Simply Shelby

When I was a kid my dad would let me sit on the top of the couch and brush his hair. My dad has always had a great head of hair and I remember loving to brush my very manly fathers hair. I used to love to watch my dad build things. When you're three watching your dad build anything was neat. It happens to everyone- you grow up. You forget things like brushing your dads hair and watching him build things. One day you wake up and realize that your father has built many things over the years. He has built a family, he has built a home, he has built a career, he has built a company, he has built a marriage, and he has built children. My father's day card this year (which I haven't mailed off yet, awful, I know) starts off by saying, "Dad, I know we don't always share our feelings." This could not be a more perfect statement for my dad and I. I am a lot like my dad. I'm like my dad in stubbornness as well as in determination. If there is a will, there is a way ...

Honestly. Can you please look at the pictures above and admit that I live in the most beautiful place ever? Life has taught me a lot lately about perspective. Everyone views things in their own way. Everyone has different beliefs and desires but we all strive to be happy. Tonight for FHE (Family Home Evening) I had the opportunity to hike in the beautiful mountains with nine other people. I was overcome with the love my Heavenly Father has for me and everyone around me. When you get to see the world in a new perspective, let's say from the top of a mountain, it's hard to question the reality of God's infinite love. Jesus Christ lives. He created this beautiful earth so we could live, grow, and experience things. Saturday my car window decided it didn't want to roll back up. I tried and tried to push it up but it wasn't budging. Today I took it to get it fixed. They told me it was going to cost over $200. $200 is a lot of money for a col...

I've been waiting for this day to arrive for a long time. I have reached the 300 day mark since I began my journey west. 300 Days. Holy Cow. I wish I could sum up these three hundred days into a nice little sentence, but these last 300 days have had more emotion and thought than one sentence could say. At some point in their lives, everyone leaves home. Kids go off to college, people get married, people move, people grow up, sometimes people just need a change. When I made the decision to pack up and leave home I didn't realize that I would be leaving such a big piece of my heart behind. It's the place where my friends are, where my family is, where my love of an open road lies, where life was easier and way less busy. I had no idea what to expect. I was ready for wide open spaces and a whole lot of new faces. I still get homesick. I don't think that will ever change. As much as Utah is great, Florida has so many great things about it too. I miss the small-town feel, th...

It was a shocking revelation when I realized that my high school is having another graduation today. Its been two years since I walked across that stage. How on earth does time go by that fast?! Since I'm older and have been out of the "high school" life for two years I finally realized a lot of things I wish I had known then. I wish I would have known that it goes by SO incredibly fast. The memories I made are now just memories. You learn so much about life in high school, but I realized you learn so much more from moving away from home and going off to college. I had so many struggles then and I look back now and realize how I was the creator of those challenges and It could have easily been avoided. I should have listened. Off the serious note, here are a few funny things I learned in high school: 1. You dress up for homecoming, even if you aren't a legit Ninja Turtle. I took one for the team. 2. It's never a bad thing to have shoes that sparkle.  ...

The most beautiful woman on this earth is my mother. She is full of love and she is full of life. The older I get, the more I realize how much I'm like her. How lucky am I? I have the exact same hands as my mom and my body shape is becoming a bit more similar to hers each day (which is not a bad thing). My mom is the toughest person I know and I can't imagine life without her. I live over 2,000 miles away from her at this stage of my life but I still call her every day and it always surprises me how we can always find something to talk about. We giggle about the funny things, we cry about the sad things, and we work through the difficult things. As a 20 year old girl I can still cry to my mother when I'm struggling and she will listen and make sure I'm okay. They say that there is no love like a mothers, but I believe there truly is no love like a daughters love for her mother. It's hard to express my gratitude for her because she means so much to me. I love her ...

It's official! I survived my first semester at BYU! After a long week of finals and much studying and praying, I finally was done. I spent the days after finals rushing to get things ready to move out and move into my new place. I now live in The Lion's House. It's a old beauty with a lot of character. Here are some pictures: My new roommates are fantastic and have made me feel so at home. I couldn't have gotten any luckier! Spring semester might kill me, but I'm determined to do what I have to do to stay positive.  I'm reminded each and every day how great life is. I live a great life and I try not to forget it!

I tried to find a funny eCard that could sum up my thoughts on finals but this picture was all I found and it ended up making me laugh. Finals week at BYU could be summed up in three words: stress, anxiety, relief. Stress while studying, anxiety while taking, and relief when they are over. Honestly, they haven't killed me. More than anything, it has made me forgetful and scattered. I feel like my mind is going a million miles an hour in a million different places trying to remember a million different things. I am surviving so far with the help of food and diet coke. On another note, it would only be appropriate to share my thoughts on the Boston Bombings. When it happened, I didn't know anything had happened until my roommate told me. We watched the news and tried to make sense of it all. I wanted to know why. Then we watched the news all day when they had shut down Boston and the surrounding areas and waited and watched for this story to unfold even more. I was on a date ...