Thanksgiving Festivities

Thanksgiving is always a time for everyone to say what they are grateful for and of course I have SO much to be grateful for in my life! This year we spent the holiday with my family at my parents house where my mom and aunt Nena baked a delicious meal!! With all the yummy dishes required to have the perfect Thanksgiving Dinner.

Of course after you have completely stuffed yourself you always have the option to sleep it off but my family chose a different approach to the after stuff sensation. A little Dance Central was such a blast! We took turns battling it out which seriously was so much fun and provided us not only with a great workout but some serious laughs.

(Don't kill me mom for posting these but I had to show off your moves!)

To end our Thanksgiving festivities me, mom, Brooke, Ellie, Sara, and Kenz ventured out to do some Black Friday Shopping. It was complete madness! With people running down isles, grabbing at toys, shoving carts in line I vow to NEVER Black Friday shop again!!

Thanksgiving was so great this year. I am grateful for my family who provide so many great times, my parents who are so supportive and always there for me, my AMAZING husband who I love more than anything in the world, and most of all I am learning to be thankful for me!

Birthday Month

I have been a MAJOR slacker in blogging lately. Over the past month we have had so fun times though. October is the month of my birthday and let's just say I definitely act like a princess during this time! To start off the celebration my best friend Courtney organized a BBQ at our friend Matt's house. We had SUCH a blast! I was so happy to see our friends there and owe Matt a HUGE thank you for letting us hang out at his house! I was even made a home made birthday cake! YUM!!!

The next night we had more friends come and celebrate by going to dinner!! Once again, I had so much fun!! I am sooo lucky to have great friends especially my good friend Nick and brother-in-law Aaron who drove all the way home from Seattle to spend my birthday with me. It was a great surprise and meant the world to me!!!

John, being the amazing husband that he is, celebrated my birthday a bit early! He surprised me with some fabulous boots I wanted, tons of new lotions from bath and body works, and of course candy!! He even made me dinner!! I love him so much!

To end my birthday celebrations I headed down to St. George with my family. Unfortunately John had to stay home and work but being with the family is always a fun time for me. I can not even begin to perfectly describe how much fun we all have together. Those of you who know my dad, know that being with him is like 24/7 entertainment. He is probably one of the funniest people I know. He always makes me laugh so hard with how outrageously crazy he can be. It was really nice to be with them. And yes, they spoiled me rotten with lots of shopping, presents, dinner at pizza factory and best of all: a giant, frosted cake from costco! Yes the one with the huge globs of frosting that I LOVE!!! I think the best part of that cake was the fact that after we had enough of the cake me, my cousin Ellie, my aunt Nena, and my sister Brooke got in a gigantic cake fight!! We were absolutely covered in frosting.... needless to say I licked my frosting off ....mmmm......

Thank you friends for being so wonderful! I hope you know how much I love being with you guys and how much I appreciate you caring and looking out for me!!

Thank you family for being the best family anyone could ever ask for!! I know I don't spend as much time with you all as I would like to but I LOVE YOU!!! I seriously don't know what I would do without you!!

Thank you John for being such an amazing husband... I love you more than words can say and am sooooo grateful I have you in my life!!!

Learning to Love ME

Those of you that know me well, know that my brain is my own worst enemy. It does a very good job of making me feel like a nobody, a failure, or think that I'm just not good enough. Recently I have been going to therapy... yes I said it, THERAPY!! At first I wanted to hide the fact that I needed the help but now I am proud of myself for taking that giant step. I want to do everything I can to be the best me I can, to be happy and healthy, and to love myself for who I am.

This week's session was an extremely difficult one. Usually while sitting down, talking my feelings out I have LOTS to say.... but not this time. I was asked to list things I loved about myself. Now, when asked this, most would be able to ramble on but not me.... I sat there almost in disgust that I would have to do this, eyes wide with shock, and silence for about 5-7 minutes. I had absolutely nothing to say and until my tears started pouring down my cheeks, I had NO idea what to say or do. I didn't want to say one word because all I could come up with were things that I would love to change about myself.

That night I went to bed feeling horrible.... how could I possibly not have one positive thing to say about myself. I was given the assignment to make a list of all the things I love about me and things that make me happy... not only to write it down but to post it somewhere I can be proud of and look at daily.... so i thought the best way for me to shout out my LOVE for me, would be here!!!

Things I LOVE about me....

1. I love my eyes.... sometimes I feel like they are my best feature...big, bold, and a crazy hazel color

2. I love my laugh... I've been told many times it sounds like a chipmunk but for some reason I love it

3. I love my determination

4. I love the fact that I always want to be helping someone

5. I love the fact that at heart, I am still a little girl... i love pink, love disney movies, and definitely act like a princess sometimes

6. I love the fact that I mother all my guy friends.... I have this need to give them advice.... especially on girls... haha i guess they are all more like my brothers and I'm sure it gets annoying to them, but i love it

7. I love the fact that I dream big and as soon as I love myself, will go for those dreams

8. I now love the fact that I can admit when I need help

9. MOST OF ALL I AM LEARNING TO LOVE ME..... ALL OF ME

Things that make me HAPPY...

