Warning. This blog post is going to be sappy and cheesy and if you’re going to throw up or later tell me about how this post made you throw up, maybe you should just skip it 🙂

Anywho now that that is out of the way…

Monday is one year since I realized I had a crush on Randy Low. Actually that’s a lie. I knew I had a crush on him several times throughout high school, but Randy was too cool for girls 😉 It’s been one year since I realized he maybe kinda sorta liked me back. And we True Darted. Which is honestly a ridiculous activity but for me it held wonderful results. I can’t say enough things about this past year. Randy and I have had ups and downs, lefts and rights and forwards and backwards moments. But we got through them. Because we’re best friends.

Lots of people say things about how we’re young and things are going to change, and they’re right. Right now neither of us pretend like we know how this story ends. But for this second, this moment right now, he’s my very best friend. And yes he’s going on a mission. SOON. But that doesn’t mean I can’t be his best friend. That I can’t adore him. I want to do nothing but support him on his mission, and as the song goes…’So now whatever way our stories end, I know you have rewritten mine by being my friend.” So maybe we’ll live happily ever after. Maybe not. Either way things are going to end up how they’re supposed to, and I will not look back and regret one second or one thing that happened between Randy and I.

I hope whatever happens, we both look back and say (quoting the Notebook)…”We really loved each other, didn’t we?”

Because we do.

So here’s to one year of intense friendship as I like to call it 🙂

Yesterday my sisters, mom and I went to Lagoon! Keep in mind, I haven’t been to Lagoon since I went with Tyler for Frightmares a year ago. So it’s been a while. We went on lots of crazy rides and walked around having fun. And then Liv and I decided we wanted to go on the Sky Coaster, (the big ride where you go sixty feet up in the air and free fall for literally fifty feet before you start swinging over Lagoon.) I have been on this ride before, but I closed my eyes for all the way up and most of the swinging. Because it is HIGH UP.

This time I was with my sister, going up. My eyes were shut tight. And then my sister said “Maddy LOOK!!! It is so cool!!!” So I opened my eyes.

Sprawled out before me was lots of trees and people and water fountains and so many cool things. And then we dropped and it all got closer before we started swinging and seeing lots of different things. And I realized something. Some people will help you open your eyes to everything wonderful around you, and others will be ok with you keeping them closed. I’m figuring out who will help me open my eyes, and I am so grateful for those people.

So, open your eyes.

You’ll be surprised by what you see 🙂

I’ve been sitting here trying to think of what to say for quite a while now. There are ten million words running through my head of things I want to say, could say, shouldn’t say, or plain ol’ just don’t wanna say. This summer has been really weird. Incredibly fun, but weird. Weird in that I’m not doing the things I thought I would be doing, but the things I’ve been doing instead are super fun. Which is good. Haha I think this post was doomed not to make sense since it’s conception. Poor little hopeless post.

There’s probably nothing really good to say because of the fact that I literally do nothing. I go to work…..I hang out with Randy for short amounts of time…..I ride on Jackson’s bike for literally five minutes…..I go to a party or a gathering probably once a week that is entirely uneventful…..I watch a lot of Olympics…..I clean my room and ready for college stuff (which I DO NOT WANT TO TALK ABOUT)….and then I sleep. And repeat the cycle. It’s really fun, honest. But still nothing very intriguing to post on this blog happens too often.

I’m thinking though. And when something blog-worthy happens…you’ll be the first to know, little blog 🙂

Lately lots of spiritual things have been going on. Which is awesome. Every time I get to hear those cute Primary kids sing I just melt inside, I’m on track to finish the Book of Mormon before I go off to school (which I am NOT thinking about,) I’ve been reading my patriarchal blessing a lot and trying to figure out how it applies to my life and such, and then randomly someone will message me saying they had a prompting to tell me they love me and a million other things that were literally an answer to prayer.

So to go along with the whole spirtual prompting theme of this post, I’m going to follow a prompting of my own. I think this is more for me than anything else, so you really don’t need to keep reading.

