i'm sorry i haven't blogged in a while... and i reckon this one shouldn't really count either. but i'm procrastinating a speech i have to write and present tomorrow. life is absolutely insane right now, but it's still so good! i'm stressed but things are still going really well.

i hope this finds you and yours happy and well!

late night rambles.

it's currently 2am and i need to get up here in about 4 hours...but blogger calls. i made a few changes... what do ya'll think? I also put more music in my playlist that i'm pretty excited about- so give 'er a listen if you can. I was ecstatic to find my favorite hymn ("come thou fount of every blessing") done by one of my favorite bands, sufjan stevens. you should check it out, fo sho. well, i've been having a lot of thoughts lately but I think if i tried to express them right now in my extremely fatigued state, it would just be incoherent jibberish- so i'll save that for another time. but i did have something cool happen yesterday that i reckon i'll talk a bit about...
every tuesday here at byu-i we have devotional, and it's my favorite part of the week. last week we had elder gerald lund come and speak. he's a member of the quorum of the 70 and has written a lot of great books, including the Work and the Glory series which I read several years ago and fell in love with. Anyway, this week Elder Groberg came. I have been so excited ever since I found out about his coming. Sure, it's always cool to have a general authority speak, but Elder Groberg especially holds a place in my heart. I've heard him speak before and have been very moved by his words and the Spirit he brings with his message. Also, he was the missionary the movie "The Other Side of Heaven" is based on. He served his mission many years ago in Tonga. As many of you know, one of my very best friends (Daniel) is serving his mission in Tonga and has been out for going on 10 months now. I've missed him like craaaaazy, but I can't fully express how proud I am of him and the person he's become. It's still been hard though because for the past few months he's been on an island that is a 20 hour boat ride from the main island and the mission base in Nuku'alofa. On this island there is absolutely no electricity, no running water, no stores... it can be described as one of the most primitive places in the world. Daniel has to farm or kill everything that he eats. I can't even fathom that lifestyle. Yet, if I know anyone who would be able to handle those kinds of situations, it would be Daniel. And I'm sure he's doing so with a smile and a helping hand to all those around him. It's been rough for me though, because I haven't heard from him since this transfer... so I'm left with memories, old letters and emails and a strong feeling that he's thriving on the other side of the world. Anyway, I was extremely excited for Elder Groberg to come for many reasons. Apparently most students had the same enthusiasm I did because when my roommates and I got to the auditorium there were absolutely no seats left. I was pretty bummed that I wouldn't be able to see Elder Groberg in person, but I knew the message would be the same regardless. So we went to the Kirkham auditorium and watched the devotional via broadcast. Isn't it amazing how sometimes you listen to someone speak to thousands but it's like their message is catered exactly to what you need to hear at that exact time in your life? This is exactly what happened with Elder Groberg's devotional. He talked mainly about faith...but he took it deeper than the usual, "having faith will bring blessings." I'm not having any luck finding the talk online- but if you can I strongly urge you to read it, or watch it at www.byu.tv. It'll be worth it. He talked about his time in Tonga and the faith required at that time in his life and other general convictions regarding faith. Well... my description isn't giving it any justice, but it helped me a lot in many ways. It was a great reminder to me that whatever weaknesses we have, with faith in our Lord and Savior, those weaknesses can become our strengths. Sure, I've heard this before, but with my recent calling I was really able to apply this principle to my life. I'm so grateful for opportunities I'm given to stretch out of my comfort zone--for the strength He gives me to grow. He knows what situations and experiences I need to become the person I want to be and the person He knows I can become. I think it's interesting that faith is the first principle and ordinance of the gospel... such a title has made the principle of faith almost overly-simplified in my mind, but I think it's one of the most all-encompassing principle there is. Anyway, that hour yesterday helped me a lot in my motivation to become more faithful, more confident that as I rely on the Lord, He'll mold me into the person He'd have me be, which is the only person I truly want to be. And I felt more at peace with Daniel, knowing that even though I haven't heard from him in so long that he's growing and being taken care of by He who is over all.

