Crazy!

As I was trying to think of a title for this post, I kept thinking of everything I wanted to mention. 

The main craziness is simply just how CRAZY my life has been recently. Why? 

#1 - I got a new job! This consisted of finishing my old one and starting my new one at the same time. This made for some long days at the office and then at the mall. But, I am loving it. I started at a dental office in Springville as a receptionist there and I absolutely love it. 7:30-5 or 6 Monday through Thursday is just perfect! I love everyone I work with and the Dr's there are fantastic. I really lucked out to land in such a great office, and to love what I do!

Another job I've had is teaching dance at a Studio in Spanish Fork. I have absolutely loved this job and loved each and every girl I taught. We had our recital this past week and I was so very proud of each girl. They all did so well and I sure love teaching!!

#2 - Summer! Summer in general is just busy! Summer makes me want to constantly be out in the sun or doing something fun, and I have sure done that lately. My family went on a fun trip to Denver to a Rockies game and we had a blast! 

It was really rainy for the last inning, but we still made it fun. You can't NOT have fun at a baseball game :)

We also went fishing this last weekend in Idaho with my brother and parents. Mark has always wanted to fly-fish so my dad was SO excited to take him up on that! Mark did awesome! 

 My outfit was great....... don't be jealous ;)

Mark, Blake and my Dad. Love these guys :)

Summer has been fun so far, and I can't wait for the fun to come still!

#3 - Wedding plans! Holy Smokes!..... Wedding plans. The planning has been up to this point very easy. I picked out my dress the first day, the first dress I tried on. I tried on tons, and went back to that first dress. It was everything I had wanted in my dress and it was absolutely perfect! That same day we met with a photographer that I felt really good with, and we got a lot checked off the list. We had our engagements two weeks ago, and I feel like we are off to a good start. We met with a planner this week that is helping with the dinner and decorating and I feel really good about it. I had a bad flower experience.......but we're going to try that again this next weekend :) I'm so glad I have a wonderful mom to help plan and keep me sane :)

There is so much that goes into a wedding that you just don't realize until you start planning more. The hardest part about my wedding has been boundaries. So many boundaries and feelings I worry about hurting. As much as this is Mark and I's big day, it is also a very celebratory day for many people! Mark and I decided to not have a reception. This is something that I have always wanted! I don't have the personality to stand in a line, and introduce people all night. Not that it is a bad thing.....just not me. I've never really wanted one. Instead, I've always wanted a big dinner, with my closest friends and family there, and lots of fun!! SO- that's what we are doing! It's really hard not having a reception to decide who to invite, how many people can fit, where to draw the line, and knowing that not EVERYONE can come. However, I am still very excited for this. There are so many decisions that involve many peoples feelings and I struggle every day with that.... BUT more than anything, I have to remember what this day is really about. And that is Mark and I, and our forever families. I am SO excited to marry Mark. I love him more and more each day and I am so grateful for the man that he is! 61 days can't come fast enough!! 

I am so blessed and happy :)

Oh, one more update----I'm exhausted by 7:00 pm lately. I'm not exactly sure why, but I am always pooped! That being said, it is now 9:14. Way past my exhausted state....so I'm hitting the sack!

Lastly, a shout out to my amazing fiance. Mark moved to Salt Lake when school was over, and has made every effort to see me as much as possible. It has been wonderful! He sure treats me well. I can't wait to marry him!! :)

Ok....really, bed time.

Love, Me

 

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

The Proposal!

A week ago today on March 19th Mark proposed to me :) Total surprise! So here's the story.

First, Mark had been tricking me into believing that he wouldn't be proposing for a long time. So there were a couple things that he had said or done that made me believe this. I'll get to those later.

We had wanted to go on a double date with Marks sister Nicole for a long time. So for seriously like two weeks we had been trying to plan a time to double. We finally decided we would go on Monday. Nicole had been acting SO excited for this! She would Facebook and text me saying how excited she was, and Mark would also say how stoked she was. So I was totally expecting this date to go through.

The plan was to meet Nicole and Drew in Salt Lake at one of our favorite places "The Dodo" for dinner. After that we were planning to go over to Nicole's to have dessert.

Mark picked me up around 6 and we were on our way. We had joked a lot before that he was going to get me a ring pop one day until he could get me an actual ring. The day before we had been joking about this and I told him that he'd better get me one soon! So....when Mark picked me up he said "There's something I think you should have" and reached into his pocket and pulled out.....the ring pop. haha!

