Pics are up!!

So I've posted many posts with the promise of pics to come... I've finally uploaded them all from my camera, so this will be one long post due to lots of pictures to catch up on:

Our trip to Oregon:

My absolute favorite restaurant (House of Good Fortune)

The Oregon Coast (Newport Bay):

Newport Aquarium:

My new friend... Arghh!

Al's going scooba diving



...and the sharks. Swam right above us!




Sting Rays 




Blank Stare...?



duhhh..... huh?!

Touched awesomely colorful starfish

Touched an anemone!

Sea Horses - So cool!

Sea Quills (I think?)

Found a pearl in the oyster!

 My old house:

still all the same landscape

Cannon Beach (one of my absolute favorite places with one of my absolute favorite people):

so glad i got to share this experience with him

held so many tiny hermit crabs

it was dead... :(

real natural anemones... we touched these too!

two years without my rock are going to be the hardest ever...

oregon sunset

love sunsets on the beach

Oregon State Fair:

so cute!!

stayin warm...fashionably...

secret combinations

haha i didn't hit it very hard...

my stud won this ...squirrel... for me

i want these pajamas!

MORE CANNON BEACH:

haystack rock

love him so much!!

we told them to hug each other and this is what we got...

finally captured the hug :)

sand chairs... actually pretty comfortable

he's my best friend...

...what more can i say?!

TRIP TO UTAH SAND DUNES:

dinner... brought and cooked steak on a portable stove. it was good!

skewered with the marshmallow skewer

enjoying his s'mores

WHAT AN AWESOME SUMMER.... CAN'T WAIT TO HAVE ANOTHER ONE OF THESE WITH THE LOVE OF MY LIFE WHEN HE GETS BACK FROM HIS MISSION!

At it again... Venting time...

So... this happens again and again without fail. Ever since my freshman year when I was sick and out of school for a month, and my immune system got very weak...

I'm a procrastinator. Well aware of it. But after a while of staying up late nights to finish assignments that could have been done weeks ago, I wear myself down and get sick... So I have to miss some school. Then I go back to school, am overwhelmed by everything that I missed, and shut down. Then I get further behind, and it takes me about a month to get over whatever sickness I have because I seem to catch one thing after another for a while.

I'm in the "about-to-show-up-to-classes-after-missing-a-week-straight" phase, and am well aware of how far I'm going to be behind in everything.

I'm sure I'm failing all my classes right now, and am going to get in trouble with my parents, if not kicked out of school. I no longer have a car because the dealership that sold it to us, brilliant people that they are, were not allowed to sell us the car because a lady gave it to them on trade in but then could not get approved for a loan on the new car she wanted, so she demanded her car back, and the dealership threatened to call the cops on us and everything if we didn't return the car. Legally, Al and I did not have to give it back since we had the contract that clearly stated it was ours, but it was a gas guzzler and no longer made sense to keep it with Al going on his mission for two years and all.  The dealership just had no right in harassing us the way they did and just made for an all around horrific situation.

I still have no clue what I'm doing for next semester: Al's leaving for his mission on May 4th, and I'd love to spend every minute I can with him until then, but my parents do not have the funds to put me through another semester of college, especially when I'm not going to be graduating from that school, but they said they don't want me to just sit around Utah and work for a semester because they don't want to pay for my rent if I'm not going to school... though I'm trying to convince them that it's the cheapest option that will still keep me happy. Once again, things are up in the air, and I have to wait again for other people to decide my fate...

Just gotta keep plugging along...

Awesome Quotes from the Day

So I used to be obsessed with quotes, but have left them in the dust lately.  Today, I've been reintroduced to the magical world of words. Here's some of my favorites:

LIFE ISN'T ABOUT WAITING FOR THE STORM TO PASS...

IT'S LEARNING HOW TO DANCE IN THE RAIN !

 

'To get something you never had, you have to do something you  never did.'

 

When God takes something from your grasp,

He's not  punishing you, but merely opening your hands to receive something better.

 

 

'The will of God will never take  you where the Grace of God will not protect you.' 

