Life is Short

 This morning I received some terrible news that my dear cousin Taylor Leonard and her boyfriend Nathan were in a tragic car accident that resulted in his immediate death and her being rushed to the ICU. Early this afternoon, Taylor's organs were failing and she was pronounced brain dead. It was devastating but her family made the decision to to let her go. Taylor was such a sweet amazing girl and she will be so missed. I didnt know her too well and wasnt incredibly close to her, but what I did know was that she was smart, funny, kind, loving, accepting, and very welcoming of me and my family into hers. I wish I had the chance to get to know Taylor a little better. She is only about 3 weeks younger than me. It is crazy to realize how quickly life can change. We must not take a single moment of it for granted. 
 Today has really gotten me thinking about my life and all of the things I overlook. Like how much I love and cherish my family, how important the gospel is in our lives, how great of friends I have, and how much I am grateful to wake up each day and make it through the day.
  "Life is short. Hug the people you love, the people you want to love, and the people you are supposed to       love." 

Dearest Taylor and Nathan: Rest in Peace <3

 

Ive realized today the things that I need to work on in my life. I dont want to do anything that if something were to happen to me or someone Im close to one day that I would regret my decisions earlier. Sometimes it takes a tragedy to make you realize how important your life is and how much you need to remember that it is short and you need to live each day to the fullest :) Love you Taylor and my prayers and love go out to the family.  I look forward to the day we are reunited and until then I will live peacefully knowing you are watching out for us all above! RIP

Changing of the Seasons

Well Spring Break has come and gone and as of yesterday March 20th it is officially SPRING! So Spring Break was kind of the best thing ever in my life haha I got to go visit Brooke is Hawaii for an entire week. It was so great to be able to spend the time with her. We went to the beach... a lot ha and got totally fried. We got to go shopping and eat lots of McDonalds ha and we met fun random guys and got to climb the Stairway to Heaven. It was honestly so amazing. I cant even imagine attempting to explain how perfect the scenery was. I can show pictures, but even that wont do any justice! Its okay though.... Ill see if I can still manage to make some of you jealous :)

This is the view from the top of the Stairway to Heaven. It was absolutely breathtaking. I am so glad we were able to do this while I was there. Hardest hike Ive ever done but honestly so incredibly worth it.

Me and the good ol Bestie having a fun little photo shoot :)

Brooke and I about halfway up the mountain doing Stairway to Heaven

Almost to the bottom of the mountain and looking up. Its insane to see how high up we went and all of the stairs.

Best Shaved Ice in Hawaii

I thought it was so funny how many chickens were just wandering around everywhere. And to think that my mom and Wayne went out and bought and raised some :)

Too much fun playing in the sand.

Our fun photo shoot!! Brooke is quite the photographer

Took Brooke to dinner at Turtle Bay: Lei Lei's all the way baby :)

More fun pics

hahahaha we decided to have fun with these really freaky stairs we had to hike up

Almost to the top

This temple is seriously so incredibly beautiful!!

I got hit by a friggin Big Gulp drink!!! Locals can be mean!!

Just Ms. Beckstead and I chillin at the beach watching hot surfers

Okay... you cant look at this and still tell me that it doesnt look terrifying!!! But definitely worth it. I think I would do it again. I think I would definitely do this entire trip again :) Thanks Brookie for letting me come stay with you!! <3

Happy Happy Happy

Well today has seriously just been a great day! For starters... HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROOKE BECKSTEAD!! My best friend is 20 years old today (getting ancient I know). Cant wait to be able to celebrate with her in just a few days!
    On another note ha.. I got a new job! Im now working as a CNA at Williamsburg Assisted Living. And so far I absolutely love it. The residents are so freaking adorable and they just make me so happy! As of right now at least... I love going to work haha. Hopefully I can keep that attitude for a while. Working two jobs is a little exhausting! Today is the first day all week I could sleep in and relax a bit! It feels great in case anyone was wondering :) I dont even know what else to write... pretty much just that this last week has been amazing and I just love life right now! Love you all too <3