I love Phoenix.

"Why?" you ask, because I love the heat...just as much as the next sweaty person.
On a serious note, it is amazing down here. There is so much culture and support down here.
My sister thinks there is nothing to do in this blazing hole of a valley, I disagree.
There are a billion small wonders waiting for you to discover. Such as Vintage by Misty, Matt's Big Breakfast, on 7th Ave there are a plethora of vintage stores, music galore, and art shenanigans all over the place! That isn't even getting to the outdoors things you can do (our mountains may be small but are sure fun to hike up!)
We might not be the oldest city around, but there are quite a few things to occupy your time. Just to let you all know.
Head east or west you get the shopping and the venues. 
And if you want cooler weather, head up north for the beautiful outdoors and free spirits.
And if you want nothing at all but desert bliss around you, go down south (and if you drive through Tucson check out Ben's Bells).

AZ has it all.

Even though I am not constantly  here, and travel to and fro living in other places, I would recommend this beautiful state anytime.

cheers!

p.s. I know I went a little link crazy...and that isn't even all the awesome things I wanted to share...

1-the real birthday

 There is nothing better than having a good ol' Stargirl outfit on. Read the book and you will understand.At devotional I was reminded today was also Joseph Smith's martyrdom which made my heart full of gratitude for everything that I have now because of those who have lived before me.

21 things to make a great birthday:
1. being sat in the middle of the room to be serenaded to with happy birthday
2. my back porch glowing orange as the boys next door wrote out "Happy Bday" in flaming cotton balls
3. a rose on my desk at noon from someone dear
4. Who can have a bad day with as much free frozen yogurt as you want? That's right no one! If you are lactose intolerant, you can have as much sorbet as you want! Ha everyone wins!
5. wondered around my favorite flowers and talked to a parrot
6.cart wheeled on a roof top
7. TWO free snow cones with a 2 and a 1 written on it. Why do I get two? One for happy and one for birthday!
8. soccer games
9. lunch with a friend
10. getting a cupcake in the mail
11. having such a wonderful best friend (she is pretty much a sister) that will do everything with me
12. someone else washing my hair, cutting it and styling it
13. taking pictures
14. getting excited for the Spartan that weekend
15. having only one class to go to
16. walking barefoot
17. bean burritos
18. two new favorite shirts
19. having the sun shine all day
20. seeing people's creative side
21. smiling and laughing

cheers!

2

I don't care if you are an "artist" or not (I do have an opinion of the word artist  that I will save for another day) you need to invest in some paint and some canvases or art paper. Heck you don't even need specialty paper just have something to paint on and PAINT! I had so many thoughts going through my head that I needed to just let them go. Half the time when I paint it comes out all wrong. But just mixing the colors and the strokes with the brushes just creates the melody to reflect with. Good meditation can be reached when you play with colors. Take my word for it.

cheers!

3

You know what I miss from my childhood? Reading the Sunday comics. You know what I did today? Read those old time comics on a big comfy couch with him sitting right next to me reading them too.
You know what I also enjoy? Weddings, taking as much candy as you want from the table and taking a stroll next to the pond and trying to distinguish if that dog, cat, rat and bird thing is a statue or the home owners stuffed deceased animals.


cheers!

4

Another night on the town, this time B style. First I want to say, if you ever get nitrogen ice cream, never get it with dehydrated cheesecake....as B says "it has the consistency and taste of play-doh." ....stick to caramel and chocolate.
We visited the old town train station, and this place has a little pond set up that is fun to climb and discuss fear of heights on. The city is just beautiful from table rock (not table top). The twinkling of the city lights makes one think that man did a good job making a reflection of the twinkling stars on earth. We sat there for hours it felt like getting honked at and cat called and just enjoying the night sky. If you ever find yourself here on this mountain, take the route to the actual table rock top with the cross and the road to the back of the mountian. Unlike Robert Frost, we took both roads and both had it's perks. One we got the cat calls and the view of the city, the other we got the stars shining in all their glory and shooting stars to wish on.

