My Last Week

May 12th-18th

It's Mother's Day!!
And you know what that means...
WE GOT TO SKYPE KAMI TODAY!! :) I was looking forward to it allllll day long! Sure enough, I started bawling when I saw her on the computer! Ahh it was so sweet seeing her again! She seems so incredibly happy. :) I knew she was, but to be able to see it is a little bit different.. I wanted to say so many things to her, but the whole family was around.. and they don't need to know my life. ;) It's a bit of a bummer because I don't get to hear a lot from her.. I mean all nine of us write her pretty consistently, plus other friends and family members, she doesn't get to write too long of replies.. I don't think she gets to read all of my emails most of the time they're so long! And a lot of the time Toby catches her on the computer at the right time and gets to IM her... leaving her with even less time to write... it kind of makes me angry.. but it's cool that they're able to talk almost face to face! So blessed to have technology in our lives!! We got to video call all the way across the world with color, sound, and sight for FREE! :)
I also would like to wish my mom a Happy Mother's Day!! :) She is the strongest, most amazing woman I know. Seriously. I don't know how she does what she does.... but she is such an angel. :) So blessed that I am her daughter and that she gets to teach me. How lucky is she? ;)

Monday I got to go to Lauren's cello recital! She is soooooo good at playing the cello. Hard work and practice obviously pays off! She is incredible! :) She will go places in life, that's for sure! :)
Monday night we had a ward FHE at the Bishop's house! It was a ton of fun! My good friend Derek was even there! We ate yummy food, threw ice cubes at each other, listened to some awesome musical numbers, and talked and laughed a whole bunch. I love these nights, too! :)

Welp, Wednesday is my LAST NORMAL DAY OF HIGH SCHOOL. It's hard to believe that four years have passed by so quickly, when while you're in it it seems like you'll die before you get out of there! I had a fun day today! Actually, all week! Me and my yearbook girls all got to distribute the books to the seniors throughout the week, and seeing people's reactions is probably the best thing ever. I've done this four times now, and I have never gotten tired of it! The unloading of boxes, smelling the fresh paper and ink, I know it's kind of nerdy, but I honestly love yearbook! I love being passionate about something! I love it that it is such a big deal and people will remember the year for a looong time! Even after the people are gone, yearbooks still tend to stick around. It's a pretty amazing feeling knowing that through all of the stress comes a beautiful book that captures the school year in a way that no one else could have. :) And I've done it four times.. but anyway, Lauren's last orchestra concert was tonight. She conducted a few songs as her senior project. I am SO proud of her! I know I don't always give her the appreciation she deserves, but I do appreciate her nerdiness and dedication to something she loves. That I CAN relate to. :) Here's to us nerds ate heart, and let's face it -- nerds on the outside. WE MADE A DIFFERENCE! :)

Thursday was our underclassman distribution party! These are stressful, but always worth it. I was happy to be able to be a veteran once again and help out the newbies with pass outs. I had my government, yearbook, and graphic design finals today! Pretty easy! My yearbook final was a HUGE food party! Haha we brought a grill and cooked hamburgers, had apple pie and ice cream, and a whole bunch of other parties. We party hard in that classroom! All the seniors stayed for like three hours after the party, just talking and reminiscing about the year.. we all had to walk back to the cafeteria for something... and the sun was setting on the empty courtyard, and it was just us senior girls.. and so naturally we all stated crying!! Haha I'm not one to get emotional about these kind of things.. but it just hit us right then that tomorrow is our last day of school... it was a bittersweet moment for all of us. I never thought that I'd be crying with those girls, because I never really took the time to get to know them personally... they were just my classmates for the longest time.. but in creating a book together, you do get to develop a connection with them... you've attended dozens of high school events with them, ran back to the classroom for them to get extra camera batteries, snuck up on ladders to the roof to get better shots, stayed after school for hours and on the weekends to make shirts and finish deadlines... it was like our own little gang -- and we pulled it off and created something that will be reflected on for years to come.. it sounds really cheesy, but that is how I chose to leave my mark on the schools I've been to... it's nothing tremendous.. half the time people didn't even know I was in yearbook.. but they know now, and they thank me for it... it's pretty wonderful. :)

FRIDAY. My last Friday ever of school. I woke up this morning feeling pretty nostalgic. I left the house and cried. As I drove up to the school in the sunrise, I shed a tear. As I walked through the empty hallway to my 6:30 math class, I cried. As I creepily said bye to Garrett for the last time I got teary-eyed. It was an emotional morning and school hadn't even started yet!! I took my finals, and said my goodbyes... and then I was done. Just like that. And life still carries on. For most kids anyway.. I nearly thought Derek was going to fall apart into pieces after I left. Poor guy, his two best friends are senior girls.. who are graduating. And he still has two years left of high school. I love that guy! He played my brother in the community play we did last year, and he is THE funniest guy I know. We walked to third hour together everyday this year. He made me my favorite type of cookie this morning and gave it to me on our last walk... I saw him at the end of the hallway and we both just burst into tears!! :( Aahh he breaks my heart.. you would have thought one of us had terminal cancer and was about to die and never see each other again. Well, 3rd hour started, and that's kind of how life is... time keeps going and you just have to move on or you'll be late!! In Seminary we got up and bore our testimonies... mine was primarily on charity and how we need to serve each other..my other friend Derek close the year perfectly with his eloquent words. And then, my last day of Seminary was over.. that's the one thing I'm going to miss the most about high school... I mean the football games were awesome. The random things that happened throughout the year were hilarious.. but Seminary was just something different. :) I'm so thankful that I've always taken Seminary seriously, and I've had many great blessings because of it. I know I'll have institute when I start college, but the daily thing is what I'm going to miss.
Luckily I saw Derek after school again, and we just hugged for the longest time... he was having such a rough day.. :( But it was nice to think that I had made such a huge impression on this kid and that he wouldn't have been the same without me. I did that for a lot of people apparently with the things written in my yearbook about me, and even with kids who I didn't really know all that well saying they were thankful for the things I taught them and that they were going to miss me. And then I walked out of the gates... and it was done.
I never really thought that I'd miss high school... not necessarily the studies, or some of the people, but just the innocence of age in high school. It's an interesting feeling when you can feel the dusty pages of your life turn, and feel the freshness of the new pages that are just catching the sunlight, and haven't been wrinkled or torn by time or experiences. It closes with the breath as you sigh and opens just when you wake up from a long sleep.  Now I'm being all sentimental and poetic.. geez.. anyways, it's just an odd sense of rebirth or something new that I haven't really experienced in a while. I was in such a rush to finish high school and just get out.. I feel done and accomplished and satisfied, and I think I had handled everything given to me with no regrets. I don't regret anything in high school... I feel like I came out a better person than who I was when I entered.. which doesn't happen all the time.. I had a rare exception of I knew who I was when I started, and I haven't lost sight of the person who I'm going to be. I made it through untainted.. Obviously I heard things that I didn't want to hear, but I didn't let it affect me in a negative way. I turned all of the negative things into lessons for myself, that I could observe and learn from those around me. And I think that's the greatest thing I learned from High School... don't loose sight of who you are, and the rest will work for you.

Saturday morning I went to go to take pictures of Jette's 5k run and obstacle course! It was such a great experience, thanks to the Cluff's who got me the job. :) I loved to see the love and support from all those who came out to help this kid. Everyone was SO happy to be there, and you could see it in the photographs. I had such a wonderful time there! :) Afterwards, the Cluffs came over to my house and we made ourselves dinner, watched a movie, and then had desert. I couldn't think of a more perfect day!! Being able to do what I love with the people that I love. :)