Spiritual Thoughts from the Old Testament

For my online Old Testament class I have decided to do an assignment where I post it in my blog every week. So here goes the first entry :)

Whom God Calls, He Qualifies:

I am reading in Moses and God is describing how the people are in those days. He is so angry at them for holding their own counsels in the dark, devising murder, denying God, and they are not keeping the commandments. While I was reading that, I thought about what God would say about the people of today. It would probably sound something like that but with more things that they are doing. God asks Enoch tell the people to repent. Enoch's reaction is that he is slow of speech and just a boy, so why is he the one that God is calling to do all of this? This part reminded me of Joseph Smith, being just a boy but he did so much for this gospel. It's incredible if you really think about it. It doesn't matter what time period it is, I don't think I could do what some of these people have done at such a young age. I wouldn't have been mature enough. I remember when I was younger I was very shy, especially with adults. I have grown out of that but it would still be a hard thing to do at 19. But then again there are 19 year olds all over the world doing just that. I suppose when it is the Lord's work at it is something that is so desirable and sweet, it ends up not being as hard as we think it is.

The Lord reassures Enoch that He is with him. God walks with Enoch. It is just amazing to me for someone to go from no self-confidence at all in telling people to repent to help raise up this wonderful nation that is so great that God takes them up to be with Him. He made people tremble so that they could not stand in his presence. Enoch's faith must have grown so much because the Lord protected him and was with him always. I think the Lord does the same for other people but in ways that we might not recognize. Definitely we see this all the time in church callings. Someone doesn't think they will be able to do a good job or aren't worthy enough to have such a high calling. But these callings are from the Lord and He will help us do anything. I think this story comes out even in small things like if we are scared to do things on our own. The Lord is with us so we are really never alone. Even when we give talks, we might be nervous but it ends up being just fine. I recently had an experience with this. On Easter Sunday, my friend and I were going to sing in sacrament meeting. Thank goodness we had sacrament first because I was dying just waiting to finally get the song over with because I was so nervous. My heart kept beating, I was hot, I just tried not to think about it. I finally said a little prayer in my heart to help us to do well and to help me not be so nervous and to just calm down. Sure enough I did calm down some and we sang our song beautifully. We made no mistakes and I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be. 

To sum it up about what the bible says about Enoch and his people is that the people were wicked. So of course God calls on someone to tell them to repent and that was Enoch. Enoch feels inadequate and the Lord lifts him up and is with him. Enoch keeps prophesying unto the people and he tells them how he saw God, face to face. He talked with God. God told him who to go tell to repent and Enoch went and didn't say anything else because he knew God was with him. Enoch led the people of God. Even in battle people were in fear because he walked with God. They were so righteous that God took them up to live with Him. I think this is a powerful testimony of showing us that we can do anything that God asks us to. He will not ask us to do anything that we cannot handle. Reading through this challenges me to have a different outlook with callings and other things and to not be afraid because God is with me. 

Conference!! April 2011

So I went to General Conference for the very first time!! It was so amazing. We just had a great weekend with friends and seeing Conference! It is different then just watching it at home. It's weird to think that they are just a few hundred feet from you! We sat on the balcony to the side a bit. But is was great. I started bawling during the first talk and a nice lady sitting next to me gave me some tissues. Note to self: Get tissues to put in your purse. How about bring a purse? lol. Here are some pics from the weekend!

We ate yummy sweet tart jelly beans on the way down

So handsome :)

Walking to conference. I was NOT is high heels

Don't mind the brown sweater I am wearing. I didn't think it would be snowing. 

Friends :)

Front row on balcony

It was snowing dippin dots!!

Job!!!

So....I got another job!! Its funny; I couldn't find a job to save my life during my off track and then now that it's over I have 3 jobs!! So the first one and obvious one is working as an early morning custodial in the way too early hours of the morning. The second one I have is the lifeguarding job at the new pool in Rexburg that they might not have finished in time. I have been meaning to call them and tell them I'm not doing it though....because I have this other awesome job! My friend, Mandy, who actually lives right above us, basically got me this job. She now works with me :) It is at a nursing home called the Homestead. I am pretty sure no one is as happy as me to have a job wiping old peoples' butts. (Which really isn't as bad as you think) I have only worked 3 days so far and I'm loving it. Even though it is overwhelming at first, you catch on pretty quickly. The residents are just so sweet and I love what I'm doing. I am so lucky to have found something that is right around in the career I want to do for the rest of my life. It is also a blessing to even find a job around here (it's not in Rexburg, it's in St. Anthony). Now I will have something to do on my off track :) Yay for having 2 jobs and going to school!

