word of the day.

In my most recent reading, I have learned something new about this word. The ability to believe is something that is implanted in the hearts of all individuals. And it is planted there by divine decree. To believe in something is more than just thinking it in your mind. To truly believe involves possessing the belief in your mind, your heart, and in your actions. Essentially, "beliefs are born of thoughts; they are then expressed in words; and, finally, they are manifest before mankind in works".

What a refreshing new insight on this word that is so commonly used. It doesn't matter if someone says they believe in something - what matters is the reality. If one truly believes, then such beliefs will be manifest in their actions.

There are so many things to believe in... what do you believe in?

the pogo stick incident.

It's the middle of the afternoon and naturally, I am taking a nap in my bed. 

The door bell rings. 

Brody comes in my room. 

Gage fell off the pogo stick. He is hurt.

I find myself slightly worried or something for my little Gagey -

 a relatively foreign emotion for me.

I make my way down the street of the neighborhood...

slightly ashamed because I am in pajamas with wet hair.

everyone in Gilbert is always so glam...

except for me. oops. 

I find Gage laying on the side walk clutching his arm.

A pool of tears below his sad little cheeks.

Gage, what happened buddy?

He glances back to his friends, Someone...tell her what happened. 

No Gagey, you tell me what happened. 

I fell off the pogo stick and hit my arm really bad.

Okay buddy, lets see. Come on, get up and lets go home.

I cant.

Did you break your legs?

No.

Okay, then you can walk...

Okay...

So, now we walk back to the house. His elbow is scratched from the sidewalk and it is a little bit red.

However, he is clutching it as if it is about to fall off...you never know - it just may.

Okay Gagey, go and sit in my bed and lets put some ice on it. 

I walk to the kitchen and grab a bag of frozen fruit. 

I come back in my room, he is curled up in my bed under the covers watching football highlights on my ipod.

Oh, hmmm...you look real comfy there Gage..

Okay buddy, lets put this under your arm. 

He weakly lifts his little arm as I place the frozen fruit under it.

Maybe ten minutes goes by...

.......

Gage says Okay, I think this is good. 

Yes yes of course. Let me get that for you bud.

Umm, can you put this on it for me?

Out of nowhere, Gage hands me an enormous ace bandage. 

Oh yes absolutely bud, good idea..this will help keep the swelling down.

I wrap that tiny little arm of his in the enormous ace bandage. 

30 minutes goes by...

........

Well, my arm feels better already. I dont even think I need this anymore.

I take the ace bandage off.

...good as new little guy. good. as. new.

alumni.

Well, I can officially say that I am now an ASU Alum! And, of course I have a story to go along with this long awaited college graduation. 


Most responsible young adults like to go to bed early, make sure they get all the rest they need and really be prepared to attend their graduation ceremony. Despite the fact that my graduation ceremony was at 8:30 in the morning and I am the absolutely worst morning person in America, I did not go to bed early. Instead, I stayed up watching Harry Potter till 3:00 am, then decided I needed to shower so I could have clean pretty hair in the morning. Then, the next thing you know, I am waking up at 7:15 when I need to leave my house no later than 7:30 to be at Wells Fargo arena on time. 


So, what does this mean? Well, it means I brush my teeth, throw on clothes, and throw my still wet hair into a sloppy side bun. I arrive at the parking lot, hustling to the arena all by my lonesome in the freezing cold Arizona morning. My hair is still wet and I come to notice that I am literally the only girl in my entire graduation ceremony that has their hair up. oopsies!!


However, despite my inevitable tardiness, the graduation ceremony was a huge success. And by success I mean I didn't trip and fall on my face in from of everyone! And I was so happy to have my mom, sister, and Grandma Grace fly out all the way from Massachusetts to support me...also we hit up US Egg after the ceremony for some breakfast :)

just enjoying the post graduation moments.

us waddell ladies...

grandma grace and sara grace :)

general excitement

and my overall attitude regarding ASU in general...haha

And finally, I cannot mention my graduation without noting my incredible graduation party. My mom and my "other moms" and family members all put together the best graduation party I could have asked for! It was so cute and "classy" and just the best turn out! Delicious food that all sorts of people contributed too, and of course some yummy treats that my lovely Jenny Holmes contributed. 

such lovely lighting to set the mood...

lets just say that Shelley Walsh really knows how to host a party :)

thanks to the homies for coming out to party..ha

a Waddell party is never complete without the appearance of Grandma Waddell

I would like to say that little Logan Breinholt had the most fun of all...

