Playing Catch Up

Dear Faithful Readers, (Yes all 3 of you if you are still out there!)
                 I would like to apologize for being such a terrible blogger! I will now try to catch you up on my life... using pictures from my phone!
1. Food Phases
Am I the only one who gets stuck on a food for awhile and it is all I eat and love for about two weeks?! Okay I eat other things too but I generally have one thing at a time that I am really loving- Let me introduce you to one of my latest obsessions. Blog Readers meet the BBQ chicken salad:

BBQ chicken sits on a bed of fresh baby spinach topped with yellow corn, black beans, bell peppers, tomatoes and crushed up brown rice salsa chips! Delicious, easy, and best of all healthy! Also any of you who have become discouraged about finding a Greek yogurt that you can actually swallow (I have tried some gross ones!) Check out All Natural Brown Cow Greek Yogurt with Strawberries on the bottom! The texture is going to be different, it is Greek Yogurt, but it is packed with protein and one of my current food obsessions! Delicious!
2. Ape

I did get this stuffed animal from a male just probably not one you might be expecting! He is about sixty years old and happens to be my accounting professor. Before you get freaked out (especially you mom) let me explain. I, Lacey Jean Bradley, got 100% on one of Jack Petersen's Accounting tests. He always gives a stuffed animal to the highest score and I got one- AH! I was so excited but also terribly embarrassed since there in 100 people in my class and I got it in front of everyone. I was beet red and then had to walk back to my apartment with an ape head sticking out of my backpack (people probably thought I am one of those people who is still obsessed with a childhood stuffed animal that I won't let out of my sight) but I was too happy to care!
3. Girls Day Out
I had the opportunity to watch my niece and nephew the other weekend. Ladd came home early from Ward Clean-Up so I could get down to Orem for my sister's wedding shower! (Yes, another update, Jaycie is engaged!!!) I was getting ready to leave but my niece was bound and determined that she was coming with me! So Mollie May and I set out on our girls day out which was pretty much one of my favorite things ever!

I cannot even tell you how much fun I had with this little girl and how much this day meant to me! We went to the shower (where she was the life of the party!) She played outside in a tent with Uncle Sean and then we went to a gorgeous park in Orem where she fed ducks, ran around, picked up a duck egg and ended up swinging about a full 180 degrees due to this crazy set of swings we found (hence her windblown look) It really was one of my favorite days and I cannot put into words the joy this little girl brings into my life.
Mollie: Lace I love you
Lace: Oh I love you too Mollie Girl
Mollie: And do you know how many children I love?... Only five
Forget my accounting stuffed animal I am one of the five children Mollie May Bradley loves... my life is complete! :)
4. Easter

Does this little boy not just melt your heart?!!! Jax is growing up so fast and looked like a little man in his Easter vest! Everyone loves this little boy and frankly how could you not! This boy is pretty much one of sweetest and most well-behaved kid you'll ever meet! People always want to hold him during church and all the ladies say "Oh my word he just looks like a Precious Moments baby!" (he really does get that a lot!)
Please meet Michael and Olivia, my new niece and nephew:

Here is Olivia (aka Livi or my personal favorite Livers!) in her Easter dress! This little girl is adorable and also incredibly busy! She is always going and going and has the cutest little voice you will ever hear! Ah love her!!

Michael looked so handsome on Easter Sunday! This little boy is so funny and full of energy and is also helping me get over my large personal space bubble haha he loves to be close and says the funniest things! It was also incredibly hard to get him to stand still and not make a crazy face in his picture but about 10 pictures later, I got this one! :) I am so excited to be a part of his and Livi's life and consider it a great blessing and responsibility! Jaycie and Kevin are the cutest couple and I am so incredibly happy for my sister to have found someone who loves her so much and really does treat her like a Queen- I wouldn't be able to give her away to anyone else!
Well there is a quick recap on my life! The CES Fireside tonight is being broadcast from Logan so I better head up to the Spectrum in a few minutes! Also my sweet mom is driving up to Logan as we speak to cook me food for finals week and help me start cleaning my apartment and I can't wait to see her, I am SO excited! Only one more week with 3 finals and I'll be headed back to Ephraim for the summer! I feel so blessed to be able to go back to a place I love so much! I feel overwhelmed lately with the assurance that the Lord is very aware of me and my needs. Things have just been working out lately and I have been able to recognize the Lord's hand in my life! I feel so incredibly blessed, I have been given so much!

