How Great Thou Art

O Lord my God,

When I in awesome wonder

Consider all the works Thy Hand hath made,

I see the stars,

I hear the mighty thunder,

Thy pow'r throughout the universe displayed; 

When through the woods and forest glades I wander

I hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;

When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur

And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze;

Then sings my soul,

My Savior God, to Thee,

How great Thou art!

How great Thou art!

Then sings my soul,

My Savior God, to Thee,

How great Thou art!

How great Thou art! 

 

Stuart K. Hine, 1899-1989 

 

Yesterday, I took the time to experience fall in the Wasatch Mountains.  Part of me longs to live elsewhere, just for the experiences such a change would bring.  But, as I climbed higher and higher and looked out over the magnificent mountains, I repeatedly thought I cannot believe I live in this beautiful place!

 

I hiked by myself on purpose.  This was the first time since the leaves began to change this year that I have made it to the mountains. I wanted to see them up close.  I wanted to meander through them, looking closely, picking out the ones I loved most.  I wanted to be above them and look down.  And I wanted to do this uninterrupted.

I've had many emotions running through me the last two months with so many changes happening in my life.  I have felt much peace through it all, even though I still feel like I'm adjusting and getting settled and organized.  Hiking Grandeur Peak yesterday took me to a place for which I've been longing.  So much peace comes from being alone in the midst of God's creations.

 

As I approached this colorful opening, I recalled a few lines of the hymn, I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go

 

"But if, by a still, small voice he calls to paths that I do not know, 

I'll answer, dear Lord, with my hand in thine: 

I'll go where you want me to go"

 

I've been studying the hymns, their origins, and the meaningful doctrine in my institute class this semester.  I find myself singing them with more passion, more conviction, and in so many more places.  Yesterday was a testimony of the words I sing so often.

Only by the powers of heaven are we able to enjoy, to bask in, to appreciate the miraculous creations on the earth.

How grateful I am to live in such a beautiful place and to experience His creations so closely.

I can't imagine having spent my day any better.

 

Fall Break

Fall Break.  

Ahhhh.  Something I've never had before in my life.  

BUT I AM SO EXCITED!

The U has a full week off for fall break.  I've never had a fall break before because apparently BYU does not believe in it, and the closest I ever got in grade school was a 2-day break for UEA weekend.  So, this is just glorious!  I have all sorts of plans for this week.  I have some furniture to stain, a Halloween costume to design and sew, lunch with a few friends, finish putting all my boxes into storage since the move back to my parents' house, studying (probably a good idea to get ahead while I've got some time), and a couple other smaller things.  Its going to be a fantastically productive week, which is my favorite kind!

I started this glorious break with an exciting weekend.  I went on a fun double date: 2 male best friends going out with 2 female best friends.  It was a blast!  We carved pumpkins, played the piano, ate pumpkin pie, and got down with "Just Dance" on the Wii.

Then on Sunday, my sister Becca and her family came down from Layton to eat dinner with me.  It was a really nice gesture since I'm living here alone while my parents are driving cross-country.  Although, I suspect it might actually have been the fact that I had chicken they could use for dinner, but either way, it was fun having them here...especially when Angry Birds made an appearance.  My nephew, Gus, may or may not be addicted to Angry Birds.  :)  You decide.

I hope you can tell how much Becca and I were laughing!  Each time we watch this video, we just laugh even harder.  I think we had a good 10 minutes of "Anga Birds" tantrums from Gus.  It was so hilarious!

So here's to a fantastic start to fall break! 

Internal Conflict

Mid-August, right before school began, and even for the first few weeks of school I felt like my childhood Utah Fan was beginning to burst out from my chest.  As many people know, I grew up going to Utah football games with my dad.  I was a pretty committed Utah fan.  That is, until I went to BYU.  I remember standing in the bleachers at my first BYU football game and feeling like a traitor.  It took several months of being in Provo before I started feeling like a true cougar fan.  Then I got my job doing events for BYU and my Cougar-love really took over!  So as you can imagine, I was a little confused as to where my true school allegiance lies now that I'm in school at the U.  Just like I did when I went to BYU, I decided to embrace the school I am attending and see what happens.

So, I geared up and went to the first football game of the season.  I don't have season tickets, but bought a couple off a friend who got stuck going to his brother's wedding dinner instead (poor planning, right?)

My roommate, Sarah, and me

Maybe it's because I cheered in high school, but I always find the stunts entertaining!

The game was exciting!  All the crowd cheers came back from deep in my childhood memories. Sarah and I had some good laughs at the frat boys who were standing behind us... it was the end of Greek RUSH week so the conversations revolved around a lot of pretty stupid things, if you can imagine.  By the end of the game, I was sure I could be a Utah fan again!

A couple weeks later was the BYU-Utah game.  All my friends, and even some family, asked what color I would be wearing that day and I had no idea.  I ended up telling everyone black!  Then the day of the game came.  I had some studying to do so I watched the game from home...in white.  

Talk about slaughter house!  Two minutes into the game BYU fumbled the ball right by the end zone and Utah was able to pick it up inside the end zone for the first touchdown of the game.  And that was just the first of SEVEN turnovers.  Every time we went to commercial break, ESPN showed a mash up of BYU fumbles. It was just awful!  However, by the end of the first quarter I had figured out what color I truly bleed.

I cringed for the first 3 quarters of that game and every time the fumble mash up was shown.  By the fourth quarter, I couldn't bare it any longer (I went upstairs to clean the kitchen and just listened to my roommate's commentary).  It was such an awful game!  But, when your team is losing and you still root for them, you know it is real.  I might be a Utah student right now, but I will always be a Cougar!

GO COUGS! 

Fall 2006 - with the ROTC after I shot off the George Q. Cannon