Thursday, September 29, 2011

EXCITING NEWS!!

Hey guys!

As some of you know last fall a new branch was created in Muncie. The Muncie YSA Branch! Which was a really cool moment for us to have grown enough to warrant a branch. Now something even cooler is happening. In the state of Indiana, the Muncie Institute (bible study) is the only growing bible study in Indiana. While it is sad that the other Institutes around Indiana are not growing we have gotten some attention. As of tonight, President Monson has taken a personal interest in our Institute and Branch! He has asked for us to submit information in regards to our personal scripture study, whether or not we read the Bible, Book of Mormon, or Church Magazines everyday. The First Presidency is trying to see if there is a correlation between our scripture study and our attendance/ability to create interest. We are also going to try out a new pilot program. I don't know what that means but I am excited! What ever they find, I am so excited that they are taking an interest! President Monson will know my name!!! I will be on a list on his desk and I find that so incredibly awesome!!! Love you guys lots!

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

To a Brighter Future

Hey all!

Yes I am posting again. I'd promise to get better at this but let's face it, I am not a good blogger! That's ok because I am trying and I haven't forgotten! So I thought I should give you an update. My sophomore year went very well. My grades were excellent. I loved living in a suite with 5 other girls. It was a ton of fun! The stress came and went. I managed to over come the Pierne Impromptu Caprice (a really hard harp piece). There are friendships that I have continued to strengthen. I now look forward to coming to Indiana. Winter and I still aren't on speaking terms but I am ok with that!

I have grown so much. I feel like I am no longer the little girl far from home and more like the woman who is deciding to become an adult. (Well kinda, no one wants to grow up too much!) I have a fabulous new roommate names Audrey. We are having the time of our lives living together. Plus we have quite a few classes together so we help each other remember to do homework!

My YSA is absolutely fabulous! Honestly I don't think you can find a better YSA branch if you search the world and not because I am in it. They are so observant. No one gets missed and we just know how to have fun! Yesterday we had our own Olympics! We had 6 teams. We played two rounds of volleyball. We also had tug-of-war and the human knot. We also played three-legged race, 50 meter dash, water balloon shot put and we had synchronized swimming. It was hilarious. Everyone was involved from our Branch President and his wonderful wife to the amazing Institute couple. It was a blast! It was a little cool (58* and I forgot a jacket) so I wore my blanket from my car like a cape. I was awesome!

This year appears to be my hardest year academically. I have my Junior Harp recital November 15th at 5:30. I am learning a harp and piano duet called Introduction et Allegro by Ravel. It is intricate and difficult but for now I am winning! It will be an absolutely stunning piece once I have it learned and polished. I am also playing other solo pieces. I am hoping to get it recorded so I should be able to let you listen to it if you can't make it to Indiana!

Hope everyone is doing well and I will try to update more but as I said, no promises!

Love you lots!
Valerie

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Its been a long time

So I know its been a long time since I have written on this blog, but I am glad to say that I finally like college! This second year has been so much better than the first. I have a routine, I have new friends and I have more confidence in myself. I think I have come a long way from the girl who graduated high school. Granted I have no way to prove that because you guys would see how much I have changed more than I would.

So my college life up until this point. Well this year I am living in a suite, which means I live with 5 other girls. There are three bedrooms, a bathroom and a common area. I have really enjoyed the suite because it provides a way to step away from homework and talk with friends just by walking outside of my room! Also its a lot homier because we have a couch and TV and things that remind me of being home. The other day while I was working on homework, one of my suite mates was vacuuming her room and it was like being home again. Its strange the things you miss when your away from home. Aside from family I miss thunder storms but that's a different subject.

Classes have not been terribly stressful. I've managed to retain academic excellence and will continue to work hard at my grades. As for the harp I am working really hard at that. I am learning these very complicated pieces and am loving it. I have to work even harder at it but that's ok because that is what I am here for.

So who ever reads this you will be proud to know that I have gone on a few dates this past semester. I went on two dates with a return missionary names Nate. It was nice to just go on a date again just to have fun. No, sorry, we are not currently dating but it was very nice.

Over Christmas my family went to Disney World and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter! it was so much fun! Disney was everything I remembered it to be. Tower of Terror is still my favorite ride and Matea and I went around taking pictures and getting autographs with characters. It was awesome. Also Disney has a trading pin thing going on which I enjoyed. You basically just get to go around the park and most of the workers had a lanyard with pins and if you liked one of their pins then you just traded one of yours for one of theirs. It was really fun. We went right before Christmas and the crowds really weren't too bad, however, Christmas day was crazy! Magic Kingdom was filled to capacity (82,000!) by guest who were staying on the resort! But it was way fun and we had an awesome time!

