Easter

Easter is such a special time of year. We get to reflect on the risen Savior and the marvelous blessing He gave to us. Since He was able to rise from the dead, we too, will all be resurrected at that great day. It's a marvelous gift, that just because we chose to come to this Earth, we are rewarded with eternal life. People, good or bad, young and old, Catholic or Jewish, Latter-Day Saint or atheist, will all be given the opportunity to rise again. I found this awesome quote by C.S. Lewis about the resurrection:

He came to the conclusion that there are only three possibilities [concerning Jesus as the true Messiah]. Jesus Christ claimed to be God. Therefore, to say He is just a "good man" or "great teacher" is to call him a liar. Any sane person who would claim to be God, but who in fact, is not, must then be a madman - a lunatic! If Christ is neither a liar nor a lunatic, then there is only one other possible conclusion - He must be the Lord!

So in the midst of all this, the question must be asked: Where the heck did that Easter Bunny come from? I did a little research, and apparently, like most holidays celebrated today, Easter originated from a pagan holiday worshiping the goddess Eastre, the goddess of fertility and springtime, and her earthly symbol was the rabbit. The pagans worshiped the rabbit, believing it to be Eastre's earthly incarnation. When the pagans were converted to Christianity, the pagan holiday, which occurred around the same time as the Christian memorial of Jesus' resurrection from the dead, was combined with the Christian celebration and given the name Easter.

The birth of holidays and traditions is very interesting to read and learn about. But, with that being said, here is how we celebrated our Easter. With an egg hunt!



Yup, the youngest to participate in this house-wide hunt was 16, the oldest being Greg, at 23. You'd think we'd all take it easy and just have fun, since we're supposed to be more mature. But OH NO! We tore through the house diving for eggs:

This is me doing all I can to get the eggs before Greg did. He was a master at finding them, and he CLEANED UP! He had the biggest haul out of everyone.

Searching for more eggs.


Peace returned once again to the household after all (well, most all-some may be lost in our home forever) the eggs were found. We were able to enjoy our candy. Mom came back with our Easter baskets that had the traditional can of silly string. So, naturally, we all ran outside and had a silly string war on the trampoline.


Here we are collaborating....Megan told us not to spray her and everything would be alright.


We didn't uphold to that rule. Also, if you look, I'm getting Greg pretty good.


But of course, revenge is a...well, not fun.


All in all, it was a great Easter. And it was so fun to share our family traditions (the few there are) with Greg. I hope he and I can have lots of fun traditions like these with our kids.

Spring Break!!

For Spring break, I headed South. No, not on a cruise....something better. I got to see my fiance! I got there on a Friday night, only to have to say goodbye to him Saturday and Sunday day (it was drill weekend, meaning he was gone from 7 am - 4 pm). Luckily for me, I love his family, so it wasn't bad hanging out with them. But I sure did miss him, especially on Sunday when everyone at church couldn't figure out where he was. When we finally got to be together, we went out on their new boat with his cousin, Aaron.

They saw something cool...at least pretended to.

Also, I got to drive the boat. But I got tired of it after a while and handed it back over to Greg and Aaron. I know how boys and vehicles are.

Anyway, we were really bad at taking pictures this trip. So we went all week without any. Not that we did anything too exciting during it. We registered, which was so fun! It's like shopping for all this stuff you want, but you don't have to pay. You get the same level of satisfaction you would if you had bought it. Next time I have an urge to spend money, I think I'll set up a registry. Haha! But it really was so fun because we were shopping together for our future home, and we were discussing colors and stuff. Greg enjoys the decorating aspect of things, which I love. It's nice that he has an opinion, and we are usually side by side in our views of how things look together. It's just fun to discuss that stuff, and to have someone tell me my ideas will look good, I just need that encouragement.

I went to a few classes with him at his community college--dang, that was nothing like a 4 year university. It kind of took me back to high school. We were planning to take a trip to Oxford on Friday, to check out the Ole Miss campus (where I applied for Grad School), but I got sick for about a day, and was still feeling the repercussions of it. So we didn't go, sadly.

