a late post.

I wrote this post a few weeks ago (december 16th) but never finished it. so a majority of this information is old, but it was part of my december so here it is.. late but i do everything procrastinated so just add this to the list.

i was talking to my mom on saturday and could tell that she was feeling a little overwhelmed. as we sat and talked i said are you ready for this week to be over. her response kind of surprised me and made me think a little bit. she said i hate to wish my life away.

i find myself wishing certain times in my life away. especially the week of finals. for the past two weeks all i have wanted is for this week to be over. now it is... for me at least. i turned in my last two finals on monday. phew. im feeling a little more relieved. now the pressure of how i did is starting to haunt me.

i talked with one of the sister missionaries in my ward the other night though and she asked me if i prayed and read my scriptures before i did my homework. well... actually no i dont was my response. but she challenged me to do so. and to be honest i KNOW that it really helped me. i know that because i was willing to "try" it that Heavenly Father helped me in my finals.

i was in a drawing class this semester- for those of you that know me, you know this isn't one of my strongest suits. it has been a big challenge for me. i dare to say it has been the hardest class of my college career. weird right? a 100 level art class has surpassed all of my 400 level classes in difficulty. maybe its because it is something that i am no good at, im self cautious about and really didnt have the time to put into it, but whatever it is... it was a huge challenge. but yesterday as i was finishing up three of my eight drawings- and after i had said my prayers and read my scriptures- it felt so simple. it was still no picasso, but it wasn't horrible. it wasn't the way it had been for the past two months. Heavenly Father definitely is willing to bless us if we are willing to ask, and work for it. so thank you to sister whorton who helped me help myself!

i worked really hard this semester and for the most part really enjoyed it. i feel like it has flown by. honestly im starting to really wonder where does the time go? its already the middle of december. and lets face it, i did my first attempt of christmas shopping yesterday. holy. i have a long way to go. but im excited. i love this time of year and all it stands for. my favorite part- helping others in need. i feel like i have had a few more opportunities than usual this year to get into the spirit of giving and i know that it is blessing mine and sams lives.

speaking of sam. he is so wonderful. he has done an amazing job in school this semester. he is so incredible at what he does and i know that he will benefit greatly from his schooling. in fact he already has. we just signed our summer again to homeshield pest control. we arent exactly sure where we will end up this summer but i know wherever we go it will be worth it. this year sam was offered to be a trainer for homeshield. this means that around a month of the summer he will be going to different offices helping sales reps to do better. i know i will miss him but my dear cousin addie and her new husband brit and one of sams best friends and his wife will be coming with us so i will have some good friends to spend all my time with!

back to school... are you sick of it yet... well deal- ive had to since september :) kidding kidding. anyways for another final i had to do a sequence of 6 photos. they had to tell a story, and we could do it on anything we wanted. my professor showed us examples from years gone by that included things like funerals, a fake gun fight, water changing its habitat etc. i was having a hard time determining what i should do, but realized i wanted to do something that had some meaning and that was close to my heart. what better subject matter than my dad.

my dad is a big part of my life. the disease that he is fighting affects me in more ways than i think i understand. for those of you that dont know, his cancer has spread a little more, causing him to get treatments every week instead of only once every three weeks. i know that it takes a huge toll on him, especially having to work everyday, but he does it. and he smiles while he does it.

i decided that it would be a good idea to capture a few of the things that he has to go through on a regular basis. and that is what i tried to do. after a little hesitation, he agreed to let me attend a couple of his chemo treatments and take pictures. the hospital was actually really great and didnt mind me being there. i went to two different treatments and was able to get quite a few good shots of him. not only am i happy that i was able to go and understand a little bit more about the things that he has to deal with, but also that i was able to document it.

for my photography final i turned in six photographs that (to me) represents something that my dad is going through. i realize that the first frame isnt very strong, but felt that it needed to be present. as i presented my final, i got a little more emotional than i expected. like i said this is something very dear to my heart and i think i was afraid of how people would respond. but my class responded very empathetically and my teacher shed a few tears herself.

im happy to report i got an A. with the remarks- "I really appreciate the personal meaning of this to you. What I want you to know is how strongly it spoke to the class. Nice finish! I appreciate your hard work and sincerity." so maybe i got an A because of the composition, but i like to think its because ive got TALENT :)!

its hard to believe that i didnt even save my final copies of these photos. my jump drive couldnt take anymore info, so i dont have the final copies. but i did just try to make them look as close as possilbe to the real thing. sorry. but its all i got.

without any further ado. heres scotty aka homer. (Taryn this post is mostly for you)

i sure love this guy.

until next time x0x0