Virginia is a beautiful place!

I spent 14 hours on a plane in the span of 2 days flying home for the beautiful Jordan Boone's wedding. She was so happy, I was SOO happy for her and Brace. I am grateful I have such a good example to look up to, I LOVE her.

 I enjoyed seeing my family, but it felt super wierd to be home, like I was living 2 lives. I met the most interesting people at the airport and in the process of my trek across the country. The airplane ride was a little sketchy, seeing as turbulence was INSANE!

This weekend was spent back in rainy Virginia. Me and Tara attempted to make our way to the city, but decided it wasn't worth it. SOOO, instead we tried a new resturaunt probably not known to .0001 more than the population of Virginia. It was called, Golden China, refreshing name eh? They gave portions the size of China. Then we went to the thrift store and tried on all sorts of nothings for a least 90 minutes. I bought two skirts. I was pleased with them until I got home. They are super ugly, the light of the thrift store sold me. Never again. We then ventured to a town called Reston and met up with a bunch of friends and had a fun night eating and then played a game.

I realized that I LOVE to grocery shop and do laundry. I love to ride in the car and I absolutely love music. The ward I attend out here is fabulous, the church is great where ever I am in this world. I am so grateful for the oppurtunity I have to be out here and experiencing these things. Something I never thought was plausable. There are so much things to learn and accomplish, I decided I am going to go out and accomplish it all!

So this one time, I moved to Idaho. 

It has been almost two months since I felt like braving my blog. What am I supposed to say? So much is going on, I feel so inadequate for the life I am living.

But I decided today that I am going to just go with it.

Every opportunity that presents itself, I will take. Also, Every opportunity I want to make happen, I will.

I have learned that I am the only one that can make decisions for myself. I want to get off the sidelines of life, and get in the game. 

Yep, I will mess up. Yep, I am bound to get some pretty sweet bruises. Hey, I might even make a couple enemies. But through all these experiences that are scary to think about, I know I will grow and I will learn so much.

Friday Gratefuls:

-the bells on campus that sing hymns when I am walking to class

-everyone one of my little roomies

-the people who live at the rehabilitation center who help me forget about my little problems, and see life in such a bigger picture

-my parents and that they love me, still.

-This adventure called life. Never in a million years would I have imagined that I would be up here, schooling, homeworking and starting all over. 

Friends are amazing. I am so grateful everyday that I have such good friends. They are far away, but what a dull life it is to walk amongst people whom I have yet to become aquanited yet. I want to meet them all. It's kind of a slow process.

But, I created a goal. Every person I meet, it will be with a smile. Every person I meet I will remember their name. Wish me luck, this could go either way. 

Challenges are blessings. That is why we are here on earth, to experience trials and tribulations we couldn't experience before we came here. It's hard, but I am trying to embrace it all.

This is what I have been thinking about today

let go of the life you think you want. and start living the life God has in store for you.

Grateful.

Today I am grateful for...

• the rain.
• the lady at the gym who pointed the fan toward me. (she could obviously tell I was not feeling it this morning)
• the singles ward. yep, I said it. There are some awesome people I have met there.
• my parents, they let me live in their basement, good deal :)
• music. love that music.
• the man who let me merge into his lane last minute.
• the fact that today is THE LAST DAY I have to dress like a pilgrim for work. Praise the Heavens!
• Thanksgiving is soon. What a good holiday, it gives me an excuse to eat.
• faith. yesterday, I learned a little more about faith. Faith is amazing, it's the way you live your life. I am grateful for faith.

Life is so great. I have no idea what my future holds, but I have a feeling it will be great.

Life is... not perfect, but inspiring. It is so easy for me to get caught up in all the wrong, ungrateful thoughts. I hit a point where I started to dread the very moments that make life worth living. I got frustrated at the fact that nothing I did was ever perfect.

Was it ever supposed to be?

 No, the fact that we mess up and keep trying make us loveable.

 I got frustrated that I don't have a ton to do right now. My life is rarely busy and most of the time I am by myself.

When will my life ever be this simple again?

 I have gotten to know myself so much better, I have gotten a rountine down, I have gotten to know my savior and learned to recognize his voice. 

I was blinded by the fact that I rarely see people, unless they are strangers. Which led to me failing to see that I am surrounded by my family and three best friends who I love.

What more could I need?

 I got frustrated that things never work out with boys.

 Is it supposed to right now?

 obviously not, because I believe in a God that loves me and wants the best for me. It proves that he is very involved in my life. I believe that I am blessed. I know that life is meant to be enjoyed.

Yes, you can find the bad. What you get out of life depends on what you look for. I was obviously looking for all the wrong things. Life is fragile. In a second, someone you love can be gone.

