pioneer day.

luke's adorable niece on saturday, where we did fireworks at his parent's house.

kaylee is the cutest!

why i love july.

july holds birthdays for three of the best people in my world. one of them is my sweet nephew matthew. he is SUCH a little boy...loves guns, cars, and running around. he is going to be FIVE tomorrow. i can't even handle it!
i remember the day he was born like it was yesterday. it was a very emotional day for my entire family! he was so cute and small and precious...i've never loved anyone so much! he is such a cute boy and growing up to be so smart. he wants to be a paleontologist when he grows up...so appropriate, because he knows everything there is to know about dinosaurs! i love my nephew matthew so much. he teaches me how to be a better person every day!

my sweet sister rachel turned 14 on the 17th. i have never seen rachel truly mad or upset in my life... she is one of the sweetest spirits i've ever met! she lives to make other people happy...she is completely selfless. she is my hero in more ways than one. i love every minute spent around her! she is a great girl and i know she will grow up to do great things! the fact that she is now 14 kind of blows my mind. she got a cell phone for her birthday and her reaction was the greatest! watch here:

last but not least, my adorable dad. things were hard between my dad and i when i was a teenager...mostly due to my tendency to always want to be right. when i realized my dad is probably one of the smartest people on earth, i decided to try to take his advice as much as possible.
my dad has worked so hard to provide for his family. we love him so much for it! the other day my parents, luke and i were driving home from provo and he told us several stories about his college life. there was so much i didn't know about him! i could hardly believe it. i've made a new goal to learn more about my dad while i can. i love him so much and hope to be just like him someday.

my family is truly wonderful! even though i sometimes feel like i don't fit in, or that i am different, i appreciate how they still love me and are there for me. they are the greatest family  a girl could ask for!

quote of the week.

RIP.

today is a very sad day for me.
i will never forget the day i heard amy winehouse's voice for the first time. a friend from college and i were driving up the mountain when he put on this song. i remember thinking, "this can't be the same girl who sings that annoying rehab song!!" because in all honesty, i hated that song at first.
but soon it was too late to hide the fact that i loved her. and soon i even grew proud of it! to the point where i could blast "rehab" with the windows down and not even care if people thought i was weird. she was amazing.

she had an incredible voice and was hands-down one of the most influential artists i've known.
the poor soul, lost and always struggling with substance abuse and emotional issues. i have a feeling none of us understood exactly what was going on in amy's life. which is why i will never judge her for what may have killed her (some say it was a drug overdose). i can only thank her for the beautiful music i have had the opportunity to hear over the years.

every time i hear amy winehouse, i think of better days. when i lived in logan with my best friends..emily and i would listen to her as we did the dishes, or as we did homework in the living room. i'd blast it in my room, my car, my parent's house, friend's houses...anywhere.

she was a huge influence in my life in many ways. i named my guitar cherry after one of her songs, and i wanted to name my friend's dog valerie after my all time favorite song of hers. (i didn't win that discussion, sadly enough.)
she was a beautiful person, inside and out.

i will never forget the swooping feeling in my stomach when my boyfriend texted me today telling me the news. i literally got teary eyed and had to go to the back room for a moment to collect my thoughts. such a waste of a beautiful woman who could have been so great.

RIP AMY WINEHOUSE.

on to a better place.

check out my other favorite amy winehouse songs here, here and here.

also read this beautiful article from NPR about amy.

adam's canyon.

like i said last week, i feel kind of jipped about my summer.
always spent indoors, working!!!!

last week i worked 56 hours...kind of ridiculous. but i decided not to let it get the best of me!

so on tuesday after i worked all morning, luke and i hiked adam's canyon!
it's a surprisingly difficult hike.. not gonna lie.
but the top was beautiful!! there was a series of waterfalls, and even though luke and i got kind of lost (pathetic, i know) it was totally worth it!!

ignore the fact that the last picture is sideways..my computer is kind of broken and won't let me fix it. fail.

all in all it was a great hike though. it felt so good to be outside in the sun...only two more weeks til my internship is done and i can be outside FAR more often. yay!

musique belle.

thanks to a lot of boredom at fox studios in between newscasts, i've discovered some awesome little gems of music that i'd love to share with you!!

1. ray lamontagne & damien rice - to love somebodyanyone who knows me at all knows i am obsessed with damien rice. so when my boss showed me this song and i realized i hadn't heard it i almost died. not to mention it's with ray lamontagne?!?! it  is ultimate perfection, and what i've been listening to every night before i fall asleep.

2. niki and the dove - the fox
this swedish band is just the new and different sound i've been craving lately. the lead singer, with some crazy swedish name i can't even pronounce and/or spell, sounds very much like "sia" in my opinion, and i'm totally okay with that. they have a very different, raw sound about them. their song "the fox" totally converted me. you won't regret giving it a listen!

3. mutemath - odd soul
i've been waiting YEARS for these guys to release a new tune. just the other day i realized my dreams had come true when they posted on twitter that they'd finally released a single! i cannot wait for the full album in october.

