Today

I Am...

a child of God
married to the most amazing man in the world
a twin to Kylee (she has been an angel in my life)
hard on myself
thinking all the time, even if the thoughts are not always important
extremely blessed
quirky, and weird at the same time
content a lot of the time
simplistic, I don't need a lot of clothes or the cutest hair
afraid of spiders and getting my identity stolen
trying to be more optimistic
a sister to five of the best examples in my life
constantly trying to improve myself
not always smart
a dreamer (mostly a day dreamer haha)
little girl at heart
excited for the future
sensitive to others' feelings, needs, wants, and desires
nineteen years old
good at making breakfast burritos
a procrastinator (but not the extreme)
always looking for opportunities to serve others
going blind in my left eye
easy to get to know, I don't hide things about myself (except when I cry)
in love with my husband and always will be
proud of Kylee for making the ambassador team at USU
not always on top of things
going to get my bachelors in a year
in awe of my Grandma Kathy and her example of strength, kindness, and selflessness
a daughter of Rob and Becky Anderson
blond (and have so many blond moments too)
looking for employment
so blessed

I am Shaylee Anderson Leavitt

Mexico

On the way home in the big long line of cars waiting to crass the border, there were people like these ones that were walking all over selling things.

Us on the beach. We had to take individual pictures because we were the only ones on the beach, so we couldn't find someone to take a picture of the two of us together.

We went to this restaurant called La Fonda's and there was this little boy that was 9 years old walkin around and singin these gorgeous songs. They sang us a "romantic" one. The food wasn't great, but hearing that little boy sing made it worth it.

Beautiful sunset...Ah, I love sunsets!!

I love Dixon!

Dixon reading... that's basically what we did the whole time: sit on the beach and read. It was heaven. I finished two books.

This is the view from our bedroom window. It was awesome, we would wake up and roll over and just watch the waves!

This is the front of the beach house, I think it looks like a castle, and to me it was one!

This is the border... Notice there isn't a line to cross into Mexico... But there was a huge line to cross into the US. This is because Mexicans don't care who comes into their country, they didn't even check our passports.

This is the designated driver. I'm glad Dixon is a good driver... driving in Mexico didn't even phase him, I don't even know how to follow half the signs on Mexican freeways.

We had a blast... It felt so good to get away from school and work and to relax. One night we ate at this local pizzeria, that pizza was fantastic, they made it right in front of us. One of our favorite things to do wherever we go is to find good places to eat:) We couldn't have asked for better weather, it was 75 degrees with a slight breeze and partly cloudy. I got fried to a crisp, I need to use more sunscreen next time, but the burn was worth it. And to top things off, the Rebs beat BYU on Saturday. What a fun trip, we can't wait to go back!

Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day!

I must admit, I'm not the biggest fan of Valentines Day, I think it's overrated. But it is a lot better day now that I am married and have a Valentine of my own! We had a fun day. Dixon and I went down to Saint George to check out their Gold's Gym (Some of you might laugh at this, but our Gold's is tiny, the equipment is getting old and worn out, and we don't have a cool pool and sauna like the one in Saint George). Seriously, when I stepped foot in that Gym, it was like a palace compared to ours, that place is HUGE and their equipment is so nice, and I just can't say enough about it. If we had a gym like that in Cedar City, I think all my spare time would be spent there... not kidding! We left a little early due to a theft problem, I won't go into details there, but next time, we are leaving stuff in our car not in a locked locker in the locker room... because things get stolen.


We then indulged ourselves after a good hour workout at Larsen's Frostop. It's not often that you hear the words "I like deep fried things" come out of my mouth, because the truth of the matter is, I really don't like deep fried things. However, their fries and piccadilly chips are amazing! Mmmm it was so good. We had a good time people watching there also (some people are such interesting parents to their children). Nothin is better after a good meal than a good nap, so we came home and crashed!


I told Dixon at the beginning of the week that I didn't want to go out to dinner because everyone and their dog goes to dinner on Valentines and I wasn't going to compete with them. So we made a romantic dinner of steak and potatoes complete with candles! It was a lot of fun. We then watched a Fireproof (a movie with my childhood crush, kirk cameron, that I have been wanting to see for a while). Despite the cheesy acting, the movie had a good message... and you walked away feeling pretty good about life, which is always a good thing.


So that was our first Valentines Day as a married couple! Oh, and yes Dixon got me some great Valentine's gifts:) I love him more everyday, and feel so blessed and grateful to have him in my life. He is such a hard worker, and always has such a positive attitude. He always helps around the house without being asked, and he always compliments me in all that I do. He is slow to criticize me and quick to love me, He helps me to become better everyday. He pushes me to improve myself, he helps and supports me in achieving my goals, He is so patient with me...especially when I get in "a mood", he truly is my better half. I love you Dixon!

Me

Alyssa tagged me, and since I don't want bad Karma, I'm doin this tag.

Six random things about me:

I have really weird dreams. ALL the time. Sometimes I dream that I'm being chased by some killer and I can't seem to find a good hiding spot (this could be due to the fact that we watch 24 a lot). Sometimes I dream that I suddenly have twin babies named Lilly and Lyla(don't ask me how my brain came up with those names). Sometimes I dream that Dixon is dying and I am sobbing and sobbing and I wake up in a cold sweat (I tend to have a bad day when I wake up from a dream like that). Sometimes I dream that I forgot my locker com in Jr. High and i'm going to be late to class (I was always OCD about getting to class ontime). Sometimes I dream that I am fat and ugly and I don't know how I got that way. Sometimes I dream that i'm about to go on stage and perform and I'm the lead and I can't remember my lines. Sometimes I dream that I have super powers and can fly.

