its the moment i've been waiting for...

Needtobreathe's new CD...
Its finally out.
i am DYING!
I've been waiting for so long!!!
I just love them a lot.
AND I GET TO SEE THEM NEXT WEEK!
This song is particularly incredible.

Happy Tuesday!

in case you didn't know....

MAT KEARNEY CHANGES LIVES.
This album is amazing.
I literally love the entire thing...
(except songs Hawthorne and Rochester)

Here is one of my favs...
I KNOW you will fall in love!

HAPPY TUESDAY!

weird week....

as you go through life, there are so many things you think you have figured out.
and you want so hard for things to turn out exactly how you plan them to.
you get excited.
you get hopeful.
you start making more plans.
you are happy...

but sometimes at these moments something happens to bring you back to reality.
you find out who people really are.
you are disappointed.
you are hurt, and a little sad.
you are humbled.
and the plans you created in your head-- change, A LOT.
Basically, sometimes things just don't make sense.

BUT it is at these moments we HAVE to realize there is a God who watches over us and has a plan for us. He always sees the bigger picture that so many times we fail to see.
He is constant.
He is loving.
He knows what is best for us.
And if we turn to Him, devote our lives to Him, and submit ourselves to His will, everything will work out. Life is hard a lot, but knowing we have a Heavenly Father watching over us, who has a plan for us, and KNOWS we can make it through this life with His help-- gives us so much peace and comfort. Things will work out, things will turn our way, and we are so SO loved.

I am so grateful for this knowledge and know it is true with all my heart. These were just my thoughts of the week because of certain things going on in my life...I just am grateful. HAPPY LATE FRIDAY aka SATURDAY!!

-PEACE and love

also....I am obsessed with this song as of late. It has no real connection to what I've been thinking about in life but I just think it is amazing.

i NEED to write another song.

doe a deer, a female deer

I have always loved deer, I think they are beautiful animals. Bambi may have scarred me as a child, but I always thought they were cute and I get so sad whenever I see one dead on the side of the road.

Well because of my REALLY good luck in life...

I made a Bambi somewhere in Provo 

an orphan last night. 

Yes. It's true...

I KILLED A DEER.

A big, beautiful, mama deer,

And I am really, really sad about it. 

And lets just say Pathy (the car) 

doesn't look to hot either :/

I promise I wasn't speeding.

I promise it came out of nowhere.

I promise I really tried NOT to hit it.

And I hope it NEVER happens again.

It was a horrible experience.

I'm sorry Bambi for murdering your mom.

And I'm sorry dad for being expensive.

Sincerely,

a woman who apparently should never drive again.

P.S. - WHY is it always my car??

oh my SHASTA....

SHASTA LAKE, CALIFORNIA.

This is my favorite place on earth.

 I would die if I didn't get to visit
at least once a year.

For the past 8 summers, my family and friends 

have been going to this beautiful place.

It has now become a pretty big tradition in our
family that we will never let down.

 

We had a week full of surfing, knee-boarding,
wake-boarding,tubing, biking, card games,
picnics on the lake, and had a lot of fun with Ellen,
the Westies, and the Bryce Anderson family.

We are definitely a pretty crazy group...

 
 Shasta....we will be back soon!!

LOVE this...

So after watching this I know this song and dance will become your favorite. It definitely changed my life. Oh how I love and miss my Belizean/Reggae music!

San Ignacio Goodbyes....

"Because of your faith, my JOY is full..."

 

So for those of you who don't know....my adventure in Belize officially came to an end. I am back in good old America. As happy as I am to see my friends (and FAMILY soon!), have my bed back, not be sweating from every pore of my body at all hours of the day, to drive, and eat salads....at the end of the day I REALLY miss Belize. A lot. I'm gonna miss:

• Bus Rides 
• The Jungle 
• The Fruit Market and cheap BANANAS 
• The colorful buildings 
• Cayo Twist 
• Oaties 
• The Punta/Reggae Music (don't worry I definitely got as much as I could before I left tho, obviously) 
• Hearing all the accents and CREOLE 
• Walking Everywhere...especially the steep hills ha kidding 
• Flayvas 
• Li and Hudsons 
• 4Runners EVERYWHERE! 
• How everyone repeats words 3x: "morning, morning, morning!", "that is deep, deep, deep", or "it is hot, hot, hot"... I LOVED it. 
• Belizean Time...everyone's at least a half hr late so I fit right in! 
• Doing Turbo on the ROOF 
• Octavia Waight and our tender friends there 
• The Simplicity of life 
• Being honked at EVERYWHERE we went 
• The children 
• The beautiful flowers everywhere 
  • The great lines we would get from EVERY guy we passed

