The BYU Experience Continues

Hey guys!

I got married :)

To follow me in my new married life, head on over to our new blog: ourlifeisabowlofcherries.blogspot.com

July

I have done a really bad job blogging this month, especially since so much has happened!

July 14th I was in Utah for a bridal shower that my aunt hosted for me.  I had so much fun! It was so great to see my family (I even re-met a lot of my dad's family who I haven't seen since I was a baby).  I also had a great time seeing some of Ben's family who was there as well as some of my neighbors I had when I was growing up in Utah.

July 18th was Ben's birthday.  It was fun to watch him open the presents I got him.  It will be even better next summer when we are MARRIED! :)

Now within the last week lots has happened.

Tuesday my parents and Hunter and Hannah left Arizona and headed up to Utah for the first leg of their journey to Minnesota.  For those of you who don't know, my dad took a new job which is located in Minnesota.  The night they left, Bridger and I moved into a condo next to my grandma's condo.  Her friends are gone for the summer and said we could live there for a few weeks while we finish up working for the summer.

Thursday night Ben and I FINALLY found a place to live after we are married.  It is a cute, little, basement studio apartment in southwest Provo.  The landlord is a sweet old lady who is one of the nicest people I have ever had the pleasure of talking to. My mom and dad had driven around Provo basically all day looking at any apartment I asked them to as well as looking at ones they randomly found while driving along.  They had just gotten back to my grandparents' in Highland when I found this one and they turned right around and went back to see it.  And we are so glad they did because it wouldn't have lasted until the next day.  It is small but we figure for the price, we can live there for a year and look for something else next year if we want.  It was such a huge relief for us to finally have a place.

Here are a few pictures (sorry they aren't the best quality, they came from my mom's cell phone)

The cute little kitchenette with a little granite countertop.  How many newlyweds can say they have granite in their first kitchen? ;)

The studio (hopefully that pink chair in the left corner will be gone, the landlord's cousin might want it)

And the cute little bathroom with a pink sink :)

My mom said that while it is small, it is set up very well with lots of storage and it really uses the space very effectively.  I can't wait to move in and start making it our home :)

That's pretty much it for July.  Ben comes to Arizona a week from today :) And we will be getting married 12 days after that :) 

Biggest Accomplishment of the Week

The announcements are DONE! Addressed, stuffed, stamped and mailed.  Hopefully they will be arriving in your mailboxes soon :)

I'm Running Out of Title Ideas...

This week in the life of Meagan:

• My little sister Hannah had eye surgery on Tuesday and gets to wear this really cool eye patch.  We have all taken to calling her Patchy ;) The rest of Tuesday and Wednesday she was still very sick from her medicine.  But Thursday she was back to her regular self, if anything she has been even happier then she was before her surgery.
• Today I taught my first Primary lesson.  Luckily my class was only 7 kids today.  (The class normally has around 12 kids per week and has 15 on the roll!) I really enjoyed it and had a lot of fun with them :) The best thing about Primary today was when we were singing the closing song in sharing time.  The kids sang "I Love To See The Temple" and they sang it soooo beautifully. 

One Week Closer

Another week closer and I am so excited! I am excited for this summer to be over.  I'm excited to see Ben again and oh yeah, I'm definitely excited to get married to my best friend :)

This week on Monday, I got my dress from the seamstress.  It fits perfectly! I look so pretty and I definitely felt the most beautiful I have ever felt before in my life. I'm happy that it fit so nicely after only one fitting and that I don't have to go back for more altering.

This weekend I started addressing wedding announcements.  Ben's list is entirely done.  Now I just need to work on mine.

This is only half of them!

And last, but definitely not least, my brother got his mission call! Bridger has been called to serve in the Brazil Sao Palo East mission! He leaves for the Brazilian MTC on November 21st.  I am so proud of my little brother and I'm super excited he gets to serve the Lord and share the Gospel with the wonderful people of Brazil.  

Halfway Done!

Monday officially marked the half way point for me and Ben.  We are officially more than half way through the summer :) This makes me so happy I don't even know what to do with myself.  I'm just super antsy for it to be August.  I want to see Ben SO BAD! Skyping is nice, but it definitely isn't the same.

As of Friday, Ben and I have officially been engaged for 3 months.  Only 2 left to go.

Saturday, Ben was half way through Washington Seminar.

In other bits of news...

• I got a haircut on Thursday and I absolutely love it. 
• Tomorrow I go to pick up my wedding dress from the alterations lady.  Hopefully it fits perfectly.  She said it was a quick, easy fix to make it fit just right.  I'm hoping this will be my one and only fitting appointment.  
• Today was my second week working in the Primary.  Last week I got called to help in my sister's class.  I help teach 12-15 eight and nine year olds.  Luckily they pretty much are all great kids.  I've got a few rowdy ones but I think it will be a great summer with these kiddos.  I absolutely love Primary.  You can feel the Spirit so much with these sweet children.  They are so smart and know the Gospel so well.  I am amazed at what comes out of their mouths and how they say what they mean and what they believe with so much conviction.  But, I have to say my favorite part is singing time, just like when I was in Primary :) I absolutely love feeling the Spirit as I sing with these amazing children.  The lyrics of Primary songs have always touched my heart and I am so happy I get to sing those on a weekly basis.  Being in Primary is definitely what I need this summer.  It helps me a lot to feel that I am needed and to feel like I am actually helping the ward instead of sitting back and not doing anything.  

Bridal Shower

Wedding plans are coming along! The invitations are here. The addresses are almost all collected. All of the stuff that has been accumulating in my room all summer is finally finding homes so my room now looks less like a tornado came through and spit out every purple and green thing you could think of.

Yesterday, I had my bridal shower.  It was lots of fun. My grandma planned and organized it for me.  I had friends from work and from church come and we had a great time.  I got lots of really nice gifts and I can't wait to start using them! I'm especially excited to try out my rice cooker and to experiment with lots of new recipes in my new crock pot.  I also got the cherry blossom plates and bowls I wanted from my registry :)

Sorry there are no pictures :( I'm lame and left my camera in the car.  Luckily, pictures were taken.  I should be getting them in the next few weeks.  And hopefully I will remember to put them up.

Happy Mother's Day!

