The End of 2012 and the Start of 2013

The past few months with the Exciting 

Christmas and New Years Adventures of 2012 

       I have not written in a journal in a long time. I thought it would be a smart thing that I would appreciate later if I wrote a little of what has been happening lately. Last semester I lived in Miller Apartments with five fun girls. Two of them, Shayn and Anna, I traveled to China with in 2011 and Beckha who was Anna's friend. The other two were Ashley Rackham and Cait, both are great friends that I had when I lived at Belmont Apartments. We were all so busy with the lives that we had. I was in my second to last semester of college and I had a great boyfriend, to say the least I was not home much. I began to feel distant from these girls that I so enjoyed. I do not blame it on any one person, I think we were all maturing differently. I felt like the partying I use to enjoy just didn't excited me anymore. I felt uncomfortable. I would have to be the "annoying" roommate when they would bring boys to their bedroom and hide out when R movies were being watched. I felt bad but I needed a change. I felt like my emotions were everywhere and not being happy to go home was too much on top of all that. I needed the comfort of the spirit. I needed a place that I could better focus on my personal improvement. 
        During all this I began hanging out with Amanda, a really good friend that I met when I was at BYU- Hawaii. We both went on missions to Taiwan, but at separate times, and both transferred to BYU Provo. One of her roommates was getting married and needed to sell her contract. It was miracle and I was able to sell my contract. With the new announcement that sisters could go on missions at the age of 19 there are thousands that are leaving and trying to sell their contracts. With all the competition I feel blessed that I was able to sell mine!! Right before we all parted for Christmas break my new roommates, Jeff, and I had fun making our own photo shoot :) Some of those pictures:

 Me, Amanda, Marilyn

 Marilyn, Amanda, Me

 "Cheesy family Photo"

 Me, Amanda

 Jeff and I being Rockstars

Yep I am trying to be strong. P.S. we are standing on a picnic table ;)

 Jeff and I

 "Just Precious"

 He was scaring me

        Since that time I finished the semester with B's and A's, drove home to California for a week during Christmas break. At home it felt so good to see my mom and friends. Katherine and I had great talks like usuall :) and with the help of her family and friends we made yummy home made tamales! I got to see Ann and her adorable family and George and my grandparents. The seek went by quick and before I knew it I was flying to Florida/Alabama for about a week to visit my Mom and Chad. Christmas day was interesting, I was exhausted from my flight the night before, we had a tornado warning, and finding Christmas dinner. It was an adventure!!! My mom and I had a really good time driving around and exploring. One day we drove out to Dolphine Island. It was a little island off of the Alabama coast. It had beautiful homes and pretty white sand. We ate gumbo... I was not a fan :)

We also had a blast shopping all of the good sells at the famous Mobile Alabama outlet malls. Oh and I also discovered the TV show "Once Upon A Time" SOOO good :)

 I then finished off the break by flying back to Utah where I stayed with Jeff and his family. His family is so sweet! Janneke, Jeff's sister lives in the Salt Lake area with husband and two kids. We all celebrated by having a belated Christmas dinner!! I especially enjoyed playing with Jannek's adorable little boys :)

 Benjamin 

                        Benjamin, Me, Janet, Christopher, Janneke

     For New Years Jeff and I went to down town Salt Lake for all the celebrations. We went to a comedy club, live bands, enjoyed outdoor fire places, Temple Christmas lights, hot chocolate, dancing, and fireworks!!! 

     
          We drove back to Provo on January 3rd and my last semester of college started on the 7th of January. It felt great to relax and just hang out with Jeff. From what I can remember one of my favorite things we did was go to two movies in one day. Thank you dollar theaters  five dollars total for both of us!!! Plus popcorn and sour patch kids of course ;) We saw Perks of Being a Wall Flower, which is very thought provoking and makes you feel like you are on top of the world and anything is possible with a mix of life is hard and sad and I am so grateful that we are here to help each other through it. We both found it amazing if you can not tell!!! The other movie we saw was Taken 2, which was also really good!!