For My Husband

Me and the Hubby are starting to work on campus again because the spring semester is starting. So Ryan works from 5-1 p.m. and I work from 4-12 a.m. While I am at the cozy Tracy home, he is working :) Today was his first day back at work. We just got back from Boise 30 min. before he had to go to work and so he didn't really get to eat anything. So his sweet little miss cooked him some dirty rice and put it away so he can heat it up when he gets home :)

And yes, mine turned out just like it looks on the box :) A full husband is a happy husband <3

Fam Bam

Two weeks ago, Ryan and I got to go to Boise to visit my family :) I love my family. I love seeing them too. I don't get to see them as often anymore. Its kinda weird but something that I am adjusting to. I am so thankful for my family and all that they have taught me. I love them so much!!!

My whole family :)

 I love my grandparents to death <3

Last but not least...

My handsome husband <3

Finals are DONE!!

Yay! I am done with finals!!! I got an A in the class :) I was actually retaking bio 265 because I want a better grade so I can HOPEFULLY get into the nursing program. I am so surprised that I ended up getting a 96%! what the heck? Where did that even come from? But anyways it is so great to be done with that class. Now, school begins for real. I am actually on track for this next semester and have 12 credits :) yay i'll have something to do! And a schedule to live on! Not looking forward to 7:45 class :/ We will see how it goes.

I Love Friends

I just want to say that lately I have been very grateful for the friends I have and the friends I am making. We have gotten to know so many people in the ward but we are actually hanging out with them. I am absolutely loving where I am right now. 

I have had some thoughts that have been on my mind for a long time. I have never really seen the importance of visiting teaching before. I suppose it could be because I didn't see it a whole lot growing up because it seemed like all of the visiting teachers were friends. I have never actually had a visiting teaching calling until I came to college which was just over a year ago. Now that I  but am off-track and jobless with really nothing to do I have realized that it is nice to have visiting teachers. Just someone that visits with you or maybe if you become good friends, someone to hang out with. I have not had visiting teachers in a while and I don't know who they are. I kinda wish they would come but I suppose I am fine with the friends I have to keep me busy. It is just nice to build new friendships. 

My best friend of 19 years is awesome. I love her to death. She is in Ecuador right now volunteering at an orphanage. She is such an example to me. I have so many great memories together. I suppose, in a way, it kinda sucks to grow up because you definitely move in different directions. I know she is my best friend because I still have a strong connection to her even though I have not seen her for 7 months. I love talking to her on the phone. I get more that what is required for my daily dose of laughter. I miss having her live right down the street from me and just being within arms reach. Technology is awesome but its not the same. I just wanted to tell her I love her so much and miss her a lot. 

Sad story but our good friend's puppy was hit by a car and died. We dogsat that dog a lot and we loved him so much. It was so heartbreaking. Who would have thought it would hurt so much to lose a dog. I mean it's a dog. Well, that's what you think at first but they are more than that. And they teach us so much. We also love his owners. They are so awesome. When we didn't have any friends they were there. I have nothing bad to say about them.Only good things. I think they will be forever friends. Long into the future we will still be talking even though we might not live close by. 

I think I need pictures. Another time I will put them up. Tomorrow we are leaving to go to Boise!!! Yay for family!! 

Lately

So I have had some new projects that I have been working on lately. I think they are kinda cool. 

1. A beanie :) my husband is the lovely model in these pictures.

He wanted it a little longer than I had planned and so that is why it turned out to be half blue, half black. He is so cute <3

2. I crocheted a freakin tie!!! 

It turned out to be awesome!! I pretty much just made something up. I didn't have a pattern. I have also been very much in love with changing colors now that I know how to do it. 

So as you can see I have been very busy. The tie took me two days! But I love crocheting and my next new project that I want to do is to make a bunny, a monkey, and a bear. I think it will be adorable if I actually pull it off. :)

Computer!!

My computer is back!!! At the end of fall semester (which was forever ago) my computer's hardrive went out. So I couldn't use my computer. Finally, this week we ordered a hardrive and yesterday I got someone to install it! And now it is back and working :) No more using the hubby's computer. 

Also......Congrats to the Giveaway WINNERS!!!

Free Blog Giveaway!!!

Alright few followers of mine, I am having a giveaway of one of my cute crochet headbands! Just go to this blog: peace-love-lauren.blogspot.com and follow the directions! GOOD LUCK to everyone who enters!

Crafty Me

So this is what I like to do in my spare time (which is like all of my time). I crochet. I crochet cute little headbands :). I really do love crocheting. Eventually I want to try to move on to bigger things like baby blankets and little sweaters and things like that but for now I'll stick with flowers :) I am so glad I finally learned how to make them myself. I had been trying to find the perfect one of these headbands and finally did when my sis-in-law, Amanda, was keeping this secret of knowing how to crochet headbands from me. And I didn't even know that she liked to crochet in the first place! Now I can make them whenever I want and any colors I want. I'm thinking of trying to sell them. Just to do it. I mean, there is only so many lovely people I can make these for and there is only so many combinations of different colored headbands I can make for myself. So either donate or sell. I could even do both. 