And a happy Mother's Day it was.  Church was lovely and had lots of great lessons.  I loved having the great reminder about how wonderful my mom is.  After church my grandma came over and we had a big family lunch that was lots of fun.

Other exciting things from this week include going to Hannah's swim meet on Friday, working overtime on Saturday, finding an apartment to look at in Provo (well, finding one to have Gordy and Brooke look at because they love me and Ben so much :) and I pretty much have a new job in the fall at BYU as a TA!

First Week of Work

This week, I started my summer job.  Monday and Tuesday were training and Wednesday I actually started work.  I love my job so much and the people I work with are super great.

On the wedding front, I picked up my dress! Also, my mom, Hannah and I picked up a few more vases at Goodwill to use as decorations for the receptions.

(Sorry for the short post.  Nothing else really happened.  Sadly I think this is how most of my summer posts are going to be like.)

Wedding Plans

Happy summer! Well, for me it is :) This week I did a lot of wedding stuff since I start working full time next week and won't have big chunks of time I can devote to it.  So, some major things I got done this week were:

• got lots of stuff for centerpieces 
• got lots of ideas for decorations and research where to get the best deals on said decorations
• got the skirts for Hannah, Angela and Anna (they are the perfect color! I was so happy to find them!)
• started to gather food ideas for both receptions
• got my wedding dress :) 

The only major things left to do this summer are:

• finalize announcements, order/print them then send them out
• fittings for my dress
• order decorations
• finalize food for the receptions
• and probably a lot more little things that I am forgetting

In other news, Ben went to Washington D.C. on Friday for the whole summer! But, when he is done with Washington Seminar and his internship there he gets to fly to Arizona to spend time with me for a week before we head up to Utah and get everything ready for the wedding and our receptions. 

And lastly, as you have probably noticed, this summer I won't be doing my blogs in my typical day-by-day fashion.  Since mainly all I do is work (40 hours a week, sometimes more) there usually isn't too much exciting going on.  So this summer I'll just write a few highlights of my week (mostly wedding stuff I'm sure :)

The End of Another Semester

Another semester has come and gone.  Now I am half way done with college! Yes, only 4 more semesters and a Spring term for this girl.  It is so crazy how fast time flies.

Monday: I had one last Jamba date for the semester with Sydney and Alex.  After that, I went home and packed, packed, packed! Ben finished his test way earlier than we thought he was going to.  We went and got free food at the Cougareat for Ben's work and cleaned out our lockers. Ben helped me load up some of my stuff into his car and then we went to Advertising to watch the other groups present and to turn in our ad files.  After class, we dropped off my stuff at my storage unit and picked up a pizza for dinner.  We went to Trafalga to try and ride go karts since it was so nice out but they only had one working.  After Trafalga we  went home and I helped Ben study for ASL.

Tuesday: Ben and I both went to work followed by having lunch and both of us started packing.  That evening, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings one last time.  We went with most of our advertising group as well as our advertising professor, his son (who was also in our class), and our TA.  It was super fun and really neat to spend time with our professor outside of class. After dinner, we met up with Ben's family who had come into town for Gordy's graduation.  We took the twins and they helped me and Ben unload another car full of my stuff into the storage unit.

Wednesday: I went over to Ben's for breakfast where we met up with his family again.  After running errands to a few stores, we met Gordy at the bell tower and he gave us a tour! It was so cool! I got sort of dizzy climbing up all of those stairs but it was really cool at the top.  Gordy played a few songs for us and showed us how it all works.  After that we all had lunch at Ben's house and afterwards went ice skating.  I had a lot of fun :) After skating we went to dinner at IHOP followed by Ben going home teaching and me finishing up my packing.  After Ben was done we loaded up his car full of my stuff.  Then we took it over to the storage unit and unloaded it.

Thursday: Thursday was my last day in Provo :( I woke up early to drive Ben to campus for his test then I went home and cleaned like crazy.  I just about finished when I picked up Ben.  Then we went to my apartment and I finished cleaning while Ben brought down his car to load up a few last things to take to the storage unit.  I checked out and then went over to Ben's to hang out for a bit.  We went to get my car's tire fixed.  After that, Ben took me to DP for lunch then we met my dad at the storage unit. There we unloaded all sorts of furniture from my family and my grandma for us to have when we are married.  I dropped of Ben at his house and we said goodbye before I went to meet up with my dad and my brother.  We left Provo and made it to Page, AZ that night.  I drove all five hours by myself and I didn't even have anyone else in the car with me.

Friday: We woke up, had a gas station breakfast and left for Mesa.  Again, I drove the rest of the 5 hours home by myself in my car.  The rest of the day was spent unpacking and swimming.  It was quite a shock to get to Mesa and have it be almost 100 degrees.  Definitely not what I was used to in Provo.

Saturday: Saturday was wedding day! My mom and sister and I started shopping for wedding stuff.  We got lots of things for tables and came up with lots of ideas for receptions.  In addition to that, I also spent part of the day in the pool and finished unpacking.

Sunday: My first Sunday back in Mesa.  Pretty normal for the ward here, nothing too crazy happened.  The only thing is that it was super weird to not go to church with Ben.  After church, I read and took a nap.  After my nap, I read some more and played a game with Ben.  We had dinner and our home teachers came over.  Then I Skyped Ben for a while, indexed and went to bed.

It's the Final Countdown

Finals week has started! It is so crazy to think that this semester is already almost over and that I am half way DONE with my college experience.

Monday: We had our presentation in Advertising and it went really well.  Our professor really liked it (which is great because we were all very worried he wouldn't).  After our presentation, Ben, Bridger and I went to dinner at Rodizzio Grill with my dad since he was in town.

Tuesday: My last Marriage Prep class :( That class has been one of my favorites this semester.  I learned so much and I absolutely loved how I was applying what we learned in class every day to my own life.  I went to the Unforum with Ben and Anna followed by work and my last dance class.  Then it was back to work until I had dinner with Ben and went to my last 201 class :( I have really enjoyed that class too.  I have learned a lot of new concepts and have really learned a lot about what it means to be a teacher and the hard things that come with that.  But that class gave me a lot of encouragement even though it talked a lot about hard things we have to do.

