Minnesota

Last week Shean and I went to Minnesota so that I could meet the new family. We had such a wonderful time with them. I am so glad that we could go so that I could finally meet them in person. What awesome parents he has! We had an awesome birthday party for Shean while we were out there, also what I like to call our "preception". Most of his extended family came to the party, so I got to know some of them as well. We drove up the coast of Lake Superior, had a tour of Minneapolis, and saw lots and lots of beautiful lakes. Now, I think Minnesota is a beautiful place, but I don't think I'm ready to move out there. Shean has promised me that we'll be staying here in Utah for years and years to come! I am excited for all of his family to come for Christmas and our wedding. I think we're going to have a great time together.

Pumpkin Carving

We had a great time with Kyle, Misty, and Melynda carving pumpkins. We have made it a fun tradition to get together for yummy food and pumkin carving. The little tools that you can get these days make carving pumpkins so much fun, and much, much easier than back in the old days.

I'm Getting Married!!

Wahooooooo! I'm getting married to the most wonderful guy in the world! I know it probably seems really funny that my last post was just over a month ago about how I've been dating someone, and then the very next post is that I'm getting married. Well, I guess you can see that I've been a little preoccupied. Shean and I got officially engaged on August 30th in Bear Lake. It was the cutest thing ever! He planned with my dad, and surprised me by showing up early on Saturday down at the marina on my parent's party barge. He had the back all decorated with rose petals, flowers, chocolates, sparkling cider, and a ring box! I was really surprised to see him so early in the day, and definitely surprised that he was able to get a ring so fast. I love my ring so much and am very proud with what he chose. I gave him some ideas, and he did a fabulous idea. I love him so much and can't wait to get married on December 27th! Hope you can all come! I'll try to post some more details later on.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

So, it's been a long time since I've blogged. I've been having a great summer. Over the past few weeks, I've been busy dating the greatest guy ever! Here's a couple of pictures of our last date. He always plans the greatest dates. Last night we went to Temple Square and enjoyed the visitor's center and the beautiful grounds. We went to dinner at The Garden Restaurant at the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial building. The view from the top of the building was AMAZING! Things are going great and I'm having the time of my life!

Where is the summer going?

So I can't believe that the summer is going by so FAST! I am in shock that it's already the last week of JUNE. Last month was hard because I was gone for two whole weeks to Italy, so it felt like the month flew by, which it did. I didn't think I'd be feeling the same way about June too. I just have to look back of the past few weeks and realize what I've been up to, and that it's totally okay.

We had a great Memorial Day at home with the family. We celebrated Jackie's 25th birthday. WOW, you say? Jackie, already 25? Yeah, my thoughts exactly. It's even harder to believe when you're the older sister! We made freezer meals with Mom and have been enjoying them ever since. I mean, who wants to cook after work anyway? I am a TRUE BELIEVER in the freezer meals, and they're even really YUMMY! You should definitely try it!

Lindsey and I also got to go home over Father's Day. We got up at 6:15 on Saturday morning and went on a bike ride. We left from Mom & Dad's house and then went to Laketown and then to St. Charles. I still can't even believe that we DID IT!! (I'm sure you can't either) I believe it's about 40 miles from home. Okay, if it's not quite 40 miles, we are TOTALLY fine with rounding up a little! After that bike ride, we spent the afternoon on the PARTY BARGE with the whole family. We had YUMMY food and enjoyed cruising around the BEAUTIFUL crystal blue lake. We spent the evening at the golf course driving range while the Dad & Shea played a round of golf. It was a busy day, but we had to fit everything in!

Last weekend, I went to St. George with Amanda, Brad, Amy, and their Mom & Dad. Those of you who know me, know that I CAN'T handle the HEAT! When we got there it was well over 100 degrees. All I can say, is that I'm darn glad that I DO NOT live in St. George. We got to go to two plays, The Sound of Music and Les Miserables at Tuacan on Friday and Saturday nights. I really liked The Sound of Music because I have always LOVED that movie, and the girl that played Maria sounded EXACTLY like Julie Andrews. She was absolutely amazing. If you haven't ever been to Tuacan, I would highly recommend it. We spent three straight hours in the pool on Saturday morning because it was the only way that we could stand being outside. It felt so good in the 108 degree weather! I didn't even get sunburnt. Thank you spf 15!!! I still got some color, so that's great!

