How We Met :)

On May 12th I left the United States with three of my best friends. We were headed to SWEDEN!!! Of all places... for the whole summer. We knew some LDS people that we could stay with for free, and nanny their kids once in a while. 

Our first week there the people we were staying with mentioned a birthday party we could attend, and meet some people that were LDS and involved in institute. Little did I know what impact this birthday party would have on my life! When we first walked in, we were surrounded by loads of fun people around our age. We had NO idea what to expect!! We had a lot more fun than anticipated. While we were sitting there eating cake and meeting people, in Joel walks. :) I reeeeeeally wanted to meet him.

Later that week (I had only been here for a little more than a week) I was chatting with the lady who I was staying with, Amanda. I asked her out of all the guys I could have of slight interest, who she would pick. Of course she picks Joel, and not to mention her family is family friends with his! We facebook stalked him for more than an hour.

We had been in Sweden for about four weeks, and I was able to officially meet him. I went with my friend to the institute graduation, where we heard there would be dancing afterwards! And of course Joel was there. I got to be the lucky one to sit next to him :) We chatted for a little bit, and might have flirted... nothing out of the ordinary. I do remember him mentioning he had four brothers, as I have four sisters.... Which is VERY rare in Sweden to have large families. Two is large and three is definitely pushing it! 

Nothing much happened after this encounter, and I decided there was not much interest and to just put it all to the back of my memory. 

Weeks past, and I kept on meeting people and having a fun summer! It was mid July by this point, and we were more than halfway done with our summer. I finally got the chance to really talk with him at institute on a random Monday! We talked about the differences and similarities between Sweden and the States. 

I get home later that night to an email via facebook from Joel!! And this is what it says, "Hey! I don't have a phone number to reach you so I suppose Facebook is the way to go! What are you doing Saturday? I just came up with a great idea for a date! (If you let me take you out, that is..) So what do you say? Around noon-ish?" You could say I was freaking out. At institute I wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary... was I? I was just talking with him, I was not trying whatsoever. 

We go on our date that Saturday. Oh, he knows how to date. He lives ten minutes away from the ocean... We road a boat out to one of the islands, walked around, flirted, ate the picnic lunch he packed, went swimming (and he happened to playfully push me in the water as well)... we just got to know each other. And we had a BLAST. Our first date happened to be 9 hours long, and I wasn't tired of him! A first date that was 9 hours long?.... Yeah. At this time in our relationship we were just friends. There wasn't any pressure to date seriously, or anything along those lines. It felt so natural, ya know? What could possibly happen in my last four weeks in Sweden anyways??

Well he asked me out again for that next Wednesday. I wasn't sure what he was thinking at this point with him asking me out again. Did that mean he's interested? What was he thinking?!

Our next date was even more interesting and fun! He cooked me dinner (he LOVES to cook. added bonus for sure!!), we talked, and walked to the ocean. Just getting to know each other better, once again. As we were sitting on some rocks watching the sunset it hit me how comfortable I felt with him, and I wasn't put in a weird position at all! Like I said before it felt incredibly natural to be with him. Little did I know I had missed my last train to go home, so we headed back to his apartment. All night we had so much fun, once again! Never a boring moment with Joel. :) And this date ended up lasting 12 hours! The next morning we watched the sunrise, and soon after that I caught my train at 5:30 a.m. After being with him for 12 hours I didn't want it to end!!!!!

That coming weekend I was headed to Stockholm (which is 6 hours away) with some friends to tour and shop, and surprisingly enough he was headed there as well for a weekend-long boxing camp.

During that weekend I started receiving texts from him saying how much he missed me, and wanted to see me again. You could say I was shocked!!! Was this incredible man really paying this much attention to me? This never happens.

His camp ended and we were going shopping on Monday. He invited himself to come with us!!! We were shopping for our families' souvenirs because we were headed home in a few weeks, and he joined us. During our 7 hour long shopping escapade he walked closer and closer to me, and eventually started walking with his arm around me. I was on Cloud 9. He didn't complain once about shopping, in fact we had too much fun trying on clothes for each other! Once it was time for him to leave he kissed my cheek goodbye. Now what on earth did THAT mean??!

