Public Transportation

Lessons I have learned from riding the public transportation to and from work here in D.C.:

1. I've learned that if you aren't sure where your stop is, don't just guess and pull the "stop request" cord when you think you are close. Wait until you see your stop or see it pass and get off at the next stop. Otherwise you will end up walking 2 miles to your house.

2. I've learned that it is important that you make sure your affairs are in order because there is a high probability that you will die riding the buses. The cause of this death may be for various reasons-- death secondary to the smells on the bus, death because your bus driver is crazy and drives like it is a James Bond movie, death because your bus driver ran over you, etc.

3. I've learned that it is important to tell your employer that you are commuting via public transportation because your bus will frequently be late and you will miss your connecting bus and have to wait 40 minutes for the next bus.

4. I've learned that it is much easier to not push snooze when your alarm clock goes off at 5 a.m. because those extra few minutes can be the difference between making your bus and missing it.

5. I've learned a lot about the gospel from commuting via public transportation. My commute is between 2 and 3 hours every day and so I've started listening to conference talks and CES devotionals. Some of my favorites and ones that I highly recommend you download and listen to:
Things As They Really Are by Elder Bednar
In the Strength of the Lord by Elder Bednar
How Do I Love Thee? by Elder Holland
The Wind Beneath Your Wings by Elder Uchtdorf
Gifts of Love by Elder Eyring

Someone must have told them I'm in town...

I got the best news today!!! This Saturday the Church is sponsoring an event out here entitled Faith and Football! I'm SO excited! My two favorite things!!!

Details:

WHO:
-Derrick Mason, Two-time NFL All-Pro, Baltimore Ravens wide receiver

-Andy Reid, Two-time NFL Coach of the Year, Head Coach, Philadelphia Eagles

-LaVell Edward, College Football Hall of Fame Coach, Brigham Young University

-Lenny Moore, NFL Hall of Fame, Two-time World Champion, Baltimore Colts Legend

-Edwin Mulitalo, Super Bowl Champion (Ravens), Ten-year NFL veteran

-Ken Niumatalolo, Head Coach, US Naval Academy; Quarterback, University of Hawaii

-Burgess Owens, Super Bowl Champion (Raiders), NFL All-Pro, Ten-year NFL career

WHEN: May 16, 2009 (this upcoming Saturday)Afternoon Session: 4:00 pm (coaches session)Evening Session: 7:00 pm (playeres and coaches session)

HOW: This will be a great opportunity to hear from men who are the best in the world at what they do, and how their faith has guided them in their lives and careers. There will be two sessions about 2 hours each with speakers and a Q&A session. You are welcome to come to one or both. All you need to do is print off free tickets at WWW.FAITHFOOTBALL.ORG. You can invite others to attend as well if you would like.

HOW COOL IS THAT!?! MY LIFE ROCKS.

As a side note, all of the things that are important to me and that I can't live without start with F. Faith, football, family, food, and friends. Who needs more than that?

New Home

Here are some pictures of my sweet new house for the summer. I'm living in Vienna, which is a suburb of D.C. It is beautiful here! There are trees everywhere and the air smells like cherry blossoms, lilacs, and all the other wonderful-smelling flowers! My new house has an awesome balcony in the back, perfect for summer BBQs! The kitchen is also amazing, which is muy importante to me! Here is to a great summer!

I can't breathe...

So I am playing on an indoor soccer team up in Woods Cross and it is killing me!!! I am so out of shape! Indoor soccer is intense to begin with, so when you are out of shape on top of that it is bad news. Keep in mind that I run like a mile every 3 weeks and feel pretty good about myself for that. For those of you who aren't familiar with indoor soccer, let me give you an idea of how much energy it takes. There are two 25 minute halves and play never stops-- there are no out of bounds, no timeouts, nothing. And the game is very fast because you can bounce it off the walls and the turf doesn't provide much resistance to the ball. Substitutions are done hockey style. It is exhausting.

