Engaged and Junior Year

Drum Roll Please?

Yes! I'm (FINALLY) engaged!!!! After a good long year and nine month, Trent and I are finally deciding to tie the night. Trent was very crafty in proposing. He brought me to the library which is also where we first met and told me to flip through a book. It was supposed to give us ideas for a backpacking trip to south america. I kinda had a clue he was proposing so I was taking my time. Finally he said, oh how about you turn to this page; and he moved it to "the page." Trent drilled a hole in the book in small and there in the small square was my ring! I was SO EXCITED I had to try it on right away. It was a little tight but I could still move it back and forth. Then I slept in it overnight. I flew to Washington the next day and my ring was stuck on my finger. Finally I had to get Richard (Trent's dad) to cut it off with a dremel.
it's huge huh? Well me and trent got started into our planning right away. We took our engagement pictures. Kendra, a friend from PC and my best friend Sarah took some great pictures. Here are a few of my favorites.

In other news, Halloween was a blast. Lauren, my roommate, through a Halloween breakfast party and we made all sorts of delicious treats together. In the afternoon we went to a dance party then we went bowling with our friends! Here are a few pictures.
Mummy sausages !
Orange lack o lanterns with grapes inside.



Lastly, my band, The Lucky Crickets, is awesome this year. We have a couple projects in the next couple weeks. This year we've been going more of a pop folk route mashing up songs like Journey and Take on Me, Boy with a Coin and originals like Take it from Here.

And that's a wrap! I'm pretty much all caught up!!!

Catching up 3 Sept

let the school year begin! This semester I took Music 101, History of Creativity (Humanities General), Business Marketing, Intermediate Dance Improv, Career Opportunities in RMYL, Folk Music, and History of Christianity. Talk about a LOAD! I'm so busy this year with tests and projects it's not even funny. I am constantly reading, writing or performing. Fun fun fun. But in other news, my social life has been a ball! Me and my roommates started our semester with an 80's dancing girls night in Salt Lake. It was a great way to break some boundaries. I'm living with my good friend Bridgette, Lauren who I have gotten to know and absolutely love, and Valery, Lauren's brother's fiance. We're a happy four and it has propably been my favorite semester in Utah yet!

The following weekend Trent, Bridgette, Lauren and I went to a EastCoast BBQ party and wore our preppy outfits. After that we went to a Luau at Christian's (Bridgette's boyfriend) friend's house. It was huge! 4000 + student in one backyard! Talk about a party! Then that Saturday, me and my roommates threw a Mexican Fiesta! I think that is the 5th fiesta I've thrown so I definitely have all the decorations I need for it now. We had about 100 people altogether in our humble abode through the evening. I was very proud and impressed with the group we could get.

A couple weeks rolled by and Trent finally surprised me by taking me tandem bike riding! I've been wanting to do it ever since we've met. It was fun, but not as fun as I imagined. Still I'd do it again!



Of course every October I through the biannual general conference weekend at my house in Utah. We had a lot of fun this year with making cinnamon rolls in the morning, pizza in the afternoon and pasta in the evening. Lauren (the picture just above) and I were the chefs of the evening. It was great and so convenient to have a helper in the kitchen now. We really are two peas in a pod!
In the beginning of October my study abroad met altogether again for a reunion with our beloved tour guide, Tony. It was great to see them all again!

And that's it for September!

Catching up 2 July and Aug

July and August were a ton of fun. To be honest it was mostly spent with Trent, mom and dad. We went out to eat at Grappa, Stein's, Zoom, Goldener Hersh, and any other delicious place you could imagine.
Kitty of course stayed by my bedside this whole long time. Nowadays she even follows me into the shower!
Every Thursday there were free concerts in Salt Lake known as the Twilight series. My friend Jesse worked at it so I always made an effort to go to it. Plus it was easier for Trent because he didn't have to drive to Park City that night. On this specific night we were watching The Black Keys. Other performers were Iron and Wine (personal favorite), M. Ward (really great), and Sonic Youth.
My Park City Single's ward is AWESOME IN THE SUMMER TIME. Every family home evening ward members come with such a creative and welcoming attitudes. One time we had a Can Auction where members of the ward offered different services that we would auction with cans for and later donate to the Salt Lake food bank. We raised over 1500 cans! Anyways, me and Trent bought 2 tickets to a Toga murder mystery dinner date. It was SUPER fun.

