The Finale

Day 25: Unusual

I've never seen that on a letter before! Only a boy would think of that...

Day 26: 12:00

Day 27:  Something Sweet

Day 28: The Weather Today

warm and sunny!

Day 29: A Number

Day 30: Your Personality

heels, books, and a princess crown :)

Day 31: Something Beautiful

It's the Weekend!

Washington is beautiful and I'm so grateful that I live here! There are lots of beautiful flowers in bloom...here's just a few! The lilacs bloomed recently as well and they smell delightful!

I LOVE flowers!

Day 24: Something New

Tonight my parents and I went to see Mirror Mirror. I think it's my new favorite movie!! It was so cute and funny and I just love fairytales. I highly recommend it :)

A Marvelous Work

It seems like the past two weeks I've had about a billion friends leave on their missions. It still amazes me that even just a year ago, missionaries still seemed way older than me and I didn't think I would ever be close to someone who was leaving, but reality finally hit. I made SO many friends at school and enjoyed making memories and being in wards with young men who knew how to have fun, honored their priesthood, and were working towards going on missions.

Yesterday, after I got off the phone with a friend who went into the MTC today, my mom and I were talking. She said, "I wonder how many friends you've said goodbye to and sent off on their missions?" Well I was curious too, so today I added it up. 

21. Can you believe that? It was a lot more than I thought it was going to be and really I was just surprised that I even had that many friends, and that's only the boys! 

I then went through and made a list of all the places they are going. All around the world and even across the United States...

Argentina

New York

Colombia

Mexico

Texas

Germany

Peru

Spain

Australia

Poland

Panama

Taiwan 

Missouri

Russia

Brazil

Nevada

Paraguay

CRAZY!!! I feel so blessed to have so many great examples in my life. These young men have such strong testimonies and have lived their lives in such a way that they are able to go serve the Lord for 2 years. It's been so fun to keep in contact and to see their testimonies grow and to read about their challenges and successes. I am so grateful for the gospel in my life and for the many opportunities I have had because of it. I know that it is the only true church on the earth and hope that while I am away from BYU and its huge LDS population this summer that I will be able to be an example to others and do a little bit of missionary work on my own here at home.

In about one year from now, I will be able to submit my own mission papers and although I don't know what's in store for me, I think it would be an amazing experience to serve a full-time mission for the church. Preaching the gospel and sharing with others the great plan of happiness. But for now, I'm happy to experience it vicariously through all of these young men. They truly are God's army going out into the world and I wish them all the best of luck!

In other news:

I just finished the book Leaving by Karen Kingsbury. It was fabulous and I think I liked it so much because the girl reminded me a lot of myself. She has such great faith, loved to be on stage and was determined to accomplish her dreams, loved her family and spending time with them, loved to watch sports, and really cared about people and her relationships with them. I can't wait to read the other books in the series.

And Day 23: Technology

ipod and cell phone...looks like I'm good to go!

Day 21: Where You Stand

FAITH

Day 22: Pink

A Thousand Different Directions Part 2

Last Friday was the Father and Son's Camp Out. You know what that means...Girl's Night! My mom, Kenz, and I went out to dinner. Kenz had Panda Express and my mom and I had Five Guys and Fries. They have the coolest touch screen soda machines there! Then we went to Costco for some groceries and we got a frozen yogurt to share, yum! Then to Top Foods for more groceries. Kenz and I stayed in the car and took pictures haha! Then to Target for some new black heels. Love them! And then home to watch Hop. Kenz gets way too excited about how cute that little bunny is.

Then all day Saturday our family was getting ready for our Ward Conference Social. An Italian theme which means only one word: Spaghetti. Let me tell you, I've never seen so many noodles in my entire life! There was also Olive Garden salad, yummy bread sticks, raspberry Italian sodas, Italian music, scenery from Italy, a talent show, and a "Who Said That?" quote game. My mom was cutting up the onions at our house and we pretty much all died. Our eyes were burning so bad and it was not fun at all! In fact, my eyes are starting to tear up just thinking about it! All the Blackner kids helped make the Italian sodas and serve all the tables. Good times!

