The Obligatory New Year Post

I suppose I should chat for a while regarding a reflection of 2011. Last year was...so many things. Stressful, frustrating, gut-wrenchingly hard, but at the same time so much fun and so full of self-discovery. I went through a lot of trials last year, but every single one of them taught me something priceless. After all, no one ever learned anything worthwhile by taking the easy way out, eh?

On the other hand, I had a lot of incredible experiences. Since it's easier to discuss the things I have pictures from, I present to you my two awesome vacations.

I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Nashville in order to attend my little brother's law school graduation. Nashville is beautiful, and Bret was a fantastic tour guide. This magnolia tree is one of the many trees on the Vanderbilt campus, which was so gorgeous. The campus is covered in trees, each of which is labeled so you know what kind it is.

It was so great to see my brother in the place he called home for three years. One of my favorite moments was going onto the roof of his apartment building at night and looking out at the Nashville skyline. Bret pointed out all the buildings he knew. It was so beautiful.

Of course, the highlight of the trip was watching my brother walk across that stage and become an official Vanderbilt Law graduate. He'd probably be annoyed that I'm about to say this, but I cried big fat tears of joy for that kid. I am so proud of him.

I love this picture of him after the graduation.

Highlight number two of the year: the exciting trip to Missouri/Nauvoo/a brief jaunt into Iowa one night to find a Wendy's. My dear friend Nikki and I journeyed to this distant land in order to celebrate the wedding of another good friend of ours, Miss Suzanne. Suzie actually introduced me to Nikki, and demanded, shortly before her return to her homeland, that we become friends. Guess what? We did! Anyway, our trip was super awesome. It was so great to see Suzie after so long, and to meet her somewhat goofy (but totally lovable) fiance. On the way to the wedding day, we visited Liberty Jail and Carthage Jail, and managed to squeeze in roughly half a day's worth of touring the city of Nauvoo. I'd love to go back and fully explore that city, but it was worth missing out on that to be able to attend Suzie and Keenan's sealing in the beautiful Nauvoo temple. It was such a wonderful experience. Here's a few pics from that adventure:

Please excuse my pink face; it was quite the humid day that day.

P.S. Isn't Suzie's dress incredible? Her sister-in-law made it and it was so very very pretty.

So that was my year in a nutshell. Overall, not too shabby for Michelle. I can't wait to see what will happen in 2012.