November 9

Today I am oh so thankful for this special something....

I absolutely LOVE the snow and to wake up today to a weather change and to see the snow continue to fall all day long. It snowed so much and made for a fantastic first snow fall of the season. I am grateful to live in a place where it does snow so I can enjoy this marvelous beauty. :)

November 8

Today I am grateful for my computer. It adds so much convenience to my life. I can take it to school or work or just at home and still do everything I need to, especially for school. Sometimes it may frustrate me when it doesn't work properly, but I am still grateful to live in a place where I have easy access to a laptop and have the ability to use it every day. 

November 7

Today I am grateful that I have not ever had to repeat any math classes. Such a silly thing I know, but I have a horrible time with math and I do not like it at all. I know so many people in college who either have to take a lot of math classes before they even get to 1050 or have to repeat a class three times before they pass. Somehow I have managed to skip that step and only take the two math classes required and not repeat either of them. It has taken a load off the stress of school, and I am so grateful.

November 6

Today is election day!! Go America! Today I am thankful for the right to vote. Not that long ago, women in the United States did not have these kinds of rights. I love that I can freely express my values and opinions and have it matter, more or less. It doesn't matter who you are voting for, but if you are 18 or older, exercise that right to vote! People have fought long and hard throughout our history to bring this right to fruition so we need to take part of it do our part to vote for the future of our country. Go Vote! 

November 5

This is my car

I love my car. I am so grateful for it so that I can go places I want or need when I need to. I love that my parents let me bring it to Utah when i went to college. It is almost 13 years old and has been through 4 teenagers and nearly 150,000 miles. It is a beast. It still runs very well and zips through town! 

November 4

Today I am grateful for the gospel and the freedom I have as an American to worship how I please. Sometimes we can take for granted the freedoms that we do have in this country, but they really are such a great privilege.

November 3

Today I am thankful for this amazing women.

In Caesarea Israel

Behind us is Syria

Tonight we went through some things in her cedar chest and found her amazing wedding dress!

I am so incredible thankful Nana. She is an amazing example of strength, love, and courage. I have been blessed with the opportunity to live with her for the past few years here and Provo and it has blessed my life in so many ways. She is always teaching me through her example and I will treasure these years I have spent with her for the rest of my life. She has been through so much in her life yet still preservers and endures all the way to the end. Recently, we have also started doing a lot of her personal history and I have loved hearing all of the stories from her past and all of the fun things she has experienced in life to get her to where she is now. I do not know what I would do without her love and example in my life. 

November 2

Today I am thankful for these two... (keep in mind I am just a young little 18 year old here,,,)

Without my amazing parents I would not be able to do so many of the things I have done and am going to do in my life. They are great examples to me throughout my life. My mom is one of my best friends and I do not know what I would do without her. I know if I ever need anything, my dad will help me or find a way for me to get what I need (including sending me their laptop more than once when I kept having problems so that I could have one to use for school). I love them both very much and certainly would not be the person I am today without their influence. 

Still a kickin'

As you can see, there has been a SERIOUS lack of posting going on on this blog as of late.

The reason? I have no time in my life these days. You see, I am slightly crazy and taking 18 credits right now. 18 wicked hard psychology credits to be exact. And I work a lot. When I am not chasing children around, I can be found at the library for some late night studying or at home passed out on the floor because I was too tired to make it to my bed. Ha! 

Something weird has also happened to my blog in case you have not noticed. I'm not sure where my fun background went, but for now, it's just going to stay plain and boring pink until school is over and I have time to actually sit down and redo everything on here. 

And eventually I will get to posting about Megan's wedding or General Conference, or new friends or my calling in the ward, etc etc, but for now, this will have to do. 

I am still here, for now, and am eagerly awaiting the end of this torturous semester! 

Nothing new

Have I ever mentioned how much I really hate traffic?

Well I do. I get massive road rage sometimes, especially if people are just being idiots for no reason. 

Yesterday this happened. I was driving home from American Fork and just cruisin along the freeway listening to some Kenny Chesney when all of a sudden BAM! massive traffic overload at Orem Center Street Exit. It took me 4 lights to even get off the off ramp and turn on to Center Street. And then there was just one lane. And it took me 45 minutes to get from the off ramp to my house, which should take about 12 minutes normally. 

Definitely not what I call a good time. 

The reason for so much traffic? CONSTRUCTION.

Oh, and I also really despise construction.

Did you that here is Utah right now there is construction EVERYWHERE? It really gets me. 

Then today, I get to school and as am walking along trying to get to class, I come across this beauty. is beauty the right word? I think not...

Don't worry. That's the way I need to go to get to my first class.

I guess I didn't really need to be on time anyway right?

More reason I hate construction. 

Then continuing on my issue of "road rage", as I walked from the PS to the LA buildings (the are connected inside by walking through the new science building and the PE building), I was almost taken out by middle school basketball players being idiots in the hall. I just need to get to class people! Why is this so difficult today??

