You are the weakest link

If you know me, you know I'm not an outdoorsy person. 

But this weekend I went on a camping trip with a class to Goblin Valley. 

Thursday night we played capture the flag in the valley

and

Friday we hiked Ding and Dang Canyon. 

I'm not much of a hiker so I definitely struggled over the many obstacles and was the slowest one of the group.... and I may have cried......but I had a lot of fun!

 I'm just proud of myself for surviving.  :)

Goblin Valley

Called to Serve

Wednesday was probably the most exciting and emotional day of my life thus far. 

For starters, my sister-in-law gave birth to my new niece, Kinley Ann.

Then later that afternoon while studying in the library, my mom texted me to inform me that my mission call came.

I immediately started crying...... in the middle of the library.

I was so nervous and excited and scared and anxious and a whole lot of other emotions.

Wednesday felt like the longest day ever as I waited for 7:30 to come so I could open my call and see where I will be serving for 18 months.

My friends from Provo and my family from Sandy met at my sister's house in Lehi to hear me read my mission call.

"You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the  LOUISIANA BATON ROUGE MISSION. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 18 months."

"You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, August 22, 2012. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the SPANISH LANGUAGE."

In the days leading up to receiving my call I had countless number of people ask me questions like "Where do you want to go?" "Where do you think you'll go?"

I really I had no idea nor did I care but I NEVER would have guessed Louisiana!!!!!

I am so excited though!!! I can't wait for August 22nd.

I should probably start learning Spanish though :) 

 

 

one direction

I have recently become obsessed with this lovely British/Irish boy band.

They are so adorable and yes I do realize they are all younger than me. 

I think my London friends will greatly appreciate this music video and recognize most places!

Liam is my favorite. He's the one that starts the song and wears the grey suit.

Who's your favorite?

Bizarre Saturdays

So this past Saturday I woke up thinking it was going to be a normal typical Saturday...

And I got just the opposite.

I ended up helping buy and prepare NINE breakfast casseroles!

After the casseroles were done we set up two tents in our living room for our camp-in to celebrate my roommate Ally's 21st birthday!

Some how the poles to the two tents got switched and we didn't realize this until we had attempted to put both up. So it took a little longer than expected. 

 Before:                                                                                    After

S'mores

What's the fun of camping without s'mores? 

Happy Birthday ALLY!!!!!

Stamps

My passport expires in a few short months so I had to get a new one.
Receiving my new passport was a bittersweet moment. 

Over the past 5 years since I received my last passport I have had the opportunity to travel to some really awesome places where a lot of amazing memories took place. In the past 5 years I have had the opportunity to travel to:

France(x2), Switzerland, Austria, Germany (x3), Spain, Italy (x2), England (x2), Brussels, Netherlands, Wales, Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Russia, Sweden, and Finland

While traveling throughout Europe I have received a lot of cool stamps. 17 in total!

I'm sad to have to start my stamp collection over
BUT
I'm excited to see the places my new passport will take me!

20/20

Since the fourth grade I've had to wear glasses and since the seventh grade I've worn contacts. I've been grateful to wear glasses/contacts since they allowed me to see. Also, since I was about 12 or 13, my parents told me that when I was old enough and a good candidate, they would pay for me to have LASIK eye surgery. I certainly never let them forget this little promise!!

About a month ago my parents told me they didn't want me to have to worry about contacts on my mission. (side note: for those of you that didn't know, I'm planning on serving a mission for the LDS church and I'll leave sometime late summer). They told me to start doing my research and find a LASIK surgeon. I gladly did my research and had a couple consultations. Thankfully the doctors told me I was a perfect candidate. I ended up choosing to have the surgery done by the great doctors at Hoopes Vision. And this past week I had LASIK eye surgery!!!

At the beginning of last week I had 20/500 vision. That means that what normal people see at 500 ft. is what I saw at 20 ft. Pretty crazy! On Friday, one day after surgery, I had 20/20 vision!

In the days leading up to the surgery I had so many people asking if I was scared or nervous. And honestly I never was. It is a little freaky thinking that your eyes are going to be cut open but I was just so excited to not have to wear contacts. Plus I knew they were going to offer me some Valium, which I gladly took.
I am so grateful for the opportunity to have had LASIK surgery and I am so grateful that it went well.

 The valium definitely made me feel calm and super tired. 

 This is during the actually procedure. My mom got to sit and watch the whole thing through the glass.

Following the surgery they handed me a dvd of my surgery from the surgeon's view. I haven't watched it yet but I'm pretty excited to watch it!!!

Reasons to travel

The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.

– St. Augustine

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.

-Mark Twain

Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things – air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it. 

– Cesare Pavese

Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living. 

– Miriam Beard

 Though we travel the world to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson