nashville

Called to serve in Tennessee, Kentucky, and a little bit of Illinois...

I'm ready for you.
(I hope you're ready for me too.)

mamma

You are...

The one who taught me how to love.
The one who taught me how to read, and appreciate good literature.
The one who taught me to put family before everyone else.
The one who showed me how to pray.
The one who showed me how to cherish the scriptures.
The first person I want to tell everything to.. good news or bad.
The one who taught me to never give up or feel discouraged.
Always there for me.. and the rest of the family.
The best example of Christlike living.
The one who taught me how to put other's needs before my own.
Always the one with the best attitude.
The one who taught me the importance of honesty.
The one who helped me develop an appreciation for nature.
The one who taught me to aways stand up for what I believe in.
The one who taught me to recognize beautiful things.
The one who showed me how to be a good friend.
The one who showed me how to recognize the good in everyone.


So very talented.
The best chef I know.
An amazing seamstress.
An incredible gardener.
A musician and and artist.
So dedicated to any good cause.
So sincere, with everyone you meet.
The most patient person I know.
So lovely, inside and out.

(I know you don't like this picture, but I think you are beautiful.)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

two weeks

Two weeks from yesterday (possibly three) I will be doing this..

..because I will be holding my mission call in my hands!!

(the beach may or may not be included)

simply wonderful

I never knew I was such a fan of limeade.
Until I tried this.

Oh. My. Gosh. I guess I should have known that the manufacturers of my favorite orange juice could also produce a perfect lime creation. Its so simple. But so wonderful. And so is Brock for continuously providing it for me.

Try it. You'll love it. This is my promise to you.

sweet sweet

So, yesterday Brock surprised me right when I got home from school by bringing me these..

as well as some cookies :) He just did it to be nice.. no particular reason at all. He's pretty great. I kinda like him.

(this is us up by Tibble Fork last weekend)

not so bad

This has been me for the past five days...

I've never gone through tissue boxes so fast in my entire life!

But as miserable as being sick is... it seems that sometimes the best things happen to me when my body feels the most miserable. Like when I got the flu in elementary and got to stay home from school drinking warm cherry Jell-0 (mama nurse told me it would soothe my upset stomach and I did not argue or complain). Or when I got my wisdom teeth out and I got to watch High School Musical 2 three times in a row (ok i'm just kidding about that being one of the best things). The last time I got sick was in October, and the boy I liked started coming over to watch O.C. re-runs with me because that was the only thing I felt good enough to do. And for some reason, the boy I've been hanging out with for the past month decided to wait until now, when I have tissues in all my pockets and I'm blowing my nose every ten minutes, to finally kiss me.

I'm thinking maybe I should get sick more often?

sunshine

the beach
and disneyland........

HERE I COME!!

as if nothing had changed

"No matter how long I was away, no matter how great the distance, whenever my friends and I met again, it was as if nothing had changed. We picked up our lives where we left off, and it was as if time had stood still."

-Elder Ronald Rasband

I heard this quote tonight and of course, it made me think of this..

That really is how it feels every time we get back together.

I will always love you Mands, Beccs, Chrissy, Dan, Madds, Heath, Laur, Stina, Katie, Tia, Stace, Bry, Rach, and Las :)

And I hope it will be that way with these ladies when we're no longer together..

my friends are pretty great

caring

Caring is a beautiful thing. It's what builds relationships. It's what defines our character. It's what makes us human.

However, sometimes it is not caring that releases us.

Not caring if the carpet gets dirty (because our vacuum is broken).

Not caring that we haven't showered today.. or yesterday.

Not caring if our professor gives us an A-, B+, or B on our best effort project.

Not caring if it's sunny or if it's snowy outside.

Not caring that we're not wearing the trendiest item (especially if it's a weird knit ear warmer headband with a giant flower on the front).

Not caring that a boy we really cared about stopped being a good friend.

Not caring that we're not brave enough to try the jumps and rails that everyone else is trying.

Not caring if we're not the fastest runner in the race.

Not caring if our stomach is a little bit chubby.

Not caring that we're wearing leather grandpa moccasins rather than cute high heels to school every day.

Not caring that we've been eating micro-waved leftovers for two weeks rather than cooking something new.

Don't get me wrong, I still consider myself a caring person. I still care about the most important things in life. But as far as some things are concerned,

sometimes

it just feels good

to not.

my pa

Let me tell you a little about this man...

-He used to let my sisters and me wear his oversized t-shirts as nightgowns to bed every night.

