Bliss

2 beautiful weddings.

There really isn't anything more special than a temple sealing of two people in love.

Oh how I love my permanent plus one- Thomas and I spent a weekend in Salt Lake with his family and a quick trip to California with mine.

SALT LAKE

SAN DIEGO

**Disclaimer- "I'm in love, I'm in love and I don't care who knows it." If you don't want to read about it- leave this page now.

It has been over a month since my last post and in that time I've come to understand the validity of phrases like

"took my breath away"

or

"weak at the knees"

all the sappy lines you hear in a nicolas sparks movie might not be that far fetched.

Life with Thomas Rich is pure bliss.

This Christmas vacation has been so special. We consider it a big blessing that we both are from St. George. It has made it possible to split time between both our families. I love the moments I spend with the Rich's and am always eager for Thomas to experience life at the Frodsham's.
I love him more than I know how to say and am so looking forward to all of the exciting things to come over the next few months. 2017 is gonna be a good year for us!
Everyone deserves a Thomas (but I'm not willing to share mine). He is good. kind. funny. handsome. hard working. driven. loving. thoughtful. respectful. just the right balance of silly and serious.
Every time the light hits those bright blue eyes butterflies jump inside me. I'm so lucky that those eyes so often look at me!
Going to weddings was a fun new first for us this break. I love nothing more than true love and witnessing "for time and all eternity" and found it especially magical when I got to be their with the man I love with all my heart.

Thankful for Thanksgiving

I miss blogging. I can never seem to justify writing a blog post when I have papers and quizzes to complete. However, I worked super hard this week so I am rewarding myself before beginning the next set of end of semester projects. I can't believe how quickly this semester has gone by.

GRATITUDE IS SAID TO BE THE MEMORY OF OUR HEART

-Joseph F. Smith

My heart will cherish the memories of last weekend.Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Maybe it is because I have so much to be thankful for. I'm so blessed with wonderful people in my life.
While Thanksgiving truly is my favorite, my favorite part of Thanksgiving happens Wednesday night. We call it Pie Night- it is the best tradition. You see if you eat the way my family eats you get full to the breaking point with Turkey and all appropriate sides during dinner. You might be able to muscle down one piece of pie an hour later. It is for this reason we hold pie night. Pie deserves to be the center of attention. We include an actual meal but many people skip over it and dive into the pie. Everyone brings several and you eat until you're sick. The left over pies are served the next day as well. If you don't celebrate Thanksgiving with a prelude of pies than in my opinion- you're doing it wrong.
The rest of the weekend was just as enjoyable as that pie night. We gathered for breakfast with the Frodsham family and dinner with the Marchants. I love those People more than I know how to express. For the last few days we headed to St. George and played played played. It was Coco's birthday! I hadn't seen her since August and about cried like she did when we pulled in around midnight. Some car trouble made us all grateful that everyone made it home to be together. It was fun to have Thomas over for all the fun. Leaving St. George was almost physically painful on Sunday. I miss living there.

 

It is a good thing He lives in Provo.

Even though the snow came down relentlessly on Monday it was one of my favorite days. Thomas's nephew was born so I ditched out on New Testament and tagged along to a fun filled day with the Rich family. Their family has been decorating a tree at the festival of trees since it opened. I had never been before and loved spending the day there meeting lots of family and taking part in such a fun tradition. They are good people.

The highlight of the day was watching Thomas meet that brand new baby. I've heard about this little guy since I met Thomas. He has loved him for a long time now. Meet Bentley Matthew Rich a beautiful baby boy who made it to the world in time to catch the Jazz game.

closet poet? probably not.

I am feeling extremely frustrated at the measly 486 words of my fiction piece for creative writing. I sat in the library and started it over and over again. I hated it and deleted it at least 4 times. Finally I gave up and went on a run hoping the fall air and probably the last bit of sunshine for a while would clear my head. Sadly inspiration didn't come on that run. When an idea (thanks to kira) started to appear on my word document I realized- of those 486 words not a signal one of them so far is made up.
Let's face it... making up stories isn't one of my talents. I have been nervous for this unit in my creative writing class all semester. I ate up the non-fiction like dinner on a fast Sunday. I gritted my teeth through the poetry assignments. I'm not a poet but I loved the reading my professor asked us to do in preparation for class each day. I didn't always find the confusing stanzas so incredible like many of my classmates and chuckled as my friend Matt whispered "do you think they would say the same things if I wrote that?" No Matt... if your name was E. E. Cummings you could write "red rabbit run" and they would say it was original and profound but until then, no.
And with that said here are a couple of my poems from class.

