Christmas 2012

Christmas Eve went very well. I was a bit nervous knowing I was going to be meeting a bunch of new family that I had never met before, that in itself is a little scary. But everyone was so nice and loving and made me feel like part of the family already! It was very nice! I even got a few gifts from family I had never met before :)

Christmas Day was amazing as well. Woke up early and had my Papa's blueberry pancakes that i haven't had in a really long time. Then we went to church, which was pretty hard because I miss my grandma a lot and all of her old friends were there. But that is ok. Then we opened more presents at home. Later, I got to meet more people. People who aren't technically family, but may as well be. They're all super nice :)

Boxing Day, for those who don't know, is the day after Christmas. Everything is on sale. So, kind of the same as Black Friday in the States, except we have that too :P Anyway. Joel and I went to the mall to see what kind of deals there were. I got a pair of sweat pants that were originally $35, for $10. They are super comfy :) Then I got my new phone! Got the iPhone 5 for only $30!!!! How awesome is that?!

Hope everyone else had a super amazing Christmas and got to spend lots of time with friends and family.

Final Day of the Trip

We left Lewistown at about 6:15am and made it home by 11. 

The car ride today was pretty uneventful. I slept for a good portion of it. I'm extremely happy to have made it to my new home without any problems with the weather or any trouble at the boarder. 

Now, I just have a lot of paperwork to fill out and figure out and have to meet with people at the University. 

Travel Day #3

Well... I got a full 7 hours of sleep last night, which felt amazing! 

Today we left at 5:50am (Chicago/Minnesota time), always early when traveling with my papa. It was only 8°F out. TOO COLD!!!!! Got to watch the beautiful sunrise at 7:45 temperature dropped to 5°. Of course we were headed west so its completely behind us. Good thing for side mirrors :) We got breakfast at 8 at Burger King, were back on the road in less than 15 minutes, we are people on a mission, if you can't tell! Made it to North Dakota at 9, definitely the land of absolutely NOTHING. I ended up sleeping most of the way through North Dakota. We stopped around noon to have lunch in Dickinson, had Dairy Queen since everywhere else was super busy. I think every fast food place in that town is understaffed, just in case anyone wants to move to North Dakota for work. :) 

Made it to Lewistown, Montana before 5:30pm Mountain time. That means we were on the road for a little over 12 hours. Needless to say, I am sick of being in the car. 

Got dinner at Pizza Hut and now we are just relaxing. 

Weather was cold all day and pretty windy. For a little bit in Montana in snowed lightly, but the roads have been really clear, thankfully. Supposed to get some snow tonight and going to super cold!

The day as whole was pretty uneventful and I napped a LOT. Almost caught up on my sleep from not sleeping at all Thursday night. 

Tomorrow we have about 5 hours in the car, plus however long it takes at the boarder. I'm not really looking forward to dealing with that. Hopefully they decide to be nice for once. 

Will write again tomorrow night!! 

Love you all!! <3

Day #2 of my Trip West

Today went pretty well. Except for the fact that I only got about an hour and a half of sleep last night, and we were in the car leaving Holland at 3AM (Michigan time). As we were leaving Holland, and headed out of Michigan, the weather was a bit scary. Extremely windy and raining like crazy, thankfully it was still warm so none of it froze while we were still in Michigan. The raining stopped once we got through Indiana. Snow started appearing shortly after the rain stopped. We made it to Chicago around 5:30AM (Chicago time, so it took about 3 and a half hours to get there). Around 7AM (Chicago time), we stopped to get gas and have breakfast at McDonald's. That stop was very short. Somewhere between 8 and 8:30 (I ended up taking a nap), we made it to Wisconsin. At 9, we stopped in Wisconsin Dells at another McDonald's to get coffee, after that I called my mom and talked for a bit :) At noon, we stopped in Hudson for lunch, we got Taco Bell. After that we were headed to St. Paul, Minnesota to go see my little Miss Jaden and visit her for a bit in the hospital. We arrived there around 12:45, Jaden was still in PT so we had to wait a few minutes before she got back to her room. It was worth it! She is such a trooper and doing really well in her recovery! I just love seeing her smile. While we were at the hospital, I made up my mind that being a pediatric nurse instead of just an RN is really where my heart lies. Might take an extra year or two of schooling, but I'll figure it all out and it'll be worth it. After the visit with Jaden, we still had 2 hours left in the car until we arrived outside of Brainerd. Around 4 we arrived at the Bardolph's. We had a nice time chatting and catching up and had an amazing dinner. It was pretty hard at first being here without my grandma. The last time I was in this house, she was here too. I miss her like crazy.
After a long 13 hours in the car, a whirlwind of emotions, and next to no sleep, I'm finally sitting in my bed for the night and ready to fall asleep!
Starting our day tomorrow at 6am, have another LONG day in the car ahead of us. 12 hours! We'll be staying the night in Lewistown, Montana (I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that's where).
I will write again tomorrow before going to bed!
Hope you enjoy reading about my journey across the country!
Love you all! :)

Day #1 of the Big Trip

Officially moved out of Ionia. Today was an extremely emotional day. Saying goodbye to family and the only life you've ever known can never be easy... can it?
Didn't do much traveling today, just from Ionia to Sparta to have dinner with my dad and siblings and get to say goodbye one last time, now we're in Holland for the night. Going to be leaving bright and early in the morning (3am, so, not too bright) so we're able to miss all the Chicago traffic.
Must try and sleep as much as possible tonight. 11 hours in the car tomorrow, not looking forward to it at all.
Love you all!

Days Like Today...

Really make me realize how few people are actually there for you when you truly need them. Everyone is so quick to be there for you when they need or want something, but they are the same people who are no where to be found when you really just need a shoulder to cry on.
I also realized that in a world like this, you can only trust a few people. Very few people. The others you may think you can trust, but they will just turn around and hurt you.
A good thing I realized is that in this crazy, messed up place we call Earth, there are still a few good people out there. Those are the people I'm very thankful to get to call my best friends. They mean the world to me and I know they'll always be here for me no matter what. Just as I will always be there for them. That's how friendships are supposed to work, and I do my best to make sure that is how they work. :)

As some (probably most) of you know, I'm moving to Canada for school and to start my life. I will be leaving Michigan in 5 days. On my adventure across the country, I'll be taking a lot of pictures and writing blogs every night for anyone who wants to read what happened each day. Once I arrive at my new home, I'll be blogging once a week about how my new life is unfolding. I will also have a goal every week to help better myself and slowly, but successfully mold my life into what I've always wanted it to be.
I really hope to get a few readers, the more the merrier, and to also get comments to let me know I have a support system and possibly suggestions on what I can do differently.

Last thing.
No matter where you and I stand. If we're friends, not friends, complete strangers, anything... I will always be here for you, the only thing I ask in return is that you're here for me. If you ever need someone to talk to, let me know! I'll help in any way possible!
Hope everyone is having an amazing weekend and will go on to have a great week.
Remember, life is a precious gift, don't waste it!
<3

Random thought

God puts everyone in our lives for a reason. That reason usually isn't clear right away, and sometimes never is. Even the people He knows will hurt us. He gives us those people to teach us and to strengthen us.