No, I'm Not a Mom...

...but I'm still super excited about these!

That's right, freezer meals.  I know I don't have a new baby, or a bunch of little kids running around, but as a busy college student I don't know how I'd survive without quick dinners!  When I was heading to school my freshman year I was super poor and I didn't know how in the world I was going to feed myself.  So, my mom, being the smart, thrifty lady that she is, suggested we just make a bunch of freezer meals, and then I wouldn't have to buy near as many groceries.  Boy was she right!  I get delicious food that I don't have to spend time making or spend money on.  I think it's a pretty great deal!    So, last night Tess, Mom, and I made a bunch of freezer meals for us to take to school with us.  We already have some down in the freezer.  This year Tess and I will save time and money because of these, and I'm almost as excited as a mom about it :)

Well Said Mr. Kutcher, Well Said

So I've always had prophets and apostles to give me guidance and advice as a teenager (besides family and friends), but lots of kids don't have that.  I feel like Mr. Kutcher said it perfectly.  Thank you very much.  

The Randomness of Monday

Monday was a long day at work, but probably one of the best days of work all summer!  Here are some of the random photos that we took that day. 

First, this Gigantic bird nest was on our lawn.  We thought and talked about how long it would take a bird to build something that huge and how smart they must be and how sad they must have been when their home fell to the ground.  

Second, the Oscar Meyer Wiener mobile!!  I sprinted to get a good shot of this, and it still isn't that great, so look hard!! haha  We took a trip down memory lane to when we were awesome and in 4th grade and our class made up a dance to the Oscar Meyer song and won our music program $10,000.  We also got a tour of the bus that day, and took a picture with the mobile.  Yea, we were pretty awesome :)

Lastly, Holly should be a professional iPhone photographer, because she snapped this gorgeous shot!  It's not even edited!  The views from the cemetery can be quite beautiful.  I mean, if this doesn't make you want to live in the country, I don't know what will?!  The only sad part is that this storm didn't even bring our valley any rain...

As you can see, the cemetery is an eventful place to be. We rarely snap pictures, so it's kind of monumental that we snapped 3 in one day.  So, there's a little taste of our day :)   

Ashbee

Ashbee is fun, kind, smart, athletic, and gorgeous!  These are just a few of her traits.  Most of them I can't quite find words for.  Ashbee is one of my best friends!  I don't know what I would have done without her this last year at school!  It was so great to have her to talk to.  She knew about my life before college, and she could just relate with me so well!  

We've been friends since elementary school and Madi, Ashbee, Tessa, and I did SO much together!  We went school shopping together every year, had end of the school year sleepovers, and multiple sleepovers throughout the school year.  She was a great teammate, cheerleader, and friend.  I always knew I could count on Ashbee! 

When she came to BYU I was so excited!  I didn't know how much we'd see each other since we weren't living together, but we set a goal the first semester to go to the temple every week.  We set aside  Thursday afternoons to go to the temple and then lunch together.  It was so great!  This goal made sure we saw each other at least once a week, and I know those weekly visits to the temple and with Ashbee helped me out so much!  

Second semester we decided to work out together every morning.  We attended some super fun, super hard aerobics classes every morning at 6 am.  I always knew she'd be there.  We kept attending the temple every week as well.  We spent a lot of weekends and evenings together the second semester as well.  

This Friday, August 2nd, Ashbee married one of the best guys I know, Brady Thompson.  I am so excited for them!   It was a gorgeous day, and I was lucky enough to be a bridesmaid! 

It was so fun to watch them fall in love and to get the details from Ashbee along the way :)  I'm so excited for them, but I'm also a little sad for me...this means she's leaving BYU and heading to Laramie.  I'm pretty sure I'll cry when I finally come to grips with the situation. 

So Ashbee, thanks for being there for me.  You're a great friend, a hard worker, an awesome teammate,  reliable, honest, and you've got a good head on your shoulders.  The list could go on and on!  Most of all, thanks for always being willing to share your testimony when I needed it!  I love you girl!

Let's Be Awesome

I know, I know, you're all probably about to pass out...2 blogs in 2 days for Livi!  It's summer.  That's my only excuse.  Anyways, I've really been filled with ideas, but I just haven't written them down.  So now I'm going to write down what has been on my mind a lot this summer: Second chances.  

