Ohhhh Life.

Many of you know what has happened in my life as of late. It is times like these that I realize how hard life really is when you are becoming an adult. As I have contemplated the best and wisest decisions in my life I have failed to recognize how much I truly have been given. SO, I figured it was appropriate to jot down a few things I'm grateful for--as my gratitude "post-Thanksgiving" post. Here goes:

I'm grateful for the Anderson's. I'm grateful that they've housed me and fed me and acted as my adopted parents. They have listened to me when I've needed advice and wisdom and have supported me through these trials in my life.

I'm grateful for family. I'm extremely grateful for the love, support, and wisdom my whole family has offered me. I have been brought closer to them, each of my siblings and parents so much so that my love for them has grown so much stronger.

I'm grateful for employment. I'm so grateful that after a seemingly everlasting job search, I was able to find a job that met my needs in gaining a teaching experience. I am doing something that I love by helping children learn to read which I believe will help me in my future schooling and career, more than I realize now.

I'm grateful for my friends and extended family. I'm so grateful for loving friends and cousins who go out of their way to share their love for me. Their love and support has uplifted me in so many ways.

I'm grateful for Jesse for loving me enough to realize what was best for me. It takes a real and loving man to do such a hard thing.

I'm grateful for melted snow since it means more warmth.

I'm grateful for warm blankets and soft pillows.

I'm grateful for chocolate and ice cream, either together or separate. I wouldn't get through life without them.

I'm grateful for Philippine's Costco dried mangoes.

I'm grateful for life :)

Gratitude Post #2

So as it's going so far, I guess I'm posting every other day... I'll make a valiant effort to write tomorrow though. :)

I'm grateful for life lessons, those that although they're awful to experience at the time, are great motivators to improve your character, i.e. 2nd failed attempt at getting into BYU, ripped pants in my science class (long story, feel free to ask for the full story), continually messy house and dirty dishes, etc.

I'm grateful for packages sent to me with my name and address on it (I feel like a real and existing person!) that have exciting items in them.

I'm grateful for warmer weather than usual.

I'm grateful that I have a friend at work whom I can relate to, can easily talk and enjoy singing with. She has become one of my closest friends, one who is such a good example to me in many ways, who motivates me to work harder and with a better attitude. For that fact, work has been so much more enjoyable this semester, and I'm grateful for that.

I'm grateful for the fact that my professors aren't assigning a lot of homework during the Thanksgiving Break, which means more time spent working on my resume and job applications, with family, and with Jesse.

I'm grateful for the insights I've gained in my classes, particularly my major classes. I have become extremely excited about the information I've learned, specifically regarding early childhood development and how to effectively teach a class full of students.

I'm grateful for my Early Field Experience class that has allowed me to actually attend elementary schools and work with children, both disabled and nondisabled. I have come to love the disabled children I've worked with and have gained a passion for learning correct and appropriate ways of teaching them.

Lastly, I'm grateful for managers who are quick to fix a problem, namely burnt out light bulbs in my room.

A Day of Thanksgiving

Today I was able to attend our weekly devotional at which Elder Gonzales, a member of the 70, spoke on the importance of getting an education, feeling prepared for the "pop quizzes" in life by relying on the Lord and learning more about Him, and lastly, cultivating an "attitude of gratitude," referring to President Monson's talk he gave in our last General Conference. I have come home more enthusiastic to heed his council and try a little harder to become more Christ-like. This post is my first attempt (of many more to come) to just do a little more, as I know it will bring me more joy and happiness. I also want to note that Jesse has been such a good example of expressing gratitude at least 2 times a week this month. I hope to do the same for the remainder of the month, so just note, more posts to come!

So to start, I want to say how grateful I am for attending this school. I have been known to not give it much credit for all that it's worth and I apologize for that.

I am grateful for professors who care about not only our academic growth, but spiritual growth as well, and have daily devotionals, hymns, and prayers implemented in our daily lectures.

I'm grateful for weekly devotionals that uplift me spiritually and help me strive to be a little better and work a little harder.

I'm grateful for the student wards I've been in and the service I have been able to give, particularly in the Relief Society. With this, I'm extremely grateful for the bonds that have been formed in the presidencies that I've served in because of the strong desire to do good and deep devotion to the gospel we've had.

