Fall Break! (If you can even call it that...)

So Utah State has one thing going against it and that is the length of its fall break. Seriously? Only one day off? That's kind of a joke and hardly anytime to really get a break. Nonetheless, Matthew and I decided to make it worth it somewhat. Our friends, Justin and Jessica invited us to go to Lagoon with them about a week ago, but we figured we couldn't go because we both had to work. On Thursday morning, Matthew found out that he got Friday afternoon off, so we figured if I could find someone to cover my shift, we might as well go! Well... after making a few phone calls and having an awesome coworker and manager working it out for me, I got it off! So we got to go to Lagoon when I hadn't been there in forever!

Jessica, Justin, me, and Matthew in line for Colossus

Well, after helping my sister with a minor emergency (she loosened a pipe in her kitchen and the result was water everywhere. She was home alone with 2 kids and since she was stuck holding the pipes together, she had no one else to turn the water off. The result was Matthew and I driving over there to help her out. haha) we met Justin and Jessica and headed out. We got in for half price, but the only way we got the deal was by entering at 5 PM for Frightmares. So we showed up and were determined to make it worth it (the result was us literally running from ride to ride like children). It was so much fun!

Matthew and I after getting into the park

The good news is, we made it onto all of the rides we wanted! We didn't make it to the Rocket in time, but we decided beforehand that wasn't a priority. The longest line we waited in was for the Samurai, of course, but it was SO worth it! I love that ride... Since I hadn't been to Lagoon in FOREVER, I had never been on the ride "Wicked" before. Holy. Crap!! That ride was a blast. You shoot off, go straight up, straight down (and I was in the front), through corkscrews, and just SO fast! My eyes leaked the entire time and I had tear streaks on the side of my face after it was over. I loved it!

The best ride of the day!

During one of our "breaks" from the ride, Matthew decided to spend $2 to have some lady try to guess his weight. He was convinced there weren't very many people that can actually guess how much he weighs. Can you blame him though? I couldn't do it! Well... He was right, the lady had NO idea what to guess because he is so tall but so skinny, and he won a little stuffed dog! Of course he didn't care what he got, so he let me choose the color and everything, so I chose the bright pink one! (surprise, surprise...)

The new addition to our family :)

All in all, it was a way fun night. We got hot chocolate and food afterward on our way back to Logan. Jessica and I of course fell asleep on the ride home, so Matthew and Justin just got to chat the whole way. I was glad we got to take advantage of the ONE DAY we got off instead of just working. And I am getting better at taking pictures of what we do, AND better at blogging! YAY! :)

On another note... STORIE BETH IS MARRIED!!!! AHHH!!! On Wednesday, I got to go down and go to Storie's wedding and reception and it was such a great day! I hadn't met Jared before, which made me so sad, but I love him already! He is so great! Their ceremony was beautiful, Storie looked gorgeous, and we are excited to add another enthusiastic couple to our little group! Friends forever? I think so...

Storie and Jared coming out of the temple

So stinkin cute!!

Best Friends Forever!!

There's the three of us... Met Fall of 2009 playing soccer in New Mexico and now 2 years later in Fall of 2011 we are all MARRIED! We never would have thought that we would all be married within 4 months of each other, but it has been such a fun and exciting summer for all of us. I love them and I love their husbands and I hope we have a fun, lifelong friendship together!

Jaynee also got married on the 15th of October. I forgot my camera, which makes me so sad, but she looked BEAUTIFUL!! I got to go to her ceremony, luncheon, and reception that day and it was so much fun! I am so happy for them, but so sad that they will be in Cedar, so far away from us... Happy weddings though!! What a fun time of our lives, I am so happy for all of my friends, and even happier that they have all chosen to be married in the temple!! Happy, happy times! All is well here. :)

Top Ten Thursday

Ok, make fun of me for knowing this, but today it has been one year since Matthew and I went on our first date! WOW! I love looking back on all of the fun times we have had over the past year, and we weren't even married for all of it! It really is so hard for me to remember my life before I met Matthew, and I don't even like to think about it. Life is just so much better with him, not to mention LOTS more fun! In honor of our "one year mark" (even though this date isn't nearly as important as June 4th...) I am going to do Top Ten Thursday on the top ten most memorable moments from the past year. (Keep in mind, these are in no particular order...)

