Day 30 - A Picture of Someone You Miss

I miss my Grandma Tyler. She was the grandparent that I was most close to and I loved to visit her! I miss her a lot. She passed away March 26, 2002. I can't wait to see her again :)

Quote of the Day! :)
"Change: A simple word, with a difficult meaning."

Day 29 - A Picture that Can Always Make You Smile

There was a fly. That is why we were freaking out. I PROMISE!!! :D haha

Quote of the Day! :)
"There can be miracles when you believe. Though hope is frail, it is hard to kill. Who knows what miracles you can achieve. Somehow you will, you will when you believe."

Day 28 - A Picture of Something You're Afraid Of

I am afraid of pit-toilets,
big dark deep holes,
and clowns.
The fear of pit-toilets led to my fear of big dark deep holes. When I was little, I watched a freaky movie with clowns killing people in huge diesels and that is what made me scared of clowns.
They are all just freaky! I don't like them at all! Ever since I was little. :(

Quote of the Day! :)
"Life is a given gift, not a given right...What if today was your last day?"

Day 27 - A Picture of Yourself and a Family Member

Me and Roni! :) My sister is da bomb! I love her so much! Even though I don't show it near enough, I really do love her. :)

Quote of the Day! :)
"Every day may not be good, but there's something good in every day."

Day 26 - A Picture of Something That Means a Lot to You

St. George Temple :)

The St. George Temple means a lot to me.
ALL of the LDS Temples mean a lot to me!

Nauvoo Temple :)

Salt Lake City Temple :)

But I think my favorite is the St. George Temple...just because that is where I have been going to do baptisms almost every week for the past 3 years. It is where I will be married. It's the temple I have grown up with and loved all my life. It's so beautiful there on the Temple grounds. So peaceful too. I LOVE IT! :)

Quote of the Day! :)
"Life is to be enjoyed, not endured." - Gordon B. Hinkley

Preference "Hold On" - March 5, 2011

L to R: Susan, Mike, Steph, Devin, Deb, Jared, Ryan, Jill, Spencer, Me - Jump Shot! :)

For Preference, I asked one of my good childhood friends, Spencer Meek. Ever since Kindergarten we have been friends. We were good 'buds' when we were really young. I once even walked a mile to his house from my house barefooted when I was about 5! :)
Spencer is great! :) So we didn't have a day date because March 5th was the day of the 5K Fun Run that I organized. So we started at 4:30 with pictures over by the Judd Store (historic downtown St. George). My parents took them. They are Wonderbar! :) There were 5 couples in the group.

Me and Spencer Meek
Stephanie Rimmasch and Devin Gillespie
Deborah Hutchins and Jared Ellsworth
Susan Hutchins and Michael Finch
Jillian Schmutz and Ryan Neilson

After pictures we went to Stephanie's house and had a mystery dinner!! That was really fun! It was a vampire story...I guessed right on who the vampire killer was! I won! ha ;) I ended up being a werewolf...it was weird, but still really fun!

The Group! L to R: Mike, Susan, Spencer, Me, Jared, Deb, Ryan, Jill, Devin and Steph

After dinner we played dance dance (or something like that) on the wii. haha oh gosh that was great fun! We all got way into it! It was grand! Then we went to the dance! It was a lot of fun! I'm so glad that I asked Spencer! :)
Thanks Spencer for a great night! :)

Day 25 - A Picture of Your Day

MY day is October 5. :) Because that is MY BIRTHDAY!!! :D So that makes it MY day!
This year I'll be turning 19...ew. That is gross. What happened to being 8 and playing in the mud and playing with the bugs!? I remember I'd go to my friends house and we used to catch rollie-polies, worms, and then flood the huge ant hill! It was a blast!! And then we grew up. :( I miss being a kid. Maybe that's why I love to babysit and be around little kids! :)
Anywho...my day is October 5th. :)

I had no pictures of my birthday..so I just put a picture of me. It counts, right?

Quote of the Day! :)
"One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain." - Bob Marley

Day 24 - A picture of Something You Could Change

Many people have lists of things they could change. Especially lists about things on themselves that they want to change. Like their nose, their hair, their lips? ha just random things like that! For me, I've never really wanted to change anything apart of me. Because that defines me and I don't want to change it! Then I wouldn't be the complete me! :)
What I wish I could change is time.
I guess I don't really want to 'change' time, I just want to be able to control it. Mainly just to stop it so I can get more sleep or get more homework done. :)

Quote of the Day! :)
"Fall in love or fall in hate. Get inspired or be depressed. Ace a test or flunk a class. Make babies or make art. Speak the truth or lie and cheat. Dance on tables or sit in the corner. Life is divine chaos. Embrace it. Forgive yourself. Breathe. And Enjoy the ride..."

