Exhaustion.

Yes, its a miracle, I am updating the blog. Bet'cha thought that I had quit, huh? Well I pretty much have. Not by choice but its just the way it has to be for now. Blog posts will probably be few and far between for awhile. (For those of you who may actually be interested in what we are up to haha)

The reason for the lack of blogging is because I now work full time as a designer at the Gatehouse! I absolutely love my job! It really is my dream job and I am having an absolute blast! But man is it tiring working this many hours a week! My days consist of wake up, exercise(on occasion), go to work at 9am, get off around 7pm, come home, eat, sleep, repeat. I now know what its like to be an adult! haha.

Preston also is living the dream just a little bit. :) He is a snowboard instructor up at Sundance! He honestly can not think of a better way to make some extra money while going to school. He is absolutely loving it.

We are also busy trying to get everything ready for Christmas so maybe if you're real lucky we'll update you more on the fun things we've been up to lately. But don't hold your breath, I can't make any promises! :)

A piece of me.

Lately I have really been thinking about my life and why I am the way I am.  A lot of who I am today comes from having Emily as my little sister for the past 18 years of my life. I remember being very young when I first realized that my only little sister was not going to "be like everybody else". I hesitate to even use the phrase "be like everybody else" because I think what the world defines as "normal" and "acceptable" is distorted and wrong, but at a young age that was the phrase that came to my mind. I must have been only about seven or eight years old when I realized Emily had a disability. I remember being worried if she and I would ever be able to do things together like most sisters do. Would we hang out when we were teenagers? Do each others hair? Go shopping and help each other pick out clothes? Would we talk for hours on end late into the night? So many things went through my mind and I remember at that moment in my life being so worried what life would be like with her as my little sister.

But for those of you that know Emily and I, know that she and I have spent a lot of time together over the years. Thinking that we wouldn't be able to do sisterly things together was the silliest thing I ever could have imagined! We talk every single day, without fail. And if we happen to miss a day, which happens from time to time, you would think that her world would have ended. Isn't it hard to have her demanding so much of your time? What is she going to do once you get married? People have asked me those questions a few times and to be completely honest, no. Sometimes I'm busier than other times and can't talk for as long as she would like to but besides family, Emily doesn't have friends that call her and talk to her throughout the day. So when people question if it is hard for me to do each day, I can't help but feel my heart breaking for them. If we are only focusing on ourselves, we are missing out on doing so much good in the lives of others. For me, it's easy. Emily enjoys talking to me and I in turn enjoy talking to her and learn so much from her. She reminds me to find joy in simplicity. She teaches me to set goals and try hard to achieve the unimaginable. She encourages me to be outgoing with her confident, energetic and happy lifestyle. (If only I could be brave enough to bust a move in front of so many strangers at Five Guys or yell that loud at a BYU football game. haha) She has blessed my life in more ways than I can even begin to count.

And as for "what is she going to do once you get married?", that was a big adjustment for all of us. It definitely took some trial and error and adjusting. But lucky for me, I have THE BEST husband around. We just spent UEA weekend with Emily and he literally hung out with her more than I did. Every night while I was at work, they were playing - shopping, volleyball, cooking, you name it! He is honestly the best, hands down. I love him more than anything in this whole wide world!

Yes, at times having a sister like I do can be hard. But more often than not, it is so easy. She reminds me to be sensitive to the needs of others and not to judge others harshly. Emily has influenced so much of who I have become. One of my biggest desires is to have Emily bless other people's lives like she has blessed mine and my families. I am eternally grateful to my Heavenly Father for blessing me with Emily as my sister.

The Tiger.

Oh my husband, he is quite the little prankster. This past weekend I went to a flea market and some yard sales with some friends and Preston stayed home. Well, while I was gone Preston decided to do some yard sale hunting of his own. That is where he found that lovely Tiger you see up above. And fyi - I am not into Tigers or any other sort of animal for that matter hanging on my walls. Some people might be but its just not my thing. Not to mention that this Tiger looks like it belongs in Las Vegas or in Hugh Hefner's bedroom. haha. 