And then yesterday was Ward Conference. It was such a wonderful Sacrament Meeting. First the Bishop spoke and he referenced a devotional from Brad Wilcox that I was actually at last summer at BYU! An analogy he used about justice and grace and the atonement was practicing the piano. It hits close to home :) http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=13436&x=55&y=10

Then the Stake President spoke and mentioned Bruce Hafen who wrote a fabulous book about the Atonement that I read called The Broken Heart. I also played the piano for the choir, an arrangement of I Know That My Redeemer Lives. I love it!

And then last night was Scripture Mastery! Pretty much my favorite part of seminary, but let me tell you, it's way more entertaining to participate than to watch. And as last year's Master Scriptorian, I want everyone to know that I still have it in me. My dad and I were saying the references to each other throughout the night. Nothing can compare to the fun and stress of finding those scriptures. It can be pretty intense sometimes. Especially when you know what it is, but just can't find it! My heart always gets beating so fast!

I love instrumental music so much! It's so relaxing and allows you to think. Piano music is the best, but I was listening to a movie soundtrack and it was just so much fun to listen to. I could listen to this kind of music all the time! It doesn't have to be up very loud and it's so wholesome compared to some of the other music you find out there. I just feel such a connection with it.

And that is the conclusion of my random thoughts and a little catching up of my past week. Happy Monday!

A Thousand Different Directions

Well because I haven't found anything noteworthy to blog about recently, my mother threatened to stop following my blog. And we wouldn't want that to happen, so here I am.

I've been going throughout my days trying to think of things to talk about. Really my life can't be that boring, can it? I think that sometimes you just have to get a new pair of eyes and see things differently. Learn to appreciate the little things that may seem insignificant. And since I have been thinking about this, my brain has gone on overload and is running in a thousand different directions, hence the post title.

Before I begin, I contemplated whether I should discuss all of these random thoughts in one post or spread it out just in case I can't find any to talk about in the near future, but I think with this new mindset that hopefully this non-existent blogging problem will disappear :)

As I am typing, I'm listening to the POURING down rain. LOVE it! Such a wonderful sound. Washington is the best! Oh Marilyn (aka: my other mom) your pictures will be coming soon so don't you fret! It is beautiful here!

Today at work I was very busy. Thank goodness, it made the 7 hour day fly by! Sometimes the teachers didn't really have anything for me to do so that left me with one very important job...sharpening pencils. For 40 minutes I sat and sharpened over and over again. I'm pretty sure the sharpener got overheated. But it did have this awesome light that turned on when the pencil was done!

Oh I also decided that TOMS are the most comfortable shoes in the world and that I love them! They are just so lightweight and don't make my feet hurt at all. Especially after I've been standing all day. They are perfect and I suggest that everyone have a pair! Just girls though, I don't really know how I feel when I see guys wearing them...They just seem a little feminine. 

I've had a cold for the past week and I feel way better now but today a lady at school asked me if I had one. I was like, "I thought I was getting over it" Oh man! If I still sound like I have one, that's not good. I've had my fair share of headaches this week. Not fun!

Last week we had a ward temple trip. I love going to the temple so much and really miss going every week. I miss having a set schedule and being so spiritually uplifted every day! So I'm working on that, getting back in those good habits. Reading scriptures, watching devotionals, personal prayer. I know I'm not in a religion class right now and the temple isn't conveniently up the street but I can still do the little things.

look at that blue sky!!!

Have you ever been laying in bed and your brain just can't turn off?? That happened to me recently. I can't even remember what I was thinking about but I just couldn't fall asleep. I don't think I was up that late but it's times like these when 5 minutes can seem like an hour. I'm also fascinated with dreams. I wish we could remember all of our dreams! That would be so cool! It's amazing what our brain can do and sometimes dreams are so weird. Most of the time it's things that are completely unrealistic or you'll have an imaginary place with real people or you'll have some random people in there. It's just interesting, especially when you can remember them. And they always make for good stories haha!

