The things that mean the most.

FAMILY. Of course.

SPENDING TIME WITH LOVED ONES.


MAKING TIME FOR MEMORIES.


LOVE, AND COMPLETE ACCEPTANCE.


PERSEVERANCE.


BEING TOGETHER.

ALIZAE. :)
A single smile from her just turns my day around instantly!! And her warm hugs
around the waist make me forget about all of life's other stresses. LOVE her. :)



WHEN THE WORDS 'BROTHER' AND 'FRIEND'
DESCRIBE THE SAME PERSON.


PARENTS THAT WOULD TRULY DO ANYTHING FOR ME.





FRIENDS.

KNOWING I HAVE PEOPLE WHO WILL ALWAYS BE THERE FOR ME.
No matter what.

ENJOYING THE LITTLE MOMENTS LIFE GIVES YOU.
Taking a road trip, JUST BECAUSE.

SPONTANEITY. :)

A TRUE LIFE-LONG FRIEND, and an amazing example of everything good.

ENJOYING THE SILLY THINGS.
Cheap, yet PRICELESS entertainment. :)

THOSE WHO HAVE CHANGED ME FOR THE BETTER.
There are SO many who fit into this category.





THE GOSPEL!!

MY TESTIMONY OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS.
The reason for TRUE JOY and happiness in my life.

SUNSETS! AND ALL OF GOD'S OTHER BEAUTIFUL CREATIONS.
The song "How Great Thou Art....." always comes to mind.

CONQUERING A FEAR.

DOING SOMETHING YOU'RE AFRAID OF.
And I mean... AFRAID. I am terrified of deep open water. Seriously. :)

MAKING NEW FRIENDS.
13 girls, from about 5 different states. None of us had previously met. Yet 3 1/2 months later, we left Mexico with SO many memories, and most importantly, as LIFELONG friends.

GIVING A PART OF YOURSELF TO OTHERS.
These kids were more of a teacher to me than I could ever have been to them.

LOVING SOMEONE, AND BEING LOVED IN RETURN, AS FAMILY.
"Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some people move our souls to dance. They awaken us to new understanding with the passing whisper of their wisdom. Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon. They stay in our lives for awhile, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, EVER the same." ~ Flavia Weedn

CHILDREN.
Doesn't matter how old, or even matter what language they speak -
kids are SO accepting, loving, and nonjudgmental.

RELATIONSHIPS THAT REMAIN CONSTANT, REGARDLESS OF DISTANCE.
Mi tia, la quiero! She taught me that "Laughter is a universal language, and a sincere smile needs no words."

This is FAR (very far) from a comprehensive list of all the things that
mean the most to me, but I think these last few sum it all up.

Memories that last a life time, friendships that last forever.
Loving friends. Strong values. Faith. Finding joy in the journey.
Making the best of situations, no matter the circumstances. Giving your all, and always doing your best. Dedication, and drive. Consistency. Hope in the future. Spending time with those you love. Doing things just for the fun of it. Doing things with purpose and meaning. Goals, and dreams. Believing in yourself.
and...

a loving FAMILY who will always love and accept me, no matter what - and who have taught and continue to teach and help me every day.

The end of 2010.

I realize it may be a little late, but...
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
The end of 2010, the beginning of 2011- I love new beginnings. I don't want to sound like the type who get all gung-ho about new year resolutions to only have them last a few weeks or so.. but I do both enjoy and benefit from taking a step back and just looking at my life, and then finding and focusing on a few of the very many areas in my life that are in need of improvement.

So.. what are my 'areas of focus', you ask?

• 
  
  
  Make more time for my family.



• 
  
  
  Consistency.



• 
  
  
  DON"T waste time. "As if you could kill time without injuring eternity."



• 
  
  
  Be a better friend.



• 
  
  
  Laugh more, you can NEVER laugh too much.



• 
  
  
  Continue to learn.



• 
  
  
  Appreciate all that I have.



• 
  
  
  Love unconditionally.

These are just a few...I could go on and on with this list. But I'll stop there for now, that is a good starting point.

And, just for fun - here are a few pictures of recent adventures.
New Year's Eve, with Marz at the party my YSA stake put on at the fairgrounds.

This is Kinzie (Jake's girlfriend) and I on the frontrunner, on our way down to SLC to find some homeless men. My mom and Alizae also came along. ...Sound crazy? Let me explain.

Almost every time I go down to SLC, whether I drive, or take the front runner, or go with family or friends, we ALWAYS seem to run into homeless men, asking for money. Which is fine, I just always feel a little uneasy. These people are just like me in a lot of ways I guess, just trying to get by. Yes, there are some major differences... But I don't really care how they got to be where they are. It's none of my business. I don't care if they are only pretending to be "homeless" like those guys that you see on the news, who beg for money on the street only to walk around the corner and drive off in their Cadillac. None of that is any of my business. BUT, I do think that it is important to help those who stand in need of help. To realize that everyone is human just like we are, all fighting our own battles. And, just like the golden rule says - if I were to someday find myself homeless, I would be so grateful for any kind of help. So I wanted to do something to help these guys, instead of always just walking by them, avoiding eye contact completely and giving them no attention of any kind. But as much as I wish that I could, I can't afford to give money, Weber State seems to get most of that, haha. :) SO, we thought it would be a good idea to make little grab bags, with practical things inside that someone could really use. Like gloves. Soap. Tooth brush/tooth paste. Hand sanitizer. Chapstick. Granola bars. A warm scarf. Water. Handwarmers. Kinzie was able to get a lot of donations from her work (THANK YOU KINZ!! and afcu!) and Carianne and I came up with a pretty good list of fillers, and my mom helped so much in getting them all put together. My mom made most of the bags we put the things in, I was impressed! That woman has so many talents. So, one Saturday afternoon, we hauled all of our things onto the FrontRunner and headed to SLC. We received quite a few weird glances, probably because they thought WE were the homeless ones, and were using the FrontRunner in place of a uHaul truck. :) But either way, such a neat experience. Below is a picture of all of the seats our things took up.

