Not-too-extreme makeovers

Last Thursday Tom and I decided to go in and get hair makovers! I made him bring the camera so we could get before and after pictures just for fun. . . I know that at least around here it's totally common and cliche for girls to get married with long hair and then chop it all off after the wedding. The hairdresser even kind of laughed at me because it's what everyone does. But I couldn't help myself. I had wanted a change for some time now, but knew that I wanted long hair for the wedding, so I just decided to wait a little while longer 'til I did anything to it.
I was a little nervous about it (and so was Tom), but I think it turned out great! I love my new look and couldn't be happier. Tom tells me at least once a day how much he loves my haircut. I must say that we're pretty pleased with Tom's darker hair as well. It even has a little bit of a reddish tint to it which we also like. :) Enjoy the pics!

Honeymooning

Ok, we didn't take a ton of pictures on our honeymoon but I thought I would share what we have. Tom and I spent the majority of our honeymoon in Island Park at Tom's uncle's cabin (not to be confused with Uncle Tom's Cabin) ha ha. It was so nice to get away and not have to worry about work or school, or most of all . . . . wedding plans. We took day trips into both West Yellowstone and Yellowstone National Park where the pictures below were taken.

We also went fishing in Island Park where I almost caught a fish this big. Seriously. I would have proof, but he broke my line. Just ask Tom though, he'll attest to my story.

While in West Yellowstone we also went to the Playmill and saw a hilarious performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I love that place so much we are going back again on August 10th to celebrate my birthday. This time we are going to see Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which happens to be one of my favorite movies. I expect to laugh that night. A lot. Can't wait!

Mammoth Hot Springs

Castle Geyser

the Upper Falls

The falls (both Upper and Lower) were by far our favorite part of the park. These are a must-see if you ever go to the park. You get to hike down right to the heads of the falls. The amount of water, its speed, and its force is astounding.

They are absolutely amazing!

the wildlife

Unfortunately, we didn't see any bears or moose from the car, but I was glad not to run into any while we hiked down to the falls.

petrified redwood tree

Old Faithful by sunset

Engagements

Slowly but surely I am determined to catch up on blogging after my LONG hiatus. Let me just say that planning a wedding totally consumes your life. . . . and I am still waiting for things to get back to "normal" after the wedding. I am hoping that will happen shortly, after we move into a place of our own and get totally settled in. Poor Tom is still living out of boxes. Since I currently don't have the means to post engagement photos myself, I am taking a shortcut and sending you to this link. This will send you to our photographer's blog with engagement photos of me + Tom. We absolutely love them and hope that you do too! Stephanie did such an amazing job and we can't wait to get our wedding photos back (1 1/2 weeks and counting)!

Tom's 24th!!

Isn't he handsome?

May 4th was my man's 24th birthday! After work I took him out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. (It was his first time!) Pretty much it was life-changing, just like my mom told him it would be. It's that good! Then we went and saw Source Code, which I thought was a pretty sweet movie. The original plan was to take him to the Bodies exhibit at the museum, but they closed at 5 p.m. :( So I ended up taking him that weekend. It was AMAZING!! Of course, Tom and I both totally love that kind of thing. I am so glad we can share that passion together.

Tom and his mom

Also that weekend, we celebrated Tom's birthday with his family. His parents made a wonderful dinner for us and his sister-in-law, Amy, made the enormous chocolate cake you see in the pictures. It was so good!

Tom with his niece, Kaybrie.



Happy Birthday Tom!!!!!!!!!!!

"Last Chance" Prom

April 30th was the Second Chance Prom, or as Tom kept mistakenly calling it, the "Last Chance Prom". haha. I thought it would be fun for us to go since (1) it's FREE! and (2) we have never been to a dance together. I pulled my old Jr. Miss dress out of the closet and couldn't wait for Tom to see me in it. (It just happens to be his favorite color.) We got all dressed up and headed to Idaho Falls  for dinner at Johnny Carino's (yum!) which was followed by hours of dancing. About half-way through the dance my feet were getting sore, I was tired, plus I ran out of dance moves, so we left a little early. :) It was such a fun night though, and I loved being with my future hubby. I can't wait for us to start our life together!

The happy couple - this was actually taken after we got home from the dance.

My mom wanted us to do a kissing picture,
but I was too embarrassed so this is what we got instead.