I just know that the church is true. Without a doubt. It is the best part of my life and the only thing in my life that is perfect. I mess up and I am so glad to know that I can fix things because of my Savior. I’ve had to fix lots of things and I’m sure I will for the rest of my life, but nothing that I’ve done can’t be undone. And that’s a miracle in and of itself. Things have been changing a lot this summer, and I am slowly figuring out why. And now I’m sure that there is a plan and my job is to trust and do what I’m supposed to do, and trust some more.

Sorry to get all churchy up in here. But seeing as this blog is basically my journal, I think the two readers will forgive me 🙂 Anyway…

On a side note I have a small story to share that tickled my heart.

One time I was at Cherry Hill (shocker) and these kids came and bought passes. The one kid looked about 15/16 and the others looked about 12, which was odd. So they bought passes and then I was running around doing all this crazy stuff, when I hear this kid shout “Hey!” I looked over and saw his…bright plaid swimsuit and mullet and then his face which was giving me the cool “hey” face that guys think is cute. Then he flexed his muscle like a moron and said “Like that?” I almost peed my pants laughing as I smiled awkwardly and walked away, just before splitting my gut with laughter. Needless to say….my job is ok I guess 🙂

So on Monday I worked and then went and rodeo-ed (???) it up with my family and little Bandy. Then on Tuesday I worked (and Bandy came for the last two hours) and then watched movies with my family. Wednesday I went shopping with Bandy, then went to work, then had chips and salsa with Haley Young (who I ADORE) and said Bandy.

Sensing a pattern? So am I.

So here’s my thank you to the boy who literally makes my heart stop. I don’t deserve him for one tiny second but I’m so glad he sticks around to tell me to breathe or calm down, to be sympathetic when it’s 12:00 and people are STILL GOLFING, to come shopping with me for anything and everything and make it fun, to bring me treats just because he can, to make CD’s of songs that I always listen to in his car because I don’t have them, to get excited over anything I’m excited about, to hold me when I’m crying, to make polyga-date jokes with me and be a good sport, the list goes on and on. I have a lot of great friends who I am so grateful for, but with Randy it’s a little different. And not just because we kiss. Because I am absolutely crazy about him and I think the feeling is mutual. He forgives me more than he should and puts up with me getting mad at him for absolutely no reason. Anyway the long story short is, no matter how things end up between Randy and I, I am so glad I have him for a best friend. He’s been here for me through thick and thin and I figured it was about time I gave him a little shout out.

Today I want to give a shout out to two of my best friends who have had either a birthday recently (as in June 29) or TODAY (as in July 17.) So. Here it goes!

Happy birthday Em! Emi is such a sweet girl and I am so glad I got to be friends with her in junior high a bit and in high school a lot. She loves having fun and she’s always herself no matter what. She doesn’t like to show emotion but she always does little things to let others know she cares about them. She listens to problems and tries her best to help. Emi is a wonderful person and she’s going to kill it at college, and I’m going to miss her. A lot. Love you dear. Happy 18th!

Happy birthday Ash!! Ash and I have had our ups and downs and because we’re so similar, we fight a lot. But I love this girl to death. Ash does her own thing and often does things because people think she can’t. So she proves them wrong. She loves having fun but knows exactly when to be serious. She is so caring to her friends and always tries to patch things up in a fight. Ash is amazing and I know she’ll be married within a matter of weeks of being at college 😉 But really, any guy would be lucky to have her. Love you girl 🙂

So those are my shout outs.

On a seperate note.

