What a Year... Goodbye 2015

Soooo I'm a little late in writing this but whatevs.

Review of 2015
I quit my job at Utah State and it was such a hard thing to do. Well, actually I quit in December of 2014 and then stayed through the end of April to help find my replacement and to make sure the next A-Team was trained. I'm glad I got a chance to meet the new A-Team, and of course instantly fell in love with them. I spent the summer in Thailand on a humanitarian trip with Help International. While I was there, I thought about what I wanted to do next; school or a job were both front runners in the possible out comes. I made a mental list of things I wanted out of my next job, if I were to just start working again, and when I came home I was very blessed to have quite a few job offers. Surprisingly I ended up taking a job at my dad's office. His business partner has been trying to get me to work there ever since I graduated from college and I've always turned it down (probably out of pride because I didn't want to look like someone who was just handed a job because her dad's name was on the building) but this time everything I wanted on my job wish list was offered, and they didn't even know about the list, and I decided it was best for what I needed and I could still do a good job for them. One thing I loved in Thailand was working with all of the cute kids and I have really been missing dance (going to go dance in Disneyland was one thing I was considering for "what's next.") and I decided I wanted to try teaching dance to younger kids and one of my things I wanted out of my next job was to have one flexible enough that I could leave early once a week to go and teach. Masters is still not out of the question; getting my MBA in the future is still a high possibility.

2015 Travels

Thailand

Waco, TX

Kauai, HI

Capitol Reef National Park - blog post still to come

Highlights and Favorite Moments

• THAILAND!
• Most epic Gif Conversation
• One day in September two of my friends and I spent the entire day conversing through text only with gifs (moving pictures but not the movies). The humor and creativity was top notch throughout the whole day. The conversation talked about everything and anything; working out, eating food, being single, celebrating when someone would return to the conversation after being silent for an hour or so. We've tried to make it happen again but it quickly dies; that one day will always be known as epic.
• 12 Days of Christmas
• I had my mom for Christmas with our family Secret Santa drawing and I decided to do the 12 Days of Christmas for her. It was so fun to think of things to do for each of the days, to watch her receive each gift, and to do something big and special for someone who is constantly thinking of others.

Most Visited Posts
Sometimes People ask me "Why?"
Terrified
MBTI
Time Capsule

Things Learned
Cinderella reminded me I am happiest when I have courage and am genuinely kind.
The Thais taught me to be more generous, selfless, happy, and gentle.
Reflecting on my life thus far I came to realize the things I was most terrified to try but somehow still found the courage to try are some of my life's happiest, cherished, life-learning moments and stepping stones. No more letting fear stop me from what I want to do.
Dating can be fun when I let myself be myself.

What's Next
Teaching Dance - I'm terrified but what is there to loose? I would loose more by not trying. I'm not saying this is going to happen in the next month or so but my goal is to figure something out by the end of the year.
Buy a small home or townhouse. EEK! So scary and such a big investment.
Figure out the next grand travel adventure... obviously. London? Iceland? Asia? Guatemala?

Family Photos

My family as of 2015.

In 2008 we did family photos and while we were taking the pictures my sister-in-law said she was not doing this again until I got married. Well..... we have since had family photos twice and welp... no Amy marriage, sorry to disappoint. But at least the family keeps growing in other ways, right?

2008

2013

2015

Book Reviews

So of course I strayed from my reading list for the year... I always do. Well I had three books lent to me and needed to read them and get them returned. Here are my reviews on them:

FOUR by Veronica Roth

Spoiler Alert: If you haven't read the Divergent Trilogy and plan to, don't read this review.

This book was a special addition to the Divergent Trilogy; I can't really call it a sequel because it really starts in the time line of the series before hand. The book is about the character Four, who is my favorite character, and how he came to be FOUR. It was fun to read a book from his perspective and to learn more about him. The only thing I didn't like was that the book ended abruptly; I felt like the author was like, "Oh, I met my quota, good enough," but it really wasn't a smooth ending. If you were just reading the book on it's own without the trilogy you would have said, "What the?!" (I did). The book begins before the Divergent book but then it starts to write parallel to it but it doesn't finish. I wish it would have gone through the end of Divergent with the attack on Abnegation and riding off to escape on the train. Four gets very involved in this book about trying to figure out what is going on with the possibility of an attack, it would have been nice to see it through to the end.

