Episode 31: In Which Everything Happens All At Once and Nothing Happens At All

So you probably all thought I had dropped off the face of the planet on account of getting married. Well, you would mostly be right.

See, there is a whole bunch of stuff to get in order before a wedding and I've been working on it pretty much non-stop when I can. It's pretty much making me insane. I am already bored and ready to elope. Not to mention the more that I do, the further and further December gets.

The good news is that my mother AND my future mother-in-law are both super chill and are like "Ok Jessica, we love you cuz you're awesome and whatever you want is fine" :) Ok I added the "we love you and you're awesome"...but I am sure it's true, cuz I am awesome. There. :)

So did I mention? We set our date for December 21st and we will be getting married in the Mount Timpanogos Temple. :) Beautiful. I totally can't wait.

In the meantime, I have guest lists to finalize, invitations to order, dresses to be measured for and other like things. I'm so tired that I've stopped thinking. Someone asks me what I want my cake to look like and I give them this look like "blaaaaaaaaaah". It goes for pretty much everything. "what shoes do you like? "blaaaaaaaaaaaaah". Do you want a quartet at the reception? "blaaaaaaaaaaaah" Remember that old "I failed chemistry" picture? It is a versatile picture. It represents wedding planning too! I'd post it here, but it's on my old and broken computer. So you get this updated version of me dying on a binder of wedding invitations =P

It also doesn't really help that even though I have 6 months (actually 4 months and 3 weeks) to do all this because I'm trying to get most of it done before school because I'm still a full time student and I still need to get a job. Luckily my student financial aid came through and so I have money for tuition and some for rent and whatnot. That gives me a little bit of a cushion, but I still need a job.

If anyone knows of any jobs on or off campus that are good for crazy busy students let me know! I'd love to do something in child/healthcare since that's essentially where I'm headed anyhow as an occupational therapist. But you know, when you're a poor starving student attempting to get married...money is money.

In good news, Andrew DID get a job. He's working at Harmon's at the deli counter. Poor kid, long hours on his feet. I love him so much!

I must say it's a huge relief ONE of us having a job finally, but I really need a job because I do not want him to bear the burden of supporting us on a minimum wage (maybe a little more) job. But still, he's pretty patient and reassuring and keeps me mostly upbeat on the whole situation. He's the one with all the faith I guess, I'm the one with all the "blaaaaaaaaaaaah" =P

I'm trying to stay busy here in the meantime, figuring getting a job in Arizona is hopeless. I've actually got a few resume classes I can attend before I head up to Utah to give me a better idea on what to do. Also, I'm in charge of making dinner Monday-Thursday. It's going to help prepare me to feed poor andrew, so we don't have to eat hamburger helper every night (or at all if I can help it). I did manage to make one meal so far. I had the best of intentions and I was going to sit down on Sunday with the coupon papers that come in the mail and hash out a weekly menu and plan for shopping on a budget. I feel like i'm on some TLC reality show. =P

Only I'm failing at that. Ali came home and so I've finally had someone to hang out with and laugh with and what not. (Arizona is a pretty lonely place when everyone is married and your fiance is 700 miles away). Needless to say, little planning has been done and even less cooking. I did make a delicious "Chicken Ziti with Broccoli" though. It made fantastic leftovers and it was really simple to make. Definitely a keeper.

I will say though, that despite the lack of productivity in an area that I so desperately need to improve, it has been a tremendous blessing just being able to be here for Ali while she adjusts to normal life and I remember why I came back to Arizona in the first place. :) I've been there, done that with the whole coming home thing, so it's been nice to be able to lend her support.

Today we went to the temple together and it felt so wonderful to be there, with a friend. It's always easier to go to the temple with a friend. For a while, I would coordinate with andrew and go at the same time as he did, but in a different temple. It was ok...but the Provo temple has been closed for cleaning so it's been me and me til today.