The next day was Tuesday, and all the Young Single Adults in Europe and Scandinavia were invited to a week long camp called Festinord, and that lasted until Saturday in Stockholm. Festinord is nicknamed "the meet market" because it is known for the YSA's to meet their future spouse there, because LDS young single adults are scarce enough as it is.

Let's just say we were glued at the hip all week. And that Tuesday during the nightly dance we hopped the fence of an outside aquatic center and talked about our relationship, mainly where we stood. I was leaving in a week and a half...!! Luckily enough we were on the same page about skyping, and seeing how it goes... like whether or not we would missed each other etc.........

We were lying on the ground, and eventually though this talk we got closer and closer until we were cuddling.

Then he kissed me :)

It was so perfect, I couldn't believe this was happening to me. His mouth tasted soooo sweet, I didn't want the moment to end!

Days past, and he saw me off at the airport on August 6th at 6:30 a.m. I was bawling. I numbly got on the airplane, I have no idea how I did it. Oddly enough I was comforted, and I knew that wouldn't be the last time I see him.

We've been skyping 5-6 times a week, and eventually we started planning a day when he could fly over and officially meet my family. 

He flew in late in Sunday the 18th and proposed to me four days after he got here!! We are planning on getting married in June, because of time- mainly being able to get work off for him and his sweet family. 

Well, there ya go. That is our story :)

The Tale of Three Trees

(I absolutely LOVE this story. Definitely puts me in the mood for Christmas!!)

The Tale of Three Trees

A traditional folktale retold by Angela Elwell Hunt

Once upon a mountaintop, three little trees stood and dreamed of what they wanted to become when they grew up.

The first little tree looked up at the stars twinkling like diamonds above him.  “I want to hold treasure,” he said. “I want to be covered with gold and filled with precious stones.  I will be the most beautiful treasure chest in the world!”

The second little tree looked out at the small stream trickling by on its way to the ocean.  “I want to be a strong sailing ship,” he said.  “I want to travel mighty waters and carry powerful kings.  I will be the strongest ship in the world!”

The third little tree looked down into the valley below where busy men and busy women worked in a busy town.  “I don’t want to leave this mountaintop at all,” she said.  “I want to grow so tall that when people stop to look at me they will raise their eyes to heaven and think of God.  I will be the tallest tree in the world!”

Years passed.  The rains came, the sun shone, and the little trees grew tall.  One day three woodcutters climbed the mountain.

The first woodcutter looked at the first tree and said, “This tree is beautiful.  IT is perfect for me.” With a swoop of his shining axe, the first tree fell.  “Now I shall be made into a beautiful chest,” thought the first tree.  “I shall hold wonderful treasure.”

The second woodcutter looked at the second tree and said, “This tree is strong.  IT is perfect for me.”  With a swoop of his shining axe, the second tree fell.  “Now I shall sail mighty waters,” thought the second tree.  “I shall be a strong ship fit for kings!”’

The third tree felt her heart sink when the last woodcutter looked her way.  She stood straight and tall and pointed bravely to heaven.  But the woodcutter never even looked up.  “Any kind of tree will do for me,” he muttered.  With a swoop of his shining axe, the third tree fell.

The first tree rejoiced when the woodcutter brought him to a carpenter shop, but the busy carpenter was not thinking about treasure chests.  Instead his work-worn hands fashioned the tree into a feed box for animals.  The once-beautiful tree was not covered with gold or filled with treasure.  He was coated with sawdust and filled with hay for hungry farm animals.

The second tree smiled when the woodcutter took him to a shipyard, but no mighty sailing ships were being made that day.  Instead the once-strong tree was hammered and sawed into a simple fishing boat.  Too small and too weak to sail an ocean or even a river, he was taken to a little lake.  Every day he brought in loads of dead, smelly fish.

The third tree was confused when the woodcutter cut her into strong beams and left her in a lumberyard.  “What happened?” the once tall tree wondered.  “All I ever wanted to do was stay on the mountaintop and point to God.”