SIDE NOTE: Like I mentioned, Mark had told me so many things to throw me off. One of these started last week. Mark had told me that his Grandma knew someone that worked with rings and could hook us up so we should go meet with him sometime. When he told me this I honestly thought "ya right, this is just to mess with me." I was really confused about this because I knew he wanted to surprise me so I felt like maybe this was a decoy.

But on the way to Salt Lake Mark made a fake phone call to this "friend of his grandma's". He set up a time that worked for us both and said we would be there Thursday to meet with him! This really threw me off and I was kind of bummed thinking that he REALLY hadn't even thought of ordering my ring!

So we got to The Dodo and arrived before Nicole and Drew. Another side note: This Drew kid had already been on the fence with Mark and I (especially mark) because of previous "stupid boy" moments. When we got to dinner Mark called Nicole and she said they were about to leave. A few minutes later Nicole sent Mark a text that said something to the extent of "Drew and I just got in a fight and he straight up left. I'm so mad. We obviously won't be coming, I'm sorry" I read this text with my own eyes so I knew that Nicole really did send it. Mark was furious! He seriously acted SO mad that this kid would ditch his sister like this. Mark called Nicole to see if she was ok and she wouldn't answer. Mark left her a message and said we'd come see her still after we ate. So we had our yummy dinner and even made a funny note to cheer Nicole up....

When we finished eating Mark called Nicole and asked her if she was okay, and talked to her for a minute. Their conversation was so real, and exactly how Mark would talk to her if this really had happened. Little did I know, this was Nicole's cue for "We're coming, get things ready..."

We were almost to Nicole's place and Mark called her to get the code to get into her place. This also apparently was a cue for Nicole to "Leave!"

We walked up to Nicole's door. Mark knocked and opened the door and all her furniture was moved, candles lit EVERYWHERE, Rose peddles and Roses ALL OVER, tons of pictures of us all around and romantic music playing! I definitely thought something was up :)

There was a cute table set up with two chairs and yummy pie (from the dodo) in the center. These pictures don't even do justice!! But thanks for getting some good ones Nicole!

We went around and looked at the pictures that were placed around of us, and then Mark said there was one more thing. This was when he got down! He said the sweetest things, and expressed how much he loved me. Then he showed me the ring and popped the question! I was SOO excited!! I was so surprised with the ring. When he was about to open the ring box I had no idea what ring it would be. We had gone shopping TWO weeks before and he had a good idea of what I wanted. My favorite ring had to be specially made and would take FOUR weeks, so I figured it wasn't that ring. BUT.....it was :) He had done a whole lot of work in these two weeks to get that ring! I was so excited and I absolutely love it!!

We ate some pie which I couldn't eat much and I don't know if it was because I was so full from dinner, or because I was so happy and excited! Or maybe a mixture of both! But we ate a bit and then he had one more place to take me.

We went downtown and hopped onto a carriage ride around the Salt Lake Temple. I've always secretly wanted to do this so I was really excited. It was so sweet and so romantic and I just loved it! Even though I had to wear Marks big coat and beanie, the picture still turned out pretty cute! :)

Mark put so much thought into this! He had been planning this for SO long and he did such a good job! I was so surprised :)

Mark is the greatest guy ever and makes me so happy. I always knew I'd marry my best friend and I can't wait to do so. We're getting Married on August 4th in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple and I can't wait for that day to come :)

Thanks Mark for everything. I love you more than you could ever know!!

Love Bre

Weekend Get-away!

A couple weeks ago Mark and I went to Cedar City to spend the weekend with his family! Sooo fun.

First off- Mark and I had a crammed week full of studying and homework. We wanted to get all of our studies done by Thursday night, so we could head out Friday right after school, and just simply enjoy the weekend of relaxing.

We got to Cedar Friday evening, and I immediately felt so at home. I'm a pretty shy girl so I was a little worried, but Marks family took me right in and helped me feel so comfortable. Mark showed me around the house and the land and then his mom made us a nice homemade meal (which college students always love). We had a chill night of just relaxing and let

me tell you, I sure loved that!

Saturday Marks parents took us to St George and took us horseback riding through Snow Canyon. I have always loved riding horses growing up, but never went a whole lot. The Lyman's have four beautiful horses so they were excited to get me riding! We took it slow since I didn't really know what I was doing....but I started to get the hang of it :) One day I'll eventually learn the "up down"

motion when they start to run........ right Mark?

After riding we spent a little time in St George eating

yummy pizza and chatting.

