three day weekends are my new favorite thing

some highlights:

baby blessing


firepit



fun with delayed exposure


popsicles

not pictured:
riding bikes, trying to get a tan on a cloudy day, retail therapy, modern family episodes, fantastic mr. fox, and celebrating the last glorious day of papa johns $5.99 large pizza mondays in may.

may turned out quite a bit differently than i had previously envisioned. sometimes life, like monkeys, throws pieces of crap at us and tells us to make lemonade. but i think this weekend was a pretty darn good way to end a rather somber month.

i'm seeing good things happening in june.

amy and the technicolor dreamhouse

we cleaned our house today, so i thought it would be the perfect opportunity to have a photoshoot to show it off. i know you've all been waiting on the edge of your seats in anticipation for interior photos. and when i say "you've all", i really just mean my mom. ready for your virtual tour?

let's go in order. when you walk in the door, this is what you see:


please note that the two pictures have two different people on the couch. one of us is actually reading the book, the other is just posing. if you can't tell the difference, why should i?

continue walking. you'll soon see this:

this is the pride and joy of my life. it has been 4 years since i've had a personal washer/dryer, and not a communal laundromat where i have to shield my unmentionables from the poor innocent return-missionary boys trying to do the same thing.

to your left, you will find the bathroom, featuring holli.

pretty standard--sink, toilet, shower. pretty unstandard: the pepto-bismal color of the walls. we did not choose the color, but we choose to live with it rather than making the effort to repaint.

here's the hallway, with my laundry basket. because i'm doing laundry.


continuing with the tour, we find ourselves in the kitchen. it's yellow.


there's no dishwasher, but i've discovered that life still is possible without one. incredible, i know.

now we have arrived at the bedroom section of the tour. to your left, you will find holli's room. since it's not actually my room, i just snapped a quick picture through the door. just in case holli had underwear on the floor or something. she probably doesn't though, she's pretty clean.


to your right, you will find alison's and my room. is that sentence grammatically correct? it sounds strange. regardless, it's our room.



it's cozy and cute.

so that's my house--tadaaa!

i like her thinking.

tomato, tomaaahto

recent conversation with my mom

me: "i'm working on finding new hobbies."

mom: "oh yeah? like what?"

me: "ooh like riding my bike to the library to find good books, and then reading
them...buying a season pass to the water park..."

mom: "those aren't hobbies, amy. that's entertainment."

me: "yeah. my new hobby is entertaining myself."

what the heck!

what's that, you say? a freak powdered-sugar explosion in provo?

no.

SNOW. SNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW! it's may. may 24th. which means it's practically june. JUNE!

SNOW!

UTAH IS RUINING MY LIFE!

this is me sitting in front of the space heater because it is freaking cold.

earthquakes in my kaleidoscope

By pressing forward hopefully, we can, repeatedly and joyfully, stand on what was yesterday’s distant horizon, thereby drawing even further hope from our very own experiences. Hence Paul described how “tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope” (Rom. 5:3–4). Therefore, we rightly sing of God, “We’ve proved him in days that are past” (Hymns, no. 19).

Granted, those with true hope still see their personal circumstances shaken at times—like a kaleidoscope. Yet with the “eye of faith,” even in their changed, proximate circumstances, they still see divine design (see Alma 5:15).

Neal A. Maxwell, LDS.org - Ensign Article - Hope through the Atonement of Jesus Christ

uhh...now what?

i feel like i've been making this face lately, physically and mentally.

m-o-m=l-o-v-e

there are a lot of things i really love about my mom. here are some.

1. she loves being a mom. i have never once doubted that she loved me, that she wanted to be my mom and nobody else's mom, and that there is nothing else in the entire world that she would rather be doing than being my mom.

2. she loves to serve. one example (among maaannnny) that always sticks out to me: all through school--elementary, middle, junior, high (and i think maybe even college if i was still close enough), she made me (and my brothers and sisters) lunch every day. and i'm not talking lunchables and a twinkie here--i'm talking hearty sandwich, carrots, apples, homemade cookies, and sometimes even a little "i love you!" written on my napkin. every morning, without fail, she would have my lunch ready to go.

3. she knows how to deal with my hysterics. this one time, i think i was in 10th or 11th grade (angst angst angst), i had a huge zit on my chin. i tried to exterminate it, but to no avail--it only made it bigger! i cried and cried. hysterically, like a 16 year old girl might do. i knew there was no WAY i could show my face at school the next day--it would be too humiliating! but my mom stroked my hair (probably cracking up inwardly about my panic) and assured me that no one would even notice, that i was just the prettiest girl she'd ever seen. and promptly sent me to school the next day.

4. she listens to me, always. my sorrows are her sorrows, and my happiness is her joy. whether it be irrational melt downs over a zit, or elation over anything, really, she is always there to soak in every word. and somehow, she always knows the right things to say.

5. she lets me live my own life, and make my own decisions, but always offers loving support. and the reason why she can do that is because she had always given me the tools to make good decisions--she is a mother who knows. even when i make a stupid decision, she shows me she loves me, and helps me to realize my faults and how to fix them.

6. she loves her family, she loves the people around her, and she loves God. i don't think there is a mean bone in that woman's body. i have so very much to learn from her.and she is so very patient with me as i try to.

7. she's just so dang cute.


happy mother's day. i love you, mom.

exterior

so i live here now. it's pretty cute.

best part: trampoline in the backyard.


oh look, tom's on a tramp.

then we ride bikes sometimes.

you may wonder why my eyes are looking off to the side--that would be because i'm eyeing the parked car i'm about to crash into. don't worry--crisis averted.

holli takes vietnam.

world domination is so hard.

pictures of interior coming soon.