Empty Nesters

My awesome youngest sister Bonnie just went off to college at EAC. That means my parents are EMPTY NESTERS. And now all they do is miss us all the time. :)
I went down to Arizona a few weeks ago for a few different reasons:1) My best friend LAUREN NIELSEN got married!

It was so good to see her in the temple FINALLY being sealed to the man she loves! My grandpa was coincidentally the sealer. How cool! I am so happy for her!
2) Bonnie's Birthday
3) To see her off to college.
It sounds like she is doing great! I got to help her shop and set up her apartment. It was fun. And now she is all on her own! I love her!

Adventures are Experiences That Suck at the Time, But Make a Good Story When They're Overcome.

Well, the move went smoothly aside from some stress, a few bumps and bruises, and a few tears. Now we have only a few odds and ends to find places for. It was tough to make everything that used to take up twice as much space into our tiny new apartment, but we did it!

Now for my adventure:

Myles, a friend, and I thought it would be fun to go camping.

We let the friend plan it.

6pm: The "20 minute" drive to the site ends up taking an hour, but that's okay cause the view is good and we get to see the sunset.

7pm: Myles and I are the first one up cause our car is the only one that can make it.

8pm: We miss the sunset to unpack.

8:15pm: We start dinner for all 8 people camping.

9:30pm: Myles leaves me alone on the mountain in the dark by the campfire so he can go get our friends at the bottom of the mountain.

9:45pm: I get scared and grab one of the guns we brought (to go shooting the next day) and hold it on my lap to scare away any predators.

Of course it's not loaded.

And I probably wouldn't know how to use it if it was.

10:30pm: They finally make it to the top and we eat tin foil dinners and smores. We have fun.

1am: The fire department shows up and tells us we have to move because (get this) helicopters will be flying buildings over the mountain in the morning. What are the odds?

1:15am: We pack up EVERYTHING we brought plus 6 people into and on top of our car, (5 seater Chevy Blazer) filling ever lap, nook, and cranny with something.

2am: We begin the descent toward the valley so we can camp in our friend's parents' backyard.

2:30am: We arrive and set up camp.

3am: Most people finally get to sleep, but I'm tossing and turning because I'm sharing a one man cot with my husband and it's SO HOT I can't get comfy. As I come in and out of slumber all night I notice the sky start to brighten, (we're not in a tent) and eventually the sun comes up.

7am: Everyone wakes up and complains about only getting 4 hours of sleep. (You think you've got it rough?)

7:30am: We pack up camp and eat pancakes and fruit at our friend's parents' house. That was fun.

9am: We leave to go fishing at the lake. No one has sunscreen.

9:30am: We start to fish. Nothing's biting, no bait is helping. Oh well.

11am: My skin starts to turn a little pink.

12:30pm: No one's caught anything. We decide it's probably too late in the day to fish, and we decide to go shooting. No lunch. My skin's feeling a little burnt.

1pm: We find a good place to shoot. I'm concerned about my sunburn. I get to shoot a rifle, and 3rd time was a charm! I hit my mark! I missed all the pigeons though. Myles is a pro shooter. This was kind of fun.

1:30pm: I suddenly feel exhaused and decide to go lay down in the shade of the car. I barely get any Zzzz's.

2pm: I wake up and decide it's hopeless to try and get to sleep again. The shooting is too loud. I feel weak, shaky, sunburned, and I have a headache. I call Myles over and tell him I don't feel well. For some reason I start crying while telling him I want to go home. We decide I have heat exhaustion and better get going. I slowly drink lots of water.

2:15pm: We're finishing up the shooting. I decide I may as well shoot a few more guns so I shoot a 22 and hit a few marks. I shoot a handgun and miss everytime. I rest again.

2:30pm: We're on our way home and I get the strong urge to pee.

2:50pm: I consider going pee on the side of the road, or maybe in a bottle in the car while there's 3 other people to witness.

2:55pm: I decide to try and wait it out.

