I am Thankful for...

• a wonderful Thanksgiving that I got to spend in California with my parents and Michael (our first Thanksgiving together)
  
• a running car with a working heater and a fiance that knows how to drive in the snow (and who was willing to drive most of the trip!)
• a fun bridal shower and all the people that helped plan it and all those that came to celebrate this exciting time with me
  
• the temple and the opportunity to go through for the first time. And I am so grateful my mom, dad, Michael and many friends were there to support me.
  
• selling my contract for my apartment so we wont have to pay two rents after we are married
• having a place to live after we are married...now all we need is a bed. oh and a couch and a few other things. But hey. Thats alright. Thats what being newlyweds is all about, right?
  
• friends who let us crash at their house when the weather is too bad to drive in
• A mom who packed us lots of yummy food to eat on our long drive home
• A dad who loves my pumpkin pie
• getting to see some good friends while home for the holiday, and hoping to see a few more at the wedding.
  
• Michael, who also doesnt like turkey! We're perfect for each other. And we may be the only family that doesnt cook a turkey on Thanksgiving :)
• Black Friday shopping...I have all my Christmas shopping for Michael and I got some pretty sweet deals
• the end of the semester. Of my 5 classes, I have 3 finals the last week of school, 1 final online the week before and a class with no final!
• the blessings of paying tithing
• Prayer
• dipping my toes in the ocean water, burying my feet in the sand and a beautiful view of the islands, even if it was only for a few minutes
  
• 19 more days until Michael and I will be married for time and all eternity!! I am getting more and more excited every day!
  

WOW!

Do you ever look at the calender and all you can say is OH MY GOODNESS??

Yeah. Well, I just did that!

2 weeks from today I will be leaving to spend Thanksgiving in California.
Then 3 weeks after that I get married...that's only 40 days away
(not to mention that is also finals week)

WOW!

I am still in shock. Just ask my roommate.

I think he looks a little too happy...

Meet Yogi. The newest member of my sister and brother-in-law's family. He paid a visit to my apartment last night.


Michael really seemed to enjoy him (a little too much for my liking). Michael thinks that we should get a snake someday. I am not so fond of that idea. I think I will just stick to a dog!

Thats How you Know

I was listening to this song the other day and I love the lyrics, especially these few lines:

Well does he leave a little note to tell you you are on his mind?
Send you yellow flowers when the sky is grey? Heyy!
He'll find a new way to show you, a little bit everyday
That's how you know, that's how you know!
He's your love...
He'll find his own way to tell you
With the little things he'll do
That's how you know
That's how you know!

Now, I know that this is just a silly song from a fairy tale Disney movie but I think the lyrics are so true! It are the little things that Michael does for me that I know how much he loves me and make me so happy. Like when he picked me up from the airport last Saturday, we got to the car and he had a gorgeous bouquet of flowers and a Midnight Milkyway (my favorite!). Or the email's he will send me during the day, just to say hi. I love him so much and I am so happy to be back in Utah where I can see him everyday!

133 Days...

Until this handsome guy and I are on a huge cruise ship headed to some exciting destination (that is yet to be disclosed, he wants it to be a surprise). All I know is we leave out of Long Beach and will be gone for a week. I cant think of a better way to celebrate our first Christmas together. December cant come fast enough!

Surprise Engagement Dinner

This past week Laura and I had planned to meet up and go out to dinner. Little did I know that she was planning a little engagement party for me. She stopped by my house and we headed off to the Cheesecake Factory in the mall. She told me that we had to make a quick detour by a store. When we walked in Kat and Olivia were there waiting for us. They even had a "Bride to be" sash and tiara for me to wear. We had a great time eating yummy food and laughing (a lot!) Thanks guys for the memorable night...you are the best!!

Oh, and as a side note. Earlier that evening I went wedding dress shopping with my mom and sister. No such luck finding "the dress" but I did find some styles that I love (and some that I dont like so much!) All in all it was lots of fun and I am so happy that I was able to go with my mom and sister before heading back to school. And I cant wait until I get back to Utah and can go searching with my other sister! :)

Happy Day!

July 2nd was a very happy day! Michael had just flown in the day before and he wanted that day to be our "date day". We got a bit of a late start in the morning so we didn't do everything that we had planned, but it was still a great day. It started out with a yummy breakfast outside...

then we got ready and headed to the Outlet Mall for some shopping (Michael's request). That evening we went on an overlook hike near Sycamore canyon to watch the sunset.

It was a beautiful night, and we had the cliff all to ourselves! Once we reached the top Michael pulled out two goblets and a bottle of sparkling cider, strawberries and cherries...that was a sweet surprise!