I'm grateful for supportive roommates who love me and care about my well-being, especially on the days when I'm missing Jesse and am sooo unmotivated to work on homework... I'm also grateful that they allow me to wear their clothes too. It's so great having 7 closets full of cute clothes. Thanks to them, I actually look cute pretty much every day! :)

I'm grateful for my roommates' example to me--especially those who cook really well and make meals with me that turn out really good, making my cooking ability also look really good.

I'm grateful for composition notebooks. They are so easy to carry around and so fun to write and doodle in!

I'm sooooooo grateful for my parents who love and support me and pay for my car to get new tires and breaks. Without them and their generosity, I would probably be driving (more like sliding) from Utah back to Rexburg in the blizzard-y weather and almost dying.

I'm also grateful for Myrtle (the car) who is still in good shape after enduring years of driving in high school, a trek from VA to UT, 2 years at college with Jeannine, many car wrecks, and a trip to Rexburg with me! Myrtle, you're a trooper.

I'm so grateful for leggings, for boots, for tights, for gloves, for sweaters, for scarves, and for warm coats that protect me from the FREEZING weather of Rexburg Idaho.

I'm grateful for beautiful snow that brings not only a smile to my face, but hot chocolate to my taste buds.

*Dear Snow, Thanks for cheering me up this morning! I was able to enjoy you with a bowl of warm oatmeal and some wonderful company. You're great!

I'm grateful for Thanksgiving break coming up and the opportunity I'll have to take a break from school and spend many hours and days with a man whom I love and who brings me great joy in my life. Oh, and with that, I'm also grateful for a school that gives its students a full week off (9 days in all) for Thanksgiving break! You BYU students should be jealous. :)

I'm extremely grateful for prayer and the comfort I receive when I am able to pray to a God who loves me and only wants the best for me. I take great comfort in the fact that as long as I trust in Him and keep my covenants with him, He will lead me down the path that eventually leads me to Him, and that includes a life of complete and fulfilling joy.

Lastly, I'm grateful for Jesse. I'm grateful for his strong testimony and fervent desire to do good always. I'm grateful for his desire to serve in the church and be obedient to the ecclesiastical leaders who lead him. I'm grateful for his sense of humor, for his good cooking skills, for his passion for the arts, for his love for his friends and family, and for his love for me. I'm grateful for the person he's made me be, in encouraging me to be better--to study more, to pray more fervently, to work harder in school, and to act in a more Christ-like way. I'm grateful for the confidence that I have gained in myself, for the person I have become because of him. Because of him, I feel my self-worth and recognize my potential to succeed and improve in this life.

Well since I made you all endure that looooooonnnnnggg blog post, I decided to give you a treat. No, not the kind you eat (sorry to disappoint you), but a kind that may be tasty to your eye. I'm including a few pictures from this semester, so I hope you enjoy them!

Halloween 2010 with a couple of my besties up here at school, Hillary and Angie:

From Jesse and I's trip to the Idaho Falls temple:

THIS is what I was talking about before. Yeah, Erin pretty much planned this meal. I made the potato casserole and she made the spaghetti and cooked the squash. Take a look at that spread. See what I mean? Because of them I can actually cook! :) Hope you enjoyed your treat. Hopefully it will give you more of an incentive to visit again, when I've posted more. :)

Summer Bliss

So I know this is late but I found it in my drafts and decided to post it anyway. Enjoy!

I would like to take a moment (and a blog post) to talk about a few of the wonderful things that have occupied my summer thus far.
Number one, Jeannine's wedding, which was wonderful. As you can imagine though, it took a lot of effort to make it wonderful, on my family but especially on my mom's part. The weeks before it are all kind of a blur to me, as each day consisted of something else we had to do to prepare for the wedding. My claim to being a part of the wedding is the guest book, tending the children, and helping Jeannine with her hair the day of. Pretty impressive, huh. :)
Well the week before we had Sarah and Paul and family come as well as Bryan and his girls so we decided to squeeze in a trip to Pineview Reservoir before the wedding and had a blast. Here are a few pictures from that adventure:












And here's what happened for the rest of the summer:

• Jeannine's Wedding (We're sad you weren't able to come, Rachel and family!)
  
