Welcome to the family!

Ladies and Gentelmen! I will now be announcing my newest and greatest investment. I have recently purchased a new toy that I'm excited to learn how to use and put to great use. Are you ready? I just bought me one of these...

Isn't she beautiful? I haven't picked a name for her yet but I will. My sister told me it feels like I adopted a child, which I feel like I did too. The decision to buy it was just as intense as an adoption decision but I have no regrets with this baby!

I've been wanting one for a really long time but I just never thought I'd be able to afford one. I pretty much have no money anymore but like I said before...no regrets. I'm just really excited to start this new hobby that I've always wanted to get into and now that I have the right tool, I can. This is such a good investment for me and I'm excited to learn all about photography and to be able to capture the beauty that surrounds my life everyday. Being able to do that and share those with everyone else would bring me such joy. Hopefully when I get good enough I can put a section for my photo blog:) Welcome to the family Nikon! (Don't worry, your name won't be Nikon forever...I'll get you a real name.)

Encouraging Words

Last night I talked with a dear friend about some issues I have been struggling with lately. I won't go detail but today this friend told me about this youtube video of a BYU devotional I should check out. Alone, quiet, and without interruption. Well, my best alone time is here at 2 in the morning. Everyone is asleep and I can be here without interruption. I just watched it and I got a lot from it. I wanted to share some of the parts of his talk that gave me such hope and encouragement.....

-Embrace this day with an enthusiastic welcome, no matter how it looks.
-When you are physically sick, tired, or in despair, steer your thoughts away from yourself, and direct them in gratitude and love toward God.
-In life there will be challenges, they will either bring you closer to God and make you stronger, or they will destroy you. But YOU make the decision of which road you take.
-Put all frustrations, hurt feelings, and grumblings into the perspective of your eternal hope. Light will flow into your soul.
-Avoid at all cost any pessimistic, negative, or criticizing thoughts. If you cannot cut them out, they will do you harm.
-Avoid rush and haste and uncontrolled words. Divine lights develops in places of peace and quiet.
-Be not so much concerned about what you do, but do what you do with your heart, might, and strength.
-When you are compelled to give up something or when things that are dear to you are withdrawn from you, know that this is your lesson to be learned right now. But know also that as you are learning this lesson, GOD WANTS TO GIVE YOU SOMETHING BETTER.

I hope some of these encouraging truths helped some of you as they have helped me in this trying time in my life. The Gospel is good. I'm grateful for friends who stay so close that they are able to act on the promptings to give me what I need to hear.

MUTUAL THANKS FRIEND!

Thank you for being a friend

I have this friend. But she's quite more than that. She is someone who has taken the time to get to know ME, the in's and out's of me, the good and the bad of me, the beautiful and ugly of me, the true and fake me, the funny and serious me, the true heart of Me. Through the time and talks and experiences we've had together, we have learned who each other truely are and in doing so, we have come to realize how so very alike our hearts and souls are. We're soul friends. These don't come often, or to everyone. Knowing this I am truely grateful for her in my life.

She has:
*inspired me*encouraged me*educated me*listened to me*been honest with me*made me laugh*made me feel connected*loved me*supported me*sacraficed for me*shared ideas & thoughts with me*comforted me*validated me*given to me*made me feel special & needed*
-I could go on but that'd take a little too long.

One night her and I spent the whole night remembering unforgettable memories we've had together. That night was just a reminder to me of the great and unique friendship her and I share. This past weekend just validated that even more. We made even more memories and continue to grow closer every time we hang out. We both share the love of the same music, photography, D.I. shopping, movies, qwirkyness, style, humor, travel, service, family, values, morals, and ideas. Soon, this friend will be leaving me for a little while for a great adventure in which she will be sharing all of her qualities, talents and love with other people. I will miss her more than is explainable. I can't imagine life without her near by for a while BUT I can't wait for these people to meet my best friend and get to know her as I have because she is incredible! I love you!

