Life goes on!

It has been awhile since I have updated, I figure its about time I do! Wedding planning has been going well, I have been very busy with it but its been a lot of fun! Everything is coming together well! I have our reception venue booked, it is an outside venue so we are praying for good weather! My sister's and I have been working on some wedding decorations, its been really fun! We made center piece's out of some vases we found at the DI and we painted them. 

Kenny is doing really good, he was sick for a few weeks but he wouldn't go to sick call because it could set him back in his training, we can't have any delays or he will miss the wedding! So he suffered through :( poor guy. He is better now tho and has been able to call me twice now! He can now call every Sunday, I love it! Such a great way to start off the week. This is a excerpt from this weeks letter, it made me laugh. "I MISS BACKRUBS!! enough said about that... but seriously, I will trade anything for one. Maybe I will ask my DS (drill Sargent)." hahaha silly kid, I told him that it's probably not a good idea to ask his drill Sargent and to wait till he gets home and I'll give him one. He also said they get letters handed out every night and the drill Sargent's think its fun to throw the letters at them as hard as they can, so the soldiers have learned to wear eye protection during mail pass out. Kenny said while talking to me on the phone, "You know what I miss?" I said "ME?!" Him, "well yes, but I also miss couches! I haven't sat on a couch in 5 weeks! We can't even sit on our beds, the only time we touch our beds is to make them and sleep in them." I thought that was really funny, that's something I have never even thought to miss! All the simple luxuries we enjoy, we are so blessed! This week they threw two live grenades and practiced shooting there M16's. 

I like to pretend that maybe Kenny is in one of these pictures but I honestly have no idea, they all look the same! 

LOVE

This week I've been lucky enough to get two letters from Kenny! Each letter he is sounding better and better. Although last week hey went through the gas chambers, they do this drill to teach the soldiers how their gas masks work. So they file a group of soldiers into a room with their masks on then fill the room with CS gas, then they have them all take off their masks. Kenny said he couldn't really explain it but all of a sudden he couldn't breath, his eyes started burning and watering, and he was choking and gagging. It sounds horrible :( I hate that he is going through all this but he is such a good sport about it! He has been able to go to church the past few weeks and he even got a calling as a priesthood blesser.

I have started reading a book called The Five Love Languages. It has been very interesting learning how to better communicate with spouse and to stay in love even after the honeymoon stage :) The five "languages" are: quality time, words of affirmation, gifts, acts of service , and physical touch. I haven't gotten too far but I think my love language is probably physical touch and acts of service. Those are the things that I find important in a relationship. I love holding hands, cuddling, and hugging (back massages are great too, if I can talk him into giving me one). But I also love getting little acts of service, even if its just a little note. I am excited to finish reading and maybe learn what Kenny's love language is. 

Here are some pictures that Kenny's commander posted on his battery's Facebook page

Can you spot him? Hah they all have the same hair! 

Leaving the gas chamber :(

Service with a Smile :)

Seeing Kenny leave for basic, surprisingly wasn't as hard as I anticipated. Of course I missed him but I just got so busy with school and working that I really didn't have time to mope. Last week it caught up to me. I was feeling very down, I missed Kenny terribly, I was stressing about wedding plans, and getting behind in my school work. Sunday came around and I was a mess, I just wanted Kenny to be here to tell me to stop stressing and get over it, haha he is so tender :) In Sacrament meeting the topic was on service. It was exactly what I needed to hear! The spirit was so strong and afterward I just felt recharged and ready to face the week! My new goal is to do little acts of service everyday. Like yesterday I cleaned the whole kitchen for my mom, although it didn't last long :) It still made me happy to know I helped out. It's like a little game now, I have to look for acts of service I can do and when I find them I get all excited! It's weird I know but it makes me happy to know I will bring a smile to someone's face. I now challenge YOU to do the same thing! These acts can be as simple as smiling at someone at the store who looks down, opening a door for someone, or baking someone cookies! I know we all get busy in our lives, (trust me I know, I am a full time student, with a full time job, and I am planning my wedding), but If we all take a few minutes each day to serve someone, think of the effect we could have! It will make them happy and in turn make you happy. 