(this was going to be a short post...)

so after devotional I was debating whether or not to go to the gym. I really didn't want to, but knew that I probably should cause my fat isn't gonna run itself off. I also felt something deeper than my need to burn calories pushing me to the gym. My roommate Carrie had a class right after devotional and asked me if I could take her arrows with me (I guess that might sound a little weird... she had archery class in the morning). So I'm walking down the hall of the Hart (where the gym is) and I see President Clark (pres of byu-i) and his wife Kim walking toward me in passing. He looked right at me, stopped walking and asked, "Oh man- what are you going to do with those?!" (referring to the arrows I was holding). I replied with something lame like "...they're my roommate's"... He chuckled and reached out and shook my hand. We ended up talking for a minute or so in the hall. It was a really cool experience. He is an amazing man. So then I went into the dressing room and put on my gym clothes. Since my hair is so short, my ponytail had to be pretty much on top of my head. So i'm in my grubby gym clothes and my hair looks like that girl on the flintstone's... ah snap what's her name? Anyway as I'm getting ready to walk out of the dressing room I think how cool it would be to see Elder Groberg. I knew, of course, that he wouldn't be around though because devotional had ended 20 minutes before and he'd certainly be gone by now. Yet right as I walked out of the dressing room I looked to my right and saw him and his wife walking, with several sunday best dressed students surrounding him. I stood there in the doorway, wanting so badly to talk to him but knowing that he was engaged in a deep conversation with other students, who were certainly more presentable than myself. As I was debating what to do, he looked right at me. He walked right up to me and shook my hand and said hello. I had a mini freak-out inside but remained composed, I think. I told him that his devotional was incredible, that it was exactly what I needed to hear. I also told him that one of my very best friends is currently serving in Tonga. I could tell he was excited by this. He asked his name and mine and said he was probably heading there in the next few months.
....I was really glad I had sucked up my hatred of working out and decided to go the gym yesterday....
I love this place.
Also, my lesson for gospel doctrine is on 3 Nephi 12-15. ANY suggestions, thoughts, insights, etc. would be GREATLY appreciated. Mostly anyone reading this probably knows my email but if not it's megheb@gmail.com. I'd flip to hear from you!

Here is a picture of Elder Groberg (KOLIPOKI) and his wife, Jane, in Tonga. :-)

We are so blessed to have apostles on the earth today... and so blessed that this very weekend we get to hear from them. I hope that we'll make listening to their words and the words of the Spirit a priority Saturday and Sunday. I know that if we go into watching General Conference with specific questions, as we have the Spirit of learning with us, those questions will be answered. I'm inspired by a story of President Monson at a General Conference, when he spoke. A little girl sat in the audience with her grandparents. Upon listening to his talk, the girl turned to her grandparents and told them that she would live the gospel for her entire life. She was unsure if the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was really something she wanted to be a part of before Conference. She wrote down 6 questions, all of which were answered to the T, consecutively by President Monson. I know that as we go into Conference with specific questions, those questions will be answered, and we will become stronger sons and daughters of God.
Imagine if Moses was on the earth. Or Peter. Or Isaiah. Or Mosiah. Or Nephi. Or Moroni. Or King Benjamin... would we give up the opportunity to listen to what they would say to us?

I cannot wait until Saturday :-)

was that preachy? i didn't mean for that to sound preachy...

my hair's gone!

so, if you couldn't tell... I got my hair cut. Many from back east have asked me to post some pictures so they could see- so please don't take this post as being cheesy or that I'm being conceited or anything like that. The one of me and another girl is my roommate Mallory. I love her. And the picture of the 6 girls are all my roommates. left to right... cassie (my immediate roommate), me (pre-haircut), mallory, cassie, cherstin, and izzy. well i gotta run but i'll write more later.

peaaace!

i guess it's about time, eh?

