get to know you

Don't mind my cheesy pose :) I have been loving this head wrap from Modern 85! Super comfy and great colors!

I was tagged by the adorable Amber from The Butterfly Papers to do this fun questionnaire. I loved reading Amber's answers and getting to know a little bit more about her, so I thought I would participate and encourage any of you that want to do it to go ahead as well!

Why do you blog and how has it affected your life?

I started blogging as a way to document my life when I moved away for college. My dad kept harassing me to start one since he loved blogging so much, so I obliged. It was a great way to keep my family up to date on what I was up to. However, I didn't use it that much. Then I got engaged and fell in love with wedding blogs. There was just so much inspiration online! I also loved reading other people's personal blogs. I am a people person and loved connecting to others through their stories and experiences. I was hooked. I started blogging more regularly about my life and before I knew it, my blog had turned into a creative outlet for me. Blogging has changed my life in many ways! I have made some dear friendships with people I would have never met outside of blogging, and it has landed me a few jobs, even my current one! Blogging and social media is an exciting world to be apart of, and if you do it properly, it can affect your life in some pretty great ways!

What is your biggest fear?

Not to be too morbid, but my biggest fear is dying young, yet I am not afraid of actually dying. Let me explain, shortly after I was married I started getting anxiety about dying. I would think about how easy it was to die and I started worrying about the oddest things. When I started to think about it, it wasn't so much dying I was afraid of, but missing out on life's experiences. I was so elated to be married and I realized all the amazing things I had to look forward to in life that you don't normally think about when you are a teenager. So ultimately my biggest fear is dying before I get to have children with Trevor and raise them and see them grow up into whatever amazing people they choose to become.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Yes, this is just a practice run for your next job interview.

In the next five years I will be almost thirty, CRAZY?! In five years I hope that Trevor will be established in a job that he loves, and I hope to be a mother to a few children. If everything could go according to plan, I will be able to have that delicate balance of motherhood and doing something that fulfills me career wise. I hope to be a better person then I am now, that I always continue to grow and learn. And I know that I will still be totally happy and thankful for the family and friends I have been blessed with, and hope I can always show them that.

What is your most awkward/embarrassing moment?

You're going to make me re-live it eh? Well, I was about fourteen years old and playing dodge ball at a Church activity. We were playing in the gym, and when I caught the dodge ball two girls came up and pantsed me! Everything, and I mean everything, was exposed to the people in the gym. To say I was mortified would be an understatement.

If you could meet anyone, real or fictional, who would you choose?

I know I could pick someone famous or someone who did something amazing in our history, however I think it would have to be my Grandmother. My father's mother passed away a few days after I was born. The last conversation my Dad had with her was telling her about me. She never had the chance to meet me. She died very young, and extremely unexpected from a brain aneurism. My birth and her death were so close and I have always felt some odd connection to her, I can't really explain it. I would have loved to have known her and talk to her about her life and how my dad was growing up.

What is something you wonder about a lot?

I wonder a lot about how "good" I am doing. I can put a lot of pressure on myself to make sure I get everything done, and am improving. I have really worked on being kinder to myself over the years, and while I am a lot better, I still find myself getting pretty hard on myself. I believe in self improvement and sometimes I get frustrated with how hard it can be to change. This probably isn't making any sense, because you guys aren't in my head! But basically, I want to make sure I am always becoming a better person, and learning.


Where do you find your greatest inspiration?

I find my greatest inspiration in other people's culture, and experiences. When I was fourteen I was able to be an exchange student in Japan and I was blown away by how different my life was. It was a total culture shock and it sparked this desire in me to learn more about other people, especially those different from me. I love to travel and experience different cultures, music, art, heck even food can be inspiring! I love to absorb other people and everything they are about, it ignites me to challenge myself, and to keep on growing and learning!

Tell us about a favorite memory from growing up.

Oh I have SO many! I know they say no ones life is perfect, but honestly, I think my childhood was. My favorite memories always include my family. I have three distinct memories I cherish from my childhood, and luckily for me they happened often! 

Growing up my family would go to the beach and spend the entire afternoon swimming, playing in the sand, and ending the night with a bonfire, hot dogs and smores included of course. Those days were some of my best. Diving under wave, over and over again and feeling the taste of salt in your mouth and sun on your face... pure heaven. 

As children, every Saturday night we would all take baths and get in our pajamas. We would all gather in the family room to watch our traditional family shows or a movie. While we watched my parents would each take a child and lotion us up, or brush our hair. We would end the night all laying on top of my dad or laying next to him on the floor while he read us a story, or the scriptures. Loved those Saturday nights.

Also growing up we always had to do chores on Saturdays. I can't even believe I am saying this, because at the time I despised cleaning, but it was a time where me and my siblings would work together and share stories and talk about our futures. I remember distinctly one afternoon where all of us were folding laundry and talking about our futures. We talked about how weird it would be when the boys had served missions. Where would they go? How odd would it be when we were all married with children? What kind of people we wanted to end up with. Oh how sweet those conversations were.

Man, why did we ever become teenagers?! haha