flat Stanley. :)

My mom teaches 1st grade, and one of the things she does with her class is "Flat Stanley's". Flat Stanley is a book where Stanley has a bookcase fall on him and he is flattened. Later on in the book his parents "send" him in the mail to his cousin in California, where he visits with them, and then they send him back home in the mail. Her students make their own "flat selves" and they  bring an address of a relative or family member to send it to. When the relative receives it they take it around their town shooting pictures of the flat selves in at different places as they go.

What does this have to do with anything you ask?

Well this past Monday as I was sitting in my mom's class room, looking at the "Flat (insert name)'s" and thinking it was such a cute idea. Then..... ding, ding, ding! A light bulb went off!!!! :) That night I went home and got to work! So here you have it! The finished product! Who is it you ask? Well, it's none other than....

 ELDER JACOB WILLIAM PARMLEY! :) name tag and all. :)

Throughout the next 14 months, I will take him with me every where I go and document it. That way, it'll be just like he was always here! I'll send him the pictures, as well as post them on here. :) So here's to introducing our newest member to this blog............ "Flat Elder Parmley" :)

.................and THAT'S a sip of Livi's Lemonade! :)



quote

I've been slacking, yet again... haha. It's just been a crazy week! I am SO ready to just hop on that airplane to Florida so I can get on the boat and sail the islands of the eastern Caribbean with my parents and sister! But that is still 10 days away.

I have some things that I want to post about, but I just need to finish them so I can take pictures and post! So there will be a lot of posts coming soon!

I thought that today I would just share a quote that gets me through every day challenges and that I absolutely LOVE!

I wanted a theme for this year, and I had already came up with the rhyme theme, "2011 closer to Heaven", but I wanted a quote to go with it. I can't remember where I was when I heard it, It may have been in relief society, but  someone quoted our beloved prophet Thomas S. Monson and of COURSE it just happened to be my quote!

It is, "Be of good cheer. Your future is only as bright as your faith!"

Many of you have probably heard me say this a lot. But that's because it's true! Heavenly Father is never going to let you be miserable, he WANTS you to be happy and BE of good cheer! This quote always reminds me that no matter what, if I always have faith, everything will be okay! So, be of good cheer! :)

I can't WAIT for this weekend when we get the wonderful opportunity to listen to the words and teachings of our latter day prophets! It's always my favorite part of the year! Hopefully I'll be posting at least twice before conference, but if that doesn't happen, (considering the craziness this week has already brought on) I wish you all a very happy conference weekend!!!!!! :)

............and THAT'S a sip of Livi's Lemonade!

....love

So I've been CRAZY busy this week (later posts to explain) but as I was cleaning out my letter box to move into a new cute one that my best friend Fran gave me for my birthday, I found a card that has a quote on it and I thought I would share before I throw it away. :)

LOVE is

giving and receiving

touches of tenderness

patience

loyalty and trust

gentle boundaries

hearing what's not being said

sharing sorrows and joys

freedom

comfortable silence

harmony

smiles and laughter

a shelter in a storm

letting go and holding on

heart-to-heart talks

forgiving AND forgetting

unconditional

Love is seeing miracles

together.

...................and THAT'S a sip of Livi's Lemonade! :)

(brought to you by Hallmark ;))

something that makes you smile. :)

The other day a friend showed me this video, and it brightened up my day!! Haha. 

Make sure you watch the ENTIRE thing... it's only one minute.... and it only gets better. :)

Enjoy! :)

....................and THAT'S a sip of Livi's Lemonade!

ALSO! I didn't think many people read my blog. But recently I've had a lot of people talk to me about it. So just because I'm curious, if you read my blog please either,

a) Like this post on facebook,

b)comment on this post,

c)Please, please, PLEASE, BECOME A FOLLOWER! :)

Haha. Thanks you guys! Love you all!

whY Be per.fect.

Here's a quote I found earlier today that I'm pretty sure relates to all of us, especially me. Enjoy! :)

I'm not a perfect girl.

My hair doesn't always stay in place &

I spill things... a lot. I'm pretty clumsy &

sometimes I have a broken heart.

My friends & I sometimes let each other down &

maybe some days nothing goes right.

