Journal Entry November 17, 2008

For my Sociology class, we have to write a paper for the end of this semester. Throughout this whole semester, we have been required to keep a journal- just a regular journal of life's daily activities and such, and so this paper that I am writing is about just that- my journal. I have to write about the influences of society on my life and what not and how different things affect my life. So, I was re-reading all of my journal entries and I stumbled across this one entry in particular and thought it should be shared. This is just so all of you know how excited I am to be married in 14 days. :)

November 17, 2008
I was just thinking about Dallin and I and our relationship when it hit me, square between the eyes- we are getting married in 33 days!!! MARRIED--SEALED--FOREVER. So it has made me think- why are we getting married? Why do I love him? This is what I came up with: I love the way he calls me, "honey, sweetheart, loves" etc., the look in his eyes when he tells me he loves me, how excited he gets about the future- his job, our future family, etc., the way he teases me relentlessly then apologizes so I don't get mad, how he lets me drives his truck, then comments on how good I look in it, his obvious love, adoration and gratitude toward our Savior, how passionate he is about missionary work, how much he loves his family and mine, the way his jaw sets when he's trying to keep his hands to himself :), how jealous he gets when he sees another guy checkin me out :), how jealous he gets over past boyfriends, the look in his eyes when he is about to kiss me, the look in his eyes when he's about to tease me; just his gorgeous blue eyes in general! And most of all, I just love the way he loves me. What an incredible, driven, passionate and loving man I have caught. I am so incredibly lucky and fortunate. I love him with all of my heart!

And that, ladies and gents, is why I am hoping and praying these next two weeks FLY by! :)

Things I Am Looking Forward To. . .

-Seeing my families!

-Not having to worry about school (well, at least not going to classes) for a week

-Conquering the wedding plans live and in living color with my mom

-No school

-Eating WAAAYY too much turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin pie and the likes

-No school

-Being back in the Tri-Cities

-Did I mention no school??? (Can you tell I need a break?!)

-Only 30 days until I am Mrs. Dallin Calaway!!!

-Remembering all the blessings in my life and being especially thankful for them for this wonderful Thanksgiving season.

Just Kidding, I Lied. . .

So we changed our minds and decided to go with this picture instead. We had some requests for a picture with the two of us smiling, and we decided on this one. So, here is the un-touched up picture!

Hope you like this one as much as the other one! We love it! :)

The Winner!

We finally chose the picture to go out in our announcement. We are pretty stinkin excited about it! She did a GREAT job!!


Hope you all like it as much as we do! :)

Happiness Is. . .

. . . A gorgeous sunset when you haven't seen the sun in days

An amazing Temple within walking distance of my house.

Two amazing families who love me and I love them

A (VERY handsome) fiance who loves me and shows me everyday.

And most of all, happiness is knowing that our dear Savior and Redeemer loved us so much that He gave His life in hopes that we would look to Him and live; That one day we would return to live with Him and our loving Father in Heaven again. And for that, I am truly grateful.

Birthday Presents!

I am probably the luckiest girl in the entire world. If nothing else, EXTREMELY blessed. My family and fiance spoil me. I am so grateful to everyone who got me a gift! That was the bright spot of my day, for sure. It was nice to break up the studying and writing so that I could at least enjoy a minute or two of being 21! So, here are the beloved gifts that I received in lieu of being alive for 21 years!



First, from Nate and Staci, this awesome cupcake decorating kit. I am so excited now to make some awesome gourmet cupcakes! Thank you guys!





Next, from Mom, I got an adorable scarf, warm knee high socks and gum, plus a very sizeable amount of cash and a pair of VERY cute Modbe jeans. To check them out, go here.




From Tara and David, Jen and Cory and Marcus and Ash I got an iTunes and Aeropostale gift card. The iTunes card is already spent on wonderful Christmas music for me to enjoy this holiday season and the Aeropostale card is just calling my name. This weekend is when the wonderful gift will be spent. I am so excited and I loved them!




And last, but CERTAINLY not least- a gorgeous long stemmed rose and a very sweet card from my fiance. This was the last gift I got on my special day. It was waiting, as a total surprise to me, on my night stand next to my bed (which he made for me, I was in such a rush to leave that morning, I didn't have the chance.) I have the BEST fiance ever! :)




I have more presents on the way from Dallin, they're just really slow in getting here. All in all, it was a great birthday. Sure, I was in the library for hours upon hours, but I was shown just how much I am loved and I am so grateful for the amazing family and fiance I have!

My Super Exciting Birthday Plans!

