May 27, 2012

bedroooom


I like pretty stuff. No wonder I'm addicted to Pinterest....I can look at millions of pictures of pretty stuff. But the truth is, I like to make stuff pretty too. I like to get ideas from lovely websites like Pinterest. I also love to blog stalk people. Standing in line at Walmart, eating a bowl of cereal, or laying in bed at night (instead of counting sheep) I think of ways to redecorate spaces. I love HGTV. With a passion. But when it comes down to it, it's all just in my head. Maybe someday I will have a lovely house with every room decorated like a model home.
That music picture frame was an old frame just recovered with...well...with my brothers piano sheet music. It's replaceable, right?


Picture wall made by stringing invisible thread, and using clips to hold pictures. The little metal clips are from Ikea,were actually to hold curtains until I ripped the hook part off and was left with just a clip. 
It's only a few bucks to make largeeee prints of photos/quotes/whatever-your-heart-desires at Staples. Depending on how ambitious you feel, you can mount the print on a foam board, put it in a large pic frame, or just slap it on the wall with some good old command strips. Whatever works. This giant quote poster is 24x36 in. and that tree branch pic was also printed out large, and both mounted on foam board.


And I occasionally like to even pretend to be crafty by actually making stuff. But it comes in spurts...I'm not some over-excited-miss-crafty-lady-who-paints-every-friday-night. (Well I at least wouldn't admit to it...haha) I'm not some 40-year-old-birdhouse-painting-scrapbooker-scarf-knitting-relief-society-going-mom. I just like pretty stuff.




It's probably because I'm a poor college student (the excuse for everything), that I like to 
re-rurpose old things. Good grief, you can do just about anything with a can of spraypaint and tube of super glue. But really, I love cheap decorating ideas. This is where Pinterest comes in to play. 

This lovely blue chair was an ugly old brown chairs. Spraypaint is magical. And now it's the cutest little blue chair I ever did see. :)




May 23, 2012

Wicked!

Who has tickets to see Wicked this summer in Salt Lake?.....
This girl! Woohoo! August 7th baby! 

May 16, 2012

Lovely Logan



(what the heck, blogger will only let me put the link...But these are the pictures I am showing my kids in 20 years:)

Utah State University. Logan. Lovely places.
I have no regrets about where I have spent the past two years at college.
I have loved (almost) every single moment there!

This past year has been so good. Not the easiest at times, but looking back it's crazy how much has happened and how much I have done. I lived with some of the same girls from the first year, along with two new ones. Holy smokes these girls are great. I had an incredible ward (and no, not everyone says that about every ward.) It was a definite step up from the year before. There was a good mix of ages in the ward. We ended up becoming best friends with 26 year olds...who knew. None of us got married. haha. This year has been full of super great things....

Aggie football and basketball games. Cleaned the sink. Ate lots of food. Worked in the Risk Management office and the bookstore.Took social work classes to apply for the program and loved it. Tricia got married (and is now pregnant!...) Special olympics coach. Discovered pinterest. Gorgeous fall leaves and mountains. Halloween parties and dressing up...like 10 year olds. Waited in line at 5 in the morning to get into the byu-usu basketball game. Bought $6 xxxl sweatshirts from walmart, one of the best purchases ever. No joke. We actually even attending FHE occasionally. Met the garden court 9 boys. Made gingerbread houses.Hottubing. I turned 20:) Lava hotsprings. Temple Square. Snowboarding. San fran with the family. Bonfires. Bowling. Mardi gras. Lots of movie watching... Ellen's cabin. Institute. Spent 10 days in HONDURAS!!!....one of the best things ever. Ward missionary. Birthdays. Sunsets. Running outside. Singing and talking to the old people. Festival of colors. Spud's farm. Baseball game. Motorcycle rides. Twizzleberry. Swimming. Rollerskating. Dirtbiking. Being with the coolest people ever...aka my roommates and friends:) I love USU.

I am going to miss these girls.
I am going to miss the boys.
I am going to miss having people to do fun things with. And to sit there with and do nothing with:)
I am going to miss gorgeous Logan in the spring and fall.
I will even miss walking up the hill, what seemed like a million times a week.
I will miss my office where I had my own space.
I will miss coming home late from the garden court house and seeing a couple making out in the lobby.
I will even miss the bathroom door that had to be slammed shut, and sink that would suddenly spray out like a hurricane in the kitchen.
I might even miss the horrible internet, my squeaky bed, the pile of clothes on the back of my chair that I swear reproduces, and falling down the hill.

I love USU. The past year has been filled with so many good things....but obviously it is time to move on for now. I can't live as a sophomore forever, right?! Luckily, I will be back! I still have two years to finish...and after that, who knows what. But for now I am so grateful for every experience I have had and person I have met that has made my life a little better. Sounds so sentimental, haha, but true:) Did I mention I love USU?! :)

Some of the last days at PV18.....




















May 12, 2012

summer

I'm living the life of an adult...Going to work every day from 8-4 and making real money. Working out 4 times a week. Eating real meals that consist of more than a bowl of ice cream and cheese-its. Getting dressed and ready every day, which includes showering. Attending the lovely singles ward. Going to bed at a reasonable hour. What a life. What a summer.

