families are forever.

Today is my 27th birthday. 

I have to be a little honest. 

I wasn't that excited about it. 

I feel like I should have a baby or something at this age. 

But last night, as I was contemplating life on my birthday eve, I thought less about myself and more about my family. 

27 years ago I was born into the Robins family. 

{Dad, do you still have that shirt?}

And when I think about the concept of families it sometimes boggles my mind. 

A lot of time in life we are constantly looking for friends. 

I know I have been with my move and it happens in lots of different stages of life. 

The sometimes struggling ability to find people that you like, and they like you, that you can talk to them and I think the most important--be yourself around them. 

A lot of the time that is very hard to find and the search for friends is constantly happening. 

Yet, in life we have been blessed with instant friends in a family. 

You are given a family that has to like you! 

They have to accept you and love and they become your longest lasting friendship that you have ever had which makes you so comfortable around them. 

Perhaps I am rambling now but when you really think about, its amazing! 

I am so grateful for two incredible sisters that I LOVE hanging out with. 

I love being their little sister.

I couldn't be proud to call them my sisters and friends. 

I just love the concept of a family. 

An instant group of friends that love you and care for you. 

And if that isn't enough, you've been given two parents that have so much love for you that you can't even comprehend everything they have done for you!

 How awesome is it to have that many people in your life with so much love!

But wait, it gets even better! You get these people, that love you and are your best friends…really forever! I get to spend eternity with my family.

So that is what I have to be most grateful for on my own birthday. 

My family members who I have been given that I love so much. 

Thank you for loving me for 27 years. 

{and I may not have a kid at 27 but I have 7 of the best nieces and nephews around that I love almost as much}

I want to go back.

Don't get me wrong. 80% ok maybe...75% of the time I do love the SLC life.

Its been over a year, I should enjoy it right?

But its cold, there snow and no beach, no dodgers and so many Mormons.

That there are so many times I want to go back to my LA life.

And there are moments like this that make me miss it oh so much.

 

I have probably blogged about the NR Crew 1,000 times. But when you have found friends like this, you tend to miss them.

The boys I have grown up with and the girls that are like your other half.

I miss filling up the entire row at church.

I miss the Sunday game nights.

Friday night YSA dances.

I miss the Christmas party and gift exchange.

I miss the drama and getting annoyed with the boys.

I miss our fun outings.

I do love that when I get the chance to come back and visit that it feels like no time has passed. It seems like just yesterday we were all hanging out. I like to pretend that while I am gone, time freezes and my friends have no fun without me. But I do love coming back and the excitement that comes with getting the gang back together as much as possible.

I know that things change, people move, nothing can stay the same forever (as much as I hopelessly wish it could) and I just have to be grateful for my two short years with my crew--although it feels so much long than just that.

Today will be our 4th year celebrating New Years together and camping out at the Rose Parade.

I could not be more pumped. Some of my best memories are during those wee hours of the night. 

Wilson Ave vs. Wisteria Lane

Welcome to the suburbs y'all!
When I moved to the Aves last year I felt like I was living in the city.
Close to downtown, no free parking and not talking to any neighbors.
I literally never talked to anyone.
Everyone minded their own business, they didn't care we had parties and we could park any where we wanted on 3rd Ave.
And then I moved to Wilson Ave. in Sugarhouse.
Where the neighbors are up in our business, stand outside of our house during the parties and yell at us for parking on the street, which is public parking. 
The only explanation I can think of is that I must be in some family suburb livin' now.
We have become friends with one neighbor on the block who has filled us in with everything we have gotten into by living on Wilson Ave.
Our next door neighbor is old. And does not drive and does not leave the house.
But we cant park in front of her house.
The German family across the street.
We cant park there because their son "plays soccer" and we wouldn't want the soccer ball to dent our car...
We have Shirley.
The grouchy lady across the street who stays home all day and eaves drops in everyones business.
And we must decorate our house for Halloween. Or else.
With all of this going on and I couldn't help but compare our street to my beloved Wisteria Lane of Desperate Housewives.
Where everyone was in everyone's business and Karen McCluskey was the grouchy neighbor.
Its taken some getting use to.
We even received a "nice" welcoming letter from Shirley.

After she had yelled at Aubry for 30 mins about parking on the street.
This constant reminder of Wisteria Lane prompted Aubry and I to start a DH marathon.

We are quickly finishing up season one. 

its all worth it.

I have come to realize that work is a lot of...work. 

It is time consuming, demanding, stressful and hard. 

I have definitely learned this at my first {almost} year at my job. 

I didn't realize that party planning at a school could be that stressful! 

But it has been, especially this summer. A lot more work than I wanted to sign up for. 

The demands of my summer job were really stressful and hard and most days I absolutely hated it. 

I think a big part of that was because the kids were missing. 

I do so much every day to help the kids, and without them, I was real annoyed in Draper most days. 

I realized this one day last week when I got the best compliment I could have ever dreamed of...

We just hired a new lady to be apart of our team and one day she excitedly told me that her best friend had a student that was in the 7th grade at my school last year. 

This was exciting to hear because this 7th grade boy was just my absolute favorite. 

