weekend in the life of olivia karli and brooke....

karli treated brooke and i to a rascal flatts concert for our birthdays on friday night. we felt alittle pathetic singing every word at the top of our lungs by ourselves.. but it's okay. it was a great time. who needs men?... right?

then saturday morning we went on a pretty little hike around suicide rock in salt lake city.. fun place!

then we drove up north to logan town to watch karli's brother eric play some football up at utah state. it was fun to see him play and watch the only winning utah football game yesterday. sorry utes and cougs.

i loved this weekend and love these lovely ladies more than i love cinnamon covered almonds. and that's a lot.

nobody said it'd be easy, they only said it'd be worth it.

today, i have the word goodbye on my mind. some goodbyes are sad, others happy. some goodbyes are permanent, while others temporary. a year ago from today i said goodbye to one of the most important people in my life. but this goodbye was almost all of these goodbyes combined. it was sad in the sense that someone i was in love with was parting with me for two full years. it was happy because he was making the right decision and doing exactly what he was supposed to be doing at that time in his life. but the truly happiest part was that this goodbye wasn't permanent. missions are amazing because after two years they get to return to their family, friends, and loved ones. (two years though? really??) i love the quote defining a missionary. it says..."a missionary leaves their family for a short while so that other families can live with theirs forever." throughout this school year i have loved going to our mailbox and seeing so many letters from all around the world. we are keeping in touch with people from madagascar to germany. brooke and i have even turned our sacrament and work time to writing elders back time! i even saw brooke cry once saying goodbye to some friends... and that never happens :) yesterday, karli started her own journey of having to say goodbye to someone she loved dearly for a temporary two years. hearing of her heartache i couldn't help but to feel so glad that i could be there for her because of my own experience. everyone talks about the missionaries "BEST TWO YEARS" but what about the girls they leave behind? if we had a movie named after us would it be called the "BEST TWO YEARS" ? or the "MOST HEART-WRENCHING, THINKING TOO MUCH TOO OFTEN, MISSING THEM TOO MUCH TWO YEARS" ? as hard as it is to live without them, hearing of their growing experiences is truly amazing. i have grown so much spiritually just by hearing of their encounters and experiences. i am so excited for karli and can't wait to live up these next two years with her! here's to goodbye's. the good and the bad. the beginning... but not the end...

feeling a little peachy and minty..

these two colors have been striking my attention lately.. i adore these pictures.

greetings elder jones..

brooke and i had the amazing/awkward opportunity of taking our dear friend elder andrews to the MTC. we ran into elder jones who we miss dearly. here's the vid!

mmm..

working in a restaurant i have been around food quite a bit and have developed a new interest in cooking! here's some recipes i wanna try...my roommates are gonna LOVE me.

lemon poppyseed pancakes.

grilled honey balsamic carrotsmozarella, plum tomato, pesto grilled chicken sandwich.
fun little snack. peanut butter, choco chips in an apple.

Call.It.Rad.Yo. aka. Colorado.

So right now the b.o.k. clan is just b.o. haha. ewww. but for the time being we are separated as I have been in Colorado. Or as i like to call it...call it rad yo. CO is a great place. It's beautiful here. I knew it would be hard to go from the bubble of Provo to another, yet very different, bubble of Highlands Ranch...but it has really been so great. I miss everyone in Provo especially b and o, but I love being with my family and the friends I left behind here. I think what is truly making my trip home is dancing. I get to work at my dance studio and the girls have truly been inspiring me to create more which I absolutely love. This week is sort of my last week home...that's when all the craziness of vacations starts. Sometimes I hate myself for how much I plan. But really I need to look at how blessed I am to be doing so much. Anyways that's pretty much life for me right now. Working, dancing, and playing hard. How can anyone complain about that? It's truly becoming one of my favorite summers!! But B and O...i'm missin ya like crazy...and never forget that. :) Smile people. and remember to stay classy and be okay.

Karlsworth.

LEGENDARY. girls run the world. thassss right.

emotion. feel it.

All that i know is i'm fallin fallin fallin...mind as well fall in.

Today is one of those days. You know the ones where things are about to change. It's that feeling in your gut where your excited about the future, but still wanting to hold on to the past. Today is one of those days. Wow. What a semester it has been. So many memories, so many laughs, so many new friends and experiences. I can honestly say it's been the best year of my life. It is crazy to think that in eight months we have all become so close with everyone here. That's the beauty about it though. How comforting to know that in an instant here friends can be made, and love can be felt. I think we went after it with no regrets, and never held back, and this year has turned out the greatest because of it. We have lived large, and lived well. We have grown, and hurt, and cried, and laughed, and won, and lost, and we have done it with swagger. Here's to freshman year.

the bestest of friends

this is olivia speaking.. i just wanted to take a second and tell both brooke and karli how much i truly love and adore them. friendships that are trustworthy and life-long are rare to come across and i know i have found that kind of friendship with these two ladies. never a day comes to pass that i don't laugh and smile with these two girls. never will you meet two sweeter, funnier, nicer girls. so, thank you. for being who you are. for loving me for who i am. and for making lasting memories with me. needless to say, we have quite the future together you two! so today... b o kayy. okay?

time is of the essence.

