Wedding Pictures

We got our wedding pictures back on Sunday so I thought I'd post a few for the three people that actually read my blog.

I Swear We Got Married

I don't have internet at my new house so not much blogging will get done for a while. Not that I was very religious about it before. The only time I get to be online is when I go to my parents house and that usually means I need to turn in an assignment for my internet class. I'll try and post updates from the last 4 weeks sooner than later cause a lot has been going on.

Post worthy blogs will be:

The temple

Reception

Mountainous weekend in Greer, AZ

Halloween and,

San Diego/ birthday

4 Days Left!

My wedding is definitely this week! I've been super busy with reception plans and school work and trying to spend as little time as possible at my job. Wish me luck, I still have lots to do.

18 More Days!

Sometimes I feel like there's not enough hours in the day to get everything accomplished that I need to. If my body didn't rely so much on sleep I think I could manage but as for right now... I'M STRESSED!!! I think I've been focusing too much on wedding plans that my school work has been getting the minimum attention and its starting to affect me. People keep asking if I need help with wedding plans and I do appreciate it and really everyone has been more than helpful but now if you could just read a few text books and take some tests or quizzes that would take the biggest load off my shoulders. Thanks

Thank Goodness For Boys

Especially for a fiance who knows a thing or two about cars. 

(sometimes he forgets to put his shoes on the right feet though)

Ben makes my life better in more ways than I can count.

 I'm pretty lucky that I get to marry him in just 4 more weeks!

Update Time

I realize I've been neglecting my blog since I've been engaged so here's a little update on what we've gotten accomplished in the last 3 weeks.

• bought a dress
• decided on a date (Oct. 17)
  
• took announcement pictures
  
• ordered invitations
• registered at Target and Bed Bath & Beyond
• bought potential bridesmaids dresses
• chose a reception location
• hired a decorator
• hired a caterer
  
• bought a guest book
  
• my parents met Ben's parents
• found groomsmen vests
• meeting with cake lady tonight

In only 3 weeks we've gotten so much done but I feel like the list is never ending. Our top 3 things to get done next is to find a photographer, someone to do flowers, and find a place to live in Mesa. If you or anyone you know can help with these it would be much appreciated.

The Inside Scoop

I promised I would share the events of my engagement story so sorry it took so long. 

So on Friday Ben and I had both taken the day off of work. We started off the morning eating breakfast together and then headed off to Wildlife World Zoo. It was so much better than the regular Phoenix Zoo because there was hardly anyone there and all the animals were so much closer. 

(neither of these pictures is zoomed in at all... we were just that close)

We got to pet the porcupines and antelope... although I don't think we were supposed to but no one was there to stop us. The monkeys were awesome and this little guy even managed to get on the outside of his cage. My favorite part of the zoo was feeding the giraffe. You go up on this platform so you are eye level with the giraffe and then stick out your hand with giraffe food and he just comes right over. I even got to kiss the giraffe on his big fat hairy lips... How many people can say they've done that?

Anyways, back to my story. After the zoo we both went home and took naps and Ben picked me back up at around 5. He took me down to Main Street and we walked around for a bit, revisiting our favorite places. Then we went to eat at Olive Garden and headed over to a park in Chandler that we had rode bikes in when we first started dating. We walked down the bike path and found a bridge over the canal and stopped on it. Ben told me that this was the exact spot where he first fell in love with me and then got down on his knee and proposed.

I think my exact words were "SHUT UP"... I was so excited that I almost forgot to say yes... But of coarse I did and now we're getting married!

Its Officially Official

As of last night Ben and I are engaged!

More on the events leading up to this time in later blogs...

Sedona Recap

This last Saturday Ben and I decided to take a spur of the moment road trip to Sedona. We had both had long work weeks and were in need of something different so that morning when I got to his house we were trying to figure out what to do I jokingly suggested that we go up to Sedona. We thought about it for a second and then packed up a few snacky snacks and hit the road. Neither of us had ever been before and we had a great time... despite the construction traffic and tons of tourists. First we hit up Slide Rock (but didn't go swimming)

After that we just drove around doing some sight seeing, stopping at whatever looked pretty or interesting.

(Here we are at Midgley Bridge)

Sedona was a nice cool 80 degrees with scattered sprinkley showers the whole time. It was beautiful... not to mention the full rainbow we saw on the way out. It was nice to get out of Mesa and the heat even if it was for just a day.

The Greatest Show on Earth?

Ben and I went to the circus on Saturday night. We bought the cheapest tickets, sat in the highest row, and could barely see anything that had to do with people that were performing. We still had so much fun though cause really the elephants were the best part.

I'm Seeing Double

If you didn't already know, my dad is running for AZ State Representative. So if you live in Mesa in District 18, we're counting on your vote. 

Happy Kite Flying Day!

Before and After

Ben hasn't had a hair cut in about 5 months

He let me buzz it for him on Thursday
I've never given anyone a hair cut before but I think it turned out pretty alright.

Its Too Hot for a Hike

Saturday Ben and I hiked Camelback Mountain. It will probably be the last hike we'll be able to do for a while cause it was extremely hot. It was a nice hike with lots of steep climbs, we had to take lots of breaks but it was worth it to finally make it to the top and be able to see the whole Valley

(I know, he still looks pretty homeless)

Then on the way down we took a little detour and found this sweet shady cave. The whether was actually nice without the sun beating down on us. We both just laid down and enjoyed the breeze and scenery.

I Went to the Airport...

And brought back this homeless man...

(sorry for the sideways pic, I don't really know how to fix it)

After 8 long weeks Ben is finally home... 5 weeks earlier than originally scheduled.  I'm so happy to have him back, even if he does have pretty long hair and a narly looking beard. 

