So in roughly 7 hours, 2012 will be gone and 2013 will be here. If this next year flies by as fast as this past one has, I’ll be one happy girl. In honor of 2012, I wanted to make a list of things, people, experiences, etc. that made 2012 an awesome year.

• I started the year with a kiss from my best friend. Maybe I’ll end the year that way too!
• I got sing and dance on the stage of Davis High with all my Productions friends one last time
• After a crazy audition, 6 callbacks, a lost voice, hours of rehearsals and lots of fun performances, I finished the One Act Play Festival, even going to the state competition in one show.
• I spent lots of hours upstairs in Terri Hall’s room, doing DTV and figuring out how much I loved it.
• I spent lots of time with my friends, doing crazy things and having so much fun.
• I went to Prom with the most amazing guy in the world.
• I had a blast with my family for the last few months before I moved out.
• I studied SUPER hard and got a 4.0 my last semester of high school.
• I did well on all my AP tests after studying my brains out
• I graduated high school, went to lots of awards celebrations, dinners, dances, and finished my high school career with my best friends.
• I quit dancing, one of the hardest decisions of my life.
• I jetted off to Europe for 3 weeks and had some amazing experiences that have totally shaped my life.
• I got into BYU.
• I worked (if you call it that) at Cherry Hill with all my awesome friends.
• I had a summer romance.
• I stressed and cried and stressed more about leaving.
• I moved away to college.
• I realized how much I love my family.
• I made lots of new friends.
• I had several crisis’s about where my life was headed.
• I fell in love with BYU.
• I found myself in a 3rd floor apartment with turreted windows.
• I realized how much the Lord loves me and the girls in my Relief Society
• I spent four blissful months at college, with my best friend never too far away.
• I watched that best friend open his mission call.
• I cried (probably too much) at the thought of him going.
• I had an amazing Christmas with my family (probably our last one with all the extended family together)
• I spent so much time laughing, smiling, singing, dancing, loving, learning, crying, I’ve lost count.
• I went on multiple Chili’s runs, grocery shopping excursions, late night IHOP parties, spent lots of time locking up Cherry Hill, driving around good old Kaysville, putting down my windshield wipers, sitting and overlooking the city, singing in the car, reading my scriptures, taking pictures, laughing, studying, reading, practicing the piano, writing notes, doing chores, cooking meals, going on dates, and loving.

So tomorrow I’ll be posting my whole huge 2012 post about all the memories and things. So today I just wanted to give a short shout out to my best friend in the whole world. He gave his farewell talk today. And he did awesome! He is going to be one amazing missionary. I’m happy I got to spend my last Sunday of 2012 with him and his family and all our friends. Saying goodbye is going to be hard, but after hearing how much he loves the Gospel and how much he wants to share it, I couldn’t be more happy for him to go. I can’t think of a single thing I would rather have him do for the next two years. Love ya Randy, you’re going to be the best missionary in the universe.

I should mention these are NOT from the farewell…they’re from the Eagle Court of Honor that happened later that night. I wasn’t thinking straight after the farewell (imagine that!) and didn’t get pictures. BUT yay for Randy! Also…nice photobomb Sam!

Up until last night, it had been nearly six months since I’ve had Chinese food. Thankfully my extended family had a post-Christmas gathering where buckets of Chinese food were involved. I used chopsticks and ate more chow mien and almond chicken than is sensible. And got to spend lots of time playing games with and reading to my cousins, whilst also conversing with the adults. Something about Chinese food brings people together. Maybe it’s the pulling food out of the same carton, maybe it’s the fortune cookies, or the really spicy curry. Whatever it is, I approve.

I haven’t blogged for almost a week (a travesty for me) and now there are so many things to talk about I don’t even know where to start! I have had a wonderful time being home for the holiday break, spending a lot of time with my mom while my sisters were at school and my dad was at work, and then spending time as a whole family too. I have been able to spend some time with Randy which is always wonderful, and his fun family too! There has been lots of shopping, a temple trip, a great date, seeing friends, and plenty of present wrapping. Then came Christmas Eve where I got to see all my extended family for dinner, after a delicious brunch with all my immediate family. And Randy did an excellent job with my present; two beautiful watches that I’ve been wanting, a cute puzzle, and a card that made me cry. Christmas held my dad reading a story that made us cry, singing a song, opening lots of presents, spending time with family, and a great dinner to finish it off.

