My Valentine!

After our delicious meal!

Spinach Artichoke Cheese Fondue! It was best with the granny smith apples!

Turtle Dream Chocolate Fondue! We got extra strawberries, it was sooo good!

Last weekend, we went on a big date! We went to the Melting Pot for dinner and then the Megaplex at the Gateway Mall for a movie! It was to celebrate the fact that we are getting married in LESS THAN A MONTH and Valentine's Day early because Jeff left for St. George for a camping/climbing trip.  We had such a great time! We laughed all night long!

For actual Valentine's Day on the 14th, we agreed on not doing any gifts.  I snuck out and shopped for a cookie cake and something from VS for him and put them in his truck while he was working for a surprise! Much to my surprise, he'd had his own plan in mind! He got me an icecream cake from Baskin Robbins with my favorite flavors! Later that night he also surprised me with Ghiradelli chocolates and a couple cutesy little Valentine balloons.  He is the sweetest.  How did I get so lucky?? Good thing I snagged a winner!

What I've learned from planning a wedding:

1. It's not NEARLY as stressful as other people have portrayed. Perhaps that's because we had a 10 month engagement and Jeff is very laid-back and accommodating.
2. Whoever said keep your hopes high and your expectations low is wrong.  Both should be low, because then if it happens it is a nice surprise.  If it doesn't... well then you were right.
3. Having a plan for a plan to plan the wedding is nice. Lists are nice too!
4. Our families are awesome.  Oh wait... I already knew that!!
5. Making your own invitations is about 1000x times cheaper.  Literally.
6. So far, draining your savings account to pay for a wedding is worth it.  We'll see what we think when we are ready to buy a house.
7. Eloping sounds reeeallly nice.  You don't have to worry about anyone but yourselves (hypothetically speaking).  No let-downs, no hurt feelings, no drama and at the end of the day you're still MARRIED. (I truly am excited for our wedding, just FYI :D)
8. The closer the wedding gets, the faster time flies.
9. I'm not in control of how someone else feels.  And, trying to fix it and make them happy often proves to be defeating, disappointing, and only makes me frustrated.  No matter what you try, they feel the way they want and that's what you get to deal with.  How you deal with it is what can change the situation.
10. Knowing Jeff as well as I do has been so helpful with decision making.  Throughout the process I was thinking of the couples who got married quickly, and I would not have been able to do as much as quickly as I do if we'd done that.  Like, I knew what he would want for pretty much every aspect of the wedding and so I could just research and make up my mind and tell him and every time he was happy with it.
11. Jeff is the best friend I have ever had. He will drop everything for me and knows me better than I know myself.  He's the best support system, rock climbing partner, dog-daddy, mechanic, plumber, engineer, metal sculptor, roommate, comedian, and fiance... Oh wait... I knew that too! :)
12. We are going to have a really fun wedding.  I mean REALLY fun.

The Busy Life

"Most people are so busy knocking themselves out trying to do everything they think they should do, they never get around to what they want to do." 
--Kathleen Winsor

We are seeing less and less of each other lately.  So busy with school and work and feeling like there is little to no time for leisure together.  If I were to die tomorrow, would I be okay with that?  Sometimes we get so busy, it clouds our motivation to keep going.  There is an end in sight and, of course, we will keep reaching for it.  But for now, we just miss each other and admire the lives of those who are graduated and just working.  Now, I know that doesn't always make you less busy, but I feel like it would be nice to run on our own agenda - together. (That would be a bonus!)

I cannot wait for December to arrive.  I will have a degree, and if I don't want to I don't HAVE to continue in education.  I can start my career and ideally spend my days/nights with Jeff.  Buuuut, I have another plan.  1 more year after December for my BSN.  And then I will assess where life is at that point, and perhaps get a doctorate to become a Nurse Practitioner.  FIVE more years. . . 

"No thoroughly occupied person was ever found really miserable."
--Walter Savage Landor

47 days to go!

I can't believe it! 2013 is flying by!

I am so excited to see how it all comes together!
I am also excited to hear Jeff's vows. (We are writing our own)
I can't wait to try the cake, and I am hoping it only goes in my mouth. *Fingers crossed*
I am thrilled to have a good reason for Jeff to dance with me!
I am ahead of myself and already looking forward to making our wedding album on Shutterfly.

