Merry Christmas is over and Happy New Year is coming!

Well Christmas is over, but we still have to celebrate the coming new year! 2oo9! Goodness! It seems like it was just yesterday when it was 2000 and everyone thought we were going to die! Haha, the good ole days!

Well I had a good Christmas! It was kind of sad not being with Jake, but I got through it perfectly fine! The first gift I opened was from Jake, and it was plane information for him! I am so excited! He is coming to visit on the 31st and staying until the 7th! Yay! That definitely made my year end with a BiG bAnG! It was the biggest surprise! I got $150 in gift cards to the store I work at...SHOPPING SPREE! I got LOTS of new clothes! Some cute ones that I can wear after I am married! Goodness was it hard! I got Jake tickets to his favorite basketball team, the Pistons, playing against the Jazz in SLC. Hope he has fun!

Now that 2008 is ending and 2009 is beginning, I look back and this year was a BUSY year for me! Starting school at BYUI in January, finishing 2 semesters, and then getting engaged! Crazy fun though! As of today it is 28 days until I get married! Time has gone by SUPER fast! Still have some things to get done, so note to mom: HURRY!

So I just want to wish you all a safe and happy NEW YEAR!

Christmas Time. . .

C h R i S t M a S t I m E i S h E r E . . .!!

Well I just thought it would be cute to post these pictures on here.

Christmas time is one of my favorite times! (Besides the freezing cold!) I love the time that is spent with loved ones. People become nicer around the holiday season. Yes there are the times when everyone gets cranky because they are poorer and because they have to walk SO far because they got a crappy parking spot. But other than that it gets pretty cheery. My favorite is seeing the kids get so excited for Santa to come! This year my dad has played Santa several times. Ashleigh Rockwell (a friend of ours for those of you that do not know her) has her mother (Whitney) call Santa, or my dad, every once in a while. It is very sweet. She gets so excited to talk to him, of course he doesn't do the greatest job disguising his voice! But the kids do not catch on and that is all that matters. It just makes me so happy seeing their faces when we talk about Santa! We took Ash to go see the famous Christmas lights in our town. This house spends THOUSANDS of dollars or MORE on electricity! It is nuts!

On Sunday we had our Nursery Nativity Play for the primary! It was very cute. A lot of the kids screamed and cried because they didn't want to get dressed up, and then when they were done with it and got to take everything off, they didn't want to do that! Haha, it was quite amusing! Some were okay with dressing up, and some were very excited to do it! Especially because their parents came to watch.

There was Mary and Joseph, sheep, wise men, shepherds, and angels! It was adorable! They didn't know what they were doing and just stared at the large group of people staring at them.

Cute Kids!

Even the young women wanted to join in!

And with the Christmas spirit in the air, even the animals come together and rest. They definitely enjoy each others company far more than the people! :)

H a P p Y h O l I d A y S !!!

36 days and Home for the holidays

Well we are at the point where we are counting down the days. 36 days left! I can't wait! It is getting closer and closer! I am home now until the wedding! Got lots of stuff left to do, but we have a lot done too. It is fun, but I think I am too relaxed about everything. Haha. Definitely better than too stressed! Now that I am home I get to do everything with my mom. YAY!!! It isn't fun being away from Jake for so long, but it is okay. I will be married to him soon! :)

Jake finished his second semester of school. 2 down, 39028430938 to go! (That is if he goes to med school). OH JOY! We moved out of our old apartments in Rexburg and moved everything into one apartment in Idaho Falls. We are just down the street from his parents, which will be nice. We got his bed and dresser in there, and tv. And his parents bought us new furniture for the living room. (THANKS SO MUCH!) We have our couch in there

now, and then we have a recliner and t.v. stand coming soon! (For Christmas). It is starting to come together. Jake is living there now by himself. Then I will be there after the wedding. I am so excited! We started hanging up pictures around the apartment, and will hang up the rest when we get wedding pictures back. It is very cute for a newly married couple.

I also got a new Volkswagen Jetta. It is a cute white 4 door manual. I love it! I of course have my Yankees sticker in it. (Jake doesn't like it too much, but he has his Sox sticker in his truck...!) It is fun.

Christmas is coming so fast! I can't believe it is NEXT week! 7 days! Goodness. I haven't done ANY shopping at all! I really need to. I have no idea what I am going to get anyone though. We'll shall see!

