We've Decided On.... Forever.

2013 review

I just looked back at my New Year's resolutions for this year (2013) and they were:


1. stay true to myself and what i believe
2. do what i love and have adventures
3. be thankful every day


I'm happy to say that I believe I successfully kept to my resolutions throughout the year. Every day, more and more I become happy with the person I am, and the life that I live.

Like I had said in that post, I know there is always room for improvement, and becoming the best me I can be is an on-going adventure, but I feel that I have indeed tried my best to stay true to myself and what I believe. I tried hard to not lower my standards to conform to the popular opinion and lived my life in such a way that people would know what I believed.

I have seen myself improving in the areas that I wished, especially in photography, and I can't wait to continue to expand my knowledge and skills. I don't care that "everyone is a photographer now". I'm doing it because I love it.  And though I didn't take any extravagant trips, I felt like I had my fair share of adventures. I became a "yes man" and did things that scared me. I made memories. Real memories.

I may not have said the words "I'm thankful for...." out loud everyday, but I did my best to "choose" to be happy. To see the small and simple things that made each day special. I really believe that to be thankful is to be happy.

2013 has been good to me! So here is the top 13 highlights from my life in 2013 (cliche, I know...)



1.  Dating Chance. Whatever I was doing, if he was there, it was better. I'm so thankful for the way he has impacted my life. The love and care, support, influence, and motivation he has given me through out this year has really made a difference! The year would have been VERY different if he wasn't a part of it, and I don't really care to think about experiencing it without him.

(the rest are in no particular order)

2. Speaking of Chance, going to Lake Powell with his family was definitely in the top 13 best times of the year! Not only do I just adore his family and love spending time with them, I had never been to Lake Powell before! It's just as awesome as everyone says it is.

3. The expansion of my family. Two new nieces AND Chad's engagement. Grace and Layla are two little bundles of perfect, and I'm so excited for Chad and Leanne to start their life together.

4. Grandma's passing... Seems weird to be a highlight, and I would give anything to have her still be here, but the time I was able to see her in the hospital before she passed away will always be a moment I treasure. It was a hard holiday season without her... but I know she watches out for me and I miss her everyday.

5. Mckay's mission call opening. Seeing Mac open that call and read out loud where he would be serving the Lord for the next 2 years was surreal! My baby brother! And then spending as much time as possible before he left. He knows how to have a good time!

6. Antelope Island trip with mom and dad. Just me, mom, and dad. Hey, I love my parents, but I'll admit I wasn't too excited to live at home by myself with them. But my attitude has totally changed on that. Plus, they like that I make them do fun things.

7. My homemade double stuffed Oreo Halloween costume. It was legit, if I do say so myself. Even though Chance and I had no parties to go to or anything... I spent 3 full nights on those costumes and was happy to just drive around the valley to show my family.

8. Little Millie turned one this year! And we were lucky enough to have her in Utah for her birthday, and birthday party. I got some really cute snaps at her party, and she's the cutest thing that ever hit this planet.

9. I bought a car! (I've been planning to do a picture and post about it... but I haven't.) I bought a car, with my very own money, in full, WITH CASH! Now that is a good feeling. I sure enjoy having my own car, and I really like the car itself too! Thanks to Chance for helping me get a good one.



10. Attending the Temple and my increased love for Sundays. With regret, I have to say that I didn't go as often as I should have... but every time I did, I always had the most beautiful experiences. I've got to make it more of a habit. And this year I have gained such an appreciation for the Sabbath Day. The peace is brings to me is priceless.

11. I turned 20! I officially said goodbye to my teenage years. Nah, I don't really feel that much difference between 19 and 20, but for some reason this year, I didn't struggle with telling people I was still 19 for the first few months after I turned 20. And I had a 'cake' of Grandma Nilsson's rolls, instead of an actual cake. That.... was awesome.

12. Chance and my Elf inspired Christmas date. Snow angels, ice skating, lights at temple square, texas roadhouse (for free), cookie dough, and snuggling. Now that was a date to remember!