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is everything it sounds like :) fantastic! Its a little small, it only has three rides and 5 shops and then Olivander's which is an experience. The Hogwarts Castle is the best line you have ever waited in. Once you get into the castle you get to watch paintings argue, go through Dumbledore's office, meet Ron, Harry and Hermione, listen to the Fat Lady, see the Sorting Hat and everything in between! The ride itself is phenomenal. It combines imax screens with 3-D objects like the whomping willow to take you on a crazy ride! The other rides were fun too but the ride in the castle is the best. Olivander's is also fun. They allow 30 people in at a time and then one person is selected to be paired with a wand. Your's truly was the lucky person to be picked! It might have had something to do with the fact that I was literally dancing with excitement but hey, it worked! So how it works is Olivander begins to tell you of wandlore while taking all sorts of weird measurements, I think the last one he took was the space between my eyes. Then he handed me my first wand to try, he told me to say "Lumos" and I started an indoor thunderstorm. Next he handed me a different wand and told me to levitate a particular wand box. So while thinking swish and flick I cried "Wingardium Leviosa" and managed to knock over a couple of boxes. Then on my third wand he pulled out a really dusty box while being cryptic and saying "I wonder". Of course it was the correct wand and a light came on over my head and some pretty music. It was awesome! I bought the wand and it is currently at home.

Harry Potter was extremely crowded! Mostly because it was after Christmas and Harry Potter. Also it was COLD! We were riding these rides in about 30 degree weather in FLORIDA. INDIANA was warmer at the time then FLORIDA! Crazy! It also made trying to find a Harry Potter Scarf impossible because everyone was buying them to keep warm!

So that is all I really have to report. So thanks for reading :)

Love,
Valerie

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Wedding! (Not Mine)

Hey guys!

Brief update before I begin telling you about my cousin's Anthony's wedding to Whitney Smith. Second semester went smoothly. Heather and I got to know each other really well and I was more social. Summer has been wonderful. End of May my mother, Alex and I went to the Taylor Swift concert and had an absolute blast. Then we went to Utah for three weeks and Alex met my crazy family. Now all of them are asking me when I am marrying him. My response? Nothing can happen for three years so anything can happen. I al
so watched Sound of Music for the first time, went to Galveston with Morgan, Madison, Christine, and Blake. Joseph got his tonsils out and my parents went on a Baltic Cruise. Also I went to Lagoon for the first time in at least ten years and won a dragon and rode Wicked! Wicked is an awesome roller coaster you take off and go straight up in the air to turn and precede straight toward the ground before continuing the ride. It was terrifying and exhilarating and further proved why I love roller coasters.

On to the w
edding! There were 81 weddings performed at the Salt Lake Temple today. Twice as many as they normally do. So trying to find the wedding party was a nightmare! We saw at least twelve brides before we found our own. Whitney was absolutely stunning and Anthony could not have been happier. We preceded to take pictures outside the temple before headed over to Candace Lish house while we waited for dinner. I rode with Gina and Kurt to Candace's house and do not mess with Kurt before he has his diet coke! He's a crazy driver!

If you
know Candace then you need to go see her townhouse it is SO adorable! We hung out at Candace's house for a little over an hour before preceding to the wedding feast, and I mean feast! It was a three hour dinner with five courses! The venue was absolutely stunning and the food was good. We were allowed to eat appetizers for an hour before the meal started. Then we were served a salad, followed by raviolis and lasagna. Then we had a beef and chicken then we were served wedding cake. It was fabulous food. During the entire dinner if anyone started to hit their glass with a knife the rest of the room would join in until Anthony and Whitney kissed. My favorite toast was given by Mike (Anthony's brother). He made a poster that said the TWON Legacy (Twon is Anthony's nickname and it is a spoof on the new Tron movie) and had Anthony's and Whitney's face on the poster where the actors should have been. It was adorable. All and all a wonderful wedding.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Hello All!

Hey guys!

So I have been totally failing to blog and I am sorry to those who kept checking it but I hadn't updated in awhile. No excuses. I'm sorry I didn't keep up with it.

So here is a quick idea of how the end of last semester went. Thanksgiving, I went home and saw everyone! Alex, Sarah, Morgan, Michelle, Mom, Dad, everyone. Thanksgiving day was great. Full of good food, traditional and non-traditional. Very yummy. That Friday, Alex was baptized into the LDS church. It was soooo amazing. I can't even put it in words. Saturday all of my friends and family went to the Renaissance Festival mostly for Matea because she had never been before. We had an absolute blast! Everyone was in costume, minus my parents and we just had a really great time. Got rained on a bit. Matea bought a gypsy costume so next year she will have a more athentic costume and it looked great on her. Here are some pictures from Ren Fest!

