let it be known

We've been watching home videos all week while here at my parent's house.

And here are two things I've noticed:

 

1. My brothers were THE LITERAL cutest things in the entire world.

2. My brothers are STILL the literal cutest things in the entire world.

 

I have been so blessed to grow up as their older sister.

Words can't even begin to describe how much I love and admire them.

All I have to say is Mckay and Ty, you are the bestest.

 

Now here are some amazing photos for you to appreciate.

Y'welcome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And our most recent picture.

Forever goobers.

My favorite goobers.



a manifesto

One of the requirements for my advertising portfolio was a personal manifesto.

As I racked my brain for weeks, I realized I didn't really have any concrete thoughts in this regard.

Basically just a bunch of goals that equated to:

"I want to be a good person."

The end.

And so, after A LOT of time

(seriously it's embarrassing how long it took me to come up with this....)

Here it is.

And I'm not going to lie, I'm more inspired by it than I thought I would be. 

A great exercise if you're looking for a way to give yourself some concrete direction in life!

I want live life powerfully.

My actions guided by love.

Love that moves others,

lifts them up.

I want to make my spot in the universe exquisite.

To take what I've been given,

my relationships, talents, circumstances,

and make the most of them.

I want to live with my entire heart.

I want to be void of laziness, and full of powerful conviction.

Conviction that I can be the best wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend,

leader, athlete, artist, musician, and whatever else I want to be.

And not just do it.

But do it all powerfully.

And there you go.

A dose of inspiration.

Cheesy and cliche inspiration,

but inspiration nonetheless ;)

as if I needed another reason to love being home

I get to be kooky, AND play the piano as much as I want!

And everyone thinks I'm awesome at it!!

17 years later and my talent is finally being appreciated.

*WINK*

oh here I am

Not blogging in over a week feels strange, and also....

like....

WAY good.

So I'm going to send out a general warning that this will probably be a trend for the next few weeks.

(At least until we get ourselves back across the whole stinking nation to our home in Utah.)

You see, dividing our time between our two families gets very busy.

And let's not kid ourselves... it's also TONS more fun than blogging. 

Sorrynotsorry.

Until then, I will let these pictures do the talking.

I give you:

Our last night in DC. 

Complete with trip to Founding Fathers, the US Court of Appeals, and the national Christmas tree.

Aka.... larger and grainier pictures than you ever wanted to see of us! Y'welcome!

and the award goes to....

So, sometimes things like this drive me crazy.

I mean, the whole blogging world drives me crazy sometimes.

BUT.

I adore Maddie and her cute blog, and thus I am running with this. 

I have been nominated for the Liebster award!

(discovering new bloggers!!)

here are the rules:

a. list 11 things about yourself

b. answer the questions the nominee created for you

c. choose 11 (or so) of your own favorite blogs to nominate

d. create 11 questions for them (or use the previous questions)

e. let them know they've won

a. about me:

1.  I am really good at the game Mad Gab. As in... don't even ATTEMPT to beat me.
2. I am really good at drinking water lightning fast.
3. I am really good at yelling so loud, and at such a decibel, that your eardrums MIGHT start bleeding.
4. I am really good at accents. Particularly as a New Yorker.
5. I am really good at eating things with sugar in them (AREN'T WE ALL?!)
6. I am really good at playing O Holy Night on the piano. And it only took me about 5 years!
7. I am really good at sleeping in.
8. I am really good at being an over enthusiastic Zumba-a-holic.
9. I am really good at dying my hair. Especially if there is red in it.
10. I am really good at being obsessed with Josh Groban.
11. I am really good at making really good lists. Har har.

b. questions for me:

1. What is your favorite Christmas tradition?

Oh man. We have always gotten new pajamas on Christmas Eve, and I LOVE that.

But the best part is when we all race to go put them on and I lose every time. 

I don't know why I act like I can beat my brothers, but after 13 years I'm still trying!

2. What color best fits your personality?

I would like to think yellow.

Yellow makes people happy, and that's something I try to be good at.

3. Do you like mustaches?

I mean.... this whole mustache craze that has taken over like, the WORLD?

I just don't really get it.

Like, it's not that funny to me. 

And trust me, I'm a hilarious person. 

So no. I guess I don't like them.

4. What is number one on your Christmas list?

Honestly, I want nothing more than this gorgeous nail polish.

5. N*SYNC or Backstreet Boys?

If you had asked me this 10 years ago,  I would have gone to my grave saying NSYNC. 

