Tuesday

CRAZY! That pretty much sums up this semester for me. I feel like almost every minute has to be scheduled out to keep my head floating above water. Sink or swim. That's what I'm dealing with, but pretty much everyone is.

Even though this semester has me so stressed, I'm so grateful that I've been able to follow through on promptings I've had for this last year of my undergraduate (can I just say I love love love saying this is my last semester before I'm a college grad!).

I felt prompted to interview to be the director of a program called Storytellers and I got it. I haven't loved every aspect of the job, but I have learned so much about myself. I don't have a lot of confidence in myself as a leader or even as a people person, but I've gained so much experience in both those areas. I've made a ton of mistakes, but I've learned from them and hopefully I'll have more confidence in myself after this.

I know I am in the right major. I love speech therapy. I love that I get to practice speech therapy with a client this semester. Our first session was today and I almost wet my pants I was so nervous! I made a lot of mistakes to, but I enjoyed the session and again get to improve by learning from those mistakes.

This post should be entitled "Hello, my name is Tara and I screw up all of the time." But I know a very loving Heavenly Father has allowed me to have experiences that help me grow. I know that because of his son, Jesus Christ, I can be forgiven of my mistakes and continually improve.

So bring it on semester!

L is for.....

LOVE!

I love love. It's inspiring me today! I read this blog by a girl who writes in such a simple but really perfect way. I wish I could say things so simply but perfectly. But I am grateful for the much needed perspective reading through some of her thoughts gave me. It may not have been exactly what she said, just how much she writes about her love for life. I forget how wonderful life is sometimes. We have a precious amount of time to make the most of what we've been given. I tend to run scared. Life gives me amazing opportunities to learn and grow, and lately all I do is panick, panick, panick, end up not reaching the potential I hoped to, then get upset at myself and all my issues. I think choosing happiness for me is directly connected to love. The more love I share with others, the more I love what I'm doing.

I love the ability we have to choose. I'm a day dreamer if you will. I love to imagine where Karl and I will end up in the next five years or even what life will be like in a couple months. I dream about what I imagine us doing, but I haven't totally believed I have the ability to make those dreams happen. I'm learning that God does take our wants and desires into account. He loves us, and simply because of that pure love He cares about the things we want. I love that fact.

I particularly love this guy:


He is the cheese to my Macaroni. He is the reason I love most days. He is hilarious!

Karl: "I love the way you cook vegetables"

Tara: "Does it make you go weak at the knees?"

Karl: "Not only the knees. The elbows go to."

Man I love this guy:)

Nothing quite brightens up the middle of the day like a lunch date to Rumbi's and Twizzlebery accompanied by only the most important of topics:

Karl: "Do you ever create your own music video for a song in your head?"

Tara: "Sure do"

Karl: "What would it look like for this song? (Australia-the Shins)"

Tara: "People playing on the beach all day!"

Karl: "I'd say 60's rock band. Lead singer has hair like Shaggy from Scooby Doo. On the beach of course."

Tara: "Oh! And Dolphin's will sing the Lalala's!"

I think we thought up a winner:)

(Last summer playing golf for my Dad's b-day)

I love good friends I've been able to keep in touch with. I fell of the map after highschool and kind of felt weird dealing with all the changes. If anybody reads this blog, and you are one of the many that has gotten an awkward 'hi' from me followed by a hurried 'see you later', I'm very sorry. I think in a way when I came to college I became more secluded and lost a little of me. I'm more grounded now and content with where I'm at. So I'm loving this blogging thing and the chance to catch up with some of you! I had amazing friends in highschool that taught me a lot and I've met some awesome people here in Logan that have been incredible. I still care about ya'll:)

I love my ward. The concept of a ward family is so wonderful! Karl and I have been blessed to gain such awesome friends in our ward. I feel a connection to this ward that I haven't felt since my Centerville ward I lived in all growing up. I love how the gospel links us together and provides us with people who help watch out for us.

Basically, love makes everything better. I'm grateful for people who help me see that. You know who you are:) I want to try harder to tell the people I love how much I love them. I want to take each new day as a new start and love the new opportunities that may come my way. I guess one belated new year's resolution I have is to love more. I think that's a pretty good one.

Stress Filled Good Times

School is rough sometimes. Period. I've wanted to up and quit so many times this semester it's ridiculous! I know I'm not the only person who feels like this. In fact, yesterday I was venting with my visiting teachers who happen to be stressed up to their eyeballs too and one of them said, "If I wasn't so close to graduating I'd drop out right now." My feelings exactly after this week. No worries, I'm not going to drop out, but I'm so tired already this semester. Christmas break couldn't come soon enough! I'll stop with my complaining and start looking at how blessed I am to even get to go to school right now. And I'm grateful for a weekend filled with family time and hearing uplifting words spoken at General Conference. We have had some fun the past couple weeks though. This handsome man turned the big 23!

Look at him blow out those candles:) What a champ!

My sister Shae had her birthday to on the 19th and my sister in law Emily had a birthday on the 20th! Happy birthday sistas! It was a great week of birthday partyin'!

I hate stress, but I do love getting to appreciate little things more like watching an episode of the Cosby Show with my love after a long day, walking around a gorgeous green campus, looking forward to two weekends in a row spent with family (thanks to conference and Shae bae bae getting hitched!), etc.

Right now I'm going to finish a shift at work and then do an oh-so-necessary deep cleaning of the Beckert Casa since I finally have time to do it justice! Yay for clean! But first, words of wisdom....

I think this quote is fantastic:)

Toodle Loo!