Jim n' Nicks with my Lily -♥

Last night Lily and I went to Jim n' Nicks. (Duh, title of the post.) It was much much needed. Lily is one of those people who you can talk to about anything. And fortunately for us, we have had some of the same things happen in our lives recently.(Yes, with boys, what else?)  So it's nice to have someone to talk to who understands.We sat at our table talking about boys, breakups, and school....basically just throwing everything out there. Annnnnd she also introduced me to Jim n' Nicks cheese biscuits....and now I am an addict.
After dinner we drove up the road to Party City to see Kaycie, but it ended up being closed. We went shopping at TJ Maxx while we waited for Kayc to get let out. (Her evil manager Angela was closing, so she got kept in the store like an extra 20 minutes perfecting her W2 paperwork.)  WE ♥ THE CLEARANCE RACK! Nothing makes me and Lil happier than finding an endless rack of cute $3 shirts and $10 jackets. We both spent like, $20! And got some really cute stuff out of it. TJM closed at 9:30, so we bought our clothes and went out to the car to wait on Kayc. She finally got let out, and we just stood in the parking lot and talked for a couple minutes. We hugged her and told her we loved her and then we all decided to go home. I'm grateful that I have such sweet friends, and I don't know what I would do without them! -♥

Finally Friday.

FINALLY ITS FRIDAY! This weekend is much much much needed. My BYU applications are due on the first, and I will be SO GLAD to finally get done with all of that! I have no idea what school I'm going to, and that is defnately something to prayerfully consider. I want to study Nursing, so obviously the first place I turn is UAB. I love Tuscaloosa, so I turn to UA. But most importantly, I want to get married. So I turn to BYU. I guess we will see what Heavenly Father wants for me first!
So this morning I thought I was going to fail a pre-calculus test, And Andrew taught me what my class has been learning for a week in 20 minutes. The boy is amazing! I owe him big time! I ended up getting an A, as opposed to completely bombing it. I will take that!

Thursday :)

This long week is finally coming to a close. With physics, Bryan leaving, and LAX on my shoulders, I am so ready for the break! Actually I am ready for the whole school year to be over....and to GRADUATE!!

Mt. Timpanogas Temple

Bryan sent me this picture of the Mt. Timpanogas Temple before he entered the MTC! So pretty!

LAX and Bryan!

So, lately I have started playing lacrosse on OMHS Women's Team. I have NEVER in my life played a sport this fun. I absolutely love it! A ton of my friend play, so we make practice a blast. We have had practice almost everyday...the team was second in the state last year, so I am sure that they want to keep their ranking! We'll see what this season brings!
Recently all of my friends that I've been through the youth program with are leaving to serve missions! Today, Bryan entered the MTC! He is going to be serving in Bolivia! He is so excited. I think its so awesome that everyone in his family speaks spanish, and now he can too. All of his brothers served in spanish speaking missions, so he is going to fit right in!! He is the sweestest, and I know he is going to do an amazing job preaching the gospel that I know he loves!!

I almost forgot.. :)

I am so grateful for people who are quick to forgive. I think that is the most difficult attribute to gain. I got the most meaningful wink and smile I think I will ever get in my entire life last night, and it came from someone who has every right in the world to hate me, and he doesn't. I think there is much to learn from men like I have spoken. I know that there is for me :)

The BIG Ten!

Day Ten, and the new Brittany is still kicking. President Smartt told me that it takes 21 days to make a habbit, So I guess I am halfway there! I won't tell you its been easy, because it hasn't. But I wont tell you its been a piece of cake, because it hasn't been that either. I am realizing now that I never really said in my blog what the new Brittany means. The new Brittany means developing Christ-like attributes. It means being a better daughter. Being a better sister. Being a better friend. Being an example, being a light. Being happy. Being content with fifty bucks when I feel liked I earned a hundred, doing school work honestly when it would be easy to cheat, keeping promises I would rather not keep, and telling the truth even when it makes me look like a fool. I have done some just plain stupid things. Not wicked things, necessarily, but just prideful and stupid. I cared too much about what man thinks about me that what my Heavenly Father does. But the past is behind us, and the Lord has said "Look not behind thee.." -Genesis 19:17. :)

♥The House♥

"Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself."
-C.S. Lewis

*Day Seven*

Day Seven. Well, still blogging. Today was rough, a bunch of stuff is stressing me out! Tests and projects and senior year dont mix very well.
Today I was reading in 3 Nephi 12: 23-24, and its says, "Therefore, if ye shall come unto me, or shall DESIRE to come unto me, and rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee—

 24Go thy way unto thy brother, and first be recoinciled to thy brother, and then come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I will receive you."

