i'm baaaaaack

and i'm here to tell you about the week before i moved to boston.

(and that it is snowing! and that my computer arrived safely! which i was so stressed about)

i said goodbye to the mtc which was actually really hard, i'm going to miss that job a lot. 

(and yes. i self-timed this photo of myself after everyone left on my last shift at 1 am)

and then i was even sad to walk down the stairs for the last time. it was very dramatic. 

 i also said goodbye to jacquie (in the hot pink) and her roommates who so graciously let me sleepover lots and lots of times the past couple months. i have really nice friends.

 then other nice high school friends got together to celebrate/mourn the big move and it was delightful.

 we missed all of you who couldn't make it! and weren't even mad at dantzel for not coming because she fell asleep haha. being a nurse is rough sometimes. 

mills family photo 2012

 ryan was very sweet and kept me company while i packed for days. 

 and i'm a little embarrassed that we've developed a bit of an addiction for watching the show above. 

i blame jacquie. 

 my extended family was really nice and traded us cabin weekends so i could go one last time. 

 some highlights:

   watching korbin try to skateboard 

 realizing this cup existed

the new fireplace and beautiful snow

 watching korbin play just dance 3

(and everyone else of course)

 trying to take a picture of how lovely the snow looked and also somehow taking a picture of tiny/creepy korbin in my body. bonus. 

realizing how good kam is at basketball and how resourceful korby is

ping pong tournaments

 remembering what awesome things the cabin has in the basement

trying to understand the concept of biting while sucking and muli-tasking

 taking pictures of the cabin and remembering how awesome it is and being grateful we have one

lots of gaming..                                                              

 and taking a picture of the best bathroom wallpaper ever.

 sunday was exciting for two reasons. 

1. meeting up with my old best friend who was basically waiting outside my door to walk to church with me. 

2. going to my other best friend's blessing for her baby accompanied by my mom and ry. it was such a nice meeting and i thoroughly enjoyed hearing emily bear her testimony. i really am so grateful for friends.

and their babies. i love little olive. 

 and this little baby. i love all 29 of my nieces and nephews but we all know it is hardest to say goodbye to the tiny ones. becky please send lilly in a package soon! thank you.

  

sunday night was spent enjoying my parent's christmas decorations, watching the good wife and pan am with ryan and my mom, and..

 this! i was so happy we made it happen. 

the rest of the night i spent packing and getting everything ready to go.  once again ryan was right there keeping me company and being the best (even though i know it wasn't fun or easy). i'm sure you are all wondering where he fits in to all of this and i don't blame you. about a month ago i was trying to decide what i needed to do next in terms of where to live and where to work and of course where things should go in terms of ryan and our relationship. after a series of events we both felt that i need to not be in utah for awhile. perhaps for only a few months or perhaps longer - i'm not really sure. as you, whoever you may be, have probably noticed ry and i have dated on and off for a long time. i think a lot can be learned from dating so long and i honestly feel like i know who ryan really is and i like that. i like feeling like if we do get married there aren't surprises (at least not big ones) and having confidence in our ability to get through hard things would be something that made it all worth it. but for now we've decided we both have things we need to learn and for some reason or another, it needs to happen individually. after much thought and prayer (and help from grace) boston felt like the right place for me to do that. so a month ago i bought a one-way ticket for january 9th and spent every day preparing for my east coast move. ryan has been so supportive and positive through all of it and even took me to the airport monday morning. he really is one of a kind and i couldn't have done this without him! i also couldn't have done it without the help and encouragement from my family, his family, and the few friends i confided in about it. and i'm serious when i say that, i would have chickened out haha. 

my last post of me at the airport left you hanging which probably wasn't very kind so now i am going to tell you about boston! and even though it is midnight here i'm going to just keep blogging away because heaven knows my mom has been stressed this past week and i owe it to her to blog what i've been up to and put her mind at ease :) 

 plane ride from slc to chicago was spent sitting next to a nice middle-aged man named garth from idaho who actually served his mission in boston! so we actually talked the entire 3 hour flight about boston, missions, the church, relationships, iphones (the picture above would be me showing him the magic of instagram), and family. it made the flight go by super fast and i appreciated our chat. 

 connecting flight from chicago to boston was spent with a very nice bostonian who i loved but smelled so strongly of smoke which kind of made me sick. luckily a random man sat in between us which kind of blocked the smell. upon realizing that i only had a few hours of sleep the night before i slept most of this plane ride but woke up just in time to see my new home. 

i fell in love instantly.