Day 4

A favorite quote:

"I believe that in our own individual ways, God takes us to the grove or the mountain or the temple and there shows us the wonder of what His plan is for us. We may not see it as fully as Moses or Nephi or the brother of Jared did, but we see as much as we need to see in order to know the Lord’s will for us and to know that He loves us beyond mortal comprehension.

-Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, “Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence" BYU Devotional,  2 March 1999

This is an incredible talk I discovered not too long ago. You can read it here.

Day 3

I'm definitely a people person. I get the majority of my happiness from the relationships I create with people. Especially those I love such as family, friends, significant others, etc. 

Day 3 - A picture of you and your friends.

Since I'm such a social bug and spend most of my time being with people, this challenge was especially hard because I couldn't pick just one picture. So I cheated. You get 10 pictures. :)

 My brother Brian. We have pretty much been BFF's since birth.

 My siblings :) Jordan, Jayson, Tyler, Angi, Brian, and Me

My mom and dad. They just celebrated their 22nd anniversary!

The cuties...

 I'd like to introduce you to Carrie Marie Helland.
We've been together through it all (ever since 8th grade.) 

I wuv you Cewie!

 Sister Shannon Carlson. She's out serving a mission in Russia. I love you girl!

My SBO family! Even though we don't see each other very often, I know we'll be good friends forever.

Hoyt, Heather, Rochelle, Blake, Shay, Lindsey, 
Jason, Shannon, myself, and Andy.

And even though she's not pictured, we can't forget Sheenie Weenie, our advisor.

Jared, Amy Anderson CANNON, Mason, me and Court 

 Whitney and Ashley--some of my roomies this past semester.
Absolutely HILARIOUS.

 Amy, Court, Shelbs, Jared, Mason and I.

(Some of my greatest friends yet)

This post reminded me of one of my favorite quotes:

"True friendship isn't about being there when it's convenient; 

it's about being there when it's not."

I love you all!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have a happy New Year!

Day 2

Oops I'm late. Off to a bad start on this new challenge... ha

Day 2 - The meaning behind your blog name.

To be honest, I don't have much to say about it. Pretty Britty is a nickname my parents gave years ago and it's just stuck. It probably started when I was about this big...

(This is me and my cousin Alyssa. I'm the one on the left)

Pretty Britty

I hope it doesn't sound selfish

or conceited.

Because that's not what I intended.

I really like it. 

It rhymes.

And it makes me feel beautiful each time I hear it.

We all need a little bit of that in our lives.

CHALLENGE

So I decided I need a new hobby. I don't use my blog much, but I enjoy it when I do. I've seen some of my friends do blogging challenges to get into a better habit of blogging, and I decided to do the same. Here it goes!

Day 1 - A recent picture and 15 interesting facts about yourself

1. I'm a junior at BYU. My major is Family and Consumer Sciences Education. (FACS-Ed) You graduate with your teaching degree, so basically that's a fancy way of saying that I'll be a Home-ec teacher. 1 1/2 years to go!!
2. I'm the oldest of six kids. It has it's pros and cons, but I mostly love it.
3. I can touch my nose with my tongue.
4. I'm reading the Hunger Games right now and I love it!
5. My favorite color is PINK!
6. I LOVE trucks.
7. My dream car would be either a GMC Sierra or a 1970's Chevy truck.
8. I'd rather stay up late than wake up early.
9. I'm  a grammar nerd. It drives me nuts when people spell contractions wrong. (your, you're; there, their, they're) Beware. I'll correct you.
10. I could listen to piano music all day long and not get sick of it. 
11. Back in 2008 I went on over 50 dates. :) It was fun...and exhausting. I'd definitely say I'm experienced, but I don't believe in "dating experts." There is always more to learn.
12. I love vanilla frostys.
13. I hate Lady Gaga. And Ke$ha.
14. I feel naked when I'm not wearing earrings.
15. I love eating snow.

Holidays.

Christmas is coming! 

