So Close!

Today is Friday, February 15. That means there are only four more days until I become Andralynn Conelly. I have a little over four hours left of work, and then I will be gone for two whole weeks. The past couple of weeks have been a little crazy. I had bridal showers and temple recommend interviews to attend, not to mention packing up my apartment and trying to get moved out. I was stressed and anxious, and my emotions were always close to the surface. Luckily, Andrew is amazing and simply lets me cry when I need to.

On Wednesday night, I went to the temple to take out my endowment. Let me just say that the temple is amazing. It was such a wonderful experience. My parents, my brother and sister-in-law, and my roommate were all there to support me, and while it was a small group, it was a good group. I felt the Spirit so strongly, and all my stresses and worries melted away. I have felt so much better the past two days, and it has been a real blessing. Being in the temple with Andrew made me so incredibly happy. He just kept grinning at me, and I can't wait to see just how much we'll both be grinning and crying when we enter the temple together again to be joined for time and all eternity.

And now, it is the weekend. The weekend before my wedding. Tomorrow, Andrew and I will pick up his parents from the airport and head to my mom's house for my family bridal shower. Monday we have our luncheon. And Tuesday . . . well, you all know what Tuesday is. Thursday we fly out to Washington. Saturday we have the open house in Tacoma. And Sunday, we fly out to Hawaii. I cannot wait.

I can't believe it's already so close. So close! A mere four days away. When we first got engaged, four and a half months seemed like an eternity. But it's here. The day is fast approaching when the rest of my life will finally start.

I've Been Engaged Too Long

I know I've been engaged for too long when another couple gets engaged and announces that they're getting married in two months, and my first thought is, "Dang! I'm so jealous!" If Andrew and I had done a two-month engagement, we would have been married for nearly two months by now. Which would be so nice.

But at the same time, I know that we did what worked best for us. Everything has fallen pretty perfectly into place so far, so I can't complain too much. And besides, it's only six weeks away! In 43 days I will be a married woman. And I seriously cannot wait.

Some Countdowns

December is always an exciting and busy time of year. There always seems to be something to look forward to, and the wedding plans just give me even more things to do and look forward to. Therefore, I present some countdowns.

• 4 days until Christmas
• 11 days until New Year's
• 15 days until we move Andrew into our new apartment
• 22 days until I do my bridals
• 54 days until I go through the temple
• 60 days until I get married!!

More things will come up, I'm sure, but that's what I can think of right now. And it isn't including all the little wedding things that still need to be done. But we're at less than two months now! I can't wait. It's coming faster than I thought it would, but it's still not fast enough.

Babysitting

Last night, Andrew and I babysat my brother's two little ones. Ethan and Chloe were so excited to see us, and they didn't stop jumping for 15 minutes. They are such funny little kids.

But the best part of babysitting was when Chloe started asking Andrew for things and to do things and wanting to show him things. Without even being prompted, she called him "Uncle Andrew." And it melted my heart.

I can't wait to marry this man in 75 days.

Photoshoot Fun

On Saturday, Andrew and I went up to Salt Lake to take our engagement photos. We were supposed to take them the week before, but our photographer got sick, so we had to postpone. I was beyond excited to take engagements. I've always thought that it would be a blast to take engagement photos, and I was not wrong.

Our photographer was Alyssia Baird. You should definitely go check out her stuff because she's awesome. And she was so much fun to work with. She always had ideas for poses and what to do in photos, so it never really felt awkward. One of my favorite instructions that she gave us was to stand close and be into each other. That made me laugh. I'm super excited to work with her for my bridals and on our wedding day. I think I'm going to love our photography.

We started the shoot at the Salt Lake Library, which is such a cool building. We took pictures in the aisles of books and around the building so you could see the cool architecture. Then we went out to take some pictures on the city streets. I am so excited to see how all the pictures turned out. We couldn't have picked better locations—Andrew and I both love to read, and I absolutely love the city. We'll get access to the proofing site tomorrow to pick the pictures we want to be edited, but in the meantime, Alyssia posted a couple of images on Facebook.

I can't wait to get the rest.

Thanksgiving Day . . . wait, what day am I on again?

Okay, friends. I'm giving up on the daily posts. I know, I know, it's sad, and I'm a quitter, and blah blah blah. But let's be completely honest here. I haven't written a post in thirteen days. I have a week's worth of drafts saved, but for the rest, I'd have to think back to the specific days and postdate the posts and all that jazz. So, I'm giving up. I'm too busy for this. I'll still hopefully blog on occasion, but I've got other things on my mind. And I'd rather spend my evenings with Andrew than worrying about my daily post.

