Happy Birthday T.J.!

My baby brother is 13!! Isn't that absolutely nuts?? He's almost taller than I am too. I seriously just want to shrink him up back into the little boy he used to be.  Even though he's my younger brother, I look up to him so much.  He has always been such an example to me of hard work, kindness, thoughtfulness and diligence. 

I remember when he was probably 5 years old I went outside and saw him sprinting down the street and into our yard where he fell, completely out of breath, into our lawn.  When I asked him what he was doing he quickly replied, "exercising!".  He then continued to get back up and sprint down our street a little ways before turning around and coming back to his place on the lawn.  He also reads his scriptures every single night and is always trying to choose the right.  But the best part about him is that even though he's the most righteous 13 year old you'll come across, he's always cracking jokes.  He quotes lines from movies in tense situations, and is always making me smile and laugh.  

I wove my wittle chee chay!  I'm so proud of him and all the he has already become.  Happy Birthday, bro!

Life is good for T.J.!

Happy Birthday, Cady!

It was this beautiful lady's birthday on Monday!! She turned a whoppin 19 years old. We had tons of fun celebrating (:  Erica, Sara, and I decorated her room with streamers, balloons, and pictures.  Then we went out to Zuppa's Cafe for dinner (Ohio needs one of these…). When we got home from dinner there were all our friends in the lobby to "surprise" her!  Then we had cupcakes and just talked with friends (; It was a great day!

Let me tell you a little bit about Cady.  She is the happiest, kindest, and prettiest girl that always brings a light into the room.  My favorite part about Cady is she always makes me feel important.  Any day I need someone to listen to me and ask about my day, she is the one I go to.  Her constant smile and laugh is contagious to anyone she's around, and I don't think I've ever heard a negative word come out of her mouth.  I know that no matter what we're doing together, she's going to be having a great time.  She has an incredible testimony.  She knows who she is, and is amazingly obedient.  Her example of integrity and always doing what's right has had such a huge impact on me this year. I am so grateful for all of the memories we've made this year!! She's been my work-out buddy, my personal therapist, my partner in crime, my motivational coach, and one of my very greatest friends.

I LOVE YOU, CADY!!

Life is so good on best friends' birthdays! 

Birthday Decorations!

Happy Birthday Kaycee! My friend Alex asked me to help her decorate her room for her roommate's birthday, and she had the CUTEST ideas, I had to blog about it.

19 balloons for 19 years old! Each balloon has a picture hanging from the bottom, and on the back of each picture is a number! 1-19 (: 

Wrapping the door is so much fun! Even without wrapping the whole door, just a big strip with either ribbon, bows, or balloons looks great. 

Crayola Bathtub markers are awesome! You can write on mirrors, tubs, and windows.  

We also hung streamers from the ceiling! 

Kaycee came home and was so surprised and happy to see her room looking birthdayed-out! You can customize these ideas for any age, gender, and room! I love birthdays!

Life is good when its someone's birthday!

I have the greatest friends

I have the greatest friends in the entire world, hands down.  These past couple weeks I keep telling myself, "I love my life." Literally, out loud, all the time. I am just so happy!  And it's all because of the best friends I have made at BYU.  I feel so incredibly blessed to have gotten to know everyone that I have met this year.  Thinking about leaving in just 6 weeks makes me want to cry, so I'm trying to enjoy every second I have with these amazing people!

Monday night for FHE we went and played broom hockey! It was seriously a blast.  I came out with some pretty bruises, but some great memories with the ward.

Cady and I were with a group of people in the JKB playing games on Friday night.  We were looking just so stinkin hipster we had to take a pic. Then afterwords we went to get crepes at Roll Up at like 2 am. Ohio seriously needs to get one of these before I come home...

Friday afternoon Cady, Joshlin, and I walked to the temple!  It was a beautiful day and such a great way to remind me what's important in the middle of the week! 

Saturday night was a Mardi Gras dance!  A big group of us got dressed up and then played games outside in the fields around Helaman.

So, of course the weekend wouldn't be complete without a Midnight Monday Morning In-N-Out run! We went for Harrison's birthday.  Its funny how many Mormons around here go out at midnight on Sunday since it technically isn't the sabbath anymore.  Turns out me and Nate were just ahead of the game (; 

I love my ward so much.  This is my college version of a Sunday Family dinner <3

And this last picture is all the girls in my hall/relief society! I. LOVE. THESE. GIRLS. Literally, every single one of them is so amazing.  They are always making me smile and laugh.  I have learned and grown so much from my experiences with them.  

I just love my life right now.  Its full of great times with great people.

Life is so good with my friends.

Another great week!

Well it was another great week here in Provo! I'm so blessed to get to go to school and do such fun things all the time!

 On Thursday I went skiing with some friends!  Auburn is Canadian, and I am proud to say that I did a pretty good job keeping up with them!  We went on blacks almost the whole time and I only wiped out once.. hehe

 This baby came in the mail! I can barely even read the first verse, let alone pronounce it correctly.  It blows my mind that I'll be able to read this whole thing in a year from now!  I also went to Flags and Stuff in Provo and bought myself a couple of Philippine flags. Yay!

Cady, Erica and I went to see Vocal Point on Friday!  They were SO GOOD!  This is Parker, one of the singers.  Turns out he's actually an RA in Helaman, and I saw him after the concert in my lobby! 