1- This one just happened the other day, so I thought I'd share. Matthew had a headache, so I was bringing him some Ibuprofen (prescription strength, at that...). So I walked into the room to hand it to him and (from his point of view) all I did was start freaking out and spitting white stuff out of my mouth. I ran into the other room and started rinsing my mouth out with water and gargling it. Matt and my mom had NO idea what was going on. What happened was, I had some candy corn in one hand and his pill in the other. Instead of popping the candy corn into my mouth, I put the pill in and bit down on it. It crumbled in my mouth and it was DISGUSTING... I don't even know if telling the story over the blog even makes it funny, but when Matthew tells it, it makes me laugh so hard I cry.

2- I have a feeling that a lot of these moments are going to consist of me either A) doing stupid things, or B) falling. This is the latter. Most of you have probably heard this story before but... oh well! Once upon a time, Lauren was going over to Matthew's apartment to see him. She decided she was going to knock on all of the windows of his apartment that she passed on her way to his door. Well... All this really did was get everyone in the apartment's attention before Lauren got to the front door, slipped on their welcome mat, and fell down straight to her butt. Once again, I laughed so hard I cried. I also believe Matthew's exact words were "I'll give you a second to get your pride back before opening the door." On another note: This was one of the first stories Matthew told his family when I first met them... Embarrassing!

3- Telling the story from #2 at my parent's house and accidentally slipping and falling AGAIN when reenacting it. This one resulted in a GIANT bruise on my butt....

4- Going to the Coca-Cola factory in Las Vegas and trying 16 flavors of Coke from around the world. We were laughing our heads off! Each of us would take turns trying it first, and when I tried the one from Italy first and was freaking out at how awful it was, Matthew didn't believe me until he tried it. He freaked out with how awful it was too. I loved listening to him try to describe how they tasted (ex: "It tasted like someone brushed their teeth, spit in a cup, then spit some mouth wash in there and watered it down and then made a drink out of it!" I believe that one was from Djibouti...)

5- The first time Matthew saw me in a competitive atmosphere (and the first time I saw him, gosh he drove me nuts...) We were playing Catch Phrase with my family and it always gets really competitive, especially when we play boys vs. girls. Matthew was being obnoxious (like he does when we're competing against each other) and I was getting SO mad. He thought it was hilarious. Once he watched me play soccer, he just realized competition brings out a whole new side to me.

6- One day Matt had an eye doctor's appointment and I was in Salt Lake for some reason. He called me after his appointment when he was laying down on his bed and I have never heard him whine like that before! I was laughing SO hard, and we still laugh about it today. He had his eyes dilated so he just kept saying, "I can't even read the paper! I can't see!" And he just went on an on... Like I said, this could just be a "you had to be there" thing, but this is my blog and I'm just kind of journaling at the moment... :) It was funny.

7- Watching Matthew dive head first into the waves on our honeymoon to Mexico and wondering just how old my husband really was. He seriously is the biggest 10 year old I've ever met. The kid has so much energy!!

8- The day we went up to campus and sat on a grassy field to watch "Falling Skies" online. We had to go to campus because we didn't have internet at our apartment. This date also consisted of us playing cranium with just the two of us. We also probably played Gin like crazy because I was obsessed this summer!

9- Where would I be without including our first date in my favorite memories?? That is where it all began. Dinner at the Pita Pit (which also consisted of playing Battle of the Sexes with just the two of us), painting pumpkins, and then going up to campus and "bowling" with the pumpkins. We knocked over half-full water bottles. Matthew will probably claim that he won, but we all know I did. Then to end the night, of course we had to go get ice cream from Charlie's! :)

10- Obviously this list wouldn't be complete without mentioning the day of our first kiss, the day we said "I love you" (even though that same day I thought he was going to break up with me), the day he proposed, and of course the day we were married!

