After The Thought Day

Song of the blog: Boston_ Augustana

Disney World. The Perfect Honeymoon Getaway. That is, if you can afford it. poo

This. Is. A. Rocking Chair.

Or is it?

I got to see Nicole Dodd and family yesterday. It was the Saweetest day of my week. =D

And I finally figured out how to get the pictures and videos off of my phone. =D

Logan was a space knight. ;D

Luke likes to pose. =D

And Jack liked that chair. =D

Sadly I didn't get any picture of sweet Caraline Dodd. I assure you she is just as cute as these little guys. =) 

Nicole made a comment that I don't blog as much anymore maybe because I don't have as much drama to blog about. My thought? Whats wrong with no drama? I rather like it. ;D

RANDOM QUOTES!!!!!!!!

Charm is a glow within a woman which casts a most becoming light on others. ~ John Mason Brown

You know what charm is: a way of getting the answer yes without having asked any clear question. ~ Albert Camus

When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around. ~Willie Nelson


"I'm a big child at heart. I think it's important to stay that way and not lose the wonder of life." ~ Pam Grier


I am more lost in wonder than ever.~ John Huston


And all the loveliest things there be come simply, so it seems to me. ~ Edna St. Vincent Millay




Funny Pages!!!!!

You're My Favorite Color

Song of the blog: The Dynamo of Volition_ Jason Mraz

Dresses and shoes and ribbons! Oh My!

Needless to say, I might love planning, but I can't wait until it's over. Did you know that people like to live their weddings through you? Yep! People to plan other people's weddings to fit their idea of perfection! I feel like one of the lucky people who has not run into too many of these wedding planners, though I have run into a few. I told Jacob last night that I don't want anything extravagant. I want simple, yet beautiful, and a little bit quirky. My shoes for instance. I want purple sequin converse. I don't even know if they exist. I love this idea. It matches my personality perfectly.

This. Is. A. Cat.

Another thing I have learned in the last few weeks? None of it really matters. At the end of the day, I'm going to marry Jacob Willis, and that is the whole point. The little details are just fun. =)

So this week I:
Saw Harry Potter 7 part 2. Three times. (Why? How? I really don't know.)
Got stranded on the side of the road with my fiance for HOURS. (Not as fun as it sounds.)
Went to our friends' (Rachel and Neil Adams) house in Oswego, KS via being pulled by a rope by their van.
Hung out with Rachel and the kids, and my brother Billy,  while Neil worked with Jacob on the engine.
Found out that a whole day's work was for naught because the real problem is a cracked Head Gasket.
Had a dance party with the kids and Rachel and my brother. I wish I could put the videos on here, they are way too cute for words, but alas they are on my phone. This process still confounds me.
Stressed about money.
Prayed about a lot.
Received some answers, and a lot of comfort.
Had my testimony that the Lord knows and cares about each and every detail of our lives strengthened very much.
Slept on couch cushions pushed together on the floor. =P
Cleaned Rachel's kitchen to de-stress.
Began the process of FINALLY getting my license! I should have it next week.
Lots of other things. 


This. Is. A. Bunny.

Just to add, Hoodwinked has the most predictable ending! I knew the whole time that it was the bunny! (Spoiler?)

Imagine this with short sleeves and a scoop neckline. I'm kind of in love with it. Though nothing is decided. ;D  (jjshouse.com for about 340 dollars including tax and adjustments. =) Yay me!







RANDOM QUOTES!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eternity's a terrible thought. I mean, where's it all going to end?

Tom Stoppard (1937 - ), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1967)

 

I have a responsibility to pass on to the next generation what I learned from my teachers, ... It keeps me young and reminds me where I came from. Teaching young artists is like giving water to a flower. ~ Isaac Stern

When you feel things deeply and you think about things a lot and you think about how you feel, you learn a lot about yourself. ~ Fiona Apple

 

The feeling must come first. If you actually feel rich, if you have a deep inner conviction that you will always have all that you need, it will be so. ~ Donald Curtis

I have just been given a very engaging Persian kitten…and his opinion is that I have been given to him. ~ Evelyn Underhill

 

 I've never compromised who I am not ever. If I've gotten anywhere in my life it's been on my own merits. ~ Cher

 

My husband and I have never considered divorce... murder sometimes, but never divorce.~ Joyce Brothers

In marriage do thou be wise: Prefer the person before money, virtue before beauty, the mind before the body; then thou hast a wife, a friend, a companion, a second self. ~ William Penn

 

Funny Pages!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chiffon Postcards

Song of the blog: March Into The Sea_ Modest Mouse

Wedding Planning. People expect you to know the date of your wedding the minute the ring is on your finger. First question out of everyone's mouth, "When is it? Have you set a date?" "No. He just proposed 15 minutes ago Mom." "Oh Ok." O.o

But really, I love it. I love looking at dresses and choosing colors (dark purple, white, and black for accents) and thinking about shoes (purple sequin high tops) and all the other shtuffz (website, announcements, registries etc.). =) I love the whole life spinning and doing wonderful things and moving forward. I love looking at apartments that I won't live in for another year. I love thinking about how I will decorate my living room. I love thinking about being married to Jacob Willis. =)

This. Is. A. Sock.