So, as of 32 minutes ago, I am now 21. I don't feel much older, other than the fact that I am sleep deprived with no reprieve in sight. But I just thought I should let you all know about my very EXCITING plans for my birthday tomorrow! Here's what's on the agenda-

5:45- Wake up
6:45- Leave house to go to the Library and finish my Stats homework
7:45- Head off to Anatomy and Physiology
8:00-9:30- Listen to a super exciting A&P lecture
9:45-11:15- Work on a case study in my Stats Class
11:15-12:45- Back to the Library to start on my 7-page paper on Ancient Egyptian Marriage Culture which is due tomorrow. . . (Very interesting. Seriously. You should read the stuff, I've been eating it up!)
12:45-1:45- Work my tail off in my Footwork, Agility and Plyo's class
2:00-3:00- Weigh random people's backpacks for my Stats project
3:00-6:00- Back to the Library for more writing about Egyptian weddings
6:00-6:30- Dinner Break
6:30-11:30- Still writing. . . .
11:30- Leave library for home
12:00- Collapse, exhausted, into my not-so-comfortable bed

What do you think? Pretty stinkin awesome huh? If only every birthday could be THIS good.

Engagement Pictures!

Ok, the day has finally come. . . we have our engagement pictures! We got up last Saturday at 3:00 in the morning to be ready by 4:00 to be to Rigby, ID by 4:30 where we would meet up with our photographer to drive to Jackson by 7:45 which is when the sun was supposed to rise against the Teton's. 3 hours of sleep, a long drive and pulling up to the barn we wanted to take our pictures at at 7:44 and 59 seconds just in time for the sunrise was TOTALLY worth it! :) The pictures turned out BEAUTIFULLY and we are so happy with Heidi (our photographer). Blink photography has a special place in our hearts :) And she will be gracing us with her presence at our wedding as well. I can only imagine how awesome our wedding pictures will be! If you want to view some of our pictures, go to www.blinkphoto.lifepics.com and enter dallin (all lower-case) as the event code. Let us know your favorites!!

Google Fun

I am copying an idea from Rachel's blog because I am laid up in bed with the stomach flu. Mom and Dallin had it this weekend and now Jen has it and I believe I am starting in on the wonderful journey now as well. :) All of us have either suffered or are suffering with it right now. I very much dislike the stomach flu. It's miserable.

So anyhow, I guess I am supposed to type in certain things in Google Images and then post the picture, so here goes!

First Name: Laura

Middle Name: Ashley
Last Name: Henry (Soon to be Calaway! :) Sorry, I am a dork, I am just excited about getting married, what can I say?!)Age: 21 (Well, in 17 days I will be)

No idea what this has to do with the number 21, but oh well!

A place you want to visit someday: The Caribbean


Favorite Vacation Spot: Priest Lake (I just made that discovery this summer!)

Past Celebrity Crush: Brad Pitt


College Major: Dental Hygiene

Place I grew up: Pasco, WA

First Job: Working at B&B


Favorite Dessert: Chocolate Lava Cakes, Yum!!

Favorite Food: Steak and a Loaded Baked Potato

Favorite Color: Red


Someplace I went today: The Ricks Building



What's for dinner tonight: Chicken Noodle Soup most likely. . .


As for an update on wedding stuff, I have my dress!! I got it this weekend with Mom and Jen (pre-puking) and I also got my temple dress and garments and everything. Those are safely stowed back in Pasco, but my dress is here since I will most likely take my bridal pictures here with my photographer. Blink Photography is doing our engagements and our wedding pictures and she is amazing!! We are so excited. Engagements are going to be on the 23rd of this month, hopefully with snowy tetons in the background. It will be beautiful. Little girls dresses are being purchased and the moms are working overtime to make this thing beautiful! Thanks Mom and Valerie for being super-women! You two are amazing! I would post pictures of my dress, but I fear Dallin seeing the pictures. . . so, I guess you'll just hafta wait :) That's the update of my life thus far. Hopefully I get over this nastiness and I can get on with school and planning! Happy October!

I'm Engaged!!

It's finally happened. The day everyone thought would come a lot sooner :) Today, Dallin Calaway proposed to me and of course, I said yes. (How could I say no when I saw the ring?! HELLO!! :) Totally joking, by the way, although the ring is GORGEOUS, you can see for yourselves!) December 20th is the big day and we both cannot wait! So, here are the pictures from the day. More details to come.

Mesa Falls

Right before he proposed

Right after he proposed :) (It was raining and we got drenched! Hence the wet dog look I am sporting :).)

The Ring! Soooooo beautiful. Everything I wanted.


The Side view of it. Amazing, isn't it??

Our First FHE!

So, Dallin and I kind of decided we were just going to start doing our own FHE's since we're going to be doing them together in the future anyway! So, for our first FHE we went to the Temple and just talked about blessings we receive from attending the temple and the blessings from receiving our endowments. Now, obviously I have never been through the temple for my own endowment yet, but soon I will! Also, in my Old Testament class we have been discussing the Creation and the Fall and those are a large part of the endowment as well, so we were discussing that as well. All in all, I think it was a great first FHE! And of course, we couldn't leave the temple without taking a picture of us and the temple, so here are a couple of the attempts! Thank goodness for window seals and automatic timers on cameras. :) I think we were fairly successful, how about you?

I think we started laughing in this one because Dallin might have sworn. On Temple Grounds. :) I know. . . slip of the tongue. He's working on it. (It was kinda funny though. Ironic if nothing else. :))

I Love to See the Temple

Last night we had a beautiful sunset and I have been meaning to get a beautiful picture of the Rexburg Temple on here, so here are the shots I took. Is it not the most beautiful temple you have ever seen??



