Dec 31, 2017 –
I literally couldn’t think of a word to describe this year! Its been the best, hardest, most exciting, and rewarding year OF MY LIFE! So if you can think of a word that describes that, let me know. Basically, summed up I could say 2017 was AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
I got MARRIED! Being married is the best thing thats ever happened to me. I know that’s such a cliche! I couldn’t imagine my life without Austin. I thought it wasn’t possible to love him anymore that I did when we got engaged, but I was mistaken. I thought I couldn’t love him anymore when we got married, but I was mistaken again. And here I am, yet again, convinced that there’s no way I could ever love austin anymore than I do right now. But I know that when I wake up tomorrow, I’ll love him more. With every movie night, hug, badly made dinner, dance in the kitchen, butt grab and snuggle goodnight- our love grows. Whenever Austin and I say prayers together, he always asks, “Please help us to love each other deeper.” (I’ll leave you a small break to say AWWWW) Thats something we strive to work at everyday and I can see the blessings we have had because of it.
I went through the temple for my first time! AND I GOT SEALED TO MY HUSBAND! The temple really is heaven on earth and my favorite place to be. President Henry B. Eyring explained this amazing experience in words I couldn’t to gather on my own. “This building, on its east facod, has the words ‘House of the Lord’. The First time I walked just a few feet into the temple, I had the feeling I had been here before. In an instant the thought that came to me was a sense of peace beyond anything I have ever felt before in this life but that I seemed to recongnize and almost remember. We knew our Heavenly Father and his beloved son before we came into this life. We felt peace with them and we long to be with them again with our families and those we love. Dedicated temples are sacred places where the risen Savior may come. In them, we can feel the peace of our associations with Him in the life before. In them we can make the covenants which help us to come unto Him into this life in which will permit Him, if we keep our promises to Him, to take us home to the Father with our families in the world to come.”
I got a job as a dental assistant! This was a job that was unexpected to say the least. Last January I had just moved home from Rexburg and needed a job ASAP. I applied everywhere, but no luck. Then, a family friend offered me a job at his dental office. I started working as a sterilization tech. That’s a fancy title for someone who cleans yucky stuff off of dental instruments and sterilizes them. But after a few months, I was trained to be a dental assistant on the job. That training was baptism by fire! When I first started working at that office, I didnt even know what a filling was. Now, here I am assisting with root canals. It was a lot to learn in a short amount of time, really humbling, but an experience I’ll forever be grateful for. Since working there I have become friends with some awesome co-workers and get to make new friends with patients every day!
I started my own business! I’ve always loved photography. For as long as I can remember, my sister has always been big into photography and I admired her a lot for that. I didn’t know anything about photography starting out. I grew up with instagram and I loved editing my pictures with the fun little filters. Over the years photography became more interesting to me. I assisted quite a few shoots with local photographers in high school, but never really got behind a REALLY NICE camera. Then, early this year Austin convinced me that I was capable of starting my own business. He found a $400 camera on craigslist and told me he would pay for half of it as long as I stared a business. (this was before we were even engaged so buying something nice together was a big commitment haha). I learned as much as I could and then I launched my business! It was so exciting! I did TONS of free shoots for people to build my portfolio and now here I am, WITH A FULL BLOWN BUSINESS THAT CAN PAY MY BILLS! I love looking at pictures I took in July compared to my current pictures. As my confidence grew in my abilities, so did the quality of my photography. Seeing that is a really proud and special moment for me.
I flew on a plane and left the country for my first time! For Austin and I’s honeymoon we flew to Florida, hung out there for a day and then went on a cruise through Jamaica and the Grand Cayman Islands. IT WAS A DREAM! If I could only give one word of advice for engaged couples it would be that spending a lot of money on your honeymoon is SO WORTH IT!!!! We had so much fun hiking waterfalls and playing with little sea turtles! I can’t wait to go back!