 I like this guy's attitude on life. =)

I have never planned my wedding before. I didn't think, "Someday when I get married I want this and this." So I was not prepared for the sudden obsession of all things wedding. I could browse announcements for hours, and wanna know a not-secret? I do browse for hours. Jacob probably laughs at me a lot as I text him things like, "We are so registering at Bed Bath & Beyond." and as I tell him about what kind of dress cut I think I want. I even want to make a little cookbook of recipes I have made up so that he will eat well. =) I am going to seriously dig married life. Now if only the next year could speed by, I would be fine with that. Anyone who really knew me before would never recognize me now. I have officially gone off the deep end of wedding planning.

This. Is. An. Insane. Person.

This will be me if I keep this up. ;D

Really though. I'm loving this. =D

RANDOM QUOTES!!!!!!!!!!

I begin to think, that a calm is not desirable in any situation in life....Man was made for action and for bustle too, I believe.

Abigail Adams (1744 - 1818), letter to her sister, Mary Smith Cranch, 1784

I am in earnest; I will not equivocate; I will not excuse; I will not retreat a single inch; and I will be heard.

William Lloyd Garrison (1805 - 1879)

His mother had often said, When you choose an action, you choose the consequences of that action. She had emphasized the corollary of this axiom even more vehemently: when you desired a consequence you had damned well better take the action that would create it.

Lois McMaster Bujold, "Memory", 1996

You don't need to outdo the competition. It's expensive and defensive. Underdo your competition. We need more simplicity and clarity.

Jason Fried, Keynote Speech, SXSW 2006

Funny Pages!

Narcissistic Strawberries

Song of the blog: If I Die Young_ The Band Perry

Maybe it's me trying to make up for all the blogging I was supposed to be doing all summer, or maybe I just can't help but think as a I eat chinese food and stare at the diamond ring on my finger, but for some reason, tonight I am thinking aloud. Very loud. With one message. Trust In The Lord. So deep. I know.

I'm just sitting here, looking at this shiny thing that is the symbol of:
Taken.
Done Dating.
Found Prince Charming.
The Slipper Fit.
Bada Boom
Bada Bing
Put Her In White And Make Her Blush.
May 15th.
Done.
Finito.
Just the Beginning.

Just the beginning it is. I used to dream of this. No, I mean, I used to have dreams where random guys would propose to me and I wore white and never got to see the wedding. Then I woke up, shuddered, and moved on with life. These dreams varied from creative to horrible. In one I wore a dress from the 80's that was 10 sizes too big. Horrible. In another one the dress was perfect but the guy was addicted to picking up hookers. I never daydreamed about my wedding. I had nightmares about it. Funny thing it is.

This. Is. Cinderella.

The Lord stayed with me, he put some wonderful couples in my life, some real Fairy Tale Mascots. I've talked about some of them before. They are sweethearts, they are happy, they are in love years and years later. They never stop cherishing each other. Their marriages defy the physics of our modern world.

So am I still terrified? No. Not at all. Every day Jacob Willis shows me even more to love him for. Every day I find more reasons to marry him and spend the rest of eternity with him. Every day I see why they say this is magical and wonderful and above all things real. I will admit, I was a critic. I secretly thought at the end of every happily ended movie that it was fake wishful thinking of the world, and I wished it was real. I'm sad now for that version of me. I wasn't trusting the Lord, I wasn't trusting at all really.

Basically I feel like a changed woman. I still have my fears, everyone does, it's hard to get around that natural human tendency. It is my view of the world that has changed. I have always had hope for my life, always had ambitions, always had dreams and visions of what I am working toward and the wonderful place my life is in. Now I know that I don't have to do it alone. You don't know what that does to change you until you experience it.

Necessary song: First Day Of My Life_ Bright Eyes

This. Is. Our. Temple.

Random Quotes!!!!!!

"If there was one word in the dictionary to describe you with, it would be sweet. You are one of the sweetest people I have ever met." Jacob Willis to me today. =)

"In you I have found a best friend. You are always there for me, to listen when I complain and reassure me that life gets better, to let me know when I'm sad that there are elephants somewhere that are weeping as well, and to make me laugh." Jacob Willis in the letter he gave me before he proposed. =)

To love deeply in one direction makes us more loving in all others.

Anne-Sophie Swetchine

 
Perhaps the feelings that we experience when we are in love represent a normal state. Being in love shows a person who he should be.

