Busy Summer in Italy!

Hey Everyone! :) 

Yes, I'm still alive. Just in case any of you were wondering. I realized I haven't blogged in forever. But I have a good excuse (kind of) I promise. 

I moved to Italy June 5th and have been going, going, going non stop since then. I'm working here for the summer as a tutor/camp counselor at English camps all over Italy, and will be moving to Austria next week until August 13th. But that's besides the point :) I've just been so busy. Today is the first day in a month and a half that I've had time to sit down and relax. I haven't even had time to send Jared letters. Yeah, it's sad. We've been communicating primarily through email. But honestly, I really miss getting/sending letters.

I have so much I should update, so many stories and experiences I could share, but that would turn into a massive novel I know none of you would read, lets be honest. So I'll stick with the important stuff.

• Jared had his first baptism on June 1st and was asked to be the one to perform the baptism. He was beyond excited :)

• Teaching English over here in Italy has done wonders for making time pass. Not only is time going by quickly, but I've learned and grown so much just by living here. The only downside is that I haven't been able to attend church because my host families don't like driving far distances and the churches are always far away :( But there's always a positive way to look at a situation. I have realized the importance of attending church every single week, and how big of a blessing it is. I will never take it for granted again.

• Call me a little 13 year old girl, but I love Cody Simpson's music, and this song has been on repeat recently. "Wherever you are, no matter how far, I promise that I won't give up on you. They say 'out of sight' means 'out of mind' but that couldn't be further from the truth, because I'm in love with you. I'm still in love with you. Even if there is an ocean keeping your heart from mine, that doesn't mean I'm not thinking about you all of the time. I'm counting the days till I see you, and somewhere I know that you are too" He gets us MG's ;)

• Yesterday we hit 4 MONTHS DOWN! I can't believe it :) The first three went so slow, but the fourth just flew by. And what better place to celebrate than Venice, Italy? :) I am seriously so blessed to be having this much fun while he's gone. I'm living my dreams and couldn't be happier with everything in my life :) Waiting isn't about "waiting" It's about growing, changing, becoming, having fun, traveling, making friends, fulfilling callings, working, developing hobbies and skills and ultimately, becoming who Heavenly Father knows you can become through righteous living. 

• Click here to watch my 3 Months Down Video :)

• Overall, I am so happy, and loving life. Jared is amazing. So dedicated to the work, I've never heard him complain, and he is loving the people. He writes the most loving emails, along with amazing stories and spiritual experiences. He never breaks the rules, and he's just basically the perfect missionary :) I couldn't have asked for a better boyfriend/missionary. I couldn't have asked for a better experience in my life. Waiting is hard, but amazing at the same time. We're both growing so much and I've seen it bless our relationship tremendously. Basically, I got this :) 4 down, 20 to go! 

Thanksgiving/Temple Square Date :)

Wow, I really need to get better at blogging. Like seriously...

I'm not even really sure what this post is going to be about. But it's going to be an update on recent events. Ok so I think we can all attest that November went by SO quickly. Along with the rest of the year, actually. Thanksgiving was awesome :) Except for the fact that the night before Thanksgiving, I woke up at 3am throwing up. No food for Desiree on Thanksgiving... But it was still a great day. Jared and I were together from that morning, until late that night. We started with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade at my house. Random Fact: Jared had never watched the parade before. And it's one of my favorite parts about Thanksgiving, so we had to watch it together :) Then we went to his house for dinner where I managed to keep down a roll. Then we went to his best friends house for another dinner. Then we finally ended up at my house for yet another dinner. 

We ended the night with Jared going off to work a long shift at Kohls for Black Friday (11pm - 12pm) and of course I still went shopping even with a 101.3 fever. It was worth it :)

<3

Last Saturday we went on an awesome date in Salt Lake. The date involved driving around SLC for 30 minutes trying to find parking. Jared got pretty frustrated. But seriously, I think everyone decided to go to Salt Lake that night. I felt like I was in New York City. 

First, we went ice skating outside at Gallivan Plaza :) 

My camera was being all blurry and stupid...

Sometimes Jared needed a break and had to hold onto the sides of the rink.

Haha no, he just thought he was being funny. 

After ice skating we stood in line for what felt like 45 minutes at Subway in City Creek Mall. Like I said, I swear everyone was in SLC that night... And apparently they all wanted Subway. After we finally finished eating, it was off to Temple Square :) The best thing about this date was the weather! It wasn't even cold at all. 

 We started at the Joseph Smith building :)

Then we just walked around the temple and probably provided way too much PDA for all the Temple Square goers that night..

