hey blogging world.

hey guys. i promise an update soon. for right now, will you check out this video i made and give me some feedback? thanks.

a mixtape of my life

can we take a second and appreciate the magic of taylor swift. i'm obsessed with 

the new music video wildest dreams. what i would give to go to her 

concert this weekend! 

pace family campout

every year we go on a campout with my dad's family. this year we went to a place by bryce canyon, and it was beautiful! i feel bad for anyone who doesn't like camping, because it's the best! 

thanks for a great time pace family.....

and yes, dylan is the star of this video. 

north carolina

a week ago i was able to go visit on of my friends in north carolina! it was the best, and it was so nice to have a vacation from work. we spent most of our time at the beach, which who could even complain about that?! we also went to a few other places, including wilmington and myrtle beach in south carolina. thanks for letting me come out and visit you rachelle! hopefully i will be able to make it out again next year!

wilmington aka one tree hill county  

 beaches for days...

myrtle beach, south carolina 

 

if you ever find yourself in south carolina, ripley's believe it or not museum is 

pretty awesome. 

just a short vid. also that cheerleader song at the end 

will forever be stuck in my head. 

life lately from my iphone....and then some

we said goodbye to our Whitty Kitty, who is headed to nicaragua to 

serve the lord. 

"official" graduation with my fchd homies. 

my best friend married the love of her life a few weeks ago,

and was a total hottie. 

tay condie is my home girl. i can always count on her for random

and exciting adventures. 

since everyone in the world is having a baby/has a dog, and we don't

have either, we settled for a plant. 

even though our one year isn't for another 2 months, we had pictures 

taken in honor of our 1 year. shout out to blue bird photography

for our incredible pictures. 

this is a song i constantly listen to because i think it's a great reminder. 

over the last two months, life has been pretty rough. i have been constantly down on myself

and was in a dark place. thankfully i have an incredible husband and support system. satan

was doing a number on me. anytime i hear this song, it inspires me to do better. it makes me want 

to share what makes me happy with everyone. as i took the time to step back from my self pity

and look at everything that makes me happy. all of the doubtful thoughts left me and i immediately 

felt peace and love from my Heavenly Father. 

so this week my fellow internet friends, make your happy list and share it with those around you. 

my happy:

*my adorable husband 

*long conversations with my mom 

*seeing an improvement in the families i am working with 

*my religion. see what i believe here

*my ward. they are incredible 

*my friends...and their crazy shenanigans 

*lip sync battles on on youtube

*coming home to a yummy dinner and clean house 

*emails from my brother. it's been incredible watching him grow

*phone calls with my daddy

*dubsmash wars with my little sister 

and so many more. 

thanks for reading along. 

a list of sorts

• life is so good right now! 
• i was recently hired through utah youth village to be a family first specialist. i start my first family this week and i am stoked to help make a difference in families. 
• zach and i have been happily married for 9 months now! how on earth are we 3 months away from one year? it has been the best 9 months!
• school is wrapping up for zach, and we have some fun things planned for this summer!
• my brother is 4 months away from his year mark! so that's pretty exciting
• today we talked about joseph smith in relief society! i'm so happy that as a young boy he had the courage to get down on his knees to find the truth. the very end of verse 20 is my favorite in j.s. history. check it out. 
• zach and i are in a married student ward. it's the absolute best! we have the best ward, everyone is around our age, there are adorable babies everywhere.....and we are always doing something all together. i also have that ward to thank for my husband's obsession with spike ball. 
• saturday was my last day at the fun park. even though it wasn't my favorite place in the whole world, i worked with amazing people and they are some of my closest friends. it was a great job to have during college, but i'm ready for my big kid job. 

• these are some of my friends from that place, and this was probably one of the funniest shifts ever. this picture has a story behind it, and if you really want to know about it you can ask. but it resulted in two words: FUN BUS! thanks curtis!

well that's about everything that is new over here. 

keep on keepin on. 

the cabin

for starters the cabin episode on new girl is one of my favorites. but that's besides the point. this last weekend zach and i invited some of our friends to stay at a cabin with us in island park. it was so nice to get away from logan and not have to worry about doing a single thing. we played lots of card games, ate way too much food, played spike ball, and of course went sledding down the sickest hill. just kidding, it was maybe 15 feet haha, but we still had fun. it was a good opportunity to make a video with my go pro, so be sure to check it out at the bottom. it's just over a minute long. as for now, here are some pictures. thanks for a great weekend friends!

 basically we were staring right at the sun. aka closed eyes for the win 

 so grateful i had the chance to meet this girl. fchd pals for life

 

 this was captured from the video. all 8 of us getting ready to sled down the massive hill. 

because i love music

it's no secret that i love music. so naturally i'm going to blog about my favs right now. also, if you want to listen to some sweet covers scroll to the bottom.

