I had the opportunity on friday to attend the dedication of the new building on BYU-Idaho's campus. It was so amazing! Such a great experience. Elder Bednar, Elder Nelson and President Eyring all came and spoke. President Eyring gave the dedicatory prayer. This construction has been going on for years and years...so it was such a huge deal for us to finally see the end. I am so grateful for how perfect the timing was that I got to be at the dedication before I leave byui for a year and a half. Having so many former Ricks College/BYU-Idaho presidents there was amazing in itself.
Let me just say a bit about BYU Idaho. It is totally my school. I know that I was supposed to go there and that the Lord's hand has been in my life so much there. I can't imagine if I had gone anywhere else. I wouldn't trade my experiences from byui for anything in the world. The school tends to get a lot of flack from people...everywhere. Because they don't understand. I know it sounds so cheesy...but it is true! You will never understand why byui is so great until you go there. (side note: I hate the byu/byui rivalry thing. I think it is prideful and dumb) But there really is something special about that place and it is a part of me now. I love it so much!! It will always always have a huge place in my heart.
As far as the Buick goes (and the new construction done on the Manwaring Center) it does not feel like Rexburg. It's like one second you think you are in Rexburg but then when you step inside you forgot and now you're actually on temple square somewhere. The buildings are amazing. They feel way too fancy and big for us. The Buick seats 15,000 and is the second largest auditorium west of the Mississippi. Second only to the Conference Center in Salt Lake. In fact, it looks like a smaller version of the Conference Center (which seats 22,000). Not to mention...it has TEN basketball courts. I was in heaven just looking at them. While it feels too big for us, both Elder Bednar and President Eyring metioned that the construction has been done for purposes we do not understand yet. It has been guided by prophets. President Eyring said,
"These structures, significant in their own right, are also symbolic. They were approved by the Board of Education which is chaired by the president of the church for special reasons. They are central to the University that has a vital role to play in the Lord's kingdom on Earth."
Isn't that amazing?! Oh, I love it. I am so grateful for every tithing dollar that went into building this wonderful auditorium just for us.
If you want to watch the dedication for yourself, you can!
This was a pretty long post...can you tell it's kinda important to me? :)
for one of my photography projects, i had to pick a landmark to take pictures of all throughout the semester. the place i chose was a bit of a drive....down this road. it is a pretty sweet road.
idaho is beautiful.
anyway, because of the long drive i had lots of good thinking time.
or just singing time.
one time i drove all the way out there just to discover i didn't have a memory card in my camera....it was...awesome.
but, some of the time i have a friend with me :)
sometimes rachel, lots of times kelle,
and sometimes lindsay and lexie.
it's nice to have the company of some of my best friends to make my projects truly worth while.
driving is the best for thinking, bonding, listening, pondering
most of the time this means taking ten extra minutes walking to class to avoid falling on your face, cars too cold to start and the bottom of your jeans wet up to your knees. but, sometimes it means grand adventures :)
my very lovely roommate lexie wrote about the snow adventure we had last week on her blog.
you should read about it. she writes it way better than i could! it was the best. ever.