Wednesday: Last day of classes for the semester! I had my last Multicultural Education class :( Another one of my favorite classes where I learned a lot of new information and created my own ideas and opinions about the stuff I learned. I also had my last IP&T class and we took our final.  I got an A :) After school, Ben and I went grocery shopping (Macey's was having their case-lot sale so we got lots of good deals on food we eat all the time that will store for the summer so we have food in the fall :) after that we went to an Advertising review and to Institute where Brad Wilcox was speaking.  He gave a really great talk on grace and how the Atonement works in our lives.  There were lots of things that I needed to hear that he spoke about.

Thursday: Happy Reading Day! Ben and I both went to work in the morning then we came home and ate lunch.  Then we worked on our Ad Files for Advertising before we headed up to South Jordan in a huge rain storm to go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.  We thought it would be fun to go do baptisms there before we get MARRIED there in August.  It is such a beautiful temple, easily one of the prettiest ones I have been to.  We made a good choice about where we want to get married. After going to the temple, we had dinner at Fazoli's and wandered around Ikea.  When we got back to Provo, we went to the library to finish our ad files.

Friday: Happy Reading Day Number Two! Today we actually got work done.  After breakfast, we put the finishing touches on our ad files.  Then we went and sold back some of our books.  I got money back! Yay!! We ate lunch then worked on more homework.  I wrote a lesson plan for a final on Saturday, studied for Marriage Prep, reviewed a bit and took my Multicultural Education final online. We also studied on and off all day for our Advertising final.  After we made and ate dinner, we went ice skating.  We ended up having a lot of fun.  And I'm actually getting better at skating!

Saturday: First day of finals, and I am done :) Yes, I took my advertising final after I finished doing laundry.  Then I reviewed for and took my Marriage Prep exam.  After that, Ben and I had lunch and ran some errands before dropping him off at school to work on a take home test and I started to pack.  (Oh, how I hate packing...) After I was done with what I wanted to pack, Ben and I grabbed dinner on campus before I went to my final for 201 and taught my mini-lesson.  It went really well :) After that, Ben and I went to the Men's Volleyball game where we won! After the game, we went to Ben's house and finished watching Harry Potter.

Sunday: This morning while Ben was at meetings, my roommates and I took some roommate pictures around our complex.  They turned out pretty cute. Church was amazing.  I got something from every talk and lesson I heard today.  I especially loved my Family History lesson.  My home teacher taught it today and it was really powerful and helped me reflect.  After church Ben went home teaching and afterwards we had dinner and invited Anna and her roommate over for smoothies and games.

Happy Easter!

What a gorgeous Easter we had! There was lots of sunshine, a brilliant blue sky and an Easter basket at my grandma’s filled with candy for Ben and me.

Monday: We went to Ben’s FHE group and in honor of Easter week, we dyed Easter eggs while listening to an Easter station on Pandora.  After our eggs were dyed, we had what was named the Western Family Logan Egg Rolling Tournament.  We laid out a sheet and had brackets where two people would roll their eggs at each other.  The one without the crack moved onto the next round.  Ben won the whole tournament and got a lovely prize.  We decided that this would be a fun tradition to continue :)

Tuesday: I had my Dance final where I had to give 10 minutes of my 30-minute lesson plan.  I don’t think the grading was quite fair but I’m not worried about it because I still will get an A in the class.  When I got home from Ben’s that night, I found out that one of my roommates got engaged. 

Wednesday: I didn’t have my 8:00 class and Ben could work from home so I went over to his house and we had breakfast and I did homework while Ben worked.  Then we went to campus for classes.  After school, we went to pick up the key to my storage unit for the summer and went shopping for groceries and clothes for Ben to wear to his internship in DC.  After dinner, we went to institute.

Thursday: Work and classes were great! I got a lot done.  After dinner Ben and I went to the Temple and it was lovely.  Afterwards we went and got ice cream at the Creamery. 

Friday: It SNOWED!!! It was crazy how much it snowed that morning. We went to campus for Ben to go to lab and for me to go to Jamba Juice with Sydney and Alex.  After those things, Ben and I went to an Advertising meeting for FOUR HOURS! We were going crazy by the end.  After our meeting, we had Anna come over and I made her a gluten free birthday dinner and we played games and watched Ella Enchanted after. 

Saturday: A CRAZY day! Ben and I worked for a bit on our advertizing project followed by a quick trip to a yard sale (we got the first Harry Potter for $1!) and to the Provo Bridal Fair.  After that we had lunch then met up with our advertizing group for another 2 hour meeting to work on our final project due on Monday.  After that, Ben and I left to go up to Lehi.  We had Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner (and got free wings :) then went to go get our engagement pictures taken.  We had so much fun with Mike and Amy (and Bradley!) at Thanksgiving Point.  The gardens and flowers were beautiful! The pictures turned out really great. 

Here is a sneak peek :) 

Sunday: Happy Easter! Church was wonderful.  The messages were really great, especially in Relief Society. After church Ben and I went to pick up Bridger only to find out that he had to sing at a fireside and couldn’t come up to our grandparents’ for dinner.  Dinner was yummy and Ben and I stayed there for a while just talking to my family. 

General Conference

I have been waiting all week for General Conference.  It is one of the happiest weekends of the year :) Before I tell you how amazing Conference was I should probably tell you the boring parts of my week first...

Monday: It hit me that we only have two and a half weeks of classes left! It was time to start kicking it into high gear to finish all of my projects and assignments. Work and classes were fine.  Ben and I got a good start on our advertising project.

Tuesday: Marriage Prep was interesting.  Work and my dance class were fine.  Dinner with Ben was good and my 201 class made me super excited to be an elementary teacher and so glad to be LDS.  After class, I went grocery shopping with Ben and Anna and we stopped at Yogurtland on the way home.  :)

Wednesday: My classes were fine.  I did not go to work because I had a lot of homework and projects to work hard on.  I got a ton done and was starting to not feel as stressed. Institute was good and afterwards, Ben and I played Mario Kart because we couldn't do anymore homework.

