Days at Disneyland

April 6, 2014 — Leave a comment

Hey friends! SO I am the WORST at blogging. Seriously it’s bad. I promise I will start being better!

I have so much to share it’s not even funny.

Hopefully these pictures will give you an idea of what’s been up!

Disneyland, California Adventure, Sea World, the San Diego temple and the beach. It was a fantastic week off with my family, a week full of laughs and no stress! Unfortunately, it’s back to reality now. Gearing up for finals week and then on to Spring term!

Also, wasn’t General Conference fantastic?!? I learned so much and was so spiritually uplifted. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, or didn’t get to see General Conference, head over to http://www.lds.org to find out all about it! I’ll be posting more about it later.

Happy Sunday everyone!

Current Maddy

March 26, 2014 — 2 Comments

Alas friends, I have been the worst at posting lately. Busy times make my blogging habits bad.

So today we’re going to just post about my current loves:

Currently excited for:

Currently happy about:

Jenny Reeder. I got to interview her today and she is a GEM folks. A gem.

Currently wanting:

HELLO do these not look AMAZING!?!?

Currently nervous for:

Being live can be kinda nerve-wracking! But Matt helps me have fun, when he’s not teasing me.

Listen to me today at about 4:20 on Sirius XM 143 or at http://www.byuradio.com

Currently NOT excited for: Another news interview tonight. at 5:00 I want to be heading home, not heading to Pleasant Grove to do another interview for a class!

Currently obsessed with:

https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/3M6ZvNmwGxs&source=uds

Love this song:)

Currently in:
4th place for my family NCAA bracket. BUT BYU women’s bball is heading to the Sweet Sixteen! Go Cougs:)

Happy Wednesday everyone!

You’ve had a birthday shout HOORAY

March 18, 2014 — 1 Comment

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

They are too cute:)

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.

My sisters are the cutest:) LOVE YOU GIRLS

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:)

Be Married

March 10, 2014 — 3 Comments

Friends. She’s married! Lindsey Allison Bills is now Lindsey Allison CLARK! Crazy right!

Hooray for little team Clark!

Saturday was a wonderful day full of eating, laughing, crying, celebrating, and lots of love.

We took a million pictures outside of the Mount Timpanogos Temple, had a delicious luncheon filled with advice and jokes, and a BEAUTIFUL reception! I can’t even tell you how pretty everything was!

If you need some cute Pinterest worthy wedding ideas, look no further! Here they are!

Don’t know what I would do without all these wonderful friends in my life!

Congrats Lindsey and Ethan! Love you both so much and I am so happy you get to start your lives together:)

Happy Monday everyone!

Happy News

March 5, 2014 — 2 Comments

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:)

This gem got me a FREE T-SHIRT from the Lovecapades. They basically ROCK. Also Caleb Blood played his last Velour show the other night. Check both these awesome bands out. They are wonderful!

Also the lovely LINDSEY ALLISON BILLS gets married on Saturday! Oh my heavens where did the time go! Don’t worry, I’ll be posting “What to do when your roommate is getting married” soon. I promise:)

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Honey I’m Home!

March 3, 2014 — 1 Comment

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:

Funny

I laughed.

Happy Monday everyone:)

Clear the air

February 20, 2014 — Leave a comment

Just want to clarify a few things for you friends.

1. I am not dating Drew. We broke up over Christmas break. We are best friends still. He is like my brother and yes I do still spend time with him. We are both on the same page about our friendship and are happy with it. Randy knows and is fine with it too.
2. I am still writing Randy. He’s an awesome missionary, just got made a Zone Leader, and he is loving his mission! I would love to date him when he gets home.
3. I’m not perfect. I’m sorry if my actions have in any way offended YOU dear reader. I apologize and hope to continue being better.
4. Questions? Please ask me directly and privately, but I would love to answer anything!
5. I am taking a hiatus from social media for a while. I’ll be back soon!
6. A fox barks. Like a dog. That’s what the fox says, and I know some of you were wondering;)

To the birthday boy

February 18, 2014 — 2 Comments

Dear Randy,

Happy birthday! I can’t believe you are 20 years old today! Seems like yesterday we were celebrating your 18th birthday together, going bowling and eating sushi. And then number 19 happened while you were in the MTC. Remember how Benton Paul sent you a birthday message after me bugging him for months? That was a good time:)

I’m happy you get to be in Japan doing your favorite thing; missionary work. I’m sure the best birthday gift will be people who are open to hearing the Gospel. I hope that’s what you get today:)

Thanks for always being there for me, for supporting me, and being such a great example to me. I learn so much from you every single day! Thank you for being my best friend.

