That Glorious Time Called Spring

Guys. Guys!

It's spring! The sun is shining! Flowers are blooming! Waking up is easier! I love spring!

I feel like every year I am startled by how much easier it is for me to be happy when spring arrives. And I am by no means a winter hater. In fact, I adore winter. I think it is beautiful and fun and poetic. It's a beautiful time to set goals and slow down and remember your dreams. But it sure is a lot harder for me to feel happy in winter. And I try. I think that, for the most part, I have a measure of control over happiness, but there are just times when it feels so much easier. When spring arrives, I feel like I've awoken from a gloomy dream. I am able to get over unhappy things more quickly because I can't feel mad or sad or gloomy or glum when I feel the world going from gray to green, at least not for long. I'll miss the snow, which is one of my favorite things, but I sure do love green.

I think I said last year that I felt spring might be replacing fall as my favorite season. And I think right now I'm making it official. Spring is my favorite season. It is hopeful and joyous. (I reserve the right to change my favorite at any future point, however.)

Valentine's Day

I've always been a big Valentine's Day fan. To me, it's not about celebrating romantic love necessarily--it's a day to celebrate all kinds of love! 

In honor of this view on Valentine's Day, here is a list of some things I love: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, dogs, youtube videos showing dogs doing cute things, cookies, random friendly texts, friends wanting to hang out, time spent with Adam, old Rascal Flatts songs, music that you can sing along to, smoothies, good food, cooking, flowers, my family, memories of my favorite place, knowing that a vacation is coming soon, books and time to spend reading, people who are passionate about things but in a kind manner, clean and punny and silly jokes.

This list is certainly not inclusive of all of the things I love, but it does include some things I've been thinking about recently 

This Valentine's Day was a little unusual for me because I'm actually dating someone. Adam and I went to Koko's Lunchbox for dinner and ate some delicious Korean food. Then we went to the dollar theater and saw Fantastic Beasts (for the third time because I love it). Then we just talked at my house for a little bit. I had told Adam not to get me anything because I know money is tight for him. But he got me some roses and dark chocolate anyway, and I think it is so sweet! What a sweetie! 

I will say that I did miss some aspects of my traditional Valentine's days, which typically include eating and playing games with friends. I may lean slightly on the introvert side, but I love spending time with friends immensely, and I miss friends. However, that being said, tonight was a dream, and I love spending time with Adam. He brings me joy. 

And even though it's now technically over, happy Valentine's Day, friends! I love you lots! 

Januaries

Does anyone else find themselves getting irrationally irritable and cranky in Januaries? It's a mostly consistent thing for me. And it doesn't get too bad most years, but it's just annoying. 

I'm trying to do lots of things I love this month though and get lots of sleep and exercise! I hope these things will help. But if I seem a bit more prickly than usual to anyone this month, I truly apologize. I'm certain it will pass as the days get a bit lighter. 

Also, there are two awesome birthdays on the last day of January! My mom and the Adam. And I asked for that day off work to have a fun day. I'm excited! I can do this! 

2016

I know some people have had a really rough year, and I wouldn't say it was perfect for me, but the year was really full of a lot of great things for me! Here's a recap of my year!

*Note: This may be really long, but I don't really care because it's more for my own sake than for anyone else's!*

January

I feel like I hardly remember January. It was so long ago! Here are some things I do remember though:



I went tubing with my wonderful friend Danielle early in the month. It was so much fun, and I don't see her much, so it was fun to hang out with her. I'm so thankful she invited me!

We celebrated Ian's birthday! (As a side note, he might hate me for this picture, but I don't have a better one.)

I visited the new Provo City Center Temple (just a block from my house)! I went on at least one winter walk, which was kind of lovely. I went on a few dates, two of which were with Adam. We celebrated mom's birthday. 

February

February was spent in both icy places and the beach. Early in the month, I went to the ice castles with Jordan, Renae, Josh, and Kyle. I had fun, but I know some in our group were not loving the cold. We celebrated Jordan's birthday with a Harry Potter birthday part, after which we hopped on a plane to go to a magical place. 

