So you wanna be a [fill in the blank]??

Elementary school teacher?
Speech-language therapist/pathologist??
Counselor???

Maybe I'm not quite finished with school yet, after all...

This morning, my family drove up to Flagstaff, so that my dad could walk in his graduation from NAU. He got a Master's in Career and Technical Education. I'm sososo proud of him!! He's been dreaming about getting his Master's for years and years and years, and he was finally able to get it in one year, while still working full-time. He's worked harder than anyone else I know for this, and now it's time to celebrate!!

Chris and I have a few more finals left, but we're wrapping things up and getting ready for Wednesday. Honestly, though, we're more excited for our convocation on Saturday. No offense to y'all Obama-lovers, but we wish he wasn't speaking at our commencement. It was pretty exciting when we first heard about it, but now our graduation has just turned into a huge hassle. Chris and I have to get to the stadium by 3pm...the ceremony doesn't start till 7pm. Our parents' tickets say they have to be there at 3:30. When they first saw that, they were thinking about avoiding all of that by just going to our convocation, but they're going to get there at about 6 instead and hope that they'll still be let in. I'm hoping and praying they can get in...it wouldn't feel right without them there, because Chris and I wouldn't be there in the first place if it wasn't for them.

Anywho, now that I've vented about that, haha...two weeks from today, we'll be on the road to San Francisco, and two weeks from tomorrow, we'll be leaving on a big boat, on the way to Alaska. Yuppers, our graduation present to ourselves is a 10-day Alaskan cruise! We're super excited...this will be our first vacation in years!! And the best part (for me, at least)...we'll be on the boat on my birthday!!! Woohoo, I never imagined that I would be celebrating two decades of life while on a cruise ship, haha!

One week.

That's how long I have left before I graduate. I've been feeling a flood of emotions as the date looms closer. It's mostly been a battle between excitement and fear.

I am currently at one of those times in life when I'm closing the door on one chapter and opening another. Of course, this brings to mind the big "c" word--change. It's definitely exciting to think about trying new things and getting out of my comfort zone a little more, but it's also pretty scary.

I'll be 20 in about a month, but I'm going to be done with school in two weeks...I don't feel ready to be done. I feel like I should still have two more years to figure things out. Lately, I've been wishing that I could have gone to high school and gone through the same experiences that all of my friends have gone through. I haven't wished that in years. It's frustrating, because I thought I had accepted Heavenly Father's plan for me...I don't want to be bitter and fill my life with regrets and "if onlys."

I don't want this post to be a downer, so I'm going to shift gears and end on a positive note. Let's look at the good things about graduating...

1. I'll be done!! Yay!!! haha, I am really happy about it, I promise I'm not all doom and gloom! And I'm excited that I get to share my graduation with my best friend and my brother, Chris. And our dad is getting his Master's from NAU this Saturday, woohoo!!

2. I'll be able to work again. I've really missed having a job, but since I made the crazy decision to complete 42 credit hours in a year, I didn't really have time for a job. Be happy in your worrrk! (Bonus points if you can name the movie!)

3. The possibility of a roommate. Since I won't be going to ASU, I may have to switch to another ward. *tear* But I'm thinking of trying to find a roommate in the 5th Ward boundaries sometime in the fall semester. So if I do have to say goodbye to my wonderful ward family, it'll probably only be for the summer. And we can still keep in touch until then!

4. A mission...? This is still way, way, way up in the air, mostly due to timing. Because I'd be done with school, I wouldn't have to worry about making the transition back into study mode. I've talked about the possibility a bit with my parents, and they think if I do go, that I shouldn't leave when I'm 21, but that I should stick with my job for awhile (if I find one I like) so that I'll have something for when I come back home. But I have been seriously considering a mission since pretty much right after I was baptized. I'm so grateful for missionary work, because I know without it, I wouldn't be who I am today...I really want to give something back and help others find the same joy I have found.

So there you go. A sneak peek at the workings of Rebecca's brain, lol.

