March Madness

As my roommates and I were sitting and talking last night we could not get over the fact that it's March already. We arrived at the consensus that March is stressful and overwhelming.

This time of year is usually the time for big decisions. Decisions about things like where to live next year, where to live spring/summer, what do even do spring/summer, and choosing classes for next fall just to name a few.

On top of those decisions, it's the hardest time to stay on top of schoolwork. We've had our last long weekend of the semester and are in for a six weeks straight until finals - yikes. Final projects and papers need to get started, on top of midterms still going on. It also starts to warm up outside, which makes it incredibly difficult to focus on doing everything that needs to happen inside (especially studying).

Add on top of that that some of my best friends are graduating within a year (in both April and December) and I want to spend all the time I can with all of them.

I think one of the hardest things for me this month is a diet I'm supposed to be trying for one of my classes that gets rid of most of my favorite foods (very limited dairy, animal meat, animal protein, and no refined sugar)... Do me a favor and don't ask me how it's going haha

Basically we've started our our kind of march madness. We are trying very hard to stay on top of everything we've signed up for and are realizing it's just the beginning.

Despite feeling this chaos and stress I'm so, so excited about this month and here's why:

-- I get to travel for lacrosse 3 out of the 5 weekends in March
-- I get to play in lacrosse games 4 out of the 5 weekends this month
-- I'm still loving my classes and still want to learn from them as opposed to the normal slump I'm feeling around this time of the semester
-- The term ends this month for work, which means despite not having a regular long weekend I will have one weekend that I get to sleep in like a normal person and I can't wait
-- The weather is warming up - finally no more big coats, scarves, and boots every day
-- That also means we get to practice on a real field, with real grass instead of on parking lots that aren't very forgiving when we fall
-- I already feel like I have so many fun things planned to balance out the hard work that's been going on and I can't wait for them to happen
-- I'm getting to spend so much of my free time with so many of my favorite people and loving every second of it
-- We're ranked #4 in the country right now for lacrosse - that's a constant good reminder of the hard work we've already put into this season
-- By the end of this month my dad will be here, it will be Julia's birthday, we'll be focused on the Savior and Easter AND preparing for conference weekend (which is great because for the first time in my 3 years of living in Utah, I'll be here for the April sessions)

And an extra reason this month is starting off right?

I got an unsolicited hug from one of my girls this morning after class. They're the best.

Where's the Pause Button?

I have a million things on my to-do list right now.

I have a million things I want to be doing besides that list.

And somehow through all the busyness of these things I have had this incredible feeling the past few days. This feeling that life is so incredibly good that I just want to hit pause and stay in that moment. I know this isn't possible, and I know that it probably wouldn't be as good as I'd expect, but I'm loving every second of things right now.

It hit me really hard driving back from work the other day: I have an amazing job working with amazing girls, I get to spend hours a week with some of my best friends playing my favorite sport in the world, even though my classes are hard they're so interesting and are making me better at things I love to do, I love my family more than I can express with words and just got to spend three weeks with them, I love my apartment, I love my ward, and even despite the freezing cold the snow is really pretty and I have a heater that works wonderfully (and delicious hot chocolate).

Now this doesn't begin to cover all of the blessings I have in my life but I am seriously so lucky and so blessed to be where I am and loving it so much. I'm so grateful for the moments when I get to stop and smell the roses and appreciate everything I have going on.

Blickenstaff's

So the other day I went into Blickenstaff's to visit my roommate Brittany and I had SO much fun!

They have a huge bulk candy section which I obviously loved and a bunch of cool old-fashioned sodas.



We LOVED the peach gummies and I can't wait to have more.

They also have tons of fun toys you can play with. There's a rockboard, easy rollers, fun board games and so much more.

It's the best place to escape from finals and act like a little kid again :)

PS - If you write a blog post about them too before Dec. 31st you get a free pound of candy!

Best Intentions...

Despite my best intentions sometimes things just don't turn out. Last night for example:

I had every intention of going to FHE

... but conditioning started and ended late and I hadn't gone grocery shopping yet. Oops.

I meant to have dinner done by the time everyone got home

... but not making it to the grocery store earlier in the day made that a little difficult.

I really wanted to clean up and put away all the laundry

...but the day was over before I realized what had happened and other things took priority.

I was really excited about dinner

... and then I caught the garlic bread on fire (yes, actual flames coming out of the oven), and couldn't even think coherently enough to put the fire out myself (thanks a million, Syd) . 

But

... luckily I have great roommates that not only are great at putting out fires but also make me laugh incredibly hard at funny situations and my incompetence when it comes to cooking. 

Here We Go...

My day started with a drive to Rio Tinto stadium to watch the USWNT play Canada in their Olympic send off game. I never thought I'd say this, but I LOVE watching women's soccer. Seriously such a great game to be able to watch in person and I can't wait to watch the team play in London in just one month!!

After coming back to Provo and taking a much needed nap, Shawna and I got ready to head back up to Salt Lake to watch Brittany crown her successor as Miss Utah.

Britt did such an incredible job and I was so proud to be able to support her! She looked beautiful as always and the next Miss Utah has very big shoes to fill... I have the greatest roommates!

Love you Britt!

It's now past 2 in the morning and I'm still not done with my laundry and am even further from being packed. I realize how crazy this sounds, and every trip I promise myself it won't happen again, yet here we are. I guess I inherited this capability from my mom, packing late at night is strangely when I end up forgetting the least. Or maybe it's that I know I'm going home where there's extras of anything I might forget. Guess we'll never know...

I leave tomorrow night for almost a full month and I couldn't be more excited. In less than a week I will be in Italy watching Julia play soccer (hopefully adding to my new-found love for the sport) and exploring a country I've always wanted to go to. After I get home from that I get to catch up with some of my favorite people while visiting home... and of course stop at all my favorite restaurants too (Bodo's, Christian's, Dumplings, Sal's, Arch's, Zazu's, and I'm sure many others that I'm forgetting - dang it this is not making Fast Sunday tomorrow any easier...). I'll get to go visit Ragged Mountain Running Shop, Total Performance, the Downtown Mall, my high school, and so many other places. You could say I'm a little excited to go home. After coming back to Provo my family will turn around and go straight to Lake Powell. This trip is easily one of my favorite weeks of the year. It feels like a piece of heaven on earth. Who wouldn't want to spend an entire week in the sun skiing, wake boarding, swimming, tubing, eating, and sleeping under the stars?

By the end of that week I will have spent an entire month away from a place I'm starting to call home. I can honestly say I'll miss Provo a little bit, especially after an awesome day like today. In the end though I think I'm about to have the best month ever and can't wait to get it started...