Sup College

So recently i have started the newest chapter in my life. college. Everyone says its the time of your life, and i'm starting to think they were right! Im so glad that i have this opportunity. To play softball at a division 1 school and compete in the most competitive conference in the country. i couldnt be more proud yet humbled at the same time to represent the university of utah in a game i love. I know it will be hard, and stressful and sometimes im gonna wanna give up. But i feel like the good will outweigh those factors any day. Even though we are all so very different from each other, and come from different background, and hold different beliefs, i already love my teammates and am excited to see what we can all accomplish together. College, is like a fresh start. No matter how awesome or how not awesome, i guess, haha you were in the past, you get to college, and nobody knows one thing about you. You can either choose to better yourself and become the person you have always wanted to be, or you can easily go the opposite direction. I hope to leave a mark on every single person i meet or come in contact with....and a good one. A lasting impression. I want to be that person that knows who they are in any given situation any given circumstance.  I want to be respectable and respectful. I want to be an example of my faith, and a good friend to whoever wherever whenever. Although i am young, and inexperienced compared to the rest, i want to be a leader on my team. I have already met so many great people and friends, and i hope that just continues forever. I like this place. and i have a feeling I'm gonna like where i end up after this all. GOOOOOOO UTES!

Lauren and Logan: Save the Date https://vimeo.com/72667281

So there is a first time for everything right? Lauren and Logan were my guinnea pigs i guess! It was so much fun working with them and getting to know their personalities for a couple of hours. They are so perfect for each other, i cant wait till they seal the deal! Good luck and congrats you two!

San Diego

Watch our video:  https://vimeo.com/71994164

I was so lucky to be able to spend a whole week in san diego with my best friend Jord, and the entire Larson family. We have been friends since literal birth, but she moved when we were really little and we have stayed such good friends ever since, even though we dont see or get to talk that often, we pick up right where we left off every time. I love her so much. I feel like i am a part of that family. They are so kind and sweet and we all had so much fun together. We stayed in a beach house RIGHT on the beach, so that was really fun. We had so many good laughs, and talks and funny moments. We got to go parasailing because we talked Charlie from the adventure store into giving us a discount. We also went to sea world and that was magical. But the majority of the time we just road bikes, chilled at the beach and ate lots of yummy food. It was definitely a trip to remember!

No such thing as bad things

We are all human, and here, or there, but living...that thing we call life right? Sometimes it's good and sometimes not so much. All depending on how we see the circumstances before us. Lets be honest. Some pretty terrible things can happen, or may have already. Maybe you've been through the worst of the worst. there are lots of bad things that happen to people, i know that you know that. I've seen it, you've seen it. Whether on the news, in the paper, in real life, or just heard from a friend of a friend. Some argue why. Why do bad things happen? Especially to good people. Not saying we don't care about the bad people! But hey, you blow up the two tallest towers in the the most industrial city in all of America....i wouldn't exactly say good things were coming for ya. So anyway. Good people. Why do they suffer sometimes. Well i don't have that exact answer. I don't think you'll find anybody who does. At least not here on earth. You know where you could find out though...maybe? Through your father in heaven, and through the relationship you have with the savior. It is hard sometimes...because we want to know so badly "why". But really...it isn't even necessary for us to know. We already know enough. We know that he lives, that he loves us, that he has a plan for us..individually, and as long as we are faithful and true to the commandments and what we know to be right, that plan will surely not fail. I mean, yeah...we might have this big idea of how we see our lives, where we see ourselves going, all the things we want to accomplish, the people we want to meet, and things we want to see. We have a plan for ourselves, at least i would think so. But let me ask you something...Who's plan is better? Despite what you may think when devastation or trial strikes you,

("And also my soul delighteth in the ^acovenants of the Lord which he hath made to our fathers; yea, my soul delighteth in his^bgrace, and in his justice, and power, and mercy in the great and eternal plan" 2 Nephi 11:5) 

The timing might be wrong, the situation/event might be life changing...but it is apart of HIS plan, for YOU. Trust in that. And know that God wont throw something at you that you aren't capable of handling. He is cheering for you. He is your number one fan. He wants nothing more than for you to succeed and be strong, enduring what may come your way, so that one day you are worthy to stand in his presence...knowing you have been through the ups and the downs, knowing you have endured willingly, knowing that you have took upon you the redeeming/healing power of the atonement, and created that personal relationship with christ.

