WELCOME HOME!

...not really. I'm back at my apartment wishing I was at my real home. I'm the first of my roommates to come back to school so I came home to an empty, FREEZING apartment. After a while, I noticed that there was a really bad smell coming from the kitchen. I mean BAD. I opened the fridge and felt a wave of stench wash over me. There was brown celery, moldy grapes, moldy leftover soup, and other perishable food items that were left in the fridge over the two week break. I learned an important lesson about cleaning the fridge before you leave for two weeks. Luckily I'm getting over a cold and have a stuffy nose, so I wasn't able to smell the stench at its full capacity. Even so, I was holding back the gags as I poured the moldy soup down the sink. Turns out our sink pipes were frozen. Fun! The moldy soup/water mixture remained in the sink causing its smell to dance its little way around our apartment. After running a lot of hot water into the sink, the pipes defrosted and finally let the soup go down. I washed the soup dish and was putting it in the dishwasher when I realized there was about an inch of yellow-brownish water in the bottom of the dishwasher. So fun! After taking care of THAT, I thought I had gotten rid of the sources of the stench. I left the apartment briefly, came back, and was hit again by the same stench. I couldn't figure out where it was coming from! I did a thorough search of the fridge and found two opened cans of re-fried beans covered in foil. I've never seen mold like that in my entire life. Another trip to the dumptser, more febreeze, and orange peels down the sink (thanks Brooke, Bailey, and Zach) made the situation much more tolerable. After having a brief dance party in the apartment across the hall and being introduced to Cody Simpson (the next Justin Bieber), I finally called it a night. What a great way to start the new year!

Heather Dunnigan

Heather turned 20 on December 23rd. She and I met waaaay back at Philmont Scout Ranch, where we were in the same group for a week long backpacking trip. We met again when we happened to end up on the same floor in Helaman Halls my Freshman year at BYU. It must have been meant to be! Heather is now my roommate at Liberty Square and it is so much fun! She is such a great example to me! She is a gourmet cook, an amazing dancer, a very good listener and a great friend. She is very patient with me :) 

HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY HEATHER!!

{ christmas break }

Here are some highlights of Christmas break:

 
- David Archuleta/MoTab Choir Concert with my dad, Jordan and Logan. AMAZING!

- Laura, Josh and Brynlee arrived safely after a long drive from Huntington Beach, CA.
- Jae and his long wavy hair arrived safely after a LATE flight from San Francisco.

- Clarke family Christmas party. Love love LOVED playing some intense volleyball and lightning with the extended family. Bryn loved doing somersaults all over the hard gym floor. And we all know that a Clarke gathering wouldn't be complete without a game of missionary tag with the cousins.

- The pigeons decided to add some MAJOR drama to the holidays by allowing a hawk to get into the pigeon coop. NOT GOOD. After devouring one of the pigeons, the hawk realized he was stuck and panicked. After taking the proper precautions (safety goggles, two layers of gloves, and a sturdy net) my dad went inside to trap it. My uncle is a falconer and said that he wanted to keep the hawk if we could catch it. After some very close calls with its sharp talons and piercing beak, my dad managed to get it into a box to take to my uncle. We are still mourning the loss of one of our beloved feathered friends, but I think we'll all recover soon.

 
   

- Jordan has perfected the art of exaggerated falling. Just a slight brush against his leg will send him soaring into elaborate spins and flips before crashing to the ground. It makes me laugh SO HARD! 

   
- Jae's hair has taken a turn for the worst...or so I thought when he first arrived. Little by little though, it's been growing on me. Not literally. Thank goodness. He just got it trimmed yesterday and it looks amazing!



- We got to visit both sets of grandparents which was so great!



 

- Christmas was FABULOUS! I loved sleeping in, eating delicious homemade scones (thanks Mom!), watching Bryn get so excited about each present, and celebrating my Dad's birthday. It was a great day with the family!