Anyway. 

Now you know. I have road rage (maybe you already knew that though). 

and. I hate construction, 

with a passion. 

Oh thank goodness it is Friday. 

Memorial Day: Part II

So right now I am at work. And it is extraaa quiet. But that is only because the baby is asleep and the others are with their grandma. It's so weird though because I am not used to quiet, and when it is quiet, that's when I start to worry. Go figure. 

Anyway... here are the promised pictures from my awesome California trip a few weeks ago. I got there Friday afternoon and Bry picked me up from the airport and we went to lunch at this way good wrap and burger place. He was able to take a little time off to eat before he had to head back to work. So while he was at work and I was at their apartment waiting for Nereida to get off of work, I took a test. Go figure. School just NEVER ends for me. Nereida and I went shopping for some supplies for the Bridal Shower we are throwing for Nathalie next week and then we all went to dinner at this Bar and Restaurant (what is with me... I can't remember the names of anywhere today!) where we had amazing spicy avocado rolls, pizza, their specialty rootbeer, and pizookies! 

Saturday Bryan had to work so we had girls day at the beach with Nereida's friends Liz and Kim. They are seriously hilarious and I had such a great day. We started at Venice Beach and walked all around for awhile. We stopped at some sun glasses shops and tried on a thousand pairs, at least I did... until I found just the ones!

Just kidding. I did not buy either of those. I got sweet blue sunglasses though. All along the beach front are people selling medical marijuana. It was kinda crazy how many there actually were.  

We spent a long time walking around and laughing and then after getting henna tattoos we decided to lay the beach for awhile. Oh I love love love the beach. 

We then attempted to find a gas station to go to the bathroom but apparently gas stations in California don't believe in bathrooms so we ended up at McDonalds. Then we went to Santa Monica Pier for some good lovin' fun.... where I rode a ferris wheel. Now, if you don't know me that wheel then you don't know how horrible terrified I am of Ferris Wheels. Like terrified. It's bad. But I got on anyway and actually enjoyed it slightly. Probably because we could not stop laughing or because people kept changing seats while it was moving or because we were taking awesome pictures or maybe all of the above and then some, but either way, I survived. We walked the pier a bit and took more pictures and then we were off to dinner at Roscoe's where the serve waffles and chicken! What a combo. We waited outside on the curb like true Hollywood bums for about 30 minutes and then enjoyed a really awesome meal and tons more laughs. Then we spent the rest of the night walking Hollywood Blvd. Oh what interesting people you see there..... Including the creepo guy who hit on me, invited me to have beers with him when he got off work, gave me his number, and proceeded to kiss me. All while everyone else was petting a dog a ways off and while Nereida was taking pictures of this little incident! Such a sister thing to do ;) hahaha. Anyway. I had an awesome time but here are the plethora of pictures to prove it. 

Yes, we did part on Ocean Avenue. Just like the song :)

Ferris Wheel!!!!

This picture makes it look kinda like I am floating in the ocean, but it was on the Pier :)

Just chillin on the curb in Hollywood waiting for dinner, all of FB, nbd.

Life, unexpected

I have never liked death. I have never been one to feel comfortable at funerals or willingly go to viewings let alone say 'goodbye' to people in their caskets. It honestly creeps me out to see dead people. So the first time you witness someone die, and die unexpectedly, it does weird things to you.

Last Saturday I was hiking in Provo Canyon at Stewart Falls. A friend had recommended the hike and since I had never been, Laura and I decided we would go up there while she was visiting for the weekend. It was a beautiful hike - everything was so luscious green and peaceful. We made it to the waterfall and decided to take the very steep hike down to the bottom were you could actually get in the water and walk around a bit. We took in the whole experience of the place and then soon after taking some pictures decided we wanted to go up part of the fall where you can actually almost go behind the water. I'm sure that when the trail was created, this was not meant to be part of it, but over time so many people have gone up it that it was become someone of a trail - a crazy steep one at that. There were some other people up there so we figured we would be adventurous and go up.
After maybe 10 minutes or so, the other people went down and it was just me and Laura up there. We looked down and saw a group of people looking up and we thought they were looking at us since we were the only ones up there. Little did we know that someone had decided to climb up even further.... There was no trail above us by the way. It wasn't until after the fact that we realized what they were actually looking at. A short time later we heard some of the girls scream and right as I looked over to my left, I saw the man literally fall right past me and land 50 or so feet below us.

There are many details of the next hour that I witnessed as so many people tried to revive this 22 year old BYU student, but there is really no way to put in to words that hour of my life. Rescue paramedics arrived maybe 40 minutes later, and then a chopper came and left - without landing. The whole thing seemed surreal, but in fact it was very, very real. A man, one year older than me, had fallen from 20 or so feet above where I was. And died right in front of me. He was just a college student living out of state trying to enjoy his summer with some friends.

