september

Lincoln rarely sends me snapchats but whenever he does they are either really weird, or of my nieces and nephews. Either way they make me real happy.

Shout out to my bestie for getting a boyfriend! And shout out to me for meeting him on Jake Grafs speed boat over the summer before Beks met him. And even bigger shout out to me for instantly knowing who her new crush was when she told me his name is Alex and she met him at Lake Powell with Jake Graf. It's moments like this that make me feel like I'm still connected to home and my friends lives :) #dreamcouple #cantwaittothirdwheel

This is the view I often get when hopping off of the dart after Sunday dinners at the penthouse.

I used to play 'mail' all the time at Amber Graffs house as a child so I was thrilled when the boys wanted to play it. They weren't that amused but it was fun while it lasted ;)

 The Torres kids sent a picture of themselves wearing the clothes my mom bought for them while she was in Ireland and Italy with me. I love that Max flashes some sort of sign in every picture he takes.

How cute is Morris? I can't wait to finally live nearby him and become his favorite aunt! Jk. I know that's impossible seeing as Brynne has a handful of amazing sisters, but at least he'll know who I am and like me, right? ;)

We needed to get out of the house so we decided to go to Phoenix Park. It's the biggest inner city park in Europe. The zoo is actually in the park if that is any indicator of how big the park is.

I love the walk downtown from Pierce station to my friend Eric's penthouse. I really need to take a picture of the balcony view because it's incredible. This particular evening my heart was feeling extra full as I was watching the sun set, and listening to the "fall took me" playlist I follow on Spotify. There's just so much to feel happy about.

We learned how to make sushi and had a sushi night! Later that night my friend Nathan was giving me a ride to the train station and when we got to his car he saw that his trunk had been broken into and his luggage had been stolen. He said that the only thing of value in the luggage was his passport, iPad, and his scriptures. His iPad ended up being in his backseat but it was still waaaay crappy that his passport had been stolen. The next morning he messaged me and told me that Sister Mckendrick called and said that a bag was thrown over the fence of the Finlgas Stake center with his passport, scriptures and a few other things of his in it. Is that not the craziest? He never freaked out when he found out his stuff had been stolen, so I guess he just had faith that it would all work out :)

We went to the Irish National Stud which is basically this place with beautiful gardens and lots of thoroughbred race horses. The national stud is a racehorse that Ireland owns that is used to breed more race horses. The horses were gorgeous and unusually soft. I guess that's the difference between ranching horses and racing horses.

The horses had the best names!

We went to Wexford for the day and went to an outdoor museum. Our main destination was this supposedly awesome lighthouse but we decided to stop at this outdoor museum on our way there. It turned out the lighthouse was another hour away which meant we would basically be driving to Kerry. Sooo we decided to pass on it. It was still a great day out and we had a good laugh at the outdoor museum. The actors took their fighting very seriously and they definitely weren't acting.

The boys lit up when the men put the armor on them.

What a unique job to have.

I peeked through a little window and this is what I saw. It was frightening to say the least.

It started pouring and of course none of us thought to bring an umbrella so we took cover.

We stopped on the side of the road to check out the view. Do you see the random giraffe in the background? That is Ireland for you.

I've really love the sisters in Ireland.  There aren't a lot of members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints over here, but I didn't even realize this until someone gave me the numbers a couple of weeks ago. Although it is small, the members make up for it with their strong testimonies. I know that sounds corny, but it is 100% true. It's been a long time since I've felt such a strong bond with other members in my branch (ward) and stake. Everyone is just so welcoming from the get go. It actually makes me really excited to go home and try to create the same type of experience in whatever ward I end up in. These sisters have taught me a lot about putting down my wall and welcoming and loving people and I truly can't wait to hopefully carry these lessons with me throughout my life.