Beautiful People, Wonderful Times

**[[special update at the bottom]]**

Two and a half years ago when my brother opened his mission call and read "London South" I was so excited and yes, I'll admit it, jealous and maybe slightly annoyed. London was my dream, what was Jacob doing there? I was supposed to go live there, not him.
I know, I know; silly and totally 16-year-old-me talking there.

Now I am so grateful he went there and so happy we can share England because it is a beautiful place composed of vibrant history, rolling hills, the most exciting city, every language and food type possible, lovely coasts, and then everything imaginable in between. There is no place quite like it.

Another perk of him recently returning from his mission here was his ability to pull a couple strings and find me places to stay after Belgium but before arriving at the BYU Centre here in London. At first I thought "okay cool, I'll just stay with strangers and hope it's not too awkward and get to the Centre as fast as I can and move on to my adventure." Little did I know I was about to meet the most wonderful people and have some truly fantastic times.

After flying into Gatwick I went to stay two nights with the Bishop's family of Jacob's last ward in Littlehampton. They had four little kids who I came to adore! The eldest son was 14, just like Sam, and reminded me of him SO MUCH all I could do was stare sometimes. Looks, comments, mannerisms.. It was weird. But I was happy to feel like I was around my little brother again. The two youngest kids were adorable, and I don't think it was just because of their British accents (though I'll admit that helped). The family treated my like a good friend rather than the total stranger I was; they welcomed me right into their home and life. We even had my first proper fish and chips for dinner one night! It was better than I anticipated, I'll admit, though still not something I could eat too frequently (not about that deep fry life).

We spent a day at a farm wandering around a massive corn maze (we are talking 9 foot tall stalks). Me and the younger girl were a team and--all credit to her--beat everyone else out of the corn maze. Woot woot. The rest of the day was spent riding tractors, playing golf and frisbee, going down the giant inflatable slide over and over... and over.. and over, and ended with a stop by the London Temple and Visitors Centre on the way home! I even bumped into a Sister who said she knew my brother so that was cool (sorry Jake, don't remember her name.. But she was Australian and said she went to Brighton on with you on your last P-day if that helps?). The temple was stunning with the leaves starting to change colors.

After that I left to Poole for the next few nights. I was surprised by how sad I was to say goodbye to the family I had only known for two nights; but they were so kind to take in a stranger and just overall lovely people. In Poole I stayed with a couple that rented out a flat below theirs to the missionaries (aka right where my brother used to live). The wife was from New Zealand and the husband was from China. They were so funny and spontaneous and good times were had all around. The first night after realizing I had never had it they insisted we get Thai food. And man oh man I am glad they did. Highly recommended to all. The weather was so nice the day I arrived we actually spent it at the beach! Something I never expected to do in England but hey, no complaints.

I'm sorry but CAN WE JUST TALK ABOUT THE SIZE OF THAT SEA SHELL??!

I'm a fan of the beach life, no doubt. 

The next day we spent a good chunk of time exploring the ruins of Corfe Castle, which was amazing. I LOVE CASTLES. I love their history and stories and the fact they are still around a thousand years later (though this castle was mostly destroyed.. but still, you know what I mean).

I guess they wanted to get rid of me. Clearly I was thrilled.

100 foot drop to rocks on the other side.. I live on the edge, what can I say? (pun most definitely intended)

seriously such a beautiful day.

Then they locked me in to leave me behind. This time I was a little happier with my punishment. 

Friday came and it was time for me to head to the Centre.. BUT FIRST. We stopped at Windsor Castle, the Queen's weekend residence. Sadly she was not there but hey, it was still a grand time in a grand castle in a grand country. All the rooms were just huge. We are talking your jaw is on the ground because you can't believe the amount of detailing and expensive things and paintings and giant furniture to fit the vaulted ceilings and solid silver tables and armor and... it is incredible.
And yet the whole time I was having flashbacks to a few weeks prior when I walked through the Ogden Temple and just thought "they have no idea that we have buildings more beautiful and magnificent than this on so many levels." How lucky am I to know about temples?

been the Royal families residence for almost 1000 years.

