To My Unmarried Friends Who Wonder "Why Is Me??"

I was going through some old papers from some of my old classes at BYU in order to find some good info for this website we are putting together. I found a couple of papers from Dr. Barlow's class on Marriage Prep, and thought that those of you who aren't married might be interested in this. The first one is 10 key questions on preparation, and the second one is called the MAP, or "Marriage Action Plan" (hahaha). If you are wondering why you are still single, maybe this can help. (this is a good list to go off of!)

10 Key Questions on Preparation: (now, remember to be honest with yourself when you answer these questions. You may want to write these in your journal and periodically review them!)

1. Do I want to marry? If not, why? (remember, this is from a marriage prep class...)

2. Within what period of time do I want to marry?

3. Am I ready for marriage? Why, or why not?

4. What could I do to better prepare for marriage?

5. What do I have to offer someone in marriage?

6. Do I believe I will eventually marry? Why or why not?

7. What am I presently doing to bring about my future marriage?

8. How do I feel about myself? (Remember: "Others will feel toward you how you feel toward yourself")

9. Am I currently available for marriage within the next 6-12 months if I found an appropriate marriage partner?

10. Is the person I am dating currently available for marriage within the next 6-12 months if he/she found an appropriate marriage partner? (Hint: If you don't know, ask!)

And here is the MAP (aka, Marriage Action Plan!)

1. If single: What are 12-15 things I can do in the next 12 months to find a marriage partner

2. If engaged: What are 6-12 things I can do during the engagement to improve our relationship in preparation for marriage?

3: If married: What are 6-12 things I can do during the next 3-6 months to improve my marital relationship?

OK, ok. Don't worry, I don't think about this stuff every day, but I thought this might benefit someone out there. So don't make fun of me for putting it up or think that I am one of those crazy obsessed girls. :) I do want to get married, of course, when I find someone that actually loves me and that I love and who will be right there with me through it all, (and be man enough to actually go for me if he wants me!) but I am not trying to beat down the doors of the guys to make it happen, after all, these things take time (and girls that do that are scary and I dont want to scare away the boys, no no no) and they happen when its the right time for us and for the other person, and the Lord won't hold us back from His promises, but if we do our part, and remember that He really is in control of it all, that it will happen when it is right for us. Happy hunting ;) And remember, have faith, have hope, and have fun!

3 Things About Me

How To Play This Game of Tag: Post these rules on your blog. List: 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

3 Joys:
1. Being with people I love. Whether we are just sitting and not saying anything, or having fun together, or having serious conversations, I love it.
2. The sunshine and being in nature.
3. Hearing a beautiful song, or a song that lifts the spirits, even if it just makes you smile ;)


3 Fears:
1. Hurting the people I love, and then not having them near me cause I was selfish and they didn't want to be with me anymore.
2. Death--I didnt realize I had this fear until I noticed I always run away when I am scared of something even if there are other people with me who might be hurt as well--my fight or flight reaction totally kicks in! Weird cause I'm not afraid of what happens after death, I just love life so much and would hate to leave the people I love, not only that but I would hate to see them grieving over me. So instead of trying to save them I save myself....makes no sense to me. haha. I'll have to work on that one...
3. Not living my life and using it to the best of my potential.

3 Goals:
1. Be more humble.
2. Try to learn from real life and real relationships instead of from books (MFHD major... :) .
3. Learn to love the wintertime. I am planning on doing this by finding things I like to do in winter so I will look forward to it despite the cold! I think I'll spend some time outside too and soak up whatever sunshine I can get!

3 Current Obsessions:
1. Jack Johnson....I love his music :) Actually I have been collecting lots of my fav songs lately, not just from him but from all over the place.
2. Blogging and checking out my friends' blogs. (and my email actually) Yeah, thats what you do when you don't have a job!
3. Soaking up whatever summer I can get!!!!!! I LOVE SUMMER!!!!!

3 Surprising Facts:
1. My personality type only makes up 1% of the population. (INFJ)...yeah, I'm a weirdo. It's ok, I'm over it.
2. I used to try to jump out of trees so that I could break my ankle so that I could wear a cast. Never happened--the only bone I have broken was my nose, and it happened in a jump house when I was trying to do a forward flip.
3. I am only 2 1/2 inches over the official height limit for midgets.

I tag: ELAINA, KATIE, and...whoever else reads this! (I don't have lots of people's blogs yet.)

Summer Lovin

Yo, so its summer and I love it and I never want the snow to fall again. Shhhh dont say that too loud. It's nice having a clean car and wearing shorts. I hate wearing layers of clothes. I almost said I hate wearing lots of clothes but that definitely wouldn't sound right.

So this picture is my ward, we went hiking up Stewart Falls, and it was sooo fun! We even took a dirty foot picture. hahaha

It's been a good summer, eating huge strawberries, playing on the slip n' slide, goin to Virginia to see my brother off to Cuba (he's in the Marines, go bro!) teaching Elaina to make a blog page which she figured out how to do it better than me...haha. Oh yes, I am on a temple quest right now, finally visiting other temples in Utah besides Provo. Right now so far I have been to Provo, Mt Timp, and Jordan River. Next on my list is Salt Lake, then I have to look again at what temples are around here.

And I haven't even been camping yet...but that might change tonight. Then in a couple of weeks its off to IDAHO FOR EDUCATION WEEK WOOHOOOOOO!!
Oh but the best part is that I get to hang out at a friend's house, and we are climbing up Table Rock!!!! I'm SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He even says he has a bet bear. Well, I kinda stretched that one. ;)

4th of July!

So I did something absolutely brilliant during 4th of July weekend......so I am from California, so I figured I could surf on anything, right?
I went with my roommates to Draper, which was a blast by the way, (get it...fireworks..blast...ha ha ha) anyway, their dad set up a slip n slide, it was great cause it was long and wide and full of water. So on my second try, I decided to slip n' slide on my feet, you know--surf across--accept I forgot about the part where I could have slipped. I made it successfully--about halfway across, then suddenly WHAM! My feet slipped out from under me and I found myself flying through the air and on my side...my head flew back and whiplashed....I waited a little while before getting back on. Haha..oh the things I do to myself. I bet it looked hilarious. Thankfully, after a Sunday of hobbling around, I was better in a couple of days.
It was a good weekend though, I spent some time with my roommates' family and we ate some great food and set off some fireworks in the street...good ole classic American 4th!