October in a Post!

I know I totally just skipped the whole month of October, but I am still alive!! I have been swamped with schoolwork (who hasn't) that I'm finally making itme to blog a bit. I've realized a lot this past month of things I needed to change to make myself more efficient and studious. I've been spending a lot of time in the library (a great way to be anti-social, right?) to improve my grades and get homework assignments and essays and papers done early than getting them done while I'm falling asleep at my computer near my bed and sometimes on my bed. HAHA! I am actually for once on top of my schoolwork and getting good grades. I mean, I've always had good grades, but this time I'm not procrastinating getting good grades. I like it and I'm not so much a procrastinator anymore. That was one of my goals this year starting my second year in college. Because of last year, I now want a more efficient and liveable year without too much stress.

I also took a challenge from my Gospel and Productive Life class in Institute about budgeting my money for the month. Oh my goodness, that was tough, but I was able to do it. I'm gonna try this month too and see if it gets any easier. I hope it does.

Right now the leaves are almost off of the trees, but when the colors were changing it was absolutely beautiful. Here's some pictures from my window in my dorm room in Main Hall. There's also some pictures that were taken throughout the month as well. Enjoy!!

PRETT TREES!!

Some of my cool friends and I at the soccer game. It was cold.

The Dance Team or Company right before we performed for halftime

Me and Karen Walsh at the Halloween Dance. I dressed up as 80s and she and her boyfriend dressed up as 50s. She's super awesome.

Owl City!

This past weekend was way super fun and everyone should be jealous. Last Friday, I left SVU for the weekend with one of my best friends, Jessica George! to her house in Lincolnton, North Carolina. That Friday night, we drove to Carrboro to see a concert. Owl City. (Yes, I meant to put Owl City in its own sentence.) It was absolutely fantastic. I've been to other concerts and I will admit that this one will be up there at my top list with Good Charlotte, Boys Like Girls, Metrostation, and The Maine, and also of course, Lifehouse, and Josh Groban, and yes, I am going to include the Jonas Brothers (they seriously do give a really good, clean concert). Yup, these are all in my top list. Good stuff, I know. Jess and I realized that at the concert of Owl City every one, I repeat, EVERY ONE of the people in that band were gorgeous looking. So we took pictures of our beautiful selves and as well as the band. Enjoy!

Jess and I in the car on the way to Owl City!

OWL CITY!


Me and Jess at the concert!

The genius and hott singer and creator of Owl City

That amazing singer and the drummer who's also way hott!

Jess and I with our shirts that we got at the concert. Such happy times.

P.S. It took many shots to take a picture with our shirts. We never got a really good one, but I guess this one will do.

P.S.S. There's a couple of songs on my playlist that are sung by Owl City. You should listen to them. :)

Back to School

I am officially back at school at SVU. It is so nice to be back here.

I took an overnight flight starting at 11:00 PM Arizona time. I had a three and a half hour layover in Atlanta, Georgia and I finally arrived in DC about 11:00 AM. One of my best friends Jessica came and picked me up. I'm so grateful for her and her willingness to drive 6 hours total to pick me up and go back to SVU. She's pretty awesome, I guess. :D

Being here for almost 2 whole days is actually kind of weird because there's so many new freshman or transfers. I'm only a sophomore, but sometimes I feel like I'm one of the new students as well. I miss all the friendships that I had last year and wish for it again this year, but I know it probably won't be the same like last year. I do hope that this semester will be good.

I am definitely going to be staying busy. I will be taking a couple of English classes since it is my major after all. One of them is a creative writing class which I will be writing a lot more than I'm used to. I will also be taking Spanish 3, Ballet, Drawing, and of course, an Institute class. After looking at my schedule, I'm kind of excited to start my classes.

Taking Off!

So here I am right now sitting here at my laptop, listening to my itunes on shuffle, and writing to you with a full belly of breakfast goodness. Several of my friends and I threw a breakfast sort of party and ate such a huge breakfast. It was for sure glorious goodness. My computer area consists of junk all around it. I have a shoe box, my flowers to make hair clips, magazines, and some other items which I have no idea what it is cluttered on this table.

I am leaving tonight to go back to school! I am excited to go back there and see my friends and to be in a beautiful, green place. I feel it is a good change for me just to get a break from the hot Arizona and I can be out on my own for a little bit and learn some more responsibility for myself which can be fun and sometimes it's not. One thing that I'm not excited about is the little, annoying gnat bugs that buzz around your head and face and they won't go away. Thank goodness it won't last too long. It's kinda funny because with those bugs buzzing around your face, you can put your arm up in the air and the bugs will move higher. I have no idea why they do that, they're just weird, I guess. That is a thing that I like being here in Arizona because theres' no bugs that annoy the heck out of your face. There are mosquitoes, but seriously, they're everywhere. Anyways, enough about stupid bugs.

