Blessed

This month, much like this year, has seemed to pass much too quickly and has been busy as ever. Despite the flu bug and loads of stress I've been under, I have been quite aware of how very blessed my life is. I love this time of year and the reflection and gratitude it brings, when life moves so fast and so much is too easily taken for granted. 

Truth is, I am thankful every day for my family.

{especially my sister... and my mom... and my dad}

 

And for Brandon's family, that I quickly claim as my own.



I am constantly surrounded by amazing people that I admire in so many ways and that is an incredible blessing.

I am endlessly thankful for Brandon.

What a guy. I am in awe of him everyday and could not have found a more perfect match for my crazy self.

& I am thankful for a loving heavenly father and a gospel that helps me through anything and everything that life throws my way. Each day is an adventure and the gospel, and my testimony of that gospel, helps me press on, through sunshine or storm.  



The Happiest Place

California was as magical as ever...

Disneyland especially :)

I feel so lucky to be part of such a great family!

Lovely Thought...

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That being said, I'm still counting down to Disneyland...35 days. But I'll make the days count between now and then. Promise.

Lately ...

Here, for your viewing pleasure is a mobile phone photo montage of a few of life's latest highlights:



 Welcome home Elder DeYoung! The "kids table" is now officially back in action!

3 of my favorite RMs!

The DeYoungs- more or less (missed you Lena!)

Business cards?! Yikes, feeling slightly overly adult right now!

It's a work in progress but we redecorated our room! I am loving shades of gray lately (not 50 shades just shades of the color in general).

 The YW leaders and girls threw a shower for my darling friend and fellow young women leader, Shauntae, who is expecting her first little girl early next month! So excited for her! I saw the onesie decorating idea on Pinterest and decided we had to try it at her shower. It was a hit! She went home with so many cute onsies for her baby girl! The ones above are just a few I decorated for her in my spare time, it's such a fun craft!

The shower turned out amazing, more photos to come hopefully, my friend and Shauntae's sister-in-law, Lisa, had her camera handy which I was thankful for because the only camera I ever have handy is my camera phone and even then I'm terrible at remembering to take photographs.

That's right, my 5 year relationship with SLCC has finally amount to something! Hallelujah! Brandon's SLCC degree is on it's way as well, and next week he begins his first semester at the U of U! So proud of him and thankful he's such a hard worker!

St. George

I am lousy at vacation photos.

But here are a few moments of our recent St. George trip:

Brandon had to bribe me and physically force me to go, but in the end I was so glad we went. It made July finally feel like summer and it was nice to spend some much needed quality time with Brandon. I especially loved the day we spent boating with the Bradshaw's. My phone died early on that day so I don't have any photos but it was a great day. It was my first day out boating this year and I loved every minute. Because I love boating, but mostly because I love my little nieces and nephews so very much.

They make every day feel like summer.

Happy 4th!

Love the 4th of July. Nothing like a random day off in the middle of the week spent with these quality people...

I have the best family.

Such a good day.

& a busy one, spent moving my family into their lovely new home....

It's beautiful.

More on that soon.

Lennon & Maisy

                         Such talented little gals.

Just Kidding...

No trek for the Free's.

Brandon took me to the instacare on Sunday for what we thought was heat stroke and dehydration that we wanted to get under control before trek the next day. Left with an IV needle in my arm and possible pneumonia that I was ordered to follow up on the next day before even thinking about heading off to trek.

Seriously? pneumonia?! And here all I'd wanted was IV of water...
The night before trek I spent several hours with a dry cough and had a fever of 102. I knew there was no way I could have left for trek the next morning, even if I'd wanted to.

I dropped Brandon and some of my young women off early that morning- Brandon and I were hopeful (and possibly crazy to think) that the pneumonia diagnoses was a fluke and that I'd be heading up to meet them on the trail later that day. Unfortunately that wasn't the case.

I've been pretty sad over the whole thing. I've spent many, many months preparing for trek, I've given two talks on trek, given guys and gals many trek pep talks, planned several trek centered activities, gathered gear for the event, said many prayers for my trek kids, praying that they all would be there, and they all were- it was just me who wasn't. Who knew I should have been praying that I would be there?

After 3 days of IV treatments and two and a half days of antibiotics I'm starting to feel a little better and hopefully won't have to deal with a fever of any kind tonight. I'm still sad and trying to make sense of it all but as my mom reminded me, many pioneers prepared for the journey, but not all were able to go, not all made it to their destination. That's true of life in general, there are things we prepare for and not all of our preperation take us to the place we think it will. I guess that's half the adventure of life, not quite knowing how things will pan out but living and thriving through whatever is thrown at us.





All I know is I hope those youth are having an amazing time and I hope they're taking tons of photos for me to see!

I also hope that I can take a break from being a medical disaster for the rest of the year! Fingers crossed! (Thank you to Brandon, Rebecca Gibb and Kathy Free for all your help these last few days. I am so lucky to have such amazing family)

Kind of crazy...

How fast this year is flying by!

This time next week I'll be outdoors, hopefully blister free, pulling a handcart and being the "ma" of 10 teenagers. Yikes. Trek always seemed so far away and suddenly it's here!

