Day 27- A picture of you and a family member

This pretty much sums up my family.

Especially Kelly's face.

You've got Justin and Evan in the background, smiling.

Jon's in the middle of the madness, but still relatively normal.

Kristi and Kelly have majorly awkward faces.

Kristi and me have our legs in the air, also awkward and ridiculous.

And Katie's on the side just shaking her head. Ha.

I LOVE MY FAMILY!!

Day 26- A picture of something that means a lot to you...

There are a lot of things in this world that mean a lot to me. But here's just one...

There are a lot of things about this picture that are important to me, like my husband, my amazing shoes... haha. But the one I wanted to point out is how we're laughing!

LAUGHTER is what gets me through life! I wouldn't be able to function if I couldn't laugh at myself every once in a while. Actually, I laugh at myself a LOT. Ha. Notice all the "ha"s in this blog. :D BUt seriously, I laugh at myself all the time! And I would be a miserable person if I didn't. I think all of us would. One of my favorite things about my husband is how we can laugh together and at each other.

The story behind this picture is that we were taking some engagements for a friend who was trying to build a portfolio, so this was about 3 months into our marriage. We were walking around the Provo tabernacle and  the back of my jeans had a huge hole down at the bottom, like wear and tear from wearing them too long? Anyway, I stepped in the hole with my other shoe and totally fell down on the ground. And the funny part is that this picture was taken the second time I did it. Haha. It was SO funny! I was dying!

Sometimes I laugh at things that I feel bad for though. Whenever I see someone trip and fall, I have to cover my mouth and not let them see that I can't stop laughing. Whenever I hurt myself, if it was because of something stupid that I did, like tripping over my own pants, I don't cry, I LAUGH! ha.

I LOVE TO LAUGH!!

If you've read this whole blog, PLEASE go to this video. It's "I Love to Laugh" from Mary Poppins. Ha.

Enjoy!! Laugh!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOMqqI-kzHY

Day 25- A picture of your day

K, this isn't supposed to be an advertising blog, But this is really what I did today! Ha. I just recently started working at Nu Skin Enterprises and I LOVE it! Well, let me clarify. A group of us were hired to open a new market for them in Argentina. We were hired under the impression that we would be opening the market May 25th. After we started training, we learned that we would not actually be opening Argentina till June 20th! So after 2 weeks of training, where we were gonna be ready for the May 25th opening, we had nothing to do, so we've been sent up to do data entry, which is literally filing papers and entering data. It's awful. BUT, working for Nu Skin itself is amazing!

I started to become involved with Nu Skin last fall, when my brother became a distributor. My parents then became involved and I jumped on the train shortly after. However, the MLM system that they had didn't quite work for me, so I haven't continued. But before I left, I got the chance to experience what a great company Nu Skin really is. The science behind their products is undeniably the best in their industry. The charity and non profit work they do is phenomenal. The quality of people that work for Nu Skin can't be found else where. I just love it. PLUS, the perks are sweet! Every month they have some one come in to give the employees massages. There's potlucks ALL the time. Sweet bonuses. BBQ's every week. $400 a month in free product. Wow. It's awesome!

I LOVE NU SKIN! :)

Day 24- A picture of something you wish you could change

This is something I wish I could change.

There's two things here I wish I could change though. One is the obvious. I wish there were no homeless, jobless people. It's hard to see people in need and not be able to help them.  I wish I could do more.

The other thing I wish I could change is better displayed by the second picture. Let me tell you a story. My brother was a manager for a security company and i don't know the details but he met a man who used to beg for money on the corner of the street over by Walmart and McDonalds. He went to San Antonio, worked his butt off, and did a really good job selling. Halfway through the summer, he decided he didn't like working and made plenty of money on the street corner and left! He had a job, was doing well, and just decided not to do it. That makes me so upset! I couldn't even believe it when he told me.

The other picture there is just another way to show the same thing. This guy can code HTML but he doesn't have a job? Don't get me wrong, I know there are times when people have skills and there just aren't any jobs. But there's always something. It reminds me of the movie the Pursuit of Happyness. Will Smith's character did everything he could and had an incredibly hard time. I get that there are people that are trying. But the ones trying aren't sitting on a street corner asking for money. They're out there looking.

