Wedding Week is Finally Here

WE GET MARRIED ON FRIDAY!

Holy moly I can't believe that this week is finally here. It's like a dream! Bridal showers, bachelor party, school finals and moving out. Can't say this month has been easy but good golly it's gonna be worth it! (Just like the entire two years... :) )

I have to say that now that I am with him all the time it's weird to not be around him or at least talk to him for a long period of time. I am wondering anymore how I was able to let him go for so long, but I am so glad I did and SO glad that's the last time I have to do that for that long!

Wedding plans, oh my gosh! It's fun yet stressful! If anyone out there reading this is planning a wedding you know what I mean! There's so many more details that I didn't think about. We all think about the cake, dress, centerpieces, decorations. Then you have to also count in ring sizing, dress dry cleaning, printing out pictures... it's crazy! Don't forget about those things! They can be hecka expensive!

Our relationship has gotten SO much better! I am much more used to having him around, which makes life easier for the both of us. ;) We have learned to communicate better and how to not make each other mad every other day. It's nice to get along so well and finally feel adjusted to being with each other. It took us a few months, but we finally got the hang of this!

The only thing I really want to emphasize on for those reading this is so much emphasis is given to receptions for the wedding, the details, the dress, the pictures, but one thing that should be emphasized most is why you are getting married. You aren't getting married just for other people or to have a big party. One thing I've learned is you don't get married for yourself. Meaning you get married because you like seeing the other person happy and you want to make that person happy for the rest of eternity. You want to share your life with them. You get married to be sealed to them for eternity, make and keep covenants with our Heavenly Father, and be able to start a family. I had heard before that "I don't need a piece of paper to tell me I'm married or make me committed." I thought about this for such a long time and agreed, it's a commitment you make inside before you put it on paper, therefore why do we need to get married and have it be legal and documented? In a talk from Elder Holland 'Of Souls, Sacraments, and Symbols' he talks about how legally putting down that you are married on paper and in writing makes it THAT much more of a commitment. That you are declaring and making the sealing more final than ever. Leaving evidence and giving yourself wholly to that one person. In this talk he then talks about sex after marriage. I know, if you're still waiting for your missionary this isn't something you really think about, some girls quiver at the word. But this talk will change your perspective of this aspect of marriage. It changed mine and I will never look at it the same. PLEASE listen to this talk if you haven't already. It's worth the whole what? 45 minutes.

Marriage is about making someone else happy, the covenants you make with Heavenly Father and the starting of a family.

... with that said, here goes nothing! :D ;)

Busy Busy Busy

Life has gotten so crazy lately! I mean it! Having Mark home has been a dream come true. Although it's not like a perfect fairy tale in the end it's all been good. Seriously guys waiting for 2 years to see someone and then jumping back into a full blown relationship after not being in a serious one (meaning I couldn't see him for two years) was so hard! I will definitely say it's a lot of tears and heartache because you just want everything to be perfect but you have to really communicate to someone about your own flaws instead of keeping them in. Let me tell you, that was hard! I think it was also difficult for him to realize I'm not exactly like I was when he left, but he has adjusted to the new me and still loves me. :) If you're waiting for someone and reading this I have some advice. Don't expect everything to be perfect. I know, I hated all of these blogs and posts about how terrible life is when the guy you've been waiting so long to comes home and it's definitely not terrible. It's just a change. Change can be good or bad depending on how you take it. As long as you're expecting to just be back into a relationship where there are good times and also bad then you know what to expect. :) I'm not saying everything can't be perfect, I know one couple who has probably never fought their entire relationship! I can't imagine being like that but that's just who they are. That's awesome. :) I am too egotistical haha.... so we have little tifts but nothing that can't be worked out. :)

One thing waiting has done is helped me be patient and goodness am I so grateful for that now! We are getting married in 2 months and 4 days, exactly. Mark has gotten 2 jobs to save up for that and so we can make it by. I am going to school and also have a part time job so lets just say that we are both really busy and rarely get to spend time with each other. I have learned to appreciate those time I have with him, even though he's in the same TOWN as me. It's crazy to think of how far we have come together. I love him a lot and I just want to know how fortunate I am for the rest of my life. :)

Temple Time

I hope some of you out there are reading this... and waiting for me to finally tell you that we are engaged! :) 

