The Proposal

Im Engaged. 

Seriously.

I'm getting married.

It still seems surreal.

I think that every girl dreams about the day that she gets married.

And my wedding is down to 84 days.

[Not that I'm counting]

On June 7, 2013 I had an awful day at work and one of the best moments of my life. 

The night before we got engaged we got into a little bit of a tough conversation.

Later Jarom suggested that we should go to dinner at Olive Garden on Friday after work.

So after work on Friday he called me to tell me that he was going to take a nap and probably work out.

So we would go to dinner at 530.

Little did I know he was planning a little surprise.

That sneaky man.

Dinner was so fun. 

We had this awesome waiter who made us laugh the entire time.

And at the end of dinner the waiter placed this big silver box next to me.

Jarom said that after having a long talk the night before he just wanted to do something nice and small for me.

I opened the box.

And inside were these cylinder boxes. 

 12 of them.

Because 12 is my favorite number. 

On top of each box was a sticky note with a word written on it that reminded him of our relationship.

 And as I opened each box he brought out a little something to go with it.

The first one was water because I love being in the water with a ball. 

Pop Rocks

Time. A number 3 candle for the long 3 years we've known each other. 

Red hots for my hair and sassy personality

Memories: he used to bring me these chocolates when I was having a bad day.

Trooper for putting up with all we've been through

He loves my laugh and I make him laugh.

Smart because he always gets me smarties at the grocery store

This was for roller coaster-all the ups and downs we've had and gone through

Cause I'm his best friend :)

The second to last box had the name of one of my favorite songs that he plays on the guitar.

So then he stands up to go get his guitar and starts playing this song for me in the middle of the restaurant.

I was a bit embarrassed, but it was adorable at the same time. 

And the last box was a "?"

So he grabs this box \/

And walks around the table, gives his little "this is why i love you and want to marry you" spiel .

Gets down on one knee. 

The next thing you know, I have a ring on my finger.

And we are officially engaged. 

Its hard to explain how I feel. 

I'm in love with this boy /\

I can't wait to be sealed to him.

To spend our lives together.

I feel like I've waited my whole life for this moment.

And its worlds beyond what I imagined. 

With a love that cannot end

Jarom and I spent the past weekend up in bountiful for Mother's Day.

Yesterday as we we were sitting in church, during the sacrament, 

I felt prompted to open up the hymn book to my favorite hymn.

Ironically its a sacrament hymn

Hymn #185 Reverently and Meekly Now.

I love it.

I feel a deep sense of love and peace whenever I read it.

And every time I do, something new sticks out to me.

Yesterday was no different.
The line:

 "I have loved thee as thy friend, With a love that cannot end"
Stuck out to me.

It hit me with such power.
Sometimes I get overwhelmed.
Sometimes I question my relationships.
Sometimes I struggle with my self worth.
But as I read this verse, the power of it reverberated throughout my body.
If nothing else, I have my Savior's love.
Even if nobody else in this world loved me,
It wouldn't matter because my Savior loves me.
And that should be enough.
Even today the line has played over and over in my mind.
The Lord has so much in store for me.
He has so much he wants me to become,
and he's just waiting for me to turn to him.
To ask for help,
To allow him to be my Savior.
The spirit was so strong.
My Savior loves me.

One of those days

Do you ever have those days

where you wake up, and you are just grumpy?

You're tired.

And the last thing you want to do is go to work and put on a happy face.

Today, that was my kind of day.

I was grumpy and I didn't care who knew it.

I felt catty and some other undesirable words, and all I really wanted to do was chew people out.

Super good for the soul.

I came home from work hoping that a little nap would solve my grumpiness.

I woke up with blood shot eyes, and feeling just sad and tired.

Needless to say, it didn't help.

I was able to spend some time with family and loved ones.

It eased the sad feelings a little bit.

But back in my room the grumpiness returns.

After getting into a discussion with a loved one that left me in tears,

all I could do was curl up on my bed and just be sad.

Do you ever wonder, like I do, why we have these kind of days?

Today I totally soaked it in.

It was almost like I enjoyed it.

Everything that went wrong, seemed like a big deal.

And it was one thing after another.

But it wasn't a big deal.

And the feelings I felt, weren't from the Lord.
Today this thought seems appropriate:

The Lord’s way is not hard. Life is hard, not the gospel. “There is an opposition in all things,” everywhere, for everyone. Life is hard for all of us, but life is also simple. We have only two choices.  We can either follow the Lord and be endowed with His power and have peace, light, strength, knowledge, confidence, love, and joy, or we can go some other way, any other way, whatever other way, and go it alone—without His support, without His power, without guidance, in darkness, turmoil, doubt, grief, and despair. And I ask, which way is easier?

The whole talk can be found here.
Tonight, as I open my scriptures.
As I seek inspiration from my Heavenly Father, I feel gratitude.
I feel relief and love,
and know that after my day I can find peace and understanding.
Because we have a loving Father who wants us to be happy.
And tonight I'm grateful for my Lord.

Pictures

Pictures say a thousand words.

And a couple of months ago I wasn't able to upload pictures anymore but I think I got it figured out,

so blogging world....I'm bacccccck.

Weddings

I love weddings.

I love being a part of them.

But mostly I love seeing my friends so happy.

I feel like there is something special in watching someone you love go through ups and downs to be with the one they love.

And when they finally make it to the temple, its like a deep sigh of "Finally, they made it".