My friends and I have been addicted to So You Think You Can Dance. It has been so much fun to watch and has given us something to look forward to doing together each week. I haven't really ever watched the show, but I love it so far. Lindsey, Mollie, and I have all been going up Provo Canyon to go biking, jogging, and walking. It's been really FUN to enjoy the outdoors and beauty of the canyon.

I am looking forward to spending many more weekends at home in BEAR LAKE. I feel so BLESSED and LUCKY to be from such an amazing place. I guess I'm going to have to buy a camera so that I can post some pictures some time. Darn Italins! Thanks for stealing my camera!

Italy Pics

The report...

Italy was AMAZING!!! We had such a great time and saw so many really neat things. We started in Venice and then on to Florence, Rome, and Sorrento. We went between cities by train, so we were able to see alot of country. It was a beautiful country. I loved Sorrento, the last place that we visited because it was right along the coast. I was so excited to see that it was exactly like the picture that I found a few months ago and had posted on my blog! I guess I liked it maybe the most because it was right along the coast, and both Mom and I love water. One of the highlights was seeing the Colloseum and the ancient ruins in Rome. Wow! I can't believe that stuff from the first centry is still standing! It truly is amazing. We had such a great time and have many fun memories that I'm sure we'll never forget. I'm so grateful that I had the opportunity to go to Italy. It was a great experience and I guess when you go to other countries, you really are truly grateful for the things that you have and enjoy in your own country. Enjoy the pics!

Coming home soon!

Well, we've had a great time in Italy, and now we're just waiting to come home! We're staying in a hotel for one last night and then we leave to come home to the good old USA! Don't get me wrong, this place is pretty, but I love America! I will have lots of pictures to share with you as soon as I get back. This has definitely been a great learning experience for Mom and I. Hope everything is going well at home!

You know what this means?

This means Spring is very, very near! The greatest thing about these pics is that they were taken right outside my house. I didn't even have to go to St. George for these pictures. I love the spring time for the new bright green leaves and especially the blossoming trees. I can't think of anything prettier than blossoming crab apple trees in the spring. The purple, pink, and white are so pretty together. I am looking forward to going to St. George with Amy this weekend for some fun in the sun!

New Hair!

I finally did what I've been thinking about for a long time! i went in on Saturday morning and chopped my hair! I just kept seeing so many other girls with cute short hair, and figured it was time for me to do something different. Is this different enough? I definitely think it is for me! What do you think? Ashlee, if you're reading this, go for it next time! It takes way less time to do than long hair.

It's Official.....

I'm going to Italy! Yes, you heard right, Italy! One of my best friends, Amanda, invited me to go last month and we've spent the past two weeks planning the trip. One of the best things is that my mom gets to come too! How cool is that? Amanda's husband and parents will be coming too. I really think it's going to be a great trip for us, and now that we've bought the tickets, it's really real! We are going to leave May 1st and fly in to Venice. We will visit Venice, Florence, Rome, and Sorrento, with several day trips from those four main places. We also bought our train passes on Saturday, and we only have one more city to book hotels in. After that's done, we get to do the fun part and plan what we want to see while we're there. We fly back on May 14, so we'll get a good 12 days of sight-seeing in while we're there. It's really a dream com from true for me. I'm going to Italy, me, a girl from little old Garden City, Utah, is going to Europe! I still can't really believe that it's true! One of the places that I'm most excited to see is the Amalfi Coast. Here's a great picture of it. Isn't it beautiful? If anyone has been to Italy and has any suggestions, let me know. I'm now starting my count down for the trip. We're under two months now!

Go Jazz!!!

