my final month

I don't really have anything to say this week, so I've been putting off blogging in hopes that maybe I would come up with something to say. So yeah, I haven't.

My brain is 100% consumed by attempting to make it through this last month of school. And let me tell you, it's HARD. For real. I graduate exactly a month from yesterday. Like graduate. Like I've been in school since I was about 4, and now I'm going to be done forever. What??

So since I'm strugs on strugs trying to get all my papers/projects/presentations done, you can instead gaze upon this darling picture of my friends and I last night when we got together for some birthday love and Thai food (obviously this combination called for a break from school work).

Wish me luck this next month. I need it. I really really need it.

peace. love. and stressed out.

my snow and sunshine

Who says you can't have snow and sunshine all in one weekend? I've had a thousand things to get done...but I also just really like to play. And if it's nice outside? Woof. Good luck getting me to be productive. So, Friday I ignored homework and reality and hit the slopes because I mean come on, you have to go skiing at least a once every winter if you live in Utah. I'm pretty sure it's actually a requirement.

But, here's the thing, there are many things that I am very good at, but skiing is not one of them. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy it. I'm just really really bad at it. So should you ever happen to be skiing with my friend Sarah who I was with that day, don't let her decide which way to go. Don't do it. You will find yourself at the top of a black diamond that is far beyond your abilities, and you will have no other way down the mountain. If you are me, than your stubborn side will kick in, you will refuse to go down, you will take off your skis and walk. You may even shout something along the lines of "I am going to stab you with my ski pole once I get down there." That may seem dramatic now, but at the time it felt like the proper sentiment. 

Despite that one snafu, I was pretty happy for most of the day.

Even if I was real real sore the next day. Should I not be in Utah next year, it might be a while before I ski again, so I'm glad I got at least one day in. I'm a busy girl, I've only go so much time, ok!

So after a bundled up day on the slopes, it only felt appropriate that I spend a sunny day at the park. It wasn't actually very sunny by the time we left, but when you live in Utah, your perception of warmth gets pretty skewed. I had very much intended to stay inside and do homework all day, but it's frighteningly easy to convince me to go out and play instead. The result was an afternoon of croquet and football in the park. It's almost like spring is here, but not really cause it's only the beginning of March.

Mama C has always emphasized the importance of looking good, and sometimes this means coordinating your croquet equipment to your outfit. 

We might have lost, but at least we had fun. You think if I'm not gunna be good at regular sports, I should at least be good at obscure sports. But, alas, no.

Ok, now everyone go watch the Oscars for me because I don't have cable, and they are my absolute favorite. I'm not going to let myself look at Oscar dresses until I finish at least half the work that I must have done for tomorrow. 

peace. love. and outdoors. 

my fresh air

It's no secret that I actually like the winter and snow, and I'm almost a little disappointed that it's kind of already over here in Utah. But watch, now it will snow again, and I'll be mad about it or something cause it's also no secret that I'm insane. Oh well. One of the glorious things about it warming up again is that I can once again participate in outdoor activities. Oh boy! This last weekend I went on an adventure up around Upper Falls (above Bridal Veil Falls for anyone familiar with the area). It was a bit icy, but it was still a great hike, and it was incredible to be outside and exploring new things again. Luckily my friend Austin Terry not only takes me on great adventures, but also takes lovely pictures of adventures and was kind enough to share them with me so I could share them on my blog.

Clearly this takes me much more concentration than most.

Shout out to Ben for making sure that I never slipped and died with all the ice and rocks that really brought out my clumsy side. But, let's be honest, I don't think I have a non-clumsy side.

Glad to have great friends, great adventures, and great places to go exploring. 

I guess if warm weather means more adventures like these, I might not be that mad about it. I might even be excited about it. Okay. You caught me; I am excited about it. (Seriously I just jinxed us all. Now it's going to get freezing again. I'm sorry!!)

peace. love. and hikes.

my thoughts on love and Valentine's Day

So, I know that Valentine's Day has already passed, and you're probably already sick of it. But, last week seemed too early to talk about it, and now I'm just going to have to settle for too late.

First off, this song has been stuck in my head...

Isn't dear Ingrid right when she says all the broken hearts in the world still beat, let's not make it harder than it has to be. Amen sista.

Sometimes I feel like love should make me bitter, and there have been many times in my life when it did. It has been really hard watching as a lot of my friends fall in love, find significant others, and even get engaged and married, and I continue to do none of the above. It sometimes feels like an awful lot of people are joining the married/relationship club, and the singles club is starting to get a little quiet. I honestly know that I really just need to be patient because at some point I'm going to meet someone insane enough to want to marry me (...actually though I'm gunna be the greatest wife/mum/human. Ever. All you losers are missing out).