These cute things are some of the headbands I have made (and some my grandma has made). I have just fallen in love with them!

With the cute little flowers, I like to stick a bobbie pin through the back of them which is so easy because they are crochet, and stick them in my hair. It works perfect because you can't see the bobbie pin and they stay in your hair snug as a bug! Also very cute and something more for a summer thing. 

This looks way better when I am all prettied up. But even for a lazy day this helps beautify yourself. I don't know about you, but I think its adorable. I also want to try to make headbands but with a thinner band. 

Well you now know what occupies some of my time :) Cutie little crafts. This is what happens when a miss turns into a mrs. <3

King Cake?

Knock on the door. Who is it you ask? It was the UPS guy!!! Delivering King Cakes. This is what Ryan has been waiting for the last few days. I had no idea what a King Cake was. Apparently it looks like a giant donut. It tastes really good :) We have raspberry filling in ours. Mardi Gras is coming up on the 8th of March and this is something they eat. Ryan, being from Louisiana, is introducing me to all this Mardi Gras stuff. We also got a package of Mardi Gras beads and cups and crawfish :) I think I will decorate our apartment by hanging beads everywhere :) And putting little plastic dressed up crawfish in the most random places. It will be fun. Ryan will take me to Mardi Gras someday, being the southern gentleman he is. And I will get my own Mardi Gras beads.....(not really). We will have our own little Mardi Gras party by ourselves for now :)

P.S. Isn't he just the cutest?? <3 

Empowering Knowledge Every Girl Should Know

So, last week we had the wonderful luck of getting a flat tire :( Last Monday we hit a really bad pothole when we were coming home from Idaho Falls. So we assume that is where it came from because by Wednesday it was completely flat. We found it when Ryan was taking me to campus to go and study. He hurried and changed it and I got to campus late but I was there. When I was done, we went to pick up  the new tire from Les Schwab next to our apartment and Ryan thought it would be a good idea for me to learn how to change a flat tire in case I am ever in that situation without him. I would like to think that he will always be with me but that is probably not the case. Despite it being FREEZING outside and I was just in a lil hoodie, I so patiently listened to his instruction and did what he told me. I happen to be very grateful to have someone who is just so smart and can fix everything from a bad day to a flat tire. I am also grateful that I can learn  this so that I can take care of myself if I ever need to. It is actually very easy, you just have to have the right tools.

Step 01: Put the thing under the car to make it go up. Don't put it on the frame of the car or you could hurt something. So make sure it is kinda in the middle. 

Step 02: Raise the car up but only a little.

Step 03: Start loosening the bolts on the tire with the long tool with a thing at that end that will attach to the bolts. I suppose you can just take them off. You only want the car raised a little instead of all the way so that when you are taking off the bolts then the car isn't turning and giving you a hard time taking them off.

Step 04: When the bolts are off, raise the car up so the tire is not touching the ground and take the tire off.

Step 05: Put the new/spare tire on and put the bolts on. Don't put the bolts on all right by each other. Spread them out so the next one you put on isn't by the one you just put on. I forget why :)

Lower the car and clean up and Wah La! You just successfully changed your own car tire without the help of your big macho man :)

I don't know about you but I think this is very empowering knowledge. Being able to tell someone that YOU, a GIRL, did it all by yourself :) BE PROUD

Smile :)

How freaking cute is this!!!! This should bring a smile to your face. I am going to have one of these one day :) or two....or three....lol not three!! These are the cutest puppies ever and they just melt my heart! They look so soft :)

Lol stumbled across this and thought this was funny. Speaking of embarrassing moments....Last Saturday, I got a call from a friend and her neighbor needed some help doing some organizing of some things. If I did this I would get paid. Well...of course I was going to do it! I had nothing to do that day and who wouldn't take the opportunity to make some money? So I show up. I start doing my thing and about half an hour later the guy that is "hiring" me and the other girls I was with shows up. He was going to buy us pizza and he brought us some root beer. It was the root beer in the glass bottle. He asks if I want one. I say yes. My first sip of root beer ended up in an explosion of soda out of my mouth and all over the place. Maybe not all over the place but all over me. It got on the floor a lil bit and just soaked my pants. So whatever I spilled my drink but I didn't know these people and it was a pretty big spill. So I felt awkward and I was just kinda standing there like an idiot not knowing what to do. I finally get up and I'm just like, "Uh, I spilled." :/ I got napkins for my hands and the bottle but I don't think they knew that my pants were soaked. So I stayed there in soaked pants for 6 hours. My pants eventually dried up :)

Valentine's Day!!!

