Lately it's been hard for me to express my feelings in words.

I often feel limited by rhetoric; you can try your best to explain what you're thinking,

but you're really just outlining a vague picture and hoping someone else can fill it in with the correct colors.

I guess I don't really know what I'd say if I were capable of expressing myself eloquently, anyway.

Probably some jibberish about how 

I wanna spend my life among red rocks 

and how Cafe Rio >>>>>>>> Costa Vida.

x1000.

Today was a good day.

I knew as soon as I walked out my front door this morning that it was going to be a good day. The good weather was an omen of that! It was a simple day, but it was a good day. 

▲ I (re)learned that Betos is disgusting. My first experience with Betos was last Christmas Eve, and I hadn't eaten anything from there since. But when our office assistant was making a burrito run for everyone, I figured I'd get in on it. Yup, still gross. But it was just fun hanging out and eating burritos with everyone at work. My coworkers are seriously hilarious. Speaking of...

▲ My coworker Kate is allergic or something to Red Dye 40. Whenever she eats something with Red Dye 40 in it, she gets so funny. I think the same thing happens when she eats a Betos burrito, because she was just talking and singing to herself all morning. Haha she was just cracking me up! It made the morning work flow pass by really quickly.

▲ I went to visit my mom during my lunch break, and drove home with the windows down, listening to Frank Sinatra and Chicago. Could life get any better?

▲ Yes it can! My mom had leftover SLOPPY JOES!!! that I got to eat for lunch! Seriously, those are in my top 5 favorite foods. I can't get enough.

▲ I got to go to dinner with my really good friend Mike. (AND we went to Cafe Rio.) Mike's been one of my best friends for like 11 years now. I consider his family to be my family. I could go to his house when we were younger and just hang out with his mom if he wasn't home. I was always over there swimming in their pool, or going to their cabin. And Mike just always saw the best in me when other people didn't. Anyway, tonight at dinner when I asked, "How are things going?" He answered, "I can honestly say that life has never been better." And that was probably the best part of my day. I can't say enough about how big of a blessing Mike has been in my life, and isn't it the best when your friends are just so happy?! It just made my heart so happy.

And guess what else? It's Friday Eve! If that doesn't make you happy, I don't know what will. 


Annnnd for your enjoyment....middle school photos with Mike. Haha! 

Tuesdays with Nathan: Forts and Scriptures

I always look forward to Tuesday's. Spending time with Nathan is always so good for both of us. A couple of weeks ago, I posted on Facebook that I was running out of fun ideas of things to do with Nathan and asked for advice. I don't want to be someone who asks for advice and then completely ignores the advice given, so Nathan and I have decided to do every single thing that was suggested to us! (To the best of our ability.) So far we've been able to check Puppy Barn and a movie off of that list, and tonight we checked off build a fort! We wanted to do something fun and sort of childish, because we were just done adulting for the day. As Nathan can attest, I'm not the best fort builder, haha. But eventually we were able to get a stable fort that was completely covered! It was so much fun hanging out in there, getting caught up on scripture reading, and talking about life. 

Have I mentioned how lucky I am to be his sister?

Rascal Flatts Concert

 This weekend was so good to me and for me! Friday after work, I went straight to pick up Carlee and Cami at their house, and then we were off to St. George! I was so excited to get there. I love visiting St. George, not only for the weather, but because it's my real home! I never feel as at home in a place as I do in St. George. I'm lucky my sister still lives there with her family, so I can visit whenever I want to! We got to her house around 9:00 that night, and my niece, Lizzy, was having her birthday party with a bunch of girls. We sat upstairs with my Julie and Jon and ate cinnamon rolls and popcorn before heading to bed. 

Saturday I was up way before everyone else. I have the hardest time sleeping in. 7:15 hits and I'm wide awake! So I went to Lins (my favorite grocery store in St. George!) and bought some donuts for everyone for breakfast. After everyone woke up, we just hung out for a bit. My sister Julie has 4 kids, so there's constant entertainment! ;) Later on, Cami went on a lunch date, and Carlee, Lizzy, Julie and I went to Pasta Factory for lunch! When we got home, we were playing around on Snapchat and learned how to do a couple things:

 Cute, I know. You're welcome. At 3:00 it was finally time for Cami, Carlee and I to head to Vegas for the concert! We forgot about the time change though, and ended up getting there super early. We had already decided that we wanted to go to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner, and after looking for the menus we were so bummed! We didn't realize it was so dang expensive! In case you're wondering, my $21.00 burger wasn't even THAT good. JCW's is better. By this point, we were all just exhausted! So we went back to my car and tried to take a nap for 30 minutes before going to get in line for the concert.

Needless to say, Rascal Flatts killed it. They always do! (This was my third time seeing them. It was Carlee's SIXTH!) And we had such a blast. They played all our favorite songs, and even gave a few of them a fun twist. Driving back from Vegas to St. George at 1:00 in the morning was kind of sketchy--especially for any of you that know what time my bedtime usually is. But we made it back safely, and lived to see this snowy Monday in Utah County. 

p.s. Went rock climbing today after it had been a few months...

