relaxed.

i think that the wedding planning has been getting increasingly more stressful.


but i have become increasingly more relaxed.


i think it's because i figured this out: yes. the wedding day is huge. it matters how it looks, and what we use to decorate, and how many chairs fit around a table, and how many bows i can tie with one spool of ribbon. all true...


BUT... it matters more that Devin and I are getting sealed for time and all eternity in the temple. The details of the wedding may try to stress me out, but at this point, i've reached a place of not necessarily not caring.... but just not worrying. i've been smart. i've been frugal. i've been creative. i've been clever and logical. and i've been calm.


devin and i may spend our nights designing a wedding announcement, ordering prints, and counting addresses... but it's not stressful anymore. it's just become something we do, haha. i feel like we've had this unspoken agreement lately, because the last couple days, when we're together... that's what we do. we just spend that time together. it doesn't matter what we're doing. wedding-related or not. but we make sure we are doing it together. not next to each other. not with each other. but actually together.


it's getting down to the small details, the things that matter a lot, which i think was supposed to stress me out more, but this new mindset has made all the difference.


i'm also getting to the point where it is absolutely painful to have to say goodnight! no, i don't wanna leave! no, it's not bedtime yet! that's the frustrating part. i just can't seem to satisfy my constant need for devin, haha. i have never not wanted him around. i've never opted for someone else's company. i just can't wait until i come home to him, or i welcome him home (to a clean house and a delicious meal!). those are the days i'm counting down to.


i love him so much!


IN OTHER NEWS
Devin and I have been recruited to design Kelli and Sean's announcements, and it's coming along great! I'm amazed at the work Devin can do. Just a few months ago, at the beginning of the semester, Devin didn't know a thing about Illistrator, or how to use it, and now he's using it like a champ! Creating an awesome wedding announcement, with my detailed opinion... haha we make a great team.


yesterday, Sunday, we each woke up feeling sick, so decided we'd both just sleep in and skip the big meeting at the marriot center. when i woke up, we did some wedding planning with kelli, and then i got ready and met dev at his house.


then we met up with the Merrill family and went to the American Fork Ampitheater for their family pictures! Shawn is Devin's best friend, and I knew Shawn before I knew Devin. He is a great guy, and I'm so glad the Merrill's asked Devin to take their pictures, and also glad that Devin asked me to help him again! The pictures were SO great. Devin's camera is amazing, I can't even believe how crisp and bright and sharp the pictures are, but he has such an eye for photography. The pictures he takes are so impressive. That's not just a guy with a nice camera. He has some serious skill. I am so happy with the way the photos turned out (preview on his blog here)! The Merrill's are a great looking family! The kids were so much fun to play with, and they loved helping me help Devin. I love being able to "go to work with Devin". I also like watching the whole process. The photoshoot, going through the pictures, picking out the good ones, and then editing.


So much work goes into a quality photo -- you would not believe! And Devin is so passionate about it. He amazes me.


After that, we drove out to Sean and Chloe's in Springville and had family dinner. They bought J Dawgs the day before and we grilled them up -- it was my first time eating a J Dawgs hot dog, and it was DELICIOUS! I love that sauce they use. SO good!!! The kids were an obnoxious riot, as always, and I love them for it, haha, and the Ashby's always make for some great conversation. I love them all so much, and feel so blessed to call them my family!


Chloe and Sean -- thank you SO much for dinner! It was delicious and so much fun. I also can't get over how cute your house is. Inside and out! You have done such a great job making it home, and it looks so great!


Today, I worked in the morning -- pretty typical day. I also finished reading Mockingjay, which is the last book in the Hunger Games series -- I definitely think you should read it if you haven't, but I still wasn't impressed with the ending. Movies are supposed to be coming out soon, and I am SO anxious to see how those turn out. I think if they do it right, these movies can be pretty awesome. We'll see...!


After work I met Amanda and Chloe at Amanda's and we played with Addi for awhile -- who cried when Chloe had to go back to work -- it was adorable in such a sad way, haha! Then Amanda and I decided on my bridal hairpiece! I am so excited for it. Amanda does amazing work, and has an etsy that you should definitely look at! I am so excited to see how it turns out -- what Amanda came up with is better than what I wanted! She's the best!


After that, I was hoping to have some time to work out, but I got called into BBW, where we experienced several mental breakdowns. It seems like the store has just been CRAZY lately. So many people leaving, and still haven't filled the manager position, Ken Montere, the VP of operations is coming, so we've had so many visits from District and Regional managers to make sure we're prepared for him... it's been so crazy! This is a part time job at a retail store -- selling LOTION! It shouldn't be this stressful. And Nicola is stressed as ever -- and when Nicola is stressed, everyone else is high strung too, and it shows in our performance. It's become so much more than a job to all of us, but I don't know if that's in a good way... hmph. Hopefully things will calm down here soon!


