Win-Win

“You know, sometimes all you need is 20 seconds of insane courage. Just literally 20 seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.”

LOLZ Guess what Matt Damon. SOMETIMES NOTHING GOOD COMES OF IT.

Yep. Sometimes you put yourself out there and get nothing in return. Hash tag WHAT WAS I THINKING.

You feel awkward, embarrassed, and you feel a whole ton of regret. But, you can't change what has happened. SO... You hate yourself for an hour or so and then YOU GET OVER IT.

Life is full of disappointments, but with out those moments, you wouldn't appreciate all the great things that happen to you.

Things go your way? You're happy? HASH TAG WINNING.

If something doesn't work out the way you planned, you learn something. HASH TAG STILL WINNING.

Life is a win-win situation.

You learn and you lose and you gain something from everything you go through.

Plus, all the awkward and dumb stuff you do make for the best stories right?

So don't get down on yourself if you don't get the job, you don't get the boy or girl, or you look like a total idiot sometimes. 

If worse comes to worse turn on some Ke$ha, go get weird with your best friends, eat tons of gummy candies and dance it all off.

xoxoxo,


ella

 

First Things First

Good morning babez.

I had one of those late nights last night and things got real deep via telephone with one of my best friends Debora Figueroa (18, gorgeous, Argentine and one of the greatest people on the planet). We were talking about boys (are you surprised? You shouldn't be).

We were talking about how sometimes it can be SO HARD sometimes (okay like all of the time) when the person you like doesn't like you back. Don't judge us, you feel the same way too! No matter how many BFF pep talks you have or Pinterest quotes you come across, it's hard to be happy when that guy or girl isn't crushing back. You compare yourself to their crush, to their ex, or to other friends who are happily "in like" with somebody. You tell yourself that you can't be happy or that you'll be #foreveralone (hello most used hash tag ever, you need to STOP).

GOOD NEWS. YOU CAN BE HAPPY WHEN EVER YOU WANT!

Want to know how? Keep reading.

Focus on others. Nobody wants to be with somebody who is complaining about how hard their life is because they don't have a boyf and how much Netflix they watch by themselves. We are all feeling lonely, after a while doesn't it get old feeling sad for yourself? Go cheer somebody else up and soon you'll be smiling too! Pinky swear.

It's what's on the inside that counts. No matter how big your biceps or how long your lashes are, nobody wants to date a crummy person. Focus on developing Christ-like qualities and striving to do better! The more beautiful you are on the inside, the more beautiful you will be on the outside. We all should know that by now.

Don't be so hard on yourself. This is the most important one, for me at least. Perfection isn't going to happen in this life. You can't read your scriptures, say your prayers, get good grades, have a perfect bod and be dating the person from your dreams. Some day that will happen, it's possible. But it's not going to happen over night. Don't be dissapointed in yourself if you don't have all of those things or any of those things at all. Strive towards being your best self and take it day by day, everything else will follow. 

You deserve the best. You deserve to be happy! You deserve to use smiley face emojis to your hearts content. You deserve to jump around your room and do a funny little dance to the beat of your heart for no reason at all. You deserve to sing to your favorite band at the top of your lungs on your way home from work and not care about a thing in the world. You deserve to feel great about yourself. Don't let the lack of a BF/BF let you feel otherwise.


So don't wait around for some boy to magically call you up while eating your weight in yogurt and listening to Pandora on a weekend (guilty). He will come along but you have to be going down that road to begin with.

BE GOLD TO FIND GOLD.

Be the kind of person you want to meet.

Make yourself happy and love yourself FIRST and others will come second. Find yourself first. Have faith in yourself first. And some day someone will come along, and they will be just what you have been waiting for. It probably won't be tomorrow. It might not be this month, it might not even be this winter. But it will happen. AND IT WILL ROCK OKAY?

So keep your heads, hearts, and spirits high. Good things are in store for you!

xoxoxoxo,

ella

Hill Seeker

Life isn't perfect. Life isn't easy. Life isn't fair.
These are things that we hear everyday. People say them like they are bad, but they don't have to be!

The other day my Mom sent me this quote...

Isn't that beautiful? Shout to moms for always knowing what to say and when to say it. Or text it. (sup technology)

LIFE HAPPENS ON THE HILLS.

I love that.

Imagine life without hills. Roller coasters. Mountains. Drives up the canyon. Sledding.

Hills are all around us and all inside each of us.

