Hi Everybody!

So I've been following a lot of blogs recently and I decided I'd probably better get my own, especially since my family hasn't been hearing from me as much recently as we would both like and most of my friends will be across the country during the summer. I've never really done a blog before--hopefully I'm not too boring. The title is because 1) I am often extremely busy and 2) I would like to fill my life with enough productive things that at the end of the day I feel both accomplished and ready to go to bed at a reasonable hour. I think it's safe to say the latter is the bigger issue. Bedtimes...well, if I fall asleep while I'm posting, don't take it personally.

This afternoon I broke my record for the latest wake up time all semester. I say afternoon because it was not morning. Alas, the curse of reading days before final exams--when you don't have to get up for class anymore, suddenly priorities rearrange themselves. I find myself awake until easily 2 AM (I haven't gone to bed before 2:30 all week), which is neither good for my schoolwork nor me. Although I keep doing it, which would suggest otherwise...

Today my FHE family and I went to the Oquirrh Mt. (seriously, who chose the spelling for this?) Temple together and did baptisms. This is a list of the temples I have attended to date:

This is the Oquirrh Mt. Temple. It is proof that temples should be placed in the most secluded locations available. Building a temple on a hill may give it the best visibility, but making visitors with wet hair walk through excessively freezing wind on their way out can be less than delightful. Actually, I really liked the Oquirrh Mt. Temple. I thought it had one of the nicest baptistries I've been to yet this year.

Raleigh, North Carolina, obviously. I love this temple. It's funny, though, because since coming here I've realized exactly how small it is. But it is beautiful and perfect in its smallness and it was my first one.



The first time I saw the Provo, Utah Temple my Mom announced that it was the ugliest temple she had ever seen and that it looked like a birthday cake. I stubbornly insist that it is a fountain, as it is supposed to be, but I have to admit that my experiences inside it tend to be a little more anxious and stressful than the others, probably because I've only gone in the morning before classes. However, every time I walk onto the grounds I feel the Spirit whoosh over me and it's a wonderful feeling. I had a picnic dinner beside one of the fountains on a date once. They play the organ while you are waiting to do ordinances--it's always really full. There's even a line at 5:30 in the morning. I think the sound of running water is one of the most beautiful things ever and I really love the fountains at the Provo Temple.

The Mt. Timpanogos Temple is stunning at night. The stained glass on the steeple is lit up and the sky is a violet color and it just takes my breath away. I love that you can just walk into this one and they will keep your group together. It is so clean and there are paintings on the walls. I suppose there are always paintings on the walls of temples, but maybe there were more than most or they stuck out to me or something because I noticed them more than usual. The layout is a little different. I had a special experience with this temple as I forgot my recommend (don't rub it in, I already felt like an idiot =P) and the temple workers were so kind to me. They actually came up to check on me after one of my 'brothers' asked them to and they called my bishop to let me into the baptistry. Then they put me with my group even though I was half an hour late going in. I did the entire process in about 20 minutes. That is the fastest I have ever done baptisms haha.

Can you believe that my roommate lives literally a block from the Manti, Utah Temple?? It's crazy! You can see the whole thing from her front porch! I think it looks like a castle. It's weird in that it has a separate building where you go before you enter the baptistry to wait until they say they are ready for you. The font is metal and there are murals of the Savior's baptism and other important baptism related events in the scriptures on the walls. It's one of the older temples--the oldest I've been in. Someday I want to go to the Salt Lake Temple. I had no idea you could just walk in!

I've been to several other temples, but not done ordinances in them. It's still really strange to me that when they go on vacation to visit places people here always want to do temple work in the various temples there. I love it, but it's one of the few things I haven't adjusted to about Utah. So great =). Okay, well I...zzz.