Episode 34: In Which Jessica Catches a Cold and Also Has The Best Birthday Ever

You really wouldn't think those two were related, catching a cold and having the best birthday ever. As it turns out, they're not. They just happen to be two very large things in my life right now.

The funny story about getting sick is that no matter how good your immune system is, kissing your fiance when he has a cold, is basically begging to get sick yourself.

So I'm sick. That's what happens.

It started on Saturday I believe. Andrew had been sick the previous Thursday and I was having a rather fun time taking care of him. And by taking care of him, I mean I was allowing him to sleep on the couch while I played with my new video game and then fell asleep myself because my apartment was warm. =P

But let me back up. I know that its been 20 or so days since I last wrote so I'll let you know what's been happening.

On Labor Day weekend, my family came up on their way to taking Brianna to college. Andrew and I went and hiked Timp with my dad. It was really fun but REALLY tiring. The hike to the last meadow before the summit wasn't bad at all...but once you get into the loose shale that covers the summit, its painful on your feet. But we made it to the top! :) Even though we suffered for it for like a week afterwards. =P

And in random of randomness, our apartment also got a pet that weekend. His name is oscar and he is a praying mantis. We don't have him anymore, we had to let him go. There wasn't enough food in our apartment to sustain him and the next time we found him his adorable beady black eyes were clouded over. We felt really sad and let him go. I hope he's doing well. :)

Last week, on the 12th, I went out and took Ali and Tanner's engagement pictures. It was so much fun! They are so cute and they're pictures came out super cute! I have so many favorites I could hardly choose which one to put up, but finally I had to settle for this one because you could see Tanner's face as well as Ali's. My other favorite one is oe of Ali hugging Tanner, but you can only see Ali's face of course.

Oh yes, and on the day before that, Ali and I went out for a girls night and tried on wedding dresses. It was so much fun! I tried on a pretty a-line gown that was all sparkly and Ali found a cute dress with big pleats in the front that she kept playing with. =P It's so fun being engaged at the same time! :)

Other than that, nothing much is happening. Just studying. I've been a good student lately. I'm not being a very good student right now...I have anatomy reading to do and I have to review some of the stuff so I don't forget it. But I want to post in my blog so nyah.

But seriously, somehow last week, I developed this magical sense of responsibility. It's crazy! I wonder if this is all part of turning 24. Anyhow. Last week I finished all my homework for the entire weekend on Wednesday. Conveniently enough, Andrew had Thursday and Friday off so I was free to spend it with him. :)

But I have been doing really well at keeping on top of my classes and stuff. I know its about to get crazier here in a while because midterms are starting...but let me enjoy my responsibility while I can ok?

Classes are actually quite enjoyable. I had to change my schedule around a lot at the beginning of the semester and that was stressful, but it turns out that it was probably a really good thing. Anatomy is my only really hard class and that works well with trying to get everything ready for the wedding because I can focus on school AND the wedding plans.

If I'm not careful, I'm going to start falling behind in family finance. I've been doing so much anatomy stuff that I've forgotten how to do the basic formulas in Family Finance and now we're getting into more intense stuff. I'm going to have to visit the TA lab for a refresher in everything before midterms hit.

I really like Family Finance and I'm actually quite excited that Andrew and I decided that I was in charge of managing the finances when we're married. It's going to be fun. It also helps that Ali is in that class with me. :)

My foods class is long, but once we get cooking the time seems to go by much faster. I'm getting to know the people in my cooking group better and we work well together so it's really fun. I'm learning a lot in that class too about preparing balanced meals and eating healthy. I've found it to be very applicable lately as I've been making dinner for Andrew and I these past few days.

I'm trying to save us money by keeping my pantry and fridge decently stocked with staples and other things so that we don't eat out as much. It's been working well because I can't remember the last time we went out to eat needlessly.

I've made quiche, teriyaki chicken, spaghetti, stroganoff, grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup, and beef stew with biscuits so far and there's plenty more I'm excited to make.

