and MORE photos! Yay!

2 more...

I'll post them as I get them - Here are the latest 2 that she gave us!

more engagement photos :)

I just love our photographer - she does such a great job and loves her work!

hahaha :) LOVE IT! Janet says it looks like I'm a balloon floating off... but really Rebecca just told us to "frolic and jump around"... yeah, we had fun :)

engagement photoshoot SNEAK PEAK!

cute cute cute!

engagement photo shoot!

Unfortunately I have no photos to post (yet), but just so you know what is coming...

Picnic at sunrise, Jones soda, "frolicking through a field", swingsets, riding on Brian's bike handlebars down a hill, formals in front of cool buildings, etc etc... 

I am thinking that we will definitely be able to find at least one we like out of the three hours of fun! Expect some sneak-peeks in about a week!

sometimes getting up at 5:00 is worth it

like for engagement pictures! Tomorrow morning. An hour to get ready, an hour to drive there, and voila! Photo shoot at 7:00 in Salt Lake :) And it looks like the weather is going to be great... and there is green grass & blossoms & that lovely spring feeling in the air that can't be beat! It might seem a little less "happy" when it's only 32 degrees, but we'll manage :)

Finally Finals

Finals week is almost here!! You know what THAT means... study study study, snack break, study, youtube break, study, snack break, study, bathroom break, study, anything I can think of to distract myself break, study, etc etc.... Oh the joys of finals. 

At least I only have 3 left!

And then.... SPRING TERM! Note that I did not say "summer break." Yes, it is sad but true... for nursing I have to keep taking classes this spring and serve our "at risk" populations here in Utah. I will be working in the local jail, diabetes clinics, reduced-price healthcare clinics, and other such exciting places instead of sleeping in and going to the pool. Oh well. At least I have summer term off starting in June - I can party then :)

Anyway....

To all you finals takers... HAVE FUN! BUENA SUERTE! TAKE LUCK!

I don't like food...

...poisoning

I hope you didn't think for even one second that I don't like food. Food poisoning on the other hand is my nemesis! It ruins perfectly great days! Yesterday's culprit: chips and salsa. To my knowledge, this has only happened to me one other time during my existence. That time I had fair warning because when I opened my jar of new salsa, it was bubbling and didn't smell quite right. Unfortunately I was having a HUGE craving for salsa so I ate it anyway much to my later regret. This time I had no such warnings. But I know it was the salsa because other people ate everything else I ate yesterday and had zero problems.

So, instead of going to our awesome end-of-the-year nursing slumber party, I was home slumbering with my barf bowl :(. Maybe this is way too much information for you guys... or maybe you are grateful for a relief from all of the wedding posts haha. Anyway, good news is that I am feeling better and that I am going to go and rock some finals studying! Yeah!

It will be a while before I can eat this again...

why I want to be married in the temple :)

Those of you who aren't LDS might wonder why I am getting married in a temple and I just wanted to blog a little bit about it :). Above is a video that talks a little bit about what goes on in temples and why we go there.

Now my take on it...

Getting married in the temple is SO AWESOME! We believe that temples are holy places where we can feel close to God and where families can be sealed together forever. "Sealed" means bound together through the authority and power of God. We believe that the Priesthood (power of God here on Earth) was restored to the earth through a modern-day prophet after being lost from the earth after the death of Jesus Christ and His apostles. The Priesthood makes it possible for us to be with our families even after death. This is incredibly comforting to me and I am so grateful to know that I can be with those I love forever. These blessings are available in the holy temples. When Brian and I get married it is not going to be a "till death do you part" type of deal. We're talking about for-ev-er. 

I understand that that means through the good and the bad. Through the easy times and the hard times. Through health and sickness... but it also means that we can and will be together after this life ends as long as we continue to try and live right. It is one of my favorite parts about the Gospel of Jesus Christ - Matthew 16:19. I will admit that it's a little scary to take such a gigantic leap into "forever," but I know that Brian is SUCH a wonderful guy and that he will treat me right and I am going to do my best to treat him right too. We both still have a long way to go and a lot of things to learn, but I am excited that we can do it together :) That's what best friends are for, right?

I know that God has a plan for us and that families are a HUGE part of that plan. He wants us to be able to learn together, grow together, and help everyone around us to the best of our ability. I am excited to take this step in my life and I feel so excited that I get to go to the temple to be married to my best friend forever. 

I also love that literally anyone can go to the temple. Many people have asked me (especially on my mission) why everyone can't go into the temple. The truth is that everyone can - they just have to prepare first. The temple is a holy, clean place of God and therefore there are requirements for entering the temple. There is nothing crazy or outrageous - you just have to be keeping the commandments of God and repenting (no one is perfect!). I was so privileged to be able to work with many people on my mission who truly wanted better, happier, purer lives. Through the atonement of Jesus Christ, that kind of change is possible. In the temple you can feel His love so strong and I watched as many people transformed their lives and eventually went to the temple - many to be sealed as families forever.

Here is a great site to look for to learn some things about the temple - TEMPLES

We recently had "General Conference" - every six months the prophet and apostles of the church (as well as other spiritual leaders) address us and talk to us about important principles and how we can help others around us and how we can improve ourselves. This conference was so wonderful with many talks about helping those who suffer (especially in light of recent events in Japan and elsewhere), repentance, faith, character, acting on your good intentions... and many more! Here is one talk that really touched me. Here is a man who truly values his eternal marriage :D

If anyone reading this has any questions and wants to learn more, shoot me a message or check out mormon.org or lds.org for more information :) I love to talk about the things that make me the most happy!

wedding dress sneak peak

So, maybe this is less nice and more cruel - but here are a few very vague and close-up "snapshots" of my wedding dress! I can't run the risk of Brian reading this and seeing the dress... so I guess you'll just have to take my word for it that it is GORGEOUS and I feel like a princess in it. Yay! One less thing to decide on before June 25th! If you want to see it... I guess you're going to have to come to the wedding!

Thanks for coming with me Andrea! You are an excellent wedding dress picking helper!

announcement

just wanted to say that we are getting married in  

SEVENTY-EIGHT 

days. For some reason that sounds like a lot less than eighty :)

At General Conference on Sunday

At my beautiful great grandma's funeral last Monday in Cache Valley

wedding color/plan UPDATE!

Ok, so after visiting the venue, I sadly found that my original color scheme just wasn't going to work very well... So, to plan B. I only had to change one color to make it work - so, instead of orange, it will be a deep hot pink (fuschia?)... kind of like these flowers below. So, turquoise/aqua, yellow, and fuschia.  Turquoise and ivory are the base colors for the tablecloths and stuff and then the accents (flowers, ribbons, etc) will be yellow and pink! Should be cute :)

Also, side note - it pays to book your venue fast! I looked at the site again today and the price had gone up A TON! Yay for booking them before they raised their prices :) :)

Goal for this week: Pick out wedding dress! I'm going shopping with Andrea on Friday for hopefully the last time!

Just add some yellow to that bouquet and VOILA! Love the necklace.

the turquoise in this is a little too green in the background... but you kind of get the idea with the shoes - which, by the way, I love! :)

 

these.are.adorable.