Convention TIme

It's convention time at doTERRA.

Which means: 

A. Absolutely zero free time.

B. I never see my husband. :(

C. I get to party in Salt Lake City! (with zero-free time...ha)

Since I'm still on the pay-roll for doTERRA, I offered to work at convention this year.

I figured since Taylor would be there all week anyways, it was the only way I'd be able to see him.

 Plus, doTERRA conventions are always a blast.

Anyways...blogs will probably be non-existent.

Any free time I have, I will try to find and stalk Taylor at the convention center.

Because it's the only way I'll get to see him.

(Taylor is kind of a big deal at these things...)

For example:

Yesterday, I woke up and left for work before 7am.

Taylor was still in bed.

By the time I arrived home at 7pm, Taylor had just finished school and was on his way back to work.

And...he didn't come home until 4:30am.

Awesome.

And my schedule will look like this for the next few days:

Teaching from 7am-3:30pm.

Drive to Salt Lake.

Work at the Convention from 4pm-late.

Try to stay awake for Taylor to come back to the hotel.

Give up and fall asleep at about 1am.

Wake back up when he comes in at 4 or 5am.

Quick kiss, hello, and back to sleep.

Then up to do it all over again at 5:45.

I'm actually not complaining. It will be super fun.  I love all of the doTERRA people.

Just wish me luck for stalking out my husband at the huge convention center to steal quick kisses here and there ;)

Adios for now!

The End of Summer

Taylor and I are trying to savor the last bit of summer we have left.

We have gone out on Ma and Pa Gilbert's boat the last few weekends.

We love every second of being out on the water.

We're hoping to get at least one more weekend boating trip in before the fall storms set in.

As sad as I am to see summer go, I'm excited to welcome fall.

Changing leaves, sweaters and scarfs, and cuddling by a fire.

I'm celebrating the first day of fall (11 days and counting) by going tights-shopping.

I love accessorizing with tights, and I'm excited that the season to do so is upon us!

But for these next 11 days of summer, you better believe we will be soaking it in!

Dear summer:

You've been good to us.

We can't wait to see you again next year.

I love...

My husband's trendy style.

Hey boy...want to be mine forever? 

:)

My husband is awesome.

The night before my first day of school, I briefly mentioned to Taylor that I had lost my auxiliary jack which plugs my ipod into my car.

The next morning, Taylor woke up a little earlier than regular.

When I asked him why he was up and dressed, he told me he was going over to his parents' house to wish his little sister luck on the first day of school (and to sing his traditional back-to-school song to her).

He kissed me goodbye and promised he would be back before I left, so he could do the same for me. ;)

When he came back, he handed me a wal-mart back.

Can you guess what was in there?

That's right.

A new auxiliary jack.

So that I wouldn't have to make the 20 minute commute on my first day without the comforts of my music.

You'd think I would stop being so surprised at the amazing things this boy does for me.

I was just so shocked that he even thought to get up early and go buy it for me.

When I hardly mentioned it the day before.

That boy?  He's an absolute gem.

Thanks, babe!

You are the best!

Married at 20.

I often get asked by my friends from home, "Why did you get married so young?"

I always just kind of smile, say something to make everyone laugh, and then the conversation shifts to something else.

The other day I thought about this frequent question, and I wondered why I rarely seem to respond with a real answer.

To my friends at BYU and the rest of the Mormon world, the concept of marrying young is nothing new.

Mormon boy meets Mormon girl. Boy and girl court, date, and fall in love. Usually within less than a year, the boy and girl are wed.

I feel like the concept of "courting, dating, and falling in love" is viewed as "old fashioned" and "outdated" to the rest of the world. 

People seem to wonder, "What about the important step of "moving in together" before marriage?  What about the year-to-two-year long engagement?"
I often hear the metaphor related to moving in together: "When you buy clothes, you try them on before you wear them, don't you?  Why wouldn't you do the same with a boyfriend or girlfriend?" aka...move in first, see how it goes, and then maybe get engaged.

Good questions.

Back to the beginning: why do I rarely seem to respond to "Why did you get married so young?" with a real answer?

As I pondered this, I thought:

Maybe it's because the answer is too long.

Maybe it's because people will think I'm weird.

Maybe it's because it's just too complicated to explain.
Maybe it's because people just won't understand.

Maybe it's because I'm Mormon.

But then I realized, the answer isn't long and it isn't complicated.

And it's not just because I'm Mormon.

The answer is easy, simple, and true.

Why did I get married so young?

Because I fell in love with a good man.  A man who loved me back with his whole heart.  And we both wanted to live this life together.

There was no need to "try on the clothes before buying them."

In fact, there was no try.

We weren't going to try to make our relationship or our marriage work.

We were going to make it work.

There is no try in love.

There is just love. 

I know mine and Taylor's quick courting and fast engagement was a shock to the rest of the world.
People often asked me, "Why are you getting married!?" "Are you sure you know what you're doing!?"
But frankly, time didn't matter.
Not to us.
We knew we loved each other.
We knew we were committed to each other.
And to us, commitment meant something much more than just "trying this out".

Commitment meant giving our whole hearts and our whole energy into a love that we cherished.

No, we did not move in together before we were married.
No, we did not even sleep together before we were married.
No, we did not have a two year engagement.

Yes, we got married young.
Yes, we knew what we were doing.
Yes, it's going to last forever.

Dear world: pure and true love still exists. It's still possible to have a beautiful and honest marriage.
Maybe if the world realized there was no try in love, maybe, just maybe, there would be less broken homes, less broken families, and less broken hearts.

Why did I get married young?
The answer is simple.
The answer is easy.
And the answer is true.

Because I fell in love with a good man.  A man who loved me back with his whole heart.  And we both wanted to live this life together.

Cuddling in a storm

Saturday night at around 4am,  I woke up to the sound of rain outside of our bedroom window.

I absolutely love rain, so it was a treat to drift back to sleep to the sound of it.

Then, both Taylor and I were startled awake when thunder shook the whole house!

Our window shook so violently, I thought it would break!

Taylor scooted closer to me and held me in his arms as we lay awake listening to the sound of rain and thunder through our open window.

Every few seconds, the lightening would light up our whole room.

I've never experienced anything quite like that.  

The thunder and lightening were so close!

Everyone was talking about the storm the next morning.

Some talked about how frightened they were, others said they were annoyed that they were woken up.

 But me?

I loved every second.

I loved having the small opportunity to lay in my husband's arms and once again realize how grateful I am that I get to be with him for eternity!

And how lucky I am to sleep next to him every night.

I was absolutely overwhelmed with gratitude.

And I still am.

Life, you are wonderful.
xoxo

The Cat Lady

On our date night last night, Taylor and I pulled up behind a special car.

Meet Cat Lady's car (we took the privilege to name her):

So first, we saw the decal on her windshield. And we both kind of chuckled.

Then...we saw her license plate...kitty paw frame and all. And then we could NOT stop laughing.

 I tried getting pictures of her car while we were stopped behind her.  But the pictures weren't very clear. So we resorted to stalking her.  We followed her to a store and when she got out and parked, I jumped out and snapped the pictures, while Taylor served as the get-away-driver.

We just couldn't help ourselves.  We had to document this wonderful memory.

Dear life: Even when you throw me a hard week, you know how to make me feel better with something as simple as this. 

Dear Cat Lady: Thanks for being YOU.

Date night was the best.  Thanks to Cat Lady, stalking, and feeling like Michael Weston and Fi for a few minutes. ;)

Loving this weekend already!