Dreaming With a Broken Heart

Yes, this is a title of John Mayer’s song. And yes, it makes me sound sad, lonely and depressed. All of which I am not. I don’t really know why I picked that for the title of this blog, other than it just kinda fit as I was listening to my iPod on shuffle.

This semester has been far better than I could’ve anticipated. I had a lot more fun than I had the last semester. And got to spend some time with some really cool people!

Change is hard. Changing diapers to the toilet, preschool to kindergarten and the bus, middle school to high school and the one I am most familiar with as of now… high school to college. It was hard leaving home. I often found myself wishing I could go home even for just 10 min and hang out with my family.

But, alas high school to college is not the last of big changes. Leaving BYU to come home will be a huge change for me. To state the obvious, I will be home and under the jurisdiction of my parents as opposed to doing what I want, when I want. I will have real food. I will not stay awake till 1am studying for a subject I have deemed hopeless. And, I will not be around the people that I have grown to call family. Or at least close friends.

BYU is unique in that it combines school and church. The kids I live with and go to school with are the kids in my very same ward. My ward this semester was much closer than last semester. I love my Bishop with all my heart. I love ALL of the girls, as well as all of the boys. I knew everyone. I tried to get to know as many people as I could. Slowly, I truly felt like I was a part of something,

For less, well slightly less, obvious reasons I am leaving my roommates, I am leaving my ward, I am leaving Will and I soon will lose Chase to Portland, Oregon. The feeling is almost like having the carpet pulled out from under you. It doesn’t matter how much you cry, the shock of change and the pain is still there.

I will miss my freshman year. Because… “You never have a year, quite like your freshman year.” –William Daybell.

I want to go back. A week before it was time to leave, I was ready. I was excited. I wanted to leave BYU, leave Provo and leave Utah. But, when the time came, I realized I really was nowhere near ready to leave. And my whole last week was quite surreal.

The boys I love will be leaving to serve missions all over the world. The girls I am so close with will be living in different apartments all over Provo. And I will come back to a whole new BYU experience.

However, with the sadness there is much more joy. I would not trade the last 9 months for anything. I feel like it was hard, happy and eye-opening, but that I came out a much different, stronger and better person.

Some honorable mentions (in the picture below) are the people I ended up spending the majority of my time with… (Anthon should be in this but… he is M.I.A):

Ana. Chase. Nikole. Will. Jenna. Marissa.

I have written many blogs in which they are present… But, I love them so enough of your complaining already.

Because this semester was an adventure all in itself… I have devised a game. Something a little more interactive, so that I don’t bore you guys with all the writing. It’s called the favorite memory game.

I am going to include pictures after each memory so that you can feel as if you were there. Anyway, here are the rules. You read the memory. You can look at the picture for fun. Then in your head, you guess which person said that was one of their favorite memories. There are seven contestants: Mariss, Ana, Chase, Nikole, Will, Me and Jenna. You can put your guesses in your response as well as any feedback (if you want!). There are no prizes and no scores. Because EXAMS are OVER!! This is just for fun. The answers are at the bottom Oh! And no cheating please? And no looking at previous blogs for clues…

(DISCLAIMER: Some people said the same memory. So, just because you don’t guess them… doesn’t mean you could be right. And doesn’t mean that just because it’s not their answer specifically, it wasn’t one of their favorite memories.)

One more disclaimer: I had to pick based on the pictures I had available... So, I picked random ones for each person.. I'll list a more complete list after the game. 

1. Festival of Colors

2. Sophie's Modest Towel Outfit

3. Harry Potter at Midnight

4. Jenna's Frozen Bra

5. Salt Lake City

6. Jenna's Trip to the Health Center

7. The War over Bellatrix

Some other memories that made the list were:

The roadtrip home... Chase has all the other pictures:

Will's new wardrobe:

 Visiting Nichelle at work:

 Renting the car for random errands:

 William's weight loss. ;)

 Random last minute antics:

 Late night dorm room hang outs!:

 Tanning... And my sweet tat!

 Jenna's Random Pickle Obsession:

Mariss's Birthday!:

Ice Skating!

 Any and EVERY trip to Aunt B's:

 Harry Potter... Dollar Theatre (Granny Clayton):

 Temple trips:

 SLEDDING!

 Group Dates!:

 Snowboarding:

 Basketball games... and Jimmer Fredette:

 Boarding:

 Paintballing!!

 Yay for good semesters!!

 The answers are:

1. Mariss

2. Ana

3. Chase

4. Sophie

5. Will

6. Nikole

7. Jenna