30 days

10 hours

42 minutes

...but who's counting? ;)

I got really excited yesterday when I heard there was going to be a blizzard. I received and email yesterday that said "the National Weather Service is warning a winter storm today that will far surpass anything that we've seen, probably for the last several years."

Hey weatherman, where'd you go to college?

I didn't see no blizzard.

I was hoping for a white Thanksgiving, but I guess it still could happen! I can't get over how fast the holidays came. Thanksgiving is tomorrow!! Mmmm. I'm already getting hungry just thinking about it. But I'll admit that I'm already looking forward to Christmas break, lots of goodies, hot chocoloate, family, friends, and best of all...NO HOMEWORK!

Until then, check out the holiday video my work made. It's a spoof of the Old Spice commercial. They did a really good job!

Drunk on Hope...

There's a line in a Rascal Flatts song called "Once" that really got me thinking: "Now I wait...drunk on hope." 

It's such a good way to put it. I really do think we get "drunk" on hope sometimes. I'm guilty of it. I think we all are. We get to the point when we hope for something so bad that we can barely even think clearly anymore. We lose sight of what is important. We refuse to see things how they really are because our own opinions blur reality.

I'm taking a Marriage and Family Prep class this semester for my major.  For our reading assignment yesterday we were asked to read a talk by Richard G. Scott called: "Using the Supernal Gift of Prayer." It's incredible. A must read. It really touched me. It made me realize that I need to stop being "drunk on hope" and instead be drunk on faith. The only problem is that sometimes that is really hard. And it's probably the reason why my mom jokes and refers to faith as the “f-word.” :) But like Elder Scott says, we should "be thankful that sometimes God lets you struggle for a long time before that answer comes. Your character will grow; and your faith will increase."

Billy.

Yesterday when Shelby and I went to the library to study we found a note left on the table for "Billy". So for course! We read it. :)

It said something like: "Sorry I couldn't stay longer, yada yada yada. -MK"

Who the heck is MK? We wanted to find out. Why couldn't MK be normal and sent Billy a text, or email him, or send him a message on Facebook? Why would you go to the extent of awkwardly leaving a note on a table in the library knowing that someone will probably read it? Beats me!

So we decided to write my number at the bottom of the note. And guess what? Billy actually called me! Unfortunately I was in class when he called ...but maybe that's good because he left a message. (Which is weird, because my message machine says my name, so you would think he would have figured that the number was a foney.) Whatever.

The message made me laugh though. He was whispering the whole time. Maybe he was back in the library.

"Hi MK, this is Billy. I just wanted to see where you went. Love you babe!"


Do you think he was just playing along with the joke or do you think he was serious? Should I return the message? If so, what should I say to dear Billy?

MORAL OF THE STORY: Pranks are fun :)

GOOD Weekend.

#1 

General Conference really was amazing. It always is, but I loved every second of it. I think this was the first time that I was actually sad when the last session was over.

#2

I had a big ah-ha moment

#3

I went to Winco for the first time!

This place is incredible! I was in awe at the bulk section. They have everything you can possible think of! For example: cereal, pizza crust mix, muffin mix, pancake mix, honey, candy, trail mix, etc. All you do is take what you want, put it in a bag and pay per pound. Genius.

#4

I went home! 

It was so fun to see the family again. Even Brian! And Grandma and Grandpa Vawdrey. :) Mom's home made pizza was delicious too.

#5

Self explanatory :)

Believe it or not...Gus (my car) is still living! Not only that, but it reached the 200,000 mile mark on Sunday. I have to say that I have never been so excited to see the numbers move. In all honesty...that car is a piece.  Why? Ohh let me tell you... :)

• it's only two years younger than me
• it's been through two teenagers
• the hood shakes when you're stopped at an intersection
• the A/C doesn't work 
• the radio works only half of the time (since the antennae broke off)
• the rear view mirror on the left side is propped up by a pen lid
• one of the windows won't roll down
• it jerks almost every time it shifts gears
• only one side of the steering wheel will honk when you push it
• the door interior is held on by screws and duct tape

But I LOVE it so much. I even get a little offended when people make fun of it. So don't. It's much better than a bus pass. It gets me where I need to go and that's all I need. :)

I'm Humbled.

