it's cold.

alice in wonderland.

My dad gave me this magnet when I went to college <3

Hollywood produces too much trash.  So I’m really excited to tell you that “Alice In Wonderland” is amazing!! I’m biased cause I love Tim Burton & Johnny Depp—but even Jordan, who didn’t think he’d like the movie cause it looked “creepy,” really enjoyed it.  

The acting, of course, was phenomenal.  (I'm excited to see Mia Wasikowska in “Jane Eyre”).  The filmmakers did an excellent job creating Wonderland—I was particularly fond of all the fuzzy animals running around all over the place.  The plot was good and the message was cute.  I loved it when Alice announced, “This is MY dream; I decide what happens.”  Go see this movie!! :D

a day with jordan.

Today after my classes, Jordan came to visit.  It was the last time I'll see him before he leaves for his mission--I'm gonna miss this boy! We had a really nice day, even though it was snowing!!  (Please come soon, warm weather.)  We went shopping, played mini golf, went to Salt Lake, saw "Alice In Wonderland," and ate at Red Lobster.  The best part was just having all day to talk and catch up--Jordan and I don't see each other very often, but whenever we do, we always pick up where we left off.  Don't you love people in your life who are like that?  Certain things change as your lives move in different directions, but your friendship stays the same.

a spiritual weekend.

Since it was the weekend before Easter, there were a lot of activities going on around campus that helped me focus on Jesus and prepare to celebrate the true meaning of Easter--Christ's sacrifice for us--this upcoming Sunday.

Ariel and I woke up early Saturday morning to go to the Provo temple. Then we went to BYU's Easter Conference.  We got to hear speakers and listen to some beautiful music numbers.  My favorite talks were entitled "Worshipping Christ" and "What the Atonement Meant for Jesus."  After the conference, Ariel and I spent the day in the library, and that night we went to a Passover Seder Service.  I've never celebrated the Passover before, so I learned a lot!  It was really cool participating in the whole ceremony.

Sunday I went to church as usual, and later that night there was a special devotional where we heard from Doctor Skinner, a professor of ancient scripture here at BYU.  He spoke about The Last Supper and focused on John, chapters 13-17.

This whole weekend was really special.  It reminded me I need to be better about keeping the Savior in my thoughts each day.  I'm really excited to celebrate Easter this weekend.  I hope we can all remember the true meaning of the holiday, and think about what Jesus Christ means personally to each of us.

crushes.

I'm not sure who I love more--Gilbert Blythe or Mr. Darcy. 

you two.

i love you two.  you make me laugh.  

kate and shalane got in an accident driving back home to idaho on sunday.  kate fell asleep while driving.  she had been going 80 mph (cause the speed limit was 75) and she ran off the road into a ditch.  it's amazing that the girls are alright for the most part--shalane came out fine and kaitlin is better than she should be considering the accident's impact.  she fractured her back and will be a in a brace for 6 weeks. after she gets the brace off she will have to go 2-3 months with no physically straining activity.  this is really good news, because it could have been much worse.  we have been saying a lot of prayers of gratitude lately.  

do you believe in angels?  we do!  

i'm so glad my sisters are okay.

i don't wanna say goodbye to these faces:

family visit.

my family came to visit this weekend! it was the best weekend i've had in a long time.

we went shopping.

we saw BYU perform Shakespeare's "As You Like It."

we got to hang out with Ariel a little bit. 

we ate yummy food. 

we laughed a lot. 

it was the best :) 

hanging out with them is a party! 

buying oranges at "rancho market." 7 lbs for $1.  no, i'm not kidding. crazy!

kate opening the prize she bought for 50 cents. it's a squishy, purple thing!  

shalane keeping me updated on new music.

kate wearing her weird sunflower thing.

flashbacks.

pics i found on my cell phone...

the journalism women proclaim their love to Jordan Steele. 

three-legged monster pizza.

tiff and court take disgusting pics of themselves on my phone.

tiff and court try to make gordo stop being emo. 

brock reads a story. 

korey and i try to be attractive.

trevor, molly, and i sell ducks outside albertson's.

weekend.

{this weekend}
1.  Shayna came to Utah to check out USU and BYU.  I was very happy to see her :)  I showed her around campus and then Kaylene (Shayna's mom) took us to PF Chang's for lunch.  I didn't take any pics, so I thought I'd post these.  They make me incredibly happy--memories from last summer!

2.  I had way too much fun at "Good Earth," a health food store here in Provo.  Bought some things for my pantry.

3.  I recently read that Henry James developed what he described in one of his novels as the "practice of wondering and dawdling and gaping."  I'm pretty sure I'm also developing this practice, because I feel like I could spend all day just walking around, enjoying nature.  Sunday afternoon before the CES devotional, Dallas and I went for a walk.

God loves me.

Today has been wonderful so far, thanks to church.
 Yes, I love church. It is the most important part of my week. 

 Lately I've felt like I can't do anything right,
so today I felt peace as I was reminded of God's love for me.  

kenyon's mission call.

another friend just got his mission call.

Kenyon is going to the Johannesburg South Africa mission!