After work, I went straight to Devin's, where he said he was only tired because their was nothing better to do, so he proceeded to tickle, poke and tease me while I tried to watch Pawn Stars.


Probably one of the funniest nights ever. He is so funny, I was pretty much crying, laughing so hard. We even got a flashlight and tried (and failed) to tell scary stories under the covers -- we're 7 years old. I know. but it was so much fun. I love that we can just goof off and be nerds sometimes. And I love HIM. He is the best thing that's happened to me... ever. I am so blessed!


Now it's time for bed, because tomorrow is another day!

home sweet home

yesterday, devin and i woke up bright and early (on a saturday?!) to drive up to salt lake and very grudgingly pick up our bedroom set. when we got there, i guess i was just expecting grown men? the 3 people that helped us were these little punk kids in skinny jeans and vans!!! bah. no wonder we've been having such a difficult time with this whole thing.


one of the kids goes "uh... i don't think all of this stuff is going to fit in your trailer"


and devin didn't hesitate to say "well, you better make it fit, or i'll be pissed!"


at that point, i went and sat in the car to text chloe about coming over, so i didn't hear the rest, but i'm sure Devin put them in their place, very appropriately, haha.


and what do you know, it DID fit. perfectly. we had taken his dad's big ford truck with a covered utility trailer, and we got our mattress, box spring, chest, dresser, 2 nightstands, headboard, footboard and rails in there! it was awesome.


we met sean and chloe at our apartment and chloe and i watched while sean and devin carried everything inside... we aren't much help with heavy stuff! haha the boys immediately got to work on setting up the bed, and chloe and i unwrapped everything else -- it was like christmas! our furniture is even prettier than i remember! it's all a really dark, almost cherry wood... it's beautiful.


and i had been worried that it wouldn't fit in the room, and it wouldn't look good -- but it all fits perfectly, and it looks just fine!!! i was sooo excited about it. then we went to lunch and ernie's, which is always good, and sean and chloe went to run some errands.


devin and i decided that while we still had the trailer, we would just pick up the couches, so we did. and unwrapping those was even more fun!


AND i even helped carry both pieces! i was pretty proud. they weren't very heavy though, and i did drop them more than once... but we got them in, unharmed! there are probably 10 pillows on the couch, and that was immediately an issue, but we made it work great, i think. the couch is SO comfortable. so once we had it set up, we sat on it. for about 10 minutes. and it would have been longer, but i was begging devin to come help me make the bed!


i was so excited to put the sheets and comforter on, and we somehow managed to match everything PERFECTLY. the yellow wall and yellow comforter aren't the same shade, but they are perfect together. the blue sheets are just the right shade. the lamps that are dark blue are exactly what i wanted, and it all compliments the dark wood perfectly. i can't even believe it! our room looks like something out of a magazine. it's so pretty. i can't wait to get our stuff moved in, and hang up the pictures we picked out, and finish decorating!


after that, we decided we'd go window shopping for a TV. devin already has a 42" plasma... which is awesome. and we're obviously putting that in the living room. but we wanted a smaller TV to put on our tall chest in our bedroom. after going to costco, best buy and rc willey... costco clearly had the best price. and devin bought it! haha that man... i just can't say no to him. he's so great. it was too good to pass up though, so i'm not complaining. now we just need to get a blu ray card for a our player, so we can have netflix on both TVs!


after that, i went home and got ready, and went to girls night. kylee, shelly, kaylee and i went to chili's (as usual) and ordered the same thing, like we always do. and then we laughed and talked loudly and were slightly obnoxious all night long. kaylee is probably one of the most hilarious people i know. she had us all laughing SO hard. i love them all! after chili's even though we were all stuffed, we went to kneader's for dessert, but mostly just to visit tracey. she's a girls night member, too, but had to work. we ate a couple bites of cheesecake, watched some crazy youtube videos, and i called it a night. the rest of them went and watched a movie, i believe, haha. they are the best friends i could ask for. i love them!


and as much as i do... it was still hard to not spend the night with devin. i just can't get enough of him, i guess haha


i also can't stop thinking about our house!!! now that we've brought in all the furniture, THAT place is more my home then where i am now. devin will move in the beginning of may, and i am jealous of him, but that's okay. because when i move in, it will be for real. i'm so excited!

eternities

today was such a great day. i woke up feeling SO much better, and got to work. today was pretty slow, but I made a new friend, and for the first time I felt like I was really good at my job. I felt a sense of seniority once I noticed my co-workers were coming to me with questions. I love that sense of pride you get when you know you're good at what you do. It's been awhile since I felt like this. I think the last time was when I was the editor for the Dixie Sun-- but we all know that story now. It's nice to feel confident in my ability to execute my duties correctly, and efficiently. I also feel like the supervisors and my boss have finally realized just what kind of employee I am. I don't tend to keep my mouth shut in the work place. I always seem to find places where we can improve, and I've never been afraid to point things like that out. Like in our "very corporate meeting" earlier this week, I spoke up, more than once, to my manager, with the new VP of operations in the room. I've also given myself full permission to e-mail my supervisors whenever I feel there is room for improvement.