My flight back from Idaho was TERRIBLE!! That is how it always is when I am flying anywhere! There is always some delay or something that goes wrong. This time I took a shuttle to SLC into the airport. I got to my flight quite early, but just sat there and watched the tv there. I got to Minnesota and still had a little more than an hour. I took my time to get to my next gate. Stopped and got food (DO NOT get chinese food at an airport!) It was about 20 minutes before we were supposed to board, and I decided to say that "nothing wrong [had] happened this time" and of course, IMMEDIATELY after, they came on the loud speaker and said that we were going to be delayed an hour. Gr. I was so mad! So I sat there a little longer, and then...delayed another 30 minutes. Finally they boarded us, and we started to pull out and the pilot came on and said we weren't going to take off for another 45 minutes! Let me tell you I was very mad, until I realized the flight was practically empty and so I got to lay down on the 3 seats and sleep. :)

It is fun being home with the Rockwell kids. I have been babysitting this week, which is fun sometimes, but they are definitely 2 hands full! Garrett not wanting to EVER be put down and only falling asleep when in the car. Ben who destroys EVERYTHING he sees and likes to beat up Matt. Matthew just likes to follow Ben, I guess he just wants the attention. Ashleigh is a HUGE help, but also can get bossy and just wants attention too. I had her try on her flower girl dress for the wedding, she is so cute! Definitely looks good on her. Yes it is fun cause they are SooOoooOOOOO adorable, but I am okay when they head home and I go take my tylenol. :D GOTTA LOVE 'EM!

2 Month Mark

Well well well...these past couple months have flown by for me! There are only 2 months left until the wedding! Yes. ONLY 2 MOm!!! CRAZY!! Jake and I have been pretty busy. We have been apartment searching, car searching, and I have been busy doing announcements and bridal pictures! I got the announcements made and they were ordered and we just got them in last week! They are ADORABLE! I love them a lot! Also, I got my pre-bridal pictures. They turned out FANTASTIC! (If you want to see them you can email me and I will give you the site, I just don't want Jake to know the password and what not because he is not allowed to see them!) We went last weekend to pick out his wedding ring also. We found a really nice one that they are ordering in his size for us, and it was really inexpensive too! I am way excited about that.

Other than that I have just been working A LOT (not as much as I thought though...!) I have been sick for 3 weeks, going on my fourth. Thats some kind of record right there. Of course I was sick for a week, and then started to get better, but got Jake sick...so he turned around and gave it RIGHT BACK TO ME! Thanks a lot . . . !! It is not fun. I have had a cold (you know, stuffy nose, sometimes runny, headaches, dizzy, tired, achey sometimes, HEADACHES, sneezy, coughing, etc. I had a fever the first week, but that went away. Thank goodness!!

Jake has just been finishing up school. Thanksgiving break is this week, so he is working to make some moneys! We think we have found an apartment in Idaho Falls, that just means traveling for me when I have class in Rexburg. But it shouldn't be too bad. Right now I only have one class Tuesday and Thursdays, but I am gonna try to get an online one too so I can get a couple more credits. I am definitely going to be very busy next semester. But it will be lots of fun finally being married and having our own place! (WEIRD!) Roommates are kind of getting annoying (mostly his...!).

I am coming home December 15th! I will be back (but working a lot) until the wedding. Then I come back to Idaho February 6thish. I am excited. Its going to be sad being away from Jake for so long, but it'll be good. Christmas won't be as much fun, but its okay! :) Speaking of Christmas its right around the corner...anyone else notice how fast it is coming?? I keep begging Jake for a puppy. I am constantly looking in the newspaper and showing him how cute they all are! But of course he tells me that "we have to save our money"...yea yea yea! But puppies are so cute!!! Hmmm...what should I get him for christmas??? maybe a...any ideas!!!???

Counting Down. . .

Well since my last post there has not been too much going on. Jake is still working hard in school. Surprisingly the semester is almost over! Only about 6 more weeks or so! It all went by so fast! The closer it gets to the end of the semester the closer it gets to the wedding day! Things are somewhat coming together. Not too much. I have an idea of everything that I want.

Now its just matter of getting it! We went to do our gift registries the other day. We went to Tar

get and then Bed Bath & Beyond. It was lots and lots of fun picking out things that we wanted, but wouldn't be able to get ourselves! He had more fun than he'd like to admit.

