Surprise, Surprise

Well all I can say is that I was so happy that I went home for Thanksgiving! Well, I kind of went home. Breeann and I flew into New Orleans Tuesday night and drove two hours back to Lafayette. I got home around 9 PM or so and got to see all of my family! Needless to say we take really cool pictures:

 

So when my Mom called me and told me that they decided to get Breeann and me a flight home, I decided that I wouldn't tell any of my friends that I was coming home and just show up at their houses and surprise them. Turns out this was a really good idea and they were all freaked out when I showed up at their doors. It was awesome. But unfortunately I couldn't really go and see everyone, but it was still really nice to get to see Lexi, Cassie, Kelly, and Cody!

So Destin was amazing. And WARM (there's snow everywhere in Provo now). Another bonus of getting to go to Destin was I got to see my buddy Clayton.

And as tradition would have it, we went out one night and dug a huge hole on the beach. Unfortunately, this year we couldn't find any shovels so we used dustpans. Still worked. The weirdest thing was that Big Black didn't come with us to Destin... His company was greatly missed. Anyway, these holes were about 5 and a half feet deep. And it only took us about 3 hours! Woooo.

 

Anyway, in a really scrappy nutshell that was my trip and I can't wait to come home again in 3 weeks and be able to see ALL my friends. But then again, of course there might be a person who I'll be missing the whole time I'm at home.

Jussstttttt maybe.

Find Me

So basically Jessica and Kaitlin go on these crazy amazing nature drives every Friday. When they go Jessica always sends me pictures of how amazing the scenery is and, if you know me at ALL, you know that seeing beautiful bits of nature that I don't get to go to makes me EXTREMELY jealous. So I guess I might have complained enough because this last Friday they let me go with them! And I brought my camera and made a very short film. So here it is, my first original production since I've been in Utah. Tell me what you think!

Pieces

So I've been pretty busy lately with school and what not, but I finally got a chance to post some little pieces of what I've been doing... so here ya go:

Good times in the dorms:

Breeann and I are also lucky to have the most amazing aunt and uncle who live in Salt Lake and love us enough to feed us real food! And not only that, the real food is amazing (steak and mashed potatoes). So here are just some more fun times with their crazy cool kids:

This past Friday I also got to go to my first BYU basketball game, which we won by like 25 points or something. Pretty sweet.

And to close off this post- Mom, Dad, and Sav- turns out there are weird Mormons here too. You can't really tell in the picture, but here's a young lad cutting his nails in priesthood meeting:

I miss our crazy ward!

And for everyone- 

Keep smiling... 

because Jesus is?

(yes this is a real picture in the bookstore.. weird isn't it?)

The Archers Bows Have Broken

That pretty much sums it up right now. I've been in the library for about an hour and a half so far, and I'm definitely not going to be leaving for a while. I'm currently working on a 7 page paper about fat kids who watch too much TV and it's so boring and the way to write the paper is weird and it's stressing me out. Good thing we're not supposed to bring our first draft to class tomorrow right? Riiiiight. Anyway, all that looking at statistics and making up why I think what and who and where and blah is getting really old so I wanted to get on here and type something that doesn't make me want to kill myself.

So first off I am more than freaking excited to be going home for Thanksgiving now!! My amazing parents decided to get Breeann and me plane tickets back home and I'm absolutely overjoyed to go home to the warmth and stress free zone. So thank you sooooooooooooo much for being the best parents ever! I'm sure Savannah is pretty excited for us to come back too because well, look what we left her with... just kidding! Love you guys.


So once again the snow began to fall today, but luckily it was pretty sunny and none of it stuck.
I went to the Media Arts office yesterday to pick up my application for the film program here at BYU, and holy. crap. That thing is insane. Definitely something I'm going to have to put a large chunk of time into. However there is just one little part of the whole thing that I'm looking forward to. One of the requirements is that I make a 3 minute film that showcases my abilities. And it has to be something I make here and something that I write, shoot, and direct and do not appear in. So I'm going to have to come up with some kind of interesting idea. Hopefully something will come to me.

Always

There's nothing like finding yourself faced by an obstacle. Obstacles are generally designed to block your path, keep you from pushing forward. But sometimes obstacles are only obstacles because you make them that way. Take doors for example. At some point someone has the decision to make that door an obstacle or not. Sometimes they're open. Sometimes they're closed. Sometimes they're locked. And sometimes they're unlocked and you just have a really hard time figuring out how to open it, when all it takes is a little bit of understanding. Times like these don't come with instruction manuals, it's common knowledge right? Maybe, but maybe not. Either way all it takes is a little try. Unfortunately that try doesn't always yield the results you want. So you try again. And again. You keep trying until something works, or you finally understand. Maybe you tried to unscrew the door by it's hinges, but instead it fell on top of you. This will hurt you, but eventually you'll wiggle your way out from underneath and make it through the opening you worked so hard to get. That you endured that pain to get. But is that pain worth the trouble of getting that door open? I suppose that's something you have to figure out for yourself.



