Jackson Hole Hockey

Bucket List:

• Hockey Game

Yep! I crossed that off last night. Hockey is so intense the whole time and the best part is that you can be right up on the glass where the action is! I still don't know all the technicalities and rules but hey i have time to learn. I went to Jackson Hole on a date and with a group of friends. So fun. It was the Jackson Hole Moose hockey team. Best part?? i got a souvenir....the puck! Ty was kind enough to offer it to me and i wasn't going to say no!
You know how some people make bucket lists but they're either unrealistic or their too unmotivated to really make it happen? well i love that mine isn't either of those. I'm taking care of business and really doing things on my bucket list. This isn't the first one to be marked off and i know it won't be the last thing to mark off this year. Im always up for suggestions for things to put on my list so if you have any life experiences you think i need to experience, do share:)

The Northern part of the Carolinas

Fact: This is MUCH overdue.

I have a fab fam.

Courtesy of the LOVELY Brittany Olsen

My souvenirs:) 

This kid. Made all the nasty travel, carsickness, messed up sleep cycles of traveling completely and utterly worth it.

Earth to Jessica

WHOA! its been a while. Although I will admit the past several months have been pretty slow and yes of course things happened but nothing life changing. I just never had the time to record what was happening in my life, but today i am! even though once again it may not be life changing it's just a good idea to document your life. That way you don't forget even the little things.

So i'm back at school once again and i'm rooming with Julianne Fullmer, Ali Sharp, Jayme, Lacy, and Mckenzie. They're all great!! its refreshing too since we're all older and they're all Seniors and i'm a junior, so that's a nice mix up! me being the youngest is a rarity. 

School started out great! different but great. I love all my classes because they're all fun and pertain to what i came to school for rather than General classes you have to suffer through;) funny thing is that my schedule happens to leave me with a lot of extra time on my hands....which i manage to fill with very little homework (count my blessings right?!), naps, netflix, and a casual social scene.  Funny thing is i still feel like i have time on my hands but i'm learning to make the best of it! The fact that i don't have as many go-to friends up here at the moment nudges me to work on making new friends, and since all my roommates are generally pretty busy i'm on my own. So it has been a great learning experience so far.

Today i was talking with my department head professor and he helped me figure out my life. Which is great news! Funny fact about me that someone pointed out to me recently is that i frequently say "I don't know my life." Usually i say it sarcastically when someone asks me what my plans are for the night and i'm not sure...I don't know my life. or even when people start discussing my future plans....I don't know my life. So i say it sarcastically but the problem is real people. I don't know my life! i mean i have ideas...and dreams...and hopes of how things will work out. But its just not super clear on how i'm going to get there or on the details. Anyway, talking to Brother Romney he talked me through all the different options i have with school. Its a little stressful since i'm limited on the time i have to finish my minor in culinary arts so i have to crack the whip on that. But i also have lots of classes to finish with floral design and the scheduling of those classes are super whacky. To simply sum it up, planning all my classes is beyond stressful since i'm extremely limited in my options as to times required classes are offered and they overlap each other....so it takes a lot of planning which usually goes wasted since they are constantly switching requirements and how things work every year. PLUS i have to fit in an internship somewhere in there. and that takes a lot of planning since i want to find a good internship that is available at a time when i am free to go do it. And then comes the issue of actually getting "hired" or accepted to that internship. soooooo all in all i am just a little STRESSED as to how it will all work out because it is so UNKNOWN. The future is scary and you do your best to plan it out but plans always change and in a round about way it is always for the best. 

That is something i realized today. I have had all this down time the past several months/couple years that i will admit i have felt a little like a failure if i compare to where i had hoped to be at this time to where i really am. But i realized this time has allowed me to figure out what i really want because i know if i had gotten married at an earlier age like some friends i know i wouldn't be pursuing these hobbies and talents. But you know what? I LOVE the potential i have right now. It is so motivating. I mean in reality, my options of where i end up are endless and totally up to me. That whole Faith thing is crucial at this opportune time in my life.  

I have no idea if that makes any sense since it barely makes sense in my head. Today was a day where i had an appreciation to God for putting me where i am right now and i have a feeling that some amazing opportunities that i can barely fathom are up His sleeve.

"God is making things happen for you. Even when you don't see it, even when you can't feel it, even if it's not evident...God is working on your prayers."

//Pray Always//

Capturing the moments of EFY

Some of the Cutest roomies i ever did have. and they pretty awesome friends if i do say so myself. 

Jess and i made jessica sandwiches all week! and Miranda is just a blast of energy and fun:)

These are 2 pretty cool co-counselors. We had an awesome week working together.

These girls are my 2nd week. Celestial seekers! They were so sweet and fun!

I got engaged. To Bo. he's a gem. Funny, witty, energetic, and 5'5" but hey we're getting married. I even have a dollar bill ring. I had no idea EFY would change my life like this!!;)

Here's my last week. They are 16-18 year olds and they became my good friends! i loved getting to know them. Also 2 of them are from Twin Falls!!! so i'll be seeing them around for sure.

This is the team i was on! I didn't get to meet all them and know them really well but the ones i did meet became my really good friends. I love how united we all were and how friendly and fun each and every person was. We all brought different strengths and worked rather well together.

Especially For Youth; Especially for me.

