In honor of Mother's Day

Today my mother-in-law sent me this book, I Want to Be a Mommy. While Jason and I got a great laugh opening this up wondering what this was implying (really it is a wonderful Mother's Day gift that was given to all her daughter's to read to their children - I just haven't reached that yet) I read through it and I can say that it's true; I want to be a mom. Since being out of school I have been searching for who I want to become and what it is that will bring me the most personal satisfaction out of life. While I have searched different career paths,  it seems that I will never be satisfied until I am a mom. While there are many things that I enjoy doing now, I look forward to that day that I can take on the most noble career as I believe C.S. Lewis put it. Why you might ask? Well as this book so aptly puts it, I want to be a mom "because mommies can do everything! They can climb mountains, kiss owies, know everything, juggle, save the day, and make wishes come true. And a mommy is a princess who can play in the dirt too."

Harvard, here we come!

It's official, we're going to Boston! I know, it's been forever since I've written anything (like 6 months ago before we got married...oops) but this is so exciting we couldn't keep it to ourselves. About a month ago Jason found out he was accepted to Harvard. He text me at work saying "I GOT ACCEPTED TO HARVARD" immediately followed by another text saying "this is not a joke" to which I let out a silent scream while I was transferring someone to another dept. on the phone. I came home to my husband floating above the ground with his head slightly bigger than when I had last seen him :) We were both ecstatic. I know you are wondering why it took so long to accept the offer but being the careful (indecisive) people that we are, yes it did take us a month to figure it out. When it came down to it, how can you pass down a chance to go to Harvard? Jason visited the campus last weekend and loved it. It's the perfect mix of learning but learning to DO something which is exactly what Jason's been looking for. Despite the fact that we will be living in a tiny apartment and eating a lot of rice (it's cheap) we both feel very blessed. This is an opportunity of a life time.

Besides, I just might be able to live in my dream little apartment that I found in D.C.....just maybe :)

Five days...

Five days and this guy comes home!!

And it's almost here....one llloooonnnnnggggg month later that wait is almost over. Almost. I'm looking at wedding videos and songs today and I just want him to be here dang it. My patience is on it's last leg. I wouldn't recommend being apart while you're engaged. Ever. To anyone. Of course if you ask me, I'll say it's been a good thing, I've been able to spend time with my mom, plan the wedding without other distractions, etc, etc. But don't let my smiling face and reassuring words fool you. It's been hard and one of the toughest months and I would trade all the benefits for having him home. I guess we'll see if it's real after he does get home, I'm not entirely convinced he is coming home because it doesn't seem real. Luckily one of my other favorite people in this world, Camille, is coming this weekend and I'm stoked! She'll do a wonderful job at keeping me distracted. So bring on the weekend! It's the best thing that's happened since Christmas, oh and getting engaged.

My signing table book :)

Click here to view this photo book larger

in case you wanted to see even more pictures of Jason and I, here's the book we'll be using at our reception...

I'm in love :)

One year older and wiser too :)

Happy Birthday to me! This is to thank all of those who made this day special, namely:

Skyping with my friend Camille whom I miss terribly

Decorating this lovely tea pot at Color-me-mine, I love that place!

Eating at my favorite restaurant the Old Spaghetti Factory

Eating a wonderful birthday cake that my mom made

And getting a piano! (Okay it's just a miniature music box)

But I love it all the same and even more because it's from my sister.

What totally made my day was the poem Jess and her husband Jordan gave me:

Natalie you are now 22 years old,

But now you can snuggle Jason when you are cold.

You are really smart and pretty,

you have a lot of patience and not greedy.

Your testimony is strong with a lot of might,

When you walk the streets of Germany you shine like a bright light.

Our family is sealed like concrete pavement,

remember this rhyme came from Jordan and Jess Wayment.

We love you with all we got,

but always remember that you are super hot.

It's truly the simple things that counts. A big thanks goes to my family for making this day so wonderful. And to all of my friends who left facebook messages on my wall. It truly means the world to me, I'm so grateful to be surrounded by so many good people.

Exhausted...

12 hours of wedding planning is enough to kill anyone. So what do I do to unwind? I try to go running and then get pulled into more wedding plan. Thank heavens it's my birthday tomorrow and my goal is to do nothing related to the wedding....ha. At least it's a nice thought. So what do I really do to unwind? Talk to Jason, listen to Rachmoninoff, blog, and sleep. But the most exciting thing I did today was I got my temple dress and it's beautiful. I'm so excited. It truly doesn't matter what happens with all of the wedding plans next to the temple. It will be wonderful.

Fairytale meet reality

I'm back from Europe! And ENGAGED!!!! I know I haven't updated this blog in quite sometime so let me do a recap of the trip....

first....Jason proposed and we got engaged! The first day I arrived. Right on top of this tower in the background that I almost pushed him off of because he psyched me out with a gold bookmark first. But it all ended well :)

Then we traveled Paris in the rain

Saw the top of the alps

went to Rome and saw the colosseum and got a wicked tour of the vatican

and saw the Nuenshwanstein castle while camping in Bavaria

And of course I could post a million more pics but that's the highlight. I came home last Thursday night and for a minute the whole trip felt like it was just a dream. UNTIL I got swept away by wedding planning. I now have a dress, a photographer, the reception center, and engagement pics. And that's only the beginning. Tomorrow is meeting with the luncheon people, picking out my cake, looking at rings for him, paying deposit on our new apt, meeting with the invitations people and there was one more thing but I can't remember anymore. Despite what people may think, this is the fun stuff. (I actually am truly enjoying myself, I've been waiting my whole life to plan this!) The not fun stuff is what I have to do in between- look for jobs, figure out how to not be destitute in the fall, move all my junk and his back and forth between my apt and house, organize all of my junk, doctors appts, look at insurance, figure out cell phones, and all while make sure everyone party involved is happy. Needless to say, I'm stressed. Mostly about money. These pictures are going to have to go on my wall so I can remind myself about how much fun we had when we're sleeping on a air mattress, eating on a card table, watching a tiny t.v. on the floor, and eating mac and cheese because we can't afford anything. Probably the hardest part about all of this is Jason is still in Germany until the end of August which brings it's own set of challenges. I'm crossing uncharted territory and amongst the stress I'm very excited. Until this recent wave of stress, life has been very much like a dream and I'm still loving most of every minute or at least trying to. You only get to do this once.