2015 Year in Review

2014 used to be the best year of my life because I met Mike and fell in love. But 2015 totally topped that because I WENT AND MARRIED HIM!

So I was looking back through all my VSCO cam photos from 2015 when I became totally overwhelmed. All the images in my gallery unleashed memories from the past year and I started to cry a little because 2015 was the most blessed year I've ever had. 

I wrote down all the miracles that I could think of and this post is an edited version with photos to correlate! This post is also really for me to record and remember all the good things that came into my life this past year.

Wow, 2015. It was a big year full of uncertainties, doubt, love, excitement, growth and major decisions. 

JANUARY:

2015 began on a relaxing note with a beautiful trip to Hawaii with Mike and his parents. I learned that Hawaii is an unbelievably picturesque place. The entire trip was lovely.

Instead of flying back to Utah after the trip, I flew with Mike to San Francisco to start a new chapter! I took a risk to move away from friends and family to be with a guy I loved and the Lord blessed my path and led us closer together so we could be married. I was completely and totally unprepared for all the good things that happened to me this year. 

I was able to stay with my sweet cousin in California until I found a job--which was by far the best job I've ever had nannying two hilarious boys. 

I was given a car with the amazing job and then I was blessed with a family who literally took me in and treated me so kindly I'll never be able to repay them. Oh man I'm crying while I type this. It just blows my mind that the Lord set these miracles in my path at the time when I was feeling so lost and scared--scared about my sister's future, nervous about being so far away in Palo Alto and wondering how my future with Mike would turn out. 

At the time I felt totally overwhelmed and grateful and now looking back on time in California I am STILL totally overwhelmed and grateful. I was blessed with so many angels who helped house me, love me and give me purpose. My church welcomed me with open arms, Mike and I fell so much more in love and California began to feel just like home.

When we became engaged it felt like a triumphant victory for all of us, me, Mike, our ward and the families who were helping me. It was as if everything in my life had led me to that moment. It felt so wonderful to commit myself to him and him to me.

FEBRUARY- APRIL:

more happy, beautiful, wonderful times spent working and being with Mike.

MAY: 

May 1st we were engaged! At the end of May I flew out to Utah for my best friend's wedding and also dominated my massive wedding to-do list

even my dress made me feel special LOL

JUNE:
June was great too--full of fun and wedding planning.



JULY:

We were married on the 31st! It was THE BEST PARTY EVER! It was also the happiest, funniest, most exciting and glorious day in my lifetime.

AUGUST:

We got married on July 31st so the very next day was a brand new month! Right after the wedding we hopped on a plane and honeymooned in Cabo, Mexico.

SEPTEMBER:

Mike and I went back to California to finish out our jobs. My amazing sis just finished her chemotherapy treatments and came out to visit us in the city.

Mike and I joined his family on their annual Alaskan fishing trip--that's fish guts on my face hahaha

OCTOBER:

Mike and I finished our time in California and took a road trip with our stuff back to Salt Lake City! We drove from San Francisco to Newport to SLC. We hit up all the great hikes and beaches down the west coast. Driving through Big Sur was a huge highlight and all the beaches surrounding L.A. were seriously sooooo nice. I tried spotting Gigi Hadid while we were in Malibu but no luck.

OCTOBER-DECEMBER:
Mike and I took a chance and made a plan to travel around South America for a time before Christmas. It was a trip of a lifetime!!

We explored Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Panama in under 3 months! It was challenging, exciting, humbling and just amazing to see so many incredible parts of this beautiful earth with the love of my life. We are so blessed and grateful that we were able to have that unforgettable trip.

Seriously what a year. I still can't believe how much has happened in just the past 12 months. Like how could I ever be sad or ungrateful? So many good things have come into my life and I really need to appreciate them. This life is so good and there's so much we can do if only we set goals, pray and rely on the Lord's help. 

I'm so glad that I have documented my life so well this past year and hope to keep it up in the years to come through blogging, journaling and taking photos. 2015 was so great I'm really going to miss it. Like it is going to be so hard to beat--especially while I'm just finishing up school and stuff-BORING lol jk--but I'm excited for a fresh start. So here's to 2016 and all it brings!


also, some bloopers. this was when I got the worst sunburn of my life--RIGHT ON MY FACE!!

 Is this strange angle becoming a trend in my life?? lol.

chill out Ishel

Sometimes I overwhelm myself. with. everything. The paintings I want to create, the food I want to cook, the skills I want to master, the people I want to influence and love--it gets to be too much for my brain and body to handle. I usually end up doing things sporadically/very quickly and feeling guilty. My absolute greatest fear is that I can't live up to my potential or that I could've done more but didn't.

