Emma's Thoughts: A long awaited summer

Wow...is pretty much all i can say when i thiking about what's happened over these past few months and probably over the past 2 years. Well i guess I better start by saying that I'm officially back in the land of Aus and will stay here, for a while at least and finish school...which is a good thing...i think.

November and December were incredibly busy months with thanksgiving, finishing school, exams, saying goodbye to everyone and the big move home. Not saying I would change anything (except for my homework procrastination...whoops) but man now that i'm on holiday mode I've got no idea how i managed to get it all done.

The highlight of November was definitely thanksgiving, especially becuase I was lucky enough to have two. The weekend before thanksgiving the family I was living with and I went up to Provo canyon and stayed the weekend in a cabin. It was absolutely beautiful..snow everywhere, the cabin was gorgeous and it was so nice to relax and forget about (almost) everything :) The next weekend I had another thanksgiving with Kayla, Colt, Dalan, Lisa and Glenna before going to my first black friday sales. One of the best bits about thanksgiving is the food hands down but having a holiday that focused on being greatful was definitely a good thing :)

Anywho, before i knew it school was finished and I was packing my bags. Still hasn't really sunk in that i'm not going back to the states for a while, or that I actually managed to get the bulk of my stuff home :p Saying goodbye was not a fun thing to do, especially because there's been heaps of people who've either felt like family or have been amazing mates and helped me feel at home. They know who they are and I can't say thanks enough...lol this time i'm saying it without tears :p

Before I flew home I was hoping i'd be able to wake up to just one day of snow and I'll admit i was beginniing to get quite annoyed at the lack of snow considering how cold it was. I woke up the day I was to go home resigned to the fact that I wouldn't get it. It actually took me a while to figure out that the place ad become a winter wonderland overnight...must've walked past the window a dozen times before i realized and my mouth definitely hit the floor when I did. It was absolutely beautiful even though it only stayed for a few hours.

I was nervous about the flights home after what happened last time...this time I mentally prepared myself for delays, possible missed flights...I had even prepared myself incase I was questioned by immigration, although as I was returning home I was pretty sure there was a small chance of this happening again...thank goodness!

Tell you what, it is so incredibly amazing to actually get a whole summer which has been an absolute beauty so far :) I definitely missed the simple pleasures of going swimming in the dam or at the beach or even waking up Christmas morning warm and having Christmas breakfast with the family. Speaking of Christmas I will take a second to show one of the pressies mum gave me- its a touch lamp....but not just any lamp...its a globe so that I'd be able to 'see' Utah anytime i got homesick for the place. My mum is amazing that way :)

I suppose I'd better wrap this up ad I'll do that with a few pictures of my time in Utah and of new years but I guess the word I want to finish this post with is 'thanks'.