tips and tricks
Giveaway anybody??
Yup. I’m doing a giveaway!! I’m teaming up with the talented Abigail Brock to do a t-shirt giveaway. Just look at how cute these are!
Summer Reads
So I love reading. A lot. So I thought I’d share a few of my favorite summer reads to maybe spice up your library a little bit! If you have any other suggestions for me, please comment or send me a message!
1. Pride and Prejudice. Classic, one of my favorites, read it!
2. Twitterpated. Just finished this one. It’s a cheesy, LDS romance novel, but it was good. So, you should read it:)
3. The Prizewinner of Defiance, Ohio. This was on my mom’s book club list and I really liked it. It was sad, but so hopeful at the same time. It’s more of a life story than a novel, but doesn’t read like most non-fiction.
4. The Invisible Bridge. If you’re artsy, in love with Europe, or into history, this is the one for you! It was very well written and a wonderful read.
5. The Great Gatsby. There’s a lot of hype about this movie, but the book is amazing. If you haven’t read it, go read it now. If you have read it, maybe read it again!
6. At First Sight. Nicholas Sparks, cheesy romance, so sad I cried…but still good:)
7. Things Fall Apart. I actually read this for AP English, but I absolutely loved it. It was incredible and really made me think. If you’re looking for an intellectual read, this is it!
8. Gone With The Wind. This is one of my favorite books. It’s a long one, you could start it now and finish by the end of the summer, but it’s one that EVERYONE should read.
9. The List. Another cheesy, LDS romance. SO GOOD. I was literally jumping up and down, screaming at the end.
10. The Secret Keeper. Murder mystery, WWII mixed with 2011, romance and action. It was amazing. Less cheesy than some, more interesting than others. I loved it, and I think you will too!
Keep the first date conversation going!
Tid+bits
Lately things have been crazy! Good crazy, but crazy. Here’s just a little peek of what’s been up recently.
Bridal Shower
So yesterday I threw a bridal shower. It was scary. I semi threw one with Alyse for Amy, but this one was all at my house. I had to make things look cute. If you know me, you know that I try to be crafty, but 99% of the time I lack the patience to make things look really good. So that was a little intimidating.
But I think it went really well! We had fun and laughed and Jessi even got her fiance to come and help tell their story (adorable, PS.) So all in all I think it went well!
Here are a few of the things I did that were really simple, but helped a lot!
Excuse the fact that these were hastily taken iPhone pics….
Happy Wednesday everyone!
Rules for Summer
Summer is REALLY beginning this week. Now for me it’s been summer since May, kinda. But I haven’t been counting it because everyone else is in school and then I would have to start doing the things on my summer rules. So now that summer, in my opinion, is REALLY upon us, here are my rules for my summer!
1. No more than 2 hours of TV per day (I will break this Netflix addiction!)
2. Read for 30 minutes to 1 hour every day.
3. Have scripture study EVERY night (I’m good at this during the school year, but I slack in the summer. Not this time!)
4. Help my mom with the housework every day.
5. Make dinner once a week.
6. Do my best in both my jobs.
7. Write my Journalism Portfolio essay and study for the benchmark exam.
8. Blog often!
9. Write Randy once a week (I won’t have a problem with this;)).
10. Work out for 30 minutes every day.
11. HAVE FUN and BE HAPPY!!
So those are my summer must-dos.
Mmmm nice right?
Happy Monday everyone!
Extension of yesterday’s post……!
Alli Yost got called to Milan, Italy. She’s one of my best friends and she’s going to do amazing! Love you Al!! She is such an example to me and I am so proud of her.

My cute cousin Kelsey gave her farewell today. She’s headed to Lima, Peru in a few weeks on her mission. She is going to convert so many people with that strong testimony of hers. I love you Kels!

I’m still figuring out what I am supposed to be doing, and this kid in Japan really knows EXACTLY what to say, even when I don’t tell him what’s bothering me.
After telling him about different mission calls, and mind you, I didn’t say A WORD about how I was feeling about any of it, he sends this.
“I still feel the same about you going though. I don’t know. Don’t feel like you’re choosing wrong paths. Cuz you’re not! You’re doing great things. I really hope you’re happy hon.”
Yup. He lives in Japan, had no idea what was up, and still managed to know exactly what I needed to hear. That folks is inspiration.
I couldn’t be more proud of my missionary friends, and I couldn’t be more proud of my engaged/married friends, and I couldn’t be more proud of my home girls who are in the same boat as me. We all have different “missions” and I am so lucky to know the people that I do, who are doing the great things they are doing.
Happy Sunday everyone.
Grasp The Moment Challenge
So lately I haven’t known what to blog about! Nothing really huge is going on, I get to spend lots of time with my family or working everyday, which is wonderful. But nothing really crazy or interesting to readers has happened.
Then I realized something. It’s up to ME to be happy. It’s up to me to do something interesting or find the good in the days so that I do have something to say! If I just wait to say things that are very exciting or funny, I’m not being true to the name of this blog, “Grasp the Moment.”
I haven’t been “Grasping the Moment” lately. And that stops right now!
So here’s the story of how this blog came to have that name.
I was creating my blog the summer before senior year. I had blogs prior to this one, but didn’t post very regularly and they were sapppppy. Junior High stuff, we’ve all been there.
Anyway.
I was picking a background (which I’ve changed a million times) and a URL (average day of a ginger? Classic) and then came time to come up with a title. I couldn’t think of anything. I started thinking about what I wanted this blog to be about. My life, the things I was doing, the things I found interesting. I wanted to make every moment of my life matter.
BAM.
Grasp the moment. I typed that in, felt very clever, and that was that.
So now here’s my “Grasp the Moment” challenge for myself. Feel free to join in:)
AP Test Week Tips
I’m sure you’re probably sick of my tips, but here are a few for my high school friends as they start AP test week!
- Don’t wear sweats to your test. Wear something comfy and easy to sit in, but I wouldn’t wear sweats. It makes you a little sloppy and you do better if you dress better!
- Eat breakfast! I know you’re nervous but eat some toast and juice or milk or SOMETHING before you go in!
- Bring plenty of pencils with good erasers!
- Leave your phone and other belongings in your car. That way you don’t even have to deal with it.
- Don’t study the day of. It won’t help, it’ll mess you up.
- Recheck your work but be careful when you erase answers! Most of the time your first instinct is right!
- Bring water. Sometimes they offer it to you and sometimes it’s juice or milk. You’ll want water.
- Go to the bathroom before and go again during your break!! EVEN IF YOU DON’T THINK YOU HAVE TO!
- Bring a jacket. If it’s cold, you won’t be able to focus.
- Say a prayer. Cliche, but it helps!
- Don’t stress about how many you need to get right or what essay score you need to pass. Use that time studying instead!
- Read the whole question and all the answers.
- Relax! You’ve studied hard and you’ll do great:)




