Happy May Day!

This is pretty much my new favorite song. :)

The national animal is the kiwi.

My family is talking about moving again.

This time, it's New Zealand. Yeah...They're looking at moving sometime around next March...Mom and Dad first, then Chris (and I??) a bit later. When I got home from church on Sunday, I found out that Dad had already been doing some research for me..."Look, there's Mormons there! You wouldn't be the only one!" haha.

Honestly, I don't know what to do...I don't know if I could leave everyone I love and everything I know behind, but my family is the most important thing to me, right up there next to the Church.

I don't know...I'm definitely gonna be praying about this one a lot...alotalotalot.

Happy Easter!!

"The future is as bright as your faith."

Last weekend, I had the amazing opportunity to go on a Mormon pilgrimage with some girlfriends to see General Conference in Salt Lake City!

Jenny, Brianna, Candice, and I began our journey early Friday morning. We had a blast singing along to Wicked and Anastasia. On the way up to Provo, we stopped at the St. George Temple, which was absolutely beautiful, to do baptisms! After that, we were on the road again. We dropped Candice off at her mom's in Provo, drove by some of the highlights (the Provo Temple, BYU, and the MTC), and then headed to Springville, where we'd be staying with Jenny's mom, who was an absolute sweetheart!

Candice decided to stay at home and watch Conference with her family, so Jenny, Brianna, and I got up early Saturday morning and drove out to Salt Lake City. We were planning on just trying to make it into the afternoon session; Jenny said she'd stand in line while Brianna and I explored Temple Square. But when we got there, we decided to make up a sign, saying we needed 3 tickets. As we were walking through the crowd, we passed a group of people and overheard that they had some extra tickets!! They only had two for the Saturday morning session, but Jenny told Brianna and I to take them, as we'd never been to Conference. Brianna and I were ecstatic!! As we were heading back to the Conference Center, though, we realized that the tickets were in different sections...lol. But we made it in, haha! It was so amazing being inside the Conference Center; when I walked in and saw the organ for the first time, I got this really silly grin on my face, haha. I couldn't believe I was actually there!And then when the prophet walked in...ahh, so exciting!! This was also the session when they announced the new Apostle: Elder Andersen!! I almost squealed when I heard who they had called, not only because I could put the name and the face together, but his talk in the last Conference had a big impact on my decision to be baptized!

After the morning session, I met up with Brianna and Jenny again (thank goodness for cell phones!!), and we stood in stand-by for the afternoon session. We were right near the front of the line, but we still had to stand in line for almost two hours. It was sooo cold!! We ended up putting blankets on our feet, haha! They let us in about five minutes before the session started, so we missed the first couple of minutes.

We drove up one more time to SLC on Sunday morning. The sky had cleared up, the sun was out, and it was sweater weather, yay! Candice's mom had 3 tickets for the Sunday morning session, and she was so sweet and gave them to us!! This session was my favorite; each talk that was given has inspired me to "get off the sidelines" and strive to become a true disciple of Christ.Afterwards, we explored Temple Square a little bit and got some pictures.The Salt Lake Temple is amazing!! As I was looking up at it, I couldn't stop thinking of the early Saints and their incredible faith.We picked up Candice at her grandparents' home in Bountiful and then started the journey back home, while listening to the afternoon session of Conference on the radio. I've labeled this session the "TT"--Temple Talks, haha. I haven't been able to go to the temple as much as I would like to, but I'm hoping to start going at least once a week, once I get my driver's license (soon, haha!). We stopped in St. George one more time, to get some photos of the temple.
And then we were home!! What a wonderful, edifying, testimony-building weekend!!

He's speaking at my commencement.

Yuppers. Even though I don't really care for him, I'm still pretty excited about it. After all, how many people get to say that the President of the United States spoke at their graduation? I can totally see myself sitting in a little rocking chair, telling my future grandkids about it, haha. And, if nothing else, it'll make for some interesting conversation at a first date. :)