Logan David Clarke

My younger brother Logan turned 13 on December 1^st.  We’re both teenagers now and he has not let me forget that :) Logan is one of the most disciplined people I know. If he is given an assignment he follows through 100%. He sets so many goals for himself and is always working to achieve them. He is BRILLIANT! He is like a walking encyclopedia. He plays just about every sport you can think of and is good at all of them. His football team won the championship and went undefeated this season...i wasn't lying when I said he was good! He makes me laugh so hard with his jokes, pranks, and super cool dance moves. He is the best little brother I could have ever asked for. LOVE YOU LOG!!!

HAPPY (late) BIRTHDAY LOGAN!!

Tiffany Knab

I am WAY behind on my birthday posts :( Tiffany's birthday was on November 8th and she turned 20. The first time we met, officially, was actually at her 10th birthday party. My family had just moved onto her street a few days before her birthday and she was nice enough to invite me to her party. I will always be grateful to her for including me that day, especially since I was very nervous about moving and having to make new friends. We quickly became good friends and had so much fun together! Tiff makes me laugh harder than just about anyone else on earth. She is always up for any sort of spontaneous adventure and drives a really cool car. I learned and still learn so much from her wonderful example. She is one SHARP girl!!  I hope she knows how many lives she has changed for good. Tiffany will always be my hero. 

HAPPY (late) BIRTHDAY TIFFY!!!!

Just a thought...

by 31experiment

Oh, to be a kid again!

Sometimes I wish I could be a kid again. I would love to go back to the days of pigtails and coloring books. Children are so carefree and confident. I went with my ward down to Temple Square and we got to hear a children's choir perform in the Assembly Hall. I LOVED watching the kids in between songs. They would touch each others' hair, stare up at the ceiling, jump up and down, etc. Each one of them was doing their own thing and loving every minute of it. It also made me remember how much I LOVE little kid clothes. I can't wait to have children one day so I can shop in the kid's section without getting strange glances. I love all the bright colors and crazy patterns! These outfits make me smile :) 

Thanks Lar

Sisters always have the best advice.

Especially my sister Laura.

She is such a perfect example of the kind of person 

I want to be someday.

Thanks for always being there for me Lar!

Carl Bloch

Today I had the opportunity to see the Carl Bloch exhibit at the BYU Museum of Art. It was phenomenal!! I am in an Art History class this semester where we have been learning about altarpieces and depictions of Christ's life and so it was cool to actually get to see them in person. The Museum of Art really is amazing. For $3 you could rent an iPad and earphones, which would allow you to access videos of art curators, general authorities and religion professors who gave commentary on some of the artwork. It also allowed you view panoramic pictures of where each altarpiece originally stood. Really, the whole experience was so great! They have chairs set up in front of the three largest altarpieces so you can sit and think. It was such a neat experience to sit in front of Christ in Gethsemane (above) and listen to Elder Maxwell talk about the Atonement. The other piece I loved was Christus Consolator (below). It shows that Christ's Atonement has the power to heal any kind of sorrow, infirmity, or sin. I would HIGHLY recommend going to this exhibit if you can!

{good music}

LUCY ROSE: night bus

LISSIE:  everywhere i go

OVERTONE: colorblind

EMILIE WELMAN: 9,000 days

ELLIE GOULDING: the writer

SARA BAREILLES: breathe again

There can never be too many gentlemen in the world

Earlier today, my roommate Heather and I needed to make a quick run to Macey's. We got outside and realized that not only was the car covered with five inches of snow, but because it had been sitting outside all during Thanksgiving break, there was also a thick layer of ice covering all the windows. While Heather was looking for the scraper, I started to try to get some of the snow off with my hands. This turned out to be almost completely ineffective as most of the snow ended up in my shoes or up my sleeves. Needless to say, we looked pretty desperate. After a few minutes, I heard someone ask if we needed some help. I turned around and saw a guy standing there with a smile on his face. He asked again if he could do something to help us. By that time Heather had found the brush so we thanked him for his kindness and let him continue on his way. I was so impressed! Now I have to admit, the fact that he just HAPPENED to be good looking might have helped :) It really made me happy though, to realize that I am surrounded by so many genuinely kind people. It's people like the guy mentioned above that make me motivated to try harder to find opportunities to serve. It's something I pray for everyday. I know that that there have been many times in my life where people have been there to serve me when I needed them, whether it be friends, family or complete strangers. I hope that I can always keep myself worthy of the spirit so that I can be an instrument in God's hands when one of His children needs help.