Day 17: A Snack

Five Guys!

Day 18: Something You Made

Day 19: A Favorite Place

home :)

Day 20: Something You Can't Live Without

Catching Up

I've been slacking on my photos and haven't really found anything that's worthy of blogging about, but life is good!

Day: 12 Something that Makes You Happy

Day 13: Mum

(Happy Mother's Day!)

These are hard to find...She's usually the one taking the pictures :)

Day 14: grass

just a little trip to the backyard haha!

Day 15: 

Day 16: What You're Reading

Well folks it looks like I have some serious skill...

Story of my life

Kitchen

Our kitchen drawers.

Fork. Knife. Spoon.

Day 10: A Favorite Word

I love these quotes and I realized that I love things that sparkle and shine, which can include people! Everyone is different and I love those people who are just so full of life and share their light and happiness with others. They definitely sparkle! Maybe it's the inner princess in me, but I think I just like sparkly things :)

Something You Do Every Day

Day 9:

We live in such a media filled world. 

Blogger. Pinterest. Facebook. 

'Nuff Said.

A Smell You Adore

Day 8: Anything vanilla

This week has been pretty great so far! I've been working every day and it's been super nice out!

I got SO burnt yesterday...not fun. But hopefully it will turn into a nice tan! And I also have a canker sore...annoying. Ya know, sometimes it's the little things that can be the most frustrating.

Today my little brother drove me to 7-11 to get a movie and a slurpee. So weird that he can drive all by himself. I thought The Vow was wonderful, even though many people didn't like the ending. It's still a great love story. He loves her unconditionally and would really do anything for her....presh

...And first slurpee of the summer. Yay!!!

Someone That Inspires You

 Day 7:

I've had so many wonderful teachers in my life that helped me enjoy school and learning. They did so many fun things in their classroom and you could tell that they really loved their job. Because of them, I have always wanted to be a teacher and I'm on my way to doing just that. I really want to make a difference in the lives of the kids I teach, just like my teachers made a difference in mine.

This Is Me

Even though I love blogging and it's often a lot easier and faster to type, I feel like it's important to write in a physical journal as well sometimes. Then your handwriting is preserved and in case sometime ever happened to the internet, a journal would always be there. I also feel like I don't always write about things that would benefit my future generations. Why would they care about a bad day or what I had for dinner one night? But then, I was talking to one of my friends and he said that it's all part of the puzzle that helps describe YOU. He said that some of his mom's favorite journal entries of his grandma are the ones where she wrote about the rain. How simple is that? So I realized that everything is important and that as long as they have the big picture and get to know all different aspects of your life, then it's just fine.

Kenz found this awesome website on pinterest about journal writing and recording your history. It gives you different prompts or "challenges" to complete to help you get started. It also provides plenty of ideas for accomplishing them. For example, a blog, journaling, scrapbooking, or making a video. I think it would be fun to try all of the ideas and try to be creative! There are challenges that are just fun and get you to think and then there is a different website that is an LDS version.

So I'm going to be experimenting and probably writing more personal things in an actual journal, but I thought it would be fun to share some of the challenges too. I created a blog called Mary Mary Quite Contrary: how my garden grows. Kind of a fun analogy between the nursery rhyme and how it applies to life. Here's the link:
howmarysgardengrows.blogspot.com

YOU

Today is a beautiful sunny day and I love it :) I did my fair share of piano playing today at church and I suppose it's good that I'm using my talents. Here's day 6. I saw a picture once that all these different faces on it and that's the first thing I thought of when I saw the theme for today. Sometimes it's hard to imagine the faces I would make if I was feeling a certain emotion.

Bird

Miss Blackner

Yup, that was my name yesterday. I worked at the Jr. High today and it was a lot different than I was expecting. My assignment was special ed so I was assuming that I would be working with students who had disabilities but I was actually with the students that just need some extra help with their work. Besides the comments like, "You look like a student" and Jordan's friends saying, "Dang, your sister is cute!" and being younger than all the teachers and not having anything to do at times, it was a great day! Although I'm an elementary ed major, I realized how much I love being in that atmosphere in general and how it was even fun to teach that age. It just helped confirm that teaching is definitely what I want to do :) And it also made me miss my younger school years. Those were the good days! I look forward to the rest of the school year and hopefully get some experience at the elementary schools as well.

