Valentine.

Well Valentines Day was on Sunday. What a glorious holiday it is. It is this crazy holiday where everyone spends as much money as they have.. or don't have.. to express their love for someone. Well hello, how much more materialistic can we get?! Do we really need a holiday excuse to tell someone we love them? I find it a dumb holiday. But the conversation hearts that come with it are awesome and many hilarious situations come because of them, so maybe it's ok afterall. Well. This particular Valentines day was just a normal day in the life of Hannah Gunderson. It was a great day, even without a "valentine." Along came Wednesday (ya, 3 days late.. whoops) when I decided to stroll on over to the Post Office because I hadn't been there for a long time.. and the Post Office is a cool place. So I opened my box.. and.. WABAM. There was a TON of stuff in there. A lot of junk mail, a letter from the post office wanting my money to renew my box, Rachel got some checks she doens't needs, and I was quite suprised to find an envelope from my dear cousins in Cedar.. Rachel and Tara. Oh how I love them. and there was a KEY in there! Do you know what this means?!? PACKAGE!!! I was so stoked! So I got it out and found the box that belonged to my key and opened it up. There was a beautiful, festive package addressed to Hannah Gunderson and Rachel Hicks, from the one and only Kymber! (There was little rays of sunshine coming off of her name.). I got home and opened everything up. My dearest friend Kymber. I love you. There was a card for both of us and a box of CHOCOLATES. I love chocolate. But I love you more. You really made my day!!! Then I opened the envelope from Rachel and Tara. I love you guys too!! A whole hecka lot! They both wrote me a valentine letter and even water colored a beautiful picture just for me. I was in heaven that day. haha. But really. Besides the fact that the three of you made me feel guilty for not doing anything for anyone, it really meant a lot to get that from you guys. I definitely am surrounded by the greatest people in the world. (Well actually i'm not exactly "surrounded" by you guys, you live far away.. but you get the picture, right?) I am honored just knowing you guys. I LOVE YOU!! Thanks for the Valentines folks!

Let it Snow!! IN THATCHER!!

So. Mountains are beautful.. Well mostly everything in the great outdoors is beautiful. But especially mountains. It's also a true story that mountains with snow on them are even better. So 2 weeks ago we went up to Mount Graham to play in the snow before it melted (note the irony) We had a wonderful time sledding, tubing, crashing and all that jazz. (and that is another story on it's own)Well. This whole week has been all rainy and cold, and I have enjoyed it thoroughly.. for the most part (We found out Friday morning that we have a very leaky roof.. it was a great thing to wake up to). But with that has brought another heap of snow to Mount Graham. Now the ENTIRE mountain is covered in snow! Not just the tip like it was before. I'm in love.
(This is when we went 2 weeks ago)

WELL THEN On Saturday we were all chilling in our apartment with the door open. We looked outside and it looked as if there was rain falling into all the puddles that covered the ground.. but just the puddles.. the ground wasn't getting that wet. So naturally I went outside to investigate. There were people outside yelling IT'S SNOWING! Well that sure grabbedmy attention. So I leaned over the railing and looked up.. and what did I see? SNOW!! REAL SNOW WAS FALLING FROM THE SKY!!! It was the greatest moment ever. IT SNOWED IN THATCHER!! It only lasted about 3 minutes.. but for all the excitement we had you would have thought it was snowing for days! Later that afternoon the girls took a drive to take pictures of the snowy mountain. We ended up going as far up the mountain as we could (Which wasn't that far) before the roads were closed.

You Know You Are A Gunderson If...