Even my old roommate from the dorms came to party with me! 

Bests forever...

Thank you to everyone who has supported me throughout this entire college experience and I am just so happy to be done...now it is time for the real world....

guilty.

Nash got into some dip on the kitchen table...thanks Nash for being a good boy and showing off for the family...

im out.

Well, I am headin out of here! I leave in the morning for a lovely 8 day trip on the east coat. I fly into Boston tomorrow and spend a couple days in Massachusetts with my mom and sister, and Wednesday morning we shall make our way down to Washington D.C. to spend Thanksgiving with my family. I am incredible excited for this little getaway - however I am getting anxiety about having to take Nash on his journey to live with mom in Massachusetts. I just tried cramming him into his little travel case I bought at Wal-mart the other day and that wasn't going over so well. He may not even fit very well - and he has never been in a kennel in his entire life. I have a feeling this isn't going to work... uh oh..


Regardless, I cannot wait to be on the east coast, visit DC again and take tons of pictures of all the incredible sights. Perhaps I shall even have some spare time to sit in my sweats by a fireplace and really do some legit updating of this blog... :)

my deepest desires.

Right now, I am feelin some pretty deep desires brewing throughout my being.


The first of these great and marvelous desires is the desire to see Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 1.

I am currently re-reading the final book of this glorious 7 book series and I cannot get enough of it. In case you were unaware, I am obsessed with quite a few things...you have learned that I love Minnie Mouse, and I am sure you know I love brownies...and now you know that I love Harry Potter. I love Harry Potter and I am NOT ashamed of it. I am a devout fan and I will confess something to you right now...I dressed up for one of the midnight book release parties at Barnes and Noble. Accept me, please...?


In this moment, I ask one thing of you, whoever you are reading my blog...watch this: 

....go on. click me :)

You guys, I don't think you understand it. I mean I get soo excited when I watch that trailer. I think I may even get a little bit of anxiety over it because it is just so intense. Do you have any idea what is going on here in the 7th movie?! 


Harry is going to find horcruxes so he can finally defeat Voldemort!! He is on a quest to free the wizarding world of this evil evil monster!!


Okay, wow. Sorry, I need to calm down a little bit. Just had to get all that off of my chest.... and yes. I plan to see this movie at midnight in the IMAX. 

punkins.

I asbolutely love love love Halloween. It is one of my favorite holidays...right up there with Thanksgiving, 4th of July, and of course, Christmas. So basically, I love all the holidays. :)

Some things that get me super pumped about Halloween are costumes and pumpkin carving. Today, I shall focus on the pumpkin carving. 

Willy and I went to a quaint little pumpkin patch down the road from my house at a little church situation. There were tons of pumpkins in all shapes and sizes, and it was tough to make a choice. However, we eventually found our dream pumpkins...and of course as we were paying I had to throw in an extra dollar to snag this little guy...

He is just so precious...

At first I was struggling with what to carve on my pumpkin...Willy knew pretty quick what he wanted to do, and I am ashamed to admit I didn't come up with my idea as quickly as I should have. However, it came to me - Minnie Mouse. Sadly, there was no printer so we were forced to test our skills and relied on google to provide us with our images. From there, we sketched them onto some paper and went from there... 

And here is my little Minnie...

All lit up...with a bath and body works candle...

Willy is by far the most devout Seattle Supersonics fan in the world...this whole layout was pretty tricky - and he definitely was "too strong" for our cheap tools because by the end of the night they were all broken. 

Pumpkin carving is just so fun - despite the nasty pumpkin smell and all the slimey goop and seeds you have to dig out of the pumpkins... It is all soooo worth it when you turn out the lights and light up your pumpkins and see that they look this goooood babayyy...

Happy Halloween!