El Javi & Kyle Show

Some RSL Gems:

You might not think this it that funny, but I can't get enough of these two!!!

The RioT

I love this place!

It is MAGICAL to me!

Happy Birthday Brenna!

A little Birthday shout-out to my adorable roomie!

I'm so happy you're a part of my life now!  

Love you girl!!!

 

Turning Tables

Beautiful

 

Fear

Sometimes a song comes into my existence that will really make me think and really hit me to the core.  Recently I bought the OneRepublic CD titled “Waking Up”, I was listening to it the other day and got to one of the tracks called “Fear” and the words actually made me quite emotional.  Here are the words:

No sleep

Today
Cant even rest when the suns down
No time
Theres not enough
And nobodys watchin me now

When we were children we'd play
Out in the streets just dipped in fate
When we were children we'd say
That we don't the meaning of
Fear, fear, fear,
Fear, fear, fear
We dont know the meaning of..

When we were children we'd play
Out in the streets just dipped in fate
When we were children we'd say
That we don't the meaning of
Fear, fear, fear,
Fear, fear, fear
We don't know the meaning of..

Wish I
Didn't know the meaning of...

After playing it on repeat a couple more times (and still playing it on repeat every time I get in the car!), I started to think about the concept and meaning of “FEAR” to me. Its amazing how your fear changes when you're young and when you are older.  I’ve been thinking about the times I’ve experienced fear and how different the situations/experiences have been when I have felt fear. 

The time I have felt the most excruciating fear in my life was when Garrett went missing in the Uintahs.  Fear that he was hurt, fear that he was cold, fear that someone had taken him, and the biggest fear of all: that we wouldn’t find him and I would never see him on this earth again.  It was so much “fear” that it got our adrenaline pumping and we weren’t going to stop until we found him.  Eventually we just had to stop searching and the fear turned into grief.  It’s amazing how the Lord and the blessings of the gospel give you peace during that time of fear and grief.  Knowing I’ll be able to see Garrett again and that we are an eternal family has been the biggest blessing and relief of the fear and grief I have felt over missing this sweet little brother of mine. 

Then there have been other types of “Fear” in my life.  Going to Haunted Houses and screaming with my friends, bungee jumping off a 400 ft. cliff in Mexico, starting 6th grade in a middle school with lockers and brand new friends, competing at a national swim meet, and waiting for test results to come back to find out if I had cancer or not. 

The amazing thing about fear, I have discovered, sometimes the fear just doesn’t come.  You think it should come and you’re waiting for it, but you never feel it.  I remember distinctively feeling that way after I was diagnosed with cancer.  Before I was diagnosed and I was waiting for my test results, I felt fear that I would have cancer.  Once I was actually told that I had cancer, the fear was gone.  I felt at peace and that I had to be strong to get through this and I had to be strong for the people around me.  I was scared that things would hurt, I was scared how I would feel, but I was never fearful that I wouldn’t make it and never fearful that I couldn’t fight the disease. 

Fear is a funny emotion.  And I think I felt uncertain and emotional the other day when I listened to this song because I was feeling some new “feelings” that I haven’t felt for a while.  I didn’t know really what to think of them and I have been scared of getting let down and things being one sided.  Since it has been a few days, I’ve realized it wasn’t fear but more anxiety from the uncertainty!  I feel like I’ve been more in check of my emotions lately and being able to step back and really see how I’m feeling and where these emotions are coming from instead of jumping to the first conclusion.  I’m really grateful this song has led me on this journey to discover what fear really means to me.  Now, I hope you enjoy this song as much as I have!:

This Has Gotta Be The Good Life!

