Here's to never growin up.

SIX MORE DAYS.

So...every day I just try to find mini adventures to go on with family and friends.

We love playing racquetball together.

And hiking! Now is the perfect time for Adam's Canyon because it has so much water right now! Lauren likes to scale rock walls rather than stay on the trail.

We also had a random Ogden adventure day. First we went to this sketchy, creepy swap meet, which I don't have pictures of because it was that gross. Then we went shopping around Union Station on 25th street. I love that part of Ogden!

And finished up with a picnic by the water in Ogden canyon.

Oh, and we had to hit up the fountain shows at Station Park that night too.

For the rest of Memorial Day weekend, some friends and I decided to pretend we were on vacation. We stayed in the Plaza next to the temple downtown. It was so much fun!

On Sunday night we walked around Temple Square and through some parks...

...and got to go up on the roof of the Conference Center. I loved it!

We did some night swimming and a midnight dinner at Denny's which was a little sketch...AKA we saw someone getting arrested. It's fine.

And then we had a dance party on top of Alexa's car on the roof of our hotel. It's how we do. I love these gals.

In the morning we took another swim....this is what it looks like when the sun is up...

We just loved living in a hotel.

We walked to the French bakery for breakfast....also known as where I want to be buried.

We explored a little and then shopped at City Creek. I'm going to miss these ladies so much!

This week I spent some time with one of my favorite people...

...and yesterday my Mom and I decided to have an Art day downtown. We went to the Museum of Contemporary Art which was so much fun. If you haven't been there....they have a film from 1980 called Attack of the Brine Shrimp. So it's basically a must.

Also some screen tests Andy Warhol did and that is pretty classy.

Mom and I went to the library, and then walked to this sculpture garden. Yes, that is a sculpture of the sphinx with Joseph Smith's head. This is what my mom and I do to bond.

We ended our day back at the cathedral...I just keep going there because I think it is the most beautiful building in the city. I mean the temple is nice but look at that color!

I'm just soaking in every moment of my last few days at home!

22 Acts of Kindness

Last year I made a goal to spend my 21st birthday doing 21 acts of service. But then I was traveling on my 21st birthday. So I thought, I'll do it on my 22nd birthday. But then I decided to go on a mission. 

So then I thought...why wait to be kind? 

So on Thursday I began my quest!

1. Write notes to family members.

I decided to write notes to each person in my family, telling them my favorite things about them, and I left them on the microwave for when people woke up.

2. Clean the kitchen.

My mom was pretty excited about this one. I cheated and did it the night before because no one can get up earlier than my mom.

3. Mail a thank-you note.

My grandparents gave me a LARGE pile of money recently and they're really nice so it was the least I could do.

4. Leave change on vending machines.

I left quarters on a bunch of the machines at Smith's, including this claw machine. 

5. Take flowers to the cemetery.

This one was a bit more time consuming since I had to drive to Ogden, but I'm glad I included it.

6. Help a lost dog.

This was never on my list. When I got to the cemetery, I was on the phone so I got distracted and started walking the wrong way. There was this dog following me around, but I barely noticed it because it wasn't following too closely. But then some of the groundskeepers of the cemetery started following us both around. "Is that your dog?" I shook my head no, still on the phone and walking around in circles when I realized I was in the wrong spot. Finally, one of the workers walked up to me with a leash and said, "I'm sorry, the dog really likes you and he's not responding to us. Can you get him for us?" Easy peasy. The dog had a collar so I hope his person finds him! 

7. Surprise someone at the nursing home.

This was probably my favorite one of the day! I took a bouquet into the nursing home and asked if there was anyone having a bad day that needed some flowers. The receptionist was really sweet and told me of someone who didn't have any family around and would be out of her room for a while. I wrote her a note and left the flowers on her bed. 

8. Thank the mailman.

Luckily Rachel never goes to school anymore so she was there for the next few service moments. We made muddy buddies and left some in the mailbox.

Later we found this! Who knew our mailman's name was Ron?

9. Take a treat to our Bishop.

Our dad was the Bishop for seven years, so we know how much Bishops deserve a minute to relax and just eat some muddy buddies.

10. Temple work.

Rachel came with me to Bountiful and she did baptisms while I did initiatory work. You can read about why the temple is a place of service to me here.

11. Be a courteous driver.

Done.

12. Donate clothes to the women's shelter.

No matter what, I always have clothes in my closet that I never wear. And I can't think of anyone who deserves them more. 

13. Leave encouraging notes around town.

Everyone needs a pick-me-up. I decided to leave "Take What You Need" signs in store bathrooms and in parks. You can read more about the "Take What You Need" project and download the poster here.

14. Write to a missionary.

No problem.

15. Be nice to nature.

We have a pretty little reservoir within walking distance of our house. And it needs some love. Rachel and I picked up a lot of trash, including but not limited to, cans, pizza boxes, and socks. 

 

16. Donate children's books.

I wanted to get the little kids involved in one of my projects. The three of us went through their books and decided which ones were a little too young for them now. Hannah and Janie donated 45 - FORTY-FIVE - books!

