Love Change.

It's January and I have summer plans! This is a new feeling. My last two summers were each a sort of last-minute decision situation...also fun, but I'm really liking this looking-forward-to-something feeling. In just a few short weeks (I need to phrase it like that so that I know I'll survive this busy semester), I'm taking off to the BYU Jerusalem Center! I'm excited to clear my head and heart, and to learn how much I need to learn.

This picture is stolen from some random person who already did their taking off to the BYU Jerusalem Center. It's like that makes us friends, so I can do that.

Bring on April 27! I'm excited to go leave another part of my heart in a new home. Except sometimes I feel like London needs to lighten up a little on the part I left there...some days I miss Big Ben more than anyone else in my life. Can't be healthy.

Spring Break! January style

Oh family vacations. Instantly made me miss the old brown van...
If you can't tell, this is the truest love I've ever felt. Yes, me and my baby blanket are still tight (I keep it with the excuse that I'll give it to my daughter someday...yeah right. I'll get her a nice new one, but she ain't touching mine). This is also all I do in cars, much to Ali's frustration.

Connecting hotel rooms provided endless entertainment over the weekend. Even when we unintentionally locked ourselves out of one of them, but that's another story. Jaren wouldn't take his boots off the entire time, even when it was time to go swimming. I miss the days when you can shamelessly wear your favorite outfit every waking moment.

Lydia was so cute in her swimming suit! It was too cold for her to get in the pool though...that's what you get for ignoring the fact that it's January.

Jaren, however, totally loved it. He shivered 100% of the time but never wanted to get out. I like his attitude.

After braving the pool we decided the heated lazy river was a much better option. We tried to make it un-lazy for a little while and swim the other way...too hard. Working as hard as you can and staying stationary is just not motivating. I think it took the way I feel in the testing center to a physical level.

I don't think Lydia felt like she was missing out at all...it was pretty cold. She probably just felt a lot smarter than the rest of us. And obviously a lot cuter.

We finally caught up with Logan to take a picture...he turned the leisure activity into a workout which is completely uncool. I've forgiven him.

A little blurry, but the double-stroller thing needs to be shown. I love them! They just look like they love each other so much. Ignore the fact that they're stuck.

Air hockey tournament! I dominated...but my dad took the title back in our ping pong tournament when we got home. Dang it.

Blurry again, but it's the only shot I got of our night out on the town. Ali and I rode the roller coasters on top of the Stratosphere and I LOVED it. Roller coasters always make me crave Lagoon, but I think that's because I still think Lagoon will feel how it felt when I was 12 if I go. I wish it were true. The Stratosphere is also the first place I ever gambled. It's true. $2.00 in, $2.00 lost. Then I started feeling the same feeling I get in arcades, and I realized that is a potential problem. So I quit, cold turkey. Haven't touched the slots since. Ali cashed out at $2.75. You go sister, you go.

Did you know Mesquite has two churches right next to each other? We didn't, until we pulled up right in time to see everyone coming out of stake conference. Oops.

So we had a picnic instead of church. I guess when you look at the weekend for what it was, I ditched school, went to Vegas, gambled, and missed church. Rebel.

Perfectly content.

It's one in the morning and Cedar is super quiet. But the darling place is also quiet at one in the afternoon. Still, I'm sitting in the room I slept in when life was less complicated, and drinking hot chocolate my dad just brought me (which means it's twice as chocolatey than I ever make mine so I like it twice as much), and life is good.


Going to bed would make sense, but in a couple hours my Bostonian sister will be getting into town :) I never need much of a reason to stay up ridicilulously late, so this more than qualifies. I'm way excited to be home for Martin Luther King Break! (I know, it's technically only a Day...but Christmas break just wasn't enough, so I gave myself a 4-day weekend.) The brother & co. are back in town, the sister is coming, the parents are stoked, and we're heading down to VEGAS tomorrow. I've been 21 for four months and still haven't gambled yet, so my parents thought it was high time we go. That is actually not their motivation at all and they'll deny ever condoning my ambition to double the $5 I plan on wasting. But you know they'll waste $5 too, so let's just see the situation for what it is.

I thought about posting pictures of Christmas in Cedar and New Year's in Boston, but once the holidays are over they're over. I lost my chance. Plus I realized I only took 5 pictures in Boston and all of them were from the passenger seat of Ali's car (a.k.a. blurry and slightly useless pictures that were taken only for sentimental value of streets and/or buildings. And one of a funny taxi driver).
Told you.


Actually, I contemplated taking a picture of the movie screen when I went to the YOUNG VICTORIA. Oh man I was excited to see that again. Limited release is stupid; seeing that movie became one of my main motivations to head to Boston for the break. Apparently Boston is cool enough to avoid the "limited" part of limited release, but Utah has no such luck. Lame.

Ok, now a breakdown of my break.

Highs.

• One full week of turning back into an annoying little sister
• Best Thai food EVER. Ever. Ever ever. How can we motivate legit Thai-food makers to move to Utah?
• Working with cute Jewish old people again! Still on the "high" list even though a good portion of my week was spent helping everyone with their absentee ballots. I helped about 100 residents fill out their ballot, and each ballot has 3 envelopes to lick. Do that math and then feel bad for my tongue. Alison makes the residents lick their own envelopes, but I feel like that totally goes against the "respect your elders" principle.
• Seeing my dad wear his snuggie.

Lows.

• The academic calendar of BYU. Two weeks between semesters? Really?
• Missing the annual skating rink party in Delta...next year, next year.
• Having to see my siblings on skype instead of in person. Next year, next year.

Ok, it's not fair to let my 1 a.m. boredom translate into a blog post of unnecessary length. Time for a Disney movie.

Love you, London.

So 365 days can fly. I know I never believed that when I was little because of the eternity I felt between between one Christmas and the next, but today convinced me. It's officially one year since the day I flew over to London. I looked forward to last year's January 6th SO much. I don't think I shook that feeling all the way off -- I kept feeling like something was supposed to happen today. But it was just a normal Wednesday, with some slightly wistful moments when I'd remember how I felt when I touched London for the first time. Then wistful would turn to happy because anything London just does that.

I have a random habit. Every single day I think about what I was doing on the same day last year. That habit is going to be a lot of fun for the next four months :)

I had big plans to post about Boston, but January 6th came faster than I could blog..so it's postponed. But coming.