It was an adventurous trip to the temple, involving losing my purse and ali putting her dress on backwards. Hee hee. but it was also a really really good session. It kind of made me think of Andrew, but what can you do? The temple is for families, so I would be concerned if I didn't think of Andrew when I was in the temple. But instead of a terrible empty and lonely feeling, it was a calm and peaceful feeling. I love the temple :)

In other other news, I woke up to the sound of rain today. and the nice hot stickiness of humidity. I loved it. I almost thought I was in Japan again! But then I woke up all the way and realized that I was not in Japan. Zannen. Anyhow, now it's raining again and I can hear it. Such a wonderful sound. So soothing. :)

I also went to target with Ali for fun. But looking at everything I felt that familiar "blaaaaaaaaah" coming on. I looked at all the food processors (something I DEFINITELY want for my wedding) and saw no Cuisinart food processors. Nothing else seemed interesting. I saw all the multicolored potholders and towels and was like "wah! color coordination!" and promptly chose all white stuff that I could just bleach at the end of the day. I am SO not into home decorating. Maybe andrew will have more ideas? Or our house is going to be very boring.

But what can you do? Well, you CAN beg Sportman's Warehouse to open a wedding registry, because then I can find stuff I actually want and can use, and Andrew and I will have more fun shopping for it...AND it won't matter how bad I am at home decorating cuz we'll spend most of our time in our spiffy new tent and sleeping bag, eating dutch oven cooking to survive. I'd even opt for setting the tent up in the living room. =P

But I don't see that happening, so I guess I had best form some kind of opinion on what I want to put on my registry. =P

Maybe wedding planning will be more fun when I'm back in Utah and I can actually do this stuff with my fiance. Do you know how hard it is to do this all over skype!? Bless him though, he's busy but he's willing to talk things over with me and help out where he can. :)

In final news, I made my first cheesecake. It was delicious. Lemon cheesecake with Lemon curd topping! Yum! I think I ate the whole cake single handedly. :) Oh yeah! and I made crepes with Natalee and learned how to flip my crepes in the air! I felt pretty accomplished. So I can take comfort in the fact that when wedding planning is super boring and annoying, I can flip a crepe. :)

So that's my exciting life. So now you see why "everything happens at once and nothing happens at all"? You can also see why I haven't blogged lately hee hee. Oh, and also...yes, I'm bored with wedding planning. No, I am not looking for advice. Thank you. Just look at my cute hair and face. I've got a handle on this. I have the temple scheduled and that's all that matters. :) but seriously, look at my cute hair. I got a haircut. I forgot that part. It looks the same...but its curly with a flower in it. :) Oh admit it. You love me. =P

haha, look. I posted episode 31 on July 31st. Yeah! let's go to Baskin Robbins! :)

Episode 30: In Which Jessica Has Car Trouble and Goes To Slide Rock

My goodness, seems like life has at least been a little more exciting since I got back from Utah. I'm not sure what to attribute it to, but I'm sure that I could have done without the excitement yesterday. =P

Yesterday, I was assigned to drive my sister and 3 of her friends to Slide Rock State Park up near Sedona, Arizona. We were supposed to leave around 10 but we didn't leave until 11 because my sister and her friends took their precious time eating breakfast and getting ready to go. Once we finally got going it was pretty smooth sailing out of Phoenix...aside from some of the very young music coming out of the speakers. I certainly felt like the uncool mom taking the kids out.

As we were climbing a hill outside of Phoenix, I was stuck behind a really really slow truck so I pulled into the left lane and hit the gas. I accelerated slowly so I shut off the air conditioner and shifted into 3rd gear. Still I wasn't accelerating very much but I was approaching 60mph and it was enough to pass the truck.

Suddenly, I felt something change in the engine and I wasn't accelerating at all. I let off the gas and sure enough, as we crested the hill, my "check engine" light came on. Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaantastic! We continued driving, but I felt like something really wasn't right.

