A week in Paradise!

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This past week I had the opportunity to go home to my amazing little town of Panguitch, Utah! I loved being home. It was just the perfect time to be there when the farmers are getting ready to cut their hay (fresh cut alfalfa is one of my favorite smells in the world). Along with the amazing smell of the fresh air, I love the quiet. Unlike being in the middle of a city where you can hear things going on at all times, I had time to just sit and enjoy the peace and quiet.

The balloon festival happened to be taking place while I was at home. Another one of my favorite things is waking up and watching the balloons every morning. I love the sound that hot air balloons make. It is almost relaxing. This year was especially exciting because for the first time a balloon landed right by my house. My mom, Cameron and I got to help take the balloon down.

I also had the opportunity to go to the Mormon Miracle Pageant in Manti while I was home. One of my best friends and I went one night. The last time I watched the pageant was when I was in third or fourth grade, so I didn't remember a whole lot about it. It was nice to go refresh my mind on what it was all about. Watching the process of the Restoration of the church along with scenes from the Book of Mormon strengthened my testimony so much. Something about seeing it acted out right in front of me made everything so much more real in my mind. It was definitely a very amazing experience.

My week was made complete on Saturday night when we went to the balloon glow. It is always my favorite part of the balloon festival. I love seeing the balloons glow in the darkness!

It was an amazing week. Definitely a very good week to choose to go visit my favorite little town!

The Joy of BYU

Today I had some free time after I finished all the homework I needed to get done. So since it was nice weather outside today I decided to take my scriptures and Ensign with me to the duck pond. It was so nice to just sit on the grass and read words from the prophets. My ward gave us a challenge to read a session of conference each week. I cannot even express the difference my life has seen since I have started doing this. My days seem to go by so much smoother and I have a much happier mood. It is amazing to me how much actively learning about the gospel changes your day.

As I was sitting at the duck pond I realized just how lucky I was to be here at BYU. This is such an amazing school. How lucky am I to be able to go read my scriptures in the middle of public without people walking by giving weird looks. I could not ask for a better school to be at.