re-FRESHED.

you know what this means! On Tuesday, I returned from my teeny shack-of-an-apartment to my cute little house. all the flowers are still in bloom, which made me even happier to be home. and to see real grass. Tokyo is such a big city, it's impossible to find grass anywhere. and when I walked inside, my house just seemed sooooo..........big. before I left, I complained about how "small" our house was. a lot of my friends live in the Riverbottoms, the "rich, wealthy, loaded with money, big-no-wait-just-kidding-huge house" area. (which isn't a bad thing, it just makes it seem like I have much less. but I love all my friends, regardless of where they live. that doesn't matter at all.) and I was a bit jealous, even though I tried not to show it. but after being in Japan, my house just seems huge. we all have our own bedroom. we have a big kitchen and 2 living rooms and my room actually has decorations, as opposed to the drab walls in the living room in Tokyo with only a painting of Mt. Fuji on the wall. and even though the whole house looks like a tornado hit, it feels soooooooooooo good to be back.

Wednesday I was supposed to start Timpview High School as a freshman. not very fresh after coming back a month late and being on a plane for 12 hours and suffering from jet lag. I'm still adjusting from the 15 hour time change! but when Dad and I went to the counseling office, we waited for like 40 minutes only to find out that my counselor was in a meeting and would not get back until 11:30. since it was an early out day, I would miss all of school. but as dad and I were about to leave, I saw my cheerleader friends in the commons, eating breakfast before first period ended, so I told Dad to leave so I could catch up with them. after reuniting with the cheerleaders, hugging, Instagramming, and catching up, 1st period ended and I got to see even more friends! i got attacked, strangled, and hugged to death. and it felt amazing. this was the life I'd been missing for 4 1/2 months! and this was the school I'd been missing for 6 weeks! i was slipping right back into my "normal, new" life. after 3rd period started (we have an odd-even day schedule where we only have 4 periods each day for 87 min. odd days are 1, 3, 5, 7; even days are 2, 4, 6, 8), I walked home, went to Costco, and Mom took me back. while she registered, I saw even more friends! then I did some online math, had Raquel over, and went to mutual to see my old wardies again. It was nice, but I still wish that my Tokyo wardies would come here!

Thursday I actually started school. it was an even day, so I was supposed to go to my 2nd period, Algebra 2. but I had no idea where any of my classes were, so I went in the counseling office and asked for help, and 2 really nice juniors gave me a tour of the whole school, and let me tell you, it is huge. I thought that CMS was big when I went there! I guess I'm growing up, because when the tour was done and I got dropped off at Algebra 2, I heard a junior whisper to another junior (or maybe it was a senior)? whoa, look at that hot sophmore. this was something I've never heard in my life. I just barely hit 5'0, and everyone thinks I'm younger, not older. and I wish I had 1st day of school pics, but I was too lazy. I had a pretty good day and got to all my classes okay, and the only homework I had was Japanese and disclosure signing.

Friday was Wesley's birthday, and he got the traditional birthday waffles. but mom wouldn't let me have any because I had to leave soon and I wouldn't have enough time to eat them. So unfair! but we wouldn't be celebrating until Sunday, because Friday night Wes had a scout campout, and Saturday night I had a babysitting job. friday was also my first odd day, and I was kind of lost again. my first was peer tutor, which was pretty easy to find. there were a few freshman from last year's class at CMS, and they remembered me! they were very happy to see me, and I met the older students as well. they are all so sweet, and I'm glad I got put in that class, even though i didn't even sign up for it! my whole odd schedule got switched around from its original state, so my 3rd was Dance & Pop Culture, which is fancy for "hip-hop." I wasn't supposed to take that class until the next semester, so the teacher had no idea I was coming in. but we got it all figured out, and even though I was lost, I had fun. Fashion Strategies I had a ton of friends in, and Seminary I only knew like 5 people in there, and only 2 of them were freshmen! But I made really good friends with one of the seniors (yes, I already have a senior best friend) and we talked even more at the football game!

 Sydney and me. she claimed that she had to take the pic because she has longer arms than me. obviously, she does, because look at how taller she is than me! 

 you've probably seen a gazillion photos of Callie on here. but we're still pretty tight, and will always be! and she's only gotten prettier since I left! and again, like Syd, she said she had longer arms so she had to take the pic, and of course, like everyone else, she's taller!

