Letters

Dear Stephanie, It was such an awesome surprise to get to see you yesterday! And I finally got to meet Shaun! (and I like him!) Even though it was only 20 minutes, it meant a whole lot to me. I hope that we will be able to hang out over Christmas break and that, this time, it will be more than 20 minutes. I love you!

Dear Jeremy, Thanks so much for inviting me to the football game last night! Even though I only stayed for 1 1/2 quarters, I still had tons of fun. The best part was getting to spend time with you! I'm so super glad that we're friends, Jeremy, and hope that we can be for a very long time.

A picture of Emily over the summer when she went to do a field study in Africa!

Dear Emily Christensen, Yea for getting your mission call and yea for serving a mission in Texas and for doing it in Spanish!!! I'm so glad that you invited me to be there with you when you opened your call; I felt blessed to share in one of your life's special moments. You are going to be an AMAZING missionary. I know that the Lord is grateful to have daughters like you who are willing to go out and do His work. You continue to be an inspiration to me, and I hope that one day I can grow up to be like you!

Dear Nicole, I really, really enjoyed talking to you last night when Emily opened her mission call AND your facebook post on my wall made. My. Day. (and it's been kind of a rough one!) I hope that you and I can make opportunities to do fun things and become better friends. Thanks for being awesome.

Charlotte's finger after our trip to the ER!

Dear Charlotte, Well. A 3 hour trip to the ER last night wasn't exactly what I had planned, but it made for quite the adventure! Thank you so much for thinking to call me so that Rachel and I could help you out. It meant so much to us. I hope that your finger heals fast, and that next time you try to cut butternut squash, you  watch that finger of yours!

Dear Self, Try not to be shamefully embarrassed by the fact that you turned bleach white and practically passed out and had to leave the room last night when the nurse was numbing Charlotte's finger with a needle that was nearly twelve feet long. I mean, since the nurse couldn't even walk you twenty feet away without having you begin to blackout you got to sit in the hallway where you were treated with a Kit Kat bar and some yummy grape juice that had crushed ice in it like the kind they have at Sonic that your mom really likes. It just made the whole night a lot more exciting. And Charlotte didn't even get yummy grape juice and she was the one with the sliced finger, so you should feel pretty lucky.

All because of this guy...

Dear caveman who would faint at the sight of blood in order to stay alive, Thanks for passing the trait along. I appreciate feeling like a  prima donna every time I staple my finger with a staple gun or scrape the skin off my palms or see someone get stabbed at the doctor's with a needle--and then black out. The sensation that your about to lose it is great, and so is the whole "feeling self-conscious and like a wuss" thing. Really.

Dear Abby and Jessica, I hope you had so much super fun today at your first competition! I'm sad I can't be there to see you every time to perform, but I hope you know that I'm routing for you every dot and note of the show!

Dear Rachel and Emily and Amelia (and partly Spencer), Watching The Avengers with you guys tonight was more than exactly what I needed. Thanks for the laughing and the fun. I love you guys!!!

Dear Heavenly Father, Thanks for trying me and for making things not easy. Even though it's hard to appreciate it all right now, I know that it's what I need and that it will help me to become more like Thee. With You at my side, I can do this!