But when I think about it & take a step back

I remember how amazing life truly is

& that maybe. just maybe. I like being

imperfect....

Because imperfect, is just perfect

for me.

................. and THAT's a sip of Livi's Lemonade :) :)

?cupcakes

How many cupcakes have I had in the last

five days!?

Well, lets add them up shall we?

1 Vanilla with Strawberry frosting from my best friend Kristy

purchased at Cupcake Chic.

6 Red Velvet for my birthday cake

4 of my own little sampler cupcakes which were Mint Chocolate, Lemon, Coconut, and Vanilla Strawberry

Also from Cupcake Chic.

THEN I made cupcakes for Jacob's Sister-in-laws baby shower,

Lemon with Cream Cheese frosting,

and ate 5 of these 'babies'....

Look at the cute little sleeping babies! :)



and made a VERY big mess in the end... :) haha.

Well if you count all of those up,

that is a grand total of

SIXTEEN CUPCAKES IN FIVE DAYS!

do I regret any of them?

Nope.

I absolutely love making and eating cupcakes! :)

 ...............and THAT'S a sip of Livi's Lemonade!

fri.LETTER.day

Well as you all know, today is Friday! And you know what that means.

.............. LETTER DAY!!! :)

 Today I hit a new record and only checked the mailbox TWICE before the mailman actually came! This week I was lucky enough to be outside the second he came... mailman stalker?... I guess you could say that. But hey! It's for a good cause! :) Hahaha. So here's wishing you a VERY happy Friday/LETTER day! :) haha :)

Here's me with this week's letter. :) Excuse the blemishes, haha. These seriously are the highlight of my week! If you look close enough, you can see the happy tears that without fail, come every time I read a letter. :) I am just SOOOOO proud of him, his spirit just RADIATES through the pages!! :) sigh.. :) today is a good day. :)

...................and THAT'S a sip of Livi's Lemonade! :)

Here are some pictures I happened to forget about and found on my computer the other day, haha. LOVE when that happens! Especially on harder days. :) He makes me so happy, if you couldn't tell ;)

 

I can't believe he's been out for 7/42 weeks already! Only 3 phone calls, 14 Fast Sundays, 3 General Conferences, and 1 more birthday until he's home! hahaha ;) but who's counting?!

 

He is SO amazing! :) I LOVE hearing about everything he's doing over in Minnesota! I am just oh so, so, so, PROUD of him! :) I LOVE (my) MISSIONAR(y)IES! :) Haha. :)

music.

Right now I have 3 favorite songs and so I thought I would share! :)

1. "Get it Right" by Lea Michelle (Glee)
       Originally I was only going to blog about the two songs below, but then I found a link to this song on someone's facebook, clicked on it, and fell in love! I love the message of this song because let's be honest, we all at some point in our lives, feel like she does in this song. Like no matter HOW hard we try, our good isn't good enough and nobody notices our efforts. We all have messed up, and sometimes, have not been able to recover from our mistakes even though it IS possible. No matter how many times it takes us, we CAN do it. But the words to this song are just so true and it hits so close to home, (to everyone, not just me) that you can't HELP but love it!

You can listen/watch the clip on YouTube here. And if you want to just read the lyrics, even though the song is AMAZING, click here. But if you only have time to watch one of these songs, I fully recommend that this one be the one you watch. :)

2. "Love like Crazy" by Lee Brice

        The reason why I absolutely love this song is not only because I'm a hopeless romantic(and in love myself ;)), and the whole story about the couple that feel in love at 17, ahem, ;)

and have been together for 58 years. Haha.
and because I just LOVE the chorus and think it should be everyone's motto in life.

It is,

 "Be a best friend,

tell the truth,

and overuse I Love You

Go to work,

do your best,

don't outsmart your common since

Never let your prayin knees get lazy

And love like crazy"

 Isn't that good!? Ever since I heard this song, I've sort of adopted this as one of my many life motto's.
I love it.

You can listen/watch the music video on YouTube here. And like I said before, if you just want to read the lyrics, you can click here.

