knope.

 +

=

thanks.

i don't know whether to thank these lovely people for today's grateful rant for introducing this wonderful thing or the thing itself.  but today i am grateful for parks and recreation.  maybe i am thinking too highly of myself but is that not why i write a blog?  BUT i am pretty sure that if i had chosen to take the government path that i would be the leslie knope of taylorsville city.  however, everyone {aka one random stranger} is telling me that i give off more of an april vibe, which if you are a fan of the show {which i strongly recommend you to be} is a rather sad statement, but i'll accept it.

yellow bikes and hard core tricks.

i am grateful for the phrase hard core.  if it weren't for that phrase, there would be nothing to define me and my killer bike gang  this summer.  for some reason all i can think about is singing "all the other kids with their pumped up tricks"...instead of "kicks"...i have a real knack for changing songs for my benefit.  and tonight it was a famous song that will most likely become my bike gang's theme for the summer 2012.  side note:  let it be known that i am also grateful for the fact that my roommate in the opposite room has no idea that i can hear her singing in a lovely falsetto right now.  sweetie.   

thanks a lot.

{me and some babies.  one of which in greater detail below.}

i have to tell you a funny little thing.  one time i was babysitting an adorable little girl.  she went to my day care.  she still calls me miss paige.  it's nice.  we were having dinner and she insisted on blessing the food.  it's important to interrupt my thought right here and tell you that 3 year olds are almost perfect in every way, but their one flaw that keeps them human is their comedic timing.  most of the jokes i heard at the daycare in the summer...i heard them at least 4 gajillion times.  but i laughed every time because the jokes are still funny.  anyway.  she "blessed the food" by thanking jesus for every single thing she could think of...peas, hair, windows, swings, summer, chairs, plates, feet, princesses, crayons, school, miss paige {<3}, and the list goes on {seriously for like 20 minutes more}.  she ends the prayer with "and thanks for nothin'!  amen."  she didn't mean it.  but "thanks for nothin'" was a summer day care go to joke.

but, as always, those little monsters inspired me to be more grateful.  and gratefulness brings happiness.  so imma tell you something that i am grateful for every day this week...for no reason in particular...not because of thanksgiving or anything it's just a random thought that i thought that i would have.

today i am thankful for...
the 2011 east coast extravaganza with the greatest family in the world!
i am grateful that we...

• saw 2 broadway plays.
• met fellow courtney admirers. 
• found alice.
• saw lincoln and stood where king told us his dream.
• ate a real philly cheesesteak.
• looked at the liberty bell behind glass.  but honestly only thought about this...

• sang "good morning, baltimore" in the morning.  in baltimore.
• touched the berlin wall.  
• saw obama's house.
• ate at big nicks.
• reenacted you've got mail.
• basically, in a nutshell, i had the world's greatest vacation this year.  

thank you east coast.

p.s. i miss you.

streams of mercy, never ceasing.

{love love love.}

i think i might be a jinx.  or something.  because, in the last year, 2 buildings on provo center street that courtney and i took pictures by right before she left on the mission {like this one} have been destroyed.  one knocked down.  one burnt down.  the provo tabernacle, a fantastically beautiful building, one of utah's oldest in fact,and home to an original minerva teichert, mysteriously went up in flames last week.  finally firemen were allowed in the building to clean up, and they found this.  a picture of christ.  burnt everywhere...except where christ stands.  and i don't call that a coincidence.  i love Him.

p.s.  there was one more building that courtney and i posed in front of{seen here}that day, just off center street.  consider this my warning to them...just to be safe.

belated cliche thanks.

i am grateful for...

conan on tbs.

still laughing myself to sleep, thanks to him.  so glad you are back. remember how heartbroken i was?

byu football team.

hours of entertainment and numerous great games.  including last saturday.  i love you!

my mom and dad.

they have this ability to make anyone who walks in our house feel right at home.  and i love it.

march 2nd.

do i even have to explain?

park city icewater company.

reminds me of summer.

sufjan stevens.

so chill.  so beaut.  so much love.  maybe even too much.

winter blizzard warnings.

get me out of school and i automatically add you to the "i'm grateful for..." list.  even if your were kind of a lie.

tbf, bfsp, and those other friends of mine.

you crazy little things...you keep me young.

pumpkin pie.

breakfast of champions.

my church and everything that comes with it.

couldn't be more grateful for what i believe.

cool blog friends like you.

 for reading silly posts like this and still coming back for a quick read.

hannah little.

today i am grateful for chicken little.
for his will for life and his cute glasses.
but mostly i am grateful for his looks
and how they are almost identical to my girl hannah.
get a load of this...

p.s.

i am also grateful for paint

and for paint parties and for

water guns full of paint and f

or abandoned warehouses

that hold paint parties

 and for friends who love

paint and parties.

part time aunt, part time second cousin/no relation whatsoever.

today, in my dedication to being grateful for the little things in life, i am thankful for my church.  for obvious reasons, but that's not where i am headed today.  i am thankful that the church hired my mom to work part time so i could play with her monday, tuesday, and every other wednesday {seriously some of the funnest memories of my childhood took place on those days with my mama and my sister} and on every other wednesday, thursday, and friday i could play with my second mama and my second set of siblings.  i am grateful for the hamiltons.  i am grateful that i could be their part time niece and part time daughter/part time sister.  and as my duties as part time daughter, i get to be part time aunt to the greatest part time nieces and nephews ever. 