I'm grateful for the friends I've got to watch fall in love and eventually marry.

And this past weekend, I got to celebrate one of my best friends, Emily, on her wedding day.

Em and I lived together for two years and became such good friends.

And on Saturday, October 20, 2012 she was sealed to her best friend, Preston.

Bren and I got to be two of her bridesmaids and it was so fun.

We got all dressed up and drove to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.

Bren was my date for the day.

We make such a good couple, if I do say so myself. ;)

We got to see our other old roommate, Bri and her boyfriend, Mitch ^

Roommies, it was so good to see Bri.

The first sighting of Mr. and Mrs. Plowman!

They looked so happy!

I love Emily's face in this. 

All of the bridesmaids.

They had their luncheon and reception at a place in Highland called Highland Gardens. 

It was gorgeous, I loved it. 

Brenna's mom made the cake and it turned out beautifully I thought. 

We love our Emily.

The three of us were buds when we lived together.

We would stay up late and talk and cry and be goofy together.

We created some incredible memories together.

How grateful I am for their friendship. 

We got to see Hannah too, another one of the old roommates.

It was fun to watch them cut the cake.

You can't really tell, but they used a HUGE sword to cut it!

And they shoved it into each others faces.

Some went down Emily's dress, and her face was priceless, wish I would have caught that on camera. 

Daddy-daughter dance

And their first dance as Mr. and Mrs. 

All of the roommates, minus Hannah.

I love these girls!

Bren, Me, and Jarom.

Emily and Preston have been through a lot to get to this point in their lives.

And I am so happy that they let me be a part of their big day.

There is always that small twinge of jealousy when I go to weddings 

(Yes, I know, I'm only 22-almost 23, my time will come).

I look forward to that day that I get the chance to be sealed to my best friend and to have all my friends and family help celebrate.

However, I feel like I appreciate marriage and weddings so much more as I get older.

There is something so special about watching my friends go through this whole wedding thing. :)

Congratulations Em and Prest! 

I couldn't be happier for you!

I'm completely terrified...and I love it.

For as long as I can remember my life has been planned out for me.

Go to school, graduate from high school, go to college, maybe go on a mission, graduate from college, get married.

I kind of feel like my life is in slow motion right now. 

Growing up I wanted to try everything, do everything.

I was always in a rush, always feeling like I needed to be doing something and being perfect at it, and not necessarily soaking in the present moments in my life.

This past week has been very reflective. 

Everything I've been doing has just stuck with me.

Driving to college.

Walking to classes.

Sitting and learning from professors.

Going to work.

Living with some of my best friends.

Staying up late talking and laughing.

Each experience seems to stick with me.

I've started learning guitar.

Its hard, my fingers hurt, and its completely out of my comfort zone.

I love it.

My friend has been teaching me and man, he has definitely needed all the patience he can get to help me.

I whine and complain, get insecure and frustrated, and totally annoyed that my fingers don't do what I want them to.

And as we sat in his apartment the other night, going over the same chords over and over and over again, I was kind of just hit with the small tender mercies in my life.
Especially the ones I've experienced in the past couple of years since graduating.

Silly, I know.

But I find myself grateful for all these small moments.

I find myself lately to be always on the verge of tears as each moment makes me more grateful for all I have.

I'm grateful for this friend who will sit and help me learn something new.

I'm grateful for the opportunity that I have to learn a new skill.

I'm grateful for my time I've spent in Provo.

I'm grateful for my roommate experiences.

I'm grateful for being able to attend a University.

I'm grateful for the three years I've spent at my job.

And its like now as I slowly watch this chapter of my life close, I'm realizing how many opportunities I've had and it makes me a little sad to watch these times come to an end.

The past 6 months have been kinda tough.

And when August came, I craved change.

Change in environment, living arrangements, job, friends.

Anything that would mix up my life a little bit.

Yet, change is kind of scary. 

I like order, and organization.

I like plans.

Unfortunately, my plans and the Lord's plans for me rarely are the same.

December is fast approaching.

And I will be an official college graduate.

I'm completely terrified. 

And I love it.

The beginning of the End.

This week I started my last semester of College.

I can hardly believe it.

(My "I can hardly believe it" face^)

It seems surreal.

I've almost felt like I've been in a daze as I've gone through this week.

My roommates have all been stressed out and overwhelmed already.

I've felt nothing of the sort.

I have been completely calm.

Taking on the "bring it on" attitude, totally ready to conquer this last semester.

My last semester.

The panic didn't begin to set in until Thursday night.

I'm graduating in less than 4 months and I have no clue what comes next.

Money, a good job, living arrangements, and what I am going to do about my car that is slowly breaking down on me.

All of it weighing heavy on my shoulders. 

This morning I went to the Provo temple, the first time in months.

It was a much needed trip.

I went feeling all the panic and stress and emotion that had infiltrated its way into my body in the past 24-48 hours.

I love the temple.

I waited nearly 2 hours to do baptisms.
And I was grateful for every minute I got to spend there. 

As I sat there, I made a list of all the answers I received through the scriptures.

I felt some much needed peace and received a lot of comfort in the answers I found in my scriptures.

 I left knowing that everything was going to be okay. 

I wonder how people get through their lives without the gospel. 

I don’t know what the future brings or how I am going to manage but one thing I do know is that the Lord loves me and He will guide me along the right path. 

How grateful I am for my Lord and Savior.