well... it's been over 10 months since i've done an actual blog post- so i figure it's just about time for an update, eh? that, or i just want michelle to get off my back... just kidding... kind of. :-)
i really don't even know where to start. that's partly why i haven't blogged because it's kinda overwhelming when i think about everything that's happened since the last post but i guess i'll just roll w/ it and do what i do best... ramble.
Last time i updated this i was at BYU in Provo, Utah. I really love Utah and Provo is one of the prettiest places I've ever been. However, BYU wasn't really my thing. It's a great school--but not really for me. It's very competitive, HUGE, and semi-impersonal. So after some prayer and fasting I decided to transfer to BYU-Idaho in Rexburg. I've been here for a little over three weeks and i am LOVING it. I am convinced that there is no better place on earth...for me at this point in my life. It is a completely different experience for me than BYU. A lot of that probably has to do with my roommate situation. I don't want to be negative about my roommates last year, but it wasn't a great experience for me. Yet, I don't regret the decision I made to go there last year--I learned a lot about myself and how to live with people... and not just people but 5 other girls. I really don't like drama so that took a lot of getting used to. I learned a lot about finding the line between brushing things off and being a doormat... ANYway, this year is much different. I am living with some of the greatest people I've ever met. I learn from these girls every day how to be a better daughter of God. We've developed a great balance between laughing and being goofy and also trying to grow with each other in terms of our spirituality. It's funny- some nights we stay up really late having really great, deep discussions. And other nights we just crack up for hours. Like last night, I wasn't feeling too good so I just kinda stayed in my room for a while and went to the bathroom at like 2am and my roommates Cherstin and Mallory were in there getting ready for bed- so the three of us ended up just sitting on the floor of the bathroom for an hour just making up weird scenarios and cracking up so hard that our abs hurt today. Needless to say, it's a much better situation than last year in so many aspects. Classes are also much different. At BYU my smallest class was probably about 200 students, so the professors never really knew who I was, nor did most of the people in the class. Now, my biggest class is probably 40 students... and all my professors know me by name and I could probably tell you the names of everyone in all my classes. Also, we're encouraged here to speak up in class so it's much more of a discussion and we all kind of teach each other... so it's much less competitive and more like we're all in this together and we all have the same goals. The unity of this campus is amazing.
What else... I reckon i'll go through my class schedule.
I've got New Testament which is probably my most demanding class, but definitely the most inspiring and worthwhile. Then there's weight lifting which is way fun but a little intimidating cause everyone in there is way buff and i'm a pansy... but i'm working to change that. I've got CIT 140 (Computer Information Technology) where I'm basically just working in Excel learning buttloads about spreadsheets and all that... it's fun. Then onto Writing Communications which is pretty straightforward... I'm writing a lot and i'm working on a feature story that may not only be published in "The Scroll" (BYU-I's paper) but also "The Post Register" which is the paper for Idaho Falls... so wish me luck on that. Then there's Public Speaking, which is really intimidating to me because I have trouble thinking on the spot...so i guess it's good for me to be in that class. This week we're having our impromptu speeches, where Br. Skinner will give us a random object and we have 30 seconds to prepare a 5 minutes speech on it that has to be complete w/ an intro (including a thesis statement), our 3 main points, and a conclusion... doesn't sound like a big deal, i know, but i'm freaking out a little bit about it. Next week we have our informative speeches where we have to describe how to do something and the topic is due this tuesday so if you have any ideas about that...your input is MUCH appreciated. being in that class will also be good for me i think for another reason... which i'll go into here in a little bit. lastly i have visual media, which other than new testament is my favorite class. I have it once a week--Thursdays from 7-10pm. Now, if you know me at all you should be able to tell why going to that class at that time would be a real problem for me. You guessed it, the office just started up this past week-on thursday nights. and the office is kind of my life-it's actually a little depressing how obsessive i get over that show. it's more than a show though... my roommate izzy actually the other day said to me, "megan, you love the office...but has the office ever loved you back?" and it was like the most hurtful thing anyone has ever said to me, haha. so yeah, going to that class is a real sacrifice... but i reckon education is more important than the office (that's a hard thing to admit). so i watched the new episode on friday when it came online, but the internet here is sooo ridiculously slow that it took me literally 4 hours to watch because every 10 seconds it would stop and reload. but it was still worth it. anyway, back to visual media. that professor cracks me up. he has this dry sense of humor that is just hilarious to me... so oftentimes he'll say something and I won't be able to stop laughing, but no one else is, so they all just turn and stare at me... it's great. the class itself though is great... all about graphic design and that kinda thing. I'm thinking that may be a field I'll want to go into. I don't think I really want to do advertising because I'm not a big fan of pushing products onto people that they don't really need. But I'd love to design magazines or logos or that kinda thing. We'll see... It's weird to think how much I have ahead me. I'm excited and nervous to see where my life is going to take me.