For just a fun and easy teen read, I loved this and wouldn't mind reading it again.

The Great Gathering by Chad Daybell

This was a church fiction book and it was about when we are nearing the "last days." I have mixed feelings about this book. I really like that the book made me think about how I would react if the things in the book started to happen today; would I pick up and leave everything because the Prophet asked me to even though in that moment it didn't seem there was any threat, I hope so. I wasn't a fan of the fiction part of making up church policy changes and "future leaders;" it was just a little weird for me. There was also one tiny slip in of a jibe against "Utah Mormons" and that really annoyed me because I think that happens enough as it is (and the last I checked we were on the same team so why I we trying to bring each other down) and so why put it in a book. Lastly I wasn't a fan of the grammar; there were a few mistakes.

Overall, I would say this is a take it or leave it book. It's not one I would say you HAVE to read but I also don't think you would want to poke your eyes out if you read it. It kept my interest for the most part.

Calling by Jeff Thompson and Stuart Bunderson

This book was recommended to my by a friend who had to read it for a class in her MPA program. I really liked it because it addressed how we are sometimes perplexed as to what we should be doing with our life in the workforce and if it is meaningful enough or what we "should" be doing. I feel like I am constantly struggling with this and it was nice to have a little perspective.

One chapter talked about how the two biggest mistakes we make in deciding what to do with our life is taking a job because it pays a lot of money or taking a job because you feel pressured or because it is expected of you. I completely agree with the money thing; taking a job just for the money is not worth it. And the second, I trap myself into often and need to stop doing it.

The book also talks about how we perceive work and how to determine what you really should be doing with your life. For example: what did you do a lot of when you were a kid? When we were kids we were probably at our most true to our self states. I played school, A LOT, and danced around the house, A LOT. Maybe that will help me on my path of figuring out what to do next.

One of my favorite quotes from the book was, "Spiritual gifts, it turns out, are not so much gifts to us from God, but rather gifts for us to give away." It's the idea that we are here to serve and it is in everyone's nature to want to serve. We are given spiritual gifts so we may serve each other in unique ways for all types of people. I also liked, "Giving ignites our imagination." I'm always a sucker for imagination.

I loved this book and would recommend it to anyone. I liked that it had everyday advice intertwined with eternal religious perspective.

A Minute Is A Very Long Time

Do you ever have little life lessons that never leave you? The day I started 5th grade, many years ago, Mrs. T. told us she wanted us to hold still and not do anything or say anything for an entire minute. That minute was the longest minute of my life; I was very much aware of the time, the stillness of the room and nothing happening. When the minute was up we all erupted into outbursts of, "that was hard!" and "that took forever!"

Once we calmed down, Mrs. T. said, "Now that you realize how LONG one minute can be, I don't want to ever hear you say, 'well there is only 3 minutes left, it's not worth doing that or starting that.' because you can do so much in just one minute."

One more life lesson teaching me to use time wisely (not that I always do it), to make every minute count, and to make the most of, even the tiniest of, things.

Leadership

When I was going to school up at Utah State University I was on the new student orientation team called the A-Team. Eventually on the A-Team I became a Student Coordinator and was a student worker over the A-Team. Our department had a program/class new students could take the week before school began called Connections and each member of the A-Team was a peer mentor for the students in one or two of the classes. As a student coordinator I did not get to be a peer mentor but my job was to be a runner all week long during the class, helping A-Team members where they may need help.

One day, one of our A-Teamers, Spencer, used our buzzers to play a game with his students and then another A-Teamer needed the buzzers right afterwards. Well Spencer and the other A-Team member did not have time to meet up to exchange the buzzers, so I said I would be the in between man for them. When I arrived at Spencer's class I was impressed by the way he interacted with his students, how he reached out to the shy ones, how he got the awkward ones to be part of the group, how he knew all of their names, etc. As we packed up the buzzers together, and his class was headed out the door to a workshop, I told him how great it was that he was doing all the things I just observed and told him what each of them were. His response took me completely surprise. He said, "Amy, I have watched you as my leader and I have watched you do all of those things with the A-Team and I knew I wanted to be a leader like you." I don't tell this story to say, "Hey, in case you didn't know, I am awesome." No, I like to tell this story because it was a good lesson to me that you are always being an example, even when you are not intending to be and there is more than one way to be a leader; even a quiet leader.

