So my dear brother has lived through his first Hurricane!!! He is on his mission in Iowa (Well, Hannibal, Missouri right now) and they had a hurricane last week. They spent the next few days helping to clean everything up. I am grateful for my brother's safety as well as his example of service!

THUNDERSTORMS!!! There was a major sky-quaking, rain-drumming on the house storm today. It was so awesome! I definitely changed into shorts and a T-shirt and giddily ran outside to play in it even though it was freezing! (What better way to put off doing my internship things that are due in 2 days??)

Also - I am grateful for LIFE! :) My birthday was Saturday, and this whole weekend was so great! I am alive and get to live every day (the beautiful sunny ones, and the freezing cold rainy ones) with a smile! :) Or try to, at least. I am grateful for the opportunities that I have had lately. Life is wonderful, and my friends and family are amazing.

For my birthday I had a big group of friends come stay the night at my parents' house Friday night, and my parents made us food and everything! They are so great. :) Saturday I just hung out with family. Both sets of grandparents and my sister and her husband came over for a dinner of all my favorite things. Sunday I got 2 callings (relief society pianist - totally called it!.. and indexing committee, which I have purposefully and successfully avoided up until this point, so that is sort of one of those slap in the face ones. But... I am grateful for the opportunity for extra service. It will be really good for me.) After that I drove out to Liberty to spend the rest of that day and the next at another friends' house. We played lots of games, watched movies, didn't sleep nearly enough, and rode 4-wheelers. Life is beautiful, and it just keeps getting better! :)

- Meagan

I saw this the other day and though it made me sad it made me happy... I love the happiness that is shown throughout this little video and I encourage everyone to watch it!!!

And here is the video that is shown near the end...

Today I had the chance to go to the scholastic warehouse to find some books... The books at the warehouse are, for the most part, half off! I thought it would be a great place to get some books for the classroom and find a few new ones for myself... After my trip I now have quite the start on my classroom library all for under fifty dollars (The teachers at my school also gave me some books)!

When I got home I decided to read one of my new books (the ones I bought for myself). Sadly, I read the whole thing in four hours... meaning that I finished at 2:00. I am so happy that it is Summer and I can stay up late nights reading my books but, it is just a little bit sad that I don't even stay up so late (early?) for homework. 

And, in support of YouTube's humor week...

I am thankful for the church in my life. Today, church was just what I needed to hear. The whole time I was listening and learning from those around me as they shared their experiences. I am grateful for a Father in Heaven who knows of me and knows how to help me to become the best I can be.

Today I saw one of the students from my fifth grade practicum... It was great! He came up and gave me a hug and then was talking to me for a few minutes. It made me smile when we had this little exchange concerning my internship:

Him: Miss. Fiso, they should have hired you at our school. All of the fifth grade teachers are leaving and you could do it.
Me: Well, they didn't and that can't be changed.
Him: I should have talked to the principal. (He said it with complete confidence that the principal would have listened to him. It was great!)

As odd as it sounds... YouTube makes me happy because it can make me smile! I know, from watching, that it is not only me who does stupid things and it is okay to just accept my idiosyncrasies.
 

It is great having a library down the street from my house. I love reading and the library being so close makes it easy for me to indulge... I may have read 3 books in the past 48 hours (Yeah, this Summer thing can be good and bad on my social life.)

Today I was able to go to the park with some friends... We played games, ate, and talked. It was great fun! Also... With Summer around the corner I would like to share this 'crucial' public service announcement from the Harvard Sailing Team

Happy Mother's Day!!!!

I am so grateful for the women in my life, especially my mother and my grandmothers. Today was my first mother's day without my Grandma Fiso. I am so thankful for the knowledge I have of the Plan of Salvation, it makes her death so much easier for me. My grandmother's have always been such good examples to me. It is rare to see either one of my grandma's in a bad mood and I hope someday that I can develop that trait. My own mother is amazing! I am so glad to have her as my mother and I love knowing that when I am having a hard day she will be there. Sure we have our off moments but I sure love my mom and I hope she knows that!

My Grandma's (Grandma Fiso on the left and Grandma Dickson on the right)

We went to England

Once upon a time. . .

I'm grateful for kind strangers... They make life much more interesting! Today I went to the library and one of the librarians came up to me and started a conversation. We talked about some books we read and liked and she made a few suggestions for me, great way to get my Summer reading started!

This video is not that new but I love it! I am grateful for a Father in Heaven who loves me and is always watching out for me. I am also grateful for the examples that I have in my life whether it be friends or family I am able to see in others these wonderful qualities and be inspired by them.

