Never Gonna Know If You Never Even Try!

WELL. Today got off to kind of a lazy start, I won't lie. I slept through my alarm and ended up missing seminary (which was kinda disappointing because I look forward to going on Mondays). So after sleeping in, I decided to give myself a relaxed day. Here's what it was supposed to look like...

That's right. Harry Potter and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (my all-time favorites). However, my plans were changed this afternoon when we got a call from a friend who's reindeer had escaped and was now running loose in a bunch of hayfields.

Well, it's not like I could say no to an adventure like that! So, my afternoon was spent running around Bodenburg loop chasing a rouge reindeer. And in the end, it was I who made the catch (not that that's extremely impressive considering the deer was exhausted from running around for three straight hours, BUT STILL.) It was fabulous.

Anyway. Other than this fantastic story of my day, I have a couple pictures that I wouldn't mind sharing with you. So I'll do that now.

 (Butters was getting nosy with the camera.)

(The view from my pasture. Am I not the luckiest person ever?)

 (It's that time of year! Fluffy horses are the best. And those ears are my favorite, won't lie.)

(This kid makes me laugh. Crazy!)

 (So for photography class, we have to take portraits using only window light. Here's one I got today, of my full-time model.)

Well, that's a wrap. Until next time!

_______________

50 Ways to Say Goodbye - Train 

(This song just makes my life better.) 

All Day, Every Day

When I made the decision earlier this year to (mostly) get out of the animal raising business, I naturally thought that would mean life would calm down a little.

HA. That's a laugh.

The drama started about, oh, ten days ago. Henry, one of my reindeer steers, started having problems with his right eye. So, like the farmers we are, my mother and I decided to go the "fix-all" route and try penicillin and electrolytes. For those of you who don't know, they're kinda like the duct tape and WD40 of the livestock world.

Unfortunately, however, by Tuesday morning when I went to do morning feedings things were not looking good. Henry was in a lot of pain and his eye looked downright freaky: milky white and blood shot. So, my electrolytes having failed me, I did the next best thing and called around to find a vet.

Luckily, I got ahold of Dr. Susan Dent and she was able to come out within the next few hours. Within the first few seconds of the examination, Dr. Dent let me know that Henry's eye was pretty much passed saving. Chances that he'll ever regain sight there are pretty slim. However, she was pretty optimistic about the rest of Henry and got to work.

Praying like crazy, I held him in a head lock while she gave him two injections into his eye; anti-inflamatory and antibiotics. Then, using cat gut (which was kind of interesting), Dr. Dent sewed his eye shut. I won't lie to you... I couldn't really watch. It kinda disturbed me.

Henry did great though and to finish it off, he got a sub-q shot of Nuflor antibiotics. Now, we just have to wash his eye out with saline and administer antibiotics four-six times daily. It's really not that bad; it could be so much worse.

All in all, my life hasn't really calmed down, even lacking sheep, goats, and poultry. Fabulous.

 (Henry's sewn eye. Hopefully it doesn't hurt much anymore...)

 (Today Henry was back to his perky self. This is his good side.)

 (The cutest deer that ever existed, aka, Benjamin. Even though he's almost all growed up, he's just a kid a heart.)

 (My big, beautiful Borie with her quarter horse walk.)

(Kayleena's fluffy pony, Princess Buttercup.)

 (As you may have noticed, I photograph Titan alot. He's just very photogenic.)

And I was going to post a song for today, but instead, it's a mini-playlist kinda day. So here you go...

-Light Up the Sky - The Afters
(I'm a convert. They're amazing.^)

-I Forgive You - Kelly Clarkson

-Back to Back - The Ready Set

-The Only One - Hot Chelle Rae

-Good Girl - Carrie Underwood
(And a little bit o' country to wrap the whole thing up.^)

Perspective

The last couple days have been kinda tough. You know when all those little things just kinda get to you? Yeah, that's how it was for me. It seemed like every time I turned around, something even worse would happen.

For example, at one point during these last few days, I was deep in the "doldrums" so to speak, driving home, and I was seriously doubting things could get much more miserable... then I hit a cat.

So all in all, I was a mess.

Well, this morning I woke up to General Conference and I got a chance to listen to our prophet, Thomas S. Monson speak. And that was exactly what I needed. He spoke about how easy it is to, in our world today, see all of the negative things around us. Because there's a boat-load of them. (I'm paraphrasing.) However, we need to flip that around and take a look at all of our blessings. Because there's even more of those. President Monson said to be sure not to discount even the small, seemingly trivial blessings. And by doing this, we can find even greater happiness.

