Dear Colin:

Favorite Christmas Song

Or favorite portion of a song, anyway:

Be near me,
Lord Jesus,
I ask thee to stay
close by me forever
 and love me,
I pray.
Bless all the dear children
 in thy tender care
and fit us for heaven
to live with thee there.




How perfect is that?

I got a new camera for Christmas.

Due to my rap sheet (I've broken one and a half phones, three or four MP3s and two cameras), this new one is 

Water Proof
Shock Proof
Dust Proof
&
Freeze Proof


Can I really mess it up?

What are weapons used for?

My 12 year old brother got a huge bow and nerf arrows for Christmas... He's the only one of the children who is excited about this gift. The rest of us will be treading carefully.

I Miss Colin.

 And I apologize to anyone who interacts with me over this break, because he makes it into every conversation.

Colin came to my ward's FHE to finger paint.

But the situation got a little bit out of...........Hand.

He's a lot taller than me. My feet inside my boots fit into his church shoes.

FLASHBACK: Remember the post about dancing and the Winter Formal? Maybe? Well, either way.... Colin and I are pretty epic photo bombers.

In the Spirit of Christmas....

I wish I could have held him.
I have so much to say,
But could my poor, inept tongue
Tell what I must convey?

I'd tell Him how I love Him
And try to understand
Why He would stoop to lift me
And offer me His hand.

I'd confess to Him my sorrow
For all the times I fell
And beg Him to forgive me.
Oh, there is so much to tell.

I suspect somehow He's grasp it
And give me a tiny nod.
My tears would wet His warm cheeks
As I kissed the face of God.

I wish I could have held Him
On that first Christmas night
And see the tiny spark
That would fill the earth with light.

I wish I could have been there
To hear the angels sing
And shout to all who'd listen
Of the joy this child would bring.

But that is not my mission.
I have another call
To help the world remember
The Savior of us all.

So as each Christmas season
Eclipses hate and fear
The Gospel of the Christ Child
Must endure throughout the year.

No, I can never hold Him.
That dream will never be,
But I must now live worthy
Of the day when He'll hold me.

"I Wish I Could Have Held Him"
by Kent Mansen

A Good Quote.... from a History Book

"Though we might wish otherwise, the history of what might have been is usually not history at all, mixing together as it does the messy tangle of past experience with the clairvoyant certainty of our present preferences."
-Jospeh J. Ellis, Founding Brothers

What Colin and I Did on Thanksgiving:

I know it was awhile back, but I just wanted to share this awesome photo.

You know how in January it always takes awhile to get used to writing the new year on school papers?

I was putting the finishing touches on a paper to turn in the week of exams.... name, date...

Lauren Hafen
12-13-2008

Oh.
Wait.
Wow.
Did I REALLY just do that?

To be fair, I was only three years off.

"You are officially a college student"

That's what my RA, Sam, said to me when she found out that we use a sock to wash our dishes. No worries-- it's a clean sock. Or at least it was before we started using it.

My roommates are gone and I am lonely.

But I decided to try to make the best of it.
I went to the bathroom AND took a shower while leaving the bathroom door open.
Yeah.
I live on the edge.
I felt like such a crafty rebel.
THEN
I noticed that I was sharing the shower with a spider, which I was NOT super okay with.
So I left the shower
And I left the bathroom
And then I noticed that the door to my room/the hall was propped open.

OOPS.

Fail, fail, fail.

Colin said that he hates it when girls wear big hoop earrings

So I went back to my room and put some on.

He wanted me to take them off. I thought my ear would just RIP.

I told him to give me sixty seconds. So he did. So I took a picture.

Apparently, though, it doesn't bother him THAT much

Oh, Finals. Oh Dear.

Mon, Dec. 12
8am-10:50am- American Government & Politics
12pm-2:50pm- Reason & The Self (Philosophy)

Tues, Dec. 13
Study
Because....

Wed, Dec. 14
8am-10:50am- America & The Enlightenment
12pm-2:50pm- Western Political Theory
3pm-5:50pm- French III

(In case you didn't catch that, I will be testing from 8am to 6pm. That's ten hours.)

Thu, Dec. 15
Do Institute Final (answer 9 of the 13 questions in 1-3 paragraphs each, and catch up on all of the reading)

Fri, Dec. 16
Chill. Say good-bye to Colin.

Sat, Dec. 17
Leave BV. Head home.

Bringin It Back

He is really adorable

And Ugly Sweaters are really just Beautiful.

GUESS WHAT/JUST KIDDING/ I LIED

EMMA ISN'T LEAVING!!!! She's going to stay here next semester!!!!

Dancing all Weekend....

This is from forever ago. In my natural state. Check out that laptop. It's pretty.

Party Scene of the Nutcracker. Maybe next time I'll smile.

There was a dance right after the last Nutcracker performance of the night. They actually overlapped. No chance I was going to try to take out my majorly hairsprayed bun, so I made it up to the Lofts, threw on a dress, left the stage makeup, and made it to the ballroom for Winter Formal. Colin and I are the most fun. Cassi put this one on Facebook with the expected caption, "I  love these two."

This is the aforementioned Cassi. She's cute. P.S. the theme for Winter Formal was masquerade, hence her "mask." Let's just consider all the stage makeup to be my mask. Her caption: "Lauren is the cutest doll in the entire world. On the real, I don't get how someone is so adorable. And combined, our powers of adorableness are infinite."

 

Possibly last roommate picture EVER. Emma is leaving us at the end of this semester. Yeah. I know. It's a super sad story. I'll have to start tempting Sariah to prance around our bedroom in minimalist clothing with me. I'll keep you posted on how that one goes. Or maybe not. 

I love dances. True story. But sometimes Colin feels left out.

THE NEXT DAY: Soooo here's a confession.... We were not super reverent in Relief Society this last Sunday. It was no bueno. I was sitting between Emma and Sariah and we were writing love notes and then Sariah drew this picture.... she requested that I note the neatness of her bed relative tot he messiness of mine. I should really just be grateful that she depict the entirety of our room. I need to clean that today...

Sometimes I walk around speaking to myself in French.

You can tell because I make funny faces and there is a substantial increase in gesticulation.

Opening Night, 12 hours after the first show

 Nutcracker Ballet opened tonight at SVU! I've been wearing stage makeup for a really LONG time. And trying to maintain a stable ballet bun. Next weekend will be the means of providing further practice.

Three Months...And Counting

So I've been dating this kid for three months, now.

My family will quickly and gladly tell you that I'm not one for cooking. Thankfully, he seems to have his domesticity well-developed.

Over Thanksgiving we explored his home turf. 

We found a bit of my home turf there, but he wasn't such a fan.

He managed a smile anyway, though. Or is that a grimace?

I guess he just likes Maryland better. But I like him and Maryland's okay...    
 (just don't make me drive there), so I'll just deal.

Time for a new update, yes?

I'm really strong.

I hate stairs. And they just don't seem to care.

 My roommate, Sariah, has a fetish for fotography. We, being so fotogenic, decided to help her out.

 A bunch of my friends from my home stake came down to visit for the open house and we went around BV taking pictures.

 Roomie Sariah! I pretend she scares me, but in reality.....

This is the more accurate picture.

Friends from home. They're all SO gorgeous.

HALLOWEEN DANCE 

I went with my boyfriend, Colin.

But...............there's been some confusion.

OK, I *think* I found the right one.

Yeah, okay, THIS is Colin.

Group Photo!

Emma and I are REALLY funny. Like, really. The freshman class' senator told her that she needed to have a modest profile picture on Facebook. So we fixed it. We are funny.