The Olympics. Oh how I love them. In fact, when the Olympics come around I become obsessed and have no desire to do anything else. Is that so wrong? Nope. The coolest part, the whole world decided to throw this ceremony on my birthday...they called it the "closing ceremony" of the olympics...I still know it was the world throwing me a birthday bash. I mean the crying bear at the end...you guys nailed it with that one. Bless you all. 

I have this huge aspiration to be in the olympics. Like HUGE. I have for quite some time, and everytime the olympics roll around it just gets bigger. Yeah I know, i'm 25...its a little late. Nothing I haven't heard before. But an adult can still dream...right? I'll let you in on a secret...Everyday when I run, I imagine I am either training for the olympics or I am in the olympics. It's not normal, and I am totally fine with that. It keeps me going mile after mile...so who gives! BUT If you really want to make my dreams come true, slap me in a bobsled with a few others and send me down the ice. I'd pee my pants in joy. Literally. 

The Olympics make me want to be better and work harder, and the athletes that compete are a inspiring to say the least.  Can I get an Amen? Amen. This became even more obvious yesterday as I watching conference and Bishop Gary Stevenson started talking about a few of the athletes from Sochi Olympics. He spoke my language clearly..he combined the gospel with the olympics. Go Stevenson, You nailed it. Sure it's fun to watch the different competitions, but what I actually really LOVE about the olympics is hearing about the athletes and their stories. My youtube-ing time the past 2 months was well spent watching videos on different athletes..again, not normal...and I am not ashamed. Booyah. Stevenson talked a lot about Noelle Pikus Pace...she crushed it in the skeleton. Did I mention she broke her leg awhile back from a bobsled running into her? Yeah she did. But don't worry, she came back and stole the silver medal in Sochi. Inspiring? Duh. 

I could probably sit here and list off athlete after athlete...But look at it this way, the olympics is a competition amongst the worlds BEST athletes. People...these athletes are thee BEST in the world. Mind blown. What else is inspiring? It's the whole world coming together...89 countries coming together in 1 country. Sure its a competition between countries..but its ain't no war!  If the olympics just contained the opening ceremony of all the countries coming out...my olympic obsession would be satisfied. Coolest thing to watch, and the outfits they wear gets me everytime. I'd kill to have those sweaters USA wore in Sochi...i'd win every ugly christmas sweater party from here on out! 

Moral to this post...I love the Olympics for these reasons plus a whole heck of a lot more. There is a lot to learn from these athletes, and I can't get enough of it. 

If you ever want in on some USA attire...I got you covered. If you're lucky, you may get to borrow my American Flag slippers. My pride and joy. 

You should probably also watch one of the best/inspiraing/motivational videos i've watched of an Olympic Athlete..straight from BYU, Kate Hansen. I made it easy for you, here's the link: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMpqHi2Z7lg

As of lately, there is a few lessons that I have learned. So sit back and grab yourself a cookie or two (that's what I would do)..this is a long one. But a good one.

Lesson 1:  Family really is there for you..always. They have your back no matter what. If you know me, you know that I love family, especially my own. I miss them like crazy, and everyday I wish I could be back home close to my parents. Living in Utah I am blessed to be living by family..Trent, Kasey and Aidynn. Unfortunantly they are moving soon, but I am grateful for the time that I have spent with them here, and for how much they have helped me. But no matter how far we all are from each other  we still manage to know everything thats going on in all our lives, and the love we have for each other doesn't end.

Lesson 2: I have never been so grateful to be a member of this church then I am now. Better yet to be raised in this church with such supportive parents and family. The term families are forever means the world to me so much more now since I have worked at New Haven. I see girls who come from broken families, and they fight and have all sorts of issues.  And to know for myself, that I have my family forever is awesome. I love the quote: "We may not have it all together, but together we have it all".

Lesson 3: Keep those you care about most, close to you. I have had friends who have hurt me, take advantage of you, etc. But I also have always had friends who lift me up, make me want to be better, and just show you how to love life. Lately I have learned who those friends really are, and I am so grateful to have friends who really are like family to me. Take time for those that matter most.

Lesson 4: Patience is a virtue. Learn patience and great things will happen. Let's just say, that working at New Haven I have learned a extreme amount of patience. Patience that I never even knew was possible to have. Enough said. I love my new level of patience.

Lesson 5: Stand up for what you believe in, no matter what. Everyday I work at New Haven (sorry, I have just learned a lot since working at new haven), I get asked about my beliefs. This is no exaggeration. Or my beliefs get mentioned, since we do live in Utah and about 90% of us staff are LDS amongst a group of teenage girls who are Jewish of Catholic. I hear negative comment all the time, but I love the opportunity that I get to stand up for what I believe in. I live it. I love it. I know it.