1. bright-echosmith. this is nothing like cool kids. but i listened to it once and was hooked.

2. sugar- maroon 5. it's a catchy song, but i just love that they surprised people at their own weddings. check out the music video.

3. blank space/style- louisa wendorff. if you haven't heard this mashup you are probs livin under a rock. i'm still obsessed.

4. when we were young- lucy schwartz. i'm currently (binge) watching parenthood. this was the theme song for a couple of seasons. i think it's adorable.

5. thinking out loud- ed sheeran. when the song don't was popular on the radio i was a little disappointed, because it was nothing like ed's first cd. but man, this song changed my mind again. it's the absolute cutest.


as for the covers these are some of my favorite.

so fellow internet people. i'm always looking for new music. what have you been listening to lately? also, how do you feel about the new song fourfiveseconds? i think i dig it, but i'm not completely sold yet. plus, i don't think paul sings at all......

a challenge from me to you

hey friends. happy 2015! it's going to be a great year! 

yesterday in relief society we were talking about different scenarios where we had to decide what to do. most of the situations presented set us up perfectly to be selfish and carry on our ways. but since we were in church there had to be a point to this right? well after a few people talked about what they would do, when they talked about what Christ would do. 

this lesson hit me pretty hard because i realized i definitely have room for improvement. lately i have been struggling with a lot of my coworkers and my work atmosphere in general. it's my goal for this week to take a second to pause and think about what Christ would do. i know it won't be easy, but it will be worth it. i will also look for more opportunities where i can serve people, whether it's offering a ride to someone, or taking a moment to help someone in need. i just want to become aware of others around me. by doing this we will be closer with our Heavenly Father. 

my little brother in el salvador is taking this challenge and i can't wait to hear his results. so now i'm challenging you. find ways you can share the love of Christ with others, and then let me know the results! 

also, check out my mormon.org profile. 

http://www.mormon.org/me/GW31

i'm stepping onto my soapbox

a few months ago i came across an article that had to do with the new music video "animals" by maroon 5. the article talks about how they made it seem like it was perfectly okay for a man to stalk a woman, fantasize about her in a meat shop and essentially give off the message that it's okay to treat women like meat. 

i don't consider myself a full fledged feminist, but i do find myself getting more upset as women are treated unfairly throughout society. i get  that it happens to men too, but it's not often portrayed in a negative manor like it is for women. 

recently a friend showed me the song "girl in a country song". basically it just talks about how women are shown in music videos, and used to be some "hot piece of woman" in order to make themselves look better and to show off to their friends. This music video reverses the role, and puts the men in the hot seat. not only is it humorous, but it's also accurate. 

where is this post going exactly? ....here is where i tie it all together. 

a few weeks ago i had the opportunity to speak for a yw in excellence. their theme for the night was "you're worth more than gold" based off of brit nicole's song "gold". 

i feel bad for people who see how men or women are mistreated in the media, and than think it's perfectly normal to be in a relationship or to be mistreated because it's okay in the media. 

more than anything, i wish people, especially females, would realize that they really are "worth more than gold" especially in God's eyes. 

thank heavens we have made some progress where women are somewhat respected in society, and that we are allowed to have jobs, run for government positions, go to school etc. but we still have to take a stand for our own lives. stand up for yourself or other people who are being mistreated, make a difference, and don't take no for an answer when you are striving to reach your dreams. 

*steps off soapbox* 

currently...

++ drinking a woot woot from fizz n' fryz because i went to the gym this week, so i deserve it 

++ watching: private practice and loving every minute of it 

++ rejoicing because my cute brother has hit his 3 month mark 

++ enjoying having all of my wonderful friends come back from their missions 

++ living up the fall season in l-town. even though it's starting to get cold, i love it 

++ counting down the days until graduation. 5 weeks, say what?!?! 