Inspired by Love Poem with Toast by Miller Williams

  

Love Poem with (Chocoloate Peanut butter and Banana) Breakfast Essentials Smoothie

Some of what I hope, I hope

to see shoot star wishes come true.

that I’ll get an A, that I’ll find a job I love,

that I’ll have a happily ever after.

The rest of what I hope, I hope

to come out on top.

that I’ll graduate without too much debt, that depression will stay where I left it,

that old wounds with new layers of skin heal completely.

With hundreds of forks in the road

shaping my journey through life,

I make decisions, the best I can, experimenting.

deciding what to eat,

deciding what to wear,

deciding who to love,

deciding how much or how little,

deciding to keep trying,

deciding when to quit,

deciding what time to set the alarm,

deciding to pick up an extra shift,

deciding what is appropriate,

deciding when to make the jump,

as I wonder and worry

not knowing what to expect,

as I evaluate the coming day,

as the to do list gets longer and the dreams get wilder,

I sip my breakfast drink and anticipate.

One of the many things I planned on but never got around to blogging about inspired this "imagistic poem"

The lights go down slowly,

as energy quickly rises.

Hundreds of strangers

brought together for a few hours to never see each other again,

standing shoulder to shoulder anxiously gazing into glaring lights.

Lights flash first blazing white then fire red,

blinding and mesmerizing.

Burning your eyes but holding your gaze.

Soaking in rhythmic drum beats

enchanting hips and heads to sway left then right.

The mood drops to something sentimental.

Stars twinkle from iPhone flashlights

as robotically arms go into the air.

Throats soar, feet aching

backs and necks sticky with sweat.

The final cord is struck in a fireworks of lights

and fan girl screams.

The lights go back up,

the energy  drops,

the arena empties.

Jacob Lake + Facebook Official

I spent a few incredible days in one of the most beautiful places with the most charming guy.
I'm a pretty lucky girl if you ask me (or if you ask anyone who knows Thomas).
It is hard to explain what that weekend was like- struggling to find words to describe the way it felt to be there. (And to be blunt a lot of it was also too special for the blog anyway but my journal and I had a good time.)
It was so fun to see Thomas in the place I hear so many stories about. His family has owned Jacob Lake for a couple generations. Growing up Thomas spent every summer there and you can tell he loves it. I had the opportunity to meet most of his immediate family. The idea of meeting them actually terrified me but I had nothing to be afraid of. They were so nice and easy to be with. I think I probably spent more time with them without Thomas than I did with him there. He was busy that weekend and I was lazy. He worked as a waiter and I creepily watched him charm every table. I knew he was good at it but it was fun to watch just how good. I made a few salads and wiped off a couple of tables but for the most part I just ate a lot and chatted with T's mom or sister.
If you are looking for a good vacation location I would highly recommend a Grand Canyon get away.
http://www.jacoblake.com/
Everything I ate there felt like the new best thing I had eaten. I couldn't get over the trees or how perfect the weather was. It was nothing short of magical.
The first night we went to look at the stars. I don't remember exactly how many shooting stars I saw but it was a good number. There were so many stars in the sky and in my eyes. I felt a little like I was living a scene of a romance movie; curled up next to the most incredible boy under a sky that looked photo-shopped my heart raced a million beats per minute. I truly was star struck and stayed that way all weekend. I can't wait to go back.
It was dreamy to have T kiss me goodnight and then be the first person I saw the next morning when he came to get me for breakfast. His college apartment really isn't that far away from mine but compared to down the hall it might as well be in the next city. We were spoiled. I picked the movie one night and fell asleep in the first 10 minutes and of course he didn't wake me up because he is nice even if I put his arm to sleep. He treats me like a queen. I'm so lucky to call him mine!
I always said I would never make a relationship Facebook official. I had my reasons. However, when Thomas asked me about it all those reasons didn't seem to apply. Sooooo we are Facebook official and as silly as it seems I couldn't be happier about it. He is wonderful in every way and I will gladly call dibs on him- Facebook and all.
It is crazy to look back on the last couple of months and think that he hasn't been around as long as I feel like he has. We joke all the time that we have been dating for years not months. I've never been happier (insert corny heart eye emoji)

Narrow Lights Photography

Her name is Alisa Bench, she has been a big blessing in my life and she can make anyone feel photogenic. I loved being her model for a day. I would highly recommend her.