I got a new job here in Idaho Falls! It is lots of fun. I am a hostess at an Italian restaurant called Johnny Carinos! It is REALLY good food! I work there with Heather (my future sister-in-law). I would like to say it is because I knew her that I got the job, so thank you Heather! I will be leaving in December, but they said I will most likely get the job back when I come back to Idaho in February (beginning of . . .). Hopefully they will make me a server then because hostessing isn't enough money for me! (I don't think it is for anyone!). It is definitely a great place though! The people are awesome (except for a few, but you get that anywhere you go) and the managers are tons of fun! Gotta say it is almost BETTER than Olive Garden. Yes I get discounts (not free food. . .but I can usually talk them into it).

Things are going good. Still trying to get our invites and addresses, and I still have decisions to make about decorations. I cannot wait! Next week will be 2 and 1/2 months! Sorry mom, the countdown is going a lot quicker than you thought! Haha. Things are definitely coming together though. It has not snowed here yet. But I hear there was some in New Jersey! HAHA!!! (Yes it is a good thing for my family, but it is amazing to finally be somewhere that has no snow, while they are stuck with it!). I definitely cannot wait until I am on a nice sunny cruise and they are stuck in the U.S.! :) That's gonna make me smile A LOT!!

Go Cougars!!!

So October 11th BYU played New Mexico in Provo. Of course, Jake and I had to go to a game before the season was up! We got tickets about a month or two ago, and I almost wasn't able to go because of work, but ended up being able to and we had so much fun!

It was exciting. First game I had been to since I was a kid I am guessing. But the first one that I remember!

It was FREEZING cold outside though! It had snowed a little in the morning and was pretty bad on our drive home, but we got lucky there. I was wearing a tank top, t-shirt, small jacket, a hoodie, another larger jacket and gloves but yet I still froze! Of course Jake was fine! We just got hot food and hot chocolate to drink to keep us, or me, warm!

Look at them go!!!!

There were a ton of goofy people that were at the game! Some of the outfits they wore, and a couple students were in shorts and t-shirts!! It took us a while to get into the game and actually start doing some of the chants, but we eventually gave in towards the end! And of course as most of you know, BYU won!!!

All the rest of the games this season are sold out, so we got lucky with these tickets! I think we might get season tickets next year!! Fun fun fun . . . !!

Engagement Pictures

So we took our Engagement Pictures! They are SO adorable! I was so excited when I saw them, but then realized that because I loved them all so much, that only made my decision of which ones to use more difficult! His mom took them for us and did a WONDERFUL job! She is really good at this!

We went to his parents house Friday afternoon, and went to see his old high school's football game. It got FREEZING cold, but it was fun! We had to sit on the other teams side because there was no more room for us on his schools side. It was quite awkward sitting amongst the opposing teams family and friends. But I think that made it more exciting.

Saturday morning we woke up, got showered and dressed, and I spent forever trying to make sure my hair and make up were perfect. I honestly thought I was having a bad day for that! We finally left and went to a nearby park where we started to take the pictures. His sister-in-law and her 2 kids came with us. Trey kept saying "grandma over here! I like this spot!" so she would turn and take a few pictures of him too. He was very photogenic and great at posing! It was funny to watch.

After like 3 hours of taking photos we went back to his parents house. I tried on his Heather's wedding dress and LOVED it! I am so excited to wear it! It's beautiful!! And it fit well so I don't have to do anything to it, just exercise so I look even better in it! I would put the pictures up of it, but Jake can't see it yet! :) Sorry!!

We were going to come back to our apartments on Saturday, but enjoyed the silence and relaxing atmosphere at his parents house too much so we stayed and went to church with them. It was a great weekend! One of the best so far!

New Picture ... !!

He is just so handsome. How did I get so lucky with him!!?? But I definitely think we are a cute couple!


We go get our engagement pictures this next Saturday! I tried on wedding dresses this last saturday and found some REALLY cute ones! But of course they were expensive! I will just have to keep looking!!

What a HOTTIE!! <3

The Future Family . . .

Well not all of these pictures are mine. I stole some of them from Jake. But I figured I will probably keep forgetting to take my own pictures, so why not use these to introduce the future family. As best as possible. I of course will add more of them that I will take when I decide to remember. But until then this will have to do !!

First, this is Jake and his parents (Lorie and Rory . . . thats going to be fun!) They went to Cambodia to visit for a couple weeks, and this was before one of the long long flights.