Day 23 - A picture of Your Favorite Book

Hmm I love books so this is a hard one.. :( I really can't pick one favorite book, but I have a favorite series! The Tennis Shoes Adventure Series. I've read them all about 3 times..and there are 11 books.

4 of the 12 books.. :)

I'm still waiting for the 12th one! It kills me to wait forever for it to come out! And then when it comes out, I get it, and it's read in about 2 days. :) I love to read! :)

Quote of the Day! :)
"All is well."

Day 22 - A Picture of Something You Wish You Were Better At

I wish I were better at sewing and cooking. I mean, I know the basics of how to sew and cook, and if I'm left alone, I can manage. But I just wish I was SUPERB at it! Like my mom and sister, Amelia are! They know how to cook and sew great! Well...Amelia knows how to sew great! Her cornbread suffers a little... ;)
I know most of my lack of skills in these areas are due to me not wanting to put forth the time or effort into it. I wish I had. At least I'll get plenty of cooking skills while in college! Woot! haha I'm excited for that part kind of. :)
Anywho.
I'm almost done with this 30 day challenge thing! It's been tough for me to do it! I've had a couple late days, but for the most part I've done pretty good! :)
Ta ta for now!

Quote of the Day! :)
"I see!" Said the blind man as he picked up his hammer and 'saw'.
hehehe :)

Painted to Be Still

Inspired by the Painting, "Seven AM" by Edward Hopper

Painted to Be Still

Seven AM.
No one is stirring.
Birds are chirping.
The air is fresh and clear.

Seven AM.
The painter finishes his last stroke.
And with that,
The clock finishes its last tock.

Seven AM.
The painter leaves.
The trees stop dancing.
The birds stop chirping.

Seven AM!
The clock's face tells the town.
The town...
Who is still sleeping?

Where is everyone?
Cried the clock.
Where are all the people?
The people who give me life?

The people who idolize me,
Who look up to me constantly,
Who scurry about trying to find life
When I am about to die?

Seven AM.
The familiar faces I do not see.
The familiar sound of the doorbell I do not hear.
The familiar pound of my heart, I cannot sense.

I am as still as the morning breeze.
I am as still as the silent town.
I am a clock, who has painted
To be still

At Seven AM.

~ Jessica Belle Stone

Day 21 - A Picture of Something You Wish You Could Forget

Okay, this is a lame one. Why would I take a picture of something if I wished to forget about it?? That makes completely no sense! Dang...haha so much for what I just pointed out.
I just remembered I do have a picture of something I wish I could forget. I took it because I looked really freaky and so later when I look at it, I could just laugh at it.
It was at soccer camp 2 summers ago. My forehead started swelling for NO reason at all!! There was no bite, allergic reaction..I didn't get hit by the soccer ball...it just started swelling! And my mom called me a Klingon. :( haha I looked REALLY freaky!!

The night before I started swelling

I discovered my head swelling on Thursday morning while we were waiting for our first soccer game to start for the day.

My swollen head. Don't I look like a Klingon? ;)

I went to the trainer who looked at it, and she took me to the head trainer to look at it. Both of them were befuddled and didn't know what was going on. So then later, my coach took me to the doctor. They looked at it, asked me a bunch of questions to how it might have happened, and in the end...they had no idea what was causing it either!
So I called my mom, and she came and took me home because we didn't want to take any chances if it was something really bad going on. Once I got home, the swelling started to go down, and by the next week I looked somewhat normal again.
It was all just super uber weird.

Quote of the Day! :)
"There are glimpses of heaven to us in every act, or thought, or word, that raises us above ourselves." - Arthur P. Stanley

Day 20 - A Picture of Somewhere You'd Love to Travel

I've always wanted to go to Egypt. I don't know why, but I just have. It would be so cool and it's all so interesting! How in the world did they make the pyramids and sphinx and all of that stuff! It's crazy and so cool! It's interesting too, how they are able to keep their mummies so "fresh"...i don't know the right term for that, but you know what I mean? Preserved!! That's the word! :) They preserve their mummies so well it's mind boggling!
:)

Quote of the Day! :)
"Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye." - H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Valedictorian!! Ü

Today at the Senior Ball Assembly, the administrative announced the Valedictorians and Salutatorian of the Senior Class of 2011.
There were 5 Valedictorians and 1 Salutatorian.
V: Me!! :), Katie Koeven, Deborah Hutchings, Moditha Eleperuma, and Kasen Wright
S: Shayna Henrie

L to R: Deb, Katie, Moditha, Me, Kasen, & Shayna :)