Don't be afraid of things going wrong or not going perfectly. The hills are what make all the inside jokes and the good journal entries, right?

It's the overtimes, the burnt cookies and the flat tires. It's the buzzer shots and the hair cuts that go totally wrong. It's the awkward conversation with your crush, or the conversation that doesn't happen at all.

It's your sister borrowing your shirt and stretching it out. It's the last half hour in the car where you almost pee your pants. It's the burning in your lungs after a sprint that seemed impossible.

It's the days when you wake up and you wish you could run away from life. It's feeling left out and not included. It's the loss of a friend or family member. It's the broken heart that makes you want to stay in bed for weeks.

All trials big or small are BLESSINGS IN DISGUISE.

Heavenly Father wouldn't let us go through loss or pain if it wasn't to make us stronger and increase our faith. He cares about the big and scary decisions in our lives such as college, where to live, or what career we choose. He also cares about the things that we think nobody else cares about. You know what I'm talking about.



Whether you've lost a football game or an election for the President of the United States, you'll come over your hill. Things will seem better and the dissapointment and sadness will leave.

BE A HILL SEEKER.

Embrace the challenges and everything that life has in store for you. When faced with a challenge tell yourself you can do it, get out of bed and face the day with faith. Know that there's rainbows and down hills and rewards on the other side of the hill.

YOU CAN DO IT.

xoxoxo

ella

The Beauty of Being Alone

The Beauty of Being Alone.

You are probably asking yourself if there is really such a thing. After some personal experience I can tell you that it is. And once you experience it for yourself you will see how beautiful being alone can truly be.

I consider myself some what of a social butterfly. I enjoy parties, lunch dates with my friends, and dressing up on the weekends to go places. But lately I have been more of a social ladybug. (you guys I just made that up, neat huh) Instead of flying from flower to flower or party to party... I've just been floating around. By myself. Perfectly content with staying home, falling asleep in my clothes while downloading music. 

Now I'm sure you are thinking "WTF Ellz this is depressing, get a life." WAIT FOR IT..

I LOVE SPENDING TIME BY MYSELF.

The movies, ice cream, shopping, or walks around the temple. All of these things weren't invented just to be shared with friends. Doing these things by myself is wonderful. Just because you see me alone, doesn't mean that I'm sad. I'm happy with myself. I think it's important for a person to be happy by themselves before they can be happy with someone else.

The other night I wasn't ready to go home so I got in my car and drove to Mapleton, picked a random road and drove up it as far as it would go. I went so far up the mountain that the road I was on turned to rocks and snow and I was pretty positive that I had left Utah and gone into Narnia. I lost track of time and just enjoyed the night with my headphones. If I would have been with a cute boy or a friend it would been nice. But I wasn't. And it was still just as nice.

(Boys, this doesn't mean that I wouldn't LOVE to talk with you/listen to music for hours in the car)

I was at the D.I. last Saturday and needed an opinion on something so I asked the old lady near me. Turns out she didn't speak English so I tried to speak to Spanish to her. I was terrible! But we both ended up laughing and smiling with each other. That wouldn't have happened if I hadn't been alone. 

So next time you don't have plans for the night, don't sit on Twitter and retweet every single #foreveralone tweet on your time line. For several reasons. Take the road less traveled and spend a few hours in nature. Get out and hike or put your feet on the dash and open up your sun roof. Go to Yogurtland and get a cup of fro yo that costs $9. Nobody is going to judge you.

As I was writing this post, I rediscovered this video on my lap top. It's what I'm trying to say, in video form and in the words of a lovely hipster much older than I. Please watch it.



The more time I have spent alone, the more I have appreciated myself. Like, I'm pretty awesome. More importantly, so are you! Take the time to discover just how awesome you are.
Good luck!

XOXOXO,

ella

 Don't forget to go for a drive down a road like this.

 Or this..

Straight Out Of Nowhere

I don't really know how to introduce this post because these words are coming straight out of nowhere. And of course by nowhere I mean the deepest and dearest part of my heart.

If you watched the LDS General Conference this past weekend or you know someone who watched it then you know that they have lowered the age limit for the youth of the church to serve missions. This news is exciting and wonderful and I know will bring forth so many blessings for the world.

Serving a mission has not always been a huge desire for me until this past year when I have had many opportunities to strengthen my testimony. I have become an even happier person and I decided that I couldn't keep this happiness to myself, so I must serve a mission. 

