Life Lesson #44

Keep Smiling

Just a few things that keep me smiling:

♥ Sunday movie dates with the boy.

♥ Waking up to a cupcake and your family singing 'Happy Birthday'.

♥ Crossing off the days left until the move to the new library.

♥ Dancing to the Backstreet Boys at full volume in the car with your bestie.

♥ Yoga pants and cozy sweaters.

♥ Waking up to a foot of fresh snow (and being excited for some reason).

♥ Knowing you're only a week away from going to Disneyland for 24 hours straight.

♥ Snuggling with Brody every morning.

♥ Making german pancakes and watching The Bachelor with the bestie.

♥ 80's dancing with your group of friends.

♥ Getting Monday off.

♥ Watching Moulin Rouge for the 50 billionth time.

♥ Bear hugs.

♥ The look in his eyes.

 ♥ Heated blankets.

♥ Having gorgeous mountains right up the road that are covered in white.

♥ Listening to 'Stay With Me' by Josh Gracin on repeat.

♥ Pinterest.

♥ Finding the BEST cake recipe ever, ever, ever. Seriously.

♥ Shaun White gum.

♥ Holding hands.

♥ Finding your favorite ring that you thought you'd lost.

♥ Knowing you'll be off to Europe in 117 days.

♥ Learning music from Tangled on the piano.

♥ Going to dinner with the family.

♥ "Goodnight beautiful" text messages.

and

♥ Knowing there will be many more reasons to smile tomorrow :)

Life Lesson #42

Life Lesson #41

Life Lesson #40

Life Lesson #39

Life Lesson #38

195 days till Europe.

Give me a time machine...

If you were to travel back in time three months and tell me what my life is like right now, I would probably laugh at you because it would sound so ridiculous. 

A new group of friends, helping someone close through a really difficult time but only being able to do so much, the possibility of someone I never thought would be a possibility and not knowing which direction to take with said person, knowing I'll be traveling around Europe alone without my best friend, losing my favorite co-worker/gaining the twin of my least favorite co-worker, finally figuring out what I want to do career-wise... 

it's all bittersweet.  And confusing, very confusing. 

I don't know what lesson God is trying to teach me right now, but I just hope and pray that I'll make the right decisions and do my best to help others along the way. 

I guess the only comfort I really have is knowing I'm right where I'm supposed to be and my journey will unfold exactly the way it should.

Life Lesson #37

- Gossip Girl

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Life Lesson #36

Life Lesson #35

Brody is turing 3 years old this Friday! I love my little guy ❤

He has become such an important part of my life and I honestly can't imagine my life without him in it.

I was a senior in high school when he became a part of our family. We were at my Grandma's house for our annual Christmas Eve party when my dad came down the stairs with a crate in his hands. Inside was the best Christmas surprise I could ever hope for! He was so tiny and so cute. I loved him the moment I saw those beady brown eyes.

Happy Birthday Brody!

I ❤ You

Life Lesson #34

Summer '11 in Review...

Words just can't describe what an amazing summer I had, so I made a video! Videos are more fun anyways, enjoy!

Life Lesson #31

Life Lesson #27

When you need a little smile...

I apologize for falling off the face of the earth. Finals are upon me and they aren't treating me well. Luckily I only have 2 more to go. In the mean time, if you need a little smile, look no further than this adorable picture... It managed to bring a smile to my face when all I wanted to do was crawl in a hole and die so I wouldn't have to take my finals. 

Hakuna Matata!

In terms of forever...

"The Great Commandment" 

by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

"... There once was an elderly man and woman who had been married for many decades. Because the wife was slowly losing her sight, she could no longer take care of herself the way she had done for so many years. Without being asked, the husband began to paint her fingernails for her.

'He knew that she could see her fingernails when she held them close to her eyes, at just the right angle, and they made her smile. He liked to see her happy, so he kept painting her nails for more than five years before she passed away.' 

That is an example of the pure love of Christ. Sometimes the greatest love is not found in the dramatic scenes that poets and writers immortalize. Often, the greatest manifestations of love are the simple acts of kindness and caring we extend to those we meet along the path of life.

True love lasts forever. It is eternally patient and forgiving. It believes, hopes, and endures all things. That is the love our Heavenly Father bears for us.

We all yearn to experience love like this. Even when we make mistakes, we hope others will love us in spite of our shortcomings—even if we don’t deserve it.

Oh, it is wonderful to know that our Heavenly Father loves us—even with all our flaws! His love is such that even should we give up on ourselves, He never will.

We see ourselves in terms of yesterday and today. Our Heavenly Father sees us in terms of forever. Although we might settle for less, Heavenly Father won’t, for He sees us as the glorious beings we are capable of becoming.

The most cherished and sacred moments of our lives are those filled with the spirit of love. The greater the measure of our love, the greater is our joy..."