We made it to Slide Rock in one piece, but found out that everyone else in Arizona had decided that Slide Rock was a fantastic place to spend a Saturday afternoon. There was a line about 30 cars long waiting to get into the park and 6-7 miles up and down the road there were people parked and walking in. That's desperation right there.

Brianna and her friends got out and walked while I waited in line. I waited for probably about 45 minutes to get into the park. As my car was idling I noticed the power slowly failing. I figured the alternator was working because when I stepped on the gas, everything worked fine...I couldn't figure out what it was. But, as any fool might do, I pulled into a parking spot and turned the car off.

Oops. The battery was so dead, I couldn't even get the doors to lock. I shrugged it off and went down to the river, I'd ask for a jump later. I had my own jumper cables so I just needed somebody's car to hook them up to.

The river was nice, aside from being crowded. I had fun for about 15 minutes playing with my Nikon D70 which I am proud to say, I think I have finally managed to figure out. I used my telephoto lens and got some fun shots of Brianna and her friends. Then I decided I was hot and wanted to jump in the river. No way I was going to leave a 900 dollar piece of equipment on the shore with no one to watch it so I walked it back to the car at which point I also changed into my swim suit.

The water was cold but refreshing. The water level was fairly high and so the slides were fun to go down and the only casualty suffered was a rip the size of the Grand Canyon in her pants. I unfortunately did not get a picture of that, having already put the camera in the car. Sad day. It was pretty hilarious.

We only stayed for a couple of hours despite the trouble that it took to actually get to and into the park; we wanted to get home by dark so I didn't have to use my headlights. We packed up, jumped the car, and headed home.

Driving home was the most ridiculous thing ever. I would have given anything at that time to be driving in Utah, and that is saying something because Utah drivers are TERRIBLE!

I was going 85 and people were passing me right and left (depending on which lane I was in) I got cut off and nearly run of the road at least 6 times and that is no exaggeration. To top it all off, my car was doing so badly that it could only do 35 up hills and if I didn't shift down to 3rd gear, it shook uncontrollably like it was going to blow up.

I did make it home safely, obviously. And I was very glad to be home. Tim and Adriana came over to visit for about an hour and after that I watched Sleepless in Seattle for the first time. It wasn't the most exciting chick flick I've seen, but it was good. I've decided that no chick flick is really great when your own life is a Romance better than even Jane Austen could write. :)

Today was church and while its usually fairly routine and I don't see fit to mention it in my blog, today was wonderful and very much an important part of my week.

In Sacrament, the theme was temples. There were two wonderful talks given first on temples themselves, and then baptisms for the dead. One of the things that really stuck out to me was that it is very important to participate regularly in ALL the ordinances in the temple and not just the endowment sessions. I HAVE done things besides endowments before, but I can definitely do more. I rarely do baptisms these days, but I could try harder.

Then we sang "Families Can Be Together Forever" and I just got completely giddy and smiley at the last line of the second verse "So I can marry in God's temple for eternity".

WAH! I can hardly wait!!!

Episode 29: In Which Jessica Goes on a Long Drive and Sees Many New and Exciting Places

Well, I have returned from the magical land of Washington/Provo. Provo is only magical because that is where my fiance lives, Washington is magical just because it is. :)
I kid you not, its truly magical. I have never seen anyone as happy to be home as Andrew was It made me happy to see him happy. Does that sound lame and cheesy? Well too bad, because that's just how it is. I love Andrew and I love seeing him happy. :)

So yes, after getting in on Thursday and having the biggest and best surprise of my life, we ran around town doing little errands to get ready for our trip to Seattle the next day and then had dinner at Tucano's. Too bad my tummy is in its little stage now. There was so much meat and all of it was so delicious...but I still couldn't eat very much. I tried hard though! I am totally going back someday...Grilled Pineapple is the most delicious sweet thing ever invented by the way.

