A recap of 2012!

Wow, I am so glad this year is coming to an end! It has been pretty crazy so I hope 2013 will be much better! Here is a recap of what happened this year.

I got accepted to my dream school but ended up hating it.

Stayed in and ordered pizza for Valentine's Day. 

 Saw The Vow with Kyle

 Did a sushi making class!

 Kyle transferred to BYU-H and I bawled my eyes out. I went into depression mode.

 Mom and Lyn visited me in Provo to cheer me up!

 

  My beloved cousin, Alice Demske Hansen, passed away. 

 

The family came up to Utah for Alice's funeral. We were able to go exploring in Salt Lake City!  

 

Decided to abandon my apartment contract and plane ticket to road trip home early with the fam back to Texas! {So glad I made that decision}

Went to my cousin's high school graduation!

Spent my birthday with my family but no Kyle :( I got a canoe though! haha

Went wedding dress shopping with my family! {need to do a blog post on this}

 

 Took a road trip to Minnesota with my family. This is the log cabin my aunts and uncles grew up in.

 Spent the 4th with family!

 Moved to the great state of Hawaii to be reunited with my love and go to BYU-H!

 I got engaged!

Made some great friends!

 

I got two new beautiful baby cousins! Jamie and Ariana!

 

Married my soul mate!

This year has been bipolar to say the least. Kyle and I went through our toughest phase in our relationship and I have made the worst grades ever in my academic career. Yet I spent an amazing summer with my family and got married in the Laie Temple! I am so excited to see what next year has in store!

Peanut Butter.

When our family came to stay for our wedding, they stayed in a rental house and bought TONS of food. So when they left we got to keep everything that was left over. While we were putting it all away in our new apartment, we found an almost full jar of peanut butter! Now it wasn't the small jar either, it was a big, brand-named jar of peanut butter! We were so excited because we don't usually buy peanut butter cause it's like $6 a jar! It's embarrassing I know.

So today when I went into work I saw a gift on my desk. I got a card, Bath & Body Works goodies and a Costco-sized jar of peanut butter! I had told my boss the story when it happened and she remembered.

It's amazing how such a small gesture can make someone feel so special. I truly believe that this is what Christmas is about. It's not about seeing who can spend the most money, but really showing someone that you care by remembering that they're poor and buying them a huge jar of peanut butter ;).

The semester is over!

So I wasted my Friday night by making a 74 on my finance final tonight -_-. Not exactly how I wanted to start my weekend but hey, the semester is over! I was actually not as stressed as I usually am for finals. I think having so much anxiety from the wedding made finals feel like nothing. I feel like I worked a lot harder this semester than I did during the summer. I literally spend on average 12 hrs on campus everyday. I had class starting at 8:40-10 then work til 5, dinner, then accounting and finance labs until 11. Even though I feel like I worked so hard, my grades still won't show for it. It's so frustrating to me because getting a B is like getting an A for me now. Hopefully next semester I will be able to kick it up a notch. But in the mean time, I get to spend Christmas in Hawaii with the love of my life! :)



****sorry I don't care if you think all my posts are boring now because I'm not getting married anymore.

Orchestra!

Since it's the end of the semester our orchestra was able to perform two concerts last week! All semester we have been working on Handel's Messiah. It's an oratorio with like 50 something movements, lucky we only played about half of them. I am so glad that I was able to participate in orchestra this year, it was really fun! I had the best stand partner ever, my roommate, and got to meet a lot of cool people! Now, my orchestra experience wouldn't be complete without that one special person who all orchestras have! It's the person who...

Thinks they're the soloist and the star of the show and play as loud as they can!
ALWAYS came late to rehearsal!
PLUCKS and TUNES while the conductor is talking!
Doesn't follow the right bowings!
and....RUSHES!!!

And of course they were in the 1st violin section. Nonetheless the concert turned out great and I can't wait to see what's in store for next semester! ^.^

Family Ward.

