Spring colors!

I LOVE Spring! It's going to be 81 today, and I couldn't be more excited. If only the pool were open. In celebration of the fabulous colors that have been shining out all over St. George, I went all out with my blog colors. I'll change the picture later. Right now, I'm going outside to play :) Gotta bask in the St. George awesomeness as long as I can, because it might not be this warm in a month when I move to Provo ;)

Day 30 - The End

What is my favorite song?

I have so many favorite songs, and they change constantly. But there is one that always comes to mind when someone asks me. Pilgrim Song. I remember when I first heard it. I was riding home from a voice competition with my ward choir director. She had a new BYU Choir CD that we were listening to. I loved it immediately. The choirs sang it at least once before I got to sing with them, but I already knew it by heart. My very last concert at BYU I got to sing it with the choirs, and it's an experience I'll never forget. Those opening bars that the piano plays melt my heart every time, and take me to a place of indescribable joy. 

I would share the song... but I can only find a performance of the Baylor A Capella choir singing it on youtube, and it's just not the same.

So that's the end of the 30 days folks! Forgive me if you don't hear from me for a while... I'm moving to Provo in a month, and things are getting pretty hectic around here. 

Day 29 - What have you learned in the past month?

What have I learned? You know, they say you learn something new every day. But it doesn't follow that you remember learning it every time, it just becomes part of what you know.

Honestly, it's not what I have learned that sticks out right now. It's more what I keep re-learning. That is that Stephen and I are pretty well looked after. We have good friends who love us. Sometimes there are near strangers who love us. Which proves that the Lord loves us. There are lots of little problems involved with trying to move ourselves. But one at a time, they keep getting solved. We met our landlord's wife this weekend, and we already love her. She and her husband are very accommodating, and seem like really cool people. The place is furnished, so all we really need is our bed. How are two people going to drive 2 cars and a uhaul to Provo? Well, we only need a Uhaul for the bed. Bishop is going to Provo in his truck, and he just told us he would take it. Problem solved. The next problem is where to keep the bed once he gets it there (since it will be earlier than when we go) and how do we get it to our place? But I'm sure that will shortly be taken care of too. The thing about knowing the Lord is helping to solve our little problems is that we're confident He'll help with the next problem too. But I still have to keep learning that over and over.

Day 28 - A picture of you last year and now

One of the ways I have changed from last year to this year is pretty obvious from these photos. This was taken in March 2010, at my friend Amy's wedding reception. My hair was still really long (though you can't tell because it's pulled back) and I weighed somewhere between 220 and 230. I think I have physically changed more in this year than any other year I have lived. Ok, maybe since I was 4. Little kids change appearance a lot from year to year. But believe it or not that is not the only change that I've experienced this year. I feel much more responsible now than I did last March, a short 5 months into my marriage. I've grown much more fond of St. George, and feel like I actually have a place here. Just in time to leave. I got a job carrying mail, something I never thought I'd be doing. I joined the Heritage Choir and met lots of "grandma-friends". I joined Curves, and found out that I do indeed have the strength within to change my life for the better. And I learned that Zumba isn't so scary after all. It's pretty awesome. There are lots of other things I'm sure that have changed in the past year, but those are the ones that stand out. Now, if you'll indulge my vanity for a moment, here are some of the photos my husband took of me this evening. I couldn't pick just one. 

Day 27 - Why the 30 day challenge?

Why? Just because I thought it would be fun. I haven't been disappointed. I'm all about introspection (ooo good word) and these questions are fun, and bring up great memories! And I figured since I like reading about my blogging friends so much, I might as well give them something fun to read. Sharing pictures is always fun too.

Day 26 - What do you think about your friends?

