Here's to you 2010

Although 2010 has brought many ups and downs, I'm choosing to focus on the ups. There are so many things that I loved about 2010, but there are a few things that really stuck out in my mind...

I turned 20.

We went to the art museum.



 We drank too much at Gateway.

We went to Arrowhead.

We went traveled back in time.

We hiked.

We celebrated that Mexican holiday.

I sat on this bench.

We slid.

We looked pretty.

We went to Vegas.

I got tatted up.

We drank tequila.

We had visitors.

I had a movie premiere.

We said goodbye.

Things to look forward to in 2011:

my 21st birthday

APU Visits

Disneyland

D.C. visit

Arrowhead trips

missionary homecomings

spring break

more 21st birthdays

Newport Beach

study abroad returns and departures

senior year

and lots more....

The Home Team

I just finished the book "Bittersweet" by Shauna Niequist. This writer is brilliant. I latch on to every single one of her words. No sentence goes unloved. However, a few chapters in particular stuck out to me. One of them being "The Home Team."

"Everybody has a home team: It's the people who, near or far, know everything that's wrong with you and love you anyway. The home team people are the ones you can text with five minutes' notice, saying, 'I'm on my way, and I'm bringing tacos.' There are two reasons you need to know who your home team is. First, you need to know who they are because they need you....These are your people, your middle-of-the-night, no-matter-what people. The second reason you need to know who your home team is, is because then you know who your home team is not. Everyone else is everyone else. "

This chapter really got me thinking about who my home team is. I've found that my home team is scattered around the United States. My home team is constantly changing, increasing, and decreasing with each passing day. So this post is for my home team....in Las Vegas, Tempe, Texas, Azusa, Washington D.C., New York, and everywhere else. I love you. You have no idea the joy you bring to my life. I hope that I can always be as great of a player on your team as you have been on mine.

Candy Advocate

Candy makes people happy. That's why I am a firm believer in that everyone should keep bite size versions of their favorite candy in their purse, car, backpack, etc. Warheads are my favorite candy in the whole wide world. They come individually wrapped which makes it extra easy to have a few of them scattered in my purse at all times. So...everyone....keep candy in your purse. :)

Austin

As I begin writing this post, I haven't really planned out what I'm going to say. Lately I've been desperately wanting to write a post about Austin, but I didn't want to become one of "those" girls who gush and gush about their significant other when frankly, no one else really cares. But I am finally giving in and I promise that I won't gush and that my love life will not become a frequent topic on my blog.

I've been a serial monogamist since about the 7th grade, boyfriend after boyfriend after boyfriend. Up until this point I sort of just went through the motions of being a girlfriend. Dates, talking, movies, the whole shebang time and time again. Basically, I just liked to have a boy on my arm at all times in case a Homecoming, Prom, or some other extremely important event came along. And then Austin just decided to wander into my life and change me for the better. He is utterly wonderful. He can make me laugh harder than anyone I have ever met. He is smart, hard-working, handsome...I'm gushing, I'm sorry....he's just great.

On our first date we went to see a double feature of Toy Story and Toy Story 2. It was so fun and unique and so inherently "us." We laughed and teased and played and had the best time (despite the fact that I almost crashed my car and scard the daylights out of him). I went home feeling giddy and girly and ecstatic and the rest is history. I can't believe that night was already over a year ago. So many changes have happened since that night but through it all, we are still so happy. I don't know where our relationship is going to take us. I hope it's far. But if it's not, Austin has shown me what it feels like to be in love and has made me an entirely bright and new Sammie. All that I can hope for is that I have brought him the same happinesses he has brought me.

Girls

It's hard to be a girl...not because of the physical hardships we have to endure such as pregnancy and menstrual cycles and eyebrow waxing, but because of the wide array of emotions that we have the ability to feel and how quickly they can change. I drive myself crazy with thoughts and scenarios and plans and emotions. It's exhausting. Girls feel emotions so deeply. When I'm happy, I'm happy all the way down to my core. But then unfortunately, when my hair doesn't fall exactly how I want it too, I feel like the world is crumbling around me. I can't even imagine what it is like for men to deal with women. I completely understand their frustrations with our gender and their complaints are totally valid.  I'm not sure how my boyfriend keeps up with me. I'm sure he secretly pulls his hair out when I'm not looking. But there are lots of sweets things about girls too. We can wear pink. We look so pretty when we're wearing an outfit that we think we look great in. We have cute little laughs. We can wear high heels and cute girly shoes. We can cook. We are good huggers. We look cute bundled up in the winter time. We are great story tellers. And one day, we can be a mommy. Girls are so great. So here's to all the mothers, daughters, sisters, wives, and girlfriends out there....YOU'RE PERFECT.