what can be said about the festival of colors?  only that it is the biggest, funnest {not a word} party in all of march.  i have been looking forward to it since last year when we barely missed the color cloud by a couple of minutes.

i’ve had big expectations and i wasn’t let down.

chase and i came prepared with 30 pre-purchased bags of colors, arrived 1 hour early, and brought a gaggle of friends with us to share in the glory of the color mess.  my favorites from logan–kevin & natalie and kolby & angie–came down and it was so fun to goof off with my besties.

afterwards we kept our cultural experience going with a trip to bombay house for indian food and let me tell you, that did not disappoint either

here are a few pictures of the fun.  enjoy!

we made our way into the front of the crowd for the color cloud and to mosh, sing, dance and throw colors at unsuspecting passersby

and after the throwing of colors, we got back into the fresh air {somewhat} and just had a mini color war between the 6 of us.  then we HAD to take pictures, because, well, that’s what girls do, right?!

and don’t worry, i’ve checked with ang and nat and it took us each 3 showers/shampoos to get this chalk out of our hair!  oh, SO FUN!

i’ve been having trouble the past few weeks with my motivation to get active again.  but today i was bombarded with it!  so i’ve spent a good part of my morning planning out my summer schedule of rides/races to start looking forward to.

i’m posting these because i would LOVE if anyone reading wanted to sign up and do these things with me/us.  we love having groups of people to train with and hang out with on race day!

telos timp triathlon- april 17

salt lake century- may 15

utah valley marathon- june 12

RAGNAR- june 18

cache valley super sprint triathlon- july 10

ULCER century ride- august 7

bountiful triathlon- august 14

cache valley century tour- august 28

top of utah marathon- september 18

heber valley olympic century- september 25

st. george marathon- october 2

saturday fatter-day ride to suncrest- november 27

it’s going to be the BEST summer.  EVER.

it’s been sunny lately and  i can’t help but start planning all kinds of fun things to do now that the sun is out and my SAD is disappearing.

things i can’t wait for:

-a small weekend getaway to park city in a couple of weeks.  cycling, shopping, sleeping and relaxing

-finals in 4 weeks, which means my last semester at BYU is  almost over

-our 2 year anniversary

-boating, camping, hiking, jogging, cycling

-annual week-long trip to laguna beach with the smith fam

-GRADUATION {hopefully in august}

-turning 22!

-accomplishing my year-expired goals of a marathon, triathlon and century ride

-getting some sun on this very pale body of mine

and last, but certainly not least…

-a fun cruise to top off the summer

why can’t there be this many things to be excited about during winter?

winter just absolutely sucks.  other than getting to wear really cute coats, i mean.

bring on summer!

this past week has been very spiritual for me because of things that have recently happened, and also because of things that i’ve been given the chance to reflect on.

my step-cousin, jessica, past away a week ago by suicide.  they were able to prolong her life at the hospital by means of a breathing tube, but she was never conscious.  being the only member of the smith family that lives in utah county {and just so happened to have taylor staying with me for a girls weekend}, tay and i rushed over to the hospital when we heard the news.  it was one of the hardest things to introduce myself to her mother and to see jess laying on the bed lifeless.  what do you say?  nice to meet you?  no, you can only give a smile and hug and assure that you will do anything to help.  then, i saw my aunt liz and papa in the waiting room.  the tears flowed and i could see that hope was diminishing that we would be able to wake jessica up.

that night, the smith family came down from logan, bountiful and salt lake to be there when we took her off of life support.  we gathered around her bed, listening to a beautiful prayer by her daddy, had her bishop give her a blessing to release her from this world, and cried while her mother and friend sang “God be with you ’till we meet again”.   they took her off of life support, we said our goodbyes, and left the immediate family to grieve their loss.  during this, i watched the love that jessica’s parents had for her–the way they held her lifeless hand, kissed her forehead and stroked her face.  the way her three siblings clung to her arms and legs.  it was too much.  i began to think about my own experience with losing potential children.  it is very different because i was never able to meet, raise, kiss, laugh with or play with them, but i do know that the love i had for them was very strong and that losing them was the hardest thing i’ve ever had to go through.  i can’t even imagine how much harder it would be or how you get over losing a daughter who you had spent 17 beautiful years with.

but then i remember that jessica is with my Heavenly Father and Savior.  and that my future children are there as well.  and i can’t help but feel blessed.  blessed to be a member of my Church and blessed to know that family that we love and lose will be watching over us and are being taken care of by the most qualified parent that there is.

what more of a tender mercy could we ask for?

i didn’t know you well jessica, but the few months that you were a part of my family were really special.

