For Failing Hearts

I'm grateful for the gospel, for the eternal perspective that it provides, and for the strength it gives me to carry on in moments when my heart feels weak. I'm grateful for faith, prayer, and miracles. I, too, am grateful "for the gospel of Jesus Christ that allows me that kind of strength in these tumultuous times." Thank you Elder Nelson for this inspiring message.

Sabbaticalizing Shenanigans

Today I am grateful for Sarah Bethany Scoville. Because of her, I have been changed for the better in sooo many ways and my life has been extremely enriched. She's kind, loving, funny, talented, selfless, and just all-around really wonderful. Words simply can't express how much I love my Sarah!!!!! So today my post is dedicated to her.

Once someone told us we look like sisters. We were confused, but took it as a compliment. A few days later another person told us we look the same. What do you think? Sarah's tall and I'm short, but besides that I guess we're basically twins! We decided perhaps we just have similar countenances.



Sarah and I were roommates for our first two years of college, meaning lots of time to make many wonderful memories and to watch and help each other grow in many ways. Both years I was so sad to say goodbye for the summer. I still miss our nightly heart-to-hearts and our parties at 8 (or 7 or 9 or 10) every morning--to which we were often fashionably late. Sarah broadened my music horizons and taught me the ways of fashion. Her example makes me want to be kinder, more loving, and more confident in myself. I look up to her in so many ways!



This is Charlie. Emily brought him home one rainy day during our freshman year. Sarah was so happy to come home and find the sun in our kitchen! Sarah loves the sun. We named this sun Charlie and drew a black Charlie Brown stripe around him. Unfortunately, Taylor, Kristen, and Emily brought Charlie's life to an unhappy end. . . .





One night after finals, Emily, Sarah, and I went to Sarah's house and played with her wonderful collection of dress-ups. For pictures of crazier costumes I refer you to facebook. We sure had some stylin' outfits. Here we have the classic bride + gangsta (in a jasmine hat) best friend combination. This memory represents many spontaneous adventures that have filled our lives over the past few years. It also represents Sarah's love for photo shoots and Emily's fantastic photography skills.





This picture basically defines our freshman year. All the lovely roommates seeing Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Just about everyone could quote the entire movie by the time the year was over. We saw it on my birthday and it was the first time all year that no one was missing out on the roommate bonding time. What a life-changing event! Like spray-on shoes!


Last adventure in Tingey 224: Covering the whiteboard with Cloudy references. Told you this movie changed our lives!


Sarah was in colorgaurd our sophomore year, which meant we got to cheer for her at the homecoming parade. This poster used to say "Go Sarah!" but when Cosmo ran past he stole one of the A's. I thought he was just going to run off a little and then bring it back, but he just took it and ran! I've felt a bit of animosity toward him ever since. We rearranged our sign to say "Go Rah!" It almost makes sense....

This picture is from the filming of our Oscars movie sophomore year. David and Andrew put so much time and effort into our production and it turned out awesome! For the full effect of this memory, you have to have seen the movie. Sarah and I are basically the stars of the show. Sarah played the widow of a wealthy man and I played her loving sister. The part where I comforted her came naturally, but the parts that were more uncharacteristic might have also been more fun....


Old Person Party!!!!! This was certainly one of the funniest memories we have of sophomore year. We dressed up as old people, took on old person names and personalities, and hobbled over to the Nibley House to play Bingo and drink prune juice. Sarah was the lovely Pearl. I don't remember her story. The deaf Dieter, as played by Brian, was our favorite. All he did was fall asleep on the couch and yell "What's that?" when we tried talking to him. Who knew being old could be so much fun!


Biology. Bleck! Yet my memories of that class are generally of a positive nature, because Sarah sat next to me everyday! We'd share snacks, chat about current life dramas, and enjoy watching Planet Earth every other Wednesday. For extra credit, we made cottage cheese. It was an interesting experience. Bruce didn't even like cottage cheese, but in order for us to get extra credit, we had to taste our cottage cheese in front of the class and he tasted it to. Sarah's won worst tasting cottage cheese in the entire class. It was so bad he even mentioned it the next day. Haha, Bruce!


Sarah's a fantastic cook! We had many evenings last year that involved making exciting things in the kitchen. A couple weeks ago I went to Sarah's apartment and we made dinner together. I love cooking with Sarah because she does all the work and then I get to eat yummy food! We realized we are a good team because she did all the cooking while I did all the dishes. We were both happy that way. This picture also shows that Sarah is practically French.


Sarah, Emily, and I went to visit Julia in Colorado the weekend before she entered the MTC. The entire weekend was full of wonderful memories.


Exploring Julia's grandparent's old, abandoned house.

Picnic at a park

Thrift Stores!!!

Watching a phenomenal Colorado sunset, listening to the sound of silence, and capturing our silhouettes against the darkening sky.

Also, Sarah likes to put things on her head.

