Today I'm grateful for...

1. My job. I'm a nanny or a "mother's helper" or something...I help this mom with her 4-year old daughter and her newborn twin boys (7 weeks old!). So, Abby and I play a lot of chase (she loves that game more than anyone I've ever known and she's freakin fast), color princess pictures, play with her sweet dollhouse (and take the dolls camping), and run errands. Today, we went to this fun store called Clothes Pony & Dandelion Toys. We weren't there to buy anything, we just played with all the fun toys there for about an hour and a half. Somedays I get to hold the precious babies that have already gotten so much bigger since they were born on January 8th. It is so fun to be a part of this other family a couple mornings a week...they are a blessing to me.

2. Energy. I am starting to fade now, even though there's homework that I have yet to do, but today was a good day for energy. We all have busy schedules and I feel like mine causes me to feel tired a lot of the time. But, for whatever reason, I had the perfect amount of energy today and I felt real good.

3. Exercise. I have been really really bad about working out over the past couple months. I was going to a class (Group Power, spinning, yoga, Zumba) only every once in awhile and I have only run about a mile since my half-marathon...yikes. But for Lent, I decided I would work out at least 4 times a week (not including chasing Abby around the basement). I accomplished that goal for the first week and I feel better already!

4. Community. I probably haven't done the best job of putting myself out there and making friends since I've been at CSU. One disadvantage to living at home is that I'm a little further from campus and not surrounded by college students, and I have been really lazy about making an effort to meet people. But last night we had Young Life Leadership and I was reminded about how many really great people are a part of that community. We also had a team meeting afterward (aka the 5 of us went to Waffle House at 11 pm and threw out skit ideas on the drive home). My team is really fun and we've already gotten much closer to each other.

5. Jesus. His presence in my life is so evident in the ways he takes care of me.

Carnival Sensation.

Welp. As I looked at my pictures from our cruise, I realized I totally failed at my picture-taking duty (because I was having TOO MUCH FUN). But I have a few and I took a few from Aunt Drew.

So we decided to go on this cruise on the Carnival Sensation because our lovely cousin Caitlin is a dancer on the ship! So cool. Her parents, Cam and Drew, and her sister Addy were going on the cruise last weekend, so we signed up to go with them. Cathy realized it would be her last weekend before she had to go back to school, so she decided to come, too! I had been counting down the days to our sunny, warm beach trip all semester.

We knew this trip would be a good one from the minute we stepped foot in the Denver airport. Right after my dad talked about trying his hardest to embarrass Oliva & I, he headed up on the escalator. We informed him that we didn't need to go up a level, so he ran (hobbled, tripped, whatever you want to call it) down several stairs of the up-escalator. While my mom, Olivia, and I died laughing, a guy that had overheard our previous conversation said, "You're embarrassing the kids already!"

Then, as the airplane (filled with TONS of children headed to Disney World) took off, the 3-year old girl in front of us yelled, "Bye-bye America!" Her mom informed her that we were only leaving Colorado, not America.

 Above is a pigeon with a peg leg outside of the Orlando airport. Cool. Below..."We're in Orlando, how do you feel????"

On the first night, we were not able to be at a table with Cam, Drew, Caitlin, and Addy for dinner. Instead, we got to eat with 5 wasted 50ish year-old ladies that were dressed in their most elegant formalwear (we were wearing the same clothes we'd traveled in that day). They were "from Florida, where the weather is this nice all the time, just sayin."They were also incredible rude and obnoxious and awkward, and managed to shock our family with their use of profanity. Ha. It was probably the most awkward and the longest TWO-HOUR meal I've ever experienced...not fun. But we got to laugh about it later and spent the rest of the night with the Kenyons and a few of Caitlin's friends. 

On Friday, before reaching the Bahamas, we got in a great round of golf. Olivia got a hole-in-one on this hole. I think I got 3 in the 9-hole course. Heyooo!

 We spent the afternoon on a beach in Nassau. It wasn't too crowded and the water was perfect.

We were able to eat the next two dinners with Cam and Drew's family and it was SO MUCH BETTER. It was so fun to hear all of Caitlin's stories about living on a cruise ship. What a crazy but awesome life!

 Obviously, dad danced with the waiters.

 The food is definitely one of the main attractions of cruises. Over the three days, I ate escargot, sushi, stuffed mushrooms, lobster, crab cakes, more sushi, seafood pasta, LOTS of soft-serve ice cream, multiple pieces of warm chocolate melting cake (aka warm chocolate cake batter with ice cream), and some other good stuff. If you know my family, you know how much joy food brings us. So it was awesome.

After dinner on Friday, Dad performed "Johnny B. Goode" in the karaoke show. Of course, he had lots of dance moves to go with it and we were actually crying because we were laughing so hard. We were kind of famous on the ship after his performance.

On Friday and Saturday, we got to watch Caitlin and the rest of the crew dance. They did 2 different shows and did one of them twice. We went to all three performances and, let me tell you, they are amazing! Awesome music, super cool/fun costumes, and they are all incredibly talented. I was sooo wishing that I had grown up dancing so I could be like them. Seriously. 

 Mother & daughter after Caitlin's first performance. 

Olivia and our cousin Addy ran around the ship all weekend and made a bunch of friends. There was a group of about 20 of them that hung out and went to the teen club until 2 in the morning every night. Crazies. We were really missing the boys this time around, but I was SOOO glad Cathy was with us because I would have been a real loner otherwise. Also, we had so much fun together. She brings out my sarcastic/sassy side, so we were laughing all weekend long. She also blogged about the trip, though neither of us took a ton of pictures. 