I will definitely miss home. A lot. I'll miss my wonderful mom. She goes out of her way for everything. I'll miss our little adventures that we take to the grocery store or to the mall, especially when it's night time when my mom gets slap happy (she is not a night person) and we just laugh and have a good time and it takes us longer to get what we need just from goofing off. A little bit. I'll also miss just those good time from watching all of Jane Austen movies as well as the great "North and South". If you haven't seen it, it's a must see four hours of a movie. Seriously. I'm definitely going to miss my dad too. He is the stable one in our family. It's been a hard summer for all of us, and what I saw of him, he kept going strong through it all and faced each day straight on. He helped me keep my head on my shoulders and talked sense into me like he always does when he helps me out, and I love him for it. I'm just going to miss him. I am also going to miss my brothers and sisters. We've all had such good times together. I'm so grateful that everyone is only a phone call away.

Well, with tears in my eyes I guess I need to finish my packing and say my goodbyes to all of my friends. I will try hard this semester to keep all of you updated with what's going on in Buena Vista, Virginia.

The Wedding Day

Not to worry, I did not get married. My oldest brother Spencer married a beautiful, fine lady, Maycee Lacsamana. Spencer and Maycee got married August 8, 2009. Maycee looked absolutely beautiful and Spencer looked handsome as well. They got sealed in the Mesa, Arizona temple at 10:30 AM. The sealing part didn't last long so I'm told, but I heard it was magnificent. Spencer and Mayce conitinued to glow from the beginning of the day to the end of the day when they had to go off on their honeymoon.

After the sealing, we had a delicious luncheon at my Lamb grandparent's home. It was so lovely. My Grandma Lamb did such a wonderful job with the food and the decorations. The Durler side of the family was also able to come for the wedding; as well as Russ and his two children/my cousins Alea and Kai. After the luncheon everyone relaxed at home or took naps so that we would be refreshed for the reception later that night.

At the reception, it was absolutely breathtaking. The colors that Mayce picked out was a teal/turquoise color, but more on the blue side, then there was also brown and white. Spencer and Maycee asked if I could be the DJ at their reception to help save money. To be honest, I was a little nervous because I've never DJ-ed in my life :/. Caitlin Dalton, Emily, and me were her bridesmaids. Her sister is as well, but Maycee's family couldn't make it so they threw a type of ceremony party in honor of her back where they live in Australia. In December her family will be coming up to Utah and then there will be like a ceremony or an Open House for her family to see and enjoy.

The reception went by too fast. Luckily, they did have a lot of guests that showed up, and I know that both Spencer and Maycee are loved by many. I'm so grateful to have Maycee as an older sister. :D It has definitely been a wonderful summer.

Here are some pictures from the wedding:

Spencer and Maycee coming out of the temple doors

Spencer and Maycee posed together.

Aiden, my nephew, looked like a stud at the reception.

All the sisters together at the temple

I Almost Forgot!

So, good news! My older brother Karl just graduated today with his GED!! I wasn't able to attend, but I'm so happy for him! He was told that he was like the first one to get the highest score on his GED in like 10-15 years. He's a smarty-pants. I am a proud little sister!

It's About Time

I am finally writing on my blog again after 4 months. Sorryit took me so long, but I've been so busy or just not motivated at all. Thanks to one of my favorite people, Sister Walker who actually did motivate me to start writing on my blog again, although it took a month after her telling me that I should start. I supposed I'll have to catch you up on the past 4 months.

April 11th was my 19th birthday. It's actually really weird to think that I'm already nineteen. I was, of course at SVU which actually wasn't so bad. For my past birthdays, I usually take a day off of school because I really don't like going to school on my birthday. It's just one of those things that don't like to do on my birthday. Luckily this year my birthday was on a Saturday so my friends and I went out to lunch at Ruby Tuesday's, and I opened all my presents there. Afterwards, I went to a school play called "The Diviners" which some of my friends were in it. It was a wonderful play and a bit heartbreaking too. It's about "a small farm community during the depression where water and faith are in short supply. A charismatic but back-sliding preacher drifts into town and meets a gentle but misunderstood boy with the gift of divining or water-witching. The two outcasts find a common bond and help each other divine for truth, faith and hope. The townspeople though demand the preacher return to a way of life he no longer believes in and it drives both men to a crisis of trust." It was a wonderful play which made my birthday more enjoyable.