I also have a little experience from a different perspective. I used to work for a disability law firm and we had people calling every day asking for help to get money from the government. Now, some of those people that were calling were very legitimate and truely deserved help from the government. But we got calls like maybe once every other day. We had to ask very personal questions about their situations so we knew what they were doing and whether or not they were trying. Most people just didn't want to work. They wanted to get off as easy as possible.  

Again, I'm not here to judge, and I still want to do everything I can to help those in need. I just wish there was something I could do to change the mind set of the people that just don't try hard enough.

OK, I'll get off my soap box. Ha. :)

Day 23- A picture of your favorite book

To be honest, I'm not a huge reader. I like to read, but it's hard for me to get into a book, so if i'm not instatnty hooked, I don't finish it. I didn't even finish the 5th Harry Potter and I was only 100 pages from the end. Ha. My point is that I don't have too many to choose from.

A couple summers ago, I had a horribly boring job and got to read a lot, and discovered an amazing author and now I've read like 6 of her books.

My favorite, the one that started it all, is......

My Sister's Keeper, By Jody Picoult

This book had me BAWLING at the end. Seriously.

If you haven't read it, PLEASE read it. It's beautiful. And if you've seen the movie, Still read the book cuz it's SOO different. The book is LONG and crazy detailed and the movie simply didn't do it justice. The ending is shockingly different and WAY better.

Anyway, READ IT! :)

Day 22- A picture of something you wish you were better at

WOW! This is a WAY hard one. Ha. There are a LOT of things I need to work on!!

I'll make this one a little less intense. My last few blogs have been pretty personal and intense. So here's one a little lighter. :)

This sums up a lot of things I wish I was better at.

The obvious one....

VOLLEYBALL!!

Volleyball is the funnest sport ever. And in the sand it's even better!

More spcifically, I SUCK at diving for the ball, so I need to get better at that.

And also kind of obvious, who doesn't want a body like Misty May Treanor?!

So, be better at Volleyball, Diving and Working Out.

Check!

Day 21- A picture of something you wish you could forget

I'm gonna have to agree with Heather on this one. I do everything I can to make sure there aren't things I regret. I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, but I've learned important lessons from them, so I wouldn't take them back.

I do have to admit that there are some things I wish I didn't have to learn the hard way though. Particularly how to be good at marriage! Ha. I feel like I've done a lot of good things in my marriage but it's been a learning process. And I think the one thing that could be to blame for those silly arguments is...

My PRIDE.

So, if there's one thing I wish I could forget...

It would be my PRIDE.

Unfortunately when I googled "PRIDE" for a "picture of something I wish I could forget," all that came up was rainbows and skittles, so the picture is a knundrum for me. I've decided on this....

Don't I look kind of prideful?

Ha. I still love this picture. :D

Day 20- A picture of somewhere you'd like to travel

OK so I kinda already used this one a few days ago with "something you want to do before you die." So, maybe i'll have to pick something a little different.

Today's blog will be about....

Foz De Iguazu Brazil!

I've actually been here before, like 8 times. So I'm saying this is where I wanna travel because I REALLY wanna bring my hubby here. The most exotic place he's been to in the British Virgin Islands. Now, I know that's a pretty sweet place, but it was with my family! So therefor the exotic factor is way down. ha. I wanna take him here and PY to show him all the amazing things I got to experience when I lived there. It is seriously SO beautiful!

There's over 100 individual waterfalls and they're incredible to see. There's walk ways going through the whole thing. The river is the border btwn Argentina and Brazil. The views are on the Brazil side, and the up and close on top of the falls is the Argentine side. Both beautiful and unique. And amazing!!

It's right there! :)

Anyone wanna come?!

Day 19- A picture and a letter...

The topic for this post actually came pretty easily for me. Probably because i've been thinking about writing this person a letter for a long time. It's funny that one of my best friends wrote a letter to the same person. My letter today, is to my older brother Jonathan.

