Focus Deborah! Focus!

Of Course I have been dragging all day long and as soon as 11 pm comes around I can't fall asleep. I think I will write and hopefully it will wear me out a bit.

I have had a lot on my mind lately. Today I read a blog of a girl from my Relief Society last semester and it inspired me. It was almost as if it were tailored to me.

This girl had a quote in her blog that really exemplifies how I have tired to live my life. It said, Many people pursue their lives in search of happiness. The ones who truly have it are the ones who make their own happiness. I have always preached that happiness is a choice. It is about where you put your focus. If you focus on the things you don't have and the trials you do then you will always wonder when it is going to be your turn to be happy. As you sit and moan you will not be able to see the opportunities put in front of you to build happiness. But if you focus on the blessings you have (however small they might be), choose to serve others, and become proactive in living your life.....that happiness will come.

Today I found I need to redirect my focus. I literally asked myself when is it going to be my turn? Once I heard myself I stopped. I have been distracted by one thing right after another this year and have slowly let my focus slip to things I can not control.

What a blessing it is to be reminded by our loving heavenly father where I need to be focusing. I know that as I keep moving forward, choosing to be happy, and focus on the blessings that he has given me, my life will have a bit of balance again. Life is ALWAYS changing and is never certain, but if I am focusing on the right things I wont have time to notice what my life may be lacking.

Arco where?

Right after the semester was over Tressa and I went to go visit the Beautiful Devri Pope in her home town of Arco Idaho. We had a blast shooting off fireworks, falling asleep in the living room during PS I love you, boating with the girls, and eating on the tramp until we thought we were going to puke. Here are some pictures of our fun!

Dev and Tressa handling that boat like a pro

Tubing with Tressa Lee

This is Devri doing her "I'm amazing at EVERYTHING" bit

It's my turn to try to water ski. I've never tried before in my life!

I was already having a hard time and I wasn't in the water yet!

Getting ready to ski across this water

And this is my epic failure!

I love Devri Pope!

I don't think I have blogged much about My dear Devri, so here is a post dedicated to her.
I don't even know where to begin with Devri. I met this woman in the fall during my first semester living in Mountain Pine apartments. She has been my roommate ever since. She was my sanity among the other freshman fighting over apple sauce, yelling "take me to the temple" at anything male, and of course the craziness of the semester!

We have had so much fun together over the last couple semesters. She is very easy going and loves everyone. I appreciate how she always puts up with my crazy ideas and is always willing to have fun. She drove 30 minutes with me in my convertible in 8 degrees below zero weather just to go meet a boy. The top was broken a bit and we had snow blowing in our face as we drove in an ice cube down the freeway. I of course decided to wear thin flats without socks and so because she is so giving she let me wear her gloves on my feet so my toes didn't fall off like they felt like they were going to.

This is our roommate pitty party! Oh so much fun!
Showing of her gymnastics skills!

This girl is the best athlete I have ever seen! She and her family are pretty much good at everything they try. She was the champion winter semester in basketball.


Anyway the point is I love this girl! What a blessing she is to me! Every morning and night she can be found praying and reading her scriptures. Every morning she would get up early and work out and every evening she would say to me, "I love you and I will always love you!" (an inside joke we share and I love it!) Through her example she has taught me tolerance, patience, and that if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.

So much to say, so little time!

I FINALLY have my computer back with internet access (thanks Brad). I have been needing to blog for a very long time now. We will start with Tressa Lee's Birthday!

My baby sister turned the big TWO ZERO! She is no longer a teenager and it was time to celebrate!
This is how it was in the morning. All decked out for her princess party day!


The table had a fun little tiara for her to wear that every one told me she wouldn't. But I know my sister and she definitely did!
As you can see we decorated the bathroom for her with fun little messages every where. During the day I tried so hard to beat her to all of her classes so I could leave a yellow rose and a little present but alas I fail almost every time and caught me. There was one time she was sitting in her class room with a group of people and I walked in and started to set it all up. I had a little conversation with the group and then left. But I had no idea she was sitting there the whole time. I think it was all just to much of a blur for me to notice. After her classes we went to subway for lunch.
There was much more fun to the day and things that happened we will never forget. Happy Birthday Tressa Lee! I love your face!!!

King Of Anything

A friend from my first semester here at BYU-Idaho back in 2005 posted this to her facebook. I absolutely love it! As I listened to it I was reminded of the journey I have had to take through my young adult life. I've had a lot of different experiences to get me to the point where I am now comfortable with myself and this song illustrates that to me for some reason.



Recently I was watching my roommates who are 18-20 years old go through life and have their own experiences I was excited for them to learn that they don't have to please every one.

West Yellowstone (I wish i could think up clever titles)

Last year Tressa and I went to West Yellowstone for her birthday and saw Guys and Dolls. We LOVED it so much that we decided to make it a tradition. This year we grabbed Sarah and went to see The Foreigner.
I was a bit skeptical, but the Play Mill of West Yellowstone came through again! We loved it! Happy Birthday Tressa! I am so sad this is our last summer in Rexburg together. (But lets be honest, I am not sad I wont be here as a student next year!!!)

Pool Party!

So last Friday night....Meaning July 9th. Tressa, Sarah, and I were sitting around the house trying to think of something we could do. Tressa and I were planning on going camping that weekend but it just didn't happen. We were both exhausted and didn't really want to leave the house. It was also ULTRA hot (We don't have air conditioning) and I wanted to go swimming. So I thought of a plan..... I made a quick trip to K-mart and picked up a 19.99 inflatable swimming pool and blew it up nice and big!


After the pool was ready, we put it in the kitchen, put on our bathing suits, and went for a swim!





During our swim we soaked and enjoyed the fine film, Madagascar. To follow our aquatic adventure, we then set up a tent provided by our wonderful friend Eric and camped out for the night in our living room. It was great! (minus the fact is was only a 2 person tent. Warning: when they say two person capacity, they MEAN it.)

Please excuse my lack of clothing. It was SOOOOO hot and well, it's my house and my blog. :)

Sarah was already asleep.

I did temporarily clothe myself for this picture. It was a tight squeeze in there but we had a great night!

Here are some more pictures of our night.

Sarah Made us a fantastic spaghetti dinner before our swim. Luckily none of us got cramps in the water.

Filling the pool up. (we used buckets too)

We were getting rid of the water. It was to heavy to carry the pool outside so we dumped most of it down the sink. Looking back, we really should have cleaned our dishes while we were at it.

Sarah Drake, my 1st counselor, came over to help deflate the pool. It was a lot of fun!

We had a blast camping and swimming without having to even leave the comfort of our own home. Tressa and I were a little nervous during our swim because we live next door to the apartment managers and I don't know how much they would like it if they knew we had a swimming pool in our apartment. But not to worry, I read the whole contract and it said nothing about swimming in your kitchen being against the rules!