He leaves July 7th. 

He'll be learning 4 languages

and going to 3 countries.

He said, "Seriously, it's so Gnar."

And I agree.  I'm slightly jealous :)

-photo of Kenyon-

jordan's mission call.

Jordan just got his mission call!
On April 14th

He's going to Indianapolis, Indiana
to serve a two-year LDS mission.

-Which is sweet, cause when my family lived in Kentucky 

we were only five minutes from the Indiana border-

It's a pretty awesome place.

Congrats, Jordan! FH. haha.
You'll be an amazing missionary. 

{happy list}

When I'm feeling a little weird about life

I know it's time to make a happy list :D

-photo of sisters shalane & kaitlin-

Jenna’s Happy List

waking up early

picnics 

bicycles

holding babies

reading a book with a cat curled up beside me

workouts

fruit smoothies

love notes

the relief I feel after taking a test

farmers markets

fresh bread 

gardens

photographs

friendly people

hot weather

layin on the trampoline & looking at the stars
races

fhe olympics.

Mormons have this thing called "Family Home Evening," aka FHE, where every Monday night we spend time with our families.  We have a spiritual lesson and some kind of activity.  

Since we don't have our families here at college, we have our own FHE groups made up of students.  I love my group!  So much fun!  Last night we combined with another group and had "olympics"--competitions like rock/paper/ scissors, limbo, and sock wars.
Here's a video of the boys doing sock wars.
This makes me laugh so much. 

happy news.

Ohhh good things happened this weekend!  


1. I got a job! 
I'll be working at a frozen yogurt place called "Spoon It Up." 
2. My roommate, Mandi, GOT ENGAGED!
It happened Friday night.  We are very excited.  


Other than that, this weekend I did lots of homework and hung out with Ariel--we went to Brick Oven for dinner and watched BYU's Music Dance Theater Showcase afterward.  Hope you all had a good weekend! <3

Ariel at Brick Oven

towed.

Dallas lets me borrow his car sometimes.

Our apartment has been allotted two parking spaces.

And last night I parked Dallas’ car in one of those spaces. 

It got towed. 

I called parking enforcement and not-so-nicely explained that it’s MY parking spot!

The guy told me it didn’t matter if it was my spot, because my roommate called and asked him to tow it.  She hadn’t realized it was Dallas’ car.

We got the car back with a hefty fee.

Last night I cried about it.

Today I’m choosing to laugh about it. 

red and coop sing a song.

Cooper & Daniel serenade us from Jenna Carson on Vimeo.

green smoothies after yoga.

Tuesday and Thursday nights Dallas and I go to yoga and then drink green smoothies.  It’s the greatest.

dear valentine.

Dear Dream Man,

I don’t know where you are or what you’re doing, but I know you’re worth the wait.  You'll be glad to hear I’m not wasting my time with anyone else this Valentine’s Day.  

You don’t need to have massive muscles like Gerard Butler, you don’t need to buy me expensive things, you don’t need to be perfect; you just need to be the perfect one for me.  Oh, and it’d be cool if you like to run, drink green smoothies, and not eat a lot of meat.  But if you love meat I can probably live with that.  It’d also be really cool if you want to travel, learn different languages, and possibly join the Peace Corps :P  

Words to describe you (in no particular order) are: ambitious, motivated, hard-worker, kind, FUN, thoughtful, open-minded, loyal, honest, unique and (slightly) weird. 

One day we'll go to the temple together.  Perhaps we'll have a little cottage on the coast.  We'll plant a really big garden.  We'll have a cat and a dog.  We'll buy a grand piano.  We'll cook together, learn together, go hiking and running together, get a trampoline just so we can camp out under the stars, go dancing, leave love notes for each other, and so on. 

I can wait for you as long as it takes. In the meantime, I'm working really hard to become the best woman I can so that I can be your perfect Valentine someday.

Love,
Jenna  

thoughts at 2 in the morning

It’s really late—or maybe really early.  I have a 7 a.m. class in 5 hours.  I’ve been doing homework for my American Literary History class and still have a lot to read, but I felt like I needed to stop and write a few lines.

Lately I’ve felt so overwhelmed in life—but in the best sense of the word.  I want to live every bit of life and soak it all up and rejoice in it and thank God for it and share my happiness with everyone around me.  I’ve been having these liberating moments of peace.  I’ve been noticing the beauty around me.  I’ve been blessed with patience and understanding when I pray and when I take some time to just let my thoughts flow wherever they need to when I’m in the temple.  I’ve been noticing how God blesses me whenever I ask for His guidance and strength.  I love that Christ is in me and that I am in Him, and how we are all part of this HUGE plan that we can’t even begin to comprehend.  I love that God’s divinity is made manifest in all His creations.  How can anyone doubt Him?  Just look around; God is in the nature around us.  I feel his presence.  I can’t ask for anything more.          

This is a simple picture that might not seem like much, but when I took it, I was thinking about how life is about cherishing the simple moments when we can feel God’s love surround us.  Seeing the bright sunshine on the snow reminded me to step back and be amazed at His creations.  I take too much for granted.