We bonded over BYU Basketball and I think I cared for him a little extra because he was just so sweet and unfortunately he has had a pretty rough life growing up. 

He lives with his grandparents and the grandma is the best friend to my new coworker. 

 This student ended up having a rough year too and decided not to return to APA. 

However, the coworker relayed to me that the grandma had inquired about me, wondering if she had met me yet. 

She explained how her grandson had a hard time at APA and yet the only person at the school to make a difference for him was me. 

That I was one of the only ones who acted like I cared about him and really helped him make it through the year. 

It was such a humbling experience and immediately made me get teary eyed. 

And in that moment I realized that its all worth it. 

Everything I do at school, the stress and the sometimes annoyance of my job, all went away knowing that I do make a difference. 

Its a really odd feeling but I know that I love these kids. 

I love that I have 165 kids that I feel like are mine. 

School starts on Monday and I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little excited. 

Memorial Day.

My school focus a lot on American patriotism... Which of course I loooove. 

On Friday, we had a special Assembly for Memorial Day.

 I love that we go all out to commemorate a special day and its true meaning.

 Nowadays Memorial Day means the end of school, the beginning of summer, pools opening, holiday weekend, camping or barbecuing with family and friends and sales at the mall. But just like any holiday, its always important to reflect on its purpose and meaning.

 I know for me I forget that it should be a day to remember all of the fallen soldiers that have fought for our freedoms and sacrificed their lives for this country, for us. Our Assembly reminded me of this and taught each of our students to honor those and show our upmost respect on Monday. 

It made me reflect on the brothers, sons and fathers who fought against each other in the Civil War. We had the most casualties in that war, a war we fought against our fellow Americans on ideas of equality and freedom. At the Battle of Gettysburg it is estimated that 46,000-51,000 soldiers between the two sides were killed in that battle alone. A grand total of 1,030,000 Americans lost their lives, which was 3% of the population at that time.  I thought of the horrible conditions of World War I. The diseases and infections in the trenches alone cost countless amount of lives. And then World War II that captivated and destroyed so many nations and had lasting affects at home as well. In WWII, 131,028,000 American casualties, thats including the 416,800 military deaths. And today people continue to serve our country, continue to fight valiantly when the call comes in Afghanistan and Iraq. 

I was so touched in our Assembly when our students, all hailing from different countries and ethnicities, stood together and recited the Gettysburg Address, given by Abraham Lincoln in November 1863:

"Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forthn on this continent a new nations, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. 

Now we are engaged in a great vicil war, testing whether that nation, or any nations so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. 

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the las full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain--that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom--and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth"

President Lincoln, we have not forgotten what was said on that solemn day. We will remember all those that have died for this nation. 

it's time to begin.

We all have our ups and downs.

We all have our trials. 

and often have to experience this roller coaster that we call life. 

No one is immune no matter what our circumstance we find ourselves in. 

This is something I have been thinking about lately.

So far 2012 has not been all that awesome. 

Perhaps because the end of 2011 was so fun and busy with so many trips and fun happenings, that 2012 just knew it had to give me a few boring and low moments. 

(ugh. i hate complaining about life on my blog. deal with it i suppose) 

And its not even that its been insanely hard or sad{sometimes} but I havent even done anything picture worthy lately to post on my blog! 

{So, YES, Kelly...my life has finally gotten boring. Happy!? ha}

But what has really been hitting me lately, is enjoying the now and the today and not hoping for what is to come. 

One of my most favorite friends M'Kynzi summed it up perfectly in her blog from a few weeks back.

Which led us into a great discussion about not focusing on the someday, but on the today. Because the 'someday' will come and I dont want to miss out on the fun and the happiness that 'today' can give me. 

Coming to this realization made me think of President Uchtdorf's talk from the Relief Society Broadcast, entitled "Forget Me Not" and his third point of "Forget not to be happy now"

It is a great reminder.

We can not wait for our "Golden Tickets" to make us happy, we have to find our happiness in what is going on right now, today. 

We all have different "golden tickets"

mine may or may not be marriage, a stellar career and children. 

But that shouldnt make me {or anyone else} not enjoy our today. 

I have friends that love me

a Family that puts up with me

a good job 

easy access to the Temple 

and the upcoming Dodger season on the horizon 

{ok kinda kidding, but you catch my drift..}

"The happiest people I know are not those who find their golden ticket; they are those who, while in pursuit of worthy goals, discover and treasure the beauty and sweetness of the everyday moments. They are the ones who, thread by daily thread, weave a tapestry of gratitude and wonder throughout their lives. They are they who are truly happy."

{arent we so glad for modern and inspired prophets and apostles}

Some other things that have hit me and follow along with this perfectly, of enjoying everything now...

-- my new book The Five People You Meet in Heaven, right before the main character dies it says: "he went about his dull routine as if all the days in the world were still to come"

yes, perhaps its dull and mundane, but if those days are limited. enjoy them while we can.

--one of my best friends dad has recently been in the hospital. scary. makes you want to hold on to those family members a little bit tighter. 

{sorry to go all death creepy on you}

And lastly, I just need to remember that

Tonight. 

We are young. 

So let's set the world on fire. 

Thanks Fun.