2013 = Great Times So Far

A few really fantastic things happened right as 2013 began! Which is great because I usually tend to get depressed around this time of year - I am not a winter person, among some other factors, but this year I have been psyched for January!

First off, New Year's Eve with my sisters and Dad was great. We went downtown and I was happy to see that the lights were still up!

SLC - New Year's Eve

There were lots of different free events going on, so we tried out as many as possible. Oh, and we wore masks the whole time until a Temple Square security guard asked us not to.

First, the Broadway sing-a-along. This was a bit awkward and strange, but look how happy it made Rachel.

Then, one of my favorite parts...dinner at JB's. We used to go to JB's a LOT when I was little, but I haven't been in forever so it was a nice nostalgic dinner.

After that we went to the family history center where there was a scavenger hunt with prizes. It sounded lame but it ended up being fun, and random Italian guys on a ski trip wouldn't stop talking to me because I was wearing the Italian world cup scarf my dad got for me.

#notItalian

We then saw a New Orleans jazz band perform. They were really amazing! But you can't really dance in the tabernacle, so that event only gets a 7 out of 10.

My favorite part of the night was the Polynesian dancers. It was also the most crowded show we went to. Well deserved!

Tonga

Tahiti

Samoa

There are so many pretty things in Salt Lake this time of year...the Joseph Smith building itself is gorgeous, and then you walk outside into these white lights!

Abbie, Lauren, Rachel

After a couple more musical performances around Temple Square, we headed to my dad's office in the church office building. The COB isn't exactly party central, which made it even more fun to be there late at night running up and down the halls screaming and such. Not many people get to do that. Also, we are probably the first people to ever dye our hair there.

We turned the tv on in the conference room, turned on our disco ball, broke out the glow sticks, and played cards.

We played spoons by hiding spoons all over the building and running around. Pretty soon there were only 20 seconds until midnight, so we started counting down along with New York City, and when there were only 6 seconds left... the screen suddenly turned black and started going back up into the ceiling. SO weird and unfortunate. So we just ran to the windows to see the fireworks. We weren't even sure if we'd be able to see them, but we had the best view because the 9th floor was like eye level to them.

I loved it! New Year's is a great holiday, and I'm glad I could celebrate this one with my sisters, as this is the year when Abbie and I will both be departing to unknown locations and Rachel will be moving out for the first time.

I wanted to do something cool on New Year's Day. So on my way home from work I picked up some balloons - balloons make things cool, right? - and called my 12 year old sister to see if she wanted to go hiking. Luckily she always wants to go hiking.

We'd never hiked Adam's Canyon in the snow before, and I don't know why because it's gorgeous!

Plus, the sun was setting so it was even more magical.

I'd had a random idea to tie messages to the balloons, so I'd grabbed some index cards when I picked up Lauren. I decided to write messages on them that had to do with the future since it was New year's.

Lauren was really mad at me for letting go of the balloons - it's really bad for the environment. She did make me feel a little bad, but once she saw how gorgeous the balloons looked floating against the snowy mountain, her heart was softened. I only let go of 3, and we made sure they floated towards the city and not towards the river.

I am full of hope that great things will happen this year!

During the first week of 2013 I also read a lot. I finished three books over the break and absolutely LOVED each of them:

The Whale Rider

The Chosen

Seedfolks

The same week, we used our Christmas presents (Lauren and my dad both got cross-bows) to have a nerf war.

We broke up into pairs and each pair built a barricade.

Lauren's and mine was the best...because Lauren built it. This was actually one of the funnest things ever.

That weekend was my last couple days at home, and the Macdonald family came to visit us and have dinner! They took such good care of us while we were in Samoa - they fed us more than we fed ourselves and took us to all the Independence Day festivities, so it was nice having them here in Utah and at our house. WE LOVE THEM!

When they went home, we decided to watch Never Say Never to get ready for the concert the next day. We made muddy buddies and hunkered down. The best!

The next day was finally the day of the concert! We bought the tickets in June, so it felt like it was just never going to happen. But it did! I'm so glad Rachel is my sister because we had a blast.

First of all, it would've been fun just being downtown because there were so many crazy people there! Exhibit A.

We waited outside the ESA for quite a while, but we were so excited that it was pretty much fine. More fine than it normally is in 0 degree weather.

When we finally got into the arena an hour before the show, there were little girls crying of joy and excitement. We were pretty psyched, but we didn't cry.

Rachel panicked a little when Carly Rae Jeppsen came out for the opening act.

But then we had to wait FOREVER between the two of them, Not normal. So...we took more pictures..

We played uno to pass the time. There was seriously an hour between Carly Rae and Justin. We found at later that he had visited a girl in the hospital who couldn't come to the concert. For cute. But at the time we had no clue what was going and were getting worried that someone had died or something. THEN there was this huge explosion and all the lights went out. Rachel had a legitimate freak out that I wish I would've been filming. All that happened after the explosion was a TEN MINUTE countdown on the screen on stage and the jumbo trons. The whole ten minutes was panic and chaos from 30,00 girls. Every time another minute would pass the noise level would rise. That last 2 minutes were straight-up hysterics. I loved every second of it. FINALLY when the countdown ended Justin came down from the ceiling!

The whole concert was one of the craziest things of my life. There were constant fireworks and lasers and a million back-up dancers and everything was just big and loud. I absolutely loved it. Rachel and I were just so excited and so happy the entire time and we loved it all.

The One Less Lonely Girl

What a night! Justin Bieber has given Rachel and I many opportunities to bond over the past few years - thanks, Justin.

The next day my family made Aebelskiver for my last day at home. Aebelskiver is a Danish food that you make in a special Aebelskiver pan like so.

We discovered it on our trip to Solveng a few years ago and it has made us happy to be Danish.

I headed back to Logan that night. Going back without Abbie was a lot harder than I had anticipated, but I know we're both  doing what we're supposed to be doing. All in all, I'm happy to be back in Logan and excited for this new year of adventures and surprises!