We have had so much fun together this past year, and I can't wait for the many MANY years to come. Sorry for the cheese-ball post. I've never been one to be mushy on Facebook, and even if I was Matthew would never go along with it, but this is my blog, and sometimes I feel like talking about my husband and how great he is and of course to tell everyone how much fun we're having in our new life together! And no blog post is complete without some pictures, so here are some of the many faces of Matthew and Lauren. :)

The date where we ate everything with our hands and fingerpainted! :)

After we worked out some time. We like to pretend we're hard core. :)

The date where we went rock climbing with Alisha and Alex. :)

Last but not least, the very first picture of us together at the HOWL last year. :) Chick magnet? I think so...

Sometimes I like writing my thoughts. :)

Ok, so every few months I have a post about how I'm going to be better at blogging, but I never am! I think I just need to face the facts and realize that I just suck at blogging. One of these days I will get around to posting about my wonderful wedding day and our fabulous honeymoon, but I'm afraid that day is not today. Sadly enough, I have had a draft sitting there for about a month and a half now, and I just add to it every once in awhile. *Sigh* Maybe someday I'll be good at this.

What I was thinking of posting about, however, is that fabulous relief society broadcast and my favorite talk so far by President Uchtdorf. Gosh, those men always know what to do to really help me out when I am feeling down on myself and just down in general. This semester has been a tough one to say the least.. I go to school at 9:30 in the morning, go straight to work, and get home at 8 to what? Study or do homework before the next day begins. I have had countless breakdowns because there just aren't enough hours in the day. I really want to be able to have a clean house, clean dishes, a made bed, and then to just snuggle up with my husband at night to just have some time together. Oh boy, was I mistaken when I thought that was a realistic dream!

So on top of everything, I went to the broadcast on Saturday night with some friends and sat there and listened to a wonderful man giving me hope saying that I am not perfect and that's ok. A man telling me that I shouldn't hang my head because the most majestic being in existence loves me unconditionally and accepts my weaknesses. I especially loved when he told us that we are so quick to accept other people for their weaknesses, but extremely slow to forgive ourselves for our weaknesses. You know what? I'm not perfect. There are dishes in my sink, clothes on my floor, I have been struggling in school, I lose motivation to do anything a lot of the time, but that doesn't matter because every day I can wake up and strive to be better. I can try my best to be who I want to be, but accept it when I fall short. On top of the fact that God loves me, I have the best husband in the world. :) I don't know how I ever made it through the day or semesters of school without him. He motivates me, encourages me, and tells me that I am doing a good job (even though 99% of the time that's a lie). The man is wonderful and even cooks and sews my pants for me! So you know what? Life isn't so bad afterall. I have a wonderful husband, an incredible family, and we aren't doing so bad here.

And to top this all off, I found a quote this week that I am OBSESSED with. It was perfect to go along with the week I've had! :) Leave it to Elder Holland to help me out.
"No one of us is less treasured or cherished of God than another. I testify that He loves us-- Insecurities, anxieties, poor self-image, and all. He doesn't measure our talents or our looks; He doesn't measure our professions or our possessions. He cheers on every runner, calling out that the race is against sin, not against each other." Isn't that so great?? I love it. :)

So there you have it... Not sure if this post was me whining or showing that there is hope! Hmm... Take what you want from it, I suppose! I will get around to posting about my endowment, our wedding, honeymoon, and married life eventually! :)

Time to stop being bad at this!

Ok, I haven't posted since I got engaged... SO much has happened, I'm not even sure I could begin to play catch up! But I guess I'll see how this goes... I am getting married in 2 weeks. CRAZY, right?? I am so excited, I can hardly stand it!! All of the wedding plans are basically all complete, so I am ready to do this! Anyway... Back to the update!

Time for Catch up! I had some fun for Easter this year. Matthew went home that weekend while I had to stay up here and work, so that just left me with WAY too much time on my hands! :) When he came back up that Sunday night (Easter), I had made him a homemade giant easter basket. Yes, I am aware that it looks nothing like a basket, but it was a lot of fun. I got him his 3 favorite gatorades, a couple of shirts from Nike (SUPER cheap since Kel works there and gets me a discount), and then "enough candy to give him diabetes". It was a lot of fun.

