Engagement Story- Joel's Perspective

Joel's story of how we got engaged, with my insight in between ;)

As weeks passed, my love for Mollie grew stronger and stronger and I just knew I wanted to marry her. It quickly and naturally became a very natural topic of conversation during our skype-talks at night. It just felt good all way through. Instead of praying to our Father in heaven that he would tell me if I was doing the right thing - I simply told Him what I felt and what I was going to do and that if it be wrong that He'd better stop me.

There was just one concern - How to actually do it.

I would have to propose to her in a place I hardly knew and really couldn't come up with any fancy plan of how to do it. Then Alyssa Davidson came an answer to my prayers and told me she could help me if needed any ideas. A few weeks prior to my arrival I called her and she listened to what ideas I had, but they were mainly just those of surprising her. Since I knew that she knew that it was going to happen, I figured that the only way I would really make it special would be if it all came as a surprise to her. But how to accomplish that I have no idea(!) Alyssa and I talked and she gave my some different suggestions, but the one I really felt good for was going to the Lights at Temple Square. It would be a lot of lights, near to the temple and that itself would be romantic! At least in my mind... As time went by, the idea grew into it being a double date with Nick and Heather Carter - another of Mollies best friends.

When Mollie and I first started talking about marriage the topic of ring came up. I figured that the best way to do it would be for her to select her own ring, in that way she would be happy with it. The problem was that I wouldn't be able to fully pay for it before the day of the date to Temple Square. So I contacted the best help I could ever get - her mom. One night I was skyping her and letting her in on all the details and asked her to help me figure out a way to get the ring. As we were talking she had the jeweler on the phone and helped us figure out how to do the payment and all the details around that. So the way it would work would be for me to buy the ring with a big fake diamond in it, and come in a few days later and buy the real diamond and have it put in the ring for free. Said and done and Gaylene, her mom, picked up the ring for me a few days before I got there. (I had no idea Joel and my mom had planned all this out. My mom calls me and wanted to "help" me move out of my apartment. Little did I know she was picking the ring up at the same time!!! Tricky people.)

Coming to Utah I was as nervous as could be! I had lost my apatite and my legs felt like spaghetti as I finally embraced her at the airport. I don't think me being awake for 30 hours helped the surreal feeling of actually being near her. Her family was also there to greet me and it all felt so natural and relaxed in a sense. They were just lovely!

As I was unpacking my stuff the next day I put all my Christmas gifts under the tree and Mollie was there with me. I held up a small little wrapped box and teasingly told her that this was for her. I had not expected the results of that but that simple little extra gift I bought acted as the perfect decoy for me! Her sister AJ told me later that Mollie thought it was the ring itself and that I would propose to her on Christmas Day. I later heard that Mollie thought it would be a great time to do it, you know, in an intimate and personal way with just her family around. Ha, I was still on the surprising-her-track! (He did a really good job at this... and I completely fell for it. As I was thinking about it later, why on earth would he show me the box with the ring in it, if we was going to surprise me?? I was SO set on him proposing to me on Christmas, I didn't even consider any other options.)

Another reason why I knew that Mollie wasn't expecting anything to happen was because she kept inviting all these other friends and couples to come with us. I was getting more and more nervous knowing that it would be harder and harder the more people that joined us. We ended up being 4 couple going!

I kept thinking a lot of how I was going to propose and I had some kind of idea how to do it, but still just felt like the only thing I could do was to improvise and just go with whatever happened (which of course made me even more scared and nervous!) After a few amazing days of shopping, cuddling and being together it was time. The day had come.

We were heading into town a bit early to run some errands before being picked up by Heather and Nick to go to Salt Lake. While Mollie was in the shower I hurried to find Heather's number in her phone and called her just to confirm the plans and make sure everything was going alright. She didn't pick up so I had to leave a desperate message. To my surprise she got it and managed to call back before Mollie got out of the bathroom. She heard her sisters answer the phone and that it was Heather that wanted to talk to me. She got really questionable about that but totally forgot about it withing a few minutes. (I was completely CLUELESS. I have no idea why I didn't put all the hints together. Like, "Why on earth was Heather calling my home phone? Why did she want to talk to Joel and not me?".... )

