What I'm Thankful For

With Thanksgiving break coming up, I am getting more and more anxious to go home and be with my family! I miss them so much! I got an email today from Gramps with some pictures from Hilton Head (thanks!!!) and this one was my favorite. I love these two so much and I am so grateful for them! I'm sure after break you'll get to see the other three (yes...blizzard is included) studs that I'm SO happy are in my life! Thanks again Grandpa for the pictures!

CUSCO!

Today I met with Alberto (the Peruvian Professor) to discuss Peru a little further and I ended up finding out where I'll be staying! He said the first four days we're in Peru, we will tour Lima and then fly to the different parts where each of us will be living. I'm going to be in Cusco! Here are some pictures of the city. Alberto said the elevation is twice as high as Provo and that it's a very mountainous (is that even a word?) region. I'll be leaving just three days after exams are over and be there for all of may, june, and most of July. By then, JD will have been gone for a whole year! Hopefully that will make time pass a little quicker! Anyway, check out the pictures... it is beautiful!!

Happy Halloween!

Trick or treat!! Here are some pictures from my Halloween'ing... enjoy!

...yes I was an ice cream sundae one night!

Newest Employee at GAP

Yes ladies and gentleman... you are correct. Not only do I have a job, but it's pretty much the greatest one EVER! I picked up an application on Tuesday, had an interview on Wednesday night, and was offered the job Thursday afternoon! You could say it was a pretty great week. I really am so freaking excited! Let's be honest... I've been raised as GAP child. For heavens sake, my screen name was AKEGAPGIRL and I dreamed of having my license plate say, "GAPGIRL6" all growing up. Yeah. I was lame...don't remind me. Anyway, I have the most amazing discount which I can't decide whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, and I love all my co-workers. I've been training all weekend and have officially been "gapified." If you don't have a GAPcard yet, let's chat. I can give you a million reasons why you should. In addition, dad...if you're reading this, we're going to go on a little shopping spree in November and I'm going to hook you up with some great jeans because I have become an expert in this field in a matter of hours. So basically, in case you can't tell... I absolutely LOVE my job!

And just so you all know, my dream license plate never happened. Don't worry.

HELLO PERU!

Ah! I had my interview today and I was accepted into the program that takes students to Peru to volunteer in orphanages! I am so excited! I will be in Peru for a little over two months (May and June). The professor that oversees the program told me all about what I'll be experiencing and he even said that my method of transportation will be a donkey! How crazy is this?! I am very, very happy to have this opportunity and I'm sure you will all love seeing my pictures and hearing about my travels there! I just thought I would share the good news!

Blast from the past

So two of my roomates and I were driving past Helaman Halls (where we lived last year) and decided it would be fun to take a nice little trip down memory lane. While we were there, we snapped a few pictures.

First: A nice little remake of a picture I have of J
2nd: David John Hall itself!
3rd: This vent thing that JD used to crawl down into a scare people... until they bolted it down!
4th: My freshman 15 in one photo
5th: The doorway that all the nasty couples would do their thang at... Being the anti-PDA'ers that we were, I think JD and I may have been one of the only couples that didn't use that doorway for that purpose.

Provo Pictures!

Welcome to Provo

Well, it's been over a month since I've updated this guy... and I thought I probably should get on that since I always give Jenna a hard time :) I've been back in Provo since August 20th and it's...well, Utah. Really though, it's nice to be back and it's weird to find myself calling this place 'home.' It's weird to not have my best pal here with me enjoying the Provo scene, but give it about 22 more months ;) I've met a lot of awesome people since I've been here and been doing my best to live it up.

I discovered a gelato cafe here in Provo! It just opened 2 months ago, and it's probably best that it wasn't around freshman year to contribute to my thighs! It is DELICIOUS...and I've been to my fair share of gelato cafes... this one definitely tops them all. There's actually a picture in the slideshow with my roomates and I leaving the gelato cafe with our take-out pints! Don't worry guys... I've been making frequent visits to the gym!

