Saturday, August 28, 2010

Last week of freedom!

Alright, due to my sister, April, saying "I'll believe you'll update more when I see it..." well...I couldn't let her down. If you know me well you know that if someone challenges me I will willingly accept and fulfill that challenge :) So, this past week has been wonderful and crazy all at the same time...here's a break down!
Monday: I finished getting moved in with the help of my excellent mother! She was such a champ! We bought the temple topper for mine and Grant's wedding cake, and went grocery shopping, and ran all over kingdom come! I loved hanging out with my mom and I am definitely looking forward to October 21st when she flies over here :)
Tuesday: Mama left (sad day!) and I had training for New Student Orientation since I was a leader this year. Afterwards I went to the gym with Lindsay Despain (love ya girly!) ate dinner, and got all prettied up because the love of MY LIFE was coming back that night from St. George. I drove up with Grant and Carly to Logan to drop Carly off, and then I drove back while Grant slept (poor kid...a week a lake powell and then a few days with his family and getting no sleep will really suck it outta ya!)
Wednesday: Grant and I did everything together! I actually got a really sweet text from him that morning that said "Hey come over to my apartment--I'm cooking you breakfast." What a stud! We went to the bookstore, got our books, went to the gym, did some other stuff...but the most important thing we did that day was go to the temple. Lately my mom has been doing a lot of geneology work for my recently deceased grandmother's line. One of the names was my grandmother's step grandmother--Alma (her last name is German...starts with a B. Anyways, it was amazing being there in the temple. Grant baptized me and confirmed me, so it was a very neat experience and I felt very close to the spirit.
Thursday: This was the first day of New Student Orientation! It was a lot of fun to run around with the freshman and show them what being a Cougar is all about :) I taught them the fight song, went to a few exhibits, and then that night hung out with Grant.
Friday: I didn't end up going to NSO...I wasn't feeling good the whole day and my partner was fine without me--it all worked out.
Saturday: Today was a good day! We finally got our air-conditioning fixed (it's been a freaking sauna in our apartment!), I went to the gym, ran a few errands, opened up a new bank account, and....drum roll please...LINDSAY TAUGHT ME HOW TO DRIVE A STICK! WOOT WOOT! She's an excellent teacher. My friend Nate tried to teach me last summer and he was not a very patient teacher...Lindsay was great! I got it down pretty quick thanks to her mad skills :)
Well, school starts Monday and I'm actually excited! It'll be nice to be back in the Math lab and library so much and get back to a set schedule :)

Saturday, August 21, 2010

It's about that time...

Alright ladies and gents, it's about that time that I finally update my BLOG! Just incase some of you didn't know, I'M ENGAGED! I'm the future Mrs. Grant Rowe Vanderhorst :) So, let me tell you our story.
Grant and I met at BYU (typical, right?) He actually gave a talk in church that blew me away and I just thought to myself "I have to meet this kid." So, I made sure to go into the same sunday school room as him, sat right infront of him, turned around and said "Hey :) I really enjoyed your talk. You did such a great job and it was exactly what I needed to hear." All I got from him was "Thanks." If you ask him about that exchange today he'll say it's because he was intimidated and was a fresh RM but I thought he wasn't interested at all! Nevertheless, we became friends via facebook, starting talking on facebook, starting hanging out at basketball games, ultimate frisbee, went on a few dates, became best friends, starting dating, he asked me to marry him, I said yes :)
Let me tell you our engagement story. He came to visit me over the 4th of July and I knew that he would be proposing soon, but I didn't think it would be during the 4th of July. Anyways, he came, and the second night he was here he asked my dad for my hand in marriage. The next day we were kind of hanging around the house and I was playing the guitar for him and singing and out of no where he pulls his laptop out of his backpack and says "Hey I have something for you to watch." It seriously did not cross my mind what was about to happen. A couple weeks previous to the 4th he emailed my mom (without me knowing haha) and asked her for pictures of me growing up as a little girl. He put all those pictures to a slide show and the song was Dream Big by Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband...one of my favorite songs on all time :) At the end of the slideshow there was a slide that said "And the best is yet to come..." and afterwords put a picture of me and him. At that moment he reached into his pocket, got down on one knee, and said "Rebekah Miriam Larsen, will you marry me?" Of course I couldn't say anything for about a minute, and if you know me well enough I'm sure you're thinkin I probably cried...but I didn't! I was just so happy and couldn't stop smiling! We hugged for about a minute and then I finally got out the word YES! Let me just say as a side note, the ring is beautiful! It's a princess cut with a halo around it and the band has some small diamonds in it--it's very vintage and incredibally beautiful! I love it :)
So, wedding plans! I have ordered my dress, the colors are picked, the day is November 20th, 2010 in the Denver Temple, we have the cake ordered, and a lot of other things nailed down. Let me just say that wedding plans are the best and a total blast :) I'm taking out my endowments in the Provo temple on October 23rd, 2010 and I'm so excited for that!
Let me just say one more thing--Grant Rowe Vanderhorst is the most wonderful man in the world. He treats me so well! He never lets me carry anything heavy (or anything at all for that matter haha), he always gets the door for me, he'll often carry me from one place to another, he cooks, he helps out with cleaning, he served as a solid missionary, he has a strong testimony, he loves the Lord, he loves his family, and he knows how to be friends with everyone. He's an all around stud and I'm utterly and completely in love. And for the record, I've heard a lot of horror stories about in-laws and let me just say I don't have that problem AT ALL! I love Grant's family! His dad is so dang funny and very generous, and I know Grant has learned a lot from his father. His mom is probably the funniest person and is always smiling and she takes very good care of her family--including her kids' spouses. He has 2 older brothers who have a great sense of humor, an older sister who loves everyone, and a younger sister who brings a sweet spirit into the family. I'm definitely a very lucky girl! I promise I'll be better about blogging this Fall :)