Monday, October 8, 2012

I'm a BFA-er!

Hello my friends. My Junior year has begun and although this is kind of old news, I was accepted into the BFA Graphic Design program this past August, which stands a Bachelor in Fine Arts and Communications. It was a long journey, but I'm here!



FRESHMAN YEAR: 300 students applied for BA
                               /         \
                             /             \
                           /                 \
    they went back to           40 got in (one is me!)
    the drawing board                                   \
      ....literally haha                                        \     
                                                      \    .
                 SOPHOMORE YEAR: took 2 semesters of Graphic Design
                            emphasis classes and 40 applied for the BFA in April and August
/       \
/           \
/               \
Sadly they have to                   19 got in (I MADE IT!!)
                                      apply again next year                                 \
                                \      .
                               \  .
                               And here I am!


It's a miracle I even got to apply for the BFA this August. Reviews of portfolios was August 7th and I did not get home until August 9th from Jerusalem. But because Mormons are so nice I was able to bring my portfolio in 3 days later on August 10th and have their look at my portfolio. I am so grateful they were so nice to do that for me. I flew from Tel Aviv, to New York, to Seattle, to Salt Lake, to Seattle all in 2 1/2 days. 32 hours of straight sitting in a plane. But it was worth it!! Because a few days later I got an email saying I got in! This program is for the best of the best, I felt like I did when I heard I got into the BA, "There must have been a mistake!" "I think they sent it to the wrong person." Nope, there was my name, in black and white, telling me which classes to take this fall. Crazy.


Well, now that it's a month into the program I am staying very busy and they are working us hard in the BFA. Besides trying to humbly show my excitement for getting into the program, I also wanted to post a website I coded (HTML and CSS) for my Interactive Design class. Our assignment was to make a retail website and I chose to do vintage mod clothing for a store I made up. I designed this website and then wrote it all in HTML and styled it in CSS. I'm a proud mama! I feel like a big girl, have my own domain and everything! Now whoever wants to can see my work! By the end of the semester, I'll have a full working site of my portfolio and my work which is very exciting.

My retail webpage is posted at:

http://mckenziesuedesign.com/retail/

To see the other 2 pages click on "My Bag" on the header, and also "Sale" on the pink navigation bar.

I am so excited to become a better graphic designer and I am so honored to be in the BFA. I'll keep posting on my blog so you can see what I'm up to! :) 

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Post Jerusalem and Reflections of my Trip

It's almost been a month since I've been home from Jerusalem. The next group has come and gone and are now living in my home. In a way I don't like that, "that is MY home!". But in a way I am so excited for a new group to get to have the same experience as me and share the blessings of living in the Old City. It's very bittersweet to be home. I am now in the BFA which will keep me very busy for the next two years and I am so honored and grateful to be in the program. This will change my life as much as Jerusalem did. But Jerusalem will always be a part of my life and I will never ever forget it.

As I was reading my friends email who just got to Jerusalem it was fun to hear her excitement and have the same experience of my first time walking down those streets. Walking on the huge polished cobble stones, some centuries old, and smelling dozens of different things all at once from soap to smoke to spice to licorice to leather and hearing the commotion of people with all kinds of different languages and the Middle Eastern music all around. Meeting so many people who are so devoted and passionate about their religion and culture. I learned so many things as I was in Israel but I think I can narrow it down to three.

I have gained respect for other religions and honor them and their ways of worship.
I was able to meet and see so many people and what every single person had, Jew, Muslim, Christian, was their passion and devotion to their God. And I can learn from them in how I worship the Lord. One place I really loved was the Western Wall. It was so grand and tall and the courtyard around was always filled with people. As you walk towards the wall men and women split to their sides and you can tell that the Jewish people really respect and worship this place. The wall is the closest place to the Second Temple's Holy of Holies and so the Western Wall has become a symbol of their temple. This wall is like their temple. It is the closest thing they have to a temple. What would we do without our temples? As I got to touch the wall I respected how much they loved and came to pray here. A tradition at the Western Wall is as you leave, you walk backwards so to never turn your back to the Wall symbolizing never turning your back to God. I always tried to respect others and so I would always walk backwards, but it had such symbolic meaning to me. These people came and left with such respect for their place of worship and now, as I've come home and been able to come to my temple again and it's beautiful walls, I approach it with much greater love and respect than I ever have before. I honor the other religions I came into contact with at my time there and have learned from their example how to have more passion and devotion to the Lord.

I learned what I know about Old and New Testament and how I know it
Through my study of Old Testament and New Testament I learned a lot and studied the scriptures. But through my classes and my time in Jerusalem, my testimony of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, and the Restored Gospel strengthened so much. Now that doesn't really make sense at all right? We learned to question principles and ask what do we know. How do we know it? We wouldn't know much at all about the Old Testament without the Pearl of Great Price to help us out on the plain and precious parts lost. We wouldn't have a full understanding of principles Jesus taught or what the keys of the kingdom meant that he gave to Peter, and most importantly, what truly happened on that dark night in Gethsemane and what it meant. That is what separates us from other religions, the knowledge that we have from the Book of Mormon that Joseph Smith restored, that Jesus suffered for our sins, our trials, and the wrath of God so we wouldn't have to and the Book of Mormon connects the dots for so many principles that we believe today. What I know, and how I know it, comes from the Restored Scriptures and I do not know what I would do without them.