As we prepared to leave the house, Mollie was getting dressed and I was in my room. I glanced at the pretty ring and got even more nervous. I lost my appetite around lunchtime already. I decided to take a photo of the ring and stood close to the window to get a better light to it. Having my back towards the door with the ring in its open box in one hand (and it was a big box!) and with the camera in the other hand with the newly taken picture big displayed on it, Mollie knocks on the door. I panicked! She walks in and started asking for suggestions on what clothes she would wear. Not looking at her I just hastily told her I would be out in a minute, but she didn't leave. What was I going to do?! I slowly turned around and managed to sneak the camera into my pocket still not knowing what I should do with the box. It wouldn't fit in my pocket and it would be way visible if I tried put it or drop it somewhere. As she was looking down and adjusting her boots, I somehow managed to shove it inside my shirt behind my back praying that it would not fall down or that she would hug me! Neither happened and she walked out after a minute of conversation. I must have been super awkward. (He was super awkward. I thought he was acting incredibly weird so I shrugged to myself and thought, "I hope he gets out of this mood soon.")

As we were in town it was in one of my buttoned coat pockets. It was so bulky that I thought that she would feel it every time she hugged me or walked close to me as we held hands. I did my best to keep her on the other side of me. I bought her a nice pair of earrings that would fit the ring perfectly, and yet little did she know! (Again. I was clueless.) At the store she wanted to hug me and also tried to stick both of her hands down my coat pockets. Red alert! I panicked once again and did some weird twisting motion with my body so that she would not succeed. Luckily, oh yes luckily enough the pockets had buttons to close them(!) THAT was a close call! (Sooooo many close calls?! How did I not find out?)

We met up with the other couples in Salt Lake City and went to good restaurant and had a good time. It was really cold outside, yet very dry and no snow at all. It was a clear and dark sky full of stars.

I heard that it might be a lot of people there watching the lights but I was shocked and worried when I saw that there were a lot more people there than I expected. I knew we only had about half an hour to do it because we were heading to see a movie later. Walking around I got super nervous. There was just so many people around, where could I find a private spot here? How could this ever work out fine? I even seriously considered pulling it off and just doing it the next day since we were going there again with Mollies family. But I was reminded by my own thoughts that I already told a lot of people I would do it tonight. (At this point I had noticed he was acting strange. But I still shrugged it off.)

Heather lead us through the big crowd of people to - for me - an unknown destination. She kept giving me glances, waiting for my sign. She looked at me ones but I purposely didn't give her the sign. What was I going to do?? She looked over a few seconds later - still without Mollie noticing anything. Then I realized that Heather was leading us away from the big mass of people, a little to the side where it was less crowded. I gave her the sign, a simple small nod, and all of a sudden she had to "go to the bathroom" (she acted so well!) and the rest of the group knew that it was the sign for them to also disappear. They did it so well that I could hardly believe it! Except for one couple kind of awkwardly hanging back for a second then turning and leaving with the rest of the group. My heard started to race. I clearly thought that Mollie was sensing something coming up. "Why did they all leave for the bathroom?", she asked. I didn't know how to act. "I... don't know", I replied. To get Mollie on other thoughts I turned in the direction that we were heading before they left for the restrooms and started walking holding her hand. (He knows me too well. He already knows how to distract me.... oh dear.)

All of a sudden she became very cuddly and sensitive and told he things such as "I'm so glad to be here with you, I really am!" and then she hugged me. I thought that Mollie, being the kind and lovable person that she is, was on to me but that she only played along just so that I wouldn't feel bad for her finding out what I was up to. But we walked on and came to a big square pond up by the pedestal where everyone usually take their wedding photos. Holding hands we stood and watched the big pond for a while when she brought up the idea of tossing in a penny and making a wish. I clasped the small coin, stared at my closed hand and slowly thought to myself "This.better.work!" and I tossed it in.

All of a sudden all the people who were there at the pond just left. It was almost unrealistic! Thinking back on it, Mollie said she almost thought it was staged, that's how good timing it was. We hug for a while before she suggests taking some pictures. As she says this she turns towards the temple, having her back towards me, and I thought to myself: Here is my chance! I will not get another shot like this again! And I took it.

"Well, before that we do that, there is one thing...", I replied as I knelt down on one knee behind her back. She turns around and there I was, holding the little box in my hand. I hadn't planned out exactly what to say but I was sure planning to have a whole big speech down there why I love her and why I want her to be my wife. But I was so nervous I was almost frightened! I mean, I have dated before, I have had other relationships, I know the drill, but never before had I proposed! And having waited all my life to do this didn't slow down my racing heart. At all! And all of a sudden I wondered if I had opened the box the right side up, because how would that be holding the ring upside down? So I quickly had so shove a finger in there to make sure, and luckily enough I didn't screw up. In shock and not really believing her eyes she smiled saying "Whaaaat!?" while looking down at me.

