PLAYING CATCH UP

to get caught up on my blogging, i've decided to throw everything into one post, to get me all up to date. i'm SO excited to start blogging again! 

welp, here goes nothing:

the last post was about the engagement so i'll go from there! once we got engaged, i got down to work. i'm surprised that i actually never had thought about how i'd want my wedding to be, i know a lot of girls have their wedding colors, dress, and location picked out when their 16. not me. 

for some reason, i didn't even have a thought in my head about what i wanted our wedding to be like. it took me three months to find a dress, two months to find a location, and six months of planning. i still wouldn't change a thing. 

we were married on the 12th of May, in the Timpanogos Temple

& our reception was held in a barn of a friends house that night in Mapleton, Ut.

Honeymooners:

being as high maintenance'd as we are, our honeymoon consisted of hotel-hopping from Utah - Louisiana. (yes, we literally stayed in hotels for weeks) the reason why we chose to do this was because we had made the decision to come out and have Mitch sell security systems for the summer. which has been nothing but a big fat blessing for the both of us. we still consider that we're living on a honeymoon. its a whole different world down here, and its been the greatest learning experience for us both. i've absolutely loved every second of it! as far as the traveling some of the little things that we stopped to do along the way was that we stayed in Denver to watch a rockies game & ended up living in Little Rock, Arkansas for a couple of weeks. laying out by the pool every day is

where i began to realize how 'hard' life really is… (;

 it wasn't until the beginning of June, that we headed down for our final road trip to get to our new - found home. our apartments are SO, SO nice! we live on the seventh floor in a studio apartment and can see everything from our window! we live in the heart of New Orleans. LITERALLY. we are right downtown, which is something i never thought i'd ever do, let alone love but guess what.. i do! its so nice, we just get to walk everywhere we go and get to explore this whole new world.

as of now: 

we've lived here in New Orleans for about a month and a half, and i hate the thought of ever leaving. even though i know it'll come to an end. the summer has already gone by so fast! 

But i'm extremely excited to go home and see my family, and friends of whom i've missed so, so much! & i have to admit.... i miss my 'sheltered' Utah more than anything. 

THE LUCKIEST

It was April 26th of 2008 when Mitch had put on his big boy pants & FINALLY had asked me to be his girlfriend and let me tell ya, I've got one big cheese-ball for a boyfriend! I was one nervous 15 year old, it was my first prom. It's easy for me to say that It was everything I had hoped it would be and more! After starving myself for weeks to fit in my dress, I think what I looked forward to most was probably dinner, I was STARVED! Of course that's when he chose to drop the hint on me... "Hey, I've got to ask you something.. But it has to be at the right time..." the thought of food suddenly vanished and there I was, so anxious, nervous, excited yet confused. I honestly didn't know what to think. I was constantly trying to get it out of him, repeatedly asking "what is it, what is it, WHAT IS IT??" he would NOT budge. Finally we made it to the dance which was at the barn up at thanksgiving point. it wasn't until the prom song "fall for you" came on.. He started getting antsy, I knew whatever it was, it was coming! Half way through the song he looked at me, smiled that goofy smile, and asked, he had asked me to be his girlfriend! Obviously I had said yes, and here we are.

Why I'm reminiscing this story you might ask...

Mitch being the softy he is, took me back. he mentioned numerous times about this gift card his dad had to eat at this restaurant up inside thanksgiving point. So it wasn't until last tuesday that he decided to use that "gift card" and take me out. We shared laughs, smiles, and reminisced on old times. I honestly didn't think the night could have gone any better.. After stuffing our faces, we had planned to go to the movie. Mitch had this brilliant idea to walk, down and look at the barn. seeing as I was already freezing, I argued the idea. After finally convincing me, I told him he'd have to give me his jacket he started shuffling through his pockets, and moving things around just to take it off and put it on me. we headed down to the barn, and what a beautiful place I might add. He started acting fishy, repeatedly saying "how cool would it be if the doors were open" his amazing green eyes, and goofy smile catch me off guard sometimes.. I couldnt help but smile. We approached the big brown doors, he smirked at me and grabbed the door, slowly opened it acting somewhat surprised. I gave him the stink eye I'm sure, because if you know me, I'm suspicious & absolutely HATE surprises.

we walked into the big room, nothing but Christmas decorations & I had THE biggest smile on my face, I loved this place, and I'm literally in awe to how beautiful it was, i almost hated myself for forgetting the Unique vibe and feeling I gained from just the room and history that came with it.

"the best thing about tonight..."

There it was, the music started to play and my heart dropped, head spun, and I had a smile from ear to ear. What was happening? He pulled me in, and began to dance and suddenly I was in my fifteen year old body, nervous for whatever was coming. he pulled away and began to slowly get down on one knee. I COULD NOT BELIEVE WHAT WAS HAPPENING!! He hadn't even began to speak when I had screamed YES!!! I jumped on him and repeatedly said, "is this real??!!"

Even a week later I don't recognize my own hand! I still can't believe it's real, I'm marrying the most incredible man! I so blessed, my heart is constantly racing 4624724783478 miles an hour and I automatically feel my face light up when I talk about him.

It feels SO good to say that i'm marrying my "high school sweetheart" & that I can continue to say that (;

Mark your calendars y'all,

May 12th will be good to me, I'm constantly battling my fear of making decisions for my wedding, I suck at planning and suck even more at making decisions!

But in the end, it'll be the best day of my life --

CHANGE

"anyone can give up, its the easiest thing in the world to do. but to keep going when the going gets tough... thats true strength"

at age seventeen i was about to experience the biggest change in my life. I was about to say goodbye to the most important person, the one person that my life, and everything in it revolved around. i was about to say goodbye to my bestfriend.

Mitch served his mission in Omaha, only 13 hours away from me. i could have easily hopped in my car or taken the first flight and believe me, i was easily tempted EVERYSINGLEDAY. but in the long run, neither of us could have been more blessed. i had my senior year to look forward to, i lived up every minute of it that i could, with that being said i missed him more & more as the days went on. i had to fill the warmth of his hugs with a letter i recieved that week, the strength he gave me with an email, and a kiss with a package. it wasn't easy, but it WAS worth it.

to those of you that don't know..

i've loved this boy since i was fourteen years old.

to this day, i'm still not entirely sure what it was that got me, but ooooh he got me. lucky for me, he never let go. it's hard to believe that after two years, he's home.. it's almost like he never left, and i'm so grateful to have him in my life.





"when i count my blessings, i count you twice" 

if it wasn't for the lovey dovey movies and music i had to rely on, i'm not sure i would have made it. if i had a dime for everytime my friends or family caught me in a room with a gallon of ice cream, watching some love sap movie, i'd be a billionare. it saved me. its easy to say that i was that way before he left, always in tune with my movies and music, but it wasn't until after he left that i gained true meaning through every song lyric, and every quote from a movie. i'm a HUGE cheese-ball. always have been. i have him to thank for that.

Always&Forever