I guess even though I think I have every right to be a little bitter about Valentine's Day, I'm not. A lot of days, I'm ok with being single. It would be really fun to have someone to try new things with, get excited about seeing, and hang out with all ze time, but I don't have that, and I can't let that keep me from livin my life and doing everything I want to do. Even if I'm not in love, I sure am filled with a lot of love for this world and the humans in it. And, even if I'm not in love, I'm glad other people are. And that is what I was celebrating this Valentine's Day. I've said it many times, and I'd be happy to say it many more: I love love and I love to love love.

Don't get me wrong, I still feel bitter and annoyed sometimes cause every once in a while you just gotta let yourself feel your feels, but most of the time I'm ok with it cause I've got a whole lot of faith that it's all going to work out........but hopefully sooner rather than later. haha.

peace. love. and love.

my birthday!!!

(Insert Taylor Swift lyric about being 22 here.)

So yeah. Woof. I'm 22 now, which could not seem more old to me, but at the same time I know that I am still an infant, so yeah confliction. But, I always love my birthday. It is truly one of the greatest days of the year, cause it is not only a day where I can get away with whatever I want and use the excuse, "It's my birthday today," but also a day that never ceases to remind me that I have the most awesome friends and family ever. EVER.

I mean of course when you wake up to text messages and emails with these pictures, you KNOW you have a good day ahead of you.

My cute nephew Daniel,

my sweet puppy Eddie, 

and my best friend Kari who is on a mission.

I seriously received so much love on my birthday and spent the whole day being absolutely and completely happy. I decided to keep my celebrating small this year (you know now that I'm getting so old....) and went out to a perfect dinner with my two loves Chelsea and Alison.

 So lucky to have made friends like these when I came out to Utah.

And at dinner we even got free dessert. I at first assumed it was because it was my birthday, but then when I said something about that to the chef he just said, oh happy birthday, I had just wanted to make you guys dessert. Being a girl has some perks occasionally...like free dessert.

Birthday's are so great. I'm feeling real good about 22. I'm thinking some really incredible things are going to happen in my life between now and 23.

peace. love. and birthdays.

p.s. so that you at least believe me a little when I tell you that I am old, my application for graduation got accepted this week. 

my salt flat fun

I feel really good about the number of adventures I've been going on recently, and this weeks was particularly good. A group of us were originally going to go to Vegas for the weekend, but plans fell through, people got busy, yada yada yada. But, we figured we still needed to go somewhere, and so we decided on the salt flats at sunset (which just has a magical ring to it if you ask me). I had never been out to the slat flats before and I would have been sad if I had spent all this time in Utah and never went.

I was completely entranced, so I took lots of pictures. Unfortunately, I am a complete fool and instead of bringing my beautiful camera, I forgot (again) and had to resort to iPhone pictures (again). uhg.

The obligatory selfie. (You've missed these the last few posts, admit it.)

Seriously, anytime anyone ever wants to go on an adventure, hit. me. up. Especially when it is October and the world is perfect (really any month will do though).
This earth is so beautiful and I still have so much of it left to explore, and I'm sure you do too. So, ignore your homework/work/obligations for just a couple hours this week and go on your own adventure. You will not regret it.


peace. love. and salt.



p.s. big birthday shout out today to my big sis Rochelle. love you!!!

my one

Here's a little tbt (throwback Thursday)...on a Sunday. My girl Kate made this video with all the Spring girls at the end of our wonderful semester together. I think this video, set to the Backstreet Boys The One, pretty well sums up why I think I have the most rad friends ever. (I couldn't be there for all of the filming so if you are just looking for my spot make your way to 3:08)

I don't know what you're thinking, but I'm positive that we crushed it. 

peace. love. and the one. 

my friends and family

Aren't friends and family perfect? Well, I've been filled with both this past week and it has been so so lovely. I finally got to meet my precious nephew Daniel, or little Danny as I like to call him ;) I was also able to enjoy a visit from my cute married friends, Chandler and Alison Frame. Plus, the whole fam was here for one of my favorite holidays, the 4th of July (Go America!)

Thanks for visiting me Al and Chan, and for taking care of a little bit of my I miss my Provo friends blues.

Obviously I dressed up for the 4th, and of course I dressed up puppy too. We matched in our American flag wear and might I say, we looked fantastic. 

Baby bibs tell no lies. That's a thing right? I don't know, whatever, isn't my nephew James cute? Can't believe this seven month old is already so huge!!

But even if James is getting big, I still have tiny Daniel to snuggle with.

