Easter

Today I taught the lesson in Young Women's on Easter. 

...It did not work out how I wanted it to, to say the least. I don't know why, but I actually really do like teaching lessons. I feel like I have a lot to share and talking about Christ's life and the gospel truly makes me happy. I was really tempted to type out my whole lesson but more eloquently than how it went in church today, but what is really most important is why we have Easter.

Easter is another holiday that seems over commercialized. Is it really about the easter egg hunts and the baskets of candy or the special dinner? Or is it the fact that the son of God came down to Earth and suffered persecution, ridicule, nails through his hands and feet, a spear wound to his side, a crown of thorns placed on his head, and most importantly, felt each and every one of our trials. He bore all of our burdens and willingly submitted himself to be crucified so that he could fulfill his mission. And because he did, we can now be resurrected eventually too. And we will gain perfected bodies and minds. And we will be able to live with our families together forever. I am so thankful for the amount of love he has for me. I know he is my Savior and Redeemer and that I would be nothing without his mercy and grace.

This video is still my favorite video; the combination of the music and images touches me very deeply and I receive goosebumps every time:

Edenbrooke

Kyrsten recommended this book to me and I checked it out and finished it in 2 hours.

I live for romance novels.

I read pretty fast, but I need books like this to keep me concentrated on it.

Pretty predictable, cute, cheesy, romantic, witty.

Super simple writing.

Don't have to decipher like all the books in AP Lit!

Best books in the world I swear.

They aren't the books that change your life, but they are the ones that make you enjoy reading.

The amount of adorable little romance books I've read is a ton, but I can't remember all the title of them )':

Sav recommended me a book about Christmas and letters and pretend lovers or something and it was cute, but the name has slipped my mind.

Here are some of the kinda nerdy life changing books I recommend though:

These books (minus Nancy Drew) were the series where you get all depressed inside for a few days after it ends because you felt like you REALLY really knew them and now it is over! 

...or maybe that's just me.

Nancy Drew 

Specifically the original ones.

NOT the new little kid ones or the ones where she is super flirty and not as intelligent.

These were all given to me by my grandma, along with the first 30 or so Hardy Boys books too. I was hardcore into all this spy stuff. I don't know if that influenced my choice in favorite TV shows or not (aka White Collar, Covert Affairs ((even though they discontinued it right before the FINALE)), and basically every other spy/FBI/CIA show), but I definitely read these a lot.

The movie was pretty life changing too tbh.

I bought a bag like Nancy's and I kept pretty much everything that I could possibly need in it.

And guess what? 

I never used any of ittttttt

Fablehaven series.

Always waited for the movie to come out and it never did...

I don't know if people just didn't know about them or what, because they were excellent. We found out about it because our cousin's husband illustrated all the books so we bought them to support him and they ended up being one of our favorite series!

The Work and The Glory series

90% sure my mom paid me to read these, but they are actually fabulous.

I read all 9 in a month.

They have the perfect amount of historical fiction, romance, and religion to keep me reading them. I definitely recommend to everyone (especially if you read fast, because if you are like me, sometimes it's hard to find books).

LASTLY AND BESTEST

The Lightning Thief series

Wow wow wow wow 

I love this series so dang much.

Yes the movies kinda ruined it a lot, but this author is fabulous.

He also wrote the Heroes of Olympus serious which is about the Roman gods instead of the Greek, AND the Kane Chronicles which focuses on the Egyptian gods!!

AND THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO CREATE A BOOK WITH ALL THREE COMING TOGETHER

I don't know if they did though.