I try hard to keep in mind all the elements of meal planning and balanced nutrition that I learn in class and its been a fun challenge. I've also discovered that as I take the responsiblity for making sure that Andrew eats well upon myself, I also take more responsibility for myself. It's really fun. I suppose this is the way marriage is supposed to work, but the first time you discover that being responsible for two people is a blessing and not a burden, its really exciting! (not that I ever thought it would be a burden of course)

All this cooking has been so fun that last Thursday, when we went to Costco on Thursday (I picked up some frozen stuff like chicken...because i figured it would be more cost effective in bulk) I bought myself a new video game for my Nintendo DS. It's called "America's Test Kitchen: Let's Get Cooking" and its pretty much the greatest game ever created.

Think of it as an electronic cookbook...that has "how to" videos interspersed throughout...and also builds a shopping list for you among many other things. It has 300 recipes in it and you can even assign kitchen duties to more than one chef if you want to work together. It will call your name when it needs you. Its SUPER fun. On Sunday, Andrew and I used it to make slow cooker beef stew and biscuits. Oh it was a DELICOUS sunday dinner!

Yeah...I pretty much love my new game.

I also got a copy of Cook's Illustrated because it had a bunch of make ahead recipes. I have to go through and look at those because I want to get some stuff together and put in the freezer soon. Once midterms hit, I'm sure my free time will disappear.

Andrew has been totally awesome as I've started my new cooking kick. He always compliments everything I make so it gives me more confidence to keep cooking. He's basically awesome and I love him :)

On Friday we tried to take our engagement pictures but when we got stuck in traffic and lost the sun, we had to reschedule for Sunday.

Saturday I went to Anatomy Open Lab with my friend Shelia and it really helped a lot. I think I got like an 80 on my quiz this past monday. We're going to go every Saturday morning now.

Later that day I went to Harmon's in search of fresh herbs to make our stew with. I had my DS out and when I walked past the deli, Andrew saw me and laughed. He knew exactly what I was doing. He seems to think its funny how engrossed I become in that game. =P

I wasn't feeling so good on Saturday so I asked Andrew to bring home some orange juice for me. Good thing he did, because I could not sleep all Saturday night because of my sore throat. I drank as much orange juice as I could because the acidity felt good on my throat.

Sunday I was tired but I packed up all my ingredients and went over to Andrew's so we could start the stew. We went to church, came back, hurriedly changed for our photoshoot and headed to my house so that I could change and do my hair. Our stew smelled good but we would have to wait until we were done with our engagement pictures to eat it.

Our engagement pictures turned out WONDERFULLY. I'm so happy! It was so much fun and Kaylynne said we were very photogenic. We got the DVD with the pictures the other day and I can't stop staring at them. I can hardly tell you which is my favorite! But then, if you've been to my facebook, you'll know. I uploaded over 100 of them. =P

I'm really excited over the emotion that Kaylynne was able to capture in all the images. I feel like each picture, even if its a formal posed picture, tells a story about me and Andrew. That's what pictures are supposed to do and I'm so pleased that she was able to do that for us!

When the shoot was over, Andrew and I went home and put the finishing touches on our stew. We made biscuits and tried out our creations. They were delicious! I was especially impressed with the biscuits! They were so easy to make and they came out so light and fluffy and perfect, like biscuits should be! I should post the recipe sometime because it was the best. They were done in less than half an hour. :)

I meant to take pictures of our cooking endeavor on Sunday but I was so out of it that I forgot my camera. Turns out that I completely overexerted myself that day. But the time dinner was over I could barely keep my eyes open. I fell asleep and stayed that way until Andrew came back from ward prayer.

I was kind of cold so Andrew wrapped me up in a blanket and I slept with my head in his lap for a little bit longer. Then we watched the CES fireside from last week. He had missed it because he had to work. Oh my goodness....SUCH a good fireside. I love Elder Scott! He talked all about marriage and how to prepare for a happy marriage or if you were already married, how to create a happy marriage. Andrew and I learned a lot. :)

Monday, I started working with the cadavers in Anatomy. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting...really I soon forgot they were human beings at all and felt like they were just models. Squishy models.

Andrew started working morning shifts. He gets off work at 6:30 all week this week, except Friday. Yay! I don't have to wait til 10 or later to see him!!! :) So he came over after FHE on monday and we got our pictures from Kaylynne. We had fun going through them together and deciding which ones we liked. Then without notice...it was midnight! What the heck! How does time go so fast!? So we walked out to his car and he reached into his car and pulled out a notebook and a card! I was super surprised and way happy! Andrew got me a new journal! I've been needing one for so long and haven't gotten around to getting myself one! Hooray! He's amazing!

