April 29, 2010

Thursday

So, the last few days, since my parents left and life got back to normal (a little bit, I suppose…since we weren’t in school). Mainly, Monday and Tuesday I spent going through all of my stuff and de-junking. We found a couple of cockroaches in one of my boxes and had to spray all around our house just in case. It was so gross!! So disgusting! But I got through it successfully and did a lot of de-junking, got rid of a lot of stuff that was unnecessary and reorganized my things, boxes, binders, etc. Now I only have one box of things for memories’ sake, as opposed to 4.

Yesterday, Daniel and I went to the temple in the morning. I was falling asleep, way bad, and having a hard time paying attention. But when I was in the celestial room, I was just thinking about what I should do, or rather, what God would have me do. And I thought, I need to make some new goals. So, I am going to review my last quarter’s goals, the ones I made for last semester.

I did not do very well with my goals after, like, half-way through February; or even with some goals, I did not do very well at all.

·       Health: January, part of February, and part of March I did very well with running as I had planned; life got busy…as it always does, with school and everything. My training schedule went down the drain in February. I lost about 10 pounds (although I’m not sure if that’s very accurate, because I haven’t weighed myself in about 2 months … but I can feel on myself that I’ve slimmed down quite a bit). Healthier eating was a lot easier in this goal: dairy wasn’t in our house for four months, we ate a lot more veggies and fruits, and after I bought the Food Mover, serving sizes and cutting back on sweets was a lot easier.

·       Spirituality: did not go very well at all. I read scriptures everyday, but never had enough time in the mornings to do it then, as I planned. And sometimes the study session was very short. I stopped writing in my journal half-way through February because I was so frustrated with my life. School was just eating me up, and I didn’t want to spend my time stressing and complaining in my journal, so I just decided not to at all. Praying earlier in the evening was a harder habit to gain than I thought it was. So that wasn’t attained either.

·       School: as far as this portion of my life, it was the most successful; I applied for internships and got one in DC for the summer, which is exciting. I have also done a bunch of research about personal training as a future option, and since my internship happens to be based on fitness and instruction, I figure this is one step further than I had planned in preparing myself.

·       Service: was a hard one to do, simply because this semester was busier than I bargained for; I did TOPS with Daniel, I was consistent with Visiting Teaching, and I tried to take every opportunity for service through my ward as I could. Also, Daniel and I went to the temple every week. Family History did not get done at all, although, I do have an account with the new church website.

So that is how I did. Not great. I didn’t accomplish all that I had wanted to, but I didn’t fail completely. I think for this summer’s goals, I am going to make fewer goals. One problem I have sometimes with making goals is that I tend to make more goals than I can handle in a given time. So, I will perhaps just choose one goal for each separate area of my life that I wish to work on. That way I don’t have too much to change.

Summer goals 2010:

Health and Fitness

·       Complete internship and work hard

·       Work out 5 days a week

Spirituality

·       Scripture study 30 minutes daily

Future

·       Find a job for next year (fall 2010-august 2011)

Service

·       Temple attendance, as usual (once a week)

·       Family history

Family

·       Call my family once a week

·       Learn to be a better wife

So we’ll see how this goes over summer.

After the temple yesterday, Daniel and I wanted to serve at the MTC, but they were full. So we came home, ate, I looked for a job while Daniel cleaned the windows inside and out, and then we started packing our stuff up. We actually got a lot done in only a couple of hours. We ate dinner together and then watched “Parent Trap” on TV before going to bed.

 April 26, 2010

Monday

              Well, last week was an exciting week. I finished my last final (also my hardest final, Developmental Biology) on Wednesday at about 2pm. I studied pretty hard for finals, but got distracted a lot too…we’ll see how my grades turn out. I went to pick up my cap and gown after my last final, which was really exciting. I even got a free T-shirt!! It felt so good to be done with finals. Plus, my family was coming.

              When Daniel and I got home that afternoon, we spent almost the rest of the day cleaning the house. Daniel cleaned the bathroom for me (I hate cleaning the bathroom), and I cleaned the whole kitchen, including the fridge and floors. It took me FOREVER, but it felt good, actually; especially to be doing something other than study. Plus, our house really needed it!

