Are you kidding me with the snow right now?

It's the end of March.  This week at home, it was 80 degrees and my nephew Tanner was playing in the sprinkler.  Look how cute he is:

I don't know that I've ever said this before, but I'm insanely jealous of Tanner right now.  This is more how I'm feeling today:

This baby hates snow!  And so do I.  It's the end of March!  Shouldn't it be spring time and sunny and warm outside?  That's what I tried to tell Utah, but she wouldn't have any of that.  Also, shouldn't I be in class right now?  Yes, but there's no way I'm walking outside in this weather so instead, I'm at home doing laundry and "homework."  

Johnny drove me to school this morning.  We both went to our first class at 10 and then at 11 we met up with Laura and Jess for some Jamba Juice before Jess goes all the way back to KU.  When we finished there, Johnny and I went back to his car.  Don't even worry, by the time we got there we were soaking wet because of this horrendous snowfall and subsequent slush.  When I got in the car, as Johnny was scraping the windows clear, I immediately took off my shoes and socks and I could literally ring the water out of my socks.  Boo.

Welcome to Utah.

it's been a while..

I think I've found that blogging is like journal writing for me.  I can do well for a little bit, but then it's game over.  So here's to playing catch up.

A couple of weeks ago, Laura, David, and I ran the Rex Lee Run.  It's a 5k race to fight against cancer.  Saying that I'm a horrible runner is not completely true because that implies that I am, in fact, a runner.  I'm not even close.  Basically I'm way slow, but that's okay with me.  I just wanted to run this race and I wanted to run it with my BYU siblings.  Like the faithful brother and sister that they are, David and Laura stayed with me and had me laughing the whole time.  We literally crossed the finish line holding hands, just like this drawing by David depicts:

The only differences is that our shirts said "Rex Lee Run" instead of "Drake Team." 

Here's us after the race back at Laura's dorm:

We're such good friends.

A lot of other really exciting things have happened but I don't really have time to tell all.  Basically school and work and wedding plans have been dominating me.  On the plus side, I'm getting married in 30 days!  And on Saturday, Johnny's mom and sisters and sister in law are throwing me a bridal shower! I'm very excited about that.  And Johnny's birthday celebrations begin this weekend - I can tell it's going to be a great next few days.

Perspective Taking.

Life has been absolutely crazy lately.  I realized tonight that I've been getting too caught up in the stress of school, wedding planning, work, church, and the nasty rain and snow mix I walked home in today.

There's no reason for any of that.  I'm getting married in 74 days.  Regardless of how the details all play out, it's going to be the best day of my almost 21 years.  I have the best family in the world, with one more little baby to make his/her debut around August 12th.  And, to top it all off, I am marrying into another amazing family that I can't wait to be a part of. 

Life is my favorite, and I think it should be yours too.

Why my checking account and I hate Provo City.

Parking is the worst in Provo.  Last week, I got back to my apartment kind of late and every single spot in my designated lot (for which I have a permit) was open for me to use.  That's never happened before, so I went to the street.  The main street was completely full of dozens of parallel parked cars, so I hesitantly went to a smaller street that required a permit for overnight parking.  I had to park somewhere and there's no telling where the next open (legal) spot would be.  I have a permit, I had no where to go, and I sure wasn't going to park three blocks away to walk to my apartment in the middle of the night by myself.

I broke the rule and now I have to pay for it, literally.  $25 for parking for six hours on a street that still had plenty of room for other cars with permits?  Provo cops, are you kidding me right now?
When Johnny picked me up the next morning, he drove me to my car so I could move it back into my lot.  He had taken the parking ticket off of my windshield and replaced it with a note that said on the outside, "PARKING."  On the inside it said, "To: Sarah E. D. A. - I LOVE U. From: Jonathan B. Allred."  So sweet, right? I know, I have the best fiance ever.