Things in the apartment are just swell and it is finally starting to get that 'home-ish' feel. I LOVE my room and I will be posting pictures of our place as soon as everything is settled in. Along with moving into my first apartment, I've also experienced a few other "firsts" -- one of which was my first real cooking experience away from home. Honestly... you would've all been completely shocked! It was DELICIOUS! We took plenty of pictures so that I could have some proof for JD! I have a feeling I'm going to be the next Martha ;)

Classes are going well... so far. However, I will say they are starting to become much more difficult but I just keep trying to remind myself that my GE's will be over SOON! Really though, everything is just the same old, same old. The only out of the ordinary thing that's happened lately is that Pres. Hinckley came for devotional on Tuesday (there are also a few pictures of that as well). Not too many exciting things have happened other than that though that I can think of at the moment. For now, enjoy my pictures! :)

Last days in the burg

Well, I am leaving this Saturday (tomorrow) to start my journey back to Provo, Utah! I've had a great summer, but it's time to leave Ohio. I have been dying to go for a while now, but I was sitting on the couch the other day watching Oprah (my favorite) and I started realizing that this is probably my last time to actually live at home. I have so many plans to travel and do crazy things, and other than my holiday breaks, I really won't be around much. I'm not going to lie.. I kind of got a little sad. I will miss my family A TON once I go back out there, but I know they can't live without their favorite child and sister for too long, so they'll be out to visit! :) Here are some pictures from my last few days here in good old Perrysburg.

NOTE: If you notice some weird stuff going on with my mom's eyes, it's because she got surgery on them last week. It was pretty nasty looking the first few days... if you want to see pictures, I'll post them. I just don't want to scar everyone for life! Please comment!

Feeding the ducks!

So this new family just moved into our ward this week and they called yesterday to see if I could babysit tonight so they could go out to dinner. Since I have basically no life now, I said I could! No regrets! Let me tell you... I fell in love with these kids. They were seriously adorable and I am SO sad that I'm leaving next weekend for school and I don't get to spend more time with them! Caleb is 1 1/2, Dallin is 4 1/2, and Leah is 6. Leah is starting a new business with her "leaf warmers" (a.k.a. two leaves with the stems tied together). They are only 10 cents and quite fashionable decor -- I highly recommend them ;) I purchased two of my own... take a look at the pictures.. she has a whole box full! We had so much fun riding bikes around, stopping at the pool to "dip our toes in," and feeding the ducks! I swear every duck in the pond surrounded us.. and they were huge fans of Dallin since he still had bread left! Enjoy the pictures from my wonderful Friday night!

Rasmussen Choro Update!

Here are some pictures I stole from his sister Jenn (thank you!!) that she took when they dropped him off in the MTC. Yesterday JD hit his one month mark! It's weird... it went by really fast, but at the same time, it seems like he left forever ago. So much has happened since then! I got a letter from him this weekend and he is still doing great! It seems like his Japanese is really coming along, which is great! The older guys in his zone leave for Japan this week. In his letter last week, he made me laugh when he said seeing them get ready to go to Japan gives him hope that people do actually leave the MTC! J's also been called to serve as the new Zone leader with his companion once the older guys head out. He really is doing so great and I am so proud of him. He's such a good example and such a hard worker with an enormous amount of faith.

For any of you who know me fairly well, JD has pretty much been my life since last October. Because of that, I find myself talking about him and telling stories about things that happened with us A LOT. So many things remind me of him, and to all of you who have had to deal with that... thank you! I know it's probably pretty obnoxious after a while, but it's kind of how I deal :) What's even more fun than telling stories about him though, is hearing them! I love getting his letters and reading about everything that is happening, but it's also fun hearing things from other people! Today I was on the phone with my aunt who has two little fou-year old twin girls. They live pretty close to Provo so JD got to hang out with them every once in a while...they loved to give him a hard time! Anyway, while I was talking to her, she was telling me how there was a tall, blonde boy riding his bike by their house. The girls saw him and asked their mom who it was. She told them his name, and they said they thought he looked like JD! I thought it was cute that they still even remembered what JD looked like since it's been almost five months since they've seen him! Anyway, just a fun little story that I enjoyed hearing! If you ever have any, let me know! I love hearing them! :)

Just kidding!