While my testimony has increased, the challenges and trials in the world around me have too. Every day I am told by the world that as a young women that I need to be thinner or have cuter clothes or have a boy on my arm. The world, as beautiful as it is, doesn't know what it was created for. The world doesn't understand what amazing things we were created for. That's why it confuses us with these lies, sometimes makes us feel horrible about ourselves.

After a couple more visits to the temple, a couple sessions of conference, and a couple of heart to hearts with some dear friends I have better understood something..

The world doesn't want us to serve missions, get married in the temple, or to have a family and raise them in the gospel. The world doesn't want us to view ourselves as Heavenly Father views us, as perfect and glorious beings. That's why the world tries so hard to bring us down! The world would love for us to think that we can't live up to our potential, or that our potential isn't cool enough.

Well guess what? Heavenly Father didn't send us down to this world at such a critical time to be plastering ourselves with make up or plastering our minds with thoughts that we aren't good enough. He needs us to rise above the world and to live up to our potentials. He needs us to be happy and grateful for who we are.

So next time you have one of those days where you just want to go lay on your mum's bed and cry that you aren't good enough for that one boy or girl, or you just feel crummy, STOP. Wipe off those tears, put on your crown and go rule the world. Whether it is serving a mission or flying to the moon, live your dreams. Put your trust in Heavenly Father.

Don't let the world get the best of you, give your best to the world.

One of the most important things in this world is gratitude. A while back I had the chance to go and record this Mormon Channel message. Through preparing for it and pondering more about gratitude my life has been changed. I hope as you listen you think more about how you can live with gratitude too!


http://mormonchannel.org/we-will-stand/9-gratitude


xoxoxo

Bells

Good Morning October

Good morning October.

Good morning crunchy leaves underneath my longboard, or underneath our feet on a weekend walk at dusk.

Good morning to warm hearts and warms hands wrapped in mittens, or if you're lucky, another's.

Good morning to cold bleachers on Friday nights shaking from the pressure of our feet or the game below.

Good morning to car windows fogged from hours of talking with friends and lovers or friends becoming lovers.

Good morning to hot chocolate sipped with Mom and Dad in the kitchen or in the chilly parking lot at lunch time.

Good morning to pumpkins flavoring our mouths and filling our stomaches, or garnishing our porches.

Good morning to our necks tangled in collars and scarfs, or by the arms of our loved ones after a long day.


I hope you all enjoy October as much as you think you will. I have a feeling that October is going to live up to our expectations. October brings so many things happy and warm but cold and exciting, all in the same month. Good luck readers!

xoxoxo,

ella

Coming Home

You know that song by Green Day "Wake Me Up When September Ends." Has that writer ever experienced the month of September? UM HI WAKE UP AND ENJOY ONE OF THE BEST MONTHS OF THE YEAR. September brings football season into full swing along with chilly weather and Homecoming Week at school. Life could not be any more enjoyable right now. 

Oh and did I mention that MY FAMILY IS GETTING A HEDGE HOG FOR CHRISTMAS? Kind of irrelevant but really exciting, so get excited you guys.

This past week was Homecoming week. One of my most favorite games of the season. We killed Carbon 56-0! After every victory on the home field, our student section, cheer and drill teams make a tunnel down to our victory bell at the end of the field. We cheer as they lift up a player to ring the victory bell and they light off fireworks. That is one of my favorite parts of the night and it being my senior year I thought I would video it.

For those of you who won't ever experience being a Don, please enjoy my poor quality clip of the ringing of the victory bell.

I love football games more than anything. The highlight of my week is going to every game. Since our region has changed, most of our opponents are about 45 minutes away. Nothing makes me happier than getting dressed up for a game, grabbing some of my best friends and driving to an away game. As much as I enjoy a good BYU/U of U rivalry, or the replacement refs making the NFL exciting.. Nothing will ever replace my love for high school football.

It's crazy to me that it's my senior year and every week I have less and less football games to be at, cheering at the front of the student section. I may or may not get emotional about that. But I know that I'll always being coming home to sit on the bleachers and watches those boys play their hearts out. There is something about watching the sport of football that makes me feel almost a patriotism for my school.

I hope you all enjoy football season this year. I hope our team plays in Rice Eccles again. I hope I lose my voice at the game this Friday. And I hope I'll see my classmates coming home to sit in the bleachers for years to come watching our friends and family play under the lights.

XOXOXOXO,

ella