The surprise...

About a week and half ago I got a crazy idea. My parents bought my plane tickets to come home for Christmas several months ago in order to get a good deal. Since they bought the tickets, I had received offers from two good friends to drive home to Tennessee and back for Christmas break. I turned them down, explaining that I already had made plans to fly. Then, it hit me. About a week and a half ago. What if I switched my Christmas tickets to Thanksgiving and then took up these offers to drive there and back for Christmas? Genius. I know. That's why I'm a college students. So I called my dad, we switched the tickets, and kept our mouths shut. No one knew but my dad and I. He picked me up from the airport on Thursday and we went to my sister's swim meet. I casually walked in and stood next to her and just asked how the meet was going. She looked up and seriously jumped back 5 feet as if she had seen a ghost. Maybe she thought she had. "What are you doing here?!" Nice to see you, too. She was shocked and I couldn't stop laughing. My mom was helping out with the meet so we snuck down to the pool area and I asked my same casual, "How's the meet going?" question. My mom slowly turned around and looked at me. Silent. She was beyond confused. She just kinda stared for a few seconds - it seemed like forever, then her eyes went to my little sister. "She thinks I'm Alia," was my immediate thought. Later, she told me, "I just looked at you and couldn't figure out why Alia wasn't wearing her suit, then I saw Alia and it clicked." She screamed and hugged me and cried and didn't let go for about five minutes. She says it was the most surprised she had ever been in her life. She had no idea. I guess I can keep some secrets :)

The stressful week before trying to get all my school work done before I missed 3 days of classes, knowing I'm going to be driving all the way to Tennessee and then back to Utah, the extra money it took to switch my ticket and the gas money I'll be spending in December - it was all so worth it, to see my mom's face (her shock and complete joy), to be home, to have a break from school before things get crazy, to spend Thanksgiving with my family for the first time in three years - totally worth it. I feel so lucky, so blessed, and I'm so dang excited to see my adorable niece! I will miss having Thanksgiving with Reni and Will and my grandparents - but this sure is nice. (Plus I hear its snowing, and sleeting, and freezing there, today it was 70 degrees in Tennessee - you can be jealous :)

Happy Thanksgiving from the Volunteer State!

look, i'm blogging again!

So.... I was kind of against blogging when I got back from Jerusalem (as you can see, I've only posted one thing that was not about Jerusalem) because life was just kinda lame in comparison.... I couldn't write, "So I just got back from the Garden Tomb..." or comment on how hot Egypt was. But I'm sitting at my grandparent's and thought I would just let anyone who wants to read this know whats going on in my life!

This semester has been insane. Actually, not really, that was an exaggeration. But it has been crazy. I have a four hour class every day of the week. I love the people in it, usually I don't make lots of friends in my classes cause they're big and I'm all about the in and out, but I really like the people in this class. Its fun and I'm learning about what I want to do when I grow up (which turns out is in just a year and a half.... how does that happen?!) I get to go visit schools and

pretend teach to my peers and occasionally for real teach at the schools we visit. So I like the class but it is basically my life and I'll be happy when my schedule is freed up on February 25th. Hallelujah! (I've found myself saying that a lot lately, and "amen" too. Apparently it's not as socially acceptable here in Utah as it is in the South... too bad.)

I'm also taking my "Capstone Research Seminar" class. Sounds scary? It is. I have to write a 20+ page paper, mostly from primary sources that will contribute to the scholarship on slavery. I'm writing about how Uncle Tom's Cabin was received in the North versus the publication of actual slave narratives. There's nothing like carrying a stack of over 10 books out of the library to improve your nerd image. You should probably get on the waiting list to read it, you don't want to pass this one up.

I'm also taking New Testament from one of my professors at the Jerusalem Center, Bro. Skinner. He's pretty awesome and I recommend taking one of his classes or reading one of his books. Him and our director, Bro. Brown put together a series on the Messiah that plays on BYU TV at 5 and 8 on Sundays. You should watch. Seriously, it's amazing.

So its been a busy semester so far, but good. Last weekend we had a 149th ward reunion at our house. The theme was white trash and it was so much fun! We got an old RV from one of our friends and went driving around and dancing, avoiding the po po at the same time... it was a blast! Last night I went snowshoeing, definitely not my thing. I felt like I was wearing boats on my feet like DaVinci in Ever After. Needless to say I was not very graceful and fell multiple times. I lost my phone and a glove in the snow and somehow they both turned up again later... It was fun though.... Pretty entertaining for everyone around me.

So thats about it. Reni and Will are back and we're gonna eat some grub! Woot Woot!

my thoughts on life...

I feel like a true blogger now that I am sharing "my thoughts on life" as if I have anything profound to add to the world full of sayings, advice, thoughts, quotes, mottos... etc. Even though I've reached the ripe old age of 21, I know that I have a lot to learn and a lot of growing up left to do, but here are some conclusions that I've recently come to.

Life changes fast
People are inherently good but it is impossible to see that if you never look at life through their eyes.
It's important to give those around you a break, because probably sooner than later you're going to need one yourself.
It's important to give yourself a break.
Talking helps.
Sometimes life needs to be treated like an automatic instead of a manual.
Utah weather makes my skin break out.
Don't expect anything.
Listen.
Broken hearts help us understand ourselves and others better.
Life isn't perfect, no matter how much we plan, prepare and hope for the best.
People aren't perfect.
Love is a powerful thing.
There's a weird sort of healing power in driving around town, belting music and doing absolutely nothing, but doing it with really good company.
Life requires friends.
Apt. 98 is where the best support system of friends and roommates a girl could ask for was born.
My mom wasn't crazy or OCD when she said a house needed to be cleaned once a week...
People are the same everywhere you go.
You can love a someone you have never met that is over a thousand miles away just by seeing a picture of her face.
Taking time to think is crucial to life.
No matter where you are in the world, you can bet there are people thinking of you, loving you and supporting you.
My parents are a couple of geniuses.
Life is to be enjoyed. People are to be loved. Opportunities are to be taken.

