Friday, April 29, 2011

Thank You . . . for the memories

"People will forget what you said, and people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
~Bonnie Jean Wasmund

As the summer quickly approaches I can't help but think about how fast this year has flown by. It seems like just yesterday I decided to move out to California and I was headed out there for the summer. Little did I know this time last year that it would be the best summer of my entire life. I remember being scared of the unknown, but I was really ready for a new adventure and to get away and be able to truly figure out who I am, what my testimony is. I was so blessed to meet the people I did. The people in my ward, the people I worked with, my sister's amazing friends, and all the other people that I was able to cross paths with this summer.
I feel like I was touched and influenced by so many people this summer and I am eternally grateful to all of those people and wanted to pay tribute to them today...
I'm grateful for my first friend I made out in California and for my sister introducing me to her. Sam thank you so much for helping me feel
welcome and for introducing me to many people
while I was out there. I miss you and appreciate
you and your friendship to me. You will forever
be my friend and I feel so blessed to have you as
a friend in my life.

To all my work friends, Jillian and Jesse my wonderful bosses and Jonathan, Sabrina, and Anthony my Manager and assistant managers were the best! And my favorite co-workers, Jeff, Matt, and Mark. I had an amazing experience working with all you people.
You are some of the most amazing people I will ever know and I am going to miss you all so much this summer, truly. Hopefully I will get to see some of you if I end up coming out at the end of the summer. :)







For all the amazing people in my ward. The
amazing relief society and priesthood. For the amazing bishopric and just everything. Just to mention a few names:
Sydney, Jessica, Leighann, Melody, Luke, and all the Living Scripture boys. I seriously lived for going to church and activities because this was my chance to be around people with the same standards as me and I'm so grateful for that.
From beach activities to volleyball nights,
anytime I was able to spend with these amazing people, it was always a good time. My testimony
grew so much over the summer and am forever
indebted to the Monta Vista Ward and for all that they taught me about myself and helped me
understand why the gospel is such an important part of my life. Thank you for all of your examples to me and for the love you all showed me as I lived out there last summer. Oh how I wish I was returning to the Bay Area for the summer, however there are other things in store for me this summer but I will hopefully be back sometime in August to visit.

How could I forget the whole Clark Pest Control Company working in the Bay Area? I had the amazing opportunity to spend quite a lot of time with these boys and I had a blast.
Special thanks to Shawn for taking us out on so many fun outings and for always making me feel welcome. Thanks to Nate for always keeping life lighthearted and finding something to laugh about. And to Jon for always hanging out with Matt and I and for attempting to teach me to play the guitar, maybe someday. haha Thanks to Spencer and Tricia for hanging out with us too and for all the chats we were able to have with them. Thanks to Regan for allowing me to hang around so much and for allowing me to get to know him and his family. Thanks to Matt for all the memories and for all the things I was able to learn from him. I was able to create some memories with Clark that I will always remember.

I was able to have one of my best friends close to me throughout the summer. Jenna and I both moved out to California to live with our sisters and work for the summer. It was so nice to have Jenna so close to have a little piece of home in such a foreign place. It was so good to be able to call Jenna up and have a sleepover or even just to hit up the beach together.
I have been down at SUU with Jenna for 2 years now and am sad to say I'll be leaving and won't be so close to her anymore but know that we will be friends forever. I am so grateful for my friendship with Jenna and look forward to many more memories to come with her.

I had the opportunity of living with my amazing sister and her cute family for an entire summer. They opened their home to me so freely and were so nice to host me for the summer.
They were so amazing to allow me to be in their hair and to help me with everything as far as giving me a place to sleep, finding me a bike to use for the summer, feeding me, teaching me life lessons, and so much more. I will never be able to thank this amazing family enough for all that they have done for me and continue to do for me in my life. I look up to you and your family so much Melanie and I miss you all so much it hurts. I'm looking forward to being with you again soon and wish I was coming back but appreciate you constant love and concern for me even though we are so far away from one another. I miss waking up to the kids' faces every morning and for my late night chats with you and Phil, not to mention our on-going battles of Blokus. I love you all so much and will forever hold my California memories dear and thank you again, for if it weren't for you all, none of this amazing summer would've been possible. So thank you thank you again and again.

Lastly, through Melanie I was able to meet some of her amazing friends who throughout the summer became my friends. I would just like to thank Sarah, Erin, and Megan for their amazing examples of amazing mothers, friends, sisters, and women they are in my life and the lives of many that surround them.
Talk about true friends, these women are all there for each other no matter what. The willingness they have to serve each other was just amazing to me and set a tremendous example to me. Thank you so much for allowing me to tag along and learn so much from the both of you. I love you both so much and will never be able to thank you enough for your examples of true friendship and love to me. I'm so grateful that I was able to get to know your children as well. What sweet, beautiful spirits they all have and it was an honor to have them call me "Aunt Mer" by the end of the summer. I can't wait to see you all when I come out and hopefully visit at the end of the summer. (hint, hint to Mel ;) ) You are all beautiful inside and out! :)

So as I come to the close of this post I am grateful. Grateful for the amazing memories that were created last summer and for all the amazing people that made up those memories. I was able to meet some of the most amazing people I will probably ever meet in my life within the short period of a summer and I am forever grateful to them for allowing me to be a part of their lives and for them being a part of mine. They have all truly touched my life in such a way that has made me change and want to be a better person and I am forever grateful for that. Thanks for the memories... Summer of 2010 was only filled with good ones. Love you all!

Missing all of you-
Merilee


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