HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

i'm way over due for a posting. i'm sorry, i'm sure no one actually reads my blog because obviously, i never update it! WELL. here i am! on facebook i saw a bunch of people that seemed so excited for the new year, making this last year seem like it was the worst year of their life. it made me contemplate my year. and honestly. it was a really great year.

i began the year with my family here at home. that was awesome since apparently it will be the last time in a long time that we're all together.

then i went to school and had the best roommates of all time! well, no...  cuz i've had a lot of good roommates. but it was like the ideal semester. good classes, good roommates, good memories, good laughs. we just had a blast. we all got along so great. i mean sure, we definitely had our fair share of drama, i had to start seeing a counselor! but the good times definitely out weigh the bad times.

my parents and my sister came to rexburg in the spring! because eric and ashlyn graduated!! w00t for them!

then i came home and worked for a month. (not long enough to get really sick of it)

i flew to Portland for a few days. got to see my sister and my girls. yet again. i also saw my old roommate Emily. which was extremely exciting. especially now that i know she's on a mission! AND i got to see my best friend Sammi! who is also ON HER MISSION. yeah. we cheated. lol. she was serving in Vancouver WA so we just crossed the river and went to lunch with her and her companion! :-)

Mt. McKinley. or Denali. 

then. i... (dun dun dun) flew to ALASKA. i lived there with  my dad for like 5.5 weeks! i took one of my favorite classes of my college experience. Love, Sex and Heartbreak. a class about marriage. from a sociological, non-LDS perspective. eye opening and insightful. we also happened to go on some adventures all over Alaska. well, not ALL over Alaska, but.. yeah kinda. we lived in Fairbanks. drove north and crossed the arctic circle and the Yukon river, we drove south west to Denali (saw the tallest mountain in north america) we drove farther south to Anchorage, we took the train even farther south to Seward. we took a sight seeing boat even farther! it was DIVINE. i loved every single minute of it. we watched 3 seasons of Bones. and a whole bunch of movies. it was seriously so amazing. i spent over a MONTH in Alaska. i turned 22 in alaska! how exciting is that!? i think it's wicked awesome.

now notice. this is mile ZERO. 

and THEN. we DROVE home. okay. this is seriously amazing stuff okay? we drove across Canada! we spent like 5 days driving home. it was so great! we continued my temple bucket list item: go to, and take a picture with every temple in North America.

notice the mile marker. 1410 miles to go.

then i came home. and i worked more!

i had a week off of work (something i didn't even ask for!) in.. august? july? i can't remember. but dad and i drove east to visit eric and ash in Connecticut. we took a detour through michigan and canada, and arrived in hot, humid, muggy, nasty, connecticut. BUT we made the most of it. Ash and i went up to Boston for a day. we spent a day traveling the CT coast, had some gourmet cupcakes, went to the beach near sunset, took lots of pics, watched Salt, just some really great stuff. :-)

my car nearly broke down on the way home. so i stopped in the middle of Pennsylvania for a new wheel bearing.


at the end of August my friend tiffany flew in and we went to Noah's Ark and played in wisconsin before leaving for school. we picked up our roommate Jess and headed to g-ma obas in Colorado. we spent a few days there relaxing and prepping for the semester.

MY LAST SEMESTER OF COLLEGE.
it started with a couple trips to UT. for Lion King on broadway with Tiff. we happened to see some old family friends.. no... we happened to sit right next to tony and elis old best friends! then Erin and I went down for General Conference, accompanied by Josh and Tyler. we all had a blast. i love my little sister!! we even got to see Jodi. we continued my temple bucket list item. I started dating this really amazing guy. i took a photography class that taught me so much. i continued to have my amazing friends come in and visit me at the bookstore. i spent some time at the library, not as much as i should've. i found some other good study spots. i picked up my old love of playing the piano, and i realized how relaxing it is.

then.. dun dun dun. I GRADUATED!!! mommy and daddy came and we went to dinner with fergie before he left. i GRADUATED. (sorry, just had to say it again) i spent the night with my little sister, erin. she helped me pack. she's seriously amazing. i skipped the other half of graduation... because... i wanted to! i said buhbye to mommy and erin and they drove north and east to HOME. daddy and i drove south to UT. saw eric and ash. i saw the lights on temple square for the first time. BEAUTIFUL. i'm glad i had the camera with me. then dad and i had dinner with eric and ash. the next day dad and i started driving. but we had to stop. cuz we totaled our car. yeah. we rolled the highlander. it was pretty much the scariest thing of my entire life.

luckily we have amazing family in UT and they saved our life. lol. well, at least they let us stay there as we recovered and figured out when to go home. mom found us tickets and we flew home.



i ended the year nice and quiet. watching movies with mom and dad. we had our traditional tempura dinner. it was perfect. only thing that would've made it better would be having fergie here. but i survived.

so here we are. that was my year! in a nut shell. haha.
now onto a list of things i'd love to accomplish or WILL accomplish this year:

be maid of honor in Gills wedding
go to: Washington DC, Hawaii, Portland
go visit fergie in Kansas City
Harry Potter land in Orlando
buy a new digital SLR Canon 60D would be my dream

well folks. i hope you enjoyed my year in a nut shell. i think the only thing i would add is a bunch of photography and soccer games. otherwise. you have read my year! haha

i love you all! thank you for reading this. if you did.