F is for friends who do stuff together...

Or F is for families forever.

Either way Spongebob nailed that song! ;)

It's been awesome to have all of my family together for this past week. My brother Troy has been out in Minnesota doing his first rotation while his wife and kids have been here in Shelley. I'm so glad that he had a week break to be able to spend time with us, but especially with Carrie. He came in last Thursday and surprised her at 2:30 in the morning. It was so stinking cute. Her face lit up after she got over being scared that someone was at her door at that time of night. It was lovely :)

Anyways, back to business...

I love my family. I feel like these are my best buddies. I've been blessed with four big brothers to watch over me and be protective. As much as it sometimes drives me nuts, I'm extremely grateful for it. It has made me very aware of the guys I date and how I'm treated by them. And yes, I'm dating one stud of a guy. Who else would be willing to play the spoon game with my brothers?! ;)

We all get along so well. We were blessed with such a close bond and awesome in-laws. And if I do say so myself, we're an attractive family :)

These are the people who stand by me in my decisions.

These are the people who love me knowing my weaknesses and flaws.

These are the people that I call family.

Love you guys! 

Much love-

M

Righteous woman

I love the gospel.

I love that even when a question enters my mind, my Father knows and He listens and understands my worries and concerns. And He answers. I know he does.

Anyways, church today was amazing.

The spirit was so strong and I was reminded of the person I need to be.

A quote shared in Sunday school pointed me in the direction that I need to make sure my life is going. 

President Spencer W. Kimball said:

"To be a righteous woman during the winding-up scenes on this earth, before the Second Coming of our Savior, is an especially noble calling. The righteous woman's strength and influence today can be tenfold what it might be in more tranquil times. She has been placed here to help enrich, to protect, and to guard the home- which is society's basic and most noble institution. Other institutions in society may falter and even fail, but the righteous woman can help to save the home, which may be the last and only sanctuary some mortals know in the midst of storm and strife."

Holy cow.

This quote honestly inspired me to better myself as much as possible.

I want to be one of the woman that my Father can count on to send His choice spirits to as a mother one day.

And yes, I'm scared. I am so far from perfect.

I'm scared I won't be wifey enough when i get married.

I'm scared I won't be strong in spirit and testimony to help keep my home a place of refuge and peace.

I'm scared that I won't be the kind of mother I've always wanted to be.

But I KNOW that as I put my faith in my Father that He will help.

He will not leave me.

He will be there every step of the way starting today, through marriage and wifey stuff, through motherhood, and beyond.

I'm so grateful for my Father. He loves me and I love Him.

Much love-

M

Getting up the hill

Dear Tablerock,

I don't know how many times I have scaled your mountainside, but I conquered you again on Friday- slowly, but surely I conquered you.

On this lovely Friday, my dad, mom, Jared, Chelsea, Cody, Kinzie, and Logan, set out to get to the top of the mountain.

He's so handsome :)

We made it across the waters, we passed the  switchbacks and the shale rock, and then the worst part came. The final climb. Logan and I went about it at our own pace. We would set our sights on a certain point and make it there and rest. And over again. And over again. But at the ridge that Logan picked out, all I could do was giggle. I felt as though I had completely lost my mind. The giggles wouldn't stop. That caused Logan to start laughing and we were a disaster trying to make it up. BUT we finally made it!! It felt so good to make it up. 

The way down was much easier than the way up, but the giggles didn't stop. I was slipping and sliding a lot and for some reason it made me laugh. And that made Logan laugh at me.

Laughter is a beautiful sound.

While we were hiking I thought of how sometimes my back/hips were hurting and I'd have to stop. It reminded me of how I'm not perfect and sometimes on my way to where my Heavenly Father wants me to be, I have to stop and let someone help me. We are all in different stages of our lives and sometimes we're closer to the top, sometimes closer to the bottom; no matter where we are, our Savior is always right there with us. He's the friend who's willing to take His time as we learn to progress and become better. Sometimes we can only take 5 steps at a time, but each one of those steps bring us closer to where He wants us to be.

