7 Months Down!

It has NOT been seven months already, has it?

I've said "this month has been the fastest yet!" before. But seriously, this time, it's for real. Yesterday I was going out to dinner with my family because I'm home for fall break. And as I was talking about Jared I realized that today would be seven months down and I was so surprised because I forgot! Usually I'm counting down the days till we hit the next month mark. This time it just totally surprised me. This month flew by. But isn't that to be expected? It's October :) The beginning of the best season, and best time of year! October, November and December are in my opinion, the fastest/best months of the year. And because of that, I'm really excited for the next few months :) 

Here are some pictures I took to celebrate today :) 

I love my sweet missionary SO much!! And honestly? The waiting part isn't even hard. The not dating other people part? Piece of cake. Not getting to hear from him every day? Eh, I got used to it. Waiting isn't that hard. I'd wait forever for him. Yeah it's hard not having him here when I'm having a bad day. Or, when I need someone to talk to. Or when I just want to cuddle and forget about the rest of the world. But the actual waiting part? Not that hard, because I know who I'm waiting for :) 

Here's to month number 8! :)

Jared's 20th Birthday

Jared's birthday was July 2nd, but I realized I never wrote a post about the package I sent! So here it is :) I sent it from here in Italy, with only items that I brought over from America. When I asked him what he wanted for his birthday, all he could say was "American snack food" haha so this is what he got :) Some of his favorites. 

Beef jerkey

Cheez-Its (his fave)

Combos

Oreos

Popcorn

Some Italian candy

Balloons

A birthday card with 5 euros inside telling him to go buy some birthday gelato :)

a Memory card with a birthday message from me.

And of course, a long letter.

Also, I made a shirt that says, "This is My P-day Shirt" that I thought was pretty funny. It also has a little message on the inside of the shirt. I used fabric paint and painted a heart right where his heart would be when he wears it. On the inside of the heart I painted "Your Desiree" because he has my heart :)

And last but not least, this tie that I made before I left :) 

I know he's gonna love it if the Italian mail system ever decides to let the package show up at the mission home. Keepin' my fingers crossed. 

ALSO

I celebrated his birthday even though we couldn't physically be together :)

Only one more birthday away from each other until we'll be together for all of our many birthdays to come :) 

Emails & Letters :)

I always knew that Jared would most likely not be allowed to email me at all during his mission. At least, that's what I tried to prepare myself for. I didn't want to get my hopes up. Low and behold, I woke up on the morning of his first pday in the MTC and his name popped up with an email from him! I totally freaked out :D

How lucky am I that the week he entered the MTC is the week they changed the rules about emailing? I feel so blessed :) I'm so proud of Jared. He's been in the MTC for 3 weeks now and is working so hard on learning the language and how to be a missionary. He's one of the most dedicated and hard working people I know. He's so obedient and follows all the rules. I know that being an obedient missionary will bless him in ways I can't even describe. 

On his second pday, I got his email in the morning and was happy about it :) Little did I know that I'd receive another email from him at 5:00! I was so surprised :) It's little things like that just totally make my day. Apparently he didn't use up all of his time in the morning and got to use the rest of it at 5:00. 

I was super excited this past week to tell him that I'll be living in Italy this summer :) He had no idea that I applied or anything. I asked him in a Dear Elder how he would feel if I did apply, and this is what he said, 

"I think you should definitely go to Italy if that is what you want to do.  I mean, why not?!  How cool would it be if we both could at least speak some Italian when I got back?  And I know you love Italy and you love teaching...It's the perfect combination :D Just follow your dreams Desiree.  Although, I am so glad you still asked for my opinion. That makes me very happy to know that we are still that close and you still consider me your closest and best friend...because you are definitely mine! :D :D"

<3

Now I feel even better about spending my summer working in Italy. I love that he's supportive and wants me to follow my dreams no matter what. That's just one of the many things I love about him :) To sum things up, he's loving it in the MTC but can't wait to finally start teaching in Italy. We're both happy and we love receiving letters from each other :) 

I Miss Him

It's just one of those days <3

He has my heart.

Our Last Video Together

Before he left, we filmed one last video of us together.