They were pretty excited about it even BEFORE McDonald's gave them free ice cream for donating.

17. Leave heads-up coins on the sidewalk.

For little kids to find! 

18. Share family history.

Last week I got to talk with my sweet Grandma about why she decided to join the church. I recorded what she said and typed it up, and I then I sent it to my mom's siblings. Stories matter!

19. Surprise random children with ice cream.

Lauren and I went to visit Rachel at work at Pace's. I paid for three ice cream cones and had Rachel take them to some little kids there who were with their grandparents. Rachel said they were pretty excited!

20. Support music education.

This was never on my list either. The day before this, Lauren asked me to go with her to the junior high concert. "I have to go and I don't want to go alone!" I said, "Lauren I don't have time! I have to do 22 acts of kindness!" I am sometimes ridiculous but it usually doesn't take me long to realize it. Doing something you would rather not do because you love the person who wants you to do it with them is an act of service. 

And a pretty easy one when you have a Reese's shake from Pace's with you.

21. Leave packs of gum in family members' cars.

Because everyone loves gum.

22. Donate to the Red Cross.

Originally on my list, I wanted to give to Kiva, which I still think is a great idea and can be looked into here.

But because of the tornado in Oklahoma, I decided to give to the Red Cross. You can do that in about 60 seconds here.

That makes 22! A very happy unbirthday to me!

It's the Final Countdown

So...I'm going to the MTC two weeks from today. It's like I only have two weeks to live, and what would YOU do if you only had two weeks to live? Well..I find myself doing all the same things that I would normally be doing at this time of year, but I'm just savoring all of it so much more.

On Saturday my whole family headed downtown to some of our favorite spots. The King's English is my very favorite bookstore, and since it was a rainy day, it was perfectly beautiful.

After perusing the bookstore for an awfully long time (almost everyone ended up with a new treasure) we went on a rainy day walk through the Avenues to look at all the beautiful houses. Then we ended up in a cute little sandwich shop for lunch.

Then of course we had to head to the Salt Lake library, but not really to look at more books. We took the glass elevator (still terrifies me) up to the roof for the view. The sun came up just in time.

We walked back to my dad's work where we'd parked, so we got to walk through the Temple Square flowers a little bit. Perfect Saturday morning! Afterwards we went to Janie's dance recital together. She has always been a cute dancer but now she is actually really good. We finished up the night at my cousins' for pizza and around the world ping pong. There is no one I would rather spend the day with than my little sisters! Honestly.

The next day was my farewell. So weird. I was really glad that I gave my farewell talk a couple weeks before leaving because I wasn't very emotional, and I think I would've been if I knew I was leaving in a couple of days.

I was so grateful for the support of friends and family!

Monday, I had a day to myself downtown. I had to go visit my physical therapist before heading on my mission, just to make sure my old lady back is going to be okay. That means I got an electrode massage, which is almost worth having back surgery over. Not really, but it's a good way to start the day.

Since I was already in Salt Lake, I thought I'd take the day to explore on my own. There is something fun about deliberately being a tourist in your own city. You see it differently. For instance. Salt Lake City is still very excited about its one piece of wildlife. The falcon.

I followed (at a distance) a group of Asian tourists around Temple Square to try to see it through a newcomer's eyes. They took so many pictures, so I took a few too.

For a long time, I've been wanting to visit the Community Writing Center downtown. It turns out it's part of Library Square, which I've been to a million times. Who knew.

I sat in the writing center for a long time asking questions and reading a lot. They people there have found so many cool ways to reach out to the community. It was really quite inspiring. One of the first things on my to-do list after getting back is working on implementing some of their ideas into our writing center at Utah State. Stay tuned!

One cool thing the writing center does is taking short and simple writing projects to festivals and events, then displaying the writing. One of my favorite projects they had on a display was called "Say It in Six" where they asked hundreds of people to write a six-word memoir of their life. What would yours be?

As I walked back to temple square, I stopped in this rare book shop. Somehow I've never noticed before! I found some great stuff.

I met my dad for lunch at work, and then I walked to the Cathedral of the Madeline.

It is giant, so on the outside it looks pretty intimidating.

But it is so peaceful inside. I sat in the back of the pews, and listened to a big family recite prayers in Spanish together. I have not felt that calm in such a long time, just letting their Spanish prayers flow over me.

I'm literally not going to have alone time for 18 months, so I'm glad I spent a day exploring on my own!

That night, I went with my little sisters to their elementary school to see their principal dressed as a bunny on their school's roof. Never a dull moment! He promised them he would sleep on the roof dressed as a bunny if they increased their attendance or something. He had a tent up there and everything. The kids loved it.

Yesterday I got roped into being a chaperone on the 5th grade field trip. I've never been a chaperone before, but it was a lot more fun than I thought it would be!

My group of kids was sooo easy, and I was automatically the coolest chaperone because I wasn't a mom.

They liked the train ride downtown more than the game. I had coloring books, card games, and candy, so they were pretty happy to be on my "team."

What should I do for the next 14 days??