I am no perfect. I am far from. But I am so grateful for a loving Savior and Father who have made it possible for me to come closer to them and where I can be. 

I'm grateful for my weaknesses because I know that as I try to overcome them, I will be made stronger.

I know that I am His daughter and He is mindful of me and where I am at in my life. 

The reason we hiked Tablerock was the fact that it was my mom's birthday.

She didn't know, but there was a surprise party of the rest of the fam waiting for her. There was dinner and Minute to Win it games to be played. Oh the fun times :)

Chelsea couldn't stop giggling

And neither could I

This might have been when Logan kissed Jared's hand

Mason and big Logan

How blessed am I to have these wonderful people in my life! :)

I hope your birthday was great mom!!

Much love-

M

Let me introduce you

Have you met Mr. Logan?

I know I've blogged about him before, but have you really met him?

Oh bother, I didn't think so. 

Alright, give me five minutes to introduce you.

This is Mr. Logan.

But you can call him Logan for short.

He's from Rigby- but we won't hold grudges for that :)

Logan is my best friend.

He is hilarious; I've never met anyone who can keep the straightest face on while completely messing with someone. And a lot of times I am the one falling of the joke.

BUT because he is always joking around, my roommate Hannah told me I got funnier because of him. I was even able to start dishing out the come backs better to Jared after years of endless torment of joking from him! And I've never met anyone who can give it right back to Jared as quickly as Logan can.
If you really meet him, you may think he's from another country because of the accent he has. I'm not sure when it comes out because it isn't all the time, but sometimes he definitely sounds Australian or something!

We know each other well enough to basically finish each others sentences with the exact same word. We do the same things at the same time. 

Story-

When we went on the Skycoaster, Kinzie recorded it, and on the third time back, we both did a pull back thumbs up at the exact same time without even saying anything about it to each other.

 He makes me laugh all the time. Really I think I spend more time laughing at what he says than responding. OK.. that may be a stretch, but he keeps my abs in shape from all the laughs.

A lot of times, I don't have to finish my train of thought because he just knows what I'm thinking; while that could be creepy, I just think it's awesome :)

Oh my word, Logan is great with kids. I'm glad that he can't give his input to this, because he'd be way too humble about it. I'm pretty sure my heart melts every time I see him with his nieces. It's adorable. He plays with them and holds them when they cry. And sometimes he is the only one that can calm them down. Ahh... It's just so stinking cute!

Is that not the cutest picture ever?

Logan always does and thinks of the small things that no one else would ever think of.

He says the sweetest things to me and I'm pretty sure it has caused a blushing disorder in my face. I blush all the time. He tells me I'm beautiful when I've just finished crying my eyes out, but I know that he means it.

He is understanding, accepting, and loving of me just the way I am.
 He's got blonde hair (obviously).
Bright blue eyes.
Somewhere around six feet tall.
The cutest smile.
And great as a great can be :)

Sexy pose :)

Logan is always up for whatever and is always excited to be my adventure buddy. 

He's carefree and has been the only person who has ever helped me really calm down and not let myself get so stressed out. 

And let me tell you, he is one patient person and he has been helping me learn to have greater patience.

I can tell Logan anything and he listens and understands. I know that he has been my listening ear many times throughout this last semester and now. He supports my crazy, ridiculous ideas and dreams, but he also helps me realize those crazy, ridiculous dreams that I have and he gives me the courage to pursue them.

These next two pictures were taken by some random lady at Yellowstone. After the first picture she said, "Oh come on now, act like you like each other."  And that we did :)

Logan makes me happy.

Simple as that.

We laugh, sing, joke, and talk together.

Some of our interests are the same, some aren't, but that keeps it exciting.

He's one handsome man :)

And I'm one lucky girl

He is my adventure buddy and I'm the Robin(hood :) haha) to his Batman. 