It was only midnight but it was already the best birthday I've had, ever!

I went to bed that night and was woken up at 6am by Ali singing "happy birthday". She's so sweet, she got up at 5am to make breakfast for me! So I got to have breakfast in bed on my birthday even though it was a school day. Between Ali and Andrew, NOTHING could have ruined my birthday but it only got better that day anyway.

After my last class, which unfortunately was at 8. I ran up to the top floor of the JFSB to meet with my bishop, then ran back downstairs to meet Andrew so we could go have an interview with his bishop. I'm really glad we were able to meet with his bishop. We got some really good advice from him regarding our marriage and engagement. :)

After the interview we went to Andrew's house and while I thought he had already given me a birthday present, he also gave me a rose too! :) I was so happy! That's the first time in my life that I've ever gotten flowers from a boy. Andrew is the best! :)

My apartment is full of flowers now because my mommy also had a bouquet of pretty happy flowers delivered to my apartment and when I came home last night there was another bouquet of flowers on the counter. I'm not sure if it was for me or not...but I put them in a vase so they wouldn't die all the same. So much pretty in our apartment! :)

I also came home and there was a spiffy little banner thing on my door that said "happy birthday, jessica" on it. It was my name written out on cute little origami boxes. I thought it was cool when I saw it, but then I brought it into my room and turned out the light to go to bed (after writing in my new journal of course) and then it reached a whole new level of cool. The boxes were attached to a glowstick! It was awesome! :)

So that was how my birthday ended. Now I'm 24, but I don't really mind at all :)

Episode 33: In Which Jessica Moves In and Rearranges Things

Hello Hello! Did you miss me? I'm going to pretend that's a yes and move on.

This entry is pretty straight forward. I moved into my new apartment. I really like it here. We're pretty far south of campus and the neighborhood is pretty quiet. The apartment is pretty spacious and I just like everything about it really. Except maybe the parking lot and all its lovely potholes. =P

Moving in was a grand adventure. Ali and I went to Ikea to outfit our new apartment. We got cute bathmats and and nice little organizer for our sink. The bathroom is a bit small and can get a little cramped in the morning when 4 girls are trying to brush their teeth and do their hair, but we seem to be managing ok. :) Then we had to go grocery shopping to stock up our cupboards! :)

The kitchen is small and I can't seem to figure out quite how the stove works, but its nice to be in an apartment with 4 girls and not have to fight for space in the fridge. :)

Our living room is one of my favorite rooms. We arranged it 4 or 5 times before we finally settled on this layout. It was pretty fun, 4 of us all with a piece of furniture, playing feng shuei demolition derby. =P That curtain over in the corner leads to our pantry. The kitchen is small so we used the alcove to store food and Ali's mom was a genius and bought us that curtain to hide it all behind. The curtain goes well with the happy little orange flowers that Kaylynne got me. :)

Now we just need a curtain for the window...its pretty killer in the afternoon when the sun comes in. =P

The bedrooms are HUGE. This picture really doesn't show it, but we could easily fit two air mattresses in the space we have on the floor and still have room to spare. It's really nice. I put my bed up on cinder blocks to open up my under the bed storage. I'm into hiding things behind cloth apparently because I used my other flat sheet as a bed skirt. I like it :) My bed is REALLY high though, as you can see. I have to jump to get into it and the first couple of days I fell out of it when I got up in the morning. We're used to things now though :)

The apartment is a little far from campus, but its still not a bad walk. At least until you get to the hill of death. By the time I'm done with this semester, I may be well prepared to hike Mt. Fuji. :) It's far more likely however that I would hike Timp...seeing as its closer and all. =P It's a nice walk in the morning, especially cuz on Tuesdays and Thursdays I get to walk with Ali! :) Yesterday when we were walking, we saw a bunch of deer on the campus. :) BYU/Utah is fun that way. I know a lot of people don't like Utah but you must admit...you really can't find fault with living right up against the mountains. :)

The ward is great. All the leaders are nice and quite witty. It made for a very amusing Sunday. We did something kind of unconventional for Sunday school. We all went and had our pictures taken for the ward list...like we're talking an entire portrait set up with the soft lamps and backdrop and everything. Then we went to the computer labs and filled out an information form for us. Ali and I kept joking about all our answers. We wanted to put Andrew and Tanner as our emergency contacts...and probably should have...but opted for our out of state parents instead.

