so it's been a while...

But let me just say, Thanksgiving break was fantastic!

We got a TON of wedding planning done, including signing a marriage license (story later) and addressing hundreds of envelopes for announcements.

We spent a lot of time with family and more importantly, ate lots of good food. (just kidding....kinda)

Kolton's mom and sisters threw me a bridal shower that was so fun! I got so many cute and useful things.

We signed the lease for our very first apartment!

"We're officially homeowners!" I told him, "Renters, actually" he replied.

Homeowner, renter-it's all the same to me. I'm just excited to have a roof over our heads (I was getting a little concerned) and a place to house all of our beautiful gifts from the above mentioned bridal shower.

I contracted a nasty cold/flu that I am still battling. don't worry-I've been guzzling Nyquil. I'm gonna kick this thing!

But most importantly of all....

we celebrated our

 Negative one month anniversary

annndd...

our first date anniversary.

 Okay, so maybe we didn't actually celebrate, but we did recognize the day.

Since we're on the topic, I'll tell ya a little bit about our first date. Kolton would probably not be happy but....let's not tell him.

Oo...over Thanksgiving break last year-wait-scratch that. a few weeks before Thanksgiving, Kolton had gone down to Mesquite riding motorbikes with a big group of men including my dad and uncle. The whole time they were down there, Kolton got teased incessantly about riding home with my dad and coming to visit me/formally meet me on their way back to Idaho.

For some reason, (I don't actually know that reason, hmmm...) he didn't end up with my dad. But a little tiny seed had been planted in his mind. 

Back to Thanksgiving break...

Over the break, Kolton's mom called my mom and asked if I would be busy that weekend. (Kolton claims  he had no idea she did this) my mom said I would probably be free, hung up the phone and called me (I was at the movies with some friends) I completely freaked out (a good freak out) did a little dance, and immediately told all my friends that Kolton Hansen might take me on a date that weekend. (give me a break-I'd only had a crush on him for what-half my life?) So pretty soon we were all freaking out and doing a little happy dance about my stroke of good luck.

Kolton called me a few days later. On my home phone (Yes, I did feel like I was in junior high again). and started asking me all these questions-"How's school? What's your major? How's your break been?"

I knew what he was getting at and was worried that if he asked too many more questions we wouldn't have anything to talk about. Finally he got to the one I was waiting for.

"Will you go on a date with me this Saturday?"

So Saturday rolled around and he came to pick me up.(Yes, my stomach was hosting some majorly huge butterflies, and performing flips worthy of any acrobat).

We were going paintballing with his family (I also drug Tylee along for the ride). So we went to a little corner of their farm that had huge sagebrush we could hide behind and started shooting away.

I'll just be straight with you. I'm not a good paintballer. Not at all. But I did provide some laughs at my expense, maybe that was a redeeming quality for my poor paintballing skills.

After we finished that embarrassment he took me home so I could shower and try looking decent before we went out on the town.

He came by an hour later and we headed into Rexburg to meet up with another couple. We went to Applebee's where I ordered their spinach and artichoke dip (Kolton thought i was crazy til he tried it. Now he's converted).Then we went to the movie Blind Side.

All in all, it was a success (obviously.) and I didn't even need to worry about finding things to talk about. We did just fine.

but then I had to head back to Provo. We talked on the phone a few times, but not very much at all, and then I came home for Christmas break. But that's a story for another day.

 Now we're just like...getting married in less than a month!

And that's about all I've got to say about that.

slouchy socks

Don't you hate slouchy socks? You know what I'm talking about-the kind that slip off your feet as you're walking and end up in a puddle at the toe of your shoes?

Well today since I'm out of all my other socks (it's definitely time to do some laundry) I had to wear some of these kind of socks. And they're mismatched to boot.

Anyway...so as I was walking up the hill to campus, I could feel my socks slipping lower and lower off of my foot. Of course I couldn't just reach down and yank 'em back up because I was wearing my tall, fluffy, boots with da fur. So as I reached the top of the hill, I sat on a bench to readjust myself.

So as I'm sitting there with one boot off and in one hand, and my other hand pulling up my sock, I hear the doors behind me open. And a guy walks out, turns around and comes right up to stand in front of me. I had my ipod in my ears so I yanked out the headphones and looked up at him.

He says to me, "I would just like to tell you that your hair looks beautiful today."

I smiled at him, said a polite, "Thank you" and he walked off.

I sat in shock for a minute,pulled on my boot, and went on my way.

thank you, random friendly stranger.

that is a random "socks" picture, but does anyone else remember wearing the frilly, lacy socks?

let's talk leaves

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've had anything to say. I've actually had about a bajillion things to say but I either a) couldn't find the time or b) couldn't find the right words. So I've been a little neglecting lately, but I promise, promise I will be better.