Think about this. trial and affliction is hard. So hard that it breaks you down, physically, emotionally, and spiritually unlike anything else. It brings out vulnerability and weakness. But you take that vulnerability and weakness and you turn to the savior...who once was so vulnerable, so weak, experiencing more pain and sorrow than mankind would ever know. 

I know i talk about this quite often, and it really is silly probably to most and when you look at the big picture. But there has never been a time when i felt so lonely and so helpless than when i found out my high school basketball and softball career were over due to an ACL tear. At that moment I was so distraught because that was something that had been such a huge part of my life. And just like that it was gone. Not just the game itself, but the teammates, the coaches, those relationships, the feelings that those sports brought out, the competitiveness  the happiness. It was over. I had never cried so hard, for so long. I just remember laying in my bed crying, after my mom and dad had done and said everything they possibly could have to make me feel better, and thinking no one knows how i feel. HELLO AUTUMN. was i stupid? It took me a few moments to realize how terribly wrong i had been. How dare i think such a thing. How could i be so selfish? So blind. How could i be feeling so sorry for myself when christ had undergone my exact experience and every physical/emotional/mental/spiritual pain known to mankind. it is so hard to even try and comprehend. I will never understand the entirety of it. But i do understand that he knew how i felt. I was not alone. And for a tiny minuscule fraction, i knew how he felt. I  could not comprehend how he did it. But i knew if he could go through that, out of pure love for his brothers and sisters. I could get through my little trial out of pure love for my savior. I learned to see the atonement in a whole new light. It wasn't just for repentance and the chance to be forgiven for sin. It was for comfort and strength through things that cannot be gone through alone. 

Now think how strong you are for having those experiences. Think how far your testimony has come or may still have to go because of that. Think about the relationship you have or could potentially have with the savior if you lean on him and his example. I know him better, because of that bad thing that happened to me. I know my plan is better, because of that bad thing that happened to me. I know i am better, because of that bad thing that happened to me. 

Bad things are bad, until you find the good that can come from them. Bad things are bad, until you realize that the Lords plan for you, can never be bad. 