Many, many, many thanks to everyone who donated clothes, money and time to the Jordan 1st Ward. Thanks especially to the wonderful and amazing ,Kathy Free, who helped Brandon and I sew our family flag (we could not have done it without you!) and helped us round up pioneer clothes:

Truth be told, I am not a camping kind of girl (much to Brandon's dismay). Hiking? Yes. Mountain biking? Sure. But sleeping outside in a tent on the ground? No thank you! When the sun goes down I prefer to sleep indoors in my comfortable bed. So this next week will be full of all kinds of adventures. I'm excited though-excited, stressed and slightly nervous- but mostly excited.

Wish us luck!

Nobody likes you when you're...

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?

Sorry Blink 182, but I must disagree.

 

 

23's been pretty great for me so far. Thanks to my wonderful co-workers, friends, family and husband! I'm one lucky gal.

27

Happy Birthday (on the 21st), to this wonderful man...

I so love him.

Happy 27th birthday, best friend! So thankful for the birthdays we've shared together, here's to many, many more! 

Oh Mother,

Well, despite my doubts, I made it through last week alive and happy. I could not have made it through without the love and support of my amazing friends and family. Especially my mother (& Brandon, always Brandon).

On Thursday I went in for surgery and she was there bright and early to see me and help calm my nerves, which, given my fear of needles and hospitals is no small task. But her presence calmed me down, her positive attitude and quickness to laugh were just the medicine I needed. She stayed at the hospital through the whole operation and was there to calm my tears and answer my questions when I was wheeled into a hospital room I didn't recognize, confirming to me that what was supposed to be an outpatient visit had become inpatient. In the days that followed she was always there when I needed her, just a text or call away when I was feeling sick or blue and always came to visit me with a cheerful smile and a million goodies when I couldn't make up my mind about what food sounded good to eat. I could not have survived this weekend without my mother who is always so strong and amazing. Always living her life to comfort and serve those that she loves and always being a rock and example to those around her.

When things get hard I know she'll be there and for that I am eternally grateful for the gift of mothers. Of all the many things my mother gave me the strongest thing I gained from her is the desire to be a mother and to raise a family. Without the surgery this last week it would have been difficult for me to be a mother and without my mother there to hold my hand it would have been difficult to have the surgery. So interesting, the many aspects of motherhood this mother's day weekend encompassed for me. I am so thankful to be a woman and to know so many beautiful and amazing mothers that are perfect examples to me of everything I hope to one day be.

Instagram & Bangs...

It's what we've been up to lately!

My self titled, Instagrump. :)
Though honestly, he has been grumpy twice in the 5 years we've been together.

Love bendy straws

Well, I am back on the bang bandwagon. I'm not sure how/why I ever fell off that wagon.
Happy to be back. & happy to be on the Instagram wagon.

Maybe Instagram will help me get back on the blog bandwagon?
We'll see.

Wise words...

from a wise and wonderful man.

Happy Sunday!

Next week....

I work literally 24 floors above the new City Creek Center. I am beyond excited for the grand opening.
If you don't watch this show, you should. On Monday 'A' will be revealed!

It arrives! H&M, Forever 21 and Sephora all at one place? Perfect.

Obsessed. I've been waiting for this movie forever.

I still think House would have made the best Haymitch.

& it's spring break!

It's going to be a great week.

A few days late, but true nonetheless...

Phrases you will almost never hear....

I just barely learned how to post videos to my blog. Clearly, I am just a little giddy about it. This video is too funny and the guy in it completely reminds me of my cousin-in-law, Preston. Enjoy!

What's being quoted in the Free house lately?

When we're not quoting Kid History this is the YouTube video we're quoting this week...





Honestly this video terrifies me, as I have a wisdom tooth surgery coming my way in the near future. Brandon now fully plans on filming every glorious, post surgery moment. I doubt I'll be nearly as hilarious as this kid. But I am positive that I will share his same craving for a "Normal Diet Coke".

Happy Friday!

Fun > Fear = Happy

Um, Is it bad that we are 5 days into January and I am just now deciding my resolutions?
Oh well.
Better now then in February... or July.

I mean, Brandon and I nearly forgot we were supposed to kiss at midnight on New's Year Eve. Big thanks to Ryan Seacrest, for reminding us just in time*.
Clearly, we have not really been up on our 2010 New Year's game.

Now, what should my 2012 resolutions be? There's the typical, unattainable list:

-Work out more (& by more I mean at all)
-Blog daily (will never happen)
-Eat better (I literally just had a Big Mac for dinner)
-Start on that long overdue 2nd chapter of my novel
-Start making better use of my mornings/waking up earlier

To tell you the truth though, I am going to keep eating big macs while intermittently blogging after waking up late. & I am going to focus on one thing...

Being happy (aka: more fun, less fear) and stoked for all of the awesomeness that is in store this year (i.e. Hunger Games movie, the official opening of the City Creek Center, Disneyland, a presidential election, another end of the world prediction coming to pass). I'm pretty excited for this year and I am going to try to enjoy every moment. Whether it be completing what feels like my millionth hour in my typical work day or riding the mickey shaped coaster in California. More fun, less fear.

Along with being happy I'm also going to attempt to floss and work out...more. Just for good measure.



* (Fun fact: when you start typing Ryan Seacrest's name into google and that helpful little suggestion list pops up the second thing on that list is 'Ryan Seacrest mormon'. Cute. I'm sure Brandon Flowers is working on it).