Jessica Laren Harris, 17, of Lindon, died peacefully early Monday, March 08, 2010 at Timpanogos Regional Hospital, cradled in her mother’s arms and surrounded by family and loved ones. She was born June 9, 1992 in Provo to Brent Richard Harris and Lisa Marie Harmon Harris.

She was raised in American Fork and Lindon, and was currently a high school senior preparing to graduate early, and pursuing her dream of becoming a neonatal nurse. She had just completed her CNA training, acing her final test. She had been employed at Bel-Aire Senior Living Center, where she shared compassion, friendship, and service to the elderly residents with whom she loved with her whole soul. She was happiest when she was serving others, and had many cherished and spiritual experiences with these elderly friends.

She was an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with a testimony of her Savior and His atonement.

Jessica was blessed with great beauty, a quick-wit and sense of humor, a superior intellect, an honest personality, and an enormous heart filled with compassion for others, especially the elderly, the disabled, children, and animals. She loved the learning and reading, and treasured her experiences in the outdoors, hiking, biking, rock climbing, repelling, spelunking in caves, and sleeping under the stars. She loved listening to music, playing guitar, and pampering herself to a relaxing bath or a well deserved nap. Most importantly, she loved her family, her friends, and her beloved Pomeranian dogs.

In her short life, Jessica gave her share of “five loaves of bread and two small fishes” (John 6:9) that have been magnified and multiplied, through her Savior, to bless and fill a multitude of lives, and in her passing, Jessica now blesses the lives of many families through the donation of her organs and tissues.

We are all deeply saddened and will miss her, but our hearts are comforted in the truth the resurrection, the blessings of the temple, and the peace that her eternal Spirit is now embraced and surrounded by loved ones in Paradise, where she is experiencing a state of never-ending happiness, rest, and peace, and where she is resting from all trouble, all care, and sorrow.

i was just clearing out my google reader and trying to catch up on all the blogs i like to read, and there was a really great one over at zenhabits.net about how you can become a more positive person.

definitely something we can all work on.  here are some of the tips that they gave.

Realize it’s possible, instead of telling yourself why you can’t.

Become aware of your self-talk.

Squash negative thoughts like a bug.

Replace them with positive thoughts.

Love what you have already.

Be grateful for your life, your gifts, and other people.

Focus on what you have, not on what you haven’t.

Don’t compare yourself to others.

But be inspired by them.

Accept criticism with grace.

But ignore the naysayers.

See bad things as a blessing in disguise.

See failure as a stepping stone to success.

Surround yourself by those who are positive.

Complain less, smile more.

Image that you’re already positive.

Then become that person in your next act.

i had a moment of self-actualization in the tanning bed the other day.

which is why you will never be able to talk me out of going.  you’ve tried a million times.  and you will continue to fail.

it’s time for me to start becoming a more classy lady.

less american eagle.  more anthropologie and j.crew

less flip flops {specially in winter linds!}.  more heels and strappy things.

less baggy jeans.  more fitted and tailored ones.

less frumpy hair and make-up to work.  more polished and professional looking.

more earrings.  period.

actually, more jewelry.  period.

less judgmental and whiny.  more grace.

less shy.  more friendly and confident.

there, i did it.  a small list of goals for this young wife to turn into a classy and proud trophy wife

some things that taylor said during our girls weekend together:

{as we pass the disney store at university mall}  “i get that disney is trying to even out the races, but for some reason i just don’t like the idea of a black princess.  i just think the white ones are much prettier”

{as we watched 24}

lindsey:  taylor, do you like the blonde girl that works at ctu?

taylor: the one that looks like a horse?

lindsey:  oh, dang.  you don’t like her.  she’s the star of battlestar galactica.  i was hoping that would make you want to watch it.

taylor:  ya, now i never will.  i can’t stand watching the screen when dayna is on it.  what are the really big horses called?  clydesdales?  ya, she is totally a clydesdale.