• HUGE avocados 
• The AMAZING, life-changing pineapple 
• Palm Trees 
• Riding in the tender Purple Van and cramming as many people as we could inside

But above all that, I'm gonna miss the people more than anything. The people in Belize have honestly changed my life. They were friendly, loving, caring, funny...I love them so much and will definitely go back and visit them sooner rather than later! Here are just some of my favorite people in the world and some memories and lessons I learned from them:

This is Richard. He may or may not be the funniest person I know. Clearly, as seen in the picture above. This man could literally talk to you ALL day and keep you entertained. He has done the most random things in his life and always has a good story and "a friend" that can help you out with whatever you need. Richard is also probably the kindest person I have ever met. He always has a community project he is working on to help those in need and he does them just out of the good of his heart. He uses so much of his own money to give those less fortunate a better life. He truly was such an inspiration of someone who is constantly serving and putting others before himself.

Richard helped us with the square foot garden project we worked on. Within the first hour of meeting him he had a nickname for me. The nickname was Bebe (a flower in Belize) apparently its just what he does. Some of my favorite phrases of his are, "Oh Sacremento!" and "God Bless America"....you would hear these almost every 5 minutes from him. AND he had a RED '96 4Runner so of course we were instant buddies. If we ever go back to Belize, we would definitely be staying with him and his family. We love them a lot.

This is Anthony. He also helped us with the square foot garden and is Richard's buddy who helps him with a lot of his community projects. This man was known for appearing out of NOWHERE, honking/waving/almost hitting us and taking us on random car adventures. We would just hear him yell out his window at the top of his lungs to get in his car. Normally this would be a dangerous thing to do. But we trusted Anthony with our lives and knew every car trip would be a great story. The trend of our adventures seemed to always be with barbers?? Don't really know why but thats where he took us. Benque, Santa Ellena, Succotz...we've been there with Anthony. He also maybe wanted Kayla to be his girlfriend. Again....this also could've been classified as creepy, but not with Anthony. We just would laugh.
One of the major things I learned from Anthony was how well he treated people. This man treated everyone he met as his good friend. One day when we were talking about life he told me to always remember to treasure everyone you meet because you never know when you are going to need them. It just really touched me and I could tell he really lived by those words. So my goal from now on is to sincerely treasure everyone I meet and to not take life for granted. Thank you Anthony for the great memories.
 
These are some of the little kids in the neighborhood we would play soccer with. (NOTE: please disregard jaden smith's older brother aka me with the braids). These 2 are brothers and ah I just loved them so much. Marco on the right was our buddy. We would see him the most and were even able to be there for his baptism. He was a crazy kid that felt instantly like a little brother. He could make me laugh so hard...I kinda became a little kid whenever we were together. People who know me well know I can't control my laughter like at all so if that annoys you, you wouldn't want to be around me and Marco. I just hope I get to see these kids soon before they forget about us!

And then there's Mama Kay. I know I have said this 80 million times, but she has changed my life. Her faith and determination will continue to inspire me for the rest of my life. She has been through SO much in her life but continues to be happy, raise/provide for 2 wonderful kids, live life to the fullest, serve everyone around her, and make everyone laugh. We had some REALLY good laughs. Some things should probably not be shared ha...we had a lot of fun. She called me and Kayla Laman and Lemuel....apparently she thought we were trouble makers. But deep down she knew we weren't. I learned so much from this woman...from her amazing recipes to how to properly hang clothes to dry. But above anything I learned the importance of loving and serving others. This woman sacrificed so much to help others and make them feel important and loved like her own children. I want to be just like her when I grow up.

And finally there's Mama Kay's daughter Kayshel. I loved this girl so much. She had a heart of gold. We instantly became close because of our love of music. And she was the only girl in the Sunday school class that didn't laugh at me whe I didn't make sense. I miss her so much already and I know we will stay close even though we are far apart.

Ultimately...Belize was amazing. I want to go back already and hope I can one day I can visit all of these people again. The first line in this post to me just sums up how I felt about every person I met. These people had so much faith and love towards life and I feel privileged to meet them. I am so grateful for the experience I had to live among and learn from these amazing people. I am forever changed because of this experience. You betta BELIZE it! :)
Peace and Love.