Time is what we want most, but... what we use worst. ~Willaim Penn

Time is valuable. It’s all about attitude. It’s all about perspective. You could say goodbye to someone for a weekend and feel as though you will never see them again, have to say goodbye for a couple years, or there is always that scary thought that you may be saying goodbye forever. You could have the hardest two minutes at the end of your workout, or be lying awake in your bed for the longest hour before falling asleep, or the toughest year of your life. But no matter what, it’s all about the way you look at it. No matter what, you always look back on it and think how fast it actually went by. Goodbyes may be the hardest thing to deal with at the time, but when it’s over, it’s always just a little bump in the road. Never forget that you can make it through those hard times…they will end, even when it feels like they won’t, they ALWAYS will. The sooner you decide to have a positive attitude about it, the faster the pain goes away. Put a smile on your face and eventually the smile will come naturally. Never forget that someone has it harder, never forget that you have the strength to make it through, never forget to turn to those around you for help, and never forget that everything will be okay.

This is Called...Talent.

Look For It.

Trials...they happen over and over again. It may be trials with school, or a friend. It may be trials with people you love, or people you think you hate. It may be trials with a job or lack there of, or maybe with health. No matter what the trial is however, each one has something in common with the next. Each has a light, a positivity throughout it. No matter how dark and devastating things may get, there is a brightness waiting to be let free, all you have to do is find it. A lot of people have tunnel vision, that perspective where you only see one outcome. The thing about life though, there always will be an outcome, but nine times out of ten it will be the furthest from what your tunnel vision projected. When things don't work out, it is supposed to happen that way. Someone else is supposed to come into your life, or something is going to occur that this trial may prepare you for. I think if we look at it more like a lesson or an experience rather than such a hardship our lives can be completely turned around. The other day I heard someone say to another "why do you act like life is a fairy-tale?" No offense to that person but life is. Life can be a fairy-tale. Life can be that feeling when you accomplish something you never thought you would. Life can be the happiness you feel when you belt out the lyrics to your favorite song. Life is what YOU make it. It doesn't come easy, you have to work for it it. You have to look for it. You have to put your thumbs to the sky.

LIST FOR THE BUCKET

something that is on everyone's minds as the new years rolls around are goals and resolutions. a fun idea is to think of some goals/a bucket list to accomplish with some of your closest loved ones. write them out and post them where you will be reminded of them everyday! no matter what, accomplish them all!!!

1. Not say one negative thing about anyone anything for one week.
2. Visit New York all together.
3. Drop off a nice present for someone secretly once a week for a whole semester.
4. Do Baptisms in every Utah temple.
5. Run a half-marathon.
6. Watch top 25 movies of all time.
7. Visit Africa for a Humanitarian Trip.
8. Be each other's bridesmaids.
9. Road trip to California.
10. Every year do an annual trip with our husbands.

"Love is when you take someone to Applebees & buy them hot wings." --Paper Hearts

LOVE... what is it anyways? What's the difference between thinking and knowing you are in love? Love is something that you can't live with..but you can't live without it also. A great majority of the time love is not what it's perceived to be in the movies. Your true love isn't going to save you from a burning building, or write you letters for 365 days and then pull you in for a passionate make out session in the pouring rain. As much as we wish these fantasies would happen to us, we think it's safe to say they won't. However, real life love creates something different. Something no "dream boy" movie star can give us. It gives us frustration along with peace. Tears along with laughs. It gives us a sense of confidence and a sense of insecurity. No matter what it gives us, it will be the most satisfying happiness one can ever experience. The definition of love reads... 'a strong positive emotion of regard and affection'. The most key word in that definition is the word POSITIVE. Love is so rare and precious that once you have it, follow your heart and positively live in love. Strive to make your loved one smile. When in frustration serve them with kindness. Always talk about what is on your mind and never give up on the most important things in life. As beautiful as the concept of love is.. there are also the heartbreaking situations when either we love unconditionally with no love in response or a lacking bond fails to keep you two together. The kind of love that lasts are the ones with relationships that never cease to give you the butterflies every time your with or even think of the other person. One thing that the movies can show correctly is the idea that there can be happy endings. Everything will always work out how it is supposed to. Every single person that comes into your life will come in for a reason. Never settle for anything less than what you deserve. Love someone who will love you unconditionally back and never fail to believe that love is most definitely real.. and beautiful.

We saw this in our Marketing Class. It's UNREAL!

All you have to do is rock it out.

Music. It truly is an amazing gift we have. For me music is one of those things that can change my mood in an instant. I hear a song and I can't help but feel the passion the artist has for that certain song. Passion is the number one reason I love music, and sadly I think the world is lacking in passion. One thing I love about the fellow ladies behind thumbs to the sky is that nothing is ever half out. If we do something, we're going to do it with passion. We will laugh harder than anyone laughs, or dance as full out as we can. So my question to all of zero people who will probably read this is why would you ever not give it your all? No matter what you do, do it with passion. Push yourself to be better than you were yesterday. Because in the end all you have to do is rock it out. Don't hold back. Just go.

And while you're at it...puts your thumbs to the sky.

Song of the day: Let's Get Out Of Here by Les Savy Fav