For example: we do the same thing, all day every day. Registering customers for conferences. We use a script, so we say the same thing, exactly, every single time. As an incentive, we're giving away netbook computers to the first 50 people who register and attend the conference, and that's part of the script. That we tell callers that, and give them some disclaimer details. We just barely changed the script a little bit, and now the way we tell callers about that is a little misleading. This morning when I checked my work email, there is one from my supervisor saying that he is getting caller complaints that we are telling them they've won. I went right ahead and told him it was the new script. I also took it to myself to let him know that there is one guy who works in the call center who is so enthusiastic and friendly, that he deserves to be recognized. And my supervisor was impressed that I'd taken it to myself to do such things. It was nice!


Then I went to BBW, and I was put in charge of a lot of stuff. Ashley was the CSL when I first got in, and she gave me a task, and told me it would probably take awhile, but I did it really fast. And she was impressed. Then she had me help her with CSL things, which was nice. When my boss Nicola got in, she also put me in charge of some big store changes. I like knowing that my bosses are so confident in me, that they can trust me with that much responsibility. I also liked it when one of the new-ish girls called for my help, not Nicola's when she had a question while she was ringing up a customer. I also think this makes Nicola wish she had hired me as a CSL when she had the chance, haha mostly joking...


Not trying to brag, just saying it feels really good when I know i'm good at what I do!


After work, I went over to Devin's... we got the CD of our engagement pictures!!! So we finished up the announcement (which is totally designed all by ourselves! With our creative brains, and Devin's amazing Ai skills...!). We also made little invitations for the sealing. Then we got hungry, so we went to Wing Nutz with Brandon, Devin's oldest brother.


Brandon works as a chef at one of the private, high class restaurants in Deer Valley. You know, the kind where your dinner will probably cost over $100. He complains about making escargot and caviar... haha so I love asking him about what he does. I bet he thinks it kind of odd, but I am so curious! He's a legit chef! I've never had access to this kind of information before! Brandon is also one of my favorite people. His personality is very similar to Devin's. Brandon also has a very witty sense of humor. He thinks on his feet and has the funniest comments. When we got into Devin's car, Brandon got in the back seat and sat on a hammer (we had tools because yesterday we put together the table and coffee table) and Brandon said "what is this? I get into your car and sit on a hammer? Is this how you greet your guests?!" he's absolutely hilarious. So we talked a lot about him being a chef, and Devin and I trying to make plans to visit him this summer while he works at this fancy Ranch in Colorado. Then we watched Mike Birbiglia... something like that... one of THE FUNNIEST COMEDIANS EVER. Soooooo hilarious.


then... Devin and I hooked up his Dad's truck to his utility trailer, because we have to drive to Salt Lake tomorrow to pick up our bedroom set. Even though we paid $80 to have it delivered Only to have them call the night before to say they don't deliver to Orem on Saturdays. Only to have Deivn yell at them, and promise worse yelling when we get there tomorrow. Only to have them try and fail to please us. Only to make us more mad... anyway. Not that big of a deal. Just frustrating that such a big company can be so unprofessional and un-accommodating. So as we're hooking up the trailer... don't ask me why it happened here... but it HIT ME.


Devin is going to be my HUSBAND.


FOR ETERNITY.


I wasn't shocked by this fact... I was more shocked by how in the world did this happen? How did I get here?


5 months ago, I was pretty lost. I was in a bad place, probably one of the lowest points in my life. Trying half-heartedly to make new friends. Struggling to make it through my math class... when this man comes into my life. Out of NOWHERE. quite literally.


I just feel like I was almost... not even present. Like I missed a step! How did we get here? Don't get me wrong, there are no words to describe how happy I am that I am here. but how is it that I ended up here?! I was in such a different place, with such different intentions... and I am just amazed at how this worked out.


Amazed at just how accurately perfect Devin is for me. In every single way. I just don't understand how it's possible that there is a human being out there that seems to have been made so specifically for me. And that I just happened to run into him, meet him, fall in love with him, and now get married to him. How did this happen?


I have never believed more in the phrase "The Lord works in mysterious ways,"


I just have a hard time comprehending my luck.


But it's not even luck. Not at all. I am just blessed. Truly, truly blessed.


I couldn't ask for more in an eternal companion, a husband, a best friend... He is more than anything I could have ever imagined. Constantly exceeding my expectations, and taking me by surprise, and catching me off guard, and throwing me for a loop.