              Later that evening, Adam and Liz McMurtrey came over to watch a movie, eat grilled burgers, and play a quick game. It was really fun! We could play and hang out with people without feeling guilty that we weren’t studying. And we haven’t been hanging out with them much lately because of school.

              My parents came really late that night … or really early the next morning, whichever way you choose to look at it. Daniel and I went to bed at around 1 in the morning, and they came about 3 hours later. They woke us up to let them in, and then we talked for a while and went to bed.

              They brought my piano with them. For the past couple weeks or so, Daniel has been talking secretly with my parents, and I couldn’t know what it was about. They’d been planning to bring the piano for me, as a graduation present. So, they moved my piano in the next day, along with other things that my parents brought me from home. They tried so hard to keep it a secret … but Daniel let it slip on Wednesday, before they came. He was writing a contract for the people sub-leasing out apartment and was listing all the furniture in our apartment in the contract and I was reading it. But, now we have a piano in our apartment!! That’s so exciting! It was so sweet of my husband and parents to arrange all of that.

              Graduation Commencement was around 3pm that day. I lined up with all the other graduates, and we had processional into the Marriot Center, passing all the professors and leaders of BYU. It was so cool! The program was really good; everyone that spoke did a good job, and it was just way cool! My parents, Daniel, and Mom Holbrook came, and Mom Holbrook even brought me a fun lai. We went to dinner at Zupa’s, and it was so good, and then we went to take pictures with Brandon McDaniel, from our ward. He does photography semi-professionally.

              My convocation ceremonies took place at 8 o’clock in the morning the next day, Friday, which was way early in the morning. And it was really long; it was all of the college of life sciences, which is the largest college at BYU, so it took a long time for each graduate to get up and accept their “diploma” (actually, we just got our diploma covers … we don’t actually get our real diplomas until later; they send it to us in the mail … just to make sure that we pass all of our classes). It was so cool to get up there, have them call my name (butcher it, more like), and accept my “diploma”. Dr. Winder was the one to hand it to me, which was so cool, because he was my Endocrinology professor this last semester, and I really love him. He’s such an awesome man, so kind and light-hearted. And I really loved having him as a professor. It was fun, I sat next to some members of my classes that I’ve done projects with and gotten to know a bit this semester. One guy, Kirk Hill, and I both brought books to the ceremony and started reading about half-way through the program. It was pretty funny.

              After graduation was over, my family went to lunch at Zupa’s again, with Cody’s family. It was way good, and fun to be with them. Cody’s mom is a dental hygienist, and she spent most of the time telling me about dental hygiene and basically trying to convince me that it is the right way to go. It still sounds good to me… just timing is going to be an issue in the next few years.

              We spent some time that day napping and lazing around before going to South Jordan to have dinner with Daniel’s parents at an Italian Restaurant that they really enjoy. It was awesome; Dan’s parents, my parents and us. We stayed there for at least 2 hours, just talking and eating. It was really fun. I loved being with my family, celebrating my graduation!! It was very exciting.

              On Saturday, I don’t really remember all that happened. We slept in, hung out, had pancakes. Steve and Inga and Baby Ava came over in the late afternoon to visit with us all, and then Tom and Janae Pettit came over as well. It was just a big party, we all ate some of Dan and my delicious homemade fries and talked. Daniel went to the temple in the evening, and when everyone else left, Dad and Mom took Brianna and me to the BYU Creamery for some burgers.

              Daniel and I had church early on Sunday, and my parents left after we did sometime, so when we got back, they were gone. We took a long nap, and then went to South Jordan for dinner. It’s Mom Holbrook’s birthday on the 30^th of this month, and so her birthday dinner was yesterday. Dan and I made our now famous baked fries. And we had a really good time.

              It was a fun weekend. I loved being with my family. I love that my parents could come see me graduate. I love that I got to hang out with them and with Dan’s family all weekend. It was fun.

