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 :)