Oh yes, I should probably mention. Ali and Tanner are engaged. :) I'm so excited! I love Ali and Tanner! And that means Ali and I get to do engaged people stuff together...like stress out haha. We stay up WAY too late every night giggling and talking. Not necessarily about our fiances...so really the giggling and laughing is just what comes of rooming with your best friend. More on that later.

Anyhow, at the end of our information sheet, we told the bishop that we were completely and totally awesome. It was much longer than that...but that's the short of it. The bishop PROBABLY thinks we're insane now. But it was fun. :)

Outside of general move in stuff. I love living with Ali. We have all kinds of fun. Even though we don't see each other that often cuz we're busy being students and having jobs and my favorite part...having fiances :) We manage to get in some quality time. We like to write each other notes every now and again and then we have the late night giggling sessions. Those probably aren't so good for us cuz we stay up WAY late without even realizing it...but what can you do? If this is what living with your best friend is like, I'm doomed to never sleep again in my life! =P

One of my favorite things to do with Ali is play with the traveling granny panties. Yeah...you heard me. We have a pair of HUGE underwear that we like to hide all over the apartment. It started when I found them tucked under my pillow before bed. So then I hid them under her school stuff and it's been going from there. Currently...her hedgehogs are hiding in them =P

School has been ok. I like my schedule on Mondays and Wednesdays...and on Fridays as well because I only have one class. Tuesdays and Thursdays are shaping up to be pretty tiring though. Like way tiring. Like I'm in class from 8-8 on Tuesdays and til 4 on Thursdays.

Somehow, I managed to not sign up for an Anatomy Lab so I had to quick like a bunny find one yesterday. It was a nightmare. The only ones available were Friday form 6pm-8pm and Saturday from 8am-10am. Ew. Talk about ruining your weekend. Playing with dead people is not MY idea of a fun weekend. I was pretty stressed out. I took another "I failed my chem test"-esque picture for you to illustrate. (if you look closely, you can see the Joseph Smith vision on the wall. I'm re-memorizing it in Japanese)

Then I went to Physics and decided that there was NO way I was going to go through the semester with that class and actually pass it. Time to drop a class and pick something else up. So I finally settled on two food preparation courses. One is called "Food Preparation in the Home" and the other is called "Family Meal Management" They both sound pretty useful...especially in fulfilling my role as a wife and mother...which brings me to my first observation.

My schedule now consists of Anatomy, Family Finance, Family Meal Management, Food Preparation in the Home, and LDS Marriage and Family (commonly called "Marriage Prep") Does anyone see a pattern here? Am I getting a REAL degree or just my MRS degree? =P

Oh well, not much to do. I'm actually still debating about the Meal Management course. It sounds WAY good...but its going to be a LOT of work. and a LOT of time spend in the classroom. bleh. I downloaded all the recipes they use in the course...so if I do end up dropping it, I've still got the recipes. mehehe. The books sound way interesting too...hmmmm...

It's a popular class so I'm not dropping til I'm sure just in case I lose my seat. BYU classes can be that way.

Today, I had a miracle happen. I was going to change my anatomy lab from Friday night to Saturday morning and when I logged on there were spaces open all over the place! I registered for a Tuesday lab from 2-4 instead so YAY! No more weekend lab for me!!! Then I thought better of it and decided to try for the Tuesday lab from noon til 2...just so I didn't have to go prepare food directly after having poked preserved corpses. Yum. Well...that didn't happen because literally 2 seconds after I registered for my lab...EVERYTHING was closed. I was on at JUST the right time it looks like!

Tomorrow, I'm going to the MTC to volunteer with Andrew. I'm a little nervous...I'm willing to bet HALF those missionaries already have better Japanese than me. Bleh. Oh well, at least Andrew's Japanese is amazing. No one will notice me. haha.