I met our photographer/videographer on Friday.  He took my Bridal photos. It was so great! We did them at the capitol building.  I am ashamed to say I had never been there.  It was gorgeous and I am anxiously waiting to see how they turned out! I really like the photographer.  He has a LOT of experience and was super nice.  You could definitely tell he knew what he was doing; he was adjusting things on his camera that I didn't even know existed.

I will be sending out invitations next week! Eeeek!! Seriously?! That makes it so super real... Like now, most people don't know when or where to show up and so if the day came, well it wouldn't really happen.  I'm very excited to send them out for that reason; and because, they are home-designed using photoshop and the skills of one of my good friends, Amber.  We saved so much money doing it this way AND got the exact invitations we wanted.  The wedding invitation companies just can't compete.  It was literally 40 cents each with envelopes.  The companies were charging $4.00 each withOUT envelopes.

For reals though, I am just super STOKED about the honeymoon.  I. CANNOT. WAIT.  But I guess I will.

Holidays!

The holiday break was so wonderful! It was great to just relax and have fun! It was much needed and long anticipated!

Christmas:

First we went to the Patterson Christmas Party! So much fun! We had a sandwich bar and homemade gifts! It is so fun seeing what everyone made.  We made inspirational picture frames for everyone. :)  Homemade Christmas is a recently added tradition and I think it makes Christmas much more fun for adults.  Plus, that eliminates SO much Christmas shopping!

Then we went to the Andreason Christmas Party! Always a good time! We had drinks and sandwiches (apparently great families think alike!) and Santa came to visit like always.  Good food and even better company - you can't go wrong!

Next we went to an Ugly Sweater/White Elephant/Housewarming Party hosted by our good friends Brad and Leah.  They put on such a fun night! We played ping pong. We ate pizza, cookies, brownies (yummmm) and exchanged hilarious white elephant gifts!  Leah and Brad gifted the leg lamp - so awesome.  We gifted a stuffed football remote and it sounded like whoever got it was going to put it to great use!

And last but not least, we went to a Christmas Cocktail Party.  Chris and Tracy were amazing hosts! We had homemade bread (best I've ever had!), cheese, cookies, fruit, pigs in a blanket (they even made blankets without pigs just for me!) and of course COCKTAILS! Delicious cocktails too! I can't remember the names of any of the ones I had, but they were all so good. We played a riveting game of catch phrase at the end of the night! I love that game.
New Year's:

We hosted a New Year's Party! We played Minute-to-Win-it style games.  It was a ping-pong ball booty shakin', cup stackin', paper bag bitin' good time.  Hahaha!  I made cake batter muddy buddies and OMG... they are so good and addictive! It was great to ring in 2013 with some of our favorite people. I danced for the first 5 minutes of the new year! You should try it next year - it was phenomenal.


**Clearly, blogger is malfunctioning because it will not allow me to upload photos this morning.  Sooo... boring old paragraphs for now, I suppose.**

Before the world ends...

I have:
-Worked at a fast food joint, in a cave, as a waitress, as a preschool co-teacher, for a retail store, in a gym, at a school, with cancer patients, and finally in the newborn ICU.
-Studied for a total of 17 years. 13 for K-12, and 4 in college so far.
-Owned an Isuzu Rodeo, Chevy Cobalt, Jeep Wrangler, and now a Honda Accord.
-Been engaged.
-Traveled to San Diego, Las Vegas, St. George, Spokane, and various parts of UT, ID, and WY.
-Moved a total of 11 times.
-Learned to be grateful for what I have, always.
-Had hundreds of pets during childhood (literally), but only 2 on my own.

I still need to:
-Become a nurse.
-Graduate college.
-Get married.
-Travel to Mexico, Europe, Africa, Australia, New Zealand... many, many more.
-Buy a home.
-Have children, eventually.


Hmmmm... according to my list, the world cannot end on the 21st, because I cannot complete my goals in less than 48 hours.  ;) Hahahaa. 

End of Fall Semester!

Woooo Hoooo!
We are so relieved to be done with this semester!
Look, even Ike was over it.

Christmas decorations are up and we are ready to celebrate the holidays!  It will be sooo so nice to spend some quality time together and just (hopefully) relax. We plan on rock climbing more on our break as well, yay!