GRADUATING, MOVING, AND RUNNING. OH MY!

"Honey, was I this stressed last time we moved?"

"Yea...but I thought it was just because you were pregnant..."

Holy COW.

I really did lose my marbles a little bit.

Last week I was being suffocated by a dark thick cloud of stress. 

I graduated COLLEGE. 

= FINALS 

I MOVED. (Hi, aurora nice to meet you)

= cleaning and packing 

and cleaning and packing

and packing. 

(and taking breaks to nap on the floor 

because your bed is in storage already)

I ran a HALF MARATHON.

= runnning. lots of it.

And the week from stress city (and actually the entire school year) all came to a beautiful and triumphant head the second i crossed that finish line, holding hands with my sweet husband. we made it! it was so cheesily metaphorical. it even rained for every second of the race. when it rains it pours and all that jazz. seriously, so many metaphors could be happening right now but i think you get it. 

this was before the race started. you can imagine how badly we wanted to get out of the car.....

here are some watermarked pictures of the actual race:

this was one of the only times i was running alone because jeff had to stop to go to the bathroom and then he caught up with me (of course)

and after:

 we were so cold afterwards and it took some serious bribing to get jeff to take these pictures.

oh yeah, and even though my husband's hips hurt from going so slow, he ran with his sloth-like wife and helped me to beat my last half marathon time, cheering me on the whole time- for 2 hours 13 minutes. (slow i know but #WHOCARES) I didn't stop running once. There were times when i wanted to cry and kiss him and thank him profusely for motivating me and cheering me on; and then there were times when i yelled: "ok! stop talking to me right now or i'm going to punch you and walk up this blasted hill."

right after we finished the half, we packed up the rest of our stuff (my dad helped us and i was so grateful), said goodbye to kim (sad sad sad), and took off in our U-haul for Aurora, CO. The usually 8 hour drive took us 11 hours and there was so. much. pain involved in that drive. Just try running 13 miles and then promptly sitting in a car for 11 hours one day, and then you will understand. The only redeeming event that happened was when we finally rolled in at 1 am, 5 strong and heaven sent guys, who are working with jeff this summer, helped us move in all of our stuff. I literally wanted to kiss them all. But instead I just said thank you 26 times. 

so yeah! it's all over. we are moved. and i am an official stay at home mom. AND I LOVE IT!

p.s. don't forget to enter the giveaway i have going on! 

LOSER

I was on a run yesterday and I was stopped at a stop light (UGH), and was waiting to cross. A car with a few teenage boys drove by and they looked over at me. Usually this means a catcall (one baby later and i've still got it. ) or some sort of weird, immature yelling. But instead, one of the boys raised his hand and formed a big fat "L" with his hand. L for Loser (in case you skipped elementary school), directed straight to me. If I was having one of those days, it could've been enough to make me cry. But thankfully, my hormones were in balance that day. I continued to run in a loser-like fashion, and was still a bit dumbfounded. Like, why would that guy actually put effort into something so deliberately mean? It didn't make sense to me.

But then a thought popped into my head and it said: this is what i get for throwing rocks at that car when i was 5 years old. My cousin Bailey and I were sitting outside of our great-grandpa's house, throwing little pebbles at every car that drove by. By about the 5th car, a perfectly stereotypical grumpy old man rolled his window down and yelled in  his gruff old voice: "hey you kids! stop throwing rocks at my car!". We ran inside and cried, because apparently we expected everyone to be perfectly fine with having rocks thrown at their car.

so yeah, karma.

(I thought i'd give you a little snippet of what went through my mind at mile 3 of 5 today. you are welcome.)

And in case you were wondering, the moral of the story is: don't throw rocks and expect people to still love you, and be nice to your fellow pedestrians. and if you can't be nice, then at least don't be mean.

happy happenings.

ok so this was an eventful week. many exciting things happened.
the first thing happened to my roommate audrey.
she got her mission call! what a stud.

it was so hard for her (and me) to wait like 6 hours to open it.
torture. if it was mine, i could not have done that.
anyways, it finally happened. and she is going to pocatello, idaho!
her reaction was priceless. hahaha
it also made me want to go on a mission even more!

ok. exciting thing number 2. i checked a huge thing off my bucket list yesterday.
i ran a half marathon.
it was the best feeling ever crossing that finish line. like seriously.
i felt cool, in my head. like this girl,

but to everyone else, i probably looked like this.

it's fine.

my roommates were at the finish line cheering me on.
something i did that made it easier for me was that for every mile i ran,
 i ran it for someone i love. i call it "miles for love." haha...
also today i feel like i got hit by a truck. definitely feeling it.
oh, and ps- 3 of my great friends from last year ran it with me.
they are all beasts. 

right after i crossed the finish line. so flattering. oh man.

i devoured like 20 of those oranges. best prize ever!

so buff {brianne, amy, kylie, me}

didn't get the bended leg memo

it hurt so bad to lift my leg like that. freak.

anyways, that was a good day. 

i crossed a huge thing off my bucket list. great feeling.

also i have the best roommates in the world.

see for yourself. 

we took roomie pictures today :) 

here is a sneak peek. we took A LOT more than that.

nina is short

so us

there were some serious ones but i like the silly ones the best

they make me laugh a lot

yeah. 

if you just looked at all those, you should comment and tell your fave.

we are gonna put a big fat one of these in our living room.

and one of them we are gonna send out as christmas cards :)

merry early christmas!

Remembering.