Life is a crazy good thing.

GaLiLeE - on the way back home...

We left the Sea of Galilee on the morning of the 23rd and headed back to Jerusalem. We visited the place where Elijah brought down fire from heaven and killed all the priests of ba'al. We also went to Haifa and visited the Templar Cemetery. 2 missionaries are buried there from before Israel was a country. Without these missionaries' graves, which proved the church had a presence in Israel prior to 1948, the Jerusalem Center would not have been allowed to be built.

On the long drive back, me and Aubs entertained ourselves with some bus dancing.

Tea party with Amy in the Bahai Garden
The Bahai Gardens in Haifa = beautiful.

At Muhraqa (fire, Elijah, dead priests, etc.) - unfortunately my stance in the corner of the picture was not ununsual... and probably shows pretty well how I was feeling...
Imitating the statue. Amy was burning down there on the hot ground, we had to take the picture as quickly as possible so her arm skin didn't bake to the ground.

GaLiLeE day 10

This was our last full day and night in Galilee (July 22nd). The morning of the 23rd we headed back to Jerusalem. Basically I'm just going to put up a lot of pictures of the Sea of Galilee.... so enjoy :)

We went to Sephoris (a city that Christ may have gone to to work with Joseph as a boy), Akko (this really cool sea side city that has a lot of crusader history) and then we went to visit ancient Jewish tombs. It was a pretty good day. That night we had a testimony meeting. We thought a lot about Christ's last night in Galilee. This place was His home. After He left Galilee it was on to Jerusalem to preform the greatest act of love that has ever been done in the history of anything.

Akko has a lot of fish.
and a lot of spices
and a lot of hooka...
Studying on the beach... Kristin, Marie, Katie, Aubs, me, Emily and Amy

Aubs, Amy, me and Rachel
Thank you!
So this one time Aubs got sick in Galilee.... and Amy was nice enough to make her a sign.
I love Mary Lou Funk!
Dan always gives me lots of positive encouragement... I was never really sure what he was trying to say...
I love the Browns!
Flower girls!
Akko
Crazy boy
This antelope guy was all over Israel - I finally took a picture with him. He's like their national parks symbol.

GaLiLeE day 9

So... I'm finally going to finish blogging about Galilee... 2+ months after the fact....

Day 9 (July 21st) - We went to Tel Hazor and Tel Dan - both really old, really ancient cities. I have to admit, I have grown to appreciate places like this so much more now that I'm not around them anymore. I'm a little ashamed to say it, but we got kinda tired of seeing just another really old city by the end of the summer. In America we get really excited when we see something that's 100 years old. In Israel, at least 2000 years old is the norm. We actually got to the point where things we'd see from the time of Christ didn't really seem "that old." Basically Israel is so cool.

After Hazor and Dan we went to Caesarea Philippi where Peter testified of Christ and Christ promises him the sealing keys (Matthew 16:13-19). The cave in the picture of this place below was literally believed by the pagans at the time to be the gates of Hades.

After that we visited a pretty waterfall, visited Nimrod's castle and looked at the Syrian border. We had a campfire, smores and a talent show that night.


Tea party at Nimrod's castle... after 4 months and 6,000+ pictures, you start getting creative.

Caesarea Philippi with Aubrey and our ancient near east teacher Brother Skinner

Tel Dan sinkhole (?)

Tels are hot. Fanning is necessary.

Hazor

GaLiLeE day 5, 6, 7 and 8

Day 5... We visited Gamla and Qazrin. Gamla was an ancient Jewish city. It's where we get our name for camel because the hill looks like a camel's hump. A lot of Jews here killed themselves when the Romans attacked. We hiked to see Israel's highest waterfall here. Qazrin is another ancient Jewish city. It was cool to see this place because you could see what the homes looked like during the time of Jesus. Later that day we went on a hike on the Golan Heights.
A dolman - grave things that are about as old as Abraham (only in Israel would you find something like this on the side of the road...)

The highest waterfall in Israel!
Me and my fellow Tennessean sportin the camo in Qazrin!
Rabbi Aubs

Where the expression, "Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite" comes from...
An ancient family in ancient home...
On our hike in the Golan

Just another skull on the side of the trail in Israel...
Everyone act like Jonah!


Its tradition...
Tribute to Big Rig! i love you girl!

Day 6... We went to church with the branch in Tiberias
By the Jordan - a lot of people are baptized here
Our humble abode

Day 7... Class and free day on the beach. We caught like over a hundred mollusks - I don't really know why, it got to be kinda ridiculous but really addicting. Don't worry, we threw them all back. We did catch them to eat them, but that never happened.


the mermaid I made - I know, it's amazing.

Day 8... We explored the Jezreel valley - we went on Mt. Tabor, one of the believed sites of the transfiguration. We went to Nain where Christ raised the widow's son back to life. We went to Beth Shean and ancient Roman city. Our last stop was swimming at Gan Ha-Shelosha with the fish that ate the dead skin off your feet and tickled like crazy!

Tabor
Nain



Beth Shean
Gan Ha-Shelosha