3. "Only You Can Love Me This Way" by Keith Urban

        Okay so this one is because I am a hopeless romantic. Haha. :) I think it describes my situation pretty good. :)

You can listen.watch the music video on YouTube here, or to read the lyrics, click here. I love this song. :) It'll be my theme for the next.... 14 months. ha. :)

I keep forgetting to charge my ipod and I'd rather listen to the country station than any other station on my way to school, so that's why there are 2 country songs. But I'm glad my ipod is down, otherwise I wouldn't have found these great songs! :) let me know what you think! 

..................... and THAT'S a sip of Livi's Lemonade!

Best Book Ever.

Last year in my Creative Writing class, my teacher had a couple Authors come and talk to us. One of the Authors we had the opportunity to hear from, was Angela Morrison. She had one book that was published, "Taken By Storm", and one that would be coming out two months after she came to our school, "Sing Me to Sleep". Because she knew our teacher, she gave him a preview copy of "Sing Me to Sleep", for us to read before she came. I was in a mood to read a new book, so I asked my teacher if I could borrow the book and read it. One of my friends had already read it and told me that it was AMAZING. So I trusted her and read the book.... in one day. And let me tell you, it is the most beautiful book I have ever read in my life! It is so touching, and there is just so much to learn from it! Everyone else that read it in my class absolutely LOVED it, even the boys! In fact, I have trouble reading any other books now because I want to relive that experience every time I read!! 

There were some delays in getting it published, but I was finally able to get my hands on a copy and I am now reading it for the fourth time! SO if you're looking for a book to read, I HIGHLY suggest this book. Not many people know about her, but she is a GREAT Author and if you read it, I PROMISE you will NOT be disappointed. You can buy her book on amazon, or I bought my copy at Barnes and Noble. Either way, this book is a MUST read and have. Let me know what you think! .......... and THAT'S a sip of Livi's Lemonade! :)

You can also check out her website here.

Trapped

Sitting at the computer, getting up every time she hears a noise.
Is it there??
Has he come?!?

She opens the window
just to make sure she doesn't miss
the sounds of the
mailman bringing good tidings
of comfort and joy.

She hears another noise,
gets up.
just a bus.
No little white box car,
bringing papers with written words.
just a bus.

She sits back down.
A few minutes later..
it's him!
He's finally here!

She runs down the stairs
booking it to the box that has the numbers
1225 written on the front of it.
It's only when she hits the bottom stairs
that she stops and realizes.

The hardwood floor is being refinished.
Wet polish has been freshly laid on the ground.
Can't go on the main floor, or outside,
for two more hours.
TWO MORE HOURS!
and I'm...
5 feet away from the door.
Only 5 feet away from his words.
Just 5 feet away...
and,
Trapped.

*sigh*.... I guess I can just wait.
..........and THAT'S a sip of Livi's Lemonade! :)

Does somebody want to come and give me my letter through the window??? HA!......... but seriously.

something new.

So I TOTALLY failed at my love month challenge! SO SORRY! Seeing as I'm not the greatest blogger, I'm going to try to do something new. I'm going to post every time I'm at the computer and just "facebook stalking". That way, I will feel that my time on the computur will be more productive, and I will actually be DOING something! There won't be a specific theme to any of the posts. They can be anything from one word, to a picture, to a inspirational thought, or just me writing about how my day went! It's going to be really random, and some of the posts may not even make sense, I hope that I, along with you, will be able to find some little Lemonade moments out of it!

So as I start this challenge, Here is my post for the day:

 

"Your time is precious.

Don't waste one moment with anyone who doesn't make you feel good about

yourself."

 

Make sure you're around people that make you happy and feel like you're a child of God. Life will just be all around better.

Nobody likes being around people that don't make you feel like your worth something.

So if you're in that situation, make a change.

Because your time IS precious.

Don't waste it around people that don't make you feel like a million bucks.....

because you ARE! 

I've learned that when I've felt this way, there needed to be a change.

And even though the change was very, VERY hard to make, it turned out for the absolute BEST! 

I have never been happier, and more blessed in my life!

So know that even though it'll be hard, and you may feel like there is no one out there to be

YOUR friend.

Heavenly Father is mindful of you and he always has something greater in store.

So make that change,

because YOU are AMAZING!

 I PROMISE you'll end up being happier than you've ever been!

.... and THAT'S a sip of Livi's Lemonade! :)