Finally!

It's really here! I am getting sealed to the most wonderful, generous, thoughtful, loving, handsome man TOMORROW!!! I keep thinking that the past three months have been the longest, best dream ever and I'm just going to wake up tomorrow back to regular life without this ring on my finger.. Oh that would be awful. Somebody pinch me?

Well, a lot has been going on lately-We moved all our stuff here to Arizona, I went through the temple for the first time on the 23rd (completely, indescribably happy), we had pictures taken that night, CHRISTMAS :), family dinner tonight, and the temple ceremony and reception tomorrow! It's so funny how fast but slow this whole thing has been. It's so great that it's finally here!

Christmas was great, minus the fact that I didn't get to see Stu until after 8pm.. Apparently we were both semi-cranky during the day. Our families were a little bit worried and didn't understand what was going on. Stu's brother Tanner (who is married and has gone through this whole engagement process already) told everyone off, "when you haven't seen the one you love ALL day, it's like physically painful," or something to that effect. And it's TRUE! I can't stand to be without him for too long, he's my other half and I just don't seem to function regularly when he's not around. Which is why I just can't wait until tomorrow when we can promise to be each others companion for the rest of forever.

I'm sorry I don't have pictures, no battery in the camera, but I'm sure we'll have plenty after tomorrow!


Wow this post is kind of scatter-brained! My thoughts are all over the place!

my life right now...

STUDY.. study.. study.. study.. stress.. study.. eat.. study.. test.. study.. study.. study.. stress.. study.. work.. final.. cry.. study.. stress.. study.. study.. stress.. study.. study.. stu and angie time.. eat.. sleep... study.. stress.. study.. study.. pack.. eat.. study.. study.. study.. study.. study.. stress.. study.. study.. stu and angie time.. eat.. sleep... study.. stress.. study.. study.. pack.. eat.. study.. study.. study..study.. study.. stress.. study.. study.. stu and angie time.. eat.. sleep... study.. stress.. study.. study.. pack.. eat.. study.. study.. study..FINAL FINAL FINAL.. I'M SICK OF SCHOOL!!! Get me out of here!!!


I almost don't even care what I get on these tests anymore! I just want to get back to Arizona and be married already. I think it would be cool to get a remote like on "click" so I could fast forward a couple days :)

19 days!!!

I cannot believe this. It is coming so fast! I can't even say that most everything is planned, because it most definitely is not. But the closer we get to the 27th, the more I come to realize that the most important thing about this whole thing is the fact that Stu and I are going to be SEALED for ETERNITY. We are going to the TEMPLE. There is nothing more important than that. We had such a wonderful experience yesterday, just a special day for our relationship. I kind of have a mini breakdown every time I think about being sealed to him forever, not out of doubt or worry or anything like that, I just can't believe how incredibly blessed I am to have found the one I will be with forever. He is so wonderful and I love him more than words can express. Good thing I have eternity to let him know how much I love him!

picture update!

I have totally been slacking at the blogging and I decided to devote some time tonight SOLELY for this purpose..

Twilight! We went on a double date with Davis and Melanie opening night!

Dinner at IGGY's (delicious!) after. They are so precious..

yummmmmmm...

We hadn't been to the Nicklecade in FOREVER so we decided to go after the disappointing football game..

Julianne and Matt are MARRIED!!!

The girls.. We missed you Karen!!!

Stuey's First EVER Giant Hamburger experience! Seriously the best burgers, hands down! Gotta love the Mesa.

Pre-Turkey Willcox family softball game. I think I might be rethinking wearing skinny jeans ever again after this picture. Giant-looking hips and legs? No thank you..

And of course.. Fili's!!! Gosh I missed the AZB.. doesn't this look appetizing?

We went to the devils game the day after thanksgiving, kind of a let down.. I am such a huge fan of cougar football that everything about the environment really turned me of.. Is that bad to say? I just really hate the swearing and the drunk kids and the non-BYU-ness. We were pretty close though so that was nice..

