2011's Best of the Best!

Well, I've been married for over 5 months now so I guess that means I'm 5 months late entering the "blogging" world! But here we are and for our blog debut I am so stealing T Beau's (Tiffany Beauchamp of course, thank you Gloria for the perfect nickname) idea, and summing up my whole year with the highlights...its long so be prepared, I promise upcoming posts won't be so lengthy!

2011's Best of the Best!

1. Started my year off with this really cool crush.
2. Got my fundraising on to raise money for this incredible trip.
3. Saved enough money to take that incredible trip to THE BODIA!
4. Spent a month in The Bodia with T Beau

"Mini Bodia Highlighs"
1. playing with kids in the orphanage
2. teaching English to the poorest of poor children in the slums
3. meeting the kindest hearted people
4. eating not so good food like blood clots from a pig, crickets, and TOMATOES....ok maybe I
chickened out and didn't eat the blood clots...but I DID eat a cricket AND a tomato. And
yes, the tomato was WAY worse than the cricket!
5. skyping with my cute crush, family, and besties back home
6. seeing things that didn't seem like real life

"Mini Didin't Seem Like Real Life Highlights"
1. family of five riding on a motto scooter including a newborn baby (totally normal over
there!)
2. monkeys jumping into our Tuk Tuk and eating out of our hands
3. ancient temples of Angkor Wat
4. places where millions of Khmer people were tortured and killed for no reason
5. a tree where evil Khmer Rouge soldiers would bang babies heads against the trunk to
murder them, how can people become so evil?
6. people who sacrificed everything they had to take their family to the nearest temple to
have them be sealed together
7. children who had nothing and yet NEVER cried or complained. these children were the
most well behaved and happy children I have ever encountered. They were hard
working, kind, helpful, eager to learn, inventive, creative, grateful, tender, and all smiles
all the time!
8. fish that came and ate the dead skin off of our feet
9. the craziest streets i've ever seen....and yet we only saw one accident....blows my mind!
10. a whole village on water...we are talking schools, shops, places to eat, homes...
ALL.ON.WATER (and might I add, water that looked like a Starbucks latte, ya way
nasty!)
11. t beau getting multiple and forceful shots in the butt in the sketchiest hospital ever that
had bugs on the walls to get her to stop throwing up profusely (my apologies for the
visual)

**ok ok I need to stop writing about The Bodia because I could literally go on all day about that amazing trip! To sum it up, it was hands down the greatest opportunity and
experience I have ever had. I went with the hopes to in some small way make Cambodia a better place and instead I came back a better person because of that amazing country.

5. Got a new job at REIC, a real estate investment company, as their Human Resources Manager and assistand to the COO. (I actually had my interview over Skype at midnight in Cambodia with the COO of the company...thank goodness for technology!)
6. Kept dating that cute crush!
7. Took a trip to St. George with that cute crush where he confessed his undying love for me, ok ok it wasn't that cheesy but he did, in his own sweet words, tell me he loved me.
8. Got Engaged to that cute crush of mine, Thomas Rygg Frederickson! He proposed in the same sealing room that we had already planned to get married in. He said he couldn't think of a better place to propose than exactly where we would start our lives together.
9. Finished my Bachelor's Degree in Communications...FINALLY!
10. Planned, planned, and planned some more for my dream wedding!
11. Went to Cali for the Larsen/DeSanti wedding and played with Tiff, Troy, and Robyn and all the photobooth props!
12. Became a WIFE and got a HUSBAND!! 8.19.11...SUCH a perfect day! I wouldn't have changed a thing, except maybe a chance to dance for a little longer with everyone! But as Thomas's grandma said, "someone needs to get that girl off the dance floor, she needs to save some energy for tonight" :) Gotta love Grandma Estelle!
13. Had a perfect honeymoon on a cruise to the Carribean! Perfectly crystal clear water, white sand, tropical trees, tubbing through caves in Honduras, riding scooters all around islands, playing in the rain, eating lots and lots of yummy food, dancing, lounging, and soaking up a whole lotta sun!
14. Getting settled in.....my parents basement lol! I swear we aren't that pathetic, it just worked out nicely with our plans and my parents plans!
15. Spending a weekend in St. George with Emily (my sis-in-law) and her awesome kiddos, Kris (my mother-in-law), and Matthew (my bro-in-law). Fun hikes, games, and drives through Zions
16. Seeing my parents open their mission call to Benin Africa....or so they said! They played a little trick on the family when really they were called to BYU Hawaii to work in the Honor Code Office
17. Going to Cali for the wedding which turned T Bakes to T Beau (such a beautiful wedding...and who knew her dad had such sweet swing dancing moves)! We got to bunk up with tall Tiff and spend some much needed time with her which was awesome! and we got to eat TITOS TACOS (totally highlight worthy)
18. Spending Thanksgiving with Thomas's family and then heading down to St. George to meet up with the Lee's, Garrett's, Shaw's, and Richardson's
19. Revisiting the annual Christmas party where Thomas and I met last year and pretending we were in Tangled while we sent chinese lanterns into the sky
20. Having a perfect first married Christmas, still feelings like little kids excited to wake up the next morning.
21. Getting called to be the Beehive Advisor in our ward and Thomas being called to work with the Weeblos...good ol Boy Scouts!
22. Sending my parents off to Hawaii to go save the world, one Honor Code violator at a time!

Well if you are still reading this, I'm impressed because danggggg its hard to sum up an awesome year in one blog post! But all in all I just can't say how grateful I am for 2011, for the things I experienced, the personal growth I had, and the man that I married! I am one happy girl who is really excited for what is to come in 2012!!!