Sometimes you don't get over things.

No matter how ridiculous they seem.

Sometimes your head says "NO!" while your heart screams "YES!"

And you can't help it.

Sometimes the same memories run through your head. Every. Single. Day.

But those same memories do not cross anyone else's mind. Ever.

Sometimes, remembering sucks.

You love, and love, and love. Falling out of this does not exist in your world.

Sometimes you don't think it is bearable.

and you feel like this:

But then you remember you have happy medicine.

Happy medicine saves lives. All the time. Everyday.

There are different types. First is reading the scriptures or the words of the prophets. Truly-- chicken noodle soup for the soul. You see the big picture and remember that "the worth of souls is great in the sight of God" {D&C 18:10} {and YOU are one of those souls} and that is ALL THAT MATTERS. Then there is music. Pure JOY and bliss and every happy word in the dictionary that just fills you up, almost like getting your batteries recharged {this scripture does similar things: Mosiah 4:27}. Then there is running. Running requires breathing hard. Inhaling and exhaling. Did you ever stop to think why this is? It is because you are exhaling the pain and inhaling the beauty and goodness that you tend to occasionally overlook. Quite convenient. There is more medicine too. People. If you stop thinking about your own pain, and focus on THEM and serve them...suddenly your problems are nonexistent. Poof. Gone. Magic. {so, does this mean Harry Potter does exist?-- ugh i wish.} It means that Heavenly Father exists and He will always love you. He's looking out for you. The only guy will who will always be there for you and love you unconditionally. All the happy medicine is proof of that. 

This is all completely hypothetical...of course. 


Ok so back to the non-hypothetical ramblings...my song of the day is. Drumroll please...
Lovely Obsession by Caleb Blood {this color denotes a link if you haven't figured that out yet...so that makes YOU a click away from listening}

GOALS.

You know what they say...

A goal isn't a goal until you've written it down.

So I have lifetime goals, yes. but let me just start with my goals for this summer.
1. Run 4 days a week.
2. Earn between $5500-$6000
3. Make at least three new friends.
4. number 4 is a secret and sorta dumb. kiss a boy.
5. Eat Healthier.

6. Finish four conference edition Ensigns
7. Cherish the moments

Now my goals for the rest of my life...
1. Graduate college with MORE than an Mrs. degree ;)
2. Get married in the temple to the man of my dreams.
3. Become a mom (most important goal by far)
4. Become a Speech Pathologist
5. Go to Africa
6. Be a program director for an organization in Y Serve
7. Be an EFY counselor
8. Get a 100% on a test that isn't a religion class.
9. Run a half marathon
10. Exercise at least 3 times a week.
11. Graduate college out of debt.

12. Send my boys on missions and all my children to be married in the temple.

13. To go on a mission with my husband to the place where he served his mission as a young lad.

14. To always take pictures/journal/blog and preserve memories the best I can

15. Start a non-profit organization {even if it is really small, just as long as it can help other people}

16. Always pray and study the scriptures/conference talks

17. Make a bucket list with whoever I marry
18. Cherish the moments

I will update you on the completion or lack thereof of my summer goals as well as my other life goals. But I am very determined. :)

Song of the day: Sunshine in My Sky by Kate Veogele :)

LATER.

A Day Full of Anything But Nothing.

Today was swell. My high school senior friends are finally done with school.

This means I am finally able to enjoy their company.

Well, enjoy another human being's company really. I've been deprived of that lately. 

Today, as well as yesterday, was packed with joy and spontaneity.

Two of my absolute favorite things.

First of all, I was officially hired today for my job. Uniform and all. Even a hat!

Then Hannah and I wanted to go running and hiking.  

My friend Steven wanted to go running too so we were going to meet him at Cottonwood.

He was an hour late. But no worries. We found ways to occupy ourselves.

We went and played in the stream that used to be gushing and now could probably not nourish the gills of the smallest fish known to man. But it was still fun. The mud was squishy and very fun to walk in.

We also made sure to mark our territory. Please observe. And admire.

Hannah, Blog readers {however few there may be}. Blog readers, Hannah.

Glad you are now introduced to one of my very best friends in the whole world.

We had fun. Then Steven finally arrived and we went running.

I felt lame when we ran so let's not talk about that.

Then we decided to go to Sonic. My good friends Melanie and Amy ended up joining us.

For some delicious strawberry limeade slushies.

We missed happy hour by like, 15 minutes. Blast.

Today is Melanie's birthday! She is an adult. Happy, Happy!

She is also one of my best friends and I'd like to introduce you to her also. 

Alright. Now you have met Melanie. And my lovely hat that I will be stylishly pulling off at the place of my work. I was showing it off to my friends and happened to take a picture with it on. Flattering, yes? Also keep in mind I JUST went running. That can fly as some form of justification of my wretched appearance right? Well anyways. I just wanted the

world to know that today is Melanie's day of birth. If she didn't have a day of birth, she never would've been born. And that would be extremely depressing and tragic. So, I'm very grateful for this day :)

Anyways, after Sonic I helped Hannah clean her room. She has a lot of candy. All over the place. As well as other things. So if you are ever feeling a sweet tooth, head over there and she will give you some. And you can make a new friend who is like, an ideal friend. So that is my day {so far} and I liked it. If it was your day, you would've liked it too, I bet. I'll also be watching my new favorite show {"The Voice"} in approximately 24 minutes.

Song of the Day: Kiss me Slowly by Parachute :)

LATER.