-He safety pins his socks together after he's worn them so that when they go through the wash he never loses a match like the rest of us (ingenious right?)

-He would take us to the grocery store every time Mom went out of town and let us choose every kind of sweet cereal we could ever want.

-He would stay up until after midnight with me in high school, helping me with some of my most complex calculus problems.. even the ones I didn't have to do for class, just because we both liked solving them so much.

-He scrapes out the last bit of every chapstick tube with a pocket knife and compiles them all into an empty container, so as to not waste one bit.

-He wrote a poem for me once when our parents were asked to write us letters. He went through every letter of the alphabet and complimented me accordingly. (You're Awesome..you're Beautiful..you're Clever..etc).

-He cuts off the tops of Doritos bags whenever the chips are running low, so that no one gets their hands greasy and crumby by reaching down to the bottom of the bag.

-He came home a few weeks ago with three different kinds of Dove chocolates for me.. just because he knows they're my favorite.

-He paid me to type up the lyrics to a funny song we sang in elementary school because he loved it so much.

-He's invented some of the best recipes known to man, including the pineapple lime slushie, Steve's famous bean dip, and Christmas Eve eggnog.

-He retains knowledge unlike anyone I've ever met... ask him a history question, and he'll tell you exactly when, where, and how it happened.

-His eyes light up every time he talks about his grandbabies, and they get the most excited when they see him.

-He always compliments my golf game, even though he knows I'm not very good.
-He used to go outside in the freezing winters 15 minutes before I had to leave for school everyday, start my car, and scrape the ice for me so I wouldn't have to.

-He still walks me out to my car every time I leave for Logan and helps me carry out all of my things
-He's never lost a game of hearts or monopoly.

-He sends me texts almost every day just to see how I'm doing.

-He tells the best 'punny' jokes ever.

-He's the smartest man I know.

-He's the most organized man I know.

-He's the hardest worker I know.

-He's the best dad I know.

And today is his birthday.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY PA!

I love him so much. I am so lucky to have him, and I will be lucky if I find a man who is even half as brilliant and selfless as he is.

walter

Want to meet the newest member of our duplex family?

Rachel found him hopping along the middle of the road in Salt Lake Saturday night, so she pulled over and rescued him. I think this was meant to be..because I have been wanting a bunny so bad lately! We decided his name is Walter...he loves us and we love him. We read him bedtime stories last night and rocked him to sleep.. just trying to make him feel welcome here. Isn't he great??

happy v day

I may not have a special Valentine this year, but I get to spend all weekend with people I love...

doing what I love most...

eating some of my favorite foods..

..and I have absolutely no complaints. So this year my heart goes out to them and to the rest of my family, to my friends who are amazing, to my roommates who are always there for me, and maybe... to whoever the man is that will be here with me...

sometime in the distant future.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

sunny kitchen

As I might have mentioned before, Logan can be a bit gloomy in the winter. We've had week after week of gray skies, not because of stormy weather, but because of the inversion. Even when its sunny in Salt Lake, Utah County, or up Logan Canyon, it is continuously gray here in Cache Valley.

Rach and I noticed that is was starting to affect our moods. We were feeling depressed for no particular reason, and finally we linked it to the lack of sunshine in our lives. So here was our solution to all this gray.. after we turned in two projects on Monday, we made a spontaneous decision to paint. If Logan won't bring sunshine to us, we will bring sunshine to our kitchen!

Our walls were previously white, and our kitchen was almost as drab as outside. But not anymore! Its surprising how much it has affected our moods this week.

What do you think?

something else that makes me happy

I just wanted to brag about some of the people I love the most in this world. You might think I'm talking about my awesome parents or siblings, or my incredibly talented best friends, but instead I just wanted to take a minute to show off my very favorite little people on the planet:

Olive

Violet

Charlie

Taylor

(little Tay and big Tay)

Jack

Maxwell

Hailey

Can you see why I'm kind of obsessed with them?? When I'm sad, there's nothing that can make me instantly happy like being around these guys. I miss them like crazy right now! The babies make me so excited to have my own someday, and Hailey, Maxwell, and Jack are more like my sister and brothers than my niece and nephews. My roommates and friends probably get sick of hearing about them, but I never get sick of talking about them.

I love them so..so.. much. Thats all.

(p.s. sistas.. thanks for letting me steal some of your pictures and show off your kiddos. Until I have my own I'll just keep bragging about yours. Thanks for sharing them with me)