heck ya

oh my how happy am i to hear those words.

i mean come on

its friday.

time to sleep in

stay in sweats all day

eat whatever i want.

who cares what you do.

because its the weekend.

in the working world "weekend" 

those lovely days without working

are used for the running of errands

cleaning the house

catching up on laundry

doing the things you couldn't do during the week

but either way

if its being lazy or busy running errands

at least you aren't working.

i hope everyone has a fabulous weekend

doing whatever it is you wanna do!

feeling it today

blessed.
i am feeling so blessed today.
in the middle of a stressful week it hit me
i really am so blessed.
and its time i focus on the good.

everyone has those "ruts"

one bad thing after the other

and i find myself time&time again just staying focused on that rut

and its time to stop

i read  a quote 

"its just a bad day, not a bad life"

how perfect is that.

i know that when i have a bad day its so easy to just

think how bad everything is.

and i know im not the only one.

take sometime out on these "bad days" and think about 

the great blessings you have.

                                 my blessings:

i have an incredible family.

no matter what i can turn to any of them

we are a bit dysfunctional

but whose family isn't

but even through all of that we are there for each other 100%

my boy

he is amazing.

i have never felt so in love in my life.

yes this is that cheesy love stuff, but it is true.

i have that guy who can always make me smile

who knows just what to say

and what not to say sometimes

he is such a great blessing in my life.

friends are the family we pick

and i must say i have some pretty great ones.

i may not see them as much as we'd like

but they are all just a phone call/text away

and all of dars friends who are becoming friends of mine too

not only did a get a great boyfriend but i also got a bunch of great people 

that he brought along.

my job

yes there are plenty of days i dread coming in to work

but i know that as soon as i walk in

there is a group of people here that will 

joke around, ask how i am, and make me realize when im being dramatic

i have to sit back and realize there are so many 

people out there struggling to find work, and i need to be so thankful i have one.

i am not bragging 

i just wanted to focus on the good in my life.

i hope everyone can find the blessings in their life

even when you find yourself in a "rut"

this thing called growing up

i failed.
again.
i swear i go to blog.
even come up with something catchy to write about.
and then i get lost reading other blogs.
or pinterest.
or the boyfriend texts me
and the blog just gets neglected.

oops.

anyways.

everyone knows that when they were younger

13-18

growing up sounded like the best thing in the world.

no one can tell you what to do, what to say, how to act

you could do whatever, whenever.

and your parents (or maybe just mine) laughed

and said you don't know how good you have it.

this is one of those 

oh crap, my parents knew what they were talking about moments

don't get me wrong.

i love the freedom of growing up

but sometimes i hate it.

i just want to go back to when the biggest worry was what to wear to school

and if your friends were in your class.

(i wouldn't want to go back to high school

psh you couldn't pay me to go back

i just want the carefree life i had when i was there.)

now you have to worry about

putting gas in your car

making the car payment

having a good job

paying bills

and making life decisions...

...life altering decisions.

i am horrible at making decisions

its true.

ask anyone who knows me

and maybe this is my problem.

yes i have my dreams.

and my goals.

but when it comes to figuring out how to get there

i just wish i didn't have to decide

and someone would just tell me.

and since that isn't going to happen..

                                    this is what i've come to realize:

growing up is just that.

you have to learn lessons by yourself.

sure you have support 

but in the end its your life.

and how you want it to go is up to you.

some lessons you will learn the easy way

(thats always a nice way to learn)

or you have to learn the hard way

(this seems to be the way i like to learn....)

but either way at the end of the day

you've grown.

as easy at it would be to just be little again

we all know thats not possible.

so all we can do 

is hold on tight and try to do the best we can.

dear time,

time just flies right on by

and before you know it you are weeks behind in blog life.

oops.

my bad.

no fear i am back.

as you can see i redid the blog a little bit

and i am so excited for the "theme" of my new blog.

i hope you all will enjoy it.

now a little catch up so we are all on the same page..

valentines day

my boyfriend is just the greatest.

after work he went with me to get my nails done

raced to his house.

made dinner, and had it all set up when i got ready.

we had heart shaped pizza, bread sticks, cookies, and sparkling cider.

while we were eating he gave me my gift.

it was a hand written letter that completely melted my heart.

and a 1 hour massage at a spa.

he then told me we were going to safe haven.

it was such an amazing day, with the perfect guy.

weekend

this weekend was a lot of fun.

went by way to fast. but still fun.

friday we went to dinner with the seamons family to celebrate

his dads birthday to texas roadhouse.

after we went to identity theft with 

zane and katie

saturday we stayed in sweats until it was 6.

can you say lazy day.

we met up with some friends (ZANE) and headed to the aggie game.

i don't think its right that the weekends go by so fast, and work week so slow.

oh well.

we are here again at monday.

lets make the most of it.

