1, 3, and 5 Years

Graduation 2009

This June I'll be coming up on 5 years since graduating high school. Um, CRAZY. It feels like a different lifetime when I look back on those years {not like those years are the funnest to look back on haha...high school is so lame!} I'm giving all the credit to my blogger friend Bon for this awesome idea of a post! Here's where I thought I'd be at these milestones after college, and where I actually ended up.

1 Year // 2010

Where I thought I'd be: I thought I would be having a blast at BYU. You know, first time living away from home. Parrrtayyyyy. I would be ace-ing all my classes cause I'm a smart cookie, with lots of extra time to spare. Smooth sailing.

Where I was: In my first year of college, I went through some of my first real life hardships. I had gotten into a 5 car pile-up which moved my spinal cord and cracked a molar. I caught the dumb swine flu, then at the end of fall semester I had a root canal to fix my broken molar. Then during winter semester I burned my leg on the exhaust pipe of a motorcycle and tended to that for over a month. Of course, all of this affected my schoolwork, spirituality, and life in general. It was a great test of my faith and endurance, and I learned a lot that makes me who I am today. I am so grateful for those friends I made Freshmen summer who looked after me!

3 Years // 2012

Where I thought I'd be: Probably just starting to date someone seriously, nearing college graduation and starting to look more seriously at what kind of career I would want to delve in to.

Where I was: June of 2012 marked my one year anniversary to Ryan, and we had just moved in to our yellow brick house that we are still at today. That first year of marriage was a huge learning curve for the both of us. His father had been diagnosed with cancer and passed away December of 2011. I was diagnosed with Stage 1B melanoma and operated on. I had a huge chunk of skin taken out of my right arm along with 3 lymph nodes. On top of all that, we went through the typical first married year growing pains. It was a rough time for sure, but we've grown much closer because of it.

5 Years // 2014

Where I thought I'd be: Married for a year or two. Already graduated and working my first serious job in the Family Sciences field. Ryan would be finishing up school and we'd be looking to where we would first settle down.

Where I was: June will mark 3 years of marriage, woot woot! I'm graduating a year late because I decided to tack on my Communications minor. Last year I realized that my Family Science major, while I found it interesting, is not my passion. Now I'm trying to figure which way to steer my education and future career. Ryan still has another year and a half of school to go, which means we will be in Provo for a while. Which is totally ok because that means we'll be living here when my brother Jesse goes to school, when Evan gets back from his mission, and when my cousin Amanda will start school at BYU!

This all just goes to show that life doesn't usually unfold how you plan it to, and that's alright! I'm happy, thriving, and working together with my husband toward our goals in life. Everything I've experienced and learned has contributed to the person I am today. And I'm pretty awesome, so I'm not going to try and change that ;)