We went to the Jazz game on Monday night. Yes, this was our 4th game within one month! We have had tons of fun going to the games. Lindsey and Mollie got to come with us this time, and we had a great time watching Kyle Korver make 6 3-point shots that night! It was AMAZING!!! We were sitting in the "lucky" section that got the little blow-up noise makers. We are lucky to have been to 4 games, all of which the Jazz won! I don't think I've been into the Jazz this much since John Stockton and Karl Malone played. It's so much fun to have a good, winning team!

Winter Snow!!!

We are seriously living in a winter wonderland right now! I can't believe how much snow we got here in Bear Lake. It's been snowing since before we woke up and it's now almost 12:00 and it hasn't even let up. I don't know now, maybe we won't even be able to make it back to Utah Valley today. I really love the snow and I hope the lake fills up this year because it's so much better to have it full. Hope you like the pics of the winter wonderland!

My Calling

So, I have a great calling in my ward. I'm the "teachings of our time" Relief Society Teacher, and I really LOVE it! I have never been a Relief Society teacher before, so I never knew how awesome of a calling it is, and how much it is really just for me. I have learned alot in my prepartion and I'm SO grateful for it. This past week I taught the lesson on Pres. Monson's talk, a Royal Priesthood. Now, I'll have to admit that I didn't have the best attitude to begin with because it was a talk given in the Priesthood session and I thought it was going to be a talk mostly for the men. Once I finally decided to read the whole talk and put some effort into it, I found that it was an amazing talk, and one that every member of the church should read, and apply in their own lives. He talks about how we each as members of the church need to obtain some specific characteristics in our lives; namely, vision, faith, effort, virtue, and prayer. Wow! It's such a great talk. The one thing that stuck out to me was that effort is a good thing, not always easy, but it's totally worth it. I decided to put forth some extra effort into my lesson and I even went as far as making hand outs! Yay! I actually made hand outs and everyone loved them!
I, like my friend Amy, didn't really make goals at the beginning of this new year. Sure, I have some things on my mind, but I didn't really write them down. After reading and studying this talk, I decided that I have several things that I need to work on, but they're all very "do-able". Each of these characteristics, or marks, as Pres. Monson refers to them, are qualities that each of us need to develop and better our lives through them. I am so happy to have this calling and know that I will be blessed as much as the effort that I put into my calling.




It's going to be hard to not have Pres. Hinckley around anymore, but his death is such a bittersweet thing. I am so happy that he is back with his lovely wife and that he was able to serve right up until the day that he passed away. Pres. Hinckley obviously developed all of these marks long ago and has been such a wonderful example to everyone around, church members or not. It's amazing to me how many temples have been built and planned since he became the president. I think it's wonderful! So many more members of the church are now able to enjoy the blessings of the temple. I also loved how Pres. Hinckley was not afraid of the media. He was willing to sit down with people and share his beliefs and he could answer any question that they had without blinking an eye. Another thing I won't forget are the "Be's" that he talked about. He just made everything so simple. I also really loved his sense of humor, and the way that he would wave his cane around as he walked into the conference center. He is definitely going to be missed.

Lindsey Turns 19!

Yesterday Linds turned 19! I can't beleive that my baby sister is 19, it's so CRAZY! Jackie came down early in the day and we surprised Lindsey at work with cupcakes at break time. She was so excited to see Jackie and McKenna, and I was so proud of myself for keeping their visit a secret! We tried to go to The Olive Garden last night, but the wait was an hour and 45 minutes, so we decided to go to Ottavio's instead. I think it was delicious and the atmosphere was great! They had a guy there who played the accordian. He came to our table and played a few songs that the girls requested. It was awesome! Lindsey really liked it when all of the servers sang Happy Birthday in Italian, accompanied by the accordian. It did sound really pretty. After dinner, we all came back to my house for cupcakes. As you can see, McKenna loved the cupcakes! She actually ate that one before we went to dinner and before we frosted it, so it was a little less messy! She was so good all day and really so much fun! Linds had alot of friends from her ward come over and they all ended up playing karaoke in the basement for a few hours. It sounded like they had a great time. Melynda, Shea, Jackie, and I all stayed upstairs and played Buzz Word, a game that Linds got for her birthday. It was a really fun time!