I am playing co-ed, which means that there has to be at least 3 girls on the field at all times (there are 5 players plus a goalie on each team). Boys are only allowed to touch the ball 3 times before they have to pass it off. This equals A LOT of work for the ladies. My team isn't very big, so that is a lot of playing time for us girls. At tonight's game we didn't have ANY subs, boys or girls, until about 15 minutes into the game. Then we had one girl and one guy come. The other team had SEVEN subs! Don't worry, we still won.

It is really funny for me to play because in my mind I am still 17 years old and in awesome shape. When I see plays developing and I see my own options, my mind WAY overestimates what my body can do. Sometimes it is frustrating to know what I should be doing, but be physically unable to do it, but mostly I just think it is funny. For example, I had some shots on goal tonight that would have been super easy for me back in the day, but when I kicked it tonight, the ball went like 8 feet and then died.

I'm having a blast playing though. I really love playing soccer and sports in general. I found a women's soccer league to join up in Fairbanks last year (that was super fun cuz the ages ranged from 19 to 60 and the old ladies were tough Alaskan chicks that could kick my trash and also we had games that would start at 9:00 p.m., but it was still light outside cuz the sun doesn't go down). Hopefully I will be able to find a league out in D.C. this summer too!

Moving Again (this will make it move number 15)

I move in less than 2 weeks!!! How did that happen? I feel like I just barely moved back from Alaska! My life is just flying by!

I'm really excited to move, but sad at the same time. Utah summers are the best and I hate to leave friends behind and miss out on all the fun summer activities like BBQ's and midnight soccer! Plus I've been meeting lots of cuties lately (does using the word "cuties" make me sound like an old grandma?), so hopefully they are still single when I get back! You never know though, in these parts of the land people can meet, date, get engaged, and be married in 3 months.

I think this summer is gonna be a blast though! My BFF's Melissa and Marissa are in D.C. and we are gonna PAR-tay! I'm gonna meet a ton of awesome people, I'm gonna learn a lot at the physical therapy clinic I'm working at, and I'm gonna get to experience a whole new part of the country! And as mentioned previously, I love experiencing new places!

Speaking of which, I'm in the process of choosing internship sites for my last 2 internships in January/February and March/April of 2010. I'm thinking maybe Fairbanks again, maybe Hawaii again, maybe Australia, maybe Louisiana, or maybe Utah (in an effort to take dating more seriously and also because my little bro gets home from his mission in December--YAY!!). Thoughts??? Anybody have any suggestions?

Quotes

For our Be Someone T-shirts this year we wanted to create a saying of our very own, so the high school and college club presidents came up with this...

Utah Students Healing Smiles 2009. I Changed a Face of the Future.... Will You?

In order to get everyone's creative juices flowing, I looked up inspirational quotes on the internet and came up with quite the list and wanted to share a few of them here.

Never be afraid to do something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark; professionals built the Titanic.

One person can make a difference. And believe it or not, that person is you. ~Bob Riley~

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. ~Anne Frank~

Live simply that others might simply live. ~Elizabeth Seaton~

I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do. ~Edward Everett Hale~

Dare to reach out your hand into the darkness, to pull another hand into the light. ~Norman B. Rice~

Service is the rent you pay for your room here on earth. ~Mohammed Ali~

The first question the priest and the Levite asked was: "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But the good Samaritan reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?" ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

Not only must we be good, but we must also be good for something. ~Henry David Thoreau~ (also President Hinckley)

I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catchers mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back. ~Maya Angelou~

If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito. ~Betty Reese~

And finally, from the inspired minds of the band Nickelback: Each day is a gift, and not a given right.

If you would like my complete list, let me know.

THANKS

Just wanted to quickly say thank you to everyone that has supported me with Operation Smile this year.

In the past 2 months, students along the Wasatch Front have raised just shy of $30,000 for Operation Smile as part of the Be Someone Campaign. That is enough for 125 surgeries, or in other words, a whole new life for 125 children.

Thanks to my wonderful and generous family and friends, I was able to raise $615, or enough for two and a half surgeries.

I would also like to thank my awesome parents for their help and support of the Be Someone Event this year. We had it at their house and they were kind enough to let a swarm of high school and college students invade their home for the evening. They also helped me A TON with the set up and take down. I couldn't have done it without them!