13. Shark Week in Park City with my family. Even though we just swam, and watched Shark Week, and not everyone could stick around for long, I love little getaways, I love Park City, I love spending time with my family, and I love Shark Week... haha.

14. Okay I had to add in one more, because my life long friends and I went on a road trip to St. George and even though we got stuck in the hell fire sand and got swimmers itch, I'd go back and do it all again!!

Wow. It really has been a great year!

But you know me. I love change. And I'm ready for it. I've got great feelings and vibes comin' from 2014, and I think I'll run to it with open arms.

Brought to you by Buddy the Elf.

Now, around this time last year, Chance and I went on our first "official" date. Ice skating downtown/ lights at temple square/ christmas movie. So being the kind of person I am, I want to do it every year! It's the perfect Christmas/Winter date. But I also watched ELF this week (twice) with the kids I nanny and got an even better idea....

This date was brought to you by Buddy the Elf:

"First, we'll make snow angels for two hours, THEN we'll go ice skating, THEN we'll eat a whole roll of Tollhouse Cookie Dough as fast as we can! THEN we'll snuggle!"

**warning** Have you ever tried to eat a whole roll of cookie dough as fast as you can?... Oh boy. Never again. Chance ate a lot more than I did, but we did finish the roll, forcefully. Haha. It was a lot harder than I expected! That's a lot of cookie dough, that requires a lot of milk. (But I guess if your diet was candy, candy canes, candy corn, and syrup, it probably wouldn't be that hard!) SO thanks Buddy for the idea, but I think we will leave the cookie dough part out next year... :)

We did everything on Buddy's list! AND as few more enhancements to this whole date, we saw the temple square lights, walked around City Creek, had dinner at Texas Roadhouse FOR FREE! AND we watched the Grinch (the 4th time I've watched it this season! Never gets old.) which included more snuggling ;)

I love bundling up with this boy of mine, and every day with him is an adventure! I get just wee bit.... okay WAY A LOT excited over christmas and winter and all the activities that come with it, and I'm lucky to have Chance who embraces my excitement! So yeah... today was really the best thing ever!

holy smokes I love Halloween.

There's something different about this October. I love all holidays, really. But I am getting super into Halloween this year. And I am loving it. Probably because I found lots of things I can do and have fun that AREN'T SCARY. And this being one of them:

WITCH FEST!

Gardner Village has this little Witch Fest party the whole place is decorated with the cutest witches and other halloween decorations and everyone dresses up as witches and just walks around the shops. It's totally silly, and that's why I love it. I seriously never grew out of playing dress up. And I love having the opportunity to wear those awesome striped leggings, and halloween vest I got from Savers for THREE DOLLARS. Definitely the start of a tradition!

Seriously, can there be 2 Octobers every year?...

another bunch of randoms...

Chance's mom and sister's birthday was the other day, and we decided to send them a little birthday song video! They loved it... and I love singing with him. And it took about 15 takes to get it right.

Sweater weather is coming and I couldn't be more excited or ready. I just spent 50$ at Saver's half off sale and got about 8 sweaters. I'm really getting a handle on this thrift shopping.

On my way to hear Annie speak in sacrament meeting...and my car overheats. I mean really, there's hardly anything I'd rather be doing than waiting for my car to cool down... but really?? Well.. it's happened enough times that I know what to do by myself at this point. 

But then later Austin took me on a bike ride... 

Bag the car... I'm getting a bike.

welp. that wasn't supposed to happen.

How today was supposed to go:

// Wake up and go to the temple to do baptisms.

//  Tailgate with the family before the BYU game  to visit and eat some yummy food!

// Head out to Chasing Chance's show at the Radioactive Fest and set up outside.

// Take some sweet pictures for the band.

// Meet Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons.

How today actually went:

// Woke up and laid in moms bed and talked all morning.

// Still went to the temple, but didn't have time to do baptisms so I just sat in the chapel and read my
   scriptures for a bit.