I think I have the best friends in the world. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't think that? I think my friends are strong and courageous. They inspire me. Sometimes I wonder what I ever did to find such amazing friends. Then I remember that in many cases, it was my friends who found me, and I am even more amazed. I have friends all over the place.
If I invited all of my friends to a party, there would probably be at least 20 groups of them who know each other, a few who belong to two or three of those groups, and undoubtedly some who would find eachother and say "wait... how do you know her?" And I wouldn't even know where to begin mingling, because I love them all so much!
I hope that I have been as good a friend to my friends as they have been to me in many times in my life when I needed them the most.

Day 25 - In my bag

What would you find in my bag? Not much. My wallet, sometimes my phone, keys, sunglasses, extra stuff for "those days", my passport (which is sadly no longer valid since I changed my name... but I don't want to give it up because it has stamps in it!), receipts, month old shopping list, lip gloss, sometimes my ipod, a water bottle and a snack if I'm going to work, a few bandaids, my postal sharp thing (I don't even know what to call it... it's a little blade that I use to cut the straps off the advos when I have to work tuesdays), a pen. Ok, that's a longer list than I thought, but I've only had this purse since Christmas so there isn't really that much junk in it yet. I've kept it pretty clean. No crumbs like my last purse. And just in case it matters, the purse is a pretty teal color, and it's pretty big for me. My purses have gotten progressively bigger through the years. Marching swiftly towards the "mommy bag".

Day 24 - Last 5 facebook statuses (stati?)

* Looking for an apartment in Provo, but it's still too early to actually find one. Provo is weird.
* What? 2 rainy Saturdays in a row? Snow in St. George tomorrow when it's almost March? (well, snow is a loose term... the ground will never see it)
* Decided to "march-ify" the blog a few days early, because I love green :)
* Feels like I had a productive morning :)
* Loves when we actually get to spend a day off together :)

Wow... I use the smiley a lot in my status... I guess that's a good thing. Mean's I'm usually happy.

Day 23 - Something you crave for a lot

Notice the picture a couple posts down..... mmmm Golden Spoon...

I pretty much crave for anything sweet. But not as much as I used to. Mostly chocolate chip cookies (chocolate chip pancakes will do the trick) banana bread, or those amazing cupcakes from 25 Main. I'm going to miss those. Sweet doesn't have to be baked goods though. Usually if I have grapes or oranges in that house, that will do. 

day 24- your last five facebook status'

day 25- what I would find in your bag

day 26- what do you think about your friends

day 27- why are you doing this 30 day challenge

day 28- a picture of you from last year and now, how have you changed since then?

day 29- in this past month, what have you learned

day 30- your favorite song

Day 22 - What makes you different from everyone else?

I can't think of anything that actually makes me different from everyone else. Everyone else is kind of broad. I can be different from everyone in a given room, or in a given group of friends. But everyone everyone? I don't think it's possible. But here a a few things that may be somewhat unique in many circles.

* I lost 40 lbs AFTER I got married. I guess that is kind of unique... usually weight loss is on the pre-wedding to do list. I'll admit that I thought about it then, and should have started that summer I was engaged, but I think in my mind there wasn't time to make it count before my wedding. Because for some reason I wasn't really looking at the big picture that summer. To be honest... I gained almost 20 lbs that summer. Who knew that not walking to campus twice a day every day would be so detrimental? That was really the only thing that changed. Anyway, I know a lot of people that just forget to take care of their health after they get married because being blissfully happy is really distracting. For me it was kind of a wake up call I guess, but not a bad one.

* My husband says that it's not the individual aspects of my personality that make me different from everyone else, but when you put them all together the whole is WAY more than the sum of the parts. So that's why I know that I am different from everyone else, but I can't really tell you what is different.

* I start to lose my fear for things I don't want to do when I've procrastinated them as long as I possibly can. Is that weird? I don't know.

*The Broadway Kids still make me really happy. But I know my cousin Sarah feels the same way, so that's not really unique.

That's all for now. Apparently I'm just really complex.

Day 21 - A picture of something that makes you happy

Yeah, this definitely makes me happy. All the time. And it's only 22 calories per ounce, which makes me even more happy. And that's all I have to say about that.