Gorgeous

But really. This is what summer is all about.

In Sickness and Health

I found this video today and I wanted to share it with you. In my Relief Society class we talked about marriage and eternal families, and I thought this video coincided nicely. I hope someday when I'm old and maybe a little senile I have someone with me who loves me enough to deal with it with optimism and faith.

Happy Sunday!

Sacramento, Sacramento, Where You At?

Ladies and gentlemen, we got him.

Father I Love You, Father I Do

Happy Father's Day, Dad! I know I'm biased, but I think I have the best dad in the world. Many of my memories from growing up were created by or involve him. Here are a few of my favorite things about David Cromar Justesen:

1. Motorcycle rides that always ended with a 7-11 Slurpee

2. Vacations to San Diego, Disneyland, Mexico, Hawaii, and Europe

3. His (and now my) appreciation for nice cars

4. Countless dance recitals that I know he probably didn't want to go to, but he never missed a single one anyway

5. Coaching my T-ball teams

6. Teaching me to drive a truck in the parking lot of a church

7. Various In-N-Out, Baja Fresh, and Big Mac Monday trips

8. Teaching my seminary class all four years

9. All of his advice and one liners: "Never pay full price for anything", "There's always a better way", "Don't give me lip service", "The worst they can say is 'no'", and the list goes on

10. Teaching me how to whistle

11. His ability to master a Santa suit, and how he makes Trick-or-Treaters sing Christmas songs to receive candy

12. His uncanny likeness to Tim the Tool Man Taylor and the white version of Bill Cosby

13. His Hawaiian shirts that he's had for years

14. How he loves my mom and my siblings and me and he sacrifices a lot for us

I love you, Dad! P.S. Anyone would be lucky to have this man as a father-in-law. I'm jut sayin... :)

Welcome Summer. I've been waiting for you.

Okay folks, summer is here. And we know what that means. Summer music. And my need to create a playlist for every aspect of my life kicks in especially hard here. Call me pathetic, but I have an inability to drive without music. And when my little Batmobile has the sunroof open and all its little windows down so the warm breeze can come on through and whip my hair back and forth, I crave music. So without further ado, I introduce you to some of my favorite songs that SCREAM Summer 2011. I've been waiting for this.

1. Hotel California by The Eagles. Classic. Makes me think of a warm summer night at home

2. Summertime by Kenny Chesney. Obviously

3. California Girls by The Beach Boys. I take pride in this song

4. I Woke Up in a Car by Something Corporate. Makes me want to roadtrip across America. Who's with me?

5. In This Diary by The Ataris. I get into a huge Ataris phase in the summer

6. Summer Wind was Always Our Song by The Ataris

7. Boys of Summer by The Ataris. See? No joke

8. More than a Feeling by Boston. Sappy EFY memories

9. Good Life by One Republic. Listen to this and tell me your problems didn't go away after

10. E.T. by Katy Perry. I know, I know. But still

11. One Day by Matisyahu. Perfect for Provo Canyon drives

12. Summer Girls by LFO. How could this NOT make a summer playlist?

13. Free Fallin' by Tom Petty. Somehow this song makes it into every playlist I make. And for good reason

14. Jaded by Aerosmith. I just love it

15. Mean by Taylor Swift. So sassy

16. King of Anything by Sara Bareilles. Also sassy

17. Miles Apart by Yellowcard. Also more memories

18. Good Morning by Chamillionaire. Haters gonna hate

19. Grace Kelly by Mika. It's just fun

20. And finally...Thunder by Boys Like Girls. Because summer thunderstorms in Utah are the best

So there you have it. My actual playlist has 208 songs, but these are my top faves. And I would be here forever if I listed them all. But there's some Fleetwood Mac, more T. Swift and Katy Perry, and Blink 182. So this just means you'll have to pay me a visit if you want the rest.

Blackbird

via

"I climbed the stairs to my apartment, lay down in my new bed and turned off the light. I waited to start crying or worrying, since that's what usually happened to me with the lights off, but I actually felt OK. I felt fine. I felt the early symptoms of contentment. My weary body asked my weary mind, 'Was this all you needed, then?' There was no response. I was already fast asleep." Liz Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

Hi friends. This is how I'm feeling today. I did something kind of brave and kind of scary and kind of necessary, and after I did it, I felt this wave of relief wash over me. And stress vanished. It was something I knew I had been needing to do for a little while, but I was scared. So I told myself, nope, this is it. I'm doing it. And I did.

So starting today, I'm at a point where I can say, "What do you want, Alexa?" Spring term ends this week, and I decided not to take summer classes. This little weary body needs a break. So what do I want to do? I want to learn Spanish. I want to run a half marathon. I want to take a road trip to somewhere I've never been. I want a job. I want to buy myself fresh flowers every week. And nothing is there to hold me back from doing those things. I've let go of what's been weighing me down, and it feels so liberating!

Two more things before I go. My great friend Megan shared this scripture with me after a long discussion about why things happen the way they do:

"Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth." Mormon 9:21

And last, the title of this post refers to this song. It's one of my favorites by the Beatles, and it describes a little bit how I'm feeling. Good night!

Sheeee's Baaaaack! This could be good or bad.

All right people, maybe you didn't notice (and you probably didn't), but I've taken a bit of a blogging hiatus. And I know that's pathetic of me, but it's true. May was a bit of an up and down month. Great things followed by not so great things followed by happy things followed by disappointing things. And I'll admit there were a few times that I looked up at the sky and quoted my favorite little man, "The clouds opened up and God said, 'I hate you, Alfalfa!'"

But I woke up a few days ago and decided to pick up whatever pieces had fallen out of my life's little puzzle and put them back. (This would be a fantastic time for some "Yay Alexa!" applause. But don't feel obligated. But really, you should.)

Anyway, here are some of my favorite quotes I've found that got me through these couple of off weeks. Find them here.

My favorite. And so true.

My sister Whitney would love this.

This one is too small to read, but it says, "You're going to come across people in your life who will say all the right words at all the right times. But in the end, it's their actions you should judge them by. It's actions, not words, that matter." And I don't know why these are all underlined but it's kind of annoying me.

This is the hardest one for me to learn. We all know Alexa is not patient.

FAVORITE

This is why I try to laugh as much as possible.

Yep!

Taylor Swift. Genius.

So anyway, I'm hoping maybe one of these helped you too. Life is good. It just has its ups and downs every little while.