What an amazing end to a wonderful night :) Being with my sweetheart at Temple Square during Christmas time. It doesn't get much better than that :) I feel like we've been together for such a long time. There's just something special between us where I feel like I've known him my whole life. Speaking of which, our 9 month anniversary was yesterday. We spent it eating chocolate covered oreos, more chocolate stuff, and watching Elf. I love him so much and every day I get to spend with him is such a blessing that I try my best not to take for granted. Since I've already done the whole "waiting for a missionary" thing, I know how much of a gift it is to spend time with the person I love. I would always say, "If I could just go back.. I'd really cherish my time with him". So that's what I'm trying to do now :) 

I put together a little video of random events that have happened since Halloween :)  

If the video decides to be stupid and not work.. You can just head over to my youtube channel at www.youtube.com/desimoore14 :)

I'll Be Back :)

I just wanted to let ya'll know that I'll be back on this blog in 3 1/2 short months (aka Jan. 16th) :)

I was debating between starting a whole new MG blog for Jared's mission. But I decided on just keeping this one :) I'll slowly just start switching things over from the first missionary, to the second. 

Since I've been out of practice of being an MG since March, I've been planning all these amazing packages and ideas that I can't wait to share with you :) 

I just wanted to let you guys know that...

Jared Answers some Questions

A bunch of girls wanted to see Jared's point of view and feelings towards the beginning of our relationship while I was still writing Preston. Well, he talks about some of those feelings in this video :)

New Blog Address

Hey girls!

I know I asked you all for your email address so I could invite you to my new blog. Turns out it's only letting me invite like 60 people. And that doesn't seem fair. So I'm opening it up to be public again. Please feel free to go over and check it out :) It's what I'm using now as my main blog. Here's the address:

http://thestoryofusdesireeandjared.blogspot.com/

Hope to see you there :)

Answers :)

Here's the video I promised :)

p.s. I'm still working on adding you all to my other blog. It says i've added too many people :( But I'm still working on it. Or I'll just make it public soon.

P.S.

If you'd like an invite to my Desiree/Jared blog (aka my current blog) you need to leave a comment with your email address. For all of you who have already left your email addresses, you've been invited :) 

Also, thanks for all the questions! I'll be answering them all in a video that I'll make next Monday :) 

Ask Desiree :)

Hey everyone! :)

I'm still alive. This blog is just currently "under construction" because of the fact that I'm not exactly still a MG. I will be again though, but not yet :)

I've said this before, but I have a different blog that I'm currently using. It's mainly about my relationship with Jared. If you'd like an invite, leave me a comment.

I know some of you may have questions, so now if your chance to ask. I'll try to answer any type of questions as honestly as I can. You can ask me about what happened with Preston, anything about being an MG, relationship advice, anything about my relationship with Jared, his upcoming mission, etc... You can even ask what my favorite type of pizza is. I don't even care :) I have just gotten quite a few questions from people, so this is my chance to answer them. Leave a comment on youtube or here, and I'll answer them in my next video :)

I love you all!! :) 

Back In Utah/Update

Hello all!!

I'm finally back in Utah after 5 months in Hawaii. Although I will be returning to Hawaii in 3 months.

It's been a long time since I posted... But here's why. 

Things were all crazy and dramatic in the MG group on facebook and people kept taking sides. Because of that, I decided to stop blogging for a while. But now I'm back :) 

This blog is not JUST about being a missionary girlfriend. I do recall there have been posts about Justin Bieber, my love for the food network, and other random thoughts. 

Now, a little update on my relationship with Preston: This week he told me that he thinks it would be best for him if we stop talking for awhile. That means no emails, no letters, no videos. It'll be weird not sending him weekly emails but I really believe it's a good thing :) It's time for me to focus on Jared and time for Preston to focus on his mission.

Alright, enough of that :) 

I don't really know what else to write about.. So I'll just insert a video :) 

Enjoy :)
   

Am I Still Waiting/Link to Other Blog

Everyone keeps asking me, "Are you still waiting???" 

Well, let me give you MY definition of waiting. 

Waiting: not getting married while your missionary is gone. 

And there's no way I'm getting married while he's gone. Jared still has his mission ahead of him. Everything is simple to me, but it seems complicated to everyone else. Which I understand. I'm focusing on my relationship with Jared and giving Preston some much needed space. He needs to get me out of his head 24/7 so he can focus on what's most important right now. His mission. Yes, we still send letters and stuff. But I'm trying to get him to focus on his mission while I focus on Jared right now. 