Union Jack flying means the Queen is not there :/

After Windsor the wife was kind enough (and brave enough) to drive me right to the Centre's door so no tube or train ride for me! Such a blessing seeing as I have three heavy bags. Phew. I was once again surprised at how sad I was to say goodbye to my new friends. It's funny how fast you can learn to love people; especially those met through the church.

And so yes, I AM HERE IN THE LONDON CENTRE. And what a beautiful place to call home it is. It was remodeled this summer and so everything is new inside but kept with the classic european style you would expect. I am in love with it and the neighborhood and city and.. It is going to be a good 3.5 months, I can already tell.

Home is where your heart is, right?

#cheerstoyoulondon

Love Always, Aimee

*update*:: Sunday we were assigned "randomly" to different wards throughout the London area. I had been seriously hoping and praying to at least be in the South (Jacob's) Mission but didn't know if we were even being sent to those wards because they are quite far from us. When I looked at the paper my heart stopped for a second when I read my name under the ward Clapham Commons; it was the ward Jacob spent his first Christmas in almost two years ago! It was also the only ward study abroad students were being sent to that he served in. I don't believe in coincidences, I believe in a loving Heavenly Father who hears our prayers and offers us tender mercies. I cannot wait to see (and be) a small part of his mission experience.

#sharegoodness

Home, Sweet Home

That's right, I am HOME!

I am not going to lie though, it feels a little odd. It's as if I am just visiting for a long weekend and tomorrow I go back to Provo and school. I keep catching myself straining to remember homework and reading assignments and test dates... Haha. I'm almost used to it though; no complaints here!

I will say this: my stuff most definitely reproduced at college. You see, I was under the impression that I had basically taken everything I owned to college. Yet when I brought all that home and took it down to my bedroom there was no room  for it anywhere. No closet space, nothing under the bed, every drawer was full.. And I was left to wonder WHERE DID THIS ALL COME FROM??!

Honestly not an inch of floor space. 

Let's just say it took a solid week to clear out my closet and drawers and under my bed, organize, reevaluate life, and take a car load of stuff to the DI so that my room looked decent. I am going to try and keep the reproducing to a minimum while in London though, this is definitely not something I want to do again and especially not over Christmas break. Thanks but no thanks.

Since being home I have swam every day, cleaned a lot for my mom and grandma, worked on my cooking skills, gone on many adventures with friends, had some splendid family barbecues, and went on trek with my brother for 24 hours. My mom, younger brother, and younger sister were all going and Dad was out of town so we figured why not, right?
Well.
It poured. And poured. And poured. And we were in charge of helping with the water game! hahaha. The kids loved us. ... not. But it was still so much fun and the rain is just part of the experience and adventure of it.

Me and Jake waiting out the rain storm to eat dinner.

The fourth was such a good day too. It has always been one of my favorite holidays but I was bracing myself for a subpar day with all my friends gone. Glad to report I was wrong and the day was probably my favorite 4th of July so far. I spent the day with two of my closets friends and my family. We went to the parade and carnival before having a BBQ and swim followed by frisbee in the park, swinging and talking, playing basketball and looking at old yearbooks, watched fireworks (of course) and topped off the night by watching the second Harry Potter on my front porch for the heck of it. Because let's be honest, Harry Potter is always a good idea.

Oh. We also became friends with a cat, so the day was a success regardless of the partying.

This Friday me and my friends are going to one of my favorite places in the world: Lake Bloomington. It's about a half hour past Bear Lake and it is absolutely gorgeous. It has clear water that's not too cold, excellent cliff jumping, and a sick rope swing. And the best part is that hardly anyone knows about it so you have the place to yourself!
Here's a picture from last time when me and 11 of my closest friends went up for the day. Easily my favorite day of the summer last year. Easily.

