Month: June 2014

Duckies and puppies

June 26, 2014 — 2 Comments

We’ve had a few animal visitors lately.
Two ducks who my good friend found on the freeway and saved.
And Otis, this adorable puppy we rented for a while to cheer up a rough day.
Other than that, I work, go to KSL, work, go to KSL, eat, and sometimes have fun. It’s a pretty sweet deal if you ask me!
Happy Thursday everyone!

Always a ballerina

June 22, 2014 — 1 Comment
Hello friends:)
First of all, thank you for your sweet response to my last post. It was wonderful to get such positive, loving feedback from everyone. You are all amazing!
Second, KSL internship has officially started. It’s insane. I love it, it’s so busy, overwhelming, and wonderful. Watch carefully! I’ll be either writing stories or be helping work on interviews for the 5, 6, and 10 o’clock shows on Channel 5!
I got to go see this beautiful sister of mine dance this weekend. I miss being the one packing my bag full of water and fake eyelashes, I miss jumping in rosen to make sure I wouldn’t slip, jabbing another bobby pin in my hair just to make sure it wouldn’t fall out, being exhausted and out of breath, but so happy. But I realized this weekend as I watched the recital, that I’ll always be a ballerina. Because of the toe shoes hanging on my wall, because of my urge to throw my leg up on any surface like a barre, because I stand in first position, because I sometimes I notice I’m doing ballet hands, because dancing is home to me. 
I’m so happy I got to dance with my two beautiful sisters for a few years, and even luckier that I got to spend my growing up years dancing.

After a weekend of running around and some relaxing, I’m ready for another week of work and KSL!
Happy Sunday everyone!

Why I won’t be serving a mission

June 18, 2014 — 6 Comments

*Disclaimer* This post is not meant to be rude, controversial, or judgmental. It’s just my thoughts that I’m hoping will help others.

In recent months, I’ve heard lots of talk about LDS girls and missions. I’m sure you all have too.

For those of you who don’t know, I’ll break it down for you!
In my Church, we have the opportunity to go on missions. This allows us to go to a different state or country and teach other people about our religion, give service, and grow as an individual. They go by Sister and Elder, serve for 18 months or 2 years, talk to their families only weekly through letters and emails, and devote all their time to God. For boys, this mission service is a requirement. For girls, it’s an option. In October 2012, a major announcement came out about the age at which men and women could serve these missions. Boys can go at age 18 or after high school, and girls can go at age 19. 
This obviously lead to a huge surge of people wanting to go on mission, including me. I thought serving a mission would be wonderful, a great opportunity for me to learn and grow, and especially serve Heavenly Father and others. I decided to make it a matter of prayer and study.
I was shocked with the prompting I felt after praying.
The answer was no.
I kept thinking, praying, waiting, studying, hoping, and the answer was still no. I decided to stop asking and live my life, telling myself maybe the timing was off or I needed to learn patience.
Right before I came back to school this year, I was very confused, wanting to ask again if I should go on a mission, wondering if going back to school was the right move.
I won’t share the experience, but I’ll tell you I am certain that the answer was still no. I was supposed to stay here in Provo, Utah, go to school, and stay on the path I was on. 
I’m not supposed to serve a mission. I’m quite sure I will be more blessed for being obedient, than I would be for leaving when I’m not supposed to.
I’ve heard things from boys saying they won’t marry a girl who hasn’t served a mission, I’ve heard people say “A mission is for everyone, you should go!” and “You’ll be so blessed for going on a mission. You’ll never have another chance to be that close to the spirit.” I’ve heard people speculate about why certain girls weren’t going, they didn’t love the gospel enough or wanted to get married, I’ve heard people say that God will never tell you not to do a good thing.
Don’t get me wrong, I am so happy so many girls are going. I love that people are hearing the gospel because of missionaries. Some people may say I hate missionaries, and that’s not true. I hate the pressure that is being placed on every, single person to serve a mission. I am all for boys serving missions if they are worthy and healthy. I am all for girls serving missions if they feel they are supposed to. I am all for leaders and teachers helping people make the decisions, and learning how to share the gospel regardless of if they serve a mission or no. And classifying it as that. 
But I will not be going.
And let me just clear up why I won’t be serving a mission.
Because I asked, and the answer was no. And that’s good enough for me.

