I'm Getting Married!!!!

Well, friends, it's official.

I'm getting married!

And I'm marrying the most wonderful man!

And I just love him!

Yep! I do!

So here's a little glimpse into how this all came about.

I first met Josh sometime around January 2012.  I had only been home from my mission a little over six months.  My MTC companion and good friend Beatrice was having a game night at her house.  I went and she had a bunch of people from her ward there.  I remember seeing Josh and thinking that he looked so happy because he was smiling the whole night.

I stayed the night at Beatrice's and went to church with her the next day.  Josh came and talked to us and got Beatrice's phone number, suggesting that we should all get together and do something.  But I lived a little over an hour away and got caught up in life and school.

Fast forward to January 2013.

Beatrice and I were talking on the phone one day when she asked me if I remembered her friend Josh.  I thought about it and asked what his last name was so I could Facebook stalk him.  (It had been a year! I needed a refresher! haha)  So I looked him up and I said, "Oh yeah! I remember him.  we talked to him at church!"

She said, "Well he saw your picture on my Facebook the other day and told me that he thought you were really cute."

I laughed as I usually did whenever there was any indication of men being interested in me. Beatrice told me that they were going to a rodeo that weekend and that I should definitely come so I could meet him again.  And seeing as how I am a sucker for rodeos, I agreed to go.  But I could only go on Saturday.  (They were going on both Friday and Saturday).

So I talked my best friend Brittany into going down with me.  We went and Josh was on a date with another girl.  So I hung out with Brittany, Beatrice, and their friend Doug.  I had so much fun!  Josh and I didn't really talk much that night. (He was on a date!)  But I did creepily watch him that night.  He sat in the row in front of us to the right a little ways so it made it easy to creep on him.  :)

He was attentive to his date and seemed to be having a good time.  I decided I really liked his smile.  And he was all dressed up in his cowboy clothes...so that's pretty good!

After that, Josh added me on Facebook and we spent some time messaging on there.  I decided that I wanted to get to know him so I gave him my phone number.  We dated for a couple of months before deciding that we didn't want to do the long distance thing any more.  So we broke up, but still remained friends.

I ended up getting the internship with the Church History Department in Salt Lake.  That put me a whole lot closer to Josh.  So we spent some more time together, decided to give it a second try, and now we're getting married!  And I'm super happy about it! :)  So the big day is March 15.  (Even the fact that somebody broke into my house on Christmas won't put a damper on my happiness!!)

And I can't wait to start the rest of my life with my best friend! :)


*Good Song: Come to Me by Goo Goo Dolls

Homesick

It is days like this that make me miss my small town in the mountains.

The air here is terrible.  Inversion has set in and my allergies are going crazy!  I never realized that bad air quality was a thing when I was growing up.  We always had blue skies and clean air.  I miss being able to walk up a dirt road by myself, without worrying about crazy people.

I miss climbing the mountains, soaking in the view, and pondering life.

I miss being able to see all the stars.  I miss sitting on my roof and looking at those stars.

I miss hearing nothing but the sound of the creek in my backyard.

I miss the smell of bonfires; watching the flames flicker was so soothing!

I can't complain too much.  I live in a great place.  But what I hear now are sirens and people and cars.  The city is beautiful, and I am coming to appreciate the lights of the city at night.  But sometimes I just miss the simple beauty of open space and silence.

When I would get upset in my teenage years, I could just hike one of the mountains near my home.  I knew some of those hills so well.  I'd been exploring them since I can remember.  The calm serenity of the wind blowing through the trees, the almost imperceptible sound of my feet hitting the dirt was always soothing.  Being above the town almost made me feel like I could tackle anything.  Breathing in clean, crisp air and feeling my legs burn from the climb always made me feel alive.  And I still miss that sometimes.

Good Song: "I'll Follow You" by Jon McLaughlin

Thanksgiving!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.