6 and 5

RIVER BUGGING IS SO MUCH FUN! Just if you have to pee, do it before you put on a wet suit...
You know what else is a lot of fun, drinking energy drinks to pull an all-nighter so you can go on a trip homework free for the whole weekend!
So we thought the wedding was the weekend after, but it wasn't thankfully! This meant I could go to Boise again! Yes to see some of my favorite people. We made it just in time to fall asleep with full tummys of microwavable pizza, burritos, home made food, ice cream and licorice-all the essentials. Food will forever be my weakness.

8

8 things that made this day:
1. compliments-it really does light up someone's face
2. star gazing
3. seeing a satellite slowly make its way through the night sky
4. crab puffs at Fong's
5. orange chicken at Fong's
6. elbow patches on jackets (note to girls: guys will notice and love your jacket if you wear one with those things on it)
7. diligence
8. learning about the attributes of Christ

10

Ah another day to ride the old bike around porter park, but not after taking pictures in a beautiful old tub with Goose, pretending we were sailing the seas with oars of fly swatters.
Today, instead of going straight home after the park, we kept riding and felt which way to turn at every street. There is something almost magical when you let your spirit be tugged in the direction it needs to go. As we were winding through the streets, we saw a confused traveler going about in circles. K and I stared and asked each other what to do. We decided to take action and peddled over to this fellow. Turns out our new friend had taken the wrong turn leaving his apartment and did not know where he was. We quickly jumped off our bikes to help this young man find his way. He told us of growing up and how he was majoring in communications to be a camera man of sorts. He was even able to tell me when a stick broke in the spokes of my bike. As we dropped J off at the door and watched as the many colors of the beautiful Idaho sunset fad into the night, we began to cry. Our wonderful friend had been blind since birth. Here we were taught a lesson of gratitude. Even though he was without sight, he taught us artists what it was like to see. He was cheery, held wonderful conversation and beamed with delight about what he was to do in the future. He only saw darkness with his literal eyes, but saw light with everything he did. Just at the beginning of the ride was my head hung low, and my heart hurting, and my eyes not seeing the beauty around me. Never again will I go about looking at the sky and seeing the trees wave in the wind and not try to soak up every moment.

11

Good morning to this sleepy town! Hand-painted sale signs and stuff from garages lined every street as it was National Yard Sale Day (well that is what you would have thought strolling through town). And you know what that means....BARGAINS! And time for my favorite past time, bargaining for better bargains. So many favorite past times went down today in fact. I went running on our favorite 5 mile course, went bike riding down to nature park, and got a wicked sunburn that turned into the coolest farmer's tan on my legs that everyone wants.

12

Yes it is time to celebrate another person's birthday! And guess what we did? Went SUP boarding! There is a plus to being in the outdoor activities, knowing exactly when events are coming up and getting your friends to join in on the fun. Not only did we get to be out in the sunshine, we made it into that week's scroll. We were pretty much famous (to those that read that thing).
You never really need to go far to enjoy the great outdoors. If you have that itch to get out, just set up a tent in your very own backyard and wa-la! Instant camping! Thank you K for the tent big enough to fit four and continue the tradition of sleeping in the backyard (no sprinklers this time under the tent thankfully) and thank you E for swapping clothes and making us ride old bikes to your adorable apartment to get them.


cheers!

13

I love to see the temple. Especially right after a sunrise. You know we don't get to appreciate those as much as we should. I was talking to someone dear recently, and I told them if I could be anything in the world, I would be a sunrise. Think of the sense of a new beginning, hope for a new day and happiness it brings. They commented that those are the best because rarely people get to experience such a wonderful phenomenon. If you need to lift your spirits, watch as the sun rises over the horizon and basks the land in its never-ending glow.
The glowing didn't seem to end after the sunset, because that night my neighbors were in the parking lot playing catch with alcohol-drenched, flaming cotton balls. If you ever want to make friends, go out your back door to your neighbors and hold that flaming ball in your hands with them. You will get extra cool points.

 cheers!