April 11, 2010

Sunday

I haven’t really wanted to write the last few months. I have had a really hard time with school this semester. It’s been one of my hardest semesters of school ever. My Developmental Biology class was giving me such a hard time. I was working on my research proposal with Melina Flake, my partner. But we weren’t getting anywhere, and Dr. Barrow kept telling us that what we had was not what he was looking for. It was a huge guessing game of what he wanted from us. Very frustrating! I can’t count how many times I cried over this project. I also wasn’t doing well on my exams in that class. I would study so hard for the tests, and end up getting a C. What was really hard was that I was trying so hard and not getting anywhere. Now, the proposal is written, I got a 92% on the third exam and things are looking more promising.

I only have 2 days left of classes and then finals. It’s so weird to think that my college experience is over. As I have reflected over this last semester, it’s amazing how much I learned. It was a hard semester. Joining Student Council half way through a school year was a big challenge for me. I didn’t feel like I fit in very well, and I didn’t have a good view of what council was all about. Also, my leaders wouldn’t give me assignments, almost as if they didn’t trust me to do them. But I worked through the challenges, with much difficulty. And now, it’s over, and everything has turned out really well.

When I started out the semester, I wasn’t planning on working as hard as I have during other semesters. I was just feeling very done with school, and I figured it wouldn’t matter too much if I didn’t do as well this semester, because I’ve worked so hard in the past. That didn’t turn out to be the case. At the beginning of the semester, I did a lot of other things besides school: worked out a lot, ran, read good books. But as we turned the corner into February, I realized that I can’t not worry about school. I have to do my best. I have to work hard in school; I can’t just let it slide a little bit. And I’ve done a lot better than I thought I would. I have gotten better grades on some of my tests this semester than I have in a LONG time.

I have really loved my Endocrinology class. It’s my capstone course, with focus on the endocrine system. But I love how it has taken everything that I’ve learned in my major courses and brings it all together into one class. It’s been a good summary. Plus, I had the best teacher ever! Dr. William Winder is the world expert in his field, which is related to endocrinology. He is an older man, but he has a good sense of humor, he is really sensitive and kind. He is not afraid to laugh at himself and he just seems so lighthearted and jovial. I want to be just like him when I grow up.

Actually, I have been really blessed with great teachers this semester. It’s been a hard semester, but it’s been good, too. I have had a lot of people helping me out. Dr. Poole is my Advanced Molecular Bio and Lab professor, and he’s been a great teacher. He is so kind and really makes an effort to connect with his students. It was always my favorite in the lab, we would all be waiting for our projects to progress and we would find fun ways to keep ourselves busy. We watched movies on Youtube, studied, played games, sang, etc., and Dr. Poole would always join in with our fun. We both share a love of Veggie Tales!! He just seemed to care so much about his students and how they were doing. And he was just a fun teacher! Dr. Barrow, obviously, gave me much angst with how difficult his class was; but he’s a really kind man, very sensitive and brilliant. I’ve just been so cursed and blessed this semester.

I’m so excited for the semester to be over!! And to graduate!! But that also means that I have to figure out what to do with myself. I’m sure it’s going to be an adjustment. I did get an internship for the summer in DC, which is such a blessing! I got an internship with Health Fitness Corporation, and I’ll be teaching classes and doing fitness counseling, which is something I want to do anyway. I’m just glad that I’ll get some experience. That will make me more marketable. The internship is only part-time, so I’m also looking for a part-time job to go along with it. So that I can make some money this summer too. Once we get back to Utah, Daniel will naturally be taking classes, and I will look for a job. I would like to work in a lab, doing something that is a little more related to my major.

I’ve really been struggling with what I should be doing with my life, or even what I WANT to do. I don’t even know that part of it…which makes it more difficult to decide what to do. It’s interesting to me that now, as I’m ready to graduate, people are asking what I’m going to do. A lot of my professors and mentors at BYU are sort of pushing me into going into a career rather than stay at home with my family. At BYU!! It’s so ironic. I mean, I know that I could go to professional school and have a family at the same time. It would be hard, but doable. But I think about not spending time with my kids, and forfeiting my right to raise them and teach them myself, and I just cringe! That’s not something I think I would even want to do. Now, I may change my tune later, when I actually start having kids. But kids are only kids for a limited time, and I think I would want to enjoy and take advantage of that. It’s something that I was asking myself during conference last weekend. And I felt like a major theme of conference was family and teaching children. I took that to be an answer. God is more concerned with my work in the home with my children than with my work in the world. Maybe I won’t need to have a successful career to be satisfied with my life and my work.