I love Devin so much. There are literally no words for that kind of feeling. I have never understood before. It's not something to be explained or written, and I think it's that way on purpose. It's one of those things that's too good to be talked about, and one of those things you'll never even come close to understanding until you experience. I would know, because I've been mistaken before. But I think that once you truly love someone, it's not really something you can ignore. Even if you tried. It is pretty dominant. And once you feel it, I think it's obvious. And everything else is a joke. Anything else that could have been feelings... they don't even come close! In any way at all.


And I love that. I love that I've never felt this way before. And I love that it's DEVIN.


Sorry this turned into such a sappy post, but it's a cool thing when you realize you get to spend THE ETERNITIES with such an unfathomably perfect person. But you won't know what i'm talking about until you feel it for yourself!


Maybe this doesn't make sense, but that's okay, because I'm still having a hard time comprehending it! I just had to get it out of my system somehow. Tomorrow will be a great day.


p.s. in case you were wondering... today was the half way point. 7 weeks of being engaged, 7 more weeks of being engaged to go.


altering the dress on wednesday.
hopefully my shoes are here by then.
my best friend valeri and her husband are going to GREECE in a few days. jealous? yeah, me too. love them though. i'm literally keeping up with the jones' now!

zed

didn't end up working at BBW last night. way too sick


so sick, in fact, that I got sent home from Stores Online once a customer asked if he could get me any antibiotics. yeah.


went tanning today to relax. took kylee along, it was her first time, which was fun. and funny.


tanning didn't relax me. it just made my throat hurt more because i had to lay there without a drink for 13 1/2 minutes!!! (i've been drinking water non-stop all day, so it was a problem!)


picked up my dress. and now it's just hanging there, making me all anxious!


table runners came. not the color i'd hoped for, but they will still work great!


still waiting for my wedding shoes to come... getting a little nervous about that... they are SO cute.


decided not to paint the mirror until after the wedding, because i want to use it as decoration at the reception.


Devin got us a house-warming gift :) he's the best. i'll post a picture of it soon. it's the coolest thing ever.


learning a lot of random facts from desk job. mostly because i have a lot of free time, but i have to stay at my desk, in case anyone calls. so i browse the internet. i usually just look up newspaper websites, and i've learned some weird things.


for instance, the most expensive car sold for 8.7 MILLION DOLLARS. guess what it was?!


another thing i learned from desk job: we've been booking a lot of people from Alberta lately... did you know canadians don't say "z"? they say "ZED". it was really hard to understand them before i was enlightened about that, haha.


and last but not least: i'm still pretty sick. uuuuuugggghhhh


might as well get it over with now. my throat is so painful that i actually think i might have strep. if it's not better tomorrow, i'm going to the doctor. :(

why i shouldn't be allowed in Hobby Lobby (or public, in general).

today was great. in almost every way.


i went to work, in a good mood. we had a slow day, and that's always nice.


a few of us got called into the conference room (just like in the office), and we had a "quality meeting" with our boss, Colton Parry, who is the man! he's the coolest boss. anyway, we talked about really official important stuff, and when i got back to my desk, i texted devin and told him i had just gone to my first company meeting and was feeling very corporate, and he made jokes about pant suits. why am i even surprised?! he's the funniest.


anyway, in our company, Stores Online (need a website? ask me about it. i can give you absolutely no answers, but i can direct you to people who can!), we have this employee reward system where we use fake, monopoly-type money we call Sto-Bucks. you can earn bucks (they are all priced like real bills) and use them like cash to buy SWEET STUFF. like a wii or a gps for your car... all kinds of giftcards... they're awesome (and we get a cheaper price then a retail price). and pretty hard to come by. but at our meeting, i answered some questions (mostly guessing) and got $3! hahaha trust me, it's a big deal. so i was excited about that.


after work, i had some errands to run, including this story:


so i had a LG shine. LOVED IT. it was such a cool phone, and then it got uncool, but it was okay because my warranty was up, but i was living in SG, so was waiting to get something new. then my charger port in my phone busted, which i secretly liked, because that meant i got a new phone. i got the samsung impression, and loved it even more. it's been a good phone! i'm definitely looking to upgrade, but i still love it. i had had it for about 10 1/2 months when the touch screen started being picky. i would have to push things pretty hard, and several times, before it would work. then all in one day, it slowly got worse. first the touch screen totally gave out. then the screen just went black. then the buttons stopped working, but it would still light up and charge... WEIRD. so i call AT&T, and since i'm sitll within my 2 year warranty, they send me a refurbished phone. awesome. i had been using my dad's old blackberry pearl (WHICH I HATED) in the meantime. when i got the refurb, i was soooo excited. it was all shiny and new-looking... but i could NEVER get service. i think i had enough service to send maybe 2 texts total in 2 days. who's ticked? me. that's who.


