the post you have all been waiting for

if you haven't completely forgotten. i KNOW, this is way past due. i've been home from my study abroad for more than a month. how have i not posted pictures yet?? i'm sorry!! i really have been super busy. BUT, without further ado, heeere are some of my favorite memories from my trip! better late than never, right?

istanbul, turkey. boat tour on the bosphorus river. one side of the river was europe, the other side was asia. istanbul was our first stop. after being on an airplane for a total of 17 hours, and getting close to NO sleep, we toured the city for the day. it was a rough day, to say the least! the second day we were even more tired than the first, if that's possible. but our spirits were lifted with this beautiful boat tour. fresh air and a private boat! fun fun.

hilary and i inside the "blue mosque" (sultanahmet mosque is its real name). we saw amazing mosques such as this and the famous hagia sophia. mosques everywhere and the call to prayer five times a day characterized istanbul.

i got to tie a couple knots in a real turkish rug! those rugs are beautiful. that rug will be 3x5 feet, and it will take about two years to complete.

the view from our hotel in istanbul was incredible! we spent every night up there enjoying it. our next stop was kusadasi, a port town in southern turkey. from there we went to ephesus, which was amazing!

view from our hotel room in kusadasi. not bad, eh? after spending a few days in kusadasi, we took a boat to the greek isle of patmos. yes, the same patmos where john was imprisoned and wrote the book of revelation in the bible!

this little girl was one of my favorite people on the trip! seriously. she is so funny and i just love her to pieces (our teacher's daughter). after spending the night in patmos, we took another boat to santorini, the holy grail of all greek islands. it was better than in the movies!!

our incredible pool at our hotel in santorini!

our obsession with gyros and the "fat kids club" begins. after a few fabulous days in santorini, it was off to athens for us.

parthenon, on the acropolis in athens.

now THIS was a sunset.

fat kids club in full swing.

church in athens!

gyros on our last day in greece. of course. now, we were off to ROME!! oh, i have always wanted to go to italy. it was everything i'd hoped it would be :)

doing laundry for the first time on the trip with my girls. happiest day everrr.

the colliseum was SWEET.

pizza navona- my favorite place in rome. <3

i was in LOVE with siena. notice the tuscan countryside in the background. beautiful. then, we went to florence.

leaning tower of pisa! it leans sooo far! i cannot believe that thing is still standing. we got to go in it and go up to the top. as soon as you walk in you can feel the ground completely leaning to the right! it was crazy.

this was my faaavorite restaurant. on the whole trip. i went twice the rigatoni was amazingg! if you ever go to florence, you must eat here.

we got to go to church in florence, too! after florence, we went to venice, the most confusing city in the entire world. with all the little canals and alleyways, it's next to impossible to navigate your way around that place. and i'm typically really good with directions. we ALL got lost.

we took a gondola ride :) had to. our last stop was switzerland!! we were supposed to go to egypt, but man am i glad we went to switzerland instead. there is no way hot sandy deserts could have compared with the mountainous beauty that was switzerland.

lake geneva.

the whole group, at the reformer's wall. at this really cool park in geneva.

we had a little too much fun on this thing. like the teacups at disneyland!

massive spider? after spending a night in bern, we were up to our final destination- lauterbrunnen!

we got to stop at the bern temple on our way there.

grindelwald. remember when i said switzerland was the most beautiful place in the world? no photoshop or color editing here.

schilthorn- breakfast in a rotating restaurant 10,000 feet in the swiss alps. yup, not bad.

the beautiful meadow we found whilst hiking said swiss alps.

our trail on the left. majesty all around. ahhh so beautiful. and the pictures don't even do it justice.

well, there you have it. the trip was THE BEST. it still feels like a dream. if i didn't have the pictures to prove it was real, i might believe it really WAS dream. experience of a lifetime- i'm so grateful i got to go!!! i will never forget it :)

sometimes i just smile and shake my head

because i am in complete disbelief at how amazing my life is.
it's ridiculous!!!
i just spent the past year in hawaii.
i'm about to travel the mediterranean for four weeks.
i'm serving a mission in chile for a year and a half.
not to mention i get to spend 10 days in provo staying with my best friend and visiting other good friends i haven't seen for awhile.
and besides all the amazing traveling, i have the most wonderful parents and friends i could ask for, two good jobs, and i'm a member of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints!!! what could be better?
i feel so humbled and blessed at the opportunities that i have in my life. how did i get so fortunate?

life is amazing.
there will be much mediterranean blogging when i return.
aloha. :)

you can call me hermana.

i FINALLY have my mission call!!!!!
i have been called to serve in the
chile concepcion south mission
spanish speaking.
i leave november 2nd.


ahh. it is such a relief to know where i'm going. when i would think about my mission, i did not picture myself in chile, or south america at all. but ever since i opened that letter, i have felt so at peace. i know this is where the Lord wants me to be. i have wanted this for SO long. YAY!!!!!