Lesson 6: Keep the Faith. Sometimes its easy to get discouraged. Especially this time in my life when I am a 24 year old single girl amongst a mormon population of 20 year old girls already married with 20 kids. Not saying I wish I had 20 kids. But you have to keep the faith that it will all fall into place. Keep on trekking!

Lesson 7: Don't get stressed. Just laugh. Simple.Love the life you are given, because it was given to us for a reason.

Lesson 8: One of my absolute favorite quotes is: "All you need is 20 seconds of insane courage and I promise you something great will come out of it". -We Bought A Zoo

Lesson 9: Take everything you go through each day as a lesson learned. Learn from it, and move on.

Lesson 10: Remember lessons 1-9. Always.

The weekend of conference was the best. Why? Well, finally I got a whole weekend off of work to actually have a life with friends. It started off like this..Friday I met up with some friends, Melissa and Amy who were in town to go get pedicures, and if you have never had one..they are amazing to say the least. Do it, now. My toe nails turned out great, despite what others may say..toe fungus? You know who you are.. :) we won't mention names. The rest of the day was spent eating cafe rio, going to the BYU bookstore, hoping boys would call us maybe?, and getting ready for the BYU game. Yep, the night ended with the BYU vs. Utah State game! It was a blast..a little cold, but we were at the game and thats all that matters. Don't worry we won..and the weekend just kept getting better.

Saturday..conference! We headed to the afternoon session of conference in Salt Lake City with hopes of watching it in the conference center..but we got the next best thing, the tabernacle. They told us we had to have a little button to get in (kind of made you feel important, we were stoked)..turns out those buttons were for the boys to get into priesthood session. Whoops. Sorry boys. After the session, we met up with one of Melissa and Amy's friends who was serving a mission in Salt Lake. We went to eat at a Korean Restaurant, and its safe to say Koreans eat a lot of seafood-ish stuff..and we all know how I do with seafood. So, I ordered sweet and sour pork. Judge all you want, I call it Korean and it was delicious. So then, we needed to take these two sister missionaries back to their home. Can anyone say roadtrip? We ended up driving to Tooele Utah..I mean we just kept driving and driving out to the middle of no mans land. Long drive, but lets be honest..it made for some fun times. Afterall, Amy never would of learned the animal game, and we would of never learned how terrible she was at it. Which just made the game even better. :) Cold Stone and some games of hit the deck were how the night ended..but if we are going to talk about people being terrible at games, it was probably me at Hit the Deck. I prefer to just slap people's hands during it..I can't help it. 

And the weekend still kept going with Sunday! I got tickets to conference for sunday morning session..ugh we were a little tired..a few may have snuck snacks into conference (cough...melissa and amy..cough). But the amazing thing..they got it past a bazillion security guards. Now that is talent, and I learned to always carry black socks..they hide all sorts of things. Conference was amazing as always, and we chose a great session to go to in the conference center. In between sessions, we had some time to kill. So..well i'll just let the pictures do the explaining. Let's just say, we are a really great bunch. Hilarious actually. It was a blast, the whole weekend. And it felt great to actually have friends here to hang out with ALL weekend. Non-stop. 

Picture proof right here:

Time killer after sunday morning session!

Football game!

LOADS of Korean food. 

Don't worry, I have no idea who those people are that I am sitting by. 

This fall I was lucky enough to get an internship at Aspen Grove, just up Provo Canyon here in Utah. When I say lucky..I mean I was really lucky. Found it a day before the deadline, booyah! Here's the perks of the trade, I get to live at the base of Mt. Timpanogas and walk outside my front door everyday with mountains surrounding me...dreams coming true. PLUS, I live in a cabin with a few other staff members, AND they feed us so much during the week that I really haven't bought groceries in the last 2 months. Now, granted it wasn't the internship that I thought it would be (scrubbing toilets and cleaning up after people wasn't really what I went to school for, but ya know it works out)..this is ok though, because I have had some fun experiences while living up here that have kept me sane. Safe to say, I definitely work with a unique bunch of people, and some more then others test my patience every once in awhile. But at the same time, they have made me more patient, so to say the least if there is anything I get out of this..it's patience. Ya with me? The managers I work with are awesome, couldn't of asked for better one's, and really in the end I am grateful for this internship that I do have. Blessed actually. The other positive side, I get to be close to family (Trent and Kasey, and Aidynn)..which in the end makes up for every toilet I have to scrub. My favorite story thus far from Aspen Grove goes like this in a nutshell..I was on standby all night..3am..call from two ladies..telling me patty is missing..I go out to look for her..two ladies are still freaking out thinking patty got kidnapped..turns out patty was asleep in her room. Go figure at 3am someone would be sleeping in their bed. It was the talk of the camp at breakfast that morning, needless to say...I saved the day. Rather night. Thanks Patty for being asleep in your bed and not eaten by a bear. Well played.
Enough talking, now a glimpse of Aspen Grove in picture form:

View outside my front door..hold all jealousy in.

