What I wish I knew when I was a teenager

High school will not be the best years of your life. Jut think about your college years with awesome roommates. So much better than high school.

Your mom is your best friend. Talk to her. Tell her everything. She knows more than you think, and you won't always be able to hang out in her room talking before you go to bed every night. One day the best thing you will be able to get is a phone call a couple times a week.

Having a job, and working, what seems like, all the time isn't the end of the world. It shows that you are responsible. You are learning invaluable lessons by paying for your own needs at a young age. Save your money! Wasting it on too much clothes and other things that you don't really need isn't going to do you any good in the long run.

You're dad is the best. You may find him to be annoying and maybe even slightly embarrassing, but the things he does to make you feel that way, are what you will miss most about him. He will do anything to provide for you, and has given up more for you than you will ever know.

You don't need to be in a steady relationship. In the end you aren't going to marry him. You are wasting your time, money, and energy on him and any other boy you regularly date.

You will get hurt by boys. It will seem like the end of the world at the time, but it isn't. As time passes it won't hurt so bad, and eventually you won't even think about them anymore.

Try harder in school. It will pay off one day, and even if it doesn't it will make you feel better about yourself. Don't expect mommy and daddy to pay for your college education so you're gonna need to get scholarships or figure out another way to pay for it without getting into mountains of debt.

Not every one is a size small. It's okay to buy bigger sizes and to have a different body type than other girls.

Just be you. Do whatever works for you and don't worry about what anyone else thinks. Be happy.

Be nice to others. Life is hard enough without you making it harder for anyone. You have absolutely no reason to talk bad about others. It will only make you look worse instead of them looking worse like you might hope.

You are a daughter of God, and the gospel will mean more to you than you can even imagine. Trust in the Lord. He knows you, and He knows what is best for you. He will be there for you when you think that no one else is.

Spring Wreath

I made the easiest spring wreath last week so I thought that I would share it with you.

You will need:
- Flowers of your choice. (The number of flowers that you will need is dependent on the type of flowers that you choose and the size of the letter that you use. )
- Paint
- Wooden letter
- Hot glue and glue gun
- Grapevine wreath
Optional-Polka dot template

Paint your letter whatever color you choose, and once that is dry paint your polka dots on it. I used my cricut to cut out circles and used that paper as my template. Lay out everything on the wreath to figure out where you want things before gluing. Once you have your placement figured out you can use hot glue to attach your letter to the wreath. Once your letter is secured you can attach your flowers with hot glue as well. And then you are done. Seriously that simple and so cute!

Weekend Trip: Las Vegas

On Saturday we headed to Las Vegas. Taylor's mom didn't want to sit at the bottom of the hill the whole day so she came with us. It was another gorgeous day with a perfect breeze.

We parked at the Bellagio and started our sight seeing adventure with the Bellagio Conservatory. It's free and in my opinion totally worth seeing. They had a neat butterfly habitat, and it smelled amazing. So many flowers!

View of the camera from one of the ponds. 

Ceiling in the Bellagio

Bellagio fountain.

One thing that Taylor really wanted to do was ride one of the thrill rides that are on the top of the Stratosphere. You know, the rides that are 900 feet in the air.. We walked four miles down the strip to get to it, and my sweet mother-in-law was kind enough to pay for us to go up to the observation deck. I am so thankful that she did because it was incredible. Unfortunately, the one ride that Taylor wanted to do was closed because of wind, but it was still worth the walk. 

The strip from the observation deck. 

Gondola rides inside the Venetian. We just missed Carlo's bake Shop opening this spring inside the hotel. It broke my heart a little. Also, yay for being sunburned!

We visited the pawn shop from Pawn Stars. It was neat and a bit different than we expected. It was much smaller than we thought it would be, and a lot busier than what they make it seem on TV. 

We walked a total of eight miles while exploring the strip. Our feet and legs were sore, blisters were formed, our skin got even more burnt, but it was such a good time. I would have gone back for another day of exploring if our time and energy would have allowed it. 