That night, Andrew and I went to bed early...well...he did. I stayed up til like I talking to Stephanie, one of my mission companions who is getting married soon. I didn't know how to tell anyone about my engagement cuz I knew they wouldn't be surprised so I told Stephanie in a very awkward way (for her). Andrew had dropped me off at Emily and Stephanie's and we were talking before he left. We weren't standing close together at all and so when Stephanie introduced me and Andrew to her roommate and called him my boyfriend I told her he wasn't my boyfriend anymore =P

She was kind of nervous and apologized so I quickly told her he was my fiance. It was rather funny. Everyone else just got the standard "I'M ENGAGED TEXT!" Texting took so long that between texting and talking to Stephanie, I didn't sleep much. I would have TOTALLY overslept but Emily came home from work early and was like "Aren't you supposed to be up now?" About then, andrew texted me and said he was at the apartment. Oops. I got dressed real fast and we were on our way by 6am.

The drive was about 14 hours. Andrew drove the whole way and I kept him entertained by talking, taking random pictures, and generally being me. It was easily the best car ride of my life. We didn't use the radio once because we were so busy talking. I was losing my voice by the time we got to Seattle.

Andrew was such a good tour guide. He pointed out all the points of interest for me as we drove to the ferry. The first thing we saw was the spire for the Seattle temple rising over the trees. There is something about seeing the spire for the temple that is just so incredibly moving. It's literally like seeing a piece of heaven on earth as cliche as it sounds. I just feel the Spirit as soon as I see it.

We crossed the floating bridge from Mercer Island to Seattle and I texted Tim to tell him I was totally crossing the floating bridge. I would have texted Eric but I didn't have his number. That has been an inside joke for years now when Eric one day randomly said "Ever crossed the Seattle Floating Bridge? I don't THINK so!" Well now I have. I am pretty darn proud of myself. :)

When we arrived in Seattle, we had catch the ferry over to Bainbridge. We just missed the 7:20 so we had to wait a little bit. We got out of the car and walked around the piers for about 15 minutes. It was kind of cold but it was nice. The sun was setting and the sky was only partly cloudy. Actually the weather was pretty nice there all weekend...not much rain. Surprising? Perhaps. It IS Seattle after all =P

When we got to Andrew's house of course I had to tell everyone how Andrew proposed, then we said family prayer and sat around talking and laughing...usually at stories his mom was telling me about Andrew as a child. :) So much fun! Then we went to bed cuz we were tired.

We got up early the next morning and had pancakes for breakfast. Then his dad drove us to the ferry and Andrew and I went and spent the morning in Seattle. We went to the international district, to an asian grocery store and the Kinokuniya bookstore and to Daiso! There is a Daiso in Seattle!!! YAY! We drank boba tea and there was so much tapioca in them that I couldnt finish an eighth of the slush! After that we went to a glass gallery where they have a studio and Andrew explained to me how they blow glass as we watched a demonstration. It was really cool! Finally we stopped in at Magic Mouse Toys...which is basically the coolest toy store I've ever been in. It's got board games, puzzles, and exploratory toys everywhere. I loved it. And the weather was nice and sunny for us!!!

We caught the ferry back to the island and got home just in time to go to the beach with his family and play in the tidepools. We had lots of fun playing with hermit crabs and other tiny crabs as well as poking anemones and hopping on rocks. The beach was pretty rocky, which is just the way I love it. Sand is great...but I love rocky beaches. :) It was a really pretty beach...but then, the whole island is. There are blackberry bushes EVERYWHERE there!!!

That night we went to dinner with his mom and dad and his aunt and uncle. It was really fun but sort of weird for me to be counted among the "couples" and not the "kids" haha. All my cousins are pretty much grown up so we still sit together at the "kids" table at Thanksgiving, so it was definitely different for me. But I felt cool. Yep yep. We ate Thai food...oh man I love Thai food. I love it the more I eat it. yum!

