SWEET 17

WOAH WOAH WOAH. I haven't blogged about my 17th birthday party yet? Shame on me.

Ready for a picture overload?

 almost all of these pictures are out of focus. oh well.

 

 this is my friend jasper. he's an exchange student from germany. he's basically the funniest person you'll ever meet.

 

 please note my hand on mackay's chest. uhhh...where did that come from?!

 

 the thug life chose us. (?)

 

 hot hot hot.

 

 this is my best friend whitney. she's a babe. // this is my friend max. he just got his mission call to brazil. (!!!) i am so proud of him!  

 

we're in love.

 

trevor & mackay; the two studliest guys i know.

 

 someone on instagram said that this looked like a movie set, which made me think: wouldn't a tv show about my life just be the BEST?! // #thatawkwardmomentwhen you're looking back at your pictures and find this. grooosssssss.

 

this is cerena. she is one of the sweetest girls i know! total softball star, too.

 

it's so hard to be surrounded by guys like this.

 

 i am SO blessed to have such a great group of friends in my life.

thanks to everyone who made this day so special!

 

post script: shout out to my mom for making me have a birthday party this year. i haven't had one since i was 11 ( i'm not big on planning things) and i was really nervous about it for some strange reason, but it turned out to be so much fun!! 

Was I disappointed? Yes. Was I defeated? Absolutely not!

{via.}

//I recently stumbled upon an older talk by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf and absolutly fell in love with it. Every word rang true to me and it was exactly what I needed to hear. Read some of my favorite parts below, or read the whole thing here.//
 
In most languages there exists a phrase as magical and full of promise as perhaps any in the world. That phrase is “Once upon a time.”

Aren’t those wonderful words to begin a story? “Once upon a time” promises something: a story of adventure and romance, a story of princesses and princes. It may include tales of courage, hope, and everlasting love. In many of these stories, nice overcomes mean and good overcomes evil. But perhaps most of all, I love it when we turn to the last page and our eyes reach the final lines and we see the enchanting words “And they lived happily ever after.”

 

Isn’t that what we all desire: to be the heroes and heroines of our own stories; to triumph over adversity; to experience life in all its beauty; and, in the end, to live happily ever after?

 

In that story the main character may be a princess or a peasant; she might be a mermaid or a milkmaid, a ruler or a servant. You will find one thing all have in common: they must overcome adversity.

 

In stories, as in life, adversity teaches us things we cannot learn otherwise. Adversity helps to develop a depth of character that comes in no other way. Our loving Heavenly Father has set us in a world filled with challenges and trials so that we, through opposition, can learn wisdom, become stronger, and experience joy.

 

It is your reaction to adversity, not the adversity itself, that determines how your life’s story will develop.

 

We all search for happiness, and we all try to find our own “happily ever after.” The truth is, God knows how to get there! And He has created a map for you; He knows the way...All you have to do is trust your Heavenly Father. Trust Him enough to follow His plan.

 

“Happily ever after” is not something found only in fairy tales. You can have it! It is available for you! But you must follow your Heavenly Father’s map.

 

Learn to love your Heavenly Father with all your heart, might, and mind. Fill your souls with virtue, and love goodness. Always strive to bring out the best in yourself and others.

 

You are princesses, destined to become queens. Your own wondrous story has already begun. Your “once upon a time” is now.

 

And the day will come when you turn the final pages of your own glorious story; there you will read and experience the fulfillment of those blessed and wonderful words: “And they lived happily ever after.”

SPECIAL OLYMPICS

I recently joined my school's unified soccer team. Unified soccer is a soccer league for athletes with and without intellectual disabilities. It's done through the Special Olympics and this year is the first time Oregon has been able to have an official unified soccer league. Saturday we had our kick off; we spent the day listening to motivational speakers, designing shirts, pledging to eliminate the use of the r-word, and playing our first two games! Unfortunatly, I couldn't play due to a back injury, so I was put on towel-girl/picture taking duty for the day!

 

The whole team!

 

 We have the best (and most attractive) coaches!

Find out more about special olympics, & how to volunteer/join a team here!

who knows if the moon's
a balloon,coming out of a keen city
in the sky--filled with pretty people?
(and if you and i should

get into it,if they
should take me and take you into their balloon,
why then
we'd go up higher with all the pretty people

than houses and steeples and clouds:
go sailing
away and away sailing into a keen
city which nobody's ever visited,where

always
it's
Spring) and everyone's
in love and flowers pick themselves.

-e.e.cummings