But luckily I was feeling better on Saturday. When we went to a Lynard Skynard concert. Holla! I didn't know any of the songs (well, I knew Sweet Home Alabama, and was familiar with Free Bird). But it was really fun. We went with Greg's parents, who seemed to enjoy it as well. While there, I thought it was even more fun to watch everyone get more and more drunk. There was one guy in front of us who started off fine, but as the night went on, and he got more drinks in him, he started getting louder and more wild in his dance moves. It was funny to watch. Greg thought he was checking me out, so he had to move in to make sure the guy knew I was taken. But it was still so funny to watch everyone go crazy.

We took this in the car on the way there. We had to wait for his parents to finish a meeting on the way, so we made good use of our time by getting snacks at a gas station and taking pictures.

We are so cute!

We went on the boat again before I left, and we went fishing! I didn't catch anything, but I did get a couple bites.

We look so cute, just fishing together!

My attempt. I did better at the back of the boat.

Greg trying his luck off the side.

Good thing we had Aaron around to take this super cute picture. It was my idea and it turned out dang cute! It's one of my favorites.


There was also a tornado warning while I was there. It was intense! We had to go under the stairs. It was Greg and I and his two cousins at home at the time. We stayed in there for about an hour, and we're pretty sure we didn't need to be in there that long. But we had fun playing cards and just chilling. You can really bond when you're stuck in a closet together. I also made dinner for them all on Sunday and Monday night. Everyone seemed to enjoy it a lot. That made me feel good.

So....in summation, it was great to spend time with Greg and his family. It was so so good to be together with him again. I can't wait until we are able to be together forever, and we don't have to say goodbye for a month or two at a time. We spent a lot of time in their hot tub and outside in the warm (ish) weather (it was rainy a good chunk of the time). Coming back was the last thing I wanted to do. I love being with him, and, truth be told, I do like it in Mississippi. Everyone tells me to just wait until summer, it's terrible. So we'll see if my mind changes. But as of right now, I do like it alot. But don't tell my parents ;)

You May Have to Fight a Battle More Than Once to Win It. --Margaret Thatcher

I know this title makes it sound really inspiring, but don't get your hopes up. Here's the deal. About a week and a half ago, I started experiencing really bad back pain. Now, I've always had some lower back soreness on and off throughout my life, but this time was unbearable. When standing straight up, I could barely bend (about 10 degrees worth) before I would feel a pain shoot in my back. Not fun! So, I had dealt with that for about 4 or 5 days, when I was informed that I had won a FREE chiropractic initial exam, first appointment, and one-hour massage. The heaven's must have been shining down on me for that one! So, naturally, I scheduled my appointment. By just talking to the chiropractor, he decided I probably have a bulged disc and proceeded to do some range of motion techniques to test his hypothesis. I felt so pathetic because I couldn't move. Anyway, he did some adjusting and things have started to feel better. I have used both of my free appointments as well as the one hour massage (which was weird because it was a guy doing it....hmmm). But anyway, now my back does feel a lot better than it did, but it still seems pretty weak, and it starts to get sore quickly and easily. So, like this title suggests, I have tried fighting this battle a few times, but I guess I have a few more before I can do anything fun again (like Zumba fitness).

Wedding Diet

Well, since I'm getting married, I want to look my best....who doesn't, right? So, I saw online a "personal testimonial" of the Acai Berry diet with LeanSpa. Apparently, the lady who did it lost 9 lbs in the first week, and continued to hit high numbers each week. She happened to combine this diet with another one, the Java diet or something. But since I don't drink coffee, I decided to just stick with the Acai berry. Also, it's supposed to be really healthy for you and boost your metabolism. Since I only had to pay shipping ($4), I figured I'd give it a try.