Sarah, thanks for yelling at contacts and discussing bowls of life with me. Thanks for sharing your bread, telling me all about your day, and letting me tell you about mine. Thank you for understanding my heart, even when I don't know how to explain what's going on in there. Thank you for being the Chicken Soup for my Soul. Thank you for making every morning a party and every night a sleepover. Thanks for making plans with me even when we know God is laughing.

A few things I hope you always remember:
I'm not a planner.

It's okay, it's black and white!

Vermeer was famous.

Getting rid of trash is like getting rid of...an unwanted...thing...in your heart.

We both stopped in the middle of a sentence. That's like life. Like when you're having a bad day and nothing's going your way and you talk to a friend and everything's okay again.

We're funny enough to teach Darin's lessons.

Happy Birthday, Sarah!

I hope you have a most wonderful year!

And if you ever find yourself unsure of what to do, just remember what you taught me:

WHY NOT?

helping the medicine go down

nutella :)

Need I say more? Not really, but I will anyway. 

When I left home and moved to college, I promised myself I could always have two things: my own box of Life cereal and my very own jar of nutella. Unfortunately, my childhood lacked sufficient supplies of these two most wonderful food items. Never again, I told myself, would I have to go through life without them in my cupboard. And so far, I have never been without.

Why this need for a constant supply of nutella? Simply because nutella is the taste of love. And everyone knows how important love is in life. Nutella is perfect for any occasion. Before class, after class, before work, after work, before studying, after studying, while studying, before taking a test, after taking a test, lonely Friday nights, lonely any nights. Nutella is a perfect celebration food as well as a perfect comfort food. Basically, nutella is perfect. 

A Few Nutella Memories:

1) The above picture of twelve lovely jars of Nutella comes from a church history tour I went on the summer before starting college. We stopped for lunch at a huge mall in Boston. This is what I ate:

I bought them from the place with the lovely arrangement of  Nutella jars. Probably the best thing I ate the entire trip. I felt so French :) And it was sooooooo good.

2) Freshman year. Fall semester. American Heritage. Taylor McComb. Nutella party!

American Heritage, for me, was not one of those simple joys in life. I found the class long, boring, and difficult. Yet one thing--or person, rather--made class endurable: Taylor McComb, adopted roommate of Tingey 224. She helped me stay awake even if she didn't help me pay attention. One day, we decided to bring our Nutella with us to class and had a little nutella party as we sat listening to the lecture. That was definitely the best American Heritage class of the semester!

I love Taylor! And we both love Nutella!

3) The day I discovered I could eat plain nutella on a spoon. 

I don't know why it took me so long to realize this seemingly obvious possibility. I knew nutella was delicious on crepes, bread, animal crackers, graham crackers, bananas, etc., but it wasn't until last winter semester that I realized, Hey! I can just eat this on a spoon! Who needs bread or crackers or fruit? I can just eat it plain! That moment changed my life. I still enjoy putting my nutella on bread, bananas, etc., but what a comfort to know I can always just pull out a spoon and enjoy a spoonful of nutella.

My Favorite Things

I love the catchy-ness of the phrase "journeyings without murmurings." There's so much to be learned from those three words. The phrase comes from the Book of Mormon when Nephi and his family are traveling through the wilderness. Nephi records, "We did travel and wade through much affliction in the wilderness; and our women did bear children in the wilderness." Yet, despite all the hardships and all there was to complain about, Nephi writes, "And so great were the blessings of the Lord upon us, that while we did live upon raw meat in the wilderness, our women did give plenty of suck for their children, and were strong, yea, even like unto the men; and they began to bear their journeyings without murmurings" (1 Nephi 17:1-2). I love this attitude of recognizing the good and focusing on the blessings rather than the trials. Sometimes life is hard. Sometimes we go through days...weeks...months...years...just waiting. 

"Waiting for a train to go

or a bus to come or a plane to go

or the mail to come, or the rain to go

or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow

or waiting around for a Yes or a No

or waiting for their hair to grow."

(Dr. Seuss, Oh! The Places You'll Go!)

I HATE WAITING!!! President Gordon B. Hinckley taught, "Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured." I love this statement. What good does it do you to endure??? You aren't getting anything out of it, your neighbor isn't getting anything out of it, your family isn't getting anything out of it, your friends aren't getting anything out of it. (Because you can't serve others when you're in the endure mode!) You're just enduring, waiting for it to end. Life is to be enjoyed! I find that when my heart is full of gratitude I enjoy life the most. Or is it that when I'm enjoying life the most, my heart is full of gratitude? Enjoy life, feel gratitude. Feel gratitude, enjoy life. Either way, you get to be happy :) 

That's basically what this blog is dedicated to. Reminding myself and others the importance of gratitude. Focusing on the good. Noticing the simple joys of life. Journeying without murmuring. Showing how life can be enjoyed and not just endured. Sharing more quotes and more songs and more videos about why life is soooo good. Because there are so many reasons to be grateful and I have so many favorite things.