Maybe Not

This doesn't seem to be happening anytime soon.

Which is sad, I was really hoping to see some snow for Christmas :(

Something Sweet

Today my sisters came to town.

Once you get older you realize how much your family means to you and how much you love them.

Seeing them walk to us from the terminal made me realize what's really important in this life. A bond between sisters is something not easily broken. And now that I'm older I'm able to talk to them more and see things from their perspective. I love them.

Now, for something that is just so adorable and so attractive:

Way to go David!! You're doing the right thing and Heavenly Father will be with you! :)

Brace Yourself

Oh goodness! Could there be anything more wonderful than the temple at Christmas time??

I think not!

Coming from an Arizona-born-dirt-and-cactus girl, it is glorious!

Excuse me for a moment while I get all novel-ly (is that a word?)

My breath comes out in a white cloud and my ears are all warm and cuddly under my hat. We take an elevator ride up to Deseret Book (not even going to go into how amazing THAT was) and we step out with a crowd of people into the hustle and bustle of Temple Square. My ears instantly pick up the sound of a bag-piper, piping away a cheery tune that sounds a lot like Greensleeves. We cross the street and my camera is strapped around my neck, ready to capture everything. I feel like a child as my eyes take in all the beautiful lights and sights. The temple stands tall with majesty and grace and it has a glow just by itself.

We take a detour and pick up some hot chocolate to sip outside while we watch people go by. The hot chocolate steams and I can feel it warm me on the inside.

We then go into Hotel Utah and take an elevator ride up to the top floor and it's a spectacular view! We can see all the lights and practically the whole city!

We then go into the Tabernacle and watch the acoustics demonstration, then we walk outside and pass the Assembly Hall, wishing we could go inside.

To our surprise, it's open! And there's a choir performance going on. Beautiful music reaches our ears and we listen as we sit and take in the beautiful room with the ornate organ pipes.

And that was our evening!

Now, for something completely random and kinda horrifying: I had a dream while taking a nap today.

And it went like this: I went outside because there was a riot going on and I had my camera with me, naturally. I was going to take a picture of my grandma, who was taking in everything, and I wasn't paying attention to anything around me. Suddenly, this rioter comes up to me, holding a knife.

"You ever been to Cancun?" The knife is getting closer and closer to me.

"No, no sir. I haven't." I'm starting to panic and there's screaming going on all around me.

"Well, that's a shame," And he slides the knife slowly into my side while I scream and beg.

He pulls out another knife and it starts for my throat.

And I wake up.

What does it mean?

Sorry if that made anyone kinda freaked out. It was dramatic and I love writing dramas.

And just cause I think this is hilarious!!

BAHAHA!!!

Fair is Fair

Announcement!!

I made my school's production of My Fair Lady Symphony!! Woot!!!

I didn't tell anyone I was trying out just in case I didn't make it.

Then that would've been awkward....

Sooo, hooray!!! :)

Captured Gold

Ah! It feels so good to be taking pictures again! 

Just experimenting with new techniques I learned. Tell me what you think!

Have an awesome weekend! :)

Speaking Of

Thanks to one of my good friends, Dexton, I am now able to upload pictures!! WEEE!!! 

He let me borrow his camera cord, and it wont be long until I buy my own! And I am going to wrap that sucker in fluorescent pink duct tape so it never gets lost amid all our OTHER black cords. 

There should just be one cord for every type of technology. Seriously. It would make my life a whole heck-of-a-lot easier.

So, thank you Dex! I will probably be out and about my yard taking pictures! And hopefully edit them and upload them.

Speaking of good friends, I was walking to my car after school, and one of my friends from seminary said a cheerful hello to me.

And she's just a sweetheart! It made me think how grateful I am to finally know enough people to actually say "hi" to them in the hallways. As Dobby says in Harry Potter "What a beautiful place, to be with friends."

It certainly is beautiful!

It makes me smile to think about all the wonderful things I've found here in Utah!

Speaking of smiling, seeing Mr. X makes me giggle inside like a teenage girl!!....oh wait. 