 Haley and I have been best friends since kindergarten, and 9 years later as freshmen, we're still best friends! we've grown up a lot since we were 6. but Haley didn't used to be that much taller than me. I guess I'll never grow. 

and of course, like every year, I have to decorate my notebooks. or else it won't work.

and just because Teal likes to steal my iPod and instagram stupid pictures of me. I guess I make retarded faces when I sing to her, and I hadn't played piano at all in Japan except for church, so I wasn't playing as well as I actually do. but I guess I'm not too bad, because guess who's playing piano for Seminary and Young Women again? you got it.

after school, I went over to Teal's house to catch up because while I was in Japan, she was in London! after sharing our summer stories, all we did was chill on her couch and tell juicy secrets about special someones, and I serenaded her a bit. then there was the football game! actually, there were 2 football games going on, 1 was Hawaii at BYU and the other was Orem at Timpview. Justin went to the BYU one with a friend while I met some friends at Timpview (Lynley F., Madi W. Brooke C., Brooke O., Kaitlyn H., Brady K., Gabe M., Colson S., and others) and they introduced me to a ton of new people! at the time, it felt really awkward because I wasn't the new girl because I've lived in Provo for most of my life, but then again, I was to them. and for the first time in my life, I felt a little shy because I was meeting so many people I should've known before I came back, so I kinda left, talked with my cousin Morgan, then he left, found some 8th graders that I knew from CMS, mingled, and found Josue from Peer Tutoring with Ava, my favorite senior as of now. we went on a little walk and talked, and then, I sat down with some of my guy friends and watched the rest of the game. we won, 38-12! take that, Orem! it was such a great night. and to make it even better, BYU also won their football game, 47-0!

Saturday I slept in, brought Raquel a Jamba Juice because she got her wisdom teeth out, chilled at her house, and had my babysitting job. Today, I saw Wesley for the first time in 2 days because I babysat so late that everyone was already in bed. we went to church, both Mom and I bore our testimonies (which I felt kind of pressured to do so because Mom kept on mentioning me in hers), and she took way longer than I did! I mostly talked about being grateful for what we already have and not to be unhappy (look at this post and this one here) and I didn't even cry! so proud of myself. after church, Wesley got the priesthood! I can't believe he is a deacon now, passing the sacrament! we celebrated at Grandma and Grandpa Wendelboe's house. it was also Torben's 5th birthday, and my other cousin Marky's 12th as well (unfortunately, he lives in Oklahoma and couldn't make it), so that was super fun!

so, overall, it just feels amazing to be back. I feel like I never left, because I'm fitting right in! everyone remembers me and has missed me, and while Japan was legit and I miss some things about it, I have missed Provo so much and we came back at a good time! for the first time in my entire life, I was excited to get back to school. (well, homeschool sucked and I am never doing that again.) and to sum it up, I just feel all.... refreshed! wait. make that re-freshed. I wasn't officially a freshman in Japan while I was doing homeschool! but just wait, things are gonna get pretty busy around here. Piano will start up again, I have to get my whole braces redone because I broke tons of brackets, snapped my chain, and broke one of my springs in Tokyo, the homework will start piling up on me fast, I will be babysitting more, and even though I wasn't able to do the tennis team this year because I missed the tryouts, I will start playing tennis at least twice a week again. so, I hope you enjoyed my frequent Japan posts. but now, because I'm in high school, I won't post nearly as much as I used to. there isn't really anything exciting to post about because I'm not in Japan, but I will definitely keep updating you guys, just not as often as I used to because I'm gonna be really busy!

but again.... there's no place like Provo.

Sayonara.

"there are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind."
-C.S. Lewis

"You can't start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one."

"Promise you'll never forget me, ever," said Pooh. "Not even when I'm a hundred."

"I saw a flock of birds flying north today. If they can move on from summer, so can I."

well, fine, Pinterest. if you want me to forget the best 4 1/2 months of my life, then good for you. unfortunately, my adventure in Japan has come to an end. I'm all packed up and ready to go. all I need to to is get on the plane tomorrow, and then I'll start the next chapter in my life, which is called "for real highschool." homeschooling is one of the things I'm not going to miss about Japan. I'm flying away on Tuesday in Japan, cross the international dateline, and land in Provo on Tuesday. so, in 2 days from now, I will be back in the same house I've lived in for the last 8 years. I will have my own bedroom again. my cellphone will finally start working. I'll have all the food that I have missed. I will be able to see all my friends again, start school, and get back into a normal life. I will be able to walk to school and church. I will finally be able to practice piano after a long 4 1/2 months with only playing in church. and most importantly, I will be able to read and understand what everyone's saying!

but I have got to admit that I will always remember my adventure in Japan. I have changed so much while I was here. I have grown up. I have learned not to take everything for granted. I have become closer to my brothers and my parents. I have been more motivated to go to church and seminary because I've been socially isolated all day with my brothers, and it's good to get out of the house and see real people. because of that, not only have I made so many new friends, but also strengthened my testimony. but most of all, I have learned to appreciate Japan.

