Finals

So I haven't been updating because I've been doing some of this ^

Yes, it's finals week. But the best part is I only had exams on Monday and Tuesday. I'M DONE! Now I get to sleep in, exercise, and go to work if I really want to. No more homework or papers for 4 months! I just want to sleep now. Whenever I go through a semester of college I feel like I can do anything! My GPA should be high enough to keep my scholarship for next year! It's unreal that I'm leaving on Saturday. And the internal struggle of wanting to be home already with my family and not wanting to leave Bear for 3 weeks is never-ending.

I'm officially finished with my first full year of college! Only 2 more to go! Is it weird that I'm excited for next year already? I love that my summer is 4 months instead of 3 like in high school. Now to pack and spend lots of time with Bear. I love him.

Accessory Swap

Join in!

Easter

I hope you have a hoppy day. My day has been filled with lovely warm weather, surrounded by a green Virginian spring, good talks on the Resurrection, and getting released from my calling. Resurrection rolls, egg coloring, and other good Eastery goodness to follow tonight.

FOR YOUR EASTER SUNDAY

More Wedding Goodness

More things that I like. I love that guest book.

And I love these little cake toppers that you can customize to look like you. I probably won't get them, but I like them anyway. People tell me it's my Japanese side showing through.

I love these vintage lacey veils.

Short pearl neckalce. I'm old-fashioned I guess.

I like this guest book too, but it's less Japanese-y.

Something blue.

Is there anything you like?

Spotlight

I've decided that I'm going to start spotlighting the blogs that I read and like everyday.

Today's special person is Mary Smith ♥

She is a good family friend that we have known since both of our families lived in Japan. She's actually more of my mom's friend, but I still love reading her blog. She's a very good writer and I love her creativity and all of her children's names. She teaches natural childbirth classes and is expecting her 6th baby - a boy. She's the one who taught me to "dress my truth". Her posts always cheer up my day because they're so funny and well-written. Her words are way better than pictures. Please go read it. And comment on her loveliness.

Love, Lexi

Martha Stewart Wedding Inspiration

Dear Martha Stewart, I want all of the below for my wedding for free.
Thank you, Lexi

Flower girl wands

I WANT THIS BOUQUET!

This is my favorite. If only I was getting married in the spring!!!!

Love the drink colors

Cherry blossom cookies!

Sakura mochi!

Um...yum.

Edible Cherry Blossoms! How cool is that?


I love the giant pom pom flowers!

Invitations

These should be coming your way soon. I am in love with them. Bear stuffs them and I address them. That isn't m wording, (it's just the example), I just didn't want people to creep on me. I used the picture that's on my sidebar. Just remember the big day is June 4th, Saturday ♥ Email me with questions

You want to know the sad thing? I misspelled Bear's middle name on the invitations. Not the printing company, me. But I blame him because I had my parents re-check the wording a million times and then I asked Bear if he wanted to check it before I sent it in...he said no. They were expensive and we're running out of time so I'm not sending them back for my mistake. The only problem is it's his mom's maiden name...so we carefully had to fix all the ones for that side of the family. But I still love him.

If you don't get an invitation in the mail, don't feel bad. You should be invited on Facebook. If not, yell at me. I have just lived too many places and know too many wondeful people to send them too. You are loved whether you get one or not. We are turning into a technological world after all haha.

I love him.

Why I love Virginia

These are just 3 pictures from campus. There's bajillions of these trees everywhere. Aren't you jealous? I forgot to get pictures of the dogwood and other pink trees.

I could live in Virginia the rest of my life :)

Baseball Day

My TOMS are here. And I feel like a princess because they're sparkly.

^ (Me and Laura Sowell's feet)

I went to a baseball game yesterday. It was very nice weather and it was really nice to sit on the grass.
Our boys won of course. 18-6. 3 home-runs in the first inning and one of them was a grand slam. They're at 27 wins, 5 losses. I'm sad that I can't go watch them at nationals.

I'm so proud of them, especially #9. And we got to go to Chipotle afterwards. I was quite happy.

I love all the baseball wives/girlfriends. We're becoming good friends. I'm glad that Bear is passionate about something. I love going to the games. Baseball is actually fun to watch for me. And I got my ride home all set up. Even though I'm running on no sleep, I'm happy. Being engaged can be frustrating, but so happy at the same time. He's good to me. I love life. I love him.

