9 weeks

The last 9 weeks were some of the hardest and absolute most fun of my life! Being an EFY couselor for 9 weeks at BYU was an absolute dream come true, and I'll tell you a little bit about what I learned and why it was such a blast!

week 1!

* I got to be "mother," to about 300 "children," ages 14-18! There is something truly invigorating about being around the youth of the church, and I think that is one reason why it's possible for us counselors to be able to function all summer long! They taught me more than I was ever expecting to learn from them. SO much. And their strength is truly inspiring, and I fully understand why they are referred to the "Royal Generation," or the "Chosen Generation." They are some of the best people that will ever walk this earth.

Aaron! (It's hard for me to choose favorites.... but he is definitely one of them!)

My babies from week 2! (tied for my favorite week! no words to describe how amazing this week was and it was all because of THEM!)

Daisy and Brittany! (these girls weren't just my babies... they were serious some of my great friends at EFY! Love you babies!)

Kassin and Michael! (same with these two clowns!!)

* My Co-Counselors were phenomenal! Like, some of the best counselors in EFY history! I can't even tell you how much I learned from each one of them and how inspired I was by them, becasue you sure learn a lot about somebody by watching them interact with teenagers. Working in a partnership is humbling and inspiring.

Kenneth! (weird.. the ONLY "Co" picture from all summer...?)

* On that note, I met some of the best people I'll ever know in my life at EFY! There is a reason why 1 in 20 people get hired for EFY and that was proven to me in so many of the counselors I've met. I know that some of these friendships I had before earth and we re-connected here!

Aimee and Christine! Worked with them on our BC team! Indescribable how much i love these girls. (Special shout out to Aimee! XOXOXOXOXOOXOXOXO)

Julia! This girl is an angel. So blessed to be friends with her!

* I had the very humbling, rare, incredible opportunity of being a BC for a couple of weeks! BC stands for Buliding Counselor which means that you're a counselor to the counselors and that you're more involved the "legistics," of EFY. I have zero idea as to why I was given this wonderful opportunity, but it was such a huge blessing and highlight of my whole EFY experience! My team, "The Averngers," are some of the abolute best people I've ever known in my life. Inspiring, life changing, hilarious, down to earth, and so much fun! So incredibly blessed.

My incredible BC team!! Christine, Michael (his voice melted my heart into 1,000 pieces! WOW!), Amber, Aimee, Shawn, Cameron, Maria and Levi! Love my Avengers!!

* Exhausting is a HUGE understatement! I never thought it was possible to fall asleep standing up. And then I did EFY and was proven wrong! Lol. Averaging 6 hours of sleep a night isn't terrible, but the fact that you have to exert 115% of your energy all day everyday is what makes it exhausting. The counselors have some HILARIOUS stories of falling asleep in meetings, morningsides, musical program, free-time duty, dozing off for a few seconds while standing up WHILE teaching a lesson!!! (all of these have happened to me!)

I was supposed to be on free time duty making sure the "hooligans," weren't being too crazy. I sat down for about 1 minute, and the next thing I know, I woke up almost 2 hours later with about 15 children staring at me!! Thank you to my boys for being creepy and taking pictures of me. lol.

* EFY dances are another level of epic. Best workout EVER! And the most fun workout ever! Couple of facts about EFY dances..

1. They are quite possibly the absolute worst smell in the world. 300-1,000 sweaty, hot teenagers.... SICK!
2. During slow songs, the kids aren't allowed to get drinks, go to the bathroom or hang out by the walls!! There are counselors guarding all of those places and we turn them away and help them find someone to dance with! HILARIOUS!!! The kids always look so confused and terrified when we force them away and force them into the hands of another confused and terrified teen to dance with. lol.
3. My favorite thing is to watch the tiny little 14 year old boys muster up the courage to dance with a girl for probably the first time ever in their life! And after the little boys ask the girls, my favorite is when they are both to nervous to even make eye contact so they are both looking in opposite directions at the floor, and not even saying a word to eachother!
4. They are the FUNNEST things in the whole world!

* If I eat another BYU catered meal again, I might throw up. (burittos, chicken cordon bleu, the wraps.... BARF.)

* I learned so much about patience. Trying to teach teenagers about the Gospel is a pretty big test of patience, and I'm so glad that they taught me so much about what it means to be truly patient.

Hahahahaah. Perfect picture!

