News

I am married.

And, I am in the process of making a new blog.  Bear with me.

Also, bear with the lack of wedding photos.  I'm sad, too, don't worry.  I haven't forgotten about them, just haven't received them from the photographer yet.

Life is good! Stephen and I are poor, and we are so crazy busy that I hardly have time to clean the apartment (sorry Stephen), but we love married life and all that it entails :)

If you are still miraculously following this blog, you get a small reward: sneak peek pictures!  Voila:

Thanks Angie for the pictures, and thanks Leigh for making me pretty!

My apologies

My life is utter insanity right now.

Hence, the lack of posts.

BUT, I will change that within the next couple of days! I haven't dropped off the face of the planet, I promise.

PS. 29 days until I get married <3

Chaos

Can I just say, I love my family, and I love love love my fiance?

On Thursday I had the fabulous opportunity to ride down to Mesa with my love, and we spent the weekend with our families.  Sort of.  We were ALL over the place...doing our wedding registries, getting fitted for my dress, our engagement photo shoot, getting ready for the finishing touches of our invitations, going to our friends' reception...

...and THEN spending time with our families.  Probably the highlight of the trip for me was my Daddy's 58th birthday celebration...we had all but the Utah siblings (Christina, Seth, and their families) get together at my parents' house to eat and par-tay! Me and Stephen sat at the "kids table" for dinner, and I think that's my favorite. Possibly will make a habit out of that (if Stephen's ok with it)...my nieces and nephews are HILARIOUS and I loved catching up with them! One of the funnest dinners of my life.  We also had Mike & Sarah Rogan come over (minus the triplets...not that we would've noticed, with all the kids running around as it was) to add to the party.  It was loud and it was crazy...but mostly loud. And it was AWESOME.

So I'm gonna be honest with you all (all 2 of the readers I'm sure I have.) :) Things are laid out nice and smooth-ish for the wedding and reception, but me being me...I stress. And I freak out. And I am just so impatient. So, naturally, I get irritable. I apologize profusely for been snappish or distant. (If I'm being distant it's because I don't want to be snappish.) :) Poor Stephen has been so patient with my psychosis and unpredictable moods.....he MUST love me! I promise to him and everyone else to get better though. This is not a permanent condition, no worries.

PS. A sneak preview of our engagement pictures:

Isn't he attractive? :)

HAPPY!

Life is SPLENDID!

This is me:

Why am I so deliriously happy...?

Because STEPHEN (aka the most wonderful man on Earth, and I am marrying him) has moved up to Flagstaff!  Do you know what this means?!

It means I don't have to drive 163 miles to see him anymore.  It means I don't have to hang up the phone every night and count down the days until I get to see his face. It means we can actually have a NORMAL relationship now, instead of over phone and facebook.

It means Amy is very, very smiley :D

Confession.

I am a nerd.

I love poetry. LOVE it. Reading it, writing it, analyzing it...I have no words to describe to you how happy a good poem makes me.  So if you really despise all things poetic, stop reading now. This is your warning :)


My all-time favorite poet is Robert Frost. Even though some of his poems are long enough to be little novels, they are always simple and thoughtful, and often involve symbols or references to nature.  Naturally, my favorite poem is written by him.  It isn't VERY well-known, but some have heard of it.  It's called The Telephone.  Let me share:

"When I was just as far as I could walk

From here today,

There was an hour
All still
When leaning with my head against a flower
I heard you talk.
Don't say I didn't, for I heard you say--
You spoke from that flower on the windowsill--
Do you remember what it was you said?"

"First tell me what it was you thought you heard."
 

"Having found the flower and driven a bee away,
I leaned my head,
And holding by the stalk,
I listened and I thought I caught the word--
What was it?  Did you call me by my name?
Or did you say--
Someone said 'Come'--I heard it as I bowed."

"I may have thought as much, but not aloud."

"Well, so I came."

For all you choir buffs out there, you may have heard of the series Frostiana, which is a selection of Robert Frost's poems arranged into choral music.  The Telephone is part of that series, and my favorite rendition is done by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir...you can find it on their album Choose Something Like a Star.  For fun, you can hear a small 30ish second clip of it here. 

I just love this poem SO MUCH!!! It's so tender!  If you don't understand or appreciate the poem, that's alright. I won't be offended...I will just be a little sad on the inside that you can't enjoy it as much as me :)

Changes

This morning I decided it's time to change.

I started with my blog background; that's probably the most noticeable change I'll be making.  Cute, isn't it? Then I redid my playlist a bit, have a listen and enjoy :)

On a more serious note and more importantly, I've decided to change my attitude. The past couple days I have been stressing. And I'd like to think I've had due cause for stress! With my boss deciding to close the daycare in the afternoons and with school starting up soon, come the end of August my hours will be literally cut in half...and that's if I'm LUCKY.  Let's not even get into the financial poop being flung at Stephen right now when it comes to loans and all the expenses that keep popping up!  So, yes. I have been stressed.

But...I am still sooooo, so blessed. For example, when fires were raging on all sides of Flagstaff, I was protected enough that I didn't have to evacuate. Now, all those areas that had vegetation burned away are being demolished by monsoon-spawned floods.  A 12-yr-old girl has died... and entire homes have been destroyed.  Burned carcasses of wild animals that died in the fires are washing down the mountains into people's yards.  Pets are being pinned against fences and killed.  Every single loose belonging in houses are being swept away.  Leftover ash is mixing with dirt, creating black sludgey mud almost a foot deep.

These are some things I've missed out on:

Makes you think, doesn't it.  Time for a perspective makeover, Amy! Sure, my financial stability is a little questionable. But at least I have a steady job...I have *2* steady jobs. I have the gospel. I have the best family EVER  I am receiving a great education. I get to enjoy the beauty of a mountain thunderstorm without being afraid my home will be destroyed by a lightning-induced fire or a mudslide or a flash flood. And my personal favorite...I am marrying the most wonderful man alive.