NEVER FORGET*Movie moment IN Vegas*Forts*USU B-Ball games*Stacey's mom*D.I.*Our first hangout we realized we were friends*Climbing on school rooftops to watch fireworks*Wedding bouquet refusal*Horchata love*Bell Canyon hikes*Nerds at heart*Dancing with a drunk guy on the streets in Vegas*Missionary friends*Breaking into a hotel to hot tub*"Beaches"*Sleeping over on my couch*Shoveling snow off my car*Oh baby YOU got what I neeeeed*5:00 A.M. talks*Tubbs of ice cream*Romantic dinners*Travel plans*Movies at Sky's*Boy drama*Blog stalking*I may look like a gangsta, doesn't mean I AM a gangsta*Natural awkwardness*ME*

The Golden Girls (how I love my GG's)said it best:
Thank you for being a friend
travel down the road and back again
you're heart is true, you're a friend and a confidant.
and if you threw a party
invited everyone you knew
you would see the biggest gift would be from me
and the card attached would say
THANK..............YOU...............FOR.............BEING............A.........FRIEND!

The Land of the Gnomes

A couple weekends ago Morgie, Mark, Jenna, and I traveled up to Oregon and California to the Redwood forest. What a magical forest it is! Everything is quiet...just like after a first snowfall. Everything is covered in moss. There are mushrooms on the trees and old women faces on the trunks...FOR REAL. I met old mother Willow.


I know there were gnomes, trolls, fairies, and much other woodland creatures there, they just didn't expose themselves. It was such a magical fairytale land. I'm also positive I saw David Bowie in his Labryinth outfit standing in a tree, twirling glass balls in his hands just staring at us as we walked through. All in all it was beautiful and magical and I would love to go back and live as a gnome there.

We also had the opportunity to take part in Guy Finley's seminars up in Oregon. We practiced on our inner peace, finding our true selves, and doing service. It was an interesting but learning experience. We meditated, stamped, and drank from the mossy wisdom Guy has to offer.


We lived a lighthouse tale, collected rocks on the beach, and saw a gargeous beachy sunset.




But I guess one of the most memorable experience of the trip was our experience cheating death. Twice. Let me explain. After we hiked through the magical land of the gnomes, we started off on a trail to get to this place called Fern Valley. Could have been Fern Gully, we'll never know...anyways as we get to the start of this trail, there are a herd of elk off to the side. Well being the nerd I am I said I was scared to move foreward and didn't want to keep going. Despite my concerns, we moved foreward, getting closer and closer to the elk. Maybe a little TOO close. One in particular, let us call him SPEARHEAD, because of the one huge giant spear antler on his head, I like to believe he was an evil unicorn, took to liking us. He positioned himself on the trail facing us. Every step we took, whether it was foreward backward sideways, he followed. Eventually charging toward us and bucking. Driving us into the bushes. We were trapped. No escape and all of SPEARHEAD's attention. He kept charging us, following us and would not forget about us. We hid, we circled, we laughed, we cried(ok Jenna laughed, I cried.) and eventually climbed some trees so SPEARHEAD couldn't reach us. Only to find out the branches only came a couple feet from the muddy ground. For I'd say a good 30 min, SPEARHEAD had us trapped. I don't know how, but we escaped, running for our lives to the far side of the trail where they were no where to be seen. Realizing we were on the opposite side of the trail of where our car was parked. We tried going around the herd, far around, but they started noticing us again. Finally, we decided to walk on the trail with our heads down, no eye contact. It worked, we got past the elk and therefore cheating death.

The second time we cheated death was on 13 hour car ride home. It almost killed us but once again, we laughed in it's face, cried in it's faced and cheated that ole death and lived to tell this tale.

Perry...and Hogwarts too.