"Will you marry me?", were the only things I manged to say. Still in happy shock and with her mouth wide open she slowly bent down to hug me as she replied "Yes!" I stood up and embraced her still having the box in between us. Not knowing if to just look at it or to pick it up and put it on her finger, I awkwardly changed my mind like 3 times before finally taking it and putting it on her pretty and cold finger.

I could tell she was still in shock. We hugged tightly and sporadically she would become so thrilled that she hugged my for as hard as she could while half giggling half screaming, making small quick jumps at the same time. I started crying. And overwhelming feeling of joy and peace swept over me. I didn't feel the cold anymore, I was so happy I cant even describe it.

The rest of the group were watching us from a distance and came running after a while to congratulate us. We took some pictures and walked over to the movies. All the way over there Mollie couldn't stop saying the phrase: "You sly dog...". I let her in on all the details of the planning and she just couldn't stop saying that specific phrase.

We sat in the movies for about an hour, constantly hugging each other and not being able to focus on the movie at all. I almost felt like sitting there watching it was kind of ruining the romantic moment we just had. I suggested we got out of there and Mollie agreed. We sat on a bench outside and that was when it really hit Mollie what had just happened - We were going to get married. She started sobbing on my shoulder as I embraced her. We were both struck with an overwhelming joy and I could hardy believe that I had just asked the girl of my dreams to marry me. We took some pictures and then she called around and sent out texts to all her closest friends. Speaking to her mom she told me something that would stick with me for a long time after our conversation. She said that she didn't quite know how to say it but that she had been thinking of it all day long. She told me that she really wanted me to know that I was so loved and that everything felt so good with me there and how she knew that I would always take care of her daughter.

After Heather and Nick drove us to our car later that night, we got in and just screamed and shouted! We were getting married!!! and then giggled all the way home and late into the night.

So that is Joel's story of how we got engaged! Quite the romantic I have!!! :)

ADVENTURE IS OUT THERE!!!!

Welllll I'm getting pretty good at posting once on month! Hopefully I can get up to one blog post a week. We shall see :)
Naturally, a lot has happened the past lil bit. I still haven't posted my engagement story... haha I will don't worry ;)
I will give ya the deets on what has happened, just in this past week:


On Friday the 20th of January, I found out I could not enter Sweden once I had started the process of applying for my residence permit. And that permit takes 7-9 months.
I was planning on visiting Joel and actually MEETING his family sometime in April-ish, around spring break. But I had no idea I couldn't even enter the country. We were all heart broken. Joel and I were completely devastated. I told Joel we had a few options:
1) Get married in June like we had planned, go on our honeymoon. Then he would fly back to Sweden and I would come whenever my application could come (which a good guesstimate would be around... August-September)
2) Get married in August, kinda similar to plan 1. But this way the chance of me receiving my application would be higher, and we could see each other sooner after we were married. And I would fly over whenever it would come.
3) Get married in October... and my application would for sure be here and we could actually have a set date and plans.


You could say Friday the 13th came a week late for us ;)
My mom and I saw little or no hope of us getting married in June anymore. I felt as though everything had flown out the door and smashed into a billion little pieces.... we were back to square one. Again.
Yet Joel surprised me so much. He still felt incredibly good about getting married in June! I tried telling him the facts, and that's just how it was.


Our plan was to have his family fly over a week or two-ish early. Get married. Go on honeymoon. Fly me, Joel, and my family BACK over to Sweden and have a 2nd reception there. And not to mention plane tickets were averaging around $9,000 JUST for my family to fly over. You could say we were kinda stressed trying to wrap all of our brains around it!
I went to my first bridal fair on Saturday, and oh dear was it overwhelming! At the time I was still in the phase of not knowing when I was going to get married... the only word I could think of that whole experience is interesting. I just wish my future mother-in-"love" could have been there with my mom and I, but what can ya do with the whole long distance relationship-thing? People ask me all the time- how I can marry Joel without "officially" meeting his family? Does skype count? ;) It's crazy... but my relationship with Joel is so right. And I already love his family so much, I'm not worried about it at all. :) :)


