and I ended up, guess where! we ended up in the snow. big surprise, and Becca just came to the snow to grab some buttons for a coat she was fixing... even on Sunday nights... if you live in the snow for real, there is still stuff happening there with the people you know!
nothing extravagant, i just want to get into the habit of blogging more....

Well, its about time I catch everybody up!

So the last blog on here is also my first! Not to worry, this one fixes that problem. This semester has been AMAZING! So many things have just worked perfectly in my favor.

First, this picture was taken in my sister’s beloved cranberry Saturn, Hermie. We were driving from SLC to Vegas. All the landscape basically looks the same, but just then for whatever reason it felt magical, like good things were coming my way. “water from the rocks, a sign!”
The play I wanted to work with was mysteriously still without an assistant stage manager, and I was offered the position! I love it so much! It is all about the stories of really strong women and what they had to go through in order to get across the plains. Being assistant stage manager means that even though the actors feel like they are there forever, I am there way longer than them! I couldn’t do it if I didn’t love it. It takes a lot of dedication to spend a minimum of four hours just on the play every day, but I cherish it. Some of my friends outside the theatre don’t understand my willingness to be there so often and for so long, but I don’t just do theatre because it’s fun. I am involved in the theatre because I must be. I love it so much that I couldn’t do anything else for the rest of my life and be truly happy.
GEOVISIONS CONVERSATION CORPS-GERMANY!!
I am so excited! In January I pack my bags and move to Germany for three months. I will live with a host family and teach English in their home 15 hours a week. I hope they like me! This seems almost too good to be true, but it is true. For anyone who knows me, this is not my first “rodeo” with Germany. No, my love affair with Germany began years ago, when I learned that I would be able to visit my first exchange sister Lisa in Heidenheim, DE. For those of you familiar with German geography, Heidenheim is a small town near Stuttgart. When I arrived it was like going home, but home to a place I had never been. It was as though I had been meant to be there my whole life but had just forgotten about it for a moment!
But I digress.
O mystery Host family, whoever you are, I can’t wait to meet you!