I'm getting married!

And this is who I'm getting married to! Isn't he cute?!

This is us on one of our easier hikes the day we got engaged.

This is the view from another easy hike we did that day. The view is amazing!

And here's the view from the top of Angel's Landing. I took this shortly after Chad proposed. This view is absolutely breathtaking.

This is the view I was looking out on when Chad said my name and I turned around to see him on his knee!

It was really really windy up there!

This is the last part of the hike--we were on the far side of the peak when he proposed. I'm so brave!

The last week and a half has been packed with wedding plans. We already have the temple booked, the places for the reception and luncheon booked, a photographer hired, a date set to take our engagement pictures, our registry list completed at two different stores, and I've made some good progress in wedding dress shopping. And Chad's address list for invitations is almost complete! We've met with someone about food, cake, flowers, and decorations at the reception place. And we are making a lot of progress when it comes to bridesmaids dresses. Not to mention I already have my ring! :)

In the midst of all this planning, I have felt tempted to stress over the little things. Over how things will look, how things will turn out, all there is to be done! I have to continually remind myself that these things are not what is important, and that Heavenly Father will help everything important fall into place. Because some things will inevitably go wrong during the wedding celebrations, but if we stay close to the Lord, nothing eternally significant will go wrong.

Tonight I especially felt the need to stop and ponder about why I'm doing all this. Why all the fuss over this wedding? What is the purpose behind all of it--the flowers, the dresses, the cake? As I did, my thoughts turned to marriage, and the transcendent beauty of it. All this planning is to celebrate the coming together of two individuals, the coming together of two families, the creation of a new family. It is not a show. It is simply a celebration. And stress really spoils the purpose of celebration, so I'm going to try really hard to not stress! I'm going to try to enjoy it and carry the spirit of excitement and delight inherent in such a happy time.

As I was thinking about marriage, and about how excited I am to be married to Chad, I decided to jot my feelings out into a poem, and I thought I'd share it with you.

Into Forever

I’m marrying a lifetime of new music
Music that I can dance to, worship with, and listen to in the backdrop of my dreams.
And there will also be forlorn music, music that I will cry to, but grow by as well.
Glorious music I’ve never heard before.

I’m marrying a lifetime of security.
Security in a beautiful home with a trustworthy husband.
And we’ll grow a garden in the backyard and make bread in the kitchen.
And at the end of the day, we’ll have someone to come home to who cares.

I’m marrying a lifetime of risk.
Untold adventures to places I’ve never been before.
Like the Grand Canyon, South America, maybe even Asia!
And someday…parenthood.

I’m marrying a lifetime of lessons.
Lessons on who I am, and who God intends me to be.
I’ll learn more about how the world works, and what the human experience is about.
And hopefully I will learn well the lessons on how I can enrich both.

I’m marrying a boundless family.
A family that is eternal in size and time and scope.
A family that stretches out in all directions
And influences the destiny of the universe.

I’m marrying a man.
But not just the man I see today, but the man he will be in the eternities.
He will be my friend, my lover, my partner, my confidant, my to-have-and-to-hold
Into forever.

I share this with you as a declaration of the purpose behind all these wedding plans. Hopefully by sharing this I will be more empowered to live it! Wish me luck!

I am so happy!!

I have had the best weekend, even better than last weekend! I am so blessed! On Thursday Chad and I drove down to his parents' house and we had a great evening with his family there. And then on Friday morning we got up early and drove to Zion National Park and hiked Angel's Landing so we could get to the top before sunrise. At the top Chad surprised me and proposed!! And of course I said yes! It was so incredibly beautiful and perfect. I couldn't be happier. The rest of the day we hiked other smaller hikes together and I am so in love. Later that night his siblings Jon and Caytee joined us and we had a great evening together and then camped there overnight. The next day we hiked the Emerald Pools. Zions is so, so beautiful! And then we went to St. George and played tennis together and then had dinner with his parents and grandma. And this morning we had a lovely dinner with his parents (they are so, so good to us!!) and then drove out and visited with the Payson clan (who have hosted our dating--big thanks to you!) before having a nice dinner with my mom and grandparents and cousin. Wow! I am so excited to marry Chad, and I am so excited to be a part of Chad's family and for Chad to be a part of my family. Here are some pictures from our weekend:

We started our hike super early while it was still dark, and so luckily Chad had a head lamp and bought me one too.

Angel's Landing--it's super scary for people who are afraid of heights such as I!

After Chad proposed we watched the sun rise. We are so happy!!

I'll post more pictures of the weekend later!

P.S. Kim, could you invite me to view your blog? I would love to read it!

Listen to This!!