This past Wednesday.... after all that had happened.... the real miracle happened. Joel's father was talking with his brother, and he mentioned to call the Swedish Immigration office. Well, they did! And they found out a way I can apply online instead of handing in a hard copy and having to mail it all over the place! And the online process takes *drum roll please*................ 3 months!!!!! Joel called me with all this information RIGHT was I was about to call the Swedish Embassy here in SLC (the one that would take 7-9 months...) and schedule an appointment to turn in my application. I mean, I pushed send and Joel was on the other line! So lucky. We are so incredibly blessed. I couldn't believe it, and still can't. I mean, in the beginning I was having a hard time realizing I couldn't see him until April- that I could barely handle. Then everything went kinda crazy... Now I feel so much better about this decision. 
We are still planning on getting married in June, but a little differently. Reality hit us about the money situation- about doing 2 receptions and flying everyone everywhere. Right now I am to the point of wanting my whole family being able to travel to Sweden. I would rather get married there, only have one reception, and have my family come over than risk it. I mean, when will this opportunity happen again... where my whole family has time to come over?
If that doesn't work out, we would get married here I believe... and hopefully his family could come over. Either way we're still getting married in June and it will all work out for the best :)


I've heard of people not filling out their application the right way, and being banned from the country for a year. I believe I can wait an extra month to get married and do everything right, rather than getting married and not seeing each other for a whole year. THAT I could not handle.


I will have my application filled out by tomorrow, and I will be interviewed (hopefully within the next few weeks) to make sure this is legit. If you've seen The Proposal, you know what I mean ;) Hopefully I can pass....


There ya go! That has been my life this past little bit. It is getting crazier everyday, and I am still so thankful for everything. I know everyone says this, but I truly have thee best fiance in the world. He treats me incredibly well, I am the happiest I've ever been :)
This is my ultimate favorite song! It is in Swedish of course, but it describes my relationship with Joel to a T. Joel's dad is singing with the guitar, and is with his two brothers. Enjoy :) :)

Herrey's - Utan Någon Att Älska :)
LYRICS:

If I find the answers

to what’s going on

somewhere along the road.

When I have found that valley

where the sun goes down,

Then I will show it to you

before the evening.

If I looked beyond the sky,

beyond the glaze of the stars

I will show you the way there.

For there is no heaven worth having

without someone to love.

If I’m blinded by the light

from a shimmering sea
and the scents calm my senses.
When I breath the freedom
that the silence gave,
I want you here
by my side.
When I’ve found that place
where time stands still,
then I’ll show you the way.

For there is no heaven worth having

without someone to love.

So much more, oh, so much more.

So much more of a live,

So much more.

If I win in life,
if I succeed sometime,
I shall take you along the way.

But I took you for granted
and the greif was hard,
can you forget then
and forgive?

If I find a heaven in our reality,

I will show you the way there.

For there is no heaven worth having

without someone to love.

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!!

I Sure Love My Ma And My Pa

Yes. My life has been interesting, and yet I can't think of anything to type about. That always seems to happen. I get super random thoughts during the day and think, "OH!!!! I should talk about that in my blog-that-I-only-write-in-every-other-1.7-weeks...." Haha yeah failure on my part. Annnnd then I have no idea what to say. I feel like so much goes on in my daily life, and it is so much fun. But then I can't blog about it??..... Well, I suppose I can share some random thoughts as usual:

-I absolutely LOVE my man. He is the best there is, I promise :) :) :)

-school is tedious, and old.

-I can't wait to move home (oddly enough.... my own mother is still in shock)

-I am working out! Again. YEAH!

-did I mention school is super hard this semester?? Did I also mention I'm only in 12 credits, and I have NEVER been this busy in my life?.....

-all my friends are moving on in life. Sure it is sad, but it is fun to see the direction they are all heading! I am oh so proud of my terrific friends :) Missions, marriage.... it is all great.

-my sisters are growing up! Sam (the youngest) just turn 10 (and when I say 'just' I mean about a month ago). OH. MY..... I feel old. But then, I'm only twenty??! Why on earth do I feel so old lately??

-I have really loved being back at Golden Corral oddly enough, still. My coworkers are definitely the best there is! And they make all the difference. It was nice to come back to work and already have friends, it made me feel important. And slightly cool. I think they actually missed me.............. Plus I've mentioned earlier I love old people. We all just get along great! And they make up 56% of the population at Golden Corral.