The next day was church, and when everyone really found out we were engaged. For the most part, they heard it from somewhere else before us but there were still quite a few surprised faces. It was nice to surprise someone for once. Everyone was very nice. I had a good time :) I also love that the church is the same everywhere you go so it's always comfortable :)

After church, Andrew and I did homework (I worked on my blog) and then we broke our fasts and had dinner. It was like Thanksgiving! We had turkey and cranberry sauce and stuffing and mashed potatoes! It was so delicious!

At about 5 we headed out for fireworks. The kids were having fun lighting off the little fireworks for hours and I was having fun watching them. It was kind of cold so Andrew brought out a blanket at the request of his aunt and we were able to cuddle up under it and stay warm. His aunt is pretty clever...she totally knew that was what we were going to do. (not that it's hard to guess)

When it got darker, we started the big fireworks. We had TONS of them...but we weren't able to set them all off because after a while, they were all tipping over and shooting towards the houses and stuff. We couldn't figure out why so we just stopped. That's too bad, it was really fun. I like setting off fireworks...too bad you can't do it in Arizona.

Andrew and I had to leave early the next morning so we got up at 5 to catch the ferry and drive home. The drive home was longer it seemed because we were so tired. I talked a lot still...but I also slept and so did Andrew. We pulled over for naps at lots of rest stops and switched drivers occasionally. I drove from the Blue Mountains to Boise which was kinda nerve wracking for me because I haven't driven stick in so long, but aside from trying to shift into reverse twice, I did ok and Andrew got a nice 2 hour nap. He didn't let me drive after that though...he said he liked it better when I talked and I don't talk when I drive. Was he just trying to tell me my driving sucked in a nice way? Who knows =P

We didn't get home until like 12am and we were exhausted. I crashed at Kaylynnes and slept til like 10 the next morning. Then I got up and met Andrew on campus. He went to take a midterm and I called and reserved the sealing room at the Timpanogos temple for 11am on December 21st! I'm REALLY getting married!!!

We ate lunch at the Cannon Center and then went home to do homework. Unfortunatley, we had to reformat my computer so that took a lot of time and Andrew never got to his homework until like 11pm. I stayed up with him, helping him find quotes for his eternal marriage paper and we both went to bed around 3:30.

The next day I headed up to campus and met him before his marriage prep class. We sat out on the lawn drinking lemonade (Simply lemonade is the BEST lemonade ever!!!)

After his class, we grabbed lunch at Cafe Rio and went to a park to eat it. It was a very good way to spend my last couple hours in Utah with my fiance. We were able to relax and talk and almost pretend I wasn't leaving. After we were done there, we went back to his place and played DDR and jumped in the pool. The pool was COLD and so I didn't stay in for long =P Just enough to get wet.

He took me to the airport and we said our goodbyes at the security gate...I'm glad this is the last goodbye I have to make. The next time I see him, I'm not leaving. Totally can't wait.

But now I'm back in Arizona and its hot. That's all there is to be said for it. Stay tuned to see what exciting things come next. In coming episodes we'll see the triumphant return of my best friend and maid of honor, Sister Alathea Hawks! YES!!! FINALLY!!!

Episode 28: *Fourth Of July Special* in Which Jessica Gets Engaged!!!

Welcome back! This week is our holiday special blog!!!

So I guess I shouldn’t beat around the bush. I’m engaged. There you have it the end.
Ok, well I guess you all need more background than all that so I’ll have to back up to…about the morning of July 1st.

So as you all probably know, I was scheduled to go to Provo on July 1st. I was sooo excited I could barely sleep! I couldn’t wait to see Andrew again! I was convinced that I was going to drop all my bags and run straight into his arms the moment I saw him, but obviously I didn’t do that because I’m posting a blog entry right now and so that means my computer didn’t get dropped =P

So I woke up bright and early at 2:30am because my sisters came home from the Avatar premiere and insisted on bashing it from 2:30 ‘til 4 when I left the house. Thanks guys. =P I walked out the door to be hit with 90 degree weather before the sun came up. I was very glad to be leaving Arizona =P

I got to the airport and had to wait in many long lines because of the fact that I was flying on the 4th of July weekend…ish…it was still only Thursday but whatever. It took ages to get my bags checked and get through security, but I finally made it and had about 10 minutes before boarding started. I decided to check my facebook and change my status so that everyone would know I was happily on my way to Utah. My new status update read “Jessica Halliday is watching the sunrise from the airport. It is going to be a WONDERFUL day!”