The story of how we got engaged? Well we were official on Facebook before we ever had a ring. Heck we are in love and are getting married, who needs a ring?! But he finally did the whole proposal thing again. :) It was so sweet. :) 

He wanted to take me on a temple date that whole week, but he had gotten sick on Monday, the original date of THE date, so we finally went on Friday? I don't remember, is that terrible? Haha it was Friday January 17th. :) Anyways he took me to a nice dinner and then we were going to go to the temple. We just started walking around the temple like we normally do and he walked me to the bench in the far corner of the temple grounds. :) He was talking about everything imaginable! :) He talked a lot about our future together though and at one point started talking about how he hoped I would put up with his imperfections and asked me if I would. I thought he was going to get on one knee right there after I said yes, but he didn't! He just gave me his jacket and we kept on talking about life, families and how we both just fit in to each other's and the future. 

We got up and started walking again. He walked me all the way around then to the front and asked where the Wedding Exit was. I showed him and he was like Oh okay. We stood right there at the exit and he hugged me and gave me a kiss. He grabbed my left hand and pulled me around and tried to spin me into him where we could dance, but his shirt button got caught in my hair... So that ruined that moment haha. :) He and I just laughed and continued to hug. He heard some people coming and so we walked to some benches by a tree. I thought we were going to walk out of the grounds because that's where we were headed but he stopped me and started giving me a hug again. :) He kept on talking about the future and me and him. He then asked me, "Are you ready to make this thing official?" He got down on one knee and pulled the ring out and asked me to be his wife. :) Of course I said yes and then we were engaged. :) All over again. ;) 

Since that was over a month ago I think I should fill everyone in. Wedding planning is going great! It's so crazy how easy and calm I feel about it all. Probably just because I just want to get married, I don't really care about the whole SHABANG of it all. We ARE making it formal and traditional though. :) I am super excited to get married to Mark FINALLY! Life now that he has been home for a little over 2 months has been good. We have had a lot of ups and downs, but mainly ups! :) We are still getting used to actually being around each other, but we have almost finally gotten used to it. :) It was a hard adjustment, him coming home and both of us realizing how each of us have changed, but we have worked out a lot of things since he has been home. :) Life is good. :) I am just so excited to start the next part of my life. :) We have been together for a little over 3 and a half years and I am just so excited to be married to my best friend. :) May 9th, 2014 couldn't come fast enough!

 

He's Home!

He is home! :D 

He has been home for a day over a week now and I just wanted to blog about how everything has been going. :) 

The night he came home! I don't know if any of you have stayed up on our story, but I wasn't supposed to find out when he was really coming home. But someone who somehow became in the know about the date told me when he was coming. Therefore I knew when he would be home. :) When that day came OH MY GOSH I was freaking out. I got ready about noonish and just sat and waited. Every knock at my door I freaked out a little inside. It finally became 9:00 and I had had enough of waiting for him to come, I kind of got a little cranky! (I feel bad now. haha) My roommate got us playing a card game and I was all ready to win when the next thing I knew there was a knock at the door and my boyfriend came walking in to my apartment. My roommate got a full video of this, but unfortunately because she has the camera card I don't have it right now.... But here is a Facebook link that HOPEFULLY will send ya there and let ya watch the video. :) https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10201070345060911&l=210738060703303171

If you have watched that you can see the look on my face... absolutely priceless as my roommate says. :) I could NOT believe my boyfriend was there! After all of that I went to sit next to him on the couch and he just pulled me in and we cuddled for a bit. We tried to watch a movie that night, but everyone left the room so we got to talk and just be there with each other and no we didn't kiss. He told me from 2 months ago that I should be patient with him, so I didn't want to pressure him in to doing something he wasn't comfortable with. We got to talk a lot that night and then the next day too. :) That's when we finally kissed. 

I'd love to say that everything has been perfect, but it hasn't been. We were together a year and a half before he left, which was enough time to get out of the "puppy dog" stage and into a real life relationship. It's been difficult since he's come home-- just because we are both not used to having each other around. I for one am used to being alone a lot and he is used to having a male companion with him 24/7. That took some time to get used to and just working everything out. It hasn't been all smiles, but it definitely hasn't been all tears either. A relationship is tough, but is also totally worth it! 

He has been home a week and the 2nd day he was home he was asking how soon we could get married. :) I feel like he's been home forever! The past couple days have been some of the best and I couldn't ask for anything better. :) I love him so much and I am so excited to have him home. :) Now we can finally start our future instead of just talk about it. :) 

Waiting for him was only a blink of our eternity. :) 

2 years later... 