Yesterday was our first Sunday at church! Now since we are students, we have the choice of going to a married student ward or a family ward. If you know Kyle, you know he definitely did not want to go to the student ward. I really didn't care.
So since Kyle and I moved to Kahuku people would ask me what our new ward was but I had know clue. I just told them that we lived by the hospital and they'd go, "Oh you're in Kahuku 1st ward! That's the best ward!" So, we go to church and man is it huge! Since Kahuku/Laie area is so small, we saw professors, co-workers, and fellow students. One of the ladies that works in my office is the relief society president. She is a hoot.
After church the bishop wanted to meet with us and the other new couple that just moved in. He's from Fiji and has a super thick accent. He's super nice though! Anyways, we loved it and are so glad to be in a family ward again!

Lazy Weekend.

Wow, so this weekend was great! It was the first weekend Kyle and I didn't have to worry about wedding stuff. And what did we do? Watch movies, eat, and play with our iPads. Friday after work we bought some groceries and went straight home. Kyle actually let me watch Ice Princess ^.^. Then on Saturday, we got to sleep in. It was so nice! Made pancakes and eggs for breakfast and watched some more movies. We didn't leave the house until like 5 so we could meet my roommates at Kahuku Grill. It was fun:) Then we came back and watched more movies! Then today, Kyle and I watched more movies. Oh man it was nice. I should be pretty rejuvenated for the week. School is over in just 2 weeks! I am BEYOND excited!

Wedding Planning.

Okay so as you could tell from my other post I had a VERY hard time planning my wedding even though it was super small. Although I know it's not going to happen, I never want to plan another wedding in my life. I hope Kyle and I will make enough money to hire wedding planners for our children. After the wedding was over, I had never been more relieved in my life. I was so stressed throughout the whole process and I was in school. You know how some brides lose weight because they're so stressed? Well that was me, even though it didn't look like it haha. Everyone told me I lost weight. It was cause of the stress. So a lot of my peers are engaged or dating seriously and I want to give a little wedding advice, so here it goes.

1. Start saving now! Weddings are so expensive. Every time I wrote a check I wanted to throw up because I felt like I was signing my life away. Also everything adds up.

2. Trust your instincts. Once you make a decision on colors and style, don't question it and stick with it. My engagement was only three months and the envision that I had evolved over that short time but everything just came together.

3. Have low expectations. I see all these girls have these elaborate Pinterest boards and Style Me Pretty weddings are like $75,000. Yeah, no thanks.

4. DON'T GO TO DAVID'S BRIDAL. I went there just to get a feel of what I wanted but they were super pushy and overpriced. Also if you're Mormon, they don't have a lot of modest options. So if you're in Utah and not even engaged go to a Alta Moda bridal and buy something on sale. I'm not kidding, I wish I had done that.

5. Don't break the bank with your dress. I know this sounds terrible because its like the most important component of your wedding but you wear it once. I am so glad I paid less for my wedding dress than my senior prom dress. Now I don't have to feel guilty about it when it just sits in my closet. I honestly would've been happy wearing a potato sack. I just wanted to marry Kyle. Although if I had decided to buy a more expensive dress I probably wouldn't have regretted it.

6. Just elope. I never understood why people would want to elope but now I do. It's so much easier because you don't have to deal with all the expenses and family drama. You'd be surprised too at how much your family will support you. Just make sure you have a nice photographer so you can share pictures.

7. Etsy is your best friend. Not a DIY kinda person? Don't worry, you can just buy it off of etsy and voila it's done!

Okay I can't think of anything else, hope this helps. If any of you future brides need help you k ow how to contact me;)







 

I'm Married!

So the whole week before our wedding day, I was dreading its arrival. It was just coming too quickly and I knew it was just all going to be over in 8 hours. And it was. But it was the best 8 hours of my life! The night before I couldn't sleep because I was so stressed out and nervous. Now sleep and I are best friends and I don't lose sleep over anything so you know it was bad. And it wasn't because I was having doubts or anything, it was because of the stupid wedding itself! Like all the flowers, my hair, the restaurant, everything. You don't exactly get a dress rehearsal for your wedding so it was kinda freaking me out that I didn't know how it was all gonna go. And I HATE PLANNING. Before this wedding, I couldn't even plan a surprise birthday party if I wanted to. I was basically a guy, I didn't know what colors coordinated and what style I wanted. Luckily on the day, everything was perfect! Kyles suit and my dress, which got finished the week of the wedding -_- looked great! I LOVED my flowers which I was really worried about because basically all I did was send a few pictures of what I liked. The restaurant we ate at had the perfect ambiance for the day which we never even had tried their food before:/. Now all of this sounds really irresponsible but it was hard! I had only been on the island for a few months and didn't know where anything was, didn't have a car, and didn't have family on the island to help me. Kyle wasn't too big of a help either-_-. Every time he tried to help we would never see eye to eye because we have totally different tastes but I still love him:)