Today was a windy, cold, typical November day.

I love November a whole lot.

 My favorite things about November are: the anticipation of Christmas coming right around the corner, the crisp air, the smells, cider, scarves wound around chilly necks, hands shoved in coat pockets, the whole bit. However, my favorite thing about November would probably be all the colorful leaves that have left the treetops and are now just sitting on the sidewalks waiting to be crunched.

and I am always willing to oblige.

(how could you NOT enjoy something as beautiful as these!?)

The other day I was walking into a building on campus (I cannot for the LIFE of me remember which building it was) and I looked over and saw a girl walking not on the sidewalk but near a tree under which was a heaping pile of leaves. She was kicking the leaves up as she trudged through them and the pure look of joy on her face really got me thinking.

So today as I was crunching through leaves on my way home from campus I thought to myself, "self, why exactly do you so enjoy hearing the crunch of your boot-clad foot connecting with a leaf?"

I thought and thought, but really couldn't come up with a logical answer.

So instead I started analyzing the different types of leaves scattered on the sidewalk, deciding which ones gave the most satisfying crunch.

I decided that the brown really dried out ones do give a nice crunchy crunch, but they are not (as my interior design professor would say) "aesthetically pleasing", so they don't give me a whole lot of enjoyment.

I think red leaves are so beautiful looking so sometimes I feel kind of bad trodding them underfoot. and plus, they don't really give that great of a crunch. So it's not really quite worth it to step out of my way for them when I can just admire them from afar.

Yellow leaves are okay. I would probably go out of my way to step on one, but they are not quite as crunchy as I would prefer. But they are a fantastic color!

And finally, orange leaves are where it's at. Almost every single orange leaf that my foot found today gave a great, loud, crispy, satisfying crunch. I would definitely recommend these.

Just so ya know.

If you are concerned about my sanity right now, don't worry. I'm just feeling a little burned out (it's definitely time for Thanksgiving break!) and right now all I want to think about are inconsequential things like crunchy leaves. That's all.

obsession confession

I don't get fanatical about many things.

Really, truly, I don't.

But I do have one minor obsession that I am not ashamed of and that is.......

Taylor Swift

I

 l.o.v.e.

her

(a whole lot)

I went to her concert about three or four years ago back when she wasn't a big deal. The concert was in a little auditorium in Idaho Falls and I think I paid $12 for my ticket. It was a Tuesday night and I almost didn't go because iIhad mutual.

(can you believe that!)

But my cousin talked me into it and I went, had a fabulous time, and got my picture taken with her.

Anyway...today I made about the best purchase I've made in three months....

I'm a little obsessed.
And looking forward to my next drive home. 

blustery day quick fix

Yesterday was bit of a "blustery day"

I actually don't mind blustery days....but I have some conditions.

I like to have a fireplace nearby,

a good book to keep me occupied,

some cuddly clothes,

and a handsome fiance to cuddle with.

Yesterday, however, I had none of these things. My apartment is missing a fireplace, I have only textbooks to read, all my cozy clothes are still packed up at home, and my handsome fiance is approximately 300 miles away.

sigh...

Since none of these things were working out, I decided, during my freezy walk home from campus, that I could maybe add one more condition. this new condition is......

have something to munch on that warms you down to your toes.

So after a quick trip to the grocery store, I rolled up my sleeves, tied my apron, and got to cookin.

I found a recipe online (yes-that did make me a little nervous) for chicken tortilla soup.

With a lot of help from J.J. (my roommates boyfriend) we whipped up a delicious, warming, good smelling dinner for all us girls (and J.J. of course)

Holy cow, it really was SO good! And perfect for the blustery weather outside.

oh and p.s. yes, my hands are still smelly smelly from the garlic/onion cutting.

But the end was totally worth the means.

on growing up

I have been thinking a lot lately lately about "growing up" and what that actually means. I know that the reason I was supposed to come here to BYU was to help me in this growing up process. I had such a hard time deciding between here and BYU-I. When I think about it now, I don't regret my decision at all. Coming here was kind of my own little adventure that I really desperately needed.

When I decided to come here, I knew my roommate (kind of) and that's it. Really. I didn't have any family anywhere close, or really any good friends/acquaintances that I could count on. Through this experience I really learned to rely on myself and discovered that I'm a lot more capable than I had ever before thought I was.

I had to be responsible for myself. If I had a homework assignment due or a test coming up, my mom wasn't there nagging at me about it. 

If I wanted to eat dinner, I made it myself.

If my clothes were dirty, I did my own laundry.

Those are only the obvious things that come with living on your own.

I also learned that I don't have to have a buddy with me all the time-that I can do things by myself.

That was a hard thing to get used to.