MAYBE the Last Couple Weeks!

I cannot believe how long it has been since I have written on here! It has been almost 6 months! Holy cow!

Life has been just busy. :) I started my new semester at Dixie State University (it's a University now..woot! ;)) ANYWAYS School is just school, nothing too awesome going on there. I actually don't like school that much haha. I used to enjoy it, but now that I'm almost done with my Bachelor's I'm like ughhhhhh. Maybe I'll like it after my Bachelor's? Who knows. BUT That's not the reason anyone would be reading this blog, my rantings about school. You might want to know more about how Mark is. :) Well I definitely can talk about that! :)

Communication has been reduced to emails every week. It's not much, but it keeps me sane. :) I got a package for my birthday, which was awesome and I think I wrote about -- other than that there hasn't been any snail mail. ;) I feel like his mission has been going well. With what I can get out of him he likes his companion. :) So that's gotta be good right? haha.

As for the day he is coming back he still won't tell me for sure. I have done some investigating... well kinda not really STUMBLED upon, purely. ;) I know a couple girls who had missionaries go to the same area and they are coming home on the 19th of December, but they've stayed in that same area as for Mark he did move to another area so I was thinking it's a possibility that he could come home a week earlier or so, but I decided to take that idea out of my head, so I am set on the 19th of December. HE tells me that January 2nd is the day he's coming and his mom said that was the date on his plane ticket, but I just never know haha. From this I don't know if I have only a couple weeks left to 3 weeks or a little more than a month... Haha. So we will hope for sooner than later, but when he comes home and how he sees me again for the first time is a mystery to me as much as it is for you. :)

I have learned so much from my experience for the last little bit of waiting. People say that it goes by super fast and honestly I can't really think about when he had 2 months left or anything I feel like it went from 4 to a few weeks left! I definitely am still trying to keep myself preoccupied, but everyone around me is getting excited too. :) His cousin is freaking out haha. :) I try to not think about it, but because of that it's super hard to stay preoccupied. :) I feel like a couple weeks should go by super fast, but it has been dragging! We have Thanksgiving break this week so I think it'll go quick after that. :) I am excited to sleep haha!

Mark and I have been kinda having a tough time. It's hard to realize that everything you know now and have been used to for 2 years is about to change drastically. It's weird for me to think about having a boyfriend in town with me. It might sound weird, but I feel weird being single in a singles ward and not able to date. The fact that I'm waiting for a missionary got around like wild fire and I haven't really ever gotten asked out on a date. I am excited to be able to start dating Mark and having that person around that I can confide in. :) Two of my best friends that I would hang out with a lot, Mark's cousin being one of them, started dating each other. Therefore that situation has gotten kind of awkward for me and of course they don't realize the epic third wheeling they are able to do. Since it's Mark's cousin and I have gotten super close to both of them I don't want to just write them off, but it'll be nice to have Mark home so my life isn't awkward with couples haha. I think about how nervous I am for Mark to come home and I can't even imagine how HE is feeling! His whole world is changing and I can tell he isn't himself right now. I hope that by the time he comes home he will feel better about it all, but we won't really know until he does come home.

I think the number one thing I want to tell anyone reading this is to not let anyone around you tell you about your relationship. This might be confusing and you might be like, "Well duh Jennica." But I guess I am someone who just likes reassurance from the people around me. My mom has always been super supportive of the whole situation. She is just like, "Make sure that you really love him and care about him still when he come home." I told her that every time I think about him coming home I get nervous and that I know I am just going to start bawling when I see him again. That's all she needed for reassurance and we continued to talk about our wedding plans haha. My mom has been super awesome this whole time. :) As for Mark's cousin here at school he has been supportive to a point. He kept on telling me today IF Mark and I work out, but he hopes we do. My dad even was saying he isn't planning on getting a plane ticket here for a wedding until we "know we want to get married." I'm like thinking you guys just don't get it! I got super sad and let it affect me because Mark and I didn't have too awesome of an email today. He wasn't in a great mood and I kind of wrongly took offense to something he had said, but I totally ignored everything he had said. He reassured me that we were in this together and that he loves me. What more did I need? I wrote him a letter and it made me feel a lot better. My emotions have kind of been going crazy from excited to scared to really nervous. I FEEL LIKE I AM BIPOLAR! I hope the next couple weeks just goes by fast because I don't know how much longer I can feel like a mental person haha.