In August(?) the whole family met together for a little reunion weekend. We spent a lot of time hiking, biking, eating, and playing with the darling kids. One day Sarah came over and took pictures of the whole gang. We had a hard time figuring out what to where and finally came to the decision of red, black and gray.

I love this picture of me and Trent.

I had 3 great friends get married in June and July. My best friend Sarah found her dream boat last October and finally tied the knot with him June 25th. Might I note that me and Trent met 8 months earlier than them and we we're even engaged yet? Anyways, I had the honor of putting on her Bachelorette party a couple days before her wedding. We ate penne (penis) pasta salad and drove to a dance club in Salt Lake where we completed scavenger hunt quests together (lip sync, kiss a bald man's head, get a guys number, put a toilet paper veil on the head). It was a great night.

Finally the day came! Sarah looked absolutely gorgeous. I was there when she came out of the temple. Her reception was at a lovely site. There she provided dinner and had a program with both parents. She had a musical program as well where I sang an acoustic version of Silly Love Song. It was such a wonderful day and I was so happy for her.
My good friend from Hawaii, Brook found her sweet heart in November and was engaged just 3 months later. Again so funny when you compare their story to me and Trent's. I put on a girl's night dinner for her and we surprised her with a surprise plate of sausage...we also bought a red velvet cake for her too. It was SO DELICIOUS.
Brooke's wedding was fantastic too. I was lucky enough to be there when they came out of the temple too! I fortunately found this adorable dress that matched her colors, purple and black. Doesn't she look BEAUTIFUL?!? Brooke asked me to sing in her reception as well. I sang a song both me and Brooke heard for the first time together while in Hawaii that's sweeped the radio station ever since, I'm Yours by Jason Mraz.

Lastly my friend Britt and Chris got married July 25th. They had a fantastic rehearsal dinner program that worked as a more formal function with dinner and a program. We loved the dinner and Chris' backyard was so nice. We had a wonderful time with our friends that night too.

Catching Up 1 May and June

Summer was great. I went on a study abroad in my College Major, Recreational Management to New Zealand, Australia, and Fiji. It was about 6 weeks and 2 in each country. I'll post pictures and coordinate them with some quotes from my journal.
"Temple was beautiful, missionary couple was so cute, lovely to see how many LDS in NZ"
"Day two, went on a hike of Mt. Manganui, climbed alot of it. Just as we neared the turn of the mountain we saw it. The sunset was beyond words."
The following night was so cold that I slept in the same sleeping bag as Rachel. We zipped our together. Soon enough we were in Cairns, Australia.

"Cairns is beautiful and WARM! I got to drive a little on the left side of the road. Went on a walk through the town...The next day we woke up for our dive boat! We went on the first boat and did two dives. I was super sea sick...had amazing food on our dive boat. [picture] night dive was amazing. We dove with flashlights (or torches) and saw 1 white reef shark and three GIGANTIC turtles!
After the dive boat we went to Daintree Rainforest. "I talked to Trent for the first time! I love him! Realized alot about our relationship today as I read scriptures and patriarchal blessing. I went ziplining. The forest is beautiful. So lush and green but different than washingon because its tropical and brighter."

Went to a petting zoo
These small little ants give you all your vitamin C for the day. Just pop one in!

The first drive through Darwin "apparently fires are normal and even encouraged by rangers because they help the soil to get rich and grow""We went to an aboriginal rock site and looked at all the neat rock art"

My "fantastic cook group: Hillary, Brie, Rachel, Krysten and me." We made delicious delicious curry this night and the next we mad quesadillas. The dairy is UNBELIEVABLE. "there's gotta be somethin in the cows.""got EATEN by mozzies. 45 bits on my forearms alone"

Beautiful sunset in Darwin. after sun games and scavenger hunts through the city.Layover in Fiji. BOUGHT A SHEEPSKIN!!!

Teeny tiny airplane after getting into Nadi. Flew us to Kandavu...where we would spend the remainder of our trip.Big eye in the sky

Sunset in Soso, where we stayed with host family.Serving Kava at the town meeting.

Saying goodbye to my host family. This is where we slept. (comfy mats...yes I bought one)walking through the sludge and into the boats to bring us home!