I'm Gonna Make This Place Your Home

Change is good. I have come to that realization. It takes some adjusting to, but it is good nonetheless because it allows us to get out of our comfort zones. These past few days I have learned that it is harder for me to accept change than it would be for somebody else. Taylor and I just recently made the move from Rexburg to Provo. It was a bit of a reality shock to come to Provo because it's unfamiliar ground. I know where nothing is, there are lots of mountains, there's a Cafe Rio right down the street (which I am totally okay with by the way), and BYU actually has sports teams rather than intermurals. It's also weird that I really don't know many people that go to BYU. BUT I am so happy to be here and to start this new adventure. I saw a quote once that said "Be where you're supposed to be, when you're supposed to be there," which I feel is very relevant to right now. This is the place for us to be right now and I definitely know that and though there are still some nerves about living in a new place and going to a new school, I am definitely excited to say the least. :) Music has a strange way of making tough situations a little bit better. On our move to Provo, the song Home by Phillip Phillips came on the radio and as I listened to the lyrics, it was the perfect song for our move. Needless to say, it has become my current music obsession since.

Another thing that was a definite change this year was that I wasn't able to spend Christmas in Pennsylvania with my family, seeing how we moved just a few days before Christmas. It was a lot quieter with just myself and the Mr. (I'm used to chaos on Christmas morning with all of my brothers and sisters and seeing tons of family.) We did decide on having a traditional Christmas breakfast every year though. I let Taylor pick between many options, and the winner was, drumroll please!.... Cinnamon Roll Waffles! So that delicious breakfast will be gracing our table every year on Christmas morning. :) Later on, we had my brother and his girlfriend over for Christmas dinner. The menu consisted of:

Grape and Cashew Salad with Vinaigrette dressing

Stuffed cheese rolls

Ham with an orange glaze

Twice Baked potato Casserole

Sparkling Cider, and cookies for dessert. 

All of which I made and was very proud of for it being the first Christmas dinner that I cooked. :) After dinner we played two rounds of sequence, which got pretty intense! Then I recruited Jared and Kelly to help me hang decorations in the apartment and later we went to the movies to see Here Comes the Boom. Going to the movies on Christmas is kind of another Christmas tradition that I love dearly because I LOVE the movies. :) 

One reason why we are VERY excited about living in Provo because they have so much more going on than Rexburg did! We want to go to the Sundance Film Festival, go skiing in Park City, hike Y mountain, go to the Utah State Fair, go to the zoo in Salt Lake and feed the giraffes! (birthday present, wink wink ;)), they have much better shopping here, and there is a Cafe Rio, an In N Out, and countless other places we want to try in close proximity to us. :) I have a feeling that we are going to LOVE it here!

Life Lately

It has been far too long since the last time I've blogged! So here's what has been happening in my life since the last post...

1. I got HITCHED! (finally!) And to this cute guy. --------->

I LOVE weddings. I always have, and I always will. I'm biased, but my wedding has been my favorite one. :) Besides some minor hiccups, like forgetting my bouquet at the hotel on our wedding day, right before we took bridal pictures, things went very smoothly. My best friend Lauren was able to be at my wedding, which I was so happy about! She flew in from going to school in Idaho, and I am SO happy that she did. She was the perfect bridesmaid. Anytime I needed an opinion, she was there to help, and she gave our wedding toast on very short notice! Such a good friend! Right before Taylor and I got married, we were sitting in this beautiful room that was so peaceful, that's when I started to get emotional. I don't know why, but I kept looking at Taylor as we were sitting there and the thought came into my mind that eyes are the windows to the soul, over and over again. If you've ever met Taylor, you know that he has the prettiest blue eyes. That was just so comforting to me because I know that Taylor also has the biggest heart and that he would be the perfect husband and father.Our wedding ceremony was short, but nothing less than perfect, and we were able to share that special moment with our families.Once the ceremony was over, my Aunt Julie told me that we kissed at 6:26, so that's when we were officially married. I'm so glad that somebody took note of that, because I will remember that forever. :) The next day we had our reception at the Montdale Country Club, which was beautiful. After taking pictures and walking into the reception hall for the first time, I noticed how all of the ideas came together so nicely, it really was my dream wedding and I'm happy I got to share that with friends and family. :)