* I learned a lot about loving people. And especially loving the kids who are loud, obnoxious, hyper, inappropriate, have the attention span of a goldfish and only care about meeting hot girls. 9 times out of 10, those are the kids that are walking miracles. They come from broken homes and broken families, they are the only member in their group of friends or sometimes even in their whole high school and it truly is a miracle that they choose to have a testimony regardless of their circumstances.

* Prayer. Prayer is real, and it works every single time. Always. No matter what. Prayer will literally change your life, because it has changed mine completely for the better. I've never relied so heavily on prayer as I did this summer, and because of that I saw miracles happen in my life everyday.

Andy! One of the coolest kids I've ever met. He's 6'7"!!!

My week 1 babies! I'll never forget them :)

This week was a miracle.

* Being able to teach the Gospel was too amazing for words. I love, love, LOVE teaching so much and that's why I'm so confident in my career choice, to be a teacher!

* I could go on and on about what I learned, but truly the best part of EFY was getting to meet the incredilbe youth of the church. I grew to love them more than I could ever say in words and I miss them so. much. My last night of EFY, I cried so hard because I already missed my "babies," so much. I will never understand why I was so blessed to meet these incredible people who have changed me for the better in so many ways.

Lantzen and Cameron! (some of my other very favorites!)

Hardest, most exhausting, demanding, hilarious, funnest, and most life changing 9 weeks of my life!

xoxo,
Alliecat

Daddy

• Me: "Dad, I just am exhausted. I've worked 40 hours this week so far, and it's only Friday. I have 6 finals next week and a concert every single day. I don't have time to eat or breathe and I'm so tired I can't even form a coherent sentence."
•          Dad: "Honey, I understand how tired you are. Mom and I are so proud of you and we're praying for you. Keep trying your hardest and sleep whenever you can. Remember, just like Grandpa Morgan always said 'This too shall pass'. I promise you'll make it out alive and you'll be grateful for all of your hard work one day. I love you.

- EVERY single semester before finals week, I always call my dad and break down to him and our conversations usually consist of something like this. He is always the first person I call, because my dad has a gift of immediately calming people down. He has the most calm and peaceful presence about him, because he is so close to The Spirit that you can't help but just be relaxed around him. This is a gift that is uniquely his that I've never experienced with anyone else.

• In my 22 years of life, I can honestly say that I have NEVER heard my dad get angry, raise his voice, complain or speak a negative word about another person. EVER. It just blows my mind at the amount of self-control my dad has. Example: my brother was 17 and my dad has just bought a brand new truck a couple weeks earlie and Casey wanted to take the truck camping with his friends, so my dad let him. Case accidentally backed into a tree stump while camping and broke the bumper. Casey came home pretty upset, not knowing how my dad would react. He came in the house and said "dad, come outside with me. I'm so so sorry, but I just got into a little accident." My incredible dad could see how badly my brother was beating himself up about this and my dad very calmly put his hands on casey's shoulders and said "well, you're gonna have to pay for it. But it's okay, because it can be fixed." Brings tears to my eyes everytime I think about that story.