My most FAVORITE view when I go running. 

Biggest beater of cookie dough ever held in my hands..heaven? close.

Mt. Timpanogas at Sunrise.

Do as the mountain goats do.

We took Aidynn on her first hike..don't mind her face, she loved it. 

We caught a rooster during work on the ball field, chased the sucker forever. 

Mr roomates got a little too much sun..hahaha

The boy's of Summer. 

Moe, always there to lend a piggy back ride.

Jackson Hole with these nice folk!

Survival Class. I survived. 

Smoking...or making a burn bowl. You can decide.

Karli! White friend with black hair. 

Favorite thing ever. 

Too hot. No water. Last stretch.

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I have the coolest job.. Just hangin around.

Paddle Boarding!

Favorite part..Moe trying to rescue herself in the background. Poor kid.

I graduated from BYU-Idaho..crazy? yeah. In fact I am still in shock that my college life is about to be over. The past few weeks people have been asking me so excitedly, "You ready to graduate??"..and my response to them is yes, but they then go, "Aren't you so excited to leave Rexburg and get out of this place?". My answer to them... I couldn't tell you. The past week or so, I have been more hesitant to graduate than excited. See, what people don't realize, is how remarkable this place really is. It's kind of been my life for the past 4 years, and you learn to love it here. The school, atmosphere, the people...its all worth it. It's all worth the homework each day, the treks to class in the snow and blazing heat. I feel bad for those who aren't able to experience the college life, because for me I wouldn't trade it for anyother experience. Choosing Recreation Management was the best decision, its what I love and the experiences I have had within it, some of the best times of my 23 years of living.  I think its safe to say that I have had my up's and down's here at BYU-Idaho, probably more than other people. But with those up's and down's, I have learned and I have grown. Because with each of those, you realize that it really is the Lord's school..and to be able to spend 4 years here,  i consider it a blessing. It's not a opportunity everyone gets. Without this place, I don't think I would be the person I am today in all honesty. The learning environment here is so unique, and the teachers here are amazing. In fact I had the BEST teachers I could ever ask for. They care and they actually get to know you and help you, in fact they go out of their way to help you. What more could a college student ask for? I have made friendships here, that I know I would not of made anywhere else. It's not just your kind of friendship that ends right after you graduate, but I am happy to say that I have made friends here that I know will never end. They become your family, and families are forever right? I never thought I would enjoy living in a small town like Rexburg, but it has been my home, and it will always hold a spot as "home". I am going to miss this place more than anything, but mostly the people that I have met that in one way or another whether they know it or not, have been a huge example to me and have made my experience here even more worth it. Those who don't take advantage of what BYU-Idaho has to offer, and always complain how this place is lame..I feel sorry for you. Because you are missing out on some of the best 4 years of your life. You want an experience that is unlike anyother, choose BYU-Idaho. Here's to graduating! It was all worth it. Oh, and watch this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRZF0lPG7Rc&feature=relmfu

Happy as a clam.

I got to go home to Oregon! But wait, that's not all. The BEST part, almost all the family was there. Almost. It was so fun being with family back home, even if I did feel miserable and sick. Feel is a understatement..I was flat out miserable and sick. That couldn't take away the fun to be had though. Derek was even home visiting from Germany! He was such a trooper to fly in and be with us. Wanna be jealous and hear all that we did? Let me start you off easy..The Oregon Zoo, rode the sky tram in downtown Portland, went to the coast, had picnics, played in the big blue ocean, writing in the sand, taking fun pictures, Hikes in the Gorge along the Columbia River (BEAUTIFUL), learning how to make homemade bread (husband is going to love me someday..when I get one), bocce ball competitions, Monopoly Deal and Wackee Six galore, mom's homemade cooking (top's everything), easter egg coloring, and annual Stutz family easter egg hunt (never too old to find the money filled gold egg). All equals out to some splendid family bonding time! If all of that didn't convince you enough then these pictures should do a little more..

The Boys, before the rest of us arrived.

Awesome sister in law, and cutest niece! I love her. 

Photo bomb on the parents done by Kasey herself.

Probably my favorite..Derek is a special part of our family.

Lincoln City!

Mt. Hood in the background..just getting off the sky tram.

We really got the hang of self-portraits.

Hiking in the Gorge

We even made a few new friends...happy fella

(note i am taller then my mom now)

Oregon is beautiful.