I went to Boston University for my freshman year of college and I wouldn’t change it for the world.  I know I wrote somewhere on this blog all the drama of my heart wanting and yearning to go to BYU but my mind (with my Dad orchestrating it a little bit in the background) knowing I’d learn and grow the most by doing at least one year away.  (More detail about that back in this post…part one of Dave and my “Love Story” that I started writing a while back and really need to get a move-on to continue at some point…) Well, my Dad and I were both right about all the learning and growing jazz I’d do in Boston.  I learned even more than I bargained for.  And that city hollowed out a big spot for itself in the center of my heart (see more Boston posts here and here and here).  But that’s not what this post is about.  It’s about how after that year away I went on study abroad to Jerusalem with BYU.  And how I met my friend Nikki there:photo (1)(Along with those other girls I adore…miss you Bec and Rochie!) And how we came back and roomed together for our sophomore year at BYU, which led to meeting Nik’s Freshman (and high school) friends:2013-04-20 iPhone 73682 Who became my best friends. Which eventually led to meeting this guy:2013-04-20 iPhone 73672 Which is another mushy story in and of itself.  And it’s about how much I adore these girls. We had so much fun together at BYU, I tell you.  Here we are in front of the door to our apartment in Stonebridge:2013-04-20 iPhone 73659 …and here are the kids helping Dave and me reminisce a few years ago:2011-06-11 Utah 30105More about that reminiscing trip back here. We had parties galore.  Did pranks to all the guys we hung out with.  Took a trip together to Lake Powell.  And one to California.  We went on all kinds of crazy double-dates.  And had parties in the library.  One even with a lit-candle birthday cake.2013-04-20 iPhone 73662 One day one of our bedrooms flooded.2013-04-20 iPhone 73669 We had a giant slumber party and stayed up all night long.2013-04-20 iPhone 73670 They came to my missionary farewell:2013-04-20 iPhone 73676 …and even snuck into the MTC when I left to study to get ready for Romania (which I was a little horrified about since you’re not supposed to have visitors there, but I couldn’t help being so happy to see them!).2013-04-20 iPhone 73683 So someone decided it was time for a reunion.  (We’ve had a couple, but this one had the most of us together that we’ve been able to maneuver so far.) The first night a few of them slept over here.  2013-04-18 misc 73876 We stayed up and reminisced all night with scrapbooks about the good old days.  2013-04-18 misc 73879 Dave and Denny joined in for some serious updates on what’s going on with everyone.  Some very interesting stories I’ll tell you that!2013-04-18 misc 73878(Don’t let Dave’s yawn fool you, he was mesmerized by this adoption story one friend was telling us.) There’s nothing quite like having friends where you can pick right up where you left off and it’s like you never skipped a beat. We headed out to meet everyone else the next day:2013-04-19 BYU girls trip 73475…and to check into our hotel.  The thing is, they got the reservations mixed up and put us in rooms that weren’t adjoining which they had promised.  And we needed to be together.  That’s when my stand-up-for-myself crazy gene kicks into gear.  My friend Nik has that same gene so we marched in and talked to the best guy named Bryan at the front desk.  Boy howdy did he ever pull through for us to make up for the mix-up.  He was able to put us in the “Presidential Suite” because it happened to be vacant that weekend.  Little did we know how amazing it would be as a hotel guy loaded us up in his golf cart to take us there.2013-04-19 iPhone 73640 We had our own yard.2013-04-19 BYU girls trip 73477 …and porch:2013-04-19 BYU girls trip 73482 …and even our own private entrance:2013-04-20 iPhone 73696 Needless to say, good old Bryan is my hero. We were soooooo spoiled.2013-04-19 BYU girls trip 73489 It was the perfect place to just talk and talk and talk and talk. The next day we headed out to hike this same hike I’ve done a few times…with Max back here, and Dave back here.2013-04-20 BYU girls trip 73491 It was just as beautiful as ever.2013-04-20 BYU girls trip 734932013-04-20 BYU girls trip 735712013-04-20 BYU girls trip 734982013-04-20 BYU girls trip 73505 We started taking pictures on this peak at the top and couldn’t stop.2013-04-20 BYU girls trip 735112013-04-20 BYU girls trip 73514 And then we really couldn’t stop when the jumping pictures began…2013-05 BYU2013-04-20 BYU girls trip 735342013-04-20 BYU girls trip 735562013-04-20 BYU girls trip 735682013-04-20 BYU girls trip 73569 We stopped at one of my favorite restaurants (La Grande Orange) on the way back to our “home away from home.” 2013-04-20 iPhone 736562013-04-20 iPhone 73657 …and went to dinner…2013-04-20 BYU girls trip 73573 …and I read them my favorite motherhood chapter as of late (back here).2013-04-20 iPhone 73693 2013-04-20 iPhone 736952013-04-21 iPhone 73719 As we said goodbye the next afternoon after staying up all night (again) and our second round of salted chocolate chip cookies from La Grande Orange (mmmmmm), I looked around at those girlfriends of mine and said a special little prayer of thanks to Heaven for them. I wondered where I would ever be without these amazing influences in my life.  They molded me into who I am over all these years.  We have all grown and married and mothered and have so many life experiences in common and some not so common that we learn so much from each other on. How grateful I am that our paths crossed all those years ago. Being with them reminded me of one of my favorite quotes my friend sent to me a while back: "In Friendship…we think we have chosen our peer. In reality a few years’ difference in the dates of our births, a few more miles between certain houses, the choice of one university instead of another…the accident of a topic being raised or not raised at a first meeting—any of these chances might have kept us apart. But, for a Christian, there are, strictly speaking, no chances.
A secret Master of Ceremonies has been at work. Christ, who said to the disciples, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,” can truly say to every group of Christian friends “You have not chosen one another, but I have chosen you for one another.” The Friendship is not a reward for our discriminating and good taste in finding one another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each the beauties of others."
–C.S. Lewis
I’m so grateful for that Master of Ceremonies who wisely put us all together all those years ago in that little corner of the world. 
Love you girls with all my heart!