Dear Jon,
     I've been meaning to write this letter for a long time to be honest. We had a lesson in relief society the other day that made me think about you and me and I wish I had written it then. But at the same time, I kind of like that I'm writing it on this blog. Dad warned me not to write anything too personal on here since it's out there for the world to see, but I don't think this is something I necessarily want to hide, although it's very personal.
    You and I both know we haven't had a very good relationship over the years. We've had our ups and downs and I think the ups outweigh the downs, but unfortunately the downs are pretty pronounced. It's possible it was only coming from my side, but I don't think so. For a long time I've said that I just wanted you to change and to be who I wanted you to be and I realize now that I was wrong for thinking that. The thing is, I really don't want you to cange. Obviously there's things that we can all work on, so of course I want you to change the things YOU want you to change in order to be a better person. BUT I don't want you to change the core things of who you are. The truth is, you're an incredible person. You're incredibly talented, incredibly smart and incredibly incredible. Ha. There are simple a thousand reasons why you're amazing and I have done a horrible job highlighting those to other people. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I actively tell people you're horrible, but I don't actively enough tell them how wonderful you are. And even more importantly, I don't tell you how wonderful I think you are. I hope you know that I think you're amazing. I love more than anything to listen to your music. It's heavenly!
     The other thing I wanted to say in this letter is that I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not being your bigest fan and for making my issues with you so difficult. I'm sorry for being angry with you for things that I really shouldn't have been angry about. I want you to know the reason why I've felt this way for so long. I've known how incredible you are for your whole life. Remember how mom and dad said I used to follow you around when we were kids and you would feed me your buggars? Yeah, I would eat them because I wanted to do anything you wanted me to do so I could be like you. I know I was jealous of you when you were good at/better at everything! I've known the potential you had for our whole lives. Sometimes, I think you're not living up to that potential and then I get upset. I want you to be the Jon I know and love and the problem is that I'm very unforgiving of your mistakes. Maybe because I always thought you were perfect and when you're not, it makes me sad. How silly is that though? No one's perfect. And I should be the most forgiving of my family's weaknesses. I love my family more than anything, so why would I judge them? Well the answer is, I shouldn't. I've been expecting you to be perfect for years and I shouldn't expect that. I should expect to learn and grow with you and to make mistakes together and figure out how to fix them together. I'm sorry that I haven't been the sister I know I can and should be. I hope you can forgive me for that.
    Jon, I love you more than you know. You're my big brother, my only older sibling, and I look up to you so much. I am SO proud of the things you've accomplished in your life and I hope I can continue to be a part of that. I can't wait to see all the things you will do in your future! You are an incredible man and I know you'll find the perfect woman to be your partner in life. I hope I can be best friends with her. Thank you for being my brother and for always making me feel loved. Thank you for being someone I can look up to. And thank you for loving me inspite of my shortcomings.

I love you Jonathan!

                                                                        Love,
                                                                            Jess

Day 17: A picture of something that has made a huge impact on my life recently

(First of all, I goofed! I switched up the days. Sorry! That's ok though cuz these are both getting done on the same day. So no worries.)


Man, These are getting personal!

There have been a lot of things that have made an impact on my life recently. The biggest thing is this...

 These girls are my life!

For those of you that don't know, these are my sisters. Kristi, on the bottom right, Kelly just above her, and Heather right next to me.

Kelly recently moved into my house and it hasn't been quite what I expected. I've never parented a teenager before, so it's been hard! However, it's been incredibly rewarding. I've been able to connect with her on a level I don't think I ever could have with out this kind of experience. She is an incredible woman and I'm lucky to get to spend so much time with her. This experience has also forced my hubby and I to really get to know eachother better. We've learned things about each other and about outselves that are important and have made our marriage better. It hasn't all been good, but we've gotten through it and are better people for it.

Heather has been there when the talks with my hubby havent gone the way I wanted them to. Ha. Don't get me wrong. Justin and I have always been able to get through whatever issues we've had. But at the same time, don't think for a second that we're perfect. Cuz we're not! And sometimes a girl needs to bounce things off some one who will always tell her the truth. Heather is so that person for me. Luckily enough for me, she also knows my family extremely well and has been able to give me very good insight and advice about how to handle certain situations. She's also the single most non-judgemental person I've ever met in my life. I've been able to talk to her about anything and everything and know that she's not making any judgements. Not about me, not about the people I happen to be complaining about at the time. She and I have gone through A LOT together and it's made us very close. I couldn't live with out her!