However seeing as how I have become an avid Backstreet Boy listener since my high school days

(are you kidding me?! Never Gone was SUCH a great album!)

I'm going to have to go with the latter.

6. What is your favorite physical trait?

Well... in others, I really appreciate someones smile. And teeth. 

In myself, I guess I like my hands a lot. Hence my obsession with nail polish.

7. Hot chocolate or apple cider?

Am I allowed to say Starbucks caramel apple cider? Because that stuff is like straight up crack.

8. If you could drop everything and go anywhere, where would you go?

Spain. No question.

Or if for some reason I didn't have a passport or something.... I would hurry my buns back to DC as fast as possible.

9. What is your favorite movie?

Since I think this is a terribly difficult question, I'm going to break the rules and tell you all the movies tied at number one. You've Got Mail, Shawshank Redemption, Little Women, Hot Rod and all the Lord of the Rings.

10. Who is your biggest role model?

Also a tough question. My mom is an amazing resilient, talented, beautiful and hilarious person. She has shaped my life more than almost anyone. But my sweet husband is a huge role model for me as well.

A day hasn't gone by in which he hasn't left me wanting to be so much better.

11. What is your favorite picture? (share it)

HAHA JUST KIDDING!

I know I'm biased, but come on HOW GORGEOUS IS THIS PICTURE?!

c. And now here are the blogging ladies I nominate!

Nicole

Abby

Kimber

Lana

Rachel

Chantel

Danielle

Amanda 

Ashley

Rachel

Alexa

d.. My questions for YOU!

1. If you could eat lunch with ANY famous person, who would it be and why?

2. If you could have any career, no strings attached, what would you want to do?

3. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

4. Google or Apple?

5. What is one thing you have learned about yourself in the last year?

6. What is one of your hidden talents?

7. Spring or Fall?

8. If you could be any animal, what would you be?

9. Beach or mountains? Why?

10. If you could only shop at one store for the rest of your life, what would it be?

11. If you could be an Olympic athlete in any sport, which would you pick?

And there you have it. 

Thank you to Maddie for this silly, 

albeit sweet and fun,

"discovering new bloggers" blogging award. 

I guess all I have to say is cheers to having less than 100 followers! 

*wink*

also this happened to me yesterday....

The most epic biff of my life to date.

The funniest part is there were 2 people standing near by, and neither one of them acknowledged my awkward display, OR ask if I was okay!

What has humanity come to?!

Also, it was these artistic skills that won me second place in a national art contest when I was in second grade.
I know. 

here at the end of all things, DC version

GUYS. 

We are leaving on Saturday?!?!?!?!

This is crazy talk!

While we are super excited for the time we will get to spend with our families in the beautiful sunny Florida, it's also horribly depressing. We have fallen completely in love with this city, and the thought of leaving is sort of gut wrenching. 

The next few days are going to be insanely busy.

Along with the usual packing and cleaning the accompanies a move, 

I will also be filming my advertising application video

(FINALLY HAPPENING!)

and trying to squeeze in any last minute shenanigans.

SO....

Until next time....

It's been real, DC. 

We love you!

Tales from my childhood: the playground

When I was in 4th grade, my family moved to Arizona.
It was at my brand new school that I had one of the funniest experiences of my life

Sadly it was at the expense of another....
...but he used to call me Big Bird and the Jolly Green Giant, so I actually don't feel all that bad.
Consider this my revenge.
Anyways.

This school had a really sweet playground with one of those tube slides, that everyone loved of course. 

One boy in my class, a rather chunky fellow whom we will call Kevin, loved it a little too much. 

When it was time to go inside, we got in our line, and looked around in search of the one missing student.
You guessed it.
It was Kevin.

And there was no sign of him anywhere. 

Then in the distance we heard a quiet plea for "heeelllpppp".
After scouring the area, we found Kevin....

....Stuck in the slide.

I am so serious right now.
I don't remember much of what happened at this point.
I'm pretty sure my teachers ushered us away, while they commenced the task of retrieving Kevin from the jaws of the tube slide.

After about 10 minutes they succeeded, so naturally I led the class in a thunderous:
"HIP HIP, HUUURRRAAAYYYYY!"
(Little did everyone know, I was cheering because the big mean bully had been stuck in the slide for so long, NOT because I was happy he was free.
This was back during my darkest days, OBVIOUSLY)

That went on for about 30 seconds before we got our Harry Potter reading time revoked, and we had to go to lunch late.

And yes, it was completely worth it.