Thursday: My classes were fine.  Work was good.  My old supervisor came and brought her baby! She was so excited to hear that I am engaged :) I got out of dance early so I wrote my final lesson plan for that class and finished some readings for my 201 class before walking home with Ben after ASL.  Ben got offered an internship in DC for this summer!! Woohoo!!! AND he also got a legal internship here in Provo in the fall! Yay! We went on a date to see BYU's Folk Dance Ensemble.  It was so cool.  The dances and music and costumes were just amazing. Afterwards, we went and got Creamery ice cream.  And it was delicious.

Friday: Easily the craziest day I've had in a while.  I woke up and went to school with Ben to do homework for a few hours.  I left at 10:30 to go up to Sandy to have a physical done for my summer job.  I was there for over 2 hours. I didn't leave until almost 2:00.  I was supposed to be back in Provo to pick up Ben at 2:30 but traffic was awful so I didn't get back until close to 2:45.  We ate a quick lunch and then headed to Riverton to meet with a designer for our wedding invitations.  More horrible traffic but a really good meeting with the designer.  Traffic was still awful on the way back to Provo but we made it in time to go to my roommate's flute recital.  Becca did such a great job! She is amazing and so very talented. :) After her recital, Ben and I made dinner and started packing for General Conference weekend.

Saturday: We left Provo at 5:20 am to go up to Salt Lake to wait in the standby line for Conference.  We didn't get in :( but we watched it in the Tabernacle.  The talks were so good! I absolutely loved President Packer's talk.  There were definitely things in that talk that I really needed to hear. :) After the morning session, Ben and I re-created our first date and had a picnic lunch on the lawn in front of the Temple.  We walked around Temple Square taking pictures.  The weather was so gorgeous and warm and sunny and perfect! After that we went to Amy's house to watch the second session.  We got to play with the boys and had a delicious dinner.  Ben went to Priesthood and I talked with Amy and her friend while the kids played. Ben got back and we left for Highland to spend the night at my grandparents'.

 Waiting in the standby line :)

 Aren't the flowers gorgeous?

Sunday: I woke up and Ben and I had breakfast with my family and watched Conference with them :) In between sessions we ate lunch and Ben worked on my grandparents' printer (his favorite ;). After the second session we had dinner with my grandparents, aunt and her family, and Bridger. My cousins and grandpa made a cake that was super yummy. Apparently it was made for me and Ben.  My cousins even drew pictures and sang a song to accompany the cake.

We are thinking this will be our wedding cake.

What do you think? ;)

Happy Birthday to Me!

Monday: Just school and work.  For FHE, we filmed a video for our ward Oscar's night on Friday.  It was a lot of fun.  It took a while but we had a blast filming it.

Tuesday: Happy Birthday to me! I had a fantastic birthday :) It was full of happy birthday wishes and lots of love :)  The best happy birthday message I got was from Hunter it said: "Happy birthday! You are no longer a teen.  You're now half way to a mid-life crisis." Thanks Hunter.  How uplifting ;) I had class until 8:00 (boo!!) but after, Ben took me to Costa Vida for dinner and it was quite delicious.  After dinner, we went to his house and I opened my presents.  I got a pretty scarf and jewelry from my parents.  Hannah got me earrings and a necklace and Hunter got me a sweet pair of sunglasses.  And, last but not least, I opened Ben's present (which I didn't think he was getting me because he had just given me a ring last week!).  He got me a Kindle! I absolutely love it.  I can do readings for my classes on it and it is so much easier to do! I read a lot faster on my Kindle than I do on my computer.  After I opened presents, we went and got frozen yogurt, my favorite :)

Wednesday: More gorgeous spring weather! Ben and I ate lunch outside before having to go to work.  After work, we went grocery shopping and did homework outside in the wonderful sunshine.  We went to institute and I was completely exhausted by the end of the night.

Thursday: School and work were fine.  I got to teach in the schools for my dance class again and that was really fun.  After that, I picked up Ben from campus and we went shopping for clothes to take our engagement pictures in.  We were fairly successful! Ben got pants and a shirt and I got two shirts :) All in the right colors and sizes and everything! We were very successful.  And we only spent $16 :) After shopping, Ben and I picked up Anna and we went to Brick Oven with his aunt and cousin who were in town as well as Brooke and Gordy.  It was really fun to meet more of Ben's family :)

Friday: This was such a great day! I got lots of homework finished (I'm actually ahead in one of my classes!!) and I had a wonderful Jamba date with Alex and Sydney.  After that we had a quick advertising meeting.  Then I met up with Anna, Alex and Sydney and we piled into my little car to pick up Brooke to go wedding dress shopping!! We went to Allyse's Bridal and Lauren James.  I had so much fun trying on dresses and all of my lovely girls said I looked beautiful :) After dress shopping, I picked up Ben and we ate dinner and went to our ward Oscar's night.  The movies were great! Our ward is so creative and talented.  Here is my favorite video from the night. And here is the video my group did.

Saturday: Ben and I worked on homework for a few hours then went to the store, had J Dawgs for lunch, then we went up to Sandy to pick up tickets for a Real Salt Lake soccer game (they were free with our Pass of All Passes!) then we went back down to American Fork and looked at DI for a shirt for Ben with no luck. Then I started feeling really sick.  But, we kept on shopping.  We looked at Ross with no luck for a shirt, but Ben got a pair of new shoes.  I was feeling a little bit better so we went to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings and got free wings :) After dinner we went to Bed, Bath and Beyond and registered.  It took a reallly long time but it was really fun.  We came home and were completely exhausted.  But it was such a great day :)

Sunday: Church was amazing as always. The lessons and testimonies today were especially good :) After church, I finished making a birthday dinner for me and Brooke while Ben went home teaching.  Brooke, Gordy and Anna came over for dinner and cake and ice cream.  We ate outside because it was gorgeous! Then we came in and played Dominion.  Gordy and I tied with the most points.  After dinner we had cake and ice cream and us girls talked while Gordy gave Ben a hair cut (yay!)

A Big Announcement

Monday: The weather was gorgeous! I wore sandals and didn't take a jacket to campus.  It was wonderful! Work and classes were fine.  The only downside was I hurt my thumb pretty bad when I was taking out the garbage.