I came back home very early of May because my study abroad trip to Mexico was cancelled due to the swine flu breakout. I was supposed to go there to finish my Spanish 3 and 4 so I could get all of my prerequisites all done and out of the way. I was bummed out that I couldn't go so I decided to go home. My brother Spencer wanted me home as well as my mom. I also had a feeling that I should go home this summer especially living away my freshman year.

Around the middle of May, my family plus my brother's friend and Spencer's girlfriend, Maycee, and I went for Memorial weekend to Rocky Point, Mexico to relax in the condo and on the beach. The Saturday before we went home, Maycee wanted to go walk the beach with Spencer at sunset and take pictures. Emily and I went with them with our cameras because we knew that Spencer would pop the question to her. My mom went along too to look for sea shells, without knowing what Spencer would do. Walking along the beach you can tell that Spencer was really nervous. After about thirty minutes, Spencer got down on one knee and proposed. It was soooo exciting that me and Emily were clapping and whooping. It was such an amazing and lovely evening. Now the date for their wedding is August 8th.

This past June 20th was also one of the most important days of my little sister, Alexis's life. She got baptized with her friend Madison Pickens. It was such a wonderful day. I reluctantly played the piano for her. I did want to play, but no matter how much I practiced it was still hard for me to play while people sing. Alexis looked absolutely beautiful and like an angel. Throughout the entire program, I could feel the Holy Ghost so strongly and I knew that this was the right place to be and the right thing for Alexis to do. Here's one of the pictures of her in her baptism dress.

I will definitely try to keep my blog updated more. Until next time!

Valentine's Day!!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day! I did! Of course there were no boyfriends or "lovers" that I had, I still had a really good day! First thing I did was I went to ballet rehearsal for Vivaldi's Four Seasons. The parts that I'm in is Spring and Fall/Autumn. I have only learned Spring so soon we will learn Fall, which I hear is a little bit more stamina in Fall than in Spring, but that's alright! It's so much fun!! After rehearsal, my friends and I went and ate out at lunch at Ruby's Tuesday. It was delicious!! I ate a Petite Sirloin with a side of very yummy seasoned steamed brocolli and mashed potatoes. Surprisingly, I still had room in my tummy and so a friend and I shared a double chocolate cake. My friend's name is Kenzie. She and I dance with each other in The Four Seasons as well as the Dance Team here at school. (By the way, I tried out for the Dance Team a couple weeks ago and I made it!! BIG SURPRISE! haha...) It's fun because we have a lot in common.

Anyways, so the cake was deliciously moist with chocolate syrup in the middle of the sort of bundt cake with a strawberry drizzle on the plate with a fresh strawberry. And on the other side was a cute, medium sized scoop of Vanilla ice cream. You think I enjoyed that? You bet!! After that, I went back to my dorm room and hung out in there until a while bit later. Then, Kenzie and her boyfriend and I and our other friend Nate wanted to go to Barnes and Noble in Roanoke which is about 45 minutes to an hour away. Luckily it didn't close until 10 PM because we got there around 8. I love that store and I could live there. Then after it closed we went back to SVU and went to bed. Well, technically still hung out in my room until I got tired and went to bed. Overall, I had a very good day yesterday!! I hope you all did too!! So these picture of me are what I wore on Valentine's Day. I took them just for you, Mom so you knew what I looked like all Fleur de lis decked out!!

Here's the front of it with my matching earrings and necklace

And here's the back with the matching pants!! I also wore my matching Fleur de lis purse too!!

SNOW!!

I definitely can't believe that this past Monday night, it actually finally snowed!! I was absolutely so excited that I acted like a little kid on Christmas Day. I thought it was magic! Okay, I know that sounds childish, but it made me so happy. So the next morning, I woke up to find that it was white and beautiful outside. I made sure that I got ready in plenty of time before class because I wanted to take pictures showing snow here at SVU and so you guys can see what it's kinda like here with snow. Yesterday was definitely a beautiful day. It wasn't windy like it was today, so it made yesterday even better than I thought it could've been. I feel so lucky being here. It's such a great experience.

The other picture is of one of my friends Lauren and me at the Roanoke mall and we had to take a picture with the cardboard Edward Cullen. HAHA! We're definitely dorks!

The big hill right by the lofts; it was covered in whiteness! So cool!

The new, finished church building

A cute, little evergreen tree in snow right before the stairs of utter destruction...

