February 2016

I cannot believe February is almost coming to a close! This month has flown by which is crazy, but also makes me happy. I am so ready for warm weather and summer events, plus March is my birthday month so obviously, it’s the best.

But to reflect on February.. It wasn’t quite as busy as January but eventful nonetheless. At the beginning of the month, I decided that there’s no point trying to be a brunette. Blonde is better! …And since I’m a natural blonde, my hair refuses to stay dark, so why bother fighting nature, I’m clearly blessed to be blonde ;) So Tricia highlighted me to a caramel blonde, and I’ll be all the way back next month!

February 6th, we had a huge birthday party for Brian’s Grandma Baldwin’s 80th birthday! She is such an example to all her grand and great-grand children. She chose to have her party at Syracuse Rush, where we rented out the entire aquatic center and she spent 2 1/2 hours swimming with her posterity. It’s a pretty fun place with water slides, kids jungle gyms, and a lazy river. We had a pot-luck and I made my new favorite dessert: No Bake Nutella Cheesecake. 

It was incredible, to be honest.

The following week was agonizing while we impatiently waited for the weekend and our time in Las Vegas with family. Wednesday night, we met with our second counselor from church and I got a new calling! Previously I had been a relief society teacher, as well as the young women’s assistant camp director. Now, I have been released from said callings and am the new Beehive Advisor! I am super excited to be in young women’s full time and teaching twice as much each month. The girls are so great and I know they will teach me a lot!

February’s new event was a double-event. Friday the 12th, Brian and I took off work and headed to sunny, 75 degree Vegas! That night we went out with Kevin & Amanda to a yummy Mexican dinner, then headed to Fremont Street in downtown Vegas to do the Fremont Slotzilla zip line! I got part of it on GoPro, and I’ll try to post that. Here is the website for more photos and videos: http://vegasexperience.com/slotzilla-zip-line/

Saturday, we went to the Hoover Dam and went on the Power Plant tour! It was pretty cool, and I didn’t realize how big the dam actually was. Plus the history of it is neat and it’s just cool to add it to the list of important places I’ve been to. Later that day, we went to Braxton and Corbin’s basketball games which was cute and had me seriously reminiscing about my own youth games and got me super excited for when Brian and I have our own kids.

Sunday was the big voodoo holiday: Valentine’s Day! We had the best Valentine’s Day together. Kevin & Amanda’s church starts at 1 PM, so Brian and I slept in, went hiking together, stopped at the skatepark so he could get in some board time and I could lay in the sun, then went to church, and had a yummy dinner outside with the family. Brian got me a diamond bracelet and new workout pants I wanted! I’m the worst wife for not getting him anything because I thought our trip was our gift, but whatevs, he forgave me haha. Our trip back on Monday was long because of holiday weekend traffic, but it did validate my reasons for marrying Brian since we didn’t want to kill each other after a 7 hour car ride :)

The following weekend we went to the Provo City temple open house after Sabra and I did some damage at JoAnn’s and Michael's. I basically have decorations for every holiday of the year now…. Anyway. Thanks to Annalise, she gave us 4 tickets she wasn’t using and we didn’t have to fight people who didn’t have reservations this time, which was a good thing since the waiting like was a bajillion times worse. Glen and his friend Carly came with us, then we went to Station 22 Cafe for a late lunch and I got yummy chicken and waffles. 

That Sunday, I finally got to hug Elder Tom Nilsen when he got home from his 2 year mission. It is so crazy to think it’s been two years since he went to Florida and began teaching me. Brian and I went to his homecoming talk and I was sitting in the audience sobbing haha. He mentioned me in his talk and told everyone I was there, so more than a few people came up to me and asked if I was the Jess from his story, since I was the only crying girl in the audience. Guilty! 

The weather here has been really nice which gives me hope that Puxatawny Phil was right on Groundhog Day in his prediction of an early spring! Brian and I have gotten in a few more nights of snowboarding and I’m loving that my knee is getting stronger again. 

I’m so excited for all the fun things to come in 2016 :)

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2016 Inspiration & Taking Action

Something I discovered about myself early on is my need to feel like a small fish in a very ginormous pond. Hence why I need the immensity of the ocean like a fish needs water (pun intended, I'm basically a mermaid). Every so often, I get extremely stir-crazy, to the point of real craziness. This usually happens during the winter when I spend 8 hours in an office cubicle without windows and the sun sets 15 minutes after I get home. 

I think my general unhappiness stems from getting caught up in day-to-day small life details, like keeping up with the Jones’s and watching too much TV (and not the quality kind). I’m grateful that I have made the most out of every place I’ve lived and visited. California was full of beaches, great restaurants, surfing and the US Surf Open, the LA temple, time in Long Beach with one of my best friends from high school, my first trip to Las Vegas and seeing Zedd in concert, incredible work events like the ESPYs after party and publicity jobs for different clients. Jamaica and Florida have been the same way and I like to think that I’m doing as much as I can with the time I’m given in Utah.

