makin memories, makin memories!

There's that old cliche saying...."a picture is worth a thousand words...." Well its totally true! Some pictures seriously are worth more than 1,000 words, which is why I love taking pictures so much. 

So here is my life lately according to my iPhone pictures: (haha pictures are backwards...they start most recent and get less recent....)

survived school through snapchat.

sent and received MANY letters from my favorite sister missionary

celebrated missionary homecomings with mini cupcakes and fabulous roommates

jerusalem reunions!

jerusalem roomie reunions

pictures obviously not in order. snapping with my favorite sister missionary

nineties parties

i miss my missionary

sleepovers with the roomies before alyssa left :(

mac and cheese with my bff.

saying bye to sister eyring :(

lookin fly

crying

welcoming home missionaries!!!!!!!!

listen baby i'm sorry, just wanna tell you don't worry!

I love music. I have always loved music. I love the way it makes me feel. I love those songs that I just can't sit still when they come on. My very most favorite "happy" song right now is On Top of the World by Imagine Dragons. I first heard this song this summer while I was on study abroad in Jerusalem and I just fell in love! Now I love it even more because not only does it just have a happy beat and happy lyrics, but it reminds me of the greatest four months of my entire life.

When I was in Junior High, I went through a phase where I listened to the radio with my friends all the time. We knew every word to every top 40 song (and the lyrics were not great....). I knew I should stop listening to the bad music, but I just couldn't get myself to. It was like listening to that music made me more a part of my group of friends. Our music totally identified us.

Music isn't as much a part of my life anymore, and it definitely doesn't define me or my group of friends. It just makes me happy when I need a little pick-me-up!

nineties

books books books

My favorite book growing up was Harry Potter. I loved the whole series and I can't even tell you how many times I have read each book. I remember re-reading Harry Potter at a really trying time in my own life. My sophomore year of high school I went through a difficult transition with friend groups and found myself without good friends for a short period of time. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were “my friends” at the time, but their example of friendship helped me to realize what type of relationships I would want with my friends. I also learned a lot from Harry’s ambition. As I was reading, I realized that Harry was a very determined young man. He never gave up for anything and was willing to do anything to protect his beliefs. I learned that it is so important to stick up for my beliefs and to fight for what I know is right. My old group of friends were getting into harmful substances and inappropriate behaviors with the opposite sex and seeing Harry’s determination in the books helped me to stand up for my beliefs in front of those friends.

I don't think I really have a favorite book now, but anything in the romance category is just lovely. One of my favorites is  A Distant Thunder by Anita Stansfield. It is an LDS romance novel about an LDS girl and a non-LDS boy who fall in love. Their story takes on many twists and turns as the girl, Elizabeth, loses her brother and the boy, Jayson, deals with his alcoholic father. They help each other through trials and come closer to God and to one another.I love this book a lot because while it is still a sappy romance novel, it is very clean. I read this book over Thanksgiving break while I was going through a break-up of sorts and it helped me see that one day there will be a boy in my life who I wont want to get away from :)

 

the bachelor

I feel like I have to blog about The Bachelor sometime this semester, so I might as well get it over with now. I only watched like twenty minutes of one episode on Saturday and maybe ten minutes last night but that was enough for me. My freshman year we RELIGIOUSLY watched The Bachelor with my Taylor 1200 girls, and I think it was a good bonding experience back then. But now that I'm all good and bonded with my friends/roommates I don't think that watching The Bachelor is a necessity in my life anymore. Although its super entertaining when Tierra tells you that she can't control the way her eyebrows move so expressively or when one girl sits with Sean on the beach and cries telling him about why her family is so important to her and then not ten seconds more into the show ANOTHER girl is snuggling up with Sean on the beach crying as well. It's all just a little too dramatic for me. Or maybe it just bothered me because tomorrow is Valentines day and the only boys I have in my life are ones that I wish would leave my life. But back to The Bachelor...

When I was younger, my mom never let me watch this show. Well actually I probably never asked but I think I just knew it wasn't really appropriate so I assumed it wasn't allowed. That's why I watched it my Freshman year...because my mom didn't need to know. Now that I have watched a season or two, I have realized that it's not really a bad show...it's just not a good show either. Watching it gives me a good laugh, it definitely doesn't influence me to go against 20 other girls to try to win a guy over (not to mention that the guy is most likely a tool)....It's just pure entertainment. But I wonder if it would have impacted me as a teenager. By the time I was "allowed" to watch it, I mostly had myself all figured out. I knew what I believe and what I would and would not do. But had I watched it as a teenager, maybe that would have been different.