Well, after hearing that, obviously I couldn't continue being a downer and decided that today I would make a list of my blessings. And since I type better than I can write, I'm going to do that here. Now, this list might turn out to be quite extensive, or maybe not, I don't know, but there's no reason for you to feel obligated to read it if it does. This for me more than for you. Sorry.

Alright, I'll get started now.

Blessings:
 "I am thankful for..."

1. My whole physical body.
2. My health.
3. My family... each and every member of it.
4. My home.
5. My close, best friends.
6. My other friends, that sometimes I might not appreciate as much...
7. My education.
8. The 4-H program. (Don't know where I'd be without it.)
9. My teachers/leaders through the church, youth court, 4-H, and all the other programs I'm in.
10. The Young Women's program.
11. Technology.
12. Christ's atonement.
13. Our prophet and his apostles.
14. And all other church leaders and those who make it all possible.
15. Missionaries.
16. This country that I live in.
17. The freedoms and privileges that I have.
18. Music.
19. The ability to drive;vehicles to drive.
20. My teeth.
21. Safety and security.
22. My horse.
23. My reindeer.
24. The opportunity I have to hold a job.
25. My camera and photography.
26. Our military.
27. My older brother Donny who serves in the military.
28. My older sister Stacy who's my example and friend.
29. The ability to feel sadness sometimes so I can appreciate happiness.
30. The opportunity I'll have to go to college.
31. The opportunity I had to be born into this church.
32. The scriptures.
33. The hours of practice that helped me to learn piano.
34. Alaska.
35. The mountains.
36. Books.
37. Jessie.
38. Running water.
39. Electricity.
40. Warmth.
41. The fact that I never have to go hungry.
42. The fact that I always have clothes to wear.
43. Both my parents - even if I might sometimes think otherwise.
44. The ability to communicate to people I love who are far away.
45. Prayer.
46. My Heavenly Father.
47. This opportunity to be here on earth.
48. Good humor and laughter.
49. My cowboy boots.
50. The knowledge I have of right and wrong.
51. The Holy Ghost.
52. The time I have to spend with the people I love.
53. Memories.
54. My patriarchal blessing.
55. The priesthood.
56. Callings in the church that I've held.
57. Girls Camp and the lessons I've learned there.
58. My free agency.
59. The mistakes I've made, so now I know better.
60. The chance I have to work towards Eternal Salvation.
61. The temple.
62. The opportunities to do service.
63. The times I've been served by others.
64. My decision to be baptized.
65. Comfort.
66. The knowledge that I have a brother, Jesus, who loved me so much he allowed himself to suffer and then be crucified for my faults.
67. Children.
68. The chance I'll have to be a mother, whether here or after.
69. Sunshine.
70. Being able to reach many of my goals.
71. Doctors, firefighters, police officers, and others who keep us safe.
72. The fall season.
73. Peanut butter.
74. General Conference and what I can learn from it.

I'm going to stop there for now. Looking at the list, my thoughts definitely aren't in any order, so you'll have to forgive me for that. Or just deal with it. I was just trying to get all of those little things that I sometimes don't think of.

Well, I think I'm done here for today. I'm going to go listen to the next session of Conference...

___________________

Song of the Day: For the First Time- Boyce Avenue

Take Two

I know, I know. Two posts in one day? It's a bit of an overkill. However, I decided to make an exception today.

Seeing as I just finished my self-portrait assignment and I wanted to share the pictures here. Facebook just doesn't show the quality. And my camera deserves more credit than that.

So, here is what I have gotten self-portrait wise.

 (This one was kind of an editing experiment. Not completely and totally sure what I think.)

Okay, the top one isn't exactly a self-portrait, it's just a picture I took and kinda liked. So there you go. I'm done on this blog for today.

Once Upon a Time...

... The price of gas didn't matter, physics didn't exist, and college was a million years away.

Sometimes I wish I was 12 again; I wish I could go back to that ^ time. BUT, it's not gonna happen. So I'm building a bridge and getting over it.

After all, this week has been a relatively good week so far.

Highlights: Got a much needed new phone, spent some time with my best friend in this world, saw a couple more pictures from my senior photo shoot, and finally got caught up in my Spanish class.

Not so amazing parts: Still haven't gotten the 25-50 self portraits needed for photography class tomorrow, watched the presidential debate (which was just depressing), and have yet to get the sixth Harry Potter book.

Overall though, I think the good outweighs the bad. Which is what matters.

Anyway, here's a couple more of the pics I'll have to choose from to find my senior photo. All photo credit goes to Tammy Smith with her incredible photography skills.

And there you go.

Lastly, here's my song for the day.
I Wanna Dance With Somebody
I love Glee.