I kind of a had a bit of a shocker today. Like I said, I wasn't feeling too good last night and that extended through today as well. So I woke up at like 9 and wasn't really tired any more but I didn't feel like getting out of bed so I just laid there until about 11 wrhen I decided it was probably about time for me to get ready for the day (church starts at 1). Right when I got up to take a shower I got a call from Steven, the executive secretary in the ward asking me if I could meet with the bishop in 20 minutes... I rushed and got ready and ran over to the Smith building. I guess none of that's really important to the story. Man, I'm sorry I ramble so much about stuff that's not important whatsoever. Anyway... to cut to the chase. I was issued a calling. Now, in such a big ward there are a lot of callings that are issued that don't involve much effort. I don't want to undermine any callings because all are important...but i thought i was going to get something like what i had last year... where there was one activity that I had to bring food to. And honestly that was the extent of the calling. That's not the case this semester... I am... a gospel doctrine teacher! It was such a shock to me. I am terrified and excited. Terrified because, like I mentioned before... I have a hard time thinking on the spot and while I may have a thought or a feeling, it's often difficult for me to put that thought or feeling into words that would adequately express it...if that makes sense. Also, I'll be teaching a bunch of returned missionaries who obviously have a lot more experience and knowledge than me. I'm excited though to really delve into the scriptures (book of mormon to be specific) and learn more and really rely on the Spirit to say something that will be of meaning to those I'll be teaching. Anyway, any prayers or insights that ya'll have in my behalf would be GREATLY appreciated. I feel completely unqualified for this calling- but I know that (s)he whom the Lord calls, (s)he will He also qualify.
still scary though...

moving on- i am an aunt for the 7th time!!!!!!! i am so excited for the birth little david andrew and i CANNOT wait to see him come christmas. I miss all my neices/nephews so much and while I'm glad to be here making my own way, I am really sad that I'm missing them grow up. It'll be so great to see everyone at christmas. It'll be a full house, that's for sure. We could do a remake of Full House, and perhaps make it a little less cheesy.

anyway, i'll write more later and perhaps post some pictures of the roommates and such. life is good... and I pray you can say the same.

I hope this blog finds ya'll happy and well. Whoever you are, I love you.

what do ya think of them apples?

93 words

Speed test

well i don't really like either of these pics of me... but they're what I've got from thanksgiving last year. it's late and i don't really feel like complaining because I really am glad that most of my family is able to be together this holiday. It's just really hard to be away. I called home earlier to talk to Jess about something, and heard everyone chatting and laughing in the background. That's honestly my favorite thing to do--sit around with my family and talk and laugh and tell/hear stories. I'm especially sad I can't be there because Ken and his family are there too. They are so hilarious, and I love hearing him, Ian, and Nathan tell stories.

it's gonna be a rough thanksgiving... but i still know i have a lot to be thankful for.

oh how i love the weekend =]

Well I don't really have anything interesting to talk about, but I don't like having that creepy picture being the first thing people see when they come to my blog. By the way, that was my friend Jami from back in Ohio. She was really cool, but moved when we were like 10. And uh, that is her now. Oh how people change. I was thinking I might give that look a shot. What do you guys think??

I didn't end up going to bed until like 6AM. And then I woke up at 12:30 and have been fartin around ever since. Saturdays kick butt. I had 3 midterms in a span of 3 days this week...It's been very hectic, and I'm glad I get some chill time this weekend. Maybe I'll clean my room? Do some laundry? Work on my Book of Mormon paper? Research for my annotated bibliography? Yeah, you're right- probably not.

I'm pretty excited about tonight. Emily Snow (my friend from back in Charlottesville) and I are going up to Salt Lake City to visit Shane, my adopted big brother. I really miss hard laughter... It's one of my favorite things ever- laughing so hard you fall on the floor and your abs hurt the next day; I know I'll get that with Shane.

Heck, the prospect of just being off campus is exciting.

I wish I had clean clothes. I wish I had quarters to get clean clothes. I wish I had dollar bills to get quarters to get clean clothes. I wish I had the motivation to go to the bank to get dollar bills to get quarters to get clean clothes.

I was going to go to the gym today... But I lost my ID card! I'm turning my room upside to try and find it, because you use it for everything on campus. Ahh!

I can't wait to get some packages!! All 10 seasons of Friends are supposedly on the way (hopefully they're not in Japanese), Dad sent off a care package a week ago today, and Michelle is also sending me something! Seriously, I'm so excited. Looking forward to these have really helped me get through this insane week. I've gone down to the lobby to check seriously like 20 times a day... Something better come today!

Thanks guys, I LOVE YOU!

and this is my other roommate... haha, just kidding.

some roomie pics

So, I'm living with a pretty cool group of girls. Of course it's an adjustment... I didn't really even hang out with girls that much at home because I don't like the drama that seems to follow their kind- and now I'm living with 6 of them. We've had our ups and downs, and I've learned a lot about living with others and trying to be the "peacemaker" Mom's always told me I've tried to be.

Alright, I'll describe these top to bottom. K? k.

