It's Here!

You got it! Convention time is just around the corner...literally! I'm leavin' on a jet plane tomorrow for Indianapolis and then it's off to the races. I know it's going to be one of the most challenging yet rewarding weeks of my life and I'm so excited to get started. Dad and I talked for a long time last night about a lot of things. He gave me some really great insight into a lot of the different ag topics that I'll need to know inside and out. Thank goodness for him because I got some really great information. He also gave me a lot of really great personal advice-man am I grateful for him. And am I ever grateful for my mom who knows how to sew!!! :D (Oh, and she's kind of been a big support through this all) I wish all my sisters could be here tonight for our little going away party, but know that I'll be thinking of you! This will most likely be my last blog post until I get home from convention so know that I love you all and thank you so much for all of your support-through my year as a state officer and through the last 5 months of preparation! Off to Indy I go!

Kindness...Isn't it about time?

I don't know if anyone else has noticed this, but the topics of charity and kindness have seemed to be so prevalent throughout church lessons and talks lately. Those two topics have really been on my mind lately, so maybe that's why I've noticed it so much. To me, they compliment each other and often times go hand in hand.

We definitely live in a world where kindness, service and charity are put on the back burner. Sarcasm is a common means of communication and many live on a one-way street named "Me". I was grateful for President Monson's talk in conference this morning about service and kindness. I think that it was a very heartfelt and thought provoking message for all who listened-members of the church or not.

"I have wept in the night for the shortness of
sight that to somebody's need made me blind;
But I never have yet felt a tinge of
regret for being a little to kind"

I'm challenging myself to seek out ways to be charitable and kind this week. As President Monson invited us to, I will ask myself each night, "Have I done any good in the world today?" I know that the Lord blesses us with opportunities to serve when we are looking for them, even if they be small acts. It's so easy to fall into the routine of every day life and forget what is really important, so it is my hope that I will become more conscious of all of my words and actions so that I can answer "yes" when I ask myself each night if I have done any good.

Here's a youtube for thought. :)

23 Days and Counting!!!

Believe it or not, I leave for Indy in only 23 short days! Preparation for National Office has been one of the most enjoyable things I've ever done. Call me a nerd, but I guess I just have a good time studying something that I love.

While I had the chance, I thought I'd write a post that had all of the information for convention that you might want in case I don't have time to before I leave. You can watch the election on TV/Online on Saturday the 24th during the final session (starts around 1:30 and goes until it's finished) Regardless of the outcome, as candidates we will all be introducing ourselves on the Friday afternoon session at 1:30. Come check us out!

Thanks to modern day technology, anyone who wants to watch any of convention from home will be able to starting October 20. That way, you can feel like you're with the other 55,000+ FFA members, parents, teachers and guests that will be attending convention! If you have RFDTV, (comcast channel 203) they will be broadcasting it. If not, you can go to this website
http://www.ffanewhorizons.org/index.php/convention/2009
and check it out!

You can also check out this website for the convention schedule if you are wanting to watch any of it!
http://www.ffa.org/index.cfm?method=c_convention.events

Do we have any "Dirty Jobs" fans out there? One of this year's convention keynote speakers is Mike Rowe, the host of the TV show. Here's a little bio on him if you're interested.

Mike Rowe has had more jobs than you. In fact, Mike has had more jobs than anyone. As the creator and executive producer of Discovery Channel's Emmy-nominated series Dirty Jobs With Mike Rowe, Mike has spent years traveling the country, working as an apprentice on more than 200 jobs that most people would go out of their way to avoid.

Dirty Jobs is entirely unscripted, and Mike doesn't cheat; he actually does the work, with a sense of humor rarely portrayed in such professions. In fact, the notion of depicting hard work as noble and fun is central to his personal mission. On Labor Day 2008, Mike launched a website called mikeroweWORKS.com, where skilled labor and hard work are celebrated in the hope of calling attention to the steady decline in the trades and bolstering enrollment in trade schools and technical colleges.

Hope you all have a fantastic day!

212 Degrees

Today in one of my classes my professor showed us a video on youtube. It's just a few minutes long and I think it's worthwhile to watch.

Going just a little farther, pushing a little harder, and focusing just a little bit more makes all the difference.

Enjoy!

Catching Up

So....looking at the title of my last post got me thinking. It is such a good thing I'm going into Ag Ed and not Math Ed. How many summers have I had? You guessed it, only 20. Anyway!
School is going well so far this semester. My classes are ones that I know I will actually use in life, especially in the classroom. Work is going well and it's so nice to be able to work on campus! Studying for national office continues to go well and I hope I'll be as prepared as I need to be with only just under 5 weeks to go! I'm flying down to Las Cruces, New Mexico for 3 days in October to do some training with my old professor who is pretty much the king of FFA. I'm so excited to see him again and do some training with him. He is the one who did most of my training when I ran for state office and national office run offs. Such a selfless person.

