A few flower pics. :)

 So my friend Kaylie was over the other day and took some beautiful pictures of the flowers that Tyler gave me on Valentines. I thought I would post a few because they are gorgeous.

 Check out Kaylie's blog, because she is super talented and has some amazing work of her's on there: www.kayliephotography.blogspot.com

Once Upon a Time...

Once upon a time I arrived in the romantic city of Nauvoo to serve as a performing missionary for 3 and a half months. Little did I know that I would have the most amazing, life - changing summer of my life! There's nothing better then being exhausted in the service of the Lord.

And there's nothing better then serving with the most amazing people in the world! Little did I know that these people would become my family!! Not only that, the Lord had even more exciting things in store, I would meet the love of my life in Nauvoo! Tyler. :)

Of course, we were missionaries back then, which meant mission rules. No dating. We had the amazing blessing of getting to know each other as missionaries first!

The summer was filled with laughter and joy as we served together.

One of my favorite parts was that Tyler and I got to be dance partners in the Nauvoo pageant! "Courting on stage" as Sister Camp would say.

We all created Zion and were a family! It was a summer filled with joy and love. We sprinted to the end and remembered why we were all called to Nauvoo for that specific summer and for a specific purpose. We had the amazing blessing of being full time representatives of Christ and bringing others unto Him through song and dance.

The summer came to a close and we may have left Nauvoo, but Nauvoo will always be with us. Life was exciting as we started a new chapter! We were released as missionaries, which meant now we could date! Tyler and I both happened to call each other the day after we got released, and then it was history! Our first date...We drove up to Brighton in my jeep (the jeep's top was off) Of course it started pouring rain, but that wasn't going to stop us! Rain or shine, we were lovin life! We got up to Brighton, and had a picnic dinner in the tepee. The clouds soon cleared, there was a fresh rain smell, the stars were out, we built a campfire out on Brownie rock (if any of you are familiar with Brighton) overlooking the beautiful skyline and ate banana boats and smore's. We talked and talked and it was a wonderful evening. That week we got to be with each other a few other times and then I left for China. (6 days after we had gotten home from Nauvoo)

China was wonderful (you can read my blog about it)! Tyler and I being away from each other for 4 months was not wonderful. But we pushed through and we made it! Again, rain or shine, we choose lovin life! I returned from China right before Christmas. And Christmas break, well let's just say it was perfect. I LOVED being home and getting to spend time with Tyler. I even got to go to California with him and his family!

We all bonded pretty quickly, and I must say, I am going to have the greatest in - laws in the ENTIRE world!

My nieces and nephews especially warmed up to Tyler quickly...

Tyler and I have continued to get to know each other and it has been such a joyous experience.

I am so lucky to have him in my life.

 I love you Tyler!

The Engagement.

Tyler and I have known for a while that we wanted to marry each other and actually had our wedding date for August set like a month ago. He had told me that we were probably going to get engaged in April, so I was totally believing it. But this was all part of his lovely plan. I'm up in Rexburg for school this semester, so we've done some more long distance relationshiping (good word, don't you think?) It's been hard, but come rain or shine, we choose lovin life! We've been able to see each other many weekends though, so it's been great.

Last Friday, Tyler drove all the way up to Rexburg to pick me up for what would be the best Valentine's weekend ever! We drove back down to Salt Lake that night. Saturday night we went to the Young Ambassadors concert and to The Roof on Temple Square. I had never been before! We had a beautiful view of the temple and stuffed ourselves with delicious food!

Throughout the weekend Tyler gave me three different roses (representing the past, present and future), and each rose was along side a sweet note on pink paper. Did I mention that Tyler is an excellent writer!? He gave the first rose to me on Friday and the note talked about past. The second rose was given to me on Saturday and the note talked about the present...

Here are the two roses, they were actually in individual vases, but I was a little late at taking pictures of them before I hung them to dry.

He gave me the third note on Sunday and it talked about our future together. After I read the third note, he gave me the last flower. This flower was one of those Hallmark roses where you press a button and then the petals open up. In the middle of the petals, there was a little heart that said "I love you" with a tiny piece of paper folded up sitting on top. I was like, "Oh I wonder what this could say?!" I still had no clue what was about to happen, because keep in mind that I totally bought what Tyler said about getting engaged in April and we hadn't even looked at rings yet. So I unfolded the little piece of paper. It was in the shape of a heart and on it I started to read the words...

And I turned and Tyler was on his knee asking me to marry him! Guess what I said?!! "YES!!" of course.

I was totally surprised and absolutely love the ring! And I really love how he picked it out and it was a surprise! What a stud!

Here's a close-up. Thanks for being the hand model in this picture McKayla! (Tyler's sister)

Sunday night, he drove me all the way back up to Rexburg!

On Valentines (Tuesday) I came home from school and was surprised by these beautiful flowers! I love walking into the kitchen and seeing them on the table!

Tyler is the biggest sweetheart! I am super looking forward to being married in the place where we met and spent the most amazing summer....Nauvoo! We will be sealed for time and eternity on August 8th in the Nauvoo temple! And, come rain or shine, we choose to always be lovin life!