25d15h

I am a traditionalist. I like to do things by the book. Status quo is my fave. I am a rule follower. Very much a rule follower.


SIKE


Lies. All of those. Were lies. I am a liar.

I am not a traditionalist. Most are just stupid social customs that don't serve great purposes. I think there need to be more people willing to change things up a bit. No matter how difficult.

Like ME.


My story:

In approximately 25 days and 15 hours I am marrying the greatest human. (Yes, the firepits, frozen, and flames one) The. Greatest. Human. Never was there another human who handled my repulsion to physical touch, my tendency to bite, my strange woman's health philosophy, my inability to follow rules, and my tendency to enjoy doing nothing.

We will be sealed in the Salt Lake Temple. This is during my spring break, and over a weekend for him. He's in school and we will probably be doing a lot of homework over our honeymoon. *Yay for struggling college students* We will be sealed at 11:40 in the am and then...here is where our follow the tradition train ride ends.

So, we are not doing a reception at that time. Ain't nobody got time for that. Our reception will be in August of 2015. Nearly 6 months after we actually get married. *Yay for the wildland firefighting life* See, he will be gone June to August. So prime time for marriage and receptioning is out of the question for us.

BUT we need to do something to include our families and have a celebration of some sorts. SO, a dutch lunch at Sweet Tomatoes it is. I know...we are just oozing convention. Then, Christopher and I will get in the car and drive to Saint George for two days and then come back to real life.

It gets better.

He has an apartment with his two besties with a lease until June. In Orem. He works. In Orem. He goes to UVU has classes 6-10 pm. In Orem. I live with my dear family. In Sandy. I work 40ish hours a week. In Sandy. I don't finish until 8:15ish pm most nights. In Sandy. The solution: He will go back to his apartment in Orem and I will stay at home in Sandy. Until about August. *Remember the summer firefighting thing?* About 6 months until we will reside in the same dwelling for longer than a weekend.

**WOOPWOOP**

Anyways, that is the plan. It's been pretty stressful. Going against all tradition is hard. What are people going to think? Oh wait, I don't care. But really though. It has clearly been a worry of mine.

I had a dream the other night where after I had sent out the EVITES (HAHA Oh yea, also, we didn't send out paper invitations, we sent out EVITES...without pictures, because we didn't do an engagement shoot.....HAHAHAH) my grandma had come over for something and she said something about how rude and improper our whole plan was. She said it in an underhanded way, just mumbling under her breath and I got very defensive and said it was the way it was going to go. I started to cry as I walked up the stairs. After a few steps I stopped crying and said, "No, you know what? This is how it is working. I will NOT apologize for it." And that is how I feel.


So take up your flags people! Change things up a bit! Do what you want and not what other people expect! It is liberating.

You know that perfect family?

You know that perfect family?

The one that doesn't have a drug addict in it?

That family that doesn't have any pregnant teenagers?

The one that has never been featured on an episode of Intervention?

The one that has never had a crises of faith?

The one that has never argued?

The one that knows how to tip properly at restaurants?

That family that has no divorces to speak of?


No lying?

No cheating?

No children born out of wedlock?


The one that has never had any member serve jail time?

The family that has never had any member in rehab?

The one that always dresses modestly?

The family that is RIDICULOUSLY photogenic?

The one that doesn't have any runaways?

The one that has never had the police bring their children home in the middle of the night?

The family whose children always behave politely?


No secrets?

No mental breakdowns?

No vices?


The one whose dog doesn't bark in the middle of the night?

That family that never speaks ill of others?

The one that never eats junk food?

The one that doesn't watch R-rated movies?

The one with children on missions in Brazil, Russia, AND Texas?

The one that watches all 4 sessions of General Conference and goes to Priesthood and the Relief Society meeting?

That one family with all brilliant minds?

The one that is made up of all wonderful musicians?

The one that drives super nice, clean cars?

The one that hasn't had to adopt because they are perfectly fertile?

The family that never has sweat stains?

The one with not a single zit between the lot of them?

The one with children at Harvard and Yale and Pepperdine?

The one with the all-state lacrosse star and the Decathlete with awards?

The family that serves others ALL THE TIME?

The one with all the girls with the Tiffany's necklaces?




That family that has never felt like a failure?






...yeah, me neither....

The Perfect vs My Perfect

I was sitting somewhere last night and a thought struck me. It was a thought about the perfect and my perfect. Because those aren't the same.

Some years ago I had my perfect. It wasn't perfect for anyone else...I'm pretty sure most people wouldn't have been as happy with what what going on in my life (I mean hello? Who wants this?) but it was my version of perfect. I was so happy.

Fast forward a year or two and I had the perfect. It was picturesque. Doing above average in school, taking summer classes and working. Killing it in lacrosse. Return missionary boyfriend who I read conference talks with every week. Wonderful friends. Going to wedding showers and baby showers for those friends. It wasn't bad. I enjoyed myself and I was mostly happy with my life and friends and whatnot. But it wasn't my perfect. I thought it was what I wanted out of life and in some ways it was...but in the most important ways it was just the perfect and not my perfect.

My point is that the perfect, the ideal is not and could never be my perfect, my ideal. Mine is usually a much more difficult road than the perfect. 

And that is why I am strong.

Fostering Dogs - Mo the Chocolate Lab Mix

This beautiful, sweet thing's name is Mo. I'll explain why we changed it from Sunshine to Mo in a minute. She is a sweet heart. Mowgli, Mo, whatever you want to call her she is so sweet.

She is a year old, chocolate lab mix (greyhound? Look at the long face:)

As you can see in that last picture ALL OF HER RIBS, you might guess, the poor thing was starved. Probably abused too judging by her temperament and skiddish-ness. But she still LOVES humans. She's incredible.

We got her in August and we still have her. :) YAY! But for any of you in the Salt Lake area, she is up for adoption! Check out the Humane Society of Utah's dog adoption page and she is there. And Blue :(

**Update: Mo has a potential new owner we will meet on saturday**

Anyways, back to Mo. She came to us as starved, scraggly, Sunshine but that wouldn't do. While she is a ray of sunshine it just wasn't her name. We tried to be clever and come up with 'thin' or 'skinny' or 'bone' in another language since she was SO SKINNY. None of those sounded too good either. Lindsay had started calling her Mo on the ride back from the HSU just because it was what she thought of when she saw the dog. After a couple hours of debating and voting and not choosing a name Lindsay said let's just call her Mo. It fits and she will always need mo' food. So Mo it is. 

She is a great dog. So obedient and calm. She crosses her front paws when she lays down which just SLAYS me it is so adorable. 

And she inspired us to build a killer doghouse:

More on that later.

We love Mo so much. Even if she ends up with this potential family she will always be ours. 

Love you Mowgli. <3