I'm used to being surrounded by friends and people I know that I can call on to accompany me. However, being in the midst of about thirty thousand people, a very small fraction of which I know the names of, was a little intimidating. I walked by myself all around campus, I sat by myself during class, I attended a play by myself, and even got used to eating lunch by myself. I made some friends along the way, but most of the time it was just

me,

myself,

and I.

But now I have come to not mind being by myself. It's actually kinda nice to just do my own thing and get done what I need to.

And to tell ya the truth,

I kinda like it.

Another sign of my growing up is that I've been able to make phone calls and talk to professional people. This has always been real scary for me, but I've had to practice this a lot lately (especially with planning a wedding!) and it really doesn't bother me anymore. I have learned how to express myself clearly, and even though I still practice what I'm going to say before I make the call, I no longer stress about having to call this person, or talk to this person and it really doesn't bother me anymore.  

Along with that, another thing I have learned about growing up is not being intimidated by people. I have always been really bad at this, and it drives me crazy! However, as I've grown up, I've realized that I can appreciate other's strengths and not only see my own weaknesses in the shadows of their strengths.

For instance, the other day I ran into a friend that I have always been intimidated by. She is gorgeous girl, and is nice to boot! But for some reason, after every other encounter I've had with her, I walk away feeling like I can never in a million years measure up to her. And it's maybe caused me to resent her a little bit.

However, the other day when I ran into her we had a lovely conversation and I was able to walk away thinking about how nice she was and how happy I was to have seen her.

This was such a huge step for me, and the significance was not lost on me.

 So even though these may seem like minor examples, I guess the main idea of this very random post is that as I have grown up and been able to live on my own I have learned to accept myself just the way I am. I still make silly mistakes, and there's always room for improvement, but I really believe that I am doing okay.

I may not be perfect, but I'm working on it.

And I'm totally okay with that.



the scoop.

I have always been a bit of a romantic at heart. Maybe even more than a “bit”. You can always find me on a free night watching any of my collection of sappy, cutesy chick flicks.

Being the expert in all things chick flick-ish, I had often thought of my own “engagement story.” How would it happen? Would I be surprised? Would I cry? All of these questions were answered this past weekend. And my own “engagement story” went a little bit like this:

I was completely expecting it to happen this weekend. (so much for the element of surprise) We had talked dates, even discussed little details, but hadn’t really started “officially” planning anything yet. And I was NOT going to start planning anything until I had a ring on my finger! So when I arrived home on Friday night and Kolton suggested we do something fun the next day, like go for a four-wheeler ride, the little wheels in my head started turning. I was SO on to him.

So on Saturday afternoon, Kolton showed up to my house with a fourwheeler in the back of his truck and informed me that we were going up to Meadow Lake. (i.e. my FAVORITE place in the world, as I have informed him many, many times.) so we hopped into the pickup and went on our way.

As we were driving we noticed some ominous, dark rainclouds completely obscuring the mountains that we were headed towards. But we decided to press on and see if we could possibly miss the rain. Kolton mentioned that he didn’t even care where we went but we HAD to go on a fourwheeler ride. Once again, I just smiled a little secret smile to myself. I was SO onto him.

We finally made it up to the lake and immediately headed on a hike. I really love hikes, and this one was so beautiful. We came to a little bridge over a creek and I announced to kolton-semi-subtly- that I LOVED this place, and it could possibly be my favorite place in the world. He just nodded his head and kept walking.

Then we reached a little “mini-lake” (that’s how I refer to it anyway) we hopscotched on some rocks til we finally got to a big one that was out in the water. Once again, I mentioned to Kolton that I LOVED this place, and even glanced over my shoulder hoping to see him on one knee.

But no.

 Once again he just moved on without saying much of anything. Disappointed, I followed after him. We hiked for a bit longer, til we were both out of breath and then the weather started turning pretty nasty so we made our way down the mountain. We made it back to the pickup right as it started to rain. Now what? We kinda looked at each other knowing that the four-wheeler idea was out of the question and began to drive home.

As we were headed down the mountain we saw a little side road that I was positive was just for fourwheelers. Turns out, it was just a fourwheeler trail that was a bit larger and could possibly fit a pickup. If you were real careful. (kolton will disagree with that, but this is my story.) anyway…so as we're headed up this tiny trail with me to afraid to breathe too heavily for fear that we will tumble right down that mountainside, the trail suddenly opens up. We pull off to the side of the road and we can see the ENTIRE valley. (except for of course, the part the rainclouds are hiding) so we’re looking out at this amazing view just chatting about everything.

