happy birthday, Mom!

My mom turns 50 today!  
But you could never tell cause she's so beautiful.

Here's to you, Mom
(the most amazing woman I know)

Thank you for your example.

 Thank you for being so good at loving people. 

 Thank you for teaching me about 

optimism, tenacity, unconditional love, 
hard work, and God.

Thanks for making me laugh.

Thanks for taking care of me when I'm sick. And when I'm not sick. 

Thank you for listening to me cry and dream and plan and figure stuff out. 

Thank you for giving so much of yourself to the world.  

commit to virtue 5k.

This morning we ran the Commit to Virtue 5k.  It was a good time!  

David, Jarom, Jenna, Jarom bein cheesy :) 

30 day challenge: no complaints.

it's easy to complain.

we could complain about the weather, 

complain about our homework assignments,

complain about that long day at work, 

complain about other people. 

etc. etc. etc. 

but we can't change the weather.

there's a reason we do work.

and other people don't deserve to be judged & complained about. 

so why whine about all the things we whine about 

when we could choose to point out all the good things instead? 

i'm wondering: what would it be like if we all went 30 days without complaining?  

it might be hard to break the habit at first.

-no more pessimistic facebook status updates

-no more talking about how _____ ticked us off/hurt our feelings/offended us today

-no more wishing away the day, hoping that something better might come along tomorrow

(you get the idea) 

maybe by the end of that 30 days, we would like ourselves better.

we'd start accepting the things we can't change

and changing the things we can--

as opposed to being babies about things that don't go our way.

so my challenge for myself 

is to choose to be optimistic.  

and say goodbye to every. single. complaint. 
for 30 days! 

sun, i love you.

This is the weather we've been having lately:

It's pretty!  But brrrrrr.

So we were oh so happy when the 

sun decided to grace us with his presence!  

Ariel & I have been having picnics between classes :)

P.S. I'm addicted to spinach wraps from L&T. 

ariel's birthday!

This was such a good weekend, not only because of general conference and Easter, but because of Ariel's 19th birthday on Saturday.  We had a birthday celebration/girls night and it was soOoOoOoo much fun!  I hope you had a good birthday, Ariel!  Thanks for everything.  I know we joke about how we survived 18 years without each other, but really, I don't know what my life would be without you.

Other news: School is wrapping up--only 7 days left before finals--and we're all feeling stressed around here.  I've been immersed in writing a paper about Eugene O'Neill's play, "Long Day's Journey Into Night."  Harold Curlman said, "O'Neill not only lived intensely but attempted with perilous honesty to contemplate, absorb and digest the meaning of his life and ours."  Tell me about it!!  I just wish he came to happier conclusions.  I don't believe we're helpless victims.  And I'm trying to find evidence in this play that O'Neill didn't believe that either.  BAH! 

happy easter sunday!

Today we celebrate our Savior's perfect life, death, and resurrection.  Jesus said, "Because I live, ye shall live also" (John 14:19).   I'm so thankful for what He has done for me!  I'll never be able to repay Him, but as a Christian I can always ask myself what it means to be a follower of Christ.  It's remembering Him, keeping His commandments, and learning to love people the way He does.  I hope you have a Happy Easter :)  You can read an Easter message that I really enjoy here.

photo: Simon Dewey's painting, "He Lives"

it's cold.

alice in wonderland.

My dad gave me this magnet when I went to college <3

Hollywood produces too much trash.  So I’m really excited to tell you that “Alice In Wonderland” is amazing!! I’m biased cause I love Tim Burton & Johnny Depp—but even Jordan, who didn’t think he’d like the movie cause it looked “creepy,” really enjoyed it.  

The acting, of course, was phenomenal.  (I'm excited to see Mia Wasikowska in “Jane Eyre”).  The filmmakers did an excellent job creating Wonderland—I was particularly fond of all the fuzzy animals running around all over the place.  The plot was good and the message was cute.  I loved it when Alice announced, “This is MY dream; I decide what happens.”  Go see this movie!! :D