Well. That's all for now! Gotta go clean and finish some curtains I've been making. (Domestic, right? #wifestatus #wherearealltheboys? #ohyeah #onmissions #whatislife )

Love Always, Aimee

God Works in Mysterious Ways

Remember how my wish was to go home for Father's Day?

Well. I did!

On Friday night Heather and I decided we wanted to see Divergent (OH MY HECK GO SEE IT GO SEE IT!! So good. Plus it's in the dollar theater so.. why not see it?). Last minute we invited some guys from our old ward. They came with their friends from BYUI who were here for the weekend and just found out their sleeping arrangements bailed. Naturally Heather and I said it wouldn't be a problem for them to crash on our couch for a few nights.
Sunday it hit me. They were driving back to Idaho after church and leaving at the exact time that would get me home in time for dinner at my Grandma's.

Dad's present was too big for one roll of wrapping paper.. 

So yes, I rode with basically complete strangers that had been sleeping on my couch to Bountiful where Ash picked me up and I surprised everyone for dinner.
It was fantastic and most definitely a tender mercy from The Lord. Nothing special happened, but he knew how badly I wanted to be at home with my family that night so he provided a way for it to happen.

I don't believe in coincidences; I believe in a loving Father in Heaven who knows our every wish and every need. He watches over and is with us constantly. He is found in the details of our lives; in the little things that make all the difference. I am so grateful this Father's Day for not only the most wonderful Dad in the world who loves me, supports all my dreams, and taught me all the important lessons in life, but also for my Father in Heaven who is thee perfect Father in every sense of the word.

Me and my dad on my dream trip to Italy <3

Take the time to talk to both of your Father's today and show them how much you appreciate and love them, okay? Okay great.

Tomorrow I will be taking my bio-organic chem final. Yikes. Wish me luck? I am so happy to be (almost) done with chemistry for a while. Huzzah!

B-Kasp (one of my very best friends) is also leaving the MTC (finally.. 11 weeks later) tomorrow and is going to call me when he's in the airport. I seriously hope he doesn't call during my test.. Ah. But I am so so excited to get to talk to him! He is such an example of what a missionary should be like. He's had a lot of unexpected events happen and some would get discouraged or frustrated or complain or just quit; not him. He has such a good attitude and always says it's in the Lord's hands (and he's right!). Love that kid. In a friendly way. Haha.

God is good to me.

Love Always, Aimee

Long Time, No See

Long time, no post. I know, I know. Spring term has knocked me off my feet temporarily. Turns out doing organic chemistry for 4-8 hours a day 5+ days a week is a very real and possible situation to find yourself in. But enough about that.

What have I been up to?

Well. I entered my last year of being a teenage with my 19th birthday! It was a wonderful day full of my favorite people. I went shopping with my mother, had a picnic in the park with my best friend, went laser tagging, and to my favorite restaurant.
YOU GUYS.
If you have never been to The Mandarin Restaurant in Bountiful.... You have not lived. Go. Now. Stop reading this. Go. And get the almond chicken and veggies and honey walnut shrimp. I'll just say you're welcome in advance.
Anyways. It was a good day to say the least :)

I had a few days off between school semesters where I watched my younger brother and sister with Mom and Dad off in Hawaii celebrating 25 years of marriage with eternity to go!

I also said goodbye to Jae Col as she left on her mission to Virginia. That was hard.. But she is amazing and I will see her soon enough I suppose. 18 months is nothing!

Isn 't she a babe? I thought so.

Then I have been in Spring term for about 6 weeks now? I love it but I would be lying if I didn't tell you it was hard. Classes twice as long and twice as fast is a lot to take in.. But you get used to it. Plus it's way nice to get it done fast. There is no way I would survive this chem class for 15 or 16 weeks in a regular semester. No freaking way. But having it as my main focus with a little class and the best TA ever isn't too bad at all! Seriously we have the best TA. Liz. We owe our lives and grades to her. And I am not exaggerating.  Someone needs to up her pay.