4. the cave singers - leap
thank you, starbucks radio, for once again showing me an incredible bluegrass band!! yet another reason i absolutely love working at my coffeeshop. i've discovered so much great music and the cave singers are no exception!

i hope y'all enjoy the sounds i've been jamming the past couple weeks.
my internship is officially over in 2 weeks, and i'm hoping to make the last 3 weeks of summer really count!! plans in the works: seeing the decemberists, fleet foxes, edward sharpe and the magnetic zeros, lupe fiasco and bright eyes all in concert! all but one for freeee.
also, plan on going up to logan to hike the wind caves. just cuz it's been so long.

sights of summer.

as much as i love my new job, as well as working at starbucks,

i feel sort of jipped about my summer.
spent mostly indoors, in a windowless room,
or only watching the sun shining from inside the coffeeshop,
i've hardly had the chance to go outside!!
which is crazy since usually i love hiking, biking, sitting outside, swimming..
you name it, i love it.

which is why these pictures are what make me happy this week.

perhaps i can live vicariously through them....

quote of the week.

 

A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.
-John Lennon

somewhat irked.

so apparently a few of you have been trying to comment on my posts and it won't work!? i've been hearing this for awhile but i can't seem to fix it!!!! ahhhhhhh the frustration.
does anyone know how to fix it? it's really quite annoying.

the newsroom.

 

welcome to where i've spent the majority of my summer.

with the studio currently undergoing renovations (as in pretty much getting completely rebuilt), we have all been squished into the area behind the anchor desks... not a lot of space for anchors, reporters, editors, producers, etc etc. tension runs high sometimes, especially when there's a lot going on! i've seen people at each other's throats, yelling, or wondering where their live shot is, or having to step outside to BREATHE. too much togetherness sometimes!
however there's also been amazing memories made here. bob evans loves singing musicals, hope has the best sense of humor ever... i also love gene kennedy's band drop dead julio who we love to sing in the newsroom on the weekends. ben winslow will always be my personal favorite since he got me the internship...he is a "robot" of news since he always seems to know what's going on.
the producers are all amazing and so patient with me as i pick up on how to do everything! other than the occasional slow news day where we sit outside and BBQ or read, there's always something going on and something needing to be done.
i truly love the busy lifestyle of working in news...even if it gets a bit crazy sometimes!

i wish.

i've been greatly looking forward to moving out sometime soon..

hoping by this fall i'll be able to afford it!

so maybe that's why i've been so obsessed with pictures like these lately:

 

 

a chalkboard calendar...amazing. cutest playroom i've ever seen..and two bedrooms i would LOVE to have [a library/bedroom? that's amazing.]

makes me wish i could afford to just buy a house and decorate the crap out of it.

 

chicky chicks.

these little boogers have been so much fun.

and aside from worrying about my cat eating them, i've quite enjoyed
our six new pets!

quote of the week.

"the best way to predict your future is to create it."

baby chicks.

for the past couple months my dad has been talking about buying baby chicks,

and raising them for their eggs. at first we didn't think he was serious...
after all, my parents already have three dogs, a cat [two including my cat], and over a hundred fish in our back yard.
i thought it was getting a bit crowded.
 but he was serious!

yesterday our six baby chicks arrived at the post office, and we were so excited! 

mine is named ELEANOR RIGBY.
i'll probably call her ellie for short.

my sister rachel and her chick, rudy.

kylie's is the smallest, so of course she named hers tiny.

mama bear and her baby chick, nugget.

my sister casie also has one named brunhilda. and my dad is still deciding on a name for his!

fingers crossed that nesta likes the new arrivals and doesn't try to eat them..

the best part of the parade.

my obsession with VW Buses might be unhealthy.

i realize this. but i've come to terms with it.

happy fourth!

i hope everyone had a lovely fourth of july weekend!

i had a hard time going back to work this morning...boo.

yesterday was probably one of my favorite fourth's ever, which is saying a lot since
it's my favorite holiday of the year!

i hung out with the familia all morning and went to the parade:

after we swam for hours in my parents pool...a favorite fourth of july tradition!

my nephew is a little fish!

after i left my family party i went to a BBQ...one of the regulars from starbucks invited me and it was a blast! lots of good food and we got to watch my co-workers band the trappers play:

the best part of the night by far was going to see THE WAILERS!!! i was in heaven. those who know me well know that i am ob-freakin-sessed with bob marley and the wailers. they were so fun live! 

on our way to the park!

hahahah kelci.

luke thinks he's funny.
this is my co-worker laura, and she's one of my favorites!

me & laura's girls isabelle & maya. they're such a blast!

woodpigeon.

these canadian lovelys are woodpigeon, and the newest band i've found myself obsessing over
[i have played this song on repeat for a day or so now...]

be sure to give them a listen. their album "songbook" is absolutely beautiful. it is a perfect summer CD to listen to while going on a long drive and doing some deep thinking.