So for the actual marriage part, it went by so fast. It's like we walked into the room and the next thing you know we're married. Like that! Then we came out of the temple and all our family was there and it was so exciting:) it was so weird because I've been to so many weddings and you just look at the bride but then this time I was the bride! It was so crazy. Then Kyle and I took pictures for about an hour with the amazing Chris Simons. You have to book him if you're in Hawaii. I'm still trying to be patient to see the rest of the photos but from what I've seen they look amazing! :)

Then we all ate at a restaurant at Turtle Bay. The food was so good and pretty! We did the usual cake cutting and took some more pictures on the beach. Then it was all over! Just like that! I would do anything to relive that day for just once. All of the hard work put into it and being with family. Oh, and marrying the love of my life:)

Just a City Girl.

So I'm supposed to be writing a Marketing paper right now but I just can't bring myself to do it. I will probably do everything possible to distract me from doing it until it is due tomorrow morning. Oh well.


Anyways, I just wanted to say I never knew my appreciation for Wal-Mart until today! So I live on Oahu, but in the middle of nowhere on Oahu, and one of my roommates always gets super excited when someone goes to Walmart or Costco (which are an hour away). We would always make fun of her because it was so dorky to get excited about. Well, now I feel her excitement!!! So I had to go to Walmart to get address labels for my invitations. I don't have a car so my options were to take a 2 hr bus ride or to rent a car. I definitely rented a car. I paid $50 bucks to drive an hour to Walmart to get address labels. Convenient huh? So as I was at Walmart I didn't realize how much useful stuff they sell! I ended up buying a loofah, curling iron, pillow, hangers, and makeup brush.  You'd think they'd have these items at our local Foodland but no, they don't. If I wasn't on a time crunch because of the car rental I would've spent all day in Walmart. I didn't realize being so close to a Walmart was a luxury. In Texas I had a Walmart AND a Target 5 mins away (Oh, I miss Texas)! Oh, the struggles of being a city girl.

Waimea Bay!

Saturday was a big day. We had clean checks(totally should've taken pictures cause it's already a mess), general conference, then went to the beach! GF ended at noon our time so my roommates and I went to Waimea Bay for the rest of the day! Such a pretty beach. I totally lucked out this semester with my roommates. So sad I'm leaving them in November :(. They are all so different but so down to earth and we all get along great. I like to ditch Kyle for them sometimes. Whoops.

Rachel, Katie, Elizabeth, Me, Whitney, Devyn

THE. WAVES. WERE. HUGE. I was so sore today because the waves literally threw me around like I was in a car accident or something.

We would've jumped off the rock but the waves were way too crazy

We were doing like a baywatch running picture. Hahaha cute....

This is a video of Rachel, going in for a picture and little gets swept from under her feet by the wave. It was so scary but so funny at the same time.

General Conference

 So it was General Conference this weekend and that means it started at 6am Hawaii time -_-. I know you can watch conference whenever you want but let's face it, it's hard to set aside a time to watch it when you don't watch it at its original air time (then again maybe that's just me). I didn't start to appreciate conference until I moved to Salt Lake City. Kyle took me to one of the sessions last April and it was very spiritual. When I was younger, our whole family made food and watched it together. I never paid attention because I was always doing homework or sleeping. Finally as I matured, I understood its importance and truth. I actually got excited for once that it was General Conference weekend.

