#iwillneverstoppostingchickpics

if you have instagram then that hashtag should be familiar to you because once upon a time i had like 20 baby chicks hatch at work and i loved them so much. 

here is a photo story of that love : 

it is interesting to note that the love began when i was just a little chick myself. 

so taking care of these little fluffy babes came rather naturally.

see? so natural.

 every few days a couple more would hatch so there was always a cute little one to hold and love.

or just hang with.

 they love being held and cuddled. 

 sad chick story.

my boss' child is crazy and dropped this little guy and he hurt his leg. all the other chicks were being jerks so i took him away from the others, made him a baby bed of tissue, and held him so he would stop shaking long enough to sleep for a few minutes. we had a moment together for sure.

 they were so cute. and then like a week later they got feathers and got big. 

 sadly, they were not cute anymore. and smelled bad. and got real gross.

so they went to the boss' home and were never seen again. 

the end. 

and then i went to utah. and saw some friiieeends

going to utah was to be with my family. i knew that and wanted it to be that way so i laid pretty low the ten days i was there and didn't make a huge fuss about being in town. with that being said i did get to see a few friends and it was nice! 

friend 1 : cortina

i miss her (my bike) so so much and it felt so good to ride her again. sadly, her tire hated having air in it so i only got to ride her once (so grateful i rode that big two miles to my sister's house haha).

friend 2 : lauren gunn

random sighting in line at the blue lemon. one of those friends you don't really feel comfortable calling and making plans to go do things with but are always thrilled to see when you both happen to be in the same place at the same time.

 friend 3 : my great (x5?) grandpa truman o. angell just having a whole exhibit thing on him at one of the visitor centers on temple square. i had no idea this existed!

friend 4/5/6 : bf since elementary emily and her babes hinkley and olive. she showed me the ever famous, instagrammed by every person in utah, city creek. it was nice, but i really just enjoyed her company most.  

friend 7 : mission bf jacquie. we squeezed in some time while i was in provo by sitting and talking while she got ready for work. emmy was a trooper during this and the other friendship moments of provo day. 

 friend 8 : nicest went on a few dates last summer but neither of us were really interested in each other that way greg. he lives right by j-dawgs and so he came and chatted with us while we ate. we like greg,  he is a good friend. and we like emmy for capturing such a special moment. 

friend 9 and 10 : old roommate suzanne and efy favorite tiffany. they joined emmy and i at honolulu ice and it was a very joyous occassion. so many laughs and reminiscing moments. 

there were plenty of other friends i would have loved to see but i feel happy i at least got to see the few i did. it never ceases to amaze me how God always puts great people in my life. i like my friends!

and then i went to utah. my cabin!

it was our cabin weekend while i was in utah but no one ended up going up and i was SO bummed. i had a list of things i wanted to do while in utah and having some quality time in/with the mountains was a high priority. my dad could tell how upset i was so he offered to take me up to the cabin for the day and i could do whatever i wanted while he and his brothers worked on some things. 

i don't know if my dad had any idea just how badly i needed that time but i'm so grateful for it and his desire to make his daughter happy. i walked up past our cabin to a spot that overlooked all of midway and could feel, as cheesy as this sounds, my soul being rejuvenated. nature just does something for me that nothing else can and being in those mountains for a few short hours made all the difference. being there made me SO happy and i was so content. not only were the mountains much more beautiful than i ever remember them being (i was thrilled at how green everything was) but it felt like i was the only person in the canyon (until random bike guy showed up - who, for the record, i enjoyed chatting with) and i just got to read my scriptures, write in my journal, and pray in complete silence. it was wonderful to have the time to just ponder and be still. i need more of that in my life. 

(the nice man who asked me if i needed a ride because he thought i was stranded and the rock i sat on for hours)

after mountain time my dad, his brother (my uncle dave), and i went into midway and ate at the greatest little place. as we went through that small town i realized i haven't really explored it all that much which is sad for how often i've driven through it in my lifetime. if boston has taught me anything it is that every place has lots of great things to offer - it is just up to us to find those things and experience them. so often we don't take time to do that in places we live/frequent which is so sad! if/when? i move back to utah i have lots of places i look forward to exploring and getting to know better. 

afterwards we stopped at the outlets and i broke the swimsuit curse and bought three after not buying a new one for five years!  we also stopped at kneaders so they could try cannoli - sad news bears they were gross. so guess they/you just need to come to boston and try the real thing!

ps i am very glad i got to see the beautiful shag carpet one last time before they ripped it out. i don't quite know if i will ever get over that one.

and then i went to utah. i like my familia.

after the graveside memorial we had a grand time at "dude ranch cafe" where they had the best complimentary cones that i loved but wished they would have told us about them beforehand because if i had known then i wouldn't have bought that weird and much too runny chocolate shake! 

we also spent some time at my grandpa's house that day. i love my grandpa's house and always feel happy when i get to be there.

something you should know is i have always thought i was exactly 5' 5". i have always liked this and felt happy i wasn't any taller. well. my 5' 5" dreams have come crashing down and the picture above is proof.   i guess in those ten years of not measuring myself i grew an inch and am now 5' 6"!  i don't like this, not one bit.  

anyway.

 while in utah i got to have some other nice family times like getting to go to the once-a-month sunday night fhe! i was so happy when i realized i would be home for it and just ate up every second. 

i loved being around all my babies so much! life is way better with them around.

i also spent some time at my nephew's baseball games and tending becky's babes. i really enjoyed having so many little people to take pictures of again! they were all being very nice to me and loving me way more than usual so that was also something i really enjoyed. 

"korby give megan a puppy dog"

i even got the privilege of attending kamden's pre-school graduation. bless his heart he hated it so bad (he is sitting on his teacher's lap in tears) but we all really enjoyed it anyway. aaaand the picture below is nephew jett being none other than aladdin! i really picked a great week to come, so much was going on and i got to be a part of all of it! 

i also got to take pictures of kim's family and watch her try to have a leg war with scott in all of her pregnant glory.  it was AWESOME. 

and and aaaaand like i was saying before, for some reason they were all loving me lots! i slept over at kim's house one night and woke up to kamden snuggled up right next to me and then he even sat on my lap while we watched one of his tv shows without any sort of bribe or anything!  it was a glorious morning that i made kim document because i could barely believe it was happening. 

the day before i headed back to boston i spent the entire morning/afternoon/evening with emmy lou. she needed to go to the provo temple before she turned 16 (to hit her goal of going to every temple in utah) and i was supposed to take her last year so we finally made it happen. we also made a day of the whole experience and went to all the places i miss eating at. we hit up kneaders for breakfast, j dawgs for lunch,  got some shaved ice (the east coast doesn't know what that is), and then got some sushi like an hour later because i just had to go to sakura as well. emmy was on board for most of it except the sushi..which i was secretly happy about because then i got that geisha roll all to myself! it was a very nice day and i feel like it is weird that my nieces and nephews are getting old but way great at the same time because they are the best and i like that i get to not only be their aunt but also their friend.

that night i said my goodbyes, took unfortunately yellowish-orange pictures with janie and lilly, and laughed at how sad janie was over korbin eating her popcorn. 

(janie gets the sads quite a bit as you can see here, here, here, and here)

anyway. kind of a weird post? but i just wanted to remember all of the random very normal moments of the trip because those were the moments that made it so nice. i loved just getting to sit and talk to my siblings and parents or hang out with my older tots and play with my younger ones. i loved getting to go to fhe and the games and plays and graduations and just felt really content and happy to be a part of everything.