It was really cool and I'm so glad I was able to achieve my goal in becoming Valedictorian! I'm the first one in my family to get this goal! Bwuahahaha! ;) I'm so excited! :)
Out of the Valedictorians they pick two students to speak at graduation I believe. You start off with GPA, go to ACT Score, then to how many AP/Honor Classes you took, and then if there is still a tie, you go to Sterling Scholar. So far we're in the ACT part of the deciding who speaks. There are 3 of us who all have a 29 ACT Score. Me, Katie, and Kasen. We'll see how it goes over these next couple weeks! :)

Quote of the Day! :)
"Here's another curse for you - may all your bacon burn!" - Calcifer (Howl's Moving Castle)

Day 19 - A Picture and A Letter

A letter to whom?? Who wants a letter?? Say "I"! ;)
Here is my Picture:

Here is my Letter:

J

Quote of the Day! :)
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage." - Lao Tzu

Day 18 - A Picture of Your Biggest Insecurity

I don't really have any insecurities about myself or anything. I like who I am and I don't want to change anything.The main thing is that I just feel like I can't make it through the tough times. I struggle, just because I think I worry a little too much. And sometimes I don't feel like I'm appreciated much...
Do those count as insecurities? I don't know.
I am a Daughter of God, and I love being me. :)

Quote of the Day! :)
"Your biggest enemy is your insecurity about yourself."
- Yogi Bhajan

Day 17 - A Picture of Something That Has Made a Huge Impact on Your Life Recently

At the beginning of my 2nd quarter of my senior year, I was struggling in AP Calculus. I wanted to switch out and quit so I would be able to keep my 4.0 GPA. I didn't want to ruin my GPA especially since I was SO close to finishing with a 4.0.
My parents and counselor all advised me to keep with it. My parents offered me to get me a math tutor. But they all left the decision up to me.

I ended up staying in the class and right now it is the middle of 4th quarter and I still have my 4.0 GPA!! :) As of today (4/15...I know I'm behind on this blogging thing..) I am officially Valedictorian. :) They announced it today at the Senior Ball assembly.
I was able to, with the help of my tutor, keep my 4.0 GPA and keep with the class. I am so glad I did too!

Now I just gotta wait for college and see what it brings me...eh? haha I'm nervous..

Quote of the Day! :)
"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around."
- Leo Buscaglia

Day 16 - A Picture of Someone Who Inspires You

Many people inspire me. I wouldn't be myself without all the people who have inspired me. I have been inspired to become the best 'Me' I can be. The best "Jessica" I know how to be.
My sisters have probably been the most inspiration I have had.
Amelia inspired me to get my Young Women Recognition Award and to become a great daughter, sister, and friend. She is the main person who has made me have the desire to go on a LDS Mission.

Mary has inspired me to just be the best person I can be. She has Down Syndrome and has taught me a lot of principals by just being her sister.

Rachel has taught me to never give up. For the past two years, she has taken on about 3 sports a year. I have only taken on 1 sport per year, except for this year. She plays 2 sports at the same time pretty much year round. I don't know how she does it.

I love my sisters all very very much. :)
My brothers have been huge inspirations to me also.
I was the only one to have the privilege of having my brother baptize me when I was 8. Danny baptized me and it has made a big impact on me. I'm sure I would still be about he same 'Jessica' if my dad had baptized me, but it made me feel special, knowing that I was the only one that Danny was able to baptize. :)

Loren has taught me how to be a tease to Rachel. ;) haha okay, just kidding, that's not really any inspiration. :) Loren has taught me also how to become a good sister, and he has been a great example to me, always choosing the right and listening to the spirit and having a strong testimony.

I'm glad both of my brothers served missions, and I love them both so very much. I don't express that enough to them. I should. :( And I will make a goal of doing it more often! :)
I love my family, and they are great examples and inspirations to me! :)

Quote of the Day! :)
"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on." - Robert Frost

Day 15 - A Picture of Something you Want to do Before You Die

I want to travel the world before I die! Going on a LDS Mission would fill a little bit of this dream because I would leave and go somewhere else for a year and a half! I want to go to
Europe, (okay, mainly I just want to go to Europe..) :)

Africa,

South America,

Asia,

And all the Pacific Islands! :)

Pretty much all of the continents! :) I just want to travel everywhere! There are so many cool places and I love exploring! I'm so jealous of my older sister and brother-in-law...they've gone practically EVERYWHERE it seems! And they're only in their mid-twenties! What is up with that!? ;) I want to be able to go to all of the places they have been by the time I'm 26 (Which is in 8 years)! haha :)

Quote of the Day! :)
"Tough times don't last, but tough people do."