I had so much fun riding and fell in love with horses all over again!

Later that night Mark's brothers joined us and we all went to Ninja's to eat. SUCH a nice meal and very entertaining!

I won't go day by day into detail here.......but basically I had SO much fun! We were able to watch movies and play games and if anyone knows me OR my family...... you know that I love my games :) It was fun to get to know everyone's personalities and to learn the traditional games that their family plays. I also was able to teach them a game that my family often plays so it was fun to mix and match!

The thing I loved most about this weekend was being able to see where Mark comes from. I don't mean 'where Mark comes from' in a ph

ysical sense, but more of the attributes that Mark has. Mark has great qualities that I absolutely love and I really learned where this comes from.

One moment that stood out to me was the first night we got there, we had family scripture study and prayer. We all sat together and read our scriptures individually for a while, and then followed with a family prayer. Mark and I read and pray together and now I see why that is such an important thing to him. I know that the gospel is number one in Mark's life and I love that.

Another thing that stood out to me was simply just watching Mark's dad. Doug reminds me of my own dad- having a lot of same qualities, sense of humor, spirituality and so on. The way he interacted with his wife, is exactly how Mark interacts with me. Watching this confirmed to me that Mark is sincere in how he treats me. From the day I met Mark, he talks the world of his dad. He really respects and looks up to his dad, and it makes me excited that Mark wants to be like him.

I had met Mark's family previously, but had never really got to spend a lot of time with them in a home setting. It was really good to see this side of them and I really felt that I got to know them on a personal level, and I loved it.

We had such a fun weekend and were very sad to come back to real life and school, But I'm so glad we were able to go. Thanks Lyman's for such a great weekend! :)

( Mark said to not get used to this cowboy look......but I liked it!)

Love, Bre

Day of Love

Oooh Valentines Day. The day that you're either dreading, or excited for. This year, I was excited.

First off, I have the best boyfriend around :) He sure spoiled me!I got a phone call just a little after 6:00 from Mark. He said"Will you do me a favor?" So I was a little worried. But then he said "Will you come open your door?" So I opened my door and there was Mark, with pretty flowers too!

Then Mark took me to IHOP for breakfast! We both love their Nutella Crepes......mmm! So good :) Don't judge this picture of me. Remember, he WOKE ME UP? :)

We hung out as much as we could all day working around class, but we did pretty well!

Later that night we headed to Salt Lake and went to dinner at Do Do's. (I th

ink that's how it's spelled??) Anyways, it was so yummy. Probably my new favorite, and their dessert is to die for as well! Very tasty!

After dinner we headed to the Lady Antebellum Concert! I have looked forward to this for SO long. Blake got me two tickets for Christmas, and I have been so anxious!! And ooooh myyyy........ it was the BEST CONCERT EVER! I absolutely LOVE Lady A, and have been to a concert before but they were with Tim McGraw and it was the outside concert, and a totally different feel. This time Lady A brought with them Darius Rucker, and Thompson Square. They were all amazing. I can't even put into words how much I loved this concert....... I'm speechless

Mark is not a big country fan. He doesn't mind it, but doesn't really listen to it on his own choice. However, I think I'm starting to convert him a little more! He especially liked the moments when Darius Rucker would sing songs from Hootie and the Blowfish, or Purple Rain. Haha

We had such a good day though and I couldn't have asked for a better Valentines!

This weekend we are headed to Cedar City to spend the weekend with Mark's Family and I'm so excited! Just a nice relaxing weekend, while getting to know his family better too! A little nervous? Yes.... But very excited to get away and have some fun :)

That post will come soon!

Love, Bre

Changes!

So it's been quite a while since my last post....Shocker, right?
But at least that means there is a whole lot to update on! Ok really, there's just a few things worth blogging about. Let's not pretend my life is THAT exciting.

First update: CHRISTMAS! I love Christmas time so much. I remember my first Christmas without Brooke and Blake. Blake was on his mission, and Brooke was with Aarons family this year. I was a wreckless 12 year old and I bawled all day because I missed them so much. It's safe to say that this year was my first year I really realized the true Christmas feeling. The spirit of Christ and Family are what truly makes Christmas great. This year we went to Brooke and Aarons in Colorado and it we were all together. We had such a good time! My favorite part had to have been watching Hunter and Paxton walk into the room where Santa had come! They were so excited! Ok, actually Paxton seemed kind of confused. But Hunter was sure stoked! And Paxton loved his thomas toothpaste that santa put in his stocking, so at least he was stoked about that! :)
I love my family and I love that Christmas gives us a reason to spend so much time together!!