My football game! This was our semi-finals last night! We WON!!! We're going to the championship! One game tomorrow and if we win, we play again on Saturday (because the other team hasn't lost yet and it's double elimination so we have to beat them twice. Yeah, lame.) and I really think we might be good enough to win! We beat this team by 5 touchdowns.. woot woot.


That's Stu right there with the white shirt and Sponge Bob pants. He's amazingly good at this game and it is so fun (hot) to watch him :) Their team got out right before semi-finals but they were in the 1st division as my team is in the 3rd..

AAAAND the BIGGEST news: Stu and I are getting married in 23 days! WOW!!!

Time is FLYING

I feel like I'm in a time warp (?) where time either goes incredibly fast or annoyingly slow. Thinking about it today though makes me feel like there isn't time for anything! It was a whole TWO months ago that Stu proposed, and only four more weeks until our sealing! I thought we had sooo much time to plan a reception, but really there are still so many things that aren't figured out yet! My feelings are so contradictory lately, I want time to stop but I also just CAN'T WAIT to be married to this wonderful boy! What to do.. Luckily I have amazing parents (future and current) that are helping ease the stress a LOT. I don't think we could do this with out Stu's mom, she is AMAZING! I'm sure everything will get figured out, I just need to relax..

There's No Place Like Home...

Stu and I are flying home to Mesa, TONIGHT. Oh so excited.

I love my Arizona!!!

Sometimes... Your team loses. And it stinks.. But that doesn't mean that you give up on them. Now let's just look forward to what the future will bring, see what we can do to improve.

So, to Bronco, Max, and all the BYU Cougars:
There are still some dedicated fans out here.. So just shake
it off, and get back to work.
Quest for Perfection 2009 :)

I still bleed blue!

HOLY WAR!!!!

The Cougars play the Utes today at 4pm!!! For those of you who don't know, there is a HUGE rivalry between BYU and the University of Utah, especially in football. (it's like Oregon and Oregon State) BYU has been #1 the Mountain West conference for a couple years now, but this year has been a little different.. Practically the whole MWC (minus a couple..) is full of BALLER teams! BYU lost to TCU (in a blowout), ending our "quest for perfection" and 16-game winning streak. We also dropped a TON in the rankings and basically ruled ourseves out of a BCS bowl game. TCU was beat by Utah, barely. Utah is #8 in BCS rankings right now, meaning that if they win, they will go to a bowl game. I think it would be awesome for the conference to have one of its teams at a bowl game, BUT WE WANT TO CRUSH UTAH!!! I have faith in my Cougars that it will be a good game. The games are always pretty close until the end, we just have to hold out for that win!!!

RA RA RARARA, RA RA RARARA, RA RA RARARA, GOOOOOOOOOOOOO COUGARS!!!

Some pictures of past games..

Harvey Unga (oooongaaa!)

Johnny Harline

Victory in Ute territory... Do it again Cougs!

And some links to the most miraculous plays from the last two games against the Utes...

2007- 4th and 18...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_eBpnwDuII

2006- Beck to Harline..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnJbeswDpVg

food, food, food...

So I know I haven't had time to post in a while, this has been a crazy week... But things are rolling with reception plans! I just wanted to ask everyone's opinion on food for our reception. If we were to do hot foods, what would be best? What is your favorite thing that you've had at a reception?

MY favorite part.. :)

Some ideas we had were: Pasta bar, chicken salad sandwiches, pasta salad and regular salads, meat skewers... I remembered one dinner I went to where they had crepes out and lots of fun toppings, not just fruit but some meat filling too? Anyway, we're trying to keep it as inexpensive as possible but keep it fun. Shoot us some ideas!

This week was a little full of craziness (SO glad it's the weekend) I just wanted to be done with school and out of this cold/rain/snow! And it's just going to get crazier closer to the wedding and with finals coming up.. Bleh.

Fall in Provo

I'm going to miss this next year when Stu and I are living in Arizona. I love the changing of the leaves, the comfy sweaters, and the football games. But then AZ has its perks too-NO SNOW! I can't even say how much I'm looking forward to locking away my huge snow coats and thermals :)

I haven't uploaded any pictures for a while so here's a glimpse at the past month and a half...

