Everything I've Learned this Year...

...can be directly or indirectly related to something that has happened on Friends.

That's the beauty of the show.

And yes, it is an obsession.
But a hilarious one, so who gives?

In no particular order, some of my favorite Friends moments:

Good stuff :)
Happy New Year everybody!

My Hips Lie

Gosh, November went by fast! I can't believe this is my last forced gratitude post!

Anyhow.

Yesterday I had my first ever experience with...

Zumba.

That's right, ladies and gentlemen. I hadn't gotten my Zumba on until 5 o'clock yesterday evening. Now, Petey said that the teacher was just okay (she's a Zumba connoisseur), not amazing. But I actually really loved it.

When it comes to dancing, I am no Shakira. At all. My hips are full of lies. But that doesn't matter. I dance my face off anyway. The best part was the fact that I wasn't even the worst one when it came to shaking my thang. And when I was confused and couldn't pick up on the pattern, a bunch of people were in the same boat. It was just all sorts of comforting. And also tons of fun.

So, I am grateful for my body. I mean, without it I wouldn't be able to do my absolute favorite things (like running, hiking, busting dance moves etc. etc.). I have little to no idea how my body does all the things it does (that's why I keep Mary Raymer in my life...), but I do realize just how amazing it is. And I'm super grateful for that.

And I'm pretty sure that none of you would disagree. I mean, we've all got our imperfections, but bodies are just pretty darn incredible. And so, folks, can I get a holla for your body love?

Yeah.

Holla.

I'll Be There For You

Dang it, dang it, dang it! My plan was to upload a bunch of pictures for this post when I went home over the weekend. Did I do it? No. So what you are getting is the pictures I could scrounge off the good ol' FB. They are epic pictures, really. But I just wanted to get pictures of more people, which, unfortunately, is not the case.

SO. The important thing to remember is:

Just because you aren't in the pictures,
doesn't mean that you aren't a rockin' awesome,
amazing friend
(well, maybe that applies to some of you...;).

ANYHOW. If you couldn't guess, today I am grateful for friends.
Real friends. The good ones who, you know, like the song "will be there for you...when the rain starts to fall" (you know you want to start singing it...).

Yesterday I was able to go to Tairsa's missionary farewell. And when I was there I was like "Holy heck. My friends from Hike School are so awesome." I'm pretty sure most people hate high school and everything that has to do with it. But I loved high school...and I'm 100% sure that the only reason I loved it so much was the fact that I had some totally bomb friends. Does the fact that I loved high school make me insanely lame?

Oh well.

I just had to take a second to give a shout out to all those amazing non-related people in my life who have been such a blessing to me. And seriously guys, I love you even if I couldn't find a picture of you on my facebook (I wasn't in a stealing photos mode today...). Like, Cedar Friends- I still love you...even though I apparently never take pictures of you. Maybe I just don't love your faces (jk;).

Moral of the story: Friends rock. They make life more entertaining through the good times and hecka easier through life's hard times. So, friends, love you! Thanks for making my life better.

At our 80's dance party.
Gosh we're hot.
Especially Sarah. Mmmm.

I like keeping friends who
make me feel like I can dress myself.

Not all of my friends are ridiculously short.
And the fact that Adam Couches is at least a foot and a half taller than all of us
should make up for the fact that no girl in the pic is past 5 foot 4".

How could you resist hanging out with such a studly crew?

And if my only true love is running,
I'm pretty sure that my only true lovers
are probably my running buddies.

My friends like to eat. As do I.

And that is my very anti-climactic ending to my insanely wild post.

The Fam: Immediate

Yes my family is just that huge. I have to do several posts to express all the gratitude I have for them. This one is for immediate.


(Sorry Whitney, had to steal a photo. I don't have any of all y'all)
The thing is, I'm pretty sure only 2 or maybe 3 of the 10 immediate members actually read my blog. Don't worry, I'll let them know I love them some other way.

Moving on.

Reasons Why My Family is The Bomb

• We all have an obsessive passion for Brother Neil (who is coming to concert!!!! woohoo!!!!)
• My family is freakin hilarious
• My parents make dinner for anyone and everyone on second Sundays of every month
• Spencer is kind enough to edit my very important documents (aka: grad school junk)
  
• Whitney is as fabulous as the amount of times she says that word (which is a lot and I love it:)
• Spencer and Whit have THE cutest kids on the planet
  
• There is always excitement when Isaac's around
• Eric was the only one at the state fair who could accurately name all the meat cuts
• Heather is willing to cry with me when I need to cry but ends up making me laugh instead, (which doesn't give me a headache)
• Kyle's confusion on words, presidential candidates, and color combinations never ceases to amuse
• Leslie. She's just Leslie. That in and of itself is reason enough (can I hear a "What we do?")
• My family has just as much drama as everyone else's (perhaps arguably more) but it never brings us down
• We have crazy awesome adventures
• Our family extends to so many other peeps (for example: Kelsey Barker living at our house for a month or Adam Couchis having pretty much all of our numbers in his phone)

I love my family outrageously and I really will never be able to say how grateful I am for them.

So hooray for family!

Thoughts

No one said my gratitude list had to be wholesome, right? Well, in that case...I'm grateful that I can think things in my head that no one else has to know about.

I know it's an awful habit. And I will give it up when I'm good and ready. But today is not that day.

Mis Padres

I am currently doing a project on self-exploration and as a part of it, I am interviewing people about

me.

Sounds pretty selfish, eh?

Oh well. What can you do?

But don't worry. I'm not here to talk about me. I just wanted to tell you that in my last interview, my interviewee told me that sometimes I talk about

my awesome family
too much.

But only sometimes.

I really am trying to be a better person and work on those things that the lovely people I have been interviewing have been saying, but you just can't got through a month's list of gratitudes and NOT mention the fam.

So here I am. Part 1 of my thanks for my family:

The parents.

Again, I think that I was just pretty dang blessed in this department.

My
parents
rock.

Maybe it just has to do with the fact that my mom
-is an excellent cook (her bread, more specifically)
-keeps active and stays in awesome shape (and after having 7 children!)
-can sew virtually anything you want
-makes the most lovely quilts for me to take to college
-is willing to teach me all of her mad skills

Or maybe it has to do with Pa's
-crazy abilities to fix absolutely anything that isn't working at a maximum functioning level
-commitment to stocking us with meat, cheese, butter and ice cream
-surprising tendency to talk on the phone
-mathematical genius
-patience with my non-technical mind when I'm trying to fix something over the phone

Or perhaps it's their combined effort to teach us what's right through example.

Whatever it is, I have some insanely amazing parents. My only hope is that somehow I can be half the parents they are to my own children.

So If You Get the Choice...

This one will be short. Cause sometimes, with being grateful, and not wanting people to think you are a freak, less is more.

And so, folks, I just wanted you to know that:

I am super grateful for spontaneity.

I'm pretty sure that life is more fulfilling when you can just let yourself go. More fulfilling and more exciting. And just plain old better.