Page One

Think about it. Look back. Your life has changed so much from just one year ago. Life happens a little bit at a time, not just all at once. But when you look back so much has changed and you sit there and you wonder how? Where did the time go? How did all of that change? How did I change so much?
A little bit at a time.
Did you do all that you wanted to this year? Did you accomplish everything? Did you do something crazy that you wouldn't have normally done? Did you cross anything off your bucket list? Did you live it? ..Or were you just present through it all?

Did you meet anyone, a stranger that changed your life?
How many strangers did you meet? That now, you can't see how you ever lived with out them. I can count quite a few. And to think, you didn't know them a year ago..

 

Think back, think of this year, 2013...What was your favorite memory? What made you the happiest? What made you smile the most? When did you feel most alive? Hold on to that memory and don't forget it. We forget so much of our lives that we forget just how blessed we really are.

 

If you look back and you didn't do everything you wanted to, GOOD! You have another year to do whatever you put your mind to. Take that class that you've always wanted to take. Go to that foreign country. Buy the pair of shoes you know you shouldn't. Start a new tradition. Forgive that person, you know the one. Stop looking through the window, go inside! Be someone totally new. Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365 page book.

Someday they will all be stories, so make sure they're good ones.

 

Signed,

A girl still writing her story.



Only the Best Time of Year

Family traditions, hot chocolate, ice skating, gingerbread houses, cookies and milk, warm fuzzy socks, presents under the tree, kisses under the mistletoe, twinkling lights, and being with the people you love the most. Who doesn't love this time of year!? Gosh I love Christmas. Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. It's about love and caring, spreading that spirit around everywhere we go. We should do this all year round but unfortunately we only try around Christmas time. Even though its cold outside and snow is everywhere there is still a warmth that comes from the spirit of Christmas. 
This year has really felt like Christmas for me! Boy have I been blessed.
I went ice skating with some friends and let me just say we are all oh so very good at ice skating that we don't fall...ever. Haha

You can't forget about making gingerbread houses! Couldn't be Christmas time with out making a mess and getting frosting everywhere! We made a gingerbread house and a gingerbread train. It was messy and yummy and oh so very great!

Took a trip down to Temple Square in Salt Lake City! Gosh it was beautiful! The trees were all twinkling in any and every color you could think of. It was freezing and crowded in Temple Square but still in some way you felt warm inside. I love those lights and how they make you feel. I love the way you can see how beautiful the Temple is and how lit up it looks with all the twinkling lights around it. Such a fun night.

This time of year is wonderful and magical all at the same time. Keep in mind why we celebrate it and what's most important. Christ. The birth of a man who is perfect and our brother who loves us unconditionally. Merry Christmas everyone! I hope its full of people who you love dearly and the spirit of Christ.

Refining Ourselves

Change. People change everyday. We make decisions that change us as individuals whether we realize it or not. We can do it with out realizing it or we can do it on purpose for a reason. Gosh I sure hope we can change! Change for the better. If we all stayed the same we wouldn't learn anything. But do we really change? Do we change ourselves entirely? Or do we just make ourselves better? That's for you to decide, I haven't quite figured that out yet. I'm still deciding. We do change. But how much of ourselves do? I believe fully that a person can change, they change for the better or for the worst. We stay who we are though. We just modify who we are. Mistakes and choices play a big role in change. Our trials change us. They shape who we are and who we want to become. But they don't make us who we are. We are not the mistakes we've made. They don't define us. They refine us. There is a difference. Don't let your short comings define you. Don't let others tell you they define you. Show them who you really are. CHANGE their minds. We do change. We change everyday. How much of yourself are you willing to change?

Signed, Still Refining.

Life Racing By

Most of the time we see our life through a see of images. We look back on all the memories and wish we could be in the moment again. Life is like a slide show. A slide show full of pictures and all the good times we had. It just goes by so fast. Where did the time go?! Life is going by scary fast! I wish it would slow the crap down. I can't believe that its already November! I have done so much in these past 6 months that I just need to share. Let me catch you up on my life that I have been so unbelievably blessed to have.

I have gone on many motorcycle rides these past few months and I have loved every bit of it. The wind in your face and the smell of the air. The freedom you feel riding through the canyon on a hot summer day. Doesn't get much better.

Ty's bike on Halloween

Laying in fields and looking up at the stars with out a care in the world. I love star gazing and just seeing all the beauty we have in this world. Cuddling up to the boy watching the stars, now that's the life. 

I went and saw Luke Bryan in concert!! Now that was super cool! I went with a bunch of friends and we had a blast. Florida Georgia Line and Thompson Square opened for him. I will always remember that night. People around who you love, good music, and good times.

Waking up at 4 in the morning to go four wheeling up a mountain for an hour to watch the sunrise with the boy and two friends. Only sounds like a fun time! Especially when breakfast is donuts, pepper jack cheese, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and Orange Juice.

Crossing stuff of the bucket list by going fishing! I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Ty got his hook stuck on a wire and almost fell in. Everything else he had fell in the water: wallet, keys, credit card. Luckily they were saved. But that image of him scaling across the wires hanging above the water will permanently be engraved in my mind forever.

Country Swing Dancing every Wednesday night with out fail. Go with our group of friends and get all dressed up and have a blast! Dance our hearts out and learn new moves. Wednesday nights are my favorite.

FOOTBALL GAMES! Front row most of the games and cheering on our Aggies! Whether we win or loose we still have our Aggies back more than we probably should haha Utah State Aggies all the way.

Aggies are definitely loosing here. We are not the happiest campers.

