I took my last final on Monday, for my religion class! I did very well, and then I felt so free as I walked home because I was officially done with the semester! And I received straight A's in all of my classes! In fact, my psychology professor offered me a job to be a teacher assistant for her in the Fall!
On Tuesday, I biked to campus to meet up with someone and buy a textbook for physical science. I got it for a great deal! (Those are the proudest accomplishments of poor college students). I then biked to the Taylor building to add a research class to my schedule in the Fall. That afternoon, my parents flew in! I also made cupcakes to go along with dinner that I was making for all of us. I also invited Kjetil to dinner so he could meet my parents, and my aunt Symantha wanted to come as well! I made tacos, tostadas, and Spanish rice. It was a great meal, but then we were all so stuffed, so we took a walk outside before eating dessert. We went to the duck pond, and my mom, sister, and aunt all ganged up on me, pressuring me to do a cart wheel. The only problem is that I can't do one! So that was embarrassing... Then we went back home and ate cupcakes and played some card games. It was a lively and super fun evening!
On Wednesday, my aunt and parents came over early in the morning, and we walked up to campus and gave Symantha a small tour. We went the Eyring Science Center, Museum of Art, and the BYU bookstore. That was super fun! That afternoon, we went down to the creamery to get ice cream (I just ordered French fries). It was funny because I had been texting Kjetil about my day and told him we were super close at the creamery, and he saw us through his window and took a stalker picture of us sitting outside and sent it to me as a joke. So I invited him to come down and join us, and he sat next to me and helped me finish eat my French fries. Then we went back to our apartment and played tons of board games all evening.
Thursday was Valerie's graduation day! We went to Commencement in the morning, and the speeches were actually very good! I was so proud of Valerie and all those who put in so much hard work to be graduating. We had two hours before we went back to see her walk, so we went outside into the crowds of people and took some photos. Kjetil texted me to ask me where I was at (his family had seen my family earlier that day) and came and found us because his mom insisted that he help take pictures of all of us. Then we left him and went home for lunch (leftovers) before walking back to see Val walk. That part of graduation seemed super long... the speeches were not as engaging. But she did it! Valerie officially graduated from BYU and we are so proud of her!
On Friday morning, I met Kjetil's parents in the Wilk. They were very nice, and I found out that Kjetil is just like his dad! Then I met the family at the Skyroom for lunch. It is a super classy buffet on the top floor of the Wilk, and I was able to eat quite a lot of things there. It was a cool experience, but too expensive for me to go back there on my own! Then Valerie and mom went to drop Symantha off at the airport, while my dad stayed with me because I had to run some errands on campus (printing, picking up an essay, etc.). Then Kjetil texted me if I wanted to meet up to say goodbye (because he was literally doing nothing until later that afternoon when he would drive home), so we met out on a bench on campus and talked for a bit. And he gave me another epic massage. Then Val, dad, mom, and I went down to this Muslim temple where they have llamas, peacocks, parrots, bunnies, and colorful fish. We explored there for a bit, but then it got super chilly, so we ran back to the car and went to The Wall to get their half-off fries! I got a regular fry cone and a sweet potato fry cone. I'm so spoiled! Afterwards, we played three rounds of pool, and I was the loser every time. We went home and played some board games, and then I went to bed early!
Saturday was quite the adventure! Val and I left early in the morning to pick up our parents. We took my car, and I drove us to Salt Lake City. However, about 20 minutes into the drive, the car stopped accelerating. Oh no, not again! I was barely able to make it off the freeway on an exit, and my car kept shutting off, so we had to keep restarting it to make it to somewhere safe for dad to look at it. We finally pulled into a car dealership, and dad popped the hood. He immediately realized the problem... all of the bolts (except for one) that had been holding the engine to the car had come out, and the last one left was barely hanging in there for its life! My dad retightened it, and we were able to make it to a nearby Ace Hardware store so he could get some more and fix it all up. Then the car was absolutely fine after that, and we made it to Salt Lake City! Just an hour later than we had been hoping for... We went to the family history center, then did a live endowment session at the Salt Lake Temple, which was pretty cool. We also went to check out the Church History Museum, and then we drove home. On the way home, we stopped by Brooker's Founding Flavors so mom could try the ice cream. She wasn't too impressed with it compared to the Creamery's flavors, but dad loved it! Then we went home and changed from Sunday dress. Dad took us to Bombay House, and it was SOOO good. I had been sooo hungry since we didn't have lunch (ice cream doesn't count), so I ate all of it until I was STUFFED! That evening, we went to a comedy show that Val had gotten us tickets for, and it was alright! All in all, it was a jam-packed busy day!
Mom and dad came with us to church on Sunday! The apartment complex where all the males in our ward live is closed down for the summer for renovations, so all the boys were kicked out. Since we didn't have any men left in our ward, we are combining with another ward for the summer. Church was wonderful! That afternoon, we dropped mom and dad off at the airport, and it was so sad to see them go. I definitely had such a blast with them this week and am so grateful for my loving and generous parents!
This week, I decided to about compassion. Compassion is a deep awareness, understanding, and sorrow for the suffering of others and a strong desire to alleviate their anguish. The Latin root means "co-suffering." The Savior understand our suffering perfectly, because He suffered in our place. He has a strong desire to lift up our burdens and ease our sufferings. He continues to suffer with us when we are going through trials. He weeps for us because He loves us so much and would do anything for us. In fact, He has done all within His power to save us. We can strive to have more understanding and sorrow—more compassion—for those around us and draw them to the Savior, the One who has perfect compassion because of His great suffering in the garden of Gethsemane.
I sure love y'all! Thanks for all you do for me, and more importantly, for the Savior!
Love,
Emily Burnham
No comments:
Post a Comment