What the what?!

So, life really does get crazy! And I'm only going to share a little bit of the craziness!

There is something about the fog that puts life into perspective.
Also, the temple looked gorgeous. It is such a light in my life.

To start off with, I have not written a new blog post in quite sometime (try like a year and a half), except on my younger brother Joe's blog. If you are wanting to stay caught up on his blog, here it is: elderjosephlucas@blogspot.com. He is doing really well, loves the Philippines and what not. His testimony has grown so much and I really cannot express the love and gratitude for the blessing and example he is in my life. I quite literally love my little brother quite a bit. Joe is such a light in my life.

Well, as most people know, I went back to the Brigham Young University-Idaho campus and it has quite honestly been a crazy last year and almost a half. Lets start off with last year. My brother David came out to school with me, along with my brother Jacob, his wife Emily, and their sweet adorable little boy, Oliver. It was a lot of fun to have all of us out here together and to experience college life (well, for David and I, we really were enjoying that single college life) together. As time moved on, David met sweet Nicci Pacheco, they started dating and well, the rest is history. Actually they got engaged last April, got married in August and found out they were expecting in September. It was honestly a lot of fun to get a new sister and I am grateful that David found a great girl to keep forever. Oh yeah, they also moved home to Lincoln, where David got a great job with the railroad.

My favorite place to be!!!

I learned just last year that my plan to graduate with a bachelors degree in Marriage and Family Studies is getting postponed a year. I was suppose to graduate in July and I started having really bad anxiety after my car accident a year and a half ago, that truly escalated this past year. I am going home to take care of all of that so that I can be the best person that I can be, but also so I don't continue to feel like I am struggling all the time. Anxiety is real and honestly, it is part of life, but it doesn't have to be the thing that controls your life. You are more than your anxiety and I really know that to be true. You let you define what your life is going to be. It is what you make it and so much more. Well, with the anxiety that escalated, classes were really getting hard and I was struggling to function sometimes. I started seeing a really great counselor who helped me talk about my problems, but also find solutions so that I could manage on my own. But, because of all of this, I talked to my parents and I prayed a lot and came to the conclusion that I needed to move home after this semester to get my life in a little more order. With that being said, I jumped at the opportunity to do one last semester on campus and decided to sign up for the Relationship Education Certification class. Oh my heavens, let me tell you how amazing this class is. I love it!! I've learned so much and I am literally so blessed to be at a university that gives its students opportunities like this one. I moved my graduation semester back to the Spring semester of 2020, which means I am still graduating before I am suppose to.

Some absolutely incredible things happened this past year though. I chose to go through the Lord's temple for myself and I became endowed. With this choice, came many covenants that I hold dear to my heart, but also brought about many changes in myself. I chose. Life is about choices and this was one of the best choices that I have ever made. I also accepted the call to work in the Lord's temple in Rexburg every Friday. Oh my heavens. I love working in the temple with the youth. I get to see so many people from all over the world. I get to meet some amazing people who share their testimony with me and I with them. It is just so beautiful. One thing I love is the people I get to work with. They and myself call them my old people. I love getting to know them. I love getting to spend time with them, I love joking with them about being a Husker. (I know. It's a big thing for me to say that I am a Husker, but it is what I am, so lets be honest about it.) They brighten my life with so much good. They teach me so much about the temple, but also about life. I'm so lucky to get to have more adopted parents.

My brother is literally the cutest.
Also, Emery is almost ready to crawl. And she loves her daddy.

Another thing that happened this past year is Jacob and Emily had a beautiful baby girl named Emery. This girl is something else and I love her beautiful personality. I get a lot of Oliver time because Emery cries every time she sees me. I don't blame her because I scare myself most of the time. But, she is so cute and I lover her so much! Oliver is the cutest though because he loves having his baby. He loves Emery and gives her lots of love and hugs and kisses. Oh!!! I just cannot get enough of my siblings' kids.

I have been like ultra blessed with like some of the best roommates and more adopted brothers this past year. I have made so many friends and been able to meet new people. I had this amazing group of brothers during the fall semester (2018). They literally knew just how to make me feel better, but also helped me become better because they took time to care and to love me for who I am and not for the problems that I was having. I love them so much. I also have great brothers this semester, but their is something about fall semester and how close we all got. They are the best and I hope they know how blessed I am to have them all in my life. I wish I was going to be here to see them all again next semester, but I guess that is what airplanes are for. I think I might just fly out here just to see them.

This was me at Thanksgiving 2018.

This is me as of two days ago. 

Fun facts about everything else I've been up to. I decided I wanted to start feeling better, so I started doing three things. I have been trying to go to bed by 10 p.m. (If you try to call me after that, my phone is probs on do not distrub, so deal with it. I will call you back the next day.) I don't do as well with that as I would like, but I do get up at 7 a.m. I'm kind of weird and I've really been enjoying it. Well, if you're going to be up so early, why not be productive about it as well. So I have been going and walking/running on the track every morning (or almost every morning) and it has been paying off. Also, I've been trying to eat healthier, which is hard when you really love those Reese's Peanut Butter Cups with the Reese's Pieces in them. (If you haven't had these, you can buy them at Walmart. They are freaking amazing!!!)

Anywhos... I freaking love people and new friends. So hit me up or contact me because I would love to know you all, and what you guys all think and also what things you want to hear about!!! I love you all!!! Have a very blessed life!!! :D