Is there anything else to be said? Nope, I don't think so...I had a BLT for lunch. That was delicious. Now I'm gonna take a nap cuz my tummy is digesting and I got up early to make french toast for everyone. It's not because I'm nice...its just cuz my milk is almost expired and I had to use it pronto. =P

Oh that reminds me, yesterday I went grocery shopping and got all kinds of food to feed Andrew and I. I spent like 60 dollars but I figure its cuz I had to buy EVERYTHING this time around. I got a lot of staples like chicken broth and stuff so from now on I will only have to buy SOME ingredients instead of all of them. It was my first time going through all the ads and price comparing. I made a menu and then my grocery list and for the MOST part, stuck to the grocery list. I forgot my lemonade though. Sad day. I got lots of food to stick in our makeshift pantry! It was fun! I'm ready to cook something now! Well...after my nap...I think I'll make Beef Stroganoff. I'm also proud of myself because I bought a huge thing of hamburger for like 10 bucks and then parceled it out into serving sized portions and froze it. I'll have meat for a while now so long as I use hamburger. :)

Episode 32: In Which Jessica Is Pulled Over For Transportation of Suspected Illegals and Summer Finally Ends

Hello! Guess where I am! I'm in Utah!

There isn't much to say so this could possibly be the long awaited "short entry" that I keep attempting. Then again, maybe not. I'm leaning towards not.

Well, Summer is finally over. I'm living in the same state as Andrew. PHEW! That's a relief! Speaking of Andrew, he's supposed to be calling me any minute now. We will see if that happens. He did kind of spend every waking moment with me for the past 4 days plus an entire 10 hour drive. I would not be offended if he was sick of me...though that could possibly pose a problem in the eternal perspective. We'll give him the benefit of the doubt :) (not that there's any doubt.)

Anyhow, So I guess I'll quickly recap the last 4 days since Andrew came. The days preceding that are like the other ones. Long, boring, and full of nothing. And packing. Ugh I hate packing. I told Ali the other day that the grass is always greener on the other side and I am always waiting for the next best thing. On my mission it was "I can't wait til college and I can stop packing every 6 weeks" (Thank you President Hill for that one) and now its college and I'm like "I can't wait til I'm married and I'm not packing up every semester!" I told Andrew we're never moving again, so I hope he likes Provo. =P

The only thing interesting that happened BEFORE Andrew came is that my wedding dress came! It's soooooooooo pretty. A little different from the picture and they made the jacket too small but my amazing cousin is going to fix that for me. The biggest difference is that it has a train. I didn't know there was a train but I like it! It's super pretty! In order to try it on without my cats getting fur all over it, I have to stand on the table. It's kind of funny. :) I'm so excited to wear it!!!

On Wednesday morning I got up bright and early and headed off to the airport to pick Andrew up. My plans for knocking him over with a flying leap into his arms were foiled by the fat lady who was walking in front of him. Seriously!? Ok...she wasn't fat. I dont' think...actually I don't even remember if it was a man or woman now that I think about it.

Anyways, Andrew and I went back to my house real fast, switched cars with my mom so that they could take my car to the muffler shop (more on that later) and headed off to eat indo curry with Tim, Adriana, and Jessica J. It was pretty good. Still nothing like what I had in Japan, but that's cuz there was a lack of butter chicken curry. There was all you can drink Lassi. :) Hooray!

After lunch, we went to Andie's so she could meet Andrew and cuz Ali told us to and then we went to visit Andrew's friend Sterling. After that we were getting pretty darn sleepy and we went home and took a nice nap. Well...I took a nice nap. I had the bed. Andrew ended up sitting up against the wall...so I don't know how he slept. I feel like a jerk taking the bed...but he tricked me. He WAS on the bed...but somehow I was suckered into switching places.

After our nap, we went to dinner with my family. Chinese food! Yay!!! I love chinese food! I think I love all food except American food really...

Dinner was pretty fun, though my grandy wasn't half as crazy as she normally is.

After dinner, Andrew and I just watched all the crazy videos my sisters have made. We also tried to plan our date for the next day. Yeah, we pretty much fail at that. We need to be more decisive. We ended up nixing the original plan to go tubing on the river because Andrew was exhausted and that would involve getting up early. We went to bed with not much of a plan in place at all.