2. We went on our honeymoon to...the BAHAMAS!  

I would totally add a picture, but I haven't uploaded them yet. But anyways, we were all decked out in newlywed clothes. I was dressed in my Bride sweatshirt, my awesome bride flip flops,(thank you Aunt Paula!) and my bride hat, and Taylor had his Groom hat on. :) So, funny story. There was this little boy sitting behind us on the plane who had a very creative imagination. We were getting closer to landing and he said that he spotted "whale tracks" in the water. Then he started talking about Atlantis and said that he saw it. Of course, Taylor and I thought he was talking about Atlantis, as in the lost world, but we soon figured out that he may have been talking about the Atlantis hotel in the Bahamas. Needless to say, he kept us entertained while in the air. So, we got off the plane and went through customs and then we checked in at the Sandals desk. A few minutes later, we were getting picked up in a ROLLS ROYCE! So cool right!? So we get to the resort and it is absolutely beautiful! We were shown to a room that they upgraded us to, which was pretty big and had a mini bar that was restocked daily, and we opened the sliding doors, which led us right outside to a little porch that overlooked the ocean! Can I just say how nice it was to be at an all-inclusive resort. We didn't have to pay for anything while we were there, unless it was something in the gift shop. We were able to eat anywhere, any time of the day, and they had some really good food! This resort was so relaxing, I wanted to stay there forever. They had palm trees all over with hammocks, they had fire pits everywhere, they had a swim up bar, they had live entertainment at night. I loved it! Oh, another funny story. Upon our arrival, we were to receive champagne. So, the lady brings some over to us, and Taylor tells her that we don't drink. She made this face and was so surprised and started offering us wine and other alcoholic drinks. Every time we went to a restaurant, we had to ask if they had anything non-alcoholic and everybody thought we were crazy because we didn't drink. So our favorite drink while we were there was the virgin Bahama Mama, a really fruity drink that I couldn't get enough of! I can't say enough good things about this resort, we were so sad to leave, and while at the airport, we decided that were going to go back, but next time we're going to stay for longer! YAY! :)

So, those were the two major things that I wanted to tell the world about, but here are some of our favorite things lately:

Favorite Book: Happy like Jesus


I seriously LOVE this book. We have been reading a chapter a night and every time we finish, I just feel so uplifted. I would highly recommend this book! Last night, we read the chapter, "Be spiritually minded." There was one part in particular that I really liked. It told a story of Boyd K. Packer's family and how they lived on a poor farm. His father was plowing one day and broke the plow, which was an essential part to farming. His father told his mother that he needed to go to town to get the plow welded. She was very excited to go because she didn't get the opportunity to go to town very often. She got all of the children ready and as she was about to climb in, she stopped and decided that she didn't think she was going to go to town because she had a feeling that she shouldn't go. Only moments after she made the decision not to go, she smelled smoke in the house and noticed that the house was on fire. She had been praying all the time, asking the Lord to bless their family that they would have enough money to food and clothe their children. So  they started saving money to pay for the farm and all of the money was inside of the house. If she had gone to town, everything that they had would have been lost in the fire. That's just so powerful to me and testifies to me the importance of prayer. Seriously, READ THIS BOOK. I promise, you won't regret it.

Favorite TV Show(s):
The Voice

We LOVE this show. It's on every Monday and Tuesday night, but since we don't have cable, we watch it every Tuesday and Wednesday on our Hulu plus account. Out of all of the singing shows out there, this one is definitely entertaining, AND there's a new twist this season. For the battle rounds, when the coach picks which member of their team performed the best, there is an opportunity for the other coaches to steal the person that otherwise would have been sent home! And, coincidentally, Maroon 5 and Blake Shelton have been on the top of my playlists recently. :)

Once Upon A Time

This is another favorite of ours that just started season 2! If you haven't heard about this show, watch the first episode of season 1 and I guarantee you will not be disappointed! I'll just give a little bit of a rundown. This is a story about all of the story book characters that we know and love, living in their world. But, the evil queen (from snow white) puts a curse on all of the characters, which transports them to a town called StoryBrooke, where they don't remember which characters they are. Slowly, we are able to discover which characters they are. I'll leave it at that :)

Favorite Snack: Sour Punch Bites 

These are sooo addicting! They have been my go to snack everytime that we decide we're going to watch a movie.. As for Mr. Taylor, he has rediscovered his love for Abba Zabba's when he noticed that Horkley's started selling them. :)

I also found this workout on pinterest. We've been doing it for the past week or so and it is intense! If you decide to do it, you can expect to be sore the next day. But, that's always a good sign, right?!