You won't always know what's on the other side. Maybe you'll finally get that door open only to see another door immediately on the other side. Except this door can't be opened by any clever moves or any secret techniques. This door has a timer, and all you have to do is wait.Wait for a door to open without any idea what could be waiting on the other side. It could open to a room filled to the brim with nothing, or maybe a room void of any empty space, cluttered with everything you could have ever wanted. Maybe you don't even want to know what's on the other side of the door, and it would be so much easier to just move on to the next unlocked door. But that door with the timer will always be set in the back your mind. You'll always wonder what was waiting on the other side. You might go so far from that door that it's too late and too far to go back. But you'll know that the timer eventually ceased, and someone could have come along and opened it for themselves, even after you worked so hard to get that first door open.



Our lives are full of doors. Doors aren't made to withstand large amounts of abuse, they aren't going to always be there waiting to be opened. But that doesn't mean you can't reinforce the doors. Add the nails, add the planks, add the steel. Take the time to make the door strong and unbreakable. Do this and the door can never fall. The door will be there through the storms and the waves. The door will be there forever and always.

Forever

So today I finally got to go to my first BYU football game! My friend Justin had an extra ticket and so I got to go for free. It was pretty sweet. And we won 52-7 (I think, we left a little early) so pretty crazy.

Walking around campus is a pretty cool thing. Fall is here and the leaves have all turned to red, orange, and yellow. It's interesting to watch the leaves falling from the tree and to think about the process the trees are going through, and to make a connection from those to yourself. As the leaves fall, it's the beginning of an ending. Everything seems to be fading away and coming to an end. There's a simple beauty in the colors and the motions of the leaves falling, a place that we should hope to find ourselves at the end of a stage of our life. Not necessarily when we die, but just at a stage where a part of your life ends and a new one begins. As new leaves begin to grow, they sprout young and confused, just as we are in the beginning. As they grow they begin to feel out the role they are meant for. But then the winds come. The snow comes. The storms come. Those leaves are thrown and tossed. Some leaves fall and can't hold on. But there are those who continue to hold on, continue to hold to the solid branch, not for any specific reason, but because they would know it is what they need to do. They know they need to hold to that, because something about it just feels right. They know that they need that branch just as much as the branch needs them. So hold on, because you never know how much you could really mean to someone, even if you appear to be the weak one holding on for dear life. Your perception isn't the only one. So hold on, hold on.

This is just a clip that I saw about a year or so ago. Something about it just blows my mind every time-

Patience

Sooo I was sitting here trying to think about what I could blog about, and I immediately thought about just talking about what I'm doing, what I'm going to be doing, what I've done, etc. But really I don't see the point in typing about something that I don't feel like writing about. So I figured I'd just kind of let my thoughts flow out of my head because well, I think about things too much and it helps a lot to just get them all out right? So I guess this is just a warning that any posts might be kind of weird. Don't be alarmed if things start sounding really depressing and emo. Haha. Anyway.

I've been thinking a lot about my own future lately, and, more specifically, thinking about everything that I want to do with film in my future. I was able to get into the class I need for a prerequisite for the film program this semester, and hopefully I'll be able to get into the program for my first semester back after my mission. I'm really worried about it because of the uncertainty. If I don't get in I don't really have much of a backup plan, heck I don't really have that great of a plan to begin with. I'm really glad that I have an opportunity to serve a mission, not only because I'll get a chance to share something I love with other people, but because of how much it will help me to grow up and give me a clearer picture of my future. So even though I don't really have any more time, I still have time. Which is a weird concept.

After about a month of being at BYU I went to a majors fair and walked around past all of the booths, as I was walking I passed every single booth. I looked at all the engineering, the mathematics, the doctors-- I just couldn't see myself doing any of those things. I stopped at the media arts station and spoke with one of the girls who were in the film program. I just know that that's what I should do. Things can get complicated but it's something I really believe in. So we'll just have to see what happens with that won't we?

Anyway, sidenote- I'm going to the Real Salt Lake vs. FC Dallas playoff game this Saturday and I'm freaking excited! That's all.

Ungodly Hour

So now that I am in college and no longer at home, there are a lot of really cool and stupid habits that I have developed. This post is all for you Mom and Dad. You guys will be so proud

1. Stay up until at least 2 o'clock in the morning. Every night.
2. Make a quesadilla at about midnight (occasionally feed Jessica part of it).
3. I only eat the following: QUESADILLAS, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (in honor of Dad), cereal, raman noodles (no broth), toast, grilled cheese and turkey sandwiches, and white shells and cheese Pasta Roni.
4. Watch too much One Tree Hill.
5. Be cold constantly.
6. Remember to do homework really late and still manage a good grade.
7. Fume about how much I hate the Testing Center.
8. Play an unorganized organized game of pick-up soccer.
9. Say contradictory sentences to confuse Jessica.
10. Play plenty of FIFA with Carson.
11. Go to the Creamery at least three times in a day one day during the week.
12. Make CDs and write letters.
13. Be dramatic.
14. Complain.
15. Read my scriptures

So these are just a few things that I find myself doing quite often nowadays. I've had an idea for a music video/short film I want to make, but surprisingly enough I need a good snowfall to get the vision I have in my head. But just for a little sneak peak, this is the song I'm going to use. Enjoy!