1. My amazing husband John....he is always there for me during the rough times and always knows how to calm me down

2. My puppy Chloe... she is the CUTEST thing ever... yesterday my mom, aunt, and cousin made fun of me because they think I baby her too much!

3. My best friend, Courtney.... I love being able to talk, gossip, and hang out with her!

4. My cousin London.... growing up we were the best of friends and although as we got older we drifted apart, I still love being with her. I have missed her more than she knows!!!

5. Someone I feel like I need to tell them how much I admire, is my mom... she is the most amazing woman I know. She has put up with SO much from me, been there for me in the hard times, and has accepted me for me. I LOVE YOU MOM!

6. Most of all.... I love my family.... ALL of them!!! I don't know what I would do without them!!!

Learning to Love ME has not been easy... and I'm sure it will continue to be hard at times but I am definitely on my way!!!

Saying Good-Bye to Summer

Well.... another one bites the dust! It seems like every year at the end of another summer, I am always asking myself, "Where did my summer go?!" Of course I can't believe how fast this summer flew by! We had sooooo many great adventures but we managed to squeeze in a few last good times before it all came to and end!!

John was able to go on the annual Vegas trip this year while lucky me stayed home with Chloe. 8 CRAZY boys headed down to Fremont street to let the good times begin. They all had lots and lots of fun laying by the pool and being crazy boys at night. John even managed to come home with more money than he left with! GO JOHN!!!!! While John was out having good times, I stayed home with Chloe and created our own adventures lol! We went to the park, went on lots of walks, learned to sit, and wathced lots of movies! We sure missed John while he was gone though.

For the very last weekend of summer we went camping with some best friends! We packed up the trucks and headed to Strawberry with Brady, Courtney, Taylor, and Toby. We all had a blast!! It was Chloe's first camping trip but she absolutely LOVED it! She would run back and forth all around, created messes everywhere, ran circles around Toby, and adored playing with cute Taylor. For dinner John whipped up some amazing burgers, as always. We also all found a new favorite camping dessert: cinnamon smores!!! I don't know what it is about them but seriously, DELICIOUS!! We always have so much fun with our friends and we love them to pieces!!! It was definitely the perfect way to end our summer!!!

It's always so sad once summer is over and reality of school sets in. I had my first week up at the U this week. School is SO different up there compared to SLCC. Parking is insane, people are walking EVERYWHERE, I run in to someone I know almost every 5 or 6 steps, and tuition is outrageous. I must admit though, my classes so far, are great! I am finally in to my major, Human Development and Family Studies. John will probably hear me complain about school almost every day but I hope he knows how grateful I am for him. He works so incredibly hard every day so that I am able to go to school. He provides so much for us and like always, he is AMAZING!!!! So all I can after the first week of school I am still positive... let's hope I can keep up that attitude!!!!

One HUGE resort of PURE fun!

The Montego Bay Resort was where we would spend our early evenings! Not only was it the biggest resort of the three but there were SO many different things to explore. We had some really good times here! You could play basketball, pool, ping pong, chess, volleyball, take a long walk down the half mile beach, swim in the huge pool, and SO much more!!! I think I now have a new found love for pool, even though I am horrible!!! John and I would play against each other and of course I would loose every time! We finally got a chance to win though when we challenged our new friends, Amanda and Jeremy, to a few games... Not to mention we won by them scratching the 8 ball..... One night they even had a dancer who actually danced on sharp nails, held a gigantic snake, and spun fire balls around. It was pretty extreme, never a dull moment at the Montego Bay!!

Another thing I LOVED, was the AMAZING different restaurants! They had 7 absolutely delicious ones to choose from. We tried a few out and came up with some yummy favorites. Our first night there we went to the Oleander Room, which was a fine dining choice. We had the BEST lobster we've ever tasted in our lives that we came back a second time during the week! Another great place we ate at was Tokyo Joe's, which is your classic hibachi grill eatery. We got to pick out our vegetables and meat and watch as the cook worked his magic on the grill! Very good, but a little too much food!! My favorite place to eat there was the Criketers!! Again, best fish and chips ever!!!! Our last night in Jamaica, we went to a fancy Italian place, Cucina Romana. It wasn't a favorite of mine but John said he had the best steak ever...yuck!

Overall, Montego Bay was a gigantic resort of fun. After we would eat dinner we felt a bit crowded by all the people, meaning, we would venture back to our place. Despite the crowded part though, it was still heaven!!! Oh how I wish I was back there right now. Leaving was extremely hard and sad. Leaving paradise, beaches, the warm sun, being treated like royalty and back to reality.... not a happy thought!!! Although the trip was amazing, I am happy to be home! We had such an amazing experience. I had so much fun being with John and I felt like we really got to bond together as husband and wife. Thank you John for the best vacation of my life, I LOVE YOU!!!