In love with life

There are lots of things i love

I love:
-My family (of course)
-Mint Chocolate Chip Icecream from Baskin Robins
-Making itunes playlists
-Swinging on swings
-Star Gazing
-Maps and Globes
-Wearing Layers
-Sleeping in my bed
-Jumpropes and hula hoops
-coloring
-magazines (national geographic!)
-scuba diving
-skiing
-mash
-fooseball
-A really good train of thought
-Thunderstorms
-Blossoms in spring after loooong winter
-Peaches
-Stretching
-Blow drying my legs when its cold (try it, it is amazing)
-jumping on the tramp
-Grasshopper pie
-Late night conversations with room mates and siblings
-Dominating a test
-laughing so hard you cry
-roller coasters
-Museums
-I Love Lucy
-remembering a childhood memory you had forgotten
-grapefruit
-mail and packages
-peeling off the plastic covering that comes on ipods and phones
-remembering my dreams
-cooking
-book stores
-crunchy leaves
-cousins
-BYU football games
-rainy days and movies
-themed birthday parties
-christmas songs
-the piazza delle camp at nigh in Siena
-riding bikes
-water aerobics
-speed scrabble
-holiday decorations
-specialty holiday candy (merry mint patties, pumpkin & candy corn, cadbury eggs)
-warm sun
-sledding
-rocking chairs
-sunsets
-old pictures
-fall (leaves, sweaters, soups)
-seesaws and merry go rounds
-Grand Cayman
-Traveling
-good books
-pajamas
-making snowflakes
-clean room
-fireplaces
-Lake Powell
-Boat Surfing
-Brownies
-Four square
-games
-flying kites
-shaved legs
-clean sheets
-picnics
-alpine coaster
-mom's chicken crepes (and ALL food she makes)
-scooter rides

I've been reading a lot of poetry for my Literature classes and some of it is so good. I recently read on by Matthew Arnold called "The Buried Life." It is now one of my current favorites as far as poetry goes. Here is my favorite stanza, ofcourse its not the same effect without reading the whole thing but I loved this

Only-but this is rare-
when a beloved hand is laid in our,
When, jaded with the rush and glare
Of the interminable hours,
Our eyes can in another's eyes read clear
When our world-deafened ear
Is by the tones of a loved voice caressed-
A bolt is shot back somewhere in our breast,
And a lost pulse of feeling stirs again.
The eye sinks inward, and the heart lies plain,
And what we mean, we say, and what we would, we know.
A man becomes aware of his life's flow,
And hears it winding murmur; and he sees,
The meadows where it glides, the sun, the breeze.

I really loved that. I've been thinking a lot about what i want to do with my life and where I want to go. I realized I think about this a ton, but then forget to think about what I want to do with my life now. A lot of people (myself included) forget that even though its good to have dreams for the future it's also important to live in today too. It's so easy to get in that mind set where you are so busy but by the end of the day you are not sure what you even did with your day. I'd like to really start filling my day with more meaningful things rather than just taking life as it comes. Life just becomes one big regret if you take life as it comes and forget to really live. Life and time are priceless and it seems so sad to waste either.
On an entirely different topic I've also been thinking about individual perspectives and how we all live life inside our minds. What i mean is that our individual worlds are essentially limited to our own minds. We only think about what we decide to think about and how we perceive the world is entirely dependent on what we allow enter into our minds. It seems like so often i choose to spend my time thinking about the most superficial surface of thought rather than anything worth my while. I feel like there are three levels of thinking.

level one: thinking about yourself, your needs and your wants.
level two: thinking about others, their needs and their desires
level three: thinking about ideas

we dont often make it past the first level. Its hard to not think all about yourself since that is what we all know the most about. All the levels are good in their own time and place but i think some of the greatest thinkers are those who manage to combine all levels but spend the least amount of time in level 1.

anyways that is just a bunch of vague ideas that have been floating around in my mind and im not sure if they make any sense but hopefully they aren't completely ridiculous.
goodnight!

In The Summer

Grand Canyon Extrodinare

I finally checked one of my life goals off the list
-Go to the Grand Canyon and walk on the sky walk: check
We had so much fun down there celebrating my Moms bday. My mom is so amazing and wonderful so it was a fun way to celebrate her.

look we really do have some friends. . .

When Life Gives You Lemons. . .

When Life Gives You Lemons. . .

Make Really Delicious Lemonade