 

Orlando! Harry Potter Wizarding World! The Beach! Disneyworld!

  

 

It was magical! I loved it so very much. 

March

In March, the weather started getting better, I ate some great food. I did a painting with work. I started dating Adam, and I went to Portland! 

I went to Portland for the ACES conference for work, and that was fun and informative, but I also tried to explore as much as I could while I was there. 

April

In April, I went to the Thanksgiving Point gardens, went to the zoo with Camilla and her kids, and saw Parachute and Jon Mclaughlin.

May

May the weather got even better and many more outdoor adventures began! 

I went to the Living Traditions Festival, Cami's wedding, hiking, Scera. 

June

June started out with birthday celebrations! Jordan and I went up to Bear Lake and went camping. The rest of the month had hiking and nature and farmer's markets and scera shows and chalk art festival and the olympic ropes course in Park City. It was a great month!

July

In July I went to Stadium of Fire to see Tim with my mom. Then I had a magical fourth of July! I went on a ward campout that was beautiful and fun. Academic meetings for work happened. I went to a concert in Park City with my parents. At the end of the month, I headed to my favorite place of Jackson, WY!

August

Jackson was amazing! I love my family and the beautiful outdoors! I went to Bear Lake with my family. Joel and Abbie had a beautiful and fun wedding reception. I took Adam to his first rodeo. I celebrated dad's birthday with him. 

September

At the end of August through early September, I had a ton of fun concerts. I saw Dixie Chicks and Kacey Musgraves and Boys to Men. I love concerts!

For Nick's birthday, we celebrated up in the mountains, and the fall colors were beautiful. I went to the Harvest festival with Jordan and Adam. 

October

I went to California. This included a visit with my friend Ian and a visit to the beach. My mom and I went to Disneyland, and I got to spend a little time with my California relatives. I drove out there by myself, and I feel like it was a really good experience. I spent Halloween with my family, and it was mellow and fun. 

November

November included Kaylee's birthday, a Head and the Heart concert, a Jon McLaughlin concert, and Fantastic Beasts!! Thanksgiving was spent with my family and was nice. 

December

December has been a blast! I love Christmas time so much! At the beginning of the month, we had a birthday party for my grandma. We then all went up to temple square to look at the lights. I went to two Messiah Sing-Ins, which fill me with wonder and joy. I went to the aquarium with Adam, and we had a wonderful time. Christmas Eve, my family had a paint night, which was fun. And Adam came over on Christmas, and the family opened gifts, and we had a nice relaxing day. The day after Christmas, Adam and I went sledding. This week, we also went to the lights in Spanish Fork. I don't know what I'm doing tonight, but it should be fun, and I'm so excited! 

Summary

Parts of this year have been dull, but much of this year has been wonderful. I have many more things I could say and more pictures I could post, but I also want to go do things right now instead of write, so maybe I'll write more later, but for now, I'm off! I hope this coming year is full of wonderful things! 

Anne motivations

Back in October, I listened to the book of Anne of Green Gables on a trip to California. I relate to young Anne so much. I may not be quite as wild as her in my actions, but I certainly feel that my desires to be good are there but that I too can be stubborn with what I want. I feel like my moods and wants can be variable, and I'm not sure that I always make life easy for those around me. But with Anne, it's easy to see her good spots too. She sees the world in a beautiful way and loves people with so much of her heart. She is persistent and hard working. I do hope that some of these things might be true for me too, but I fear I have much to work on.

But I do long to be good. I want to be a good, kind, unselfish person. And when I fall short, it makes me sad. I find that it's harder for me in the colder, darker months to be forgiving and peaceful and to see the good in the world, but if I wish to be good, I think it would help me to see some of the good and take more of the good things into my life. For this reason, I think I might try to dedicate 2017 to more of the good things, things that bring peace and wonder and love to my heart. Some of these things include nature, books, relaxing time with loved ones, the temple, and writing. I find that I often want to go on adventures. And while adventures are great and grand and happy, the things that linger in my heart tend to be the softer moments. Some of these moments come from pursuing adventures, so the two are not mutually exclusive, but I find that making time for peaceful moments is crucial.