Well, turns out my goodbyes to my friends weren't really until this past Sunday morning. Amelia and Jenni talked me into asking my parents if I could go with them to Charleston on Wednesday-- and to my surprise, my parents said yes! So I went to Charleston for about 4 days. It was great to see where the two of them go to school, see their new house, and meet their friends! Here are a few pictures from the trip... the first one is just of me and my two best friends before we went to dinner at a cute little Irish place downtown. The second is of Claire and I at Folly Beach in Charleston. The third is just of Claire, Amelia, and me after dinner one night on King Street. The fourth is of Jenni and I in her NEW bedroom! I wish you could see the whole room...it looks so good! And the last one is of Emma (their friend at school I got to meet!), Amelia, and me at dinner on the last night there. It was a great time and I'm so glad I got to go! I figure I owe it to them since Amelia's been to Utah twice now, and Jenn's been there three times! Maybe I'll even make it out there again sometime during the school year.... if they're lucky! ;)

Goodbyes to my Charleston ladies!

Well, tonight I had to say goodbye to my best friends (Amelia & Jenni). They go to school at College of Charleston in South Carolina and are heading back tomorrow for school. I was so busy this summer, I feel like I barely got to see them! Tonight we went with all the girls (minus Grace, who had to work) to Zia's on the docks for dinner and hung out together for our last night. Here are a few pictures of us all together, and then one of me, Jenni, and Claire being dorks!

Oh! And p.s. we dyed Amelia's hair last night! It's SO dark now! Don't you love it!? :)

EFY-Indiana & Kentucky Sessions!

Summa, Summa, Summatime

Hanging out with J in California!

A catch up on my summer!

Although Facebook ends up being my main means of communication with most people, this seems to be the best way for all of my family members to see what I'm up to while I'm away from home!  I'm still at home hanging out with the family before I head back out to Provo in about three weeks so it's just been the same old, same old.  

This summer has been great!  JD came out to Ohio to visit in May for a week and then I went out to California in June for 10 days.  We had a great time together, but it was pretty hard to say our final goodbye!  We know this is most definitely the right thing for both of us right now though.  After California, I went to Indiana where I had the GREAT opportunity to be an EFY counselor for a group of 14-15 year olds.  It was a great week and I was able to learn so much!  The week after that, I was able to go to Hilton Head Island, SC (our annual vacation) with all of my relatives.  As usual, it was a blast to get to spend time with everyone!  I came home and had a week off, and then I was off to Kentucky for my 2nd week of EFY!  KY was AWESOME!  I had 16-18 girls and they were seriously amazing.  The spirit was so strong that week.  I felt so lucky to have been able to have those girls in my group.   

JD has been gone for almost a month now and things are going great!  He loves the MTC and is learning so much!  9 of the 12 elders in his district are already familiar with Japanese so he was pretty intimidated at first, but he's doing awesome and always writes different things for me in my letters in Japanese!  This week he showed me how to write my name a few different ways!  I think I'm going to start a journal full of all the different words and phrases he shows me so I can kind of get a better feel for the language myself!  Rasmussen Choro (Elder Rasmussen) is currently serving as the district leader over the elders in his district.  Getting and sending letters between the two of us is great!  I really am confident that we're doing this the right way.  So many people get so caught up in the romantic part of their relationship while the guy is on his mission, but we've gone the other direction.  Our letters consist of teaching each other what we're learning and different thoughts or insights we've had throughout the week.  Through this, I think we've both learned so much!  One of my session directors at EFY spoke to us about how your relationship with him/her is only as strong as your relationship with Heavenly Father.  He gave an awesome talk and it was great for me to hear what he had to say.  I think that's part of the reason why JD being gone has been so easy this far.    

I'll post some pictures from my summer, but that's pretty much it so far!