for yessica.

about a week after i got married i moved to a new state and started at a new school. this was probably the most exciting/overwhelming/scary thing that i have ever done. i was so excited for all of these new experiences and had dreamed of them for years, but they ended up being a lot harder than i had originally anticipated. while i was loving being married and loved spending time with my husband, i was quickly realizing that i missed my friends. dallin still had all of his old friends, but i had moved away from all of my friends and therefore had none in this new place. i was, indeed, super lonely.

apparently when you get married, all of your friends think that it is weird to hang out with you, so they stop calling you and texting you and asking you to do things. all of my friends were in different states so i couldn't see them anyways, but all of dallin's friends went back to their bachelor lives and assumed dallin was happy living his boring married life- all of his friends, except for one: bretticus.

dallin and bret had been friends for a few years and had roomed together the previous semester and had gotten to be really close. about a week after we got married one of dallin and bret's other roommates got married in idaho. so we made the small trek up to idaho and somehow convinced bret to come with us. this shall forever be known as the car ride that i forced bret to be my friend; he really had no other options as i talked his ear off for four hours (bless his heart, he was so nice the whole time). after that trip we kept convincing bret to come over and hang out with us or go do something with us and before long it felt very strange to be doing something without bret there.

i love bret and think that he is a wondrous human, but a girl's gotta have her girlfriends, amirite? my elementary education classes were teeming with other girls that i probably could have been friends with, but walking up to one of them and introducing myself would have probably been worse than having my left leg cut off so that wasn't going to happen. i think dallin realized that i was starting to become very lonely and needed some friends that were girls, so he decided to remedy that (good boy, that dallin). so he introduced me to bret's little sister, jessica.

it should be noted that jessica and i have the same feelings towards strangers generally (would rather have our left legs cut off, etc.) so our friendship didn't skyrocket right away. no no, it took many times of jessica treating us to the cannon center before i invited her to rumbi, and then to the outlet malls (where we bought matching running hoodies!) before we became good friends.

and then she left me for the summer very quickly after and our friendship was quickly put on hold, only to resume the second she got back into provo. and now? jessica (yessica) is one of my favorite humans and best friends. she is oh so patient when shopping with me, will still drive with me even though she has seen the real horrors in it, will watch a chick flick with me at any time, is always game for trying a new restaurant, will listen to my rants and rant along with me, has the same weirdly strong love for bath and body works as i do, etc, ETC. you get it. she is the best of the humans.

she recently stumbled upon this weirdo blog and was like "what the heck, you talked about your other friends and not us??" ("us" being her, bret and bret's fiance, really our only three friends as a married couple) and she is right. i love these humans more than 99% of the other people i have talked about on here, and they deserve to be talked about! so here i am, talking about it.

love you three forever, thanks for being the best of the humans.

ps- there is new music in the music section. just for you, yessica!

the story of us.

remember that one time i had a blog?
yeah me neither.

so a lot has happened since i last blogged, but the biggest is that i got maaaaarrieeeed! and it has been the greatest adventure ever. but many of you (because sooo many people obviously read my very poorly maintained and written blog) may not know the story of my how my husband and i got together, so i thought i would just tell that story right quick, on account of it's my favorite story to tell. here we goooo!

at the ripe age of thirteen i was sitting in my friend's basement waiting for these two boys to come over. one of my friends was really interested in one of the guys, and the other guy had come along with him for moral support. the wingman in question, dallin, walked downstairs and i just thought he was so incredibly attractive. (when i was telling this story to someone else they asked dallin if he thought the same thing about me and his answer was "well, anne was in her awkward stage..." HA!) i don't think i probably spoke two words to him that whole night because i'm super outgoing and great at first impressions. luckily, my friend and dallin's friend really started to like each other so we started spending a lot more time together.

fast forward three years and some really awkward things (me almost dating one of his friends, him dating one of my friends) and dale offers to give me a ride to a stake dance. not one to turn down a ride from a cute boy (and one without her license yet) i said yes! it was really the first time that dallin and i were together just the two of us and we had so much fun. after dropping me back off at my house dallin said that he had a lot of fun and that we should do something together again soon, so we decided to go on a walk the next week.

well, that walk went really well. we ended up just talking for like five or something hours (which is a feat for socially awkward teens) and while i was like "yes! i've had a weird secret crush on this guy for three years" dallin was just beginning to realize that i was coming out of my awkward stage. (hahaha, i joke i joke) a week, and lots and lots of texting later we went on another walk and after some weird questions from my parents he asked me to be his girlfriend (d'awww). like a month later we went to our first homecoming dance together.

then we went to prom.

and then dallin graduated and left to go to BYU.

so we did the long distance crap and saw each other every chance we got.

remember that one time i went blonde and had bangs? so weird. 

and then i convinced dallin to go to just one more prom with me.

and then dallin left on a two year mission for our church to paris, france.

and it was really freaking hard.

but then he finally came home!

after dating for a few months again we got engaged on september 13, 2014!

and then on december 30, 2014 we were married for time and all eternity in the denver temple.

and life has been the best ever since. i sure do love that guy and i'm so glad that i get to spend forever with him.

