24

 TOP: F21 similar // SKIRT: Bohme similar // FLATS: F21 // BALLOONS: Zurcher's

Taking a break from posting California pics because guesssss whatttt? As of March 19th I am O-fficially 24! And I wanted to post about it before the month of March was over. Anyway, 24 is the age that gets no fun song to commemorate it. Pooey. Doesn't matter, though, because 24 is going to be a ROCKIN age for me. I know it. Partly because I am consciously choosing for it to be and partly because of some major life changes that will be coming for me this year -I will officially announce the big news on here later but those of you who follow me on instagram probably already know what it is. ;) Anyway, this year I got absolutely spoiled for my birthday. I was completely not expecting any gifts but my amazing sisters got me an ICE CREAM MAKER! Yasssss! I was so flipping excited! We've made homemade strawberry ice-cream a couple of times already and it is amazing! Seriously, such a fun gift. You can all expect some fun recipe posts to come! :) 

Much love!

Pacific Grove

  TOP: h&m // SHORTS: American Eagle // SANDALS: F21 // BAG: h&m

I used to always be pretty adamant about living in Utah for the rest of my life, but oh my goodness, Northern California seriously always makes me want to reconsider. The homes in Pacific Grove are just so charming, unique, and divine. Not to mention the 24/7 ocean views. Seriously, every time we hopped in the car I'd be saying "Look at that house! I want it!" every 5 seconds. My sister, boyfriend and I all decided we needed to go in on a beach house in Pacific Grove. I mean, we'd only need a cool million minimum but whatevs, totally plausible. ;) Also, posting all these Cali images is making me legit hate being in Utah right now especially since it is SNOWING at the END OF MARCH! Like, what? I can't even. Anyway, I no joke wore these boyfriend shorts from American Eagle almost the entire trip. They're just so cute and comfy and SO easy to pull on and off at the beach. They're totally going to be a staple for me this summer. So yeah, thank you American Eagle.

 Much love!

#HallelujahForHim

One month later, and I'm baaaaack! Are you guys fans of nature shots? I feel like I've been a crappy blogger for so long that I'm disconnected with the types of posts that interest you all, sorry! I'll get to work on that. I've actually got a lot posts lined up for the coming weeks so bare with me and hopefully they're things you enjoy! As I mentioned at some point this year, I'm going to be moving more toward lifestyle posts with fashion still mixed in. 

Anyway, on that note, let's get started on today's post. As those of you who follow me on instagram know, I went to Pacific Grove, California over Spring break. Let me tell you all, it was fan-freaking-tastic. So many things happened which I will be blogging about shortly but most of all it was just such a nice time to get away from life and let myself be absorbed by nature. I don't know about you all but for me there is nothing more soothing to my soul than nature. 

With Easter coming up on Sunday I wanted to dedicate this post to one of my favorite things, the gospel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the atonement. Revisiting these images of my trip and thinking of the atonement brings to mind a couple of verses from one of my favorite hymns, "O My Father". 

"For a wise and glorious purpose

Thou hast placed me here on earth

And withheld the recollection

Of my former friends and birth;

Yet ofttimes a secret something

Whispered, "You're a stranger here,"

And I felt that I had wandered

From a more exalted sphere.

When I leave this frail existence,

When I lay this mortal by,

Father, Mother, may I meet you 

In your royal courts on high?

Then, at length, when I've completed

All you sent me forth to do,

With your mutual approbation

Let me come and dwell with you"

This hymn speaks to me for a variety of reasons but at this time of year it speaks to me because it touches my deep desire to dwell in the presence of that loving Heavenly Father and Mother again. I have so many shortcomings in this life and choices that have caused the deepest of regret but because of our loving Savior, Jesus Christ, those shortcomings don't bar me from dwelling in those royal courts on high. Through true repentance I can move forward in life with that end goal in sight. What a wonderful and peaceful thought that is. Not only that, but the knowledge that I'll be able to see my loved ones who have already passed on and be with them again is the deepest kind of peace my soul could know. Hallelujah for him! Hallelujah for our Savior. If any of you have questions about the atonement, Christ, or how to find a deeper level of peace in this life please don't hesitate to comment below, email me personally, or click the link on my side-bar about Christ to watch a video about his ultimate sacrifice!

