Two thousand eleven.

It’s that time of the year again! December. Last December I wrote about my top ten memories and I thought it would be fun to continue the tradition. It’s always fun to reflect back on the year to see what I’ve accomplished and what I’ve learned. SO! Here we go. My top ten memories of year two thousand and eleven in no specific order:

Top 10 memories...

1. Going to Kleinfelds

-Sachi, Mari and I flew to New York in January because Mari was losing her flight benefits. You could say we got a “lil crazy, a lil stupid” (thanks Black Eyed Peas). There’s this show we love called “Say Yes To The Dress”. While mapping out our NYC adventure, we saw Kleinfleds. Well, Mari was dating DJ Hesterman, not engaged, dating. We pretended that she was engaged and went into Kleinfelds to see Randy and the crew on the show. Just for some good fun. Well, we get in there, they take Mari’s information and our assistant comes back with a few dresses. Mari puts on one, she puts on another, and then this happened…………..silence. Mari’s face lit up, Sachi’s face lit up, and my face lit up. This was the dress! We were all in love with this dress and didn’t know what to do about it. Mari wasn’t even engaged! So we sat there and contemplated what to do. The story ends that we came home from NYC with a big white dress and no wedding ring. Good story.

2. Going to San Francisco for spring break

-Caisie and I visited a friend in San Francisco for a few days. We went shopping, saw the city, and rented beach cruisers and rode along the boardwalk. I loved traveling on a plane with Caisie for the first time of our 15 years of friendship.

3. Vilociti/Full Circles year end show

-This show was incredible. Obviously, it was really stressful practicing and getting ready for it, but there was one piece that we performed that meant a lot to me. Marching bands of Manhattan. It was our finale full company piece that my director Krissy Smith choreographed. When I was on the stage, I remember thinking about how lucky I was to still be dancing. I started dancing at age three and I’ve been dancing ever since. All these strong feelings came over me and I couldn’t help but cry. These feelings that I felt were so real and I was able to see that I developed this beautiful talent. At that moment, I felt really blessed that I was given the ability to dance.

4. Mari getting married

-One down, three Osterloh sisters to go! We will still be the “Osterloh sisters forever” but yes, Mari got married to DJ Hesterman. Oh how we love DJ, he’s such a goof. Oh and not to mention a musical prodigy. He’s amazing at anything and everything to do with music! We’re proud of his perfect pitch and he fits perfectly into our family.

5. Living with two of the best roommates

-I found the best roommates ever! Tanille, Caisie and I, the three musketeers. We always seem to be laughing and flipping our hair. When you’re bragging about something, you flip the hair and it adds to whatever you’re trying to be better at. It will never get old and no one else will even understand this unique friendship. Tanille is getting married soon so we will miss her lots!

6. Going to Japan and becoming an official adult

-In Japan, once you turn 20, you become an official adult. It’s tradition to take pictures in a kimono so this summer I flew over to Japan to meet my mom and grandparents to take these pictures. We had a fun photo shoot in Japan. The photographers were hilarious. They would put me in place and say “ok?” making sure that I would hold the position they put me in.

7. Getting “arrested”

-Yeah…. I was arrested. So what? They got my fingerprint and everything! I was at a lake with some friends in the summer. We thought this lake was open to the public but apparently it was under construction? What lake is ever under construction? Anyways, cops pull up, tell us to get out of the water or they’ll shoot us. So we get out, they get our fingerprints, and we get a ticket for criminal trespassing. Luckily, the boys handled court very well and our criminal record was swiped clean thanks to 50 greens.

8. Driving through three states to get to our cruise ship

-Benefits of a mother working for delta do not always go as planned. Mom, Dad, Misa and I went on a cruise this summer and flew to Tennessee. Well you see, our cruise ship left out of New Orleans, Louisiana. The flight to New Orleans was overbooked so we walked down to the rental car station and drove eight hours to get to our ship. F.U.N 

9. Camping out for the BYU v. USU game

-This was a mistake in itself. It was 10 degrees in Logan the night of the campout. We had tons and tons of blankets but here’s the thing, the zipper on our tent was broken. Broken! So the cold winds of Logan were blowing through our tent. We cuddled and bundled and tried to sleep. Three o’clock A.M. rolls around and I can’t sleep so I wake Miss Kenz up and pull her out of the tent. We run to my car and sleep in her warm bed. Best decision I ever made. And we still got into the game! It was also 11.11.11, way cool. Oh, and we won J

10. Going to NYC with Misako

-I decided that this is going to be an annual thing. I went last year with my mom, Aunt Brenda, Jake, Mo, Ryan, Sachi, and Mari. New York City is so much fun in the month of December. There are so many lights and decorations it’s insane! Not to mention the huge Macy’s store. Holy smokes. If there really was a North Pole, that would be it. I truly believe that. We visited tons of cool stores and saw lots of cool things. I love New York. My heart has a special place for that insane, chaotic city.

Well that’s it people. There are so many great memories that I could choose from. I really feel that every year, I learn from my mistakes, my hair gets longer, time goes by faster, I grow a ¼ of an inch (maybe might be making that up), I become more educated, I love deeper, I dance harder, I sing louder, I laugh more, I live for every moment, and I grow into who I want to become. I’m finally getting there!

 Again, I couldn’t do it without the people that I am surrounded by every day. I think I’ve always known that I need to be surrounded by people. There’s something about being with people that is important to me. I feel like going to Utah State was one of the best decisions because I’ve met more people than I would have ever imagined and I’m so grateful for it. I’m able to take a part of everyone with me and turn that into a part of myself. So thank you, thank you for the lovely company. Year two thousand eleven--it was fun.