;)

Today I was taking notes in a meeting and found a poem that I wrote a couple months ago (on 12-12-11) . as you know i like to post them on here so they're safe and wont get lost. i'm pretty sure i wrote this because i was mad that i knew i was supposed to break up with my boyfriend but didn't really want to. kind of a strange one, but here it is :)

Born

Born to be a friend

Born to stand alone

I'll be a beacon of myself

and invite others home

Born to teach and lead

Born to learn and grow

I'll find myself a shred of time

and take the time to follow

Born to use my words

Born to find a voice

I need to be the me I am

and make the correct choice

Born to shine my light

Born to freely show

Was who I am predestined?

or made by where I go?

Born to let you down

Born to let you go

Start doing this--I know I can

I'll let my true heart show

told you it was weird...but i must have been thinking a lot about my calling and about going on a mission and about callings that I know I have in life and how it wasn't possible to keep dating that kid and keep going where i needed to go to be who i'm supposed to be. anyways.....

Christmas

dad worked super hard to have the yard all ready for the grandkids. It was fun for me Christmas evening to play Princesses with mal, syd, and bryn where the playgroud was the castle and the dog was the dragon. all Dad's work paid off because the girls loved it!

Monday evening Rachelle and Scott's family came up to Thatcher to go to dinner with Chad and Ash so i got to watch the girls and got them all riled up chasing them and teaching them to be baby tigers. it was so fun. we played games late and i fell asleep next to Tenley and just ended up calling in sick on tuesday. It was fun to see people in a little bit of a smaller setting so we could visit

In other news it's been so fun to be the jonesy living the closest to Chad and Ashley and their precious little baby Presley. I love going over there and visiting with them and watching the baby. she is so stinking cute and usually very happy. i'm looking foward to watching her more as Ashley has to start back at work a couple days a week soon.

Other than that i spend a lot of time at the home depot. I do stickers and some counting and other inventory related stuff. I peel a ton of stickers. this is just about an hour of stickers. some days i touch over 300 stickers. my hands are always black from the ink when i get home. I like it though. i've been there for almost a year and am working up with paid time off and am due for a raise. they really have been super good to me and I really like the people. 5am still stinks but i won't have to do that for much longer.

this is Edwin Darwin the Conqueror. ED for short. me and my roommate jolene bought him today. there was a random guy in the Bashas parking lot that was selling turtles for $10 so we bought one. it'll be an adventure that's for sure. he has already been down to the river twice and been skateboarding and met the neighbors and visited superstop and we haven't even had him for 24 hours.

All is well here in Thatcher. If everything goes according to plan this semester I will graduate with my Associates (just in generals) in May and then start my mission papers. I will turn 21 in August and plan on leaving shortly after. we'll see what happens though.

I've been super blessed here with a house close to the college with affordable rent, a good job, a car that gets me to my job, a good ward, and roommates and friends that take care of me. Mostly I am blessed to have the gospel in my life and to be in such a great place where there are a lot of people who are trying to do what's right. I am also blessed to live so close to a temple where i can go often and do some work for the dead there. life is good :) hope 2012 is just as good as 2011 was!

Callings and Poetry

it's currently 7:22 and i just got done with a training meeting for the Relief Society teachers in my ward. it really strengthened my testimony to see each of these girls and talk to them a little about teaching. i wanted to write a poem about my feelings lately so i decided taht instead of writing it on paper, i would just start it on here and see how it goes. if anyone even reads blogs anymore, i'm sorry that all you ever get from me is corny sentimental poetry. k it's 7:24 and i'm beginning

a fact seems like fiction, and i can't quite see

just how you will make this great person from me.

I watch each small change that you make in others

how you turn life's painting from gray to colors

but because I'm me, i can see each new flaw

i can't comprehend someday being a god.

you ask me to do things and i try my best

just hoping and praying, you'll fill in the rest

but then i get down when i see others soar

i just want to see all that you have in store

i know i'm not perfect; i don't give my all

i sometimes procrastinate, and often stall

like how in the world can i make a diff'rence

i trust that i can 'cause you've made that inf'rence

i'll give it my best because that's all i've got

i'll turn life to thee--every act, every thought

i'll try to become who you'll trust with your work

i'm learning slowly how to stand and not shirk

i'll be who you call when you're needing someone

so someday you'll say, "my daughter, well done"

...7:36. wow 12 mins....i just went through and edited it so that it is in one of those rhythm things. each line has 11 syllables except for the last one is only 10 on purpose. it's in almost a 3 rhythm it goes "duh DUH duh duh DUH duh duh DUH duh duh DUH" i know no one really cares about beats in poetry anymore, but i do. it makes it flow and more meaningful. anyways that is my thoughts on serving in the church <3

COLLEGE!

