She's alive!

Some of you might have thought I fell off the face of the earth and died because I haven't been posting anything in the last forever. But have no fear! I am back from the dead! 

I am currently in PARIS, FRANCE for a six week study abroad, and it's a dream come true, except for the fact that I'm not here with the one person I want to be with. 

But again, have no fear! Because a month after I return, I will be marrying this wonderful love of my life!

I cannot wait to marry him and be sealed to him forever and eternity. That's one of my favorite things about the gospel: eternal families. If you have the opportunity to be sealed to your spouse and family forever, even after death, then why wouldn't you take it? Family is the most important thing in this life and in society, and if they are the one thing you love the most, wouldn't you want to be with them after death? It's an incredible blessing that strengthens marriages and families, and it's a wonderful comfort in times of sorrow when a loved one is lost, because you know that you will see them again someday. They are not lost, but you will be with them again. It's all part of the plan of happiness given by our loving Heavenly Father, and it truly does bring the greatest happiness in life. 

 I can't wait to be with him forever. 

So now let me tell you the story of a boy and girl who fell in love. 

There once was a girl who didn't know what to do with her life, especially when it came to boys. She had been waiting for a missionary for almost a year, but things were not working out and she wasn't sure what how to move on. She came to a point where she felt she had learned what she needed to from this experience and it was time to move on. Turns out it was a mutual thing, and they are still friends, but the girls moved on. 

By this point, it was summer and the girl had moved to a new apartment. She worked on campus, and traveled Europe with her parents. One day, she went to family home evening and met a new guy who was staying with the boys in her group while he waited to move in. His name was Bryce. She thought he was cute, and a fun person to talk to, but he was dating someone at the time. 

A couple weeks later, school had started, and there was a birthday party for a friend in our apartment complex. The girl went and saw Bryce there. They spent some good time talking and getting to know each other, and she discovered that he was now single! A couple days later, he came over and asked her on a date. She said yes. 

The first date went well, and the girl had a great time. She became interested in getting to know him even more. Every day for the first week after that date they were together, and the girl took great initiative to invite him to activities and events where they could spend time together (which was a good thing because the boy wasn't sure if the girl was interested after the first date!).  

This boy and girl went on a date together every Friday, officially, and spend all the other days of the week together as well, doing other activities, talking, and exploring. After seeing each other every day for a few months, this boy and girl became very good friends. 

The girl was interested in dating him exclusively, but he wanted to make sure. He was dating for marriage and didn't want to jump into something only to have it not work out. Dating for marriage didn't scare the girl, and she waited patiently for him to be ready to date too. 

In mid-October, the boy and girl became an official couple after a Friday-night date where he held her hand for the first time. 

About a week later, they shared their first kiss together.  

Before they had to part ways and go home for Christmas, he had told her he loved her, and she loved him back. Until the day he left for Christmas, they had spent every day together since the beginning of September. They missed each other over the break, but made sure to call each other and keep in touch. Those two weeks felt like forever, but once again they returned back to school and were together once more.  

Over the next four months, their relationship progressed and they soon discovered that they didn't want to be with anyone else for the rest of their lives, and marriage became a very popular subject.  The girl was very excited about the idea of marrying this incredible young man, but there came a time when she became fearful, wondering if she was ready and prepared to be married. 

After spending a long time praying, she took a day to fast, ponder, pray, and visit the temple to ask for guidance. As she sat there in the peaceful temple, she asked Heavenly Father if getting married now was right for her, and if she was ready. As she sat there, a feeling of peace came over her as a voice inside her said, "You know the answer. You have asked before, and it is ultimately your choice. You know that this choice is a good choice." It was very  similar to the answer she had received when she prayed to know if the Book of Mormon was true after reading it all the way through the first time: You already know.  So then and there, she knew. She wanted to marry him, and she knew he was good to her and for her, and with the way their relationship was and by making it a 3-way relationship with the Lord, she knew we could not fail. So the girl told the boy that she was ready to marry him, and they started preparing. 

Not too long after that, the girls parents were in town to drop off her sister at the Missionary Training Center to serve and LDS mission in Chicago. While they were there, the boy talked with the girl's father and asked his permission to marry his daughter. The next week was anguish to her as she waited for the proposal. 

A week and a half later, it was his birthday. They spent all day together - getting free food, eating cake, going for a bike ride, and going to the Salt Flats. They arrived at sunset, and it was incredibly beautiful. They walked around together, and not too long after arriving, the boy got down on one knee, pulled out a ring, and asked her to marry him. She said yes! 

this was taken by an observing photographer right after he proposed.

he came over and took some pictures of us

Now, the boy and the girl and happily preparing for their wedding in July, one month after she returns from being in Paris for six weeks. They talk often while she is away, using email and google chat, and it's her favorite time of the week when she gets to video chat with him and see his handsome smiling face. 

So that's what I've been up to the last while, and I'll try and be better about updating as things go along and I start this new chapter in life with my wonderful finance. 

Forever is just the beginning.

Hey I'm 20....weird.