Tuesday: Devotional was perfect.  It was just what I needed to hear and it fit in perfectly with what I had learned that morning in Marriage Prep.  Since I didn't have my evening class, I went with Ben and two other people from our advertising group to Buffalo Wild Wings again for more research.  It was lots of fun and I dominated at trivia :)

Wednesday: Classes were good.  Since my super late class is over, I picked up 3 more hours at work.  I got to eat lunch with Ben outside in the gorgeous spring weather.  After school, Ben and I had dinner and he dropped me off so I could go to a dance lab and he had to go get some allergy stuff from Wal-mart then we met at Institute.  Bronco Mendenhall spoke for a fireside and it was really good.

Thursday: Classes were good.  Work was fine.  The weather was gorgeous again so Ben and I ate dinner outside then we went to the Temple.  After we got out, we walked around the grounds.  We sat down on a bench and were talking for a bit.  Ben pointed out something that was behind me and when I turned around he was down on one knee with a ring in his hand :) Yes, the big announcement is that we are engaged!!! We are so happy :) We Skyped his family then drove around Provo to visit the various siblings.  We talked to my mom and sister, then my roommates, and finally my dad.  It was such a great day :)

Friday: Just the normal homework and group meetings and Jamba with Sydney, but Ben and I were engaged which made it better than usual :) We went roller skating that night for a date.  I didn't fall or hurt myself so that was a great accomplishment for me.

Saturday: Happy St. Patrick's Day! To start off the day, Ben and I went up to Bridal Veil Falls before it was supposed to start to rain.  We took lots of pictures and just walked around.  After that, we went up to Thanksgiving Point for a bridal fair.  We won a $75 photo pass to the Reception Gardens at Thanksgiving Point to take our engagement pictures there and we won $100 off announcements.  It was a very successful few hours.  After that, we went to Tucanos for an early birthday lunch/dinner.  It was soooo yummy.  We were both ridiculously full afterwards but it was great.  We went home and sat on the couch for a bit before I had to go do laundry.  After that, we went to a birthday party for Ben's friend Jenn.

Sunday: It SNOWED! What happened to Spring earlier this week? We had stake conference and heard lots of wonderful messages.  After church, we picked up Bridger and went to my grandparents' in Highland for a birthday dinner for me.  We told them and my aunts and uncles about our engagement and everyone was happy for us :) I got a princess cake with 20 candles and it was great.  My grandparents' got me a Cosmo Cougar PIllowpet.  Hunter got one for Christmas and I was quite jealous of it so they got me one too :)

It was such a great week :)

Happy, Happy Sunshine!

This last week has had the most GORGEOUS weather! I wish I could spend more time outside instead of in class, at work, and doing homework that has to be done on a computer.

Monday: My IP&T class got canceled so I got to eat lunch with Ben and we were able to sit outside in the sunshine for a while before I had to go to work.  The rest of the day was spent at work and working in my advertising group for our campaign.  After that, there was an advertising review for the midterm so Ben and I didn't get home until almost 8:00.  We made a quick dinner, had FHE and studied for a bit.

Tuesday: Devotional was very powerful and very emotional.  Anna sang with the University Choral and they did very well.  The rest of the day was spent in classes and at work.  Yay for Tuesdays.

Wednesday: School was good.  I didn't have work and it was my last TELL class of the semester! WOOHOO!!! The class was not super terrible, it was just at a terrible time and I was very happy to be done with having class from 6:50pm-9:00 or 9:30 pm.  I took my advertising mid-term and didn't do as well as I wanted but I didn't fail.

Thursday: Another gorgeous day! I only had Marriage Prep and work until 2:00 and then I was done for the day.  I picked Ben up from class and we went to the Temple which was wonderful.  After the Temple we had some roommate bonding and went with McKensey and Ashley to Yogurtland.  It was absolutely delicious.

Friday: I got about half of my homework done (I have a big project due next week) in the morning when  I went to campus with Ben.  I had Jamba with Sydney and it was delightful.  We actually got stuff done in our advertising group this week! After Ben and I ate lunch, we went to play a round of mini-golf at Trafalga because the weather was SO NICE!! We came home and ate a quick dinner and went to wait in line for Divine Comedy.  It was really good this time.  Really funny, lots of glow sticks, it was a great date :)

Saturday: Ben and I went to yard sales in the morning.  It was really fun.  We got Taboo for $1 which was great! When we got home, we worked on taxes and homework before eating lunch.  We went to campus so I could go to an extra credit debate and Ben could work on stuff at the library.  We stayed on campus the rest of the afternoon working on homework.  I saw a few girls from my ward last year including my old visiting teacher.  She is so sweet and I loved seeing her :) Ben and I ate some dinner and went to a movie at the International Cinema for his ASL class.  It was a very interesting documentary called Audism Unveiled.  I learned a lot and  quite enjoyed it.  After the movie we went to get Jamba Juice for free thanks to gift cards and a coupon.  We went and wandered around the mall for a bit before coming home.

Sunday: Another gorgeous day! Church was lovely :) The talks were great and the classes were fantastic. After church Ben and I had dinner and went for a nice, long walk in the beautiful sunshine.  After our walk, I made a treat while Ben indexed.  Then we played some games and finished my Marriage Prep readings.

The Test is Over and March is Here!

Monday: I went to work a little early and Ben started his big Poli Sci 328 midterm.  He was really stressing out about it.  I had classes and worked some more.  Ben and I went home to eat dinner then I dropped him back off at the library to work on his test for a few more hours.  I worked on some homework and went to FHE.  When Ben's brain hurt, I went to pick him up and it was snowing HUGE flakes.  Easily the biggest snowflakes I have ever seen.

Tuesday: It was still snowing! We had a campus forum by Dr. Ben Carson.  It was such a great forum.  We have had really good ones this year.  Last year I remember having some boring and not so stellar forums but this year's have been phenomenal.  Classes were good and work was fine.  Ben was still stressing about his test.

Wednesday: I loved my multicultural education class (as usual) and after class I wrote an email to my professor telling him how much I enjoy the class.  After my morning classes, Ben and I came home and ate some lunch.  I made muddie buddies for my visiting teachees and Anna while Ben worked on TA stuff.  Ben went to class again and I talked with Becca :) After Ben's class we came home and ate a yummy dinner that I made from a new recipe.  I went to class and Ben went to institute and life was great.

