i open at the close

What to say about the last few days??

It's been a whirlwind. It's been crazy, awesome, fun, happy, sad, scary, all of the above.
Yesterday I graduated from BYU-Idaho! My sweet family came up and sat through hours of speakers and musical numbers to watch me walk across a stage and get a diploma. We drove home right after the ceremony and got back to PG at 2am.

I have so many mixed emotions about this graduation and this upcoming chapter of my life. Obviously, I'm super excited and happy, I'm happy to be close to my family again, I'm so excited to start at BYU, I have such an exciting future and it's all just very exciting! I'm also really glad to be through with Rexburg weather! No more frozen hair when walking home from the temple!

On the other hand, I do feel a lot of sadness and nostalgia when I think that I won't be going back up to BYU-Idaho. I truly had a wonderful experience there for the three semesters that I attended. I met amazing people, especially new roommates every semester that made my days a total adventure. My classes were fabulous, my professors were so amazing. The spirit at BYU-Idaho is truly incredible. I know that BYU is a church school and well and it's set up in a similar way, but there is definitely a different spirit in Rexburg. I believe that "The Spirit of Ricks" is holding strong!

It's so funny being back in the home that I grew up in and feeling the potential of my future and the pure openness before me. This past week, whenever I thought about graduation, it honestly felt like everything was ending. Which it has I guess, a really big part of my life has ended. But when I was still in Idaho, I couldn't get past the ending and I couldn't see farther than it. But now that it's over, ended and finished, all I can see is the beginning. My future is so exciting. I feel very blessed right now.

I'm officially a BYU-Idaho Alumni, and I love that feeling!