Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Chasing Butterflies

Sunday night was kind of exciting as we packed our backpacks and made our school lunches. As much fun as we've had all Summer, I've really been missing my structured and scheduled school life. The first day of classes was...stressful. I'm packing every hour possible with credits in order to push myself and try to graduate by April. Doable? Yes. Survivable? Debatable. But regardless of all the stress and work this semester is going to bring, I'm starting to get really sad about leaving BYU. Granted...I still have two whole semesters, 8 whole months, and a whole lot of homework and test in between...but I just love it here and don't want to leave. Hopefully by April I'll be ready to let go.

I'm taking some "very procrastinated" freshman generals this semester, and with those generals, comes a lot of freshman. I smiled pretty big when there were only about 5 of us seniors in American Heritage with 250 students. Oh, did I mention that in 3 of my GE classes I was hit on by 18 year old freshman boys? Obviously they didn't see my wedding ring, but it was pretty fun to see their faces when I told them I was a senior. They felt pretty stupid, poor boys. But I'll take the compliments said that I looked like a freshman.

I sat by a freshman girl in chemistry, which turned out to be her first class on her first day of college. She was really bubbly and asked if I didn't mind giving her recommendations on teachers and classes to take. We talked for about 15 minutes as she took down notes of everything I said. It wasn't until after class that a lot of things started hitting me. Was it really FOUR years ago that I was that little freshman sitting in a room of 200 strangers and feeling a little new and scared? I remember being in her exact shoes, asking for teachers, help to and from classes, getting lost a lot, not knowing what words like "blackboard" and "iclicker" were. And now here I am, four years later. I don't feel old, and I don't feel like this is really my fourth year here.

It started sinking in even more when I walked into my chemistry lab and turned to find a guy who was one of my close friends freshman year sitting next to me. He had just returned from his mission 1 month ago, and he was in disbelief that I was a senior, graduating, and married. It was a lot of fun to catch up and laugh about all our good memories freshman year. I just don't want to believe my time here is on the downhill.

There are so many incredible things I have experienced here. BYU truly has shaped my character and my testimony, and made me much more of a person that I was four years ago when I stepped onto campus. I've learned so much more about life, about the gospel, about the world, about education, about families, about serving, and most importantly...about myself. It's astounding.

I've been so stressed trying to figure out my schedule and fit in all my classes and credits to graduate. I've been so uptight about making everything work, but the past few days have really got me realizing that everything will work out the way it needs to. As long as I'm living right and working as hard as I can, everything else will fall into place. A really neat quote I heard a few weeks ago went something like, "Stop chasing the butterflies and trying to catch them in a net; instead, STOP, and let them land on your shoulder." I want to make these next few months the most incredible I can. I want to take life a day at a time and simply STOP to enjoy every moment. Whether those moments are hard, or sad, or happy, I am willing to take on whatever comes my way. I want to make these last two semesters at BYU memorable so I don't look back and regret them. Being at BYU is such an incredible priviledge and I am so grateful that God planned BYU into my life experiences.


Sunday, August 26, 2012

Weddings? I love weddings!

Ever since planning my own wedding, I'm in love with them. I love all the little details that go into them! This Summer so many of my best friends got engaged while I was gone, and now I'm back and they're already getting married! I'm just so grateful for the wonderful friends in my life. They have taught me so much and made me who I am today. Last night we got to attend Jessica and Tyler's reception! They both were glowing the entire night and it made me so happy inside to watch them interact with each other and everyone there. I've known Jessica since my first day of college at BYU. Ever since knowing her, she has never stopped smiling. I love her enthusiasm and optimism for life! She is an incredibly hard worker, a true and dedicated friend, a listener, and one of the most incredible and FUN people I know! I feel so fortunate to have her in my life! Jessica and Tyler truly are a match made in Heaven and I'm so excited that they've taken that huge leap of faith and joined the married world! Here's to all our fun memories thus far...
Our first Christmas Around the World!
Friend lunch parties!
Our first Dinner-Dance!
Our first Folk Dance Opening Social as cave women...when you ate chicken and wore the bone in your hair as part of your costume! I'll never stop smiling about that!
Our second Christmas Around the World!

Those nastily heavy Polish Costumes!
We're dorks...and I love it!
Remember how LONG that Turkish show was at Kingsburry Hall? We spent half that show outside playing in the wind with our scarves!
When we dressed up as the "Silly Girls" for Beauty and the Beast!
Here's us pooped after our 2nd Homecoming Parade!
Our 2nd Dinner-Dance!
Spring festival of nations...?
St. Patty's Day!
Do you remember when we snuck into Eric and Jay's room to decorate it? And then played with their stuff....
We're so SNEAKY...
"I lost my shorts and I'm NOT going back in to get them!" Favorite memory of that weekend. The end.
That entire weekend was nothing but FUN!
I remember being so scared and nervous while we were hiking some of those steep red rocks, and you would just jump from one to another and then scale the wall like it was no big deal. I love how fearless you are!
Remember playing in this gazebo and then getting in trouble because we were barefoot and our feet were black? Weird because a few months later I ended up getting engaged in this same gazebo.
And then....I got married in that temple behind us. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have gone on this trip...and who knows how my life would have turned out.