Anyways, when I got home, I mentioned to Preston that I just wasn't feeling well and he suggested that I go lay down on the bed. I didn't think too much of it except for "wow, he sure is being compassionate". lol. So I go into our bedroom and the first thing I notice is not the gargantuous new addition to our bedroom wall but the fact that Preston had made the bed so well. I proceeded to lay down on the bed and make a phone call while I rested. While I am laying there talking on the phone, Preston comes in with the camera and tells me how cute I look laying there on the bed and then he takes my picture. Again, I don't think much of it and think he is just being sweet. A little odd, but sweet. :) Ten minutes goes by and I decide to go see if I really looked as "cute" as he says. I can't imagine I looked that cute laying down but just wanted to check and see. haha. (I still haven't seen the Tiger by this point) 

I turn on the camera and see this picture. I look at it, think to myself: "I don't look cute at all! That's a terrible picture!", and then click to look at other pictures he has taken recently. And that's when I see the close up of the tiger painting. All I could think is, "what the heck is that??" "when did he take that picture?!?". Then I scroll back to the picture of me on the bed and cannot believe I did not even notice the Tiger hanging above my head!! All I could do was bust up laughing! Preston thought he was going to get this huge reaction out of me when I got home and it seriously took me forever to even see it! Haha I am so oblivious. He found it at a yard sale and just thought it would be the funniest thing to get to hang above our bed as a joke. We had been talking about getting something to hang above our bed, but that isn't exactly what I had in mind. I'm thinking I could keep the frame and paint it a cute color but as far as the Tiger painting goes, it's gotta go. Any animal lovers out there?? I have a Tiger here with your name written all over it. :-)

Motivation.

I swear, every morning me and my alarm clock battle it out for a good two hours. The sad thing is, my alarm goes off every ten minutes each time I press snooze, so it's a bit pathetic I just don't get up the first time it goes off. It's not like I'm even sleeping during this time, just laying in bed. ha!


It's a vicious cycle I seem to be stuck in. Every night I'm super ambitious and set my alarm for 6 am to get up and go to the gym. And every morning when my little alarm sounds, I press snooze and justify needing more sleep. I'm pathetic. 


Why is it so hard to do the things that are good for us? It's so easy to waste hours and hours pinning away on pinterest but it's like the hardest thing to get in the car, drive to the gym and work out for an hour. Ugh,  why can't it be the other way around?? I guess I need to look at my "exercise inspiration" board a little more, it is seriously so motivating and would be super beneficial if I would take it seriously more often. Here are just a couple of things that make me want to hop right out of bed and sprint right to the gym: 

via

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 via

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Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be at the gym. :)

I {heart} weekends.

Weekends are the best. We spent ours down in Moab huntin' a deer and we even got ourselves one! It's was so big I can't even fit the picture into this post....haha. Just kidding, it was quite the opposite actually. But at least we have some meat to last us through the winter! 


We also found a little something to remind us of our roots. :)

photo courtesy of Tom Till 

We spent lots of time visiting with family, eating way too much food, and being inspired by General Conference. I am always edified and renewed after listening to our leaders. Now we are off to another busy week of school and work! Hopefully another fun weekend is in store for us soon! :)

Taylor Swift and a realization

Last night I went with my parents and my sisters to the Taylor Swift concert. WOW. I didn't know Celine Dion could be outdone but Taylor did it. I'm serious, she was the best concert I have been to yet. 


We had so much fun! Emily and I sat together and sang every song to our little hearts content. My favorite comment of the night was when Emily leaned over to me and says, "Syd, aren't you glad Mom had a fourth daughter so that you didn't have to sit by yourself tonight (since our seats were all in sets of two)?" haha.  Yes Emily, I am very glad I am not the youngest and you came along to be my buddy. :) 


Oh man, if I could follow Taylor on her whole tour around the world, I would. For sure. No questions asked. It was an absolute blast! 

Now time for my little realization. One look at a picture of yourself that you think you look "ugly" in can ruin your self esteem for the rest of the day. Seriously! I went to the dermatologist yesterday morning and didn't wear any makeup because I wanted the doctor to see the skin on my face without anything on it. Well, afterwards I didn't have much time to get ready so I had to just do my makeup in the car. I was impressed with myself because 1. I did it in the car and 2. I did it in like ten minutes or less. And I thought it turned out pretty good. Until I looked at the above picture. I look like I have sleepy eyes and have absolutely no makeup on! And it doesn't help that I am surrounded by three beautiful sisters and one gorgeous momma! :) 

So for like an hour after that all I could think of was how much I wished I would have gotten ready a little more today to look cute for the concert. (stupid I know, but true) And then it hit me. Who really cares what you look like?? Just because you took a bad picture doesn't mean you need to suddenly feel bad about yourself and think you look gross and not have any fun. So I got over it and realized that not one person is perfect and everybody has things they want to change about themselves. Like me, if given the chance I would give myself flawless facial skin in an instant. But it doesn't work that way. So for now I'll deal with the things I don't like about myself and be grateful for the things that I do like. Us girls are so silly sometimes. 