So there is all this buzz about the new mission age! My roommate got a text saying they changed the mission age but I totally thought it was a joke. Then, our other roommates confirmed it was true. I was shocked and actually kinda pissed. Most young girls dream of getting married, I've always dreamed of going on a mission. I don't even know why going on a mission would be questionable. It's a no-brainer. I have always wished that girls would be pushed to go on missions just as much as the guys. It's so honorable and a great life experience. I tell a lot of Mormon girls I've never thought about not going on a mission and they always look surprised. Hell yeah I've always wanted to go to a foreign country and learn another language and work my ass off. You can't get any more bad ass than that (excuse my language). I always tell girls that I'm jealous they are serving missions then they always get back at me with "but you're getting married!" Um, there's more to life than getting married. It's interesting that they changed it at this time. If I was 40 years old it wouldn't matter, but I am 20 and about to get married. If they would've changed it earlier and I was dating Kyle, I'd probably make him wait (I say that but who really knows, it would've been traumatizing nonetheless). I don't think marriage should be prioritized over a mission. My mom waited for my dad then he waited for her. They're not together now but still. The fact that they changed it now also makes it much more obvious that I wasn't meant to serve a mission and I was supposed to marry Kyle. It's all very strange to me as my whole life I thought I was going to serve a mission. Heavenly Father sure is good at throwing you a curve ball and directing you on a whole new path. My heart aches a little thinking I won't be able to serve a mission soon but I have made it VERY clear to Kyle that we will be serving a couples mission once we retire :)


 Then after conference, my roommates went to the beach! Blog post soon to come...

Life Lately...

Yayyy I made it through the 3rd week of school! I literally minimized my schedule so much this semester so I could do better in school. I think I'm taking 13 credits this semester. I have Accounting, Finance, Marketing, Doctrine & Covenants, and Orchestra! Yes, I'm in orchestra! I am one of those losers who actually reads the student bulletin, found out about it, and went and auditioned! It's so much fun. I seriously have been trying to get involved with an orchestra since I graduated. LDS Business College was so small and didn't have one, then when I was at BYU-Provo, I missed the audition but it didn't work with my schedule anyways. I swear I was meant to come to Hawaii. I have a job AND am in orchestra! I've had so many more opportunities here.

Oh yeah, I haven't blogged about my job yet. I got a job within three weeks of being in Hawaii. I work in the Information Systems department at the school. For the past century (not really) our school has been using Blackboard (a ghetto online program that teachers use to post assignments, grades, etc...) and are switching to a new and improved system called Canvas. So I help all the teachers move over. We hold trainings and make individual appointments with professors. I absolutely love it. It's super flexible with my school schedule and I've had the opportunity to meet tons of faculty.

So based on my previous posts, you know how I've been doing really bad in school? Well this semester I've been so much more focused. I took my first test yesterday and got a 92. It was in Finance so I'm pretty proud. My most intimidating class is Accounting right now. My professor is totally on top of it and is somewhat intimidating, but she's only human. My first test is in the class on Tuesday so wish me luck!

I am so glad that I'm keeping busy this semester with school, orchestra, work, and oh yeah...the wedding. I am trying so hard to focus in school but have all this wedding stuff to deal with. I hate it, I just don't even want to deal with. I suck at planning. It's whatever though.

But yeah, this pretty much sums up my life right now. Thanks for reading! 

Another Marriage Post.

So...I'm getting married and I'm 20 years old. It's crazy. I know I'm way too young but it's just right, I can't help it. My mom actually asked me last week if I was having cold feet and at the time I was like, "YES"! I Literally had two panic attacks that week because I was really scared! It's not that I had doubts about Kyle, it's just that I was so freaked out by the fact that I am getting married. Luckily Kyle is so amazing and we talked about it and he calmed me down. I would honestly give more details of why I was freaking out but I don't even remember anymore. That's how emotional I was being. If you are getting married and freak out a little bit it's totally normal! Marriage is something that shouldn't be taken lightly and you should be concerned when making a huge such as marriage.

I am so excited to marry Kyle! I seriously can't tell you how much our relationship has matured since we first started dating. The first year of our relationship was sunshine and rainbows. We never fought (we still technically don't fight), were super kissy kissy, and yeah pretty much nothing ever went wrong for us. We both had jobs, were making straight A's, and had tons of friends. Then we moved to Provo....and our relationship took a 180. All these outside factors such as school, being jobless, and having no friends put tons of stress on our relationship. I know that sounds ridiculous but it did. During this "Provo" phase, we finally saw each other at our worst. After many late night talks we finally were able patch things up. As much as I cringe at the thought of our "Provo" phase, it made our relationship so much stronger. It made us realize how much we appreciate each other and that we can get through anything if we just work together.

