Today, has been one of those days, where I look around and embrace all that I truly take for granted. Maybe I drive an old, beat up car, maybe I don’t live in a enormous house over looking all of Utah, maybe I don’t have a father figure or a functional normal American family and maybe I don’t get all that I want right when I want it, BUT you have to look at it all from the other side of the lake. At least I have a car to get me to the places I need and want to be so I can see who I want and make endless memories with the most amazing friends I surround myself with, my house may be a crazy heap of animals and laundry but that doesn't mean I don’t have the most wondrous family and memories from the time I was five until now to fill in those walls with me, I don’t have a great, dependable Dad, but I have the worlds most INCREDIBLE Mom to make up for ANYTHING he has ever done to hurt me. My mom is my role model; I have never met someone as courageous and giving as her.

When I was a little girl, my favorite book was "The giving tree" and I remember when I would read it, I always thought that the giving tree was exactly like my mom. From the time I was little, I knew no matter what it would cost her, and she would do anything for her girls. She really has done anything and everything for me and there are definitely days I take way to much out on her, say things I don’t mean and don’t show her NEAR the respect she deserves, but not only is she GIVING, she is forGIVING. She honestly is the best thing in my life and when I need someone at 3 in the morning when something stupid has happened and I just need to cry, or talk, I take two steps down the hall, knock on the door and know exactly who I can depend on. Not only is she my mom, but she is my best friend, and no one will ever comprehend or come close to the relationship we share.

As for everything else, I look around me and think "Where the heck has my summer gone?", this summer tops any other summer I have yet to encounter. Which has honestly caught me by major surprise seeing as I have lost people in my life due to graduation, people I know I'll never see or hear from again and one in particular person I thought I never would loose, ever. But I’m not sad? I have spent this whole summer doing exactly what I want to do, no one tells me when and where to be. I couldn’t have asked for anything better to start off my summer then an amazing, unforgettable senior trip. To this day, that week is the highlight of my life. 7 days surrounded by your best friends. It was remarkable. People tell me all the time "Your senior trip looked so fun!" Yeah, a picture says a thousand words right? Wrong, those pictures do not COME CLOSE to representing what fun we had and half of the trip? Not even documented.

I have realized recently how much of an impact having a positive attitude can completely CHANGE your life, because this summer could of gone two ways, up or down, I chose up and I seriously am convinced that I have never been happier then I have been recently and all of it has been due to my outlook on life and the happiness I no longer crave, but made exist everyday, in my life.

I need to remember this when the middle of August hits me smack in the face, when half of me is shipped off to Italy, then to college. No, I myself am going no where, but my best friend is. Then a week later go Mandy, Kori, Bree and Amy. These girls are girls I have been with for years, and now that we are all going are separate ways and crossing our fingers that things don’t change, we need to realize it isn't life that’s going to separate us, yeah we will be hours or states away, but with the right attitude and the right amount of effort, things don’t HAVE to change.

"The future depends on what you do in the present" - Gandhi