Anton Chekhov (1860 - 1904)

 
To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.

Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970), Marriage and Morals (1929) ch. 19

 
Clarity of mind means clarity of passion, too; this is why a great and clear mind loves ardently and sees distinctly what it loves.

Blaise Pascal (1623 - 1662)

 
 
No funny pages this time. Sorry Friends. =)

The Flow

Song of the blog: Take Me Out_ Franz Ferdinand

There is a flow to the world. It's the way a life progresses. Mine kind of went like this:

1: Born.

2: Move Many Times.

3: Join the Mormons.

4: Move Some More.

5: Find My Person.

6: Graduate High School.

7: Move to Utah.

8: Attend BYU.
9: Find More of My Person.
10: Discover the Kind of Guy I Want In Life.
11: Find That Guy.
12: Date That Guy.
13: Wait For That Guy To Propose.
14: Say Yes.
15: Wear the Ring.

So far life has been a pretty good ride. =]

Everyone keeps asking me the same question. "How did he do it???"

Here you go everyone.

He wasn't even supposed to come into town. I was fully looking forward to a weekend of Netflix Movies and possibly giving myself one awesome pedicure. Maybe even getting ritzy and taking the whole 5 dollars that I had and going to get an Italian Smoothie from Java. But alas, my weekend alone was not to be. I was in the middle of nodding off to The Princess Protection Program when Jacob and his sister Jessica knocked on my door. Happiness much? Yessum. A night of McDonald's and a movie followed.

This. Is. A. Waterfall.

This is the actual waterfall that this occurs next to. ;)

Day 2 we went to Joplin and my Jake had to go check out a place that Neil Adams had told him about that would do a good alignment on his car for cheap. He dropped me and Jessica off at the mall and we looked around and fell in love with things we couldn't afford. Jacob came back and I showed him the band that want, sadly, I don't know how to get pictures from my phone to my blog YET. So that band will be a mystery to yous alls for a while. I had told him before that I wanted a square (princess cut) diamond but in the store I tried on a circle cut and liked it with my band better. But I didn't say anything. (hahahaha) Jacob was hungry so we went to Chick Fillet and he got it to go. It was over 100 outside and I definitely had a problem with that. But he was persistent, which is a quality I love him for. He said he had seen this park on the way that looked perfect to eat at. I gave in, and so did Jessica. Several minutes later I am no longer believing the, "I saw it on the way bit." We passed the road that I knew we had taken almost 4 years ago on our first date when we went couching. (See previous blog when I told this story.) So I said, "Hey! Thats the road to the waterfall! We should stop by and take in the nostalgia." Winky smily face. "Sure." Well, turns out thats where he was going. haha We went and looked at the place where the couch had been on that day that I with all honesty thought he was a bit odd. "Ah, Nostalgia." I said. We turned back to go where he said he had seen some shade and what do I see? A perfect little shady spot with a couch and table. Complete with table cloth and a little vase with some flowers made from silver wire. (Curtosy of Neil Adams) I was blown away. It was perfect. Close to the waterfall and everything. =)

This. Is. A. Couch.

Hahahaha Not THE couch, but a great one.

Then I realize that I have forgotten my phone. I need it because this is too cute to NOT take pictures. (One day I will figure out how to get pictures on here from my phone.) He goes to get it from the car for me (how sweet :) and I take the oh so romantic chicken sandwiches out of the bag. When I see him walking back I see he is also carrying a plastic bag and in it looks like a little box. My heart jumped for a second, but he just sat down and acted like everything was normal, so I stayed quiet. We ate and laughed about clueless I was. There was no car business. Neil was there and he had his van parked so I would have the least chance of seeing it. The only thing I didn't know was where in the world Jessica had run off to. She disapeared before we even got to the surprise. Jacob brushed this off with a different "maybe" every time. I thought about asking him what was in the bag, but mostly I just forgot about it. I sat back and looked at the light filtering through the green trees and had a flashback to when I was 13. I was sitting in front of the T.V. watching the movie that the sister missionaries had brought to show us about the Restoration. I watched as Joseph Smith was attacked by Satan, and I was in awe at the beauty of the light filtering through the trees as The Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ descended, saving him, and speaking to him. I smiled at the memory of the first time I had ever felt the spirit and I stared at my own personal tree light. Jacob asked me what I was thinking about and I told him the story and said, "You know that feeling when you just know something is right?" "Yeah, I do." And we smiled at each other and it was a moment.

Then he really started acting strange. He scooted all the way over away from me on the couch and asked me to scoot over next to him. I thought it was weird but I went along with it. Then he hands me a letter. I smile at his cuteness and I open it. The 3 and a half pages of that letter almost made me cry and it made me laugh several times. (The elephants are weeping!!)   =) When I looked up, he proposed. I said No. (Ya think?)

This. Is. A. Pie.