That little realization came during the concert, inspired by Taylor herself. I'm not really even sure what she was talking about or whether or not it had anything to do with what I was feeling but somehow it helped. She is a great artist and I just absolutely love her music. She really speaks her mind and is honest in her songs and that is something to appreciate today. Her songs are so easy to relate to - I love it! 


Anyway, enough of my girl drama. The concert was a blast! Anybody who thinks she is terrible live, needs to think again. She is amazing and her show was so entertaining! 

Loved it. Loved her. Loved being able to spend some time with my amazing sisters and wonderful parents. :)


And I was going to add a video or two but I don't have the patience to do it right now because blogger is so lame when it comes to videos. Any tips on uploading videos anyone?!?

Are you sick of hearing about all of our travels yet?

Well, sorry. I know its been over a month since we have done most of the things I am posting about lately but I promise I am almost done. In twenty years I'm sure I would regret not having written these things down so just bear with me. :)

Another detour we took on our road trip home was to Mt. Rushmore. We were both super anxious as we drove up the mountain to the monument. Both of us kept hoping that when we saw the monument we wouldn't be disappointed. You know when you have a picture in your mind of what you think something is going to be like and it turns out nothing like what you imagined and you end up super disappointed? Well, that was our worry. But that quickly went away when this came into view: 

It did not disappoint in the least. We were in awe with how incredible it was. To have carved that right into the side of that granite mountain is just amazing to me. It's one thing to be creative enough to have designed something like that and another to actually make it come to life. It seriously blows me away. 

George Washington

Thomas Jefferson

Theodore Roosevelt

Abraham Lincoln

This man actually worked as a driller on the monument. We could have bought his book for $10 but instead opted for a quick photo. :)

We were lucky enough to be there just before dark and get to see the light show just after the sun went down. It really was such a fun thing to go and see and lived up to every expectation we had set for it. :)

Nauvoo & Carthage

On our trek back across the country from North Carolina to Utah, we made sure to make the most of our drive and make some pretty incredible stops along the way. The most memorable stop that I will cherish forever was in Carthage & Nauvoo, Illinois. 

(Bullet hole from the bullet that killed Hyrum)

We thought we would only be there for a couple of hours, see a couple of things, and then head on our way. But boy were we wrong! We started off in Carthage by going to the jail where the Prophet, Joseph Smith, was martyred. We were able to go on a tour and walk through the jail and see exactly where Joseph Smith had been. It was such an incredible and moving experience! We literally got to sit in the windowsill that he fell through when he died. 

The Spirit in that room was unlike anything I had ever felt before. It might seem morbid to some to visit the place where somebody was killed, but it is not like that at all. Going there, you are reminded of what Joseph & Hyrum died for and you become so much more grateful for their sacrifice. They are the ultimate examples of staying true to Christ in the face of adversity. Those that killed our beloved prophet hoped that by doing so would be the end of the Latter Day Saints. But just because our Prophet had left the earth didn't mean that the gospel was no longer on the earth. He restored the gospel to the earth and I am eternally grateful to him. It really was an experience I will never forget. He truly was and still is a man of God. Because he listened to the Spirit, I have so much to be thankful for. 

Where we learned about dingbats, p's & q's, "cut to the chase", upper and lower case letters, etc. so fun!

Mississippi River

Joseph Smith's home

After we visited Carthage, we headed up to Nauvoo. Again, we thought we could walk around for a minute and leave. SO WRONG! We got to go to the Browning Gunsmith Shop, The Printing Press, John Taylor's home, and so many other fun places! And we even got to do a session at the historic Nauvoo Temple. Oh my goodness....so beautiful! 

We ended up spending the whole day enjoying all of the historic sites and falling behind on our travels, but it was so worth it! We don't know when we will be going back there but it really was such a special experience to go there as just the two of us. It gave me a whole new understanding of what life would have been like back in those times, and has increased my love and appreciation for all of those Saints back then that were so faithful and strong, regardless of the hardships they endured. I hope I can be at least half as strong and faithful as they were.