Welcome to College!

Hello again! I just realized how long it's been since I last posted. It's crazy how fast time flies when you're in college! I've already been here for about a month and a half and I love it! I guess today I'll try and catch you up a little with what has been happening in my life.

This picture is from the first football game of the year, and you get to meet a few people I live with! From the left, there is Emily Clark. She is one of my roommates and is so awesome. She is one of my favorite people I have ever met! 

Then there's me. Enough said.

And then there's Katie Olsen, my twin sister. I've come to realize how lucky I am to be able to come to college with my best friend. She has been a great blessing as I've tried to transition into college life. 

And finally, the cute girl on the right end is Aubrey Simcox. When you spend time with her, you always have fun. She's like a firecracker of energy and is always running around making things exciting. 

I went to a country concert last night with a couple of girls from my building, Kate Whaley and Holly Palmer. They also both have blogs, which are AMAZING!!Check Kate out here and Holly here. You will probably see pictures later on with these two amazing ladies. They are both so cute and fun and light up the room when they walk in. Anyway, the concert was so fun, it was from the USU choirs. I really miss choir and the chance to sing great music all the time. 

So besides all of the social things that have happened, I have attended class! College classes are really different from high school, because it is almost completely independent. Yes, you have classes to go to, but you don't have to go. A lot of the projects and homework is completely independent. I even have an online class, so everything is based on my motivation to actually sit down and work on homework. And all of the classes are ones you choose, and when you choose to take them. College is really new, because you have full freedom to choose when you do everything. I really like it. 

That's all for now! Have a great day and make some memories!

The Countdown Begins

     Hello to you all! This is my first post that is actually related to college on this blog. I changed the blog from a church-themed blog to a college-themed one about two weeks ago. I felt that it might be more beneficial for everyone to see what a college student's life is like on a regular basis.
    
    For me, the inspiration to change the blog came as I was applying to colleges about a year ago. If you could see my search history, I went to hundreds of sites looking for advice on applying to colleges and scholarships. And more recently, I've been looking for advice for actually starting college. And here's what I've found in those hundreds of searches: much of the advice and tips come from older college students or from college graduates. So, I thought it would be cool to do a journal-ish blog, where I keep you posted on what is happening in my life throughout  the college experience, so that you, or your kids, or whoever is in the middle of the whole college prep thing, can see what you are really in for. I'm really excited for this! If you end up with just a laugh or two, or if you really do find something from my posts that help you, that's all I can ask for. I hope that you can get something from my words!

     As for me, I haven't even gotten to college yet! I mean, sure, I've visited the campus and am boxing up the stuff in my room, but I haven't started classes yet. As of now, I have exactly 23 days until I move into my dorm at Utah State University. So, for now, my big thing is packing up and finalizing my packing list. I don't think it sounds like a lot to get done in a few weeks, but looking around me room, at the cluttered state of half-packed, half-untouched stuff laying around, it is showing its true magnitude.

     So that's all for now, but check back often, because you never know what this girl will post next!
                                     ~Emmalee
    

True Beauty

Hi everyone! Normally I would probably talk about General Conference and my thoughts on it from this past weekend, but today I want to talk about something different. I want to discuss true beauty.
     Being in high school can be a pretty challenging time for teenagers, especially teenage girls. You want to fit in, have a lot of friends, and have boys like you and ask you out on dates. The truth is, most of this doesn't happen for a lot of people. It's taken me until my senior year to figure out that those things aren't all that important to me and in the long run. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we are supposed to stand out from the rest of the world and be different, not fit in. And the number of dates you have or friends you gain don't determine your worth. And that is where I want to start today: our TRUE worth in the world we live in.
     In today's society, there is a twisted conception of what beauty is. Magazines portray it as the skinny, tall, exotic girls that are flawless. In reality, nobody is like that. Many times, the people on the front of those magazines don't even exist! They take the eyes of one person, the nose from another, etc. to create the "perfect" person. But that's not how it works. Heavenly Father has a much more correct way of viewing beauty than any person in this world can imagine. He doesn't look on the outward appearances, but on the heart. He cares about how we treat people, what we say, and our personalities.
     I don't know if this is just a Montana thing, but most seniors in high school get senior portraits. My twin sister and I recently had ours done and we just saw the results. All of the pictures were un-edited and showed our true beauty and personalities. I, like the majority of women in the world, know every single one of my faults and imperfections, and it was interesting for me to take a step back and try and see those pictures how my parents and others see me. We all have a natural beauty about us that doesn't come from makeup, or clothes, or social status. It comes from our spirits and personalities-the things that make us US.
   Sorry that that was a really long post, but I thought it was a worthy topic to discuss. I hope you found something in there that can help you, and remember that you are a child of God and you are created the way that He wants you to be. You are already perfectly beautiful to him. And His opinion is the only one that truly matters. 

Gaining More Understanding

Hi again! It's been a few weeks since my stake had its crazy boundary changes and all that, and I have learned a couple of things from that experience. 

1) I always need to support church leaders. They are acting on the impressions of the Spirit and have the church's interests in mind. Supporting leaders makes changes easier and more can be accomplished. They new out support.

2) At first, I was mad about the changes that were happening because I loved the ward young women group. I did t want to go back to having a small group of girls. And then we had the changes. That made the group go from 20 young women to 5. It's taken me a while, but I realize now that this just gives us the opportunity to do missionary work. We have a goal now to double the size of our young women's group by the end of the year. 

Those are the 2 big things that I have gotten out of this experience. I hope I might have said something to help you in your own life!