ADULTHOOD HIT ME LIKE A TON OF BRICKS! I had no idea what I was getting myself into this year. Living as a “grown up” is hard!!! Bills are expensive! Groceries are expensive! LIFE IS EXPENSIVE!
I changed my last name. You always think its gonna be so exciting when you change your last name when you get married, but I was SO SAD! It felt like a piece of me was getting taken away! No one ever warns you about that part! Or that you’ll miss your family a lot! The time I get to spend with my parents and siblings ARE THE BEST! I never knew how much fun they were until I moved out. If you live at home still, treasure those moments! You’ll miss them!!!!
I felt really sad. I’m a happy person, I always have been and honestly, I know that its not just because I have some ridiculously good attitude or perspective, it was straight up a gift from Heavenly Father. I really can’t take credit for my happiness. But this year, I felt that happiness leave for a little bit. It was like the little light in my heart burnt out. I was miserable. It was confusing because on paper, I should have been the happiest person in the world! I just couldn’t pull myself out of this weird funk that kept me down for what felt like forever! I was really sad and really lonely. Luckily, I have an awesome husband that knew I was struggling and worked his butt off everyday to try to make me happy. With his help and some serious heart to heart talks with Heavenly Father, I was finally able to get out of the funk and live my life again! It was a hard time, but a really big growing time for me.
I got beaten down with the humility stick. I learned that sometimes, I kinda stunk as a person. I’m not saying this for sympathy or anything. It was just something I learned! I had to start taking responsibility for when I was being a pain and super moody. Owning up to mistakes is hard, but that’s the only way we can move past them.
I got in an accident and legitimately thought I was going to die. That’s a weird moment to say the least. It was the first day it snowed in December and I was driving to work early in the morning. I hit a patch of snow on the highway and spun across all 4 lanes and slammed into the barrier. As I was spinning, I really thought I was going to die and pleaded with Heavenly Father to help me. Miraculously, I wasn’t hit by any on coming traffic and the car wasn’t too badly damaged. However, as I was spinning, I didn’t know that was going to be the result. I really thought that if this wasn’t the end of the road for me, I was gonna be living with some serious repercussions. I could see the oncoming traffics headlights and I just had to wait until someone hit me and it felt like time stood still. I was so scared I was gonna injure someone else. I was scared that I didnt tell my family that I loved them as much as I should have. If I did make it out alive, this would surly cost us all the money we had with an additional billion dollars of debt. However, angels truly were with me. I KNOW I was protected. Thinking over that moment I genuinely can’t figure out how no one else was hit and the damages done to the car were minimal. It made me grateful to be alive!
I failed my first class and stopped going to school. I’m not being rebellious. I actually really want to go to school and not going is the worst. I started off this year going to CWI after moving home from BYUI. I liked it an okay amount, but I REALLY MISSED BYUI- if you’re thinking about going there, DO IT! It was such a good experience! I loved it! Anyways, when I went to CWI, I took a math class that kicked my butt and I didn’t pass. I was also working A LOT so I’ll secretly put a little blame on that one. I felt super dumb and got really sad, but then I realized, it’s just a class and the sun will come up tomorrow. Then all the fun parts of adulthood set in once I got married and we couldn’t afford for both of us to go to school so I took some time off to work full time. The break has been nice- going to school full time, working full time and planning a wedding kinda fried my brain and I needed some space. But now that I have the hang of things I’m ready to start school again! I’ll be going to BYUI online hopefully in 2018!
I learned a lot this year. But most importantly, I learned that Heavenly Father knows me, hears me and LOVES ME! I can’t even count all the blessings I’ve been given this year. My testimony of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ has grown so much in this last year. ALL OF IT- the good and the bad- have been because THEY LOVE ME! All of the experiences I have had is so that I can learn, and become the person they know I can be. Everything that they require of me is because they love me and want to see me return home safe and happy. I love them. I love the people they so graciously put in my life. I LOVE MY LIFE!
2017 has been my favorite year. Its definitely gonna give 2018 a run for its money!
BRING ON THE NEW YEAR!