In the end I just miss Mark... a lot. He has been my best friend for over 3 years and we both know what we want from this relationship. I have gotten 2 specific confirmations about Mark and me getting married in the end and THAT was from the big man upstairs. :) We all know He is never wrong. :) I don't want to doubt my relationship anymore and him coming home will be such a relief. :) I love him and I am so nervous, excited, and scared to see him again! :)

Horse Riding!

Catching Fire was SOOOOO Good!

Shooting some archery!

We walk the dogs from the pound every week. This one was so cute!

Halloween Costumes. Gryffindor wins!

Months 17 and 18 Down, 6 to go!

I haven't updated about life in so long and I definitely think that today is a good day to do it! :)

Waiting has been hard. Struggling is only beginning to describe it. For a while doubt has struck me and feeling like I'm not good enough to have an RM for a boyfriend, much less a husband. I think this was Satan's way to make me feel bad about myself and try to make me give up. It was so difficult to get through this last month I can't even describe it, but I've made it through it. :) We aren't out of the woods yet, but I'm feeling a lot better about life than I did before.

We have been apart for so long it's weird to look at pictures and think, "That's the guy that loves me and wants to marry me." After so long I feel alone in life, like I don't have a boyfriend, but I know I do. Definitely the hardest part is to remember why I am waiting. Why this is all worth it. I am so glad that in the beginning I wrote a lot of Mark and my experiences together. I am also really glad that I've gotten to know his family so well, I honestly couldn't see myself without his family.

I got a package from Mark yesterday! :) My first package in a while, but my first letter too! :) I was so excited! In the letter he was talking about how his mission is tough right now and I think it's so crazy that he and I go through tough times at the same time. This just reminds me that we need to be there for each other and that I especially need to continue to life Mark up and support him on his mission. I am growing my testimony each day. I am reading my scriptures so that when he needs some strength it doesn't just come from me, but from Heavenly Father too. :)

I was only a little excited. ;)

Everything that was in my package. :) Gotta love it!

I'm excited to get to date him when he comes home. :) I always wanted to go on dates with someone, I never really have gone on an official date haha. I know that's kind of weird, but I really haven't! So I have decided that I can ask Mark on dates when he gets home and make them fun and spontaneous. :) At night I like sitting in bed and thinking about what I can do to surprise him and just have fun. :) It's going to be awesome! :) Getting to know him again I think is going to be a lot of fun. :) It's just going to remind me how we fell in love to begin with and I get to fall in love with him all over again. :) We aren't perfect people, but together we can strive to be perfect people with Christ.

I don't know if I explained this on here yet, haha but I don't know the exact date when Mark will come home. He wants to surprise me. I think this is adorable and I don't mind because I don't want to know what that dreaded week before he comes home feels like haha. I'll just be going about life as normal and BAM my boyfriend is home. It's gonna be awesome!!!!! I have 168 days until January 11th. :)

My advice to anyone this week is to have faith, even if your relationship seems to be slipping from you. It's not that he doesn't love you anymore, it's just that he is gone on a mission focusing on Christ and the gospel. Keep your faith that our Heavenly Father wouldn't have you wait in vain, that something good will come out of all of this. :) I love this gospel and I know that in the end, everything will be okay. :)

As for life in general this summer has been awesome! I went to visit my dad in Tennessee, where we went to the lake pretty much every day. :) It was great to be with family and going out to have fun all the time. I move back to St. George next week! And then after the school semester Mark will be home! I'm looking for a job right now and if any one reading this knows of one there let me know! That would be AMAZING! I have two friends getting married too! Next weekend and then the weekend after that. I am excited for them, but I keep thinking about that day that Mark and I will be sealed together forever. :) I can't wait! Life is good and it can only go uphill from here! :)

Leaving TN, It was a sad day.

At the firing range!

DQ. It's a family weakness. ;)

Late night Call of Duty. What up?!

Family photo. :)

Super Easy Yogurt Pie

This yogurt pie is super easy but my family loves it! :)

I just take a container of strawberry yogurt, one container of cool whip and a graham cracker crust. Mix the two together and then just put it in the graham cracker crust. Then just refrigerate it. :) That's it! :) It should be illegal with how easy and awesome this is. :)