It's not very often you get second chances, but I've been given a HUGE second chance this summer, a second chance at LIFE!  I fell asleep at the wheel and totaled my dad's car the day I got home from college, April 25th.  So, I've now had over 3 extra months to live!  What a blessed person I am!  I've thought a lot about how blessed I am to still be alive--let alone able to walk and talk and enjoy life, especially the first few weeks after the wreck.  Then last week coming home from my roommate's mission farewell I passed by a fresh car accident.  People were there on the scene, but no ambulances or cops yet.  I saw a person out laying on the ground with people around him trying to help.  I burst into tears!  How easily could that have been me just a few short months ago?!  I walked out of mine!  I began to think again of how I was doing at my "second chance."  

Here's a little picture of the car.  People have been asking to see, and I figure I need at least one picture in this post because there haven't been any in a while, and I'm probably boring you all to death!  Miracles happen people!

Anyways, as I was saying... A million failures came to mind.  I thought of how lately I've been being a crappy aunt.  It seems like every time the kids come over I have to work.  They want me to play with them, and I'm always "too tired."  Lame.  I know.  Then, I thought about being a crappy daughter!  My dad asked me to help index the other night and I immediately replied, " I can't I have to read for my class and continued to sit in the chair reading while my parents indexed.  Once again, wow!  Then, every time I see Tess it seems like the first thing I ask her is, "Did you shut off Jackie and Stan's waters?!"  I mean seriously, I'm sure it'd be nice if I at least said hello once in a while or asked her how her life was?!  

I then remembered a blog post I read back during the school year--Thank you Heavenly Father for intervening while I was wallowing in self-pity!  It was called "Drops of Awesome."  I'm sure some of you have read it, and it is SO good!  So, I decided I was going to find drops of awesome in my life, and this week I have been doing just that!  There's no better time to start changing than now!  So, this week, some of my "drops of awesome" include: 

Going to my family reunion for the WHOLE time!  

Being brave and belting the song Sisters with Tessa at the talent show.     

Jumping on the tramp with the sprinkler with Taffy's kids.

Sleeping on the tramp with them, and some other cool aunt stuff.

Listening to Tessa talk to me about her knee.

Finally worked out with my mom again.

Was on time for church so my Dad was happy :)

Thanking Tessa for all of the work she does on the yards we take care of.  

People, I know you all do all sorts of awesome things everyday!  Remember the good things you do, and you'll find that the mistakes you make won't bring you down as much and they'll happen less frequently.  So, let's all be awesome :)

Tetherball

Today Tess and I took Taffy and Tony's kids to the elementary school park.  They got new equipment (which is obviously WAY lamer than when we were in school!).  We were talking about this as we were walking down the sidewalk and when we got to the end, lo and behold there was a tetherball standard! Redemption for replacing our equipment!  We were pumped!  So, we set poor little Brady down in the grass (don't worry, he didn't cry!) and started to play.  Once upon a time we had a tetherball standard in our yard, and we both remember being pretty professional at it, so naturally we thought we were going to be awesome.  Boy were we wrong! I threw it over to start us out and, because I'm so great at tetherball :), Tess missed it.  So it was coming back at me and I got ready to hit it back to her, and I totally missed!  It came back around again, untouched, and once again, I missed.  By now, we were laughing our heads off!  Still, we thought we would get better, that our professional skills would return.  Needless to say, we went through 3 games of laughing our heads of at our lack of coordination. About halfway through game 2 I said to Tess, "I feel like mom playing basketball!"  So, while this post would be SO much better if there was a video of us playing, just remember watching my mom playing basketball...but worse!  Who knew being bad at something could be so funny?!  

Life

I was walking to move water at a lawn I take care of, and I looked up at the sunset.  It was perfect.  I love summer, I love sunsets, I love perfect days.  There's so much to be grateful for.  Today I have been reminded how precious life is.  Don't wait to be happy.  Treasure every moment.  Strengthen your relationships with people.  Live your life to the fullest.  Appreciate the little things, cause we only get one chance here. 

--Advice from a 20 year old...take it for what it's worth.