 

 

 

There comes a point in your life when you realize:

Who matters,

Who never did,

Who won't anymore...

And who always will.

So, don't worry about people from your past,

there's a reason why they didn't make it to your future.

Life is like a game of cards. The hand that is dealt you represents determinism; the way you play it is free will.

 

 

The best relationship is not the one that brings together perfect people, but the best is when each individual learns to live with the imperfections of others and can admire the other person's good qualities.

 

And one funny story to go along with this...

 

FLORIDA COURT SETS ATHEIST HOLY DAY

In Florida , an atheist created a case against the upcoming Easter and Passover holy days. He hired an attorney to bring a discrimination case against Christians and Jews and observances of their holy days. The argument was that it was unfair that atheists had no such recognized days.

The case was brought before a judge. After listening to the passionate presentation by the lawyer, the judge banged his gavel declaring, "Case dismissed!"

The lawyer immediately stood objecting to the ruling saying, "Your honor, how can you possibly dismiss this case? The Christians have Christmas, Easter and others. The Jews have Passover, Yom Kippur and Hanukkah, yet my client and all other atheists have no such holidays."

The judge leaned forward in his chair saying, "But you do. Your client, counsel, is woefully ignorant."

The lawyer said, "Your Honor, we are unaware of any special observance or holiday for atheists."

The judge said, "The calendar says April 1st is April Fools' Day. Psalm 14:1 states, 'The fool says in his heart, there is no God.' Thus, it is the opinion of this court, that, if your client says there is no God, then he is a fool. Therefore, April 1st is his day. Court is adjourned."

You gotta love a Judge that knows his scripture!



The speed of light

That's how I feel like life is going right now... I haven't even had time to update in so long! Chris, my brother got married to Tiffany Petersen almost two weeks ago  (October 9th)!!! and then my cousin Reed finally got married last week to Kamie Jo!  Super excited for both of them, and also super jealous. I just wanna be married already!!  But now that's not going to happen for over 2 years!

Al and I have been talking a lot lately and we both decided together that he needs to serve a mission.  So some time in March or early April (at the latest) he'll be heading to the MTC for three months and then it's off to Oslo, Norway!!!! I'm so excited for him and proud that he made this decision.  It will be a long hard two years while he's gone but we've promised to write every week to each other and I've promised to wait for him.  He'll already have bought my engagement ring before he leaves, but we're waiting until after he gets back to be engaged... It will be so much more rewarding and it will give us such a stronger relationship together as we get to bond spiritually through letters while he's serving. I just really love him and can't wait to get married to him as soon as possible when he gets back.

Before all this talk of a mission came up, Al and I just bought a yellow Nissan Xterra together.  It's such a sweet car! we took it mudding (or digging as the people of Utah call it) up in the mountains with it and got it all muddy. It was awesome!! But my mom just found out that we actually put the car in both of our names, and I think she's stressing out about it for some reason? I don't know.

While Al's on his mission, though, I'm going to move back to Texas and get my two year nursing degree.  That way I will be done with that part of schooling and will be able to already have a job by the time Al gets home and gets in school.  I really am convinced that this is the boy for me and can't wait to start our lives together!!! I love him...

The Rich get Richer...

*Pictures coming soon*

So Al and I went to a performance last night that his seven-year-old niece, Sydnee, was in.  It was some random lady that found a bunch of parents and charged $40 a child to put on a play with their kids.  They only rehearsed 3 days and she had 22 students. That's over $800!!! Pretty good money.  The play was absolute chaos when we went to watch it though... backdrops were falling down, kids didn't know their lines, and they were tripping over each other.  The thing that really got me though was the people's house where they performed.  It wasn't a major fancy house but their land was huge. They build a 3-story tree house thing with a twin bed, working ceiling fan and a slide coming off of the top floor.  They had built a soccer/football field with goals and goalposts and a track winding all the way around it. They're also building on another house in their land for one of their children to move into when they get married.  They also have a small putting green and still plenty of space to spare. It was IMPRESSIVE!!

