In Case You Were Wondering...

I'm getting married in ...

95 Days

2302 Hours

and

138129 Minutes!

But who's counting?!

I may be a little excited.......

:)

I'm also excited that it's summer time!
This means sun, fun, and wedding planning :)
I am one happy girl!

I Love To See The Temple....

I'm going there on August 4 :) That's 103 days in case you were wondering!

Let me tell you a story about how I fell in love with this temple!

I had always had a love for the Mesa Arizona Temple. I still love that Temple. It has some sentimental value to me for sure. If Mark and I end up in Arizona then I'll be happy to go there lots- and I am VERY excited for that.

Well one day about two years ago my mom and I were driving home from Colorado as we had been out visiting Brooke. It was kind of getting late and it had been stormy and my Dad was anxious for us to get home safely.

We were passing the Pleasant Grove area and I mentioned to my mom that I had never actually been up by the Timpanogos temple. My mom decided that was crazy and she pulled off on the next Exit and we took a short detour up to the temple. I absolutely loved this temple. I loved the pretty white-ness of it. I loved the blue windows, and I loved the surroundings and the property. Absolutely gorgeous!

After we drove around for a while, we were back on the freeway and I mentioned I had never seen the Oquirrh Mountain Temple up close either. So......off of the freeway we went and we took another detour up to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. I also loved this one as well. Just not QUITE like the Timp :) But absolutely stunning nonetheless. 

Not only did I love viewing these temples, but it is such a good memory of mine with my mom. I loved that she had been driving all day, it was late and it had been stormy, and she took the time --out of her way-- to show me these two temples. It is honestly one of my favorite times with my mom :)

When I moved back down here to Provo I made it an effort to try and see this temple more. I tried to drive by it more, and make it a little more remembered. I went and did baptisms for my first time there with Mark's roommate and our good friend Brett. It was fun to go with Brett and get to do baptisms here finally!

As Mark and I became great friends, we always talked about this temple and how much we both loved it. Mark had sentimental value with this temple as it was always a place for him to go to. We often drove by this temple, and talked about going one day together. (Just as friends......ha!)

Well, when Mark and I started dating, we decided one day to finally go and do Baptisms for the Dead there. I was SO excited to go with him!! Mark was able to baptize me and stay with me the whole time. It was a really neat experience and I loved every moment. I remember it like it was yesterday. I remember being in by the font and he was outside the glass and looking in. We caught glance at each other and he winked at me. My heart melted! :)

After we did baptisms we went to the Olive Garden and had dinner. This was when we became "officially boyfriend/girlfriend" and from there it just got better :) What was even better was our very detailed "DTR". We were eating away, and we were joking about either marriage or kids or something to that effect, and Mark said "Well, we'd have to be official before that ever happened....... what do you think about that?" And I said "What do you think?" Mark liked the idea. I agreed. And that was that :) Easy Peasy!

When Mark and I started talking about Marriage, there was no question as to which temple it would be in. We consider Timpanogos to be "our temple" and there was no doubt in either of our minds that this was the one! We decided a date one day and agreed on August 4. Mark said he would call the next morning and see if it was available. I'll never forget the text I received from him that morning. I got out of my ballet class and read this:  "Well babe, you're going to be sealed to me forever on August 4th, at 12:00 pm. STOKED!!! :) "   

Still to this day we talk about the Timpanogos Temple and how excited we are for this day to arrive! I've been looking at wedding photographers ALL MORNING and when I see pictures of weddings at the Timpanogos Temple, I get butterflies!

I can't wait!!!! 

I cannot wait to be sealed to Mark here. August 4th, PLEASE come soon!

Arizona

This weekend Mark and I took a little road trip to Arizona!

Mark is studying International Business w/Russian & German right now. He has been thinking about getting his MBA and has considered a great school, Thunderbird, in Arizona. This weekend they were doing a little preview weekend. They gave us two hotel rooms at their school, and took us on a campus tour, and to some classes/meetings for information about their programs.

I told Mark a long time ago that I'm sure I would be great with going to Arizona. I told him that if HE felt good about it, I'd support him. BUT- Mark, being the good man he is... wanted my stamp of approval as well. So I got to tag along. And I'm glad I did :)

Friday afternoon Mark had an interview with a recruiter (Sadia was her name.) and got some very good information. Mark gave her his resume and she told him he's a perfect fit for their school. I met Sadia later that day and she just raved about Mark. I saw her the next day and she told me to please encourage mark to come to their school. She said they would be honored to have him there and wish they could have 100 Mark's at their school.

Saturday we had a campus tour and a career information class. They have great statistics and we felt that this school would really be beneficial for a career later on. After a few classes, they had two actual classes for the students to see what it would really be like there. This is when I

would have been totally bored and lost, so I bounced back to my hotel room. I wish I could have

laid out by the pool.....but the weather was NOT in my favor. Bummer!

The weekend was full of busy classes and lots of information but we were able to have some fun too!

Friday night we met up with an old roommate of Marks, Jimmy, and his wife Haley. We were a little quick for time but we had a nice fun dinner with them. It would be really fun to move there and already have another couple to hang out with :)

Saturday night we had thought about driving to Mesa to see the temple because it's one of my favorites. But by the time Mark was finished with his classes, he was exhausted. So we decided to have a night to ourselves and we went out for dinner and just enjoyed some us time :) When we got back to the hotel rooms Mark went straight to some homework he needed to finish and by that point I was asleep and ready for bed. I'm loads of fun, right?

Sunday we made the long trek home. We were able to stop for a bit in Vegas and visit Mark's Grandparents and family and take a little break. Luckily Marks sister Nicole was able to ride from Vegas to Cedar with us and drive so Mark could have a little snooze in the back. (I can't drive Mark's stick shift...haha) So thanks to Nicole!

It was such a quick weekend and I wish we would have had more time to have some fun in the SUN instead of cold....ha! But we still made it so fun. I loved being able to spend so much time with Mark and get away for a while :)

I really feel so good about Thunderbird. It's such a great school and will really be a great school for Mark to attend. Just listening to the details about the school, and the many countries everyone there has visited, and the many languages they can all speak......Mark fit right in!

I definitely had my moment of reality and realized how much goes into this. Not only living in Arizona, but the traveling that takes place and the cultural aspect of it all. But I really do feel

great about it and I am so grateful for Mark and his hard work and determination to do this. He

always says that he just wants to take care of me....and I KNOW he will :)

Pretty much after this weekend, I want to move to Arizona asap! BUT....I'll have to wait a bit. Mark graduates from UVU in December and will work for a while to get enough work experience to apply to the program. He'll take the GMAT soon and we'll see when we can get down there! I love Arizona, but most of all I'm just excited to start new adventures with Mark!

Lastly, a few random things.

I loved all the cactus along the way! They are so huge and literally take place of tree's out in their desert. I loved them!

Lastly, Mark is going to die that I am blogging this, but let me just say how adorable the bunny rabbits are down there. I was outside of my hotel room one day just looking at the campus and I thought I saw a squirrel. Wrong.... it was a bunny! Then, I saw another bunny run towards the first one and all the sudden the bunny jumped STRAIGHT up VERTICALLY in the air. And it was SO high! I was cracking up and I knocked on Mark's door and made him come see. They were hilarious! I could watch them all day :)

Such a fun little trip we had and I'm SO glad we were able to go!

Love, Me