Adieu

Well, this is it folks! I'm headed off tomorrow to start on a grand adventure: my mission! I went through this little rough patch of being really scared and worried, but now I'm just excited. I can't wait to serve the Lord for 18 months in Chile!

So no more blogging over here! But I have another blog where I'll have my mother post an email to all of you! Stay up to date on what my experiences are :) Click below to check it out! There won't be anything posted until the first email, but here it is!

Sister Howell in Chile

And I bid you adieu. Or adios...either way, I'm saying goodbye. But only for a little while ;)

FAIL

Is there a diagnosis or scientific name for a person who knows that if they do what they're thinking of doing, it will bring certain embarrassment, yet they do it anyway?

Nope, there's not. I just tried to Google it. But I'll name it anyway. This disease shall be known as Doitanywayeventhoughyouknowyoushouldntosis.

It's very serious, and I'm pretty sure lots of people have it. Here are the symptoms:

Not thinking before you speak.

Lack of critical thinking.

Emotions taking over.

Getting caught up in the moment.

Not thinking period.

Over-analyzing something (or all things).

Less frequently occurring symptoms include:

Fever

Stomach ache

Red cheeks

Loss of appetite

Ok, so I might be over playing this a little.

Here, let me illustrate this for you, in case you might be wondering if you should be diagnosed with Doitanywayeventhoughyouknowyoushouldntosis.

When you realize what you just did/said:

Followed by this:

And after a nice long facepalm, you take a deep breath, roll your eyes, and try to think.

And you start to think of ways that you could fix it.

So you say more things to explain yourself to help the situation.

And you realize you're digging yourself a deeper hole.

"Did I fix that? Um, nope."

...

Except, after you have suggested this, they've already decided not to talk to you.

So you just want to give up.

And the next day, you see them somewhere.

Inside you're telling yourself to just...

Well, after a few days have passed and things have kind of cooled down, you'll start to feel like maybe the other person may have just forgotten.

So you say hello.

Expectation:

Reality:

After that is out of the way, you realize that you're just blowing everything out of proportion.

You look around at what you have, like your family and friends that you haven't offended or freaked out just yet, and you count your lucky stars to have such great people in your life.

That's how you know if you have this dreadful disease. But don't worry, it is curable. Just make sure you think about what you're about to do or say before you do it, and everything will be fine.

Spoiled

Ok, can I say for the millionth time that I have the best friends a girl could ask for?! Seriously though, I love these people. Don't worry, we love to be awkward (at least I do in this picture). HAHA.

It was my last talk in church today before I leave for an LDS mission! My friends Chelsea, Becca, Shayla, Olivia, Savannah, Sandra, Daniel, Jake, Michael (photographer), and Marcus (not pictured) all came to hear me speak! It meant the world to me. I am blessed immensely. My Auntie Sheila and Papa also came from California! They aren't members, so that made it even more special to me.

This weekend sure was something. I had my talk to prepare, and my grandmother on my dad's side passed away early Thursday morning.

She was a beautiful lady. I mean, seriously, look at her! She lived with us since my grandpa passed away in 2001. So she's been with us for almost 12 years! That's a good hunk of my life. She was always happy. ALWAYS. She spoiled us grandkids so much! I'm going to miss her greatly, but I know that she's with Grandpa now. And her mother! Her mother died when my grandma was only 5 years old! So it's been 90 years since she's seen her. So I know all is well. It's just going to be different around the house.

The church is true, kiddos. I know that with all my being.

Three

Sometimes, I can't sleep. And sometimes, I decide to write my obligatory New Year's post.

It's funny, I still have my resolutions from last year typed up on a sticky note on my desktop. Does anyone else use those? Anyway, it's funny because I've accomplished 2 out of the 7 that I had...But I suppose that's pretty good compared to the NONE everyone else accomplishes!!! Except for my friend Shannon. Kudos girl.

It was an interesting thing that I actually took the time to write down my resolutions last year. I never did that before. I always thought of really super ones but I didn't write them down because I knew that within a few days, I would've broken every single one. C'mon, I can't be the only one here.

I haven't given much thought as to what my resolutions would be this year. I have a love/hate relationship with resolutions (don't we all though?). I hate the rep they've gotten. Why make them when I know I'm gonna break them, amiright? But I also love how it can help people to really dream!

I thought of all the resolutions I could have made up for this year, but plans change, and therefore, I think the nature of my resolutions will have to change as well.

I could have said, "Decide on a major already!"

Or perhaps, "Look into study abroad or volunteer work abroad."

And I guess you could say I will be "studying abroad" come February. You see, in case you missed it, I'm serving and LDS mission, and I've been called to Chile! I'll be there for 18 months! So studying abroad? Yeaaaahhhh....but very different studying going on!

Ok, I've gone on a bit of a tangent.

Oh, I guess now it's time for me to REVEAL my resolutions for this year!!!

1. Study.

via

2. Attend regularly.

via

3. Serve.

via

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!