And I learned at work the other day that Abraham Lincoln was the one who officially designated Thanksgiving as a national holiday 150 years ago.  So in honor of that, here is the transcript from his Thanksgiving Proclamation.



By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies.  To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; which that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore.  Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-filed; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things.  They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.  It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.

I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Promise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.  And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidable engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the Eighty-eighth.

Abraham Lincoln
By the President
William H. Seward
Secretary of State

(Transcribed from the National Archives Website -http://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2012/nr12-29.html)


So amid turkey and pie, let us all give thanks to the Lord for what He has done for us, whether in times of peace or in times of distress.

Have a good Thanksgiving everyone!

Good Song:  The Legend of the Rebel Soldier by Le Ann Womack

Ice Skating

My sister Hollie's been up here the last couple of days because she had a job interview.  We just hung out at my house yesterday, but decided to get out of the house tonight.  So we decided to go ice skating!!

I really love ice skating!  I took a figure skating class when I was a freshman at Utah State and I loved it!  We learned spins and small jumps and all kinds of fun things!  I was like the worst skater in the class, but it was fine because I loved it so much!

So Hollie and I went to an ice rink here in Salt Lake.  We paid our fee and got our little rental skates.  We walk into the ice rink and it looks like we've skated into a training session!  No joke, there were like 10 girls ranging from like 5 to probably 16 and they all looked professional!  They all had their nice skates, were wearing skating outfits, and were spinning and jumping like nobody's business!  Even the five year old! (Okay I don't know if she was really 5, but she looked like it!)

I just stood there for a minute and I was like, "Are we sure that it's public skating time?!"  About 5 other women were skating around with some of these girls coaching them and telling them how to be better.  And I'm over there trying to remember how to stay balanced on my skates!

So we start skating around the outside, just getting our feet under us.  And these girls are skating circles around us!  They were awesome!  When I was a little girl, I loved watching the figure skating during the Olympics.  I would even go in our kitchen and pretend like I was a figure skater, doing little jumps and spins across the kitchen floor....

But what I'm really trying to say is that I love ice skating!  I'm not very good at it and I'm sure I'll still get a few falls in there somewhere! But it's fun!  And I'm glad that other little girls get to learn how to do it if they love it too!  :)

Instead I get to look through old documents and write about them every day!!  :)  But that's pretty much my favorite!  So I reckon it's okay that my figure skating dreams didn't come true!

*Good Band: Daughter

Clumsiness...

I am clumsy.

Yes, I am.

So story time.

A little over a month ago, I was at Smith's in Farmington with my boyfriend Josh and our friend Doug.  Josh was being super nice and buying me chocolate covered cinnamon bears.  (I'm addicted...so if you haven't tried them before, you probably should!)  We were getting ready to check out when I realized I hadn't written the bulk candy code for the cinnamon bears on the bag.  So we trekked back over to the bin and got the code.

As we were walking back to check out, there was a clearance table full of these:
 

 Do you know what those are made of?!  GLASS!  They were all stacked up all cute like.  I accidentally bumped one of the little spigots and down came one of them.  I swear it was like slow motion!  And then CRASH!  Shattered all over the floor...Josh was all nice about it and went and told somebody for me since I was horrified!  Good thing they were on clearance I guess!  :/

Story #2:
This last week Josh and I were again at Smiths, but this time in Salt Lake.  We were just picking up some stuff for dinner.  We walked down the aisle that had the gallon water jugs.  Seriously, I was walking in the middle of the aisle when all of a sudden a water jug fell off the shelf and broke, spraying water everywhere!!  Josh laughed and said something about not being able to take me anywhere.  But I seriously did not even touch it!  I'm so clumsy, I just have to walk by something to make it fall!  Don't even have to touch it!  Crazy!!

And then yesterday at work I got asked to go over to the Beehive House while some people were filming a couple of scenes for a church film to make sure that they didn't break anything...I don't think they know me very well!!

Good thing I didn't bump into one of those 19th century vases!  :/

*Good Song:  Broken Wings by Flyleaf

Peach Days!