On my last Saturday here, our ward had a Country BBQ party with line dancing, sheriff badges, and dessert. not a ton of my friends came, but at least some of them did! I hung out with my favorite Aussie of all time, Scarlett. we had a great time talking and eating and playing with the little kids! we helped all the young ones make sheriff badges and played with them. my favorite family ever, the Gottfredsons, especially enjoyed this. Kylie and Renae, ages 6 and 5, made about 100 badges each for themselves, me, Scarlett, Liam, their parents, and everyone! and because both of the girls look up to me as their fashion idol, Kylie turned 2 of her badges into "big earrings like Miriam's." she drew me a picture of a basketball and said, "if you are ever sad, look at this picture and make a wish that you will see me again!" Renae wrote me a little note that said "I love you." and Liam, being cute little Liam, just ran around and went crazy! he did make a badge for himself ("just as long as you write my name, Miriam! I'm only 3!"), said thank you, and said, "You can have it! Your name can be Liam!" I will miss all 3 of them soooo much! In the summer, all my friends were on vacation, and my main motivation for going to church was to see the cute little Gottfredson gang!

oh, and cute little Isaac the Cowboy wanted a picture of him because he was "just so cute!" I told him he was the rootnest, tootnest cowboy of all of Japan, and he said, "Thanks, but I wanted to be the rootnest, tootness, cowboy in the wild, wild west!" he's darling, I know.

when we weren't entertaining the kiddos, Scarlett, India (my other favorite Aussie of all time), a few other girls, and the bishop all did the Footloose dance together! it was soooo fun!

Sunday, everyone in Sunday school and Young Women said goodbye, and in YW, we got treats. All the girls gave me a Sayonara Doll, which is a farewell custom in Japan. if you untie the ribbon around the doll's kimono, it opens up as a huge roll of paper where everyone writes their wishes to you on your next journey. all the girls and the leaders signed it! I named it Takeshita, because it needed a Japanese name, and Takeshita is a street in Harajuku where all the crazy dressed people march around on weekends. kind of like New York. and also because I just like that word... (I won't even go there).

after seminary, I went to my friend Jayne's house for one last lunch. this time, our whole family ate lunch there. it was a nice way to say goodbye! after lunch was done, Jayne did some homework, my family walked to the train station, and Mary May gave me a little keychain and a card to say goodbye. she said that I was like her older sister, which means a lot! she has become a younger sister to me! when Jayne was done with homework, we went to seminary for one last time. everyone was sad about me leaving, so to "celebrate/mourn", they made me play piano and say the prayer! all the boys wanted to sign the Sayonara Doll as well, so Takeshita took a long journey around the seminary room in the hands of many teenage boys with handwriting worse than mine. (which isn't too bad.) a few of the best notes in there (won't be saying any names; these aren't all from boys):

"I love you, even though you like BYU! PS. GO UTAH!"

"It will be soooo much more quiet when you leave :("

"Don't hit your head with a bird and don't laugh at the buffalo!" (I love you, Sarah.)

"We may have only known each other for a few months, but those months have seemed like FOREVER, and they were the best few months ever!"

"Hope Provo treats you well again!"

"You are LEGIT!"

I will miss going to seminary and mutual and sunday school and Young Womens! everyone in the ward is soooooo nice, outgoing, and friendly! I will miss everyone more than I can even explain! from all the girls who have reached out and made me feel at home to the crazy, cheeky boys in Sunday school, I just love my ward so much! Church will for sure be different without all my best friends!

 Amanda and me! this is a weird picture. but we have become great friends while I was here! she is one of the sweetest girls ever!

 me, India, and Scarlett Aalders. both the Aalders sisters have been like sisters to me! They always look so cute, both of them are super friendly and happy all the time, and have wonderful Australian accents! (Justin said that India is Australian, and Scarlett is British. Well, he got that wrong!). India was one of the first to reach out to me, and is always so nice to everyone. Scarlett and I just immediately clicked, and is very bubbly, energetic, and super talented! She also adores my brothers and can't stop talking about how cute they are! Oh, how I will miss these girls!