After enjoying the sunset for a little bit and taking some pictures...


Michael asked me if I wanted to look through the pictures and I found this sweet surprise...
After I gave him a kiss, said yes, and spilled the cider all down my leg, I got this beautiful surprise...

We enjoyed the rest of the sunset, called some family and friends and then hiked down in the dark (Michael had thought ahead and brought some headlamps, and might I say we looked pretty darn good in them! Its a pity we didn't get a picture!!) Hiking down we found this crazy surprise...
When we got my home, my parents and Lindsay and Shaun were waiting up (they were in on this whole surprise)
I sure do love this guy! I have missed him a lot this summer but I cant wait until December 18th when we can be together forever!!

Shower Fun!

Last night I was helping Kaitlyn and Eric with their showers...we had a little bit of fun while washing their hair :)

We gave Eric a nice mow hawk and a few little spikes
(the look more like horns in this picture though!)

Kaitlyn's hair was a little too long for spikes so we opted for a soapy bun

And I couldn't resist a self-portrait of me sitting in the steamy bathroom waiting for Kaitlyn to finish up :)

An Evening Stroll

The other night the kids and my parents, Truly and I all went for a wonderful stroll around the block. Here are some pictures of our adventures...

The Boys

Brittany and Boppi...I cant believe how tall Brittany is!!

Kaitlyn walked Truly the WHOLE time...she loves Truly!!
Today she told me that when she is older she wants to be a vet :)

Tyler loves his Grandpa Owie

Eric and I finished our walk with a quick stop at the mailbox
(and I had to get at least one picture with me in it!)

California Sunshine

Oh how I love days off from work!! This past week I was able to spend my lovely day off with friends. Tuesday night was a total girls night complete with Friends (Chloe, Brie, & Olivia), Cookies (peanut butter cup...Yum!) and a great Chick-Flick (A Walk to Remember). The next morning Chloe and I made blue pancakes, for ol' times sake! Then we headed for the beach hoping that the "June gloom" would wear off and not ruin our plans. Luckily, it was a beautiful day at the beach, complete with clear blue skies. Believe it or not this was my first trip to the beach since coming home and boy was I excited! It was great to spend one last day with Chloe before she heads off to be a camp counselor for the summer. We were having such a great time that I failed to put on sunscreen. Thankfully, it has now pretty much faded into a pale pink instead of the lobster red that it was before! Later that day I met up with Laura and Hannah for a bit before heading off to Institute. All in all it was a great day reminiscing and hearing about everyone's adventures in college. And then to top it all off I got to talk to Michael that night. Not like I dont get to talk to him everyday, but I miss him and getting to talk to him made everything that much better! :)

Here are some pictures from our adventures at the beach....

B.F.F.A.E.

For her boyfriend, Andrew

And for Michael :)

A Lovely Sunday Project

Yesterday I got the amazing idea to make a ribbon board (you know like the ones you put pictures and stuff on). I had done one in Young Women's when I was younger, but decided I wanted something fresh, fun and a little older looking for my apartment next semester. So this morning (since I didn't have anything else to do before 1 o'clock church) I scrounged around the house for all the materials. Poster board. Check! Fabric. Check! Glue gun. Check! Ribbon. Check! Quilt batting. Check! Buttons. Check! After all my church meetings and a make-whatever-you-want dinner I got started on my project. It probably took less than an hour to complete. Didn't cost me a cent (thanks to my Mom's extensive collection of craft/sewing supplies). And I must say I rather love the final outcome...and I am hoping my roommates will too!

A piece of art

While cleaning out some boxes in my room I can across some paintings that my Grandma had done. One in particular, stood out to me and I decided that I wanted to frame it. So today Mom and I headed to Aaron Brothers in search of frames: one for a flag that Mom had made, and another for Grandma's painting. Success!! I found a beautiful frame and I am very pleased with the outcome. Now I can enjoy it for years to come. Thank You Grandma for being such an amazing artist!

Mother's Day Weekend

This past weekend was lots of fun. I got to go with my parents up to Half Moon Bay to visit my Grandma, Aunt Fay and Uncle Bob. Although it consisted of 12 hours of driving in less then 3 days, it was totally worth it! I hadnt seen Grandma in over a year and it was especially nice to be able to spend Mother's Day with her. Saturday was a day devoted to Grandma...doing all things that she would enjoy. The highlight of the day: a stroll around the San Fransisco Bay, a little blustery, but still lots of fun. Afterward, we went to the mall food court for dinner (to satisfy everyone's food preferences), followed by a bit of shopping with Aunt Fay and Mom. My sweet find: all the Ocean's movies, including the original Ocean's 11, for only $9.99...good deal? I think so! Thanks Aunt Fay, Uncle Bob, and Grandma for the great weekend, if only it didn't have to be so quick.