Looking back on 2015, I checked off a lot of things that are on my temporary bucket list: the kinds of things you think about like “That would be so fun, let’s do it!” and then never plan it out, the time passes you by, and it’s over. Luckily, I married a man who fully supports my initiative to pay for whatever it is and get it on the calendar so that it’s a done deal. Some of those things for 2015 were the Loveland Living Aquarium in Draper; a Florida trip with Brian and a Rays game; a home trip with Brian including a DC day full of monuments, museums, and the National Zoo, plus a Baltimore day with the National Aquarium and the restaurants I miss (Glory Days and Panera Bread), the DC temple with Brian, AND one of my best friend’s weddings; concerts to see Ed Sheeran, Joshua Radin, Imagine Dragons (sort of), Fall Out Boy with Wiz Khalifa, and incredible, local bands; Festival of Colors in Spanish Fork; the Payson Temple open house; tons of great Utah hikes including the famous Donut Falls; Crystal & Downata Hot Springs; exploring Vegas more; wakeboarding; Hot Air Balloon Festival; my first Lagoon experience this summer and Frightmares in October; my first Bee’s game; getting engaged; getting married; getting my endowments; buying and renovating a house; going to the circus for the first time since I was little; going to Jamaica for the first time; the Christmas Concert on Temple Square; ice skating at the Galaven Center; celebrating NYE at The Roof Restaurant in Salt Lake City and taking a private flight with a friend the next day.

At the beginning of every year, I have this shift in my view. I get past the frustration of too much darkness outside and not enough warm weather and I finally begin to relook at the time of year as a beginning to plan a lot of new things. That’s where I am now. So my goal is to set up something fun and memorable for every month of this year. I want to see something that I’ve never seen before, or do something I’ve never done before. Life is too short to let it pass you by.

For January 2016, we went and visited the Midway Ice Castles that I wrote about previously. While this isn’t something that I would call a must-see in Utah, they are well-known and something I wanted to check off the list. This weekend, Brian and I are leaving Friday and spending our long weekend in Las Vegas with his brother, sister-in-law, niece, and nephews and we’re going to have a few pretty awesome firsts. Stay tuned for that!

The reason I decided to write all this out for you all is in the hopes that it inspires you to also take action and mark 2016 as the year that you started planning for all the things you want in your life, AND MAKING THEM HAPPEN! 

Traveling, inside the U.S. and internationally, is something I have a lot of passion for. I’ve been to 31 U.S. states (that I can say I have memories of), the Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, St. Thomas, St. John, Canada, Jamaica, and Italy. And this isn’t enough! I want to see so much of the world, and so much of it is close by and accessible. So I’m going to make us a plan, because traveling makes my heart happy. 

If you’re like me and also have a desire to see the world but don’t think you can afford it, I’m including a few websites I’ve used in the past that have great deals on vacation packages! If anyone knows of any other great ones, please share them in the comments below!! Thank you in advance!!

1. www.cheapcaribbean.com : Cheap Caribbean has awesome vacation packages to basically every Caribbean island. Most packages include airfare and you can set your preferences to only include all-inclusive resorts (aka no paying for food and drinks separately, you just show up and eat anywhere on the resort). Check out their packages and promotions tabs! I’m talking 5-days 4-nights, all-inclusive resort plus airfare for $580 a person. You’re welcome! (: (This is where Brian and I booked our Jamaican honeymoon)
2. www.applevacations.com: I personally haven’t ever used Apple Vacations but I’ve heard great things about it! I’ve found Cheap Caribbean to be more affordable, but you never know!
3. www.eftours.com: *International travel* EF (Education First) Tours is the company my university used for my study abroad trip to Italy touring Florence, Bologna, Milan, Venice, & Rome. There are so many things already built into each day for you. We went to an olive press factory, had cooking classes in Rome, toured the Colosseum, took a Gondola ride through the canals of Venice. The great thing about EF is that you don’t have to be a student. As long as you’re 18-28, you can enroll on one of these great international trips. Some are shorter from 6 days, or you can enroll in something like the “Ultimate Europe” trip where you spend 35 days traveling all over the continent. Some of the famous trips they have are Ireland, Costa Rica, London & Scotland, Australia and New Zealand, Amsterdam to Athens, Vietnam Cambodia and Thailand, Highlights of Japan & China, Spain France & Italy, Italy & the Greek Islands, Grand Tour of Spain, Berlin Prague & Munich, Germany Italy & Switzerland, Peru & Machu Picchu, or London Paris & Barcelona, to name a few. 

Take advantage of whatever resources are out there for the things you’re passionate about. Your life is now! 

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