Monday, November 28, 2011

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion to clarity. " -Melody Beattie

Well FIRST...
happy birthday 
to my sweet, caring, handsome, wonderful..
other half.
I love you SO much.


[more on Blake becoming an older man later..]

So after much deliberating..
  Blake and I decided we were going to spend our 
[approximately three days of] 
Thanksgiving Break with my family.
Now let me explain why there was much deliberating...

Welcome to my last Thanksgiving trip home..



15 hours later.. driving through the snow.. not being able to see anything but the tail lights in front of me and the cars that had slid off the road (oh and there were lots of them to see), fishtailing the entire way..

I'm still not 100% sure how we survived that one.
But we were so happy to be alive after that trip that we jumped out immediately and kissed the ground. haha

Hopefully this trip is safer
:)

& of course today like usual I have too much  lots to blog about...
But today.. I just want to focus on how unbelievably
blessed
I am.


I am SO grateful for..

My Heavenly Father. He is my best friend, and has blessed me more than I have ever deserved. I only hope that someday I can make Him as happy as He makes me.

I'm so grateful for my Savior. & the love he had for me when he sacrificed his life so that I can come back to live with him, I could never begin to repay him... but I will always try so that he knows how indebted I feel to him.

I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I BELIEVE

I am so grateful for Blake. He is my other best friend.. I would a whole other list for reasons that I am so grateful to be with him.

I am so so so forever grateful for my wonderful loving Family. They have made me everything I am today and I would be so lost without them.

My sweet Friends that have put up with me despite my horrible communicating skills, and horrible multi tasking ability..
I love you all so much & can't tell you what you mean to me.

I am grateful for a Home.

For the opportunity to go to school and learn amazing things that give me a higher understanding of the world and life.

I am grateful for the opportunities in life that I am always absolutely amazed I am lucky to be blessed with. I've got to experience and see so many unbelievable things in my life & I have loved every experience.

I am SO grateful for how beautiful life is.
There are so many things in the world that are honestly spectacular.
In one of my classes the other day a girl commented and said,
"It is truly a miracle that couples are able to have children, babies are born, and that they live a full life."
I just think that is so true.. if you have never stopped to think how amazing it is that you are alive today, in this day, where you are, with the family that you have..
I challenge you to think about all of the people who have not had those opportunities..



Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them.
David Hume
 
I'm grateful for a lot more.. but those are some big ones.
So
happy thanksgiving
everyone! 
I hope you have a great one & get to spend it with the ones you love.
:)

Friday, November 18, 2011

In seeking wisdom thou art wise; in imagining that thou hast attained it - thou art a fool. -Lord Chesterfield

So many of you are probably thinking to yourself..
I wonder if Hailey has died... she has become so atrocious at blogging..

& although that is most definitely true.
[The atrocious blogging part.. not the dying part.. I'm still alive thank goodness]
I am here to explain myself to my loyal followers that I so love..



This is where I spend my time in my life 
I like to believe that I am becoming smarter.. but either way.. this is as good as it gets some days. haha 
Library dates with my sweetheart.




He really loves it when I take pictures of him in the library because I hadn't quite figured out how to turn off the noises on my phone when it takes pictures! haha.. ha
SO as my loud click noise on my phone echoed through the silent library..
I think he was really happy to be sitting by me..
[that's what his happy face means-I know it may not look that way but let me assure you]
:)

But.. SERIOUSLY now..
I have some really awesome news.
1. There are only a few more weeks of school left!
2. That means that there is only one more semester left until I am married! :)
3. That also means there are only two more semesters left until I am GRADUATED with my Bachelors!

It just gets better and better!
& next week is Thanksgiving.. so hopefully I will have lots more time to blog and fun stories to share.

& now.. since we are on the subject of fun stories..
Yesterday morning was quite the way start my Thursday..
I woke up to go running at 5:45 and when I went outside to go start my car...
It was no where to be found!
ah. not good.



So then I remembered that Blake had picked me up from the library the night before and I had forgotten to get my car!
& I was parked RIGHT in front of a NO PARKING from 2am-7am sign.
[& I remember thinking who in the world would park here from those times as I got out of my car! Obviously I would. ha]
SO I was so terrified my car was towed..
[this town is the worst worst worst about giving you tickets, boots, and towing. I hate it.]

So Blake woke up at 6 like the loving fiance he is and took me to my car & to my astonishment I didn't have so much as a ticket!
Then after he left I was in the best mood because of how blessed I had been that morning & I stopped at the store and bought breakfast for  my roommates and Blake before I had gotten home.

Then when my roommate Elana saw me setting out muffins she frantically yells at me to get upstairs.. hides the muffins in the microwave and makes me go to my room.. haha



Then next thing I know she is bringing me "breakfast in bed' that Blake had made for me..
with this cute note:

This was meant to be breakfast in bed....
but you are so ambitious sometimes haha. 
I love you babe, and i hope this helps your day start off happy :)
Love, Blake


He is probably the most genuinely good person I've ever met.. I don't know how I ever got so lucky.
& I am so grateful for such a sweet roommate that is willing to wake up at 6:30 to help make my morning better.


Then a couple of hours later when I was walking to class with my other sweet roommate Chantal, 
we were lucky enough to walk out right when it had started snowing
[which actually.. probably wasn't luck since it's always snowing here!]
& we hadn't even made it like 20 steps from our apartment when we realized that the snow was covering up the ice 
& I completely slipped and took out Chantal's legs too.
& before we knew it we were both on the ground laughing so hard we couldn't get up..

Curious how many more times I will probably fall before the winter is over?
Well the count starts now.


Other good news?
I think I finally picked out my wedding colors..

Teal, Gray, and a Bright Purple.

So now I have to get the wedding planning show on the road!

Oh & last thing that I feel is blog worthy today..
:)




These amazing Chinese Acrobats are called the
Golden Dragon Acrobats
& they were doing things that I don't even think I could dream up myself doing!
Blake took me and some friends to go see them and there wasn't a minute I wasn't impressed.
SO if you haven't seen them.. you should definitely go.

:)

I hope everyone else is doing great.. & not spending their life studying!
Have a wonderful weekend.. happy Friday!