I am a teenage girl, aren't I?

But anyways, I'm also frustrated with Mr. X.

It seems like its all empty flirtation. It seems TOO easy for him. If you could only hear the silent beat-downs in my head, you would understand my frustration. I'm always over-analyzing everything (because that's just what us girls do) and freaking out about what just came out of my mouth. Ugh. It's an endless cycle.

We'll just have to see what time has in store :)

And just because I thought this was hilarious!!....and partly true.....

Obsession

Recently, I have been addicted to this website I found, recommended by my lovely sister-in-law.

Pinterest! 

And oh-my-goodness!! I can't even explain how addicting it is. It's pretty much like a community cork board where you take things you like and put them on your own board. It can be pretty entertaining sometimes.

That comic cracks me up everytime!!

But also, I get a lot of fun photography ideas. (If only I could find my blasted camera cord, I could go out and let my shutter finger fly!! ARRRG!!) For now, I just have to settle looking at pictures. 

Here are some for your viewing taste buds:

Anybody willing to let me flood their living room? :)

What I wouldn't give for a studio, lighting, a ballerina and my camera!

Because every love story deserves to be told. :)

Weren't those lovely??

Have an awesome rest of the week!!

(all these photos belong to their respective owners)

When All Else Fails

Listen to Taylor Swift :)

Oh my my. She somehow sings my life, and sometimes sings how I want things to turn out. 

For instance:

"I just wanna show you, she don't even know you. She's never gonna love you like I want to.

You just see right through me, but if you only knew me we could be a beautiful, unbelievable miracle. Instead of invisible."

Ah! She's a genius!

Oh! And our house looks like Christmas exploded! We got out Christmas tree today and it smells wonderful! 

Mmm! I love this time of year! It's going to be wonderful!

How Things Work

It's strange thinking only a few months ago I was living in Arizona, depressed because I would leave it. Leave the place I grew up in, where I made my home, where I found my friends. I would leave everything I knew, everything that was comfortable to me, everything that meant something to me, for a totally strange, alien world that I only had vague memories about.

But it's funny how things work out. It's funny how Heavenly Father starts putting things in your path that help you let go and move on. 

Now I find myself getting into a familiar pattern and seeing faces I know. I've fallen in love with this place and the seasons. I'm starting to remember where things are and how to get there (although I still don't understand the street numbers)

Heavenly Father really does understand what happens in our lives and He understands who we are.

Give Thanks

I'm thankful for the enormous blessing of being here in Utah. Truly, I wouldn't have a job, a great ward and so many amazing experiences if I wasn't here.

I'm so grateful for this gospel and the peace, assurance and guidance it gives me. I'm grateful for prayer; I'm able to call on Heavenly Father in pain, happiness, sorrow or just needing to talk.

I'm so very happy I have love. There are so many things I'm so grateful for, I could go on and on.

Tell me, what are you thankful for? :)

Worth a Thousand Words

People.

What a beautiful creation. We were made in God's image. And God is beautiful, which makes us beautiful.

Ever since I was a little girl I was fascinated by photography. Photos are immortalized, they're preserved forever, unless destroyed. 

What I capture, is captured in a moment in time. 

Point. Smile. Shoot. Captured.

It's what I do :)

Set the Record Straight

Just so we're all clear, my Sadie Hawkins date, Tyler, is a good friend of mine. I had a blast getting to know him better and the other people in my group! 

From here on out, we'll be calling my little crush Mr. X.

Once again, Tyler is a really awesome dude and friend.

Over and out. :)

Someday

Being a teenager is confusing. There are so many things to navigate.

I don't know if you've realized this but I'm a romantic person. Some of my best friends are love stories. I read books endlessly. Some people do pot, or drink, well for me my addiction is reading. But I only read things that promote good thoughts, don't worry. Sometimes I think that I read too much (if that's possible) I start getting silly ideas and creating stories in my head how I want my day to go. I'm only 17, but I want to find my Prince Charming someday. I know he's out there and I wish I knew who he was.