I really need to reread all those books though. They were my childhood.

~~~~~~~~

Obviously Harry Potter is on that list somewhere further down. Divergent and Hunger Games are not on it at all because I liked the movies decently but I like happy endings more. I'm sure I'll think of more books, but the ones above were definitely books I can think of.

Currently

So much has happened in the last 23 days!

(that's when the last post about all the random stuff was posted. no i did not just make up a random number)

Time is flying by-but also going so slow. I think it's a mix of excitement and dread.

Excited because I am graduating!

And dread because I still have 2 months before I graduate...and then like what happens after that?? Oh no, I won't even be an adult which is lame, and I have to figure life out man.

Here are some things that happened amidst the stress and apathy:

So....I'm subscribed to like 50 different fast food email lists...?

Yeah oops.

Surprised much?

Anyways, Sonic had 69 cent Jr. Cheeseburgers and Benny and I were BOTH off of work!

(that like never ever ever happens. we both work 24/7)

So obviously we went.

You could only get 5 per person though...

I was SO convinced I could eat all 5 and I saw it as a challenge.

...but then I was doing the math, and that's $3.76 with 9% food tax 

and I'm POOR guys!

So I only got 2.

Kinda regret it, but that's okay because I saved $2.25 so that's that.

(also I didn't even pay lol so none of that mattered)

I love Sonic.

It's kinda Benny and my thing.

Even before we were dating we would go here a lot and just talk

(I might have ranted more than talked)

but we both just enjoyed each others company.

...and pineapple slushies

...lemon berry cream slush slashes

...vanilla shakes (he gets vanilla idk man. cookie dough is where it's at)

...and that one time we got "family size" mozzarella sticks because we were really hungry, but not hungry enough because that could have fed a small army.

Got into BYU HAWAII

!!!!!!!!!

Still can't get over it!

I am more excited than I can explain--also kinda freaking out because $$$

My attempt at being school spirited.

Went to the second basketball game since being at this school...

(in comparison to being at EVERY home game at Westlake)

I just can't do it...I can't be a blue jay.

Not for me.

I think I just like dance so much that it made my high school experience what it is.

Oh no guys, I peaked in 9th grade!

Guess who's now an adultttttttt

NOT ME.

Ughhhhh.

That's okay though, because Benjamin Charles Aulner is now 18 and can buy lottery tickets (I will go with you to buy one dude), cigarettes, hotel rooms, apply for a credit card, get a tattoo (please don't babe), vote (just not for Trump or Hillary), donate plasma, go to all the free concerts in the summer, skydive (I did that when I was 17 though, oops), change your name, sue someone (please not me), get married (not recommended), buy fireworks, buy a car, gamble, etc.

I bought him a hecka cool hammock and scratch off map and I'm pretty sure I thought they were way cooler than he did and might be guilty of buying them in hopes that I can also use them but hey, it was really hard to come up with creative things okay?

The Saturday before, we went out to Cheddar's for dinner and then probably watched movies, the typical, but I wouldn't have wanted to spend it any other way.

On his actual birthday (Sunday March 6) I ate dinner with his family and had the best German Chocolate cake ever. AND ice cream. I really really really wanted to get seconds and thirds and fourths but I help myself back, be proud.

Also...he submitted his papers and got assigned somewhere last Friday! Now we are just waiting to see where he got called!

FREE PANCAKE DAY

I never miss any free food days guys. Never.

I'm kind of really appalled that they charged $1 for pancakes on St. Patricks day this year. 

They didn't last year.

Isn't that so annoying. I just wanted free food man.

What is this you ask???

Only the best decision I have ever made.

Jim, the awesome produce guy told me I could buy 8 boxes of strawberries for $2 if I wanted to.

duhhhhhh I want to dude!

I only made 50 BILLION chocolate covered strawberries, and my mom used the rest for freezer jam

One of my coworkers came to visit us and brought us pastries an desserts from her new work.

I really want to go visit because this little chocolate thing she gave me was pure heaven.

She told me it was "very rich".

Well honey, I can eat more sugar than anyone, so don't worry about me.

balancing out the junk food with attempts at making healthy food.

i really really tried guys.

buttttttt sugar wins in the end!

apparently these are like vintage man.

I WILL NOT

I was scrolling through Pinterest at Benny's and we both saw this quote and were like 

wow. yep i needs this.

I have what I'm sure most other women have--an automatic comparing instinct. We all compare ourselves to people on the street, at church, and at school. Constantly ranking yourself below or above others. 

For me, the hardest is comparing myself to random people on the internet.

I just counted and I have....40 blogs that I follow(stalk).

A lot of these I have gone back to the very beginning of there blog and read each and every post. It's so interesting! I love reading other people's experiences, what they recommend/regret, and what they have been eating/wearing/doing-basically everything. 

If this counts as reading, whoa then, I do A LOT of reading. I'm not going to lie when I say every time I open my computer I open gmail, blogger, and twitter. Blogger is the most exciting to me though. I have a weird connection to these random people. It is kind of like with your favorite characters in a tv show. You start telling a story to a friend about a different "friend" and when they ask who it was you are utterly humiliated to say that you actually have never met this person, you just know everything about them....like their full name...and their husband's full name...and what city they live in, where they frequent, their wedding date, their dating story, and that you follow almost all of their relatives with blogs....yeahhhhh....