Here's some of Stu and I just messing around during one of our Sunday walks..

I am kind of amazingly strong.

Yay for fall!

So handsome :)

Julianne and I at the Relief Society broadcast in Salt Lake

I made mine and Stu's halloween costumes this year. Peter Pan and Tinkerbell! It kinda scares me how good Stuart is at being a fairy..

We were invited to a party halloween night at the Barratt house. It was fun to see every ones costumes.. We had the Romans, JoBros and Hannah Montana, cereal killers, and a married couple dressed as each other. Haha.

Second star to the right, straight on til morning!

Who knew Tink had such a nice backside?

This semester has been going good so far gradewise, Stu and I are just trying to keep the stress at a low as we go about school and wedding/future planning. The wedding plans are slowly falling into place so that's nice. Any suggestions for caterers? inexpensive decoration ideas?

I love Stuart Parrish Milne

Really. I do. He is seriously wonderful. Top 10 Reasons include:

1. He makes me laugh, at least a million times a day. I just can't help but be happy around him.
2. I love the way he treats people, like they are the most important thing in the world. I really get to see Christlike love through his example.
3. He's quite the handsome devil.
4. We love so many of the same things-The Office, crunchy peanut butter, college football, Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce, comfy pants and cuddling on the lovesac, pictures, delicious guacamole and classic trashy mexican food, each other.. The list goes on..
5. He treats me like a princess, even sometimes when I don't deserve it. But he doesn't hesitate to call me out when I'm being a brat either :)
6. He is so good with my family. My sisters LOVE him. If Stu wasn't going to be a part of the family anyway, I'm sure the girls would have me replaced.
7. He loves to cook and is SOO good at it! He also washes dishes! I'm so spoiled.
8. He loves the gospel and it's apparent in the way he acts and treats those around him. I can tell he was an amazing missionary and he's just itching to get back. (Maybe we'll get to serve a couple mission in Brazil!)
9. He has goals and is working to accomplish them. We've been reading through this book, "301 things you should ask before you get married" and honestly it's just crazy how similarly we answered these questions. (some of the questions are really kinda weird though) Our goals are already in line with each others and I know we will work towards them together.
10. He is my best friend. And he's going to be all mine in just 2 months! I am the luckiest girl in the world.


I honestly can't believe sometimes that this is my life. Yes sometimes it's crazy, but it's the most wonderful thing to be loved by someone like Stu. I couldn't ask for a better person to be with, to grow closer to for the rest of forever :) I can't wait!

Hope Maxine

Yesterday I was blessed with the opportunity to attend the funeral services for beautiful baby girl Hope Maxine Rollins. I say blessed only because it was one of the most powerful experiences I've had. To see this family go through such immense trials together and to do so with unshakable faith.. I hope I can exhibit the same as trials head my way. I know that they are only able to bear this because they have the comfort of the gospel in their lives. They will have eternity to get to know their beautiful little girl. Please keep their family in your prayers, pray that they will continue to stay in comfort.

Arizona for the Weekend

Stu and I went down to AZ this past weekend to get some wedding planning done and to spend time with our families.

I hadn't seen mine since we got engaged so that was fun! (plus we got to miss school on Friday) It was so so nice to be back in Mesa. We got to escape this freak cold weather that's taking over Provo, be with our families, and I even got to go to a friends wedding open house thing. Yay Taralynnn! She's getting married this Friday-I'm so excited for her!!!

Stu and I get married in less than ten weeks! Wow crazy!