Driving home from work I was thinking how nice it will be to have a companion for eternity. When I'm in my car, I think a lot. I think it will be nice having someone there to share my thoughts with, to hold hands with, knowing he'll love me. Feeling secure is a remarkable gift and one I wish to have someday with someone.

Like I said before, I like to think of myself as an old soul, which makes me different from a lot of people. It's hard to find people who are on the same train of thought that I'm on, but I think I've found some :)

I really think there were specific reasons I was meant to be here in Utah at this time. I've done a lot of changing in the past couple of months, I've grown up a lot. 

P.s. Why does he have to smile at me the way he does? Its no fair :)

Dance the Night Away!

Ok, so I don't take credit for these pictures! My friend's aunt took them for us at a park near us. 

It was tons of fun!

(the coolest guy is the one in the Captain America shirt....just sayin)

Let's hear it for the ladies!

Tyler was a good sport and let me hang onto his arm so I didn't face plant into bark chips. haha!

Probably my favorite one! :)

Weren't those awesome!? Once I find that dag blam camera cord I'll upload my pictures! Though thy're not as cool as these ones! :D

Make A Wish

The dance was so much fun!! I had a blast with my date, Tyler! Such a sweet kid.

I'll tell more about the date when I can upload pictures. I can't find the cord to plug in my camera. :(

But anyways, I'm so excited for next summer because our ward is doing our Youth Conference in Arizona! We're helping out a family on a Native American reservation and I'm on the planning committee. Whew! It's gonna take a lot of work, but we got it temporarily approved by the stake president on Sunday. We were all so relieved! We really want to do this and experience something new. It's going to be great!

And P.S. thank you to all my stalkers who read my blog!! haha! :)

Winter Moon

Well, I hopped on over to my friend's blog and it made me all toasty warm inside. Kathryn is such a sweetheart, go check out her blog here! 

I'm gonna copy-cat her because it made me so fuzzy!

This winter I'm so excited for sweaters, snowboarding, pink cheeks, sugar cookies, candy canes, the smell of chimney smoke, and lightly falling snow.

What are you excited for? :)

Barefoot Memories

It seemed like today would just be an ordinary day. I was wrong. It turned out to be better. :)

I made it to school ten minutes early and holy crow! I found so many parking places. What a difference ten minutes makes! It just got better from there. 

In seminary we were talking about Patriarchal blessings and for the past five months I've been contemplating if and when I want one. After seminary, I had a few moments to talk to my seminary teacher and I told her my doubts. She pointed me to a scripture, which has now been pointed out to me twice. And I told her I was wondering if I was ready or not. She said that, in her opinion, when you're ready you'll want to follow and listen to every promise, warning and blessing you hear.

And you know what? I thought about it and came to the conclusion that I'm ready.

Doubt not, fear not. 

Sitting in my car, thinking, silent tears ran down my cheeks as the peace of the spirit spoke to me. I felt good.

I'm ready to do this :)

Also, I discovered a boy from my high school was in my fourth grade class when I use to live up here in good ol' Utah. What a nice surprise!

So Pretty!

Isn't this beautiful?? I want a castle like this one someday! tehe! :)

Here Kitty Kitty!

Today I made a kitty-cat friend. Usually I'm not too fond of felines, but this one was meowing when I climbed out of my car (and you know how cute they are when they meow) so I just had to pet it! 

I'm not sure if it was a boy or girl, since we had just met I figured it would probably be an invasion of privacy (and besides, I didn't want it to bite me and then I would have to go get rabies shots and the kitty would be hunted down, blah blah. A whole big mess)

So I just settled for petting the cute kitty, and he/she seemed to enjoy it. There's something about petting a fluffy animal that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy yourself. So we had the connection and I followed him/her around the yard for a while, itching for my camera cause of course he/she was a pretty kitty! But I knew once I got it, he/she would be gone.

So he said yes! I'm so excited! and the more I see him, the more excited I get! He's a cute guy :) We're going to have an awesome time, I'm sure of it

Hunting

I asked a really sweet guy to Sadie Hawkins today. And I was so nervous.