The past 2 weeks have been nothing less than incredible! One of my best friends in the whole world, my S.O., took me on a trip to Disneyworld! We only had the best time in the world and got to do so many things :) She even took me to HARRY POTTER WORLD! Wait do you want me to say it again? AIRY POTTA WELD! It was the most real experience I've ever had! I honestly felt like I played that quidditch game with Harry and Hermoine put a spell on me! That girl! Never did get to snog Ron...I'm crossing my fingers for next time but I did get to drink some buhuh beer. Delicious! It was fan-freak-ing-tastic! So we had an amazing trip and got home late saturday night. Well, Sunday rolls around and my sister, Marinda, gives us a little news that she's pretty much in labor and lil' P is on her way! So on Monday we jump in the car and drive 12 hours to Pullman, Washington. Little Perry Catherine Hilbert was born on November 8th, 2010. She is absolutely THE prettiest thing you will ever see! She is the best little gurg (a.k.a girl) ever! I can't believe we had to leave her after her first week of life...but the three of them are coming for Christmas and staying with us for 3 whole weeks :) This will be the best Christmas yet!

Bangers, Berries, and Fleurs

For labor day weekend Jon and I flew up to Pullman, WA to visit Marinda and Mike...and Perry:) We had SA much fun up there and did everything on our clipboard of fun. Marinda and I went with her friend Jen to pick blackberries. You have to drive about an hour out of Pullman to a town called Troy where there are wild blackberry bushes open for picking. Only have you ever picked blackberries? Those bushes are so thorny!! They snag and tent your skin all over the place. BUT it was well worth it. We made delicious berry cobbler with them. For dinner we went out to eat with the one and only Noacks. They have become Marinda and Mike's besties, their go-to couple...and I guess I'll approve and allow them to be. No, I adore them! They seem like such a blessing in their lives. Anyways we went to a place called SouthFork. The most beautiful dish on the menu..are you ready for this?...Bangers and Mash! Just a mess of sausage and mashed potatoes smothered in a mushroom sauce. I had to get it cause where else can you order bangers and mash? Tell me where and I'll give you a dollar! But man it was tasty! The next day Toe and I went to this little farm outside of town. You drive up a long dirt road and there sits this little house, tire swing and all and to the left is a huge flower farm. Any flower you could think of, they grow it. Rows and rows of flowers. You put your money in a little mailbox on a tree, pick up a bucket and clippers and go out and fill your bucket with as many flowers as you want. It was a DREAM! Seriously it was so beautiful and so much fun to do with my sister. We took the flowers home and put them in the windowsill. Toe and I decided that we are going to open up a flower shop. It's now become a dream of ours. We even practiced arranging fleurs. Next step...taking a flower arranging class. The whole trip was just what I needed and I had so much fun exploring and spending time with my sister and brother in law. Marinda is due in 2 months so I will be traveling back up there very shortly :) Can't wait to meet you Perry and thanks for letting me stay in your room!

My word is...

"Every city has a single word that defines it, that identifies most people who live there....Whatever that majority thought might be-that is the word of the city. And if your personal word does not match the word of the city, then you don't really belong there."I just got done reading the book called Eat Pray Love. Quite frankly changed my life. I learned so much from it and refer to it like scriptures. Just like every city has their word, so does each person. In the book she is a woman in search of her word. Me too. I'm currently on the search for my word. I want to find my word but I don't think that my word is ONE word. I'll keep searching. Lately, I've been frustrated with the way I see life going. I feel like life is a big ferris wheel. Everyone is lined up to get on the same ride, going in one big circle. Graduating high school. Going to college. Getting married. Aren't there more options than this? I'm not interested in any of those at this point in my life, and everyone else seems to be. Or maybe it's just that they feel those ARE the only options. I want to travel. I want to experience life differently. I want to see how others see the world and live that with them. I want to experience something that puts me completely outside my comfort zone and element. I want it to brake me down and expose that word inside me. I want to experience all that I can as much as I can while I can. That way, all those experiences and challenges and uncomfortable situations can morph me into the human I want to be. Not what others want me to be. And maybe then, I'll find my word.