Happy Easter!.

I Love Us

"I Love Us" Sweatshirt: Rad
"I Am Bae" Sweatshirt: Rad
Skirt: c/o OASAP

So. It's Valentine's Day. I have to say this was never my favorite holiday. Ever. Did I hate it? Nah. But I certainly didn't like it. Especially not since I hit my twenties. Mostly because of all the social pressure to have somebody to smooch and buy ya flowers ya know? I also always seemed to be going through boy drama or breakups right before Valentine's. Anyway, I always told myself that I wouldn't be the girl who suddenly changed her mind about Valentine's Day when her relationship status changed and yet here I am with my cute guy decked out in cheesy love sweatshirts. Life sure does make a hypocrite out of a girl, ja feel? ;) Especially now that I do have a somebody to smooch and buy me flowers. And he certainly got me some cute flowers (posted them on my IG here).

I know everybody hates the corny "I love my person" posts. But really, I love Mitch. He is hands down the sweetest guy I could have ever gotten. He leaves cute "I love you" notes on my car, respects the fact that I'm probably the pickiest eater on the face of the earth, is willing to take cheesy Valentine's photos with me for my blog, and just always goes out of his way to treat me well. I am one lucky girl. Also, shout out to my sissy, Allison, for being the best big sister on planet earth and snapping these photos for me!

I hope you all have a happy Valentine's Day and much love!

To the Mountains!

So. It's like, three days before Valentine's...and my first post of the year. Let's just say I was taking a month long sabbatical to get situated with Spring semester and learn to juggle work, school, blogging, friends, church callings, AND a new relationship. Yep. Thine eyes do not deceive thee. Y'all read that right. New relationship. Now, I've always been a little private on the dating aspect of my life just because I tend to get a little dramatic with things and I didn't want to go through old posts detailing previous failed relationships only to realize that I was being whiny and really just needed to get the heck over it, ya know? Yeesh, talk about a poorly constructed sentence. Not even sure it made sense, oh well. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, I didn't talk about it before because it never really felt right to but now it does. Maybe this will come back to bite me in the butt later, but really, I'm pretty confident I know where this relationship is going.

Anyway, now that I've bored you all to tears with an extremely verbose relationship status update let's get to talking about this adventure. Over Winter break my cute boyf, bae, guy friend, lover (actually, scratch that one because I hate it when people say that), s.o., whatever term you most prefer for 'guy-that-I-am-dating' took his lil sis and me up to Silver Lake to go exploring.

I was super excited because in previous years that I'd visited the lake during Winter it was STUNNING and proved to be a great shooting location (check it here, seriously you will die from how gorg it looks). We just figured we'd show up, make snow angels, build a snow man, have a snow ball fight and head out like happy lil campers. Whelp, turns out that now you need to buy a pass to roam around the lake, must have snow shoes, and stick to the laid out trails. Kind of a kill joy BUT my guy pulled through, rented each of us our own pair of snow shoes and bought a day pass.

Was I annoyed that you couldn't just roam around for free anymore? Heck to the yes. BUT, as it turns out, snow shoeing is really fun, a great workout and something I'm now totally interested in doing every winter. I kid you not, I want to buy my own pair of snow shoes and snow shoe all my favorite trails. Anyway, I know these photos make it look like I LOVE snow, and at the time they were taken I totally did, but I have now reached the point in the year when snow is my worst enemy. I'm sick of it. I want to break up with snow. It's like when you're dating a super attractive guy and at first it's all "ooo" and "aaa" because he's so hot and all but then you get over it real fast and want to break up. Yep. That about sums up my feelings toward snow right now, but hey, it's slowly warming up and the Ground Hog didn't see his shadow.

Much Love!