This week should be a blast. Once I finish up the week of school I'm heading down to Brad Paisley and Dierks Bentley in concert with Mandy and 2 of my roommates....it will be amazing! And the best part is that I only had to pay around $15 for the tickets!

The day after the concert will be fun as well. It's state fair time which means...livestock shows! My favorite part of the fairs. This year I'm showing a heifer for my roommate so that will be fun. I haven't shown any livestockin a show since high school when I did heifers at the Black and White Days show, so I'm really excited.

Hopefully you are all planning something fun for the weekend! Have a good one!

My 21st Summer Comes to a Close

Summer always seems to go by so quickly! It feels like there isn't any time between the professor handing out a final and handing out a syllabus! My summer was, however, very great! The past couple of weeks have been busy but so much fun! Hours and hours were spent at the county fair this year-running ribbons to the exhibitors of the Junior Livestock show, weighing in pigs, lambs and steers, taking money from generous people donating to the Jr. Livestock program and a few other responsibilities. All in all it was a great time, as it always is at the fair. I was able to go up to the Franklin and Rich County Fairs as well, which were both a lot smaller than Cache's, but still a lot of fun. My new roommate, Shelly, was the judge for all 3 shows at Rich, and her brother was the judge for the pigs and sheep in Franklin so we went up to watch them. They're talented livestock judgers and I think the kids learned a lot from them.

Earlier this week I had the opportunity of joining the Sky View FFA Chapter Officers on their summer leadership retreat to Bear Lake. It brought back memories of my own time as an officer at Sky View and how fun of a time it was. The 2009-2010 team is going to do a great job and I'm so excited for them to get the year started and "Lead out Loud".

I was checking out Mandy's blog today and watched a couple of videos that she posted. The church has a little thing called "Mormon Messages" on Youtube and I think they're great ways to share messages of the gospel. I really appreciated those videos today and with school starting in less than a week it's good to be reminded of the things that help us become who we want to be.

Each day we have a million little choices to make. Hopefully we are directing our lives in a manner in which we can be led to make the right choices. I feel like I have a few big things coming up in my life right now and it gives me so much comfort to know that I'm being watched over as long as I'm doing all I can to be the best that I can be.

What are you grateful for?

A couple of days ago I was thinking about how many things that I have going on in my life that give me reason to be a very happy and content person. So I thought I'd list a few.

1. An amazing family.
I would venture to guess that most people are pretty satisfied with their family. I for one definitely am! I really can't ask for a better set of parents or siblings. I am so grateful for the memories that I've been able to make and continue to make with my younger brother and 3 older sisters, along with their great hubbies. I also have a hilarious nephew and an adorable niece. What a blessing it is to have family! Although half of them are spread out across the world (literally) I still love the phone conversations, random facebook chats and the occasional email.

2. Great friends.
Some people get pretty lucky when it comes to the friends that they have and I can happily say that I am one of them! I really do have the best friends in the world and I am so grateful for the examples they continuously set for me. Happy times, funny times, hilarious times, sad times, stressful times...you name it, we've had them.

3. The Church.
I love that each Sunday I can leave the cares of the world outside and focus on the things that are really important for a few hours with no distractions. I have the wonderful opportunity to be serving in the Relief Society presidency and it has been such a blessing. The love that is there for each of the sisters is incredible and I love the camaraderie between each of us. I love that I have a family who is strong in the gospel and a father and brother who hold the priesthood. We are truly blessed to have such an amazing church in our lives.

4. Being apart of the National FFA Organization.
I can honestly say that without the guidance that I have received from being apart of this organization I would not be the person I am today. I have learned so much about myself and others through the experiences and trainings that I have had. I have spent hundreds of hours dedicating my life to it and it has truly been a rewarding 5 years. I truly hope that I will be able to serve the organization for another year as a national officer, however I do know that whatever the Lord has in store for me is the right thing. I am working as hard as I can and will do so all the way until the week of interviews and that is all I can do. If I do my best and still don't make it, then I will know that it isn't where I am supposed to be at that time. If nothing else, I have grown so much as a person solely from the preparation.

5. Living in a BEAUTIFUL place.
I live in such an amazing valley. Utah State, beautiful canyons, rivers to float down and fish on, mountains to ride horses in, all the necessities...it really is a great place to live. Not to mention that there are so many great people everywhere you go.

These are only 5 things that make me so ridiculously happy. But I hope that you try to find the things that make you happy each day. Remember back to President Eyerings talk in General Conference when he challenged us to find the hand of God in each day and to write it down. You'd be surprised how many things you're grateful for when you have to really think about it. Try it, I dare you!

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