So earlier this month I celebrated my last day as an official teenager, and my first day being 20! That's so weird to me, I feel like I've done too much in life already to just be 20. Not that I'm complaining about being young! So Megan and Brady invited us to their home for the weekend cause lucky enough our birthday fell on a Saturday. Not only was it an awesome offer because then we wouldn't be stuck in Provo doing nothing, but it was probably one of the last times we'll see them for a while since they now moved another 2 more hours away. Needless to say, it was a very wonderful weekend. 

Saturday, they had a yard sale, when it was 100+ outside, so we helped out with that and got to play with the kids. 

Brady and Tom had some fun boardin around

After the yard sale, Megan and Brady took us out for lunch and ice cream and we spent some time at home just hanging out, watching the Incredibles, and playing with the kids. 

Tom cleaning mommy's dirty feet

For dinner we made homemade pizza, and then brownies with cookies and cream ice cream - only the best! It was delicious to say the least. Then when the kids were asleep, Megan had some sparklers for us that we used to celebrate. 

We had a wizard fight.

On Sunday, we played in the morning (meaning I pretty much chased Tom around the house all morning), went to church, then played together some more and had dinner. 

Tom is getting really good at soccer

He also danced around for a good 20 minutes or so and that was so fun to watch

That pretty much sums up the birthday celebration! I don't feel any different being 20, but it's just weird to think that I'm just getting older and getting that much closer to when I'll be taking the next steps in life. Thanks Megan, Brady, Tom and Ella for a wonderful birthday. Love you guys!!

Bah said the sheep

I think Aurland was one of my favorite places to stay- it was so country-like. There we were, in this little town, staying in a cottage on the edge of the fjords, surrounded by old little houses, a little church, and a hundred sheep farms.  It was extremely quiet and relaxing, and simply breathtaking.  Our first day was only about half the day since we did the Nutshell ride that morning, so we just explored the little town and had an extremely delicious rib-eye steak dinner at the ‘hotel’ restaurant. Mmmm. It was fun because they had a mini jukebox in there, and dad was trying to play “Bohemian  Rhapsody” by Queen, but 3 times, he pushed the wrong buttons and got “Living on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi. Every time. Bridget and I finally got it right. Needless to say, that is now the only Bon Jovi song any of us will listen to because it reminds us of that good time.  

The dessert at the restaurant. SO good

Our cottage

Our first full day there was Sunday.  We had breakfast at the ‘hotel’ place, and it was…different. There was fresh bread, crackers, slices of meat and cheese, cucumbers and tomatoes, a dish of cold halibut with vinegar and onions, and Norwegian brown cheese. It was an interesting combo for breakfast, definitely not what I’m used to or was expecting.  Brown cheese was probably the weirdest thing I ate there: it’s thinly sliced and has kind of a caramel smell. It almost instantly dissolves in your mouth, but kind of sticks to your mouth like caramel or peanut butter. It’s really hard to describe, but that’s be best I got. Very different

Norwegian Brown Cheese

After breakfast, we had a family testimony meeting, where Dad blessed and administered the sacrament, and then we each bore our testimony. One of the greatest blessings of the Gospel is the restored priesthood power that can be obtained by any worthy male member.  It allows one to have the power of God accessible to this male member so long as he exercises it properly and worthily, and it allows us to partake of the sacrament each week, no matter where we are. It was a touching and sweet experience to do that with my parents, and it’s something I won’t forget. 

After our testimony meeting, we went for a walk up to the top of a mountain where they had a man-made ledge off the mountain that gave you a beautiful view of the fjords and the town. It was a 2.5 hour hike, one way! We passed a LOT of sheep farms, and I am proud to say that Bridget and I mastered the sheep call.  Haha It felt like forever to reach the top, but this was the beautiful view from the ledge 

Sheep farms are EVERYWHERE.

These two little sheep followed us until the end of their gate.

At the almost-half-way point

We made it! 

View from the ledge

The next day was our last day there, and we were taking a boat out that afternoon. We walked around the town some more and went to some shops, including that of the original penny loafer! They were pretty sweet! All real leather, still handmade, and awesome. If you want to check out their website, go here.

That afternoon we got on a boat and took a ‘cruise’ tour through the fjords. After the fjords, we took a train to Bergen, where we would spend our next day and a half. Most of the fjords looked the same, but here’s some pictures from it. Beautiful.

In Bergen, we rented an old house from this elderly couple: the husband was actually born in that house in 1921?  - it fits the perfect old European style: bright colors, tall and skinny, practically connected to the houses next to it, and on a cobblestone street only accessible through walking. It was so so cute.  We got there late afternoon the first day so we just wandered the streets nearby with all the houses and looked at how cute they were. 

Outside the front door of the house we rented

Do you see how little that yellow house is??

View from our window

We had one full day in Bergen. We went to historic Bryggen, their huge fish market, and to Rosenkrantz tower. There's a lot of history that goes with these places, but I could go off for a really long time about it- if you're interested either ask a question, write a comment, or I'm sure you can find the history on Wiki.

Dried fish jerky anyone?

Historic Bryggen

View from the top of the tower 

I almost bought this hat.  Not really, but it was fun

We also went to the home of the composer Edvard Grieg, and that was pretty cool. We saw his house, his composing hut, and his grave- he was buried in the hall of the mountain king (the mountain).

That sums up our time in Norway. The next day we caught a plane to Stockholm, where we spent the rest of our vacation.