Thursday morning I woke Andrew up and then I attempted to make him breakfast. I say attempted because I can apparently flip a crepe, but an egg is a different story. I broke the yolk. I was doing so well too! Andrew pretended not to care. Ok, actually he really didn't care.

After that, we took the car to the muffler shop because the car didn't make it there on wednesday for whatever reason. When we got there, turns out the guy who was going to do it had kidney stones and went to the hospital. So we just went to the doctor. We waited in the waiting room with no A/C for about 45 minutes and then I was able to go back and see the doctor where with was cool...and poor Andrew stayed in the waiting room. They told me that all my imaging tests came up normal and besides the things we already knew were abnormal, I was fine. :) Oh good.

After that, Andrew and I went to Arizona Mills were we took Purikura and discovered once again that our collective indecisiveness in fatal to our progression as a couple. Or at least detrimental to our purikura abilities. =P

We walked around the mall a bit, grabbed a pretzel, and Andrew bought me a cute new pair of sunglasses! I wore my contacts JUST so I could wear them. :) He got a new pair of sunglasses too.

After the mall we came back and went to Bahama bucks. This is the only place I actually took any pictures. I'm not sure why I didn't use my camera hardly at all these last 4 days. I just didn't. Anyhow, Andrew enjoyed watching my sour face. I got super sour pink lemonade on my shaved ice and it was SOUR. Andrew thought my faces were hilarious. He also thought it was hilarious that I kept dumping my shaved ice over onto the table. *shakes head* well...maybe it was a little funny. ok a lot.

That night we tried to go to bed early cuz we had to get to the temple early for my friend John's wedding. We managed to get to bed by 1:30...?

Friday morning I woke Andrew up and then got ready to go to the temple. Of course Andrew was ready before me...but I did get ready pretty fast I guess. Anyhow, the sealing was really good. I kept getting nudged and told that I was next. HA! Like I needed to be reminded.

After the sealing, Andrew and I were going to go do a session...but I noticed at the front desk that they needed people to do sealings. We opted to do sealings instead. It was really really really fun. And I felt like I could understand the importance of the ordinance than anything else I've done. I mean, I've been baptized and recieved my endownments already...but I haven't been sealed myself, yet. So I decided that because its an ordinance that I'm waiting (somewhat impatiently for) I can understand how the people that I was doing the work for felt.

Also...have you ever heard of a girl named David? Me neither, but someone just had their daughter, david, sealed to them. =P

It was soooooo nice to finally go to the temple with Andrew again. The last time we went together was in April, just after finals. We spend a long time in the celestial room after we were done. It was literally like the world didn't exist. There is definitely something to be said for not having any plans immediately after the temple. There's nothing to distract you at all.

After the temple we attempted to do our own wedding planning...the guest list is kind of done now. That's about it. I went shopping for John's gift while Andrew stayed behind and played "Left 4 Dead" with my sisters.

We went to the reception and then after we went to Applebees with Natalee and Greg. It was fun and delicious. I love me a triple chocolate meltdown! :)

I packed up my room and stuff but we didn't finish getting ready to go til like 4am so we slept in til like noon on Saturday. We left mesa at 2:30 (stopping in at bahama buck's on the way out of course) and pulled into the parking lot of Andrew's apartment at 1:30ish. It didn't seem like it was a long ride at all, but I guess it was about 10 hours.

My Celica made the whole trip with only minor problems. The problem being that the air conditioner ran so cold it would literally freeze...and we would have to thaw it before we could get the air to come out again. That and I had to turn the air off to climb hills or the engine got pretty warm.

Just outside Kanab, we got pulled over for "speeding". He said we were going 70 in a 65 zone. Ok...kind of strict but yeah it was speeding. Andrew was driving so he handed over his license and I handed over the registration. The cop looked it over, but never went back to his car to check anything out. He asked all kinds of random questions like where we were from and where we were going, then he handed everything back and sent us on our way. I was confused. When we got in Kanab and heard some people speaking spanish we figured everything out. They pulled us over to make sure we weren't transporting illegal aliens. Hee hee.

Well, that was our adventure. :) Gotta go eat!

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!!!!