But when I realized there was a legitimate ticket that he was just hiding in his car, the anger came back.  Provo, what did you want me to do?  Maybe if you had a proportionate number of parking spots for the college campus population of 30,000 that your city is lucky enough to include, people wouldn't have to park illegally.  Maybe if you forced apartment complexes to provide parking for each resident, I wouldn't have been forced to break the law.  Or, and I know this is a crazy idea, maybe if you would just accept a very nicely written appeal from someone who was only a victim of your ridiculous parking policies, you'd have one less enemy.  Even if you actually answered a phone call from someone who just saw that their appeal was denied, instead of keeping said person on hold for 30 minutes with the same annoying, "there are three callers ahead of you," message playing over and over again, with the number of callers never getting smaller, I wouldn't be bashing you right now.

I'm afraid none of these facts will ever change.  I will be forced to pay my fine within the next couple of days or else be subjected to a late fee.  Provo will still be able to restrict parking as much as it wants, and will be no worse off for what I'm writing.  I'm essentially powerless in this whole situation.

Thank goodness I graduate in a year and a half.  Then it's peace out, Provo forever.

We Goin' Platinum!

My Christmas break was pretty great.  I did some of this:

And this:

And lots of picture-taking:

I also had a very nice little New Year's Eve surprise- I got engaged!  Johnny got up at 4 am, was driven to the Salt Lake City airport by our very dear friend, Jason Dale Lane, flew to Chicago, then to Springfield, then caught a ride into Mountain Home courtesy of Joseph and Julieta. I, on the other hand, woke up at like ten and just made pies and played with my nephews all day.  Joseph and Julieta left the house early that afternoon to "clean the office, shop, and go out to eat," so they were gone most of the day.  In reality, though, they were in Springfield ready to pick up my soon-to-be fiance.  They got back to the house around 8 that night and we all went straight into the living room to open Christmas presents with Emily, Chris, and Tanner.  During that, my dad whispered to me that he had a present for Mom hiding in the food storage room of the basement.  He asked me to go grab it for him.  So, off to the basement to retrieve a gift I went.

I got to the door to the food storage room, and taped to it was one of the coupons I gave to Johnny for Christmas.  I immediately knew that my biggest dream had come true, and that my best friend and love of my life was on the other side of that door.  I'm still convinced that I wished him there.  I got so nervous and started shaking, my heart was pounding.  I gained enough composure to open the door and turn on the light.  Johnny was standing right before my eyes, in between the filing cabinets and water heaters, among dozens of number 10 cans and a year-supply of toilet paper, with an occasional mouse trap on the shelves around him.  It was the most romantic thing I'd ever seen.

By some strange combination of excitedly running and nervously walking, I finally got to him and asked, "How did you do this?!" No time for answers, though.  He got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.  I answered with an affirmative "uh-huh" and the next thing I knew, we were engaged to be married.  We hugged and let that realization start to sink in, but not for long because we were both shaking so bad we had to go to the nearest couch in the basement before our legs gave out.  After a few minutes, we gathered the strength to walk up the stairs and join my anxiously awaiting family in the living room to share the good news.  They were all in on it!  I was so happy Johnny proposed in Arkansas so I didn't have to tell the story to my family via skype and without real life hugs for everyone.   It's okay if that's the most romantic proposal story you've ever heard- after all, we did have the food storage room and the element of surprise on our side. 

I'm sure there are details I'm leaving out and that there are a million better ways to describe the best night of my entire life than what I just did, but this will have to do.

Also - one of my absolute favorite parts to this story is that Johnny picked out the ring all by himself!  He knew I liked princess cut, but that's the only clue I gave him.  I never had to go ring shopping at all, an event that would have, without a doubt, stressed me out so much and only highlighted the fact that I am the world's worst at making decisions. Here's my beautiful ring on my claw-like hand (real cute, I know):

Moral of the story: I'm in love.  I had the perfect surprise proposal by the perfect guy for me.  We will be sealed for time and all eternity in the LDS Bountiful, Utah Temple on April 23, 2011 at 11:30, and I can't wait.

Now it's time for some serious wedding planning.  Wish me luck!

