The Engagement! :)

Our story begins with me hunting for an engagement ring online. Three exhausting days later, I finally fell in love with a ring and e-mailed Ammon the link. He purchased the ring and told me it would arrive the following  Wednesday. Well, as fate would have it, there were some complications with the ring order and Ammon ended up having to email the ring company back and forth, trying to fix the problem.

On Tuesday, Ammon came over to my apartment after school looking slightly flustered and said, “I just got off the phone with the ring company and they cancelled the entire ring order and now I have to start over.” We
exchanged our disappointed, yet encouraging words to each other about the situation. Then, unexpectedly, Ammon suggested we relieve stress by going for a drive/walk: “The weather is perfect and I want to go before the sun goes down!”

We hopped in the car and started driving. Before I knew it, we were driving toward the Provo temple. “Would it be okay if we walked around the temple first, and then we could drive up the canyon?” I readily agreed, not having the slightest clue as to what was going on. In my eyes, the ring wasn’t coming for quite a few more days. As we were walking around the Provo temple, I started walking around the fountain, humming a cheesy love song. Then Ammon pointed to a cluster of pennies in the water and asked, “What does that say?” I looked closer and saw this:

For a split second I thought it belonged to someone else. Then the light bulb went on: this was for me! I turned around and there was Ammon, down on one knee, ring in hand, asking me to marry him. I was completely shocked! I had no idea it was coming! After catching my breath and hugging Ammon, I shouted, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” Then I stopped a missionary who was walking by, and exclaimed that I had just gotten engaged. He gave me the thumbs up and said something about leaving the MTC in the near future. :) 

Afterwards we went home and Rachelle took our first picture together engaged:

After changing our relationship status on Facebook and texting a bunch of people, we drove to Olive Garden, where my finance (Oh howI love saying this!) treated me to a nice, romantic dinner. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect engagement!

The next day we took a picture of us in front of the temple:

My best friend!

I have the most amazing best friend in the whole world and I want to write about him!

First off, his name is Ammon Douglas Lott.

When I say he's my best friend, I mean it! He knows more about me than anyone else on this earth. Even better than I know myself sometimes! He's seen me act as rotten as I ever have, and has inspired me to be the best I can be. He was there for me when my wisdom teeth got removed, when I didn't get into BYU, when I randomly started crying and I couln't explain it. He was always there taking care of me.

Let me tell you a little bit more about Ammon Lott:

Ammon is so talented! His number one talent is making people laugh. Ammon is so funny! I used to get jealous that he could make all different kinds of people laugh, but now I just consider myself lucky because I will never go a day without laughing as long as I'm with Ammon. :) My favorite is when Ammon will make up his own words to a non-inspiring mainstream song. His lyrics usually incorperate how beautiful I am, or how "gay" and uncreative the singer is. Haha!

Another thing that Ammon is amazing at doing, is playing guitar! Ammon will pick up a guitar, and a combination of notes are played that are uniquely his. Sometimes I get brave enough to hum along but I usually leave that up to him. He's really good at it. Especially when he sings! :)

Ammon is fun! We have so much fun together! He takes me on adventures like hiking, snowboarding, bowling, longboarding, and camping. But the thing that sets Ammon apart from other guys, is that he'll also join me to do the things I love like painting with fingerpaint, braving roller-coasters, cooking, playing board games, running, and cleaning. (Okay, I don't love cleaning, but it needs to be done and Ammon helps out!)

Lastly, Ammon is always trying to be a better person. He is quick to say sorry, unafraid to seek advice, and accepting of my flaws. I am so in love with my best friend!

I like to embark dark

I dyed my hair.
Again.
Nacho Libre wears strechy pants for fun. Me? I dye my hair. :)
Here are the before and afters:

Before:

    After:

So uh... side-note on these pictures: I'm not one to take pictures of myself and keep them, let alone post them. Eheh. So I'm not sure how I feel about this post. To be honest, I think I just did it because it's a very "blog-like" thing to do, right?  Haha. So here they are. Enjoy. :)

First day of School!

      

Yesterday was my first day back at school since July. Not July of last year, but the year before that. Hmm. What have I been doing? Well, I did go to China for a couple months. I did moved to Provo. I have been working really hard. Although those things were really fun and challenging, I must stay, it feels sooo good to be back at school! I forgot how much I enjoy sitting in a classroom listening to a teacher enthusiastically proclaim something he or she feels passionate about and then using my previous knowledge to see what connections I can make to all the new knowledge I'm now receiving! Okay, so it's only been 2 days. But hey! I get to be in school again. What a blessing! And already I've learned

• about the hormones involved when we get stressed
• that if you draw a pig at the top of the page, supposedly you're a postive person, and if the drawing of your pig is looking straight at yourself, then you like to play the devil's advocate!
• about a little girl with dislexia that overcame her learning disability and is now a famous author!
• that sometimes it's okay to be stressed because that's when we learn
• about a website that will be helpful for me when I become a teacher                      
• about challenging myself to be more comforable with being uncomfortable

I may not have made it into BYU provo, but I think UVU is where I'm supposed to be. It feels right. I love the atmosphere of diversity that UVU provides and getting to associate with all kinds of people. I hope to become good friends with a classmate who isn't a member and maybe share the gospel with them. And if not this semester, then during later semesters. And if not during later semesters, then some other time in my life. Whether it be academically, socially, or even spiritually, being where I am right now is preparing me for the future.

