Becca and I at the Seattle Opera!
After the fun visit from my mom and Don in November, I finished up finals, got through my incredibly difficult Ulysses class, and went home for winter break. Skiing, Lizzy getting married, family get togethers, and many other wonderful things happened, but before I knew it, I was back at school, working on my Honor's Thesis and slaving my senior year away.
Search Retreat Pre-retreat!
Retreats were of course a huge part of my senior year. I lead Search Retreat and it was an amazing experience! I was also one of the Curas for Search and so I got to spend a great deal of time with Francisco, Emily, Rachel, Evan, and Megan! I just can't get enough of all the amazing people in the Search Community!
Search Leaders. We are crazy, but we love love love each other!
French class with Victor was always interesting! I love French!
This is Victor and his pet monkey!
Afternoon Runs in Volunteer Park! A favorite past time for relieving stress.
Spring Break Trip to Vancouver! Amazing Hotel Room View!
Face Masks in Vancouver!
I spent my senior year living with some of my best friends!
Helen, Marisa, Annie, Katelen, and Becca!!
These girls made my life complete for two years. Even though they all left for study abroad trips while I remained in Seattle during the second half of our Junior year, we came back together to be besties and roommies for round two during senior year! I miss our cute little town house and our many late nights going out or staying in and just enjoying our time together! I miss these girls so much, but they are all doing great things!
Despite many setbacks and changes of direction, all of the English Departmental Honors Kids finished their theses and graduated on top of the world!
I was so lucky to have Dr. Smith and Dr. Tung guiding me every step of the way through the grueling research and composition process. It was an amazing experience to work so closely with all of the smartest and most driven students in my department!
After serving as the Vice President of Membership for ASN, it felt good to end the year with one last breakfast with Fr. Steve and then pass the torch to the next year's presidency.
Before we knew what hit us, graduation came and we were suddenly no longer the happy-go-lucky college students we had for so long called ourselves.
Graduation at Key Arena was a little surreal! I still don't feel old enough to be a college grad!
Saying goodbye to my other half, Becca, was probably the hardest part of leaving Seattle!
Followed closely by having to say goodbye to my Swing Family! Swing Dancing at Century Ballroom was a huge part of my time in Seattle. I went almost every Sunday night and I miss it every week now that I am gone. Swing Dancing is amazing, and Century is the best place to do it.
After some awesome as well as some not-so-awesome adventures with my dad and sister on the Peninsula, my time in the North West came to a temporary close and I headed back to Utah.
Summer back home was a whirlwind!
I chose to live with Nilly and Paul and their three adorable children for the summer and fall and they kept me plenty busy and happy!
We went to the Oakley Rodeo for the Fourth of July! A favorite tradition of mine!
Many wonderful weekends were spent at the ski-shack. Catching glass and enjoying the sun.
My weekdays were spent tearing up the town with this crazy kid! Avery is without a doubt the cutest and sweetest girl I have ever had the pleasure of nannying for. I miss her to pieces!
Rennie got married to the one and only Scotty B!
Howie and I conquered our second half marathon. This time together! He beat me by almost an hour, just because he is awesome like that.
And thus was the way I spent my summer's days!
Moving on from summer, I made the decision in about mid-October to put in my mission papers. It was a huge and very difficult decision to make. I had been working on plans to move abroad to somewhere in Northern Africa and continue studying French, but I guess I had a change of heart. I decided now is the best time for me to serve the Lord. I have the rest of my life and education to explore the entire African continent and fulfill all of my childhood dreams of a career and life there. Now is really the only time where I can drop everything to be a missionary; so that is exactly what I am doing.
In mid-November, I got my mission call to Ecuador and although I wasn't thrilled at first, I couldn't be more excited now!
I never thought I wanted to learn Spanish. But the Lord wants me to anyway, so I guess I better do it. Plus, if I look at the bright side, I will basically be tri-lingual by the time I get back.
I will post more details and pictures about fall and the mission prep soon.Until then, this has been a sum up of my life in 2013. A lot happened and this is just a small glimpse, but hopefully it gives a fairly wide picture of what I have been up to.
That's all for now! Lata!