Another blog that I follow...

I don't always read her whole posts, but this woman is cool. She is a mom and a missionary with her husband in Costa Rica. And this post is about the Bachelor, a show that I refuse to watch. She doesn't like it either, but watches it anyways. I quite enjoyed her post and I agree with what she has to say about the show. We so need Jesus.
http://www.theveryworstmissionary.com/2012/02/final-freaking-rose.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JamieTheVeryWorstMissionary+%28Jamie+the+Very+Worst+Missionary%29

Indie Covers Rap

Abby told me about this playlist and it's pretty cool. We love our acoustic covers. One time we even learned how to play Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" on our guitars...that was a good phase of lives.

http://8tracks.com/dreamamok/indie-covers-rap

WTF

Just found this on Pinterest. It's amazing. Though I disagree with the caption. This is proof that moms SHOULD text. 

Also, http://whenparentstext.com/ came up in conversation this weekend and I remembered that it's my favorite website. I just spent quite awhile reading them by myself and actually laughing out loud. Seriously, it's incredible.

p.s. I'll post the few pictures I took on the cruise this weekend and write about some funny stories soonish.  It was wonderful! Perfect, really.

Playing hard to get...

So Tim Tebow sent me this postcard in response to my letter. I know it just looks like a mass-produced postcard that his foundation sends out to everyone that writes Tim a letter, but look closer. 

First of all, my parents pointed out that his lips look quite moisturized, so he must be using the chapstick I sent.

Second of all..."And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." Subtle, Tim.

HA. Just kidding. But how cool is he??? Really cool.

Indy, baby.

Ah! This weekend was my Indianapolis trip with Amanda to visit the lovely Abby Miller!! It was wonderful, for reals. Abby has some of the pics on her phone, but this week is crazy so I'm taking this opportunity to write a little about it now. I feel so very very blessed to have been able to go visit my best friend who goes to school about 1000 miles away from me. It seriously is the coolest thing to be able to picture her now. I love it and I'm lucky.

Amanda's dad drove us to the airport and I got to be apart of Amanda's 2nd flight experience without her parents! We were a little excited. And Amanda soon found out that I would be taking pictures at every moment of this trip...sorry I'm not sorry.

 Trying to be hipsters in the airport.

 no-flash plane picture...Amanda hates me.

We got into Indianapolis around midnight and Abby and her roommate picked us up at the airport. Amanda and I were still on Colorado time so we made Abby stay up late with us and we got to meet a bunch of her friends in the Alpha Phi sorority house. On Friday morning, we slept in and it felt amazing, and then Abby showed us around Butler's campus. It was quite chilly but the campus is beautiful!

That afternoon, we walked around a part of Indianapolis called Broad Ripple and looked at all the cute shops and restaurants. Then we got to have dinner and go bowling with Abby's Young Life team! It was so fun to meet all these people that we had heard about and they are all really great. After bowling, we went to Steak n' Shake (not Steaks n' Shakes...embarrassing for me) for some fries and milkshakes.

Abby had to get up real early on Saturday for one of the 50 billion things she's involved in, but Amanda and I slept in. She needed a nap when she got back, so Amanda and I walked around campus a little more (even though it was super cold/windy).

 This is Hinkle Fieldhouse, where the famous Butler Bulldogs play basketball!

 Really cold and not able to get into the fieldhouse because there was a game going on..

Amanda and I were fascinated by sorority life

 Babushka

 Abby's Butler home

After Abby was slightly refreshed, we went to Michael's and, more importantly, the Container Store!!! We had never been there before and boy, were we missing out. It was magical. 

My aunt Jane and uncle Peter live in Indianapolis with their three kids, Isaac, Joanna, and Margaret, only about a mile away from Butler! They had the three of us over for a delicious dinner on Saturday and it was so much fun. They've lived there for 8 years and I had never been to visit, so it was quite the treat! Plus my cousins are awesome.

After dinner with Jane and Peter and the kids, we went to see The Vow. It was not really what we expected, but I was glad about that. We were expecting a big crier, but it really wasn't. I liked it.

 Another time when Amanda wanted to kill me for taking more pictures

After the movie, we hung out in Abby's room and just loved being together. We also put on pink lipstick and took pictures (because we felt like it and Rachel McAdams inspired me to start wearing lipstick), and called Katie, who was back in Fort Collins. 

This morning, we slept in again and skipped church (oops). Then we had the most delicious breakfast at this precious cafe called Taste. I had a BELT (bacon, eggs, lettuce, tomato) and it was so good. We also got sweet potato fries, which are my favorite, and great iced tea. YUM. Abby and I agreed that if we had a nice income, Taste is the place we would be regulars.

After breakfast, we drove around downtown Indianapolis a little, looked at a cool shop, and saw the sights of this year's Super Bowl. Then we spent the afternoon crafting (aka making Valentine's) and watching Friends in Abby's room.

Coming back to real life isn't very fun, but I only have to survive for three days before I leave for my next vaca (hopefully with completely different weather!). Seeing Abby and being a part of her life for three days was the greatest thing ever. Being together brings out the sassy and inappropriate sides of our personalities, which is awesome. I love her so much and really miss her when she's gone, but now I can picture where she is! So cool.