*You look forward to going to Centerfield
*You plan a family reunion, and no matter when or where it is you ALWAYS get rained on
*Piling on a couch with 7 other people is normal
*You have explored all of Centerfield/Gunnison on a 4-wheeler
*You sometimes break out in random dance moves - to your own music
*The best part of summer is the 4th of July and Family Reunions
*It's in your blood to oppose the Utah Utes
*You can amuse yourself for hours by taking random pictures of each other
*Thanksiving Turkey bowl DOES NOT get cancelled, whether rain, snow, or shine
*Black Friday means Walmart and the Malt Shoppe
*You have tripled the Centerfield 1st ward
*Signs. Monumental. The end.
*You stay up all night talking about useless things
*You know all the words to Saturday's Warrior
*You're only penpals are cousins
*You know what a scripture scout is
*All you need is Uncle Dan to have the best fireworks show ever
*At Grandma's house, you can walk by the TV room and see 10 kids trying to work out with Trish
*Greg, Adam, Aubry, Jeremy, Matthew, Kyle, Rachel, Krista, Tara, Hannah, Eric, Jana, Ashley, Rachel, Malerie, Melanie, Cori, Kara, Mariah, Kent, Camilla, Rachelle, Kayla, Shane, Jacob, Heather, Alicia, Hyrum, Jarom, Jared, Zaiden, and Caitlin are you're favorite people!

Thatcher

Basically my life is awesome. It really is. I love EA! Every last minute of it.. Except maybe the 50 minutes I spend in chemistry 3 days a week.. but even that isn't THAT bad. Our nightly adventures are the best! We have done a great many things.. legal and not so legal. But we haven't been caught and that's all that matters right? I think we have gone to the desert or just to Parker's backyard 5 times in a week and a half to look at stars. They are so beautiful and there are so many of them it's insane! And there are shooting stars out the wazoo.. I almost can't even take it! I'm in love! On Tuesday night, well wednesday morning really, there was a meteor shower! It was awesome!! There were BRIGHT and when I say BRIGHT i mean BRIGHT BRIGHT purple, green, and yellow things flying across the sky.. now if that's not cool I don't know what is. But contrary to what others think, there is more to Thatcher than just the open sky. I love it here! I love the country! It is so beautiful... the cotton fields are amazing... especially at night..Now.. cotton hopping anyone?
On Friday night I had my first successful attempt at an all-nighter. I know, I know, I am growing up! It was really a lot of fun! Stranglely, I don't get tired at night anymore. I averaged less than 4 hours of sleep a night last week. But it was sooo worth it! But I do think it is starting to catch up with me now.. I'll work on that..
Then on Saturday we went to Cluff Ponds. That was swell. It was a really windy day though.. and that made the water quite cold. Jared and Mitchell jumped in first and they came out shivering and turning purple.. ya.. not so comforting. Then all the guys threw the girls into the water. I saw them throw Raegan in and it did not look comfortable. So when they ran after me I just jumped in.. and bam. It was cold! But after a few minutes you went numb so it didn't matter anymore. It was a rather enjoyable experience overall I would say.
Now that is nowhere close to everything that has happened this month. But this will have to suffice. Just believe me when I say MY LIFE IS THE GREATEST, EVER! k?