On a completely different note, I took my first trip to LAVA HOT SPRINGS! In Idaho. And.... LOVED it. It's like a high-class Crystal Hot Springs. Bigger, Cleaner, LESS-salty. But I will always love Crystal. :)

Thought for the day:

EVERY moment of EVERY day
is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Una noche Méxicana!

One of my friends and I had a MÉXICAN NIGHT!! We made a lot of our favorite Mexican foods, and they turned out really well! Cocinamos tacos de carne asada, al pastor, y chorizo, sopes, y por supuesto, mole! Los postres estaban arroz con leche, flan y panetón, y horchata y jarritos para tomar! It all tasted delicious! And also made me miss all the yummy foods in Mexico. :)

Lately.

Missing Mexico.

I really miss Mexico! I love being home, but it was really hard to let go of my life and familia there. Some nights I just sit in bed for hours going through all of my pictures and just remembering how AMAZING this last summer was... If I could rewind time and relive this last summer I would do it in a second. Before Mexico, I never thought that it was possible to grow to love so many people so much, and so deeply, in such a small amount of time- only 3 short months. But it happened. And it was the BEST summer of my life! I made so many memories that I will never forget, became BEST friends with some amazing girls - all of which I look up to very much, AND (as if the things I've listed already wasn't enough) I was lucky enough to have had the opportunity to be a part of the most caring, generous, giving, and truly loving family. My family is what I miss the MOST. I am SO blessed! Here are a few pictures of my very favorite people, I love them all so much!

"There's no place like HOME, and there's nothing else like FAMILY."

I am finally back home, and it has been so good to be back with my family! I really missed them... SO much! Here are just a few pictures from what I have been up to lately, and adventures with friends and family since I've been home.

A bit of free time + collective creativity genius + a mac = this video. Enjoy :)

This is one of my best friends, ASHLEY THAYNE! She was there waiting at the airport when my plane came in, along with my wonderful mom, my niece Alizae, my brother Jake and his girlfriend Kinzie, Megan Jones, Kayla Orton Postak and her husband Jesse! It was so good to see everyone, and to have so many of the most important people in my life there at the airport waiting for me. It's so good to be home!

The Saturday after I got back, my niece Alizae and I went up on the overpass (our very favorite spot!!) and had lunch. It was so much fun, I love that girl so much. Our favorite part of the overpass is trying to get the cars and semi's to honk at us, by waving our arms and dancing, and I must say, we were pretty successful this time! :)








While in Mexico, I unconsciously made mental notes of things that I missed about home, things that I wanted to be sure to do when I got back home. The list is SO random! and fairly extensive, and full of simple things that I just LOVE to do. Lunch on the overpass: Check. Feeding the ducks: Check.

Driving around Ogden with 2 of my very best friends with .....an airhorn.... CHECK! Contrary to popular belief, a simple airhorn can be the source of hours and hours of fun and so many memories. :) Just ask Meg or Marz!

Getting ice cream at my very favorite place: CHECK!! x3. I think I might have had withdrawls from this place, I L-O-V-E it. Zeppe's, I'm glad we've been reunited.

I got to go to the Raptor's game with Ash, it was a fun night! Ya gotta love the good 'ol American pasttime, baseball. When they sang The National Anthem at the beginning of the game, I almost started tearing up, it was beautiful. I am more grateful now than I EVER have been to have been born and raised in the U.S. of A.

Below, the OGDEN TEMPLE! I am so lucky to live so close to such a wonderful place, literally a piece of heaven on earth. I love how beautiful the temple looks against the stormy dark sky, I think you could find a lot of symbolism in that! No matter how dark and stormy the world and our lives may get at times, the temple is always there as a shining example of everything good, and everything that I am working towards.



MY BROTHER BOUGHT A HOUSE!!
Yes, he BOUGHT a house. Crazy huh, considering that he is 19. He has worked SO hard on it for the last few months, and it is really coming along, it looks GREAT. He is such a hard-worker and I look up to him a lot. Here are a few pictures of the kitchen and stairs that he just finished building.

This is all of the Barker side of my family, and the first time in a little while that we have been able to get everyone together! So many people in this picture mean so much to me, and I am so blessed to have such wonderful people to call family.



The OVERPASS! again. I love that place. I went with Matthew Ralphs, my cousin Marian set us up on a date. It was really fun, though I think Matt might have thought my choice of location a little CRAZY. Ha.

d

This is ASHLEY! For her protection, I won't put her last name in case someone in the profession of law enforcement sees this picture, because I'm fairly positive that it is NOT legal. Ha but it was fun! Look how happy she is, she is having the time of her life on that horse.


I got my picture taken with the RAPTOR himself! Hahah how lucky am I. :) This is Matt Ralphs, he came down from Logan to go to the game with me, so nice.



And, last but not least.... STAR VALLEY!!!

Over Labor Day weekend I went to Starvalley with my mom and my niece to see my Grandma Barker. I have been to Star Valley every summer since before I can remember, but I was in Mexico when my family went this time! It was such a fun weekend, and so fun to spend time with my grandma at her place up there. SO many memories.

[pictures to come, I've had a few technical problems. But they're coming! Don't you worry. ]