Are you surprised?

Imma be honest with you; it has been a pretty crazy six months since I last updated. My life has changed dramatically and a lot of really great things have been happening. In the season of thanksgiving, I decided to make a list of a few of those people and things that make my life so great.

1. Joshua and I were married for time and all eternity in the Portland temple 21 weeks ago.
2. The junk room in our apartment that is mostly organized.
3. The Lutes drink Diet Coke!
4. Alaina and Brad who allow me to stay in my own room at their house AND pick me up from the airport.
5. Getting to be a part of the birth of little Oliver. The miracle of life is just that, a miracle.
6. Amanda, who shares a bed with me AND lets me get up at 4:50 a.m. to get ready for clinical
7. Getting to be in Utah when Alyssa received her endowment.
8. Feeling just a little bit like an Aramaki sister now that Craig has given me a nickname.
9. That random stranger who picked me up when I was running the last mile and a half to the airport.
10. Group text message chats with sisters
11. Living close enough to Kendall that we get to hang out every now and then.
12. Frequently spending time with Adrie, Henry, Elliot, Charlie, and Oliver.
13. Video chat workouts with Joshua.
14. Thanksgiving with the Lutes and Christmas with the Williams!
15. Airplanes that let me live in two places at once.
16. Long chats with Emily and sleeping on that beautiful orange couch.
17. Vincent, the Saab luxury vehicle.
18. Nursing school and all that comes with it. (Friends, IVs, knowing about the body)
19. Instagram.
20. Diet Coke.
21. Prayers that seem to make even the hardest days just a little bit easier.

This list does not even begin to cover the whole scope of things for which I am grateful. My life is rich and full of great people and blessings. I am so grateful for my sweet Joshua. Our life is crazy but still SO great! I cannot deny that life is incredibly good.

Does this make me an adult?

Another list!

-I celebrated my 21st birthday at a ward activity at the Bishop's cabin.
-I have a key to the place I will call home for the next year with my husband.
-I've been sleeping on an air mattress that is super uncomfortable.
-I have purchased a couch and matching chair on craigslist for a reasonable price.
-I rented a uhaul van to move said couch and chair.
-I signed us up for internet and set it up in our apartment.
-I've discovered Grocery Outlet and am a little bit obsessed.
-I got hives while tanning for the wedding.
-Joshua is really good at swatting my hands away so I don't scratch.
-I'm going through the temple on Saturday!
-I picked out and purchased my wedding shoes.
-I spent most of yesterday cleaning the bathroom.
-A queen size mattress will be delivered to our apartment tomorrow.
-There is a flat screen tv mounted on the wall.
-I've got a Dyson vacuum coming to me in the mail that we bought on the cheap.
-I get excited when I think about seeing all of the family at the wedding.
-I know what I'm making for dinner tonight.

Northwest living

Jan found this beautiful vintage dress for me and I got to wear it to church.

Props go to her for catching the spontaneous laughing shot!

That boy wizard is a hot mess of teen angst. 

I love it.

Despite my pleadings, 

Joshua will only allow one episode of Revenge a day. 

Except for Sunday. 

I get two episodes on Sunday.

Jillian Michaels workout videos are killer.

Seriously, I'm always sore the next day. 

Toll roads are dumb. 

I get to pick up Joshua from work today.

We're going to Costco. 

Living in the same place and seeing each other every day 

is like 

one million kinds of awesome. 

Things have been happening

Lemme give you a quick little update.

Joshua and I got to drive from Salt Lake to Seattle together,  

wearing matching shirts.  

It's okay to be a little bit jealous

Joshua has been reading Harry Potter and I've had the pleasure of reading some of it out loud to him. 

We've had a good time learning what that boy wizard has been up to

After three days in Seattle and a tour of the Amazon offices, I rode the train down to Portland to start planning this wedding!

The last seven days have been a blur of fabric, mason jars, flowers, and decorations.

Things are finally starting to come together! 

Opening up at the close

There are a lot of things that I want to say as this, my seventh, semester at BYU comes to a close. This school year has been ridiculously hard and rewarding in all aspects of my life. In school I learned how to give shots, start IVs, insert NG tubes, chart electronically, calculate carbohydrates and insulin dosing, care for veterans, and start friendships with people that I never would have expected. (Just to name a few) Here's a picture of my clinical group at the VA hospital in Salt Lake.

At home I, once again, learned to live with roommates! Mostly, I've decided that, even when I'm in a couple, I should not forget to include the people around me. And maybe I would not enjoy Asia so much based on the cooking smells that I've experienced this semester. Also, when given the chance, you should always let someone else make dinner for you. It is almost promised that it will be delicious just based upon the fact that you did not have to make it yourself.

Being a FHE mom is a lot of work. I'm sort of hoping that being a FHE mom for reals will be a little easier since you all live in the same house. I'm sure that will prove to have its own challenges as well. Oh, and this picture proves that everyone looks better with a moustache.

Everything that is worth it is worth working hard for. Emotions have run hot in a lot of ways this year but everything is settling into place. For the first time in a lot of months, I know where things are headed and it all feels right! All things work out in the right way when given enough time. I am continually grateful to a Heavenly Father that reminds me this daily. I cannot wait to marry my best friend for time and all eternity in 79 days.

All of the colors!

Kendall has been telling me about the annual of Festival of Colors at the Hari Krishna temple since I came to BYU. Because this is the last year we'll both live in Provo together, we had to attend. I told Joshua that we were planning on going and, since he can't stand for me to do fun things without him, he flew down to Utah to throw colored chalk at my face. In addition to Joshua, we also got Andrew and Jan to attend. What a party!

Sibling love!

Now that this is done, I am totally ready to get out of Provo.

Art critics

My current calling is FHE Mom. Technically it's called home evening group leader but "Mom" is easier to remember. Anyway, for our big ward FHE for the semester we had a modern art show. Each group had to create a piece of artwork which was then displayed for all to see. Cheese, crackers, and cream puffs were served so obviously it was a high class event.Our piece most definitely had the most, "stop and stare" factor going for it because it was decided early on that grotesque and shocking were the two words that we wanted people to use to describe it. Mostly, I think we succeeded.

Mostly, I still don't know what to think.