Kidding.... More like, I moved home from school a week ago. I think I have put on jeans maybe twice. The usual outfit consists of a pair of shorts and a tshirt, replacing the shirt for a different one every day or two. You know it's a problem when your own brother comments on how you wore those same shorts the past two days....
As for the job? Currently unemployed. It's actually quite a nice life for the moment.
The meals? I was worried the first two days, when my own mother left me to fend for myself at lunch time. Luckily, breakfast and dinner have been excellent. I forgot how good meals with fresh fruits and vegetables, steak and chicken, homemade bread, and all that other good stuff are. (Mom's weekly food rating has averaged out at about 8 out of 10. Nothing quite like your own children rating dinner every night...haha) I do need to start that exercise-4-times-a-week thing I guess.
Singles ward? Haven't tried it yet, but I did go to institute, and that counts. It just doesn't appeal to me when I walk in a room with all the guys 18 year old premies, 30 year olds living at home still, or any normal boy cuddled up to the girl next to him and a big diamond blinging from her finger. Yes, I am being judgmental and making assumptions.
I have always dreamed of laying in a hammock all summer reading books. I guess I'm a lucky girl, cause this dream is coming true. I'm on my third book already...
Being at home means I get to do stuff like go shopping with my mom. And go to City Creek for lunch with my parents. And take trips to Provo.

Yes, I need to start working. Yes, I should go running and eat less brownies...well at least less in one sitting. Yes, I should put away the rest of my laundry. But let's be honest...it's a lot more fun to watch toddlers and tiaras and sit in the hammock for the time being. It's called summer.

This video is one of those you-had-to-be-there-for-it-to-be-funny things. Only Landon would lay in the hammock, eating cadbury eggs, and take video messages of talking eggs to be delivered inside to me. And I just randomly found this video haha. 


May 8, 2012

This picture is why I am going on a mission. How can you not look into the face of this sweet little girl and not know of the love Heavenly Father has for every single one of his children? The more I took social worker classes, the more I wanted to go. The more I look at Honduras and Mexico pictures the more I want to go. The more I watch the news the more I want to go.

For every good thing in the world there seems to be 10 negative things. There is problem after problem. Going to Honduras I realized that we cannot fix every single thing that is wrong. There is much good done...such as volunteering at orphanages, building houses, giving toys and clothing to kids...but that is not enough. Every issue is so complex and involves much more education and resources than initially evident. And traveling internationally you see the cultural differences which adds another layer of context and more understanding that is needed. We cannot fix everything right at this moment. But we do have the resources where we can find the answers.

It is the principles in the gospel of Jesus Christ that the solutions are ultimately found in. Each individual is so valued, whether they live in Salt Lake, South Dakota, Guatemala, or South Africa. Everyone has struggles, whether they live in poverty in a third world country, or struggle to even survive in the United States. What the gospel of Jesus Christ does is provide hope and answers. It literally changes lives, not just improves them for the moment or year. The gospel of Jesus Christ provides us with a way of living. It provides us with the help and companionship of the Holy Ghost. It provides us with commandments, that when followed, allow more blessings into our lives that help us not just spiritually but temporally as well. When we are living the gospel our lives will not be perfect or easy, but they will be better. The spirit will bless and comfort us. Heavenly Father is so aware of us and will make sure we are taken care of, whether through our own means or through others coming into our lives.

This is why I am serving a mission. Because we are all children of our Heavenly Father. Because there are solutions to be found in this scary world. Because we can find hope and happiness in knowing who we are. Because there are people struggling all over this country and all over this world, whose lives would be better if only they knew who they were and where to turn for help. Because although there will always be poverty, sickness, violence, and a million other problems, the gospel gives assurance that this will not last forever. Because I want to help people. Because I know that Heavenly Father didn't dump billions of children on this earth to wander around and struggle alone, but gave some the knowledge to share with others. Because one person accepting the gospel changes all the future generations. Because this gospel doesn't just provide temporary improvement, but changes lives forever. This is why I am preparing to serve a mission, and I feel pretty darn lucky and excited for the opportunity:)

May 6, 2012

EFY



One month until I get to be an EFY counselor!!!!!
I am so. excited. Back in the day I thought those counselors were the coolest people ever, and so old. And now...I get to have the opportunity to be a counselor for 4 weeks during the summer at BYU! Hello teenagers. Hello dances. Hello good speakers. Hello new people. Hello a full week of spiritual-fun-ness. Hello efy!

i did it!

Moving means cleaning. I was cleaning out my closet when I came across old journals...jackpot! Oh my goodness, they are hilarious to read. And the handwriting? Looks like a 9 year old boy wrote it. Good thing nowdays we just depend on phones and computers to write everything.

I was flipping through a notebook and found a list of "goals/dreams" I made more than 5 years ago. This is what they were...
  1. Be an EFY/oakcrest counselor
  2. Go on a senior trip.
  3. Serve a mission
  4. Go on international humanitarian trip
  5. Adopt a baby.
And the cool thing about that?.... I have done/will be doing soon 4 of those things!
I honestly don't even remember every writing those down...but that is the greatest feeling to see all I  have been able to do the past few years.

I am going to be an efy counselor in a month.
I went on a senior trip to st. george with my best friends.
I am preparing to turn in mission papers.
I went on a service trip to Mexico in high school and to Honduras this year.
And the baby?... ya that's not happening yet. But maybe someday. 

I always make lists. Hopefully in another 10 years I will be able to look back and see that the things that are most important to me I was able to accomplish:)