-It has been SUPER NICE having my own room this semester! I don't have to worry about bugging my roommate, or painting all night trying to finish a project and having to paint in the shared room, or keeping the light on and waking her up, OR coming in too late etc..... I get to do whatever I wish basically without bugging anyone's personal space. Ha that seems selfish, but it is so nice. I do wish however I was living at home at the moment, so I didn't have to sell my contract..... and saving money would have been nice as well. Welp, too late now.

- this would be my favorite song at the moment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHEOF_rcND8

It is super carefree and hippie-ish. I encourage you all to listen to it right now! They are a 17 member band?? Yep definitely cool. My favorite line in the song: "Home is wherever I'm with you." So true! Thank you for great friends who happen to have super cool husbands that have a grrrrreat taste in music.

-is anyone else super excited for conference this weekend??! I know every mormon out there mentions it at least once..... especially via FB. BUT let me tell ya. I love listening to the prophet and his apostles. They are such great men, and you can tell they are completely happy and they love us all, and want the best for us!!!!! I missed spring conference (thank you Golden Corral.... one of your downfalls) and missed everything. The one thing I did catch briefly was the Priesthood Session, because while I was working at the GC the men came in before, the women during, and the men after. Probably one of the top 10 busiest nights at Golden Corral for the year. Possibly. Just lettin ya know how busy it does get...... Anyways, that night of the priesthood session in April a guy asked for my number, super weird. A guy has never asked for my number! It felt good, even though it never went anywhere (which I am honestly ok with). Later I found out what the young men heard that night: pressure to get married. Hey! That next week LOADS of couples got engaged! Crazy.

So I guess you could say I really missed my "spiritual upliftment (is that even a word??...)" from our lovely prophets, and I have been craving this October for quite some time. I am soooo ready! I just love the church, it makes me truly happy!!!

-I watched a club on campus today that are Polynesian dancers! Pretty cool. I was super jealous that I couldn't move my hips like that. And now I am very determined to take some type of class. I just wanna move my hips! Is that too much to ask??

Well, that was drawn out a lot more than I intended. Oh well, I hope you all got a slight glimpse of what is going on in my life!!!

When September Ends....

Hello fellow bloggers!!!
Well to start off this slightly short blog post, I would like to let you all know I have had such a fabulous week!!! Or two weeks. Maybe three?....
This week started off quite nicely from a phone call from my dear mother, telling me I need to eat better! So I told her "I would, but I am low on my monies." Thus resulting in a little bit more dough in my account, thanks mom!! :)
Now onto Wal-mart, one of the busiest grocery stories I attend quite frequently. (For instance, I went there 5 times in two days before school started.... yeah. That was over the top). Try to remember I got my old job back, workin at the wonderful Golden Corral! And keep in mind there sure are loads of regulars, mainly over 60 years of age.


While I was in the overloaded parking lot, I saw a recognizable and older looking face.
It was Bonnie!!!!!!
She comes into Golden Corral every once in a while and orders the to-go, because she is on a strict diet. 
Most days she keeps to herself, and pays around 1-2 dollars for her dinner. I made a goal to talk to her every time she came in, and man did she end up surprising me.
When we were in the parking lot, I ran over to this 64-ish (give or take a few years.... you never know these days) year old woman, and she gave me THE best compliment, and it really made my whole day. 
This is how our conversation went, "Bonnie!!! How are you doing? I didn't know that you could recognize me without my uniform on!" (I was joking, since the elderly folk tend to like the funny and dry humor)
"Well Mollie, I could recognize that smile anywhere!"
She then proceeded to tell me about her day, and finished her shopping.
Little did she know how much her words effected me!!
I must've been close to beaming.... just because she told me she loves my smile?.... It really surprised me when I thought of how often I smiled, and then I realized I was trying to get her to smile as well because I wanted her to be happy. It then hit me how this nice compliment she gave me made a difference in my day. Here I thought I was trying to help her, and she ended up helping me!


To end this message, I challenge you all (to whoever reads this...) to give someone a compliment, and hopefully it will brighten up your day, and theirs as well :) :)

Homework Much?