Years later, as I have talked about on here, I became the boss of the A-Team and I would tell the A-Team this story as we started a discussion about what leadership. I always loved this discussion because I was in a room of all leaders but leaders in so many different ways, although some did not realize it, and it was fun to see them accept they could each be a leader in their own way and that is what would make them the best leader. (If we were all the same type of leaders, this world would be boring and only a small group would follow).

One of my best A-Team members returned for a second year and when he made a comment in class he said that when he first joined the A-Team he didn't think he was anything compared to the others on the team. This made me smile, because I always knew what an incredible leader he was, but so many of us have been there where we don't believe we can be a leader because we are comparing ourselves to those around us. The cool thing about him is he decided to take the opportunity to learn from those around him but he also held on to his true talents as well. At the end of each "A-Team Year" we have a closing banquet and give out awards, mostly funny awards, but this particular A-Teamer received the traditional Spencer Vernon Banks award which is an award given to the A-Team member who goes above and beyond when helping students and staying continuously until the very last student has been taken care of.

When I hired my A-Team I didn't look for one type of person or leader because that didn't make any sense; this team was a resource for all new students and all new students are all different, thus, I needed a team where there was a variety of leaders so that these students had a higher chance of having someone they could relate to and connect with.

When I taught this leadership discussion, I asked everyone to think for a minute about leaders in their own life that they admire and why. I then asked them to write down the qualities and traits these leaders have and we made a huge list on the board. It was fun to see the huge variety of things written on the board from hard worker to sense of humor to humility to organization and creativity. I then had them all write on a piece of paper the leadership qualities they felt the had and two they wanted to improve or develop.

I always loved this class discussion because it always seemed to spark a flame of hope in each of them because even though they were among the best of the best; they were each there for their individuality and that was a good thing but sometimes they needed the reminder to break the mold because I didn't want molds.

I always ended this discussion telling them a little bit about whichever leadership book I happened to be reading at the time. My favorite was The Servant and it is about what the “true essence” of leadership is. It talks about how it is natural to think that leadership means you have power or you can manipulate others to do what you want them to do but that is not what the true foundation of leadership is. It focuses on leadership having authority which is built (and must be built) by building relationships, showing love, serving others and sacrificing.

I like this idea. I like the idea of selfless leading, I feel it is the most genuine and most effective type of leadership. To me, one of the ways of being a true leader is helping those you lead reach their full potential and what better way to achieve that than bey being selfless. And honestly, the best part of being a leader is getting the opportunity to learn from all of those you are following because each of them are leaders in themselves.

Recognizing the Blessings

I spent a portion of my summer in Thailand on a humanitarian trip. While there I met one incredible woman who was such an example to me of faith, kindness, service, and recognizing the tiniest of blessings in life.

Peuen lives in the Akha Village in the north of Thailand. She is the only member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints in her village and the nearest ward house is 3 hours away in Chiang Mai. She often was a resource, to us, in her village to get projects going and get her community involved; many volunteers called her an angel. Peuen has diabetes and because of it, her health is not always the best but she stays so positive. I would often hear her say things like:

I know I am poor, but I know Heavenly Father will watch out for me.

I rather help others than myself.

Because Peuen did so much for us, we wanted to be able to do something for her and she let us help her plant her field of corn. The day we planted the corn it was incredibly hot; it was probably the most extreme heat I have ever experienced. I still had fun planting but the heat was just an added challenge. At one point my face had turned red from the heat and everyone thought I was sunburned; I wasn't.

While we were planting the corn a cloud covered the sun and Peuen said, "Oh! Heavenly Father knew we were hot, so he gave us shade." I was touched by this comment. How easy it is to look over these small blessings and here a woman, who has very little (in a material perspective), took time to recognize and sweetly acknowledge and thank Heavenly Father.