Thursday: Happy March! That means my birthday is soon :) Ok, not until the end of the month but I really love my birthday and celebrate it at least for a week (but usually a lot longer than that :).  It was my grandpa's birthday as well as Ben's nephew's. AND Ben and I have been dating for 5 months.  Crazy huh? My dance class got out super early, so I went for a run before getting Ben from class.  We went to his apartment and were able to talk to his roommates for a while before heading up to Lehi to go to Buffalo Wild Wings.  In Advertising, we are a pretend agency and Buffalo Wild Wings are our client so we had to go as a group for some research.  The food was really good and we had a lot of fun with our group.  After dinner, we headed up to Salt Lake and went to Temple Square for a little bit before it closed.  Then we went to Mike and Amy's and spent the night there.

Friday: I woke up earlier than I usually do thanks to three, sweet, wonderful, cute little boys :) Ben and I helped Amy with the boys.  She took Bradley to the doctor's while Ben and I played blocks and watched a show with Aaron and Max.  After Amy got back, we took the two older boys to play in the snow.  We brought them in for snack and finished watching the show we had started earlier.  Amy came home with Bradley from another errand they ran and then we all went to the library for the boys to get new books to read.  We came home and ate lunch and everyone took naps (except Amy because she is amazing and a Supermom).  Later that night, we had a birthday party for Max.  Gordy, Brooke and Anna came up and we had pizza and a delicious cake.  After putting the boys down for bed, we all played a game and then everyone headed back down to Provo.  I was exhausted by the time we got home.

 The boys had very chocolatey faces after snack.  

Saturday: Since Friday was our fun day, Saturday was a work day.  Laundry was done.  Homework and a project were completed by 11:30 am.  Then I started a take home mid-term that was poorly worded and confusing but after lunch, I finished it and it only took me 2.5-3 hours total.  That night, Ben and I both felt kind of blah and we didn't really want to do anything, but we decided we should.  So, we went to DI and Big Lots just to look around.  Afterwards we got some pomegranate frozen yogurt that was really good.

Sunday: Church was lovely :) We had a Relief Society lesson on temples that was wonderful.  Ben and I had one of my favorite dinners ever: Chicken Angel Hair Pasta.  It is a crock pot meal so it was nice and ready when we got home from church.  After dinner we watched a CES fireside by Elder Cook that was really good.  Then That Darn Cat came on BYUtv after so we watched that as well :)

A Week With Two Mondays, No Tuesday, A Double Date And No Free Yogurt

Monday: Happy President's Day! To celebrate having no school, Ben and his friends put together a Sterling Ward party.  We had a bowling tournament at the Wilk.  I didn't win, but I did get a turkey (three strikes) in the 10th frame of my last game.  That was pretty exciting :) After that we all went to Ben's house (since it is so huge!) and ate lunch and talked.  After lunch, everyone except Brooke, Gordy and Anna left and the five of us played Gordy's new game, Dominion.  I was actually just watching/on Ben's team and it seems like a game I could play and not embarrass myself too much.

Tuesday: BYU said it was Monday.  That meant five and a half hours of work, IP&T and Advertising.  Nothing else too exciting happened.

Wednesday: The weather was B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L! I wore sandals all afternoon :) When Ben was at class, I had a little outside party with Ashley and McKensey. We painted nails and talked.  It was great! After that, Ben and I went grocery shopping.  I used lots of coupons and felt awesome about saving lots of money :)

Thursday: Classes and work.  Pretty normal.  The exciting moment of the day was when I got a voicemail saying I had won a pearl necklace from jewelry store in downtown Provo from a drawing I had entered a few weeks ago.  Thursday  night, Ben and I went to the last women's basketball game.  There was a pizza party afterwards so we ate a TON of free pizza.  During the game Ben told me that if we scored 80 points, he would take me to Yogurtland.  He was quite surprised when we did score over 80 points and he ended up taking me to Yogurtland.  We tried a new flavor, Mango Mixer (or something like that) and it was super yummy.

Friday: I got a lot of homework done.  Jamba with Alex and Sydney was wonderful.  Our advertising meeting was great.  The weather was nice again so Ben and I went to Trafalga to play mini-golf.  We made dinner and got ready for our double date with my roommate Becca and Ben's co-worker Mark.  We went ice skating.  Now, if you know me at all you know that I absolutely hate skating of any sort and skiing and basically anything where objects (besides shoes) are strapped to my feet. But I ended up having a fantastic time.  I didn't fall at all and I ended up getting a million times better than when I started.  By the end of the night I could skate a faster than snail pace all by myself, without holding onto the wall or Ben's hand. Becca said she had a great time too! She loves ice skating and she said that Mark was super nice and was a great date.  The only downside was that I didn't wear tall socks because I wasn't thinking so I got a good sized blister on my ankle.

Saturday: I finished up the little bit of homework I had left and Ben, Josh (his roommate) and I went to Trafalga again since it seemed so nice out.  Turns out that it was super windy so we only played 9 holes outside before coming in to play the indoor course.  After we came back and had lunch, we went and picked up my necklace and ran to the grocery store to get a few things that we needed. Once we got back, we met up with Gordy (and later Brooke) at the last home men's basketball game.  We won! But didn't get 80 points (we only got 76, so close!) so we didn't get any free yogurt. We had a lot of fun talking to Brooke and Gordy before the game started (we were there for an hour and a half before the game.)

Sunday: HAPPY BIRTHDAY HANNAH!!!
Church was lovely :) We had an FHE group potluck dinner.  Our group and another group got together and had breakfast for dinner.  It was very good with lots of food and lots of fun people. I Skyped with Hannah for a bit for her birthday.  I can't believe she is 9 years old!

This is my roommate Becca.  We decided to be twins today.  At church today we even got asked if we were sisters.  Becca is very sweet and I absolutely love talking to her. :) 

Valentine's Day

Monday: I was going to work with Ben when he told me I should go home because I still looked sick and looked like I was going to pass out.  I told him I was fine and went to work. I was there for a little bit before I really felt like I was going to pass out.  So, Ben walked me home where I drank lots of liquids and slept for a few hours.  I went to FHE and grocery shopping and shortly after, went to bed.