…yes…

Little did I know. Haha!
The flight was long, even though it was perhaps in actuality, the shortest flight between Phoenix and Salt Lake ever to be flown. We left 10 minutes late and arrived 10 minutes early, but I was impatient. I did sit next to the most amusing little boy on the way there though and so I guess it could have been worse. He was fascinated by everything from the Grand Canyon below, to flying through the clouds and to seeing the flaps on the wings of the plane move up and down. Truth be told, he rather reminded me of Andrew. I could have a one track mind…perhaps. =P
So Andrew met me at the security gate and just as I said that I would do, I ran straight to him and jumped on him. I didn’t DROP my luggage because of my dear laptop, Toby, for whom I was responsible but rather set him gently down before pouncing on Andrew…who I don’t really think minded at all.

We picked up my bags and headed out to the car. Once we had left the airport, Andrew asked me what I wanted to do to which I replied that I didn’t know. I was just happy to be with my boyfriend. He answered “I know just the thing” and we continued driving. I should have been suspicious because he was being so decisive, but I wasn’t. =P

We continued driving until I realized we were headed to Provo Canyon. I hadn’t even bothered to ask where we were going the whole time…I was just happy to be with Andrew. After I realized where we were going however, I knew exactly where our end destination would be. He had mentioned a few weeks ago that he wanted to take me up to Squaw Peak and show me the view from up there; he having been there himself not long before and loving it. As we drove up the winding road, we laughed at all the squirrels on the road that distracted me at every turn…perhaps they are what kept my curiosity at bay.

When we got to the parking lot there were no other cars there, but Andrew backed in anyway. I thought it was a little strange since I had never known him to back in before, but since my parents always back in, I shrugged it off and got out of the car.

We stood at the end of the car in the perfect silence with the valley below us and Utah Lake in the distance. Andrew opened the back of the car and we sat down. The seats had been laid down before he picked me up from the airport, but I had simply assumed that this was in preparation for our trip to Seattle the next day. We sat down and he said he had something he wanted me to read and handed me a letter.

I read the letter slowly. It detailed all the reasons that he loved me and all the promises he was making to love me for eternity. It was the best letter ever and I was very touched. I had the best boyfriend EVER!!! I looked at him and told him thank you. I couldn’t believe how lucky I was! At least…I thought I was lucky THEN. I still suspected NOTHING…until he got out of the car and down on one knee. I can’t remember if I was holding the letter still but I am sure I dropped it if I was holding it.

He was kneeling there, with a ring, and asking me to marry him!!!

I think I squeaked…I don’t even remember. But I told him YES of course!!!

I was totally one hundred percent surprised. I had never in my whole life imagined that he would propose that day or while I was in Utah this time around at all!!! He did a very good job keeping it secret. My sister Brianna had even mentioned that I would be engaged when I got home and I laughed, telling her that was impossible.
Apparently it was not impossible.

I read the letter again that night and I still don’t know HOW I never once saw this coming. The letter only SCREAMS “I’m about to propose” but I was totally oblivious. I crack me up…and I think Andrew is rather grateful that I was oblivious the whole time. It was perfect for both of us that way.

AWWWWWWWWW! I LOVE ANDREW SO MUCH!!!!

I’m still amazed that he knows me so well. I could not have imagined a better proposal if I tried!

So the wedding is December 21st, 2010. I can hardly wait!!! I have the best fiancé ever!!!!