Life is good

Sometimes I miss my grandpa. But I'm proud of him. He was a good example and worked hard until the end. I'm really sad that I couldn't be there for the funeral. But my family recorded it and I'll get to listen to it soon.

The following pictures make me happy. I keep hearing even from church members how hard marriage is. I'm not naive enough to think I will be in utter bliss for the rest of my life. But can we be a little more positive here? I'm not worried. I'm hopeful and I know that married life will have to be something that I work at, but I know it will be very fulfilling and worth it.

I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father gave us emotions so that we could feel joy, even if it's not all the time.

Mia's birthday was on Friday. She's 10. Noah turned 7 today. I'm freaking out. They got their TOMS on time. Phew. Mine should be here tomorrow. I'm so exited!!! Oh and our cat had kittens at home today.

So yes, I have so much homework I think I'm going to die and I'm not getting enough sleep and I hate how much time wedding invitations are taking up, but life is so happy and good right now. The baseball team is at 26-5. They just beat a team that beat them earlier in the season. I'm happy all-around.

Aren't my grandparents the cutest? This picture would've been a year after they got married. I want to be cute like them.

Wedding Dress

Isn't my grandma cute? These are pictures back from 1968. I'm wearing my grandma's dress for my wedding. My mom wore her grandma's too, so so I guess I made a tradition.

I love the train. The only problem is I haven't tried it on yet. It's at home with my mom. The lace has yellowed a bit, but the temple approved it so I should be good to go. And me and my grandma are pretty much the same size and it fits Tashi. I'm not too worried.

And I'm not wearing because my family wanted me too or because of a family tradition. But it definitely saves a lot of hassle.

And now that my grandpa just passed away, it means so much more. Things are speeding up and I'm getting so excited! I can't wait to try on the dress!

Les Mis 25th Anniversary

So I know I'm a little behind. But I just found out that the Les Mis 25th Anniversary was in fall of 2010. My roommate Greta bought the DVD recently and I had to watch it for an assignment in my Group Voice class. I mean, I grew up with my mom playing the CDs in the house and I knew the 10th anniversary cast and we have the sheet music that I love to play and sing on the piano. But I'd never seen a performance all the way through with all the in-between songs.

I had already decided Les Mis was my favorite musical before. But now I am absolutely sure. The emotions in all the songs get to me. I love all of the songs. All of them. I've seen it 2 1/2 times now - which means 7 1/2 hours. Was it worth it? Of course. I am in love with Alfie Boe now. He is the best Jean Val Jean. Colm Wilkinson is pretty good too. But Alfie's voice is heaven. The kind of voice we're reaching for in Group Voice. And Nick Jonas was a surprise. I was actually kind of disappointed to know he was going to be in it - the Jonas Brothers are everywhere. But I was pleasantly surprised. He did quite well. Of course there are tons of other people that would be better than him. He's still good though. Me and Haylea are taking the class together so we discussed how he's almost there and we just want Dr. Robison to help him for a little bit then he would be Alfie Boe status too!

But I bawled like a baby at the end. Like not just tears, but gasping. Bear fell asleep during it so I thought I was okay. But apparently he heard me. Oh gosh. Embarassing. And then when the 10th anniversary cast came out for the finale...I just wish I could've been in that concert hall. So anyways, not to sound like a musical nerd. But the DVD is totally worth it. I need to buy my own copy someday.

This is my favorite song, where it's the climax right before intermission and all the different parts and voices come together. It's so intense.

Baseball Shirts

These are the shirts that Jena ordered for the girls! They were dang expensive, but SO worth it because they're so cute!

I love the glitter. And the last name on the back ♥

TOMS

I just ordered me some Toms this weekend. Everyone is wearing them at school so I finally gave in. They're slip-ons that are apparently super comfortable and they have arch support. Our school is really into "A Day Without Shoes". Last Tuesday some students walked around barefoot all day to raise awareness for children that always have to walk around with no shoes. I can't wait for mine. I actually wanted some white or ivory ones, but they were out of stock. I'm still very happy with these ones. They should match a lot of stuff. Sadly, they are still processing my order. (Yes, I keep tracking it).

^ These are the ones I got for Mia's birthday.

^ These are the ones I got for Noah's birthday.