Then, Preston will come home and we'll see how much our relationship has changed. I have no idea what will happen when he gets home. But I'm open to whatever my Heavenly Father see's fit for my life.

Some of you girls keep asking me questions that even I don't know the answer to. But I'll keep you all updated :) thanks for following this crazy adventure with me. 

Girls keep asking me what my link to my blog about my relationship with Jared, so here ya go 

http://thestoryofusdesireeandjared.blogspot.com/

Also, some people say, "How rude, you have two blogs about two different boys" But really, they are just like journals for me. This isn't just about Preston and the other one isn't just about Jared. They're about different experiences in my life.

<3

How Could I Possibly be Dating When I'm "Such a Dedicated MG"??

Recently I've got some questions through emails, messages on YouTube, comments, facebook that sound like this:

• How could you possibly be dating when you are/were such a dedicated missionary girlfriend?
• How did you and Jared meet?
• How did you know you were supposed to be dating?

Instead of writing about it, I just made another video. Sorry for all the videos, I'm just a video person. So if anyone has any other questions, feel free to comment/message/email me.

15 Months & Lots of Change

Preston has been gone for 15 months as of today. I remember when I had 15 months left. It keeps making me realize how fast time really does go by. 

Anyway, as you girls know, things have changed. I just kind of made this video to explain the fact that I don't have "two boyfriends" like some of you have said.

Enjoy :)
 

Prayer

I was having a tough day but then I came across these quotes. 

<3 <3 <3

Goal: Not Be So Judgmental

I've realized something lately. You know how people will say, "Don't judge me until you've walked a mile in my shoes" or something like, "Don't judge me until you're put in my exact situation"? Well, I think that's still wrong. People should just try to judge. period. Every single person is different. Everyone has different experiences. And even if someone walked a mile in their shoes, they'd still act differently because they aren't them. Sometimes people do things that even they don't understand. Sometimes things go "wrong" so that Heavenly Father can put it back together the way it's supposed to be.

I used to judge other girls easily. Terrible fault of mine. I'm trying to get better. I think Heavenly Father has been teaching me this lesson. Because I realized a year ago if I would have looked at myself now, I would have been like, "What the heck? That's not me... What am I doing?" I would have judged myself. It goes to show that we never know what other people go through, and what makes them the way they are today. Even if we think we know, we usually don't. 

^^ We never know the story of what other people go through because we really only see what they are willing to show us. Usually there is so much more. That's something I've been trying to remember.

We all struggle. We all go through trials. We are always growing and learning from our experiences. It's so easy to sit back and say, "Oh look at her. She's making a mistake. She's doing the wrong thing. Doesn't she know better?" But we have NO idea why they are experiencing what they are experiencing and what they need to learn from it. Even when we make mistakes, we learn from them. We wouldn't learn if we were always perfect. It was a real eye opener to sit back and look at my life, to see where I would judge myself. Which is why I'm trying to never be as judgmental as I used to be. 

p.s. It's a good day :) Be happy :) there's always something to be happy about :) 

<3

Meet Jared :)

(Warning: This post is not about me waiting for my missionary, so if you are looking for those posts, scroll down a little. This is something a little different)
<3

Jared is my boyfriend while I'm waiting with 9 months to go.

I know all of you are "team Preston" but since Jared has become a part of my waiting process, I thought I'd include him with one post dedicated to him.

He really has supported me with waiting. He's such a sweetheart, and has been a wonderful blessing. 

We've been dating 2 months today. He leaves on his mission sometime in the near future, so I don't know what will happen. But since this blog is supposed to be a diary of my wait, I just had to include Jared. Because he's become a wonderful part of my wait.

Instead of writing about Jared, I'll just.... show him to you :)
Desiree and Jared from Desiree Moore on Vimeo.

As if that wasn't enough, here's another 18 minutes of Jared and I answering some questions about how well we know each other. Sometimes we get bored on Friday nights and so this is what happens..

My First Year Waiting

Summary of My Year from Desiree Moore on Vimeo.

Angel, One Direction, New Hair? My Roomie, Lithuania, Preston, Randomness, etc...

It's Wednesday night.

I just finished my finals :) 

So I thought to myself, "Now that I'm not studying like a mad person... What should I do?"

And the idea popped into my head.

BLOG.

So here I am :) I'm going to throw a lot of random ideas and thoughts at you. Probably a little venting too. But here we go. 