What I Learned in 2010

I think some of these lessons I already knew or maybe had learned a long time ago but all of these came to mind as I thought about what I learned in 2010!

*Being an aunt is one of the greatest blessings and opportunities I could have ever been given!

Mollie May (3 yrs old)- (When asked what makes her happy) "When I listen to Jesus and He listens to me and then I get really, really brave!" Besides being really cute and hilarious I realized how profound just about everything this little girl says is! I hope I can spend more of 2011 listening and then being really, really brave :)

Jax (13 months) Pretty sure this little guy can peer into my soul! He doesn't talk much yet but is starting to and I'm hoping all of that time I spend pointing at myself and saying my name is going to pay off in 2011!

*Change is good but my heart will always be in Sanpete!

One stoplight is plenty for me!

*I spend WAY too much time in my comfort zone!

I am on a waiting list for western swing at USU and part of me really hopes I don't get in because it terrifies me, but most worthwhile things usually do!

*For every one time you know you made the right decision there are about ten that you aren't sure!

The importance of holding onto confirmations from Heavenly Father has been reiterated for me because the more the life changing the decision is, the more the adversary will work on you!

*Sometimes the things Heavenly Father asks me to do are to prepare me for something else entirely!

I realize sometimes the Lord needs me in a different place and will ask me to do something that is already on my mind to get there but when the time comes He may have needed me there for a different reason than I originally planned on- which often turns out to be a growing experience I know I wanted needed!

*"I believe that man's noblest endowment is his capacity to change." - Leonard Bernstein

Change is inevitable but that's always been part of the plan! Experiences all around me can change me for better or worse and I am the one that decides!

*I have too often neglected and taken for granted the enabling power of the atonement 

I don't feel like I can speak about our endowment to change without saying something about what makes that change possible! I have spent much of my life focusing on the ability the atonement provides to put off the natural man (Mosiah 3:19) but often in my life I haven’t realized or utilized the power of the atonement to become a saint as stated in that same verse. King Limhi's change of heart is brought about through his understanding of the plan of salvation and the Savior. After he is converted he talks of his willingness to give up all earthly possessions but most importantly all his sins to know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. All other cares or ambitions are simply overshadowed by the fact that eternal life is now his main focus, highest priority and greatest desire. I know too often in my own life I have let other things get in the way whether it be school, pride, doubt, my unwillingness to forgive or change, etc. But I now have a greater understanding and testimony of the atonement and its power to change my nature, my desires, my ability to accomplish the things the Lord asks me to do, and all around the power it provides to change me!

* I am extremely blessed!

2010 has been full of amazing people who have taught me so much! I spent Spring semester of 2010 surrounded by wonderful girls in Relief Society who I still miss SO much who let me into their lives and changed mine for the better! Summer was filled with new experiences, goodbyes, and health that allowed me to run farther than I knew I could! Fall came sooner than I wanted but also brought new people, lots of opportunities for growth, and a semster full of laughs, memories, and support from 3 of the most amazing girls I know! I also had the opportunity to see four of my best friends leave on missions and another receive her call and realize what great friends I have been blessed with! Winter brought me back home for a couple weeks where shoveling snow, hauling wood, and a new lesson on the maul from my brother reminded me that I was raised to work hard- no matter what the task. I was able to catch up with a best friend who never ceases to make me laugh or get me to wear things that at first might not seem "my style" but that I end up loving! :) I found greater ability to put things into perspective and re-evaluate my priorities and ended the year spending the holidays with my family who truly are my best friends and greatest blessings!

What did you learn in 2010?