Remember all the sneaking around at night to take pictures of the animals? The nerf war? And the forever clogged toilet? I still don't know if I told Eric about that.
SPAC tour was pretty much the best. Here's a really funny picture I just found of us!
Thank YOU for setting up my reception with all my bridesmaids and making everything so perfect!
My mom STILL TO THIS DAY says you're the best bow tier she's ever seen!
You're beautiful inside and out and I'm so grateful you were one of my bridesmaids!!!
I was so happy when you guys agreed to come to Moab with us! Remember how we stayed up all night talking about you wanting to get engaged? And then the next day, YOU DID!
And now you're MARRIED and so grown up!
Jessica, I just love who you are and everything about you! Thank you for being such a wonderful friend and example in my life. I can't wait for all the fun memories that await us!

My Golden Birthday

On August 21st I turned 21 years old! I'm not going to lie, I feel really old now. I've taken a step into the next big decade and am now legal to do a lot of things like rent cars and get a drivers license that is actually horizontal instead of vertical! I'd been in Provo for a week alone for dance rehearsals while Eric went on a trip to California with the family. We were both really REALLY missing each other, so words cannot describe how excited I was when he showed up Tuesday night after my rehearsals! I opened my front door to see my sweetheart holding a dozen beautiful roses!


The rest of the night was perfect. Eric took me out to dinner to my favorite restaurant here in Provo, The Indian Palace! The food was DELICIOUS, but the best part was all the smiles and laughs we shared as we caught up and he told me about his past week in Disney Land.

 After dinner Eric gave me a slow dance to our song, "That's All", and then he made me a gluten free chocolate cake while I started a movie we rented. I was extremely surprised and happy when Scott showed up with a present for me...
 21 golden balloons for my golden 21st birthday! After visiting and catching up with Scott, who we missed a ton this Summer, Eric finished the cake...while hiding it from my view. I noticed four boxes of candles sitting on the counter, each with 24 candles, and asked Eric why he got so many (thinking he didn't realize there were 24 per box...). He smiled and said, "You'll see." When he turned off the lights and let me see the cake for the first time, I realized why he'd gotten so many candle boxes.

 He'd dug out all the golden candles from each box so that he could put 21 golden candles on my cake that he'd cut to look like this...

All I had wanted was to finally be home in our apartment with my very missed sweetheart and everything had been perfect. Eric told me he would continue my birthday surprises on Saturday when my rehearsals were done. Can I just say he is so thoughtful and sweet?

Saturday rolled around and Eric surprised me with a picnic and games up Provo Canyon. It was so refreshing to enjoy the mountain air and see all the beautiful trees that are ALREADY starting to turn colors (Is it really almost Fall? Time is flying by...).








After our picnic Eric took me shopping and told me to "get whatever you want love". How often is a girl told that? We had a good time laughing and going in and out of stores. I love spending time with my man and love how good he is to me. Thanks Eric for giving me such a special golden birthday!

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

The most incredible year of my life

Two weeks ago Eric and I celebrated our one year anniversary while visiting Kiev, Ukraine. I did a lot of reflecting and reminiscing on the past year we've shared together. It truly has been the most incredible year of my life. Together we have experienced so many incredible moments and learned so many valuable lessons. We have seen and been so many places since we started planning our lives together. Here's some of the highlights we've shared together thus far...
It started out with a fun trip over President's Day weekend with our best friends to Las Vegas!
Went back to Las Vegas for Easter...
Came back with a ring on my finger!
Toured for 6 weeks around Utah, Illinois, Iowa and Missouri with the BYU Folk Dance program!
Got married August 6th in Las Vegas!

Flew to Miami, Florida after our reception!

Went Cave Tubing in Belize!

Snorkeled and swam with sting rays in the Cayman Islands!
Kayaked in Roatan!
Visited ancient Mayan Ruins in Tulum, Mexico!
Visited Honduras!
Spent Thanksgiving in Washington with my family! 

Went zip-lining in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico!
Went kayaking and snorkeling in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico!
Visited Lovers Beach in Mexico!
Celebrated New Years on our Christmas Cruise heading back to Las Angeles!
Vacationed a few days in Prauge, Czech Republic!
Visited some really beautiful places like Warsaw and Krakow, Poland!
Toured for 3 weeks with Clog America and got to dance together for thousands of people, make friends from all over the world, and do a lot of neat humanitarian projects while there!
After tour we stayed an extra 3 weeks and sight saw all of Europe...starting with Germany!
Fell in love with Salzburg, Austria!
Visited the famous Vienna, Austria!
Our favorite place in Europe was Budapest, Hungary!
Visited Dracula's castle in Bran, Romania...and yes, we got a little cheesy!
Attended a Ukrainian Dance Camp in Kiev, Ukraine and celebrated our 1 year anniversary!
Ended our 6 week trip by flying through London and running into a few Olympic athletes and a LOT of travelers!
I'm so grateful for a wonderful and incredible husband who spoils me and is always there loving and supporting me. He truly is my biggest cheerleader and motivator when life gets hard. He has made me such a bigger person and taught me so many things about myself and life. Marrying you Eric was truly the best decision I ever made. I love you.