{as we sit in our booth at zupas; a plus-size girl walks in to order, drops something, and bends over to pick it up}

“it should be required in college, well even in high school, for everyone to take a class called ‘how to dress for your body type’.  then maybe people will know that just because it is in style and it comes in your size doesn’t mean it will look good on you.”

haha really taylor?

what a weekend.

friday night chase and i went to the utah symphony.  it was INCREDIBLE.  i will say that after an extremely long second half, we were both a little ready for it to be over–but it was still just beautiful.  what a great v-day gift!

saturday night we met my family in salt lake and grabbed some indian food to celebrate chase’s birthday.  it was a blast.  the funniest thing was that they had just come from the mc/timp state basketball game and taylor had been given a “timp men’s calendar”.  it was basically a letter from the boys at timp telling taylor that if she was sick of the immature boys at mc, that she could call on them.  and then they gave her a calendar that had pictures of them modeling.  haha!

sunday i sent chase off to san jose, california.  he is speaking at his conference and will be gone until wednesday night….but tay came down to stay with me so that i wouldn’t be scared/lonely.  we found out  that one of our step-cousins had attempted suicide and was in the icu at a nearby hospital, so we spent sunday with family in the waiting room waiting to see if she would wake.  however, around 11 PM it became clear that she wasn’t going to make it and the whole family came down to be there for a blessing and to take her off life support.  it was nice to be there to say goodbye.

monday, tay and i spent the day shopping, eating and watching tv.  seriously, it was fantastic.  a great way to get our minds off of jessica and to relax a little.  i’m so glad to have tay moving down here for college soon, it will be so great to see her whenever i want.

now, just back to the grind at work today.  luckily, i just got a text from chris telling me that nicole is going into labor today!  that means i will get to spend the night oogling over my newest little best friend.  hurry up grayson!

i’m in the market for a new laptop.  and i need help!

mac or pc people?!

{i mean how to you even compare a mac to something that comes in lime green!}

tell me your thoughts…

last night chase showed me the “stats” on our blog.  mostly because i was feeling completely out of sorts and i wanted to see if anyone cared about our little life.  turns out there are quite a few of you who do.

also, it was kind of creepy to see that people in saudi arabia and isreal are getting on here regularly….can you say “framed for terrorists attacks” mabye?  nah just kidding. mostly.

inevitably, it led me to the thought, “should we go private?” to get rid of these semi-creepy visits.  for those of you who have private blogs, what say you?  i can’t really decide, because i get really annoyed with the private blogs i like to follow since they won’t integrate with my google-reader {which is the way i am updated on feeds}.  needless to say i don’t visit these private blogs very often as i forget about them.  and i don’t want people to forget about me!  prideful much? 

i guess that going private would be a little different since we are not on blogspot and we have our own website for our blog.  but i’m sure it’s doable {i mean my husband builds websites for heavens sake}.  i’m just not sure how the invites would work, etc.  but it’s definitely something to think about…

so in the mean time, let me know what you like/dislike about being private or not.

also, it was really fun to see what websites are sending the most people to my blog.  obviously, facebook sends plenty since there is a link on my profile, but there were others that have sent 20+ {hannays, martineaus, frisbys, etc}  it’s kind of fun to see, so if you have a way of checking your blog “stats”  i say do it!

1) it will make you feel popular…and

2) it will make you feel violated

and aren’t those the two best things to feel?

sidenote:  if there are readers from http://mindysbloggy.blogspot.com/ or http://bcmerrill.blogspot.com/, let me know who you are.  you are at the top of my “stats” as far as visits and referrals, and since i don’t know you, it feels weird.  give me some peace of mind and tell me that you aren’t rapists/kidnappers/murderers and/or any variation of the sort.  thanks.