Tuesday: Happy Valentine's Day! I woke up to flowers and candy on my kitchen table from my wonderful boyfriend. :) I went to class then to Devotional which was great! We were lucky enough to have a Elder Kearon from the Seventy speak to us.  He is a wonderful speaker.  I went to class and work for the rest of the day until I got out at 8:00 that night.  Ben picked me up from school and took me to dinner at Cafe Rio.  It was so yummy :)

What I woke up to in the kitchen :) 

 And here is the cute Valentine I got from Ben's nephew, Aaron.

I got it last week but forgot to put up pictures :) 

Wednesday: I was exhausted all day.  I had my two classes in the morning then went home to have lunch with Ben and work on homework for a few hours before Ben went back to class. We had dinner and then I went to my late class and I got out over an hour early! Woohoo!

Thursday: I went to class then work for a few hours before going to an elementary school for my dance class.  It was so fun to be in the schools and to see the kids :) I got done way earlier than usual so I was able to talk to my friend Brittony from Marquette.  She's getting married! It was so great to talk to her. She was one of my best friends in high school and I miss talking to her. I picked up Ben from class and we ate the yummy chicken and dumplings I made for dinner before I took him to Star Wars in 3D for part of my Valentine's Day gift to him. We went with my friend Sydney and her boyfriend Jon.  It was very fun and Sydney told me afterwards that Ben was "just delightful."

Friday: I went to campus to work on homework while Ben worked. Then I did Jamba Juice with Alex and Sydney.  After that, I met up with Ben and our advertising group to work on a few things.  After our meeting, we went home and ate lunch.  I worked on homework pretty much all afternoon before we ate dinner and went to the Temple.

Saturday: After eating breakfast with Ben, we went to campus for him to work on homework and for me to study for and take an exam.  After that was done, we came home and ate a quick lunch before heading up to Lehi to go to Trafalga to mini-golf since the weather was so nice.  I won by one stroke :) We met up with my family after since they were coming up from Arizona.  We just kind of hung out before my parents took me and Ben to dinner.  We all ate too much and were very full but it was super good.

Sunday: Ben and I came up to Highland again to spend time with my family.  We ate breakfast and helped get stuff for dinner ready before eating some lunch and going to church. After church we just hung out for a bit and ate dinner followed by a birthday party for my aunt and little sister. After we cleaned up from dinner and dessert, we broke out some games.  We played Mormon Bridge (or Book of Mormon Thumps as my family calls it) and Pit.  I won both games :) After games we talked to everyone for a little bit more then Ben and I headed back to Provo because the weather was supposedly going to get bad.  But we made it back safe and sound.  No snow or ice on the roads.

Another Week Down

Monday: I went to an elementary school with McKensey for a class assignment.  We got to interview two kids who are English Language Learners (ELL students) and they were so cute! After our interview, the class was learning a folk dance and the teacher had me and McKensey dance with the kids and it was so much fun :) After that, I went to class and work and class and a review session for my Advertising class before our midterm.  I went to FHE and did some homework before finally going to bed.

Tuesday: Marriage Prep was fantastic. Devotional was great! It was given by Dr. Fletcher who is a chemical engineering professor.  He told us about his ancestors and told us seven things that he learned from them and their lives that we call all apply to our lives.

1. Be both good and great.
2. Do your best in school and at work.
3. Stay true to your testimony.
4. Serve faithfully in your callings.
5. Be devoted to your spouse.
6. Have a positive attitude.
7. Be humble and try to be like Jesus.

Work and dance were fine. My Foundations of Education class was interesting, as usual.  I really like how that class is driven by our discussion and what we want to talk about. After class, Ben walked me home and we studied for two hours for our Advertising midterm.

Wednesday: My Multicultural Education class was fantastic. I always look forward to that class, even though it is three hours long and starts at 8:00 in the morning.  It is so interesting and fascinating to me. At the end of class, we watched a clip from Freedom Writers and a clip from a primetime special on the story.  It was so powerful and showed what a great teacher has the power to do.  I was on such a teaching high, ready to go change the world one student at a time.  Then I had IP&T which is one of the most boring classes in the entire world.  It is even more boring than my Civ. 202 class or my History 201 class.  After class I walked home and met up with Ben so we could have lunch and study a little more for Advertising.  I dropped him off at class on my way to the grocery store.  It took way longer than I was expecting so I just parked on campus and waited a few minutes for Ben to get out of class then we took our Advertising midterm.  I did pretty well :) So I was happy. We went home and ate dinner before I went to my late TELL class. After class, I went to Ben's for a little bit before going home and going to bed. 

Thursday: Marriage Prep was awesome! I learned so much! Work and class were fine.  Ben and I walked home together and I made Shepherd's Pie for dinner and it was pretty good! I was pleasantly surprised. :) After dinner, I went with Ben, McKensey and our friend Mikayla to the mall for our community project for Multicultural Education.  The project we decided to do was to go to the mall and only sign.  Both Ben and Mikayla have taken at least one semester of American Sign Language at BYU.  McKensey took a few years of it in high school and since Ben signs all the time, I have picked up on it pretty quickly.  So, McKensey and I were interpreters for Mikayla and Ben.  It was very interesting to see people's reactions to us.  When we went into stores, the clerks were going to come help us but then they saw that we were signing so they turned away and tried not to stare at us. 

Friday: I went to campus with Ben at 8:00 to work on homework while he did TA stuff. And I got basically all of my homework done! I went to Jamba Juice with Alex and Sydney :) After that, Ben and I went to our Advertising group's meeting to start putting together some stuff for our campaign.  After that, we went home and ate a late lunch and worked on homework for a few hours.  We ate a quick dinner as I was getting ready for our Valentine's date to the ballet (since I have class late on Valentine's Day).  We went to see The Snow Queen on campus and it was so wonderful! The costumes were beautiful, the sets were amazing, the dancing was gorgeous.  It was a very fun date. 

Saturday: What a great, happy day! I slept in and after I woke up, I started doing some cleaning since cleaning checks are next week. Ben came over for lunch and then we went to the library for a few hours to finish up some homework. After that we went home and got ready for the Men's Basketball game.  We won! AND we scored over 80 points, so after dinner we went to Yogurtland with Anna and her roommate Cassie and got five free ounces of frozen yogurt.  It was delicious. After we dropped the girls off at their stake dance, Ben and I watched 7 Brides for 7 Brothers.  I LOVE that movie :) And I haven't seen it in such a long time. Oh, and we also got valentine's from Ben's mom. (Thank you Sis. Nielsen!)