However, it is SO easy for me to start comparing.

The majority of them are Mormon as well. They are attending or have just graduated BYU. They have similar goals as me. Some of them have even graduated in degrees that at one point I had considered. 

But the hardest parts for me are:

1. They are perfect physically

I swear. All of them weigh 125 and are 5' 5". They all look amazing. Some have even had kids and they are still in great shape. And here I am in high school, still "young with a fast metabolism" and I'm nowhere near as fit and skinny.

2. They travel a ton

I am so jealous of them. Yes, Utah is a prime place to be because there are so many fun places so near. But then there are the people who are going to Europe and getting paid for it! Or are taking family vacations to Japan and Mexico, and the jealousy just increases. I see people going on humanitarian trips and missions and I just want to have their experiences! 

3. They have a never ending perfect wardrobe

Some are paid to wear brands, some are given clothes to model and promote, either way they look perfect. If I tried buying some of the things they wear I would not be able to go to college. Our Pinterests are filled with so many outfits that are adorable, the only difference is that they will buy a lot of those items and I won't buy any of them.

4. They appear to have no financial problems

Yes they have jobs, but they are glamorously planning weddings, working for google, housesitting millionaires, and creating art. All of which I would love to do! And more importantly they are getting paid more than $9 and hour and don't seem to have a care in the world while I'm stressing and recalculating the amount of money I can possibly make over the summer while still getting 6 hours of sleep.

5. Their weddings and relationships seem flawless

Most come from very wealthy families. I know I'm not poor, but I can't afford a $20,000 wedding. Not even a $10,000 wedding. I want to have those memories though. I want to have a fun, beautiful, unique wedding. And I don't want to be in a church building. I refuse. Their photos for their wedding are always beautiful and they often have videos to accompany them, but those photographers charge wayyy too much... And then their relationships. Dang. They love each other so much. And their husbands are perfect too and they take so many cute pictures and go on cute dates and I just don't understand.

So obviously I still care. A lot. But I am trying really hard to be realistic. Most of the people I follow are around 25-27. 

MIKAYLIE.

That is 8-10 years older than you!

You have so much time ahead of you.

Eight years ago I was 9. I can't even remember what I was doing when I was 9...then again I can barely remember yesterday...or even what I did this morning.

You have already done so much. More than so many people. And your plans are exciting too. And you will be married, and get a job that pays more than $9 an hour. 

And you can lose weight if you want to. You are holding yourself back. And you can be as happy as they seem. It's a choice.

And you have to realize that's how the APPEAR.

You are comparing your worst to their best. They probably have days where they put on the same pair of sweats for the third day straight, and haven't washed their hair, and just watch movies all day, and gorge on food and then forget they are even hungry. We all have those days right? 

We have plenty of time.

We have 10 years to get our life in order.

We can have adventures too.

We can be important too.

We can learn how to cook too, and dress cute, and exercise.

We can do this.

***lol. like how i referred to myself as "you", "i", and "we"? i am like my own personal cheerleader.

Currently

So much unimportant stuff has happened!

First and most important:

 Fell out while playing basketball with my brothers outside.

THIS IS WHY I DON'T GO OUTSIDE

OR EXERCISE

 Second, made more sugar cookies and ate them all in one day.

christmas sprinkles for the win!!!

Thirdly, got accepted to BYU

 Fourthly, won a $1000 scholarship from Hunt Midwest 

(not going to lie I'm a little disappointed I didn't get one of those huge checks)

SUGAR RUSH

**so happy because free flowers!**

I have this thing where I get really anxious when ordering food and when people ask me if I want something. 9/10 times it will be no (unless it's my parents or Benny asking me if I want something, then it's usually yes). I never even let them finish what they say because most of the time my brain is moving too fast and I'm scared I'll have to pay for it and I'm poor so I spaz out and say no. Addie was smart though and said yes lol. I DID however get 2 free Red Bulls. 

whoooo i drank both and will probably be dead shortly

Sugar Rush was held at The Guild in the Crossroads. Basically in those super old sketchy looking buildings that are actually gorgeous inside. They all have that new trend of a mixture of urban/industrial and high-class. They are legit. 

Addie took this picture. I kinda love the chandelier, kinda hate my potato shaped lumpy face that ruined it, and kinda felt hecka awkward when she took it because the flash went off and she was like on the floor taking this picture. NO I did not ask her to take it.

There were two different aerial aerobic dancer people doing their cool stuff. Like my description? Hahahaha I was inspired. I've already looked up like 3 different places that have lessons and found a Groupon for 4 classes for only $25!!!! Obviously I'm going to do it. Stay tuned. And feel free to hit me up and we can go together.

Awkward moment we asked her to take our picture and instead she thought we wanted a picture with her....lol no sorry...oh well.

Safe to say I got sugared out, but THAT IS THE POINT RIGHT??

I love sugar.

So much.

Also, when you're downtown in the Crossroads, taking pics with the graffiti is kinda a must.

scary eyes, scary eyes

Peace out babes.