Monday, December 28, 2009

A New Beginning

This is my 2nd attempt at blogging. (Some of you might remember what a terrible fail my 1st attempt was!) I was, however, told that I needed to blog my experiences of my new adventure in Utah. So here goes nothing.
I arrived in Utah on Thursday, December 17th. It was a long journey getting here and I'm not just referring to the drive. I applied and was accepted to Utah Valley University at the end of October. Since then, there's been all the stress of packing, finishing off my last month and a half at work, as well as some unexpected stressers that popped up. Fortunately, with those trials came some unbelievable blessings. I was in a car accident on November 21st, in which I rear-ended someone. Luckily, there was very little damage, so I nor my insurance company had to pay for any repairs. A couple weeks later, a snow storm caused me to slide into median, bending my wheel. A friend of my mom's was kind enough to pay for the repairs necessary. During all of this, my computer was giving up on life and my wonderful mother helped me pay for a new one.
During my last few weeks there I made some amazing friends and became closer to friends that I had been inadvertently neglecting. While they made it harder to leave, I also don't know that I would have made it through those last few weeks without them. We created some really great memories together and they gave me so much love and support, which was invaluable in my volatile emotional state. I can't believe how much I miss them already. BaM (Breakfast and a Movie) on Sundays were the best and I'm hoping to set in motion BaM:Provo style as soon as possible.
While I'm so grateful to and for all of these people, there is someone in particular that I absolutely wouldn't have gotten here without. He was always there to listen to me and offer support when I was an absolute mess. He helped me pack my life into my car, then drove me and that car all the way out here. He calmed and encouraged me when I thought I couldn't do this, and was & always is unbelievably patient with me. For all of this I am eternally grateful to Jonathan Owen!
Now to recap the past week-ish. My first couple of days here, I spent lots of time with my other half, Katherine and met 2 of my new roommates. Unfortunately, everyone left on Saturday to spend the holidays at home. So on Sunday, I ventured to church alone. I was fortunate enough to meet 2 of the girls that live across the hall from me, Jenna and Jenna, both of whom are absolutely darling! On Sunday night I was able to go down to Hyrum for my nephew's 5th birthday! It was really exciting for me to be able to be there. On Monday night, I spent some time hanging out with Jenna and Jenna and watching Sing Off. On Tuesday, Lauren and I got lunch. She also showed me where she's living now and the reception center that her boyfriend's family owns. It was so so good to catch up with her! I've missed her tons. I met my roommates best friend, Nicki, on Wednesday. She was sweet enough to invite me to go with her to pick up her dad from the airport and go see the lights on Temple Square. We didn't make it to Temple Square, but we got dinner and it was just great to get out of the apartment!
Christmas festivities commenced on Thursday. I headed up to West Valley in the early afternoon to spend Christmas with my aunt, Erin, and her family. Around 5, we were all piling into the car to head to dinner at Matt's (Erin's husband) parent's house. I looked out the car window and standing there was my mom. It was such an amazing surprise! (For those who don't know, she is now living in New Mexico and as far as I knew, wasn't able to make it up for Christmas.) It took me a few seconds to register that she was there, but once I did the tears came! I was just so excited and happy! Between Thursday and Saturday, we ate too much and spent a lot of time with a lot of family. A huge thanks to all those who took us in and made this Christmas wonderful!
Needless to say, its been a crazy couple of weeks! Hopefully, my blogs from now on won't be nearly as long! If you read all that, I commend and appreciate you. I hope you'll continue to read as I document my Utah adventures.
Thanks a bunches!

3 comments:

  1. Way to go Laura. Love you tons and am looking forward to seeing you up here in Clearfield!

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  2. wouldn't have it any other way. we have an open door you and your friends are always welcome.

    so glad you are here!!!!

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