forever 21

Not only do I love shopping at Forever 21, but I understand the implications behind the name. At 21 you're young, but an adult; you have some schooling and experience, but the whole world is still before you; you are independent, but don't have all the responsibilities that come later in life. I have really enjoyed this last year- some of the best events of my life have happened to me at age 21 and I am so sad to leave 21 behind.

On my 21st birthday, I went to my first day of work as a BYU operator. This job has turned out to be the best I've ever had . . . totally beats working with ice cream or clothes (can you believe it?) and I love the hours and the regular raises . Yay! So although I had to get trained for 9 hours on my birthday, it was one of the good things that happened to me at 21.

Also at age 21 I was finally and completely in love, enough to tie the knot forever. I got engaged! The four months of our engagement were some of the most exciting this year . . . and probably of my life! I loved wedding planning! What girl doesn't? :) And I was so looking forward to being married! The engagement was so exciting and is still so fresh in my mind- I almost wish I could do it again at age 22!

Then in June, I had the perfect wedding and was married in the temple to Prince Raimo. <3 But later I realized that aside from all the fun of the wedding, I had completed one of my life goals that I set 10 years ago: being sealed in the temple! It was one of the most memorable days of my life. I remember going to the temple a few days before the wedding and thinking to myself how long I had waited and imagined about going to the temple and that that day had arrived so quickly! It was so wonderful.

21 also brought me married bliss. It has been 7 months now and we are having so much fun together. I love being married. I love having a husband and it's really fun doing wife-y things and cooking and having an apartment and going on vacation together. I love marital bliss- I'm planning on taking that with me to 22!

And for some reason, 21 was the year I did really well in school and my GPA shot up! Not that my grades were so terrible before, but I finally feel like I'm reaching my full potential, which has never happened before! Good grades has been on every one of my New Years resolutions lists, but it came to fruition because of dear 21!

Also, at 21 I did almost all my visiting teaching (this is an accomplishment for me). We joined a new ward and I decided I was not going to be shy or totally freaked about VT and did it anyway. I feel so good about that one! Also, I visited a long-lost friend, got to be a lot closer to some good friends, and made new friends!

21 also brought some new grown-up challenges, but the good overrides the bad. I think I am more appreciative of nice things and even simple things like getting to go out for fast-food! I am sorry to leave behind such a wonderful age.

22 has a lot to live up to! I am hoping that it will be the year I finally settle into a solid scripture-reading routine! And I'm hoping that Raimo and I will make all our goals for temple-going and filling our callings. I'm also hoping that it will be the year I will set aside more savings, maybe get my first 4.0 at BYU, and spend more time with Raimo!

xo Jessica

What will you do in 2009?

countdown

6 days till finals are over


7 days till we go ice skating


10 days till California


13 days till Christmas


22 days until my 22nd birthday! man, I'm getting old





. . . and here are some holiday pictures for your delight and pleasure

Our Christmas lights on the front porch

aforementioned nutcracker





lights on the window

living room

okay so these aren't ALL holiday pictures

Raimo with a cup of cheer in the kitchen

This movie has no sound, but you can get an idea of what our apartment looks like

the handyman

Some shots from the November Dancesport

Raimo being a math nerd

Merry Christmas!!!

Catching up!

We had a great time in Riverside last week. We visited this family:
and went to see this movie:

We liked it (hanging out with the family and also the movie). This was def. an exciting scene :)
The next day Raimo and I visited my grandma Joan and also grandma Green- we really enjoyed getting to talk with them and visiting for a while.

Then. . . we went here:
which was fun and then we ate this:
and it was aMAzIng. We spent a lot of time with my family and the Crowder family. We played bingo and won holiday prizes. We even played a game of:
We had a lot of fun getting to go out to dinner and seeing these movies:

Can you guess which movie was my favorite? Duhhh. Loved it.

We ate here 3 times:Raimo gets a 4x4 every time- he's a carnivore! I would definitely like one of these right now!!! We had a great long weekend!