Em & Aubs :)

I have been so blessed at key points in my life with incredible friends. Even if I don't stay in close contact with them (as is too often the case, unfortunately), I love looking back and recognizing how they were exactly what I needed at that time and the positive influence they had on me.

A couple of weeks ago, I got to get together with two of my best friends from years past: Emily (Ogden) Johnston and Aubrey (Mitchell) Erickson.
(thanks for being our photographer Judy!!)
The occasion was a baby shower for Aubrey (middle) who's expecting a baby girl in June. She lives out of state and I hadn't seen her since her bridal shower three (and a half?) years ago.

Aubrey and I were joined at the hip ninth and tenth grades. She is such a generous, caring, thoughtful person - I'm pretty sure I still have sweet notes she wrote to help me through hard times. She is also very fun and free-spirited; we had some pretty awesome adventures together (summer school P.E., driver's ed, lunch in the elevator at the seminary building, rollerblading between our houses, Aubrey's foray into online romance (was his name Trenton?), my awe of Aubs' sweet dance moves, her delicious homemade chip dip, etc, etc!). Aubrey and I were SO alike in some ways and so very different in other ways - we complemented each other really well and stayed good friends the rest of high school.

Okay, so the quality sucks (cell phone snapshot of a photo booth picture, what do you expect?) but here's me and Aubs circa 2000. Yeah, I used to wear a bandanna sometimes. Maybe I still do.

Emily and I have known each other since elementary school (or earlier?) and were always friends but we took things to the next level our senior year. We formed a tight foursome with our friends David and Andrew and spent the whole year laughing and having SO much fun. I seriously get a little emotional thinking back to what an amazing friend Emily was and how much I needed that year to end my high school experience on a high. Random memories: driving around in David's sea-foam green two-door car (Honda maybe?) blasting the soundtrack from 'A Walk to Remember', hanging out at Comet while Em (and later David and Andrew!) worked, our shopping obsession at Ross, lunch every day at the Ogden home, Emily and Andrew buying me a new purse for my birthday and tactfully insisting I retire my old leopard print one, PROM!, Emily sweetly letting me borrow her car for after school errands while she was at work, and so on. Emily was the first person I called after my first date with Chuck and they even took an Institute class together at Boise State while I was at BYU that fall. She was there (along with Chuck and my mom) the day I bought my wedding dress, and was my beautiful maid of honor the next summer when Chuck and I got married. Emily herself got married a few months later and now has a cute, CUTE baby girl too - see for yourself!

One of my favorite things about Emily was how high she kept her standards and how much that helped me keep mine high as well. To this day, she is one of the most spiritual people I know and I cherish that. There's a scripture in the Book of Mormon where Alma encounters his friends, the sons of Mosiah, from whom he's been separated for a time. As they meet again, Alma rejoices that "they were still his brethren in the Lord" (Alma 17:2). That's how I feel about Emily; I know every time we meet she will inspire me with her faith and her devoutness.

Me and Em at our high school graduation, June 2003.

Most of all these girls make me laugh like NO ONE else. Case in point:
We all held up our cameras and counted to three - notice how I'm the only one who can't keep it together long enough for the picture! Oh, thanks for the laughs girls!!! Em - let's get together again SOON! Aubs - call us ANY time you're in town! Good times await :).

*What a fun stroll down Memory Lane . . . I might have to find some more old pictures and revisit other amazing friendships - Carly, Julia, Kelee, Cassie, Meghan, Christina, Megan, etc . . . Who else is excited??