I am so excited to share with you something I think is VERY important! When Elder Bednar was visiting my stake conference this weekend, he told us a story from when he was the president of Ricks, turning into BYU-I. It was a Friday, and the next Tuesday Elder Maxwell was going to be the speaker at their devotional and tell them how to make BYU-I what it should be. That Friday night there was a leadership conference, and Elder (President) Bednar asked all the leaders (about 200 of them if I can remember right) to please wear their Sunday best to the devotional to show they were prepared to hear what Elder Maxwell had to say to them. He also asked them to tell four people, who should all tell three people, who should all tell two people, who should all tell one person, to do the same. Well, it worked! That Tuesday, about 80% of the devotional attendees were in their Sunday best and the meeting was really strong at the devotional. Elder Maxwell asked Elder (President) Bednar, “What is going on?” and Elder Bednar said they were prepared to hear what he was going to say to them.

Well, then he told us that just as he asked those leaders at BYU-I to do something and share the news, he was going to ask us to do something and share the news. He told us that if we did what he told us to do, we could make a big difference just as the university leaders had. And this is what he asked us to do: He asked us to please stop praying for the missionaries to find people to teach. He said that it is not the missionaries’ job to find people to teach—it is the members’ job to find people to teach! It is the missionaries’ job to teach the people the members invite into their homes. He said the members need to stop praying that the missionaries will do their job! And he said the members should instead pray for the courage and strength to open their mouths and share the gospel and invite people into their homes to be taught by the missionaries, and for the missionaries to have the Spirit as they teach.

He said that in the late 90’s, President Hinckley asked the membership to please double the number of people baptized in their stakes and wards. Well, it hasn’t even come close to happening yet, and that was nearly 10 years ago. He said in order for us to answer President Hinckley’s call, each ward needs to nearly triple the number of people who are taught in members’ homes each month.

H said that a common question he gets as he travels around the world is, “When are the missionaries going to be able to get into China [or India]?” He said we only have 53,000 missionaries, and there is no way we are ready to go into China with only that meager amount of missionaries. There are billions of people in China and India, and we are not prepared!! We do not have enough missionaries yet!

Now, I normally do not like the emphasis on numbers in missionary work, and so I hope you don’t think this blog is all about getting people baptized. But I love Indian and Chinese people so much, and the only way the Church will be able to enter their countries and teach them the marvelous gospel of Jesus Christ is if we have WAY more missionaries than we have now. And the only way that is going to happen is if the members start being missionaries!

Now, the cool part about this request is that Elder Bednar said that if we spread this message, the personal influence all of us would have in sharing it could possibly change the course of missionary work! Isn’t that exciting?! So if you could please send this simple message on to your families and wards and stakes, I would greatly appreciate it! We can change the course of missionary work!

Don’t pray for the missionaries to find people to teach who are ready to learn the gospel! Pray for the MEMBERS to find people who are ready to learn the gospel for the missionaries to teach!

Wonderful Weekend

I had the best weekend last weekend!! It has been filled with my favorite things!

On Friday and Saturday I got to spend time with my old roommates Lorette and Teri and Jen. On Saturday I got to visit Shana and her family and my grandparents. And on Saturday and Monday I got to spend time with Chad! I love those people!

My stake conference was this weekend, and Elder Bednar was there. I was able to listen to Elder Bednar, an apostle of God, speak for almost two hours! One hour on Saturday and one hour on Sunday. He is an amazing speaker!! I am going to do another blog about something he said that I am SO excited about! He is such a tender, powerful, funny, wise person! I’ll confess I used to be a little afraid of him, but not anymore! I love Elder Bednar!

On Friday I was able to attend a meeting to increase awareness and motivation to help alleviate the problem of world poverty and hunger. I love international development and want to help children!

And last but not least, I danced in three rounds of fox trot and three rounds of tango in DanceSport! And I was able to watch two nights of AMAZING ballroom dance on Friday and Saturday night! It moves me! It is just so beautiful and expressive. One couple’s smooth waltz honestly brought me to tears, it conveyed so beautifully the love and magic that can be in a relationship. The pictures at the bottom of this post are pictures the photographer took of my partner and me during the competition. All of the fox trot pictures looked pretty much the same, so I only got one of them, but I liked three of the tango pictures, so I got those. I look pretty intense in the tango pictures, but that’s okay because the tango is an intense dance! I love ballroom dance!

Hasn’t it been a wonderful weekend?!

Fox Trot

This is what my partner and I pretty much looked like yesterday in our DanceSport fox trot competition. Just kidding. But we did make it to the semifinal round! This was a big surprise and happy thing, because we are only in the 284 class and the fox trot was the 382 competition! I didn't even expect to get called back once. There were probably between 30 and 40 couples in the competition and we made it in the top 13! The final round had 6 couples in it, and so I told Chad that I think my partner and I were probably #7. :) Yay for us! I will let you know how our tango competition goes on Saturday!

No More Suave

Last time I bought conditioner I bought Suave because it was super cheap and it smelt good. After two months of using it, I've realized it wasn't worth it. I have more split ends now than I can ever remember having. Even though I just got a hair cut, I can still find split ends in my hair. For the last couple days I keep wanting to look through my hair and find them and cut them off. Hopefully after a few weeks of using a better conditioner and cutting off my split ends, my hair will be back to its normal healthy self!