I love to exercise. You could never tell by just looking at me...I wish that I had some tone in my arms and legs, but I don't think that will happen. For me, exercising is a release, it gives me something to look forward to, and something that helps me deal with the stress of everyday life. In someways I guess you could say it helps me to be me. Without it I am a mess. My very favorite thing is step class, I secretly want to be an aerobics instructor.

I love to write letters. This probably has to do with the fact that I love to get letters.. I just think that we have so much email and text messaging these days that it sure is nice to just get a hand written letter in the mail. And I never run out of letters to write, because there are so many people in my life who mean the world to me and I want them to know that. I often feel like I come up short in this area, because there are so many letters in my head that I need to write, but it takes me a while for me to get it down on paper. I also LOVE cards. sometimes I'll just look at the card section for fun when I'm grocery shopping.. I'm kind of obsessed.

I am really good at keeping the house clean, but I have a hard time putting my clothes away. When I do my laundry I always put them away, but at the end of the day when I'm getting ready for bed, I always throw my clothes on the floor. Sometimes it takes me a few days to put those clothes away. I just have to have my little area that can be messy... it's kind of weird.

I secretly love country music. It's kind of funny cuz I don't know the words to many songs, usually I have a hard time memorizing lyrics, but when it comes to country, I seem to know a lot of words! I sing my heart out to it in the car a lot on my way to and from school, but I don't have hardly any country music on my ipod, I just enjoy listening to it in the car or online sometimes.

I'm kind of shy when i'm around a lot of people. I like small groups best, because I like to talk to people and get to know them, but when i'm in huge groups I feel a little out of place. I'm trying to work on that though, and I can pretend to not be shy a lot of the time, when on the inside I'm feelin a tad bit shy.

updates

-It took me about two hours to shovel all the snow on our driveway... it just kept snowing and snowing
-My psychology teacher doesn't even know the answers to questions on the test that he wrote
-Lyla is a mooch, whenever we eat dinner at the table, she has to sit on one of our laps... she thinks she'll be able to sneak a bite
-Still haven't had a diet coke, though somedays I feel like I'm gonna break down and get one... but I'm going strong
-I'm on the fourth book in the Children of the Promise series... love it!
-I wish I wouldn't have quit piano lessons so soon
-We finally got our guest bedroom/office lookin amazing... I'll have to take pics and post it
-I like to go to the gym everyday (except Sunday of course)... I just do... it makes me happy!
-Wii fit is a lot of fun, I am kind of addicted to it
-Dixon brought me home tulips today... it was our eight month mark yesterday... he's the best!
-I'm ready for the summer, I'm so sick of the cold
-I really want to find a cute swimsuit
-It's been a long week... I'm so ready for the weekend!!

So grateful

It's been an emotional week. My second mom when I was growing up, Pam, passed away over the weekend at the age of 38 after a long battle with cervical cancer. She still has two kids in elementary school, and one in Jr. High, one in highschool. My heart just hurts for those kids!
Pam and my mom were always good friends, and when we lived in California...away from family... she was always over, and we would always go over to her house and she would babysit us and take us fun places. We went to her house when there was a big flood and we couldn't get home... i got really bad hives because I was so scared. Her parents were my grandparents: they had a pool in their backyard and we would always go over there and swim. And I would play grocery store in their pantry. When we moved to Layton, UT, she moved to Layton too. As I got older I would babysit her kids. She let us stay at her house when Kenadee was being born, and she was the one that woke me up the next morning to tell me I had a new sister named Kenadee (and I thought that was the uggliest name, I thought Pam was making it up. I love the name now though). One day she went and got a lot of canvas and had all of us kids paint our favorite flowers on it and then she hung it up in her kitchen. She always loved animals, and I always thought it was so funny that she had a dog named Kylee. I remember that she would always make Mac n Cheese with hotdogs (which I never did get used to). She's really did help raise me.. a lot of my childhood memories involve Pam.

Especially at this time, I'm so grateful for the knowledge that we can see our loved ones again. With the passing of Dixon's Gram, and Pam this week, it's caused me to really reflect. I just feel so blessed that Heavenly Father has blessed me with people in my life, I learn from them constantly, simply by their examples... they lift and inspire me and help me to be a better person. I truly do feel so blessed to have gotten to know these two wonderful people. They have both inspired me, have been examples to me, have helped me to be a better person, and have taught me how to have fun! I am so excited to get to see them again, and to smile and laugh with them again.

I have been blessed

An excerpt from my journal 12/08:

"Gram is such an amazing woman. I feel so extrememly blessed to have gotten to know her a little bit. I treasure the conversations we had at the beach, and I will never forget her phonecall when Dixon and I were engaged and she was just calling to check on me. She has been so accepting of me since day one! I admire her zest for life, I loved her colored fingernails at the beach and going to the movie with her and Ky. She is so classy, she always looks so beautiful even when she's not feeling well. I know I haven't even gotten to know her as well as I would like to, but she truly has touched me. I love how she enjoys serving others the way that she does. Already, I have learned so much from her, i feel so blessed to know her."