Why..... so many whys....

So let me tell you about a little adventure I have embarked on!

I am currently running for the president of BYUSA

[BYU's student leadership/student service association]

 Sooo yeah, that would be why I super-struggled to blog all 20 days...

So that's the first why....why I have been so busy.

Now I want to go over another why...why am I doing this?

I mean, who wants to spend 30+ hours a week volunteering?

Let me give a list of reasons, because there's not just one.

1. I love BYUSA. I love it's vision, 

I love the environment, I love the people, 

I love everything about it. 

2. Somebody has to. Now, that may sound a little weird, but it's true. 

After a lot of thought and concentration on the subject, 

I came to the conclusion that somebody needs to take on this responsibility.
It's not an easy task, and it takes a lot of time, but it is needed. 

Which brings me to 3. I can do it.
I am able and willing and so so so blessed.
and I really want to help BYU students and give back
to the University that's given me so much already.. to the teachers...to students

4. I honestly believe that Courtney and I can help our school.
I think Courtney and I can leave the BYUSA office
and the BYU campus
better than we found it.
We both love people, we can both work hard.

if you want to learn more about us,
feel free.
and if you want to get involved....
we could always use help.
let me know :)

Click here.

Day 20: Age 20

Today is my birthday.

What makes birthdays so good always?

I have decided it's the mindset.

What if I went into every day just knowing it was going to be great?

Regardless, it was a wonderful birthday.

homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast :)

with decorations in the kitchen.

La Jolla Groves for dinner....

so so good!

they are obviously supporting my campaign.

[which I will post about in a minute...aka a day or so]

A canopy of lemon trees:)

Some diet coke...happy birthday to me.

tastes like home.

and chicken crepes!

Ok, sooo good. Saved some for lunch today ;)

 But let's be honest, who cares about the food!

I got to spend my birthday with my beautiful family.

And I gave and received lots of hugs and kisses.

and hung out with gorgeous girls all day!

[Please note how big Brooke has gotten...

it's like she's a woman!]

My 20th birthday was different than the birthdays before. 

I think I actually feel older. Not since yesterday...

but since I turned 19. How weird that we all grow up.

My birthday was all I could have hoped for. 

I have the best family ever. 

I have the best life ever.

Day 19: t-minus 17 minutes.

Well, today I'm grateful for bodies.
And sports. 

And health.

This morning we went to the gym as a familyr

[minus the 2 readers who stayed at home in bed]

and I was so grateful for health, and healthy bodies

and the ability to do sports and play. 

and be outdoors.

Mostly this is my brother-in-law and I today.

Poor Jess got sick, so he had to put up with the rest of us all day.

yay for snowboarding :)

Have a wonderful day!

Day 18: "The carckles of your heart are cushion-y"

I love family. 

And family time. 

Things I love about being with my family:

1. Being able to hang out with a hot bun and stretchy pants.

and honestly not care. 

2. Food! I have eaten 3 full meals today.

3. They know you. through and through.

from forever to forever. 

4. I have not touched my homework. 

5. I get to be with them for eternity.

6. We have so much fun.

Ex:

photobooth

 

They're hilarious. And awesome. And wonderful.

And beautiful. And studly. And witty. 

Do I need to go on all day?

Day 17: Park City

T-minus 4 hours until I will be with my family.

How much do I love Park City? So much.

Today I'm grateful for the time we get to spend together

every year during Presidents Holiday :)

Day 15,16? Ohhh the upcoming :)

Ok Ok, Tuesday I get to reveal some BIG news.
Can't wait to tell all of you.
Mostly because this thing has been consuming my life,
so I think about it alot....and thus want to blog about it.
But really, stay tuned for Tuesday.

Today I love swings.
I just got home from the park.
And I got to swing on a huge swing.
And it reminded me of how much I love to swing.
I haven't figured out why I love it so much.
I smile the whole time, and sometimes
a giggle
or two
or three.
might escape.

Maybe it's because they make me feel little.
Maybe it's because I really do like wind in my face.
Maybe it's because I just love them.


Family will be here in the morning...
literally counting the hours.
Have a happy happy long weekend!

-me

Day 14: "the wise"

Why am I in the library at 11pm on a Thursday night?

Don't you worry! 

I just watched 

this movie

It was so so so good! Up until the ending 

where it was horrible and I almost cried. 

Let me explain almost.

I was sad, but I....well, 

I think I have a problem. 

I just don't allow myself to cry. 

