warm summer nights

Everyone's favorite part about Summer is the warm nights right?

The temperature is high, but the sun isn't beating down.

The other night was this perfect Summer night.

I was driving home from work with the windows down and was so happy.

I knew what I had to do.

I texted my sister and said,

Wanna sleep outside tonight??

She immediately replied an agreement.

It was decided.

We took our blankets into the backyard and hunkered down for the night.

It was cloudy so we couldn't see any stars, but that was not the purpose for this campout.

The purpose was to appreciate the moment.

Because even though everyone is hiding inside during the day due to the degrees in the 100s,

We still get to appreciate Summer because of moments like this.

When you are so happy and the world is so beautiful and it's Summer,

So you spontaneously live like a homeless person for the night.

(Because isn't that what sleeping with no house for the night is anyway?)

This is why I love Summer.

june's favorites

I cannot believe that this month has gone by so fast!
Looking back at my calender I thought some of these things had happened last month.
That's how fast June flew by.
Summer is halfway over for me.
But these are my favorites from this month:
1. A fabulous game night with fabulous friends.
We played Egyptian Ratscrew, Nertz, and Wizard.
We also spooned.

2. Tami and I made a few movies.
We got many stares as we walked around the lake with a chair.
This was necessary in our movie making.
Believe it or not, earlier that day we had walked around the city carrying a globe.

3. I started a puzzle.
It's on my bucket list to finish one without looking at the picture.
It's giving me a headache.

4. I attended a fitness class.
Yes, it's true.
And I stuck it out the whole time.
Using a wobbly surfboard sure works your core muscles fabulously.
I will definitely be trying it again.
Check it out here!

5. And I took my friend's mission pictures.
Yay! She will be a fabulous missionary!
Check out the pictures here.

striped shirt diy

I saw this idea on Merrick's Art.
I am apparently illiterate and was unable to understand the instructions.
So I just had to wing it.
Hopefully you understand it?
First grab a t-shirt and some spare fabric.
Turn the T inside-out.

I started off by fixing the sleeves because this is a man's shirt.
I simply cut off the amount I wanted gone on both sides.
Then hemmed them.

Next cut out the back....not all of it.
I just cut until I reached the bottom of the sleeves.

Then measure a piece of fabric by laying the just-cut-off piece of t-shirt over top.

Take this fabric and first sew the top together. Set the edges together and stitch.
Make sure the side edges match up as well first.





































Sew the two sides to the original t-shirt sides.

Next, hem all around the bottom.
I hemmed around the whole shirt, but you can make the back longer.

Pocket time! This was the hardest part, I thought.
Cut out a square piece of fabric, however big you want.

Hem all four sides.
And pin to shirt.

Stitch three sides onto the shirt, leaving the top side open.

And voila!
This is such a cute and comfy tee. Love it!
Questions?
Comment below.

mission pictures

I went up to Salt Lake City to take my best friend's mission pictures.
I can't believe she will be leaving soon.
Crazy! August 7th is coming so fast.
She will be an amazing missionary though.
The people of Minneapolis will be lucky to have her.
As a sidenote, we walked around the city carrying a globe.
We made many friends.
Most of them were old men who thought they were funny.

life on the fly

Documenting life is so important.

Not just those big occasions like birthdays and holidays.

It's also to capture those moments of our daily lives.

When we get older we will probably remember those big events.

At least more easily than those times that we played tennis with our sister on a Saturday.

And made fools of ourselves.

But it was fun.

Or the time that we used blocks to build castles.

And got to take a peek into the imagination of a child.

Or the time we played on the swingset as the sun set.

Or the time that we sent a "Happy birthday...here's a bag of our breath" balloon.

To our friend on his mission.

Or when I found the most fabulous ad I've ever seen.

my bucket list

Yes I have a bucket list.
Lots of people think I'm crazy and say it's for old people.
I beg to differ.
Why not have a list of goals while I'm young?
Why not have a bunch of things to look forward to and accomplish now?
So here is my bucket list.