Full Body Meltdown

• 40 jumping jacks
• 15 squats
• 20 lunges
• 40 mountain climbers
• 5 burpees
• 50 bicycles
• 20 second superman
• 5 push-ups
• 40 high knees
• 20 vertical leg crunches
• 30 second plank
• 40 mountain climbers

Happy Wednesday! :)

Latest Obsessions

So, I totally wrote this and meant to post it last week! But, I've discovered some new obsessions, so I thought that I would share them with you. :)

1. The Avengers

I went into this movie thinking that I wasn't going to like it, but we went because I knew that Taylor was really dying to see it. (I put him through a lot of chick flicks...I'm convinced that he secretly likes it though) The movie was almost 2 and a half hours long, but you wouldn't think it was that long because there is always something going on. I thought that it was a pretty fast paced movie and I was so interested in it. Most of the time in movies, I find myself not getting completely into it until a quarter or halfway through the movie, so I check my phone to see the time. I didn't check my phone once during this movie, that's when you know a movie is good. :)  Not to mention that the men in this movie, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Junior, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans = definite eyecandy. haha. Just kidding, Taylor's the only man for me. :) I'm pretty sure that the hulk was in my two favorite parts of the movie too. If you haven't seen it, then definitely GO SEE IT. I promise you won't regret it!

2. White Cheddar Popcorn 

So, we were at the cheap theater this past week seeing the Hunger Games and for some reason, I was just really craving popcorn. I usually don't crave popcorn. Then, I noticed that they had a couple of different popcorn seasonings. There was nacho cheese, caramel, butter, and white cheddar. I was feeling adventurous, so I decided to try one. I tried the white cheddar and I fell in love. It is my newest obsession. That night, I went to Broulim's and bought the popcorn seasoning. I've had popcorn every day since. YUM.

+ = yummy!

3. Harry Potter Weekend 

Harry Potter Weekend on ABC family is the most amazing thing of my life. When I was in 7th grade, I was THE BIGGEST harry potter nerd. I read all the books, more than once, I watched all of the movies, I had a Harry Potter trivia game, a levitating challenge game, I had Harry and Hermione dolls, I won a Harry Potter basket at a Summer Reading Party, get the picture? I think I actually convinced myself that I would be receiving a Hogwarts Acceptance Letter. OH, and I had the biggest crush on Ron Weasley. But anyways, I went to the midnight premiere of Harry Potter part 2 last summer with my roommate Emily, who loves Harry Potter as much as/ more than I do. I actually cried when the last movie was over. Harry Potter was such a huge part of my childhood. So, this weekend was Harry Potter weekend, and as you can imagine, much of my weekend consisted of watching Harry Potter movies. Whenever I watch Harry Potter, I suddenly think I'm british and start talking in an accent. This is another reason why I love HP weekend, it gives me an excuse to talk in a british accent! SCORE. And currently, on my bucket list, I have that I want to go to Harry Potter World. It will happen sometime in the next year or two, I'm hoping. Fingers Crossed ! I'm pretty sure that from here on out, whenever it's Harry Potter Weekend, I will treat it like a holiday and have a party and dress up and make HP butterbeer cupcakes and the works, just for funzies. :) Oh and P.S. Guess what Taylor got me for Christmas? THE ENTIRE HARRY POTTER MOVIE COLLECTION. That's right, best fiance ever. 

4. Horseback Riding

So, for my American Epidemic Science class, we are required to do at least 2 outdoor activities with the school so that we learn to do things that we wouldn't normally have done to be active outside. Ever since I was younger, I have wanted a horse! So, naturally, I picked horseback riding for one of my activities. :) And Taylor came with me, so it was definitely a fun time.So, we got there and the men that owned the horses started pairing us up with our horse. I was the LAST person to be paired with my horse. My horse was a beautiful horse, and his name was Rat. haha. My horse was a lot like me...indecisive! At first, we were at the back of the line of horses. That lasted for about 2 minutes. Apparently Rat decided that he wanted to be the front runner, so he galloped all the way to the front! And Taylor just happened to be the person at the front of the line, so it ended up working out. :) I have to admit, I was a little bit scared when my horse starting galloping to the front, in my mind, I could just picture me on my horse's back and him running away into the wilderness and nobody even realizing I was gone! That's when I realized that I needed to let Rat know who the boss was. haha. Every few minutes, he would stop moving and want to start eating the grass, so I was told that when he did that, I needed to pull up on the reigns and not let him. I'm pretty sure this caused Rat to have a love/hate relationship with me. haha. Then, Rat's indecisiveness came into play again, because he kept letting all the other horses get in front of him in line. He went from being all the way in the back, to being   at the very front of the line, to letting all of the horses get ahead of him and being in the middle of the line. Overall, I was so excited to have gone horseback riding ! I would definitely recommend it ! AND, we got to check it off of our date list! Woohoo ! :)