Today is Day 1 of the diet. I have enough pills for 15 days. So we'll see how I look then. I don't have a scale...which may present a problem. But I took my measurements, and we'll see if I lose any inches. Maybe I'll have to borrow my friends' scale for a bit for accurate results. I also figure since I'd be a living testimony of it, those of you who want to try it will know that it's capable of working. I'll try to post at the end of the two weeks as to what's going on and how I feel. Wish me luck!


At the end of this diet, I don't think I felt any different. I didn't lose inches, and I don't think I lost any weight. It was really no skin off my back, but I wouldn't recommend it. At least not for half a month. Maybe if I was using it longer, it could have worked differently. The only thing that it may have helped was my energy levels. It was easy to get up in the mornings and go to the gym, and I wanted to go. But then I went on Spring Break and took a week off from the gym, and now it's kind of tough to get back in the swing of things. So whether it was because the Acai Berry giving me the energy and desire, a now broken habit, or the fact that exercising itself gives you more energy and better sleep, I can't honestly tell. But if you're thinking about doing this, maybe try it for longer than the trial version to get a realistic feel for the results. Good luck to you if you dare try it!

If You Live to be 100, I Want to live to be 100 Minus a Day, so I Never Have to Live a Day Without You

So, I'm going to marry the love of my life, and I am very grateful for everything that happened to bring us together. I just want to apologize in advance to all of you ladies out there, but I got the cream of the crop with this one. But don't worry, I'm sure there are still some great guys left out there for you, just not as great as mine :). But don't take my word for it, instead, let me tell you a little bit about my husband-to-be. Greg is from Mississippi, and is 22 years old. He is in the air force and has at least another 5 years with them. Luckily, he's at a base where he won't get deployed unless he volunteers, and even more lucky, he doesn't want to volunteer to go (now that we've met). He is an extremely sincere guy, and when he asks how you're doing, he genuinely wants to know-not in the girly "tell me your whole life story" kind of way, but in the gentleman type way. His sense of humor matches mine exactly and we can feed off of each other easily. So that keeps things fun, especially when your 2000 or so miles apart:


He is always ready to serve others and does so with a smile on his face. He is VERY talented, especially when it comes to anything engineer-yes, that includes mechanical and electrical. I'm pretty decent at fixing things, but it's nice to know that he can do pretty much anything to our home to enhance it. So we're going to be set. He's going to school to become a mechanical engineer; he already has the know-how, just needs the paper-work. He is spontaneous, and always up for an adventure, which is great for me, since I tend to be more reserved about things (even though I'm willing to try almost anything...almost). So he gets me actively trying new things. He makes me feel special, like I'm the only girl in the world that matters, or that even exists. He acts like he's the luckiest guy ever to have me, but I know that it's the other way around. He is patient with me when I get moody and go "complete girl" over something silly, and for some reason, he still loves me when I have my breakdowns. I know he's going to take care of me, physically and monetarily, and I trust him with all of my being. This really is just scratching the surface of Greg, but I tried to be all encompassing when describing him-I don't want to bore anyone. Whether you know our story or not, I am going to tell you anyway, Ok, here goes:

Greg and I met...ready for it?...on an online dating site. Go figure! Neither of us are socially inept or awkward, so it often surprises people when we tell them that's where we met. But I'm here to testify that it's not weirdo's that meet online (although they are out there), but there are, in fact, quite a few normal people available as well. Also, whenever someone finds the audacity to tease me about it, I just tell them that we are so perfect for each other, God knew we had to meet. Since there really wasn't any other way for us to run into each other (he being from Mississippi and I from Idaho), God had to intervene. Thus, online dating was created (yes, I know it was several years ago, but God knew we were perfect for each other, even back then).

