RIGBY LAKE

The weather has been great in Rexburg. We have to take advantage when there's a sunny day because it's hard to get tan out here.

IDAHO

It's nice to get out of Rexburg sometimes, and luckily, James has family not too far from here. He comes from such a great/large family and I feel so lucky to be apart of it. They're an amazing example of love and I look forward to raising a family of our own someday. This weekend we had the pleasure of spending the weekend with the Tillotson's. They're a great family, full of jokes. We definitely had a lot of laughs this weekend. We had a wonderful Father's Day dinner, and after, we went on a tour of Mackay, ID, and it was gorgeous. It's completely different from California, but it's really nice to experience the country side. We'll have to spend another weekend with them, soon. Now we're back in good ol' Rexburg. Only 5 more weeks left of the semester! 

The Tillotson's.

Ruger and Sadie (The German Shepherd's)

There amazing backyard!

ENGAGEMENT PHOTOS.

We took our engagement pictures a couple weeks ago from a very good friend of ours, Leavitt Woodland. He is the owner and founder of Woodland Wedding Photography and he is AWESOME! You should definitely check out some of his photos. He will also be our photographer/DJ at our wedding. He is multi-talented. He is also a dietitian and wants me to try his Triscuit and Mt. Dew diet. Sound like a good idea? Anyways, here is a link to the Woodland Wedding Photography website: http://www.woodlandweddingphotography.com/#!

A preview of our engagements.

THE GOLDEN ARCHES.

McDonald's is one of our favorite places to eat. I know, really classy. I'm just grateful that I found someone who loves it as much as I do. We haven't been eating here as often as we used to (trying to stay fit) but it sure is nice every once in a while! 

WEDDING PLANNING.

We just returned from Sacramento this past weekend to celebrate the marriage of Keva and Corey Robison. The wedding was gorgeous and it got me all excited for our upcoming wedding in August. All this week I have been so distracted with wedding planning and organizing. It's been extremely hard because planning is so much funner than doing schoolwork. I guess I have to figure out some sort of system and prioritize. 

OUR LOVE STORY.

One day, I received a text from a very good friend of mine, Michio Takahashi. He told me he wanted to hook me up with one of his friends who just returned from serving his mission in Monterrey, Mexico. Michio gave me his friends name and told me to check him out on Facebook before I gave him the "ok." Obviously I thought this guy was handsome, so I gave Michio permission to give him my phone number. Later that day I received a text from Michio's friend, James Kingston. We started off with generic introduction questions, trying to get to know one another. The only problem was, he's from Sacramento and I'm from Los Angeles. How was this ever going to work!? Eventually, we started to Skype. We Skyped everyday for weeks. Everything was going great. Continually, I would ask, "when are we ever going to meet in person?" He would respond saying, "soon..." We were consistent with our Skype dates, and then suddenly, he would barely talk to me. He would send me one or two text messages per week and then respond to my text the following week. (What a jerk, right?) That went on for quite some time. One day we were Skyping together and I asked him again, "when are we ever going to meet in person?" And he responded, "soon." I kept having feelings that I needed to meet him, but I ignored those feelings because we barely talked anymore. After I heard his response to my question, I told him that if he wasn't coming to Los Angeles, then I'm coming to Sacramento (he seemed excited, but little did I know, he didn't want me to come). I purchased a train ticket for July 9, 2011, for less than a 2 day trip. The weeks were passing by slowly and I was anxiously/nervously waiting for the time we would meet. James was dreading it. Poor guy. Finally, the day had arrived. My train left at 12AM and I would be travelling through the night until my arrival. After my 8hr train/bus ride, I finally made it to Sacramento. As I exited the bus, I searched for him through the crowd of people. And there he was...along with his sidekick, Paane Tonga. Real nice. I guess he was too nervous to go at it alone? We had breakfast at BJ's, where me and Paane really hit it off, while James was sitting there quietly listening to our conversation. Breakfast ended and Paane had other plans, so we dropped him off right after. Finally, it was just the two of us. James didn't have anything planned (even though he had weeks to plan) so he decided to take me to Six Flags:Discovery Kingdom. We had a great time together and really developed the start of our relationship. After that, he took me out for fine dining at Taco Bell. It was a great first, official date together. Long story short, we committed to a long distance relationship and traveled back and forth to see one another for about 9 months. I found my best friend and my companion. Now we're engaged. It was definitely worth it. 

Pictures from our FIRST DATE.