14

I love soccer. Thank you to the players of this semester deeming me "Soccer Mom". I will never miss a game. If you play soccer, let me know so I can come to your games. Seriously I am addicted to yelling at these games.
And swimming. I love swimming. I used to do 6 days a week, for two teams in high school and my hair would turn blonde in the summer as a kid from the chlorine. Now I only enjoy it occasionally. But each moment always leaves me happy and singing on the way home.

Cheers!

15

Ever feel that you need to go a certain way because you feel that pull? I am a big advocate in going where "the wind guides you". When I walk somewhere I feel each way I need to go. Today was no different. I was going to devotional with K and just felt we should enter the I-center through different doors. As we were going I crossed paths with an old pal and invited him to come sit with us. He got to talkin' and what do you know he needed a little advice about girls. I enjoy giving pep talks and giving people brave power to do what they want to do.

16

Monday, Monday.
You think they are boring and you drag your feet because Mondays always bring stress.
Even though this is always true after the weekend, this day threw in somethings extra:
Bouldering and racing up a ropes course.
 Having an FHE brother who loves the outdoors and makes a business of it so after hours you can boulder for a Monday night treat, now that is real treat. Being surrounded by other crazy outdoors men racing to the top of rope obstacle, another treat. Those two things alone made this day a special day in the countdown.

7

They say missionaries love letters. I think receiving an email from a missionary is just as exciting, especially if you have not heard from a good friend in a loooong time and they are just exploding the excitement. Remember, to always write back.

Cheers!

9

If you don't have a head lamp, invest in one, even if the only time you use it is to read Stargirl in the dark in your backyard with your best friend. And if you own an instrument, learn  how to play happy birthday on it. I have never been happier to play my ukulele than for another friend's birthday at midnight.


Cheers!

17

Homecoming talks. This is where you get to see the spiritual side of those valiant missionaries when they come home. They are full of inspiration, reminiscing and teach you a whole lot about the love of Christ and our Heavenly Father for us and how important faith really is. In this special homecoming talk, the root beer and chocolate sundae comparison of the Gospel was shared over the pulpit. It lead to of course elbows in my side by the best friend and left me happy to think that he thought it important enough to share to the congregation.



Cheers!

18

The family was in on it. They ran from room to room, bathroom to bathroom to discuss how it went down. I even caught them once planning in a bedroom while I had a baby in my arms (super mom moment). How did this scheming start? When I put on a pair of heels and joked that someone would see me in them and take me on a date. That is when the game started. But I have no complaints because it did lead to a funny and awkward memory about nails, discussions of relating root beer floats and chocolate sundaes to the Gospel, nerf gun wars in the dark and a fit of laughter during Captain America. The 18th day was a memorable one, and it wouldn't have happened unless ze best friend and ze sister-in-law of friend had stepped in to make things happen.


Cheers!

19

On to Boise!
Kwas so kind as to invite me to B's homecoming weekend....and then went dirt biking. That is a plus to having a true best friend, when she does something without you, you just hang out with her siblings. D, being banned from dirt biking herself, took me out on a night in the city-her style. We perused around record stores, ran away from strangers, talked world traveling in hippie stores, bought tree necklaces from witches, drove down the wrong way on one-way streets, played dress up with vintage-style glasses and soaked in the art of freak alley. Happy day to finally have come to Boise!
 

(I'm finally finishing the countdown) 20 days till the bday

I love the simple things in life. I appreciate the little details very much. On this day I enjoyed a friend's birthday. We sat at the park and ate homemade ice cream cake. Nothing could be better to celebrate than to celebrate another.
This semester I have advertised that I sew, and this skill has been put to use! "Where are you going?" roommates would ask. "To the sewing lab!" I would reply. My services were called on and now I am onto mending shirt collars, ties and pants oh my!


cheers!

Because I have reason

Simply Fantastic.

10 things that make my life fantastic:
1. adventures
2. sunrises and doughnuts
3. surprises
4. stories
5. hardy laughter
6. reading with a child and looking up words you don't know in a dictionary
7. saying I love you in Chinese (我爱你）
8. thunderstorms
9. hiking
10. soaking in all the colors of nature


cheers.