Tonight I opted out of staying home and being disappointed in watching the BYU vs. UofU football and went to the Real Salt Lake game instead (but to be completely honest, I wouldn’t have even thought twice about going to the RSL game instead of the BYU football game because that’s where my loyalty lies!).  My friends, Danica, Lon, Ali, new friend Trevor, and Brandon came with me!  We all piled into my Toyota Corolla (yes you read that right 6 people in my corolla) and headed north!  We stopped by my favorite fish taco “dive”, Neils off of 123^rd, and enjoyed some yummy fish tacos.  Brandon decided to be safe and had a burger, I gave him half of one of my fish tacos and he regretted the “being safe” idea.  They are seriously very yummy tacos!  We piled back into the car and headed to the game.  We pulled up right when my parents were pulling up and made the trek up to the stadium.  Unfortunately, Danica & Lon had to sit a couple rows down and over and the same with Ali & Trevor but we were able to hang out during half time and after the game.  Brandon and I sat with my parents and my cousins Heather and Jerry also came.  It was a great game with great company!  It was Brandon’s first professional soccer game and it was fun to share some of my geeky RSL knowledge with him.  Real won and it was a great win because Sporting KC was ranked 1^st in the East Division!  Even though it was a dirty game and the refs weren’t the greatest, we pulled out the win and the sold-out stadium was happy about that!  After the game, there was a OneRepublic concert on the field.  We ran down onto the field and loved every minute of the music!  I was very surprised how good they were live!  I didn't want it to stop!

It was a night of great soccer, great food, great music, and great company!  
This Has Gotta Be The Good Life!

The RioT (Rio Tinto)

Lon sooo excited to have the RSL flag come over our seats!

Here it comes!

So Happy!

Lovin' the game!

The Gang! So Ready for OneRepublic!

I Will Never Forget...

I can’t believe ten years ago our country was dramatically affected for the worse.  I’ll never forget watching the 2^nd plane hit the 2^nd tower live on TV and watching the towers fall.  I was training with a personal trainer at Gold’s Gym in Spanish Fork and was on the treadmill.  I just remember seeing that plane hit and I automatically hit the “stop” button on the treadmill.  I couldn’t believe that things like this would happen in our country.  Everyone around me had stopped as well and everyone was standing in the aerobic area watching.  At school that day the mood was very solemn.   I remember all the teachers just watching the news coverage on TV instead of having our regular classes.  I can’t imagine what all the family members of those that were lost were thinking at that time as well. 

One thing that really impressed me was how our country came together and we were united as one.  I’ve never seen such patriotism in my lifetime and it was really neat to see everyone rally together to support one another no matter what their relationship to the tragedy was. 

This summer I finally went to New York City for the first time and visited “Ground Zero”.  It was a month before the Visitor’s Center opened but it was neat to peek through the fence to see the work in progress.  I really thought it was quite a spiritual place.  I really could tell that it was a place of peace for many people including family and friends of those people who lost their lives.  I really enjoyed visiting the church across the street that housed a lot of rescue teams during the recovery efforts.  They had a lot of the banners, mementos, authority badges, pictures, and cards from people across the country.  It was neat to see it all.  

This morning I was waiting for church to start and decided to watch some of the Ten Year Memorial and opening of the visitor’s center.  They had several people read off the names of the people that lost their lives that day.  After they read off around 10 names, they would say the name of their loved one that died that day (spouse, parent, sibling, relative, etc.) and a message to them usually that they loved them and missed them.  It was a really touching tribute and I even got emotional on a couple of them.  The people that planned the event really did a great job with collecting pictures, names, and bringing all of the families together to the spot that changed their lives ten years ago. 

I’m grateful for our country and the freedom that I enjoy here.  I know our country isn’t perfect and sometimes the people that run our country aren’t the best, but we still have the assurance that we are free and we owe that to all the people that have fought for our freedom and continue to fight for our freedom.

God Bless America

Retweet!

So glad I joined twitter!

Yummy...

Butter Pecan Ice Cream from Baskin Robbins

Hugh Jackman in Austrailia

 

  

YUMMY!!!

Emma and I had a fun evening just the two of us!  We had a treat of Baskin Robbins and we watched the movie "Australia".  We decided Cowboys are really hot, but they're even hotter with an Australian accent!