Well this weekend we went around to a bunch of places to get things figured out for the reception.. Things were really stressful the past couple weeks because I was trying to figure out ways to save money but still have it be nice/easy for everyone because it's such a crazy time right after Christmas! My brother is leaving on his mission around the same time also, so my plan was just to minimize stress for everyone by saving money AND making it easy. Well we finally decided on the Wright House in Mesa for the reception because they take care of basically EVERYTHING! It seemed like it was meant to be since they still had one of the spots open for that day (they were pretty much booked every Saturday through March..) It's really so so pretty and I'm happy because we can do a little ring ceremony before the reception for my mom and other close family that can't take part in the temple sealing.
We also went and talked to Ellen Fukumoto who is doing our flowers, Cox Printing for announcements, and Nissel(?) Photography for our special day!


We're still getting specifics nailed down with food and other small details but I think everything is moving along nicely. I'm sad though because Stu and I took absolutely NO pictures of our weekend! This happens every time we are in Arizona. We did so many fun things too, so I'm a little bummed.. I'm so excited that we are moving to Mesa in December! I love the weather and we'll be so close to our families! We kinda got a taste of what it's going to be like during the holidays because we had to make sure to spend time with each family equally AND my mom lives down in Arizona too so we spent time with her too.. It was a little hard to split our time in three places and still get time to ourselves, but I think we'll be able to manage.
Stu and I had a 6am flight this morning so we woke up around 4am and are completely exausted. Poor Stu had to go straight to work from the airport, but being the good fiance that I am, I took him a steak and egg burrito from Rancherito's (his favorite). I love doing little things like that to try and make his day just even a little bit better :) He's so wonderful, I have to do all I can to even try to match up!

I am Glad for Many Things..

I think this is the name of a primary song that I've been humming all day.. If it's not then oh well, I'm still glad for many things :) this weekend was really fun because Stu's parents came up to Provo and spent some time with us. I am so grateful for them and how they've just taken me in! I have always felt so comfortable around them and they are so great! I love them! They took us to costco, rooted Stu on as he dominated in his intramural football game, took us out to yummy dinners, took some fun pictures and went to the Homecoming game with us. It was so fun. I was a little worried to start this week because I didn't have much time to study and get my homework done, but everything turned out fine. I got another "good job!" "fantastic!" "well done!" by my number when I looked on the testing center screen! woot woot! More things I am grateful for this week:

1. Clif bars and honey bran muffins from Mimi's Cafe
2. Not having to pay 2.25 for the bus everytime I need to get to work
3. hot hands
4. STUART PARRISH MILNE (technically #1)
5. My amazing family (who I get to see this weekend!) Mine and the family I'm marrying into
6. AZ heat
7. diggi booboo
8. Stu's ability to make me laugh anytime
9. New cellphones that hold battery charges
10. 96%!!!

I'll have to post some pictures in the next post, too tired and lazy right now.. yikers. I love life!

Let's Get Ethical, Ethical..

K I thought last nights episode of The Office was HILLARIOUS! Not the best but it did have some crack up scenes. Mine and Stu's favorite quotes from the night..

"The tall guy's engaged"
"Yeah, I took Intro to Philosophy. Twice. No big deal."
"When I discovered youtube I didn't work for five days."
"Terminate her. Terminator." "I'm from the future"
"Yawn. Four seconds."

Stu and I discovered all of these episodes are SO much funnier the second time that you see them because you can catch all the extra stuff. Thank goodness for TiVO..

Shout Out to the Inventor of BLOGGER

I love blogs! I have found some of my friends that I haven't seen in such a long time and now we can chat and see what's going on in each others lives. It's so great! I'm seriously addicted. Some of you have babies and have gotten married (not in that order) and it's so fun to see pictures and read all about them! I have been checking my fiance's brothers family blog everyday to read up on their precious baby's recovery, but I never wrote anything for me.. Now I'm obsessed! Who knows if anyone will ever read my silly posts but I think it's keeping me sane just to be able to vent a little about the crazy-goings-on in my life.. Now that I'm planning mine and Stu's reception, life has gotten a little busy and it's fun to put things here to get advice and everything. Another plus, I'll be updating frequently so it's kind of like a journal right? Okay well that's kinda lame but it's probably the best I can do for now.

This is the best invention ever!

nothing short of insanity..

