Better Late than Never-Mother's Day

The opportunity to celebrate my amazing mom this past weekend was so wonderful!  This Mother's day, however, was different for me.  It was the first time that I truly realized that Mother's Day is a day to celebrate all of the women in my life.  I am so grateful for all of the amazing women that have helped me become who I am today.  Now I'm going to introduce you to a few of them:

First is my beautiful, patient, loving, kind, thoughtful, selfless mother.

For the past 22 years this lady has put up with everything that I've thrown at her.  The past few years have been extra fun though.  I don't know when it happened, possibly during my senior year of high school, my mom became one of my very best friends.  We talk every day and she's totally cool if I call her even if it's for no reason but to chat with someone for a few minutes in between classes.  My mom is the most patient person I know.  She has taught me to be patient with others because each person has their own struggles and issues they are working through and we need to give the benefit of the doubt.

Next is my happy, gorgeous, fun, honest, and forgiving sister.

Alyson has possibly put up with more from me than my mom.  Growing up, our relationship was pretty rocky, but, for us, distance made the heart grow fonder when Alyson moved away to go to college.  Since 7th grade, Alyson has been a bestie.  We talk about everything.  I look up to her and I strive to be as righteous as she is.  All growing up, Alyson would always be the first one to apologize and forgive and forget as we fought and argued.  Although it was annoying at the time, I am so grateful for her example and the forgiveness she showed me and taught me.

This lovely lady is one of the most sincere, smart, tender-hearted, gracious, classy people I know.

Amanda bravely married my older brother and joined our family just a year-and-a-half ago.  I'm positive it is hard marrying into our crazy family, but she has dealt with everything so gracefully.  She is so smart, but she is so humble about it.  I love that becoming a mother is a priority in her life.  I am so excited to have another sister and friend!

I am especially thankful for the women in my extended family on both sides!!

My Grandmothers were both literally the strongest women I will ever know.  They both fought breast cancer  before succumbing to it.  Even as they slowly lost their physical strength, they never lost their spiritual strength.  The faith of my grandmothers has helped me throughout my life.  I leaned on their testimonies, even after they passed away, as I gained my own.

My cousins are all such wonderful examples!  I look up to each one of them and want to be like all of them all the time.  There is never a dull moment.

I can't even mention my cousins without mentioning their wonderful mothers.  Both of my parents have amazing sisters who are always serving and loving.  My Cowley aunts are so fun and girly and supportive, from coming to my piano recitals when I was younger to supporting me in (my attempt at) running the St. George Marathon.  My Kellis aunts are always serving and cooking, of often doing both. 

Last of all, my lovely friends.  From London to Provo to Rexburg, each has had an impact on my life. I can't even believe that some are already mothers, and others are serving The Lord in foreign countries.  I'm grateful for every single one of the ladies in the following pictures and everything the taught me.

Obviously, I haven't even come close to mentioning all of the women who have changed my life, but I am grateful for all who have helped me!  I hope every Mother's Day will be just as good as this one!!

excuses

A list of lame and not so lame reasons for not blogging:

1. I had my leg sliced open by a doctor 3 weeks ago yesterday.  For over a year I have been experiencing some pretty intense Achilles Tendon pain, and after visiting multiple physical therapists and doctors without any improvement, I took the plunge and had a gastrocnemius recession surgery.  I would post a link or a video about what it is, but I can't because I tried and I felt sick.  You want to tell me about your surgery or watch open heart surgery together, I'm all for it, but you want me to research what surgery I had or watch a video of someone getting their leg sliced open, I'm out.

2. Because of said surgery I took all of my finals in two days... before they were even open.  On the last day of class I took three finals and on the first reading day I took two.  Don't worry, I'm alive, so I obviously survived.  I'm not gonna lie though, it was rough.  I am proud to report, however, I cried only once in public. The following are pictures of partying in the library with the beautiful Jill.

You know I need two computers to do my homework.