++ patiently waiting for december 5th, hello t-swift pre-sale tickets 

++ jammin to these two songs 

and blank space by t-swift....which unfortunately you can't listen to it anywhere until you buy it

but the who cd is great anyways. 

lately.

here's what i have been up to lately, according to my iPhone photos. 

also, can i get a woot woot, because there is only 11 1/2 more weeks left until graduation.

i'm working on a post on tips for surviving college. share any and all of your thoughts!

 my cute little brother left on his mission, as you know from a previous post. 

i got to talk to him on monday, and it was such a blessing. he is doing so good! 

i miss him like crazy though! 

 road trips with this stud to island park. it was a great time! 

 also getting stranded in the middle of the canyon with brit was a great adventure. maybe i should learn a thing or two about cars. shout-out to all of the kind people who pulled over to help us. 

 really anytime i get to hang out with these cuties is a good time. 

 mia and megan have both gotten married in the last two months, i'm so happy for them! love these girls so much. p.s. carrie bird gets home in less than a week! 

my mom signed us up for doeterra, so we will see how this goes. 

that's really all that has happened lately. right now i'm working 45+ hours a week and 

trying to balance school and spending time with my husband. it's rough, but i'm almost done! 

until next time fellow internet peeps. 

best day ever

obviously i'm talking about my wedding. thank you to everyone who made it possible, the day went smoothly and i loved every second of it! check out this video my home gurl jenna put together for me. it's pure gold. you can watch it HERE

also a big thank you to step and blue bird photography!

 

 

little brother

this is my cute little brother. 

he left for his mission to el salvador, san salvador east mission on wednesday

i already miss him like crazy, but i am so proud of him for making

the decision to serve a mission. 

thanks brother (i never call him by his name ps) for being such 

a wonderful example to me. i am so excited to get your weekly emails

and see how much you are growing. 

the people of el salvador are so lucky!

see you in a quick 2. 

p.s. eventually i will post about the best day of my life. 

chain of events

have you ever taken 5 minutes to sit and ponder how you got to where you are today based off of all the events that have lead up to it?

as i was sitting in church today, i thought back to all the events that lead up to my temple marriage.

> may 2011, i graduated from high school and prepared to move up to utah state university

>>august 2011-may 2012 i was blessed with the best roommates i could ask for, who helped me stay on the right track. if it wasn't for their examples i don't think i would be where i am today.

>>> january 2012 i wanted to go to maine to work at a summer camp but my mom insisted that i work at oakcrest instead. i applied the week everything was due, and somehow made the cut to actually be interviewed.

>>> summer of 2012 was the best experience of my life. i learned so much about myself and where i truly stood when it came to the gospel. not to mention i met my great friend caitlyn, who set us up,  my future sister in law, and my best friend. working at oakcrest also helped me solidify my career path.

>>>the entire 2013-2014 school year i decided i was going to do some type of humanitarian trip, party in logan all summer, and hang out with my best friend. good thing i'm not actually truly in control of my life. Heavenly Father knew that i needed to go back to oakcrest, even though it wasn't right at the very beginning. my bishop gave me a blessing telling me that working there again would prepare my for my temple marriage. i learned so much from the wonderful staff and i finally felt like i could handle marriage.

>>>zach and i started dating in august, at first long distance (which was the worst), and eventually at utah state. we had so many things preventing us from dating we had to work hard to keep it together. but i know that these events made us stronger. and i am forever grateful.

i guess my whole point is to always remember that through every single good and bad time, it is preparing you for something better. we are not in control, it's  important to trust in His timing. my challenge for you this week.....think of all the events that have made you into the person you are today. write it down.

'merica

let me start out by saying i hated when people shortened America to merica. but i couldn't stop saying it yesterday. any who, this is the first 4th of july i have actually really celebrated in awhile. for the last two years i have been at oakcrest celebrating with human fireworks, which is fantastic. but there is nothing like parades, booths, face painting, and of course fireworks. last night we sat on my roof and watched fireworks all throughout the valley, it was fantastic. also, since brit and i are teenagers at  heart, we made a special 4th of july video. i promise you will love it!

 

also a little preview for July 11th! i can't wait to marry zach in 6 days! 

shout-out to blue bird photography for taking my amazing pictures!