Second update: New Semester! New semesters are always nice, and this one has been especially nice. I am loving my classes for the most part... and I even found a new love for ballet. Yep...I want to be a ballerina. haha. Ooh how much work I need to get there, but it's a good thought :)

Third update: You ready for this one? It's the big news........ about a.... Boyfriend! Yep. I said it. I'm not going to lie it's a little weird for that word to roll off my tongue, but I'm not complaining :)
Let me introduce Mark :) Here comes our story, you ready for this?
Mark and I met in October through another friend of ours. I immediately hit it off with he and his roommates and found myself constantly over at their house and always hanging out with them! Mark became my absolute best friend. I would tell him my guy problems, and he would tell me his girl problems. I could go to Mark for anything I needed and trust him with my life!

I wasn't going to stick the picture of us right here, but for some reason it's stuck here so this is obviously where the picture wanted to be. So, this is Mark & I at a Halloween party :)

Back to the story. Funny little side note: Mark had told me once that if things didn't work out with the boy I was kind of chasing at the time, that he'd love to take me out (cute, right?) But....later on I told him that I just wanted to be friends..... which I feel terrible for now..... because little did I know..

Anyways... As time went on I have been with Mark more and more, and I find myself only wanting to hang out with Mark. I'd even get home from a date, and immediately text Mark!

Well, secretly in my mind I had wondered about my feelings for Mark, but told myself it's just because we're such good friends. One day Mark was texting me and he was telling me he was thinking about moving. I then had a little meltdown and started crying. I can't believe I'm admitting this to the world, but yes, I cried. I thought to myself What in the world would I do without Mark?! He's honestly the best thing that's happened to me since moving to Provo. He was only talking about moving to Salt Lake, but still......that was too far for me to handle right then. Maybe it was an emotional day for me? But I learned a lot about my feelings that day.
Mark came over that night and hung out with me and the next morning I got a text from my roommate Kati that said something to the extent of "You and Mark are so cute. I have never seen you act yourself so much as you do around him!" This was yet ANOTHER thing that really got me thinking, and from then on I knew I needed to talk to Mark.

SO... I told Mark right then that I needed to talk to him. He came over and had a nice little chat where I told him that I was starting to have feelings for him. We had a really good talk and decided that we'd go out and just see what happens. I think we were both a little nervous because our friendship was SO strong, and we didn't want to ruin that! But, that week we went to a jazz game together, and we started spending even more time together. The following week we hung out EVERY SINGLE NIGHT!

Friday came around and I found out that my Sister was coming to town for the weekend! So I wanted to go spend some time with her so I told Mark and we decided we'd go spend the day in Brigham City on Saturday. So I took him to Brigham and he met the family, and spent some time at my house. Mark had talked to his mom and found out that they were staying the night in Salt Lake at his grandparents, so on our way back we were able to stop and meet his family as well! We had no idea it would be such a big day! haha. But at least meeting the family is out of the way now, right?

His family was awesome by the way. I felt right at home with them playing cards like my family does :)

Ok......if you REALLY don't care, you're probably extremely bored reading this detailed story! :) BUT like I always say, this is another journal for me, and I want to remember this week. So if you're bored, feel free to stop reading. ha!

On Sunday, Mark came to church with me. After church we went to his house to do homework. We try not to do homework on Sundays but since Saturday was such a big day, we didn't have time to finish. So we worked on our homework and Mark had a priesthood meeting to go to. So I stayed at his house and continued homework! When he got home we headed to my place to have dinner with Kati & Reagan, Tayler & Daniel, and Kristen & Bryce. We played some Farkle (in which I did terrible...) and then we went back to Marks and watched a movie that night.

Basically what I'm saying is, Mark and I literally spend ALL weekend together. And I wouldn't have had it any other way!

Monday we had busy days till 8 or so, but still made time to see each other.

Tuesday we went and did baptisms for the dead in the Timpanogos Temple. Mark was able to baptize me even though we had to wait 2 hours for the 100 mutual groups that night..... but it was still a good experience as always in the temple :)
After the temple we went to dinner and that's when we decided to make things official. I always hate the term "official..." but, everyone's gotta have their DTR sometime, right?

And, that's how it began :)

Mark has such a sense of humor and is always, always making me laugh. He's so very smart (even though he'll never admit it..) but he is, and he has great goals in life that I know he'll achieve. And most of all, Mark is the most spiritual, selfless guy I know. His testimony is so strong and he makes me want to become better every day!