Studying is never complete without snacks and music.

Jill the Hottie.

1.5 hours BEFORE we left.

3. I got a new job!!  I am the letter of recommendation specialist for BYU's preprofessional advisement center.  If you are applying to medical/dental/podiatry school and you have letters of recommendation sent to our office, you know I'll be reading them, processing them, and then sending them to wherever you would like across the country or world.

4. Spring term has begun.  I am taking Statistics and Public Speaking.

5. The weather is beautiful outside.

One Down!

I can cross #14 off of my list of 22 things to do before I'm 23!! This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend general conference! To hear the words of modern day prophet of God was amazing!

Happy

I am so happy right now.  I am just content with life.  Some crazy stuff has happened recently and will continue to happen, but it is just the most wonderful thing to know that right now I am where I am supposed to be and I'm doing what I am supposed to be doing.  I love it.  I love life.  Also, in my last post I wrote about wanting to make a list of 22 things before I'm 23.  Well, here they are:

1. Read the Book of Mormon
2. Run a 10k (or swim 2 miles... depending on how the next four months go will decide this...)
3. No homework on Sundays
4. Apply to the University of Utah's Accelerated Nursing Program
5. Blog more often-once a week
6. Hike Mount Timpanogos

7. Go to California (and the beach!)
8. Create a scrapbook for London

9. Go Snowshoeing
10. Go Snowboarding
11. Float the Provo River
12. Go on bike rides up Provo Canyon
13. Finish a certain family reunion quilt... 6 years later
14. Attend General Conference
15. Go to Utah Lake (Why yes, I have lived in Orem my entire life and have never been to the banks of Utah Lake.
16. Memorize my favorite scripture 
17. Listen to Taylor Swift's 22 enough to memorize every. single. word.
18. Do a good deed every single day.
19. Actually learn to cook real food
20. Become an aunt
21. Go hiking in one of Utah's National Parks
22.  It's a secret.

22 things before I'm 23

My birthday is coming up at the end of the week, and I want to make a list of 22 things to do before I'm 23. I want all of my closest friends and family members input though, which means those people who read my blog, because, obviously, you are the ones who care about me the most.  Please, any suggestions would be welcome. A couple of things I have already thought of in the past three minutes since I decided I want to do this:
1. Blog more(once a week maybe?)
2. Read the entire Book of Mormon
3. Be able to a. swim a mile or b. run a 10k without stopping
4. No do any homework on Sundays

(Picture from my birthday last year.  Read about it here)

gag me

Okay, I know I said I was going to try to share some of my favorite things about BYU, well today I experienced something I had only ever heard of- a couple in class cuddling.  CUDDLING.  IN CLASS.  A dedicated building.  The lecture wasn't even that good.  I could be more open minded about something such as this occurring in prep for eternal marriage or something, but we were learning about Family Tree and it's ancestors (new.familysearch, familysearch, PAF).  NOT ROMANTIC.

Now for something I like about BYU.  When I went to sign up for my spring and summer term classes, there were SO MANY spots open!  Yay!

watch out-I've been thinking

It's one of those crazy things about life that as soon as you find out you can't do something it automatically becomes the thing you want to do more than anything else.  Some examples if you're not sure you have ever actually experienced it:

Scenario 1: You just decided to go on a diet that does not include any sweets.  The next afternoon the only thing you can think about is that chocolate frosted donut and those peanut M&Ms in the cupboard.

Scenario 2: You HATE shaving your legs, but then your razor breaks right as you finally go to shave for the first time in two months and it's a super crazy week and you don't have time to go buy a new one.  For those two months, you didn't mind your hairy legs, but now, all you can think about is that think sweater appearing on your gams and you can't stand it, the only thing you want to do is shave and you want to do it RIGHT NOW.

Okay, so maybe those weren't the best examples, but I have been experiencing this sort of thing recently, not with donuts or shaving my legs necessarily, but it just got me thinking about the whole issue and why our minds work this way.