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The pictures I included in this post are of my Grandparents Jack and Nell. They loved each other more than anything in the world. When my Grandpa died several years ago, one of the main things that was said at his funeral was how beautiful their love for each other was. They were together for nearly 60 years and never had a single fight! 
One of my favorite stories was of their first date. My handsome Grandpa had just arrived home from fighting in WWII and all the girls were after him. My Grandma happened to be in his ward and out of all the swooning girls fawning over him, he asked my Grandma on a date. On their date he drove her up to a spot overlooking the Salt Lake Valley that us young kids now call "The Ocean". Even back then it was the prime make-out location. My poor Grandma was uneasy about being there, and her fears grew even more when he casually put his arm around her in the front seat. But instead of going in for a kiss, he reached into the backseat and grabbed his guitar to serenade her! How cute is that? He was the perfect gentleman.

Their story is what I dream for myself to someday have. Even though I was young, I knew just by watching how they would look at each other that their love was pure and unwavering. Sometimes it's hard not knowing if I'll ever find someone who will treat and love me as much as my Grandpa loved my Grandma, but after reading this talk by Elder Wirthlin I know that if I never give up hope, someday I'll be able to start my own love story with someone just as loving and dear as he was.

Ancient Chinese Wisdom

Confucius 

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.

-

Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.

--

It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.

---

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in getting up every time we do.

----

I am one who is fond of antiquity, and earnest in seeking it there.

-----

In nature we are together, in practice we are apart.

----

When we see someone of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.

---

The superior man is modest in his speech but exceeds in his actions.

--

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.

-

- Confucius

#13 Go to the Sundance Film Festival

Every January, Hollywood moves to Park City, Utah for the Sundance Film Festival. This year's stars included James Franco, Channing Tatum(!), Angelina Jolie, Kate Bosworth, Demi Moore, Toby Maguire, Kaite Holmes, Patrick Dempsey, Liam Hemsworth, 50 Cent, Lil John, the boys of MTV's 'The Buried Life', Oprah Winfrey, Elijah Wood... just to name a few.

Although I've lived 30 minutes away from Park City my whole life, I've never gone to Sundance! This year I did and I LOVED it.

A view of Main Street from atop The Bridge.

"We wear our stunna glasses at night..."

RayCray and myself.

RayCray and Sammy.

"No, Rachel! Don't jump!" haha

The Trolley cruising up Main Street.

RayCray stopped to smell a Banksy flower :]

RayCray puking over the rail... just kidding.

RayCray on the ice verison of Facebook.

We sat on glowing furniture in a VIP lounge, no big deal.

This made me LOL.

Yes, this is indeed a piano connected to a bicycle. The guy on the left wouldn't move, otherwise you could see it better. But it was pretty legit. 

Yes World, this is a man-thong made out of fur. It's called "The Duke". Be amazed.

Sadly, we didn't see anyone famous. (Unless you count the guy named Bill Murray who was in fact, not Bill Murray.) But we were mistaken for famous people twice. The first time was while taking the man-thong picture: we asked some ladies walking by to take our picture and I suppose since we had a big group of people surrounding us flashing cameras, people thought we were famous so they came over to investigate. But alas, it was just us lowly Utah girls, but we felt pretty cool. 

Then later that night we were just chillin' on some steps watching people pass by and drinking hot beverages and ice cream when some random film crew came by and asked if they could interview us. People stopped to listen to us, which was kind of awkward, but also cool cause they kept starring at us like they were trying to remember us from somewhere.

Other highlights of the night include:

- Calling the same parking attendant man four times because the parking meter was broke and we didn't want to get a ticket. He was very rude... and a liar.

- Walking around pretending to have British accents for the half the night. Eventually we couldn't stop.

- The hot Italian barista at Java Cow writing my name on my Carmel Spiced Cider cup the Italian way; Giulia. He was just as delicious as my drink.

- People watching. It was so cool to hear so many different languages and all sorts of accents as people passed by. It made the world feel a little smaller.

- And finally, the random group of hippies having a drum circle in the middle of the sidewalk. 

For your viewing pleasure: (sorry it's so blurry)

Quotes of the night:

"You won't. Get. A TICKET!!!!!"

JayMay - "What did they put in this drink?"

RayCray - "A bad English accent apparently."

RayCray - "I'm going to call him up and personally invite him to meet my fist!" 

(Referring to the rude parking attendant guy.)

*Way hot guy walks by, see's my hat and says...*

"Brighton!!!! As in the Boston Brighton."

*Bewildered JayMay*

"Uh... no... here."

*Jeep almost hits us while crossing the street*

RayCray (loudly) - "I'd rather keep my legs, thank you very much!"

JayMay (also loudly) - "Yeah, I'd rather not be in a wheel chair!"

RayCray - "My feet hurt."

*Cue the man with no legs*