But that doesn't mean I'm not thankful for everything I have. As any reader is well aware, I am so thankful for my incredibly wonderful fiancé. He is amazing and so patient with me when I'm ornery, which has been more frequent than usual lately. Not because of him, though—he is always so understanding. When I just need to cry for some unknown reason, he doesn't question it. He just offers his shoulder and lets me cry. And then he talks to me so I can pinpoint what's wrong. I love him so much.

I am also thankful for my awesome family, which I got to see quite a bit over Thanksgiving. Andrew and I spent a few days at my parents' house, and it was fun to see my nieces and nephews and spend time with my family. It was a relaxing few days, and it was a much-needed break.

In other news, Andrew and I have an apartment! It's a basement apartment, and it has a lot of space. The kitchen, master bedroom, and master bathroom are huge. There are two bedrooms, so we should have plenty of room for all our crap. The family that owns the house and lives upstairs seems really nice, and I think it will be a good situation for us. I'm so happy that we have a place to live! Our own little space. I can't wait to move in and start making it our home.

There are a mere 84 days until I get married to the love of my life. That's a little less than three months. As of yesterday, we have been together for six months. And it's been six of the best months of my life. Really. I'm so happy. And although 84 days still seems like a long time, I know it will go fast. We take engagement photos this Saturday (and I am so excited!). We have a bazillion Christmas parties to attend during the next few weeks. Then it's Christmas and New Year's, when we can move Andrew and hopefully a good portion of my stuff into our apartment. Then I'll be taking bridals, and we'll be getting our announcements out. Then I'll have to worry about getting everything ready so I can take my endowments out. And then it's our wedding day! So when I think about it in terms of what still needs to be done, 84 days isn't long at all.

I apologize again that I fell short with my month of thanksgiving. But it's all in my heart, I promise.

Thanksgiving Day Thirteen

Tonight was a very low-key kind of night. Andrew wanted to play his new video game, and he told me he'd like some company, so I went to his place prepared with a book. I spent a good portion of the evening with my legs over his lap, reading my book while he played his game. That may sound boring to some, but I thought it was very nice.

So while I am thankful that Andrew and I go out and do things, I am also thankful that we are capable of doing our own things, and doing them together. I didn't necessarily need to have 100% of Andrew's attention tonight, but I wanted to be near him. He makes me happy, and I like knowing that he's near. When he had a break in his game, he would rub my leg, and I loved that little acknowledgement of my presence. I'm thankful that we're comfortable enough with each other that we can do our own things while still being together.

And yes, most of my thankful posts this year are going to be about Andrew. Because he's amazing, and I'm thankful for him every day. I'm marrying him in 97 days, so he's on my mind. All the time.

Thanksgiving Day Five

Today I am thankful that my wedding planning is going well. Even though I wouldn't mind it if Andrew and I were getting married earlier (being engaged is really no fun because I just want to be married already), I am thankful that we still have three and a half months to get everything figured out. We have a venue, my dress, a florist, and a photographer. Andrew just did the final fitting of his custom-made suit tonight, and it's going to look very good. I'm excited to see how we'll look together on our wedding day.

So while I'm not a huge fan of this wedding planning business, I'm thankful that things are coming along. We have most of the big things figured out, and now we just need to focus on the details. You know, the little things like finding an apartment and budgeting and combining our incomes. Those are just minor things, right?

Thanksgiving Day One

My goodness, I cannot believe it's November already. That's just crazy. Time seems to be dragging and flying all at the same time, and I'm not quite sure how that's possible.

At any rate, November means a solid month of thankful posts! I have countless things to be grateful for right now, so I have more than enough material to do a fourth year of these posts. I have found that it is a great way to remind me to count my blessings and remember all that I have been given.

So today, day one, I am going to start with probably the most obvious thing I am grateful for, and that is my fiancé.

I know I've already gushed about him on my blog before, but this man is so good to me. In everything he does, he shows me that he loves me. I have no doubt about his feelings for me or my feelings for him. I love spending time with him. We don't even have to be doing anything; I just like being near him. He makes me feel safe and secure, and I know that he will always be there for me to help me with whatever I might need. He also makes me laugh all the time, and we have so much fun together.

