twenty twelve in review.

JANUARY

When I went to The Holy Land,
met and roomed with some of my favorite people in the whole world,
and went to Petra in Jordan.

FEBRUARY

When I helped plan the "Arab dinner,"

it was really windy,

and the Russian-Swede-Asian became an unlikely trio.

(how unlikely?...just ask Vlad. ;))

MARCH

When it snowed on the Dome of the Rock,

I went to Turkey, 

 spent 10 days on the Sea of Galilee,

participated in the Palm Sunday Walk, 

and discovered mint lemonade.

(Oh how I miss it.)

APRIL

When I bike rode through Tel Aviv and ate my first cheeseburger in months,

 went to a "Sun Rise, Son Rise" service on Easter at the Garden Tomb, 

finally put a prayer in the Western Wall, 

and had a Farewell-Jerusalem photoshoot with my Jerusalem roommates.

MAY

When I put the finishing touches on the Total Pillow Infomercial,

the addition on our house got carpeted,

and when I listened to Tim and Cameron's mission stories for hours.

  

JUNE

When Daniel graduated high school, 

I bought my very own car,

and I got a job as a tour guide of BYU.

JULY

When it was much too hot to sleep indoors so we took our mattresses outside,

and when I finally got to camp out for the 4th of July Parade.

AUGUST

When my cousin Kierstin stayed with me for a couple days,

 I turned 21,

I was finally reunited with my jerusalem roommates,

 won GOLD in the synchronized swimming competition,

my best friend/cousin/ex-roommate got married,

and when I got an unhealthy addiction to Hokulia shave ice.

SEPTEMBER 

When I taught Kindergarteners PE and had a blast doing it,

when I participated in the Dirty Dash in Midway, UT.

OCTOBER

When we celebrated the first marriage from our Jerusalem group,

 I went to Colorado (twice),

and survived visiting the scariest house I've ever been inside in my life.

NOVEMBER

When I went home for thanksgiving

and we ordered sushi for 24 people.

(Oh my delicious.)

DECEMBER

When we stopped at the Reno temple on our way to Utah,

wished everyone a very hairy Christmas,

and went to see the lights at temple square.  

It truly has been an INCREDIBLE year,

I can't wait to see what 2013 has in store!

Oh what a life I'm livin',

coloREDo.

Friday through Sunday I had the unique opportunity to travel on an all-expenses-paid trip to Colorado sponsored by none other than MITT ROMNEY HIMSELF. 

(haha. well...his campaign team anyway ;) close enough. ) 

It was truly an unforgettable experience. 

And that was partly due to the wonderful people I got to go with! 

Although the others might have felt differently, I was completely content on the 8 hour bus ride from Provo to Denver with some of my friends from the #jerucrew :)

Saturday was a BUSY day. We were knocking doors (by ourselves) for hours on end!

It was exhausting. But being able to say,
"HI! I'm Hannah, and I'm with the Romney/Ryan Campaign . . . "
 at each door had me feeling pretty cool.

 So it was worth it. 

This is a map of one of the two areas that I covered. (I was given a list of specific addresses of people who are registered republicans, so I went to each of those houses and then asked the person if they had already voted and all that good stuff.) I covered probably 80% of the area that is seen on this map during the first half of the day.

(It was a lot of walking. And I got rather lost...)

Then we all met up again for lunch which is where the picture above was taken.

I may or may not have been talking when this particular moment was captured.

The highlight of the day, however, was definitely the phone bank.

Sadly I don't have any pictures, but it was actually a lot of fun calling people while sitting in the same room as all of our friends and being able to casually laugh it off when people on the other end were...less than excited to receive our calls.

(There was a particularly memorable conversation I recall with a lady named Zelda. 

Moral of the story: It's probably not a good idea to name a person Zelda. It was obvious this lady was grumpy due to the name her parents selected on her behalf.
 Which is unfortunate. Because Zelda is a pretty sweet name.)

Our whole bus group at the Romney campaign headquarters in Denver!

Another highlight of the weekend: The Primary Program.

It just so happened that the ward we attended on Sunday was having their primary program,

(which is a 40-minute presentation with songs and 'speeches' given by the 3-11-year-olds in a particular congregation). 

 AND IT WAS AWESOME. 

It's been a while since I've been to one, but it was most excellent. 

It made me really excited to be an elementary school teacher someday. 

Little kids are hysterical. 

 Roomies!
Me, Meredith, and Sarah.
 I went to Jerusalem with both of these BEAUTIFUL girls,
but they were in the other class so I didn't really get to know them all that well.
It was really fun rooming with them and having the opportunity to get to know them both a little better! 

The theme of the weekend: #mittorquit

 (no one is quite sure what we'll be "quitting" if Romney doesn't win. 

Except Kyle . . . he'll be moving to Australia.)

Oh what a life I live!

 PS I realize the title of this post is a little far-fetched, but I hope you get it :) 

PPS Here's one last picture just because I think it's hilarious.
And because while Mere and I look extra Asian, Kyle looks a little bit like two-face.

(after multiple meals of junk food we were preeeeetty excited about these tomatoes, sugar snap peas, and broccoli provided by Ashley's uncle.)