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!

Letters

Dear Lauren, WAY TO GO!!! Good job getting fifth place in the dance competition today by doing your awesome tango! I admire you so much for doing the things you are passionate about. You are amazing.

Dear Sarah, I have been waiting ALL WEEK to go and get ice cream with you today! It was perfect. It was just what I needed. It was so good to do nothing but just sit and talk to you. Especially the "you" part. You amaze and inspire me in so many ways. Thanks for your example and friendship.

Dear World Religions Test, That was fun, wasn't it? I'm pretty sure that I'd never even seen at least a fourth of the words on the page. Lucky for me, the test wasn't in the testing center and wasn't multiple choice, so I still get to forget it and still feel good about myself until the scores get posted. Perfect.

Dear Eric, I'm so glad that you came over to make cookies with me tonight. Thanks for the cookie making and the Piano Guys video watching/listen and the talking and the translating my letter and the playing Banana Grams and the even more talking. The cookies we made were amazing. Magic, you could say (or rather, did say). You are such a good, understanding, caring, spiritual, fun, awesome friend. I'm excited to get to listen to General Conference with you on Saturday morning up in the mountains!

I think someone was just trying to remind him of home...

Dear Jeremy, Thanks for stopping by tonight to help us eat our cookies. I'm so glad that your dance number in today's dance competition was 667--our apartment number. Some things are just meant to be. Our FHE family is one of those things. Also, I admire you so much for being willing to help so many people when they struggle with their homework. Your dedication to service is just so super awesome. Air five, brother! Good night (This time, not in sign language)!

Dear Lori, Thank you so much for buying us pizza to eat today at work. You are one of the best bosses ever!

Letters

Dear John and Gentry, I forgot to mention the other day, but thank you for inviting me to see The Amazing Spider-Man with you in the dollar theater on Friday night. I was feel overwhelmed and, even though I didn't realize it or think it was a good idea, I needed to get away and to go and have fun. The movie was wonderful, and so was your company. P.S.--I hope you warm up to my sarcasm soon (and no--there wasn't any in this letter!)

Dear Kristi, Thank you so much for trusting us at work enough to talk about your crazy life. It let me feel comfortable enough to talk to you about mine today, and I really just needed someone to listen. I hope you know that I admire you so much for the good person you are and for all the good choices I have seen you make. You are an amazing women. Sorry I couldn't make it to the party tonight. I hope it was a blast!

Dear Mary, This is going to be one super awesome French party. I hope you're ready to go all out!

Dear Elder Hardy, If you want a reply to a letter, don't write it completely in Portuguese to a girl who only reads English and signs ASL. It will not encourage her to write back faster. Especially if that girl is me. I will leave the rest of my thoughts on the matter to myself.

Dear Jared McBride, When I got home from the library last night at 11:45 pm after a very long day and saw a postcard from you sitting on my bed--it meant an incredible amount to me! Immediately  the stresses of the day vanished. Thank you for making me feel so special and loved. You better know--and if you don't, listen up!--that I think you are an amazing person and that I admire you very much. I can say that because I have seen you do amazing things. You are motivated by a love for others and for your Heavenly Father. More people need to be like this. Even though this first year of teaching for you might be going crazy, I'm sure you are doing fine. Know that back here, at CP, I'm rooting for you. Keep up the awesome-ness.

Letters

Dear Morgan, When you waved at me through the window when I was at work it made me super happy on the inside. Our apartment hasn't been the same since you left. I miss you, but hope that life is being super amazing over in Southridge!

Dear Amelia, After Morgan waved at me through the window, I didn't think my day could get any better, but then you came in to get papers to fix your SFL minor. Day officially made. I love you ton-zers!

Dear Bishop, Happy birthday! Thanks for working so hard and sacrificing so much for so many years. For us. Now only have you served our ward directly for the past almost 3 years, but you have living a righteous life before that, which made you worthy for the call. Thanks for all you do and all you are. We love you!!!

Dear FHE Family, Fingerpainting with you guys tonight was awesome. You're all pretty cool peoples. Can we keep being super awesome together? Okay? Deal.

Dear Heavenly Father, For everything I've written above and more, thank you.