 This lovely girl is Savannah Napierski, the first friend I made here! We met at the first ward party (before church!), and I thought she was 16 instead of my age, she's so gorgeous! and also extremely tall... she is absolutely amazing in every way, and we will for sure have to see each other again the next time she comes to Provo!

Oh, and we can't forget Sarah! she has been around all summer, and we really got to know each other at youth conference, camp, and riding the train together from seminary! she is absolutely hilarious and super smart, and we talk about the ramdomest things! I am so glad that we were able to bond over the summer when no one was in town!

to anyone I haven't mentioned, it's because I don't have a picture with you, and this post would last for eternity. I love you all, and thanks to everyone who made Tokyo the best time of my life! The next time I will post, I'll be in Provo. It's crazy. and you better be reading this blog, Tokyo people!

Sayonara,

SECOND happiest place on earth

4 more days.

and because none of my stupid teachers are getting back to me for school (which doesn't even really matter anymore because I'll be back at school in 5 days), we decided to ditch the original "do-schoolwork-and-get-stressed-out-and-pack-and-go-crazy" plan for this week and ended up here instead....

yeah I know. a really crowded subway. how exciting. sorry for the false alarm. the really crowded subway took us here.

The whole time we've been in Tokyo, we talk about other vacations we could've gone on. and Justin keeps on reminding us that "I've only been to Disneyland twice and I don't even remember it! Why wasn't I born in California?" Well, he's actually been more than once. But I remember it the most because Wesley was just a baby when we lived in California. and we knew there was a Tokyo Disney, but both Mom and Dad weren't too excited about the idea because "you've never been to Japan and you've been to Disneyland so many times, it defeats the whole purpose of being in Tokyo because you can do that in California. Plus, it's much smaller." well, I grew up at Disneyland, and it has to be my favorite place ever. everytime I go, I love it even more than I did the last time. I asked all my friends here what it was like. Most of my friends said that it was super fun. Some said it was kinda lame because it was so much smaller. and a few of them said that Disney Sea, the other park here, is better because it has bigger rollercoasters and stuff. But I'm a Disney girl, my mom's a Disney girl, my brothers are hopefully Disney guys, so we finally decided to only go to Tokyo Disney for one day. And since it was so small, we could do pretty much everything we wanted to do!

the very first thing we did was get a fastpass for Space Mountain, one of our favorites (and Wesley's absolute favorite). while we waited for our fastpass, we went on Buzz Lightyear, the car ride, and the Monsters, Inc. ride that they don't have in California! It was super cute, and it was hilarious in Japanese! one of our favorites at Tokyo Disney. and Space Mountain was sooooo much better here as well! It was darker, faster, and it felt more like flying through space should feel. Justin and Mom absolutely hated it because it was faster, but it made it so much better! after that, we headed down to my favorite ride of all time to pick up a fastpass. but unfortunately, my favorite ride is everyone else's favorite ride as well, and by 12:00 noon, every single Fastpass was sold out. but because I'm crazy and it was so hot, we waited in line for Splash Mountain for an hour and a half. it didn't quite meet the expectations, because the drop wasn't as steep as the other one and only my face got wet, but I still enjoyed it very much!

 I didn't want my picture taken so I decided to ruin it.

while waiting for our other fastpass for Big Thunder Mountain, we decided to eat lunch and do one Fantasyland ride. so, of course. It's a Small World it was. sometime after Big Thunder Mountain, Mom discovered that we lost the camera, so she went back to the ride, but no one could find it. we were all freaking out: me because it's actually my camera and my iPod camera was being stupid, Mom because she has to take 500 pictures of us, Justin because he decided that he wants to be a photographer and he took "really, really good pictures", and Wesley because we were all freaking out. so, our plan was to go on Haunted Mansion, Mom and the boys go on some Fantasyland rides while I go to the lost and found, and to meet by the carousel. Haunted Mansion was great because they had a "Jack Skellington" theme with both Halloween and Christmas decorations. but Haunted Mansion is extremely far away from the Lost and Found, so it took forever to get there. the Cast Members had trouble understanding my "thick American accent" (they understood my mom, but not me), I had to speak very slowly, got sent back to Big Thunder Mountain, waited for a long time, then finally, they came out with my camera. I practically ran back to Fantasyland, found the family again, and had a little celebration by taking a ton of pictures, eating, and seeing a little dance performance starring Minnie Mouse and Japanese dancers wearing funky costumes.