so i figure i'd tell my blog about my crazy life. i am the worst college kid ever. i have absolutely no social life or free time. but i am really involved so at least that's good. i currently work 5 days a week am taking only 13 credits but that includes choir and company which have a lot of extra stuff. I just got called as one of the 2 relief society presidents in our ward cuz we have 80-90 girls. I am also the institute choir pianist which i am not nearly talented enough to be playing for. so let me just give you an example of how a day goes for me. so here is today

4AM wake up/get ready

5-10AM work

10-11AM change and eat lunch

11-3PM Class

3-4 (right now) little break

4-5 help set up for relief society meeting (enrichment)

5-6 relief society meeting

6-7 presidency meeting to finish up some assignments

7-8 Choir secret practice for our test tomorrow

8-9 shower get ready for bed

9 sleep to get up at 4 the next day

right now almost everyday every single hour is planned of my day. even on weekends! it's crazy but somehow heavenly father is making it possible for it to happen and i haven't had anything super important overlap. one of my good friends the other day told me that he thinks that being this busy now is just preparing us to be busy in the future. he told me to imagine have 4 little kids to worry about and working and being the relief society pres. it was a really good perspective for me to think about. the Lord helps us grow little by little. i know that right now in my life is teaching me things that i will use for my family and my callings in the future.

i feel like because of how busy i am i am happy though. being productive is a very good thing and i feel productive every day! haha well thats the exciting college life of elise. haha looks like i'll be going on a mission because there is absolutely no time for boys right now :)

oatmeal cookies

i decided today that i am like an oatmeal raisin cookie. i was thinking about these particular cookies at work today and thought about how when they are the only sweet around, most people would take one and enjoy it. they're farely tastey. but if there was a plethora of treats to choose from they are chosen last. they look good, and they taste good, but there is something about knowing that they are better for you that makes people shy away from them.

i think as a person i'm definately this way. when there are a ton of other people around, i'll nonchalantly hide in the back ground, no big deal. but part of this i think is that people know i'm healthy for them. if that makes sense. i don't mean this in a conceded way at all. just that sometimes i'm a little much to handle and delve into life too deeply so people would rather choose the chocolate chip cookie or the snicker doodle before me, but in 10 minutes you'll want another cookie, or you'll want something to eat. an oatmeal raisin cookie has substance. the oatmeal will sustain you.

now that you all think i'm a weirdo, i'm done now. :)

2-2-11

so i've been pretty stressed the last few days about tons of stuff. So last night my mind was going crazy thinking about grama jones and school and whatever spencer's deal is. yeah and i knew that if i went in to my job interview this morning with all of it on my mind that i would do really poorly. so i tried to remember what i used to do to clear my head. i usually play the piano but it was like 11 so there was no where i could go. then i remembered that i used to write poems to clean my head out. it took me like 10 mins and i just rattled it off without even thinking about it. for some reason making my problems rhyme makes them make sense in my head. haha so here's what i wrote just for fun:

it seems there's times in one's life

when time just floats on by

without much effort on my part

my days each hit the sky

its in those times when i think to me

is this really real?

but on those days, i don't learn much

and there's not much to feel

then slowly, in a flash of light

the table starts to turn

i find it's on the harder side

when i really learn

i see myself just trudging by

not knowing what to do

and then i free myself from pride

and finally turn to you

why is it that i feel alone

when i need you most

but you can be the window

when the world's door's closed

i'll turn to you and try my best

to listen to your will

i'll cleanse myself and find some time

to sit and just be still

what you want is sometimes hard

for me to understand

i'll listen to the still small voice

and not my own demand

it will be rough, i know it will

but i can make it through

by opening a broken heart

and listening to you

i'm grateful for the things in life

that make it worth the pain

because through you i can be clean

and free from any stain

you made me who i am today

and who i will become

it helps to know of who i am

and where we all came from

thanks for the love you give to me

unconditionally

but mostly thanks for simply

for listening to me

COLLEGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IT CUT MY PICS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so i figured i should update you on my college life. i am LOVING EAC. there are so many peoplehere that i love and so much that i enjoy here. its so nice.

so this weekend we had company weekend. i danced for 24 hours in 5 days. it was awesome. i really am liking all of the people involved in the music program here. i'm not a music major, but i love the people and the music anyways....

this is me and jolene and jeremy. jolene is now one of my roommates. last semester we met her in our ward and has become one of my best friends ever. it's fun and i love her to death. we go to almost all the sporting events and paint our faces quite a lot.

kristi lived with us last semester and then got married in december. it was super fun for us to meet shannon and kristi and to get to know them so well. it was so nice to get to go to her reception in mesa over christmas break

this is jolene and me and jessica. i'm always with these two. jess is my best friend in the whole world and i have been so grateful to be able to share a room with her and get to know her.

this is all the girls i hung out with my first semester. we took lots of nice pics together

there are fires almost every weekend. it is crazy and super fun. this is at the homecoming bonfire

underneath the stage at fall sing with some of the girls from company

halloween!!!!! nat got to come up and hang out with me

anyways that is kind of a rough some up of my life. its super fun and i love it.