Italia

So my sister Julia is an awesome soccer player. So awesome that she made a team this year that travels to Italy to play European teams. I was lucky enough to go with. We went to so many beautiful cities and saw so many incredible things, and I got to cheer for her while she played... and yes, it was as incredible as it sounds. Here are my favorite parts from the trip...

Milan was gorgeous, even though we were exhausted. The inside of the Duomo was just as intricate and gorgeous as the outside.

We loved the tower of Pisa. We counted the steps all the way up and laughed as we almost fell climbing back down. The views were incredible.

There were gorgeous sunflower fields that we passed on one of our long drives... all of the places we drove past were beautiful.

We got to stay in San Marino and this was the view from the top of the mountain. The girls kicked butt at the tournament, won their division and came back with a huge trophy! So proud of them!

No big deal, just a statue of the world's fattest man courtesy of the curiosity museum in San Marino.

Love these girls.

This gorgeous cathedral was in Florence. I love this city and would go back any day!

We love gelato and ate it every single chance we got. Even if people thought we were crazy Americans... It's probably true anyway, right?

We ended the trip with a very long, but incredible day in Rome. We got to see the Vatican and St. Peter's Cathedral. We ate incredible food and walked until our feet hurt.

And we plan on going back...

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...

Lessons Learned

Things I'm learning to not take for granted:

• Air conditioning
• Good weather
• A functioning fridge (that doesn't leak water all over my food)
• A car that works
• People that are patient with me on the phone
• Neighbors that will drop anything and everything to come visit me
• Neighbors that will offer anything to help me
• Roommates who will spend all day doing nothing with me
• Being healthy enough to go for a run
• Being about to wear clothes that don't touch my road rash or press against my bruises
• Having family away from home
• Having friends that are like family away from home
• Knowing that I'm being watched over
• Siblings and parents that call and check on me
• The Priesthood and it's healing and comforting power

I'm feeling extremely lucky and blessed the more I think about what's gone on this past week or so. Thank you to everyone that's helped make this easier or helped me laugh through it all. I couldn't ask for better people to have shared all of this with!

Birthdays, Triathlons, and ER/Urgent Care Visits

Yesterday, I turned 20 years old. I can't believe how fast time flies. To celebrate I thought I'd try to cross something off my bucket list - doing a triathlon. Luckily, one of my teammates and best friends told me about one that was the morning of my birthday that her husband was doing and she said I could borrow everything from her that I would need. Couldn't be more perfect right?


So... at 6:45 I left my apartment and met Shelby and Andrew at their house and we set on our way. The triathlon was being run backwards so we started with a 5k run (followed by a 12 mile bike and a 500 meeter swim). I felt great and actually ran pretty fast. The biking part was what I was most nervous for... I haven't ever been in a bike race and couldn't tell you the last time I tried to bike faster than a leisurely pace. After about a mile in I found a rhythm. 


At mile 2 there was a big dip in the road right before a decent sized intersection. As I came out of the dip and looked up I saw a car out of my peripheral vision. I realized 3 things all in a split second:

      1. I couldn't brake fast enough to get out of the way

      2. I couldn't speed up enough to get out of the way either

      3. I was going to get hit by a car

I can honestly say I've never been that scared in my life.

The car was slowing down and was going about 20-25 MPH as it hit me. The bike slid out from under me and I hit the ground - don't worry... I was wearing a helmet. I took most of the impact on my hip and shoulder. After being loaded into the ambulance (check that off the bucket list too) getting checked out, and turning down some morphine, I was urged to go to the ER to make sure I didn't have any broken bones, cracked ribs or other serious injuries.

The neck brace was just a precaution, I promise...

We got to the ER and were taken to the back right away, where the doctor checked everything out. Diagnosis: no broken bones or back/neck injuries, lots of road rash and bruising that will feel worse over the next couple days.

Sorry for showing so much skin... But here are the scrapes up to my shoulder

The hospital found out it was my birthday and gave me a basket full of candy

As we were eating after I got discharged from the hospital my roommate Shawna called saying she needed a ride to the doctor's office because she felt like crap. We ended up spending two hours there for her to get diagnosed with strep and get the antibiotics that she needed. 

We've spent the weekend in the apartment trying to let our bodies heal themselves and being taken care of by our awesome friends.

There are a couple things I'm extremely grateful for after this weekend:

• Awesome friends who are actually more like family
• A miraculous body that will heal itself
• Memorable birthdays
• Neighbors who stop by and bring me some of my favorite things
• People who love and worry about me
• The fact that I didn't get seriously injured (still trying to figure out how that happened)
• The Priesthood and the comfort it has given me
• Family members that are worthy Priesthood holders and are willing to give me blessings
• Neosporin, Advil, and medicine in general
• Otter pops

Here's to starting my 20's off with a bang...