That time I face-planted on the beach...

... and other adventures in Puerto Rico:

This year my dad decided that he wanted us to escape the cold for a few days and so we decided to go to Puerto Rico! Obviously I was in full support. Here's a quick recap of our trip:

While in Puerto Rico I decided I wanted to try authentic food as often as I could... now most of you should know that this could be a struggle for me. After our first night there I was convinced I had made a very good decision.

Super good.

We were lucky enough to go ziplining. It was SO much fun. I got told at every break to, "Stop braking so hard..." to which I replied with an awkward laugh. My siblings also thought it was hysterical. We all had a blast though and really liked the oversized gloves and helmets we wore.

The next day we decided to go to the beach. The boys convinced me to go in the water, but I probably should have stuck with my gut decision, because my face ended up looking like this:

Long story short I got thrown by a wave face-first into the sand. I came up with a bruised eyebrow, scraped forehead and cheek, and a bloody lip, gasping for air. If you want a more detailed story I'm sure my sister would love to share it with you. She thinks it's hysterical and we've spent lots of days laughing about it and people's reactions to it. 

We also went to Old San Juan. I LOVED the little town. All of the buildings were painted fun colors and there were so many cool little shops and restaurants along the cobblestone streets. My favorite restaurant (named for the breakfast I ordered) was La Mallorca - delicious.

 Old San Juan also has a really cool fort in it. 

Some of the people that got locked in the dungeon drew these really cool pictures on the walls that they've since preserved:

The next day we went fishing in one of the local lakes. Everyone was really good at it. Justin and Joshua caught catfish (and eachothers lines), Julia and dad caught peacock bass and red devils, and Annette and I got jaguar bass. I was surprised by how pretty the fish were. I also managed to make it through the day without touching a single fish - successful day in my book.

Our last dinner was my favorite food of the whole week. It was so, so good. We finished with a dessert made of cream cheese stuffed crepes, topped with cinnamon-sugar and frosting with ice cream. It was the perfect way to end the trip.

I had such a blast and couldn't have asked for better people to spend it with! Now I just have to figure out how to survive the -6 degree weather in Provo right now...

Two Cents From the Haws Family

"I could take your car because it's Tuesday and I don't like your clothes."

"Nice grammar."

       "Yeah Grandma loves Mountain Dew!"

This is the nonsense I've come home to and I love it.

Happy Monday :)

I hope some things never change.

Celebrating the Little Things

We were at practice last week and as always with this time of year we've been struggling with our basics. We spend a majority of practice working on our passing and catching - which to be honest is frustrating. And boring. So while lacrosse is always one of my favorite times of the day it's been something I've had to gear up for. Then Juj came up with a great idea for us as we were trying to hide our frustrations...

She told us to celebrate every catch. That simple. To celebrate the little thing that we've done right in that moment. These were no small celebrations... we had roaring (since we are the cougars), loud yelling, over the top compliments, cartwheels, and lots of laughs. You would be surprised what a difference this made in the tone of practice. Instead of getting frustrated by not reaching our goal as quickly as we wanted to we shifted our focus to highlighting the happy things. Which in turn helped us relax, smile and do better.

As I got thinking about it I decided I wanted to implement this into my everyday life. So this is my way to hold myself accountable... to myself and to anyone who reads this.

Even if I have a frustrating day I am going to focus on the little things that went right and celebrate those. Things like bonding with one of the girls at work, catching up with someone I didn't expect to, getting all of my homework done, not hitting pipe at practice, keeping my room clean (ok... not such a little thing), getting to bed at a decent hour, doing well on a quiz in class, getting to the temple, understanding a new concept, pretty colors on the mountains, getting awesome packages from my parents (who have spoiled me like crazy recently - love you both!), finding a new scripture I love, etc. These are the things worth celebrating. And they add up fast.

...

On a similar note I listened to one of the best devotionals ever on the way to the work this week. They don't have it available for reading right now but I promise that it's worth watching or listening to! Here it is. Thanks Si :)