This has been one of my favorite songs. Cody is adorable and if you haven't listened to him yet, you totally should. Just sayin'

Speaking of beaches (ok well we weren't talking about beaches, but I just watched Cody's video and there is a beach in it, so I got the thought of beaches in my head. Anyway..)

Me and my roomie who is leaving for the summer got our pictures taken at our beach the other day. 

I never wanna leave this place.

Anyway...

Preston sent me this picture during our email chat on Monday. He's still the same Preston he's always been :) And he's wearing the BYUH shirt I sent him.. hehe :) 

So, I really don't have that many baby names picked out. But ever since the first time I saw A Walk To Remember, I've always wanted to name my first son Landon. And I'm seriously going to. Preston is ok with it :) But now, I've decided on my second favorite boy name. Are you ready? It's...

Liam.

I just love it. And of course, my inspiration came from.... 

Liam Hemsworth!

Although I'm "team peeta" I have always loved Liam Hemsworth, ever since The Last Song.

And my next inspiration came from Liam Payne. Ya'll know One Direction, right? Of course you do. Well, I think Liam is just freaking adorable. I kinda like him a lot.

Speaking of One Direction. I'm sure you've all heard What Makes You Beautiful. It's an amazing song. If you haven't listened to it yet, go do it now. But i also loooooove their song "One Thing" and think the music video is quite cute. 

p.s. I love the way they dress. 

Ok, moving on.. :)

I think I'm ready for another change in my life. I've been a pretty big fan of change every since Preston left. He's been gone 14 months and out of that 14 months I've only lived at home for 6 months of it. I like change :) So here's what I'm thinking. 

I wanna dye my hair.

I've been blonde forever.. I look the EXACT same that I did two years ago. It's time to mix things up. I'm thinking this color might be cool... :) 

Thoughts? Comments??? :) 

Also, while we're on the topic of "change" I've really really been thinking about going back with ILP to Head Teach in Lithuania summer 2013. Yeah... That's the summer after Preston gets home. And I know I'll want to spend every second with him. But for those of you who really know me, you know I have this appetite for traveling. I love it. I've always wanted to live in Europe too.

How could I pass up an opportunity to live in Europe for 4 months for FREE? 

I literally wouldn't have to pay anything.

Plus, they'd give me money to spend while I'm there

Plus, I'd get to visit places like Sweden, Latvia, Poland, Finland, Ukraine, Estonia.. etc..

Plus, I'd get to be around little kids :) (my FAVORITE!)

Plus, it'd look good on my resume, seeing as i'm majoring in Elementary Ed.

Plus, It's the same type of place where Preston is serving. Hungary wouldn't be too far away.

Plus, yeah...

It looks beautiful to me :) 

Anyway, I think this post is long enough now.

To those of you who read it, thank you for listening to my random rambling. 

Only one semester left until Preston is home. CRAZY!!! 

I love life and everything Heavenly Father has been blessing me with. I really am SUCH a lucky girl. I'd like to close this post with this quote that I've been trying to live by:

<3 <3 <3

I'm Still Waiting :)

I am so sorry that I completely fell off the face of the planet during the last 2 months. I used to be so good at blogging. But lately my life has been insanely busy. I do a lot of homework, yes. But when I'm not doing homework, I go to the beach or something. Sorry. 

I guess you could say I have a lot of explaining to do. But, I'll make it simple:

• I prayed. And I got the answer that after a year of not even looking at other guys, it's time to date.
• I dated some guys. It didn't really work out.
• I was about to give up on dating, but then I met Jared.
• He had a girlfriend back home in Utah, and I had a missionary, but we were both living on a little island out in the middle of the ocean. 
• So we decided to date.
• Him and his girlfriend kinda fell apart (NOT my fault)
• Then I changed my relationship status on facebook and the whole world fell apart. It's crazy how people react to a little change in relationship status. He never asked me to be his girlfriend or anything like that. But everyone here on campus knew we loved spending time together and whatnot, so we decided to be together. 
• So yes, now he is my boyfriend. 
• Yes, Preston is still my missionary.
• Yes, I am still waiting for him.
• I still write him every week.
• I send him packages.
• I email him.
• I love him <3

But I've only ever dated Preston. I know that I have something to learn from being in this relationship with Jared.

