"We glory in tribulation because we know that God is with us. That He is our friend and that He will save our souls. We do not care for them that can kill the body; they cannot harm our souls!"-Joseph Smith

Oh man! I just absolutely adore Joseph Smith! He always words things just so! I love that he asserts that God is our friend because I have never really thought about it that way!  Anyone who knows me knows I absolutely LOVE Joseph and Emma and their relationship, but more on that later!

I survived the first week of school! Huzzah! I actually really like my classes. I went to my first Zumba class and I absolutely LOVED IT! I cannot wait to shake it out every Tuesday and Thursday. It is the most cathartic form of exercise I have come in contact with since I found out about kick boxing. On Thursday, I had the opportunity to go the first football game with Berg, her roommate Sarah and Jess! I forgot how much I love the energy during a football game. Plus, we were winning which makes it that much better! 

Yesterday was one of the weirdest/most fun Friday nights ever! Linds, Marisa and I did the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader work out and then proceeded to go to Jamba and the Cocoa Bean! It was delightful! Then Jess, Berg and I headed to Costa Vida and somehow ended up at Target. (I am pretty sure that there was some divine intervention because I needed a cheer-up). These girls are just so fabulous! They always just make me more happy and more positive about my life! We then ended the night with Mean Girls, so obviously it was super fun!

Today was the best. I woke up at 11:30 and then proceeded to eat Nutella, graham crackers, and my chicken salad sandwich from Target and watched 7 episodes of Gilmore Girls. :) My girls Jess and Berg and I ended up sitting up by the Y just gazing at the beautiful lightning. Being in the mountains is my happy place. As Jess stated, "It's like all our stress is down there and up here, nothing matters." This pretty much sums up how I feel both in the mountains and the temple. It was just so great. :)

Now onto some photos: 

Jess, me and Berg at the first football game!

Sarah (Berg's roommate), me and Berg!

Marisa, Linds and Madison at Bridal Veils on Sunday!

The whole group at Bridal Veil Falls. 

Linds, Marisa and I!

Roomies!

Cute feet picture!

Anyways, tonight I had the opportunity to watch the Emma Smith movie. From anyone who had read my previous blog posts, you know that I cry my brains out from the very first sentence of the movie to the closing titles. I just absolutely love Emma Smith. Whenever I have a day where I feel like my troubles are too hard, I just think about everything she had to go through.

Trials that Emma Smith had:

• Her husband was almost always in jail, away doing church business or just flat out not with her! Can you imagine not being with your husband most of your married life??
• So many of her children died! And she had to go through several miscarriages which although I have not personally experienced, I can still sympathize how sorrowful that must have been for her.
• She never had the experience of actually seeing the plates even though nearly everyone around her had seen them. 
• She hardly ever had her own home and even had to live with members most of her life. 
• She always had to worry about her husband's safety and her own children's safety. 
• She had to move her children across the frozen Mississippi without her husband, carrying the transcripts.
• When she remarried, her husband cheated on her and had a child with that woman when she was in her 60's. 

Anyways, she was an incredible woman and she will always be my example. I just cannot wait to meet her in heaven! I feel like we could be really good friends! :)Also, while watching the movie I just had the reminder that I need to wait for my "Joseph." No, this does not put me on the same caliber of a woman as Emma, it just means that they had a divine relationship which I really look up to. Joseph stated of her "my heart is entwined around yours forever and ever," and that she was "the choice of his heart." They were absolutely perfect for each other and I don't care if I have to wait until I am 99 to have the type of love that they fostered here and continue to develop in the eternities. No matter what, I will wait for that type of love. Yes, this is cheesy but I just wanted to establish my love for them as a couple! 

When I was sitting up on the Y I was reminiscing about how much I love Salt Lake. I just absolutely adore temple square! 

Look at how beautiful the temple is (and yes I did take this picture before conference my freshman year):

Anyways, I was just sitting there thinking of this strange urge I have to live in Salt Lake and then I remembered an internship I really wanted to do a couple of months ago. I would work as an intern for one of the Church's magazine! I am going to figure out how to apply and get that application in because I believe this would be a great opportunity!

Anyways, I am so glad that my Savior is my friend and I am so thankful for all my friends here! Love you all!