I set up a scavenger hunt around town and my awesome friend tagged along with him. 

She said he was excited. I'm taking that as a good sign :)

I'm so flippin excited!! :D

Sunny Skies

boys are confusing just as much as girls are.

I sometimes wish I could fast-forward to my college years where I actually date.

I know, I know. Sad, but true. I don't date as much as I would like. I don't know if its me or if its the guys, but I just don't date. sometimes its nerve-wracking, thinking about dating or asking to go on a date.

Sadie Hawkins is coming up in November. but I probably wont go cause I don't know too many guys. 

Well, not true. I do know one guy I would like to go with.......but i'm pretty sure he's going to get asked.

Maybe next time I'll buck up enough courage to ask someone.

Take It, Or Leave It

Today it rained.

And yesterday it rained...and snowed.

Snow! Can you believe it?! I'm about the only gal at school who is excited for the snow! (can you tell I'm from Arizona?)

Yesterday was absolutely fantastic. You know those days where things just go so right? I don't have many of those.

First of all, he said hi to me and smiled at me as if we shared an inside joke. The look in his eyes has made me smile continuously since yesterday. He looked at me as if he was delighted to see me. But I've learned that he has that affect on other girls. Apparently I'm not the only girl who finds him amazing. But, for just that moment I felt like he was really, truly interested in me. That moment only lasted not even a second, but it feels like it has lasted me much longer.

Also, I got one of my written assignments back from my English teacher and she commented on my paper and told me it was like reading published literature. Holy crow! And she also referred me to AP English but I'd rather succeed in regular classes than struggle in advanced classes. But it was an awesome compliment!

And it snowed.

It was a magical day. Maybe I was really meant to come here to find happiness.

I think I can deal with that. :)

A Name For You

Tonight was awesome! Although it was a little unplanned.

For mutual tonight the youth committee planned a temple kick-off (because October is temple month up here) but it started drizzling this morning and it didn't stop. So our plans for the stake youth to hike up a mountain and look down at the Timpanogos temple didn't really work out. So we just sat under a Ramada that began at the trail and we did our stations there.

You know what really impresses me?

Young men who have their head on straight.

Young men who know where they're going, who they want to be and what they're going to do.

Now, granted, most guys don't have all those things figured out, but even when they have one of those things planned out just a little bit, it's really nice and refreshing.

I can't tell you how it discourages me when I see guys around me who let their standards drop because they think they're either above it all or they just don't see the importance. If any young men are reading this, we girls notice everything. And we over-analyze. And you are a shining example to us, we look up to you and we want to trust your judgement, but when you dress and look like Snoop Dog, it doesn't give us total confidence.

There were just some young men tonight that I was happy to stand in their presence. There was one guy who truly touched my heart, he was so sincere and so right about everything he said. He bore his testimony to our group and it wasn't just a "I-don't-really-care-what-I-say" testimony. It was genuine.

Since it was cold and drizzly tonight, some of the young women decided to go back one of our leader's house and have hot chocolate. It was delicious. I had a big, hot steaming mug of chocolate and it warmed my fingers. Some of the young men tagged along too and they were all so sweet. 

I really love times like these. :)

Listen and Learn

It's conference weekend!! I'm so excited!

I woke up feeling like it's Christmas morning!

Conference is so wonderful because you hear counsel from actual, living prophets. Counsel that's exactly for our day and time. God has not stopped loving us, that didn't cease with prophets of old. God will always love us. That's why he's given us prophets to guide us through this tumultuous times, because we certainly need them now more than ever as this world becomes more and more dark. I'm glad to know this gospel will always remain a lighthouse against the storm.

If you would like to watch General Conference, click here.

Fall Is On the Way!

Oh goodness I can hardly wait!

Leaves falling, pumpkin carving, decorating, apple cider, trick-or-treating! Ah! I love the fall.

Can you tell that I'm excited?? I get to wear scarves!!! :D

It's the time where everything changes. It's going to be beautiful!

These are just some pictures from my summer.

Can you tell I love the temple? I'll be going there someday :)