If you would like to read about my Thailand humanitarian experience, I just posted about it on my travel blog, Postcards From Amy. The blog itself has a few other posts about Thailand as well.

Family Quote Book

In church we had a lesson about journaling or recording your history. One question during the lesson was about how each of us record our history. Comments were: a typical journal, scrapbook, printing emails between missionaries and their family members and putting them into a binder, videos, photo albums, gratitude journal, etc. I started to think about my family as a whole and I would say our history is mostly photo albums. My mom hadn't updated them for quite a few years and so my younger brother didn't even have pictures in the album. When she did update them, we all said, "Nate now exists!"

But there is something else my family does that is small but I think counts as a piece of our history and journaling; we have a family quote book. Whenever someone says something that makes us laugh or is "quote book worthy," we write it in the book. Sometimes at family get-togethers someone will pull out the book and read from the pages and we'll laugh all over again. Not only has it been fun to keep these fun moments captured but it is interesting how just a few words can recall an entire memory.

Here are some favorite quotes (where you didn't have to be there to get it) from the Family Quote Book:

"Shark Attack!... A shark waits for no one." -Nate while dunking me in the ocean while snorkeling

"How do you spell 'triad'?" - Me

"Shouldn't a grownup know how to a spell?" - Kira (niece, 8-years-old at the time)

"That's bologna." - Nate

"Horse bush!" - Mom

"There's a rule. Nobody dies on this trip!" - Megan

"Umm, dad? Is there anything we can do to help? - Me

"Someone could swear for me!" - Dad

"Shit!" - Me

"Nate shops at Express for men!" - Amber

"I have never shopped there!" - Nate

"Yes you have." - Amber

"Once!" - Nate

"Aunt MaryAnne read books growing up... I played teatherball." - Mom

"Bryce, you don't like eggs? But they have great proteins for you." -Amy

"Not me! Eggs kill my brain." - Bryce

"Honey, I love you, but you have been traded." -Bree

"Amy, remind me to tell you about the dream I had about you. It was so sad." -Nate

"Oh no, did I die?!" -Me

"No, worse! I died!" -Nate

"Would you be a sir and pass the juice?" - Nate

Book Review: The Tipping Point

That's right, I have read another book on my book reading list for the year. Fist bump! I read The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell.

This was an interesting book but I was bored at times as well. Some chapters I would found fascinating and then others would drag for me. One problem is the books that pull me in are usually fiction and fantasy and this one is non-fiction, literal, and to the point. The book is about what little things can lead to big changes.

One chapter I found interesting was about Paul Revere and him riding out to warn that the British were coming. What very few know, is that another rider went out with Mr. Revere and he took a different route to help spread the news that much more but nobody knows about him because he was not effective in his ride. The book explained that Paul Revere was very involved in his community in many different types of groups and the other rider only had one group he associated with. The idea was that when we let ourselves expand to many groups (i.e. church, community service group, yoga class, fundraiser for whatever, etc.) you are better known and when a time comes that you need to spread news or rally people together, the more groups you are associated with the more you will have to back you up.

One chapter talked about how information given out sticks in our minds. Are people just hearing the information; or are they remembering it too. The interesting thing about the chapter was they went into depth on Sesame Street and Blues Clues. Sesame Street learned many techniques on how to capture an audience attention and for the audience to learn things but Blues Clues master the information being retained in children. They mastered the stickiness factor. Sesame Street is meant to entertain the parent's of the children (a little) as well as entertain and teach the children. Anyone "grown up" who has ever watched Blues Clues has probably been bored out of their mind and even thought the show was stupid but it pulls kids in. The makers of Blues Clues learned how to pull in the attention of kids by taking out bells and whistles, challenging them, teaching them, and then repeating the episode 4 more times in a row to help it stick. And it worked!

Whenever I read books like this, "You can change the world if you take the right steps," I almost get overwhelmed; like I'm taking on a big task or something. But I decided to take one thing from the book that I want to try and that is to be involved in a variety of ways. Not only to burst out of life "boxes" but also to be able to make a difference if I need to; small or big.

Of all leadership and "making a difference" books I would say to read the book if this is your type of genre to read and your always reading these types of books. But if you are only going to reading one, I would skip this one.