20 years old.

well, i have officially been robbed of my youth.
twenty, you are not welcomed with open arms,
but you make a pretty good grand entrance.

i started off with my yearly tradition i have with my mother of going shopping and spending all of my birthday money. let me tell you, it's the best. my parents and i then went out for my birthday dinner at cracker barrel. (who knew that place was so delicious?? my parents dragged me kicking and screaming last year and now i think that it's the best.)

one of my really good friends, jared, had his birthday three days before mine. to celebrate both of our birthdays we went to skate city. (the obvious choice for people's birthdays when they are turning 20 and 22). while we were skating (and avoiding nasty middle schoolers taking an over-abundance of selfies) our fried codi went up to the dj station to request a song. little did we know, he was telling the dj it was our birthday. five minutes later the lights came on and everyone had to get off of the rink except for jared and i, who had to stand in the middle of the rink as happy birthday was sang to us. probably one of the best/worst moments of my (and i'm sure jared's) life. thanks nicolette and codi, you sneaky devils. (nicolette also gave me two giant bags of gummies- so all was forgiven (and eaten)).

lastly, i had a package that had come all the way from belgium just for my birthday for me. i had strict instructions not to open it until my birthday, so naturally i stayed up until midnight until it was officially my birthday and tore into my envelope. what was inside, you ask? oh, you know, just a journal that a certain missionary had been writing to me EVERY day for 6 months in. i may have just sat there and cried before even opening the journal and starting to read. i then opened the journal and read until i fell asleep with the journal on top of my face. (i'm really classy, i'm aware.) it was the greatest of all birthday presents you could get. i laughed out loud at his crazy adventures and cried (and cried and cried) when he had a hard day. i felt more loved than i have in a long time and it was just what i needed to get through these last two (!!!!!) months of having my best friend gone.

i finished off my birthday watching general conference (soooo good! amiright??) with my parents, eating a lot of frozen yogurt cake and skyping my lovely siblings in utah. it was a delightful day to welcome me into the geriatric age group. (how old do you have to be to get the senior discount at stores and restaurants?)

in other news, if there was ever a shirt that described me:

this would be it.

100.

DAYS. LEFT. i seriously did not think it was possible to actually get to this point. i'm pretty sure i looked at all of the other girls who had their missionaries home and had just decided that they had lied. two years never really comes to an end. these guys never really come home. you just have to suffer like the lonely baby that you are while you submit yourself to realizing they are gone forever. negativo compleanos. 

but! OH HO HO, i was all sorts of wrong. apparently, times does go on. (who knew, right?) and now i have 100 days to run enough miles to work off all of the food i ate while in the above-mentioned phase. (plus the blondie i just ate… ok, three blondies i just ate. judge a woman.)

commence running. (or painfully slow jog/walking.)

my current screensaver. because now i actually will see you SOON. holla.

oh, and this is his view right now. jealousy abounds.

once upon a time (two weeks ago) i ordered new glasses. i was all sorts of wanting the ridiculously large hipster glasses, but my mom (bless her soul) talked me into getting the smaller, classier glasses that didn't take up 87% of my face. and now i love them, and actually feel like a 20 year-old college student instead of the high school freshman that picked out my last pair of specs. kudos, momma. kudos.

excuse the shameless selfie.

never ever have i won any sort of contest. well kneaders (my new favorite restaurant) was doing a giveaway for a valentine's day date night. if you entered and won they would send you a gift card to kneaders and to the movie theater right next door, so that you and your valentine could go out on valentines day! ludicrously tender, right? so i decided that i would enter and i seriously hoped i would win! and then two days later my mom comes to me and was like "hey i randomly entered this kneaders giveaway and i won!" so i still haven't won anything. but my mom took me to kneaders on valentines day because my dad had to work late, so i still kinda won. (at least i like to think so.)

this post has an alarming amount of selfies. my b.

and i will end this post with a picture of my dog in one of those russian-looking winter hats. i laughed far too much while taking this picture.

so you made it twenty months

without your best friend.

that's right,
TWENTY JEFFIN MONTHS.
twenty months of:
-being grumpy.
-not wearing makeup/real pants/not putting in my contacts because i just don't care.
-watching videos like this and this and this over and over again. (plus a million more. many hours have been wasted watching homecoming videos.)
-eating heinously unhealthy foods. (i may or may not be eating a s'mores cupcake while writing this. we'l never know for sure.)
-saying "i'm gonna get fit now!" at every month mark. (it's starting to take effect…)
-staying up late to write letters instead of studying for tests.
-mainly, just missing that crazy kid i am lucky to call mine.
4 MONTHS LEFT, FOOLS.
see you soon.

who gave him that sweater? no idea. but they
 should keep giving him insatiably attractive clothing.