This doesn’t mean I don’t have a testimony of my church, this doesn’t mean I don’t love God. In fact, it means I love him enough to obey him, even when I don’t understand. It doesn’t mean I’m not good enough to serve a mission, it doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be good at sharing the gospel, and it doesn’t even mean that I don’t want to go. I do want to. But I’m not.

I know I am supposed to be doing good things here. I know I am supposed to be learning things here. I know Heavenly Father will give me the trials, blessings, experiences, people to help, things to learn, knowledge, spiritual strengthening, and anything else I could get on a mission, right here. 

And that’s good enough for me. 
*If you have questions about my religion, comments about your thoughts on LDS missions, or any thoughts at all, comment below or email me at mrose.richards@gmail.com*


Father’s Day and things

June 16, 2014 — 1 Comment

Friday the 13th wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be! I finished up my last class of spring semester (YAY, just final projects and tests left to do!) Seriously I wasn’t sure if I was going to survive this class. It involved doing two news stories a week, on top of the regular classwork, my other class, work, and being a college student. All in all, very stressful but very good. I learned so much and I’m really happy with how everything turned out.

THIS GIRL IS DONE WITH SCHOOL FOR THE SUMMER

So now the rest of my summer is filled with:

Working (Take a listen to The Matt Townsend Show to hear what I do)

Internship (I start TOMORROW)

Playing (I have a lot of bucket list to complete)

Hang Time with some pals. We are being gymnasts….

Family time (I think I’m going home almost every weekend this month for one thing or another)

Father’s Day dinner–Tabbouleh, French bread, and a whole COW.

Movies (I have a mile-long list of things I still need to see)

Reading (Is a book a week too much?)

And being very, very happy.

Just the view of all of Provo. Beautiful, right?

Life is grand folks. Anyone who tells you differently is selling something.

I LOVE YOU DAD. I rocked bangs, also. 

No for Father’s Day. My dad is one of the greatest people in the world. I am so lucky to have him in my life, and I wouldn’t trade him for anything. I love you Dad, more than anything! Thank you for being the person who showed me what I deserved from guys, and for always pushing me to do my very best. I love you FOREVER!

Why am I so bad at blogging….

June 11, 2014 — 6 Comments

I am the worst. I had planned to post a big long thing for my sister’s birthday and blog a lot more and be better…hello two weeks later and I haven’t posted a thing!

So here’s what’s been going on:

So first of all…MY SISTER IS 17 YEARS OLD!! Darling Olivia is such an amazing person. She is so caring and wonderful, and I’m so lucky I got to be her sister, and friend. I love you Livi Loo, you are my sunshine and make me smile and I wouldn’t be who I am without you. I hope year 17 is just delightful and full of laughter and smiles.

Also in the past few weeks I have been:

Missing this best friend of mine. He’s off being the best EFY Counselor out there, and having way too much fun!

Working my tail off for school. Just two more days. I can do it…right?

Losing half of the pictures/texts on my phone. So that was a bummer. Back up your phone ladies and gents.

Attending lots of ward events with these two, and sometimes they even match!

Visiting Catholic mass for a class assignment, it was wonderful by the way.

Practicing to float the Teton River with my family by going fishing. Something about fishing makes summer real. Also. Thoughts on my hair….I’m thinking of chopping it like this!

Meeting Meri from Sister Wives (TLC) at the Rooftop Concert, where I also re-fell in love with We Are The Strike. 

 Seeing bits and pieces of my amazing family.

Writing weekly letters to my favorite missionary.

Working at BYU Radio and loving every second.

Gearing up to start my internship NEXT WEEK.

Visiting with friends, attending bonfires, reading lots of news, trying to find time to read books and go to the pool, living and laughing with Court and Rachel, blasting music in the car, wearing too many blazers, meeting all kinds of interesting people, and mainly just loving life.

So happy June so far my friends! I promise after my classes are over I’ll be a zillion times better at blogging. And if I’m not…well…punch me in the arm.

I love you dearly, and hope you are all having a fantastic summer!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Last thought…I’m considering changing my blog title, theme, general idea….to something other than about being a redhead. Let me know what you think:)