Life is good.

Because.

I'M GETTING MARRIED!

I am aware that if I shout that out one more time, I will thoroughly annoy several people. But it's true...it's happening! It is happening, despite everything I did to furiously try to prevent it.

Meet my fiance:

Stephen Hale, in a nutshell.

You may THINK this isn't a very good picture of him, as you can't see his face...buuuut it's a pretty spot-on accurate depiction of him! He loves his guns almost more than he loves me. And this is him with his AK-47, which is one of his favorite toys. :)

Let me let you all in on a not-so-secret little secret:

I wasted about 3 months of my life away, trying to find a diplomatic way to kick Stephen out of my life. (I did a GREAT job, right?) Looking back, I realize I was just being stubborn and bull-headed, which is no surprise to anyone who knows me.  Sparing you all the unnecessary details, I'll just say this...I honestly believed with all my heart that Stephen and I would never work together. And I told this, very adamantly, to everyone in the world. (which made me feel that much sillier when he and I started dating) :)

My main complaint? "He's just...too nice. Too sweet." And to think I actually got frustrated at people telling me I was ridiculous for saying that!  Turns out, that is exactly the reason WHY we work so well together.  Never have I been with someone more perfect for me.  I thought I needed tough love, because I prefer people to be straight up and blunt with me. Stephen showed me that it's possible to be blunt and tender at the same time.

What would possess me to marry the one man I specifically claimed I could never be with? When he dropped down on one knee, why say yes...?

Because.

Because he knows his Savior, and loves Him enough to live the gospel.

Because he is the most dedicated, determined person I have ever met.

Because he is hardworking.

Because he has his priorities straight.

Because he is SUCH a dork, and is 100% comfortable with that fact :)

Because he's taught me to "keep smiling" even when I just really don't want to.

Because we can be (and are) completely open and honest with each other. No secrets.

Because he loves kids.

Because from our very first date, I have been able to be absolutely myself around him.

Because he respects me the way I deserve.

Because he reminds me to respect myself.

Because he makes me laugh. Every day.

Because we know how to disagree without fighting.

Because he is beyond patient with me.

Because he is a fantastic listener.

Because he will be an amazing, loving husband and father.

I love him.

Wedding Hairdon'ts

So...I'm bored at work with nothing to do. With nothing to occupy my thoughts, they just wander of their own free will. So this is what was happening inside my head:

WEDDING WEDDING you're getting married STEPHEN :D wedding DRESS flowers HAIR wedding RECEPTION WEDDING!!!!!

One of the things I don't have decided yet is how I'll have my hair done. With google at my fingertips and ample time to waste, I started browsing through pictures of formal hairstyles. Some were cute! And some were......creative :)

Here were my personal favorites:

I give the stylist of this one props for being resourceful. Who needs to throw away money on hair accessories when you can make your hair BECOME the accessory?? Hair bow made out of hair. Impressive, truly.

Nothing says beautiful blushing bride like electrocution, right?

Ok, ok...in this girl's defense, it was SUPPOSED to be a nice hairdo....her stylist was just drunk! The bun just looks like it should be anywhere but THAT particular spot on her head.

Hint: If your hair is the same color as your skin, don't pull it straight back. You look BALD. (and what the mushroom ponytail thing?)

Ohhhh my....there are no words. None.

Guess I better keep looking for ideas, yah? :)

IT'S ALIIIIIIVE!

I have SEVERELY neglected my blog...why is that? Because I have an insane life. And I'm lazy. But I have been faithfully following 2 blogs recently...my little sister Beth and my sister-in-law Leigh. They are AMAZING!! So, blogger guilt set in, and here I am. Updating the blog I have been hardcore ignoring for far too long.

So lets...just catch up on the last year and a half of my life, shall we?

Freshman year:
Done. Quit Subway (halle-freakin'-luia!). Moved back to Mesa for summer. Worked in a fantastic little naturopathic doctor's office in Chandler, SanTan Natural Medicine. Best job I have ever had, and I miss it dearly! Went on my first date with Stephen Hale . . . . . . . and hit it off reeeally well with him . . . . . . and then moved back to Flag 2 days later.

Sophomore year:
Moved into University Meadows, building 10, baby! Inherited my graduated cousin's job at the Summit Health and Fitness daycare. Had the most incredible roommates EVER. Slept through 30% of classes. Got my first (and only!) B of my college career thus far. Fell madly in love with Stephen, against my will...that story is for another time :) Finished the year, Kaci/Kels/Lissa graduated and moved on. Me and Liesel, the remaining not-quite-graduated girls, got booted from our apartment...landlord sold the unit. Downfall of the Reign of Building 10--moment of silence, please.

Present:
Got a second job in the NAU Union, at the Office of Student Affairs. I do important stuff, like answer the phone and staple things. Still work at the daycare. Moved into new apartment in Meadows, and am currently living with Jenna Lindsay, Liz Frost, and Brittney Leafty. Not that we ever see each other...not much else going on in my life, besides planning my wedding.

WHAT?!

Yah. That's right...Me and Stephen. For forever. :) On June 12, 2010 he shoved a ring in a fortune cookie (SOMEHOW) and popped the question over chinese takeout at the park. I didn't have the slightest clue what the heck was going on til he was on one knee...which I am still impressed with. No guy has ever been able surprise me the way Stephen can...it keeps life interesting, and I kinda like it I decided :) But yes, bottom line: as of Friday, October 29th, 2010, Stephen and Amy Hale (future me) will be sealed for time AND eternity. And it will be great.

I think we're all up-to-date now :)

I'm going there someday...in October!