LATELY:

-so i mentioned in my last blog post that something went wrong with my car, but that i got it fixed. well, like three days later i loaded up my little car and started my drive down to utah, where i would pick up all of my family and then we would all drive home to beautiful colorado for christmas! except for an hour and a half into my drive down to utah my battery started to die. i was able to pull over into the nearest gas station in MCCAMMON, IDAHO. literally the middle of nowhere. there was nothing even close to a car repair shop anywhere around. i would have to drive back a half hour to pocatello to get my car worked on. except my car didn't drive. and it was 4:45- all of the mechanic shops would be closing in 15 minutes. so, i put on my big girl pants (after calling my parents in a frantic panic), called a mechanic shop to tell them i would be coming, called a tow truck to come and pick my up and cried by myself in a booth in the gas station until the tow truck came. not one of my brightest moments.

lyle on the back of a tow truck. not something i ever
wanted to see.

 i was going to have to stay in a nasty motel that night but then my sister-in-law called her cousins who live in pocatello and they came and picked me up from the auto shop, brought me back to their house, fed me, watched a movie with me, let me sleep in their guest room and then took me back in the morning. i was SO grateful for them. kind people, man. they're the greatest.

-wow. that was long. take a breather.

-i had my whole family home for christmas this year. and it was amazing.

AMAZING life-size gingerbread house at the broadmoor.
even more amazing siblings.
(cheesiness for the win.)

aaron eating the lobster of our traditional surf&turf
christmas dinner

new year's hiking.

-my dad went out and checked the mail one day and nonchalantly put a package in front of me when he came back in. my heart nearly stopped beating when i saw that this was no ordinary package, this was a package from FRANCE. and it had this little beauty in it.

holy gorgeous necklace.

you win this round, elder. 

-i started back at work again. i walked into the room that had my old kids in it and they looked at me so confused for a minute before saying "anne!!" in their little voices. my heart melted.

-if you watched the super bowl (like most american humans) and you were watching right after it ended, then you saw this amazing commercial that my amazing sister-in-law wrote. she's pretty much the coolest human ever, and i am not related to someone famous. no biggie.

six.

CAUTION: long post ahead.
proceed with caution.
and cookies.
(because who doesn't love a good cookie?)

dear you,
i get to see you in six short months.
when did this happen??
i feel like i was just celebrating being half done.
now in just half a year i get to be in the presence of your wonderful lanky-ness.
i can't wait.
i've done my happy dance more times than i should have.
(you know the one.)
so. six months.
be there or be square.
see you soon.
always,
me.

LATELY:

-"anne, it is literally the middle of the month. you are the worst at posting these on your blog." i am well aware, world! but now there is only five and a half months left. so you can't really put a damper on me. HA! win.

-that one time we decorated for my roommate's birthday and it looked exactly like kelly's birthday on the office.

-i got to spend thanksgiving with my favorite humans in the whole world.

good humans and good turkey. i'll take it.

-evidence of how well facebook knows me:

curse you, facebook! how did you know i was looking for REAL goth guys??

-i found this impressive specimen at the DI.

YEESH.

-you know what isn't my favorite thing? feeling your nose hairs freeze on your less than three minute walk to class. oh rexburg, how i loathe thee.

-after a tri-city wide power outage (when it was -9 degrees outside, yay rexburg!) our heat did not come back on. this was our thermostat.

the top line is what temperature it is supposed to be. the bottom line is what it actually is. woof.

i got this tiny space heater and pretty much lived by it for days until they fixed our heater.

i may or may not still live by it. and it may or may not be on right now.

-i should be studying for finals at this moment in time. 

-i'm not.

-you know who i hate? little me. i found this gem in my Facebook history.

*shivers.* little anne, you are the people i block on Facebook.

-my roommate and i had driven to idaho falls for the afternoon to shop and really just not be in rexburg. while driving back, my battery went dead and my car died. that is not supposed to happen. luckily, i have a friend from back home who so amazingly came over and looked at my car and told me what my problem was and fixed it for free! i love good people.

-i have less than three days left in rexburg. excited is an understatement, but i will miss this lady far too much.

although we are opposites in so many ways, she really has been there for me this semester, and i am forever grateful for that. gonna miss ya, khlo. 

humans.

i joke a lot that i do not like humans.

(and most of the time it is pretty accurate.)
but this is the month of being grateful, right? right.
so when i really think of all my blessings,
i realize that the humans i have in my life are my biggest blessings.
i realize that i have some of the best humans in the whole world in my life.

fambam.

KREW.

roomies.

and of course, four of my four favorite people who i am falling apart without:

i sure do like my humans.

i think i'll keep 'em.