Dear Blogosphere,
I'm sorry I've been away for so long. I've missed you.
Wow so much has happened over the last little bit. I decided to take a break from blogging for a minute while I lived up the last part of my summer. Now I'm sitting here realizing I should probably smack an update on this little corner of the internet.
In June I was able to go to Yellowstone National Park with my YSA ward. That was a party and a half. And then I also got to go to Chicago with my cute family and that was non-stop fun.
July was amazing. I was blessed with the opportunity to go to girls camp with my home ward as the "camp photographer" which basically translates to the fact that my 12 year old sister wanted me to come so she walked straight up to my bishop and said "hey bishop... can Whitney come to camp?" and he said "Sure! We'll find something for her to do!" and KABAM I found myself at girls camp as the leader that everyone kept forgetting was an actual leader... including herself. I'm secretly still 12 at heart.
I also was blessed with the opportunity to spend HALF of August in Florida. Oh what a dream that was. I spent the first week with one of my mission companions, Kathy Glover, running all over Florida. I was finally able to go to Disney World thanks to some wonderful friends I met while I was on my mission. Then we spent some time up in New Smyrna Beach which was one of my favorite areas. When we finally got up to the area it was about 10:00 at night. Kathy and I looked at each other and said... "well, we don't have a curfew anymore. We don't have to go home yet. What should we do?" and then said "well, we are allowed to go in the ocean now."
So you'd better believe we drove straight to the ocean, parked our car, and ran full speed straight into the open waters fully clothed. What a liberating experience that was to finally stand in the water I spent eighteen months looking at from a distance. I'm in love with the ocean. My other favorite part of this trip was being reunited with the people I came to love so much as a missionary. Many people didn't know we were coming so it was such a joy to knock on their doors and surprise them.
The second week with a crew of maniacs I've been friends with since Junior High and High School. It was such a magnificent experience. If you know me very well you'll know that my soul belongs in Florida, and it was so fun to be able to introduce my friends to my favorite places. We were able to storm around Disney World some more and it was just incredible. I can't even begin to describe how much fun I had.
So where am I now?
I came home from Florida and moved to Provo a couple days later. I've now been a student at Utah Valley University for a couple months and am LOVING every second of it. I'm rooming with some mission friends and have a hard time going to bed on time because we're always up laughing. I'm currently a competition coach at an incredible gym in Provo called High Altitude and am loving coaching more than ever.
Earlier this month my beautiful little sister was set apart as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and is currently in the Provo Missionary Training Center and she is absolutely loving being a missionary. She will serve in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana mission and we are so proud of her. But I must say that when we were dropping her off at the MTC I was pretty dang jealous it wasn't me leaving on a mission.
Now it's almost October and I'm doing good! I don't quite know how to handle this colder Utah weather because I've spent the last two winters in Florida, but my gym that I work at is next to a candle company and when I left work the other day the air smelled strongly of pumpkin spice so I'm not complaining. I'm excited to see the seasons change for the first time in a long time.
I figured I'd throw this quick update on here since I've had a hard time keeping up this little corner of the internet. I will hopefully be better at updating now that I'm a little more settled into my new life down here in Provo.
I hope you are doing well and that life is treating you good. I promise to stay in touch better this time.
Love,
Whit