I've gotten so weak! 3 climbs and I was a dead woman. 

But I love climbing because I feel like it's so rewarding. 

Anyway, I'm off to girls night and the Bachelor! 

#TeamJojoEvenThoughIAmPrettySureLaurenBWillWin

10 Things

This weekend was such a good one. 

I've got a lot to say about it, 

but since I'm already feeling like 

I'm about to drift into sleep, 

I'll just leave you with 10 things for tonight:

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1: Weather has more of an impact on me than I thought.

2: I am ready for summer. Not just spring; SUMMER! 

3: It's okay to take two naps in one day.

4: Working for something is always better than getting something you didn't work for.

5: There is no such thing as a lost cause.

6: I don't feel right if I don't read at least a little bit every day.

7: Friends' tears break me apart.

8: There are certain people in my life that just make me better when I'm around them.
9: Red mountains have my heart. ♥

10: Trying to come up with any plausible way for me to move back to St. George. 

Got any leads? Help a sistah out! 

Bon Voyage

I'm leaving on a jet plane. 

Don't know when I'll be back again.

That's a lie; I'll be back Sunday. But in about 4 hours I get to leave with my two (honorary) roommates on a road trip to Vegas. We're going to see Rascal Flatts! We're taking a much needed get-away to sunny skies and warmer weather. 

Have a good weekend! Isn't that the best thing to say? Weekend.

To infinity (Vegas) and beyond! 

Happiness Is.

Best friends who talk about growing old and taking care of each other instead of putting the other in an old folks' home.

Spending time with Braden. Nickelcade and Cafe Rio. Fake tattoos. All the high school nostalgia.

A night in, painting nails and watching movies with Cam.

Friends that text you, randomly, just to let you know, "I'm happy to be your friend."

Waking up in the middle of the night to find that you still get four more hours of sleep. And then getting to fall back asleep to the sound of rain outside. 

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Today's weather had me smitten. I love rainy days; the way they clear up the inversion, the way they smell, the music that goes with them. Here are a few songs to get you started:

Life in Technicolor- Coldplay

All I Want- Kodaline

Up and Up (Acoustic)- Relient K

Tiny Dancer- Elton John

Take it Easy- The Eagles

Let Love In- The Goo Goo Dolls

Random thoughts de la Kalynn

//A common question directed toward people my age is the cliche "what are you doing with your life?." I really wish I could answer that question with a smug retort that includes snippets about fighting dragons, living off popcorn, saving baby birds, and perhaps building a Cafe Rio on every street corner. Because people would take that just as seriously as they seem to take the whole "no, I'm not married, I just work, and I quit school to start my own videography thing." I have a lot of opinions on school. I won't go into them here. Timing is everything, and I swear I've got all the right priorities. 

//I wish you could photograph smells. If that were the case, the warm, wet desert would be the most beautiful picture. Ever. I miss St. George.

//There are many things in life that are "good", in the sense that they "aren't bad." Sometimes I need to learn that said "good" things may be what hold us back - not because they push us away from the Savior, but simply because they don't bring us unto Him.

Just some thoughts. Mostly for myself. Have a happy day! :)    

I'm back! And happy birthday, Lizzy!

Oh, hello! This is something that I haven't done in a very long time. Last Friday at work (got a new job, by the way!) I had some down time, and for some reason came to this old blog of mine and ended up reading through the entire thing! Besides making me feel extremely nostalgic, it also made me so happy to read all the memories I hadn't thought back on in so long. I realized that this blog was my best form of journaling. I know people are always complaining that bloggers (I mean the famous ones--not me, haha.) lead everyone on to believe they live some perfect life full of ONLY happiness and good times. While we all know that's not entirely true, what's wrong with believing it? I loved going back through my old posts and reading about the things that made me the happiest. The experiences I was having, the music I listened to, recent movies I'd seen--life WAS perfect to me. And I'm sad I don't have the same thing to look back on for the last couple of years. So I've decided that I'm back at this, even if it is only for myself and my mom. Hi, mom!

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Today my niece, Lizzy, turns ELEVEN. Eleven?! Eleven. 

My relationship with her is oh so special to me. She was the first little human to make me an aunt. I was only 13 when she was born, and I think that age paved the perfect path for us to be best friends. She is the sweetest, most beautiful girl in the world. Honestly, there's no one like her. While I can't count on her to keep a secret--she'll always go and tell her mom! haha!-- I can count on her to love me no matter what. She's one of my biggest fans and one of my best cheerleaders. It can be a lot of pressure having someone so young and innocent and naive look up to me so much, because I never want to disappoint her. She's so good. I hope she never grows out of wanting to have a sleepover when either of us is visiting the other. Happy birthday, Lizzy! Love you xoxo

Here are a few of my favorite pictures with her: