friends and fro-yo for your friday.

i am totally a summer bum.

evidence:

1.  yesterday, i showered at 5pm.

2.  i have read two novels in this past week.

3.  the most pressing thing i have to do is walk from the couch to the kitchen to stuff my face with easter candy:

4.  i'm almost starting to say, "school? what is that? and why would anyone ever put themselves through such misery?!"

5.  i'm crafting!

6.  i'm not cooking.  why would i cook when my mom makes such deliciousness as this:

{fried egg rolls and won tons,

and bacon-fried rice.}

7.  there are plenty of these in the fridge, and i am drinking one constantly:



8.  i am consistently on the hunt for the perfect vacation for john and i.  jamaica, anyone?  {and i'm kinda serious.}  i just can't get the idea of beaches, sunshine, and unlimited diet cokes out of my head.

9.  i distract john from studying, and we end up watching war of the worlds together.

10.  we get fro-yo every night.

i still think:  innocent until proven guilty.

road trip.

over the weekend we went to st. george for a friend's wedding.  we got to see some beautiful scenery along the way.  

and we had a great time at the reception:

the whole wedding day really made me think about how grateful i am for john, and that out of all the people in the world he could have married, he chose me.  and that i am so excited to be with him forever.  isn't it just wonderful?

{p.s. don't we live in such a gorgeous state?}

today, i read catcher in the rye....

and i kind of didn't love it.
i also made cookies with jenna and andy jack.
and i kind of loved it.

hand-crafted cookie cutters, easter-themed, of course.
{except for a bat per andy jack's request}

and.... john and i celebrated the birthday of one of our friends!

hope you have a great night, friends.

recapturing beauty.

today, i have been thinking a lot about the beauty that surrounds us.  beauty is everywhere.  we are enveloped by beautiful blossoms in particular this time of year.  the rain is also quite beautiful.  so are the foggy clouds as they paint the mountains around where i live.  and the sunsets these days?  gorgeous.

and then i started contemplating another kind of beauty.  a beauty that is so often ignored.  

our bodies.

{take it from a nursing student to bring that up}

the body is one of god's greatest creations.  it is an amazingly intricate network of systems and organs working together to produce one living, breathing soul with a beating heart.  all the systems working together function with so much finesse and poise to protect the body against the wear-and-tear of the world.  just the network of blood vessels in our bodies is a wonderful sight to behold:

{from the bodies museum exhibit, which i saw in NY three years ago. source.}

despite all that it allows us to do {and the incredible capacity to run smoothly and keep us healthy and feeling well most of the time}, the beauty of our bodies is so often ignored.  so often, little outward imperfections of our bodies drive us completely nuts.  "my thighs are fat", "i have a double chin", "i wish my breasts were bigger", "i wish i didn't sweat so much", "i'm so bony", "my feet are big".  {etc. etc. etc.}  what is wrong with imperfections?  everybody has them.  {everybody, except supermodels, that is.  because their pictures are fixed in photoshop to diminish or eliminate any minuscule imperfection on their skinny little bodies....}

ask yourself, why am i so critical of my body?  {i'll give you a hint - maybe it's because you see this all day...}

and yet i still look through the magazines and think, how do i compare?

well, true beauty lies in our attitude and our hearts.  even a simple smile, {as i was told by all my friends in high school,} can make a girl so much more attractive.

so today, i am starting a challenge.  just a ten-day challenge to recapture the beauty and remember all the great things that our bodies can do.  {feel free to do it with me, if you chose!}

day 1:  write in your journal ten things that you are grateful for that your body allows you to do.  my top three:
my body enables me to....
1)  have children {someday}
2)  eat delicious food {and enjoy it!}
3)  go running, hiking, jumping, skiing, kayaking, 4-wheeling. {and a plethora of other things that i love to do}

let's recapture the beauty.

weekend photos.

1-3. one of our favorite little underground eats.

4.  delicious banana cake.

5.  listening to john play guitar.  {my favorite past time}.  

6-8.  beautiful blooms in our neighborhood.

9.  going through john's missionary stuff, and realizing how incredibly wonderful, and special his time in taiwan was.  and hoping and wishing and praying that someday soon we will be able to go there together.  

we laughed until we cried.

it all started with one picture.  

one little picture from one little app that distorts your faces.

one little picture which i refuse to post on this blog.

{sorry friends, i wouldn't subject myself to that much ridicule.}  

one little picture that made john and i laugh until we cried.  

literally, tears were streaming down our faces.

and i really, really needed that good laugh.  

here are the more acceptable pictures, from my pudding camera korean app i was testing out.  

and if you want to add even more fun to your day, try out "the impossible test" app.

i'll give you a cookie if you can beat my high score of 233 seconds.  {that doesn't include you, mr. brunt, but i'll make you a cookie anyway!}

happy friday!