We went bowling with all of the cousins that were there after we got back from Vegas. This was our lane. 

Princess Butt-Taylor

King Tut- Me

Spud Muffin-Sheldon

K Dawg-Kelsey (cousin)

This was the result of the only dollar that we spent on gambling while we were there. 

This is exactly why we don't gamble.

While walking the strip I got something in my eye after a gust of wind. It must have scratched my eye because it started to become extremely painful, red, and a bit swollen. We bought some eye drops from a CVS that was on the strip which at least got rid of the redness. A cold washcloth helped a bit once we were back at our hotel, but when we went to bed it was still hurting. Thankfully, it was feeling so much better in the morning.

This is my I-just-woke-up-and-my-right-eye-isn't-killing-me-anymore hotel mirror selfie.

Shortly after this we headed home. On the way home the trailer with all the bikes in it had a blown tire, but luckily Taylor had grabbed some tools to change a tire before we left. We weren't too far ahead so we turned around to bring them the tools, and then we were once again homeward bound. I wish that the trip could have been longer, but I had so much fun and loved getting to see new things. The best part of the trip was experiencing all of these new things with my best friend by my side.

Weekend Trip: Mesquite

This past weekend Taylor and I went to Las Vegas and Mesquite, Nevada with Taylor's family. They have gone multiple times since Taylor and I started dating, but this is the first time that we were able to make it work for us to go too. Before this trip I had never been south of Salt Lake City out here which meant lots of new exploring for me. When we heard that his family was going again we immediately knew that we wanted to spend one day riding and the other day in Las Vegas since we were only an hour away from Vegas and I had never been there before. 

As boring as scenery pictures can sometimes be, I can't help but to post these. The west side of the country truly does have its own kind of beauty. I had never seen red rock before this trip, and I definitely never saw anything like the Virgin River Gorge before. It was absolutely stunning to drive through.

I didn't expect to drive through the corner of Arizona, but now I can add another state that I have been to!

We left at 3:30 Friday morning and arrived around 11 in Mesquite. The second we stepped out of the car I knew that it was going to be a great trip. The weather was absolutely stunning, and we were happy just to be away from our every day lives. Everyone grabbed some lunch, and then we headed up to the hills to go riding. 

I was able to see plenty of desert plants that I had never seen in real life before. 

The red circle is everyone sitting at the bottom of the hill. Crazy how high up they climb.

This is Taylor climbing the hill. It is what they do most of the time they are out riding. 

I sat and watched him ride for part of the time that we were out there. It was nice to sit in the sun and watch Taylor do something that he loves and enjoys doing. We also rode around and explored on the Rzr for a little while which is always fun. 

I learned that desert flowers are a real thing. 

So sunny and gorgeous!

This is getting long and the Vegas post is quite long so you will have to check back Thursday for a recap of our day in Vegas. It includes eight miles of walking, a swollen eye, and the smell of flowers.

Hurry up, April!

I don't know what it is, but I think that I am officially in an end of winter slump. The local ski resort is closed due to early warm weather. It isn't warm enough to do much of anything outside because it has been so dang windy and rainy for the past week or two. Things are starting to pick up for Taylor at work. Basically that all translates into, I am bored and ready for spring and summer to begin.

To top off this end of winter slump we had a visit to the doctor's office earlier this week. The visit resulted in strep throat for Taylor and getting a TB test that I needed for school taken care of. I am happy to say that that is behind us.

There is so much in April that I am looking forward to that I need this time to go by faster for. There is my birthday, our anniversary, a new semester starting, Easter, receiving my endowments, my nephew being born, and my mom coming out here to visit. I don't think I have mentioned that on here yet, but my mom is coming out here for a week on April 15th! I haven't seen her since May so to say that I am a excited is an understatement. She is coming out for my brother's first baby that is soon to be born, but it also means that she will be here for Easter. I can't wait to spend a holiday with my family. Time please go faster!

Thankfully, we are headed to Las Vegas/Mesquite next weekend so hopefully that will help with this slump and make March go by a little quicker.