  Uhg, I just love my nephews SO much. 

All the Cronquist girls with their babies!!! Yes, Eddie is my baby. If I have to wake up with him in the middle of the night cause he is crying, I get to call him my baby. 

I thank Heavenly Father daily for giving me the most incredible friends and family. I am so lucky to be surrounded by intelligent, funny, beautiful, and happy people all day, erryday. My life really is great and it's the people around me that make it great. So, if you are one of those people who make my life great, THANK YOU. Thank you for adding to my happiness, making me laugh, and really, thanks for putting up with me. I love you. 

peace. love. and friends & fam. 

my half way

Spring semester is going pretty well I think. But, this blog title is not because I am halfway done with Spring, but because I am halfway done with 21. Yup, on Tuesday I was sitting on my bed doing some homework, looked at my calendar next to my bed, and realized that it was my half birthday. Naturally, I felt the need to celebrate. You may remember that my birthday is one of my favorite days of the year...ok, maybe my favorite (there are some other days that are very close though). Of course the older I get, and the further I get from being 18 (because I think being 18 forever would be absolutely perfect), and the closer I get to being an adult (I might be more already there than I think) the more scary it gets. I think Peter Pan really had it down with that just staying young forever thing.

Anyways, to celebrate I bought some new shorts, ate pazookie (pretty much a half baked cookie cake with ice cream on top) with my friend Chelsea, and then took a scooter ride with another one of my friends. Seems like  a pretty successful half birthday to me. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty close to feelin' 22. Ahhhhhh.

(I never got to blow out any candles on my actual birthday, 

so I thought I deserved to on my half birthday)

peace. love. and pazookie. 

my new nephew

Just call me Auntie Dani!!! My sister Diane had a cute little baby boy, James Royce Kendall, and I couldn't be more excited to meet the little guy when we all go home for Christmas.

I mean just look at him...

 I facetimed with the cutie the day he was born and helped the new grandma and mamma sing happy birthday to the little guy. Thank goodness for iPhones so that my mom and sister can keep sending me precious pictures like these. Clearly the first time in a car seat was not so wonderful for James, but he still looks adorable anyways. I guess Diane was excited that his going home outfit matched his car seat.

The new mom and the precious baby. Really can't wait to see the two of them!!!

But, even with all this exciting news I am still stressin' out folks!!! I have 1 week left of classes (which involves me turning in a bunch of essays and assignments, so that's super) and a week of finals. Woof. But, as a final get together of the semester all the girls, really though ALL THE GIRLS, got together for a dinner at CPK. It was fun to catch up with everyone, especially since there are so many going on missions and getting married soon. 

Love every single one of these girls, and so lucky to call them my friends!

Well, wish me luck on those papers, assignments, and finals. Goodness knows I need it. 

peace. love. and nephews. 

my twenty one years

I TURNED 21 THIS WEEK!!!! Oh boy!! Being Mormon, turning 21 doesn't really have the same significance as it does for a lot of people, but  that doesn't mean that I wasn't really excited that it was my birthday. November 14th is one of my favorite days of the year and it certainly did not disappoint this time around. Here is the run down of how I celebrated my lovely day of birth...

Ate Einsteins in bed while watching "Scrubs"

Went to my classes (uhg not the fun part)

Found out that my cute roommate/best friend got her mission call to Costa Rica

Rented the cutest puppy in the world (yeah, renting a puppy. it's a real thing)

Had people come over and play with my rented puppy

Went out to dinner with a few close friends

Invited the whole gang to Yogurtland for a little birthday yogs

and finished off the day where I started, curled up in my bed watching "Scrubs" 

I would say that it was a pretty successful day. Wouldn't you??

 Here is the sweet puppy that I rented! He was a lab mix named Bentley and he actually crawled in my lap and fell asleep. I miss him already. And on the right is my roomie Kari with her mission call to Costa Rica. Can't believe she is leaving me next semester. I'm gunna miss her like crazy!!!        

And here is me with a few of my friends at dinner. I am so lucky to have such great friends. 

I unfortunately don't have a pic from Yogurtland, but I am super grateful to everyone of my friends who came to support me and felt so loved by the turn out.

Seriously though, I felt the love in mounds from all my friends an family. You all have no idea how much it meant to me to receive all the well wishes, hugs, cards, facebook posts, tweets, instagrams, snapchats, phone calls, and texts. I am 1000% grateful for all the people in my life that made my birthday so incredible. And can't believe that I am so lucky to have so many great people in my life not only on my 21st birthday, but everyday of the year. Here's to many more birthdays that are just as fantastic as this one. 

peace. love. and birthday.