Another event... Matthew graduated!!!! YAY!!!! It is only the end of the beginning, but STILL! I am so happy for him and so proud of him for working so hard and getting done. We had a fun day together going out to lunch with our families (my parents came up too) and then we headed back to Salt Lake for the weekend! Next up: Matthew will apply for Med School this summer. He takes the MCAT in July and then the applications will go in and we'll see what happens! If he doesn't get in this time around, he will probably go back to possibly complete his Masters and Ph.D. We will see what happens! I'm not too worried about the whole thing, it'll be an excited couple of years!

(a picture of Matthew and I in the Spectrum at graduation)

What else... Let's see. I got a new job!! :) I had been working at a call center here in Logan to get some money coming in until I found another job, and I finally found one! Those call centers really start to wear on you. So now I work at a store here called "The Book Table". It is a cute little store kind of like a Barnes & Noble or a Borders. I work upstairs with all of the childrens toys and scrapbooking supplies. It actually is a lot of fun. My bosses are really cool and laid back and it's a fun job! It's just customer service, but I get to set up displays and everything and I have a lot of fun with that.

On another note, I will also be graduating next spring semester!! :) All I have to do is take a few classes this summer, 18 credits in the fall, and 18 credits in the spring and then I'm DONE! I know, I totally make it sound like it's not a very big deal... It's going to be a tough year, but I have to do what I have to do I guess! I am really excited that I will be able to finish a year earlier than planned. It will be good, and I'm hoping school will be a little better/easier once I'm married and all.

I know this post has way too many words and not enough pictures, and I don't know why I don't have more pictures, so I'm sorry. I also had an awesome bridal shower that my lovely sisters put on for me, and we had a lot of fun! There was good food, no lame games, and awesome company! I have the best family in the world, and, on top of that, I also am marrying into such a loving and supportive family! I am so incredibly lucky!! I love my mother-in-law, father-in-law, sisters and brothers, aunts, uncles, grandparents, everyone! I am one lucky girl... We had a fun day! I am also excited for the week of my wedding. I will work Tuesday and Wednesday, and then on Thursday I head home to get my hair done and then I go through the temple that night!! SO excited I can hardly stand it!! The next day (Friday, the day before the wedding) all the boys will be going golfing and then when they get home, the girls will be going to get pedicures!! YAY! I am so excited! It will be one "last" hurrah with my sisters before I get married! Gosh, I am just so excited for my wedding, spending time with my family, and everything. It will be a great day! I probably won't post before my wedding, but I will try to post about it fairly soon afterwards! Then I will announce where we went on our honeymoon because as of right now, I have NO idea where we are going! Stinkin Matthew and his surprises... That is all for now!

I'M ENGAGED!!!!

It's true! It's true! I am engaged!! February 10, 2011. Happiest Day of my life! I figured instead of posting the engagement story a thousand times, I would update my blog for once and tell it all here. :) Before you start reading, beware! I am very long-winded, and I will include every single detail!

First off, let me start with the history of Matthew and I. We met up here at Utah State last October. I was playing intramural volleyball with a bunch of girls I had met playing ultimate frisbee on the quad one day. Matt came to every single one of our games, and that is how we met. We went on a few dates, and ended up seeing each other every day after that.

Now to Matthew... He is the kindest man I have ever met. He is 6'7" (how perfect is that??), from Woods Cross/North Salt Lake area, and he has a wonderful family. He loves to run and work out. He is perfect for me in every way, and he treats me like a princess. :) He will be graduating from Utah State this May (yay!!) and then applying for med school this summer. We have SO much fun together, and no one is able to make me laugh the way he can (I realize that seems like an easy job, but he can even make me laugh when I'm angry!) He is so thoughtful and fun (as you will see with the engagement story), and he is the most selfless person you will ever meet. He loves freely and easily and always shows that love to everyone he meets. He makes me want to be a better person every day so I can come a little closer to deserving him. What can I say? I'm crazy about the kid and I definitely got lucky...