Now we're in our "Hawaii" phase and it's been so much better! We still have had a lot of adjusting to do as our relationship is still maturing. It's crazy how much your life changes when you add someone else into the picture. It was hard enough just to worry about myself, then as Kyle and I became more serious, we had to make decisions together. It gave our relationship a whole new meaning. For example, we have become so much more financially involved with each other and I LOVE IT. As dorky as it sounds I can't wait til Kyle and I merge our bank accounts. I think it's just because I can't wait to make financial (and other) decisions with Kyle because we work so well together. I really love that we will be able to share responsibility for each other and later our family.

I am so blessed I have found someone so perfect for me who's going to be an amazing husband. I am so excited for our journey through life together. We will grow, learn, and accomplish goals together. We get to bring out the best in each other and see each other become successful people. Ahhh November 23, 2012 please come sooner! :)

If this isn't love, I don't know what is.

K&G Timeline

Before I ever had a boyfriend I thought I was gonna be that cheesy girl who remembered every significant date. Nope! It's getting harder and harder to remember so I'm documenting it now so I don't forget!

September 13, 2010: The day we met. It was both of our first day at LDS Business College and I was a fresh high school graduate and he was a freshly returned missionary. I was 18, he was 22. We had two classes together, communications and accounting. We sat next to each other In both classes and found out how similar we were. In communications, we took a personality test and Kyle and I both had the exact same graph. We were the only two in the class with that personality. This is when I actually realized my developing crush. Later, I gave him MANY opportunities for him to ask me to hang out with him but nope, he never did

January 2011: It is now winter semester and we have four classes together! He claims I copied his schedule when really there was no other way to map out my schedule! We "hung out" for the first time outside of class. We went ice skating with Kristina Fidler and her boyfriend at the time. Kyle even paid for me cause I didn't have cash. Today, I consider it a double date but he definitely thought we were just hanging out.

February 2ish 2011: We went on our first official real date! He took me this Italian restaurant in Salt Lake called Settebello. This is how he got around to asking me. We were eating lunch with other friends and talking about dating. I was saying how all these girls had been asked out on dates except for me. Then Kyle chimes in and says, "I'll take you on a date!" He said it so sarcastically I thought he was joking. I thought to myself, "cool the guy I have a crush on wants to take me on a pity date." The next day, he seriously asked me if we were still going out. I smiled and nodded :)

February 13, 2011 (He thinks it was the 14th): We had our first kiss! After about a week and a half of giving him the cheek, I finally gave in :)

June 18ish 2011: This weekend I flew to Arizona for his sister's wedding and met the whole family! His sister had been engaged since December, but we never knew how serious we were for me to actually be invited to he wedding! It was a big step. I think this is when we both realized that we really, really liked each other.

September 1ish 2011: He came to Texas to meet my family! We spent a whole week with my family and had tons of fun. Can't wait to be there with him again! The night we got back to Salt Lake from Dallas was when we exchanged the "L" word for he first time! (Notice how long we had been dating before we said I love you. You can't just throw that word around)

July 14, 2012: We got engaged at Hanauma Bay!!! You can go read the proposal story.

November 23, 2012: WE SAY I DO!!!


&& To be continued... :)

I feel suffocated.

I can't tell you enough how badly I want to graduate, move to a big city, and get a big girl job. I just feel so suffocated being in college. I live in a small town, where my only option is to work at the school, getting paid $8/hour, where I have a work limit of 19 hours a week, yet have $400 rent -_-. I hate being nomadic, having roommates, having clean checks, and not having my own kitchen. I am just so over the college student life style. I know a lot of the restrictions I face too are because I go to a Mormon school. It's like when you're in high school and you beg your parents to lengthen your curfew, then you go to college and are out til 3am every night. I just feel like once I graduate, I'LL BE FREE!

EDUCATION.

