Plastics really DO exist!!

Wow. I can't believe how rude and awful girls can be. You always hope to get past that sort of thing once you get to be in your early to mid-twenties, but it just doesn't stop. I have learned that some girls thrive on that sort of thing. That is just sick and twisted if you ask me. How can someone do and say such awful things to someone and still sleep at night? They must have no conscience.

Recently I have had some experiences with some plastics just like these girls...



There are a lot of Regina George's in this world. And the slogan on the picture is absolutely right. WATCH YOUR BACK! Girls can be relentless, ridiculous and immature. It doesn't matter if they are one of your closest friends, or just an acquaintance. You have to be so careful with who you become close with and who you decide to trust. I am grateful to have these plastics out of my life and am even more grateful for my amazing, loyal and true friends! You all know who you are! :) Thanks for being so great!

STAY AWAY FROM PLASTICS!!!

A small prayer answered

As all of you know, the weather the past few weeks has been very wet and rainy. Very un-summerlike! At the beginning of June, I scheduled our engagement pictures for June 17th, which was this past Wednesday. Last week the forecast showed that Wednesday was going to be the first non-rainy day in a few weeks and I was thrilled! But as it got closer and closer to Wednesday, the forecast kept changing and was showing Wednesday as being very wet and rainy. I was getting worried about it and wondering if we should reschedule, but decided against that because Josh and I are so busy and the photographer is also busy with several other weddings. I knew it would be difficult to find another day that would work for all three of us. Anyway, as Wednesday approached, I started praying that the weather would cooperate for us on Wednesday.

Wednesday morning, I called the photographer to make sure we were still on for the engagement sitting and we discussed the weather. We decided to play it by ear and see how it was when it came time to take the pictures. We were going to meet at 6 at Wheeler Farm and around 4:30 or 5, the photographer called me because it had started raining. We decided to go ahead and still meet up and see what the weather would be like by then. Around 5:30, the sun started shining and the sky was clearing up, but it was still raining.

BUT----by the time we got to Wheeler Farm, the sky was perfect and clear. No rain. Nothing! I couldn't believe it! We were able to take several pictures in perfect weather! About a half hour or so after we finished, it started raining and eventually started pouring the rest of the night.

It just goes to show how powerful prayer is, even for just the small and simple things. I am so grateful the weather worked out well for us and am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for answering this simple prayer.

Josh's Birthday!

Saturday was Josh's 25th birthday! It turned out really well! His mom wanted to have a little surprise party at a nearby park for him, so it was my job to contact all of our friends about it. Josh is the king of surprising people, so he had his suspicions. Plus his mom had been cooking loads of food all day long. Anyway, I picked Josh up, we ran an errand and then went to the park. We had a really great turnout. His whole family was there, as well as some of his cousins and some grandparents and my family and almost all of my friends and his friends were there. It was awesome! I can't believe I didn't take a single picture! I had even charged my camera that day to make sure my battery wouldn't die. I guess we were too busy eating, mingling and having fun!

After the party, we went and played some games with a few of his friends. We had a blast! After that, he and I went back to his house and he opened his gifts from me. Finally, I was able to give him a BIG surprise!

The Saturday before his birthday, I went with my voice teacher to her parent's house and recorded about 6 songs for him! Her dad has some recording equipment and had turned a walk-in closet into a little recording studio. It was so much fun and I am pleased with the way it turned out. Josh always complains that I don't ever sing for him(even though he hears me sing in the car all the time) so I thought this would be the perfect gift. Here are the songs I recorded for him:

1. When You Say Nothing At All
2. Bless The Broken Road
3. I'll Stand By You
4. Popular (His favorite song from Wicked. He makes me sing it all the time)
5. For Good (Another song from Wicked. This one was a duet with my voice teacher)
6. I Feel My Savior's Love

He was so shocked and surprised with the cd! My plan worked! :) I am so grateful it turned out well. Flash back to last Friday, June 5th....We raced from Ava's birthday party down to the Bee's game to see his dad throw the first pitch. We were running a little late, so we had to bolt into the stadium and I don't know if you remember but last Friday it was extremely windy and dusty in the air. When we finally got in, (we missed his dad's pitch by the way) :( I could NOT stop coughing. The combo of the running, the dusty wind and my allergies were making me miserable. Later that night I eventually lost my voice. I was freaking out inside since the big recording day was the next day. Luckily my voice was mostly back by the time I went to record. "For Good" was the last song we did and in some parts, it's obvious my voice is getting weak.