• Moved into Brian and Shiona McKay's house in Orem
  
• Went to Disneyland with Jesse by way of his house in Hurricane where I met his parents
  
• Spent a few days with Jesse school clothes shopping and preparing for fall semester
• Went to California again with Nathan to visit Bryan and Jeni and their cute family--went to and Angel's game, Olvera Street, the Hollywood Bowl to watch a rehearsal, experienced a real Korean BBQ, and went to the beach
• Volunteered at Dan Peterson school in American Fork for the severely disabled ages K-12 and Sharon Elementary in Orem working with mildly disabled students
• Oh and finished my application to BYU slash started working on the application to get into the Special Education major

So it's been busy but great. Here are a few snapshots of my many adventures:

My Life in a Nutshell

So surprisingly (or not...) enough, this semester has come to a close and I haven't blogged ONCE about my experiences this semester. Hm. Shocking. :)
Overall though, I think it has been the best one thus far as far as housing, roommates, classes, teachers, friends, and overall life experiences go. I was able to maintain a 15 hour-week job as well as 15 credits and a fairly time consuming calling. I am surprised every day that I was able to manage it all, and well!
I will get close if not exactly a 4.0 GPA this semester which has NEVER happened in all my lifetime. I am trying to figure out what made this semester better for me, academically. There are many factors I think that contributed.
The first, I think having a job really helped me develop better time management skills. My classes were fairly spread out so I would work on homework in between classes, disciplining myself to finish the assignment in that short span of time. I was able to go to bed at a more decent hour than I normally do which helped with my focus in class and in all my activities.
The second, it made a great difference that I enjoyed every one of my classes this semester, enough to be motivated to complete all of the homework assignments and study for the tests.
The third, I think dedicating myself to my calling and striving to perfect myself in the Lord truly helped in my academics this semester. I made an effort to attend the temple every week and was very successful at doing so, besides the two times I went home for the weekend. I felt an almost constant presence of the Spirit which helped me stay awake and focus on the assignment until it was completed. I owe a lot of the grades I've received this semester to Him for sure.
The fourth, having a boyfriend but not having him here at school made a great difference. :)
I've told him many times that if he were here I would get literally nothing done. So I'm grateful for that.
I have also been blessed to make many wonderful life-long friends this semester, in my ward and in my classes. I have to say that I am very happy right now, about my major choice, the house I live in, the people I've come to know, and the overall person I'm striving to become.
So life is good! I am excited for all the finals and projects and clean checks to be done but after that, I will have such a wonderful summer with my family and more time with Jesse. I can wait another week, right? It's all worth it in the end. :)
Well here are a few pictures that my roommates took of some of the adventures we've had this semester. Hope you enjoy!
Mesa Falls, ID:

FHE Paint Fight:
A Rainy Saturday Afternoon:So I thought I had one of the front of our house but apparently I don't! So the photo above is of our driveway, managers' garage, and our backyard to the left. It's pretty much awesome. Hopefully I'll take more photos next semester (hopefully by then I'll buckle down and buy batteries for my camera... :))

New URL Name

Please note that I have changed my URL name to michelleklowe.blogspot.com. I decided I'd change it from my email name that I've had since I was like 12...
It's about time, don't you think? :)

"What? I have a blog?"

Yeah, this was pretty much the question I asked myself after my many failed attempts to sign into my account. Two days ago, however I tried my old log in credentials and it worked... So is a year a record for not posting on your blog? Well if it isn't, it should be...

Well I would go on and say there is a lot I need to catch you all up on, but I believe blogs are the most interesting when their up to date. If you're curious as to what I've occupied myself with this past year you can either call or email me. Sound good? :)

So I've had a pretty eventful first week of school! Here's a brief description of what went on:

Saturday: Drove 3 1/2 hours with mom; moved in and met the wonderful roommates; shopped for books, food, etc.
Sunday: Enjoyed a wonderful day at church and spending time with my roommates
Monday: Shopped for last minute household items and food as well as textbooks; updated my resume; looked for jobs
Tuesday: First day of school! Classes and teachers were great; did homework; had an interview to be a custodian; received a call after the interview that I got the job!! I'm so blessed :)
Wednesday: First day of work!
Friday: Best bonfire ever; saw some amazing caves!
Sunday: Was called as a first counselor in the R.S. Presidency in my ward... Had our first meeting as a presidency and made callings for the girls in our Relief Society

So since then, I've just been busy with school, homework, and work. I have been trying really hard to balance work and homework so that I can get a good night's rest every night. So far it has worked fairly well. My motto this semester is "always be prepared" and I have made a better effort to be prepared in all my classes, having the homework completed and the reading done. Let me tell you, it's the best feeling when you have all your work done and time to spare to hang out with friends! So life is good. It's busy (as usual) but very good.
Stay tuned for more posts to come!