 Now go draw a pig and see what kind of person you are!http://www.uri.edu/volunteer/PDF/Pig_personality.pdf  

    

Happy New Year!

2011 highlights

 i met up with ammon again. i shared a room with my brother for 3 months. 

 i started substitute teaching again. i went to a he is we concert. i moved to provo.

 i rode on a train to reno. i started dating ammon.
 i went to the zoo. i bought a gym pass twice. i started this blog. i started working at brick oven again. i fell in love with ammon. i went to bear lake.

i started a quilt. i applied to byu provo for the second time. 

i ran ragnar, leg 7. i went to the festival of COLORS. i got a real haircut for the first time in 4 years.

i fell in love with the nickelcade. i went to 4 missionary farewells.

i bought 4 fish. i dyed my hair 3 times. i killed 4 fish.

i fell in love with watercolor painting. i went to a byu football game. i fed ducks.

i got denied by byu for the second time. i made it to the end of a cornmaze.

i survived server training at brick oven.

 i ran the wasatch mental health 5k. i went to a byu basketball game.

 brick oven received a letter thanking me for my service; brick oven bought me a free meal.

i received a very-needed priesthood blessing. an angel left me a 50 dollar tip.

my testimony of the Savior and his atoning sacrifice has increased tremendously and never have i ever realized how much i need him as i do now.

2011, I made mistakes. But I am so grateful for a new year where I can start again.

 I am so grateful for the atonement so that I can have this chance.

Winter Highlights

I was hoping that by now I would have pictures of a snowman. But, seeing as there is no snow, there is no way to make a snowman, and therefore, I have no pictures of a snowman. But luckily winter has a few other fun things to offer. So, being the fun connoisseur and picture-taking nerd that I am, here are my winter highlights so far:

 Rachelle, Mark, Ammon, and I braved the cold to go see the lights at Salem Pond. You can almost tell how cold it was, just from our faces.

 And by "our" faces, I mainly mean Rachelle and Mark's faces. :)

 Brick Oven Christmas Party!!

 The Brick Oven Christmas party was fun. There was a plethera of free food and goodies, free bowling, and then a drawing for prizes. I won a free oil change! (Speaking of which, I should probably use that soon...)

 I made a gingerbread house with Ammon, Emily, and Ammon's good friend, Jordan.

 Ammon and I spent an evening exploring temple square. Thank you to all those annoymous photographers who have provided picutres like this. :)

 Ammon received BYU basketball tickets for working really hard at Brick Oven. We really enjoyed the atmosphere of being surrounded by BYU basketball enthusiasts.

 Me + footy pajamas = paparazzi.

 I still have yet to see the other pictures that were taken at this moment.

 Christmas this year was perfect. My family opened all our presents on Christmas Eve. Then I got to spend Christmas morning with Ammon's family when they opened all their presents.

 All ready for church! (One of the greatest places to be on Christmas!)

 Ammon's parents took us snowboarding! I really am so grateful for Ammon's family and all the adventures they've shared with me!

You are never alone

On Sunday, Ammon was sick. Very sick. I learned the difference between gastroenteritis and influenza. Gastroenteritis is just another word for the stomach flu. Then there's influenza which is the actual flu we all think of when we hear the word,"flu." I'm pretty sure Ammon had gastroenteritis because he wasn't conjested and he didn't have a fever. Poor guy was throwing up all day. I'm glad it happened on a Sunday so I could take care of him. At the end of the night he texted me saying that he had herbal tea waiting for him at his apartment. His mom had texted Ammon's brother and Ammon's brother went and got him herbal tea. Ammon exclaimed in his text that he was grateful for all those people looking out for him!

This got me thinking. One of the worst feelings has got to be complete loneliness; like there's absolutely nobody to turn to. Then I got thinking about how God has never left me alone. He has blessed me with so many people throughout my life who have taken care of me. As I was thanking Heavenly Father for this in my prayers, the spirit touched me and I knew I was loved.

The next day, I got a text from my cousin and my brother. My cousin Amber said she couldn't wait to see me for Thanksgiving and my brother Taylor said I was an amazing sister. I know this wasn't a coincidence. They came just when I needed it. I am not alone. With God, I am never alone.

President Dieter F Uchtdorf said, "God sees you not only as a mortal being on a small planet who lives for a brief season—He sees you as His child. He sees you as the being you are capable and designed to become. He wants you to know that you matter to Him." I know this to be true!

Thank you Taylor and Amber and to anyone else who has ever taken care of me!