Sunday: I woke up to lots of snow falling which made me super happy. :) It was ward conference today.  We had really good talks and lessons in all of our meetings. We came home and ate a quick dinner before picking up Anna and going to Brooke and Gordy's to see Mike and Amy and the boys.  Aaron gave me a valentine and I got to hold and play with Bradley a lot. :) After seeing them, Ben and I went to ward prayer.  I had to leave early because I felt really sick and felt like I was going to pass out.  So, I basically spent the rest of the night laying on the couch until I managed to go to bed. 

Just Keep Swimming

Yes, Dory from Finding Nemo has been telling me all week to just keep swimming. Why is it that Winter Semester always seems to drag on? I am ready for the springtime: sunshine, flowers, bright blue skies, my birthday, bright colors, birdies singing, cool evening walks that only require a light jacket.  Ah! I can't wait.

Here is another week's recap:

Monday: A day filled with work and class, FHE and homework.

Tuesday: A guy was hitting on me on my way to Devotional.  He was sad to hear that I had a boyfriend. Devotional was good (as usual!).  At work I listened to Conference talks all day. It was great! My classes were great.  After class, Ben, Anna and I went grocery shopping.

Wednesday: Class and no work! After lunch, I did some homework and worked on a few projects before Ben was done with class.  We went to dinner at Zuppas then I went to my really late, long class.

Thursday: I slept through my alarm and missed Marriage Prep :( That is my favorite class too! But, I made it to work on time and I won a $15 iTunes gift card in the Wilk. My dance class got out super early and the dinner I made turned out pretty good :)

Friday: Homework with Ben and Jamba with Alex and Sydney and more homework all afternoon.  Ben and I picked up our free pizzas from Pizza Hut for dinner and went to the Men's Volleyball game against Stanford.  They beat us.  After the game, we went to Ben's and watched Tangled :)

Saturday: I got up and went to the Temple with Ben.  It was packed! I have never seen so many people there before. After the Temple, we went to lunch at Firehouse Subs and got our free frozen yogurt from Yogurtland. Since it was nice and sunny, we went to Trafalga and golfed outside.  We came back home and did homework for the rest of the afternoon.

Sunday: Church was wonderful! I love going to church every week and I am so happy that I am part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! It is really where I find joy and happiness :) After church, Brooke and Gordy came to Ben's for dinner.  I made tomato basil pasta stuff that turned out pretty good.  I didn't burn the house down or totally destroy the dinner, so I consider it a success. After dinner we played Cranium.  Gordy and Brooke won.  Ben and I think it is because they are married. We drank smoothies and ate cookies then Ben got his hair cut (yay!) and Brooke and I talked about girly things :) It was a wonderful evening.

Are We Done Yet?

I decided this week that I will be in a permanent state of exhaustion until my children are out of my house. So, I might as well get used to all of this...

Monday: Our first FHE with our new families! Becca, my roommate, is my mom :) And the rest of our family is awesome! We have two guy apartments and two girl apartments. None of the other girls showed up :( But our brothers are awesome! We are going to have an awesome semester.

Tuesday: We had a campus forum instead of a devotional. The speaker was Mark DeMoss. He talked a lot about what being a Christian means and a lot about civility. It was a very good talk and it was so refreshing to hear someone who is not LDS share some of his similar views on society and the way we should conduct ourselves.

Wednesday: My multicultural education class makes me want to change the world. Well, I know I can't change the world but I can help one student at a time and that makes me so happy! My IP&T class (which is basically about how to assess students and track their progress) makes me want to fall asleep. And my super late TELL class (Teaching English Language Learners) makes me wish I knew Spanish better. I went to the grocery store and took a much needed nap. I also got the funniest text from Hannah:

Dear Meagan, in school we are in fake families for an immigration unit and I am married to a Ben and he is tall. In your face!

Ben laughed. I laughed. Who knew 8 year olds could be so funny?

Thursday: I woke up with a really sore throat and stuffy nose. Luckily the first thing I had was work at 10:00 that morning and I only had one class that got out early. After class, Ben and I went to my apartment where I made dinner for our dinner group. I made this Enchilada Lasagna. It was pretty good. The instructions aren't super clear so I kind of winged it and discovered that I need to layer the tortillas better next time I make it and thankfully I didn't buy the five cups of cheese like it says to, I didn't even use 2 cups and it was plenty. After dinner, Ben had to do some Elders Quorum stuff so I was unproductive with my roommates and it was great :)

Friday: I went to do homework with Ben on campus for a few hours then I met up with Alex and Sydney for Jamba. After Jamba, Ben and I went home to eat some lunch then we worked on some homework before going to visit Anna. For our date this week, Ben took me to Divine Comedy. It was really funny. Some of the shorter sketches weren't as good as past ones but it was still very fun.

I even got one of the big glow sticks from the show.

Saturday: I woke up and did laundry then picked up Ben from campus and we went to go take Anna to lunch and to see how her audition went. (She was auditioning to get into the piano performance major here at BYU which is really hard to do but she is an amazing pianist and she thinks she did pretty well :) After lunch, we dropped off Anna and went on a little adventure to Bridal Veil Falls. It was a really icy walk and pretty chilly but it was fun. We had a little snowball fight and took some pictures. We went back to Ben's to do some more homework then we ate dinner and went to the BYU Men's Basketball game. We lost :( We played terribly :( AND it was easily the worst refed game I have ever seen in my entire life (and I've been to and played in a lot of sporting events).

Sunday: I had kind of a lazy morning getting ready and I talked to Becca and Kensey a lot which was wonderful :) I love those girls so much. I was visit taught at 10:00 this morning. Then I did my usual Sunday things: index, start to blog, do some religion readings and eat lunch. I went to church. We had our Bishopric have a dating panel for all of us for our fifth Sunday lesson. Ben and I are doing everything right. After church, Bridger, Ben and I went up to Highland again for dinner and to celebrate my grandma's birthday. Dinner was good. My family was funny. Ben fits right in. When we got back to P-Town, Ben and I went to ward prayer and I finished up my visiting teaching for the month.