Andrew had to work last night, so I didn't get to see him yesterday. I always get a little bummed about that, though it was nice to just relax, watch the Jazz game, and attempt to write in my journal. But now I'm anxious to see him again. It may have only been one day, but I missed Andrew. And I'm excited to see him tonight. He means everything to me. I love him more than I thought possible, and I can't say just how thankful I am to have him in my life. I can't wait to marry him in 110 days.

Planning a Wedding

Did you know that planning a wedding is stressful? Well, if you didn't, now you do. I know some girls who think it's really fun, but I'm not one of those girls. Of course I'm excited to create an evening that's all about me and my new husband. Of course I'm excited to choose my colors and create a style for my reception. Of course I'm excited about getting all dolled up and getting amazing pictures taken.

But getting there is a lot more stressful than I thought it would be.

That's mostly because there is an incredible number of things that need to be done and because it is all rather expensive. And because we have to plan one thing in order to know what our budget is for another thing. Did I mention that there's a lot to do? And to coordinate? And to pay for?

But things have progressed this past week. Three major things were crossed off this week:

1. The temple is booked.
2. I have a dress!
3. The venue is reserved. (Which means the food is taken care of. I'm so glad we're not doing it ourselves.)

Yay for making progress! Especially when my dress only cost $300. And it's perfect. Simply perfect. I still can't believe I found a dress that's so perfectly me and what I want for such a good price. And I didn't even get it at some out-of-the-way shop—I got it at David's Bridal. I'm so excited about it, and I can't wait to get it the end of next month. Now I just have to figure out how to accessorize it.

There are still some big expenses that need to be taken care of (like a photographer—you know, just a little thing), but I'm so happy that we are actually making some progress.

The Best Weekend of My Life

I know I'm a week and a half late in writing about this, but a proposal story is worth waiting for, right?

Andrew and I had been talking about marriage for a couple of weeks before he proposed. Little did I know that he had already looked at a ring before he even told me that he wanted to get married. He picked the ring out himself because he wanted it to be a surprise (and he made a phenomenal choice). But that meant that for two weeks, he tortured me with the knowledge that he had the ring and that I couldn't see it. To make it even worse, he told me had a picture of the ring on his phone. It took a lot for me not to steal his phone and take a peek.

All of that just made me suspicious of everything. I knew that Andrew had the ring and could propose at any time. But I also knew that his parents were coming down from Washington, and he wanted to tell them in person. So when he asked me if I wanted to drive the Alpine Loop, my first thought was, "He's going to propose." First of all, he planned it a week and a half in advance (we never plan things that far in advance), and he was super concerned about making sure that all of his camera equipment was functioning right so he could take pictures of us without having to set a timer and run into the picture. Plus, it seemed to be good timing with when his parents would be coming down. But, of course, I was never 100% sure, so I kept second-guessing myself.

Sunday morning rolled around. Andrew and I headed up the canyon, and he was nearly silent almost the whole way up. I have come to learn that Andrew gets really quiet when he's nervous, so I couldn't help but be even more suspicious.

I have to say that the colors of the trees were absolutely gorgeous. They were so vivid. Reds and yellows and oranges everywhere. We drove the Alpine Loop and just enjoyed the beauty for a while, and then Andrew pulled off at Cascade Springs. We wandered through the trails for a little while (carrying a bunch of Andrew's camera equipment) until we found a cute little bridge that seemed like a good spot for pictures. After setting his camera up to take pictures every few seconds, Andrew joined me on the bridge.

He didn't even pretend that he wasn't going to propose. He didn't turn and pose for the camera or do anything that would throw me off.

Instead, he pulled out a package of tissues because I had told him I would cry when he proposed. Then he got down on one knee, pulled out something sparkly, and asked me to marry him. I would tell you what he said, but I can't remember exactly because my brain was so full of, "Oh my gosh! This is really happening! Andrew is on one knee asking me to marry him!"

But I didn't forget to say the most important word: Yes.

I was so incredibly happy. But much to my surprise, I didn't cry. Andrew still gives me grief about that. But I can guarantee that he'll get all the tears he wants on our wedding day.

When Andrew stood up and hugged me, I could feel him shaking. He was so nervous even though he knew what my answer would be, and I thought it was the most adorable thing ever. Andrew is so sweet and so good to me.

I can't tell you just how happy I am right now. I am so blessed to have someone who loves me for who I am and who wants to spend the rest of eternity with me. Andrew is wonderful, and I will be eternally grateful that we got put in the same FHE group. Otherwise I might never have found out how amazing he is.

So on February 19, 2013, I will be marrying the man I love for time and all eternity. It's only 132 days away. And I cannot wait.