;D


My kids will read this someday, my daughters will sigh and say something like, "I want to be proposed to next to a waterfall." And Jacob will cringe and I will smile and laugh. The boys will stick their tongues out and say, "Ew! Gross! Dad you DID that???" Too bad they used to think their Dad was cool. And then years and years later when they find that girl that they can't live without they will go to him and say, "Dad, you did it right. Help me." And my Jake will be glad to offer his advice on getting the girl to say yes. And they will already be suave lady killers thanks to my excellent teaching. We aren't pridefull or anything. ;)

So there is the story. The ring is a circle cut, which I had secretly liked better with my band anyway. It is simple and looks just like the picture I refered to before. Jessica was never missing by the way. ;)


RANDOM QUOTES!!!!!!!

Facing a mirror you see merely your own countenance; facing your child you finally understand how everyone else has seen you.

Daniel Raeburn, The New Yorker, 05-01-2006
 
 
Don't be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated. You can't cross a chasm in two small jumps.

David Lloyd George (1863 - 1945)
 
 
To keep the heart unwrinkled, to be hopeful, kindly, cheerful, reverent - that is to triumph over old age.

Thomas Bailey Aldrich, O Magazine, October 2003


Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.

Robert Heinlein (1907 - 1988), Time Enough For Love

 
That best portion of a good man's life,

His little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love.
William Wordsworth (1770 - 1850)


Person to person, moment to moment, as we love, we change the world.

Samahria Lyte Kaufman


Never give a party if you will be the most interesting person there.

Mickey Friedman

Funny Pages!!!!!!

 

 

It's been a while my good friends. A long while indeed.

Song of the blog: Turn To Stone_ Ingrid Michaelson

Wow.
Just Wow.
I really needed to be blogging this summer.
Yeah.
Definitely.

So what have I been up to?

Well, where do I start really?


This. Is. A. Blanket.

I will make one like this. =]

I have not yet run through a field of corn.

I have not gotten a job. (I know. Biggest disappointment of my life. Parsons, Kansas not exactly hoppin in the job department.)

I realized that I have become a very clean person and now living in my father's house I think it has gotten worse. I love to clean. I do not love being expected to clean. (Does that make sense?)

2/3 of Joplin, MO was flattened by a tornado. Our Stake Center is gone and so is everything around. I may mourn the memories, but a lot more are mourning for the loss of their families and homes. For weeks after that every storm felt like judgment day. Watching that on the news was one of the most frightening nights of my life. 

This. Is. Joplin.

This goes on for miles. It is truly a tragedy. Our Stake President lost his house and was injured. A minor injury and his family is ok. He was on the news too. That is a great man right there.

The interesting thing is, the street with the mall and all that? Untouched. Huh.

In other news, I also see this guy every weekend. His name is Jacob Willis. He thinks we're dating and stuff. Don't know where he got that idea. He also keeps asking me to marry him. Word on the street is, he's even saving up for a ring. I may or may not be in the process of making a temple dress. I may or may not be getting married next May. It's all a very likely possibility.

New song that is needed: Soldier_ Ingrid Michaelson

I kind of like this chick. She sings in a way that hits my ears just right.
This song is kind of specifically perfectly fitting my case in fact...


This. Is. A.... Ring.

I don't actually have one yet. But this, with a smaller diamond, is what we are looking for. I am a simple gal. I don't want a big flashy ring. The band I want is vintage too. Not too flashy. But perfectly fitting me. Are you all shocked enough yet? We aren't officially engaged I suppose. No ring, and I have not really said yes yet. Not in the formal, "Will you marry me?" "Yes." Sort of way. It's happening though. In 11 months. Maybe it's 10 now. I don't know. Next May. I like May 15th. That sounds like a perfect day to get married to Jacob Willis. This silly man who thinks he loves me. ;)


But hey! I'm getting caught up on my two shows today I hope. So You Think You Can Dance is on it's most intense and difficult season ever.
And glee is just fabulous. Just is.




RANDOM QUOTES!!!!!!!

If you explore beneath shyness or party chit-chat, you can sometimes turn a dull exchange into an intriguing one. I've found this to be particularly true in the case of professors or intellectuals, who are full of fascinating information, but need encouragement before they'll divulge it.

             Joyce Carol Oates (1938 - )

 
At the end of the day, whether or not those people are comfortable with how you're living your life doesn't matter. What matters is whether you're comfortable with it.
            Phillip C. McGraw, O Magazine, February 2003

 
Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for truth.

           Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)


Trees like to have kids climb on them, but trees are much bigger than we are, and much more forgiving.

          Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider, Northern Exposure, Old Tree, 1993


To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best day and night to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight and never stop fighting.

          e e cummings (1894 - 1962)

 
All people want is someone to listen.

         Hugh Elliott, Standing Room Only weblog, May 8, 2003


FUNNY PAGES