Nights consist of hiking, temple trips, exploring provo, swimming,  watching movies, making cookies, playing volleyball, ward activities, and making friends. It's a pretty good life.

Provo Temple <3

I am also in swimming and ceramics classes. Probably two of my very favorite things in the world. Getting up to exercise and swim is wonderful and ending the day in the studio on the wheel is perfect.  When I get stuff out of the kiln maybe I'll post a picture!

Here is a view of the studio I wish I could live in 

And now. The point of this post.
The most exciting thing of the entire year (so far) has happened.

**drumroll**

I can't get over this picture. Isn't he cute? Aren't we cute? Isn't the temple wonderful? Everything in life is wonderful.

JACOB CAME HOME FROM HIS MISSION!!

My older brother  returned from his two year service as a missionary for the LDS church in London, England this Wednesday. I don't know if I have ever been more excited or smiled more in my life. Or cried so much from pure joy.
It was so incredibly good to see him, see he's a real person and not just a memory, and hear is laugh and voice again.
Two years is long time.. It's weird to think how much has happened in both our lives and how much both of us have changed and yet still managed to look basically the same. Though he does seem taller..

Hey look! It's Jake!

Our house flying it's true colors. 

Aren't my posters adorable? 

Ah. Such a good day at that airport though. It's crazy to think I will switch him places in less than 3 months! And what an adventure that will be.. But for now I am so happy to just be home and hang with my family. It's been too long since we've all been home. (And I suppose I technically still have two weeks of living in Provo before we are all home again but... What's two weeks after two years, right?)

I am currently on my way home for his Homecoming weekend and couldn't be more excited.
The Church is true. God is wonderful. And life is an amazing adventure.

Love Always, Aimee

Mondays are My Favorite

You heard me, Mondays are my favorite.

No sarcasm attached!

Why, you may ask?

It's quite simple really.

Missionaries. I love missionaries. And Monday is when the emails come and it's wonderful.

And I also love the high you're on from Sunday, I love planning out my week and seeing what's in store, and I love beginnings. 

So yes. 

Monday is one of my favorite days. 

So have a Happy Monday! Be grateful for it.

…

Can you tell I am stalling starting my last paper for the semester?

kay cool. Haha I am convinced one of the biggest life skills you learn to master quickly in college or fail is time management. I am also sure there is lots of research to back me up on that. 

Anyways.

Thanks for the distraction.

Love Always, Aimee

2+2+2+2

With only two days called the weekend, two days of classes, two days of studying, and then two days of testing left in this semester I have realized something that you would think would be obvious.
Time never slows and it definitely never stops.

I swear I was just having Christmas break and telling my friends on missions about the new classes I was taking. And then it was midterms and I was like "Holy cow! I can't believe we're halfway done!!" and now finals are at the door and I am having a panic attack.

How is it possible that it's basically been a year since I graduated? I remember it so clearly. Every detail. How is it possible that I haven't seen my very best friend in a month and she leaves on her mission in about twenty days? How is it possible that I turn NINETEEN in 10 days?? Saayy what? I still don't think I am old enough to be considered an adult.
Time at college is on hyperdrive, I swear. Every day is full of things that have to get done; classes, papers, studying, quizzes, tests, gym, cooking, cleaning, partying, sleeping, church activities and callings. I feel like I have changed so much in the last year that maybe my friends won't even recognize me anymore. But at the same time it feels like it's been no time at all since I've seen them when in reality it's been nine months for some.

I think the craziest thing is considering that I have missed a whole school year for my little brother and sister. Grade school years are an eternity long, I swear. They have probably changed and grown so much and I have hardly been there to see it. And next year I will be even more absent. Heck, for the first four months I will be living across the ocean and when I come back I will be busy applying to nursing school.