"You sing a sad song, just to turn it around..."

Yesterday was just a bad day. I say that, even though I know that I am blessed in so many ways and really have no reason to be sad. As much as I wish everyday was a day of sunshine, peach-filled crepes and happy endings, part of our progression here on earth depends on the experience we gain from not-so-great days. Bad days always have a way of reminding me of the things I know to be true and teaching me new things I've never thought about. I was thankful yesterday to have the knowledge that I have a Heavenly Father who loves me even when I don't get A's on tests or am just feeling lonely. I am thankful that Jesus Christ understands us more fully and intimately than anyone here on earth. I am thankful for parents that taught me how to become a prayerful person and have enough faith to put all my earthly cares at His feet and accept the answers I receive. I am thankful that the Holy Ghost is always there to give me small reminders of how blessed I really am. I know that days of sadness and frustration are part of the plan and make us stronger and more fit for the kingdom. Thank goodness for phone calls to family members, this talk, EFY music, good friends, the scriptures, and victorious BYU basketball games :)

Becoming Literate

Yesterday, I had a breakthrough. I had been in the library computer lab for hours and realized that I needed to leave the presence of loud obnoxious keyboards and Facebook addicts immediately. I didn't have a class for about 45 minutes, so I decided to take a look in the bookstore. I walked in the door and right away noticed a display featuring one of my favorite books, Tuesdays with Morrie. I turned the corner and saw another display of the most beautiful books I've ever seen. All of the classics that I've ever wanted to read were right in front of my eyes with hardcovers in gorgeous greens and blues. Each book had a different design in a complementary color embossed over the cover and spine. I'm pretty sure I stood there staring for a good 5 minutes before I realized they were in fact real, tangible objects that I could pick up and look at. I picked up a copy of Sense and Sensibility and flipped through the pages. I sat and opened to a random page and started reading. I was soon immersed in the lives of Marianne, Mr. Willoughby and Elinor and was almost late to my class. I hope that I can make this a regular occurrence because it made me so happy. Just holding the book made me happy. Having taken a Bookbinding class my first semester here at BYU, I know how much time and concentration would have gone into creating such a perfect book. Realistically, it was probably made in under a minute by big machines, but I like to picture an old gray-haired man sitting at a work bench under dim lights carefully holding each part of the book like it is a great treasure. I like to imagine that people who truly know the great value of books really do exist. I'm sure they're people like that out there. I hope to be one of them someday. Over the summer, I was able to visit an old book store in Yellowstone Park. They had a variety of new and antique books. I could have been there for hours. There is something almost reverent about holding a book with yellow faded pages and a slightly battered cover and thinking about the people who read this book. That's when I realized that I have a very strong fascination with books. I hope someday to have a large library filled with books. For now, I'll have to just enjoy my time reading in the bookstore.

Elizabeth Worthington Peterson

One of my amazing roommates Elizabeth, had her birthday last week. If you go to BYU, you may recognize her as the girl who wears cool shirts (like the one in the picture) and is sometimes seen with a ukulele sticking out of her backpack. She's that cool! Elizabeth has so many talents and yet she still has a list of things she wants to learn how to do (like yodeling). One of my favorite things to do is lay on the couch and listen to her play the piano and sing. Elizabeth is one of the funniest people you'll ever meet. She is also one of the best story tellers because she acts it out with hand gestures and facial expressions. Elizabeth is rock solid as far as the gospel goes. She is determined to serve a mission and is preparing faithfully to do so. She is always there to listen and comfort me when I've had a bad day or just need to vent. I can't even tell you how many times I've been sad and she's done something goofy to make me laugh. Thanks Elizabeth for being such a great friend and roommate!!

Inspiration

Things that have inspired me today:

     1. Reading my brother's blog post about a real world example of how we can apply our knowledge and understanding of forgiveness.

     2. This talk by President Benson

     3. Smoky breath weather. FINALLY!

     4. Dulche de Leche

     5. People who smile on campus.