His dad, Rory, has a brother and a sister and I know his brother lives down the street. He owns his own plumbing business which he bought out about 10 years ago or more...not certain.

His mom, Lorie, is very social and has 10 kids in her family! I don't know how she survived! She just works for the plumbing business to keep herself occupied.

Then we have Jason and Rachel. Jason is the oldest son (this picture is a little old) but its the best one I could find. They have 3 kids, Jozaline (6), JJ (4), and Reagan (2). **don't quote me on the ages!!**

Jozi just started first grade. She is very cute and very bossy. She is definitely a girly girl! She is very picky about her clothes and the food she its. Its funny listening to her.

JJ is obviously short for something. His name is Jarome Jace. He is adorable! And he gets very shy around me. But he is very talkative and definitely a mama's boy!

Their youngest Reagan is adorable! She tries to be like the big kids, but at the same time knows she is a loved little girl and takes FULL advantage! The cutest thing is if you ask "if you're cute raise your hand" she will raise her hand! She is a TINY little girl! But definitely a cutie!

Then there is Jakes other brother Josh. Josh is married to Heather, and they have two little kids Trey (or Treydon ** not sure on the spelling**)and Tessa. Trey is 4 and Tessa is 1. They too are adorable! I tease Trey all the time because he likes me, but won't admit it to me! Its quite amusing! He doesn't want me to know that he wants me to stick around. But I always get him to hold my hand and then tease him. Its funny. He loves to ride bikes (BMX) and just be like his dad. Tessa is only one and is still shy around anyone besides Mom and Dad. But can warm up to people pretty quickly. I scare her a lot though sometimes, makes me sad. They are sweet kids! (I don't have a picture of Josh and Heather but I will definitely try to get one!)

Thats just Jakes immediate family. They are a great family and I can't wait to be apart of it! (Although I sort of am already!) Jake said that his sister-in-laws already love me! And the kids already sometimes call me Aunt Arli (WEIRD!!) But its cute! I get along great with them all! They are lots and lots of fun! I will get more pictures on here ASAP!!

Wedding stuff

WeDDiNg. . .

So the wedding is January 23rd. I have just been very lazy about everything, but realized today that I only have about 4 months until the wedding. Apparently there is lots to do, but I just don't feel like there is. Its probably because my mom, Whitney, and my aunt Chris are in charge. But I figured that I could ask you guys for some cute ideas! My colors are going to be brown and pink. Thats about as far as I have gotten. Sooo, I definitely would love some feed back. You can send pictures of some cute things you have found, or even just some ideas you have seen or heard of! Anything would help!

I have posted some pictures of some ideas I had. Let me know what you think and what changes should be made...! :)

Cake Idea...maybe round instead of square...?

Instead of the bow we could have the people...

I really liked this announcement with the colors and the pictures would of course not be by the beach! But still I thought it was very cute.

I loved this idea. The candles are adorable and the brown table cloths will hide any messes. Plus having the pink flowers and napkins will tie the pink in really well. :) Too much though?

Back in Idaho

Idaho again . . .


So I have been back in Idaho since August 23rd. It was sad leaving the family again, but its nice being here where there is lots of peace and quiet! Jake, his mom and his niece came to Utah to pick me up from the airport, and that Sunday one of Jakes old companions returned back from his mission so we went to the homecoming for him right outside of Salt Lake. It was cute seeing him with some of his old companions. When we got back his niece Jozalin did our make up (yes our...meaning Jakes, mine, and his nephew Trey!) It was very cute!!




That following weekend (well Thursday) after I got back here Jakes family and I went camping in Montana. Except they camp the way I like to! You know, in trailers with showers, running water, heat, AC, kitchens, nice beds, the whole ten yards! It was a blast! We went four-wheeling, which I am amazing at pretty much, dirt biking, sat around the fire every night and had marshmallows, played with the kids, watched movies, etc. That Saturday the boys went golfing and the girls took the kids to a near by hotel thing with a water park type of thing. It was lots of fun! The kids are adorable. At first they all had to go down the slide with someone, and then they decided they could do it themselves! When we got back we gave the guys the kids and the girls layed around! Haha. That Monday when we woke up, it snowed. DUMB! I really wanted to cry! But we were in the mountains I guess...still dumb though! So we just packed up and came back to Idaho.

