This weekend was jam-packed with fun! I spent Friday and Saturday with my family at home, celebrating my mom and dad’s birthdays!

We had cake and presents, played games and laughed. On Saturday we went out to breakfast and then went to Red Butte Gardens in Salt Lake City! Talk about BEAUTIFUL! We then had lunch at the Pizzeria Limone, and let me tell you friends, that place is delightful. It’s more artisan pizza than your good ol’ pepperoni and sausage, but it’s delicious!! I would highly recommend it.

So happy birthday to the best parents anybody could ever ask for. I seriously don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have the parents that I have. I sure am lucky!

Surprise number 2–my brother is going to Harvard Law School!!! He and his cute wife were deciding between Harvard and Chicago, and after visiting Boston, they knew Harvard was the place for them. It’s bittersweet, I’m going to miss them so much for the next few years, but I couldn’t be more excited for them and the adventures they are going to have. Congrats Ben and Kim!

When I got back to Provo it was time for Heidi Belle’s birthday surprise! Texas Roadhouse, shopping, ditching her with her mom, and then having her come home to a huge surprise party…all of it was awesome! Basically I love my friends and I am so lucky!

I’ve been bad at regularly blogging…I’m sorry friends! Life is busy, but so very good!

ALSO: Countdown to Disneyland–9 DAYS!!! AHHHHH:)

So dear friends, today is a great day.

I recently got put on the Matt Townsend Show here at BYU Radio! (if you’d like to listen, it’s from 3-5 on Sirius XM 143 or byuradio.org.) Matt is awesome and I am loving working with him! (http://matttownsend.com/)

I also had the AWESOME opportunity yesterday to meet MEG CONLEY from Meg in Progress (http://www.meginprogress.com/). Oh boy is she a gem.

I love this job more than I can even explain! I have gotten to do some fascinating, fun, in depth, and wonderful interviews through BYU Radio and I am loving every second of it:)

Friends. I am back. Did you miss me? It wasn’t an incredibly long hiatus from social media and from this dear little blog, just over a week. But it was much needed. It gave me time to get my thoughts straight, to spend time on other things, and mostly take a breath of fresh air.

So welcome back to me I guess:)

Now we go onward and upward!

This past month was really hard for me, for a million reasons. Things kept coming at me and I wasn’t sure how to handle them all. I felt busy and stressed and just tired. So very tired.

I found myself praying and praying and praying.

And I got an answer to my prayers.

I have a Heavenly Father who loves me so much, who needed me to get stronger, who needed to know that I could and would go through anything. What an amazing God we have.

Sometimes God lets us go through a fire to refine us. He needs us to be made stronger by going under heat and pressure. That’s the only way to grow. I’m really thankful for that today. I’m glad that I can always continue to learn, grow, and be made stronger. I’m glad that I get to chose to come out of that funk, and be happy. Doesn’t mean that things will be easy, but I know how strong I am now. I needed to see that.

Thanks to all my darling friends who have been here for me no matter what. Your words of love meant more than you will possibly know.

NOW. Get excited for things ahead:

-I’m going to be posting more news. I slacked off. News is what I love, it’s my future career, one of my passions. It’s making a comeback on this blog!
-Better pictures! I am such a space cadet about taking pictures and when I do they are shaky snapshots. NO MORE. They will be good, there will be more!
-A more positive Maddy.
-Hopefully, more thoughts from you dear friends! Follow me as a Google Follower, subscribe through email, follow me on Instagram and Twitter and Bloglovin’, friend me on Facebook! Comment or email and grab a button! I want to know what YOU want to hear! And if you don’t want to hear anything at all, well you can let me know that too!

Finally:

I laughed.

Happy Monday everyone:)