Goodbyes

Since turning 21, I've had to deal with some sad things--sending off missionaries. Not the kind that will eventually be Dear Johned, but the kind that I will wait faithfully for for a year and a half. This causes some tears on my part. I've always hated saying goodbye, and I feel like I've had to do a lot of it to a certain degree in my life. Especially being the youngest of 6 kids. Anyway, that's beside the point. I'm proud of them for their desire to serve the Lord and put normal life on hold to help bring to pass His purposes.





The girl on the top is Briana Whiting. We visit taught together here at Victoria Place last year, and through that we became really good friends. She's on a mission in Colorado Springs.

Under that is a picture of me and Brittany and Brianna Hulme. We've been friends for as long as I can remember, and it's been the hardest for me to say goodbye to them. Brittany is supposed to be going to Bolivia and Brianna is headed to Thailand. I'm sure their mom is a little nervous about them living in third world countries. Personally, I would be more worried about them going to California. The people there are a little bit scarier these days. (p.s. If you're from Cali, I still love you!) :)Anyway, I've never had to be away from these two girls for longer than about 6 or 7 weeks. Only 69 1/2 weeks until we reunite. I can do this. I will miss singing with them for that period of time...and watching movies til late at night. There go my babies--off doing their missionary thing. (They are actually still in the MTC.)

The bottom picture is my friend Rachel Lovell (in green). She's going to Florida. All of us in this picture lived and worked in Seattle together this past summer. We're proud of her!! :) And we're especially glad that she doesn't have Tuberculosis. I have a video of my butterflies hatching, and in the background you can hear Rachel expressing her concern that she might have Tuberculosis and that she would therefore not be able to serve a mission. Luckily, the TB scare turned out to be negative in the end. ;)

I have a lot of friends on missions, but the part that amazes me is that most of my childhood is on or is about to be on a mission. Ashley's in Taiwan and Jessie's headed to the Philippines. Becky's waiting for her call. Luckily, I will gain my (Stephanie) Yano back here in a few weeks. She's almost done serving in D.C.!!

I'm so proud of all of my girls, and part of me wishes I could go, too. I guess I could, but right now I'm thinking that I want to focus on becoming an elementary school teacher. Maybe I'll feel differently someday, but until that day, I will keep saying my goodbyes and waiting patiently for my dear ones to come back to me.

"This is Halloween..."

Welcome back to my blog! Or maybe you should be welcoming me back...I'm not quite sure. I thought it would be most appropriate to get this blog started with this year's Halloween's pictures (since that's practically where I started last year). Me, Amber, Emily, and Kyle dressed up as characters from Peter Pan. Emily and Kyle made their costumes. Amber used some old costume parts, and she made a very successful trip to the DI, where she found the red coat you see her wearing. I didn't have much time to prepare, but everyone thought it would be a great idea for me to be the crocodile. It was that...or Tink...or Smee. For some reason, I really liked the idea of being the crocodile. Amber found me a foam hat. I was later disappointed to find out that I had been a fraud ALL Halloween night--yes, it was actually an alligator hat.
Anyway, here are some pictures of our Halloween spectacle:











Yes, we went trick-or-treating, and we were surprisingly well-received. I thought people would be angry with us for trick-or-treating in college, but they liked us. Maybe it's because we actually put in some effort, as opposed to some punk teenager who goes door-to-door in a t-shirt and jeans looking for candy. Anyway, the weather was perfect! Couldn't have asked for better. One man that we went to (from Emily and Kyle's ward) has made homemade donuts for the past 30 Halloweens. We got to dip them in powdered sugar--a very unique Halloween experience. We then sorted our candy and played a Halloween board game that has a creepy video that goes with it. Amber and I topped the night off by a visit to the creamery, where she treated me to a peanut butter brownie (special ones for Halloween). Our friends Kyle and Bianca also came to visit us. Oh, and of course, at the very end of the night I had to turn in a math journal online...school finds ways of creeping into my life at times when it shouldn't. Besides that, though, it was a rather enjoyable night!

Oh, and p.s. I participated in democracy on Halloween also by dropping my absentee ballot off at a mailbox. Woohoo!

p.p.s. Never put off your car registration until the last day possible--there is an unwritten law that says that if you wait until the last day, something will go wrong. Who knew that the registration/decal-distributor place would be closed on Fridays? Random.