When Thanksgiving break ended I am not going to lie. I had NO desire to back to Ball State. When we were about to get in the car I hugged my mom and broke down crying. I really freaked her and myself out. I did however get on the airplane and I DID have a great last three weeks of school. I think the growing pains have finally ceased. The last three weeks went by quickly. I hung out a lot more with Angela and kept up with school work. Finals went well. Got all A's on my finals. The last few days of school I did nothing but have fun. I didn't study much really. On Wednesday I spent time with Catie and Mandy since it was Catie's last day at Ball State. It was sad to see her go but we are still keeping in touch. Angela and I hung out almost every night, but our favorite night was Thursday the 17th. Instead of having normal Institute (bible study) we had a game night. Not only that but Elder Snow, Wade, Stranski and our normal missionaries were able to join us. It was a total blast!

Christmas break was very much needed and very wonderful. The first few days we did nothing but family things which included shopping for Christmas presents! Mostly cloths shopping but we had a good time. Christmas day we had dinner with the Potter's family and we played cards well into the night. I spent New Years at Morgan's house and got to see my friends who were still in high school. New Years day my family got a new addition: Mia. She is a tea cup schnauzer! Brown and white party, going to only be about 6 pounds. She is adorable and vicious! She loves to nibble on toes, fingers, hands, jeans, my hair, yes you read that right! She would literally climb up my torso to chew on my hair! My mom thought it was the funniest thing on earth. She has pictures. Ask for them. Oh! I also saw The Princess and the Frog with Morgan, Sarah, Michelle, and Ashley and we went wearing sun dresses and had a blast! Then on January 5th Alex came in town from Dubia. The 6th Alex, Sarah, Morgan and I totally crashed Langham Creek (my high school). Why? You may ask. We had nothing better to do and beloved teachers to see again. We spent most of the morning there before going back home to take care of Mia. Later that afternoon Perry, Morgan, Sarah, Alex and I played Brawl, it was so much fun! We got way to into it but had an excellent time. Then after that Alex and I along with the young men/women went to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. It was Alex's first time and I am honored to have been able to be there with him. Saturday was devoted to having drinks with Doc Lav. Mrs. Lav and baby lav! She was soo cute and the afternoon was passed in joy! After a few more wonderful hours in great company it was time to go back to school. Leaving this time was much easier than the first time. I promise. I shed a few tears on the plane but that was it!

The first week back went very well. Classes are going great and I ate dinner every night with someone I knew and a few lunches with other people. I have two classes with Heather which is a very nice change from none. I am taking Music Theory, Sight Singing, Harp Ensemble, Orchestra, Honors 199 which is about American family values, and Honors 203 which is literature from the 20th century on. I will be reading many good books and some not so good. Then I went to Utah for MLK weekend and was able to attend Zach and Hailey's wedding! It was a wonderful day and I had so much fun hanging out with cousins and the like! So there you go Aunt Tami! I finally updated. Hope everything is going well with the rest of you guys!

Love you lots!
Valerie

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Life is Better

I can't thank all of you enough for loving and supporting me on my adventure!! I know I have worried quite a few of you but I promise life is getting better!! My birthday was phenomenal I had so much fun!!! I had a mini birthday party with a few friends. We ordered Greeks Pizza (which is really good) and just had a blast. We watched 13 going on 30 and had a really good time.

This past weekend was a regional activity. We went down to a corn field maze and then had a dance. Sadly I didn't meet anyone new but thats ok I had fun!

I have alway watched the 6th Harry Potter movie. Passed my hardest midterm and seem to be doing much better all the way around.

Oh! There is a lady in my ward named Nan Noble and I've been able to go to her house a couple times to eat and cook and that has been tons of fun! This last time we paired up with the missionaries. They made one dish, I made my pasta and Angela made dessert and it was wonderful and a really good meal! We actually plan to do it again in a week or two!

Oh and as for my stressful calling I talked to Bro. Hall about it and we are going to find a way to compromise or release me. So I am doing something about that. Thanks again for your love and support! LOVE YOU ALL!! I am doing much better. Until next time!!

Love,
Valerie

Monday, September 28, 2009

Quick Update

Thank you thank you all for your support and love! You have helped sooo much. I know I am worrying quite a few of you right now but the fact that you guys are worrying has given me a lot of comfort. I do have some good news to tell you about my birthday. It was a wonderful day. I will give you more details hopefully tomorrow after 5. I'm a bit stressed tonight but thank you all for you love, support and prayers! It really means the world to me. Today has been a good and busy day.

Love you all!!
Valerie