I have to admit I have always been partial to the San Diego Temple and really wanted to get married there, but after seeing this Temple everyday for the past 2 1/2 years, I think San Diego has finally become #2 in my heart. Rexburg has now taken its place. (The again, I have never seen the San Diego Temple in real life, so what do I know?) Anyway, this is my beautiful temple that inspires me to be a little better everyday. I love this building and cannot wait to one day go inside it again!

Welcome Emi Cobia!

Tara finally got her little girl. And she's beautiful! Congrats to Tara, David, Luke, Mathew and William on the safe arrival of sweet little Emiline Jane. Can't wait to meet her! (By the way, who looks that good after having a baby?? Tara, you're beautiful!)

Oh the Places You'll Go

Alright, I know I haven’t written on here for about 2 or 3 months. Sorry. . . I guess I felt like I didn’t have a whole lot to report on my life. But, now I am starting a new phase- getting back into the college mode! I am so excited to be back at BYU-I and start the learning process once more.

Before the learning starts though, let’s take a look at the journey here. I had to say goodbye to some pretty special people whom I will miss very much!

I did talk to Rachel on Friday though and she told Dallin and I that she had a package in the mail for us- a three year old. We were pretty excited! Dallin loves the little fireball and I have to admit, I am kinda partial to her. :)

After the goodbyes were said, then the real fun started. Packing. First, I want to thank my dad for being the MASTER packer! Oh my word, I had so much stuff and I had my doubts as to whether or not it was all going to fit in my car. In fact, I was convinced that it wouldn’t. But, like I said, my dad is the master packer and as the following pictures show, there was enough room for me. And my purse. Barely. It vaguely reminded me of a trip home from Rexburg many years ago with a certain sister and brother-in-law of mine whom I love dearly. I think I had less space then but was able to move even more freely. . . what do you think Rach?

So then I got to my house in Rexburg and got everything out of my car and into my room (which is a private room, thank goodness!) and as you can see by the next picture, there wasn’t a whole lot of room.

Well, I made it all fit and I think it’s a pretty cute room, if I do say so myself!

So after spending way too much money on groceries and getting all settled in, Dallin and I are gonna relax until Monday, when the real fun begins! :) Yay for tests, assignments, long hours in the library, and best of all, devotionals! More pictures to follow with all the changes made on campus (our new “conference center”) and my beautiful Rexburg Temple! Hope everyone is as excited for this fall as I am!

Praise To The Man

Sorry, it's been awhile since I last posted on here, but I just didn't have anything I felt was "post worthy" news, until tonight. Tonight was the start of a new quarter for institute, and this quarter we are studying the Latter-Day Prophets. We're going in order, so you should be able to guess who we studied tonight- Joseph Smith.

In 6th grade, I decided to start reading the series by Gerald Lund, The Work and the Glory. For those of you who don't know, it's a 9 volume series that covers the history of the church from about 1828 until the saints arrive in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. Since 6th grade, I have read that series 4 times through. I know, I know, who has that much time and why on earth would you want to read the same thing 4 times through? Hey, why do they counsel us to always read and re-read the scriptures?? Ok, not quite the same thing, but still, I learned new things everytime I read. And, although there isn't necessarily any doctrine in those books that Elder Lund wrote, it gives a powerful account of the Prophets life, testimony, persecutions, struggles, triumphs, etc. I began gaining a very real testimony of that dear Prophet of old as I read through those books.

Then, in 7th and 8th grade, we had the opportunity to travel back to St Louis, MO to watch Jennifer play in the National Soccer Tournament for Dixie State College. While we were there we were able to travel to Nauvoo and Carthage and see all the sites there. As I walked down those streets in Nauvoo and as I sat on the bed in the jailers bedroom and listened to the account of Willard Richards, John Taylor, Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith, I had a strong, powerful witness that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God and that he truly did restore the church through Jesus Christ to this earth for us.

I then had the opportunity in my freshman year of high school to study the Doctrine and Covenants in Seminary. It was then and there that I started falling in love with Church History and our heritage. I soaked it up. I think it might even be safe to say that had there been a time machine or some way to transport me to another time, I would have immediately entered in a date from between 1830-1844 so I could meet the Prophet Joseph and live in that time. :) And, as I was falling in love with this time period I was also strengthening my testimony of that great man.

Now, here I sit, 20 (almost 21! :)) my testimony becoming stronger with every passing day of this great man. His life is one to truly be remembered, celebrated and revered. I will forever be grateful for the faith he had at 14 years old to walk into that grove of trees and ask our dear Father in Heaven to direct him which way he should go. I will also always be grateful to him that he never denied that testimony and in the end, sealed it with his blood. He bore such powerful testimony of the life of the Savior and of His divinity and never wavered in his faith. "Praise to the man who communed with Jehova, Jesus annointed that Prophet and seer. . . Praise to his memory, he died as a martyr; honored and blest be his ever great name."

So, that's how I ended my night tonight; adding to my testimony of that wonderful man who ". . . lived great and died great in the sight of God and his people. . ." Praise to the man.