Mama.

yesterday morning at 7 a.m. while me and my mom were sitting in a convention training for work, my inner ADHD kicked in and I couldn't sit still, I began looking through my moms purse trying to entertain myself, i came across a "frequent buyer" card from great harvest, all full of punches from previous purchases. at that moment, me and my mom decided, as soon as we got off of work at 12, we'd head over to great harvest to redeem our free sandwich.

 

 



we shared a turkey pesto sandwich, and bought a yummy sugar cookie to share too.

 

it was a nice little afternoon date with my mama. as we sat and ate, i felt really grateful for her. mom's are incredibly hard workers. the love she has for me and the rest of my siblings, and the amount of time she spends serving us amazes me. i hope to be as good of a mom as her someday.

today as we sat and shared lunch, i felt really blessed to have the relationship with her that i do, i'm glad we get along well, and can talk about anything and everything.

everyone deserves a mom who doubles as their best friend!

 

**********************

 

on a different not, later last night i found myself racing all around provo with chloe, as we tried to accomplish a scavenger hunt within the hour to win a free swim suit - not just any swimsuit - but a kortni jeane swim suit. we may have been flying 85 mph in a 25 mph zone, but i'm happy to say we won swim suits AND we did it without getting a ticket, or hitting a biker. SUCCESS.

along our adventure to complete the scavenger hunt, we also won free threads wallets.

i laughed harder last night then i have in a long time, and i got a lot of free stuff. i'd consider it a night to remember.



(aren't those little pineapple bottoms just the cutest?! i'm pumped for them!)

 

thursday's adventures and activites left me feeling more grateful and blessed then ever. i must say, i have some pretty great people in my life!



long distance best friends.

 me and 3 of my bestest bestest friends call ourselves the "fab-4" because some of the biggest lunatics, but we're pretty dang hilarious. when the four of us are together, it's always an adventure. 

2 of us four left last weekend to alaska for a job internship. in 6 weeks, they'll transfer from alaska to hawaii, and that is where they'll stay until january.

a couple weeks ago, doterra had a work party (where both me and chlo work) the party was held at 7 peaks, and each employee was able to bring one guest, so naturally -with the fab-four only having a few days left togther in the same state- we took kait and kels.

from the car wreck on the way to seven peaks, to stopping in the middle of cave-in together (which resulted in some injuries....oops!) it was a really great night. 

as if the day hadn't already been eventful enough, on the way home we decided to stop at the gas station to purchase a car wash. we didn't use  to car wash to clean our car, we used it as a giant 'shower'  for US to sing and dance in. afterall, we were already in our swim suits, so why the heck not?!

running around in an "active" car wash was incredibly terrifying, but easily one of the funnest things i've ever done.

later that week, we decided to have one last fab-four sleepover. that night we stayed up all night long doing  'secrative' fab-four type things (I promise, it was all super hilarous stuff.)

eventually we were tired, so we went back to kelsie's, put on some cheap face masks from walmart, and watched endless love (which may or may not be the most awful movie ever.) but we had a good laugh at the forced plot and terrible acting.

early last week, kaitlyn and kelsie held a little "fare-well party" so a bunch of people could stop by, eat some smores around a fire, and say goodbye to them. i went knowing (or at least thinking) it would see them again later in the week considering they didn't leave for 5 more days, and they're my best friends.

sadly, that week got super busy super quick. friday afternoon, i left for my cabin spur of the moment, while they were still up in salt lake training. as i drove off to my cabin and realized i wasn't going to get an "official goodbye," i got really emotional. but i eventually decided that it was probably a little blessing in disguise, because i'm not sure how i could actually give them a hug knowing it was the last for a few months.

i'll miss these two. i can't wait for when me and chlo visit them in Hawaii in a few months.

 however, i'm sure hawaii 'can wait,' because man, after a few months with the fab-four seperated..... we might just tear up the place ;)

this weekend.

this weekend my brothers and dad were gone on the 'bow hunt' so the girls decided to have a "girls weekend" up at the cabin (with the exception of friday night, when heathers boyfriend collin joined us for a bit)

we did the usual cabin 'stuff,' we had a fire, went on hikes and walks, swung on the "tree swing," played in the little tepee, picked wildflowers, played games, & watched movies. 

we mostly watched ice age and tarzan - paisley's current favorites. we also taught pais how to play "memory," she is the smartest little monkey i know.

paisley was my little side kick this weekend, i enjoyed every last second of it.

i got LOTS of niece cuddles this weekend (and there's nothing i love more then cuddling my babies!)

chels drug a mattress outside on the deck for us to sleep on. we snuggled her little girls in between us and fell asleep under the stars. it's amazing how much body heat those 2 give off, they kept me and chels warm all night! as if waking up to their faces wasn't already good enough, add fresh air, and the 'mountain smell' to that. yuummmm, no other way i'd rather wake up.