Their birthdays are the 15th and 17th and they'll be 10 and 7! I'm freaking out! Mia will be older than I was when she was born! They won't be little squish bubs anymore.

So anyways, these shoes are a little expensive. Because you're technically buying two pairs of shoes. I got this information off of their website:

One for One

TOMS Shoes was founded on a simple premise: With every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of new shoes to a child in need. One for One. Using the purchasing power of individuals to benefit the greater good is what we're all about. The TOMS mission transforms our customers into benefactors, which allows us to grow a truly sustainable business rather than depending on fundraising for support.

The TOMS Story

In 2006, American traveler Blake Mycoskie befriended children in Argentina and found they had no shoes to protect their feet. Wanting to help, he created TOMS Shoes, a company that would match every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes given to a child in need. One for One. Blake returned to Argentina with a group of family, friends and staff later that year with 10,000 pairs of shoes made possible by TOMS customers.

As of September 2010, TOMS has given over one million pairs of new shoes to children in need through Giving Partners around the world.

Countries they currently give to:

Argentina	Honduras	South Africa
Armenia	Lesotho	Swaziland
Burundi	Malawi	Uganda
Cambodia	Mali	United States
China	Mongolia	Zambia
El Salvador	Nicaragua
Ethiopia	Niger
Guatemala	Peru
Haiti	Rwanda

Click here to go to the site to see all the shoes and read all the information!

I love him

I don't want to bore you with blogging about Bear all the time, but I am engaged after all and I feel like he definitely deserves a post to himself.

If he says he's going to be there at a certain time, he is. If he says he's going to do it, he will. If he has a responsibility, he does it. If I ask him to do something, he's already on it. Poor guy, I am kind of high maintenance. He does have his limits, but he does work really hard for me and he's really selfless. And he has gotten me out of quite a few scrapes.

One of these scrapes started with me and Rachel going to Burger King for lunch. I had to go to class right after and then noticed I didn't have my phone with me. I used Haylea's phone to call Bear and he took me back to Burger King. I was afraid that I had thrown my phone away with my tray. I figured that since it had only been a couple of hours it would still be in the trash. But no. They have a health code rule to take the garbage out every hour. So we had to go check the dumpster. Well the dumpster was 10 feet high. And it was raining. And we weren't even 100% sure the phone was in the dumpster. But Bear got down into the rainy garbage for me. AND my phone was on silent to help things out. We did find it though! And the rain hadn't gotten to it and there was hardly anything in that garbage bag so it didn't get and food or drink on it. It was a happy little miracle. Because I couldn't afford buying a new phone right that second. He made me quite happy that day.

Just like he does everyday. Our senses of humor are a little bit different, and so we misunderstand each other sometimes and can get out feelings hurt easily. But we still laugh a lot. I love him.

And we're going to southern California for the summer after we get married! Bear's going to sell door-to-door pest control stuff. Our cellphone, $500 of housing a month and $150 of gas money a month are all paid for us. So it's a good opportunity to save up some money. We don't know where we're living in the fall, but our plans are to come back to SVU at the end of August. This is exciting for me because I didn't want to get stuck in BV while Bear was at work all day all summer with nothing to do. One of Bear's teammates Andrew - the one that told him about the job - will be going there this summer with his wife Brandi too so I will know at least one person. And there should be lots of church members down there too. And now I'll be able to say that I've lived on the West Coast, Midwest, East Coast, and the Rocky Mountain area. All 4 time zones. I'm quite excited.

The SVU baseball team is 25-4 right now. I'm so proud of them. Bear is doing a good job. He does better when I can go watch him play at a home games though haha! Who knew I would marry a baseball player? I love him.

Pre-marital Bliss ♥

Kelsey Burton, a student here at SVU took our pictures for us between the Saturday sessions of General Conference.

We went to the baseball field and out to Lexington.

^ I really like this one.

We were kind of rushed on time and it kept randomly raining.

But our clothes coordinated really well without us completely matching.

And I'm really excited because the wedding invitations are in the mail on their way to me and I can start addressing them soon.

I actually like addressing envelopes. I'm really weird. I probably won't like it anymore after this.

We got lots of on base jokes. Just for clarification, we were on first base, not third haha

Tell me which one is your favorite!

Now that I'm looking through all these I just realized there's a lot of kissy pictures

There are a few more, but there are my favorites.

Enjoy!