so i call AT&T all mad, and also having questions about how to send them back my old phone, because if i did it wrong, they would charge me $200. yeah that's not okay. so they agreed to send me ANOTHER refurbished phone, and make it priority shipping, waiving the fees. i took my first refurb to the post office yesterday, and then today in the mail, got my new one! it's even shinier and newer looking! and it works great! i'm so happy. so TODAY... i went to the post office for a second time. to stand in a long line for several minutes. just so i could hand a box to the lady and walk away. annoying? slightly. oh well. at least it's done and i finally have a working phone. this one is dark blue, though. which is weird. but in a cool way i guess.


soooo.... after that, i wanted to go to Peir 1, which is always my go-to store for decor/dishes and the like... and of course i had to bring Kylee, because she loves it as much as I do. we picked out 4 different plates for my plate stand. it only has 2 racks, but i got the plates all very different, but matching enough that i can mix and match and switch them out when i feel like it. i also picked up some super cheap salt and pepper shakers that look like little birds. to use just as decoration, haha. i'm a nerd!


then we went to hobby lobby. i had some cool vases, and spray-painted them white. and now they are even cooler, but they needed something in them. i wanted something very specific, but couldn't find it, so after a long and indecisive search, i settled on some white and yellow flowers with twigs. turned out super cool.


(this is where it gets bad. this is also why i shouldn't be allowed in public. ever.)


while we were there, i wanted to show kylee the giant mason jar i wanted to get for the wedding. it matches our theme SO well, i loved it. so i went to pick it up, and did so by the lid... which caused the $30 jar to CRASH to the floor. probably the loudest noise ever. the only other lady that was on the aisle walked away mumbling something really rude, and then a worker came. i asked if i needed to pay for it, and he said no. thank goodness. but i had been wearing some peeptoe sandals and there was glass in my shoe, so i slipped my foot out to get the glass out and cut my finger. it wasn't huge, but fingers bleed a lot, and forever. so i'm trying to check out, and my finger is this stinging, bloody mess, and who's in the line right behind me? that rude lady that mumbled!!! yeah, she hates me. anyway... i go to pay, and my debit card isn't in my wallet. we had just gotten soda from the gas station though, so i thought maybe it was in my car. i very embarrassingly asked the woman to wait and kylee ran out to check. she was out there for about 5 minutes... with no luck. everyone was getting super annoyed with me. i was reeking havoc on this poor craft store, and right as kylee walks back in the door.... i realize my card was in my back pocket!!! only me... ugh. so typical. so i finally pay and GET OUT of there. i'll be surprised if they let me back in, haha. it was so embarrassing! how many more things could have gone wrong?!?! hahahaha oh man.


so i came home and put together the flowers in the vases, did some laundry, sprayed the plate rack with another coat of white paint, and did some wedding planning.


update:


picking up the wedding dress TOMORROW!!!! i'm so so so excited. my dress is so beautiful. i can't wait to wear it!


taking it to get alterations next week, hopefully.


did some specific-type planning with my mom about crazily detailed things like tablecloth placement on the guest book table, and exactly how much ribbon we have and need and weird little things like that. which i just laughed at, and thought was hilarious. we're two of a kind!


also... I don't know if i mentioned this, but Devin had originally NOT wanted to dance. thought it was weird and lame, and i was okay with that. then he changed his mind. so we've been making a playlist. well, i have. and it's AWESOME. it's everything from waaay classic love songs, to popular stuff, and some songs that will just mean a lot to devin and i. which is the whole point. i have one playlist of music that will play the entire reception in the background, and a very, very specific playlist for the dancing.


i decided that since my dad is such a sentimental guy, it would mean a lot to him if i let him pick our daddy-daughter dance song. and he did. i'm not surprised at all by his choice. it's really sweet, and SO like my dad. i think other people will think that maybe it's weird or not specific enough, but my daddy chose it. when we listened to it, we both teared up, and had a little moment. so i know it will always be special for us. and that's the important part. i know how much that will mean to him.


the other exciting thing... is that we finally got to see our engagement pictures!!! Chelsy did a great job. I liked a lot of them, and I see so much potential in her as a photographer!!! i have been oggling over them all last night and today. i showed all my co-workers, my family, kylee... and devin and i went through just barely and picked out the ones we want on our CD. i'm so excited!!! i've decided not to post any until after the wedding though. because if you see them all now, then nothing will be cool about the reception! maybe one or two, though. if you're lucky!


also tonight... when devin got out of class, we went to OG (no, not original gangster, which i honestly originally thought... but Olive Garden) with none other than DANE TRAIN. i hadn't seen dane in a long time, and he's one of my favorite people! the three of us had delicious soup, salad and breadsticks, amazing dessert, and the waitress brought EACH OF US THREE andes mints. which are my FAVORITE. the boys gave them all to me. aww. how nice. devin actually hates them, and i think Dane just didn't care enough, haha. they're the coolest. we talked about cars and basketball and photography and missionary apartments... haha it was a much needed dinner. Dane is the man!