Check her out HERE

and 

HERE on instagram

Just Because

I told Thomas I wanted to see the leaves.

So we did.

And it was magical!

Thanks to Steven and Rachel for taking lots of pictures for us.

(if I knew we were gonna have a photo shoot I probably would have done my hair more.. oh well they're still pretty cute cuz have you seen how handsome he is??? I have such a big crush on him shhhhh)

(LOL.... can't do serious faces, trying soooo hard not to laugh)

I am such a picture addict and T is soooo good at letting me take them. This post actually has no purpose other than I wanted to save these pictures on here. xoxo so happy!!!

Fall Feels

The many colors of the trees and the late afternoon sunlight,

Fall

The soft sweaters and well worn boots,

Fall

The pumpkin cookies and coco,

Fall.

It's my favorite time of year and there are a hundred things I want to blog about. It has been on my to do list for weeks now but midterms, work and Stranger Things (yes, Netflix with Thomas would be on the top of your priority list too if you were me) have kept my days full.

Today I do have to document my gratitude for miracles from Heaven. I sure am nervous to take my New Testament midterm tomorrow but one answer I do know without a doubt is that miracles are real. Christ performed miracles then and the same power performs them now.
My Grandpa went in for an emergency heart surgery yesterday morning. My whole family has been very prayerful and anxious. It truly was miraculous the things the doctors were able to do. I can't explain how grateful I am that he will be going home. He is the most incredible person and I love him so much.

It is sad that it takes big things like that to encourage me to pray fervently. I started a blog post a couple weeks back that I never finished about becoming too relaxed in my testimony.
Midterms had begun and Thomas had an exercise physiology test (because he is smart and takes classes like exercise physiology). Before the test I said I would pray for him and upon sending the text message a thought came with it...
"Did I even pray this morning?"

My spirit has been at such peace lately that I have begun to get too comfortable with my life. I'm not complain about being happy. I have been soooo happy lately. However, I'm sad to admit my prayers are hurried or in the case of that Wednesday morning-forgotten completely. My scripture study has become nothing more than fulfilling New Testament assignments.
Why is it that when life is sunny I do this? and then when a storm cloud rolls in I'm back to pleading in my prayers and searching in my scriptures.
It isn't something I'm proud to admit but it is legitimate. When Grandpa went in for surgery I was back on my knees praying the way I should be praying everyday. This last Sunday my fast was meaningful- the way it should be every month.
As a missionary I told myself I would never just go through the motions. It hasn't even been a year since I came home and I have forgotten. Because of the beauty of forgiveness I can "un-forget" and remember what it is like to live my life needing strength beyond my own. No matter how happy I find myself I still know true happiness doesn't come without heavenly help.

My walk home from campus includes the prettiest trees and stream. It is always a good day when I have a few minutes to sit on a bench and listen to the ducks quack. It is a perfect 60-75 degrees outside these days. As I've sat there enjoying the blue sky, warm sunshine, cool air and fall colors- I've pondered:
I'm grateful to be happy. I'm grateful for miracles & forever families. I'm grateful to remember to live the habits I told myself I always would.
and I'm grateful for Fall.

Basic & Loving it

Remember that really basic white girl thing Kira and I do when our facebook profile pictures get out dated?
It's something we try to keep pretty secret but let's be honest... it's so not a secret.
There isn't anyone else I would be able to drive up the canyon with on a Saturday and feel comfortable enough to let them take iphone pictures of me. I'm so grateful for Kira.
I'll own up to my super basic Saturday activity without too much embarrassment LOL (see I just used lol, which has actually become a bad habit as part of my vocabulary. We started saying it as a joke but now it just happens)
Fall is my most favorite season. I love the leaves when they change color. It makes me miss the big Canadian maple leaves. It is beautiful and cozy.
Oh yeah... and I have blonde-ish hair. I needed something to motivate me to do my hair again. Just trying to look like Haley :)

We will probably do this again once the snow comes or one of us cuts or dyes our hair again cuz why not? Sometimes being a basic white girl isn't all that bad xoxo