Food and Family to the Max

I've been home for about a week and a half now.  Joseph, Laura, and I left Utah on Friday, the 17th.  Nearly 30 hours later, we arrived in Arkansas.  Needless to say, it was a very long trip, but we're so happy to be here!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year, but we're missing Emily, Chris, and Tanner while they're in Oregon for two and a half weeks.  I'll go to pick them up from the quaint Branson airport on Thursday, and I'm so excited to have them with us for a couple of days before we go back to school.

Basically, my entire break has consisted of family time and baking.  Johnny gave me a cook book for Christmas and I've been testing out several recipes now that I'm home.  Here's a few of the things I've baked thus far:

• Christmas sugar cookies
• chocolate chip cookies
• glazed apple cream pie
• banana cream pie
• 6 loaves of Amish friendship bread

I've also been establishing a really solid relationship with Clark.  I know he's only 3 months old, but I feel like he's definitely going to be missing me once I leave, poor kid.

He loves his Aunt Sarah.  He also loves spitting up on his Aunt Sarah.

Papa and Clark

Laura and Clark both love Sunday naps

Me and Grams - She's been cracking us up all break.

Other great things about this break:

• I think I've worn makeup a total of two times since I've been here
• There have been multiple times that Grams has laughed so hard that she's started crying uncontrollably
• I've been averaging about 12 hours of sleep a night - playing catch up from last semester
• As I'm writing this right now, I'm sitting in a recliner watching Frasier with Joseph and Mom, while Clark has his arms wrapped around mine

 
I love how expressive and responsive Clark is getting.  He is discovering his mouth and all the different things he can do with it.  It's precious.

Life's good.

Also, I spent all day yesterday in the kitchen.  Okay, all day that I was awake, and since I'm getting 12 hour nights that translates into about 2 PM to 7 PM.  Still, it was a very fruitful experience.  I made dinner for my family - zesty roasted chicken and potatoes, homemade rolls, and some asparagus that Mom actually made.  Then we had that banana cream pie for dessert.  Here's pictures, per Johnny's request.

And now I'm hungry again. 

It's Christmas Time in the City

Today, I am reminded of some things that I could do without.
1. Getting 4-5 hours of sleep for three nights in a row.  I need at least 9 a night to properly function.
2. Being on campus so early in the morning that it's still pitch black outside- thank you, finals week.
3. Finals scheduled at 7 AM.  Why would anyone ever do that?
4. Textbook sell-back.  Don't you dare offer me $3 for a textbook that you "already met your quota for and therefore don't need" when I payed at least $50 for it.

Okay, I'm pretty sure I'm done venting. 

On a happier note, it's Christmas time!  This year, all my siblings and I drew names to buy gifts for because our family is getting too dang big (I love it though).  I got Joseph's name, so yesterday I bought him his presents and then got them wrapped for free at the bookstore (I guess the bookstore can do something right).  It got me pretty excited to get home and be with the fam.  Except Emily, Chris, and Tanner fly out to Oregon today, to spend the holidays with Chris's family.  They get back home right before New Year's, so hopefully I'll get at least a couple of days with them before driving back to Utah for Winter semester.

Another thing that got me excited for Christmas- Saturday night, Johnny, Adam, and I went up to Salt Lake to see the lights at Temple Square.  It was so fun!  It's always so beautiful at Temple Square this time of year.  We drank hot chocolate, took tons of pictures, and listened to Christmas music all the way there and back.  I love it there because it is such a good reminder of the reason we celebrate Christmas.
Here's basically a million pictures.

 

 

Adam saw me shivering so he forced his jacket onto me.  Such a gentleman.  I was not happy about it though.

Roommate love:)

At this point, I was really excited for some reason.

One more thing - yesterday, Johnny and I celebrated our 6 months!  That's pretty legit, I think.  And when I say celebrate, I mean we took my car to the mechanic, went to Walgreens, made spaghetti and mango Koolaid (classic), and studied our brains out for finals.  It was still a very fun night, though.  I love my boyfriend.  The night before, we had a wonderful dinner at Nate and Claire's, then we went to a park and we read my journal that I started freshman year.  It was really fun, I went into pretty good detail about him back in the days before we started dating.  All in all, it's been a great six months.

Now I'm done procrastinating.  It's finals week for cryin' out loud!