Today (well, yesterday) was great! I started off the morning, early, with a meeting for my internship. I am so thankful for the chance I have starting on July 25th to have my own class and be a teacher!!!! After the meeting I went to work. I was co-captaining of a 700 person banquet for all the fancy people (In attendance were Elder Holland, Elder Perry, President Samuelson) it was probably one of the best large banquets that I have participated in. Sure there were problems but I am so thankful that the event, which I was partly in charge of, went well. I am also grateful for the exercise I get at work... It keeps me tired. Carissa (My co-captain) said it perfectly "Sometimes I think, 'maybe I should Exercise more...' and then I remember that I work for BYU catering which comes with an entire regimen in and of itself. I am seriously sore, but the seven hour rack up I helped do for today's huge President's Dinner paid off as I proudly watch my gigantic crew pull it off seemingly effortlessly. It looked incredible thanks to helpers from all over dining services" She was completly right, we had an amazing crew and a lot of people who volunteered their time to come help us. It was wonderful!!!!

Now, for some exercise humor...

It may sound strange, but...

I'm thankful for adenovirus. When else but during a discussion about disease could you get references to the gospel, dancing, war, and fencing all in 10 minutes? I'm grateful for the smiles it brings.

Plus look how pretty it is!

I am grateful for the rain that we have received the past couple of days. I love the rain and water is good for everyone, right? But whenever it rains I think of this... Did you know they used milk in this scene?

I am thankful for simple miracles and modern conveniences! Today at work we had a table fall and a cart break (after coming loose in the truck on the drive over to the event, the door came clean off) but luckily we were able to use most of the food because it didn't fall out of the broken cart! We also had to do a lot of our dishes by hand because the water in the building was going to be shut off (It never actually got shut off but the dishwasher was turned off...). Luckily we got most of our dishes through and it was a crew of friends so even though the shift went long, we had fun!

By the way... Happy National Teachers Day! ;)

So today I was late to work, well... not late so much as I forgot about it completely! But luckily I got a phone call reminding me that I had a shift and I was able to get a ride to campus which made it so that I was able to get there in time to help get everything ready and stay on schedule... Also, we got to have Shirley's Rolls (You caterers understand!). I am so thankful for the quick communication and transportation that we have in the world today!

I am grateful for the accessibility Gospel. I am grateful for the knowledge that I don't have to be perfect and I don't have to know everything. The truths of the gospel are shared each Sunday in a way that allows me to learn from others what I need to learn. I am not expected to know everything I can learn as I grow and I can learn in layers. I learn what is important for me at the moment and those ideas can be strengthened over time. I love this church and I am thankful for it in my life.

I love Spring!!! It's one of my favorite seasons along with Fall, Summer, and sometimes Winter (Okay, I love them all!). One of my favorite things about Spring is the morning. This may sound weird but on a good spring morning I wake up feeling like I can do anything and maybe even the urge to go running! I don't know why but there is something special to me about a good spring morning! I'm hoping there are a lot more of those to come this spring...

And... In celebration of May the fourth although I haven't really seen the movies... I think I watched one. Here is one adorable child!

Tonight I went to the wedding of a friend in my ward. Her family lives out of the country and couldn't make it to the wedding so she needed a lot of help getting everything worked out. The members of the ward were so helpful in volunteering their time and talents. I am thankful for my wonderful ward and the opportunities I have to serve others. I am also thankful for the gift of love! I enjoyed tonight watching the newly married couple, as well as the other couples as they danced and talked... I just love love! Cheesy, I know.

By the way... I love this song and they played it at the reception tonight so here it is (Although it is a little depressing)!

I am grateful for videos that always make me laughing... Especially videos from Ellen ;)

I am thankful for dance and the role it plays in my life! My brother had a dance performance tonight (and then we went to eat) and I came home to look at some of my old dance videos... Here are a few of my favorites.

The Samba is always fun... This was taken during class one time.

Here is another taken during a class but this one is a Hawaiian dance.

And here is an amazing cabaret performance...

Today I would like to say how grateful I am for my fingers, specifically my pinky fingers! Yesterday at FHE I jammed my finger (I took some pictures but they are not so great) it swelled up pretty bad and has been quite tender the whole day. Never have I paid much attention to my pinky finger but it is so important in everyday life... It is so awkward trying to grab a pen or pencil to write a note without using my pinky. Typing is also quite a struggle. I have realized today that the pinky finger is important for many reasons and I am so glad that I have two working (usually) pinky fingers along with all the other fingers that help my small-motor skills to function.

If you can'r tell... the one on the right is injured. 

So sad...

 For a little bit of humor...