3pm: We FINALLY get home and I RUN to the bathroom!

3:10pm: I collapse on the bed and I start crying again because I'm so miserable. My sunburn is bright red and it hurts. I'm hungry and shaky so I eat and drink. I go to sleep. It's over.

THE END.

Adventures. Suck.

Marriage

Well It's been a good long while since I posted! I'm so horrible, the most important day of my life comes and goes and 3 months later I haven't even written about it! This is for my posterity. haha.



As time to the wedding decreased I got more and more excited! Finally it was time to head down to Arizona for the wedding and Myles and I had wondeful talks in the car about the commitments we were making, our expectations in marriage and we sorted out many of the important things. The evening we arrived in AZ it suddenly hit me that the wedding was just 2 days away and almost nothing had turned out the way I had hoped. I cried to my best friend Lauren and started getting ready for pictures the next day (Nails, get a shower, etc). The shower is a great place to cry because no one can hear you and you're washing off your make-up anyway.
The next morning, all my worries were gone! I excitedly got my hair and make-up done by Lauren (who did a fabulous job) and put my dress and accessories on. I loved the way I looked! Pictures were long, hot, but fun. I was giddy the whole time because I couldn't wait to get on to more important things like the Endowment ceremony just a few hours away!

Finally, pictures were done and I changed into my sunday clothes in the visitor center restroom. with only a few snacks to eat, I headed to my endowment ceremony. I was a little nervous about what would happen, but I had prepared myself for anything. It wasn't what I had expected. I knew there would be lots of symbolism, but I expected a few more answers. However, as I have returned often, I understand more and more of the meaning of the ceremony every time and I love returning to the temple. Heavenly Father reveals answers a little bit at a time, according to my faithfulness, and there are things about the temple I may never completely understand in this life but I know they are sacred and beautiful. It was wonderful to have my handsome, pure fiance take me through the veil and into the Celestial room to meet my family. It was so beautiful and peaceful I wanted to stay for hours with my handsome soon-to-be husband! But as my mother so kindly reminded me, we had a dinner reservation. Everyone in the temple was so helpful in guiding me where I needed to go and what to do, I was quickly with my family on my way to have some much-needed food! As the day ended I couldn't believe I was getting married the next day. I couldn't sleep that night.

The wedding day had arrived!!! I quickly but thoroughly prepared for more pictures and to see my almost-husband for the first time on our special day.The family and my bridesmaids were going crazy doing last-minute errands and decorating. Pictures went quickly and I was soon ready to be sealed to my dear Myles.
Being in the temple being sealed to him was wonderful and terrifying at the same time. It's one thing to make covenants with God, who is perfect; it is an entirely different thing to give your soul to a human being who you know is not perfect, however close he may be. In my mind I was freaking out about the HUGE commitment I was about to make, and as my turn came to make that covenant, I said to myself "okay, I'm going for it!" and I committed myself right then and there to do anything and everything it takes to make our marriage happy because I love Myles and I love God. I couldn't have made a better choice.

The rest of the day, I was THRILLED to be married to my handsome groom and I could not stop smiling even when I tried. It truly was the happiest day of my life and everything was perfect, even if it wasn't quite how I had hoped in the beginning. My dress got stepped on in the temple, and the line at the reception went long, but I didn't care. I had just been MARRIED to the most wonderful man I know! The reception went smoothly and was memorably joyful and perfect. Every song was perfect and played exactly when it needed to be, and my guests even danced a bit! I couldn't have been more "perfectly and incandescently happy".

Our short weekend-honeymoon was perfect and getting back into real life again was unwanted. But there are parts of that day that we carry with us throughout our marriage still. Everyday I love Myles more than the day before. Every day I am more sure that I made the perfect choice in marrying him. Every day we learn more about each other. Every day we get happier. School, work, mornings, finances, and other worldly responsibilities can try to get us down, but our marriage truly is the greatest joy we will ever experience and I pray that it will continue to get better throughout our eternity together.

Pictures and maybe a video are to come.