• My dad is the absolute hardest worker I know. Hands down, no contest. He puts in over 40 hours at his job, EASY, comes straight home and is at church meetings almost every night. If he's not working or at church meetings, he is with my mom, grandkids, kids, or out visiting people in the ward or neighborhood who he feels like need a visit. And if he's not helping someone, then he's fixing something, buliding something, cleaning something, planting something, or preparing a talk. I think I could count on one hand when I've seen my dad say "I need a quick nap". My grandpa Morgan (his dad), ENGRANED the value of hard work in my dad and his brothers and that is the reason why they are all so successful. And I think it's safe to say that because of my grandpa, dad, and uncles, every single person in my immediate and extended family has learned to value hard work.
• My dad puts his family at the center of his universe. There is absolutely nothing he wouldn't do for my mom and his kids. It truly doesn't matter what time of day it is, I know that I can call him and he will stop whatever it is that he's doing to help me. Whether my car has run out of gas, my car died, my computer is working, (he is incredibly smart and handy if you didn't know...), I need a Priesthood blessing (which he is always willing, worthy and eager to do), or if I just need to talk. No matter what it is, he will stop his world to help me.
• My dad is possibly the funniest person you'll ever meet! He is soooo laid back and so he's the kind of person that you need to sit next to and just hear his little comments or jokes he says under his breath. Hilarious! And he can make my mom laugh harder than anyone else in this world can and it's one of my very favorite things to see that! I think I owe my sense of humor largely to him ;)
• My dad has been married to my mom for I think 35 years now and he is absolutely head-over-heels, crazy in love with her! He treats her with nothing but respect, admiration, gratitude, gentleness, kindness and love. The older I get, the more I realize how incredibly blessed I've been to have grown up in a home where I have never heard my parents argue, and seeing how much they genuinely love eachother and enjoy spending so much time together. My dad has set the bar pretty high for how his girls (my mom, sisters and me) should be treated and I am so grateful to have had this beautiful example of chivalry in my life.
• First 3 words that pop into my mind when I think of my dad is love, work, and humble. My dad is constantly quietly serving anyone and everyone. Every person that knows him knows that he is highly dependable and responsible. If they need something done, they know my dad will do it without question. He never EVER does things for attention and would never want the praise for all that he does, even though he deserves all the praise in the world for how much he does. My dad was the bishop for 6 years and during those last 3 years, 3 of my 4 grandparents (both his parents) were very sick and all passed away within a close amount of time eachother. It was not uncommon for our phone to ring at 3:00 in the morning and I would hear my dad get out of bed and leave, never ONCE complaining or letting us know who he was going to help. NEVER ONCE does he complain. Gosh, I don't know how he goes through life SO happy and so humbly. (actually I know exactly how he does it. Putting Christ and His Gospel at the very core of his life.) Whenever I'm home in the winter time and it's snowed during the night, I'll wake up early and my dad has been up for hours and our driveway, our 3 neighbors driveways, and the sidewalks have been shoveled. And he will never let me leave until he has scraped the snow off my car. Everytime I see him out there quitely shoveling the snow off my car so early in the morning, while it's freezing cold, it makes me cry. Every single time. Betcha didn't know that, huh daddy? Ha. Heck, I'm crying now just thinking about it.

Dad, I'm kind of speechless right now just thinking about you. The highest compliment that I can possibly think to pay you is this. Thank you so much for being so much more than a perfect daddy for me. Whenever I imagine my Heavenly Father, what He's like, the attributes He has, what it feels like to be in His presence, you immediately pop into my mind. It's going to be no surprise when we're all up in Heaven together for the first time and I see how similar to Him you are. Thank you for setting the bar so high for what I'm looking for in a husband. I only hope to marry a man of your calibar. I wish I had the words to tell you how much I love you. You are amazing daddy. I'll always be your "little surfer girl"!

Love you always,
Big Al.

M.I.A.

This...

+

This...

=

The reason why I have fallen off the face of the planet.

So sorry!

xoxo,

Alliecat



What I've Learned- part 2

The girls in LDC have been so influential in my life that I don't even know where to begin. I am someone who believes in eternal friendships and I know that some of the friendships I've made with these incredible women will last into the eternities. These beautiful ladies have taught me...

* That you don't have to fall into the world's trap of immodesty to be considered beautiful. The way a girl chooses to dress is one of the biggest indicators of what is happening inside of her. I absolutely LOVE seeing beautiful girls who choose modesty over "trends". I truly believe that if you choose to be modest, then the Lord really does make you look more beautiful, and that is why all of my girlfriends are such pretty girls.


Emily Hinkson, Sierra, Claire, Courtney King, Lydia Money, Draya Salcido, Julia (Sister Sanchez), Heather. They're crazy!! Haha



* That happy girls really are the prettiest girls! We all know what it's like to be friends with "Negative Nancy," and that just sucks the life out of everything and everyone. It is so refreshing being around girls who can maintain a happy and positive demenor despite of the kind of day they may be having. It makes it SO much easier for me to be happy all the time when I'm surrounded by such happy girls!

 I love her so much. Best friends forever.

SO, so, so much. :)

*Along with being happy, that so much of being a woman is about how you treat other people. I think about my mom everyday and I'm still amazed that in my 22 years of life, I have never heard her utter a negative word about another person- EVER. These girls in LDC are not perfect, but they come pretty dang close when it comes to how they treat people! Choosing NOT to gossip is one of the most femininie and beautiful things you could ever do. That has been my #1 biggest goal as of late, is the way that I treat others, which in large part is defiend by what you say about others when they aren't there. Ladies, thank you SO much for your constant examples of being genuinely kind to every person and to me. You treat others so well and you are all truly living up to Pres. Ucthdorf's latest challenging of "Stopping," the gossip and negativity. Every single one of you!

