2008 in review . . .

well i've been thinking about the past year so i decided to take a trip down memory lane and relive all the good times through pictures :) i think that i feel this way at the end of every year, but 2008 has been one of the happiest of my life! so many wonderful experiences, hard things that made me grow, amazing people i have come to love, and so much to be grateful for. so here's looking at the year 2008 . . .

to start off, my goldfish theo who has seen me through the
entire year, the official mascot of 2008! one of my constants,
what a champ . . .

i turned 21! i'm getting OLD . . .



jane got ENGAGED! another amazing roommate
on to better things . . .



good times with dinner group . . .



i loved another semester working in the biology tutoring lab . . .



we lost lady to cancer :( best picture we could get before
she was put to sleep . . .



biophysical society meeting in long beach, california with the lab!
the ultimate road trip . . .







good times with the fam. here's easter and conference weekend . . .






some pics of james since the gibbons family has seriously revolved
around him this year, the cutie . . .





it was a fun year catching up with old friends as the guys got
off their missions and we girls are married, having babies, or
chuggin' away in school! makes me feel old . . .


my last dancesport. how appropriate to go out in style, the
country two step with isaac! we made the heel click famous . . .



this reminds me. 2008 will definitely be remembered as the year
i officially found the cowgirl in me and became addicted to
COUNTRY SWING DANCING on wednesdays . . .



ok here's a big one. i became a college graduate!!
a bachelor's degree in biophysics . . .









jane got MARRIED and i got to be a bridesmaid . . .



i moved out of the south downs and into the colony with janelle!
truly happy times . . .





i started working on my MASTERS degree in physiology at byu!
can you believe it? a summer of full time research . . .





i received my MISSION CALL to the washington seattle mission . . .





the fam at the extended gibbons family "round table" . . .



i officially became "hard core" during an amazing trip to
MOAB with friends . . .






i received my endowment in the salt lake temple . . .



yup i turned down being an efy counselor again to go to the
tim mcgraw concert. i don't know what that says about me,
but it was worth it . . .


not only did i become hard core this summer, but i also feel like i
unleashed my inner gangster. meet "lizzle" . . .


camping in american fork canyon
(including snow tubing in JUNE) . . .


some firsts: flying a kite, and hiking the Y . . .


family vacation to st george, always a good time . . .


road trip to washington for some camping, caving, and then
orb-hunting/partying in port townsend . . .


then i got to live at home for about a month, first time in a few years! we had a sister outing to see james taylor live, watched a lot of olympics, and saw josh go on his first date! crazy . . .

another lab trip: to use the two-photon microscope
at UC, irvine . . .


first time in chicago! fun labor day weekend.
my ninth state in a month (a record for me) . . .


everything always falls into place.
i moved into victoria place, got new roommates,
headed back to the lab to finish up my thesis project,
and deferred my mission for 6 months . . .


ok highlight of fall semester, camping in november: hiking in the gear like 10 miles (exaggeration) because the road to the campground was closed (willie: "look is that them? we're almost there! oh wait, it's only a mirage!"), and the girls' tent struggling . . .


well other than that, i've just been working really hard, playing with the fam, making new friends, and trying to keep in touch with all the old ones! life is happy . . .

thanksgiving and christmas at home . . .
(thanksgiving pics were just posted, christmas pics to come)

well that was a LOT of stuff, but it was across 12 whole months and i never was good at choosing favorites and narrowing it down. gosh after going through all that i realized how much has happened this year! so much has changed. it's funny how crazy life can be yet everything always seems to fall right into place! i can't wait to see what's up next. i do know it will be four months of hard work to finish my thesis and then off to the MTC on april 15th! i can't wait!! happy new year :)

you know you're a nerd when . . .

. . . you open up an AMAZING ferrero rocher chocolate and the FIRST thing you think is "holy cow! this looks exactly like an erythrocyte ghost shedding microvesicles!" Even nerdier is when you make Jen take a picture of you so you will have proof that they really do look alike. Secret confession though, I think nerds have more fun with life :)

THANKSGIVING!!

I had an amazing thanksgiving! We just had a quiet shindig at home, but the whole fam was there! It was especially fun since the Bosters have recently moved to Idaho. (we miss you guys!) They showed up a day early and surprised us all which was fun. What more could you want in a weekend? family, good food, JAMES, and lots of christmas movies :) As Gibbons family tradition has it, we always watch "White Christmas" Thanksgiving night to open up the Christmas season. I never let myself get TOO excited about Christmas until we watch it. I also got to see Michelle and meet her fiancee! Even though she whooped us in power scrabble, I'm not still bitter. Too bad I got sick too though :( my cough makes me sounds like an old man who has smoked his whole life. But I guess there could be worse things huh?

Here are a few pics of the weekend including some from our family photo shoot! I don't have it with me, but I will soon post PROOF that me and my momma went shopping at 4 am the day after Thanksgiving . . . something I didn't think would ever happen. It's kind of a goofy story since we didn't buy anything, we just needed the security tag removed from a shirt we bought on Wednesday so I could wear it in the family pics. We DID get free snow globes though, so that combined with the memories made it well worth it hehe :) a picture to come of our 4 am loveliness!

Getting the food ready! Dad's apron is the best: "Grill a Judge"


Some quality play time with the boy, gives me a good excuse to do the things i secretly want to do anyway, like put baskets on top of my head :)

THE FAM!

"Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters!" haha White Christmas reference . . .

our little josh is all grown up now!


the sibs complete with jonathan!

my parents looking "young, modern, and popular" ;) but seriously! what a handsome couple!!

Well those pictures mostly sum up what I am thankful for this thanksgiving, the wonderful people in my life, especially my family! The past few weeks I've reflected a lot about the people that mean a lot to me and how much joy I get from my relationships with them.

I'm thinking about a new hair-do . . . which do YOU recommend?

So here are the fruits of a VERY productive morning in the lab :) don't worry, i usually work hard. i'm kind of thinking of dying my hair dark now, what do you all think?