EXCITING NEWS!!!!!!!!!

When I started this blog a year ago, I decided right then and there that I would never put pictures of me with boys that I was dating on it for a couple reasons. The first is because my whole family will see my posts and everyone would be calling me trying to get the latest scoop on my love life, which I usually try to keep on the downlow unless I can tell things are going really well and becoming more serious, then I will tell them more about this boy that I am dating. Sorry fam! I hope that's ok with you!

The second, and final reason is that I didn't want to make a fool of myself! (that's right Sara, I used the word "fool" just for you.... I honestly almost deleted it because I remembered how much you love it ;) ). Let me explain, when I look at other girl's blogs that have pictures of their boyfriends that they have at the time, I think to myself, "Girl, what if you end up breaking up with this boy?! And then what are you going to do about all of these posts? And how are you going to explain to the blogging world (I guess you don't need to, but people will wonder) what happened to this boy that you seemed to be so madly in love with?!" So I came to the ultimate conclusion that I would only put pictures up of me with a boy if things got to be REALLY serious. :) And by REALLY serious....... I mean that

I'M ENGAGED!!!!

So I finally am able to post about a boy (well he doesn't like it when I say boy..... so a "man") that I want to post about and I am SO excited!!! Let me introduce you all to Spencer and tell you a little bit of our story. :) We met at school this past semester in January and went on our first date January 31st. I'm pretty sure it was the best date I have ever been on and I'll tell you why. Well, first of all, I was super excited about it because I had thought that he was so cute since the very first day I saw him (I know... kinda mushy...but it's true so I'm gonna tell it how it is). So naturally I didn't want to give myself much hope because I thought he was really cute but I didn't think he would even talk to me and I was sure he would never ask me out on a date! So I decided that he was just going to be a cute boy to look at if I ever got bored in class! (I swear BYU is making more girly the longer I am there haha). Well, little did I know that those first couple weeks in class, he had wanted to talk to me, but never found a time that wasn't awkward or stalkerish to do so.... so we finally met on January 27th after class that night which is kind of a funny story in itself.
I was walking home from our class, which was a night class so it was dark outside. All of the sudden, I heard someone yell my name... and it kind of freaked me out because it was dark and I was really really out of it because I woke up sick that day. So I turned around and saw that it was him... but I was so shocked that he was actually talking to me; AND I couldn't believe he knew my name!! So I just stood there not knowing what to say. :) So he yelled back to me, "Don't freak out!... My name is Spencer and I'm in your class... I was just wondering if you wanted a ride home?" I didn't really know what to do because I really wasn't very far from my apartment and I didn't want to look lazy by taking the ride, but I took it anyway :) We drove around and talked for about 45 minutes and it was SO fun! By the time I got out of the car we had set up a date for Saturday night.

So, about our date. Let me explain why it was the best date I've been on..... He picked me up and we went to Gandolpho's for some yummy food and then headed up to Park City. It was so much fun though because I had no idea where why we were going up there. We were doubling with another couple that was in the back seat of the car and Spencer made them promise not to tell me where we were going so I was really excited because I LOVE surprises! :) So we finally got there and we went to a Ski competition! It was SO cool!!! Now it was the best date because for the first time in FOREVER, I've actually been excited to go on a first date! I usually hate first dates and I can't even tell you the last time that I was excited to go on one. And I got really nervous...usually I get nervous because I worry that it will be awkward, but this time it was a different nervous... it was a good nervous, like a giddy nervous! And that NEVER happens to me! On top of that, he was super cute! AND we talked the ENTIRE night and it never once got awkward, and that's saying a lot because usually I feel like when I'm on a date, I have to struggle to find something to talk about with the guy that asked me out. Anyways.... that pretty much took up our night and we went back to Provo and he took me back to my apartment by midnight and I didn't even say anything about that! Huge brownie points there. :) That's because I had recently been on extremely long dates that I didn't necessarily want to be on... were talking 8 hour long dates that go until 2-3 AM!!!!! Even after I told them multiple times that I needed to be home by 12 because of things that I needed to do the next day. So by that point I had kind of given up on boys.... and I finally found one that seemed normal in all sense of the word. Finally! :)

So after that date we pretty much saw each other everyday since then until now! (because I'm not in Provo :( ). So there's our story of how we met... the story about how he proposed has to come later when I get those pictures too. :) But I'm so excited and can't wait for JULY!

