I love you

I was just sitting at my computer getting ready to prepare my lesson for tomorrow. I am helping to teach 4th grade at Mapleton Elementary School and I love it!!!! My class is spectacular! Yesterday we went to mars (on our chairs tilted towards the ceiling) and today we learned about water and took a picture of a bird. Life is wonderful. Our family ward is spectacular and I couldn't help but think of all of you as I talked to Adam's little sister and she mentioned how she lives in our old beloved 162.

I think Heavenly Father has some wonderful lessons for me about little children because I just received the wonderful calling to serve in the primary. Along with that I feel overwhelmingly blessed to have been set apart as a temple worker last Tuesday. Chris and I keep busy BYUSAing and doing homework (which we do;). We love each other and love life. I miss you all and love you with all of my heart.

p.s. a while ago our beloved Sam Crane put on the best homecoming dance ever! It was at the aquarium and we had a blast!

Hello From 1291 N 300 W....still lonely with no visitors ;)

It was good to hear from Sam and Sereen in their posts/email. I agree we should do something this weekend. I'm trying FRANTICALLY to get work off and if I don't get it off, we'll be staying here in Provo Saturday night for Priesthood, so maybe we could do something then!

Life has been CRAZIER than ever! I'm at the hospital more than I'm at home and I see less of Jed than when we were dating! But even with how busy it is, we've found time to use our camping gear 4 times now (one time we backpacked behind the Y to the top of the mountain and in the morning came back through an intense storm , the whole time wondering if we were going to make it out....) BUT we've learned to plan it safe and we're planning a trip to St George to do some camping and hiking (and maybe go to some SUU homecoming events because I'm still a T-Bird junkie) We're going Oct 14-15. I know you don't have fall break, but if any of you are able to, we'd love you to come with us!! We're meeting my sister and some other friends down there.

Last funny thing....you probably all know I'm a pretty bad penny-pincher you will ever meet and I DREAD shopping. Well, I went to Target the other day (armed with handy Target giftcards) and went on a $400 shopping spree....and I LIKED IT! We are now equipped with a camera, camping grill, jumper cables, hair trimmers (if anyone trusts me to practice on them, I'd be happy to!), and other things. Maybe this is a turning point for me and I'll learn to actually enjoy shopping? ....haha, probably not.

Anyway, I hope you girls are enjoying life! I love you!
Bethany


p.s. This is a picture from my brother's wedding 4 days after mine. Crazy 4 days for my family, but it's been fun :)

Helloooo!

Hello my dear sisters! I miss you all sooo much! When can we make plans to all see each other?

I can't believe we're already 4 weeks into Fall Semester. It's been going pretty fast! I am taking 15 credits. My classes are good....but lots of work :) My absolute favorite class is Mission Prep with Brother Bott. Amazing! 2 hours a week is never long enough!

When I'm not in class, I can usually be found in the BYUSA office. I love my position in BYUSA! It can be super overwhelming and time-consuming, but it is absolutely the best experience, and I have already grown so much from it. I know this is definitely what I'm supposed to be doing this year. I'm also a vice-president in the Nonprofit Management Student Association, so that is fun too....definitely not as good as BYUSA, but it's ok :)

As for the other aspects of my life, I am glad that BYUSA and school keeps me constantly busy and on campus all day because the ward/apartment situation has been kind of disappointing and not so good so far. There are a lot of different factors contributing to that. So once again, I am so grateful for BYUSA and the friends that I have there!

I've realized that I've come to a point in my life where I don't know what is coming next. I can't plan even 6 months ahead, and it kind of scares me! I will turn 21 in January, and I am considering a mission. I'm not thinking about is seriously enough right now to make a decision, but I hope that sometime this semester I will be able to decide. Everything else seems to hinge on whether or not I am going to leave my life here for 18 months. All the questions I get from people have started to make me anxious. "When are you graduating?" "What are you doing next summer?" "Are you doing BYUSA / NMSA next year?" "What are your plans after graduation?" And the dreaded "Are you dating anyone?" But I know I shouldn't let all this get to me, so I guess I will just take things one day at a time :)

I love you all so much, and I hope you are doing well. I get to see Elise pretty often, but the rest of you I am missing a lot! Let's get together soon :) I LOVE YOU!!

Sam

Are you all still alive?

It has been far too long since any of us have posted on here and I think it is definitely time for some updates.

Jared and I have been living with his Grandma in American Fork for the last couple weeks because our apartment wasn't available until September 1st. Do you know what the date is today? that's right we were finally able to get our key and start moving our stuff in! Since we are both busy with school and work we won't actually move all of our furniture and start living in it until Saturday. I am so excited to finally have our own place and my very own kitchen!! Don't get me wrong it has been great living with his grandma. We hardly ever saw her and loved her company when we did. We are very grateful for her willingness to let us stay there and it was a great situation but I am ready to finally settle.
I am also very excited to have you all over (you will always be welcome to just stop in) as well as be able to host parties and game nights and stuff when we finally get settled in our apartment.