3 of 3.

on april first, i mailed home three boxes from hawaii. i told them the slowest mail, 3-4 weeks, was okay. well, 3-4 weeks later i received two of those boxes... and patiently waited for the third. and waited.. and waited.. my mom thought all was lost. it had been six weeks! i called the post office in laie, they said they didn't have it either. we called the post office in mission viejo, they didn't have it. i'll have to admit it was disheartening, but i didn't lose hope. finally, eight weeks later, a miracle occurred. yep you guessed it- my box came!!


a little beat up, maybe, but this box still had my favorite moccasins, my gray jeans, and my favorite sweat pants inside. hallelujah.

family, run, mission papers.

first, my trip to chicago was really fun. we got to visit with lots of family and see the windy city. which is BEAUTIFUL.


the next weekend i went to san francisco with my dad for the 100th annual bay to breakers 12k. it was so much fun! i finished in 1:20:23. pretty good i think? i never thought i would be able to run 7.5 miles at one time, let alone actually enjoy doing it. it was proof that if you work at something, you can do it!


and since i've been home i've been working two jobs and finishing up my mission papers!! i should have my call within two or three weeks. ah!!!

river trip next weekend with the ward. hollaaaaa. life's GOOD.

blessed.

i've been home from hawaii for three weeks now, and let me just tell you-- i really miss it. that, along with the fact that my best friends BOTH decided to stay at school all summer, plus working 6 days a week at golden spoon has me being a teeny bit grumpy every now and then. don't get me wrong, i am happy to be home and definitely happy i have a job. and i do have lots of great friends here too. i'm just a brat sometimes (just being honest).

so, instead of bemoaning the fact that i haven't fallen asleep to the sound of the waves crashing or watched the sunrise come up above the ocean from my bed in three weeks, i decided i should count my blessings and realize how many amazing things i have going for me on the mainland (and abroad!).

first, i have a job! that's a blessing in itself. although the unlimited free fro yo is not the best for my diet, it is so nice to not have had to look for a job coming home from school.

next week i get to take a week off and go to chicago!! it's my mom's birthday trip and we're gonna have a great time. i get to see where she grew up, see some family, eat authentic chicago deep dish pizza.. yumm. excited!

the following weekend is the bay to breakers 12k run. i've been training..sorta.. i need to step it up these next few weeks so my dad doesn't leave me in the dust. but i'm not too worried; i'm not tryin to break any records here, just have a fun time up in san francisco with my papa and participate in a famous run :)

a couple weeks later, i get to go to the river with the ward!!! YESSSSS looove the river trip!

sometime in the month of june i will be getting my mission call. can. you. believe it?! ahhhh.

july- mid august i will be going on my study abroad to the mediterranean!!! that is going to be absolutely amazing, i still can't believe i'm actually going to ITALY, GREECE, TURKEY, and SWITZERLAND. oh boy oh boy oh boy.

and then, just about a week after i return there's talk of me going to lake powell with a certain megan moody and family :)

and then i just wait a couple months until i leave for my mission.

gosh. i am so blessed!! i have SO many opportunities for traveling, learning, and growing. it's just amazing. i feel so blessed and fortunate to have had my wonderful experience in hawaii, and although i really miss it sometimes, i know that i have many wonderful experiences to look forward to.

when i really think about it, i don't feel like i deserve all these blessings. like really; how many people can consider themselves so blessed and fortunate? why did i get to live this life?

let's talk about my biggest blessing of all: being a member of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints. truly, it is the thing i am most grateful for, along with my family. i have had so many opportunities that i never would have had had i not joined the church. i have SO much to look forward to in learning and growing in the gospel. i am so looking forward to being a missionary and sharing with others the joy that i have in my life because of the gospel. LOVE IT!

so, whenever i feel sad or bored or grumpy, i just need to take a minute to think of all the good things in my life and i will snap right out of my mood :) like the hymn says,

"when upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed, when you are discouraged, thinking all is lost, count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord hath done."

here's a little video of our prophet from october 2010. one of my favorite talks of that general conference. watch or read it! :)

http://lds.org/general-conference/2010/10/charity-never-faileth?lang=eng&media=video