I spent the rest of my day reading Mockingjay, going to my brother's last soccer game, eating Panda Express with my parents, and then finishing the night with Greta!

We sat on the couch by the fire (yes, we had a fire in May. Crazy, I know!) and watched a movie. What can get better than a romantic comedy with your best friend being curled up with a blanket :) That sounds like FUN to me! Day 4...

Day 3

a big mistake: not bringing my rain boots home :( it's been raining more than ever and my outfit would've been complete today if I had my rain boots and could've jumped in the puddles! It has been pouring ALL day!

I started working today. I'm taking orders for Philly This. The best philly sandwiches you've ever had in your entire life. Even though it was pouring, we still had tons of people come to the Farmer's Market and I definitely look forward to the rest of the summer and the even bigger crowds on the sunny days!

Now I'm all bundled up in my bed and I'm going to read my book :) 

Day 2

Today I was lucky enough to go up and visit my dear friend Susannah in Seattle! She goes to Seattle Pacific University, a small, private, Christian school. It was so good to see her and see her home away from home!

I love the city and it's always so fun to drive past downtown Seattle. And it makes for a perfect SKYLINE picture! So here's Day 2:

I Heart Pictures!

Kenz and I decided to do Photo A Day May!  I'm super excited about it because it's gonna be SO fun! Hopefully I'll get better at taking pictures and learn some editing tips from my sister who is amazing at photography!

Happy May Day!

Funny Moments

I love my parents so much and sometimes they just crack me up! For instance:

-My dad called this morning and my mom was busy so I answered the phone.
Me: Hello
Dad: Hey! You sound like Mary
Me: I am Mary
Dad: Oh yeah, I forgot you were home
Me: haha, yup I'm here!

-My window was open in my room and my mom was leaving to go to Costco. I hear some rumbling and, "Oh man!" to no one in particular. A few seconds later I hear,
Mom: It's not funny!
Me: What's not funny mom?
Mom: The keys fell in the recycling bin
Me: hahahaha!
Mom: Today is not my day...

The Best Brothers in the World

Even though it doesn't always feel this way, I am so lucky to be the oldest in my family and I can't believe how old we're getting. It seems like we were just little kids yesterday. Playing together and not having to worry about homework and growing old. But reality has hit. My little brothers are not so little anymore haha!

They have become young men and are definitely are their way to doing great things! Everyone loves birthdays and Jacob and Jordan are lucky enough to have their birthdays just ONE day apart! Yup, Jordan's is on April 30 and Jacob's is on May 1. So if you ever want to have a party, stop by the Blackner house this time of year haha! 

14 things I love about Jordan

1) He loves to read just like me!

2) He always wants to give hugs

3) He loves to play basketball

4) He has the cutest smile and dimples

5) He's very social and is interested in other people

6) He loves to learn and does really well in school

7) He makes friends easily

8) He likes to teach and share his knowledge

9) He can always make me laugh

10) He enjoys life and knows how to have fun!

11) He loves church and the scriptures

12) He LOVES movies

13) He's really good with little kids

14) He's very independent 

16 things I love about Jacob

1) He's a pro dancer

2) He knows how to work hard

3) He LOVES sports and can happy with any type of ball

4) He's a great driver! 

5) He's caring 

6) He's a strong leader

7) I admire him for memorizing a whole movie

8) He's definitely a stud

9) He always likes to spend time with me on my bed

10) He's so chill and can get along with anyone

11) He's very animated and loves to sing 

12) He has a strong testimony

13) He thinks things are cute haha

14) He knows how to jam

15) He loves to remind me how short I am and pesters me to show his "love"

16) He's so good looking and now he can date!

I love my little brothers and am so blessed to have them in my life. We've made so many great memories together and the best are yet to come. I hope they enjoy their special days and have fabulous a year!