I am taking 16.5 credits and working 20 hours a week. So far things aren't looking too bad even though this is the biggest load I have ever taken at once. Jared is taking 15 credits and also working 20 hours a week with a couple side free lance jobs. We both thought that it wouldn't be too bad having such a big load, from what we have heard productivity and grades go up when you get married. What we were never told is that even though you aren't distracted by five other roommates who I love and always wanted to socialize with I am now living with my best friend who I could and do talk for hours with. If I wasn't dedicated before I'm going to have to be now. Only one more semester left! after this semester I get to look for full tie job with a social worker to work on getting my SSW, take one more general class and graduate in April. I am so excited!

I love you all and hope to at least hear from you or even better see you soon.

miss you all

This will just be a quick update. I have been wanting to post for a while but just haven't taken the time because I am either planning a wedding, with Jared, helping my mom so she doesn't get too stressed. Now I am sitting here missing all of you so I thought I would make sure you all knew that I still exist.
Bethany, I am sooo excited for you! My engagement story is coming but I should be cleaning the house before my family gets home from our family reunion. I was there from Monday until last night. I came home last night so that I could spend some time with Jared and sleep in my own BED.
Mimi, I was so excited when I heard you and Sterling were dating. I want to hear more about it.
Sam, I hope you don't mind but I want to tell Tyler what you said (Balcony Talk) he would think it was hilarious. Don't worry every one has always gotten those two mixed up.
Elise, I I agree with Bethany we need to hear your story.
and of course I miss Kelli and Heather. I love reading their letters, what great examples they are.
Aside from being busy with my family and preparing to get married in 40 days Jared and I have taken on a project together. We are the new event leads for the Florida State game. One of Jared's best friends from the mission is Ryan Greenburg and he asked if we would like to get involved. We're both pretty excited to get involved with BYUSA again and to have something to work on together. This also means I will be coming down to Provo at least once a week to come into the office during office hours. This also means I will get to see you all more, if not in the office then I will have to drop by your apartment every once in a while.

Now I really need to get back to cleaning, just wanted you all to know that I love and miss you!

Oops

Elise, thanks for keeping this blog updated.... and oops from all of us slackers who don't keep it up for ourselves ;)

Things are absolutely fabulous in my life! I finally am over a case of food poisoning that I got after a lovely dinner at that Tucanos with Mimi, Sterling, and Jed-bubbly-umpkin

(haha, I thought I'd throw that in. I've never ACTUALLY called him that in case you're wondering...but I may have to try it. Gag*twitch)

You've probably heard the story...but Jed and I got engaged on June 21st around 4:00pm, when both he and I were 22 years old

(We were both birthed on June 21st; he at 4:36pm, and me at 11:03am one year later.

SO therefore, we are the same age for exactly 5 hours and 33 minutes)

After having lunch, walking on the Jordan Parkway, browsing around Target, and whatever else Jed could think of to stall until we could meet his sister and she could sneakily give him the ring, we FINALLY headed up the canyon to hike Donut Falls.

Halfway up the hike, we pulled off to a little clearing and he asked me to give him a little private dance lesson so we could practice dancing for our wedding. After dancing in the clearing for awhile, he said "I got you something for your birthday," got down on one knee and proposed. I was very happy, said "yes" (duh), gave him a kiss, and he proceeded to hug me VERY hard.

(Caution: when you hug someone really hard, you may squeeze unwanted gas out of them, and it is very embarassing, but very funny at the same time)

SO the next thing that was said after the initial acceptance (this is embarassing to admit, but since you girls are the only ones who read this and I think you'll appreciate it...) was "Uh, we need to clear the area!" Which made us both laugh and perfectly demonstrates how I unintentionally ruin any romantic setting he ever makes (but he still wants to be with me for some reason anyway). It was pretty funny, but unfortunately I get the feeling that this part of the story will be what is passed on to our kids and our kids' kids' kids....

We went on and finished the hike and as we hiked back we found some fellow hikers to take a picture of us (they were the very first to know of our official engagement). We then proceeded down the mountain, through the canyon, onto I-15, and to my house for a combined family BBQ/birthday party.

Pretty sure this was the best birthday present ever :) Ah, geez...I love this kid!

p.s. Keep August 10th open

Elise....Sereen....we need your stories and pictures now!

On Behalf of Mimi and Sam

They are both anxiously engaged in good causes.

On Behalf of Myself

I am also engaged to be married....figured I would help keep everyone updated on the news.

On Behalf of Bethany

She is also engaged to be married.

On Behalf of Sereen

She is engaged to be married.