ellie and other things

There are no words so I won't try to string some together. 

She. Was. Amazing.

And I loved hanging out with these two crazy gals for the night!

The only other two things I have to report:

RITA'S is open in provo

and it is amazing! 

I may or may not have gone twice

>>on opening day<<

and four or five times since...

but don't tell anyone. 

And. . . . how cool is this?

I was so sick of how expensive these

are if you try and buy them already

put together, so I bought my own

succulents and went to town.

This one ended up being my

favorite arrangement but I made a few.

and that is all!

the legit LP

So. . . .

i rushed out of 271 RB last Tuesday after finishing my last final and headed off to this beautiful place.
and even though I did not know--really know--a single person there besides my beautiful friend lindsay--and even then, we did not know each other too well, just from the group project we had been working on in our methods class all semester--I had the time of my life with ~18 of the coolest people on the planet. seriously. they are my ALL my favorite.

i would not trade that week for anything. the water was freezing and the weather was not always the greatest. but you cannot beat the crowd i was with or the good times that we had. now it is back to real life. spring semester has sprung and the homework and the tests are already pilling up a little bit... but at least i have some amazing new friends and a bucket of exciting memories (not to mention of plethora of good new jokes) to help me get through the next eight or so weeks. right??

national sibling day

it is the national day of recognition for
the people in your life whom you will
love unconditionally until your very last
dying day despite the fact that they claim
full access to your leftovers and closet, who
are physically abusive and annoying as
heck, and who truly have seen you from every
possible angle, lens and filter.

we are emotionally attached for eternity.
fortunately for me, i have the cream of
the crop when it comes to family.

unfortunately for them.......
these suckers are stuck with me forever :)

#nationalsiblingday
#loveyoutothemoonandback
#broskiGthesweetiekadekadektwaandherhusbandjeff

and we danced and we cried and we laughed and had a really really really good time

could not have said it better myself Macklemore!

 

so after four months of day dreaming

and a week or two of planning

and a lot of last minute rearrangements

I finally made it to Zions. 

it was such a great weekend.

we headed out on Friday around 8,

stopped at these wonderful hot pots on the way--

because you might as well start off your camping trip

covered in motor oil water. 

who is the idiot who poured rainbow-colored flammable liquid in

these lovely hot pots?! they need to die. 

probably. 

but it didn't stop us for swimming for a hour or two

I will definitely be coming back

once it rains

I was afraid for a moment that we weren't going to be able to 

find a camping spot. everything was full. 

but we finally decided to drive out to Gunlock 

(which, BTW is NOT overflowing right now)

and we found a spot there.

We went over to Snow Canyon and hiked to the lava tubes

and broke open 100+ glow sticks

and had the incredible surreal experience of being 

down in a cave in complete darkness

besides the splatter of glow stick paint all over everything.

I felt like I was standing in the center of the universe! 

it was seriously one of the neatest things I have EVER done.  

in Snow Canyon that is :)

it was hard to take adequate pictures down in that dark 

corner of the universe. but here is carter's knife 

glowing in the dark. and a group of us under the flash.

that was a really stupid decisions to attempt that picture, let me tell you.

back at the camp site we cooked hot dogs for dinner

and listened to Adam serenade us on the guitar.

it was nice for the most part because no one was really there

and the only other couple camping near us spent

more time screaming at each other in a language I would like to call

"use the F word as many times as possible while accusing your boyfriend of cheating very very loudly"

than complaining about how annoying we were.

It was definitely an adventure! 

it was cloudy but i still saw 15 shooting stars.

I love sleeping outside more than anything!

then we got up early and had a quick breakfast

and stuffed everything in the tent

and spent the day in 

ZIONS!!

which is seriously one of my favorite places

especially when you are with friends.

and especially when a lot of those friends

have never been there before.

WOW.

this place is pretty dang amazing!

about as candid as I get right here:

the whole group.

1/3 of the way up angel's landing

Adam likes to make things a competition.

I will never complain though because I love a good challenge.

this is the victory picture for those of us who successfully

made it to the top without using hands or chains.

#thrillofalifetime

But we all made it to the top!

so proud of everyone.

except me . . . i misplaced the sandwiches.

sorry guys . . .

we played around at the bottom of the trail for a while

and then took the shuttle up to the narrows trailhead.

it started raining a little bit but for the most part

everything about the weather was perfect

this is tony peter parker

and he let us pet him

Saturday night some of us grabbed dinner and went hot tubing

and some of us went to a concert for school

but we all ended up having a HUGE cuddle fest

and stayed up laughing until the wee hours of the night.

it was a lot clearer and the moon was bright.

and Adam and Carly wrote a song called

"she's got balls"

which was thoroughly enjoyable!

Sunday we got up, threw everything in the car

and watched conference at my granny's house.

in between sessions we went and 

explored dixie rock for a while.

it was a beautiful day!

conference was awesome too!

I cannot wait to go back and re-watch everything!

then we packed up the car and headed home.

so over all it was a good trip!!

I think I have the best friends in the whole world.

so many good times and inside jokes.

and so many snapchats and chocolate-covered almonds

and singing "i bruise easily" at the top of our lungs

friends were made.

fights were had.

angels were landed.

fires were burned.

shooting stars fell.

marshmallows were roasted.

good times were toasted.

and lessons were learned.

and all is well in zion.

C

they said they needed photographic evidence...

so here it is:

#1--that i can throw a dang sweet party.

#2--that i do not always let the weather keep me from going to school.

#3--that a tree really did fall on my friend's car and that was why i was late

#4--i really did hang out with an elephant

#5--that i did buy every single bouquet of flowers at harmons

 #6--that i learned how to take selfies from my cousin!

#7--that i LOVE flowers!!

#8--that Carter is HOME!!!

#9--that i have been to space. and i did single-handedly save the world...

....and still had time for dinner after.

#10--I DO EXERCISE!! hahaha

#11--and i DO accomplish a lot in a day

#12--that there are bags of popcorn at the Costco in St. George that are longer than my arm

#13--haha and why yes there was a bachelorette party!

 

#14--ya, i chopped all my hair off

and i LOVE it

#15--that sportz dogs does come to OHS baseball games

#15--and i do go grocery shopping...sometimes 

#16--that i have the best job working with the most amazing woman! 

and we play until we are too tired to stand

#17--and i really have known this character since jr. high. we have yearbook evidence.

i am so blessed.
i live in a beautiful house
on a beautiful street
in a beautiful world.

i am 100% completely surrounded by people who love me.
--a mother who will sit on the bathroom floor with me while i cry.
--a father who will send my pictures of sentimental cloud formations
  and "Icelandic" words of wisdom.
--friends who show up at my door when they know i have had a hard day
  despite the fact that i told them i was going to bed and wanted to be alone
  so that they can stay with me all through the night (literally)
  and rematch my favorite Joseph scenes and hold my hand and feed me ice cream
  because they know being alone is the last thing in the world i should do.
--a roommate who hears the side conversations and leaves the best gifts
  who writes the best letters and bucket lists
  and who does not even laugh when the ice cream machine at sammies is broken
  so i eat a plumb instead.
--and so many other people who understand different parts of me
  so that at the end of the day i feel like everything is covered.
  and everything is accepted. and everything is loved.









i am in awe of where my life has lead me.
and i am overwhelmingly grateful.

-C