Sometimes when you first meet people you think you understand everything about them. You compare them to yourself and think "Oh they don't have to worry about this or that -- their life is perfect."

WRONG.

1. I was humbled yesterday because I was reminded that these "perfect" people are just as human as I am.
2. I was humbled because I was reminded that everyone has their own share of challenges and trials. Some are more obvious than others, but everyone has them.
3. I was humbled because I know that I couldn't handle what they are going through, but Heavenly Father knows that they can...and I am benefiting from that.

The Lord knows our limits, and there is nothing more comforting than that. :)

Look what I got yesterday...

And you better hurry, because they're going fast!

11 days, baby!

Just The Way You Are

I'm in love with this song.

Pardon my absence...

I was here:

ALASKA!
It's absolutely beautiful! Shelby invited me to go with him to meet the family and to experience Alaska. I had a wonderful time. We had a good mix of playing around, sleeping in, trying to decide what to do, and hanging out with the family.

Here's some of the things we did:
-went 4 wheeling
-played volleyball
-played Risk...I won :)
-fed reindeer
-walked on a glacier
-went to a duck pond
-found ugly clothes at DI
-canoed across a lake
-had a mud fight :)
-rode a tandem bike
-sang "Happy Anniversary"
-went to Prince William Sound
-stood on a floating glacier
-went blueberry picking
-had a Mario Kart tournament...Jermy didn't win

It went by really fast, and I hope the next three weeks do too. It was nice to get out of town for a bit, but now it's back to work to save up money. School starts in just a few weeks! It's coming up so fast. I guess I better get busy and make the best of what is left of summer.

Here's shout out to the Ramptons:
Thanks again for the wonderful week! :)
Xoxo
Britt

It feels like Christmas Eve...

I'm so fidgety and anxious right now, it's ridiculous.

Why you ask?

Umm...duh, Shelby is coming home!

FINALLY!

I'm all sorts of excited.

He's in the air as we speak.

And I'm not embarrassed to admit that I'm counting down the hours :)

Where is the wisdom?

Why do we have wisdom teeth? Why? As you may know, this post is inspired by the event of me having my wisdom teeth removed last Friday. It wasn’t pleasant. Of course I was knocked out so that I wouldn’t have to feel anything…but the next few days were miserable. I hate going to the doctor, I hate taking medicine, and I hate having to be forced to sit around and be lazy. So obviously my weekend was not ideal because it was spent doing those things I hate. It’s now been five days and luckily the swelling is pretty much gone. I can kind of start to eat “normal people” food, but it takes forever to eat it. The stitches haven’t dissolved yet, and I have an ugly green bruise on my cheek. Awesome.

So there’s the question: where is the wisdom in having “wisdom teeth?” I don’t see it. I think they’re dumb.

But let’s not be a Debbie Downer. See that quote up there in yellow at the top of my blog? “Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured.” It’s one of my favorites. One of my heroes Gordon B. Hinckley once said that. He is so right. Everything happens for a reason. Even wisdom teeth--believe it or not. It’s been a pain to have them removed, but everyone’s gotta do it! And I’ll admit that there has been a little enjoyment from the whole experience. Not a lot, but there definitely has been some. Having a numb face the first day made me drool and make a mess of my ice cream. :) And being on Loritab has definitely caused me to say some silly things. I’m glad the worst is over, and I’m excited for the day when I can eat “normal people” food at a normal pace!

Speaking of chubby cheeks… :)

Have a great day everyone!

My Latest Confession

If you truly are aware of what is going on in the world, you know that blogging has become quite the trend. I wouldn’t necessarily consider myself trendy or one to give into peer pressure…yet I finally gave into the blogging world! Hello, all! I’m excited to join you. There really is a time for everything, right? So why not now?