On Saturday I went with these awesome girls to Color Me Mine!  We threw a surprise birthday party for Jessica.  It really was a surprise because her birthday isn't until May.  But since we won't be here we did it on Saturday!  

Life is good cause its always a party in Provo!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

This old man turns a whoppin 50 years old toady!  Happy birthday to the greatest Dad out there!  I have so many wonderful memories with him. From teaching me (and the entire neighborhood) how to ride a bike, to watching Recess, to taking me out to play tennis, to all of the stake dances growing up, to our trip to Belize together, and all the little memories in between.  My dad has taught me what it means to truly care about people, and how to make light of any situation.  If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be the person that I am today.  I know that me and my dad have had a lot to learn from each other.  There's been many times when we have had our differences, but now he's become one of my favorite people in the whole world.  He's one of my very best friends.  I admire his example in my life, and am so thankful for everything that I have learned and gained by being his daughter.

Happy Birthday, Daddy-O I love you!

Life is good because of my Dad.

A Wickedly Merry Christmas/Birthday Week!

This week was crazy busy but absolutely wonderful! Christmas is definitely the best day of the whole year.  It was a little weird because this was the first Christmas of my whole life I wasn't in Texas at Marmee's house, but it went surprisingly well here in Ohio. On Christmas Eve we went caroling and took goodie plates to our neighbors and friends.  Then we went to the Wither's from church house with some other families.  We played games and then read the story of the Savior's birth in Luke.  Some people sang songs and played instruments, I loved it!  After leaving their house we went home to do our Christmas Eve traditions.  We watched a movie about Christ and then gave gifts to Jesus.  Every year since I was born we get together on Christmas Eve and write down what we want to do better in the upcoming year as our gift to Jesus, and we reflect on how we did on the previous years gift. Then we leave what we wrote down in a white gift box!  This year I said that I wanted to learn to love the scriptures, to try and love and serve everyone around me, and to have a positive attitude. It was a great night!  We woke up on Christmas morning and Santa had left the stockings filled with goodies and the table was set with hot chocolate and the cutest new mugs (:  We all had breakfast together and then opened all of our presents.  After napping, playing games (which I was the champion of), and getting ready we went to the movies to see Saving Mr. Banks! It wasn't the movie we were expecting but it was good! 

Marmee flew in on Christmas night and it was her birthday this week! So of course, we had to celebrate!  We took her to the Melting Pot and to see Wicked up at Playhouse Square! It was SO GOOD, I LOVED it!  

This week I got to hang out with Lauren! I love how even though we've been apart for 4 months it doesn't feel like it at all.  Marmee also taught me how to knit, and of course I've spent lots of time loving on my favorite dog Buddy <3 Overall its been such a fun trip home to Ohio! I hope I'm able to part with it all when its time go head back to BYU.

Life is good at home!

I'm 19!

Wow, happy birthday to me! I seriously have the great friends and especially best friend in the whole world.  It was seriously a total party for 2 days straight in honor of my 19th birthday! On my birthday, I came back from dance aerobics to decorations that my mom had sent Erica in my room!! Then we went to Kneader's for breakfast and had the best french toast ever.  Then when I came back from class Taylore was waiting outside my door with more decorations and presents.. She spoils me WAY too much. Then I opened all like 20 cards from all of my awesome cousins and grandparents and brothers and mom and dad (:  That part was really great.. It made me feel like I wasn't really that far from all my family! Later that night Tay insisted that I go to her intramural volleyball game, and it turns out because she was planning for all of my friends to surprise me when we got back! We walked into the lobby with so many of my friends from my ward and the cutest birthday cake that she had made (: It was seriously the best day.  Then last night we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner where I got to ride on the saddle for my birthday and then WE WENT TO 80's NIGHT. Jaylee, Libby, Liz and Tay all came. I seriously would go 80s dancing every week if I could.  Its so much fun.  So overall it was an amazing birthday.  I have the best friends out here at BYU, and I'm especially so glad that Taylore is out here with me.  Thanks to everyone I wasn't homesick or anything and had the most amazing couple of days!

19 is kind of a weird age but it'll actually be a pretty big year for me! I'm planning on serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and 19 is that age that girls get to go know! I'll start my papers here pretty soon and in just a couple months I'll know where I'll be going! I'll also finish out my freshman year here at BYU. It's crazy how fast time is flying.

Life is so good on my 19th birthday!

Shopping, Shushi, & Backflips

This weekend was actually pretty monumental for me.  On Friday me and Cady took the bus to the mall and went shopping! Taking the bus is always a little bit of an adventure. We got some cute stuff and the mall gets me excited for CHRISTMAS!  Some decorations are already up and some stores are playing Christmas music! Woo! Then Friday night, I tried sushi for the first time. We went for Hunter and Liz's birthday because they both love sushi.. Let's just say that's probably the first and last time I'll ever be having it. Then on Saturday night we went to a trampoline place called hang time and I DID A BLACKFLIP ON THE TRAMPOLINE! I literally have been trying to learn how to do a backflip since like middle school.  Me and Gabes spent an entire summer trying to build up the courage but never could, and me and T.J. would sit outside and watch YouTube videos trying to learn how and I finally did it!  So now I can mark sushi and backflips off the bucket list (: 

Life is good when you're partying on the weekends!