Matthew 25:40 "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

Time to Catch up!

This is me playing catch up for a little while, there are things I haven't blogged about but wanted to do it now!   So on January 2, 2013, we sent Kenny off to Fort Sill, Oklahoma. That is where he will be for the next 4 months. It was so hard to see him leave but I have kept very busy so far. Right now I am working as a CNA/Med Tech, at Sterling Court Assisted living home. I love it! All of my residents are very sweet, they love hearing about our wedding plans! I am also attending Dixie state college as a full time student, right now I am taking the Advanced EMT course and I hope to be getting into the Paramedic program within the next year. And of course I am planning our wedding! So you see I don't have much time to miss Kenny but that's kind of unavoidable... I still miss him every single day! I received a letter from him on the 19th and I was sooo glad to finally hear from him! He sounds like he is doing very well, he says "A lot the guys here still try to do their own thing and it gets us smoked (push ups or whatever they want to do to put us in pain). For me, I actually don't mind it so far, I like how organized everything is, and the discipline they are putting us through." The first week he was there was just a lot of medical stuff, like eye checks, physicals, and shots... lots of shots... They told him to not bring anything, so when he got there he didn't have his immunization record so he ended up having to get 7 shots! Shots that he has already had but because they had no record of it they just did them all again... :( Poor Kenny's arms were so sore, but of course being Kenny he didn't complain a bit. He said the first week all they did was push ups and stand out in the cold... But now that he is done with all the medical stuff they get to do obstacle courses and probably more push ups. This week they are going through the gas chamber.. A room full of tear gas... I have no idea how he is doing all this! I would be such a wimp!!! 

On the way to the airport, his sister snapped this picture :) 

It is 5:30am so naturally we look FABULOUS! 

Last hugs before he gets on the plane :(

The Beginning of our Journey

I am an engaged woman! Kenny proposed to me November 30, 2012. So now I’ll explain how he did it! He picked me up for a date, and told me to bring a swim suit. We went to dinner at a yummy little bakery called Kneaders. While we were there he tells me a little about the date he is taking me on. He tells me we are going to make a list of places around town that we have been to together that have a special/funny or just random memory at. So while eating, we each take turns writing down a place. After dinner we went and looked at my sisters, In-Law's, condo that we will be living in once we are married. After that we started our date. The first place on the list is some apartments on the boulevard. So we pull up and park in the exact place that we had our first kiss, in front of Chandlers old Apartment.  The next place on the list is Menchie’s, this is Kenny’s choice. This is the place we decided we want to get married, romantic right? Standing in the Menchies parking lot hah. We go in and get some frozen yogurt then we get back to the date. The next place we went was sandstone elementary, across the street from that school is where Kenny proposed to me on our first date as part of the scavenger hunt, who knew it would really happen!! The next place we went was Green Springs park. There was three memory’s there, one was we went and played pickle ball there, and tied (we tie at everything we do). Another memory was we went there after 10 one night just to walk around and a policeman came and kicked us out hah it was pretty funny. The last one was not a fun one… It was also the place we broke up the first and only time, even though it only lasted for a day hah! Next place on our list was the Dog Town park, that was where Kenny told me he planned to join the Military, my stomach dropped when he told me that. The next place was a creepy old abandoned house in Washington Fields, he took me there one day to scare me, it worked!! The last place was the Elementary School in Washington Fields, I forgot what it was called but we took Toby (Kenny's dog) on a walk there one night and ended up running through the sprinklers hah (Kenny told me later that he was very impressed with me that night, he was surprised that I wasn’t afraid to get wet I guess hah). After that we were going to Auston Hafen's to go hot tubing, but Kenny went the wrong way. I asked him where we were going and he just said there was one more place I wanted to take you. So we ended up at the temple, I was confused because I didn’t know what memory he was thinking of (secretly I kinda knew what was going on J).  So we walked around for a little, then he stopped to hug me, then he asked me if I knew what memory he was thinking of, I said no, then he said "well I wanted to make a new memory" got down on his knee and asked me to marry him! I of course said yes! Now that is the beginning of Forever!  

This is right after he put a ring on it :)