One Last Huzzah

video link: https://vimeo.com/69478979


holy smokes. did that really happen? did our parents really let us road trip to california BY OURSELVES?? yes. it happened. and it was SO wonderful. Me, Callie, Sydnee, and Macey had quite the time in the ol CA. Just thinking about it makes me laugh, so many funny things. Wednesday we got up and drove there real early, not to mention we would've been on the road much earlier had sydnee not slept through her alarm and had we not had to go throw literal rocks at her literal window. yeah, that happened. i mean, it wasn't all that romantic, but it'll do. We just jammed the entire 6 hours or so. we went straight to the beach and oh was it ever so lovely. we spent the whole day there, even the night. we watched the most perfect sunset from the pier and then chilled on one of the lifeguard posts in the misty air right up next to the tide, and just took it all in. There is just something about the ocean and your best friends all in the same place together, that is perfect. We hit up the manhattan beach creamery several times. it was fine, really. We went to six flags one day. oh my. what a day to say the least. 3 RIDES. 8 HOURS AND 3 RIDES. so lets do the math on that one. hmm...we averaged about one ride every 2 and 1/2 hours...not even. the lines were insane, and not to mention it was one hundo outside with like 300% humidity. so as you can imagine, all we did was complain the entire day about how hot, how tired, and how pissed off we were. it was so funny. so so funny. 3 RIDES. the people around us in the lines were probably so annoyed with us, because we were acting ridiculous. HAHAHAHAAH im just sitting here dying because, well...i guess you just had to be there. i wont even say anything about the food part...cause that is a whole other story. BUT it was fun, i mean the 3 rides we rode were way sick. it was REALLY hard to pick our top three. so then, naturally, we had to redeem ourselves of the "awesome" day we had...so naturally we went to the ocean at night, and naturally we got in, "naturally" i don't know if you are catching my drift or not, but it was a thrill to say the least. plus it was on my bucket list. SO CHECK. Friday we just spent the entire day at the beach, played soccer, volleyball, boogie boarded, watched some highly attractive surfers do there thing, we body surfed and laid out. oh and how could i forget the part where i lose my phone. so im just out there in the water recording my friends ya know, then all of a sudden out of nowhere i get WORKED by an unexpected wave. it was one of those ones that just thrashes you every which way right? so yeah, as you can imagine my phone gets launched from my hand and all he*k broke loose. not really but kinda. i started to freak the freak. we looked for it for a solid 30 minutes when we realized there was absolutely no way we were going to find the dang thing. but HEY! it was in a waterproof case, so thats good. (i secretly kept searching for it the whole rest of the trip hoping that some miracle would happen) we went shopping and to a movie that night, which was definitely a blast. So then saturday rolls around, which was callies 18th birthday. HOLLA ATCHA GURL. so operation 'find callie a birthday kiss' was in action the entire day. with absolutely no luck at all. it was a failure. but we tried. we really did. sorry callie. maybe next year!;) we went to this way sweet place for her birthday dinner, she scored a free meal which is wayyyyy better than a birthday kiss if you ask me. am i right or am i right? sunday we went to church and headed back home. it was really sad actually, we didnt want to leave. We were just starting to feel like we were real life californians...hahahahaha...i dont think any of us washed our hair once. which is the best. anyway, we made some dang good memories, and i love my friends. it was a great time to say the least.

family outings

Watch our Video!

https://vimeo.com/68576493

naturistic vibes

you know when you just get those wild hairs to do something, and you just gotta do it right then. Yeah, well that happens to me quite often and just so happens to almost always coincide with a photograph. I made the flower head piece just our of flowers and leaves from my front yard and some hot glue. It was super easy and fun! I wish the flowers didn't die so fast cause it would be a cute thing to keep. Me and hannah harrah are photo shoot buddies, so whenever we have ideas we get together and just click, snap. Ivins reservoir is seriously so beautiful at sundown, the colors and scenery are amazing.

CALIFORNIA, the beautiful

This past weekend me and my teammates were able to take on last trip together as a soccer squad. Our coach took us all in a 15 passenger van (the Plig Rig) and we rolled on dodwn to California, just like back in the 7th grade. We were about to relive one of the greatest trips known to man. It was sucha  fun time. Bittersweet though. We drove down on a friday night, went to Hunington beach saturday, spent the day there, watched a bunch of SMOKIN HOT life guards run around with no shirts on. then went shopping that night at a really cool outdoor mall. Sunday we went to a ward just close to where we were staying, which happened to be sharing a parking lot with the temple! SO BEAUTIFUL. The ward was so fun, it was fast sunday and a couple of us bore our testimonies. Then coach Mckenna gave us his final speech. It was incredible. He is such an amazing man and i will never forget the lessons he has taught me not only in soccer but in life as well. We walked around the temple for a little while, then headed over to some tide pools in Laguna. Coolest place ive been, there were starfish everywhere!! It was so much fun, then we happened to find our way to a cool secluded beach just around some cliff. It was so pretty, i could've stayed there forever. Seriously, i am so jealous of the people that live in those cute little houses overlooking the ocean like that. Lucky son of a guns. Someday...We had to head out after that, but our few short days were well spent! The trip was a blast, and we had so much fun with eachother. We laughed a whole lot. And took a lot of pictures. I love my soccer sisters and all the memories we have shared together!