Yes, it was a bit windy :)

Group Shot
(thanks to automatic timers!)

I never thought I would say this but....

....I am going to miss Provo. I have 9 days left here and I am not sure that I want to leave. I will miss the people (yes, especially one in particular), the social life, my ward, my job, and believe it or not school (its hard but it sure does keep me busy). Don't get me wrong, it will be nice to go home. I have been up here for almost 11 months now and it will be great to work, save money, and not worry about paying for rent or food. I am looking forward to spending time with my family and catching up with friends from high school. But 4 months is a long time and I know that I will go crazy if I don't have things to look forward to and keep me busy. So here is my list, beginning with the thing I am most excited about:

• Michael is coming to California in July!!! (probably for the 4th) This is going to be really hard going from seeing each other every day, to not seeing each other for 3 months. But I just have to keep telling myself, its only 3 months, at least its not 4, right? I CAN make it! And who knows maybe I will be able to come to Utah before then, there is a Jenkins family reunion in June :)
  
• Lindsay, Shaun and the kids will be in California for about a month.
  
• Jeremy, Tanna and the kids will be coming in July
  
• I get to go to Maryland/DC with my parents in May for Spencer's graduation from law school
• I plan on making lots of visits to the library...I have been so busy I haven't had much time to just read. And if anyone has any good book suggestions, let me know!
• The beach!! I was in Utah last summer so I didn't make it to the beach many times before I left and I MISS it! You can take the girl out of California, but you cant take California out of the girl. Hopefully I will be able to spend many afternoons sitting on the beach, listening to the waves crash on the sand, reading a good book and soaking up all that California sunshine.
• Cooking...I cant wait to cook in a big kitchen, with all the tools and ingredients that I need. More often then not I have a craving to make something, only to realize that I don't have everything I need to make it. And being the poor college student that I am, I don't want to go out and buy the stuff. Plus, I have a sweet Rachel Ray cookbook I got for Christmas and I am dying to try some of the recipes!
  

But I still have 9 more days left here and I am going to enjoy every last minute of them! Even if it will include me taking 4 finals, writing 2 papers and packing up all my stuff. My motto for the next 9 days: "Come what may and LOVE it!" (a great conference address by Elder Wirthlin- which I highly recommend reading- and also my favorite song from Moulin Rouge)

at least this is one of the things I get to look forward too!

He Passed!!

After completing the 4-page "Application to Date my Roommate", created by my dear friend Courtney, Michael has received the approval of my roommates. (Not like he didn't have it already, but now it's official.) Courtney was the official grader of the application and passed him with flying colors...An A+ and 4 extra credit points (for extra good answers)! Perhaps if you look close enough you can get a sample of the questions, some of them were quite funny. But dont worry there were some serious ones too. I'm so proud of him!! And so happy that my roommates like him so much, because if they didn't life would be really hard and I don't think I would be as happy :)

The Application

The "official" handshake


Congratulations Haiku!!

Looking Back on Christmas

Its hard to believe that we are almost done with March. These past 3 months since Christmas have gone by so fast! In just about a month my first year at BYU will be done, and I will be moving back home to work and save some money. So before too much time passes and 2010 is over I thought I would share some pictures highlighting my Christmas vacation.

Red Robin after flying in...I love this picture of Madi and my Dad

The Peanuts house (one of my favorites) on Gemini Street... A Christmas tradition

Elle and Me...I cant wait to see this little cutie again in May!!

Christmas Morning- Anie and Elle

A couple of days before New Years the Terry family and my mom and I went down to Pasadena to see some of the floats, what a fun thing to do, lots of fun minus all the crowds and lines.

Santa Barbara Excursion...Mom and Brittany

I LOVE this city, I think this is one of my favorite places on Earth, it is just so beautiful!!

New Years Eve with Laura and Hannah

Kaitlyn and I getting ready to go boating down at the harbor, it was a beautiful winter day in Southern California, it does not get much better than that!

Tyler helping me with laundry

Beautiful Day at the Beach....Mom and Dad

Shaun and his boys

The perfect end to my trip home, a hike up to an overlook with a beautiful view of the islands. And to think this is only minutes from my house, and all done in the middle of winter, Oh how I love where I live!!!

(I really need to learn how to make a collage of my pictures so these posts are not so long. Does anybody know how make them?)