Kristi is the happy relief in all my drama! She's also always there to help and to be an ear to listen to my drama. She's always happy and knows what to do or say to make me feel better. I think Heather wrote a blog similar to this one and said the same thing about Kristi. It seems she's that way with everyone and that's a big deal too. I love that I can always trust her to be there for me. She also has a sweet hubby that helps everyone and is just as loving as she is.

I am SO lucky to know these women and I can't imagine my life with out them.

I LOVE YOU GIRLS! 

Day 18- A picture of your greatest insecurity

Why not just make a list of everything bad about myself!? That would prolly be easier! Admitting to your insecurities is hard. It's also a big step to moving forward though. If you can admit your faults and shortcomings, you can realize what they are and work on them. If you don't ever admit them, how are you gonna work on them?!

So, my biggest insecurity? To be honest, probably my weight. I don't wanna say much about it, obviously cuz i'm pretty insecure about it. But if anyone's reading this and wants to help me out, I'm in! I like working out and I love sports but I always find a reason not to work out! It has to be at the right time and with the right people. All my excuses for not doing it are completely worthless. And I know that. But they're still there.

The other problem I have is that I LOVE food! I love eating and I love to eat things that taste good to me, even if i'm not very hungry. Sad day! I tried to go with out sugar for 4 months (till my sister's wedding) and I couldn't stop making excuses for that too!

This has been a constant battle for me for a long time! The thing is that I KNOW I can overcome it. I just have to dedicate myself to it and trust that it will work eventually.

I CAN DO IT!

Day 16- Something you want to do before you die

This is a hard one for me. I've been lucky enough in my life to do a lot of really neat things that a lot of people never get a chance to do. I'm racking my brain trying to come up with something that's profound that I want to do and can't think of anything! Ha. Well, I shouldn't say that, because there's a lot of things but they're all things I'm pretty sure I'll be able to do, like have children, see them grow up and go to college and get married in the temple. Most of my family goals revolve around them.

BUT, I see this post as more of an oportunity to talk about something more adventerous. Maybe adventurous isn't the right word, but something fun that i have no idea if I'll ever get to do. This would be the ultimate 25 year anniversary present. Ha. Maybe 15 years cuz at 25 years I might be too old. Ha.

So, my big bucket list item is.......

Drum roll.....

NEW ZEALAND!!!

I want to go to New Zealand SO bad!! I REALLY hope that one day I can get to go there. Let me tell you why. About 8 years ago, my dad took my brother to a kayaking school in northern CA called Otter Bar. 

This is the Salmon River that the lodge sits next to. :)

This is a TOP NOTCH kayaking school. Literally the best in the country. The instructors are world class kayakers and world explorers. I wish I had time to tell you all their stories but that's for another blog. :) Anyway, a lot of the intructors there are from New Zealand! (here's the tie in for this blog. ha) There were the first Kiwis I ever met and I fell in love with them! It's possible my love for them stems from my love for kayaking, but that's ok. It was my first exposure. Since then, every person in our family has been to this school. (I went 4 times.) And because of it, we've all fallen in love with kayaking and in turn, New Zealand. It's our whole family's dream vacation!

There's SO much to do there! First of all, some of the best kayaking in the world! The rivers there are STUNNING.

Who wouldn't wanna paddle that?!

Second, I got to do the Lu'au at BYU my freshman year (a show polynesians from BYU put on about the culture of the islands) and absolutely fell in love with the Mauri culture. It's SO beautiful and rich and fun. The people I met from New Zealand were absolutely amazing, and that includes my Otter Bar friends. Simply amazing people.

This is Graham Charles, AKA Cracker! Get it? Graham Cracker? Cracker for Short? haha. He is one of those amazing Otter Bar instructors/Crazy Kiwis. :)

Third, Anybody wanna join my for a 400 meter bungee jump?!?!

This is the "Ledge" Bungee in Queenstown, New Zealand. You don't actually fall for 400 meters. That's over 1300 feet btw. Ha. But, the ledge is that high! Sign me up!!

And last, but definitely not least, How about those accents?! Holy cow, they're my FAV! ha.

So, I'll be saving for the rest of my life for this trip, but it'll be WORTH IT!