I think one of the most important lessons I learned was something my New Testament teacher in Provo told my class before I came to Jerusalem.
"It is good to walk where Jesus walked, but it is better to walk where Jesus walks."
When I got on the plane to Jerusalem, I was so excited thinking, I get to walk where Jesus walked, I get to touch the ground he touched! As we spent 3 and a half months going on field trips though, we all learned that  that wasn't really true. We were either 60 feet above where Jesus walked because throughout history things were just built on top of one another and built up and also most places are just traditional spots that commemorate something that happened nearby. We aren't even sure of the spot Jesus was crucified, let alone the spot where he gave a sermon or healed someone. We ended up saying we were in Jesus' airspace. Although we didn't exactly walk where Jesus walked I got to sit at the Mount of Beatitudes and read his Sermon in Matthew 5, I felt the Spirit manifest so powerfully to me that Jesus lived here and spoke these words. My testimony grew so much on my trip to Jerusalem. And it wasn't because I got to walk where He walked, it wasn't because I got to see what He saw, it was because I studied the scriptures, I opened my heart to the Spirit, and I sincerely wanted to change and become a better disciple of Christ. You don't need to go to Jerusalem to do that, but I think the Lord knew I needed a big push like Jerusalem to help me gain that knowledge and testimony. Now that I am back in Provo, I get to go to the temple and walk where Jesus walks today. The first time I walked in I had that same Spirit, all the way over in Jerusalem, come back to me and I knew this was Christ's home too.

I hope that I can bless others from my experience in Jerusalem, just as Elder Holland said to do. Not many people get to see the Holy Land, but I hope through me, and my example, they can see how it has changed my life and that it can change theirs too. Jerusalem will always have a part of my heart and will always remember what I experienced there and it will change my life forever.

BYU JERUSALEM SPRING/SUMMER 2012

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

T-Shirts and Family Photos

 The last Tuesday before we left we gave out our T-shirts and took pictures. I designed the shirts with the wonderful help of Natalie Crossley and they came out great! We had a big photoshoot and then had FHE Family photos, which of course we tried every awkward pose we could think of. Enjoy! :)


Melia and I
Rachel and I
Jerica and I


Joe and I!
Michael, Rachel, and I
My FHE family was the best!


Love my mom and dad Alvin and Analise!








We are leaving for home in just a few hours. It is very bittersweet. I will miss the city, my home in the Jerusalem Center, and being with the best 80+ people all day every day. I really am so lucky. I have met the best people ever this summer and I can't wait to see them on campus and hang out with them in the future. I love every single person and I couldn't have had a better summer. 

Go Jeru Crew Summer 2012!!

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

JC LDS

This post is dedicated to JC LDS - Jerusalem Center Last Days Syndrome. Because I definitely have it.

Went to the Israel Museum!
Put in a prayer at the Western Wall!
I wrote it in Hebrew!




I love the Western Wall! Especially people watching.
Went to the Garden of Gethsemane

Walked through Orson Hyde
At our Last Supper Devotional


Went to Holy Bagel
Ate ice cream!
Made 250 shekels at West Jerusalem!

These kids came and danced for a half hour, it was so cute!
They made 250 shekels!
Running in tombs to pick up my dropped notebook! :)

I love these two colors together!
Herodian stones
Ate Ramadan pancakes for only 1 shekel!
A date picture just for Grandpa! :)
They were so yummy!
And eat more ice cream!

I am almost home and Last Day Syndrome took its toll. But I had a wonderful last days in Jerusalem!!

Monday, August 6, 2012

Dead Sea Field Trip

The Monday after Galilee we went on yet another field trip, but this time to the Dead Sea! We went to Masada, floated in the Dead Sea, and went to Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.

Our first stop was Masada, which was a huge place built by Herod the Great, not surprisingly, and it is famous for the Zealot Revolt against the Romans.
Brother Ludlow telling us about Masada.
In a huge cistern (Tacy, Natalie, Josh, and I)
At almost every site there is a restoration line the archaeologists put to show what they have restored and what is original. Of course I had to take lots of pictures of it but the lines just looked so cool!


Pointing to where we stood
Another Bible Dictionary picture! (Judean Wilderness)
Dwight sweeping Devery off her feet :)
Jerica being my model. I ordered her to get on the ground and she kindly obeyed me. Thanks Jerica!
Next we went to Ein Gedi, which is a hiking place that has lots of waterfalls and I'm not a hiker but it was fun to do that.
Lauren is the sweetest person I've ever met in my entire life!
Josh took my camera and took this legit picture of a hirax
I'm eating Josh :)
Next was the Dead Sea! The Dead Sea is 30% salt. Compared to the average ocean which is 3% that is a lot! It was so cool. We walked in and immediately you float and just sit there. It was the coolest feeling ever but the minerals definitely stung so I couldn't stay long.


We found some mud a ways off and completely covered ourselves. We see shops selling dead sea mud everywhere and we got the real deal for free! After washing it off our skin felt so smooth. We don't need no spa!
Hailey, Analise, and I
AJ and I
It was a lot of fun!

Next was Qumran! Brother Ludlow was with our class this field trip and Dead Sea Scrolls are his thing so we got to hear him talk about them and see where they were found which was cool.


I was bored of boring pictures so I had a little fun taking some other kind. I took pictures of the essential things we have and need this summer.


Receivers attached to the hip

Water in any way

Sunglasses and silly faces
And don't ever forget that J-pack!
Natalie and I with the Dead Sea cave (little hole behind us in the bottom corner)
With Robin, Brother Huntsman, and Brother Ludlow. One of my favorite things about being here is having a close relationship with your teachers. They know us personally and we know their wives and kids, we eat and see them daily and say goodnight to them. I am going to miss that in Provo where professors have thousands of students instead of just a few of us.
 It was an awesome field trip and our last real one. Now we have our Last Week of Christ field trip and I am on the plane home. It's very bittersweet but I'm ready to come home and bless others because I have been blessed to come here.