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15 Comments

  1. Oh man, this is fun to see! What a great reunion! It's amazing to me how much more beautiful women get as they age. What a lot of collective light! A lot of lucky children represented by this group too! Beauty!

  2. Sounds like you had a blast! I totally agree about the "Master of Ceremonies" quote. I remember saying so many times in college that I just "KNEW" God had pulled my group of friends together. The love and support, plus mission and ministry we had together could not be some random occurrence. I can't wait to shoot them an email with this quote in it! I know they'll love it! Thanks for sharing!

  3. So crazy I lived in apartment 213 in stonebridge about 7 years ago. I had a blast and still keep in contact with my great rommies and friends!!! We will have to have a get together someday like this. So fun

  4. That's so so fun! It makes me happy and hopeful to see that you are still friends with your college girlfriends and that you still can get together every once in a while. I have two great groups of best friends here at BYU–my roommates, who I love and adore and have the greatest time with. We just took a trip to California and have been caught up this month with two of our previous roommates getting married, which means lots of bridal showers, bachelorette parties, and weddings. And I have another group of friends who I love and we get together a lot. Actually it made me laugh because one of those girls just left on her mission and we snuck into the mtc to see her! Haha another one just got back and we all went to her homecoming. It was awesome to see her. Anyways, I totally hope that we all will get together later on after we are all married. College is the best, and that is largely attributed to the awesome friends you make there 🙂

  5. I'm only a few years out of college, but I hope I'll be able to do a similar thing with my friends someday! It's hard to stay in touch when everyone goes separate ways, but getting together like this would be so fun!

  6. This was so sweet! It is amazing how people are placed in our lives and we are forever changed by that relationship.
    How nice that things worked out to get such great accommodations!
    LGO is seriously THE BEST! I go there any chance I get.

  7. How crazy to see my friend Stephanie Sant in all your pictures! We grew up together. She is such a great person and a lot of fun! Small world.

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