('grammy' preferred to sleep inside, but don't worry, as soon as we woke up we ran in to give her lots of hugs so she wouldn't feel left out)

                                                                             

 i'd fall asleep under this every night if i could.

couldn't of asked for a better way to end summer!

last weekend.

last weekend while my brothers and dad were gone camping, my mom was at work, and my sister heather was out of town, me and my sister in law chels decided we'd go do something fun with her girls to fight bordem.

we were planning on 7 peaks, but the weather was a bit bipolar, and so we ended up at the provo mall.

between the carousel and these giant motorized animals, paisley's dreams were coming true.

after a little shopping - but mostly playing - we ended up back at my house to welcome grammy home from work.

is maycie not just the most precious little human?!

my night ended with some sweet kitty cuddles.

the older i get, the more i prefer spending weekend nights with my family. 

89

last friday was my sweet grandmothers 89th birthday.

we got the family together on sunday to celebrate this little lady. she is the spunkiest sassiest 89 year old this world has ever known. i feel so blessed to have her around, and i'm grateful for how healthy she's kept herself.

it was great night.... and the pais decided she wanted to come home with us, her daddy wouldn't let her, which didn't go over with her too well ;) oh two year olds.....

happy birthday granny bird, here's to many more years with you!

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worth & value.

lately, the biggest struggle for me has been finding worth and value and in this world.
i feel like i need to be "special" and "different" to matter to anyone, like most girls, and boys, i'm putting myself down with constant comparison.

i get mad at myself for not being pretty enough, smart enough, talented enough, ect. i feel like i'm  never "enough."
i find myself constantly testing others to see what i'm worth to them, i'm finding myself making others "prove" their love towards me.
because no one is perfect, this always ends up with me being upset, and thinking i have all the evidence in the world to prove that i'm "not actually cared for" this is a hard hard feeling to cope with. what comes next when you think you're not cared for?

this week, while reading my Book Of Mormon, i kind of came to the conclusion; i've been searching for value and acceptance in all the wrong places. if we try to find love and worth IN 'the' world, it'll most likely never come.
comparing our self's to 'the' world is just setting ourselves up for a letdown. in the worlds eyes, we feel like we'll never be "enough," and the sad reality is, it's true.

in the worlds standards, someone will always be prettier, more popular, more liked and loved, more important, more special,  and more successful. the list goes on and on and on. all we're doing is setting ourselves up to be depressed and sad.
and that's why we shouldn't be searching for acceptance through the world, we just won't find it there. ever.

so, if we don't find it through how many boys are asking you on dates, how many girls tell you how jealous they are of you, or how you look compared to a model, where do we go next??
simple. the Lord Jesus Christ.

we'll never find our true worth, or are true value, anywhere outside of the gospel. so come to him, come find what makes you important, valuable, and special.

i'll tell you a couple things that make me important:
1. my potential to make others happy. i LOVE to serve, i genuinely enjoy doing things to put a smile on someone else's face. if you're having a bad day and need cookies or a cupcake, let me know, because i'll be there with homemade treats asap. i believe that this makes me valuable.
2. the deep desire within my heart to be a mama. using my body to bring more children to this earth, and then raising them, and loving them, is so so pleasing to god. this makes me important.

can you picture holding your very own kid? seriously look down at your arms, imagine yourself holding your very own baby. can you imagine the love and peace you'd feel? now think of Christ holding us in his arms, we are his children. he feels that same peace and love that we imagine ourselves feeling.
to him, we are everything. we mean the world to him, isn't this enough??

i hope we all - as a generation - can stop looking in the mirror and at our phones to see how loveable we are, and to see what more we can do to increase that value. we're already enough, we've already proven ourselves important, we don't need to do any more.

Oakley, the pup.

tomorrow marks 3 weeks since my little brother brought home a little teeny tiny black lab puppy, she's already grown so much in the past 3 weeks! (it's always heartbreaking to watch tiny humans and animals grow)

but..... with that being said, i welcome to you, puppy/selfie overload:

jackson has wanted a black lab for a really long time, mainly for the purpose of hunting and hiking, he's been saving up his money, and doing lots of researching/looking for the perfect breeders.

those perky ears and black black eyes. too cute.

this picture kills me. she looks like a little stuffed animal.

a few weeks before he found the 'perfect little pup;' we were on a family walk around the park discussing what he should name his future dog when he finally one. my mom mentioned "oakley" which j loved, it reminded me of annie oakley, an american sharp shooter. seemed like a nice little coincidence, guns, hunting, the west.... it's all the same, right??

we got her at 8 weeks (she's now 11 weeks) and let me tell you, as much as we love her, she is SUCH a PUNK. the little stinker has only become more naughty as she's gotten older. i've decided, puppies are harder then babies! they both require oodles of attention, but babies don't run around your house chewing and biting everything in sight.

LOOK AT THAT LITTLE FACE!! are you dying yet?!

we love our little oak - sometimes it's a bit of a love hate relationship - but we love her!