I suppose the real reason I am having a panic attack is because I really am growing up and moving out. Sure, I've lived away from home for nine months. But it's about to get even more distinct. It's going to get more real. I will be home for the month of July this summer and half of August. That's it. I am determined to enjoy every day of it because it just might be the last time I ever live there again.
And let's be real, we all know there is no place like home.

It other news, shout out to my favorite girls Sariah and Morgan for getting their mission calls!! Argentina and California; both Spanish speaking. They will be amazing and I just adore them. That's all.

Also the Happiest of Birthdays to my favorite brothers!! 14 and 21 never looked so good.

Love Always, Aimee

P.S. 53 days until Elder Erickson's return! Woot woot. 147 days until my trip to London. Here we go.

Another One Bites the Dust.

Today I said goodbye to one of my absolute best friends of going on five years. That's a good chunk of my life, especially considering it was during the end of jr high, all of high school, and the beginning of college. Talk about the most important parts of your life!
This kid is Zachary Richard Beckstrand.
Haha I'll be the first to admit I was not originally a fan of this kid. He's got a strong personality.. I've got a strong personality.. You get the picture. But man I am so glad I let go of my first opinion and got to know this guy. He is hilarious. He is caring. He is a good listener. He doesn't judge. He doesn't forget the minor details that make the difference. His wink makes me fangirl (only for a second..) and his voice isn't too bad either.. Life with him has never been dull, that is for sure. He has been there for me during some of the hardest times and during the very best. Basically he is the best. I am going to miss his laugh and jokes and even when he demands hugs as he heads out to serve the Lord for the next two years. I have so excited for the adventures he'll have and the lives he'll change. Thanks for the long talks, hated tickling, laughs during yearbook, endless pranks and parties, flowers for my birthday, disneyland and lake powell trips, and never ending fun that accompanies being your best friend.
       

Oh, and did I mention he took my to the jr. prom on his birthday? Yeah. We were the hottest couple there. Just thought I'd throw that in there. Okay cool. Tribute to Zachary done now.

What else has been happening in life..

We went disco skating this week? Found out I am not very good at it.. Guess you can't win everything. 

This week our apartment complex also did the "polar plunge"

Basically that means for the small fee of signing your life away via waiver and risking hypothermia you get to jump into a practically frozen pool while is it about zero degrees and dark outside to swim a lap. In return you get infinite bragging rights and the bonus of an awesome free t-shirt.

Don't worry, I conquered the plunge. Basically was in, across the pool and back before I even let myself get cold. So fun. So worth it. 

Well. That's my life for now! A lot of school, saying goodbyes, hanging with family, and partying with friends. College is cool I guess. 

Love always, Aimee

You Wish your Friends were as Fantastic as Mine.

I wish you could all meet my friends because I am convinced they are the best in the world.
The trouble is they are all over the world so it would be difficult for you to accomplish.
Maybe in two years we can talk.

Most are out serving LDS missions and changing their life and all those around them. I am so grateful for their examples and I definitely miss them like crazy. But I know that we are all exactly where we need to be at this point in life to learn the most. So even though I miss them I don't wish they were here.
I just work on becoming a better person everyday and learning all I can in Provo and send my prayers (and letters! haha) out to Canada, India, New Zealand, South America, Europe, Korea, Vanuatu, and around the good old USA. We'll resume partying approximately summer 2015 and I cannot wait. Until then I will have to settle for hanging in Provo, welcoming home my brother from his own mission, traveling Europe, and working on other life goals I've set.

I think the best part about life is that there is always something to look forward to, work for, and be excited about. But there is also always something to enjoy right now. Life is so good.
Even when your friends live around the world and you are left sitting alone in your apartment on a Thursday night wondering what in the world to do with yourself because your brain can't possibly handle any more school for the night. Life is still good. The future is as bright as your faith.
Love Always, Aimee