The play was a good attempt though and Sydnee did great :)

Homeward Bound!

Al and I have decided we want to end up in Portland when we get married. So we convinced his parents to take us on a road trip next week so that I can show him all the places I used to live and we can look for apartments to live in. I'm so excited!

His parents didn't have the money to take us though so we cleaned out his garage and some of the basement and put on a yard sale... to our dismay we only sold about $50 worth of stuff... not enough to get us to Oregon. :( We have been putting random money in this five-gallon water jug over the past three months though and had dubbed it our "Marriage Fund". We decided that visiting Oregon was so crucial, though, that we're turning our marriage fund into our "Travel Fund" temporarily. we have about $185 now. Still not enough to get us to and from Oregon, but it's a start...!

I'm way excited to get to see my old friend Lavell on the way through Idaho and my friend Rachel while I'm in Oregon. Her wedding is the same day as my brother's so I'm going to miss it :( Hopefully I'll get to spend a little time with her though and catch up on all the things we've missed over the past year. I really miss both her and Michelle and the friendship we used to have. I love them both!!

So Al and I are taking thursday in my home city to show him my childhood and look at apartments (going to be a busy day!) and then friday we're going to spend the day at Lincoln beach and Newport beach. Saturday we'll make our way up to Cannon beach and then head back to Idaho. We'll get into Utah Sunday afternoon and my classes start Monday morning! Then Monday evening I have to move into my new apartment!! Going to be a crazy week!!!

This week just holds about 45 hours of work in hopes to save up a little more money since we're draining our marriage fund for the trip. Oh what a sad day it is when you have three sources of savings and they're all getting drained before they're supposed to.


I'm still working on getting skinnier before the wedding. I've started doing the Wii fit and DDR. It's been pretty fun :) Al and I were looking into getting P90x but it's super expensive. He found it for free online and is trying to figure out how to download it. A month and a half to go!!

Prove them wrong!

Ok so new plans are in the process of being finalized:

My wedding has now been moved to April (9 MONTHS AWAY!!!!) because my parents want to help pay for it, but with my brother getting married in October, they won't have enough money until then. That seems like forever to wait, but hopefully he'll be able to find a job and we can actually save up some money before the wedding since we're both basically run dry on funds.

I'm way excited for my brother's wedding though. They're super cute together!! They both went to the jewelery store yesterday and purchased their rings together. She just bought all our brides maid's dresses. I'M GOING TO BE A BRIDES MAID! I've never been one before and I'm super excited. The outift was super inexpensive, but I have to get skinnier before I'll feel like I look good in it :) I HAVE TO start eating better and exercising! No question about it. Plus it will be good for me to get that way before I have to get into a wedding dress. I'd be much happier at -20lbs and have 2 months to get there :P

Al and I are staying in Utah for the fall - I'm going to school AND working 20 hrs/week and he's still trying to find a job and plans to work full time during the fall AND winter to save up... I'm scared though cause as much as we need money, we both need to get done with school and on our way. He feels like he can't go through school right now while he's living with his parents though cause they nag him too much. I know he can do it, we've just both slacked this semester and HAVE TO do better from now on! After fall semester I'll move back to Texas to work full time for 3 months and plan the wedding while Al's in Utah... hopefully working and going to school... though he only wants to work and wait until summer to go to school. We'll get married in April in Texas and have a reception and go on a cruise right after. When we get back we'll pack ALL my stuff up and drive to Utah where we'll have another reception, pack up all his things and move out to Oregon where we hope to live for quite a while. On our own. Living our life how we want to while going to Portland State University. The only problem with that is that PSU doesn't have nursing. So I'm not sure what I will do with that becaue I really want to be a nurse. Hopefully Labor and Delivery... I may have to look into more of a medical-based school in Portland.

My parents are still resistant to the idea of us getting married becaue they are so convinced that we will be financially unable to make it. We just have to really step up and prove them wrong...

My mom did agree to go wedding dress shopping with me when she comes to visit in October though which I'm super excited about because there are not many modest dress shops in Texas.