A Birthday

I am now the ripe old age of 24-- which means my eggs are drying up. :) 

I had a lovely day at work, putting up Christmas decorations and listening to my favorite Holiday CD's.
Later we ate at Red Robin, open gifts, and did homework (a personal favorite.. )

 I love this boy. I am sure grateful he's mine.  Here's to hoping 24 is the best year so far.

Anglers

Bryan and I have spent the last beautiful weathered weekends in Island Park and surrounding areas fly fishing & exploring. I thought I loved normal fishing, but this!! It's 10x's better than sitting on the bank waiting for a poor fish to come by and eat your bait. Fly fishing is like a game- you're taught to know what kind of hatches are rising, what fly to tie on, where to cast, what to look for, how to not 'throw' your line (sometimes I accidentally do that..), learning to balance in the river and not fall in, what Gink is, etc, etc. It's a lot to think about while trying to catch these fish, but boy is it rewarding! I hope Fall lasts forever. I sure have loved each moment in the outdoors. The human spirit always needs places where nature has not been re-arranged by the hand of man.

Mmm, so handsome!

Herriman State Park.
Can you spot my shadow?

Moom is the greatest person on the plant earth. She also has the voice of an angel descending from heaven. Moom is graduating from BYU-Idaho this semester in Vocal Performance and needed some pictures for her senior recital that's coming up quickly. She's the kindest, happiest, outgoing person I know. She's in the cool kids club. She makes me feel really cool when I walk down the halls of the Snow Building with her. It's like being in a movie where you're part of an elite group and guys and galls flock to you while you walk down the hall way just so they can say 'Hi'. (don't worry, that never happened to me either, but it does to Moom!). Everyone knows her name and wants to spend hours chatting like they were friends since the 4th grade and have hours of "Moom bonding time". I'm lucky to know her

new school work

new learning

new work schedule

new job opportunities

new students

new classroom

new friends

new love

new life 

new happiness

A life's motto

Him

The day before I flew out of the country, I stopped in at a Cinco De Mayo party to say goodbye to a few close friends that I knew I wouldn't see in a long time.  I had my roommate, Sadie, go with me. It was a big party and I was nervous about who I'd run into. I was obviously trying to avoid any sort of awkward confrontation with a few nutcase guys & I knew she could help me get out of a weird situation fast. We walked in the door of the club house, heard our names and walked over to the group of guys I came to say goodbye to...Except something was different this time; There was a new boy. A boy that I knew, from the moment we met, would change my life forever.
I didn't run into any nutcases that night and I didn't spend much time with anyone I actually came to see. But time was spent with that new boy.  12 hours later I was boarding a plane to live 5,613 miles away.
That Cinco De Mayo became the beginning of our story.

On a cold day in the middle of December, I saw this quote on Pinterest, cliche I know, but it inspired me to apply for an internship that was farther away than I had ever been before.  I got accepted, moved across the world, learned more about myself than I ever thought was possible, and became a better person, friend and employee. Now I'm sitting here in Ukraine on my very last day wondering where the time has gone. I visited 14 countries and received 27 new stamps in my passport. I can even speak Russian (but don't get your hopes up, I can only say a few things).  I hope to catch up on this blog soon, sharing stories and pictures of my adventures. See you back in America.