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.