1) This pic was taken I think the day before classes started. Man that seems like such a long time ago!!! Left to right: Megan K (my roommate), Brittany, Kayleigh, Dana, Me, and Alexis. Did you check out that mountain just chillin' in the background?! yeah they're pretty big... they kinda scare me at night.

2) We don't do it as much anymore... but we used to go out at like 2 AM every night. I think this time we were going to Del Taco ("del taco?" anyone get that reference?) Yeah, it was pretty disgusting... and the tacos came with fries! I mean, what are you, Mexican or American? I think Del Taco's confused. (did I mention it's after 4 o'clock in the morning right now??)

3) This is after we got home from our various Halloween stuff. Dana and I both went as golfers. Megan K, Alexis, and Brittany all went as school girls--and they've all been really chummy ever since. Kayleigh stayed home and studied... pfft. Anyway, Brittany went out with her boy toy Tanner, and MK, Alex, Dana and I went to the "Hollywood" party. It's this party off campus that apparently gets busted by the cops every year... I know, party on, right? I met up with Steven McIntyre and we all headed over. It was insane! It was in someone's tiny backyard, and they were "limited" to 2000 people. We got in, grabbed a drink, and tried to dance. But because it was so packed it was basically one huge mosh pit. I mean, I'm fine being a close to people, but you didn't have room to move one inch. I'm claustrophobic, so this was not a very fun experience. It took me literally like 20 minutes to get out of that mess. Steven, Dana, and I were all feeling about the same way, so we decided to go over to his apartment and stayed. We ended up watching "The Grudge" which TOTALLY freaked me out. Dana stayed under a blanket the whole time and played tetris on her cell phone... wimp. But seriously, I am forever scared of Asian babies. But maybe it's a good thing she didn't watch it, because it was a 20 minute walk home from Steven's, and we'd have to pass over "rape hill". (Yes we have a "rape hill." There are signs all over it saying never to be there by yourself, and all the girls are supposed to carry "rape whistles." We joke about it a lot... but it really is a creepy place.) It was a pretty good night for the most part... I wore fake eyelashes for the first time.

4) Me and Brit. She's back home in Texas for the weekend... it's a lot quieter around here... and that's all I'm gonna say about that.

5) This is me and Alexis. I think we were on our way to the haunted forest. Oh man I'll definitely put up that picture later. Alexis is 3/4 Mexican, and a vegetarian. So yeah, I crack a lot of jokes about that... we have fun. She makes the best/weirdest mexican hot chocolate... I'm not sure how I feel about it. I also steal her bus pass quite a bit. So according to the bus driver I am Alexis Michelle Nateras-Valasquez. Yeah i know, it totally fits!

6) Dana, MK, Brit, and I being goofy... check out those photoshop skills! yeah i know... i suck.

So yup, these are the girls I share my George Forman with...

first of many ramblings...

Hey guys. So I've really enjoyed looking at all your guys' blogs. I've loved reading about all of your east coast happenings. And I'm not gonna lie, I like it out here and it's a really good experience, but man do I miss my family! You guys are seriously my best friends and really seem to get me, even when I don't get myself... which is basically all the time. Um, I don't really know who's gonna read this- but it's supposed to be addressed to all my family... just so you know.

Anyway, like i said, I LOVE reading your blogs- it makes me feel like I'm there, hearing Noah's first words or taking lemons from Toby =]. But then I thought, hey... maybe they'd want to hear about me. Not that my life is all that interesting, but I figured it'd be good to let you know the dealio. (Ok, whoever watches The Office, that reminded me of a quote.
Michael: Yesterday I was scraping some gunk off my wall sockets with a metal fork, and I gave myself the nastiest shock. And when I came to, I had an epiphery. Life is precious. And if I die, I want my … son … to know the dealio. The dealio of life.) I'm basically obsessed with that show. I look so forward to Thursday nights- it really helps me through my week. So, if you're gonna read this, get used to the constant office reference. (did anyone catch the title/header?)

I hope you're not going into reading this blog thinking, "I want to read meg's elegant writing." Or even if you're thinking that you'll be reading something coherent. Because you're not gonna get it. I'm a pretty random person, and I may be opening a can of worms by saying this (I don't know how many Tom Cruise's are reading this), but I think I'm ADD. But, if you can put up with the many tangents, maybe I'll throw in something you'll find interesting. I guess we'll see where this goes.

I love you guys. Keep in touch, and keep it real.