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.

Guys I moved.

..and by moved I mean I really just packed two suitcases and flew across the country to live for an extended amount of time. Buuuut my computer has yet to arrive and blogging everything via my phone would take years so I just wanted to quickly let you know that I'm not in Utah anymore (if you haven't already heard/figured it out). Definitely More to come on this little adventure soon!

nice december happenings part dos

looking so anime and enjoying brisk winter walks and temple nativities

all i want is for this candle cleaning out ears thing to happen to me. IT IS THE COOLEST

 i love the pretend temple square lights the mtc has going on

 virtual baby shower for grace

friendship of the future!

sollis christmas party kid gift time

my favorite part of this picture is how all the adults are talking over kamden and korbin yelling "fake snow!" as they continuously throw wadded up wrapping paper in the air.

 sometimes (okay one time) i worked 16 hours (which is the equivalent of four shifts haha) at the mtc and i didn't even care because when i looked outside i saw THIS.

one more picture to remember a lovely and food-filled christmas eve with the margetts

 aaaaand then fast forward to opening christmas presents with the moysh babies at 6am christmas morning. kamden was thrilled to take a picture with aunt megan.

 i need them to never grow up.

 creepy uncle jace with his harold zidler mustache

and uncle sean and grandma janie were all very tired as you can see.

after that i headed home, showered and got ready, and went to a lovely sacrament meeting and wished that every christmas day was a sunday. then my parents and i went out to visit my brother rick and his family and of course my new lover, kato.

 haha bffs

 mindy made some hot chocolate that screamed "take a picture of me!"

..you know the type

and we ate a lovely brunch and just enjoyed talking and laughing and playing with new toys

 and marveled that on december 25th a little boy named tirk could go outside in his diaperto harrass his puppy and not even feel a little cold. whaaaat?

 next up was to visit the beck's household. the only picture i took to document it was the one above. my nephews friend made it for him and as you can see did it with just writing "highland rams" over and over again. i feel like my christmas present to boys in highschool were not that cool.

but anyway. the rest of the night was spent opening presents (finally got around to it haha) and watching "bucket list" with ryan and the parents. it was a very lovely christmas.

 the day after christmas was spent at ryan's cabin (as previously mentioned in this post) and also going over to the beck's for a delicious smorgasbord of food and an intense game of signs that went on for a good two or three hours. it was really the best.

and then the next day brynne and tanner came by for a quick visit before brynne chopped all her hair off and they headed to st. george. it was great to see them and i'm glad they fit me in to their busy schedule!

 last week's weather was really the best. i feel great about how warm it has been and the skies lately, as previously mentioned, have been the best. this was my view as i came out of the jordan river temple last friday.

 and because the weather was so nice i just stood outside the temple and watched the sky and just died over it. sometimes i just don't understand how God does it.

 new years eve was filled with two shifts of work (from home! can't beat that), my dad's birthday breakfast, and going to snowbird for the torch parade and fireworks!

 it was so fun to see everyone come down the mountain with their torches and then see some good old fashioned fireworks which somehow are even better when seen in the mountains

 and just when we thought it couldn't get better they had free hot chocolate! we love them for that.

afterwards we went to our favorite texas roadhouse and then went back to my parents house and looked through an old box of my school work and marveled out what a crazy child slash teenager i was. maybe one day i will post some of the dramatic and anger filled journal entries from my junior high years but until then you can just trust me, i was nuts.

annnnnd that is the end of nice december happenings (i think).

and now let's hear it for 2012!

which i'm kind of grateful is finally here because i have just been writing 2012 on everything for the past month.

i am grateful for my family.

i feel that family comes in many forms.

 

first and foremost i have my eternal one

whom i love so much

then we have my second family, the margetts

and then my taiwanese mission family came to mind

and i cannot forget my beloved yellow house girfs

and the one that caught me off guard, the post - mission efy fam

and another nice surprise, the green gables gals

..just to name a few.

as i thought about all this i felt so blessed and realized God continuously puts people in my life when i need them most. He always has and i feel in my heart that He always will. and for that, i am very grateful.