He's the cutest.

Rat :)

First Comes Love

So, Taylor and I found out last week that we have been approved to live in Cougar Court Married Housing in September! And Can I just say how excited I am !? The apartments are 2 bedrooms, unfurnished, but they are so cute! I'm getting so excited to start moving all of our stuff into OUR cute little apartment and starting a new chapter in my life. AND I can't wait to decorate it and make it home. :) I think that sometimes people think that I'm cutting my life short and that I should be out there experiencing the normal life of a college student, but I've never really been into that. I have not regret for one second the decision that I have made.

Dance has always kind of played into mine and Taylor's relationship. We met in a social dance class. The night that I fell in love with Taylor, which also happened to be the night before Taylor told me he loved me for the first time, Taylor and I were sitting on the sidewalk of an empty church parking lot, talking, and he asked me to dance with him, with no music playing. My heart basically melted. I thought it was quite possibly the cutest thing in the world. Also, when Taylor proposed, I walked into the room and heard music playing and he asked me to dance with him. I started crying, A LOT. And the thing is, I definitely knew that Taylor would propose the day he did. I know Taylor VERY well, and the night before, I knew that he had talked to my dad and asked him for my hand in marriage. I knew that Taylor would not wait one day more than he had to to propose. But at the same time, I was so caught off guard when it actually did happen! But back to the story, After the waterfalls stopped running from my eyes, he led me over to a table that was nicely set with a cute tablecloth and rose petals scattered all around the floor, with a single red rose on my plate. The rose was also significant because the day that he told me he loved me for the first time, he brought me a single red rose.He pulled out my chair for me and I sat down and the next thing I knew, he was on one knee. I couldn't help it, the waterworks started again and didn't stop for a good 10 minutes. It was so beautiful and it was by far the best moment of my entire life. After he gave me the most beautiful ring, we sat and enjoyed a candlelit dinner with sparkling cider ! I love me some sparkling cider :) haha. But anyways, just last week, Taylor and I went for a drive and we ended up back at the same parking lot where he had asked me to dance the first time, and he asked me to dance again. This time though, there was music playing in his truck. In that moment, I was brought back to all of the amazing memories we spent together, just dancing, the two of us, as if the world slowed down for just a minute and we were the only two people around. I cried, again. Taylor constantly surprises me with how romantic he is sometimes.

That moment made me look back at our relationship and see how much we've grown. It also made me look forward to our marriage even more. Within the first few days that I was back out in Idaho, I got extremely sick. I couldn't stand up because the pain was too much to handle. I couldn't eat because that only made it worse. The only thing I could do was lie down on the couch, curled up in a ball, hoping that I wouldn't move too much for fear that the pain would get worse. Taylor took care of me. He ran to the store and got me medicine and sprite to help settle my stomach. He got me blankets when I was cold, he made me breakfast, even though I couldn't eat much, and he just sat there with me, stroking my hair. I am so blessed. I really couldn't have asked for a better guy.

 Oh and another thing that has been fun these last few days is that we've been looking and trying to decide where we're going to go on our honeymoon. I think we've finally decided...CANCUN! So exciting, right !? I told Taylor that when we're both done with school and making big bucks, our next vacation is Bora Bora. :) haha.