Anyway, it was so fun to do what I love, for my love! Singing is my absolute favorite thing to do and I want to continue to develop my voice and improve. Women's voices don't fully mature until around the age of 30, and vocal chords are just muscles that need exercise as well, so hopefully it's all uphill from here! Besides the cd, I got Josh this awesome nightstand from Ikea! We saw them there a few months ago and he LOVED them! I also bought one for myself so that we can have one on each side of the bed.

I am so happy my honey had a good birthday and that my gift was a success! I can't wait to celebrate many more birthdays with him! I love you, Joshua!!

A little bit sad :(

Today I got released from my church calling and I am super sad about it. Since September of 2007, I have been the Beehive teacher in my home ward. I have LOVED every minute of it! Seriously, there are no words to describe how much I love those girls and how much I love the other leaders. I have learned so much from everyone and feel so blessed to have been able to have this calling. I was only 23 when I was called and was so excited, but scared out of my mind! I was the youngest leader and the only one that wasn't married and had a family, so I feared that I would feel out of place. Quite the opposite happened. Every leader welcomed me in with open arms and never treated me differently or made me feel less important even though I was a lot younger than them. They are all amazing women and I hope I can be like them someday.

Now you may be wondering why I am so sad about this, considering the fact that I am getting married in August and being released is bound to happen since I will be moving out of the ward. Well here is why....

A few weeks after I got engaged, the bishop had me come meet with him to discuss how the wedding plans were going and to find out whether or not I would be too busy to fulfill my calling while planning a wedding. I assured him that I loved my calling and was happy to stay in until I got married. After talking to the YW president, as well as the second counselor who is over the Beehives with me, they both said they wanted to keep me in until I got married. I felt so relieved and happy that I would be able to stay because I truly do love my calling.

Last Sunday morning, the Bishop called my house and informed me that I would be getting released next Sunday(today). Tears started streaming down my cheeks and I sat and cried for a while. I was not ready to be released yet. (I'm still not) Especially since I thought I still had until August to be with my girls. During the week, I talked to the YW second counselor and the YW president and neither one of them were aware that I was going to be released already. The bishop had even told me in discussing my situation with the YW president, they thought I should be released now. Clearly you can tell that the YW president did NOT tell the bishop to go ahead and release me.

I know I need to just let this go and not be upset with the bishop, but it's hard not to be. And I think why I am having a difficult time is because I had such a close relationship with the last bishop and I have a really hard time with the new one. I won't go into further detail, because this is not the place to discuss it, but I'm sure many of you have had a bishop or leader you've struggled with.

Anyway, I am grateful I had the opportunity to serve these girls and will treasure every memory and every thing I learned from it. I have truly learned the importance of church callings through being the Beehive advisor. The new teacher is darling and she'll do a great job!

I love you, Highland View YW and leaders!

A busy, but successful week...

WARNING: THIS IS A LONG POST!

Wow! This week has been a busy one. A stressful one, but a fun one! We have been trying to get an approximate count on how many guests to plan on for the reception as well as accumulate addresses and figure out how many invitations we'll need to order. This has definitely been my least favorite part of the wedding planning process, but I think we have finally gotten it all figured out! I think our invitations are going to turn out really cute! (P.S. If you would like an invite and haven't given me your address, please do so as soon as you can. Thanks!)

Yesterday, (Thursday) was such a fun day! I had my first fitting for my wedding dress and I am in love with it! Thank you Sottero and Midgley for designing such a beautiful dress for me! Sleeves have to be added and the dress needs to be taken in quite a bit because it is about 3 sizes too big(it was the last one in the country), but the seamstress really knows what she's doing so I think it will turn out amazing and that the sleeves will blend in really well with the style of the dress. I can't wait to see the finished product!! If you want the link to the dress, let me know!

