Dear 2009 Lauren.

Dear high school self:

Funny how things work out sometimes. By 2012 you thought most of your friends, including yourself, would be married. Long married, in fact. You thought you would wait for your high school boyfriend and marry him. You thought you'd graduate from BYU in Speech Pathology and buy a house in Daybreak and have a pet beagle. You listened to Tilly and the Wall nonstop, wore fake glasses almost every day, and showed your feelings for things in pie charts (including feelings for boys on the football team, who you thought you wouldn't ever see after high school).

Now it's January 2012. You are twenty one. You are as single as they come; not to say you haven't gotten your feet wet in the whole dating game. You've liked someone so much it brought you to tears (Which embarrassed you at the time but then realized that really is kinda cool), you've liked someone 9 years older than you, and you've kissed someone you didn't like (facepalm). You don't really feel ready for marriage and haven't yet met the guy you're going to fall head over heels for. You are graduating from Therapeutic Recreation - a major that gets a lot of "Really? You are going to school for THAT?" or "You don't have a REAL major", but you are so happy and take classes with delightful people. You are best friends with some of the cutest boys in the world, including boys who in high school you thought were way too cool for you. You still write the cute football team boys while they're on their missions. And guess what? You're going on a mission too.

Funny how things work out sometimes, huh?

PS. Sorry though, bad news. You still look exactly the same and people think you're in high school still. Eh, you win some you lose some.

Currently playing: Grim Grinning Ghosts [Haunted Mansion]

I had kind of a weird weekend.

the so-frustrating-i-want-to-scream-kind-of-weird (and I did).

I'm happy I have a cute family who is there for me always.

And a roommate who is protective of me.

And a mom who cooks dinner for me because I have so much to do.

And high school friends who I can just sit with and have so much fun.

And that I have the most awesome Halloween playlist on Pandora right now.

It's the little things, people.

PS I read in one of my textbooks that people who give at least five good hugs a day are happier people in general. I've been trying to hug five different people a day (for at least five seconds because that's how long they need to be to facilitate bonding) And it's totally legit. I'm one happy camper.

Introducing Alexander Jensen.

Two more days and this boy is home.

I am so excited.

I'm excited for a weekend jam packed with high school friends, laughing, and yummy food.

Those are my favorite kinds of weekends.

[insert cheesy friendship quote here]

when high school ended, i thought it was the end of the world. literally. call me crazy, but high school was the funnest experience ever for me. and though i was so excited to come to byu, it broke my heart to graduate. i cried through senior dinner dance, i cried through graduation, i cried through our last cake sunday (we had fun little get togethers every sunday night and took turns cooking desserts.), and i cried when i said goodbye to my friends before they moved. i thought that with graduation came the end of all of my favorite friendships. luckily i was completely 100% wrong.

my high school friends are some of the cutest people i've ever met and i am so happy to say they are still some of my best friends on this earth. most of them are all over the world (i.e. brazil, argentina, france, the netherlands, south africa, peru, taiwan, spain, mexico, mozambique, finland, texas, colorado...) serving missions and are totally doing amazing things with their lives. the girls have slowly all started migrating to provo where we're rocking it up in school and figuring out even more a little who we are. these girls are some of the most beautiful girls i know and absolutely sweethearts. (sidenote: we decided that we are cursed. none of us (with the exception of alisha) have had a relationship since high school. there must have been something in bingham's food.)

i got to go out to dinner with some of these lovely friends on tuesday before alyssa headed to sweden for the summer. it made me so happy to spend the night reflecting on all of our favorite memories. it reminded me how absolutely lucky i am. i have a group of friends that no matter how much time passes or how many other experiences or friendships we develop, we can always come together and it feels just the same. yup. i'm the luckiest.