Lauren Anderson, Kenna Smith

Meredith Rogers. This girl has one of the BIGGEST and most loving hearts I've ever experienced. No wonder why she was chosen to play Mary in "Savior of the World," this past Christmas. :)

 * That purity and virtue, and love just might be the 3 defining characteristics of womanhood. I wish I could elaborate more on this, but watching your examples of these 3 attributes over the years has been nothing short of inspiring. I wish I could thank you for your constant examples of integrity and love.

Sister Teddy Wright. Currently serving her mission in Hawaii!

Heather, Julia, Sierra, Draya, Claire, some crazy pioneer, Emily Hinkson

Heather Esplin. Another one of my very best best friends for eternity. I love you so much.

Amy Alder! Such a great girl.

Sierra, Lauren Merrill

 Laruen Anderson and Emily Bennett

Sierr, Natalie Haight, Kenna Smith, Lauren, Brianna Call, Sarah Flinders

Please excuse Sister Sanch. and her offensive face. Lol.



 LADIES. All of you. Pictured or not pictured. I hope you know how much I love each and every one of you. I will never ever forget you and I will be forever grateful for the profound impact you've had on me. Thank you so much for "rising to our Savior's call," and choosing to be women of God and not women of the world. I'm hoping to be at your level some day. I love you all so very much.

xoxo,

Alliecat



What I've Learned- Part 1

This is my last week in LDC which is pretty crazy to believe. Where have the last 3 years of my life gone?! "When you're busy and having fun, time flies!" That is so true, right?? My bff, Sierra, and I say all the time that if you haven't been in LDC before, you just don't understand that this choir literally changes lives. I am not the same person that I was 3 years ago because of this choir. It would be impossible for me to say everything I've learned in my 3 years, so I'll start with what I have learned from the MEN of LDC. These incredible men have taught me...

* To make your personal relationship with Jesus Christ the #1 most important priority in your life. It is evident in the way each of these men live their lives how much they love this Gospel and that they sincerely love the Lord more than everything else in their lives. They honor their priesthood and live this Gospel to its fullest each day.

Tony Merrill

* That there is nothing more masculine than KINDNESS. Ladies, men with geninely kind hearts do exist! If you don't believe me, come watch LDC sing at a rest home and watch how incredibly tender the men are with these sweet widdows and widdowers.

Tyler Beagley

Mike Shepherd (LDC president this year)

* That men with motivation, drive and the ability work hard for the things that you want, actually do exist! I am constantly so impressed with the work ethic that these men have. In LDC functions, their work, school, dating and Gospel lives. There is something so attractive about a man with a purpose in life...

Mark Gordon, Sam Bowcut, Mike Shepherd, Adam Steele, Paul Peterson, Casey Keele

Skyler Mann, Mark, Adam

* That chivalry DOES exist!!! These men just get it. They get how a woman should be treated and it comes naturally to each of them. It's never something they do for show or something they have to be reminded of; they just get it. If there is a man around, my hand NEVER touches a door handle, if I have anything extra in my hands, it is quickly taken away and carried for me, girls are always served food first, girls ALWAYS have a chair, if I'm cold a suit coat or any jacket is quickly on me and crude or dirty jokes are never cracked around me. There is nothing more attractive than a naturally chivlarous man.

Mark (again... haha.)

RJ Idos (one of the best guys I've ever known.)

* Simply, that good men exist. They ARE out there and I have been surrounded by them for the last 3 years! The things that I look for in a man and that I'm attracted to have changed a lot since being with these men. You know that "list," that you have of what you want in a future husband? And how sometimes it's really hard to believe that a man with all of those qualities actually exists? They DO exist! A man who loves the Lord more than anything (and anyone) in his life, a man who will love YOU as much as you love him, a man who is motivated and hard working, and a man who can make you laugh, all packed into someone that you are attracted to...? THEY. ARE. REAL.!! Every single man I've known in my 3 years has proven that to me time and time again.

All of my sweet sweet men. (Please excuse Mark and his white socks and stupid walk...lol)



MEN. I wish I could thank you enough for everything you have taught me and done for me. Because of you, I am a completely different person. YOU make me want to be a better woman every single day. You make me feel more loved, confident, appreciated, and beautiful everyday. Thank you so much for living your lives in the way that you do. I love you so incredibly much, and I know that we will be friends forever. I love you!

xoxo,

Alliecat