So for now, I will just keep watching The Bachelor thirty minutes a week for a good laugh.

jerusalem/blogging

I've never ever been a blogger. I don't feel like my life is interesting enough to talk about or share with the world. However, when I studied abroad in Jerusalem this summer my parents were very concerned about not hearing from me enough or seeing pictures of me. So I decided to start a blog about Jerusalem. At first, I was very tentative about putting up so much information about my personal life. I didn't know if I really loved sharing everything about myself with the world. After about a month or so, I realized that blogging was almost therapy for me. Sometimes I even looked forward to putting up pictures and coming up with something clever to tell my friends and family back at home. Once I got home I stopped writing immediately because I didn't want to be one of "those" blogging girls, and I'm glad I did because I still definitely feel like my life in Provo isn't nearly entertaining enough to share with anyone. I wish I had cool things to say on this blog. The truth is that blogging makes me VERY homesick for Jerusalem. 

Obviously I haven't fallen madly in love with a boy yet, because I can honestly say that JERUSALEM is my one true love. (pathetic?!)

Red Sea!

311 roomies 4 life. 

We love the JC

beautiful

don't make us go home

My very most favorite city in the entire world. Can't believe it's been five months. 

joint facebook

Last night I had a great discussion with my roommates about creating joint Facebook accounts after getting married. I have always been 100% against it. Nothing screams "I don't trust you!" like a joint Facebook account. However, one of my roommates pointed out that it kind of makes sense because you have all the same friends, so you might as well have the same Facebook. Another roommate pointed out that having a joint Facebook would completely dissolve any type of concern so other online relationships couldn't even be a problem. Now I don't know how I feel. I know the names of joint Facebooks are awkward.....

Nate-andLiz Gardner, SarahandMatt Lundin, BreeJoe Rebman............ You know what I'm saying. Facebook was definitely designed for one person. Maybe Facebook should consider making a type of Facebook for married people who prefer to share, where they could have separate names and you log in as one person but the account is for the two of you....That's brilliant. Maybe I will create that and make millions.

I don't mean to bash anyone who has a joint Facebook account, I'm just curious why people choose to/choose not to. Since i'm not married it's not really something that I think about too often.....

So if you have an opinion, speak up!

to be busy ever texting

Texting is definitely my main form of communication. My mom always asks, "why don't you just call!" but sometimes I'm texting during class and can't talk on the phone. Obviously, if I had something super long to say or was needing advice I call...but for the quick messages that happen many times a day, a text message is so much easier. I don't really need to call my roommate to tell her i'm walking into the library and to join me if she wants. I also don't need to call my mom to tell her that I got out of bed before 9:00 this morning. I definitely didn't need to call anyone about my 73% on my physical science test yesterday (that was much less painful to talk about over text). Texting is perfect for the small victories, major blows, and pointless pieces of information that don't need to be talked about for long periods of time. 

There are times, however, when I hate texting. About a year ago I went on a date and the kid was texting like the whole time!!!!! What the?!?!!? I thought that was the lamest thing in the world. I didn't think I was that boring! Obviously he didn't understand the art of the bathroom text. That was our first and last date. I had a class with his wife last semester......I hope he didn't text on their first date! I also hate texting when you're in the middle of an important (or not-so-important) conversation with someone and they are obviously engaged in another conversation on their phone. After you have finished a five minute story with a great ending they say....."wait, repeat that!!!!!!" I know i'm guilty of it too, but i'm really trying to be better. 

In October 2010, M. Russell Ballard gave a great talk about media. He explained that texting is addicting and definitely harmful to creating meaningful relationships with others! I know I have said in texts that I would never want to say straight to someones face! I made it a goal after I went phoneless in Jerusalem for a summer that I would NEVER become addicted to my phone ever again. Obviously that went downhill as soon as I got my iPhone. However, I really am trying to be better about being in the moment instead of texting while i'm spending time with people in real life. 

Here is the link to the conference talk:

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2010/10/o-that-cunning-plan-of-the-evil-one?lang=eng&query=texting