It's like this weird innate thing, 

where if I feel it coming on, 

my body stops itself before I ever even think.

Maybe that's why when I have a breakdown 

[every not so often]

it's more like a meltdown.

Luckily I haven't had one of those in a long, lonnnnng time.

On a sujeto diferente....[different subject]

Sometimes I'm blown away with how many wise and wonderful people there are in this world. Today I'm grateful for them... and how kind they are to me! I've had two really great conversations with these "wisepeople" in the last few days. People who are older, and smarter and more experienced in life than I am.

Some of their quotes:

"When they tell me to lengthen my stride, I quicken my shuffle"

"You know how much these fake teeth cost me? 

More than my first house in 1954 after the war, and it was fully furnished"

"Well, you will be great at whatever you do. I can already tell"

Chat with someone wise this week.

Day 14: Wind in your hair

Today I'm grateful for sunshine.

Someday I hope to own one of these...

Because...

1. I love wind. is that weird?

2. I could have 5+ extra minutes to get ready...or sleep....everyday

3. This is the first time in my life that I've lived somewhere that has sidewalks,

so thus, this is the first time in my life I have been in a place where i could use a bike.

I think the storm comes tomorrow, so tomorrow I'll focus on loving that.

But until then, I'll dream of owning a bike.

Day 13: In love with the Mountains.

Today was another beautiful day.

I have yet to do anything productive...

But today I'm grateful for the mountains. 

I could never live anywhere where I couldn't be near them.

Anyways, Today I exercised in the afternoon....

So I ran. 

towards the mountains. 

I ran until I found a trail. 

And I ran until the world got quiet. 

and all I could hear was the wind as I looked over the valley.

And I remembered how much I love the mountains.

In all their grandeur and majesty.

 

I love the mountains of Peru

 

I love my mountains. 

 

And now I love my new mountains. 

Do you have mountains?

You should take advantage of that.

-Taylor

Day 12: Happy Valentine's Day, world

Day 12: I'm grateful for lots of things today

[how could I choose just one?]

My day was so good.

I just knew it would be.

And funny thing, I had no Valentine.

Nope. I woke up and it was beautiful outside. 

Sunshine. 50+ degrees. I mean....practically spring, right?

So I adorned my hot pink skirt, a light sweater and flats. 

How long has it been since I've worn flats? Likely forever....

Classes were fairly average. 

Then came dance. 

And we danced the dance of love. 

and passion.

uh-oh.

;)

Anyways, it's a really technique based class, 

and I rocked the test!

Mind you, I don't really rock too many tests....

well, ever. 

it's just not my thing [am I alone in that?]

Then I met literally one of the kindest souls that has ever been.

I'm pretty certain. 

He's an older man who works at the copyright office,

and I met him while volunteering for Honor Week.

After a really nice conversation, he turned to me and said

"Well, I'll be disappointed if we don't keep in touch at this point"

He proceeded to give me his card and asked for my e-mail.

He offered his assistance if I ever were to need anything.

He said he felt like people were kind to his children,

so he should give back and help us. 

That's the valentine's spirit.

So really, it was the day of love.

Dances of love. 

Feelings of charity.

and, well...

I have decided happiness is a mindset.

Someday maybe I'll explain to you 

why I haven't always liked Valentine's Day.

And maybe next year I'll have a Valentine.

Or maybe I won't.

But it will be great either way.

Back to reality.

More homework anyone?

Day 11: Hairdo

Today I'm grateful for hair. 

I know I complain about it sometimes.... 

but really, I've got alot of it. 

Not everybody has that. 

so I need to be more grateful.

ps

Excuse my dirty mirror and lack of makeup. 

I just wanted to capture the large nature of my hair the other night.

Days 8,9,10. Oops

 Today I am going to be triple grateful! 

Mostly because I have failed the last 2 days at expressing it.... blogwise. 

1-To grandma: Look, I made a lamp!

That puppy [seen above] used to be a hideous golden lamp from DI

.....spray paint does wonders :)

Someday I'll blog about the rest of the treasures I got that day.

2. I've been needing a dirty clothes hamper. So bad. 

And I found a cute one today at Ross!

[seen beside my lamp]

Really, the clothing situation in my room was

wildly out of control.

Now it's....semi.... under control.

And 3!

To the US Postal Service:

Thanks for making peoples' days..... all the time!

Love, Taylor

But really, who doesn't love receiving letters?

There's just something about them that makes you happy. 

