I delight in fall.

Abundantly blessed.

Today has been amazing.

The season of fall is magical to me. No season inspires me more than fall. Today I think I identified why.

Fall or autumn as some prefer, brings inherent change and I think change is magical. Change is hard. In fact, over the summer, I 'played a game with myself' where I tried to change one 'routine' every day, ON PURPOSE. *If you lack spontaneity and find yourself being a compulsive planner (regarding everything from what to wear, 30-minute schedule breakdown, exactly what roads you'll take to get from a to b)...it will be a good activity for you too!

I found each small daily change to be inspiring. Overall however, I still struggle with change. Some habits are just hard to change. But nature makes it seem so easy. Green leaves turn red or yellow or orange. They seem to embrace the drastic change so flawlessly.

Oh to be like a leaf. Oh to be inspired by a leaf. Believing change is possible is the first step in receiving and dare-I-say inviting change.

I delight in the following picture.

Its not the greatest picture by any means--but I think its great. Yes, this is the new pup Rubes. This picture is old--she's not so small anymore--unfortunately. (She is however small enough to escape from her kennel. Don't ask me how she squeezes out but I've witnessed her doing it.)

Back to why I like this picture--Penny is terrified of the water and rightfully so. When she was about Rubes age, she fell in/jumped in following Lucky, not realizing she didn't know how to swim. Dad plucked her out and ever since...she's kept her distance from the water.

SO, the goal for Ruby was to make sure this was not the case. Labs are supposed to be water dogs. When we took her to Island Park this summer, we kept her around the water and even took her to one of our favorite family spots at the buffalo river. She still wasn't keen on going in but then she fell in...I plucked her out...and so this is the look she gave me post-traumatic experience.

I feel like facial expressions, even when they're coming from dogs are pretty classic. I get to work a lot with 4 and 5 year olds and I LOVE IT. Sometimes, they tell me things like:

• "oh, that's a rhombus"
• "my mom told me i couldn't draw that picture"
• Picture shown to elicit the word judge responses: "that's the prophet", "President Monson"
• Picture shown to elicit the word church: "temple" (me: where do you go on Sunday?) "Oh, church...sometimes i get temple and church confused"
• "can you just tell me which one its most like"
• "is that the closest?"
• Picture shown to elicit the word book: "scriptures," "book of mormon" "book of mormon stories that my teacher tell me, are bout lamenites in ansehisory are bout fathers sea if man righteously"
• Picture shown to elicit the word dish: "my mom doesn't keep candies in a dish, she keeps them in a jar--but its empty"

Maybe you can't enjoy these as much out of context, but at the moment, they've all been hilarious.

Don't ask me how I went from a picture of my dog to stories about 4 and 5 year olds. All of them make me happy. Things happening next week are about to make me SUPER happy! More on that later.

I delight in Fall Break 2011.

Its finally my fall break and I couldn't be happier. (Okay, qualifier on that...I could potentially be happier in the 'less stressed' sort of a way if I didn't have a swallowing exam the week I get back).

Mom, LB and I are headed on a fantastic vacation to Disneyland. Note the word vacation.

I'm not a 'vacation kind of girl'. I don't do vacations, I do adventures. Vacations are relaxing and chill (2 things I am not), adventures are exhilarating and busy. It is easy for me to fill every moment 'going' and 'doing' constantly. This however is 5 days at the happiest place on earth. Essentially the goal is to do everything we want to do but not over-do, be overly busy, stressed or rushed. Our goal is not to see everything...its to have a good time (especially for LB, when she's happy, Mom and I are happy). Whether that is riding rides, eating ice cream, swimming, sleeping, sunning ourselves while watching parades...it does not matter. Christin wants her picture with Belle and I want to go on "Its a Small World After All" as it was my favorite ride when we went oh you know when I was in grade 1, that's our definite agenda this far.

We have never been on a girls vacation like this before so here's to a maiden voyage.

Happy Fall Break! Hope it ACTS like fall wher'ere you are!

I delight in being "smark."

Once after Christin made a fantastic discovery I asked her how she figured it out, to which she replied, "I am smark sis!" (Of course intending to say, "I am smart sis!"

So now every time I think I have made a great discovery I think to myself, "I'm so smark!"

Well I had that thought in class the other night. Being "smark" in grad school means:

• Not facebooking during class (also includes any type of 'chatting,' pinterest, etc.)
• Taking notes when professors are telling you everything you need to know for the upcoming exam
• Turning things in when they're due
• Asking intelligent questions that lead on that you have actually been paying attention to the last hour and a half of lecture
• Finding the best study partner ever to whom you can ask all the questions that you want to preface with "don't judge me for asking you this pathetically basic question that I should already know"
• Beginning study for exams long before the test approaches (this means at least a week and a half before)

I delight in powering down.

Powering down means:

• Turning things off--lights, computer, car, etc.
• Getting back to the basic--normal sleep/wake cycles, reading books, exercising, spending time where time should be spent
• Relaxing and trusting things will work out rather than getting worked up so much that you're completely convinced things won't work out
• Listening to nature's sound waves, not ones generated by a speaker (e.g., the rain falling outside right now)
• Writing, not typing everything
• Talking in person, not always on the phone

I delight in quiche.

Grad school has killed my time/desire to bake most of the time. However, on the very rare occasion that I make something more than banana muffins and turkey sandwiches (the staples of my existence) I try to make something I've never made before.

Lately, its been quiche. Think about it--if you bake you've already got the stuff for the dough and the filling--well eggs, milk (or half and half if you want more fluff) and then there's the vegetables/meat. I had bacon, onions and broccoli frozen in my freezer so I heated it up till crisp in a saucepan and split it in half so I'd have enough for two quiches (what is better than 1 meal--2!

And so, as I ponder making more quiche (as mine is now gone)--I'm enjoying butternut squash soup. Its the food of "this" week.

I delight in the Book of Mormon.

Every 6 months I get really anxious for General Conference. This weekend, it came and went, but I'll watch, read, listen, and ponder on it for at least the next 6 months.

One theme I really pulled out of conference this time around was the importance of the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon really is the keystone of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I can't remember who said it at the moment, but something was said to the effect that the Book of Mormon has the power to heal emotional and even physical problems. Ah, Elder Scott. I should have known. Elder Scott talked at length about the spiritual power available to us if we commit scriptures to memory. He discussed how the scriptures are good friends--available to us at any time, full of the best counsel, and if we memorize them, the Holy Ghost can them bring them to our minds in those moments of need.

As I listened to Elder Scott refer to the scriptures as friends, my mind flashed back to an experience I had as a missionary. Once, while I was serving in New Brunswick, Canada, Elder Jay Jensen of the Presidency of the Seventy was assigned to speak at our Stake Conference. New Brunswick and part of Maine are all one stake so traveling to meet together was a big deal. Elder Jensen taught the missionaries about how the scriptures are his dear friends and how as he studied them, he felt he was in the presence of friends.

As I reflected on both Elder Jensen and Elder Scott's words, I wondered what my scriptures would say about me. I realized that what my scriptures used to say about me and what they currently say about me are probably two very different things. The conclusion I came away with is this: you've got to give it to receive it. Just like any good friendship 2 things have to be happening: 1) You have to put in the time for that friendship to grow and become better and closer and 2) Friendships either grow deeper or they don't. You have to put in the time to reap the rewards of scripture reading in life. And so, the first commitment I make to myself, that I share with all of you is that my scriptures and I are going to become better friends over the next six months.