Today was a crazy day for multiple reasons. I woke up at seven to do my workout (slim in six if you havent heard of it, awesome but PAINFUL) and then i went to the bathroom, came back to my room because I forgot my morning prayers, and then while I was saying them-I guess I crawled into my bed again and fell asleep for another two hours.. Needless to say, I was a tad bit late to class. Then I had some fun stuff going on with wedding reception planning because my ideas are putting my parents in the poorhouse, yikes. So I need to scale back with a few things and decide what is in the realm of "realistic." You mean money doesn't grow on trees? Dang. It's more difficult because the wedding is during the wintertime and while I am sure there won't be snow in Mesa, it will still be semi-cold and we have to have a suitable location for guests.. We we're thinking a reception in a backyard and doing a tent type thing that is open on one side and yeah I don't really know.. Any suggestions? We found out the Wright House has one opening and it would be so easy but it's a little pricey. Gah, can't it be December 28th already?! Then my finals would be finished, this wedding stuff would be out of the way, I would be sealed for forever to Stuy, and I wouldn't be worrying about all this stuff anymore! I know that the most important thing is that I am getting married in the temple which means we can go on loving each other through eternity; but I want this to be a memorable night, especially because my mom mom can't be a part of the ceremony inside the temple. I want the reception to be so perfect! But I don't need it to be over the top or the most expensive thing ever, just nice for my family and friends. PS everyone we are having mexican (maybe) catered to our reception. Mmmmmmmmm! any ideas for cutting costs but still having a nice little party? any ideas would be appreciated! There are so many things to plan yet and think about! Stu and I were thinking up outfits for our engagement pictures which we're planning on doing this week. Should this be such a big deal? But that adds a little to the stress.. Also having some drama at work and with some of my extended family.. Yippee. I'm just crossing my fingers and hoping that tomorrow will be an easier day.. Which I doubt.

Fullness of Times

Hooray for General Conference!! I love the fact that we get to hear from these wonderful authorities so often! What a blessing it is to have modern revelation! I'm so grateful for President Monson and his guidance in these crazy times. I love his counselors and all the others that Heavenly Father has chosen to lead us. Stu and I decided to stay here in Provo this time instead of trying to make it for one of the sessions in Salt Lake.. It's kind of sad that we're not taking advantage of living this close because next time we'll be in AZ, but I think I get more out of it being here and not worrying about the stress of getting to the conference center.. and I think I've fallen asleep every time I've been in a meeting inside the center.

Plus Stu and I get to cuddle on the lovesac and eat yummy waffles while watching. Best weekend ever? Anywhoooo, I love conference!

Having the gospel is such a blessing in my life. And knowing that Heavenly Father provides instruction for us through these amazing men is just another testament of the love of God. He would never just leave us to find our way back to him alone. He wants us to return, He does all he can to help us learn, to help us find happiness. I am so grateful for the examples in these great men, in our stake presidents, in our bishops, in our home teachers and Relief Society presidents. I know this church is true, I know that we are truly blessed to have this gospel restored to us. Think of all the new temples being dedicated across the world! It is simply amazing how much this truth is spreading.

I love the church!

Vice Presidential Debate?

I am deeply saddened right now. The reason? The Office was replaced by the Vice Presidential debate.. Why? I think NBC's decision disappointed millions tonight. Including Stu and I who struggled for like twenty minutes to get the TiVO to work and it wasn't even on. Okay I understand that the outcome of this upcoming election affects the whole nation but REALLY? Replacing The OFFICE???

WHY?

I'm Grateful For..

Today I was feeling a little stressed and was concentrating a little too much on trivial stuff. I really am grateful for so much, I want to focus on a few before I crawl into bed..

One-
I am so grateful for family. For mine and Stu's. I can't wait until January when Stu and I will be living in AZ full-time so we can visit any time that we want. Well until they start putting bars on the doors at least..


My parents have done so much for me and continue to give and give. What would I do without them!? I love you!!!


And Stu's parents are so so great and so kind. I am one lucky lady, I get to have this amazing boy and his family too!



