Friends of Provo

Quick shout out to some of my friends that have come into my life in the past four years. Actually, no shout out, just some pictures so you guys can see them before you come out and hopefully meet some of them. They are my family away from family...

So it started out with these guys freshman year. We had a great time living in the basement.
Order left t right: Me, Kerri, Becca

Then second semester at BYU these guys became me and Kerri's best friends. Story of how we became friends: Aubree (girl with checkered jacket laying across Jessica and Brianne) stole my backpack and I chased her into her apartment (across the basement from us) and ended up in Brianne and Nicki's room and joined in their random dance party to Whip my Hair by Willow Smith. And that's it.
Order from left to right: Aubree laying down, Jessica, Brianne, Kylie, Nicki (Nigs), Me

This is us sophomore year before Amy left on her mission (above picture was junior year)
Order left to right: Amy, Brianne, Jessica, Nicki, Me, Becca, Kerri

Then sophomore year I lived with these guys. Pretty great people. Love 'em
Order left to right, back to front: Me, Nina, Kerri, Audrey, Becca, Courtney

Order left to right: Nina, Kerri, Top of Audrey'e red head, Becca, Courtney, Me

Then we met Ben. He and Becca started dating.
Order left to right: Me, Kerri, Ben, Becca

Making up a song about our apartment, Ben was our photographer
Order left to right: Becca, Me, Kerri, Courtney, Nina

I think this might have been a thanksgiving meal. Not really sure. But sophomore year we spent a lot of time eating on the floor. (We didn't have enough chairs)
Order left to right: Brooke (lived in apartment next door), me, Kerri, Nina, Julia (lived with Brooke and was Courtney's best friend, she and Brooke are awesome), Becca, Jill (random roommate for one semester)

We also met Matt sophomore year. He was a sad little polar bear cause he had been dear johned on his mission and he was definitely in a dark spot ha So we adopted him. He often slept on our couch, but never past 12. We did come home one time to find him asleep on our couch when no one was home though. It was kinda weird ha
Order left to right: Ben, Becca, Audrey, Kerri, Me, Matt

This is Kerri's birthday. Not long after, like maybe a week or more, she and Jeff started dating.
Order left to right, back to front: Courtney, Becca, Me, Kerri, Jill (once again random roommate)

A month later to the day that she and Jeff started dating, they got engaged.
Order left to right: Me, Nina, Kerri, Becca, Courtney

Kerri's wedding.
Order left to right: Me, Bailey (awesome person, Kerri's cousin, we went to her house in Arizona for a weekend and her family is awesome. Her father passed away about a week ago, so pray for them), Becca, Kara (Bailey's sister, awesome person), Hannah (Kerri's friend from Colorado, I work with her now and she is cool)

Order left to right: Kerri's friend, Kara, Me, Bailey, Kerri, Becca, Hannah, Rachelle (friend from freshman year, never see her), Kerri's friend whose name I once knew haha.  And then Matt

Me, Jeff, Kerri

And then over a year after Kerri got married, Ben and Becca got married. It was pretty awesome. This was Junior year

Left to right front row: Jackson, Courtney (Becca's friends), Mike (Rachelle's husband), Rachelle, Becca, Ben, Me, Stetson behind me (friend from freshman year), Abby, Jason right behind her

Too many people to try and put them in order. Friends. But on the left second row is Elaine, my current roommate and an awesome person

This was when Courtney got back from her mission last semester.
Left to right: Matt, Me, Courtney, Becca, Ben

This is us a few weeks ago
Left to right, top to bottom: Audrey, Me, Julia, Becca, Courtney, Nina, Kerri

This is us sophomore year. But it's a good old photo of almost all of us. These people are awesome and I love them.
Clockwise from left: Me (graduating in two weeks), Courtney (Got back from her mission last semester I think, honestly can't remember exactly when), Nina (getting married in either June or July, can't remember), Ben, Becca (doing her thang), Audrey (getting married sometime this summer), Matt (going to Haiti this summer), Kerri (now has a little baby girl named Jane and is graduating in two weeks)

Life is Good. That's all.

I don't have a poem this time. No cry for help in this blog post mom haha 

I was just sitting here on the couch in my apartment, listening to music and I realized that I am excited to see my family in a couple weeks when I graduate. Because I AM GRADUATING. I will be an alumna of Brigham Young University in 17 short days. 

I've been avoiding thinking about my graduation. The truth is I don't want to be done with BYU. I love BYU. It has helped me grow in more ways than I'm sure I realize. But if I could stay here forever...I wouldn't.

 The motto for BYU is- 

Enter to Learn, Go Forth to Serve. 

Once upon a time I was going to go to Lugazi, Uganda to serve the people there. I was excited and couldn't wait for the wonderful experiences I would have. I was sure the trip to Africa was going to change my life. Before I was supposed to leave I started a blog so that the people who had given me financial support could see the results of their generous (and thoughtful) donations. I wrote the following statements on that blog, and two years later I read them again:

If you have a dream, go get it now. Life is about living. So live. Now by that I don't mean go party and do stupid things that could possibly end in death or some sort of liver disease. That's not living. Living is about serving. Service is what truly makes us feel like we are living up to our potential. We are always told that we need to have charity, which is the pure love of Christ. Well, that is Service. And service is Love. And love is Living. 

And that is why I want to go to Africa. To serve the people there. To love the people there. And to live and help others live.

View from my apartment at Stratford Court

I was sad when I realized I couldn't go to Africa. I spent a lot of nights crying myself to sleep, wishing I was in Africa rather than where I was. One night as I was doing my usual crying "woe is me" ritual I had a thought that changed my attitude. I thought, how ironic (not sure if this is a correct use of the term 'ironic'), that I am sitting on my bed wishing I was in Africa, when so many of those children would give anything to be here, where I am, having the opportunities that I have. How selfish of me to waste time being ungrateful. Those children in Africa are happy and enjoy their life, regardless of their circumstances. How pitifully first-world selfish I was being. I realized that I was wasting an opportunity that most of those kids would never get. The simple opportunity to appreciate the wonderful feeling that only comes from sleeping in a warm bed every night and the chance to drink clean water everyday. I'm not kidding. The simple things I took for granted I realized in that instant were wonderful gifts from my Heavenly Father. I never got to go to Africa, but even from thousands of miles away those kids changed my perspective on life. 

So when I leave BYU I will not waste my time by wishing I was somewhere other than where I am. I will thank the Lord for the wonderful experiences I had and then I will look forward, and I will live everyday. Because life is not what happened yesterday, or what might happen tomorrow, life is right now. Your life is this moment. So the answer to the question, will I end up happy? is found in how you live every moment. And so, even though change affects me in ways that I can't fully explain, I will be happy regardless of what trials I face in life.

Walking up the basement stairs of the JFSB

 I love BYU and am extremely grateful to the Lord for giving me the wonderful opportunity to gain a college degree, so wonderful in fact that according to the Huffington Post in 2010 only 6.7% of the world's population has that same opportunity.