Also... Devin finally got a much, MUCH needed massage, and I think that will help him to relax. I've been trying to do my best with keeping him as stress-free as possible. Today was win/lose. I had kneaders for lunch, and got a pastry in my combo, but i didn't feel like eating it, so while devin was still at work, i took it over to his house and put it on his desk with a sticky note (it's a devin-katie thing, those post-it notes ;)...). i think that helped :) but then, i kind of ranted about wedding details for a good 15 minutes, which was exactly what i'm trying not to do! haha but i think his massage helped out big time. he needed that more than i think even i know! and i've been the one trying to differentiate between bone and knot in his back for the past 2 weeks!


the bad news is that we're both getting sinus-y colds :( i thought i was done with cold-season! i had 2, and that's usually my max.! oh well. you gotta pick your battles, right? ha. oh well. cough drops, vitamins, and blue oil for me! i guess that's okay.


tomorrow i pick up my dress, and have some other wedding errands to run. and i'm actually very excited. i also work at BBW tomorrow, and i feel like it's been forever since i had a shift there. so i guess you could say i'm excited about that, though i might regret saying that later!


definitely need some rest now, though. goodnight!

addi-tude is one!

i didn't post yesterday, because it was such a long day, and i honestly can't remember most of it!


saturday, saturday...


right. i went to the antique mall with Amanda and Chloe, my future sisters-in-law, and I SUCCEEDED in finding exactly what I was looking for. I want a vintage mirror for Dev and I to hang in our bedroom, and I found the perfect one.


The thing with the antique mall is just that. It's antique, so sometimes, you need to clean the stuff up. The mirror needs a fresh coat of paint, mostly just because i personally don't like the Gold that's coming through the white paint that's already there... but it's still perfect. I also found some vintage linens! Some pewter lace, that is ideal, and I plan on using it at the wedding, and then some french-linen-looking white fabric that I don't know what i'll do with. I also found an awesome plate rack, but that also needs to be painted. I hope I have time later in the week to paint those, and I'll post before and after pictures!


next, we headed to Cracker Barrel for lunch, and I got a BLT. It was pretty good, but I think i'll try something else next time. It's not my favorite. Amanda and Chloe are hilarious though, there is always so much to talk about when we do things like this. All of us seem to have so much going on in our lives!


I had to leave lunch a little early, and head straight to Devin's so we could meet up with Britney and her boyfriend, Joe in salt lake for her grad shoot.


First of all...the weather was far from ideal. Super windy, and a little rain.
Second... I can't tell you enough how much I love watching Devin work. He gets in this zone, and goes into CBD mode, and he's practically unstoppable. He is so clever and professional. He came up with so many great ideas for the shoot.
Joe and I each acted as Britney and Devin's assistants. I carried Dev's camera bag, and Joe was carrying Britney's props and outfit changes, and it was pretty fun to follow them around and help with the shoot. We shot all over the U's campus, and I cannot WAIT to see how the pictures turned out. We took some in the Rice-Eccles stadium, and the colors were amazing. I am most excited for those, I think! Britney is gorgeous, and so easy-going that is made the shoot that much easier, and more fun!


Once we finished, the weather acted up, and Dev and I headed back to Orem so he could make it to the Priesthood session on time. When we pulled up to his house, his Dad, Gaylon, told me to call Vicki and go to dinner with the girls, so I did, even though Devin and I had just eaten on the ride home!


I caught Vicki just in time, and she swung by and grabbed me. Vicki, Amanda, Makayla, Addison and I met up with Nana at Magleby's Fresh and while they had their dinner, I had a drink, and was in charge of Addi. She's walking and saying words now, and it's the cutest thing! She's one year old and I think she wants everyone to know it! About half way through dinner, she started with her famous "addi"-tude, and kicked over her bottle of milk, and made a scene! haha I'm just not cut out for motherhood yet! haha She is the cutest thing, but that girl can fuss!


After that, i ran some errands around town, got a lot done, and took some lightbulbs over to the apartment to put in the lamps. Devin met me there after priesthood and bought a few things, then we went to Target to buy a filing box for all of our official marriage and adult people stuff, and then went to my house.


