2012 begins in 4 hours people

This is me.

 sitting in our living room. 

watching the BYU vs. San Diego game (we're DESTROYING them! yess!!) I'm waiting for photos. 

Photos that Sarah has yet to upload.

I want her to upload the darn photos so I can add them to my pages and make 2 more posts to have a grand total of 25 solid blog entries of 2011!! 

Come on Sarah...I love her and her amazing photography skills!...but photos are meant to be shared and enjoyed, not kept in a forgotten folder on your Mac that will never see the light of day....ok yeah.

Happy New Year!

Life lessons from Kung Fu Panda 2

first of all, what an epic movie! I mean, WOW!!

It pretty much inspired me! Here's what I got from it:

• learn to let go of your past, 
•      "The only thing that matters is what you choose to be now." -Po
• look to the future
• choose good friends
• parents will do anything for their children (I admit it. I cried when Po's mother sacrificed herself to save her son.)
• its okay to show emotions. We shouldn't always have "hearts of steel, souls of platinum!" -Po
• The most important time is NOW!
• practice hard to develop your talents and skills

• find inner peace :)

And along with all the deep, spiritual, inspiring aspects of the movie, it was still super hilarious!!

I love my cousins!

Savannah, Lydia, me, and Gracie

Matt and Micah. They are such studs!

I am so very lucky to be a part of such a big family! My dad is the oldest of nine kids and so I get to reap the benefits of a big, happy family! It is so fun to go an visit family, especially ones I haven't seen in quite some time.




I spent a couple amazing days at Sarah's apartment at BYU. We had sisterly bonding time :) We hosted parties, played Christmas games and talked until 5:30 AM and STILL had more to share. I love her so much! I needed 'Ishel and Sarah time' so badly. So it was a very wonderful couple days, aaanway, back to the Brimhall's!


Uncle Timo and Aunt Sara were kind enough to pick Sarah and I up from BYU Provo, let us stay the night, and then take us to the airport the next morning to fly to Florida for Jordan & Susan's wedding.




We played games all night and practiced balancing peacock feathers. They are such a lovely family! I'm so sad we don't live closer. But I'm lucky enough to make memories at our Brimhall Reunions, Lake Powell and these precious nights.

my latest obsession....

.....is making collages!
I make them only during my study breaks: 5 precious minutes of organizing and designing beautiful, inspirational collages. here are a few: 

 aren't they just wonderful? Their themes are all over the place. They're all about summer, love, and happiness.