My thoughts as of late

I have not written a blog post in a very long time. I felt like I had nothing earth shattering to say. Today, I feel like I need to write down my thoughts. This month has been really hard. I feel like everything that I hold dear is under attack. I feel hurt, beaten down, and broken. I have struggled with a health challenge that I thought would just go away if I didn't think about it. So not true! For my job, I teach 3 and 4 year olds. I love them dearly! But these last couple of weeks I felt like I had nothing left to give them. I was empty. My spark for teaching was gone. I was burnt out. It wasn't just teaching that I felt this way about. I felt like apart of me was gone. I feel like I have lost the majority of my friends. Needless to say I have had better weeks and months. But as I have trudged along this week I have realized that I can be made stronger because of the Savior. He knows exactly what I am going through. He has been through much worse. He knows exactly what I need. I don't understand why everything is happening at once but I don't need to understand. These last couple of days I have been really thinking a lot about happiness. I talked to my mom yesterday and I was telling her how I felt. I told her I feel like I need to fight to be happy. Sometimes we think happiness is dependent upon our circumstances, but it is not. We choose to be happy and sometimes it takes a lot of effort. Ever since I have decided that I am going to choose to be happy and to trust the Lord, it has made it slightly easier to deal with the challenges I am facing. I am so grateful for the Savior. He is my best friend. I know that He can provide peace in the midst of raging storms because He is the author of peace. I don't expect my challenges to go away anytime soon, but I am going to try with all my heart to be happy and to trust the Lord. I am going to try to forget myself and to think others and how I can help them. I am going to forgive and to be kind to those around me. I know that if try to do these things and let the Savior in then He will help me to become whole again. My Bishop said something today that resonated with me. He shared the story of President Henry B. Eyring's dad picking weeds from an onion patch. "Dad was the senior high councilor in his stake with the responsibility for the welfare farm. An assignment was given to weed a field of onions, so Dad assigned himself to go work on the farm. Dad never told me how hard it was, but I have met several people who were with him that day. I talked to one of them on the phone the other night to check the story. The one I talked to said that he was weeding in the row next to Dad through much of the day. He told me the same thing that others who were there that day have told me. He said that the pain was so great that Dad was pulling himself along on his stomach with his elbows. He couldn’t kneel. The pain was too great for him to kneel. Everyone who has talked to me has remarked how Dad smiled, and laughed, and talked happily with them as they worked in that field of onions. Now, this is the joke Dad told me on himself, afterward. He said he was there at the end of the day. After all the work was finished and the onions were all weeded, someone asked him, “Henry, good heavens! You didn’t pull those weeds, did you? Those weeds were sprayed two days ago, and they were going to die anyway.” Dad just roared. He thought that was the funniest thing. He thought it was a great joke on himself. He had worked through the day in the wrong weeds. They had been sprayed and would have died anyway. When Dad told me this story, I knew how tough it was. So I said to him, “Dad, how could you make a joke out of that? How could you take it so pleasantly?” He said something to me that I will never forget, and I hope you won’t. He said, “Hal, I wasn’t there for the weeds.” Now, you’ll be in an onion patch much of your life. So will I. It will be hard to see the powers of heaven magnifying us or our efforts. It may even be hard to see our work being of any value at all. And sometimes our work won’t go well. But you didn’t come for the weeds. You came for the Savior." Talk: Waiting Upon the Lord (byu speeches) I am a the midst of my own weed patch and I will choose to follow the Savior no matter what.

Last Semester of College

This semester is my last semester of BYU-Idaho. Yikes!! I can't believe it! I am so happy on the one hand, but the other I want to cry. I feel so unprepared to graduate. The whole world is open to me, but I don't know what I want to do. This semester has been wonderful! I have some of the best roommates: Deanna, Haylee, McKayla, Cathy, and Gini. They are wonderful girls who inspire me to be better. This semester has had some crazy adventures. Here are some pictures of what the semester has entailed. These are photos from when I went with my Juliana to a little place by Walmart on Saturday morning. We got to watch the sunrise. It was really beautiful!! Here are some other photos of my roommates and my friend Sarah. This semester also brought some heart ache. My car passed away. It was really really sad! Here is the last time that I saw FesterBo As you can see this semester has been quite the adventure. I can't wait to see what the next chapter of my life will bring.

Ramblings of a Girl!!