Ok, so I am sure that is enough with the mushy gushy stuff, although I could go on for hours about him... Now to the moment you've all been waiting for! Actually, it was the moment I've waited my entire life for, and I found the perfect man to make it perfect!! Yesterday, Matthew told me we had a wedding reception to go to after I was done with my review session. So I hurried home and got changed into a skirt and then I waited for him. He told me he would pick me up in half an hour, but he had to go home to eat because he was starving (typical). So... For once, I was ready and waiting for him... :)

Then about a half an hour later, there was a knock on my door. I opened it and... it wasn't Matthew... It was his roommate, Justin, dressed llike a chauffeur (spelling??). He told me that he was asked to pick me up to go to the reception. So I grabbed my coat and asked where Matt was and he said, in an english accent, "I'm not privy to give that information". I started to kind of suspect that something was up. So Justin drove me to first dam (a lake-type place in Logan), and escorted me to the shoreline where my handsome boyfriend was standing in a suit, sporting his new haircut and clean-shaven face (I found out later he had shaved about 3 times that day, haha).

Then I look on the water, and there was a canoe sitting there with fake candles inside and some blankets. (If you've ever seen "Tangled", think of that... ADORABLE, right?? I love that movie...) He helped me down into the canoe and gave me the blankets to wrap around my legs to keep warm. Then he got in and Justin pushed us off and Matthew steered us to the middle of the lake. Then he just started making small talk. Asked me how my day was, how my review went, etc. All throughout our dating history, we have always gotten hot chocolate together. Several of our dates, we go on hot chocolate runs all the time, the first time we said "I love you", etc. So then he said, "I should have brought some hot chocolate, my hands are freezing, I'm sorry!" Then, out of nowhere, two of his friends, Lance and Braden, come paddling up behind us in a canoe and give us two cups of hot chocolate. :) Love it! Then they left and our conversation continued.

The next run, they came paddling out again and brought me some flowers. They were pink and yellow roses with a black ribbon tied around them (our wedding colors). SO cute! So we started talking again and he told me that there was a moment when he knew he was going to marry me. I asked him what it was and he said "I'll tell you later." He asked me if I had a moment where I knew, and I said that I had and I told him. After I got done telling the story he said "Do you ever wish that your life could just be like a movie where music plays at all the right times?" Then he asked me if I had chosen our wedding song yet, and I told him I was leaning towards the song we had danced to in his living room one night. (It's called "Look After You" by the Fray. Look it up! :) ) Then his friends came out once again with a guitar. He got it out and started to play that song for me and sing it to me. He changed some of the words of the song to say something about sitting with a girl on a lake and then he said "My heart is starting to believe in fate". At this point I'm just in tears thinking about how lucky I am.

After that, he puts the guitar away and says "Ok, let's get out of here, it's cold..." He starts to paddle us towards the shore and starts to tell me how he knew he was going to marry me the night we were dancing to that song in his living room. He said so many adorable things, and I was in tears the entire time.. Then we got to the dock, and he helped me out of the boat onto the dock. I climbed out, and so did he. The dock was lined with tiki torches and candles, and there was rose petals all down the dock. So we walked down the dock, the rose petals went into the shape of a heart with a ring box in the middle of it. He said "Oh, what's this??" And went down on one knee to pick it up. He looked inside and said "I think this is for you" and turned the ring box towards me. He looked up at me and said "Lauren Waite, will you marry me??" I stared at him for a few seconds and then I said "OF COURSE!!!" He stood up and gave me a hug and a kiss and then his friends were on another dock and they shot fireworks off. Then, I was engaged!!!

Here is a picture of all of Matthew's wonderful friends who sacrificed their nights to make it PERFECT for us! Thank you so much, guys!! :)

So... There you have it! I am engaged!!! We will be married on June 4, 2011 in the Salt Lake Temple. I am the luckiest girl in the world, and that proposal is everything I could have ever dreamed of!! Matthew and I are going to have a long and happy marriage, and I know I will have so much fun spending the rest of my life with him. Sorry this was so long, I love telling stories!! :)

The future Mr. and Mrs. Wright!!! :)