2013: the year where I...
JANUARY
>>>I started my last semester of high school and took advanced photography where I fell in love with portraiture.
>>>I learned that I love Les Mis {and every single song that comes with it}.
>>>I spent basically every open hour laughing and adventuring around Montrose with Kelsey.
>>>Zach turned 20 and I began realizing just how excited I am for him to get home and for us to go to college together.
>>>Zach turned 20 and I began realizing just how excited I am for him to get home and for us to go to college together.
FEBRUARY
>>> One of my life long goals was complete: I was accepted to BYU.
>>>I got to go to All State Honor Choir with my mom {and my dad came to my concert as a surprise}, I went to Adam's State Honor Choir with some of my favorite choir girls, and I got to be a part of dinner theater.
>>>My last season of tennis started.
>>>I took some of the funniest pictures with my best friends. I still don't know what high school would have been like without these girls.
>>>I spent 99% of my spring break doing my FCCLA project with my best friend Katie.
>>>The other 1% was spent with these cute kids (:
>>>Katie and I competed at FCCLA state with out project "The Tribe"... and we qualified for nationals for the second year in a row (:
>>>I had a blast at prom with Jacob!
>>>I started saying goodbye to my high school extracurriculars that made the last 4 years so wonderful: orchestra. tennis. choir. FCCLA. NHS. BIONIC.
>>>I graduated high school.
>>>I graduated seminary.
>>>My friends and I painted the Mystery Machine and it was one of the most fun parts of summer.
>>>I spent the weekdays working at a kids day camp and the weekends four-wheeling and boating with my parents. In the meantime, I fell in love with the beautiful place I live in.
>>>I stargazed for hours with my best friends multiple times a week. {this is no exaggeration}
>>>I spent at least half of the summer with Katie {hello sleepovers for nights on end} and we had some of the funniest memories ever.
>>>I spent a week over pioneer day at our cabin with my awesome family (: I realized that I loved small towns.
>>>I had the most epic water fight with my friends.
>>>I house-sat for a friend and fell in love with Maltese dogs {I will own one. someday}.
>>>We celebrated Harry Potter's birthday.
>>>I went camping and said goodbye to the girls that mean the entire world to me.
>>>I went on my senior trip to Boston with my family. {both here and here}
>>>I went to my first real baseball game with some of the coolest cousins around {however, I wish their siblings were there... cough cough Amanda and Jenny}
>>>I packed up my stuff and moved to another state and started at BYU.
>>>I went to my first BYU football game as a college student.
>>>I went to my first concert with my best friend sam and my soon-to-be best friend and roommate Kayla.
>>>I spent an entire night laughing until I cried with the two girls who have become my best friends.
>>>I learned that the saying "good grades, social life, sleep: pick two." definitely applied to college.
>>>I got to go to the Saturday morning session of general conference with the sweetest girls (:
>>>True Blue Foam!!
>>>I met studio C and then later that day got to see Katie for the first time since college started and spent the night with her and sam for the first time in months.
>>>took the typical hall pictures with the girls that make living in dorms so fun...
>>>Carved pumpkins for FHE.
>>>Dressed up as a birthday present for halloween with Kayla and learned that I hate haunted houses.
>>>spent many a night watching The Paradise with Cady.
>>>I spent almost every single night talking with these girls.
>>>Girls NightOut In with my entire hall
>>>Spent Thanksgiving with my favorite people {also known as my family...}
>>>watched my best friend open her mission call to Jamaica.
>>>Decorated my dorm room for Christmas
>>>Went to Temple Square with my ward.
>>>pretended like I was in high school again and got ready for a dance with Cady and took weird pictures with Hunter
>>>My second goal came true: get accepted to the London study abroad program.
>>>Went to the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas concert with my family and John.
>>>Spent Christmas break with all my siblings and their families {minus, of course, the missionary brother}
>>>talked to Zach on christmas and got really, really excited for him to get home in 5 months.
>>>I got to go to All State Honor Choir with my mom {and my dad came to my concert as a surprise}, I went to Adam's State Honor Choir with some of my favorite choir girls, and I got to be a part of dinner theater.
MARCH
>>>My last season of tennis started.
>>>I took some of the funniest pictures with my best friends. I still don't know what high school would have been like without these girls.