I hate it when people think they know my business. You don’t. Back off. Stop spreading rumors that you don’t know the whole story behind and stop trying to get my boyfriend because you think he’s a poor little victim. This isn’t directed at any reader of this blog…but still. It needed to be vented out 🙂

So things have been insane lately! I haven’t even had time to post much, which is a shocker. I could spend this whole post blabbing on about doing this and that and the other, but I don’t think I will. There’s so much I could say and so much I should say, but then again so much I won’t. I’m not making any sense…..basically the moral of the story is that life happens. Life is all about learning to take the good with the bad, to figure out why things are happening the way they are and to learn from them. It’s all about finding the people who will be by your side through everything, even the stupid drama fights nobody likes. It’s about knowing why you’re here and knowing that there is a plan and a purpose. It’s knowing that somebody else knows exactly how horrible it feels. And that because you are lucky enough to know that, you have to tell others that don’t know. It’s knowing you aren’t handed things you can’t overcome and that you can do anything. It’s knowing you stand tallest when you’re on your knees and that there is a lesson in every lecture. Life is about knowing that ice cream always makes you feel better and there’s nothing like a good old fashioned chick flick. It’s knowing long drives in the summer are a gift and rolling up the window isn’t an option. It’s knowing you better kiss while you can and sometimes your ink will run out of pen just when you need it most. This is a lot of rambling…but there’s a lot of jumbled thoughts in my head tonight. Basically what I’m trying to say is that it all got put into perspective today, while I was playing for those darling primary kids. They sang this.

It shouldn’t be hard to sit very still, and think about Jesus his cross on the hill, and all that he suffered and did for me, it shouldn’t be hard to sit quietly, it shouldn’t be hard even though I am small, to think about Jesus, not hard at all.

Basically this song is about being reverent. But I also saw it as this slap in the face that the worldly drama stuff I’m so consumed with doesn’t matter. At all. So this week I am going to try and spend more time thinking about Christ. It shouldn’t be hard. Not hard at all.

So date nights are super fun 🙂 Randy picked me up yesterday and there was a cute scavenger hunt in the car for while we were driving to the zoo. We got to the zoo and played around and saw all the animals and Randy was patient while I stopped at every single cage for EVER to study all the animals. And this cute little spider monkey put his hands on the glass to play with us. It was so much fun. Then back to Randy’s to make mac n cheese and tempera! Which was delicious by the way 🙂 Then the Titanic to round the night off.

I don’t know what else to say, other than things are right on track and I’m loving life!!!

So it’s finally starting to feel like summer. Not that my three week vacation wasn’t summer, but it was a crazy, go go go every second, see too many things to remember kind of summer. And  I would go back in a heart beat. But there are some things at home that I missed and I wouldn’t trade them for anything. The things that are making this summer seem real.

Sitting around my house, reading and watching TV. I missed it. Weird right?
Cherry Hill. We have a love-hate relationship. But messing around on Sys Manager, cheese fries, going crazy in Grants Gulch, smelling like chlorine, making arts and crafts projects, talking about every detail of our lives and hearing the same songs for twelve hours, it IS summer to me
My friends. We just spent a weekend in Park City (more accurately THEY spent a weekend while I spent a day because of the aforementioned Cherry Hill.) Running around shopping and throwing grapes and eating pizza and being in that crazy condo full of memories….it was a great get away for all of us.
Randy. Basically I missed this boy so much. Driving around and talking about nothing, hiking up to see the sunset, fighting about the stupidest things, having him come to the aforementioned Cherry Hill, having him help me pick out a super cute outfit at the aforementioned Park City (I’m liking the word aforementioned if you couldn’t tell….) just everything. It’s summer
Sitting outside on my porch swing and realizing in six weeks….it’s all gone. And everything is different. So I’m grabbing every Sunday gossip session with Sarah Davis, every crazy swim party with my friends, every late night visit from people I care about, every sister day ending in weird meals, every laid back night with my family, every stressful/fun day at work. All of it.

Because, to quote HSM2, right here, with you…it’s finally starting to feel like summer.

Two days back from my trip, and reality has hit. Drama. Drama. Drama. Yes I should have expected the drama as a result of my actions, but I didn’t expect people who have NOTHING TO DO WITH IT to be involved. Let’s just say, I would give my left arm to go back to the wonderful castles and adventures of Europe.