Websters dictionary defines desire as the following:

1. to wish or long for; crave; want.

2. to express a wish to obtain; ask for; request

"If ye shall come unto me, or shall DESIRE to come unto me..." I was particularly interested in that word. Even if we don't come running to Him, if we just WISH to, or ASK for help to He will place in us the strength too. As I came to this I knew something sounded familiar. I look in my notebook of notes from talks that I have taken, I found a talk from Stake Conference last year that President Greene gave. I wrote down that he quoted Alma 32: 27. It reads:

27 But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and

exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.

Word for word confirmation of what I previously stated. In my mind, I see this as hope for the hopeless, and I find it interesting and amazing that the Savior is willing to work with us toward any righteous desire, including coming to believe in Him. I think it is good for everyone to let a little desire work in them. :)

Six Days Later...

Well, six days later and everything is going great! Its been less than a week and I feel like my whole life has been turned around. I'm praying a lot more, reading my scriptures a lot more. Well actually I am reading everything a lot more. I've really picked up Elder Maxwell, although all of the sentences in His books are profound statements, and all of them require some insane literary analysis. My Mom is the one who reads them in the house, so shes the reason why a ton of His books are laying around. My Mom and I usually fight a lot. But I've given up on that. When I see that we are starting to disagree on something I just walk away and tell her to forget it, in a nice way. That way it saves both of us our breath. If I do have to stay here over the summer, I might as well try and make it nice.
School is flying by. I was really lazy last semester and now its catching up to me. My Calculus class is giving me grief, but I guess thats normal because I don't know anyone who isn't struggling with it. I have a really nice teacher. Well I take that back. She is an amazing teacher one on one, but in class she seems like a jerk because she has too lay down the law I guess. Her name is Mrs. Roberts, and I used to hate her. But now she is amazing!! Thats really the only class that gives me any trouble. I suspected Physics to, but I have a group of friends in there and we just work on everything together. We tend to answer each others questions a lot. Sara is the genius of the group. Whenever we mess it all up, she tends to figure it out. Justin is the verbal commentor. He always talks to himself outloud, telling himself which values go where in the formulas. Cory is the copier, pretty much. But he makes us laugh while we work..so we dont mind. And me, well I guess I am the formula determiner. I always choose the formula we use. Thats one of my favorite classes, I love group work. My English class is always interesting too. I have two really good friends in there, Kate and Dalia. And the rest of the class is boys with senioritis already. Kate is the Anarchist, and Dalia is the fashionista. I love them to death. We usually just talk about Demetrius Heart  in that class now, because Mrs. Plaia thinks that she is responsible for recruiting him to Alabama to play football next year.
Well, keep crossing your fingers for my. This new lifestyle full of humility,selflessness, grace, and meekness definately is not natural for me..but its definately needed. I am learning a lot of stuff that I should've learned a long long time ago. But like President Smartt said, I am only eighteen. So maybe I do have time. ♥

The First Day -♥

Today is the first day of a new life. Someone once told me that to change, all one must do is "Decide its the time to change." I have honestly never given much thought to that phrase before now, but as a last resort I turn to it. If this is true, then human willpower, persistance, and dilligence are three very powerful things. I have been on the same road my entire life, fighting dragons and demons at every turn, claiming defeat more than victory. But I am eighteen years old, and I am at a HUGE fork in the road,. To the left, I can continue on as I have for 18 years. To the right, I can play "the game", meaning balance my life in a way in which everyonce can be happy to some degree,  and in the long run get what I eternally seek. In my mind, the choice is obvious. But staring down a path that looks nice and easy is a lot different than actually taking it. I like to think that maybe, just maybe if I am lucky..my willpower, persistance, and dilligence are far stronger than I know.