XOXO

this is a little shout out to zane.

he gets his feelings hurt when he isn't mentioned 

so here you are zane

your own little shout out.

enjoy.

love.

who would have guessed

a love post on valentines day.

but hey what do you expect.

i just wanted to write something about the loves in my life.

mom:

our relationship hasn't always been the best, but i am so glad things have changed.

you are one of my best friends and i dont know how i would make it through some of the challenges life brings with out you by my side. thank you so much for always being there. you are the best.

dad&tiff

you two are the greatest. thank you for showing me that life will always be okay, maybe not today or tomorrow, but eventually. thanks for all the things you guys do for me. love you two

brothers

i couldn't have been more blessed to have you two has brothers. while you may be the biggest pain in the butt most of the time, you guys are also my biggest protectors. thanks for always being there when your little sister needs you the most

jenna

i sure do miss having my sister around. driving around and making up dances to the most random songs and having a lot of fun, ordering bread sticks and alfredo and just stuffing our faces. love you.

brin&tay

oh the love i have for you two is unbelievable.

being an aunt is one of the best things i have in my life and i wouldn't change it for the world.

i love watching you two grow up and become little people.

darwin

having you in my life is the best thing to ever happen to me. no matter what you are always there, making me smile and laugh even when i dont want to. i cant wait to see what life has in store for us but i know whatever it is you will be right by my side. love you babe.

extended family

not having family close is hard, but it makes the time we do have together that much more special. i think about you guys daily. love you all.

friends 

friends is the family you pick. and i am so glad i picked you guys. always there when i call, text or anything. i know i can always count on you to have my back and make things okay.

i hope everyone has a great valentines day with the ones that they love.

i'll be sure to post tomorrow with what darwin planned for our special day/

XOXO

surprise weekend.

this weekend was so much fun.

all of dars friends were heading down to wendover for a guys weekend.

but he didn't want to go.

so i decided that i would plan something fun for us to do instead.

and it was all going to be a surprise.

now for all of those who know me really well than you know i suck at keeping an exciting secret.

Christmas i always tell the brothers what i got them.

i tell people what birthday presents i get them.

i am just horrible.

so i was dead set on not telling him until late Friday as to what we were going to do.

well...

that didn't work out.

so i told him thursday.

he was so excited.. that or was a really good actor ;)

saturday came and we were going to head down to salt lake pretty early.

well...

then we got off to a late start.

then we decided to wait and see his brothers new house, and be there when they told the kids.

then we forgot the tickets and had to go back to richmond.

then we needed to get gas.

finally around 2 we were ready to hit the road.

surprise 1.

i got us a room at the little america.

i figured it would be a lot of fun to just get away for the night.

(we've both been super stressed lately and needed a break)

so we got all booked into our room..

and not even 10 minutes later we were jumping on the bed like little kids

it was a lot of fun to just be silly.

surprise 2.

i got us jazz game tickets.

since the game started at 7 we needed to get some dinner before.

we got changed and ready and headed to get some food

we decided to go to the Macaroni Grill..

much to my surprise they don't have Macaroni.

but hey i went with it.

we hurried and ate and headed over to the game.

the game was a lot of fun.

i spent most of the time watching the jazz bear due to my fear of mascots

but it was still a way fun time.

after the game we drove around talking and just looking around.

after awhile we headed back and watched some tv.

the next morning we ate at the original pancake house

and it was amazing.

after breakfast we made a quick run to target,

and headed home.

this weekend was so much fun

a nice little break 

and some much needed bonding time!

this guy is amazing!

i needed to get my jazz gear!

lets all just pretend

so new years was about a week ago.

and i am just now getting to post about it.

oops.

so lets just pretend new years just happened

new years eve:

a few days before new years eve dar asked if i would want to go up to his friends cabin for new years to go sledding, and just hang out with everyone.

like it was even a question,

of course! 

that day i had to go to work for a little bit, and while i was there i was getting frantic messages from dar worrying about snow clothes, and the jobs he was doing.

so i got off work at 12:30 met up with him and we were hoping to head over at 1.

well about 5 we had ran to 3 different stores looking for snow clothes for him,

got pizza, got groceries, got gas, and packed up the car we were finally on our way.

on the way over we started talking and soon we were in bear lake.

but we weren't quite done talking so even thought it was snowing and the roads were ice we decided to drive around the lake.

it was such a great memory i will hold onto forever.

finally at 7:30 we decided to head up to the cabin and join everyone.

it was so much fun.

we ate.

laughed.

played basketball (inside)

watched all the boys shoot each other with fireworks.

watched the ball drop.

drank sparkling cider.

and lit off more fireworks.

new years day:

everyone slept in.

and it was so nice.

after a lazy morning complete with a yummy breakfast we all bundled up and decided to go sledding.

so we headed to the "sinks" in the canyon

after an almost fight with some drunk guys we all started to go sledding.

i am such a baby when it comes to this.

i didn't want to go fast.. or even down the hill at all.

i was sitting on a tube with dar when his lovely friend Zane decided it was time for me to go down.

the only thing keeping me on that tube was darwin holding my shoulder.

it was quite the adventure.

all in all it was such a great way to bring in the new year.

2013 is going to be one to remember.

Right before the trouble happened

watching fireworks

last picture of 2012