This incident made me think about life throughout the afternoon and made me question some of my own actions. But, at the same time, as horrible of an experience as it is to watch someone leave this mortal life, I feel so unaffected by it. I woke up Sunday and went on with my life, and don't think much differently or feel very different or anything.

What does that say about me though? That I can watch someone fall and die and not really be affected by it, aside from the initial shock of it. What kind of person does that make me? Life is precious. And it is meant to be lived. This is what I intend to continue to do.


*To read the short story and view pictures of the area, click here.

Birthday lovin'

So last Wednesday I turned 21.

 

It was a splendid day AND I didn't have to work, although I still had to go to school...

After classes, my dear friend Bekah took me out to lunch and I had this amazing burger from Chili's...

 

A guacamole bacon burger.. just to die for. The rest of the afternoon was fairly uneventful, but it was nice to just have a day to do nothing. I didn't even do any homework, even though this was 4 days before finals started. Ha! Then I went over to Amber's house and we proceeded to go to this sweet restaurant/bar/lounge place with Jenna called Spark. It is on University Ave and it way cool.

When we got there there was literally no one else there, but after a little bit people started coming and filling the place up. 

Love this girl.

And yes, that sure is cotton candy on my straw haha.

Jenna love

The drinks at this place were seriously to die for. So good.

After a very fun eventful evening, I went home, had birthday cake and ice cream and then just crashed. It was such a great day and I really do have such amazing friends and family. And then to add to the birthday fun... Saturday I went to lunch at Olive Garden with Nana and then that night went shopping at City Creek with Camille. We had such a great time, and then had an entertaining experience trying to get out of the parking garage. Let's just say it is very difficult with a clutch because it is extremely steep and there was a lot of traffic for some reason. The car in front of my kept rolling back and I was really afraid he was going to roll right in to me at one point. Then we paid a dollar to park there. Talk about cheap parking! She then took me to this amazing place, Leatherbys for dinner. Holy crap this place is amazing!!! It's also where I got this amazing concoction...

Melted peanut butter and hot fudge on ice cream, what more could you ask for??? 

It was such a great birthday and I could not have asked for a better time. Now that I'm all "legal" to do anything except rent a car, I need to find something crazy to do.....

Taxes

I think I just died a little inside.
Who knew using a 1099 to file taxes online would make life SO complicated.
I didn't even make it through the form, which is stupid because I don't have much of anything to fill out on it.
But, instead, I decided to watch The Office.
I still have 6 weeks or so right?
Taxes should be easier.

Distractions

Sometimes I get very easily distracted. Like right now. I should be doing homework, but instead I have been on Pinterest for the past 45 minutes.... Oops! I should be doing homework and then going to be since I am exhausted but for some reason I find procrastination much more entertaining. Oh silly me. The other thing distracting me is that spring break is just two short weeks away. Although I have TONS to do before then, it's also not too overwhelming, at least right now, because I have midterms out of the way, AND I got A's on all of them! Woot woot! That is a first ever in Lindsay history I believe, but hey, I'm gonna take it and roll with it and hope the rest of the semester flies by in the same fashion with surprisingly good things like midterm grades. :)

Sometimes I think distractions are good though. They are a great way to clear my head and realize what is important and who is important and who is worth my time to worry about and who isn't. Now, for me to stop finding new music and pinning all the things on pinterest... and back to reality and homework.

Happy Monday!!

Why I have super awesome parents

Today I got my computer back... and I am struggling to type on it correctly. The reason this makes my parents super awesome? Well for the past couple of weeks while I have not had my computer, I have had one of theirs! You see, a few days after my computer went on the fritz and I took it in to get fixed, they sent over one of their laptops from Colorado for me to use while mine was gone. They are so awesome. They did this last time my computer had problems as well and it has been so helpful, especially with all of the crazy amounts of school work that I do online. Thanks mom and dad!!!

I also FINALLY picked up a bunch of my pictures from my Israel trip today, and I must say, they turned out SOOOOO great! I spent nearly 2 hours going through them today and just remembering all of the different places we went and all of the things that we saw. That really was such an amazing trip for me and I am so grateful I was able to go (another reason my parents are so great! They were the ones who paid for me to go!)

On a side note, I have a new addiction this week, well actually two. Double Stuf Oreos and the TV show Shark Tank! It is oh so good and everyone should watch it!
And now, I must get back to studying for midterms :/ Oh what a week I have had, and mostly in the not-so-great-and-stressful kind of way, but that's life I suppose.

Hilarity (is that a word)

Sometimes when it's late at night and I can't sleep, I find random things online.... like these awesome pictures..

              Traffic... what a bugger

                                                 This is how I feel almost every morning..... ugh

Pretty sure this is how every college feels at the end of each semester

I used these at USU, and luckily have not had to use them in Orem, but they were sooo not fun. 

WHYYYY????  All I want this winter is for it to snow :(

Bahahaha

Oh Toy Story