Welcome back Caroline to the blogging world. Since I have been home, I have been trying to lose weight. I have lost 10 pounds so far. This week my sister Alisa and I are doing a juice detox. Day 1 was really hard! I was very hungry!! Day 2 I felt like I was going to pass out. But according to Kelly, my sister's friend who did the detox, after day 4 it goes uphill! Day 4 here I come!! Anyways, other than that the juice detox is going pretty good! Other than that my life is pretty typical. I go to work from 8 to 5 and then I come home and relax. I curl up with a book or take a walk around my neighborhood or do some exercising. Life is good! The most exciting news to happen in the Blais home is that my sister Alisa is engaged!!!! It happened so fast. One second she wasn't dating anyone and the next thing she is spending all her time with Manuel and getting married sometime in the summer!! I am so happy for her!! She deserves the best guy in the world and Manuel definitely fits the category. Since the engagement my life has consisted of weddings plans and shower plans. Weddings are fun!!

Rexburg Here I Come!

On thursday I leave colorful Colorado behind and travel to eagle mountain and then on to rexburg. Wahoo!! I am really excited for this semester. I get to room with one of my best friends plus meet lots of new and wonderful people! I get to start taking classes that have to do with my major. I feel like this is going to be a great semester!

Things I love

Thank you audiobooks for making my work day enjoyable! Thank you Tracie Peterson for writing a series of books that I absolutely love! These are some of the best books I have ever listened to. Everything I love in one series: romance, religion, and the wild west. I would highly recommend getting the brides of gallatin county.

Another thing that I am in love with is Mindy Gledhill. I love her music especially the songs from her new album Anchor. Every time I listen to her songs I can't help but smile.

Fun in the Sun

I have the spent the last couple of days in phoenix.
The first day I got there Emily, Adam, and I went to Arizona Mills. I found this really cute jacket there. After that we went back home and I played with Adam.
He is the cutest little boy ever.
He loves cars. He also loves to push around this kid lawn mower. It is the cutest thing ever. I taught his this new game called Crash. I push the lawn mower while he rides his bike and we crash into things. He loves it.

The next day I went to this awesome fabric store called SAS and bought some pink and white striped fabric. I made my first skirt with Emily. It was nerve wecking but thrilling.
Later on Casey and I picked fresh oranges and made orange juice. That was one of the highlights of the whole trip. It was fun using the juicer to make the orange juice. I loved smelling like oranges the rest of the night. It was a little bit tart but still it was the best orange juice I have ever had.

On friday, Emily, Adam, and I spent most of the day at home. So Adam and I spent most of the day playing outside. He loves playing outside. One of the first things he wanted to do each morning was to go outside.The weather was lovely the whole time I was there. Adam loves his swing. It was fun pushing him and watching him smile when I found try to tickle him while he was swinging.

On Saturday, Casey, Emily, Adam, and I went to the phoenix zoo. I saw my first koala bear. It was asleep though which kinda stunk. The monkey exhibit was the best thing. You go into this enclosed place where these squirrel monkeys are not in cages. They jump and swing on all these ropes and branches that are around you. They were so cute. I wish I had taken pictures. I have never been so close to a monkey in my life. Later on that day we went to Last Chance. This is where all the nordstrom and nordstrom rack items go when they can't be sold. It was great. Everything was really cheap. I found a cute new pair of shoes and a new pair of jeans. I was quite happy!
The rest of the weekend was great! Thank you Casey, Emily, and Adam for letting me come and stay with you. I really loved spending time with you guys.

Happenings from the Blais Home

A week ago my brother Tyson came to visit. I haven't seen him in 2 years so it was really great catching up with him. It is amazing to me that no matter how long I go without my family as soon as I see them it is like that we haven't been apart for so long. While he was here we mainly just hung around the house working on the puzzle. Dad and him went fishing two days in a row. I am glad that possibly Tyson and his family could be coming in the summer.
In a couple of days, I will be flying to the Phoenix to spend time with my other brother and his family. I am very excited!

Even though my life isn't very exciting. I do pretty much the same things every day. I wouldn't change my life one bit. I love going to work and getting to my audio books that get from the library. They are literally the best inventions ever. I have found a new author that I absolutely love. Beverly lewis writes books about amish people and their struggles. I love them! I would highly recommend the Courtship of Nellie Fisher series.
Also I love getting to work with Kaeli everyday. She is one of the nicest people I know. Plus she has some of the funniest stories to tell. We are always laughing about her and her friends stories.
Anyways this is what is happening in the life of Caroline Blais.