Kelli and Sean came down for the weekend, so we spent the night in the living room with them and my parents, just talking and laughing and having a good time! Kelli is absolutely hilarious, and a lot of times, I think she's the only person who gets my sense of humor, because we're a lot alike in that way. Kelli just started a new job as a secretary for a pest control company called Spiderman Pest Control or something like that... so her title is "Spiderman's Assassin Coordinator" or something like that. She had a lot of funny stories from work, and it was so fun to hear about. We also made fun of Tony Basso, the bigshot in Price, and Mom said she wanted to stick him in a microwave. Probably the single funniest thing i've ever heard my mother say, but you definitely had to be there. I'll describe it to you sometime. It was absolutely hilarious.


Her and Sean are getting married 13 DAYS before Devin and I so we're all gearing up for the busy month! It's sure to be a struggle, but we're all really excited about it.


You know what they say... when it's right, it's right! And it's very, very right.


On a different note, now that I'm virtually done with all of the legitimate planning for the wedding, and I'm down to minor details, I've noticed a bit of a void in Devin and I. We've both been so absorbed in wedding plans, work and school... and I have just missed him lately.


We've seen each other every. single. day. since we started dating, but I find myself just wanted time with him to relax, and not think about or talk about anything related to school, work, the wedding, any other pressing matters. I just want time to be together, and more in the moment. I guess that's a good sign. I'm glad now that I've finished all of the planning so early, because we have this time up until our wedding to reconnect and get back to the basics, really.


I know it's been a very hard couple of weeks on Devin. He's had a very, very busy while! Work, as always. School is winding down, and getting closer to finals, which only means more work for him. We've had wedding plans like crazy these past couple of weeks. Lot of purchases and financial planning to do, plus he's had the shoot with Britney, and he's doing some family photos on Saturday for a friend. I don't know how he does it.


I think part of me realizing all of this was listening to conference. I went over to Devin's for the second half of today's session, and I loved watching conference with Devin. There were a lot of really powerful talks, that really helped me to ground myself once again, and take a new perspective on what my priorities should be. There were a few great talks about marriage this conference, and I was so glad to hear that advice coming from our authorities.


This week I want to be able to focus on Devin. I want to be able to help him in every way I can, starting today, by going home early so he had time to do some homework and be alone. He needed that, I know. I want to make sure he realizes I love him, and just how much. Of course he does, but it's something I want to focus on.


He and I agreed that a main way I can help out is to stop involving him in the details. He told me that I know him well enough to know his opinion, and I'm smart enough to make decisions for us by myself, and I can definitely do that! He's been so involved in every little thing, and it's overwhelming for him. He's been a huge help, and will continue to be, but for both of our sakes, we're going to do this.


TODAY, I watched conference in the morning with my family, and made a cheesecake with homemade oreo crust. I made it to take to Addison's birthday party, and was hoping it would have enough time to set. It did not. For the second half, I headed to Ashby's and watched conference with them, Devin napped on my lap, and Koda and Riley were in and out the whole time. They are the coolest dogs ever.


After that, we found an old video camera, and watched some of the tape inside... old movies from Gunlock, Devin recording all the Peavler and Ashby boys jumping from THE CLIFF. It was hilarious! Then we headed to Wagstaff's for some dinner and partying. Brandon's birthday was yesterday, too, and Thursday's was Suzanne's (Amanda's cute mother-in-law). Amanda had her neighbor make this giant, awesome birthday cake, and smaller one for Addison. It's a common tradition to have a kid on their first birthday destroy their birthday cake, so they had a small one made just for Addi!


She's sooooo adorable. She walked around the house all day, talking, and she has such a high-pitched little baby voice, it's comical! When they put her in the high chair to give her the cake, she was so dainty! Just picking at the little buttercream flowers and being very gentle, then they gave her a fork and she HAD AT IT. She got COVERED in frosting. There were little curled fondant ribbons and Addi kept trying to put them in her hair, and she was absolutely loving it! I didn't take any pictures, but everyone else did, and the only one i've been able to track down is one that Vicki just posted on FB from her phone:

happy birthday, Addison Renee!

after that, Devin went home to do some homework, and I came home to clean and do some laundry. I'm not ready to start another week yet, so I'm going to go to bed early! Goodnight!

NHMM

yesterday was the kind of day that was really busy, and I was constantly doing something, and mostly doing my best to just keep up with all my plans... but in a fun way. those days happen with me a lot. the really productive ones.


after work -- where i had my first experience with a customer so angry he demanded to speak with my supervisor (who repeatedly muted his mic to roll his eyes and tell me how irrational the customer was being, which helped me to relax a little bit)... i had  about a million errands to run.


i had to pick up my brother kyle from school, check him out, and get him home to get ready for his baseball game, and then we went to the bank, which took FOREVER...


also, remember how dev and i gave in and bought the bedding on Thursday, because we just couldn't help it? and we had also picked out lamps, 2 matching for our bedroom, 2 matching for the living room? I went to Target today and bought the bedroom ones. They are awesome. I can't even WAIT to start decorating our house. It's going to be adorable. especially our room i think. I am starting to think that our bedroom will be the most put-together room, because everything will match.