The Wedding.... Part II

The next weekend, Paul, Lindsay, and I flew to Oregon for the reception there.  It was SO fun to go home and see everyone again!  Mom had a few people in our ward decorate the house... and it was AMAZING!  The house looked so beautiful and so did Lindsay...here she is walking down the stairs :)

Yay!  I love girl time in the girl's bathroom. :)  Here we are getting ready for the night!

Aunt Darlene came down to help my Mom with the food... which by the way was so good.  They slaved away all day to make some delicious food for the night.  There were so many treats and appetizers.  Aunt Darlene spent a lot of the time making the groom's cake...which is this really rich chocolate cake that is super tall and yummy!  I wish I would have taken a picture of it after it was all done.

I had to add in this last picture that I should have put in the last post.  This is my absolute favorite picture of the day.  We haven't had pictures with just us kids for a while and I LOVE this one!  Thank you for getting married Paul so we could have a reason to all get back together for a weekend! ;)  I love every single one of my brothers and sisters and I seriously don't know what I would do without them!  

The Wedding.... Part I

Mom and Dad took most of us kids.. at least the ones that didn't have to watch the little kiddos ... to Denny's the night before the wedding after the "bachelor" party. :)  Here is the last picture that I will ever have with Paul and I while we are both still unmarried!!!  Now it's just Rebekah and I!  

Here's little Mikey the day of the wedding!  I had to post this pic because he is just too cute in his little bear outfit!

The happy couple!  Actually this picture is from a week before the wedding... my friend Monica came into Utah to visit me and we went to Temple Square for the day and look who we ran into taking their bridals!!!  It was so fun!

Now here they are coming out of the temple.... Mr. and Mrs. Paul and Lindsay Brems :)  So cute!  We LOVE Lindsay!!!  They are so perfect for each other!

The Brems bridesmaids.... we loved our flowers and dresses!  I love getting to be a bridesmaid so many times with all of my brothers and sisters getting married....its so FUN!

JB and Melinda.... the cutest picture ever!

Kirsten was such a model that night... this girl is so hilarious and I miss her!  She has such a fun personality and is SO STINKING CUTE!!!  She was totally posing for every camera that came her way!

Melinda and Rebekah getting yummy dessert!

Some of the sisters...plus little Jakie :)

And of course..... the car.... Lindsay's family did a pretty good job decorating for them to drive around in.  

PINK EYE!!!

When Paul, Lindsay and I flew home for the wedding reception in Oregon, we came home and poor little ReBekAh had PINK EYE!!  I couldn't believe it!  It was so sad because the night before we knew that she had it, we were talking about how sad it would be if she woke up with a goober eye :)  Sadly enough, she did!  She was such a good sport letting me take pictures of her.... and I had decided to keep these pictures away from the blogging world, until today.  You see, yesterday afternoon, I kept having weird tons of gunk come out of my eye and I was SO confused!  TONS were coming out and I was so grossed out!!!  Well, sure enough, I have PINK EYE. :(  I don't know how I got it, but I have it!  So for that very reason, I decided to post these pictures of our adventure at home.  (I would post pictures of me except that I don't really know where my camera is right this very second.... Sorry Babe! :) )  So here she is the morning of... after she went to the doctor.

Even with a lazy pink eye.... our little Babe STILL manages to look so beautiful in the morning! 

Here's the rest of us the morning of the reception.  We were making yummy turtle pretzels... and Rebekah was banned from helping with the food at all :)  She just directed us in how to make these yummy treats!

Apparently this is the solution to getting your eye unglued.... Johnson's baby wash.  Since I don't have any of this, water and a Q-tip will have to do. :)

BYU...Here She Comes!!

The CRAZY girl was in Provo!

