Summer Adventures

Well, I'm moving to BYU next week. Do you know how weird that is? Really weird. I'm super excited, but I'm a little sad too, because it means that summer is over!

 

The past three months have been absolutely fantastic. It's probably been my best summer yet. My friends and I had a lot of new adventures, from running races with Breanna to shopping for college stuff with Brianna to Institute with the Lunch Bunch. We also had to say goodbye to our friends that have chosen to serve LDS missions for the next two years. I'm super proud of them and I wish I could have made it to all of their farewells, but Nauvoo dictated otherwise...

 



Breanna and I after our first 5K of the summer!

 

Farewells with the Lunch Bunch

 

In June, my family headed off to Nauvoo, Illinois. This year we were blessed to participate in both the Nauvoo Pageant and the British Pageant. It was so cool to be able to represent the early members of the LDS church and my ancestors. We all learned so much and felt the Spirit.

 

One of the lessons I learned from Nauvoo was that I need to stop worrying so much. For months, I had stressed over college and dorms and scholarships and registration and other important things to the point that I was no longer excited to go. But in Nauvoo, that changed. During the first week we were there, we learned TWO full-length pageants, learned the music, figured out costumes, and had two dress rehearsals. In the drama world, this is unheard of. The directors should have made us work scenes over and over, stressing over every single little detail, but guess what? They didn't. They gave instruction, told us to do our best, let us run it a few times, assured us it was good, and moved on. I was amazed. Our wonderful directors took what we had to offer and made it work instead of stressing over what we didn't have. This made me realize that I spent WAY too much time stressing over what I thought I wasn't ready for. So now, I'm just doing what I can do, and not worrying about anything else. If it's outside of my control, why stress? Just do the best you can, and let the Lord do the rest. You are enough. 

 

The GORGEOUS Nauvoo Temple. Sorry the picture quality is awful... silly phone cameras...

 

After Nauvoo (or Britvoo, as it's been dubbed this summer), the fun only continued. There were more missionary farewells, another 5k (thanks Breanna, that was fun), more college prep, a craft day with Brianna for our apartment, a family reunion, a camping trip, Girl's Camp (I got to go as a leader this year! I was so happy!), and a bunch of pretty fantastic adventures with Tanner. A word of advice: If you're ever a Girl's Camp leader, never leave your phone where your girls might find it. I had sooo many selfies on my phone when I got home. Chicas, you have no idea how close I was to posting them here. ;)

We got to tour the beautiful, newly remodeled Ogden Temple! It's amazing.

 

Don't you just love our styling life jackets? ;)

 

It really was a great summer. Now my sisters are headed back to school, and get this, Emylee is starting high school. I took her on a tour of my old school a few days ago. It was so surreal. But the good news is that I am officially excited for college again! My friends are going in all different directions, which is a big, hard change, but I'm so grateful that Brianna, Breanna, and Rachel will be at BYU with me. I'm really looking forward to a great Freshman year. Plus, Brianna and I have found and made some great dorm stuff, so our apartment is going to be totally adorable. Who wouldn't be excited? ;)

 

Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful day!