watermelon in winter

It's that time of year again!!!! As I sit here, my mom just commented that we have a peaceful house.  Pops already went to bed for the night, I am sitting here reading some things, the cat is sitting on the couch and purring, Mom is knitting, and the clock is ticking.  We really do have a peaceful house, and it's really good to be home again!  It's nice to not have to worry about school, though I am still keeping busy with my end of a deal with my parents.  :)  I love my family, and I love how supportive they are to me and the decisions I make. Today was busy, but this evening has been nice and relaxing.  I got to talk for a little while with my other half (Renato), and then I set up the Christmas tree with Mom, while listening to Josh Groban Christmas music.  After that, we worked on some Christmas planning (you know, getting in touch with Santa and all), which is great.  Tomorrow should be another bu...

So once again I am blogging from somewhere new.  Well, it's not really new to me...this is somewhere I've been far too many times, but I've never blogged from here!  I'm in the Salt Lake airport, heading home for Christmas! And the best part...I get almost  MONTH at home with my parents! I even get to spend my birthday with them! So, finals are behind me, stress is behind me, and now it's time to relax.  I'm on freedom time right now, and can do whatever I want!  I've got a list of miscellaneous things I want to do while at home, people I want to see, projects to finish with Mom, walls to paint with Pops, movies to watch, books to read, and obviously probably the biggest chunk of my time: lots of Skype time with Renato!  It'll be nice to just relax.  This last semester was all kinda of crazy with all kinda of stress in unexpected places and times.  Surprisingly, it wasn't even all about school.  It was a lot of learning that as much as I pl...

The sound of shovels hitting the pavement The big huge fresh snowflakes falling from the sky as I open my eyes after an afternoon nap The 50-degree middle of the night turning into a 30-degree day White everywhere The smell in the air the day before the snow comes Snuggling in a warm blanket and watching movies Christmas break Being with people I love Counting down the days til the end of the semester Baking and cooking with Mom I love the snow!  Today it snowed...a LOT (well, a lot for Provo), and it just reminded me of what I love about winter.  And this Christmas break looks like it's going to be the best one yet!  So needless to say, today was fantastic, not only because of the snow, but that was definitely a big factor! 33 more days!!! :D

This question is asked countless times during this Christmas season, and is one that has recently been asked of me a few times.  Since my birthday was recent, I heard a few times "what do you want for your birthday?" too.  And it has left me thoughtful... Here, I could talk about how we need to forget the materialism of Christmas and focus on the real meaning, how it isn't about getting but it's about giving, about how we need to love each other more...basically, I could give you any kind of canned, stereotypical answer in response to this subject, but these are not the thoughts I've had! My thoughts have been simple, and I always give the same answer: "I don't want anything".  And then people would push me into saying something, but I literally couldn't (and still can't) come up with anything I need, or even want.  What does that mean?  Life is great. :)  It means that I am satisfied with my life right now...yeah, I've still got questi...

We all know the verse. Row, Row, Row your boat gently down the stream. Merrily, Merrily, Merrily; life is but a dream. What a metaphor for life! Life IS but a dream. Sometimes I wake up and think that life is so short, especially when measured in small increments. Yesterday I woke up and realized that I've only got two months left in NH before I head to Brazil. I can hardly believe it's already been 2 1/2 months. Sometimes we have bad dreams, sometimes we have good dreams. Life is a dream in the sense that we don't always know what will happen next, it does not always seem to make sense, and yet it just keeps going. It ends abruptly for some people, and for others it just tapers off, as in some dreams. So let's keep rowing our boats gently down the stream of life. How? Think about it...you'll figure it out. As for Christmas...here are some pictures! Tiff and Sky came out for a week, and it was basically the best Christmas ever! Although sprinkled with go...

Sometimes I am inspired by my friend's posts. Some of my friends are amazing writers, and update their blogs frequently. It makes me want to be better about this, and become a better writer. But maybe my expression comes through piano or through photography. Because no matter how hard I try, I'm just average when it comes to writing. So at least I can enjoy others' talents in that area. :) One of my EFY counselor friends, Caitlin, is home from her mission for medical reasons for a little while. I've been talking with her a lot lately, and today she took the time to put together a huge list of things I should bring with me on the mish (small things, but important nonetheless). As I was reading it, I realized how blessed I am to have so many who care about me and will take the time to do things for me like that. It was a simple thing, but it will help me so much! So. Skylar is with Tiff today, and they leave Provo on Saturday morning! James is on his way hom...