I have been procrastinating writing, since there is so much to tell. So I guess I’ll just start at the beginning and slowly trudge through this post, and hopefully you’ll stick around to read the whole thing.

I have finished finals and have come back home! It is a wonderful feeling to be done. After finals were over I played and went to City Creek and to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert. It was spectacular and my first weekend of being finals free was amazing. It was sad to leave my friends, some of which are leaving on missions and I might not see again. We had a party weekend saying goodbye, and it was perfect.

I have had a relaxing few days at home while my sisters are at school. I got to go shopping with my mom and go see the Hobbit with my family and Randy. And then today I went to Randy’s mom’s school. It made my heart hurt. They are the most wonderful little kids I’ve ever seen. They live in really rough situations, and are still so great. I feel bad because they don’t have the family life or the education that they deserve. It made me want to do something for them. We sang songs and passed out candy, but I want to have an impact on these kids and kids like them. My ideas of how to help kids like them are still in the works, but I just hope others are aware that yes, there are kids all over the world in hard situations. But there are too many kids in our own backyard that are on the edge of having a great life, or being on the streets like their parents.

One final thought:

Took my third final yesterday (yes it was the first day of finals week. See my earlier post for an explanation.)

One to go.

I am sad to be leaving all my friends, my cute FHE family who is disbanding next semester, my ward, my roomies. All of it. But I am very excited to be going home.

Last night at FHE we had a testimony meeting which was SO amazing. We have the best FHE brothers and our family is golden.

I’m not really sure what else to say. I’m not going to do my long drawn out post about this amazing semester until I’m actually leaving, and shouldn’t be studying!

I guess the main point of this post is that life is good, I love my mom and dad and my sisters and brother, I love the family I’ve made here, I love and miss my friends and family and I’m really excited to see them. This week is hard, but I have never felt more love and support from people, and I’ve never wanted to help and support others more than I do this week. Happy Finals week!! Also, I think I’ve decided that college is “the best of times, the worst of times….” and so on. Something my mom said about finals really stuck out to me. She said “finals are finite, you aren’t. They end, you don’t.” Thanks mom, you’re the best!

Happy week to you all!

So finals week is coming up. Tomorrow. Now technically speaking I’ve already taken two “finals” which were really just the last exam for those classes. Still stressful in their own way however. But now it’s Book of Mormon tomorrow and Biology whenever I can make myself actually go take it.

Today was wonderful and sad. We had our last ward prayer with our ward and I cried as Brett Brown and Devin my home teacher played the guitar and sang. Three of the six guys who I have come to regard as brothers (even though technically they’re Allison, Sarah and Lauren’s brothers…) bore their testimonies and made us all cry again. It’s hard to realize that I’m not only losing my absolute best friend, but also half of the other guy friends who I spend a lot of my time with. Good thing none of the girls are leaving (YET).

Anywho enough wallowing in self-pity.

Here’s my cute family. Our Christmas card picture is the bottom one. They are delightful. Have a wonderful finals week!!! Or if you’re in high school…a wonderful not finals week.

Today I had a beautiful moment. Well I had several of them.

One time on the Office Pam and Jim are about to get married and Pam tells Jim that they need to take mental pictures to remember everything. Ever since I saw that, I have been taking mental pictures so I will remember things. These mental pictures don’t just capture what everyone is wearing or what we’re doing, they capture my feeling. Which is better than a regular camera if you ask me. So today we (meaning Rachel, Sarah, Alli, Lauren, Randy, Gabe, Cade, Michael and me) were all crammed in the van, having successfully kidnapped Sarah and taken her to breakfast for her birthday. Music was playing and we were singing, driving up to the Y trail head to just look over the city for a minute before we holed ourselves up to study. And I looked around for a second. And took that mental picture. The mental picture of Cade making fun of how we sing, and Alli laughing so hard she was crying, and Rachel laying on Sarah because she was so tired, and Randy just laughing and driving as carefully as possible. Can I just say I love my friends, and this semester at BYU has been full of mental picture moments, moments where I capture one incredible feeling. The feeling of happiness.