I know, can you believe it?!  One of my good friends Monica came to Provo at the beginning of January and it was her first time in Utah!  She's going to school right now at the University of Miami, but she had a longer Winter Break than I did, so she came to see what Provo was like and why the heck I loved this cold, snowy place so much! :)  Monica and I basically grew up together in Oregon through gymnastics.  I'm pretty sure we officially met sometime while we were in middle school when we merged into the same work out group in level 7.  At that time there were about 20 girls in our work out group which means we had lots of friends to go play with everyday at gym!  Talk about fun!  Over the next few years as Monica and I started high school, those girls that were once in our group started dropping like flies!  They either got injured and had to stop gymnastics, moved too far away from Portland, or just decided that they didn't like the sport anymore and quit.  Gymnastics is not a sport to just stay in because you like the friends or because you like to go every once in a while.... were talkin four hour practices four to five days a week, multiple injuries at once (not to mention, your body feels like its going to fall apart during and after almost EVERY practice, yet you still have to keep going or hours of conditioning is your fate :) )  and crazy head games from being terrified to throw your body around on a hard piece of wood thats only four inches wide.  But as crazy as it sounds... we still LOVED it!  Monica and I stuck together and starting in probably our Sophomore year of high school became really close friends.  We ended up being the last two girls out of our group of 20 that stuck through the sport until we graduated.  Monica and I have been there through each other's most difficult times during our high school years (and most of those difficult times involved gymnastics because ...well at least I didn't have much of a life outside of the sport).  During those years, we traveled together all over the United States, laughed so hard that we thought our stomachs would pop, cried until there were no more tears, and pushed each other to be our very best everyday.  I honestly don't know how I would have made it through gymnastics without her, especially during the times of my injury.  That was one of the most difficult times in my life so far, and Monica was there with an encouraging word through it all.  We will definitely be best friends for years to come and I am so lucky to claim her as a friend!  So thank you Monica!!!  You are one of the best friends that anyone could ask for... and I'm SO HAPPY YOU CAME TO PROVO TO VISIT ME!!!! 

Wasatch Elementary School...it was FREEZING!!

She came on a PERFECT week!  President Monson came to speak to us in the Marriott Center AND Elder Holland all while she was here!  They were both absolutely amazing if you can imagine.  By the way, I would encourage you all to listen to or read Elder Holland's talk that he just gave at BYU on Tuesday, January 13, 2008.  I don't think it is up yet...but if you can, watch it because it just makes it SO much better!  He is amazing!

This was her first time in Utah so we went to Temple Square and ate at The Garden, which was delicious (my first time), and then we went and watched the Joseph Smith movie in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.  I think that was my fifth time seeing it and I swear it is just as good every time!  

She is the best!  I think we were asked at least five times if we were sisters... it was pretty funny because we always get that!  

Christmas Treats :)

The amazing chef's!!

Kirsten thought it was SO funny that I wanted to use a stool to stir the rice krispies!  I didn't think it was that funny...but then again I do it all the time when I'm at home.  For goodness sakes people, when your a little on the short side, your arm starts hurting from holding it up so high after a while!

Making the Treats:

Step One:  Make Rice Krispie Treats just like it says on the box.  Then use either automotive funnels, or sometimes they have baking wear funnels that would work, and fill up the rice krispies all the way to the top of the funnel.  Then let them cool until they have settled a little bit.

Step Two:  Lay them flat on a piece of aluminum foil.

Step Three:  Wrap up your little hershey kisses!

Step Four:  Last but not least, make a little tag on them, just like on a real hershey kiss.  Our says "hugs and kisses," but it could say anything you want!

While we were making the hershey kisses, Kirst and I decided that this was the first time we had made Christmas treats without our mothers since we've been away from home!! :(  I remember helping my Mom make Christmas Wreaths for people and delivering them to our neighbors and home teachers, which I was informed they did just the other night!  But I guess life moves on and now it's my turn to make Christmas treats on my own...but at least I have fun people to make them with!  We delivered them last night and we got some pretty funny looks which was actually really funny... but oh well!  We got a good laugh out of it. :)  So Merry Christmas to you all and I love you a bunches!

FINALS WEEK!

Here is the countdown as of yesterday....

And here is the countdown as of Today! (Monday)

Finals week is finally here!  That's not usually what I say when Finals week comes around, but this time I am actually excited to take my finals, as weird as that may sound!  So this morning I put up my new "Finals Countdown" so I know exactly what I have left. :)  To be honest, I am just super excited to go see my family for Christmas time and can't wait to get to Arizona and the sooner I take my finals, the sooner I will allow myself to start daydreaming about playing with my family!!  Oh man..... It's going to be SO great! 

* Oh and just incase you were wondering, I will post another Finals Week post when I am all done!  Just because I'm excited :)  Love you all!