Awkward & Awesome

Awkward

The fact that my Daddy has a "space unicorn" ringtone on his smartphone...

and all of us but Mom know all the words. 

In all their cheesy glory. Hahaha.

Looking for a job. For hours, every day, ha. When nobody is hiring... sigh. 

But something will work out. I hope really soon! I'm keepin my chin up.
 

Awesome

Dancing to Frank Sinatra with Katharine while doing the dishes!

Seriously, Sinatra is the best. 

I love that era of music. 

So cozy and sweet and romantic and just fun.

Not to mention it is so fun to dance & sing to, 

& doing so is completely irresistible whenever the music starts playing.

New bedspreads from Ikea - best home decoration store. ever.

Working out! Of course! 

Gotta love running in the high altitutude - that was a bit challenging at first, haha.

But it feels so good.

And hiking this weekend! 

And taking 4 Institute classes.

 I know, I'm a nerd haha.

But it's only for two hours on weekdays... 

and I want to take as much advantage of the opportunity as I can, while I can.

And, as I am not yet employed, I have a ton of time to fill!
And so far, the ones that I've started have been awesome.

So it works out great (:

 

Mountain Excursion with my Favorite Ginger

Basically, I love photography (:

and my favorite Ginger friend.
And the Rockies are soo beautiful.
Breathtaking.
Missed these.

I love summer!!

 

 

I always make the most awkward faces... haha.

High School Dance Pictures (:

Haha, these were so fun to see!

And so cheesy. 

Gotta love cheesy high school dance pictures (;

This was my first date! Crazy!

Utah!!

Has been so crazy!

Huge, crazy culture shock - I kind of felt like my brain was spinning the first few days, ha.
It's so weird coming back after all that has happened to me the past year...
 it feels almost like a Twilight Zone episode.
But in a great way (: Just a really weird feeling!

Basically here's what happened -

Daddy leaves to NYC Monday morning, I arrive Monday evening, Swedish family - Magnus & Anna-Carin and their children Linus & Alva - come Tuesday evening, Daddy comes home Wednesday evening... and ever since then it's been so busy! And so great!

We've been up to the lovely sparkling Park City at night 

(where I ate my first $50 meal - melt in your mouth tender, delicious salmon - best I've ever had. yum! Thanks Uncle Laman!)

Walked around downtown SLC, and the beautiful temple!
That's probably my favorite (: I love temple square! So good to be back!

Went to the Kennicott Copper Mine - super cool after reading Atlas Shrugged.

I guess it's visible from space, supplied 1/3 of the nation's copper during WWII, and is just insanely huge

Hiked Lake Blanche - gorgeous but kinda tough 6 mile hike. So, so, so beautiful.

It was so funny - We were all dying inside because it was super hard. Seriously, it was hard haha. But nobody said anything! We were all too stubborn, and we all thought we were the only ones struggling so we all just kept going and didn't admit our agonizing pain the whole hike.. haha.
But we made it! We overcame the struggle (:
And it was definitely worth it. Just going to be super sore for a few days (:
Another funny story -
At the top of the mountain is this beautiful crystal clear blue lake. (Lake Blanche).
 So Alva & Linus were playing by the water, and suddenly this huge gust of wind came and blew their hats way out to the middle of the lake! Haha. As we ate lunch their hats floated slowly back to the shore, and finally when we left Magnus waded out pretty deep to grab them with a stick. It was so funny.

We also went swimming. It was an indoor pool... so no sunshine :( sad day. But the family was so fun! Especially watching the crazy cannonballs and seeing my parents trying (& sometimes succeeding haha) to dive. Way fun!

Then we had an enormous, delicious family BBQ, with way too much food, interesting stories, and lots of laughing.
It was so fun to go to Church on Sunday and see all my old friends too (: 

Katharine & I have been hanging out a ton, and it's basically hilarious. We're a little bit crazy (:

and crack ourselves up all the time. Love my sister.

It's been so fun getting to know my Swedish family! They are such awesome people - so fun, and kind, and I have loved spending time with them.

And that's all I have time to write right now (: and my English was terrible, woops, but oh well!

I love Utah!

Oh and I should probably mention, I love being with Daddy and Mom again.
I missed them a ton.
And it's been so funny looking at old high school pictures & driving the 15 seater van (the beast)
okay, the end (:
 

We saw these shirts with these weird flaps on them, and somehow it turned into the flaps could be pulled up over your nose... and with that Katharine dragged me to the dressing room. And we took ninja pictures. We're so cool (; Haha.

I tried. She's way better at it then I am.

We have a Smith's shopping cart in our neighborhood... that's not ghetto at all.. haha

Lovely temple!

Love this place (:

Kennicott Mine - I think they said it's 11 miles across. SO enormous.

Linus hiking!

So beautiful!!

 

Cheese!! Haha

Anna-Carin made these beautiful bouqets for the BBQ! Right from our garden. Their lovely (:

curry chicken (:

.

First of all, Happy Father's Day (:

To my awesome Daddy and Dad. Love you guys, and thank you for all you have done for and still do for me.

Tomorrow I'm heading out to Utah, for two whole months.

(:

I am beyond excited. I'm also a bit nervous. Ha.

It was a great last weekend in VA - last day of work, had an awesome date, and spent alot of time with family.

I am so blessed. Life is absolutely beautiful (:

I'm so excited to see what the future brings.

This comforting, beautiful peace has just settled in me this week,

and I know things are going to work out, and are going to be okay.

It's rather difficult to describe with words, and I don't want to sound trite or cheesy. So I mean this from the deepest sincerity of my heart. 

But I am so grateful for my Savior, and for my Heavenly Father,

and for the heroes and examples in the scriptures.

I hope someday I can see them, and meet them, and return to them with my family.

That's my dearest dream, and my ultimate goal, ha.

I am so grateful that it is possible, because of Jesus Christ.
  I hope I can live a worthy life to obtain that blessing.
I'm going to try & be the best I can be..
 and even though I mess up, fall back, and get quite discouraged sometimes, I'm never going to stop standing back up and trying again. It'll be worth it (:
I know the Savior has helped me and continues to help me become a better person then I could ever be without Him, and without His gospel & teachings.
His love and words truly soften, strengthen, and change hearts.
I am so grateful.