This mindset is ambitious and passionate but total poison. Social media definitely helps make it easy to compare myself too. Don't worry I'm working on it but in the meantime it's good to vent. The new year brings lots of anticipation and even anxiety. Will I make this a good year? Or will I fail at everything? Ok that's way too dramatic but it is a thought that creeps in every once in a while.

I'm starting school up again this winter. And I actually have a little anxiety over it. Like it's been a full year since I've been away from tests, homework and school like interactions. I'm a completely different person that I was last year. So much has happened and changed over the past 12 months. Reading back into this blog I came to find how I've changed and grown. It's been interesting reading my thoughts on when my sister was diagnosed, how I felt about Mike, and other tidbits of my life that feel like sooooo long ago. I'm so glad I wrote out my feelings and kept things here in this space. I think it'll be a good place to come back to every once in a while. It's really nice having a collection of beautiful photos and my words in one pretty, clean place. It's also funny seeing how little I care about grammar hahaha.

Anyway, my advice to myself is to chill out and be more like Mike: calm, cool and collected. Things will work out the way they should and I can only control what I can control. Be real, be kind and I guess just have fun with it!

babies

there really isn't any reason for this post other than the fact that I found a bunch of baby photos on my USB and also the fact that I love my sista. But like really look at us--18 months apart and totally inseparable!!!

  

oh and fast forward to our preteen days when we eat, sleep, breathed everything Harry Potter.

Peter Pan

I recently changed my blog title typography and I think it looks so good. Like I love the script and brush of the letters so much. Also, I love the meaning behind my title.

"an awfully big adventure"

It's a quote from my ultimate favorite story: Peter Pan. I remember watching the disney movie when I was little but not really liking it because all of the annoying songs hahaha but then my Dad bought me a beautiful hardcover book of Peter Pan when I turned 11--and I was hooked.

I read and re-read the story, watched every movie I could find related to Peter and had dreams about flying away to Neverland. Oh my goodness I love the way J.M. Barrie tells us the story of Peter and Wendy. It's a beautiful masterpiece of emotions, -----and adventure.

The main thing I love about Peter Pan is the cliche idea of 'never growing up'. The people I am most drawn to are the ones who don't take themselves seriously and aren't afraid to be a little silly. It is so refreshing to see someone be REAL and dance, sing, laugh or just talk in the most genuine way. I want to live my life like Peter, not recklessly but with the perspective that we aren't on this earth for very long so make the best of it and don't think of yourself as a big deal because YOU'RE NOT. I love the contrast between Mr. Darling and Peter--the pull between caring what the neighbors think and the allure of being a naive child. It's such a great motif of choosing to care about status or choosing to let yourself be free from the conformity of society. whoooooaaaaa too deep haha but really I highly recommend reading Peter Pan with this new perspective.

SO there you have it, I love Peter Pan. I also fell very much in love with the 2003 Peter Pan movie--featuring Jeremy Sumter. My 11 year old heart still beats for him, is that weird??

THIS GIF <3<3<3<3<3

Sailing the San Blas

Mike and I had such a wonderful time sailing through the San Blas islands. We spent 5 days on our little sailboat sailing to different islands around the coast of Panama. It was gorgeous, relaxing and just totally unreal.

The very first day was spent sailing straight through the open Caribbean ocean from Cartagena, Colombia to the islands near Panama.  Mike and I both barfed within 10 minutes of each other because of the rockiness of the waves so that was fun haha. The next morning we were in calm seas near the islands and we both felt GREAT! I think we both just felt so ready to party on the beaches! 

We snorkeled through an underwater shipwreck and it was the most amazing thing of my life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Like I was having trouble breathing because I was shouting the entire time "LOOK AT THAT FISH OMG LOOK AT THAT CORAL WHOA HOLY LOOK AT THAT OTHER FISH!!!!" Like I could not calm down--it was so amazing! 

We partied every night completely sober and it was so fun! We danced on our boat and stargazed before bed. It was so relaxing and honestly I didn't take a whole lot of photos or videos of the trip. Too busy living the life instead of documenting it haha it was so great.

A highlight from our trip was when people on the boat asked us about being mormons. Every single day someone would ask a new question about our religion and we got to have great discussions about how we live our lives. Everyone was so kind, polite and curious! It was so nice to share our beliefs in such a great atmosphere.