Now we've got some catching up to do this weekend.

Two Spring Breaks?

It sounds nice, right? Although it was fun getting out of town for 2 weekends in March, it was all too short. After my classes on Thursday I took off down to Mexico where the rest of my family was. I barely missed seeing Danny and Lindsi, we passed each other on the road pretty close to the border without even knowing it. I stayed from Thursday night to Saturday afternoon and soaked up as much sun as possible on Friday (probably a little too much). I bought the token pair of sunglasses from a vendor and ate fish tacos at the Blue Marlin which is a definite must. Those tacos were the only thing on my "to do list" while I was there, and they didn't let me down.Mabel and I spent a lot of time playing on the beach together. We got in the cold water and wrote our names in the sand. We made a good team. Hopefully next year Spring Break will work out better to my favor so I can be there for the whole week.

Spring Break 2008

ASU likes to ruin my life in many different ways. The latest way is how they did spring break this year. I just finished my spring break last week and my family is starting theirs this week. Every year my family goes to Rocky Point, Mexico for a whole week while everyone is out of school but this year I can't go because of the different schedules. I'm actually going to try and drive down Thursday after school and be back Saturday... Its not much but if I don't get a fish taco in my belly soon, I might go crazy. 

So last week for my "break" I went to Tucson to visit Abbie. I was there from Saturday till Tuesday. I had a good time just being able to relax and not have to worry about mid terms or going to work. Sophie did this a lot for some reason.

I'm not quite sure what it means but as soon as I got to their house she just laid on the ground and started rolling around. And then at the park this happened a few more times.

Spending time in Tucson did get Sophie used to me so it made me super happy when Abbie and Jake came down to Mesa this weekend and Sophie came and gave me a big hug. I'm pretty excited for the whole family to be in Mexico together. I just wish I would be able to spend more time down there with them. I guess there's always next year... and by then I won't have to worry about school anymore!!!

Hike for the Homeless

This past Saturday a couple friends and I did the Hike for the Homeless at Estrella Mountain. The whole hike was a total of 6 miles.

So basically with the Climb to Conquer Cancer last week and the Hike for the Homeless this week, you could say that I'm like a modern day Mother Teressa. Right?

I'm Losing My Mind... Again

When I got home from work today I decided to lay down and take a break before starting on some homework. I laid down on the couch at 7 and woke up at 9:15pm thinking it was morning. I knew I was already late for work but I wasn't ready to wake up yet so I set my alarm on my phone for 9:30am and went back to sleep. I woke up again at 10:15 (still pm) and got really frustrated wondering why my alarm didn't wake me up. I text my boss and told her I was sorry for sleeping in and that I'd be at work soon. When she text back a confused response I then realized my embarrassing mistake and had to explain to her what had happened. She... and her whole family, who she was with at the time of all the texting... got a good laugh... As I'm sure will all my co-workers will when the story gets passed around work tomorrow.

If you have been keeping up with my blog since the early stages you might recall a similar story when I woke up at night in a panic to get to school for a test.

I must be going crazy... or need a break from school and work

The Triple C

Today I participated in the Climb to Conquer Cancer with some friends from work. It was a five and a half mile hike up South Mountain with hundreds of other people wearing purple shirts. When we finally made it to the top (2 and a half hours later), Ron Hoon from Fox 10 News put a sticker on me. It was a beautiful day for a hike... but I think I may be sore tomorrow.

The Reason I Don't Blog So Much Anymore...

Meet Ben...

Ben has been keeping me occupied for the last couple of months... but he left on Saturday to go backpacking in New Zealand for an undetermined amount of time (3 months at the most).

Stella's Blessing

I spent this last weekend at a cabin in Pinetop with some friends. I knew that Mike and Stephanie were planning on blessing Stella on Sunday at 11am so I made sure with my friends before going up that we would be back in time for it. It's a three hour drive from Pinetop to Mesa so I told everyone that we would need to leave the cabin by 7am at the very latest but of course time deadlines are almost never met when traveling. We ended up leaving at 7:30am.

The road conditions were the worst I have ever been in. First of all, its hard enough driving on those winding mountain roads as it is, then you add in a down pour of rain, extremely bad visibility (it was VERY foggy) and giant rocks in the road. Those roadway signs that say "Watch For Rocks" had no meaning until now. I'm not even joking we went around two very large boulders that were at least four to five feet tall and just as wide.

Then at 10am traffic just completely stopped. There were about a quarter mile of cars ahead of me but with the foggy sky and the curvy mountain road we couldn't tell what was happening. Before I was stressed and couldn't do anything but laugh from all these elements working against me and my driving. Then when we weren't moving at all I was upset, we found out that it was a rock slide that was blocking traffic in both directions. I thought for sure I wouldn't make it to the blessing. Then after about ten minutes of waiting a plow truck came and moved all the rocks to one side of the road and we were able to start moving again

When we got passed that point Briley called her sister and she offered to meet us at a gas station off the freeway so that I wouldn't have to drive all the way into Queen Creek to drop the other 4 passengers in my car. When we unloaded all their stuff I took off again with less than 15 minutes before the start of their sacrament meeting... (not to mention I've had to pee for the last two and a half hours, but there is no time for that)

I made it to the church building at 11:05, parked on the street and ran into the church building... still in my jeans and sweater, no make-up on, and my greasy unwashed hair pulled back in a pony tail. I walked to the very back of the cultural hall and sat down to hear the very end of the opening prayer. The bishop then stands up and invites Mike and the other priesthood holders in my family to the front to bless Stella.

I barely made it!