Oh what a wonderful day when you have someone to love and someone to love you. It's still good even if you don't :) Eat chocolate all day or for the next week. Well, here is how my day went. Ryan and I sleep in and have a wonderful breakfast made by the cutie, Ryan. He wouldn't let me into the living room/kitchen and I was pleasantly surprised with the yummy "egg in hole" but the fried egg in the bread was in the shape of a heart <3 so cute!! Ryan and I decided to make lil valentine's baskets for each other and mine was sitting on the table by my breakfast. Gotta have my chocolate on valentine's day :) We decided to spend valentine's with some new friends from our ward! We had tons of fun!! The guys made us dinner and the girls made dessert. It all turned out wonderful! The guys made some yummy pizza. One was a total meat lovers pizza. Haha boys...we also had pink lemonade. We decided to make some homemade ice cream and a two-layered heart shaped cake. It was funfetti cake with cherry pink frosting all over it. We also added some crushed peppermints and wrote "happy v-day" on it with red icing. We also decorated the living room with pink hearts that we cut out. It was nice to celebrate love with friends when we are all happy newlyweds :) Happy first valentine's being married to us!!! <3

Just Dance.....or not...

Saturday was the start of our Valentine's Day. Well...sorta. Our stake was putting on a v-day dance. There was going to be instruction on how to do certain dances and other cute things. I told Ryan he had to ask me to the dance :) He didn't do it until hours before but it was kinda cute. I did some grocery shopping for v-day stuff and I walk in the door with my bags of goodies and then after putting everything away, I sit on the couch. Looking at Ryan lovingly, I see that right passed the handsome lil face of his is a lil message written on our white board that hangs on the side of our fridge. It read: "Will you go to the dance with me?" HOW CUTE!!! haha. It had some hearts around it that were left over from the message that I had written on the board before. Later, when I asked when he expected me to see it, I found out that he was hoping I didn't see it so that we didn't have to go to the dance. Lol that is so Ryan. For those who don't know, Ryan HATES dancing. With a passion. It's amazing that he came with me. And it is even more miraculous that he DANCED with me!  Yes, he did dance. Well, some. As it got closer to dance time, I began to feel kinda nervous and not really sure what to expect because all the dances I had gone to were the youth dances! And that was forever ago! When we got there we got to take a picture together. It was kinda a cute little thing they had. Reminded me of highschool. But it was still cute. We didn't really know anyone there since we have no friends lol. I recognized many people but I didn't actually KNOW them. So we were awkwardly standing by the wall, checking everyone out. We decided to move to the food in another corner when Ryan pointed out that if we stood there by the dj we had better chances of being picked to say the prayer. BAHAHA. They said the prayer and then they were going to teach the cha cha. I dragged Ryan over there but he refused to stand anywhere except for in the very back. Ryan really wasn't bad at dancing. I think he just doesn't like it. And probably feels uncomfortable lol. I wasn't as good at dancing as I thought I would be. But we just had fun with it and fun we did have even if Ryan doesn't want to admit it :) There was another mexican dance but we were taking a rest and having a water break. Then we learned the salsa. That was a fun one. We both decided by the end of that dance that mexican dancing wasn't really our thing. I was kinda disappointed that we didn't learn the waltz. So probably for the last hour we all just danced  to random music. We didn't really do this because Ryan doesn't like it. He did actually do some random dancing when they started to play a game where he would play the music and then stop it and call out a number and you had to get in a group of people of whatever number that was. That was kinda dumb. The last 3 dances were slow dances so of course we danced. Ryan had the same uncomfortable, but cute look on his face the day we danced at our wedding reception :) A dip and a kiss later we were out the door, sore and a tad bit tired despite it being only 9 o' clock. We rented a movie and rested our tired lil feet while cuddling in bed. Note to self: wear flats. Even a little heel will still kill your feet.

Why Love is...?

I have become obsessed with these old newspaper comics called Love is...I guess they were started in the 70's and the reason I know about them is because my great grandma (Nanny) would cut them out of the newspaper everyday and save them. When she passed away my grandma gave me some so I have a million little newspaper clippings. I think they are so adorable and a cute little way to show your love for someone. :)<3

Intro

Well...1st post on my blog. I am still trying to figure this out but I think it is started to make a little sense to me. I guess I'll start out by introducing myself. Well my name is Tara Tolman Tracy. I got married to the most perfect man on Saturday August 21, 2010. It was the happiest day of my life so far. We have been married for almost half a year!! I think it is crazy. Soon we will be spending our first Valentine's Day together <3. I am attending college at BYU-I and am currently off track but taking one class. I am retaking an anatomy class so I can get a better grade and hopefully make it into the nursing program. I am the luckiest girl and very happy :) I have everything that I could ever want and more <3