I am blessed with a wonderful husband. I’ve been so busy with school, and he has been so good about doing housework and making food and taking care of me. I feel like a major slacker where the house is concerned, but I’m really grateful to have such an awesome, helpful, clean husband. I seriously had a hand in picking a spouse.

These have been my major thoughts of late. I’m excited to be able to do other things that I have wanted to do, but have put off because of school. I have learned so much this semester. Especially about persevering and not giving up. I made it through the worst of the semester (as mentioned before), and I also finished my independent study Spanish class a month ago. I’m pretty proud of myself, actually. I feel like I’ve worked hard in school, I have my Spanish minor, and I majored in something challenging. And even though I wanted to give up at times, I made it, and successfully, too.

Now, on to bigger and better things!

 Leslie Holbrook

April 5, 2010

Council Reflection Paper

 

            When I decided to join the council, I was looking for an opportunity to serve and to get involved in my college. At the beginning of the semester, when I started on the council, I had a hard time seeing the bigger picture. My committee was working on projects, but I didn’t have a really good idea of what we were doing and why we were doing it. In addition, I had a hard time feeling like I was part of the council; much of the time, I didn’t have an assignment and I felt like my leaders didn’t trust me with assignments.

            However, part-way through the semester, I started to feel more comfortable in the situation and I began volunteering more for projects. During the semester, I mainly worked on two things. First of all, I was the first one to set up Council Corner in Weekly Announcements. I contacted Danny Boysen and told him very specifically what it was that we wanted to put in our newly made Council Corner. After that first time of setting it up, my committee divvied up the assignment of updating the Council Corner, and eventually, we assigned two specific people to always be in charge of it. Secondly, I worked on finding out more about the display screens that were supposed to go up in the Widtsoe Building. I contacted Keven Williamson, who is manager of the project, and asked him about the project. Later on, I went to his office with Liz, and we talked with him about the situation. The project was a bigger deal than anyone in our college really knew, I suspect. And so, our committee decided not to pursue this project because of the new building.

            In addition to these main projects, I also worked on smaller projects with other members of the committee: I helped to advertise the Learning Center, put Choose to Give together and man a booth, and give counsel on the new building and college website. Overall, I think this was a very productive semester. Our committee accomplished many different projects over the course of the semester.

            As I was thinking of what I wanted to make my personal leadership goal at the beginning of the semester, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. But I kept having the thought that I should work on being more outgoing and social, that I should be more outspoken, contrary to my nature. I tried to push this thought away, but I couldn’t shake it. I knew it would be a hard thing for me to accomplish. Eventually, I made the decision to make it my goal anyway. And it’s amazing how things changed! More than any other semester at school, I have felt more outgoing and friendly to strangers, I have felt more a part of the college, I have made more friends and, overall, I feel better about myself. Looking back on the semester, I can only think of a few instances when I used my leadership goal specifically for council purposes. But I feel like I have grown tremendously as a person.

            I met a lot of people this semester, mainly in my classes, and I have used my goal to be more outgoing in order to lead some of my group projects. In addition, as I worked on my goal in council, during committee time, I voiced my opinion often and volunteered for projects. I think that as a result of this effort, my committee cohorts began to take me more seriously. Through working on my goal and meeting new people, I found it a lot easier to talk to them about council and hear their opinions about certain topics. I got feedback and gave information about the new building, different events happening through the college, and other issues.

            This goal has helped me to be more of a leader. I have recognized the importance of speaking up and meeting new people in being a leader. It is hard to be a good leader and be shy about things, not be willing to voice an opinion, and not make an effort to know who you are leading. Being on the council and having this leadership goal, with all of its new challenges, has been a wonderful experience.