// Drove out to go tailgating and hit awful game-day traffic so we ended up driving around for a while trying to find some place to park because we weren't going to stay for the game. We ended up parking pretty far away and walked a ways ONLY to have it start POURING rain right as we found the family. I mean I don't even think I said hi to anyone. Everyone was scrambling trying to put the food away and go for cover. Too bad Chance and I had no cover since our car was parked half a mile away! So I hurry and stuck my camera bag into my aunts car for safe keeping, and Chance and I had no choice but to walk back to his car in this mini hurricane. Soaked to the bone. So hungry. And maybe a little scared even?... Roads were flooded, trees were falling down. Never seen rain like that in Utah! We made it back to Chance's apartment safely... but now...hair ruined, makeup gone, and I had NO extra clothes... I was forced to wear Chance's sweats and a T-shirt. 

// We weren't sure if the show was going to be cancelled since it was supposed to be outside. So we went out to where it was supposed to be to see what was going on. The show was still on but they were forced to play inside on a puny stage, got too short of a sound check, started late, and had a few technical difficulties.

// Since I put my camera bag in my aunts car, I no longer had it to take pictures. And my phone died so I took iphone pictures with Nick's phone. Plus terrible lighting.

// Didn't meet Dan Reynolds...

Lesson learned from today? Some of the best days are the ones in which, not necessarily everything goes wrong, but when all these things happen that you didn't plan for! I LOVED laying in bed with my mom just talking. I LOVED just sitting and reading my scriptures in the temple. I felt the spirit of love from my Heavenly Father SO strongly and couldn't help but smile the whole time I was there. The rain was definitely NOT planned for... but getting stuck in that kind of rain was actually fun. Chance and I just walked and ran through it hand in hand and just laughed the whole time. It was like a "I can't believe this is really happening right now" kind of laugh. That was some super soaking rain, and not everyone can say they've been a part of rain like that! It was fun!

Luckily the show still happened, and even though it wasn't ideal, they still got to play, and the people still loved it! And I got good enough pictures. I'm just glad my nice camera didn't get ruined! We didn't meet Dan Reynolds.. BUT I got to witness his sound check so it was basically like a private concert right?.... Haha.

Regardless of how today went, it is one I will ALWAYS remember. And I live for these kinds of days.

on last night/this morning

Okay Aubrey... When was the last time pulling an all nighter was a good idea... Oh yeah, NEVER. I might never learn...
BUT leaving my house at 4:30 am to drive to downtown Salt Lake to support my best in Chasing Chance on channel 2 morning news? WAY worth it.

he's adorable even at 5 in the morning.

me not so much. haha.

oh yeah, I had a "Mike Wazowski" moment today. Remember in Monsters Inc. when Mike is SO excited to be on the commercial for Monsters Incorporated? And then his face TOTALLY gets blocked by the logo. But he is SO excited about it. Haha, yeah that's how I feel about this. That's my face on that TV. And even though it's a very small part of my face and you can't even tell it's me.... I feel pretty cool.

Nevertheless.... after no sleep, and working all day, I'm definitely tired. Yeah, mmhmm. Definitely. SO excuse me while I go to bed at 8:30 this fine evening.

mckay week

my little mckay left for him mission this last wednesday. so of course i had to do a #mckayinstagramweek...

this is his "aub..." face that i have to go without for 2 years.

throw back to the beach where mckay first learned of sand crabs.

mckays hugs are the best and i will miss them the most.

norway better take care of my baby brother...

even though i know he is the one that will really be taking care of them.

last night.

1998-2013

i cant believe we are all grown up!

luckily some things never change.

i love you so much mckay!

and guess what. I barely even cried when we dropped him off.... until that night when I realized when I went home he wouldn't be there. Then the tears flowed.

we have already received our first letter from him and he is doing FABULOUS. loves being a missionary. though we all knew he would!

all 5

last week i set up my own little studio.

in my garage.

and it worked out quite well

if i do say so myself:

he is so handsome. and i love him so much.

and today,

mom's missionary shelf was completed.

mckay leaves next week,

and in 2016,

all 5 of my brothers will have served full time

LDS missions.

what amazing examples i was lucky enough to grow up with!

seriously,

i wouldn't be who i am today with out them.

i am proud to be their only sister!!

the church is SO true.