So today at church they talked about education. WOW did I need to hear that. Ever since I graduated from LDS Business College I have lost ALL MOTIVATION. I have no idea where it went. It was so bad at BYU but I thought it would pick up after my summer break and once I got to Hawaii. Nope, hasn't come back. I don't know what's wrong with me. When I was in high school, I never understood why not everyone had master's degrees and PhD's. I mean if you live til you're at least 85 what's four more years of education so you can earn ballin amounts of money?! Boy was I wrong. I feel like I will barely be able to finish my undergraduate degree -_-. At least I have my associate's. But gahh it's just so frustrating. I'm majoring in accounting and I feel like they make it so much harder than it is. The only way I'll make money too is if I get my CPA. If I can barely complete my bachelor's how am I ever supposed to get my CPA!??! GRRR I hate school.

Another Wonderful Weekend!

So Kyle's aunt and uncle live in Waipahu which is about 20 minutes from Honolulu and they pick us up on Fridays to spend the weekend at their house. I got super excited to go this weekend since aunt Lorraine is so much like my mom. Also cause school is freakin a death sentence and I had to get away. On Saturday Lorraine let us take her car and we went to breakfast at this place called Cinnamon's. It was so delicious! Kyle ordered their special chocolate cheesecake pancakes and I got Hawaiian pork eggs benedict!

I have missed going to ma and pa restaurants. Provo was all chainnnn. boooo. Then we went to Bellows beach. It was super nice. The waves were perfect and the sand was really smooth. Last week at Hanauma Bay the bottom was all reef and I got all scratched up. The waves were really choppy too. Still pretty though.

 Then we went to Waikiki and saw The Dark Knight! So good. After that we walked around, and let me just say, I am in love with Waikiki! Pretty much any big metropolis with tons of shopping, I fall in love with. It kinda reminds me of Japan and Las Vegas. Anways, I dream about it during the week because it is so amazing. I'd live there. Idk why our school has to be in the middle of nowhere! 

YUMMM! THIS MADE MY DAY!

Wow so today I walked to and from school four times! I walked to school then Kyle told me he left his wallet at home so I was a good girlfriend and went and got it for him, then went back to school to give it to him. Then finally I had my last walk home. It's about a 15 min walk from my house to campus but you're right in the sun so it is very draining! Especially when you're carrying a book bag and laptop. So I was finally on my way home for good and I was EXTREMELY thirsty. All the water fountains at school were broken so I couldn't fill up my water bottle, and I didn't want to go and spend money on a drink. So as I was walking home I see these teenagers running a shaved ice stand in their driveway! They had an official banner and lots of flavors, it looked way legit! Not like some crappy lemonade stand run by some kid asking for pity money. I got so excited and had to check it out. I ended up getting a beautimous pineapple, lemon lime, blue hawaii, shaved ice for only 2 bucks! Last night kyle and I went to get ice cream and shaved ice and spent $11. It was way too expensive and the shaved ice wasn't even light and fluffy enough. I was so happy because this shaved ice was so good and so cheap and so convenient!!! I found out they're open Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. It's gonna be so hard to resist every time I walk by!

This huge thing is a small!

Note to kids on the mainland: run a shaved ice stand, not a lemonade stand

The Proposal.

Alright so I know you guys are just dying, and if not dying then just curious to know how Kyle "popped the question." Kyle and I have known for a LONG time that we were gonna get married. I mean, we're perfect for each other and it didn't take us very long to realize that. But marriage was the last thing on my mind! I was 18 when we met! I refused to talk about marriage with Kyle cause I didn't want it to happen...yet. Finally I realized I couldn't deny it anymore and had to come to terms that I had met Mr. Right very early in my life. We wanted to get married but our school situation was so messed up. We finally worked it out so we could go to the same school in HAWAII! While he was in Hawaii and I was in Texas we missed each other ALOT. It's true what they say about distance making the heart grow fonder cause in June we set a date to get married! We decided December would be too hectic of a time and summer was just too long of a wait so we picked Friday, November 23, at the Laie, Hawaii Temple! (AKA Black Friday, one of my favorite holidays)

Honestly, when Kyle called me to tell me he had set a temple date I panicked. I thought to myself, no I am way too young, I wanna go on a mission, and what's the rush?! Well, that weekend I went dress shopping at David's Bridal with all the ladies in my family. There they have this tradition when you find "your dress" they give you a bell to ring to make a wish for your future marriage! So she gave me the bell and instantly I choked. I just burst into tears because I was so happy of the thought of being with Kyle for the rest of my life! I couldn't deny how right it was! And after that is when I stopped freaking out about getting married and actually got excited!

