I can't believe the 1st of July is in 2 days. Wow this summer is flying! This summer has been really great for me so far. Some really good things have come to me that I was waiting for for a long time. My schooling is falling in line and I have just over 1 year until I'm walking at graduation. This has been a long road of indecision, and I'm so excited to finally start counting down! I already posted a graduation countdown on my blog... (if you didn't notice!) After 4 previous tries at various majors, I finally picked one that really keeps me interested. I can't wait to finish and take a break before I seek out a grad school.

I think there are times in our lives that everything we want just comes to us. For me that's right now. Ever since I turned 24 two months ago I've just been ridiculously blessed with everything I've wanted. It's definitely something I'm endlessly grateful for. It's only the beginning of my 24th year and I'm so excited for what's coming. I have a feeling this is going to be a year I'll remember. I can't really say exactly what makes me think so other than my happiness has been at a high level pretty much since my birthday. I'm planning on that carrying over til I turn 25 at least! :o)

I have so much to be grateful for. I feel like I finally understand what's really important, and because I've figured that out, life isn't so hard anymore. It has its ups and downs, but the unneccessary stress I've caused myself since I was probably 13 seems to have finally disappeared. That realization could possibly be what's fueling my happy moods, but other than that I have so much to smile about that I'm not really sure what's contributing most. The past few weeks have been really busy. I've had a lot to do between work, summer school, and new friends that I've barely had time to do meaningless things like laundry, updating my blog, or cleaning up after myself. I've also been neglecting time to turn inward and make sure I'm doing everything I can to keep myself on the right track. It may sound like I'm complaining but at the same time it's so great to be blessed with all these things to keep me busy!

Last night I went up to Cascade Springs up above Sundance (in Idaho as Jared joked about! we drove SOOO far!) with a bunch of friends (Jason, Jessi, Paul, Rachel, Jared, and Laken). It was really fun. This place turned out to be SO beautiful! Much thanks to Paul for showing it to us, and Rachel for getting some awesome pictures!

Here are a few pictures of our favorite part of the walk on the trails (trails = paved trails or wooden bridges). We weren't really roughing it up there in the mountains. :o) Afterward we attempted to make a fire with charcoal and no lighter fluid. It took a while but our grownup boyscouts finally figured it out. All in all, a great summer night!



Jess and Lana


Paul, Jess, Lana Jason, Laken, Jared


Jason, Jason's butt, Lana, Jess, Laken, Rachel, Jared


Lana, Jess, Laken, Rachel


Lana, Jason, Jess, Rachel, Laken, Jared


Cascade springs (the flowers are growing on the rocks in the middle of the river!) GORGEOUS!

Monday night we had a campfire and played around in the canyon. The mountains in the summer are one of my favorite places to go!

May 27 was my roommate Megan's birthday. We went to dinner and played games, here's a few pics from the night's festivities!




My Roommate Steph and I

Crazy Lance!

The crowd at Olive Garden

Me, Megan, Steph (ROOMIES!)

Me and the Birthday Girl!

This weekend was really great. My friend Alia talked me into doing a fashion show for Layer's Clothing and it was a blast! She's so funny, she's always saying I should do stuff like that, so I finally tried it. I was so nervous for the whole week before. Throughout the week leading up to the day of the show, I came up with so many reasons not to do it, (scared, not tan enough, never done any modeling, etc.), but I stuck through it and had SO MUCH FUN!!