 I noticed daisy on my kitchen counter tonight and almost started to cry. They are beautiful. The fall leaves are beautiful. The snow on the mountains are beautiful. Things change. But change is beautiful. Everything around us changes all the time and the most miserable among us are those who see change as bad. Change is hard, but at the same time change means growth, progression and the movement of time into the future. There are miracles woven into each of my days. I decide what I find, I decide my happiness.

The first day of OCTOBER

I am so grateful for so many things on this BEAUTIFUL autum day,

I woke up early and saw eliza wilson and melissa from work. ultimate favorite people.

I ate TWO muffins

I had the angelic privelage of watching four hours of conference today. President Uchtodorf has a way of speaking so that my soul listens. He spoke and I was changed.... amazing.

I got to run errands for my siblings

I took a nap

I then proceeded to eat as much as my little heart desired ALL DAY

I went shopping and then ate an ice cream cone with my beautiful mom and sister

I enjoyed a suspenseful epidosde of castle

I then went over to Sarah Marin's house. Her family fed me watermelon and then...

We sat around a fire. Talked about life and enjoyed the most delicious smore. We talked about wedding colors and school I love how BYU dominated football yesterday. I love that perfect love knows no fear. I am going to live my life right and enjoy every moment of it. Today, I had alot to be grateful for :)

SOOO today, today was a miracle.

This girl got to sleep in, although 8 o'clock is not that big of a deal, to me... it is.

I woke up and made myself a strawberry banana smoothie

I was able to read mydaily dose of scriptures, which is always my favorite part of any day

It was so warm and sunny today

I got to help Sister Stringham clean her house and then...

WE CANNED PEACHES!

It was the epitome of fall, I LOVE fall

I made rice krispy treats... with Halloween colored m&m's. So festive

I showered. If you don't know me well, that is a big deal. I had been trying to fit it in... finally, today the shower happened.

I picked up my little sister from coming home from Dixie. I haven't seen her since August 13th. That is along time. Me and her got real close this past summer, love her. So happy.

I did my hair. My hair only gets done on Sundays, because I have time....so my hair is straight right now.

I took my dog Saide on a walk. While on the walk I enjoyed the perfect fall night.

Sarah Martin was waiting on my love sac when I got home and we ate frozen yogurt. I LOVE FRO YO and Sarah. She seriously made my day.

I talked to the most beautiful Jordan Boone on the phone. She is the absolute best woman ever and SHE'S GETTING MARRIED. I hope that wasn't a secret. Seeing as my blog gets read by... me :) I decided it was ok.

The wind was blowing tonight and the stars were out.

I am surrounded by AMAZING people. I love my parents and love the fact that my life is SO funny right now. Life is funny, I am embracing it. LOVE LIFE.



This Life of Mine. It's mine.

So this one time, today, I witnessed miracles happen in the course of my day.

I was at work at Gold's Gym- where I babysit 30 wailing children. 

 I was holding a screaming child and remembered what I was doing a year ago today. I was at Snow College, I loved Snow, but I didn't enjoy myself while I was there. And I was also not enjoying myself at work. So, I decided my life's motto for the next few months..."There is no place i'd rather be". At that time in my life, at the daycare, I decided that there is no other place i'd rather be. And do you know what, I enjoyed myself. I was able to look up from myself and enjoy the people I was around.

Then I went to the cutest girl ever's baby shower. I met her at work and decided that I want to be like her. She is really good at being people's friend, I love it. I went with Miss Eliza Wilson. She is the best. We had a really good conversation and I am really glad she graced me with her presence today. She was sharing with me frustrations in life, and suprisingly, we have some of the same. She was talking about loving who you are and being 100% content with how life is right now. Just knowing that Heavenly Father loves you and is aware of you is enough. Although you may not live where you want or have all the friends you want or the degree in school yet or have a boyfriend :)  Being 100% happy with what you have and who you are is the only thing that matters. That shows complete trust and faith and grattitude and love...need I go on?? I loved it and her!!

Then I went to work and got to see a little bit of the John Schmidt concert with the lovely Sarah Tullis afterwards. Today was great.

This week Hannah Braeggar answered a prayer. She was there for me and said things I needed to hear.

Elizabeth Doxey met me for lunch on Tuesday and she is the absolute best. She is the greatest example to me. She is going on her mission in October to Peru. I am grateful for the conversations.

Going to the Gym was also my friend this week, it is a place I go and feel so much better when I leave- plus there are benefits :)

No one else can live my life for me. No one else has my life. Comparing my life and myself to others....gets me nowhere fast. I would prove to be the most ungrateful person if I did not live my life with the highest respect for the people around me with joy and happiness.

I love how it feels like fall. I love that I live with my great family. I love that I work at Thanksgiving Point. I love the awesomeness of my singles ward. I love all my friends. I love everything that makes people real. I love life. Although it is far from perfect and far from what I imagined- there is no place else I'd rather be.