¡Feliz Año Nuevo!

Hey there. Happy New Year! It’s weird to think that we’re in 2012 now. Time has seriously just zoomed by! goals, goals, goals…here are my 20 resolutions to keep for the year I turn 20-

 1.      Blog more. (obviously)

2.      Run a half marathon

3.      Develop better study habits

4.      Read more great books

5.      Get into the nursing program!!

6.      Become more organized

7.      Go on a road trip to CALIFORNIA!

8.      Volunteer & give back to the community

9.      Create & keep a workout plan

10.  Spend more time with my lovely mother

11.  Make plans to study abroad

12.  Become a “morning person”

13.  Keep a journal of grand adventures

14.  Hike Rim2Rim again in 12 hours

15.  Attend ALL my 7:45am classes…we’ll see about this oneJ

16.  Eat real, nutritious foods

17.  Go snowboarding

18.  Become better at letter-writing

19.  Learn how to ballroom dance

20.  Develop a habit of scripture study every night

But most of all, I want to simply enjoy life more!! I’m looking forward to another year full of love, laughter, good food, and enjoying beautiful places with those I love. I want to show more gratitude. I want people to know how much I care, love, and appreciate having them in my life. Happy New Year!! 2012-bring it on.

P.S. I fly back to ID tomorrow morning!! I’m really excited, but also sad that I have to say goodbye:( Bittersweet. Also soooo much more packing needs to be done.

'twas the night before christmas

CHRISTMAS is HERE!! woah. These last weeks have literally flown by! I’ve absolutely loved being back home & spending time with my wonderful family. There’s just something about the sights, scents, sounds, tastes, and overall spirit of Christmas. Today was absolutely blissful. My best friend Maura & I spent the day together decorating cookies, caroling, seeing lights galore, and enjoying christmas movies. We also made a clementine candle, thank you PINTEREST. There are some unique things that Vienna does around Christmastime that I completely forgot about. Tonight, it was such a wonderful surprise to see neighbors putting luminaries all over the sidewalks. It completely brightened up our neighborhood & looked like a winter wonderland. I’m so thankful that we were able to spend this time together, as I’ll be leaving again so soon. 

I hope your Christmas Eve was merry and bright as well. Merry Christmas to all & to all a good night!!!!

the sunshine state, we're here at last!

Due to hurricane Irene (which was predicted to be the worst east coast hurricane to hit the US in decades), we left for our family vacation two days later than planned. After church, we spent a few hours packing everyone and the car up, and we hit the road to FLORIDA!! I’ve been quite excited for our beach trip, especially since Hunter is flying into Orlando just for the week! Hunt & his friend JC got to our resort on Saturday and have been keeping the fort down while we prepared for the hurricane.

The car ride wasn’t too bad, I finished reading Goblet of Fire while my Mom drove for the first few hours. I took my turn rockin’ the packed mini-van from North Carolina to South Carolina. It only took about two and a half hours & I was singing along to Coldplay. We finally reached FL around 6:30am and each enjoyed a steak, egg, and cheese bagel. From there, I drove to our resort where we unpacked and met up with Hunter and his friend. While the boys got groceries, everyone else went to the beach. 

It’s so beautiful here and the waves are far calmer and more enjoyable than Dewey beach. In the summer, honestly what is better than a relaxing day at the beach? Grant and I enjoyed jumping the waves together, I read on my kindle, and walked on the warm sand. The beach hat that Maura, Sarah, and Ariana gave me for my birthday is so perfect for this vacation!! Thanks again:) 

After they got back from the grocery store, we all took a break from the tides. Since we drove through the night and couldn’t really get the best nights’ rest, I took a cat’s nap. When I came back outside, the boys were playing football on the sand, so I went on a nice run. Then we started making our favorite chipotle-style family dinner. Everyone has their specialty that they prepare; Mckay grated cheese, I made yummy guacamole and put cilantro in the rice, Clark cooked the meat, and Grant was in charge of the refried beans. It was delicious!

Since it’s a Monday night, Hunter and JC planned our Family Home Evening lesson. We watched & talked about these great mormon messages, found here and here. I love the first one, “What Matters Most,” it reminds me to forget the small annoyances in life and focus on the big picture. We ate cookies n’ cream ice cream for our dessert. For the adults that were still awake, we watched one of our favorite movies, Down To Earth. That movie is hilarious! JC fits in just perfectly with our family & is more than helpful with everything. We call him Jay-Z! Our family's so gangsta that we got a rapper on vacation with us!

I love sharing laughs & sweet memories with my family. I can’t wait for more sun, sand and serenity tomorrow. Happy summer & family vacations! 

letterpressing!

Megan’s family has a letterpress machine & I’ve been dying to learn the art. I was surprised by how easy a simple design is to set-up. 

Here’s the process-

1. Arrange the desired imprint design

2. Mix different inks to achieve a beautiful color

 3. Pedal until the color is evenly spread.

4. Place card so that design is centered

Letterpress away!!

In this case, I made “rachel anne” stationary, using a teal blue color. 

I absolutely loved learning how to letterpress from the pro! Thank you so much megan elizabeth for teaching me. I’ve loved using these flat cards for cute little notes. 

the help.

Megan gave me a hardcopy of the help for my last birthday & it’s been one of my favorite reads! Since it was announced that they were making a movie, we became excited to see the different characters and overall plot. So tonight meg, courtney, and I saw the movie & loved it!! They did a fantastic job filming such a fantastic bestseller! We laughed, cried, and our hearts were touched. 

1 year old!

Today my blog turns one year old, my first post being A Nautical Adventure. I love sharing my adventures and experiences on this & hope I will have many more to blog about!

Happy Birthday to “Rachel’s Road To Bliss!”

side by side or miles apart, dear friends are always close to the heart.

I am so grateful for two of my best friends, Maura and Trianne. It’s been hard being so far away, I miss them dearly. We can relate so well to each other and spending time with them is always so wonderful. We are practically like sisters.

Recently, my mom got into a bicycle accident and broke both bones in her left wrist. An ambulance came to our house & she was taken to the hospital ER immediately.  After a few hours, an orthopedic surgeon manipulated her bones and put her arm in a splint. In a few weeks, she’ll undergo surgery on her wrist. Naturally, she’s been in a lot of pain and former household tasks are more difficult to complete. I really wish I was at home right now to help my mom and family. I’m sure it would be difficult trying to get rest, while so much household work needs to be done. But I know that she’s in good hands, my dad has been playing “Mr.Mom” by trying his best to keep everyone on their normal schedule. In addition, so many loving members in our ward have shown kindness with prepared meals and thoughts of rest & recovery. It’s always nice to know that one’s family members have so many others that deeply care about and love them just as much as we do.

Anyways I was so thankful that Maura & Trianne came to visit my mom and see how she’s doing. They love my family & my family absolutely loves them. My mom was really appreciative and really enjoyed seeing them.(and enjoyed the freshly baked breads and croissants too). I’m so lucky to have such caring friends that I didn’t have to ask them to do anything, but that they just knew that they could brighten up my mom’s day. I’m so envious that they could’ve seen her, I wish so badly that I could be there with them right now! Thanks marcy and tracy for all your love and support, you all are the greatest best friends any girl could ask for!!