I’m sorry I can’t be with you on your birthday, but I wouldn’t want you to be anywhere else today.

Happy birthday Elder! I’ll see you soon:)

Happy Tuesday everyone:)

J’taime

February 15, 2014 — 1 Comment

Why is Valentine’s Day the best day ever? Seriously though my dears, it was a wonderful day. I hope you all had fantastic days as well!

My day started EARLY in the morning, mostly because I couldn’t wait to open a package I had from my favorite missionary:) He’s so thoughtful and sweet, and sent me this BEAUTIFUL blazer which was the perfect size! He knows me so well…..it’s kinda crazy! He also sent a puzzle with a word on the back of each piece, that I had to piece together to read the note! What a funny, sweet guy. He’s doing awesome on his mission and I couldn’t be more proud of him!

It’s a Micky and Minnie Mouse puzzle:)

Yes this is a tacky bathroom selfie! And yes I am wearing a Benton Paul t-shirt under it. It’s 12:30 AM. Judge me.

Then I got up, again, to head over to Drew’s for breakfast. We made some awesome heart-shaped chocolate chip pancakes and strawberries:) You can find the from scratch recipe here.

Drew got me a CHOCOLATE SCENTED teddy bear (adorable right?) Some real chocolate (so I can eat AND smell it:)) and a beautiful poem that he wrote, in a mirrored frame. Basically, he’s the best friend EVER:)

My mama got me an adorable picture book that I guess I wanted when I was younger. I don’t remember it much, but it is so sweet of her. The book is all about coming home, and it made me tear up! I love knowing that I can go home, whenever, and always be welcome. I’m super lucky.

SO then I went to work and ran around all day, and finally after going crazy, the fun night began! Drew and I went on a progressive dinner: this is where you go to a restaurant to get an appetizer, a different restaurant for the main dish, and a different restaurant for dessert! It is a really fun date idea, and I would recommend it!

So we headed to a Chinese place for appetizers, and got dumplings and shrimp (really good! If you’re in Provo I would recommend the Lotus Garden, at least for the appetizers!) Then for our main course we went to The Banana Leaf. Basically the best food I’ve ever had. It’s Sri Lankan food and it is DELICIOUS. There is curry, lots of meat and rice dishes, and even some noodle curries! Drew’s favorite part was the avocado shake, which was actually good!

We headed to The Chocolate Mousse, which is a PIE BAR. Basically, they put the ingredients for pie in different sized glasses. I had an oreo crust with dark chocolate peppermint filling. SO GOOD. I would TOTALLY recommend this place!

Basically Valentine’s Day was a fantastic day filled with people I love. I hope you had a great Valentine’s Day too!

Happy Saturday everyone:)

Crazy little thing called love…

February 14, 2014 — 2 Comments

So tomorrow I’ll post all the fun and crazy adventures my Valentine’s Day held.

For now, I just want to mention love.

I throw around the word love a lot. I think it’s because I do feel love, at varying levels, for everything. So, for your enjoyment, here are the things that I love this Valentine’s Day.

1. My religion and every little thing associated with it.
2. My family. They are my rock and I wouldn’t be the person I am without them.
3. That boy in Japan. Elder Low is my best friend and I am so happy to say that I don’t have another Valentine’s Day without him!!
4. Rachel/Sarah/Heidi/Rebecca/ Vanessa/Talia/NicoleOlivia/Lindsey/Al/Lau. What would I do without my favorite Provo girls? They make me laugh, comfort me when I cry. You name it, they’ve done it for me.
5. Every single other person I’ve ever met. Yes you, I love you. You impacted my life in some way or another, and I will always be so thankful and happy that we met.
6. Chocolate. Need I say more?
7. BYU. BYU is one of my Valentines this year for a million reasons. But mostly because it’s home.
8. Kaysville. This is REAL home. You don’t realize how much you love it until you leave it. Blowing you a kiss K-Town.
9. Music. Listening to it, making it (or attempting to really…) It’s in my soul.
10. Writing. This year has shown me how much I love writing. For the radio, for classes, for me. All of it.
11. Romantic movies/books. I am a hopeless romantic and these movies and books just keep me going.
12. Edna. My car. She’s seen me ugly cry, dance like a maniac, laugh about nothing, and have conversations with a person who lives over 6,000 miles away. And she doesn’t judge. Love her for that.
13. Myself. I haven’t always been good at loving myself. But I’m happy to say that this Valentine’s Day, I’m better at loving myself than ever. Love yourself today friends. It’s the best feeling in the world.

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone. Spend some time telling the people you love exactly how you feel. And spend some time telling yourself how special you are too.