The little things, like getting approved for an apartment, and registering for items for my future home, and wedding planning, lots and lots of wedding planning, but taking it piece by piece, are allowing me to look forward so much to August 31st, when I am sealed to the love of my life for time and all eternity. I also look forward to being a mother, sometime in the distant future. But first, being a wife, and a good wife at that. I have this vision in my mind that I will wake up and cook Taylor breakfast before we both head off to school or work.We will kiss hello and goodbye. We will overuse "I love you's." We will go on dates every week. He will take care of me when I'm sick and I'll iron his shirts when they're wrinkled. It will be wonderful. And best of all, I won't have to spend one more day without my best friend. :)

Save the Date

First order of business... I'M ENGAGED. But that's old news, and just now I'm getting around to telling all of my fellow bloggers and followers. What can I say, life got busy, and complicated. And let's face it, I'm horrible at keeping up with the significant events in my life and blogging about them. But, I promise, I will try to be better at this. Fingers crossed.

I am nineteen years old, with my 20th birthday soon approaching. My off track for school was in the winter, which means that from Christmas break until April, I was in Pennsylvania, working, 2 jobs, sometimes 50 hours a week. Not a big deal right? But anyways, I worked at Johnny Rockets as a waitress and also at New York& Company. I can't tell you how many times I would have a table at Johnny Rockets that would ask me how old I was and I would tell them 19 and they would say, "Oh my goodness! You look like you're not even old enough to be working, you look about 14!" And then they would notice my engagement ring, and that's a whole other story in itself. Let's just say that by the time I came back out to Idaho, I was so sick of hearing people tell me that I'm too young and that I don't know what I'm doing and worst of all, that I don't know Taylor well enough to be getting married right now. Which first of all, the people telling me these things were people that ... a.) I just met b.) I had a better relationship than or c.) were jealous that they were with their boyfriend for __ years and weren't engaged yet. Basically, this picture sums up what people thought about me getting married... They thought I was a baby.



It seemed like nobody even cared to listen to what I had to say about the matter. They thought I was getting married because I was either crazy, pregnant, or both. And they all seemed to have little faith that this marriage would work, making it sound like a divorce would be happening sometime in my near future. It amazes me how quickly people jump to conclusions. It doesn't matter that I have come to a knowledge that Taylor Daryl Williams is the man that I will spend time and all eternity with, it doesn't matter that the family, beginning with finding an eternal companion is the basis of our church, which is why it isn't an issue to take lightly. No, all that matters to everybody else is my age. People just cannot get past the number. To me, that is sad.

Another thing is that I am and always have been a shyer person. People take this information as a fact that I'm not ready to be married because I don't have communication skills. But actually, when I have something to say, I let my point be known to others. I feel like communication could potentially have been a weakness of mine, but now I believe that I have made it a strong point. I am able to communicate well through writing and also speaking, and for that, I am greatly blessed. Whether or not I choose to exercise that gift is entirely up to me, but it is not something that I should be judged for.

In taking this huge step in my life, I am learning and growing and preparing myself for marriage. In my Personal Achievement class last semester, my teacher asked the class how many of us had a spouse. Nobody raised their hands. He then stared at us and said "Everybody in the class should be raising their hands." Baffled at this, nobody in the class said anything. He then explained that each one of us has a spouse and has children. Although we may not have them right now, we still have them. He went on to say that somewhere out there is our spouse. They may be taking somebody else on a date, doing homework, or going running at that very moment, but our future spouse is out there. He told us that we needed to live our lives in such a way that would allow us to better ourselves, because our choices right now do not solely affect ourselves, but our future family as well. That was amazing to me. The simple choice of deciding whether or not to join a social dance class and at what time made all the difference for me. That is where I met my fiance. The simple choice of deciding to talk to Taylor made a difference.

I never intended to get married at 19. When I first came out to college, I told myself I wouldn't be one of those girls who put the meaning to the nickname BYU-IDO. I fooled myself. In the Lord's own time, I found and fell head over heels for Taylor. He truly puts life in color for me. Things that I wasn't so sure of before, are clearer now. Things just make sense. And being with him is so effortless. Like I don't even have to try to impress him because just being myself is enough. Nobody understands me like Taylor does, nor do I think anybody will ever understand me like he does. I hope that one day, all of the people who either silently or admittedly had doubts about this marriage working, will look back and realize that things aren't always just black and white. It's not always one way or the other. There's a whole spectrum of colors out there, but people make it too easy on themselves and they just don't try to think outside of the norm. They don't realize that my culture and the way I choose to live my life is a lot different than how most others choose to live. And until people can come to understand the way I have chosen to live, how can they possibly understand my choices. Taylor is my life, he is my choice, and I cannot even tell you how excited I am to start my life with him. August 31st, save the date. :)