i took the lamps over to our house, and as usual, went to check and see if the carpet was back in the bedroom... and it was this time!!!! honestly, the carpet's not ideal. it's kind of an orange-looking shade of tan... but our bedroom set is pretty big, and you probably won't be able to see enough carpet to have an opinion like that anyway. so i'm not too worried. i noticed that there were a lot of carpet strings and stuff, and i knew devin would go crazy if he saw it, so i decided to vacuum while i was there. we need a better vacuum. the one that devin had bought for his old apartment is what we're using, and it's fine, it just doesn't suck very good. oh well, anyway...


next i went to Linda Carlton's house -- she's my FLORIST. I showed her the picture of the bouquet that I have literally based this entire wedding off of, and she said it was totally do-able, and we even picked out different flowers that I like better, and that are also cheaper. my bouquet will have orange, yellow-tipped roses, green hydrangeas, and so many other pretty green fillers. i can't wait! She was a breeze to work with, and so affordable. The only flowers we're doing are my bouquet, a smaller version to throw, dev's boutonniere, boutonnieres for our parents, and a cake topper. I think that's it... I think that flowers at weddings are so pretty, but I just don't see the point it spending so much money on something that will just die!!! Especially when I'm trying to stay within a budget. I don't have/want to spend extra money on things like that.


Devin called right as I was leaving Linda's and told me to come over as soon as i was ready, and then we headed to Salt Lake (for the second time) for the NHMM reunion. New Hampshire Manchester Mission, that is. I have heard so many stories about devin's mission, but still didn't know most of the people I met there, other than Pete and TJ and Liz, of course. It was still a lot of fun, and it's obvious that that is a great group of people. They were all so excited to meet "elder ashby's fiance"-- and later that night we made the observation that everyone seems to really, really like us together. which is good, because it would happen whether they all liked it or not! haha


I met President and Sister Reese, who are some of the greatest people. President Reese has really intense eyes, and when he looks at you, i'm not kidding, it's like he is peering into your soul!!! I told Devin that it was kind of scary, but more scary to look away! haha He is a good man, that President Reese. And he assured me that Devin would make a great companion (haha) which of course I already know! Sister Reese was equally amazing. It takes a special family to serve as Mission President, I think, they are definitely that family.


The funniest thing about the whole reunion was when I met the other Elder Ashby, and his fiance. And guess what? THEY ARE GETTING MARRIED ON MAY 26TH. AN HOUR AFTER US! That's the funniest coincidence, i think! Out of all the other Elders, and out of all the days! The 26th is even a thursday! How random and funny is that.


We finally left the reunion around 10pm, and Devin was so hungry he probably would've started snacking on me if we didn't go eat, and all his antsy hungry-ness made me hungry, and Liz was hungry, so after we finally peeled TJ (who just got hired as a seminary teacher in bingham!) away from all the people, we headed to none other than Gourmandise! There sandwiches are huge so Dev and I shared one, and then for dessert I had a chocolate mousse cup -- it was the best chocolate mousse i've ever had. I love that place. I'm getting D's birthday cake from there, haha.


I love spending time with TJ and Liz. They are some of my favorite people. TJ is always so excited and enthusiastic, and you can't help but be in a good mood, and get excited too, when you're around him. Liz is equally awesome, and 7 months pregnant! I am so excited for them to have their baby boy -- they are going to be amazing parents!


We left Gourmandise around 11:15 and had a very tired drive home. I had to grab my keys off Devin's desk and when we went inside, Brandon was there with the dogs. Every time this happens, I will walk in the door, and Koda will bark at me until she can see my face, so I ran into the light really fast, and she was SMILING. it was hilarious. it doesn't really look like a smile, because she's baring her teeth, but it was soooo funny. I love those dogs. I want one!!!


Today's plan was to sleep in, but that failed. I guess I kind of slept in, compared to my regular schedule, but I woke up at 8:30, and immediately panicked, thinking I was so late for work! I had even set an alarm for 9, and woke up before it! I hate it when that happens, haha.


At noon, i'm meeting my Ashby sisters at the antique mall, and I'm searching for that antique mirror, some cool tablecloths and place mats, and some accent decorations for our house. I am sooo excited. I love the antique mall. It is the best store ever.


After that we're going to lunch. Of course, at cracker barrell! And then Devin and I are heading up to Salt Lake (for the third time, in three days) to take graduation pictures of his friend, Britney, who was at the Greg Laswell concert with us, a couple months ago. I am excited for that, because I love watching Devin work. He loves what he does, and I love that! Tonight is the priesthood session for conference, so Devin will go to that, and I will find some meandering to do. It will be another productive day, but again, in the best way!