2011--the year in review

I blogged a lot in January, but not much about my actual life. My roommates and I watched Coraline and discovered the mysterious look-a-like door in my bedroom. We also really enjoyed the piano in our house and celebrated M(I)LK Day. I had a fun weekend in Provo, which included all of us girls having our own coaches while playing Super Smash Bros. I worked a lot.

February was quite the exciting month. I was accepted back to BYU to start in the fall, and I went to a BYU basketball game to get a taste of Jimmer-mania. My family and I went on a quick trip to Disneyland (where 9-year-old Ryan demonstrated how much braver he is than me by not crying on the Tower of Terror). I celebrated my 22nd birthday in Salt Lake and in Provo, too, and Mom sent me an awesome birthday package. Lacey and I watched Downton Abbey, and I listened to a lot of Billy Joel.

It was still snowy and cold in March, and I mostly just went to work and hung out at home. I made a paper chain counting down to Harry Potter 7.2, the roommates and I watched lots of movies, and I found a lot of funny things online. I did venture out to go to the Utah symphony, which was truly wonderful.

April marked a year since graduation, and was my last month living in Salt Lake! Mom came to visit for a weekend, which was lots of fun. I played the piano at Cristina's wedding. I spent a lot of time with my roommates because I was moving soon.

In May I was living back in Provo in my new apartment, but still working for Church Welfare. I commuted on the bus, and went to bed suuuper early to get up in time. I discovered the blessing of earplugs. On my lunch breaks, I enjoyed wandering through Temple Square to admire the tulips. I finished up my job at Church Welfare and said goodbye to all of my new friends. I also did lots of fun social things in Provo, like going to a rooftop concert. I loved that it rained all month long.

I started work back at the BYU Preprofessional Advisement Center in June. (Best job ever!) The weather was lovely, and I enjoyed sleeping with my window open every night. Taylor, on his mission in the Dominican Republic, was injured so badly that he had to come home early and stay in the ICU for a week. I, thankfully, got to fly home and spend a few days with the family. It was a really scary time (but, he is doing great now). I realized I have some really wonderful friends.

I started off July with a trip to Oceanside, CA. I drove and met my family there, and we stayed on the beach for a week. It was the first time our whole family had been together in almost two years! And it was realllly fun. Danny drove back to Utah with me, and I showed him around Provo and BYU before dropping him off at EFY. We saw the new Harry Potter movie when his week was over (which I cried like a baby through). I also upgraded my computer to a new 15" Macbook Pro, which is currently my most prized possession.

I went on another fun California trip in August, but this time to Sacramento/San Francisco. It was sooo fun, even though we spent a lot of time driving from city to city. I thought Monterey was especially cool. I also went home for a few days and babysat while my parents went on an anniversary trip. I tried to soak up my last few weeks of not having homework before I started school again. 

School took over my life starting in September. I spent twenty hours a week at work, twenty hours a week shadowing teachers at a junior high and a high school, and then whatever time was left on my other classes. Before things got too crazy, I performed at an acoustic night at my friend's house in Salt Lake. I was obsessed with how beautiful the mountains were.

 

In October, it was reconfirmed to me time and time again that I am passionate about teaching—even though school was kind of killing me. My family came up for General Conference, and we went to a football game and stayed in Deer Valley (we missed Alex!). Halloween time was fun, with a ward murder mystery dinner party, a "haunted" dinner party at some friends' house, scary movies, and pumpkin pancakes. Even though I didn't really have a costume this year, it probably was my favorite Halloween since moving away from home.

I was busy with school still in November, including keeping up with the reading-two-books-a-week assignment for my young adult literature class. I went to another football game, this time with really awesome, 3rd-row seats. I talked everyone's ear off about how amazing the tv show Friday Night Lights is. My family was lucky enough to have me home for an entire week for Thanksgiving (haha), and we had a really great time. 

December involved finishing up the semester and being really, really cold. I scored a 4.0 for the semester! I grew to love my roommates even more, and had fun with friends, and went to lots of parties before heading back to Arizona. In Gilbert, we had a wonderful Christmas and are currently enjoying the rest of Christmas Break :)

See 2010 here.