If you couldn't tell, I am overjoyed!

Yes, and with Edward Cullen....haha, dorks!

2nd Semester

Dear my family and friends,

I am now in my second semester of school at SVU. It's going to be a lot different than last semester I can already tell. First, would be my classes. I have a totally different schedule than last semester and for me being a freshman here at school, it's a tough change in a way. I have to think a lot faster and be more on top of things to get every assignment done on time. The classes I am taking are: Health and Wellness, Becoming Leader-Servants, Spanish II, Astronomy (which I am actually very interested in learning about), Reason and the Self (bleh, philosophy), Intro to Theatre History, and of course Institue which I'm learning about the Pearl of Great Price which will also be very good to learn more about the creation and Moses and Abraham. I never have truly studied them or read them. In seminary, they were just quickly taught and we never spent much time on those books so I'm really looking forward for that. I'm still meeting new people. Everyone or most everyone is of course still very, very welcoming and nice. It's such a great atmosphere to be here and to learn so much more. I am so surprised by how much my mind can still learn so much after going to school for 12 straight years and my brain hasn't blown up by the information is being put in here.

Today we had our first forum for the Leader-Servant class which actually anyone can go to it on Fridays. Our speaker today was Jason F. Wright. He wrote a couple books such as "The Wednesday Letters" and "Christmas Jars." He also co-wrote the New York Times best seller, "The Christmas Sweater," with Glenn Beck. Mostly, Mr. Wright spoke more on Christmas jars and his own personal experiences with them. He said he actually started it with his own family. They began with getting a good size jar and all the change that they would come home with they would put it in the jar. This went on for about maybe three months or something. Near the Christmas holiday, they counted how much there was in the jar. It came to about $90. Then they got a list of names of people who needed things such as money. When they finally picked who they wanted to drop it off with, the whole family came and pretty much ding-dong ditched leaving the jar of money with an anonymous note on the other family's doorstep. Mr. or Brother Wright didn't say what happened to the family when they opened the door, but what he did say was how his daughters looked after they got home from giving that jar full of money. He said that they just lightened up with what he called, "The Giving Gene." The giving gene came from his father and Bro. Wright also mentioned how his dad had that gene and how he wished that gene had been passed down to him. I could tell the way Bro. Wright spoke that he was a really good man, very faithful that he also had that gene, but it was probably hard for him to find it himself. Anyways, he and his family continued to give the Christmas jars away ever year for about 3 years before he wrote the book. He and his family started filling up their jars at the beginning of the year so they could save up more money for other families.

So I just wanted to share that because I thought that was such an awesome forum to start of the new semester with. I love you guys very much!

As I was looking on some of my other friends' blogs I saw that one had created a mosaic. I thought it was such a cute and awesome idea. Lo and behold I made one too!

Name: Sara

Favorite Food: In 'n' Out

High School: Queen Creek

Favorite Color: Red

Celebrity Crush: I had so many so I just picked one. John Krasinski.

Favorite Drink: Smoothies

Dream Vacation: Europe

Favorite Dessert: Cherry Pie

What do you want to be when you grow up?: Happy

What do you love most about life?: The power of love

One word that describes you: peacemaker

Pet Name: Penelope

One of THE Most Amazing Firesides

Last night will probably be one of the most memorable things in my life. I was able to witness Southern Virginia University give the highest award to President James E. Faust and his wife Ruth W. Faust. The award that was given to them was the Leader-Servant Award. A leader-servant is someone who may be a leader who serves in the workplace, the world by some way, the community, the church, and in the home. Another leader-servant from the the quorum of the twelve was Neal A. Maxwell. There are now 6 beautiful portraits hanging on the wall in Main Hall surrounding a beautiful painting of Jesus Christ showing His example of being a leader-servant.

What I loved most about listening to what was being said about President Faust and his wife was how much their relationship was like a fairy-tale. All of their 5 children were able to come in support and to receive the award for their parents. It was so crazy though because they mentioned a few times how awesome it was for them to come together and see each other at the same time. I guess it had been a long time since all of the children had been together. They all spoke and told stories of their parents, of their love for each other, their children, friends, and even for people they hardly knew.

I learned of the undying love that President Faust showed towards his wife. It was truly unfailing love. Their children remarked how this one time, much later in their life, Ruth couldn't tie her shoe anymore. President Faust told her, "You are so beautiful. I love you so much I would marry you all over again." Then, he knelt down and tied her shoe.