Because someone who has every excuse to lose contact with you 

[thousands of miles, years, or other kinds of space between]

has chosen not to. They took time enough to think of saying hello.

You officially crossed their mind without having crossed their path.

Of course it's give and take. 

You have to send them too :)

When you try hard, you might just receive letters from all places.

And receive them from all levels of creativity :)

 

 But regardless of when they come, or where they're from...

I love them.

Letters, that is.

Day 7: It's a little late....

Blogging once a day is hard.

Last night I only got in the ballpark of 3 hours of sleep.
Check in on that in about.... hmmm.
the end of this countdown [but really it's a countup?].....
to find out the reasoning behind this lack of sleep.
It's currently 2am.

And I'm going to highlight today my gratitude for people.
I love them.
It's pretty much that simple.
Think of all the fascinating, kind, talented people in your life.
But also think of those who are so good and beautiful and wonderful...
They just don't realize it yet.

I think of it this way.
Let's say you are an adult and you have a daughter.
She is absolutely darling and has a shining personality,
but she doesn't realize either.
She sees herself as something different than that.
As ugly, or bad, or annoying.
As a parent, she may not believe you when you say she is none of those things.
But you have to love her no matter what, right?
Well, wouldn't you be so grateful if she had someone
[a teacher, friend, anyone really...]
Who helped her to see her beauty. Her potential. Her light.

That's our job! To be that person!
When you can learn to see the good in other people
and help them to see it too, it's the most wonderful feeling.
Some people are easy. You can just see the good in them right away.
Others not so much.
They believe that they are bad so much...
that they've made others believe that way too.
they may even have you tricked.
But I'm here to say 

not so.

Never believe those things about yourself.
And never believe them about someone else.
Because at the core, it's never true.
It's a scam really.
To get you to not reach your full potential.

Try to love people today, as easy or hard as it may be.
I love you all. Thank you for being so wonderful.

Day 6: Lovely Friendship

So yesterday I had class until six pm.

And it was frigid cold on my 15 minute walk home.

Mostly the wind was blowing. hard...the kind with little snow pellets.

I was freezing.

and hungry.

I came home to this

sitting on my dresser.

it contained things like...

this

and this

and this 

Let me tell you a story about that bunny rabbit.

So one time there was an old man who lived in Coarsegold

He would bring these....well, kind of hideous....
wooden animals to our elementary school.

Boxes and Boxes of them. 

We just didn't really know what to do with them.
Aspen and I adopted this one.
And send it back and forth.
Instead of annoying, now it's nearly endearing :)
Oh shoot, I love our friendship.

Day 5: For the love of shoes.

Ok, today I love these shoes. 

Well all shoes really.

But especially my party shoes.

 Thank you mom for forcing me to buy cute things. 

Remember how I said that my wardrobe can be attributed to her?

These are included in that statement.

I hope you've had a good day. 

I will be doing spanish homework the remainder of the evening :)

Day 4:Little Lovers

 

 So today I'm going to be grateful for these two. 

Jess and Steve

 

They are wonderful. 

Jess is my opposite. 

And Steve and I are the same.

That's why we all get along so well.

But really, I just love them a ton. 

I never want them to leave Provo, although I'm aware it's inevitable.

I'm grateful for their friendship to me.

And their example.

Of how to be in love 

And how to be happy

Helps me to believe in fairytales.

 Hope your Superbowl Sunday was as exciting as mine!

[did I watch the game.... nope]

Gooooo......packers?

 -Taylor

Day 3

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAUREN SMITH.

i love you :)

and am so grateful to be your roommate!

you have beaten teen pregnancy.

and have 3 more sweatshirts in pink and purple.

and rocked the stretchy pants and hard yoga moves this morning.

and the sweet dance moves tonight.

you are hilarious.

and dang cute.

and am so glad to celebrate your 20th birthday with you!

In ways like.....

Funfetti Crepes!

 Cute Table Settings...

 And how could we forget... 

Tony.

I hope you know how much we love you!

And I hope you had the best birthday ever :)

Day 2

Happy Day 2 of my birthday month "love blogging" spree
 

Today in my Spanish class we sang

"Soy un hijo de Dios"

interpreted: I am a Child of God

and I remembered how much I love the children of Peru.

And the things they taught me....

How to be grateful.

How to love better.

How to appreciate the love I do have. 

And most importantly, they taught me about the meaning of being a child of God.

He loves each one of us, no matter who or where you are.

You are His child. And to really know that makes a huge difference.

For them, it made all the difference. 

I hope it does for you.

It does for me.