(Photo by Clarissa Law)

Greg sent me the first message, which was LOOOOONNNNGGG! I didn't want to read it, and actually ignored it for a few days. But finally, I got sick of the nagging that I should respond, and decided to be nice. He continued to write really long messages, which bothered me at first. But after the 3rd or 4th message, my view on him changed, thank goodness! Soon I was looking forward to hearing from him, and even sooner, he was the only one I cared to get a message from. Eventually, we became facebook friends and exchanged phone numbers. However, we mostly used phone numbers to text, and kept the messages going through FB. Instead of talking on the phone, we went straight to Skype. Oh what a lovely program! We realized that it wasn't uncommon for us to talk for 4 hours at a time, and we only stopped because one of us had to be somewhere else. One day, Greg's parents were visiting him while he was in Tech school for the air force, and he was texting me nearly the whole time. His dad said, "You must like this girl," and proceeded to buy him a plane ticket to Utah in order for us to finally meet in person. We decided to use this at the first opportunity we could, which was October 23, 2010.

The whole week before he came, I spent praying to know whether or not I should pursue this. I said, "I don't care one way or the other, I just can't have him go back to Mississippi and me not know if I want anything to come of it. So please let me know." When Greg finally got here that Saturday, I thought, meh, this will be fun at least. And we ended up driving to my parents' home (because my family wanted to meet him). Within the first hour of the car ride, I remember thinking, "He is so much fun. I love this. I want to do this with him forever.....I want to marry him." This took me by surprise, since we had just met in person an hour ago. But I knew it was a good feeling, and that it was the answer to my prayers. On Sunday night (the day after he got to Utah), we told each other we loved each other, and started thinking how this could even work. I knew I wanted to marry him and I knew it would be difficult, but I also knew I could do it. Marrying him would require me to move away from my family, friends, school, and everything I know. But if I can tell everyone one thing as a take-home message, it's this: He is worth it. And he is the ONLY one who would be worth it. Anyway, we ended up buying a ring later that week, and he asked for my dad's permission. Dad thought it was going fast, but he really liked Greg, and thought him quite the upstanding young man. Mom and my brother loved him too. But the one that meant the most to me was my little sister. She loved him too. For some reason, that was the one that I cared most about-her approval. Guess it's this sisterly love you don't realize you have for each other until something like this makes it apparent.

Greg didn't propose on his trip to Utah-mostly to not cause my dad to freak out. Instead, he waited for Thanksgiving, when I flew to Orlando, FL (to accompany him and his family to Disney World). The farthest East I have been is Mt. Rushmore (when I was 3), so this was quite the adventure to have on my own.

We spent the first 3 days of the break going to the parks. I felt like a little kid again. It was so magical! And Greg got a kick out of my enthusiasm.

We even got to meet the Beatles! They were so nice to let us get a picture with them. Although I still can't figure out how they were all there....and young. Disney is magical!!! haha

Greg and I went to the 3D show of It's a Bug's Life. It was sweet, because they even had things actually shoot out at you...like stink bug sent, bug spray, cockroaches running under your butt. We went on that a few times.

On November 23, we went to Animal Kingdom, and towards nightfall, Greg led me down this path (which had no one on it, go figure, Disney Land is always packed). And he stopped and started fiddling around in his backpack, "trying to decide where we needed to go." I was suspicious, so I turned around and adjusted my shoe. When I turned toward him, he was down on one knee and he asked me to marry him. It was such a beautiful area, too! All green, with a waterfall. Again, we had the path all to ourselves from the time we stepped on the path, to the time we finished celebrating our engagement. After, we took a ferry ride to Magic Kingdom (Cinderella's Castle), and watched the fireworks. It was very sweet :)

Cinderella's Castle

So we are getting married May 20, in the Bountiful temple, for time and all eternity! And I tell you what, I can't wait to have him forever!

Every Good thing Has to Start Somewhere

So, like I said, I'm new at this. I attempted to start a blog before, but got stuck on the title, and quickly gave up after that. But, since I have a pretty great title now, I guess the next step is to make a post. Why? Because every good thing has to start somewhere. I am currently in my final semester of undergraduate school! I'll be done in May and have my Bachelors degree in Communication Disorders. I'm going to be a speech pathologist! Also, another grand event is going to occur in May, and that, my dear friends, is my wedding! So I hope you all enjoy the good time you'll have reading up on my life, especially when I move away to the south.