The one where my life changed.

Well... here we are at a milestone. 

It's been six months since Breck and I got married. 

We went to the temple this morning and I kept trying to figure out if I felt like it had gone by fast or slow. 

I can't believe it's been six months, but it feels like I've been married to Breck for forever. 

These months have been the best of my life. 

The happiest. 

The most fun. 

The most exhilarating. 

The most life changing. 

I have had a revolution in the last six months. 

Piece by piece I am getting better. 

And Breck is to blame. 

Sharing everything in your life with someone opens you up to learning a lot of lessons. 

I have learned my fair share so far, and I hope there are many more waiting in the wings. 

These lessons are probably obvious things that people already know. 

But I didn't know them. Or maybe I just didn't believe it. Until the light bulb came on. 

I haven't been able to stop thinking about all of these lessons lately. I have to share. 

Even if it's just for me. 

All of my life, I have had a hard time with acting. Not like the play kind. But doing something to change. 

I have always had a laundry list of things that I didn't like about myself. The list was never ending.

Seems like I added something new everyday. All types of things; physical, personality, social, talents. 

You name it. I felt like I wasn't good enough at it.

I was not depressed or anything of the sort. I knew I had value and I was happy. 

But there was always this list in the back of my head nagging at me to be better.

 I believe it is good to be aware of  your weaknesses so that you can make them strengths. 

There lies the key, SO YOU CAN MAKE THEM STRENGTHS. 

And I was not doing that. The list was making me see myself in a lesser light than what I was. 

I didn't see the strengths anymore. 

Then I married Breck. And I noticed something about him that I hadn't really noticed before. 

If he wants something, he does it. 

Simple as that. It doesn't matter how hard it is, he figures out how to do it. He does what he wants.

Slowly, I realized that I was the only thing holding myself back.

I know my Mom and Dad are rolling their eyes right now because they told me this a million times. 

But sometimes we just have to get there on our own. 

Anyways, I've come to the realization that I can do hard things. I can be who I want to be.
My life can be exactly the way I want it to be. I just have to act. I have to do SOMETHING. 

This is such a simple thing. I know. But it has literally been life changing. Everything is different now. 

The world looks different because I know I am capable of conquering it. Nothing can hold me back. 

I feel like a whole new person. But still me. A better me. 

That didn't make sense. And I'm getting really emotional, so it might not get better from here. 

I just feel the urge to shout from the roof tops. I am invigorated. I am excited. 

I am acting. I am working. I am improving. 

I am changed. 

And I'll forever be grateful for Breck. He doesn't even know how great he is. 

Good thing he doesn't read the blog (he says he lives it....) so I can brag about him as much as I want. 

I am the luckiest. 

Newlyweds

When we got engaged I started to hear a lot of stories from people
about how fun their first few married years were.

Everyone told me how awesome it was to be so poor.
Going to school, working three jobs, only eating beans and rice.

Sounded awesome...
But I was only eating spaghetti so I wasn't too scared.
That's another story though.

Breck and I have not been only eating beans and rice.
The boy does not like eating the same thing everyday.
It's a step up for me.

But we have had some sweet newlywed adventures, that I already look back on and think..
"That was so awesome. We were so cool."

Number one being: our bed.

We decided it would be best for us to wait to buy a bed until we moved to Rexburg.
So Breck bought us this fancy air mattress to sleep on until we did that.
And by fancy I mean it's dual chamber so we can each have however much air we want.
It even had this super sweet hump down the middle separating the two.

We also slept with the T-shirt quilt Breck gave me for Christmas.
Then we used some gift cards to buy a real comforter.

Pretty right? 

The air mattress lasted a month or so. It really wasn't so bad. 

So we bought a nice mattress (thanks Downs family!). But didn't buy a bed frame. 

That lasted three months. Just had our mattress right on the floor. 

Oh man.. we're growing up. Bed off the floor!

And then best of all we bought some nightstands off craigslist. 

Now it's official. We're adults!

So far we are enjoying the little adventures of being newly married. 