After my fitting, I had my first shower. My cute cousin, Whitney, threw me the cutest shower! Her mom, who I consider to be my second mom, flew in from Colorado to help her get everything ready. Whitney just barely turned 19, so she hasn't attended very many wedding showers yet, but she did a great job! It was so fun to have almost all the women in my extended family there, as well as Josh's mom and two grandmothers. She started off with a game and she had contacted Josh beforehand and had him answer a bunch of questions about me and about him. If I got one wrong, or if his answers about me were wrong, I had to put a piece of Dubble Bubble gum in my mouth. I ended up with 10 pieces in my mouth! I have kind of a small mouth, so gum was pretty much oozing out! haha but it was fun! Then I opened gifts and boy did we get spoiled! I am thrilled with what we got! I feel so blessed and so grateful for the generosity that has been shown towards me and Josh. We are so fortunate to have such great people in our lives. And a special thanks to Whitney for all the work and effort she put into it. She is the little sister I never had and I couldn't ask for a better Maid of Honor! I LOVE YOU, CUZY!!

Here are some pics from the shower. Most of them are a little blurry for some reason.

Carson, me and Whitney. I LOVE these girls like sisters!

The chocolate fountain was having issues...that is until Whitney realized one bag of chocolate is not enough for it. The lady at the store lied.

Whitney made me wear that tiara and sash and then everyone had a pink or green lei to wear. (Our wedding colors are pink and green and we're going to Hawaii on our honeymoon)

Possibly the ugliest picture EVER! My mouth full of bubblegum.

Me and Ava in one of her shy moments

Today, (Friday) was also a big day for us! We put our deposit down on an apartment! We are so excited to have that taken care of and we LOVE where we will be living. It will be a 2 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath apartment that also has a laundry room in it. Yes, a laundry room, not a laundry closet like most apartments. That will be fun since Josh's parents got us a washer and dryer instead of doing a wedding dinner. That feature will also give us some extra storage place. The apartment is in a great location and a steal of a price. $675! Another bonus is that my good friend Tiare and her husband live in an apartment below us, so that will be a lot of fun! We feel so lucky and blessed to have found such a great deal.

And we have another big day tomorrow! This guy's 25th birthday!!

Isn't he cute? haha. I am so excited to celebrate with him and enjoy a day where we can relax and have fun. Plus I got him 2 really awesome gifts. He will be absolutely SHOCKED by one of them! I am so excited to give him a fun surprise since he notorious for tricking and surprising me! Don't worry, I'll let you all know what it is after I give it to him. I've worked very hard on it, so hopefully he'll like it! Happy Birthday my Ken Doll! I LOVE YOU!!

2 Months!!

I can't believe that 2 months from today, Josh and I will be married for time and all eternity! I am beyond excited for August 6th! I can't wait for all of our new adventures together and to find out what's in store for our future. I am also very excited to not have to part ways at night! It will be so nice to be with each other every night and wake up to each other every morning. I sure do love him more than anything and am so lucky to have him in my life. And I can't wait to dance with him at our wedding! (Josh hates dancing,but I love it!) But he did dance with me at my cousin's wedding. Here's the proof. haha


And 2 months from tomorrow, we will be on our way to Kauai for our Hawaiian Honeymoon! I can't wait!!

Missing Baby!!

Can someone please tell me how this baby went from this...

to this overnight??

Okay, maybe "overnight" is a bit of an exaggeration, but it sure doesn't seem like it! Yesterday my niece Ava turned 2 and I am in awe at how quickly these two years have gone by. It seems like just yesterday that I got to sneak out of my first week of EFY of the summer in 2007 to see newborn Ava in the hospital. It was one of the neatest experiences of my life. As soon as she was in my arms, I felt this overwhelming amount of love for her and could just feel her sweet, new little Spirit, fresh from heaven. I can't even imagine how I will feel when I hold my own child for the first time.

My family waited a long time to have a grandbaby come into our lives. My brother was almost 32 when she was born, so she is very special to us, but definitely worth the wait! And over the past year and a half or so, my family has gone through some really difficult times and she has been our little ray of sunshine to help us get through it. She came at the perfect time! She is probably more spoiled than any little girl should be, but we are so blessed to have her in our lives. Hopefully it won't be too long until she has a little brother or sister to help share the spotlight. And hopefully in a few years, she'll have a little cousin to play with. :)

Here are some of my favorite pictures of her...

Gotta love those newborn smiles!

Our little bear

She was fascinated by my cell phone

She is a cheeky little girl

She loves bathtime!

And she loves our dog, Elle!