Holiday Recap: On Vacation

I hope everyone's Holidays were wonderful.

Pictures speak a thousand words.

Anyways...

 The Fun "ugly sweater" Party

Sunday Morning

Christmas Dinner

Christmas Morning

My own tea set!!!

 The day after Christmas Day, we flew out to Hawaii and I can tell you I had so much fun just being able to finally relax!

The Monkeys

We like to jump...

My little bug Brynlee

Waiting for the trolley!

Hiking :)

 Let's just say that Hawaii is stunning.

SHAVED ICE!!

Pearl Harbor

THE END!

To Happiness!

For a while there I had forgotten who I was. It seems silly now, but it happens to the best of us. We wander, searching for something but never knowing exactly what it is-- until you realize there was nothing in the first place.

You pick yourself up after that and you start over. You have a second chance. Every day.  Even if you don't know it, there is someone cheering you on to greatness. I'm slowly realizing that you can't take life in as a whole but as small moments, and at the end of your life you will look back and smile, knowing that your life was the greatest gift you were ever given and you did your best.

This year I have decided that it's high time I started taking charge and made the best of what I am given. I have taken my life for granted way too long and I'm ready. Truly ready. To live life how my Lord, Savior and Best Friend wanted me to.

Here is to happiness. To love. Greatness. Most importantly success. It's about time!

...and a happy new year.

Something to think about for the New Year

"You don't know anyone at the party, so you don't want to go. You don't like cottage cheese, so you haven't eaten it in years. This is your choice, of course, but don't kid yourself, it's also the flinch. Your personality is not set in stone. You may think a morning [tea] is the most enjoyable thing in the world, but it's really just a habit. Thirty days without it and you would be fine. You think you a soul mate, but in fact you could have had any number of spouses. You would have evolved differently, but been just as happy.

You can change what you want about yourself at any time. You see your self as someone who can't write or play an instrument, who gives into temptation or makes bad decisions, but that's really not you. It's not ingrained. It's not your personality. Your personality is something else, something deeper than just preferences, and these details on the surface, you can change anytime you like.

If it's useful to do so, you must abandon your identity and start again. Sometimes it's the only way.

Set fire to your old self. It's not needed here. It's too busy shopping, gossiping about others, and watching days go by and asking why you haven't forgotten as far as you'd like. This old self die and be forgotten by all your family, and replaced by someone who makes a difference.

Your new self is not like that. Your new self is the Great Chicago Fire-- overwhelming, overpowering, and destroying everything that isn't necessary."  --Julien Smith 

Family Pictures are FINALLY Here

Aren't we a cute bunch? I think these pictures turned out beautifully! Plus, the fall colors are outstanding. I loved the idea of being able to have a lot of colors in the shoot because sometimes I get bored of having everyone dressed exactly the same. It was really fun, even if it was raining.

My beautiful parents! 

Me (19)... 

I felt slightly like Shirley Temple because my hair was crazy curled when we started, but the rain kind of flattened it out by the end.

Shaelie (17)

She's lovely, wouldn't you say? Love her to pieces, and can't wait to see her tomorrow!

Camille (13)

Oh, how she is growing up, love her!

Makenna (7)

She's the cutest, sassiest little thing!

Brynlee (4, at the end of this month)

Lucky girl get's to spend her birthday in Hawaii! But isn't she the cutest little bug you've ever seen?

The Girls

The whole family again.

Well good news, I got a job for the winter, I will be taking a few online classes as well and I went on a date last night with my roommates, friends, roommate named Sam. He was nice and the date was very chill. We went and did sidewalk chalk under a street lamp and then walked down to a sandwich place called Gator Jack's for some food. It was short but fun. A nice way to end a very stressful semester.

That's all for now, I have to go pack up my room so I can move to Utah tomorrow morning!

Keep smiling! 

A Day Like No Other

It seems that today is a day that we will never experience again. Or at least not in our own lifetime. Can you treasure anything more precious than experiencing a day like this. It's a day that is a lot like a comet passing only once a hundred years. Take a breath today and make today wonderful, because it is and it should be.

Plus today is my last day of school, I can't tell you how happy I am to be done after today. I'll need a longer time to de-stress all that has happened in the last couple of months up here at BYU-Idaho. And I get to end the day with a date! And this time, HE ASKED ME! But it was set up by my roommate and one of her friends. So it's pretty much a blind date, but I'm still excited. I get to experience a really nice date before I go home to Utah.

Also I have some great news! This winter semester, I have decided to move to Provo!! I have bought an apartment and I can't wait to move there. I just felt like I needed to be around kids my age-- last winter semester I got really down on myself because I had zero social life and it was really hard on me-- I can't wait to be around the great kids of Provo! I am very excited to be close to friends both old and new and I just can't contain my excitement.

I am hoping to find work and I will be taking some online classes as well. I am also still training for my half marathon and I am craving to just be as involved and busy as possible. I am wanting to have a lot of fun, but to be very productive and active while I'm in Utah. There is so much to look forward to and I have to make the most of it.

On the Flip Side

So..... maybe things don't always work out how you planned them to. Sometimes, things happen, people change, and plans fail-- miserably-- and sometimes you learn that you are much more mature than the people around you. In this case, it was a boy and a date. If you haven't been able to catch on yet, it didn't go over so well. I'm not bitter about what happened and at least I can say I "went" on a date in college, finally.

I believe that God has full control of my life and he knows what is best and that the experiences I go through are to better myself and not to break me. Even if it makes for a very confusing and frustrating ride.

It does make me more aware of what I want and what I need to be looking for and I guess that's the whole point. One day, a very nice guy will walk into my life and we will be happy, but I need both good experiences and the bad ones to make sure that when THE ONE comes along, I'll be ready.

Until next time! Keep Smiling!