{gavin, me and gabie baby eating cake and clearly enjoying it greatly.}

{gavin.  and his caterpillar.}

{gabie in glasses that make me weak in the knees.}

{malia.  i'm such a good part time aunt.  i let them eat real dirt and everything!}

and don't even get me started on these two...

{my long lost fake nieces, ave and jos, compliments of the greatest fake sister, lynsey.  texas stole my little ladies. and i would like them back now.  please and thank you.}

my part time nieces and nephews are cuter than yours.

and i am grateful for them, their dirty diapers, their cool drawings, and their silly thoughts.

{just imagine when courtney starts popping out full timers...}

hanging on my wall.

{my sister.  my letters.}

so even though it is cliche and overused, it's the season of thanks, and imma dedicate the next little while to things that i am grateful for.  don't worry.  i have tricks up my sleeves to entertain you, my little blog lovelies.  i will tell you about the little things i love.  some may surprise you, most will not.  for today...

i am grateful for all kinds of things.

some are big and some are small.

there is one thing that i am thinking of

and it is hanging on my wall.

it opens up a box

that holds an envelope

and i feast upon wise written words

but, no, not from the Pope.

this thing that i am thankful for

is the gateway to my sister.

thanks to it's bright shiny self

it helps me not to miss her.

i am grateful for my sister

and how much she loves me

but today there's one thing on my mind

and that's the mail key.

p.s. i am grateful for rhyming. 

because it is the happiest way to write.

write? right?

the best i can be.

it's sunday.
i am working
while everyone else i know is at church.
they get blessings
while i get money.
but what do you get, my lovely little blogging buddies?
you get this beautiful quote i found in her book by this amazing man.

"all of us have problems.  we face them everyday. 

how grateful i am that we have difficult things to wrestle with. 

they keep us young, if that is possible. 

they keep us alive. 

they keep us going. 

they keep us humble. 

they pull us down to our knees to ask God of heaven for help in solving them. 

be grateful for your problems,

 and know that somehow there will come a solution. 

just do the best you can,

but be sure it is the very best. 

then leave it in the hands of the Lord."

so even though

i hate math

and i miss my sister

and i get homesick

and all i want to do is be sad sometimes

and i don't get straight a's

and i have to work on sundays sometimes

or late at night

i am grateful for these difficulties.

i am grateful that i can go to school.

i am grateful to receive the blessings

of having a missionary out.

i am grateful that i love my family so much

 and love to come home.

i am grateful for my health and the life i have.

i am grateful that i fail sometimes

because i've learned to get up and try again.

i am grateful to have a job

and be able to somewhat support myself.

i am grateful for my problems.

and i am grateful for you, my little lovelies.

it's true.

{libby & i}

there is still good left in the world.

libby {my cousin, best friend, idol} just bought herself an iPod Touch.
fancy.
saturday night was devoted to
looking at the iPod touch.
playing with the iPod touch.
and eventually making me super jealous of that iPod touch.
after falling upon the movie times {via iPod touch}
we decided to let the poor thing rest
as we went to see a movie.
we did just that.
as the credits were rolling
libby, with a priceless expression painted on her face
{which is common for the drama team queen},
leans over to me and says...

i dropped my iPod in the parking lot!

shoot.

true story.

while we sat in the movie theater libby got a phone call

from her dad.

he said that a lady just called him and said that she found his number in a pink iPod touch in the parking lot outside of the district movie theaters.  she said she'd leave it at a store nearby for the owner.

nothing has ever been sweeter.

am i right?

so it's true, good people are still roaming around us.  i hope the one that saved libby {and me too since i love that little iPod now} wasn't the last of them.

so wherever you are, lady from the parking lot, thank you.  thank you for enabling yet another saturday full of iPod touch-ing.  god bless you. and i promise that if i find an iPod touch in the parking lot of a movie theater i too will give it to the nearest store so the owner can pick it up later, in your steed, no matter how easy it would be to take it as my own.  

roommate date night.

i like them.

i am thankful for them.

and i am thankful for

roommie karlie,

for taking this picture.

home for the holidays

love you C408.

give thanks.

it may be cliche and over used.  it may not be of much importance to you.  it may be long and silly.  but this is my list of things i love, live for, and thank my heavenly father for everyday.

• my family.
• my sister missionary.
• hire's big H
• salt lake city, utah.
• UVU.
• our country and our freedoms.
• my roommates. {especially nat}.
• vinny.
• my besties.
• my testimony.
• rockstardiaries and nienie.
• BYU football.
• my health.
• anthropologie.
• st. george.
• movies.
• shoes.
• my job.
• glee.
• letters from sister wightman.
• my music.
• my education.
• my prophet.
• food. {in general}
• new york city.
• humor.
• my many blessings, even the little ones.
• late night crazies.
• and, of course, my thanksgiving feast.

{happy thanksgiving, my lovelies!}