I think about this and it makes me so happy and I wish and I hope I find my future husband just like that. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland sent a video tribute here to SVU addressing us, the faculty, and especially the Faust family. Unfortunately, he was not able to come in person. He talked of President Faust so courteously it was actually quite beautiful. One of the things he shared about President Faust that really struck me was that he said, "[President] Faust is the definition of a gentleman." Elder Holland commented that by President Faust's actions Elder Holland would always look up to him as the perfect example.

I loved learning so much more about President Faust and his wife, Ruth. I didn't know that their kind of love still exists. I remember one of their children saying, "For [President] Faust, Ruth came first; and for Ruth, [President] Faust came first." They always made sure that they thought of each other before they did anything. I loved how much this really touched a lot of the people in the audience and probably became an eye-opener as well.

I am SO glad I attended this fireside. It was such a wonderful and enlightening meeting.

I'm So Excited!

This past weekend, I attended my ballet class and rehearsal on Saturday. It was pretty much just a normal class. When we started rehearsals for whatever we were doing, my dance instructor, Missy, had us watch a video of the last time her girls danced variations from "The Nutcracker". Just hearing the music from it made me miss dancing in it every Christmas season. So I sat there watching the performance and I had all these memories pass by my mind from almost every divertissement that was being danced. Those were definitely good times.

After Missy showed us the tape, we got up and Missy says, "Alright, Sara, you're going to be dancing the Sugar Plum Fairy variation."

I pretty much almost wet myself, I was sooooo excited! Never ever back at home did I get to dance a good ballet solo. The solos that I dance were the ones from high school, and I really don't think those count since I didn't spend a whole lot of time on them. So anyways, I will be dancing the Sugar Plum Fairy variation on December 9th. I can't wait! I am gonna try my hardest to make it look professional and not some dinky recital thing from school. I want it to look amazing because I get to perform this only once and I don't have any other performances to make up for it.

I'm so excited that I just can't keep in this feeling at all!!!

Staying Up Late

Last Sunday evening or Monday morning, however you would like to put it, I stayed up late studying for class. While I was staying up late, I was also waiting for my roommate Jessica to go to sleep so then my friend, and close friend to Jessica, and I could decorate for Jessica's birthday which was Monday the 20th of October. We decorated at about 1:00 to 1:30ish. Don't worry Mom and Dad, I definitely was studying before the pictures. hehe. We decorated her part of the room with posters and balloons. Then we came out to the hall and decorated the door with more posters and balloons. Jamie made her a delicious cake as well.

We had so much fun! That's Jamie and me!

We definitely are the best decorators for birthdays! We had a blast and it was so hard to keep quiet because we were so excited and we were trying not to wake Jessica up. Don't I look wide awake?


The beautifully decorated door with our quote board.

This was Jessica in the morning surprised.

Jessica way too excited and happy for her birthday! :)

Fall Colors

A couple weeks ago I left early before one of my classes so I could take some beautiful fall pictures. The colors have been absolutely gorgeous although here I've heard that other places are more beautiful than this. I couldn't possibly imagine colors looking even more beautiful other places. I love being here in this beautiful place. Thanks Mom and Dad for the opportunity that I've had being here.

Trees by the Blue Ridge Mountains.

The church building so close to the Lofts. It's almost finished! YAY!

The school from the top of the stairs by the Lofts. Isn't beautiful?

Ooh! I really like this one. It's up here by the Lofts but it's on path near it. I put it as my new background on the computer. I thought it was beautiful!

Trees and more trees!!

A pretty awesome leaf.

More beautiful trees!

Homecoming at SVU

On Saturday, October 11th, my friends and I got ready and went to our school's homecoming. The theme for it was the 40's and we had a lot of fun dressing up for it. Nope, I did not have a date, but I didn't care too much because a lot of my friends didn't either so we had fun going together. Afterwards, we went to eat at Lee High's restaurant which is probably at least 10-15 minutes away. It's a delicious American restaurant that's open 24 hours and you can either eat breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Oh, and it's also a truck stop for all those truckers. It's a very unique place, but once again the food is delicious!

In my dorm room right before we left.

Jessica George, one of my roomies and I

Me and Jamie Hall, a friend I met through Jessica. (I really do hate when people give bunny ears.)

Another cute picture of Jessica and me.

My friend from one of my classes, Katrina Bagley. Very sweet and nice girl.

Jessica and Gigi, her real name is Janessa.

Emily down the hall, sorry I don't remember her last name. This was taken at Lee Highs.

After the dance and I was so random... I think it looks like I'm running away from something. haha!

The roomies! Jessica, Me, Heather Sanders. We looked awesome!

Heather and I