Roommate Reunion

Around mid-April I made yet another trip to Utah to see my dear friends and former roommates--Bekah, Sarah, and Lindsay. We decided to have a little reunion while we were all still single. (Sarah got married the following Thursday!)

I love these girls all so much! I love the fact that we could have stayed up almost all night just chatting (and we almost did). I love the fact that even if we go months or even years without seeing each other, when we do finally see each other, it's like nothing has changed at all. These girls have taught me a lot and mean so much to me. I know we'll always be friends no matter how often we do or do not see each other. I am really hoping they can all come up for my wedding!

(which is exactly TWO MONTHS from today!)

Me, Sarah, Bekah, Lindsay

So happy together!

First comes love . . .

I have finally found some time to sit down and blog, so I figured I had better write about my engagement story! It may be 1 1/2 months after the fact, but better late than never right?!

Tom and I went down to Utah for General Conference the first weekend in April. Our friends Bekah and Jeremiah met up with us Saturday afternoon on temple square and we attended the afternoon session with them. Bekah was kind enough to give us two extra tickets! Thanks Bekah!

Here we are on the drive down to Utah.

Tom was being a good boy and watching the road.

As we were standing in line waiting to get in, Bekah said something like, "Wouldn't this be such a romantic day to get engaged?!" I think it scared Tom a little, but she was just teasing him and Jeremiah. If only she knew. . .

Here we are by the temple waiting to meet up with Bekah and Jeremiah. Someone was nice enough to offer to take our picture. At this point I had no idea what was coming!

As a side note, I absolutely LOVE General Conference. It is so inspiring and uplifting. If you would like to learn more, click here.

After we attended conference, we immediately found the stand-by line so Tom could get into the Priesthood session. I stood in line with him for quite awhile, and I got some questioning looks let me tell you (especially during the time when Tom went to use the restroom and I was standing alone in line saving his spot!) haha

After awhile, I left and picked up Colter to hang out with him. I took him to the visitor's center on temple square and also to the church history museum across the street. It was so fun to spend time with him one-on-one. I just keep thinking about how he is growing up so fast and soon he will be moving and I won't get to see him nearly as often. :(

Anyways, sometime during the day Tom revealed to me that he had made dinner reservations for us so we could go out to eat together after the Priesthood session. That's when I started getting nervous. Could this be it or was it just another nice evening out? I tried not to think about it too hard. Turns out the dinner reservations were for The Roof. I had never been there before, but I had heard about it. In fact, before I left for Utah one of my co-workers even said, "Watch out if he takes to you dinner at The Roof cause he'll propose to you!" If only he knew!

Let me tell you, this place was amazing. We had the perfect seats with an awesome view of the temple spires, and the food, oh the food! There were so many things to choose from, I just wanted to try everything! And to please a sweet-tooth like me, there were tables laid out with every type of dessert you could imagine. I think I had two or three platefuls of dessert alone! We were so stuffed afterwards.

Throughout dinner, I was pretty nervous, just waiting and wondering if he was going to pop the question. Every time I would come back from the buffet I would inspect my water glass to see if there was a ring inside of it. Tom could tell that I was nervous but I think it just amused him. By the time we finished dinner, I realized that he wasn't going to ask me so I started breathing normally again. Some other day I thought. After dinner we decided to wander around the Joseph Smith Memorial Building just for fun. We went around to the different floors exploring rooms. By this time it was probably about 10 p.m. so there was really no one else around (except for the janitor who was vacuuming).

At one point in a secluded corner, Tom set down the umbrella he had been carrying and gave me this look. My stomach was doing some crazy acrobatics as he reached into his suit coat pocket and pulled out a ring box. I said something dumb like Are you kidding me? as I took the box from him and opened it up. Inside was not a ring, but a small piece of paper. I opened it up and read it. It said that he had arranged for me to have Monday off from work so we could stay in Utah an extra day and pick out my ring! Then he gave me a big hug and asked me to marry him and I said YES! The end.

On Monday we went to the store and I picked out this ring. It came in the mail that Friday, and I am so happy with it. Mostly I love it simply because it is mine, and it is from Tom.

Ever since then, we have been busy working and making wedding plans. It is fun, but I have to remind myself not to get too stressed about it. The big day is July 16th, only two months away! I can't wait!