Speaking of camping...We are way too dedicated for our own good to the Aggies, so for the BYU vs. USU game we camped out so that we could get in early to the game so we could have front row seats. Dedication. But it was so incredibly fun! Did we win? No. Were we pissed? Extremely. 

My parents came to visit all the way from Georgia! Now that was such a fun weekend! My parents got to be in my little world that I have here and they got to be right in it. It was so cool. Literally I wish they could visit more. We took my parents shooting and my mom shot a gun for the first time. She also got to ride on the back of Ty's motorcycle. Now that was a funny sight. AND she rode it with out a helmet..can't be mad at me now! I love my parents!

Halloween parties and carving pumpkins! You have to love the fall season! Ty was Captain America for Halloween and I was a baseball player. We went to a bunch of Halloween parties and events! Gosh I can still smell the roasted pumpkin seeds.

Fall season. Walking around and crunching on leaves everywhere you step. Smelling the cool air with the different color trees everywhere you look. Fall is the best season of all. Me and the boy went on a walk in the canyon through all the trees and I remember just looking back on the trail and trying to take a mental picture because it was so beautiful. I love this season.

Went to Lagoon again and it was still terrifying! Gosh I wish I liked roller coasters haha it would be so much easier and probably a lot more fun. I still had tons of fun though! Went on a double date and there were haunted houses and everything was spooky because it was October. The haunted houses were legit! So cool! I went on all the scary roller coasters too! Super fun night with great people.

And last but DEFINITELY NOT least!! I got into my program at school! I am officially into the Special Education Early Childhood specialization area at Utah State University!! So excited! Its what I've always dreamed of! 

I have a very blessed life. I look back at all these memories and think of all the feelings and good times I had with all these amazing people. Life is short so make the most of it! Remember all the good times and bad. Remember all the memories. Remember the people you shared them with. Remember how blessed you are. 

Three Little Words

I have said before that I believe you can fall in love with bits and pieces of people in your life.  That everyone can have a little piece of your heart.  I have a lot of people in my life that I can point to and say that they have a part of my heart but never before have I had someone have so much of it.  Someone once before has been very close to having a huge part of my heart but nothing like this.  To be in love with someone is such an amazing feeling.  Its easy.  Everything is better.  Things don't upset you as much.  You smile more.  Days feel better even when they aren't in them, because you know that even though you didn't see them that day, they are still yours.
Love is a powerful word.
Some people are scared of it, other use it often.  Love to me should be around all the time.  Shown or by being said.  You never know when you're going to see someone again.  Wouldn't you always want them to know how you felt, just in case?  I'm totally in love and I am so unbelievably blessed.  It feels amazing to be loved and for someone to feel the same about me as I do them.  Every time I think about it, it makes me kind of chuckle to myself.  I think in my head the quote from Elf  when Will Ferrell says, "I'm in love, I'm in love and I don't care who knows it!"  I'm just so happy and content with life.  Don't take your family, friends, or any others that you love dearly for granted.  
Say "I love you" to those who have bits and pieces of your heart.  
Say it to the ones you really do love.

Signed, A Very Blessed Girl

Me and Tyler

Change in the Air

Change is a funny thing.  Some people thrive off of it and others totally despise it.  I love change.  Change is good for your soul and makes you wake up and remember what you love.  You find out who you are every time something changes.  You refine yourself into something more of what you want to become.  Change has been happening in my life recently and i love it.  I'm very lucky.  It has been changing for the better.  Meeting new people, trying new things, being in new places, and overcoming fears. 

Ah, man life has just been absolutely great.  Went to California for Spring Break with some friends.  Car died 5 miles from the hotel and the beach was freezing cold BUT got sun and a nice break from school. 
An Adventure.  

Went to Vegas with a bunch of people I didn't know. Sketchy, maybe?  Most amazing weekend of my life?  Most definitely.  Made some amazing friends that I visit often and lived without a care in the world for a couple days.  
An Amazing Adventure.    

The Phenomenal Five.
There were more that went to Vegas but us Five became so close.
Vegas Baby.

Went to A Day to Remember Concert with the boys above. That was an awesome experience.  Crazy as anything and insanely fun!  Got some bruises from how rough the concert was BUT the boys protected me and I had an awesome time.  An experience I will never forget.
A Crazy Adventure.

Summer is finally here and school is done for three short months.  I already tried overcoming a fear... Roller coasters.  They literally terrify me.  It's a heights thing.  First day of summer I moved all my stuff into a new apartment and got dragged to Lagoon with some friends.  Scary as all anything BUT had so much fun with friends who I love dearly.
A Scary Adventure.

Life is changing everyday.  People change, jobs change, where you live changes.  You change.  And its amazing to watch.  Love it and soak up every bit of it.  Because one day you'll look back and wish you could relive it.  Embrace change.  Have adventures that you would not normally take.  Do crazy things, change your own life.  Make it what you want it to be.  And just wait...and watch your future unfold.

Perspective

The way you see your life is all about perspective.  How you make a certain situation a good or bad one, it's all up to you.  Looking at the glass half full.  Perspective.  Life has a way of throwing things at you and its your decision to either let it swallow you or throw it right back.

I have learned recently that if you throw it right back and show life that no matter how hard it can get, you can make the best of it, and you will be so much happier.  I have been seriously so happy lately and I would have never guessed that I would be this happy after something unexpected happened.  Life threw me a huge curve ball that blindsided me and because of it I am so unbelievably happy.  How?  Perspective.  I decided to look at it in a positive way and not let it swallow me whole.  Looking at it as a blessing in disguise instead, best decision I could have made. 

You are in charge of your own happiness.  You can control that.  It's all up to you and your perspective.