Two-
I'm grateful for things that keep me busy. I had a day a while back where I felt like I had no purpose and it was one of the worst days I've had in a while. So yes, while I feel like I have no time for anything and maybe get a little stressed out every once in a while, I'm blessed to have these things that occupy my time. Especially because one of those things is planning my wedding stuff :)

Three-
I'm so grateful for Stu and his ability to make me happy no matter what. Today, we laughed and joked around about the most random things (he does an amazing Sloth impression that left me laughing for ten minutes) I'm just so lucky to have an amazing fiance that I know will keep me smiling for the rest of forever.

Less than 3 months!

I almost forgot!

I was so so so overjoyed this week when I walked down the stairs in the testing center to find that I had a "perfect score!" next to my number! Probably the greatest accomplishment of my life, especially considering the school that I attend and that it was a calc test. Booyah!


The dreaded testing center.. I stole this picture from the internet. who would take a normal picture of this evil place? Oh and something I heard: Sacrament meeting held in the testing center? Really?

details, details, details..

This has been one crazy week so far.. Not bad though, just busy. Reason being, I have been given until next week to pick out the style of my wedding dress and reception colors. No big deal, seeing as i have tons of time on my hands and those decisions are the least important of the whole dealie. FALSE. I hope my sarcasm was picked up on.. I tried on a few ugly dresses yesterday, ps Alyse's Bridal has a scanty selection and either I have poor taste or those dresses were just not nice looking. I've been looking online and I had an ideal in my head of what i wanted a while ago but who knows if it would look good on me right? The dresses I tried on yesterday didn't help much. there was only one that I even remotely liked. Yes, I'm picky. Everyone knows that. Maybe it's a personal problem that I need to work on..


Although my sisters are (apparently) opposed to my colors, I have decided on yellow and brown. Yes I know I'm not getting married during the spring, but we can blame that on Stu and his impatience :)

December 27th 2008-I Can't Wait!

It's official! Stu and I are engaged! We are being sealed for time and all eternity in the Mesa Arizona Temple on December 27, 2008! I can't contain my happiness/excitement/giddiness!!!


Well here's the proposal story..

So Stu and I planned to go to the Kalai concert at Thanksgiving Point on Friday night (I was so excited, I LOVE Kalai and Thanksgiving Point is BEAUTIFUL. Plus Stu took me there for my birthday last year to see the tulips :) It was a great day) So he comes to pic me up looking seriously SO handsome and carrying a bouquet of tulips.. yellow ones, my favorite. Just so cute, but Stu is so sweet and he brings me flowers just randomly so I didn't put any extra thought into it. Then we left for dinner, Stu took us to the little restaurant that we went on our first date-Le Dolce Vita-which is amazing!


At this point I grew a little suspicious because I would have thought he would save that place for when he proposed, but he had told me earlier that the ring would take a couple more weeks and I didn't notice any box-like shapes in his pockets..


Anyway, we had so much fun being silly-like always.


We left for the Kalai concert and listened to the mix that Stu had made- that should have tipped me off too.. The concert was amazing!


After the concert, we decided to walk around by the waterfalls. We were pretty much alone because everyone was leaving through a different exit. We kind of had company a few times when some other groups of people decided to do the same thing we did.. Stu kept moving us along the path saying he wanted to be alone so he could smooch me hahahaaa. So we were still talking during all of this but he got pretty quiet after we'd been alone for like five minutes. (I guess he figured he was safe because no one had walked by in a while..) He dropped down to his knee and asked if I would make him "the happiest man... AWKWARD" Another guy happened to walk by at that same moment! hahahhaa oh it was so funny. I still didn't believe him because he had been tricking me all night with fake proposals but then he slipped something on my finger :) I just hit him ans called him a liar.. probably not the smoothest moment in our lives haha. But yes, a few minutes later I said YES!


I was so happy all I could do was laugh and cry and hug this boy. I love him so much and am so excited to get to spend the rest of eternity with him. I just can't wait. He is honestly the sweetest, kindest, bestest boy for me. I am the luckiest.