Moving

After two years, i'm moving apartments.

In this moving process, I discovered I have a lot of stuff. 

Too much stuff.

Packing is the worst.

So much random junk that nobody knows where it came from.

So much garbage.

Major cleaning required.

Oi.

Goodbye to The Terrace/Atrium. Thanks for a good time.

Hello to The Colony in the Fall. I'll love ya as long as you give me a good senior year of college.

So this isn't all mine. It is two people's worth of stuff. But still, woah. The pile just kept growing and growing. Everything that I own is here in Provo. When I brought my car down here a couple of years ago, I didn't leave anything behind at home. So everything in my possession... you're lookin' at it right there. And moving it all from one place to another is not an easy task.

Thankfully, it only took two car trips to move it all... into storage for the next two months...

... at the Linford's, who are saints for allowing me to store my junk there. THANK YOU GOOD FRIENDS!

I stuffed that car to the MAXIMUM. The second load was much lighter and less of a tetris game thank goodness.

The end of "the new" new semi crappy awesome quote wall. Pretty sure we successfully weirded out a lot of people who took any time at all to stop and look at this thing. Don't worry about it... its one of those had to be there kinda deals.

Saying adios to the finally empty and finally clean apartment!
Uhhh i'm not really sure why the random accent sneaks in there at one point.
And also can you please notice some of the things we have on our thankful wall: lysol, moleskine, Fat Amy, and pinecones... among many other things. There was just so much to be grateful for living in that apartment.

Seeeeeee ya!

A Case Of The Really Randoms

Soooo you know how sometimes your life is filled with a lot of different random awesome things that you just happen to take pictures of and then suddenly you realize you haven't blogged in a while and none of those things have gotten the internet attention that you really feel they really deserve? 

No? You don't do that? Thats just a me thing?

Oh. Well aaaalllllrighty then. I do it, like a lot. 

My life is full of lots of different random awesome things... which I shall now share with you.

Obviously.

Conversations that Christie and I have over text are thought provoking, deep, and incredibly important. 

Believe me, if you watched the Nashville finale, you'd think so too.

She is just too much. Less than two weeks until I get to gobble up her cuteness in person.

I happen to think this is a cute idea.

She has the perfect little bum. The perfect little everything.

Oh and ps, i'm going to be a mamma someday, and I am going to LOVE it. Just sayin'.

#pshnotalmost21andbabyhungryoranything

Sometimes I have dilemmas when i'm alone at Target, and so I send pictures with pleas for help. Went with the silver watch, but didn't get the pants, and darn it if I didn't regret that decision before I even drove out of the parking lot.

Everyone should wear their shirts like this. Always. Because its clearly the most flattering option.
The cheesin' smile is also a requirement.

Yeah soooo... I'm not an environment hater or anything, but imma be honest, I don't care what inspiring message you write on this waste of a hand dryer. No paper towels in the bathroom = extreme frustration and weird wet handmarks on the thighs of my pants. 

#firstworldproblems

#twohashtagsinoneblogpostsaywhaaaat?

I've decided this is a beautiful spot on BYU campus.

I watched the Spartan race again this year. Still not quite as hardcore as my brother and these buddies here. Maybe someday.

See last year's post about it here.

I have terrific friends in varying shades of caucasian. 

This song. The title says it all.

This new little friend definitely made our day happier. 

Don't you sorta wish you were still existing close enough to the ground to do frontflips like that? And gosh who even knew there was such a thing as a "fast cartwheel?"

Sooo this is just kinda cray-cray.
(You know i'm still undecided on how to spell and punctuate this term... cra-cra? Craycray? Cray-cray? Help me out here people).
My brother found his long lost twin on Instagram. Legit.

I ate a lot of good food last week. Yummm thank you summer and Independence Day and vending machines good family.

I babysat this one a few days ago. It didn't go down like this the whole time. I swear.

No but really. She's an angel and she loves me a lot... please refer to above picture of perfect bum.

 Yay for saving pocket change and not losing 7% of it with Coinstar. 

Those bankers gonna love me.

Let it be reemphasized: cats are gross. 

See a thorough (and rather amusing if I may say so myself) post about my feelings on this subject here. 

But let me tell ya, my personal experience here with this cat was something to be excited about. I'm pretty sure I could have done this all night.

Whew. 

I feel better now that I got my randoms out. 

In the words of my new buddy Des: "just let it happen."

Until next time.

Cheers.

The Little Ones

How grateful I am for God's children.

How grateful I am to BE one of God's children.

Each is precious.

Each is unique.

Each is special.

"... wherefore I love little children with a perfect love, and they are all alike and partakers of salvation."

-Moroni 8:17

My recent travels gave me the beautiful opportunity to interact with some of God's children across the world. It was such a blessing to see their smiles, feel of their happy spirits, and be on the receiving end of their warm hugs. Their are some seriously big hearts filled with a lot of love in these tiny little bodies.

Miss Casey made an adorable special friend at our clinic in Fiji :)

Major highlight of my trip was this moment right here. As I checked the heart and lung sounds of all the children at this primary school, I would finish by putting the stethoscope into their ears so that they could listen to the sound of their own heartbeat. The looks of enlightenment and amazement on their faces as they listened was... unforgettable. Priceless. Rewarding. Incredible. Inspiring. Its an experience I will absolutely never forget.

Everywhere we went with big groups of kids, we tried to teach games that they could play later on with their friends. We played LOTS of quack-diddly-oso/down by the banks (wow i've never tried spelling that before... its not easy) which the kids just ate up. They loved it.
On this day in Eua we entertained these kids for hours playing those clapping games, along with (attempting) to teach them the cup game.

Teaching the 16 kids on this tiny island how to play the clapping games. We hope they remember the songs that go along with them!

The little boys love to play marbles. So fun to just sit back and watch them.

This sweet little girl quickly became my bud. She plopped down in my lap and the rest was history.

Wherever we were, the kids loved to have their picture taken so that we could turn the camera around and they could see themselves on screen. Thats definitely something they easily have in common with American children. They loooove seeing themselves :)

Teaching in the schools was easily one of the highlights on this trip. All in all we met hundreds and hundreds of kids ranging from about 3-years-old to high school age.

The day at this preschool was pretty rough. We could barely get these munchkins to crack a smile. We even made one girl burst into frightened tears when we were playing London Bridge is Falling Down... oops!

Ahhhh they are all just so beautiful! I couldn't get enough of them!

It doesn't matter where we are from, or what we look like. It doesn't matter if we are rich or poor. It doesn't matter if we are shy or quickly befriend strangers. It doesn't matter if we have perfect bodies or if we fit it with everyone else. 

We are all children of a loving Heavenly Father who wants the very best for us. I know that that is the truth. I'm thankful for these Tongan children who helped remind me of those truths and filled me with more happiness than I could have ever imagined.

Quick shameless shout to my absolute favorite kids in the world! Aka the ones who call me Aunt Nettie :)