Pretty soon (after about an hour of me wondering what the heck we are still doing up here) Kolton gets all serious, turns to me and says, “Jayci, I have a sad story to tell you.” I look at him with a confused look on my face, and he starts into this big story about how he has been SEARCHING for a ring and can’t find anything. He mentions all the jewelers that we’ve gone to and how none of them have anything that he liked and how he’s been so busy at school and hasn’t had time to really seriously get looking and now he just doesn’t know what to do, but we probably need to start planning everything soon, so we’ll go ring shopping again another day. At the end of his spiel he finally says, “So…will you marry me?” I of course said “Yes” kind of confusedly. This was all wrong! What happened to the one knee, ring thing?!  So as we sit in silence for a second he says “Oh! I forgot to give ya something!” and pulls out of his pocket a long piece of  braided string with a bead on it.

a bead.

He said something like "this will have to do until we can find a ring." So he hands it over to me and I just kind of twirl it in my fingers just waiting and waiting for him to say “Just kidding!” and make this all better. Instead he says, “Hey, let’s put it on!” takes my hand and ties the string in a knot around my finger. Then he pulls his pocketknife out of his pocket (go figure) and cuts off the excess string.

I look at my hand and just want to cry. This was so NOT how I had always pictured it. I wasn’t really mad necessarily, just extremely, extremely disappointed. And there was no way we were going to tell people we were engaged. Not with a string on my finger. Now I know that this makes me sound like a little brat, but I just had my mind so set on what exactly I thought was going to happen and it just wasn’t happening. It took every ounce of self control to just shut my mouth and not say all the things I wanted to.

Such as:

Kolton! What are you thinking!

Are you kidding me!

You are NOT serious!

And…why didn’t we go ring shopping today! (actually…..i did say that one. But it was said in a nice tone)

No sir, instead I just shut my mouth before I said something I would regret later. Not knowing exactly how to handle my silence after I had been so bubbly and happy and hopeful ten minutes before, Kolton suggested that we just go on home.

So we did.

And I don’t think we said hardly two words the whole drive home.

I was trying to come to terms with my disappointment, telling myself I was just being stupid. A ring is just a dumb materialistic thing (that I really want) and what really matters is Kolton and getting married, and not silly things like beautiful, sparkly things that go on your finger. At the same time, I was also coming to terms that we were not going to be getting married in December like we had planned. Because really-there was no way I was going to start planning a wedding without a ring. i don’t know why, but that just did NOT sound appealing.

Just for the record…I did have a teensy little hope that maybe he was just kidding and had something else planned. It was very slim, and I didn’t dare think about it too much because if I was wrong then I would REALLY be crushed. So instead I was planning a cry session for when I got home.

Soon we turn on to the county line road and are headed towards his house when his dad calls. Kolton acted funny about the phone call so I started wondering if maybe a little something more was going on. We pulled up to his shop and unloaded the fourwheeler that hadn’t even been used. He was being very slow about everything and I was freezing so I was trying to hurry him up. Finally we got back into the pickup and pulled into his driveway. All the lights in the house were off , which was a little bit weird I thought. We walked into the house, took off our shoes, and he still didn’t turn the lights on.

And then I saw it.

Coming from the kitchen was a soft little glow that could only be from candles. He led me into the kitchen and sure enough, there was a beautiful little dinner all set up, complete with candlelight and that fancy fake champagne stuff. “Are you kidding me!” I asked him. We walked over to the table and I noticed that there was a fancy little box all wrapped up with a beautiful bow on top. I was instantly about ten billion times happier until he said

 “I knew you’d be disappointed, so I got you a present”

 My heart fell (again) and I just knew  that it was a necklace. (don’t ask me why) of course, he went to a jewelry store, couldn’t find a ring, and instead bought a necklace. It just makes sense, and the box was rectangular to boot.

So Kolton dished up our dinner and I just stared at this teasing little box by my plate. He brought our food and said I could probably open the box after we were finished eating. By this point I had been on such an up and down emotional ride that I just ate my food. Kolton scarfed his down and then watched me finish up my food. I was so shaky and all jumbled up that it was all I could do to put each forkful into my mouth. But somehow, I finally finished and Kolton calmly said

“Okay, I guess you can open it now” and hands the pretty little box to me.

Under the wrapping was a little white box. In that box was a little ring box. As soon as I saw that I’m sure I just got a big ole grin on my face.

And of course, when I opened up the little ring box, there was a

beautiful,

sparkling,

DIAMOND ring looking back at me.

FINALLY Kolton stood me up, got down on one knee, and gave me a REAL proposal. I again said YES (it was a little less confused this time) and we did the whole celebrating, putting the ring on, maybe kissing a little, thing.

and that's about all I've got. It's a doozy isn't it?

And now I just got this big ole ring on my finger, a handsome fiancé, and a date at the Idaho Falls temple.

December 21.

 Be there.