The whole park was decorated for Halloween. we loved seeing all the cute decorations! the last thing we did was Winnie the Pooh, which was definitely the best. it was completely different than the one at Disneyland in California, and much better! we rode in little honeypots, saw scenes from Winnie the Pooh, but the best part was the Tigger scene. so, our honeypot stops, Tigger starts singing in Japanese, and our honeypot starts bouncing up and down to the Tigger song! it was just absolutely hilarious. no one expected that to happen, and for the Heffalumps and Woozles part, we were just spinning around and around, all very "confuzzled". and at the end, it even smelled like honey!!! they surely outdid themselves on this ride! good job, Tokyo! Cutest ride in the world. the best rides at Tokyo Disney were:

• Pirates of the Carribean: the one in California keeps changing and updating itself. this one was more original, pirate-ish, and like the Disneyland one, they had Jack Sparrow in there as well.
• Jungle Cruise: they had better animals and a better "jungle."
• Space Mountain: already explained it!
• Haunted Mansion: loved the Jack Skellington theme!
• Monsters, Inc.: super cute and exciting
• Big Thunder Mountain: went pretty fast 
• Splash Mountain: only because it's my favorite ride in the whole universe and it never gets old

they didn't have nearly as many rides as Disneyland. they didn't have Indiana Jones, the Matterhorn, Alice in Wonderland (not the spinning teacups), Star Tours, Peter Pan (closed for updating), and a ton more. but for what they had, most of it was pretty good! Except the Tiki Room was the worst. when I was little, we had to visit the Tiki Room every single time. and I knew all the birds names and all the songs. it is still one of my favorites. the Tokyo Tiki room was........... lame. 1. It was in Japanese, so you couldn't understand a word they were saying, 2. They had Stitch in there with the birds, 3. (which disappointed me the most) none of the songs were the same! they were all completely different!

but hey, if there's a Disneyland, I have to go to it! and it was pretty good for its size. but nothing can compare to California, sorry to say. Not even Disney World, which I've never been to. Disneyland is always gonna beat everything.

PS. none of the lines were too bad except for Splash Mountain and Monsters, Inc. but even for the short lines, my brothers were being very immature, wrestling each other, piggybacking each other, messing up their hair (both of them recently got haircuts, and neither of them are very happy about them. Wesley wants a mullet, which would look absolutely disgusting on him. Mom agrees, but Wesley's argument every time is, "Mom, Dad had a mullet once. and you still dated him." Justin is upset because he can't use hair gel and spike it up like he used to). and everywhere we go, at least 3 Japanese people ask if they are twins. they are adorable together and you can definitely tell they're brothers, but they aren't identical! but they look more alike than I do to either of them. Justin and I both have dark, thick hair, and we look vaguely similar, and I don't resemble Wesley at all. both of them got the tall, skinny genes and will both be taller than me. that's for sure!

PPS. everyone says that I look exactly like Mom, but with Dad's hair and eyes.

PPPS. someone thought I was Justin's mom. it was very weird. 

must I even explain?

homeschooling just isn't working out. so happy to get this mess done with in a week.

yesterday was the one and only Holy War, BYU vs. Utah football game! because I'm in Japan, we couldn't watch it, and our TV only has Japanese channels, so after church on Sunday (the game was a Sunday in Japan), I went to my friend Jayne's house to eat lunch and chill before Seminary. Now, I love Jayne with all my heart because she is just super nice, funny, and really fun to talk to. I love her mother, who is the Young Women president of my Tokyo ward. I love her little sister, Mary May, who is always asking me how I am and always goes out of her way to make me feel happy. And let's not forget her dad, who is just hilarious. So, the Harrises are pretty legit people. But there is just one thing that I have a slight problem with... they are UTE FANS. I know, that's nasty, right? And I'm over at their house, watching the game with them, they're all dressed in their Utah fan clothes, I'm still in my dress, and everytime BYU fumbles, they're laughing at me and all like, in your FACE! and whenever Utah fumbles, they completely overreact. After my Cougars had the change to kick 2 field goals (which went badly), and the Utes won, 24-21, they were doing their little victory dance and you know me, I don't take these very well!

and one more thing..... this song makes me cry like no other. I love Taylor Swift, and I think that it is just an amazing thing that she would go out and write a song for a little boy who died of cancer. I just bawl my eyes out every time I hear it. No other artist would be sweet enough to write a song about this. Seriously, this is amazing. And try your hardest not to cry!