the fireside is blazing bright....

A few things I'm grateful for this CHRISTmas...

...the birth of a savior who loves me and forgives me unconditionally.
...having quality time with my brother, he is wise beyond his years!
...presents and Christmas trees and multi-colored Christmas lights. LOVE.
...family and laughter and traditions.
...hot chocolate and hot tubs.
...star gazing and BEAUTIFUL sunsets.
...being in a different place but Christmas feeling just the same and just as special.
...my cousin Spencer and his incredible ghost stories and amazing hugs.
...my LIFE. Blessed every day and grateful for the journey I'm on and where He is leading me.

45 minutes til CHRISTMAS in Santa Fe, wahoo!!

Christmas vacationnnnn

SOOOOOOO...in just a few short hours i will be....

getting on a plane


and end up here with 15 members of my family, PHEW.



we will get to ski here...


stay here :)



and have a big, family christmas all together.

needless to say i am super excited and cant wait to be all cooped up together with tons of snow, laughter, wine and/or bailey's, and lots of time for memories to be made. every Christmas i am constantly reminded of His birth and the reason behind it. how a perfect child was brought into the world to ultimately die for ME. for US. mindblowing really. but oh how i am so grateful that i serve a God who gave his son as a sacrifice. so that every single time i screw up, He wipes my slate clean, picks me up and puts my feet back on the ground and says try again, i know you can do better. feeling BLESSED this Christmas season.

2 posts in one day, why not??

All of this is so true and so encouraging...i want to live a life i am proud of, show it off to the world, try new things, see new places, meet new people. that really is what life is all about after all...
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"This is the thing: When you hit 28 or 30, everything begins to divide. You can see very clearly two kinds of people. On one side, people who have used their 20s to learn and grow, to find … themselves and their dreams, people who know what works and what doesn’t, who have pushed through to become real live adults. Then there’s the other kind, who are hanging onto college, or high school even, with all their might. They’ve stayed in jobs they hate, because they’re too scared to get another one. They’ve stayed with men or women who are good but not great, because they don’t want to be lonely. … they mean to develop intimate friendships, they mean to stop drinking like life is one big frat party. But they don’t do those things, so they live in an extended adolescence, no closer to adulthood than when they graduated.

Don’t be like that. Don’t get stuck. Move, travel, take a class, take a risk. There is a season for wildness and a season for settledness, and this is neither. This season is about becoming. Don’t lose yourself at happy hour, but don’t lose yourself on the corporate ladder either. Stop every once in a while and go out to coffee or climb in bed with your journal.

Ask yourself some good questions like: “Am I proud of the life I’m living? What have I tried this month? … Do the people I’m spending time with give me life, or make me feel small? Is there any brokenness in my life that’s keeping me from moving forward?”

Now is your time. Walk closely with people you love, and with people who believe … life is a grand adventure. Don’t get stuck in the past, and don’t try to fast-forward yourself into a future you haven’t yet earned. Give today all the love and intensity and courage you can, and keep traveling honestly along life’s path."

looks like i can go ahead and put norway on my list of places i must see someday. holy cow, that is gorgeous.

exactly.