I Still Remember

It was a little over five years ago, but I still remember it quite well. It was the Friday of a long Labor Day weekend when I was in 8th grade. I went to Harkin's Theatre to watch Napolean Dynamite with Jamie Richardson. The movie was great and we had a blast just like we always did.
My mom came and picked us up after the movie was over. Jamie's family wasn't home so she said she could go home to her empty house or her mom said it would be fine if she just came to my house until her family came home. I thought my mom's response to that was kinda weird. She said we were going to have a "family meeting." I wasn't sure what that meant at all. It was weird to me. The first thing I thought of was Adam on his mission is Brazil. I'm not sure why, for some reason I thought something was going to be wrong with him. I was getting worried, and I was still confused. My mom didn't really seem to be freaking out like I would have expected if she knew something was wrong with him. So we just took Jamie home then we went home.
Nobody was acting weird.. it was my normal house, with the normal people, doing the normal things... But since I knew we were having this "family meeting" I was probably being weird. Anyway, my dad called everyone into the family room I don't really remember everything my dad said. Something about not all relationships working out.. blah blah blah. Then he said he would be moving out for a little while. Talk about your stomach leaving you and falling to the floor. That was the last thing I would have expected to come out of his mouth. I was completely shocked. We finished our little "meeting" and I just wanted to go to my room. I was walking down the hall passed the bathroom and my naive little mind was thinking, he said "little while" that meant they would work it out and everything would be normal by Christmas. I actually thought that. Ha. Boy was I wrong.
My mom came into my room later... I did not want to talk. Kayla came in later and said she knew it would be okay because her friend Andee's parents were divorced, and she was just fine. I scringed at the word divorce. Then she straight up asked, "Are you gettting divorced?" It was an obvious question, but it was never clarified.. it seemed like everyone was avoiding the word. My mom said yes. It was THEE WORST NEWS I had ever heard. I still didn't talk to anyone.
My mom got the cd player from the family room and put it in my room. She put the song, "Where can I Turn for Peace" on repeat. I don't think I had ever heard that song before. Now it's one of my favorites. I didn't feel a rush of, oh everything is going to be fine and dandy. But I did know that everything was going to be okay, and that I had people all around me that could help me.
Everytime I think of this I think what a naive little mind I had. I had no idea this was coming.. but then when I go back and think on the events right around it I have no idea why we didn't all see it coming. There were so many hints that I had noticed, but just ignored. This just had never crossed my mind. Maybe I jinxed myself in 6th grade though... I can't rememebr who it was.. but they were talking about their family and how they had this many real siblings. this many half siblings. and this many step siblings. I was confused about that stuff. So I was thinking., "Gee, I sure am glad I will never have to deal with all that stuff." haha. I love the irony. I would rather have just educated myself on that section by reading a good book.
But actually it's not that bad. It's nothing I can't handle. It was just different and took some getting used to. It was a big lifestyle change that has brought other changes with it - some are harder than others for me. But it really isn't that bad and maybe contrary to what I thought at that time.. my life is great! I have grown a lot because of it too.. i'm not so naive anymore.. ha. and I stopped thinking that certain things would never happen to me. haha. But all is good. I have learned so much and am a better person because of it. I have seen so many tender mercies that have come along with it. My testimony and dependence on the Lord have increased grealy. Everything happens for a reason. And I am convinced that, if you look, you will find good in every situation. I have found a lot of good that has come from this and I think it's probably safe to say that I will continue to find more.

I know the Greatest Invention

So. Three-way calling. Whoever the brilliant mastermind of that, I commend you. You made my day last Saturday!! Aubry is finally engaged! I'm so happy! Tara and I got a text from her (cleverly hidden in a word of the day.. and it wasn't even her day!) on Sunday morning that said she was FINALLY engaged. So we waited ALL STINKING week to for her to call us and give us the dirty details. She had asked us if we had three way calling... But I had no idea. On saturday she texted us to see if we were busy. I knew what this meant, so I went outside and became unbusy. Tara, however had a different story. she ignored us all morning. But don't worry. We can forgive her because she was on a hike.. SHE DID IT OF HER OWN FREE WILL TOO! I'm very proud. About an hour later we were all ready! Aubry had figured out how to do 3 way calling on Rachel's phone (It was our way of including the China run-away into the excitement... she was sitting on Eric's bed too.. we are good at the including people game). It was seriously like the best hour of my life. I COULD TALK TO TARA AND AUBRY AT THE EXACT SAME TIME... AND NONE OF US WERE TOGETHER!!! It was awesome! First, Aubry told us her story. It was so cute... props to Jesse. Then we just chatted for 45 minutes about.. well.. I don't really remember. But it was still tons of fun! Moral of the story... (I'm no absurdist).. 3 way calling is the best thing ever! Mad props man! I love it!! I love Tara and Aubry too! Gah!

Peer Pressure.

I did it. I finally got a blog. Yay for me. Now we can just wait and see how often I remember I have it...