We all have those friends who completely just impact our lives. There are three girls imparticular. When I first got off a mission I moved in with my sister, her friend Ashlyn who is like my little sister, and her other friend Rachelle who I had only heard stories of. 

The transition was difficult. I had a hard time finding a place with these girls and they were already so close but they accepted me in and loved me no matter what. I will forever be grateful for them. I have made countless friends since and love them all dearly but these three girls defined a period of my life. They were there, they were fun, they encouraged the best and I love that I was able to watch two of them get married. 

Meg and I were able to meet up with Rachelle this past week and it was great to sit and finally catch up. We reminisced on old times and realized how much fun we had all the time.  As I reflect back on the short year we all lived together, my heart is so full of love and I am overwhelmed with the joy and opportunities we have in this life. Those girls shaped me into the person I want to be and set the best example they could have. I have countless friends who I love dearly and they all deserve a shout out, but these moments were the ones I was reminded of this past week. 

Little Moments-January

PAnd the resolution to blog everyday has already failed... Ah such is life.

January was a good month. It usually tends to be one of those depressing months that drags for some but I love it. I have time to reflect, set new goals, make new plans and have new adventures.

January means gymnastics season is upon us and I sure do love the Red Rocks. We traveled down to BYU to watch Utah demolish BYU. It was a great time

More gymnastics. This meet was against UCLA. Meg and I are known for our light up signs at events and this particular one got a lot of attention.

I'm not really sure if I should be admitting this or not, but one night some of us played hide and seek in the Grand America hotel. It was one of the most fun things ever.

Don't let this picture fool you, I only made it around the rink once.

Debbie had a birthday and what better way to celebrate than having dinner with this gorgeous view. 

This isn't the best picture but we all went tubing at Soldier's Hollow and it was really quite fun. We all had a blast.

If you know me really well I am a huge Harry Potter fan. Diehard. It's an obsession. When I heard Tom Felton was comig to comic con, I was all over that.

January, you were a good one. 

goals and my word of the year

I have probably written countless posts on goals, but I feel it is necessary to hold myself accountable and keep track. Plus I love setting goals and crossing things off my bucket list. Goals often get pushed on the back burner so I also like to choose a word for the year. This year the word is focus. I am always busy and I often fill my schedule with tasks that are not always meaningful. I want to focus on who I am, who I want to be and fulfilling the roles I have to the fullest. I want to love myself more and really focus on what that means. Each task I would focus fully on instead of starting 100 things and getting them done eventually. I want to focus on the things I have rather than the things I think I need and really embrace the life I have right now and not in the future. 

-write in my journal every.single.day.

-read 52 books (including the chronicles of narnia and harry potter again)
-use social media less

-focus on the important things

-choose happy

-be sugar free for a week

a year in review

When I look back at this time last year I would have never thought the things that happened would have happened. I fell in love, got engaged, traveled a ton, accomplished goals, made new friends, deepened relationships and survived three semesters of school, watched a ton of Utah sports and many many more things. 

The best part of this year though was making this guy my husband. It was the most perfect day and we have so much fun. I couldn't imagine anyone else by my side. 

This year could also be described as the year of travel. It started out with a trip to Disneyland with all my siblings, niece, nephews and parents. It was such a fun trip and the first family vacation we have taken in years. Then meghan, Karli and I headed to seattle for a few days. It was much needed and so fun to see a new city. We then went to idaho, back to disneyland (where I got engaged), Wyoming a few times, europe, hawaii, and back to Wyoming (these trips were made possible through frugal living and point saving).

Bring on 2015.

zoo lights

i had mixed feelings at first about zoo lights but decided that $7 was worth it to go see even more christmas lights. it was actually really impressive. we went with my best friend luke and had so much fun. most the animals were asleep, but we were able to see the cutest cat i have ever seen. it was pretty crowded so i would avoid weekend nights of course, but towards the end of the night hardly anyone was there and we could see whatever we wanted.

we saw santa numero dos as well

of course the night would not have been complete without a trip on the carousel (sorry for the blur we were just having so much fun)

christmas bucket list- candy displays at macy's

when it comes to christmas, salt lake sure puts on a show. it is almost comparable to that of a much bigger city with the flagship macy's store (hint: new york).  back in the day when zcmi was still around, they put giant displays of candy in their windows and macy's decided to bring it back a few years ago. they are beautiful and intricate and so much fun to look at. boy is salt lake a great place to be at christmas time.

for more of my other favorite christmas things to do in salt lake check out our christmas bucket list

festival of trees

oh man did i get lucky in the husband department. i am a lover of all things crafts-making them, pinning them, craft shows, you name it. the festival of trees is one of my most favorite events of the year. d put up with rows and rows and rows of trees as well as the million pictures i wanted to take. this year's festival did not disappoint and it only encouraged my dream of  having 12 christmas trees in my home. we had fun taking bets on how many frozen trees there would be (me: 12 d: 9). how many there actually were: 8 i think. it was such a great night. after we went to tai pan and picked out stockings together and had dessert at the waffle love truck in the parking lot.