Many, many days and nights passed.  The three trees nearly forgot their dreams.   But one night golden starlight poured over the first tree as a young woman placed her newborn baby in the feed box.

“I wish I could make a cradle for him,” her husband whispered.  The mother squeezed his hand and smiled as the starlight shone on the smooth and sturdy wood.  “This manger is beautiful,” she said.  And suddenly the first tree knew he was holding the greatest treasure in the world.

One evening a tired traveler and his friends crowded into the old fishing boat.  The traveler fell asleep as the second tree quietly sailed out into the lake.  Soon a thundering and thrashing storm arose.  The little tree shuddered.  HE knew he did not have the strength to carry so many passengers safely through the wind and rain.  The tired man awakened.  He stood up, stretched out his hand, and said, “Peace.”  The storm stopped as quickly as it had begun.  And suddenly the second tree knew he was carrying the King of heaven and earth.

One Friday morning, the third tree was startled when her beams were yanked from the forgotten woodpile.  She flinched as she was carried through an angry, jeering crowd. She shuddered when soldiers nailed a man’s hands to her.  She felt ugly and harsh and cruel.

But on Sunday morning, when the sun rose and the earth trembled with joy beneath her, the third tree knew that God’s love had changed everything.

It had made the first tree beautiful.  It had made the second tree strong.   And every time people thought of the third tree, they would think of God.

That was better than being the tallest tree in the world.

-Friendly Fellow Friends-

Dearest readers,

I have zero motivation to blog, as you could probably see.  Go ahead and call me a slacker, and that's because I am! I try to blame my lack of motivation on other things.... such as the internet for distracting me (which it REALLY does). With classes coming to a close, it is sad/hard/not fun moving on in life. I am transferring to a different school where I think I know one person (maybe). And for me, it is going to be hard. I've been going to USU for almost three years now, and I'm leaving it all behind? Youbetchya I am. Walking around on a different campus- I didn't like it. BUT. It is sooo incredibly comforting to know I am doing the right thing, even though it will be hard. 

Tonight I had one last yee-ha with my old coworkers from Golden Corral! They are lovely people. I didn't realize how much I would miss them until I had to say goodbye... 

We went bowling. We laughed. We made fun of each other. We ate loads of ice cream. We stayed at the ice cream place until 5 minutes before they closed... Yeah. We were those annoying people we dislike from our own workplace. We talked about all of our "cleaning the bathroom" stories at Golden Corral (SUPER GROSS. Don't even ask). We made a ringtone for Vic to wake up to in the morning. Then we said goodbye... but that is ok. Because I'm seeing them tomorrow as well :)

Love him :)

My birthday is in two days... it's kinda weird. I mean, I've been so focused on school and Joel coming I don't have much room to think of anything else. Hahahah that sounds super selfish. Joel is coming in 5 days to meet the fam (on December 18th, just in case you din't know...) and I cannot wait. I've gone 4.2 months without physically being with him, and it has been tough. But. A lot of people say long distance is hard, which it is. If I had to describe our relationship in a few words it would be: easy and completely natural. It feels so natural to love him! I have actually loved getting to know Joel without the physical-ness. I feel like our relationship is that much stronger. Haha I wouldn't recommend it to anyone of course, but all of our hours of skyping, google + (yeah, I basically live on my computer), talking on the phone, emailing, and texting... sacrifice for each other has been very equal... I am the happiest I have ever been. and I wouldn't change it for anything.

My family is extremely excited to meet him! We've been getting the house ready and prepared for another man to come. With six women and girls in the family... and then there's my dad. We're working on it :)

My younger sister Sammy says quite a few (super cute) things concerning Joel's arrival. My mom says it happens every day. Her latest Joel comment, "I don't want December to end. That will mean Joel will have to go home." Here's what she said the other day, "We need to get Joel pajama's for Christmas, but we don't know his size." She is such a cute and concerned 10 year old!! I absolutely love that she is almost as excited as I am to have Joel here!

Well. This is all I will be able to type tonight. I am back to the blogging world :)

 Gooooodnight!!