Happy Birthday, Dad!

It's EXTREMELY hard to find a picture of my dad because he's always the one taking them.

I have The World's Number One Best Dad Ever. If you think that your dad is The World's Number One Best Dad Ever, you are wrong. Unless you are my brother or sister in which case, you also have The World's Number One Best Dad Ever. Seriously, he is so awesome. I've never met a person who is more intelligent, sincere, funny, helpful and caring. He's the best dad because I can call him anytime on any day with any problem and he will fix it. Even when I live on the other side of the country, he is still able to help me solve all of my problems.
Three phrases that my dad has never ceased to repeat to me are: "Sometimes you have to do hard things", "Remember who you are" and in his singing voice "there is beauty all around when there's love at home". I love these phrases because they perfectly emulate who my dad is. He is such a hard worker and enables others to work just as hard. He never forgets who he is. I've never once seen my dad contradict, with his actions, the things that he says. He is always completely true to himself and the standards he has for himself. And my dad is one of the most loving people I've ever met. He is mindful of others needs, he shows so much respect for everyone and he always puts other before himself. He is an insanely good example to me in all that he does.
So, like I said, my dad wins the contest. He is so wonderful and I'm so lucky to have him for my dad. If you don't know him, you should because he's awesome!
Happy Birthday, Dad. I love you!

Walk On

One time my friend told me that time doesn't go fast or slow, it just goes.

Well, I do not believe that for one second. Time is always going fast or slow. I have never lived one day, week or year, looked back and thought, 'yep, that was just as long as it was supposed to be.' 

Lately, time seems to be getting away from me. It always goes so much faster than expected and, for the first time in a year and a half, I wish more than anything that it could slow down. Ever since a certain someone left me, I've just been working to live my life so that the time would go by as quickly as possible. Well, I was successful, that's for sure. I love my life so much. I love the people that I get to spend my time with, I love living where I do, I love learning the lessons I'm learning. Most of all I love getting to spend time with Reed. And even though I am so, SO excited for the next adventures in my life, I just can't help but feeling sad that this is ending soon. Don't get me wrong, it is hard. I mean really hard. But Heavenly Father sent me here and he has made it so enjoyable for me and I want it to last as long as possible. I'm having a hard time grasping the idea that this is all going to end and probably before I want it to.

Good thing I have a very wise daddy. Morning drives to school were always a good opportunity for my dad to give me life lessons because I was usually too tired to comment and he could just tell me what he wanted to. It was also a time when he got to listen to any music that he wanted because it was his truck. These two factors combined turned into a little diddy about Jack and Diane, if you know what I mean. After dad hummed along for a while he turned to me and said, "You know, Haley, I really love this song. It's just that I don't like the lyrics"
I insert little comments every now and then so he knows I'm listening, "Why is that, Dad?"
"Because it's not true. When you're sixteen, life can be pretty great, but trust me, it only gets better."
Obviously this couldn't be true because I was seventeen and life was actually getting harder. But, even if I don't believe him at first, Dad will be right eventually (it's some freaky law of nature).

So! Because I can't control time and as long as I'm doing fun things, it will probably continue to go faster than I want, I'm just going to have to enjoy it while I can. I'll remember that as much as I love this step, Heavenly Father has something even better for me up His sleeve. I just have to trust Him and enjoy the ride! Here's to life getting better!

Remember Who You Are

so when my parents were here in september, i asked my dad to give me a blessing before he left because i was feeling pretty lonely and missing home. i was kind of expecting him to bless me to be able to find friends but instead he just blessed me to not have feelings of loneliness. i figured i wasn't going to make that many friends here but that i would just be content that way. and that's the way it was for a long time... until now!

i've been trying to think of a way to make this an interesting story, but i can't. i just had so much fun and i wanted to tell you about it. last weekend i went to the New England YSA dance with a bunch of people in my ward. before we went to the dance i met up with my visiting teacher so i could borrow one of her dresses. some other friends came over to also get ready and then the boys came and we went to an a capella concert at wellesley, had dinner in the dining hall and then headed to the dance. it was honestly the most fun i've had with that ward. everyone was hanging out together and i got to know so many people better. i loved feeling like i was part of their group, finally. my view of so many of them has changed dramatically and i'm so grateful for the friendship they showed me. they even invited me to hang out with them the next weekend and this coming weekend. the sunday after the dance was incredible because i had so many people to talk to and i finally felt included and like i could stick around and talk to people instead of just hurrying home right after the meetings ended. i also made good friends with mary. we made waffles together. she has actually been really really nice to me ever since i got her but we have been getting closer and she is so sweet and wonderful. i love all of them! i'm just so happy about it. it's so nice to have friends.

for a long time i've had a hard time getting along with the other people in my ward. it just seemed like i couldn't fit in and they didn't want to have much to do with me. it was hard to be in a university ward where everyone is going to school except for me. it made me feel so distant and disconnected from them. i also had a lot of feelings of self-doubt. i mean, these kids go to harvard and MIT. if you want to feel stupid, i know the ward for you. i'm not usually too self conscious but i couldn't get myself to relax around them and just be myself. i worried that they were judging everything i said. i think it took time for me to figure out that i like myself the way that i am, even if i don't go to harvard. before i could be friends with them, i had to be friends with myself. it took courage at first but now i say all sorts of stupid things in front of them and they still like me! or at least they pretend to haha. i used to always say how they were all just taking themselves too seriously and that's why i didn't get along with them, but i think the truth is that i was the one taking myself too seriously. when i just decide to be myself, i'm so much happier.

i'm so grateful to have friends and a dad who is a priesthood holder and father in heaven who knows me. my life is so wonderful.