Well, there you have it. You have now been formally introduced to the boy that keeps butterflies in my heart and my feet off the ground.

It's always better when we're together <3

Much love-

M

Woo-hoo weekend!

Time flies when you're having fun.

Obviously it does because Saturday, Sunday, and Monday were the fastest three days of my life.

On Saturday morning I drove up to Rigby to go to Island Park and Yellowstone with the Peterson family.

So yes, I got three WHOLE DAYS of Logan time :) :) (that deserves more than one smiley)

At the beginning of our weekend

 On our way we stopped at Mesa Falls and had ourselves a little picnic. We caught some grapes in our mouths and threw the frisbee around a bit. 

Michelle's ridiculous sleeping patterns story-

As Logan and I were driving to the cabin from the falls, he was trying to find some African song on his MP3 player; we were talking and literally within 30 seconds of us finishing our conversation, I fell dead asleep. He asked me a question and when he got no response, he looked over to find me sleeping. When I woke up he told me what had happened.. Oops.. my bad! I found out on the way home that this happened again while we were in Yellowstone Park with his family too.

That night we went to West Yellowstone and had some dinner and went to the Playmill.

Rachael, Davis, Logan, Dominic, Emily

It was my first time ever to go to the Playmill and Logan's best friend married the owners' daughter. It was so fun to meet Jake and Hannah and hear new stories and learn new things about Logan.

Before the show ever starts, they ask the audience if anyone is having a birthday or anything- well it was definitely not my birthday. BUT Tami (Logan's mom) points to me and I get taken up on stage to be sung to. My face was red as red, but it was funny. 

We watched the Drowsy Chaperone and Hannah was one of the main characters.

During the play I got to hold the actors drink and I got spat on by another actor. That's what you get on the front row I guess! It was pretty awesome! 

Us and Logan's parents

 Sunday we went into Yellowstone Park and hit a few different spots. It was nice to be in the car driving and talking with Logan's parent's and sister.

Hahaha :)

Fresh water out of the creek or wherever!

Not sure why I look like I'm 5 in this picture, but I do. But hey, I'm a cute 5 year old :)

ANACONDA SQUEEZE!!! 

Dom, Em, Rach, Davis

Logan and his dad

The lovely Leighton

Picnic before Old Faithful

Finnley!

Playing baseball while waiting for Old Faithful

Not too worry she's still Old and Faithful

Hmmm.. where did she learn to be a poser?

Adorable.

After we left the park, we went back to BBQ, play games, I had some girl time with Logan's sisters and mom, and at midnight Logan and I left to come back for our Monday adventure. It was a late night driving home, but we talked and sang our hearts out to the man Brad Paisley's Pandora station, and we laughed until Logan sounded like a 5 year old and I couldn't breath.

Monday morning Logan made the excruciatingly long drive to Shelley to meet at my house to go with my family to Lagoon. We go every year with the Albright family and always have a blast. This year was especially fun :)

For most of the way down Logan slept; We made our stop at Smith and Edwards to get some gummi hot dogs and hamburgers, Pez, Sixlets, Cowtails, sodas, and other penny candies. 

We played at Lagoon-a-beach: raced down waterslides, sand volleyball, and lazy river relaxing, all the while being coated in sunscreen.

Then we headed out to the main park- still coated in sunscreen to ride some rides and enjoy the nice sunshine.

Logan went on the Skycoaster with me and he pulled the rip cord. When the floor drops out from underneath you before they pull you up, it kinda scared him and I thought it was hilarious. 

But really, it was fun! Probably my favorite time of ever going. Wonder why?! ;)

 On the way home Logan and I slept the whole time.

The end of our weekend together :)

This picture just makes me laugh. After we took this picture I laughed for 5 minutes straight. And I laughed hard enough to be crying. 

Thanks Peterson family, my family, and Logan for a bombastically spectacular weekend!

Much love-

M