So this dress I "picked" was very beautiful, immodest, too expensive, and had some beading(yuck) so I was not in love with it. The sales associate was very displease with my decision to "wait" but geez B I am not going to make a rash decision on MY WEDDING DRESS. Long story short, I ended up ordering my dress from a Chinese wholesaler online (scary sounding I know) because I didn't want to have to add sleeves, I needed it quickly, and I didn't want to break the bank. It came in the nick of time before I left for Hawaii and it is amazing! The quality is so much better than I expected and my cousin Julia even took some bridals before I left :)

Wow, so a temple date, wedding dress, and bridal shoot later...I finally get a ring! So the second day I came to Hawaii I was playing with Kyle's phone camera and ended up looking at the pictures. Soon enough I came across a picture of my ring! The ring I had shown him while we were online shopping that he could tell I loved so he got it, ring! The ring that he said wouldn't be coming in for another month! BULL! I barely glanced at it and went to the next picture. I was mortified. What had I done?! I ruined everything. Well, I felt so guilty that I told Kyle that I saw it. He got super bummed and told me I shouldn't have told him but I couldn't help it. The poor thing. Since he found out I saw the ring I thought he would wait a month or two so I would forget about it and be surprised. NOPE. The next day was Saturday and he had a big date planned for us. Now, this wasn't suspicious to me because he always plans big dates. I know, I have a keeper. We went to breakfast then we went to Hanauma bay. So we were snorkeling and having a great time then we came back on the beach. Out of nowhere Kyle finds this HUGE seashell that he showed to me and I told him it was fake. He was like, "nah I bet there's something in there!" and gave it to me. I looked at it, shook it, felt something heavy inside, thought it was rocks and sand, and said "nope, nothing in there" and gave it back to him. You'd think I'd be suspicious at this point but it didn't even cross my mind. So he keeps fiddling with the seashell...ON HIS KNEES...and then I see this GORGEOUS ring fall out onto his hand. My first thought was, "Wow I can't believe we just found a beautiful ring on the beach! Some one was probably gonna propose!" Then the next thing I know he says, "will you marry me?" I WAS SHOCKED. I was like oh...I'm the one getting proposed to. I was seriously so shocked and speechless I made it awkward. Here my boyfriend goes out and plans out the most perfect proposal and I don't even have a good reaction! I felt so bad. I even saw the ring on his phone and I didn't put two and two together when I saw it! Anyways, it just goes to show that marriage proposals aren't always like the movies. Even though everything else that Kyle does is like the movies. I could've elaborated and said I started crying and was all emotional but I hate lying so that's what it is. I'm sure so many proposals have gone like that though.

All that matters is that I am FINALLY, OFFICIALLY engaged and don't have to hide the fact that I'm getting married! WAAAHOOOO!!!

Breakfast at Moena Cafe

Hanauma Bay

My Ring

Venting.

Sighh...So I decided to take a break from packing and decided to share my thoughts. For those of you who don't know I am leaving tomorrow to go to school at BYU-Hawaii. These past few days I haven't been very excited to leave because I have had such a wonderful time in Texas spending time with my family. While I've been home I was able to take care of my mom in and out of the hospital, go to my cousin's sonogram, see my cousin graduate, have movie nights with family, and just hang out with my sister. Before I left for college I took these little things for granted, but now I realize how precious these moments are and I'm really sad to leave home. I realize how much I need my family and how much they need me, especially my mom. haha. I can't wait till I graduate college and finally be close to family and make memories with them. On the plus side, I do get to see my AMAZING boyfriend! This month and a half apart has be so good for us in so many ways. I can't wait to see him at the airport and finally hold his hand, hug, and kiss him! I have totally forgotten what it's like to have a boyfriend physically. Anyways, I am so excited to see what this new chapter brings into my life because I don't have a clue what's in store for me!

Lyn's Homecoming!

This summer Lyenne had the opportunity to go to Europe with the People to People Ambassadors program! She was gone for 20 days and went to Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, France, The Netherlands, and London! I'm pretty sure those are all the countries. She came home on Thursday and mom and I went to go pick her up at the airport!

The pathetic sign I made her. The blob is supposed to be a house. I lack artistic abilities. 

And apparently she made some new friends...