An Indian sat and talked with her ​​grandchildren.
He said: - In all the people living there are two wolves fighting.
One is evil: it is anger, envy, jealousy, arrogance, self-pity, lies, superiority andego.
The other is good: it is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, benevolence, empathy, truth and trust. "
"Which wolf wins?", ¨ said the child.
"The one you feed," said the old man


I feel as though this "story" is so true! Someone posted via facebook, and I loved it so I thought I'd share! Take it as you will... it is pretty much self explanatory. 
Life has been just dandy as of late! I am enjoying life to the fullest. 
Yesterday..... on a Saturday night I was in the painting studio on campus. All by myself. For five hours. It was kinda sad, but surprisingly I was ok with it! I've been doing the same thing for 2.5 years now, and I'm more than ready for something new. Sweden definitely came at the right time this past summer. And it made me appreciate school so much! I am stuck with minimum wage jobs at the moment.... but I won't for long! Because you'd better believe I'm going to get an education!!!
Well, back to painting. I am painting "something" on a 30x40 inch canvas and I am SO EXCITED. It is turning out soooo well thus far, I will be excited to post it when the time comes. When I was getting ready to leave (after I had already been there for four hours....) I ran into a girl in my painting class. Yep we talked for about an hour! As it turns out she is a Senior, and she is going to be an art therapist! Just what I was thinkin of going into. BUT then she told me some information that would make that a little difficult. So now I'm confused about what I would like to be when I grow up.... all over again. I will figure it out, I'm not too worried about that :)


Here are some pictures concerning some activities I have been up to these past few weeks!

We went to an 80's dance! Kinda fun. It was just a sign that I'm getting old. Dressing up and taking pictures with my lovely roommates was the best part for sure!

Ha. Yep. My 80's costume. People want me to wear this hideous pink jumpsuit all the stinkin time. So I wear it. Mainly to please Alyssa, because she's the one that asks. And really the only one who asks.

Lovely roommate bonding time in awkward pictures

This picture my friends is of myself. And my little 12 year old sister. Who happens to be growing taller, and has bigger feet than myself. She sure is growing up! And she is absolutely gorgeous. I first wanted to take this picture.... because I LOVE the shoes I am wearing. (Well, they're actually my other sisters shoes. Oh the beauty of having four sisters!!!) Now that I look at this picture, I just love it. I treasure my little sister so much :) :)

I got this wonderful shirt in the mail, and a handsome young man may or may not have sent it to me ;)

Annnnnd I also may or may not have gotten some roses from that same young man :)

Earlier this week we all went to the dollar store and bought some shirts! We decorated them for a couple hours, and then danced to some native american music for a few minutes. It sure was fun, I can tell you that!!!

Hahahaha so with my shirt I wanted to be kinda creepy. So I bought some skeletons and tied them to the bottom of my shirt, along with the beads. Then I decided to write "optimism" on my shirt. Eh, it was a blast!!! Too bad I won't be wearing this shirt too often ;) 

Dear Prudence,

First week of school: SUCCESS.
I actually like school this semester! I mean, I've always liked school, it just gets tedious at times! And this semester is especially fun because I am in an advanced painting class... with ALL the art majors with an emphasis in painting! Talk about intimidating.
BUT, I actually really like it. Since I don't have an emphasis yet, I felt slightly ridiculous being in this class. The whole reason I signed up for this class, is because of the professor. She has been my favorite thus far, and pushed me to do the unthinkable. I don't even know if I need this painting class for my major, I just want to take it because I like the professor!!
In this class we are only building our portfolio. Pretty nice, huh! I'm sooooo excited to learn and how to push myself.


Well, my other classes are alright. Some are general classes (those are the tedious ones...) and my last class is Medieval Art History!! And THAT professor has a Ph.D in Medieval Art History..... I had no idea you could do that! This professor will definitely push me, which I am also excited for. She is actually kinda funny, cracking some dry-humor jokes during class. Since she has a Ph.D, I feel as though she expects a lot from us, on that same Ph.D level. Yeah.... we have a ten page paper due already :/


All in all, it has been a grrrreat week! Now I need to find a job, and start working out. I am just so excited for so many things! I would like to go back to Golden Corral and be a server if possible. I LOVED serving the people there for some reason. I had the hardest time leaving there, to go on a 3 month long (a glorious 3 months!!!!!) vacation. I loved chattin with the old folk, and talking to them about their lives. I guess you could say I love old people, and I get along with them pretty well!


Oh how I miss Sweden :(


Welp, that concludes this blog post. I hope everyone has a fabulous week!!