Summer!

Spring classes ended this week.

Finals should be done today.

Family trips start this week (some of my favorites arrive in Utah tonight).

The weather is absolutely beautiful - perfect for reading new books by the pool.

Shorts and flip flops have become regular choices.

Watermelon and fresh corn stands are starting to pop up on the corners of busy intersections.

Summer lacrosse league started this week.

The days keep getting longer.

Plans for amazing trips are falling into place.

...

And the only thing left between me and enjoying all of this is one last paper...

Sending Birthday Wishes...

to one of the best people I have ever known.
to the woman who taught me the value of an education.

to the one who taught me to love reading.
to the most well-traveled person I have ever met.
to the best traveling buddy I've ever had.
to the lady who wasn't embarrassed to slide down the red rocks with me when I was afraid to go by myself.

to the one who taught me I'm only allowed to pick one wildflower for every six I see - to appreciate the beauty of nature around me and how important it is to make sure it can stay that way.

to the one who would have tea parties with me at the kid's table during Thanksgiving dinner.
to the woman who helped begin my love of the beach.
to the best person I've ever shared a birthday party with.
to the lady who taught us to just jump in the water and worry about being cold later - because she knew we'd have fun anyway.

to the one who always said, "You be the good one."
to the best bedtime story teller ever.
to the woman I still look up to almost daily.

I love you grandma and miss you every day. Thanks for watching over all of us. Wish you could be here to celebrate with me this year again!  

Things putting a smile on my face...

-- Our THIRD place finish at Nationals - the highest BYU Women's Lacrosse has ever finished the season in program history

-- Celebratory tripod-ing

-- Long phone calls with my family
-- Funny pictures from my sister
-- Having just one class a day
-- The idea of reading for fun
-- Thinking about how lucky I was to get three whole years to play lacrosse and spend so much time with some of my best friends

-- Getting to spend a whole week with this guy

-- The pool opening
-- Not waking up before the sun anymore - it's so much nicer to make that drive in the daylight
-- The fact that every one of my girls ran the mile in less than 12:30 this week (we've been working for that one for a long time)
-- Knowing I get to see this pretty girl tonight and tomorrow and catch up on her life

-- Knowing I have this girl next door

-- Getting to talk to Everleigh all the way from Africa
-- Celebrating a special birthday (even if it's from far away)

-- Thinking about how much fun lacrosse will be next season with these girls:

-- Spending time being an auntie and getting kisses from this boy

-- And of course this:

Finals and Nationals

Finals are done. Thank goodness.

As interesting as my classes were, I was running out of steam fast for this semester (maybe being gone every weekend for lacrosse and constantly playing catch-up had something to do with it). I'm just excited to be done and felt good about how my finals went.

I'm excited that this means a few days to just play before spring term starts.

I'm excited that this means good weather is coming fast.

Mostly though I'm excited because for the next three weeks I don't feel guilty about my priority being my team.

We found out this week that we have been invited to compete in the national tournament and that we have been given the #2 seed!! This is the highest we've ever been ranked and I couldn't be more proud of the work that we've put in and how our season has gone this far.

This season isn't over and we have some more to prove, and I can't wait to see how we do it.

...

PS - Coverage from this season and our last trip to the national tournament can be found: here, here, here, and here.

National Sibling Day

In honor of National Sibling Day (which is apparently today?) I figured I would make a list of my favorite things about the coolest people in the world. I love them to pieces.

Justin:

-- He is one of the most protective people I know, even though he probably wouldn't admit it if you asked
-- He loves to tease me but rarely takes it too far
-- He sometimes still lets me pretend I can beat him up
-- He laughs at my dumb jokes
-- He puts up with my teasing
-- He is an extremely hard worker, when he puts his mind to something I know better than to get in his way
-- He makes me breakfast when I come home :)
-- Last but not least, he sees what's important to the people around him and helps them achieve those things

Julia:

-- I should probably start by saying she's my best friend in the whole world
-- She sends me funny snap chats
-- She is the best road trip copilot and traveling buddy ever
-- She puts me in the funniest moods I think I've ever been in
-- She is patient with my messiness and even helps me clean it up
-- She is already a better athlete than I'll ever be
-- She makes the best brownies and cookies ever
-- She is one of the most diligent and organized people I've ever met - pretty good combination
-- She pushes me to be better in so, so many ways

Joshua:

-- He gives the best hugs in the whole world
-- He is always so excited to see me, it makes it 10x better to come home
-- He is the first person to include someone else and ask them to play a game with him
-- He is the best Monopoly player I've ever met (I don't think he's ever lost to anyone in the family)
-- He's one of the best story tellers ever - just ask him about the scar from a shark bite on his leg ;)
-- He loves to cheer the rest of us on at our sporting events and still likes to play them himself
-- He is extremely independent and can fend for himself super well
-- He loves to read books and remembers crazy details about all of them
-- He writes the best notes ever and asked me to be his pen pal while I'm at school

I'm the luckiest sister in the whole world. These three are my favorite ever and I wouldn't trade them for anything. Sorry for the picture overload... I struggled to pick just a few haha.

 

 

"I have learned that to be happy is a choice."

I've had a couple of my friends and family members share this article written by a Mormon bishop.

So many good lessons summarized.

And such a good perspective.

Definitely worth the few minutes it takes to read it.

...

I apologize for the overload recently of links to others' stories and thoughts and wonderful ideas. I feel like they say it so much better than I can. And I've been busy loving almost every part of my life. So maybe I'm not so sorry... but I promise to try to put something up besides pictures and links soon...ish.

Have I Mentioned That My Family is the Greatest?

Sundays are usually pretty great for lots of reasons, but especially because I get to talk to my family. Sometimes I'm even lucky enough to get to skype them...

This usually means all craziness breaks loose (something about actually seeing each other I think - that or seeing how crazy we are ourselves just makes it escalate quicker). The things that get said, teasing that happens, and funny faces that get made make me homesick faster than anything else.

I wouldn't have it any other way...

Yup. That's Justin flashing me

So naturally Josh wanted to too...

We think we're really cute

I love them more than anything

Some of my favorite things that got said:

"Oh no... Now we need two waaa-mbulances!"

"And then you repent and your hair grows back!"