Tuesday I helped Suzy move in to our new apartment, and I put some of my stuff in it too. Then Wednesday Suzy helped me move in and I helped Jake move in too! He lives in the same place that I do, except with the guys...DUH! Thursday was his birthday so we went to his house and hung out, finished getting things we left, and I spoiled him like crazy! I got him the new Madden 09 game, (but he got it like a week before his birthday...grr), so he played that, I gave him a back/head massage, and we just relaxed the whole day. It was nice. Friday we went to the Idaho State Fair. We got there kind of later so we just got some food and then stood in line for the concert that we were going to. It was the Jason Michael Carol and Joe Nichols concert. They were AMAZING!! I lost my voice from screaming so much! I had so much fun! We were standing and we were right up at the gate thing right by the stage so that was nice! There was a little girl next to me and Jason Michael Carol reached out and we lifted her over the gate so she could touch his hand. It was cute. He kept winking at her too! They were both great singers!! ( I took this picture. That is how close I was to him! )

Saturday we went back to the fair to do some more stuff than just eat. We walked around for a couple hours and then got bored so we went back to Jakes house. We were supposed to go to dinner with his parents, but they ordered pizza and we just watched T.V. the rest of the night. Still it was nice to relax. Sunday was a long day! Church for me starts at 1. I like sleeping in, but of course I can't sleep past 9:30 now! So I got up and had to restrain myself from entering the kitchen. Then yesterday and today I just pretty much slept, woke up, did some cleaning and organizing, and sat around because EVERYONE else is in school!!

I am still waiting on a job. I gave 15 applications out and have not heard ONCE from someone. Sucks. I hope to get one soon so that it can distract me from the long days that I have ahead of me!!

The Beginning

Well it has been a long interesting year so far! I started school in January of 2008. I currently have two semesters finished. I am majoring in Elementary Education, but I may change to Secondary Education. I just want to avoid teaching Science or History! But I do love working with kids.

Being here in Idaho has been a lot of fun and a GREAT experience for me! I got to know a lot of amazing people, and met my future HUSBAND Jake Olson. Weird!! I didn't think that this day would come so soon! But it has and I am so excited for it! Jake is from Idaho Falls (or Ammon). He served his mission in Massachusettes Boston area but was Cambodian speaking. Never would have thought that there were that many Cambodians in Mass. He recently went to Cambodia for the first time with his parents, and of course loved it! He got back from his mission a year ago and is on Fall/Winter Track here at BYUI where his going to Major in Health Science. He is going to use that to go into Radiology. He didn't start taking classes until Winter Semester and that's where I met him!

He was in my math class Winter Semester. His friend sat next to me the first day, and then the next class he supposedly raced to get there first so he could sit next to me! His pick up line "I don't know how to use my calculator, can you help me?" And of course, I fell for it! Unfortunately he dropped the class, but I still hung out with him and his friends. I left in April to come home for a week, and when I got back, he immediately got my number from his friend and started hitting on me. I loved it! But I tried to play hard to get, which obviously didn't work too well. :)

Everything has been fantastic since the moment we started dating in April. Except the fact that I decided NOT to tell anyone that I was dating him, so it was quite a shock when I finally told my parents that he was coming to meet them, and he was going to ask to marry me! Sorry Mommy and Daddy!! :) But of course they love him almost as much as I do!

Our date is set for January 23rd, 2009! We will be getting married in the Washington D.C. temple, and then we are having a reception in New Jersey on the 24th! Jake and I then leave for the honeymoon, and on February 13th, we will have another reception in Idaho Falls! I am so excited for it all to come! I guess I need to start doing more for planning and what not!

I am back in Idaho now until October, and then I am leaving and going back to New Jersey to help my mom with more wedding stuff, and to work my booty off! Jake and I will be taking second block classes this next Winter semester. I am on track in the summer so I will be going to school and working part time probably while he works full time for his dad who runs his own plumbing business.

So I will be here in Idaho for pretty much the rest of my life! But according to him I was meant to be a country girl!! We will probably move to Utah so he can finish school at Utah State or somewhere there. He plans on having a business in Idaho Falls with his uncles though. I do love it here, although I really miss the city sometimes, Idaho is not as bad as most would assume. Yes it is a lot smaller, but the people are nicer and everything is more relaxed. Ahhh, peace and quiet!

Giving in

Well here ya go! I didn't think that I would actually start this thing, but I decided that since everyone else was I might as well. It is probably the best way to keep everyone updated on the beginning of my new life!