Dankeschon Markas! (Mark speaks german and russian and has taught me a thing or two! haha)

In english.....Thanks Mark =)

Life.Is.Good

Love, Me

E.R. and Blessings

Count Your Many Blessings........Even when they may not "seem" like blessings!

These past two weeks have been absolutely crazy. First of all, finals. Just the word makes me cringe. I was super lucky and had half of my finals one week, and the rest ON finals week. This was still super stressful. I had a lot of final presentations, major papers due, choreography to prepare, dances to dance, and so forth. Meanwhile having two part-time jobs and trying to somewhat have a social life- even though that idea died during finals week!

Anyway- Finals for me ended this Wednesday. I had finals from 9:00-11:00, 11:00-1:00, 1:00-3:00 and 3:00-5:00. Yep.... FUN day....not. BUT that was the final Finals day! Thursday I was able to finally relax from it all! Sort of. I got to sleep in which was fantastic, and then I had a house to clean from 11:30-2:30 and I taught dance from 3:00-6:00. Then the rest of the night I was dedicating to fun. I hung out with a friend for a while and made some food, and then I went over to the usual crews house and watched a movie with them.
I left the guys house really late and had a stabbing pain in my side. I actually pulled over my car because I was in so much pain. I got home and eventually started to sweat as the pain grew and grew. I stripped down and jumped into a cold bath (which is SOO not me. I HATE cold water!!) At this point it's about 2:00 AM and while in the bath I called my mom in tears. She had a feeling it was a kidney stone and said she would call Blake and have him take me to the Emergency Room. I woke up my roommates Kati and Tayler and they stayed with me until Blake got to my apartment. He got there SUPER fast and carried me to his truck and into the Emergency Room we went.

I was getting SO frustrated in the ER answering the same questions over and over! My name, my birthday, personal questions... and I just wanted relief SO badly!

Blake offered to give me a blessing and it was such a sweet blessing. I felt so lucky to have a worthy brother there with me to comfort me! I sure love him!!
Soon after the nurse finally put the IV and medicine in me and I started to relax somewhat. They then wheeled me in to get a CT scan and the rest is kind of a blur. (The med really worked!)

My parents arrived soon after and the Dr told us that I had multiple Kidney stones. 3 or 4 in my left kidney and 6 or so in my Right. Most of these were just starter small ones and not causing any trouble. There were 3 that needed to come out, and one in particular. I had a 5 millimeter stone in my uriter that was not moving.

Anyway-- long story short, we decided to do surgery in which they would go up through the uriter and bladder with a "basket" sort tool to catch and remove these stones. They left a stent in my uriter. This stent is just like a stent they put in a heart to open up the valve. They put a stent in my uriter to open it up. They said my body is not only small on the outside but even smaller on the inside and there is NO way I could have passed that stone. The stent is still in and they will remove it in 4 weeks or so and then decide what to do with the rest.

So........how is this a blessing?

Finals ended Wednesday, stones came Thursday, and Christmas comes next week. Really, if this was going to happen, this was the perfect time. EXCEPT... my friend Kory was taking me to the nutcracker Friday which I was obviously not able to go to. However, he was able to exchange the tickets (after trying multiple times) and we'll go next week. See..... Things DO work out!

I'm so blessed with such a good family to take care of me! My parents brought me home with them and I've been able to just relax at my home sweet home. I'll be feeling better by the holidays and be able to enjoy them in Colorado with my whole family. I can't wait =)

I love Christmas Time!!

Time Out For Women

Brooke was able to go to a Time Out For Women in Denver this year. She LOVED it and said we just had to go to one! Well Aaron gave her a girls weekend and she decided we had to go to the Time Out For Women in Salt Lake- and I am SOO glad we went!

The program was amazing. We got to hear from so many great speakers and musicians. The best part was being able to feel the spirit SO much! We got to hear from Hilary Weeks (Brooke's favorite!), Sheri Dew, Brad Wilcox, Jericho Road, Emily Watts, Wendy Ulrich, Michael Wilcox, Laurel Christensen, and we had a surprise guest, Stephanie Nielson! Stephanie's testimony was so sweet and strong. If you're unsure who stephanie is, She is the burn victim that survived the plane crash.

My mom and I fell in love with Jericho Road :) So we HAD to go meet them!

My other favorite part was spending the weekend with my mom and sister of course! :)

Thanks for a fun weekend girls! :)