>>>The other 1% was spent with these cute kids (:
APRIL
>>>Katie and I competed at FCCLA state with out project "The Tribe"... and we qualified for nationals for the second year in a row (:
>>>I had a blast at prom with Jacob!
MAY
>>>I started saying goodbye to my high school extracurriculars that made the last 4 years so wonderful: orchestra. tennis. choir. FCCLA. NHS. BIONIC.
>>>I graduated high school.
>>>I graduated seminary.
>>>My friends and I painted the Mystery Machine and it was one of the most fun parts of summer.
JUNE
>>>I spent the weekdays working at a kids day camp and the weekends four-wheeling and boating with my parents. In the meantime, I fell in love with the beautiful place I live in.
>>>I stargazed for hours with my best friends multiple times a week. {this is no exaggeration}
>>>I spent at least half of the summer with Katie {hello sleepovers for nights on end} and we had some of the funniest memories ever.
JULY
>>>I spent a week over pioneer day at our cabin with my awesome family (: I realized that I loved small towns.
>>>I had the most epic water fight with my friends.
>>>I house-sat for a friend and fell in love with Maltese dogs {I will own one. someday}.
AUGUST
>>>We celebrated Harry Potter's birthday.
>>>I went camping and said goodbye to the girls that mean the entire world to me.
>>>I went on my senior trip to Boston with my family. {both here and here}
>>>I went to my first real baseball game with some of the coolest cousins around {however, I wish their siblings were there... cough cough Amanda and Jenny}
>>>I packed up my stuff and moved to another state and started at BYU.
SEPTEMBER
>>>I went to my first concert with my best friend sam and my soon-to-be best friend and roommate Kayla.
>>>I spent an entire night laughing until I cried with the two girls who have become my best friends.
>>>I learned that the saying "good grades, social life, sleep: pick two." definitely applied to college.
OCTOBER
>>>I got to go to the Saturday morning session of general conference with the sweetest girls (:
>>>True Blue Foam!!
>>>I met studio C and then later that day got to see Katie for the first time since college started and spent the night with her and sam for the first time in months.
>>>took the typical hall pictures with the girls that make living in dorms so fun...
>>>took pictures with this girl and created a roommate bucketlist (: {and also talked her into getting a blog}
>>>Went to my second concert and realized just how great concerts are.
>>>Dressed up as a birthday present for halloween with Kayla and learned that I hate haunted houses.
NOVEMBER
>>>spent many a night watching The Paradise with Cady.
>>>I spent almost every single night talking with these girls.
>>>Girls Night
>>>Spent Thanksgiving with my favorite people {also known as my family...}
>>>watched my best friend open her mission call to Jamaica.
DECEMBER
>>>Decorated my dorm room for Christmas
>>>Went to Temple Square with my ward.
>>>pretended like I was in high school again and got ready for a dance with Cady and took weird pictures with Hunter
>>>My second goal came true: get accepted to the London study abroad program.
>>>Went to the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas concert with my family and John.
>>>Spent Christmas break with all my siblings and their families {minus, of course, the missionary brother}
>>>talked to Zach on christmas and got really, really excited for him to get home in 5 months.
2013... overall.
This year I learned that I was so lucky to have the best friends I had in high school. I was so lucky to have Sam at BYU, and Katie to come visit, and Kelsey to facetime, and Kelly to have coffee trader catch-up sessions with. I learned that college really is harder than high school, but so worth it. I learned that you can become better friends with the people you live with full-time more quickly than imaginable. I made two amazing best friends. I learned that one of the very few things I don't like about BYU is that you can't see any stars. I learned that I have so much to grateful for.
2014... looking forward to:
new classes, weekend trips to BYUI to visit Katie, meeting even more new people, enjoying everything BYU has to offer, meeting my new niece {due in february!}, going on even more fun dates and adventures, saying goodbye to Sam for 18 months for her mission, watching Downton Abbey with Cady, singing along to Wicked with Kayla, getting to see my brother after 2 whole years and spending one last summer working in Montrose, moving to London and touring Europe... and sooo much more.
Here's to a great 2013 and an even better 2014 {if that's possible}!!
Sincerely,
Erica Michelle
*no, there isn't a picture for every event, and no, this isn't every exciting event from this year.
*no, there isn't a picture for every event, and no, this isn't every exciting event from this year.
