Goodbye 2009

With the new year just around the corner I thought it would be fun to write a post about highlights of 2009. (I know, so original huh? No one else has thought of this.) Now some of these highlights may not be super significant to you the reader, but they are to me so you get to hear about them anways. ;) Also, this has the potential to be an extremely long post. You have been forewarned.

• Fort Building with Kelci and Bay - This wasn't some super monumental occasion but I don't think I'll ever forget it. In Janurary of last year I went to Provo to play with my wonderful Kelci and Baylee friends. :) It was an adventure of ice cream, fort building, watching clue, and then talking (more like venting on my part, sorry Kelc) till 3 in the morning. Me and Kelci were already pretty dang close, but I think this night helped strengthen our friendship even more. Ah the magic of fort building.

• Random Trip to Longbeach - Sometime in Feburary (around Valentines day if I remember right...) me and Chelsea decided to take a quick trip with her family (via Jet Blue) to Longbeach California. And when I say quick trip, I mean quick. We headed out at 5 in the morning one day and then headback again around noon the next. Short, but perfect. We visted an aquarium, and of course the super cold beach. I don't care what temperature, I will always love the ocean. Mmmmm. Beach. I will always remember this trip and the fun adventures me and Chelsea had. Like the real live pimp, my first and only In and Out experience (totally over rated), running on 3 hours of sleep, and of course the Longbeach Airport losing power. Good times. :)

• Emcee for And...Go! - 2009 was the year I started to Emcee for the Improv group And... Go! I love it. I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty dang nervous the first time they shoved a microphone into my hands and put me infront of a live audience, but now I enjoy every minute of it (and the power that a microphone can give a person). I love this group and I am so glad to be a part of it and to call all my fellow And...Goers friends. If you haven't seen a show, come to one, you will laugh. That's a promise. :) Check us out at andgoimprov.com

• Magical Monumental Moab Trip - What started it all! It's crazy to think that this trip happened just 7 or so months ago. Through my brother and a couple of other friends from the And...Go troupe I was invited along to this trip, and how grateful I am that I was. I had no idea that this trip would invite so many new and wonderful people into my life, and for that alone it deserves a special spot in the history of my life. Add on top that it was just a very fun trip period! Hiking, cooking, climbing, jeeping (even though I didn't really take part in the jeeping...), fire rocks, pop rocks, lots of fun and lots of laughter. I've always loved Moab and I'm so excited to go back again this upcoming year!
  

• Real Games!! - One of my new aquired friends from Moab happened to be a total and complete Real Soccer fan. He quickly invited us to a game and I (along with others I'm sure) got hooked. I had never been that big of a fan of watching soccer games, but when you watch them live with good friends and add in the awesome spirit of Rio Tinto, you can't help but fall in love. I now try and go to as many games as my schedule and budget will allow. And boy am I glad that this was the year I decided to jump on the wagon. Go National Champions!! :) So awesome.
  

• Party's Party's Party's! - Along with my new awesome friends and new awesome adventrues came some awesome parties. I would like to give a special shout out to Gavin for planning most of these! We've had 80's Birthday Parties, Funday Monday's, Ultimate Frisbee Parties, Pirate Parties, Beard/Chili Parties, ice skating parties, etc etc. Everytime we've had a blast and taken way too many pictures. ;)
  

• Camping Slash Cabin Adventures! - I love camping, and luckily I have friends that do too. :) We didn't get out as much as we had planned this past summer, but when we did it was a lot of fun. First was the McLelland Cabin. My grandparents own a cabin about an hour past Evenston (and oddly still in Utah), by Bear River. It's always been one of my favorite places to go. The best part of the cabin is that you don't have to feel pressured into doing anything. It's beautiful and peaceful and relaxing. But when you are in the mood to do something you can go on hikes, go play down in the river, swing on the awesome giant swing set (seriously guys, it's ginormous) and so forth. It was fun to have a bunch of friends up to enjoy it all. Also over Labor Day Weekend we went camping up by Mirror Lake! It was wonderful. There ended up only being a few of us, but we still had fun. Me and Tay even tryed canooing in Mirror Lake. :) I can't wait for summer to come around again and do some more camping!

• Concerts! - In September we went to two concerts. The first was Matt & Kim and was by far one of the most (if not the most) fun concerts I've been to. Matt and Kim have such stage presence and love for life and music that it just spreads to the whole crowd, I dare one person that went to that concert to say they didn't have fun. And then to add to it all, we were able to stay afterward and talk to and get pictures with Matt and Kim! Thanks again to Alex for buying all the tickets. You rock my friend! :) The other concert we went to was Flogging Molly. Oh man. It has always been one of my goals to go to a Flogging Molly concert, and I am so glad that I was finally able to! Thanks go to Ken for keeping us posted on all things Flogging Molly. :) It was such a fun concert, and they are all so talented that it just amazes me. So awesome.
  

• Braedon Comes Home!! - Definitely a monumental occasion for the year of 2009. I won't really go into a ton of detail on this cause there is a whole nother blog dedicated to it. But needless to say I am so glad to be done with this whole waiting for my missionary business. It's so nice to have Braedon home. I love him so much!
  

• Engaged!!! - Again, there is a whole nother blog dedicated to this, but it still needed to be added. I am so excited to be getting married to my high school sweet heart, my first love, my true love, and my best friend. May 13th can't come soon enough.
  

I guess I'll stop now (told you it would be long). It really has been a great year - though very hard at times, especially with Braedon gone. Luckily I am blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life that help support and lift me up. I have a really good feeling about 2010 (maybe it's cause I'm graduating and getting married... maybe) and I'm looking forward to all the new adventures to come. Thanks to all those who made this year great!

Here's to 2010. :)