Hopefully there's no beans and rice in our future....

Look Mom!

Mom you are going to be so proud.

Remember this clock we got for our wedding?

Well it didn't really match anything in our house. 

So I decided to do something about it. 

I painted the outside Black.

And put some new paper in the back. 

Now it looks like this....

On our pretty mantle..

Are you so proud of me???

Building an Eternal Marriage

While I don't feel like I learned very much from anything the professor said...

I did learn a lot from this class.

Mostly all that we did was read conference talks about different aspects of marriage:

things like the roles of parents, building a solid financial foundation, 

and enduring to the end.

I've come to have a greater level of gratitude for the fact that 

we have a living Prophet on the Earth. 

And so many inspired leaders. 

They just know what's coming and what things are going to affect our families. 

The main thing I've gained from this class is that no matter what the issue is in my life, 

there is an answer and I can find guidance in the Ensign.

And also that marriage is work. But I already knew that one.

So that's it. First semester at BYU-Idaho complete.

Who knows how many more to go!

Interpersonal Theory and Communication

I know I said that my public speaking class was one of my favorites ever. 

Well that may be true but my Interpersonal Theory class was my favorite this semester.

Poor Breck probably got so tired of this class because 

I came home literally everyday and talked his ear off about all the awesome things I learned. 

I came away from every class feeling like I learned something.

And those little somethings weren't just random facts. 

They are things that I can apply to my life in everyday things. 

I learned all about different listening styles and how important it is to listen. 

I also learned about all of the different non-listening styles. 

(Which I may or may not use pretty often.. working on it okay?)

I also learned how to handle conflicts and make discussions instead of arguments.

Brother Bean made a really interesting distinction between conflict and contention. 

Contention is of the devil but not all conflict is. 

Sometimes conflicts can lead us to a better solution or more understanding in a relationship.

It all depends on how the conflict is handled. 

I'm working on step one which is wait to discuss the issue until you're not so emotional. 

It for real makes the biggest difference. 

I learned so many things that have helped me become a better person. 

Which really should be how all education should be. 

I should be becoming a better person each day because of the things I'm learning. 

That's why I love love loved this class. 

Public Speaking

Going into my public speaking class I thought I was a decent speaker. 

I don't mind speaking very much and only get a little nervous. 

I didn't expect to learn so much. 

The main thing that has changed in my approach to public speaking is the preparation. 

Mostly in making sure I stay within my time limit. 

One of the first days of class Sister Waite talked about people who go over their time limit. 

She pointed out that it is actually really selfish to do that. 

Which is totally true.

So from then on I've tried to stay exactly within my time limit. 

Let's be honest, we've all been assigned to speak and someone either takes all your time 

or you take all of someone's time. 

Let's all just be nice and take our own time. It'll be so much better. 

I've also learned how important it is to think about your audience when speaking. 

There were a few speeches this semester that I felt like 

had nothing to do with anything I cared about. 

And so I didn't listen. Which is bad. 

So I'm working on that part. It's pretty important I think. 

This will probably be one of my favorite classes in all of my college career. 

I loved the professor so much. 

I loved the materials. 

I loved giving speeches. 

I loved my classmates. 

It was just really great. 

And I'm just a little bit sad that it is over. 

Visual Media

One of the basic required classes for the Communication department 

here is a visual media class. 

We had to do six design projects using the adobe programs. 

It was tough for me. But it was a really great experience for me.

I got to have access to the industry standard design programs. For free!

And I had some really great experience that will translate well into a future career.

I designed logos, stationery, brochures, and flyers. 

It was really great.

While I wouldn't say that I was particularly good at creating these designs. 

I did improve over the course and came to be proud of some of my pieces.

I don't think that I'll ever be hired to design for any company. 

But I do think that I'll be able to use these principles in some everyday activities. 

Just you wait. 

I'm going to have the most visually appealing chore charts and family calendars in all the world!

And handouts for church? Forget about it! Gorgeous. 

It'll be awesome.