For most of the month of August, I spent 3 weeks being and EFY counselor. I must say it was the coolest, funnest, hardest job i've had. It was awesome because i got paid to work, have fun and play and be in an environment of inspiring lessons and the constant spirit present. EFY is one of the best weeks for these kids and the cool part is i get to help make that happen! I learned SOO much and am changed because of this job.
The thing is that i'm only a small part of their experience. Honestly they taught me so much. I have been beyond impressed by many of these 14, 15, 16, and 17 year olds.  They can be so powerful, strong, and firm in the Gospel. They have so many insights on things and often times aren't scared to share them. So many have good habits and you can tell they live righteous lives as best as they can.
Not only did I have to have a solid testimony of the Gospel, since i was going to be preaching it to these kids, i had to maintain the habits i was encouraging them to do so that i wasn't a hypocrite. But most of all i learned personally the POWER OF PRAYER and the ENABLING POWER of the ATONEMENT. My testimony of this is immovable.  I know that i am nothing without God. He gives me the air i need to breathe. There is no way that anything else is mine if i rely on him for AIR, the main necessity of life. The only thing that is mine is my agency. I used that agency to choose to allow the atonement to push me to be the best teacher i could be for these kids. I used that agency to pray to Heavenly Father to allow me to be humble enough and in tune with the spirit to work as an instrument in His hand. After all it is HIS glory i'm preaching, not my own.  I am not naturally able to speak hours on end or make a powerful speech on demand. The blessing of tongues is not a natural talent for me. But the cool thing is that because i asked for His help and wanted these kids to know God, teaching them was smooth. I had words come to my mind and they made sense when you put them in sentences!! This week, me being a teacher or a facilitator of the Spirit, was a miracle. I know it happened because these kids deserved it, they had parents and friends praying for it, and i prayed for it.
I learned to see people as God sees them. Because God wants these kids to feel his love, he uses that love in us and quickly we are able to love all of these kids. Yes, 35 new kids each week. I LOVE THEM ALL! i believe it is because we are surrounded in that love of God but also because we share things dear to our hearts and become vulnerable to each other in confidence of no judgements made. This Spirit i feel here at EFY is made possible because of the many prayers said each day (up to 20ish each day) and the testimonies and devotion to this Gospel and God.  EFY taught me first hand that God loves each of us. Because it was so easy for me to love these kids, i know it reflects just a small portion of His love. I got a taste of it. And i know he loves me because look what he allowed me to do! i was a counselor and that scared me but because i turned myself over to Him, it became one of the most enjoyable 3 weeks of my life.
Each week, each day, each hour i learned something inspiring and amazing from the Condies, the Youngs, and the Littles. They were such wonderful session directors. i learned from the other counselors during our meetings how to best reach out to the kids so that they can learn, and i also learned from the youth.  I had to write it all down otherwise i would forget. So many precious doctrines are scribbled in my handbook. I may not remember details off the top of my head but i do know that they all confirm and support God and His omniscience and divinity. His love. Christ's Atonement. The plan of salvation. The book of Mormon. Modern Prophets. and the JOY THAT MAN CAN HAVE. All of "these things are TRUE; for the Lord God hath spoken it." I KNOW IT.
Mosiah 2:41

 41 And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the
blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of
God.  For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal
and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are
received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a
state of never-ending happiness.  O remember, remember that these 

things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.

I have met so many awesome kids. The best counselors out there!! So many friends that are true friends and do good things.

More pictures soon to come:)

Wrapping up School in 2013

I came home right after i finished finals for Marissa's wedding. It was a great reunion of friendships!

The next day one of my best friends since 2nd grade gave her farewell in church. She did awesome! So mature, ready and willing to do what the Lord has asked of her.

 I came back to Rexburg to finish up the semester by just playing all day! a group of us went to Rigby lake and later I said goodbyes to many friends then FINALLY our whole apartment was together. I doubt you recognize how much of a miracle this is!! The whole semester we all did our own thing pretty much all the time, or just a couple of us would do things together. Even at night we weren't always all there. Someone was either working, with their fiance or gone home. It was cray all semester. But the last night we made it happen. We climbed a roof of a church and had fun under the stars and the beautifully full moon. These girls are awesome and i love them all so much. I'm always blessed with the best roommates and friends and I thank Heavenly Father all the time for such blessings. I've met inspiring people and made some pretty amazing friends here at BYU-I.

Nerf Guns and Thunderstorms

Last FHE of the semester. 4 of my FHE bros and Cassie and me were the only ones who showed up but boy did everyone else miss out. My brother had this massive box of Nerf guns he had collected over the years and some were so big i had never seen them made like that! we went to the Kirkham building which has a stage where dance performances are. Usually its all locked up but we had a connection:) we got in and this same brother knows how to work the lights and sound so it was quite a show. One of my brothers had a hurt knee so he was the DJ/Commentator. Best part: he has a British/Scottish accent. It was so fun to mess around. It was girls against guys...we obviously dominated. Cool thing was behind the stage i was walking and there is a mirror on one side and a screen on the other that was lit up in the purple lights and suddenly i felt like i was James bond. Ya know at the very beginning when it's just his silhouette that walks out to the center of the screen then turns and shoots? i had one of those moments. Just call me Olsen, Jessica Olsen. Then Cassie and I did some classic charlie's angels poses. We couldn't resist.

Last night i was at my apartment doing homework when i noticed a storm was coming outside. Next thing i know the lighting is right over our heads at Nauvoo and the thunder is booming. This lightning was so bright and the best part was that it lit up the whole sky in purple!!it was so gorgeous. Take a look at the pic. NO EDITING. amazing the beauty God creates. My roommates (as well as the whole Nauvoo complex) was outside on our porch because it wasn't raining and we just enjoyed the rare event. Eventually it started to pour and everyone danced in the rain. This is one of the joys of summertime:)