And I'll get kinda personal here for a second. I'm so excited to get married. But unlike most of you, I'm so scared of it. I am so freaked out to get married. There have just been so many happy marriages in my life that have ended in divorce. I guess you could say I just haven't had the best example (my parents are a good example, it's just other relationships) And I know that if I ever want to feel 100% ready to get married, I will have to have explored all options. I didn't want Preston to get home, and then we get engaged and had the "what if... What if I would have dated on his mission and fell for someone else?" I know, I know. What a terrible thing to even think. But my Heavenly Father knows me. He knows that I need to date, and get that feeling of, "Yeah, Preston really is the one for me". I've always known he's the one, but I am young, and constantly changing, so I need to continue to get that feeling. So please, don't judge the reasons why I'm dating. I've had to deal with waiter-haters but I really don't want dater-haters :( I love all you girls. Just know that I'm doing the best thing for me.

I am soooo happy with my life right now. School is going swimmingly, I love living in Hawaii, I get to walk past the temple every day, Jared is wonderful and treats me amazing, Preston is my missionary who I will NEVER give up on. I'll be there at that airport on January 18th :) and I have an amazing family back home who loves me. 

Sorry for the long post. I guess I just want to let you know that I am still waiting!!

I'm just focusing on me right now :) I want to be a better person for him when he gets home. Dating has been hard to get used to, but I know it's right.

<3

I love all you girls and I don't know where I'd be without you :)

ONE YEAR DOWN!

Feb 9th 2012

(I know that was technically yesterday.. but it doesn't matter)

Preston has officially been gone for one year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 We have now passed the halfway mark. And now he only has 11 months left because he comes home in January. Seriously, yesterday I was freaking out. I walked out of my house and went to school, basically looking/acting like this...

So instead of writing about how excited I was. I'll just show you the video that contains all my happiness :) Enjoy!

p.s. I really do love him more than the day he left. I didn't expect the first year to be so easy. I can't wait to experience this next year. There's no way I'm not waiting for him :)
You can't tell. But in this picture I was dying inside. This was taken on the curbside at the MTC a year ago from yesterday. I just really can't believe we've come this far :)

New Goal/Update

Alright ladies, I have set a new goal. Here it is:

Blog once a week

Doesn't seem that hard of a goal, right? But it totally is for me. It's hard enough living in Hawaii and going to school at the same time. But I'm also working at the Polynesian Cultural Center. And then I live across from the beach. So... where does blogging fit into that? Yeah, it comes in last on the priority scale. But I just wanted to give kind of an update :) 

I love living in Hawaii. I love going to BYUH. And more than anything, I still LOVE my missionary more than anything in the world. Exactly a week from today, we will be hitting the highly anticipated one year mark. I can't even believe it. Another thing is that recently I started casually dating. I prayed about it and felt like I should go on some dates and make friends and what not. I mean, I didn't date at all the first year, so I feel like it's the right thing to do for me. Preston on the other hand, wasn't so happy about my decision. But before he left, we both decided that me dating would be ok to do while he's gone. But he kind of changed his mind since he's been gone. Which is totally understandable. So recently we had a little rough patch, but we worked through it and I believe we're stronger because of it :) He thought I was getting serious with other guys which is totally not what was happening :) I just want to say that fighting for what you love, and what you want most in the world is 100% worth it. Waiting for Preston isn't even hard because he's what I want :) I've always known that, and I know it more now than I ever have before. Will I continue dating? Yes. Why? Because it strengthens my love for him every time :) Alright. Enough with boring words and sentences. Here are some pictures of my recent life :) 

La'ie Hawai'i temple :) 

Working at the PCC :)

The people I hang out with every day :) 

Hukilau Beach (1 min from my house)

Sunset Beach on the North Shore :)

My bedroom :) 

Night swimming :) 

My church :) 

Entering campus :) 

Sorry such a long post. But it's been almost a month since I blogged. I didn't want anyone to think I was struggling with waiting or anything :) I've just been so busy. 

One last thing.. You didn't think I was going to have a post without including a couple recent pictures of my adorable Preston, did you? :) 

He loves Hamburger Helper :)

Pretty sure this is against mission rules.. whatever :)

I love him so much :) :) 

And for any of you who are following my youtube channel, I put a video a while ago but if you didn't see it, you can view it here :) 

ONE MORE WEEK till ONE YEAR DOWN! :) 

*insert happy dance*

I'd like to end with something my friend and creator of the Beehive Organization said yesterday, "Sometimes doing the right or best thing isn't always the easiest, however you can rest assured knowing that you will be blessed somehow for choosing the better option. . . This is what I will tell myself & all of you today! Before committing to a decision think about what will benefit you eternally or make you a better person. If there's any doubt, don't do it."

Thanks for that Linsey :) There's so much truth in that. Don't do something if you have any doubt. Because you want to be able to do it 100% and feel completely at peace with the decision :) 

Until next week...