Massachusetts in a Week.

welp, this last week my mom, dad and brother ben came to visit me. we did all sorts of things and it was so fun. so fun that i don't even really know how to write about everything we did! they came on sunday and stayed at the nixon's house with me until wednesday. we hung out with the nixon's on those days and then on thursday i got to go with my family to do whatever we wanted for the rest of the week! so many days off. ahh. so i guess i'll just put pictures up from the highlights because we really did way too much stuff for me to write about it all. i'll expound where necessary.

we started off on monday with a tour of a cemetary. sounds weird but it was actually really amazing. we could've spent hours there.

this is us at havahd yahd. that's john harvard in the background. i touched his shoe.

mark took us on a guided tour of concord, lexington and cambridge. this is at the minute men monument. can you tell that ben was really interested? haha

we went to walden pond at the end of the day and put our feet in. (this is one of only three photos that dad is actually in. i promise he was there.)

on wednesday we started at 6:30! in the morning and did some of the freedom trail. i loved it, but i can't wait to go back and see more.

this is us at the top of the green monster during batting practice. it was way cool except i was afraid for my life the entire time! i'm pretty sure they were aiming for me! haha not really.. none of them actually got that close to me, but i was still scared. ben, on the other hand, was just laughing at my mom and i screaming and clinging to one another.

before a game, there is this street with all these fun things to do. ben had the youth record for a while! but i'm pretty sure he threw faster than a lot of the adults we saw, too. oh, and he got that cool hat that he left in my room. oops.

this is ben at his first red sox game! (that's not really where are seats were-he's a cheater)

he's good at baseball, but no good at pre-18th century games. this is the plymouth plantation where all the people dress up in period clothing and speak in funny accents and pretend they don't know what t.v.'s are.

this guy was way cool. it was amazing how they could keep their character and answer so many different questions about the time.

welcome to p-town. yikes. we thought it would be cool to drive all the way to the end of the cape... nope. turns out, provincetown is a gay community. SURPRISE! it was kind of the most frightening experience i've had in a while. i don't know who this gem of a woman is, but we took a picture of her.

here's another scary sighting of the day. don't worry, there was a furry pink tail on the back to top it off.

it was actually a really pretty place. a very scary, pretty place.

it probably wouldn't have been so bad had we known what we were getting ourselves into. but we didn't. the closer we got to town, the more suspicious we became and then suddenly it hit us! we walked up and down the street for a while because the architecture was really nice. but, after walking into a few "antique/collectibles" shops and having to cover ben's eyes, we decided it was time to go. oh, also, just to make things awkward, my mom and i were wearing matching sweatshirts! isn't that cute? i didn't walk next to her haha.

this, however, is newport, RI. and it is pretty. we went on a cliff walk next to the ocean and all along were these huge "summer cottages" what? they were mansions. and they were everywhere. it was really incredible.

this was day one at the beach! we actually went here after our little mishap on p-town. we needed a refresher haha. we even saw two sea lions, otis and spunkmeyer.

day two at the beach! we body surfed for a while, but i've watched a little too much discovery channel lately because i was REALLY afraid of sharks.

on the way home, we stopped at some places from my grandma eldredge's childhood. she grew up in the town next to where i live right now so that's way cool.

this is where she went to sixth grade.

and this is where she lived! it was white then and not as big. and cuter, if you ask me. it was neat to see where she grew up and read the stories she sent for us. i really look up to her and admire her for keeping so many records of her experiences. it helps me get to know her better and makes me want to record my experiences for my grandchildren. she's an amazing person.

to top of the week, we went to church. that was fun, but i was sad because after church i was going to have to leave them and i really REALLY wanted to stay with them. my dad gave me a blessing, though, and i'm so grateful for a wonderful daddy who is always worthy to help me through anything. i love my family so much and i'm certain they are the best family in the world. they always support me and make me feel loved. i'm sad i don't get to be with them right now, but i'm happy because eventually i'll come home and then we get to be together for eternity! all in all, it was a great week!

it's actually the best day of my life. why, you ask? because of my new baby. i just might marry it.

one hundred and sixty three dollars later and i'm the happiest girl alive! i just can't wait to drive somewhere! thanks, Dad!

I've Got a Family

Meet the fam damily. I have a mom and a dad. Duh. Two older sisters, Sarah and Annie. A younger sister, Emily Beth Psychopants. And two little brothers, Yo Pork and Ben. I also have two brothers-in-law, two nephews, a niece and one more nephew on the way! They are my everything. I love my family more than Cheetos and I really love Cheetos. Annie ditched us and now lives in St. George so we don't get to see her very often but we still love her. Have you ever seen Little Women? Well, that pretty much sums up my sisters and I. I get to be Joe, I called it. I also have three dogs who I consider family. Sadie lives at home with us and Buck and Colt live with Grandpa Fred. I'm gonna be with my family forever. Dogs included. Love 'em!