1. Go to the coast of Maine for New Year's Eve
2. Go to Time's Square for New Year's Eve
3. Serve a full-time LDS mission
4. Visit every continent
5. Go snorkeling
6. Swim with the sharks
7. Go horseback riding
8. Go skydiving
9. Go bungee jumping
10. Publish a book
11. Fly in a hot-air balloon
12. Volunteer with Habitats 4 Humanity
13. Service mission in Africa
14. Swim with the dolphins
15. Be an extra in a movie
16. Get featured in the news
17. Sleep under the stars
18. Shower in a waterfall
19. Live to be 100
20. Fly first class
21. Visit a volcano
22. Fly in a helicopter
23. Ride on a boat
24. Marry my best friend
25. Visit a castle
26. Learn how to surf
27. Visit the Eiffel Tower
28. Ride in an airplane
29. Ride the Subway
30. Go on a no-destination road trip
31. Throw a dart on a map and travel to where it lands
32. Ride in a cable car
33. Ride in a double-decker bus
34. Ride an elephant
35. Ride a camel
36. See a play on Broadway
37. Play mud volleyball
38. Sleep in a hammock
39. Build a huge sand castle
40. Participate in a flash mob
41. Ride a dog sled
42. Spend a night in a haunted place
43. Visit the Hollywood walk of fame
44. Go whale watching
45. Attend a concert
46. Be hypnotized
47. Go rapelling
48. Rock climb a specific route all the way to the top
49. Outdoor rock climbing
50. Buy a ticket for the next flight out
51. Visit the Smithsonian
52. Go to a contemporary art museum
53. Watch Friday the 13th on Friday the 13th
54. Go jeeping
55. Go off-roading
56. Get on a restaurant's wall for a food contest
57. Sit front row for a sporting event
58. Attend a concert in the pouring rain
59. Ride in a taxi
60. Sign someone's cast
61. Go to a drive-in movie
62. Camp on a beach
63. Cliff jump
64. Complete a puzzle without looking at the box
65. See the Northern Lights
66. Be on a reality game show
67. Go zip lining
68. Host a foreign exchange student
69. Be part of a world record
70. Get on the jumbo-tron
71. Meet a Holocaust survivor
72. Visit the Museum of Tolerance
73. Go to the American Museum of Natural History
74. See the Harlem Globetrotters
75. Go to the Festival of Colors
76. Live in Texas
77. Edgewalk
78. Go white water rafting
79. Visit Devil's Pool Waterfall
80. Live in Virginia
81. Go to the Ellen show.
82. Put a love lock on the bridge in Paris
83. Watch a roller derby
84. Watch a horse race
85. Watch fireworks from a plane.
86. Pee in every ocean
87. Be a speaker in a Ted Talks conference
88. Become a foster parent
89. Hike in the Grand Canyon
90. See the Redwoods
91. Watch a meteor shower
92. Play paintball
93. Go skinny dipping
94. Milk a cow
95. Go to the recording of a TV show
96. Visit D.C.
97. Volunteer at a soup kitchen
98. Visit the Empire State Building
99. See a Cirque de Soleil show
100. Backpack Europe

I know my list is long.
I figured I would round out the list with 100 items.
To me, the point of the Bucket List is not necessarily to see how many items I can cross off before I die.
To me, the point is to have dreams and goals.
If I hadn't made this list I wouldn't even know about some of the coolest places in the world.
My mind would still be stuck in little Utah.
But now I have dreams outside of my comfort zone.
There are wonders I want to see and experiences I want to have.
There are people I want to learn about and cultures I want to experience.
That's what making my bucket list did for me.
It got me excited for life.
I have 100 things to try to accomplish in life.
And I am always adding to it.
Because why should I want to stop?
There is a website called bucketlist.org that allows you to log on and generate your own bucket list.
Then you can look at other people's lists.
What an amazing way to connect.
So go make a bucket list.
Set some crazy goals for life.

yoga mat strap

I am joining a rock climbing gym in about a month or two.
They offer yoga classes.
I figured this would be a good opportunity.
Now I can use my yoga mat that hasn't gotten any use.
Since I bought it two years ago.
I wanted to make something to carry it with.
Since I will be most likely riding my bike to the classes.
So I figured out how to make this carrier.

Pick a fabric that you like first.
I just used some scrap fabric that I had left over from a project.

Cut a strip about 2 inches long-wise.
The length of it can be however long your heart desires.

Sew the sides together, keeping the pretty side on the inside.

Flip it inside out (I found this was the most tedious part).

Measure two 4 inch wide pieces so that they wrap around the mat with extra left on the ends.

Sew these pieces the same as the long piece.
With the pretty side on the inside.

Flip these pieces inside out as well and sew the short ends closed.
Attach the ends of the long piece onto the insides of the short pieces (either side right now) and pin.
(No picture for this step).
Sew the piece around all of the edges so it stays secure.

Measure two pieces of velcro and glue them onto the ends of both pieces.
Make sure that one is on the inside and one is on the outside so that they will attach.

Once you've glued the velcro on you can put it on the mat and you're on your way!

I hope that these instructions made sense.
If clarification is needed, just message below! :)