Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Bring on 2012

2012 is just around the corner.  There is only 9 days left of 2011, and I am ready for it to be over.  I haven't had a bad 2011, it has actually been the exact opposite.  2011 has been one of the best years I have had in a really long time, but 2012 has more to offer me and I am ready for those things to happen.  Here is my list of some of the reasons why I can't wait to start next year.

1. As I have mentioned before, we are going to Costa Rica in February, and so I am really excited about that trip and cannot wait for it to get here.  There are only 48 days left until we leave!!  But who's counting right?  It is going to be the trip of a lifetime, and once that trip is over, I am going to start saving up so slowly for our next big adventure.  We're thinking maybe Spain or Portugal.

2. Chris will have owned his own business for over 2 years.  That's not a big deal for most people, but for us it is.  Since he is self-employed he needs to have 2 years of tax returns before we can apply for loans for a house.  We will have 2 years of tax returns in April!  That means that we can start applying for loans and hopefully move into a cute little starter home next summer or fall.

3. Zach comes home from his mission in May.  We think it is going to be the Wednesday after Mother's Day.  That is one thing that I am really excited for as well.  Not seeing him for 2 years has been killer, but it has been worth it.

4. I will have lost all the weight that I am working really hard to lose.  I have already lost 20 pounds since August.  That is an accomplishment that I am really proud of.  I am looking forward to losing the rest of it and getting back to my pre-wedding weight.

The rest of 2012 is a wonderful mystery that I cannot wait to discover and solve.  I have the right attitude about the unknown, and I am hoping that helps make 2012 just as fantastic, or even better, than 2011 was.

Friday, December 16, 2011

Best Friends For Life

This post is going to be about a subject that is very near to my heart.  Thinking about writing about this subject is getting me teary eyed.  Sounds cheesy I know, but that's how much this topic means to me.  December 12, 2007 was the first day of a wonderful friendship and relationship.  For those of you that don't know, that is the day that my niece Kenlee was born.  Coming into this world was rough for her, my sister had to have an emergency C-Section after being in labor for 30 hours.



While she has been growing up our bond and relationship has only gotten stronger and more solid.  It is one relationship that I hope continues for the rest of our lives.  When she was about 4 months old I noticed that when I was around her, she would try to copy and mimic every noise and face that I made.  She couldn't do them most of the time, but she sure tried.  As she got older, she started to copy me more and more.  Noises, faces, movement, walking.  She wanted to do everything that I did, and I was okay with that.



Now being 4 years old, she still tries to copy me with things that I do, but she is now her own person, and does her own crazy things.  Kenlee with always ask and wait so patiently for the the first and third Sundays of every month.  Those are days that she lives for.  Those are the Sunday's that Chris and I go up to Clinton and have Sunday dinner with the family.  When it is time for us to leave, she becomes heart broken and cries 80% of the time.  She breaks my heart every time.  But I am happy to see that she still loves me so much.



I want the relationship with her to last forever.  When she is 14 I want her to be able to call me and tell me how annoying her parents are being, or about a boy that she likes at school.  I want her to be able to come to me with any problem and be able to tell me anything.  With the way that things are going between us now, I have no doubt in my mind that we will be anything but best friends.  She will always hold a special place in my heart.  A place that will never be able to filled by anything or anyone else besides her.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Tis the Season for Wanting Change

For the last little while I have wanting a big change in my life.  I have wanted to move out of state.  I think that it would be a huge growing experience for me and it would teach me a lot of the world outside of the Utah bubble.  I am 24 years old, and I have only lived as far north as Logan, and only as far south as Provo.  That is a total of 2 hours apart from each other, and only 1 hour in each direction from where I grew up.  I want a different landscape and a different area to live in for this part of my life.  I want to experience life, the people, and the church outside of Utah.  I have heard many wonderful things about all of those things, and I want to experience those things for myself.  I feel like I am not living up to my full adult potential because I am not exposed to different and new things during this time of my life.

Going to Italy was a huge eye opening experience for me because I did not realize that there was a huge world out there that I did not understand or know about.  I want to explore more of that and live in a culture that is foreign to me.  Now that we're going to Costa Rica in February, it will open up a new window of knowledge into my life that I have been longing for since we left Italy 2 1/2 years ago.  I would love to move to a different country, but I could not do that to my family or Chris' family.

Sure, it would be a scary change, but it is something that I think that I would be able to handle right now.  There are a few things that are stopping me from moving Chris and I to another state.  First thing, our families.  As I expressed earlier, I don't think that our families would appreciate the move.  They would be sad that they don't get to see us as often as they would like.  Second, finances.  We are looking into buying a house in the next year or so, and for us to pick up and move would not be a very smart money move on our part.  We need to stay put if we want to take the next adult step and buy a house.

So I guess we'll stay put.  Provo is a wonderful city, and I am so happy and so blessed to be close to family and the people that I love.