Brittany invited me to go to Peach Days in Brigham City for today.  And I've never been so I decided it might be a good idea! I went to bed dreaming of peaches - peach cobbler, peach ice cream, peach chapstick, peach candy, fresh peaches, peach pie, etc.

I woke up early this morning and drove to Brigham City for the parade.  The parade was awesome!!  We even got some candy!  And loads of flyers that we promptly threw away.  Oh, and we got some cereal...yep...cereal!

The parade ended and we decided to check out the booths and activities.  Brittany and I ate chicken BBQ and peach sandwiches.  I know it sounds weird, but it was actually pretty good.  My peach dreams seemed to be coming true.  But nope, I didn't see any other peaches!  A booth was selling peach cobbler, but I didn't see any fresh peaches anywhere...what?!  Where were all the peaches at Peach Days?!?!

There were so many people there that we didn't last very long.  At one point a man kept bumping the backs of my legs with his stroller trying to get me to move, but I couldn't because there was a wall of people!  He was kind of making me a little bit mad!  But I survived it.

The next trip was to the Brigham City Library because they were having a book sale!!  A bag of books for $1!  What?!  But like most library book sales, they ended up not having many books that I was interested in.  But I did end up with one on the American Revolution and a diary from the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II, so I reckon it was all worth it!!  :)

Also there were two guys playing didgeridoos at Peach Days...awesome!

Even though Peach Days didn't have a plethora of peaches to meet my expectations, I reckon it still turned out to be pretty fun!  Even if I had to get a peanut butter shake instead of a peach one...  :)

*Good Song:  Wasting All These Tears by Cassadee Pope

Country Swing Dancing

Okay, so you all know that I love country swing dancing!  Well I have some wonderful stories from dancing last night! :)

So I haven't been dancing in the last couple of weeks due to a couple of reasons, but last night I wasn't doing anything so I went!

Experience #1: A tall lanky young-looking guy asked me to dance.  Sure!  So we go out and he doesn't really know how to do even the basic step...which is fine!  We all have to start learning somewhere!  He then told me it was his first time!  So that's great!  I am all for converting people to country swing!  And then came the question that I always dread, "Can you teach me something?!"  They always assume that I'm a teacher of country swing when I tell them I've been doing it for awhile.  But here's the thing...I'm terrible at teaching...anything!!  I can usually follow when a man is a good dancer and good at leading, but I don't know what the guy does!

So my teaching this guy last night went as it usually does...

Me: "Okay! So this is a simple one!" I guide him through a simple step. "Now try it!"
He spins me.  Well, close...except that there was no spin at all in what I just taught him...

Me: "Okay, that was close!  Let me show you a couple more times and then we'll try it again!"

He kind of does it, but not really.  Then we go back to the awkward basic step...but it's fine!  It's only his first time!  I really need to get better at teaching men how to dance!  :/

Experience #2:  There's always the guy that wants to chat it up on the dance floor.  This guy was definitely no exception.  We start dancing and he immediately starts spilling out every detail of his day, including how much time he and his roommates had spent watching a certain TV show that I've never heard of. 

"Do you watch that show?" 

Me: "No, but it sounds good!" (That's what I always say...even though I have no idea if it's good!) 

Him:  "What TV shows do you watch?" 

Me:  "I don't really watch TV shows..." (I would if I really wanted to...or if I had TV...)

Him:  "So what do you do?"

Me: "I'm an intern for the LDS Church History Department."

Him:  "I think they sometimes turn people into drones, ya know?  A lot of those people lack personality."

In my mind:  "What?! Everybody I work with is awesome!"

Thank you, stranger man, for bashing on people I work with!  But whatever, go back to spending hours watching lame TV shows while I work with educated people who are awesome!

Yeah...it's a good thing I really love country swing dancing...or the people that go there might have scared me away a long time ago...

*Good Song:  Everything Has Changed by Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran