Who owns these clothes?

My closet and I are having one of those out-of-sync days that Jim and Pam talk about on "The Office". This morning I grabbed what is usually a stylish shirt, and also what normally works out to be cute jeans, and put them on. Without much more thought I started getting ready for the day and caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Who owns these clothes? Must not be me, the shirt wont sit straight on me, and its not due to slouching or eating the cookies I made in spite of the promise I made myself last week to stop making cookies. I have not put on weight, or changed anything. But this shirt does not fit me. These jeans, though this is the first day I'm wearing them, look as though this is day three, and maybe on day two i ran through the sprinklers fully clothed.

I went back to the closet and looked through again, realizing that nothing that I own would fit me today. I woke up swollen I think. I looked at a few more shirts, and went back to the T-Shirt and jeans I had on before, deciding that I would just go to the laundromat today and use "Oh, it's laundry day" as the excuse for my appearance.

So i'm sitting here enjoying the aftertaste of the no-bake cookie I just ate, and wondering why I dont get along with my clothes today. If Lucas came in, I would probably be embarrassed. I feel like I resemble a yard sale, or a clearance mannequin. Like for some reason parts of my appearance today were all taken from random out-dated sections of a house, and put outside in the grass on chocolate milk stained blanket, and for some reason I jumped at the opportunity to purchase this mismatched outfit. I would try again, but I'm affraid of what another attempt might result in. Perhaps I will let my fight with my wardrobe today persuade my friends and family to secretly film me for weeks, and call up What Not to Wear, let them be the therapists my clothes and I need to resolve this conflict.

car accident and moving in photos

The van rolled once, that roof that crushed in was close to my head but didn't hit it, and the mess is what our organized packing job looked like post-accident.










Moving in!!!!

pictures as promised! wedding and honeymoon

for some reason its cutting some of the pictures in half. I'm trying to fix it. haha sorry if you got cut off, its nothing personal!






I'll get more wedding photos later...I still haven't seen the ones from our AWESOME photographer, Jessie! When I see them, you'll see them!


Here are some Shark Week photos.


beach!



huge tree!



the day we left... :(

Rexburg

So finding jobs that pay any money in Rexburg is just about impossible. The other day while Lucas was in class I got ready for a wild job hunt. I was driving and had NO idea where to start. I drove past this tiny real estate building and had a thought to go inside. So I walk in and there is a cute older man inside. I say hello to him and explain that I am looking for work, and asked if he had anything I could do for them. He looked surprised and said "Well we haven't had a secretary for a while because things are kind of slow. But, they are about to pick up here soon, and we'll be looking for someone. My wife owns the place, so why dont you come back here tomorrow. We'll see if we can find you some hours."

WHOA! Awesome!

So it didn't sound like an absolute job opportunity, but for a random walk in it was better than "we're not hiring"

The next day I went in and talked to his wife. She said she would hire me on the spot but things were so slow she didn't know if she could afford it. She said she would talk to her husband and let me know in a few weeks.

So I was a little bummed but maybe it would take a few weeks for me to find ANYTHING.

The NEXT DAY, she calls me and says "Are you still interested in working for us?" "Absolutely!" "Can you start Friday? It's only Part time- couple days a week"

Better than nothing!

So that was easy, I landed a part time job at one of the first places I looked! Today is my first day. Its really quiet, everyone is SUPER nice. I can tell I'm going to really like it. They already left me in the office alone, in charge of phones emails and all other office stuff. I've only worked here 2 hours, and was trained all morning. Its pretty easy stuff- and I love office work! WOO!

Applebees is close to my house, I also applied there. They sounded like they wanted to hire me, so if I can work there part time and here part time, I will be busy and making money so Lucas and I won't end up onthe streets. I'm just happy we have had such good luck so far! I love life!

Little Miracles

You are expecting this post to be about babies aren't you? It's not about babies- though they are miracles. This is about the miracle that is my life, and the AMAZING story you are about to read. You will feel all sorts of emotions. You will smile, giggle, laugh, be shocked, and maybe even terrified. (Oh the suspense is killing you- and will continue to kill you until I get my camera cord so i can upload pictures.)


CHAPTER 1- WEDDING DAY
So I woke up on my wedding day in shock that I was awake on my wedding day! Can this be real? I thought I should feel different, or really nervous, or something. I think I was too excited to show nervousness. And too nervous to show my excitement. So I was just calm. All I kept saying was "It's my wedding day. Can you believe its my wedding day?" First thing I did is go to the bank and deposit my check from my last week of work. I looked at my available balance and laughed as i realized that Lucas and I were going to need to eat ramen noodles for years. Lucas and I....years....HOW EXCITING!!!!

I went home and hung out with my friend Sylvia who came into town to help prepare for the wedding, and talked with her and my family. I packed up all my stuff for the honeymoon, since we wouldn't be going back home after the temple ceremony since the reception was about an hour away and we needed time to take pictures. I was STOKED to back for Maui- I have never been. Living in Hawaii I stayed on Oahu the whole time and didn't ever see another island, I was excited to compare the two and be back where I felt so at home, and share it with Lucas.

So After I packed everything I started getting ready. Sylvia started doing my hair, and before we knew it she was only about a fourth done with my head, and we only had 10 minutes to leave. I apologized and ran upstairs and just brushed out my hair, left is straight and flipped out my bangs and some peices around my face. I was surprised and happy to see that I was having a GREAT hair day. Unfortunately I had my lip waxed a few days before, and now my lip was breaking out. Gross. Luckily makeup is a wonderful thing and I tried my best to cover up the bumps. My mom and Dad couldn't stop watching me and smiling. They were so happy. When it was time to go to the temple my Mom drove me to the temple. When Lucas arrived I saw him, I wasn't in my dress yet, so it was fine. He looked a little nervous and a LOT attractive. I'm so madly in love with him.

The temple ceremony was AMAZING. It was pretty small, lots of loved ones around us. I cried through half of it, and Lucas teared up. My dad bawled which made me bawl. I dont know what it is about Dad's and Daughters at weddings, but it is EMOTIONAL. It was beautiful. and officially I am a WIFE. A wife! And I have the best husband in the world.

I went and got ready to go outside the temple for family pictures and stuff, and Lucas went to his bathroom to get ready. I was ready first (which happened a lot while we were dating) and waited in a hallway for him. I could see my relatives through the window waiting for us to come out. I heard Lucas' voice around the corner, and I got SO HAPPY. I almost started crying. I turned the corner when he saw me in my dress and veil for the first time. He immediately smiled huge, and said "wow" and hugged me. we just hugged, and i hugged his dad who was standing there. We grabbed hands and walked outside and all our friends and family were around us clicking their cameras and cheering for us. I felt like a celebrity and i felt so Loved. We kissed and more clicks of cameras. My bridesmaids looked AMAZING! Lucas' mom had spent forever making their bolero jackets, and they looked perfect. The dresses were yellow, and about knee length or a little longer they all looked beautiful. The groomsmen all had matching yellow ties that matched Lucas' tux. It was perfect. It was supposed to be snowy but the weather was GREAT. A little cloudy which makes for awesome pictures.

We posed in groups for pictures and hugged and mingled. My siblings were all sitting on a bench sick to death of weddings. But when they were around me they put on happy faces, so I never noticed their attitudes. The third wedding in two months can be frustrating. but when its YOUR wedding its a little more fun. After our family left Jessie, our friend/ photographer, took just Lucas and I around and took our couple shots. She is so professional and fun. I can tell she is amazingly talended. We have yet to see our pictures, but I just cant wait!

I went and changed out of my dress for the drive to the reception, then got int he car with my HUSBAND and drove straight to the reception. We got there just a little past when we were supposed to to be early but it was early enough and we got some more pictures taken of us and our families. The reception was at our friends', the Merklings, house and it looked AMAZING. Jessie's mom did all the decorating and it was beautiful. I was so happy. My aunt pam made our cake and there were flowers all around it and things were just perfect. I was so happy with everything. I changed into my dress and we waited and waited for guests to arrive. It was slow going at first because it was so far away, and people had to drive really far to get there. but once people showed up we had a wonderful turn out. Standing in line is not nearly as bad as people say it is. But maybe I just liked the attention. I dont know, it made time go by quickly, just a lot of schmoozing! We had lots of friends and family drive really far to be there, and we are so thankful for them! We had so much help!

When we cut the cake we didnt shove it in eachothers' faces, we just nicely ate it off eachothers' fingers. when we finished everyone said "awwww" and gave us like happy golf clap- but then my sister, Sarah, came upstairs and said "I missed it?! what?!" So I said "WE'LL DO IT AGAIN!" So we grabbed the knife again, and cut it a second time, and this time lucas shoved frosting all over my mouth. I grabbed a chunk of cake and wiped it up his face and made a big mess. This time people laughed and cheered- people love a good messy show!

Lucas and I dont dance well, and since there is no alcohol at our reception we know most people wont dance either, so we decided just to have our first dance, and the father daughter dance. My dad and I danced, and we both cried during it. Lucas danced with his mom for a while, too. Then Lucas and I danced and just laughed about wanting to get out of there, if you know what I mean!!!! heh heh heh!

So as soon as everyone went outside we walked outside, and to our van that had been attacked and decorated with oreos and tin foil. The back window said SEX instead of Just married! --- Classy. Us Hermann's and our subtle messages. Lucas and I then made the LONG drive to our hotel, and the rest of the night is just for us---- so get your nose out of it! haha

CHAPTER 2- HONEYMOON
In the morning we went to the airport to fly to Maui for our honeymoon. happy to beat the predicted snow storm. But wait- we get to our window, and the lady grumpily tells us that our flight has been cancelled. Um, what. Stop it- you're lying. Outside the grass is green and birds are singing songs at the blossoming flowers and our flight is cancelled?! Okay maybe it was raining and cloudy, but still! It's not snowy! So she tells us basically that we are out of luck. So we go to our connecting airline and explain to them what happened, this lady is WAY nicer and says "well we will just steal you from Frontier and put you on an early flight with us so you can make your connection." WOO!!!!! we were so happy- that was a close call. I love nice and helpful people.

I love flying, so I was really excited for our trip. We made our connection, and then had a layover in Arizona. Which was pretty cool. Then on the flight to Maui, the plane filled up pretty full. There was maybe a couple empty seats and one of them was next to us! So Lucas and I got our own whole row for the long flight! Awesome! It made things a lot more comfortable, and we took turns laying down and sleeping. He let me sleep more I think, because he's just wonderful and loving.

We arrived and went to our rental car place, and found out, that even though we thought we had paid for our rental car, we didn't. So it was going to cost us hundreds of dollars we dont have to rent a car. We spent a long time trying to figure out what we could do to get a car and eventually decided just to walk and take buses around Maui. We grabbed a little speed bus from the airport that took us to our condo (which we were only crossing our fingers wasn't a scam). We found the room, and it was real! Hooray!

It was a cute place with a nice view of the beach, and the pool and some palm trees. It was amazing! We were really happy.

To make a long story short, we had an amazing week. It was rainy some days, sunny others, and cloudy most. We were there ten days. We spent three days at the beach, one day in the jungle, on the Road to Hana, where we did some pretty trails in the jungle and saw BEAUTIFUL waterfalls and caves and stuff. It was amazing. We also got some coconut candy, which is so good we had an instant addiction.

One day we bought tickets to go on a snorkel/ whale watching trip, and I was SO excited. I am like a toddler when it comes to sea animals. When I see a pretty fish I get really excited and show everyone around me, and when I see turtles or any other animal i start giggling and laughing out loud, forgetting I look rediculous. So I was hoping to hold in my childish reactions on the boat if we saw anything. So about five minutes on the catamaran, we start to see the spray of whales! I immediately get happy and stand up on my chair and smile huge. Then they start flipping their tails and I'm giggling out loud. Lucas is smiling at me, I think he is surprised by how incredibly happy I get. But then, the Mama whale jumps OUT of the water SO close to us, and breaches almost all the way out and SPLASH right back in! I was in shock and screamed and pointed and did a little dance and laughed so hard, and was so happy my eyes started watering. I noticed after that people were looking at me and kinda holding back their judgmental smiles. Oh well, that was AMAZING!


We snorkeled for a few hours and took pictures, and the fish and choral were stunning and so rad. I love snorkelling. I love being in the water. So on the way back we see more whales (more giggles, tears, jumping, and Lucas kinda holding me so I dont get so happy I fall off the boat- haha) I cant help it!

We were sad when the week was over, but we had an amazing time and some killer tans. Have you seen how good Lucas looks tan? You should look. It's a very nice thing. Okay dont look too long, just for a second. He's mine, ladies!

The flight home from hawaii was long and terrible. I woke up when the lady next to me, who had been nervous and sleeping the whole time was grabbing my arm and shaking me. What the heck?! she keeps saying "Hey! *shake shake shake* HEY! Finally I wake up enough to see she is trying to get my attention and i smile at her, she points out the window and says "LAND! We'ere over Land!" "Oh good....thanks for scaring me to death" Okay I didn't say that, I acted like I was as realieved as she was. She must be terrified of flying, so we celebrated making it over the ocean by staring at the ground under us.

When we landed we went home to our parents houses and packed up all our stuff to move in together. I was stoked for this! I cant wait to see our apartment (which I am expecting will be a real hole) and move all our stuff together. We have a present opening party with our parents and his sister to open our wedding gifts and cards and learn that people are super generous to married couples. We made out like bandits! It was awesome!

We spent the night at Lucas' house. It felt weird, because every time it got to liek 12:30 we would be on the same couch cuddling and fighting off saying goodnight, then we would make the long drive to our own beds. But not anymore! I almost felt naughty when I followed Lucas into his room and put on his basketball shorts to sleep in. We went to bed, and inthe morning it was weird to see his mom right after I woke up. Like I was getting caught having a sleepover, but she hugged me and said "Morning, Daughter- In- Law!" I had this feeling of guilt, like i was going to get yelled at for not going home. I'm n ot used to being married yet, I guess! haha

We packed our stuff and said goodbye to our parents, laoded the van my parents gave us (so nice!) and started our drive to REXBURG! (I went to college there for a semester 3 years ago and loved it, so I'm stoked to be back!)


Chapter 3- Road to Rexburg

I love roadtrips, and since the van was practically stuffed floor to ceiling with everything we own and all our wedding presents, and we had a basket full of cookies, donuts, and some healthy veggie snacks I was super happy. We prayed for safety before we left, and right before we drove away Lucas' sister came out and told us not to "shatter any glass". we laughed and then hit the road! WOO! Roadtrips rock!

We listened to the radio, I'm not sure right now where in the mess in the van my ipod or CD's were. I ate all the vegetable before we were past downtown denver. The food never lasts long, i get too excited knowing its there and I end up having to buy more later. We had some delicious pumpkin cookies. We laughed a lot and talked and just enjoyed eachother's company. We hit a snowstorm for a while, it wasn't really sticking to the roads but it made visability really horrible. We slowly made it to Little America signs, and decided to pull over there. It was really fun. After about 6 hours, we were almost all the way out of Wyoming we pulled over in Little America, and the storm was starting to clear up so we hit the road again. It was probably 11 pm. We switched and I wanted to let lucas get a break from driving and get myself behind the wheel of this BA Minivan.

The roads were okay they were wet and a little slushy so we both had our seatbelts on and we drove slowly. After a couple hours we made it to IDAHO! we were really excited when we finally made it there, that meant only about three hours left! I told Lucas I was sorry I was going to slow, I just watned to be careful, and he said He was fine and he hald felt safe the whole time! *knock on wood, right* So about fifteen minutes later, the roads are slushy, and there is nobody but us on this dark road. We are going straight not really talking much, just driving and watching the road and the slush. When the car starts fish tailing.

My heart sinks and my stomach about jumps out of my throat when the car goes from fishtailing and before we know it and without touching the gas or the brakes, the car is spinning quickly around in a circle. I am TERRIFIED and just yell "OH NO! Oh CRAP!" I see the van knock out a side of the road reflector, and then its in the grass off the road, still spinning. Before I know it, and as if its in slow motion I feel the van catch on the passenger side wheels, and start to spin. I dont remember much sound, or feeling anything, just knowing that the van was flipping. I could see glass flying everywhere, and remember worrying about Lucas and the stuff in the back. We flipped once and then the car stopped. My head was almost out the window and the frame was bent. We were alone on the highway, and in the deep snow. We rolled the van! my heart was being really hard, and I think i was in shock because I didn't believe it happened for a minute.

I looked down as soon as we stopped flipping and saw that a donut had landed in my hand, I dont know if I was comforting myself or just refusing to accept what just happened, but I starated eating it. We flip the van and I start eating a donut?! What the heck?! Who am I? Lucas looked at me and said "Are you okay?!" and I looked over, snapping out of it and realizing we were in a car accident. I throw down the donut and say "I'm fine! are you okay?!" he says he is great, and opens his door. We are on a steep hill and when he opens his door stuff fell out. We dont know how we stopped rolling after just flipping once, the hill was so steep, and we could have rolled another 30 yards at least. Miracle number 1 and 2= We rolled a van in the dark, and we are both completely okay. No injuries AT ALL. No soreness, just a few tiny scratches from glass. But we are both safe and okay. We walked away from it. also, the van only flipped once, when it should really have kept going.

Lucas snapped into business mode and started trying to decide what to do. We hugged for a minute, glad to both be alive, then we started looking at the damage, and trying to find out what to do. I find my camera in the snow and there is glass and plastic everywhere. My phone is lost in the field somewhere, and who knows what else. Lucas and I hike up the hill and flag down a car, a nice couple also ontheir way to Rexburg, and they offer us a ride to the closest town so we can get some help. We go get our money out of the car, that had been thrown everywhere, and the insurance information and everything. I said "I wish I could find my phone
" and just then Lucas looks into a patch of snow off in the hill and says "here it is" WOW! then we get in their car ( I'm sure getting glass everywhere) My legs and body are shaking now, I think from both being cold and my body was going into shock. Lucas hugged me and told me he loved me and we rode with them into the town making small talk. We saw a cop as soon as we were in town and rolled down the window and talked with him.

He was really nice, and got people called and sent over to the scene of the accident. We filled out reports, and he set us up with a room for the night. Even though we weren't sure we would be able to sleep we were grateful for the room. He said that a tow truck was on its way to get our van and would bring it by so we could get whatever we needed out of it. We held eachother, covered in glass peices, and just stood there trying to figure out what to do and still unable to accept what had happened.

When it hit me how lucky we were to be okay, and that we were in a warm bed, and Lucas was safe. I started to cry. Lucas just held onto me and ran his fingers through my hair. He coudn't relax yet, i think he felt he needed to be doing something about getting the van or insurance started or our stuff to us. But he stayed onthe bed with me, and held me while I cried. I stopped after a little while, and there was a knock on the door. The tow truck was there. The van was completely smashed on one side, it was dark so it was hard to see the real damage. both of our windows had been shattered, and the bumper was like half gone it lkooked like. Side mirrors were either off or hanging by wires. Lucas crawled inside and dug out our suitcases. We took them inside and got information from the cops and tow truck driver about what to do in the morning.

The tow truck driver told us his name was Brad, and he would be willing to get us wherever we needed to be tomorrow so that we could get to Rexburg. We were so grateful and thanked him got his information and went inside and attempted to sleep.

After about an hour Lucas started shaking too. His legs were going crazy as the adrenaline was calming down. It was almost as though he was having a seizure next to me, so this time I held on to him. I hugged him and layed on his chest as he let himself relax. We called my dad and told him what happened and asked if we should call insurance or wait until the next day, and he said he would call in the morning. We decided not to ruin his parents night and that we would call them in the morning. We both calmed down and when we stopped shaking we fell asleep.

In the morning we both just said prayers of gratitude for all the help we had and that we were alive. We got a call from Brad, saying he had a friend who would drive us to Logan, Utah to get a rental car. How nice of him! He called us later and said he had one friend who would come pick us and our stuff up and drive us to his shop and another friend of his would drive us to Logan. We were grateful. We showered and tried to get all the glass off us. We were amazed to see we had no hidden bruises or cuts and we weren't sore from the accident. We got dressed and waited for Brad's friend. He arrived and was really really nice. His name was Ron. Ron started driving us to the Tow Truck yard where the van was and he said "If you want I can drive you all the way to Rexburg" WHAT?! Are there people as nice as the people in this town anywhere inthe world? That would save us days of getting cars to and from Logan, and packing up the van. And the cost of a rental car. What a blessing. we accepted his offer. He borrowed the tow truck drivers' wife's suburban and let her drive his truck, and we loaded all our stuff into the suburban and drove all the way to rexburg with him! He was so nice! The People of Montpelier, Idaho are so nice! We love that town! We were in shock of their kindness, and both agreed they were so nice it made us want to help other people like that.

So we make the three hour drive to Rexburg, where Ron helps us to unpack the van and move into our place! We thank him a million times and Lucas talks to him about the gospel for a minute.

We are now married, SAFE, and in Rexburg with all our stuff. Miracle number 3 = the kindness of others.

Chapter 4- MOVING IN

So Lucas and I unpack everything, and have a good time figuring out where we want everything, and looking to see what broke in the accident. We were shocked as box after box nothing was broken. The glasses were fine, the TV worked, the X BOX worked, The computer worked, The pictures glass wasn't broken. Our plates were in perfect conidition. EVERYTHING WAS FINE! How?! it doesn't make sense to me. We counted the money from our wedding gifts, the money that had been thrown everywhere...and we hadn't lost ANY of it. It was all there. Finally, we find one clock. It was fine, and looks beautiful still, but it wont tell time. One thing that doesn't work. After all that= miracle number 4.

Now we live together, after almost losing that opportunity. We are feeling so loved and blessed by the wonderful people we met and the blessing of not being harmed in the accident. We know for sure now that God loves us, and kept us safe. We are feeling so blessed and loved.

What a crazy ride the first two weeks of marriage has been.

I love Lucas. I love people that love others. I love God. I love the Gospel. I love this second chance at life, and getting to spend it with the man of my dreams.

THE END...of the Beginning.

Becoming Mrs. Taylor!

Well I get married TOMORROW! Lately I have been walking around in this sort of happy daze. I have had blessing after blessing POURED out onto me, and I am feeling So loved. Do you ever have those moments, when so much is going right that you fear one wrong move will shatter everything? I have half been expecting to wake up from this wonderful dream, to find that I'm still lonely and missing Hawaii. But everyday when I wake up I still have an amazing family, a good job, and the most perfect man in the world counting down the days with me until we start a life together. How can one person deserve all the wonderful things I have been given? I dont know, but I'll take it!

The wedding planning has been insane, but really fun. I don't stress out easily so I have been pretty calm about everything. I am also so ready to just BE married, that I have decided to let everyone else pick what they want for my wedding. Little things like napkin size and table height dont matter to me, its the guy holding my hand that matters.

Some ways that Lucas and I have been blessed in planning all this:
1. The guy making the food, (who is an AMAZING cook) is letting us have the reception at his house, and will fill our bellies with delicious food! He has been a good family friend since I was born, and we are so happy to celebrate with their family.

2.My mom's good friend Lynette does weddings for a living, and she always does a brilliant job. We told her to just go crazy and decorate and plan however she wants, and that we trust her. So decorating and stuff was easy, just turn it over to the people who know what they are doing!

3. My Aunt, Pam, decorates cakes for a living, and offered to make our wedding cake. I gave her a picture of the cake Lucas and I picked, and she has it covered from there. Family hook ups are the best!

4. Lucas' sister, Hayley, took our engagement photos, so that saved us a bundle!

5. Since Lucas' sister, and my good photographer friend, Kristen, are both bridesmaids, we hired Lynette's photographer daughter who I kinda sorta grew up with, to be our photographer. She is doing it for free and is very very talented! (but you better believe we'll tip her)

6. I found all my bridesmaids dresses on my first trip to find dresses, and they were buy 2 get one free for the day I was there only. So we got two dresses FREE. They needed shoulder jackets, or shrugs. We couldn't find any ANYWHERE, but luckily Lucas' mom is amazing with a sewing machine and she sewed all 7 for us!

7. I found my wedding dress online, and loved it, but was worried that since I had to plan the wedding in like 8 weeks, that I wouldn't be able to get it in time. So I went to the only bridal store I know of around here, and found 1 of my exact dress! The only one in the whole store was MY SIZE! How does this happen?! So lucky.

So everyone who has been helping us plan has been amazing and wonderful. I am feeling so blessed right now! Not only am I getting to marry the man of my dreams, but everything we planned and need is coming together perfectly. I am so so so happy!

Some things that did go wrong that make me sad, are that one of my best friends, Kylie, was a bridesmaid, and she wont be able to make it to the wedding due to snow and her hubby not wanting her to ride alone. It's better to be safe, but I will miss her!!!

My only worry now is the weather. It is supposed to snow and rain the day before and the day after my wedding, which will make parking at the reception a nightmare, and flying off to Maui for the honeymoon possibly impossible. Everyone cross your fingers that the blizzard waits until late Saturday, so Lucas and I can still get our honeymoon!


27.5 Hours to go!!! Soon I will be Mrs. Amber Susan Taylor. I will always love telling people that, because it means I'm Lucas' forever.

I'm so happy!

Foot in Mouth Disease

One of the great things about knowing I am going to marry Lucas is that I love his family. I LOVE to be around them, as they are some of the nicest people you will ever meet. I know dealing with the in-laws is a huge problem for some people, but I am confident that I will always love Lucas' side of the family as all his siblings and his parents are amazing.

Lucas has said that it is fun to watch how I act with my family, because it is so different than he could act with his. For example, if I were at my house and I thought my brother Eli was in my way of watching a movie, I would probably walk up to him, wrestle him to the ground and say "you get your big head outta my way" and he would follow up by awkwardly following me around the house for 15 minutes trying to put his fingers in my armpits because he knows there are fewing more obnoxious things to do to someone than this. It's all out of love, and we probably never got back to watching the movie because we have too much fun teasing eachother. My family is very much "tell it how it is" we dont really butter things up too much. If you are bieng cool, we will tell you how cool you are, but if you are being super lame, we will let you know how super lame you are acting.

Lucas' family has a little more tact I suppose. Or maybe its that they are very in control of their reactions to each other. If Lucas' sister comes downstairs and demands the TV even though Lucas and I have clearly started watching something, Lucas will sigh and get up and let his sister have the TV. Lucas' parents are also very controlled. They keep a very organized home, I have never seen them leave a dirty dish in the sink or let any of the fruit in the fruit bowl be out of place. They always make sure I have socks on when I come in the house so my little toes dont get cold. They are the sweetest and kindest peoople ever. Their house is one of structure, and full of love. (mine is also full of love, it is just a louder and messier love)

When my parents came with me to meet Lucas' parents, we played the game apples to apples, and then some foosball. (I'm not sure if that's how you spell it) While playing foosball, every one was pretty intense. My family would react to a score with a little jig in place accompanied by a squeal of delight, while Lucas' family simply grinned and had a twinkle of pure winning pleasure in their eyes. My family= wild Lucas' family= mild. Both families= amazing.

This leads me to my recently onset case of foot in mouth disease. Two nights ago Lucas' parents had some friends over for dinner and games. When Lucas and I arrived I met the friends and they were playing apples to apples (they love this game) They invited us to join them, and we did. We were all laughing and having fun. I was trying not to be too crazy as I was just meeting the friends of my almost in-laws..when the word FLIRTATIOUS came up. If you haven't played apples to apples, it is very simple. there are a stack of cards with different adjectives on them, and in your hand are 7 cards with a Noun on them. The point is to best find a card in your hand to describe the Adjective card in play. So when the word "Flirtatious" came up i checked my hand.

I quickly noticed the hilarious option of using the word "whip". Oh. My. Goodness. That is so amazing. But in this crowd? do I dare? I do. I put the word down. After the person judging this round reads the words, and notices that Lucas and I are in a fit of giggles, he quickly realizes which card is mine. The winner is.....WHIP. A moment of awkward silence follows and then luckily they all start laughing. Thank goodness, I would hate to have to explain that one! haha they told Lucas to be careful taking me through security on the way to the honeymoon. Oh yikes. but seriously.


Now the reason I now I have caught the foot in mouth disease, and not just a one day virus is because last night I fell victim again.



We were playing the game MASTERPIECE, where you bid on different peices of art, and trade and sell with the other players and the bank. There are different characters that you decide to be, and after Lucas picked his character and told us his name, I picked my card. Her name was "Bitsy" a rich and spoiled girl who decided to start collecting fancy art.

To everyone's surprise, including my own I announced to everyone "I'm Bi***y!" WHHHHHAAAAATTTTTT did I just say?! Do I even know who's house I am in? haha "I MEAN BITSY!"

again, a pause of shock and then everyone erupts into laughter and Lucas' mom says "We are learning so much about you!" Oh yikes. I hope they find a cure for this soon before Lucas' parents change their mind about wanting me as a daughter-in-law!

The PROPOSAL!!!!!

Everyone has been asking for the proposal story, so here it is!

For a little background information, I might have already blogged this but I dont remember. When I first met Lucas we were playing volleyball at Family Home Evening at the church. I was on his team, and as I was about to serve he said to me "If you mess this up, I'm going to punch you in the neck." hahahaha, it was so funny. I had an instant crush. he asked me out about a week or so after wards. I think.

Ever since the first week of dating both Lucas and I have been pretty certain that we were going to end up together. Things just seemed to fit so perfectly, and everything in our lives seemed to have happened just for that first date when we would finally meet. It was so weird we talked about it all the time. We fell for each other quickly, and after our second date (two days after our first) we didn't go a day without seeing each other for a month.

We had said that big "I love you" after only a couple weeks. Soon what we felt for each other kept growing and growing, and the word "Love" didn't seem to express enough of what we were feeling. We tried to think of a word to use instead of love that would really explain how we felt, how deep what we felt was. I could never think of just the right word. What word can you say that can say I love you, I want to be with you forever, You're my best friend, You were the answer to all my prayers, Thank you for all you are, I want to grow old with you, and on and on....

We never agreed on a word that said all those things, and have been trying to think of it ever since.

Seems that moving quick is how we roll, and after the first week we already started playing the "what if we got married" game. First in fun, and then more seriously. What was crazy to me was that no matter what he said or I said about a future together...I never got weirded out. I never felt that it was too soon. It always just felt right. He was exactly what I had always wanted. Exactly what I had always needed. And what the last 6 years of both easy and difficult relationships and prepared me for. I told my mom the first month with Lucas that I was 100% sure that I would marry Lucas, and that nothing had ever been more right.

So once Lucas and I made it clear to each other that we planned on being together forever...(YAY!!!!) we started planning how to go about starting a life together. We discussed everything as though we were engaged already. The only problem was that he hadn't proposed, but I told him to take his time since engagement rings are really expensive and I would marry him with or without a ring.

So the next month or so went by, and with all the talk about my brothers weddings Lucas was feeling the pressure to propose from both me and my family. We all mentioned it in fun, but he said he had never felt more pressured to do something. lol.

So on Tuesday the 10th, I had set up with Jonni to go shopping to try and find bridesmaid dresses and maybe a wedding dress. I called Jonni after I got off work, and we went out shopping. Lucas meanwhile had told me that he was going to be hanging out with his friend, Brian. Lucas said he wanted to hang out after I was done, because he didn't want to not see me at all that day. cute! We decided to getting together at 9. He told me his mom wanted to watch American Idol with me that night. So after Jonni and Lesley and I were done at the mall, (where i found the PERFECT bridesmaid dresses!) I called Lucas right at 9pm.
"Hey Lucas, I am just leaving the mall and I found the perfect dress(blah blah blah) I think I am going to go home and wash my hair, then I'll come over, is that okay?"
lucas: "Um, how long will you be?"
me: "Maybe 40 minutes"
lucas: "Well the thing is that my mom is really tired, and wants to go to bed. She also made you some treats, so can you hurry?"
me: "Yeah I'll go fast"

So I go home and think about washing my hair, but I decided against it so that Lucas' mom wouldn't have to wait all night for me. Plus Lucas had seen me with dirty hair before, haha. So I got back in my car and drove to his house 15 minutes away. I made GREAT time getting to his house, and when I got there I noticed that Lucas' jeep was not in the driveway. Confused, I called him again "Lucas, I decided not to wash my hair, and I came to your house but your Jeep is gone. Where are you?" lucas: "Well I'm inside, you can come in. Hayley (his sister) has my Jeep" OOOhhhh.

So I get out of the car and walk up the drivway. I turned the corner around the garage and on the front porch immediately notice a bunch of balloons tied to a little star, with a big card that said "AMBER". My heart started beating really fast as I realized that this was the moment I had always waited for. He was proposing! I couldn't help smiling and giggling out loud as I walked up and grabbed the card and opened it. It said, "Hello Beautiful, sorry I'm not home right now, I guess you're going to have to come find me. I got hungry waiting for you so I decided to go to the place where we had our first date, I'll meet you there :)"

I laughed out loud unable to believe this was actually happening. I grabbed the balloons and set them in the corner of the porch, took the note with me and ran in the snow back to my car as fast as I could. I drove as quick as could be safe in the snow the 15 minute drive to Which Wich where we first went out. I kept changing the song on the radio to happy songs, to keep my mood happy. I was so excited my hands were shaking on the steering wheel :) I pulled into the parking lot, and immediately spotted a balloon tied to a sandwich bag from Which wich. I left the car door open, ran over to the balloon picked it up and opened it. I pulled out another "clue" that said "Looks like they're closed :( I decided to go and wait for you under the stars at the place we had our first kiss. "

I took the balloon and the clue this time, got back in the car happy as could be, and drove over to my house. I get to my house and park in front of Lucas' dad's car. Leaving my door open again, I sprinted and slid in the snow to his car, opened the door and saw another note, and a teddy bear tied to the steering wheel. The teddy bear had a star in his hands which was appropriate because right before we had our first kiss we saw a shooting star. So I read the note, which said "Amber, While I was waitng I remembered the very first time we met, so if you really want to find me go the the place where I wanted to punch you in the neck." I started laughing really hard, and laughed as I ran back to my car and sped away.

When I made it to the church where we met, I saw a bunch of cars in the parking lot, and a balloon tied to the door. I got out of the car, closing the door this time, and went and opened the door the balloon was tied to. I went inside and it was pitch black. Right now I was thinking "THIS IS IT!" and "I wish I washed my hair!" so I went through the dark to the open gym door, where the only light in the place was on. I stepped inside and lost my breath. In the middle of the room was a small table covered in candles a rose, and rose pedals everywhere. There was a black box with a ribbon around it sitting on the table. As soon as I saw the table my eyes watered up, I stood there in shock for a minute and cried a few happy tears. I walked up to the table, trying not to explode with happiness. I picked up the black box, my hand shaking like crazy. Inside the black box was another little box with a bow around it. I took the maller "ring box" sized box out, and kind of squatted on the floor, and cried for a minute. I couldn't even open the box I was crying so hard. I kneeled there and opened the box up, surprised to find no ring, but a tiny little envelope. The envelope said "my Amber" on it. I opened it up and read, "DONT MOVE!!!" I smiled and stood up. I heard a footstep behind me, and turned around.

Lucas was standing at the doorway to the gym, where he had been watching me. He was dressed up in a suit, looking amazing. I watched as my future husband walked up to me. He was nervous, but looked happy. When he reached me he smiled, and as he bent down on one knee he said "I know we never thought of the word that says how we feel for eachother, but I will spend the rest of my life proving to you that that is how I feel about you. Amber, Will you marry me?"

I put my hands over my face. I cried for a second, moved my hands and said "Yes, of course!" Lucas smiled, stood up and hugged me. I could feel his heart beating a million miles per hour. We stood there so happy, in love, excited, and ENGAGED! I was so thrilled.

We laughed for a minute, and talked while we cleaned up the table. Once it was cleaned he went and opened up another gym door and said "I'm done guys, thanks" and a HUGE basketball team came in, saying "Dude, did she say yes?!" and "Congrats!!" Then they started playing basketball again.

I guess Lucas had gotten to the gym and had to convince the team to stop playing so he could propose to his girlfriend. How funny! I'm glad they were willing to take a time out!

So we went to his house afterwards and took pictures of me with the ring, and of Lucas and I. Once again, I wished I had washed my hair, but it was worth it, the night was perfect. I am so happy and excited.




Lucas and I are going to be married on APRIL 3RD 2009 in the Denver Temple! I am so happy and excited. If you want an invite or announcement leave a comment and let me know and leave your address :) Thanks!


MY PERFECT RING!!!



Its Saturday, Valentines Day today, and I just bought my wedding dress. I love it! I took my dad and mom to the store with me to see and buy the dress. When I came out of the dressing room, my mom looked so proud, and my dad too. I got up on the little stand and looked in the mirror. Behind me I saw my dad start to tear up, and my mom smiling ear to ear. This was the dress for sure. We bought it and brought it home, and in an hour Lucas' sister is taking our engagement photos! Can't wait!

Jason and MaShay wedding!

Just one week since Steven got married, Jason and MaShay tied the knot! My family was home for one day inbetween our travels to Oregon and then to Salt Lake. The flight to Salt Lake was fun, it was on a small plane which was really fun. Lucas was on the same flight as us, so we changed our seats to sit next to each other. They put us in the emergency exit row, which I love because of having more leg room, and feeling powerful. okay not really, except kind of really. So a little while into the flight, Lucas and I are both asleep when Lucas gets woken up to the sound of a doggy bag opening right behind his head. GROSS, a second later and BLEEEEECCCCHHHHhSQUISHBLECH. Now the whole plane smells like puke, and we are right in the hot zone. It might have been better to have been sitting apart from eachother instead of in the eye of the storm. haha.

Lucas' sister-in-law, Gunilla, picked us up from the airport, and I rode inbetween the carseats of his two adorable neices- who I instantly fell in love with. They are SO CUTE! We giggled and talked and played with eachothers hair and shoes in the back of the car while Lucas and Gunilla caught up with eachother. When we got to their house we hung out there, for a minute and watched a movie with the girls. I loved seeing how good Lucas is with the girls, and they absolutely adore him! Good sign!!!! :)I took a little nap, and when I woke up I met Lucas' older brother, Brian. Who is RAD. Both Brian and Gunilla are HILARIOUS and I already love their family. We left their house and went to the airport where we picked up Steven and Ceci, fresh off their honeymoon. We talked to them, and they met Lucas for the first time. Everyone seemed to get along really well, and I was thrilled.

We went right to Provo where Steven and Ceci took us to their new cute little apartment, and I was insanely jealous of them for being able to live together already. haha. From there we went to Sarah's apartment and met up with Sarah, Emily, Eli, Brent, and Kristen and we all went out to eat at Noodles and Company. Then we got frozen yogurt and hung out. Lucas and I left there and went to see Pink Panther 2, which was pretty good but not nearly as funny as the first, FYI.

After the movie Lucas and I didn't know how to get to my Aunts house where we were supposed to sleep so we went back to his brothers and snuck in and slept in the guest room and he was on the couch. (I promise!--we're good :) ) We got up early in the morning and went and set up tables and chairs and stuff for the luncheon later that day. Then we got ready for the temple at my aunts house, and drove to the temple. We waited for a while for them to come outside. I decided that I definately wont want to be married in the Salt Lake temple because its like a LINE of brides and their families, and I'd like to feel more special than having a half hour time slot. lol

This is Lucas and I in the car driving to the wedding fun:


So, when Jason and MaShay came out of the temple MaShay looked beautiful, and I was so happy for them. Jason looked really happy mixed with relieved. haha.


We snapped and posed for a bunch of pictures then went to the luncheon, where we had Subway ordered in for everybody there. After eating and visiting with family Lucas and I went to make something for Jason while my dad started making a "speech" and while he was introducing Jasons brothers and sisters I ran out from behind the curtain so he could introduce me, and Lucas followed me. Everyone saw us appear from behind a curtain and gave us suspicious looks and I heard my cousin say "what are they doing back there?!" haha! We weren't, I promise!

Then my dad got to me he said "His is my wife Amber, and her fiance (we've all gotten pretty comfortable with the idea of Lucas and I getting married at this point, lol) Lucas" WHAT?! DID HE SAY WIFE?! haha he corrected himself, and everyone was laughing. Oh how funny are moments like this? very. Or humiliating if you are easily embarrassed.

Once at the reception (which was BEAUTIFUL) we visited and hung out, and ate chocolate fountain deliciousness. Their slide show almost made me cry, and i teared up while they were dancing. I am sooooooo happy for Jason and MaShay, and to have MaShay as my second sister-in-law! Happy happy happy!

Welcome to the family, MaShay! We love you!

Oregon/Washington

It was so nice to see the ocean again, and the Monday after the wedding we went to the Oregon coast. It was gorgeous! my brother, sister and I all played and ran and jumped and took silly pictures like crazy. The fog was low and made the pictures look amazing! I know most people think its depressing to live in a rainy or foggy place but I LOVE it. I think it's almost romantic! I was loving it the whole time. I would not mind living in Oregon!

We took our shoes and socks off and walked across these rocks, which were covered in barnacles. OUCH! It hurt but who wants to wear shoes at the beach? Not me! We called ourselves adventure-mongers, and said that was the reason we walked slowly across the rocks that lead to "haystack island". I turn into a little kid again when I'm at the beach, its so amazing.

A friend once told me that you actually get happier, and your mood boosts when you are next to a waterfall. He said you can explain how it works in the brain, I dont remember. But I think for sure that it works next to the ocean too. My whole family couldn't stop smiling at the ocean. What a great trip!

The only down side to the trip was probably that it made me miss Hawaii really badly, and everyone there. So I was missing Lucas, wishing he was there with me, AND I was having Hawaii homesickness. But I cant stay down for long and before you know it I was jumping of a wall into a pile of sand and giggling like crazy. haha. Here are the pictures:






While at the beach, I thought it would be funny to drop a VERY subtle hint for Lucas, I drew it in the sand, and the sun was setting which made the lighting very romantic. I thought about writing "Miss you!" or "I love you!" but instead it came out like this.....

First Sister-In-Law!

Welcome to the family, Ceci!!!

The trip to Oregon was amazing! We actually bounced between Oregon and Washington, and it was BEAUTIFUL! When we flew in we went to the hotel and met up with Steven who was getting ready for the next day, we tried on our bridesmaid dresses and then we went to bed. In the morning we all got up and ready to go to the temple. I of course could not go inside for the ceremony but I stayed outside with Emily, Eli, Sarah, and MaShay. The Portland temple is gorgeous, it has white marble all around the outside, and the building itself is really cool.

When Steven and Ceci came outside they both looked SO happy. I was so happy for them, they held hands and everyone looked like they had cried a little bit (good cries I hope!)
Jason and MaShay looked ready for it to be their turn...only 7 days later it would be!

We stayed in the temple and took some pictures with the bride and groom. I am so happy for Steve. Ceci is perfect for him, she is so nice and beautiful. My mom told me that a little girl saw their invitation and was carrying it around in her purse saying "This girl is a princess!" haha!

Here are some pictures, ENJOY!

The bride and groom


Steven, Jason, and Brent (steve's long time best friend)



Steve and his sisters.


All the Hermann kids. (MaShay is almost a Hermann :) )


We had so much fun at the wedding! The next day Jason, MaShay, and Sarah left, but the rest the family stayed and had a vacation in Oregon/Washington. I'll write about that when I'm not at work, the babies woke up!

Promised Pictures

I leave tonight for Portland to see Steven and Ceci get married tomorrow at the Portland Temple! I'm really excited, here is a picture of the two of them....
They are so cute together, I love hearing about them planning their wedding, because they aren't really stressed, they are both just happy and easygoing. 1 day to go!

This are a couple pictures of Rachael, the little girl I watch. Below is her older sister Morgan I also watch.










Portland, Oregon here I come!