Chapter 27- Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

Sometimes being a girl is tough. Babies, cramps, that pooch you can't get rid of, hair you have to style, makeup, tampons, crying for no reason, HORMONES, pap smears, mammograms, yeast infections, UTIs, cooking, cleaning, shaving legs, shaving armpits, plucking and waxing, that time of the month, boys. I could go on.

Or maybe we could have this attitude:

"We have more fun than men. Talking together, laughing so hard you cry together, spooning each other, dressing pretty, getting to carry our babies and have that connection with them. I would way rather be a girl."

That's what we call optimism. Yes, being a girl is a curse, but think of how much the blessings make up for all the bad! After all, girl's just want to have fun.

Chapter 26- Thanks Living

What are Sundays for? Yesterday I found myself enraptured by a talk given in my home ward on gratitude. She said that rather than having thanksgiving in your heart we need always be ThanksLiving; living with the attitude of gratitude in everything we do. Studies have proven people that write down five things a week that they are thankful for are happier. They are healthier. They are more capable of doing things that they need to do. So it's done. The idea has been planted and I am now on a mission to write down five things, ridiculous or not, that I am thankful for every week. Next year when the Holiday of Feasting comes around I might smile a little bolder because I have such a beautifully blessed life.

1. Great hair. I'm not going to fight with you about whether or not it's red, because it is. It's RED, thick, long (ish) and most importantly obedient. I'm convinced great hair is the secret to a happy life.


2. A happy family. We're weird. We're loud and obnoxious and silly and irreverent, but we're family and nothing can bring us down.


3. Parents that love each other and raised five incredible kids that are still active in the church and now are successful parents, students, husbands and wives.


4. Pleasant Grove. It's small and sheltered. There's a reason it's the heart of Happy Valley, but I thank God everyday that I was raised in good ole' PG. I ran through the fields as a child and my friends now live in and I could run across the street without looking both ways, but the growth has brought new friends and new businesses that I couldn't live without.


5. The Atonement. Most people think of the Atonement as providing a way to repent, but I view it as the only way to be truly comforted. Christ knows exactly what I'm dealing with. He loves me enough that he put himself through Satan and back just so he could know my literal pain. His arms of mercy are always open.

Chapter 25- Poop

Sometimes it's the week of thanksgiving break and you have four tests and a paper due. Notice there is a pencil in my hair.

That was an accident.

So was this. We call it- "My brain has turned to mush. Please can I go to bed?"

Twenty four hours. just twenty four hours.

Chapter 24- Blinded

I can never decide if being set up on blind dates is a compliment or an insult. Either way, I always agree to go and they always hold a new adventure.

Last night I was set up by two girls from one of my classes. Perhaps their reasons were selfish seeing how they only did it with the hopes that we would fall in love and we could all go on group dates together, nevertheless I was all too eager to go. Usually I get set up with that weird friend that tends to be the tag a long of the group, but this time I went with the leader of the pack. He was cute. Dark hair, thin and fit, great style. The few conversations we had were lighthearted and fun and I thought perhaps I had struck gold.

Now I await the end results. It was a group date so the "getting to know you" part of the date was hindered. He didn't give me attention that I expected. It was so fun, but then again I have fun doing the dishes so that doesn't really say anything. He was quiet, not flirty.

Now, I wonder...

Chapter 23- Wishin' and Hopin'

Only seven more hours until The Wishing Hour.... or minute, but either way I find myself in a pickle. I only have seven hours to search my soul for the ultimate wish. This is the big leagues kids and I can't waste this opportunity wishing for Zac Efron, a 4.0, a new car, true love, a movie moment kiss, best friends forever, the perfect outfit, or the motivation to do homework. I want it all, but what do I want the most. What does my heart want, not my eyes or my ears or my stomach? More importantly, what do I need?

This is risky business.

What are you wishing for?

Chapter 22- Motivation

What do you really want?

What do you want the most?

What would you be willing to sacrifice for it?

What motivates me?

Chapter 21- Let Me Explain

I feel bad. You see, I didn't do quite the justice that this summer deserved in my last post and I realize that looking at a myriad of pictures from someone else's life with no explanation is not only monotonous, but irritating. Allow me please a moment to comment on a few of the photos.




Notice anything? That's right, "It's a little bit ridiculous how obsessed I am with [these girls]." They may or may not have saved my soul this summer. Remember when you were little and summer would endow you with new life as you would spend endless hours playing on the tramp with friends and staying up late doing dumb things? I hadn't experienced that in a good eight or nine years until this summer. We were reckless. We were silly. We cried. We laughed. We lived.

• mattress blading
• farewells
• temple trips
• harry potter harry potter harry potter
• dressing up
• shopping
• music in the park
• movies in the park
• bike rides
• walks
• getting lost
• getting found
• hot tubs
• park city
• nap overs
• runs
• zumba
• boating
• ruptured ear drums
• british accents
• boyfriends
• best friends

Chapter 20- Sunnier days

As the weather takes a turn for the worst, I had the ghastly realization that I never made tribute to my summer. I can say with all honestly that this year I had the best summer of my life. I worked like a real adult and went to school for four hours two times a week. My nights I spent with friends having naps and going to the gym. We laughed until we cried and cried when we parted. I will always go back to those wonderful warm days and the times that I had as the best of my life.
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