The video speaks for itself. I miss him <3

See You in 2 Years, My Love

I am happy to say that Jared is officially in the MTC as of 4 days ago :)

I don't even know where to start. Jared's farewell was a week ago today. I remember him telling me how nervous and scared he was to speak in front of so many people. He told me not to expect anything good. But of course, he totally surprised us all. His talk was absolutely amazing and I'm sure everyone in the congregation felt the spirit just as strong as I did. Afterwards, we all went to his house and he said goodbye to some friends. Oh also, the day of his farewell was also  
St. Patricks day :)

That day was wonderful and happy :) We hardly left each others sides. We both knew he was needing to get ready to enter the MTC, but at the same time, we continued to act completely normal around each other. I'd walk away for a minute to talk to someone and he'd come over and say, "Hey, you were too far away from me :)" 

Then we had our last day together on Tuesday. It was amazing to say the least. I went over to his house and helped him pack some last minute items. We then played pool and made some yummy food. The weather was nice (thankfully) so we decided to go on a walk at a park we'd always go to during the winter. We'd go at night and buy hot chocolate and then go walk around the park. As we were walking he started talking about leaving and I told him he needed to stop because I could feel the tears coming. I didn't want to talk about him being gone. All I wanted to do was focus on my time left with him. After our walk, we drove to my house :) We decided to watch The Best Two Years outside with blankets on my trampoline as the sun was setting. It was perfect :) 

After the movie we went inside and sat in my room. We knew we only had 45 minutes left together. Jared said, "Come here, let's just cuddle for a little while. I know it's your favorite" so we did :) We didn't really talk, we just sat there in each others arms. We eventually started talking about our future, me waiting, his mission, and old memories :) He wanted to see me smile so he kept bringing up old memories from us together in Hawaii. 

Eventually the time came. It was 8:00 and he needed to go home to get set apart. I started crying, and I didn't even know what to say. We were hugging for a while and I said, "Any final words?" Jared waited for a second and said, "I love you. There's nothing else I can say" and then he started to tear up and by that point I was completely bawling. We stood by my front door for what seemed like a lifetime.   We had one last kiss, well technically 3. We kiss in 3's :) And then I said, "Sweetheart, you need to go.." so we walked to the door and I double pinky promised him that I'd wait :) I hugged him one last time. It was hard to get the words out through my crying, but said "You're going to be an amazing missionary." He was so emotional which was making it harder for me. So then he walked outside but just stood there looking at me. So I ran out and hugged him one last time and then stood in the doorway as I watched him walk away, realizing I needed to capture this and remember it forever. We did the "I love you" sign before he started to drive away. I came inside with my hand over my mouth, trying to keep my crying and breathing under control. 

This goodbye was SO much harder than it was with my first missionary. It's crazy. But I couldn't be more proud of my sweetheart. I know we'll both be blessed. I've come to realize that we were seriously created for each other and I love him more than I ever thought I could. Plus, I'm happy to finally consider myself a missionary girlfriend again :) Wish me luck for the next two years! <3

One Week Left..

I can't believe that one week from tonight, I'll be saying "see you later" to my best friend. It's really starting to hit me. For a while I'd just been excited to start spring break and be with Jared again. But now that spring break has started and we've spent time together, I'm finally starting to realize how quickly time is going. You'd think that I'd already know this since I've said goodbye to a missionary before. A little over two years ago actually.. But the thing is, It's totally different this time. I don't know how to explain it. I just know, this time is different. He's different :) Different than anyone I've ever known. 

It's 1:57am and I just got done watching The Bachelor finale. I know this is going to sound super cheesy, but just watching Sean pick Catherine and everything that happened, just makes me see how Jared seriously is the one for me. I used to watch shows like that and think, "Aw, they're so in love. I want a guy like that." I can honestly say, I have someone BETTER than that. I have a relationship BETTER than that. I was never able to say that before :) He's truly my best friend. He's my rock and anchor in this crazy life. He's the person I want to spend every day with. He loves me unconditionally and shows me in a million ways every day. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. I could go on and on.

In the lyrics of our song it says, "When God made you, he must have been thinking about me." Those lyrics could not be any more true. He's the one. I just know it :) Now gone are all my questions about why, and I've never been so sure of anything in my life :) 

(our song = When God Made You - Newsong ft. Natalie Grant)

Christmas/New Years Eve

Again.. I fail at blogging. I'm going to throw a ton of pictures out there just to catch up time. So here we go :) 

WINTER PHOTOS:

I like to have pictures taken of us once every season. Of course, I can't afford a photographer so I have to give my camera to my little sister and attempt to edit the pictures myself. I wish more than anything that I had a nice camera. The Canon T3i is will be my next big spend as soon as I get enough money.

Next, Christmas!

  

He bought me the most amazing Christmas presents :) First off, purple is my favorite color. Taylor Swift is my favorite artist, I needed new perfume and it's purple. How perfect is that? He also got me the little puppy because he couldn't get me a real one before he left. And finally, he got a necklace with a "J" on it :) I love it all!!

 My first carriage ride! :)

Eating Breaking on Christmas Eve at Kneaders :)

 <3

Since i'm not so good at writing, I put together videos that show how my Christmas break went :)

Lastly, New Years Eve!

We spent our morning watching New Years Eve (the movie) and started out night off at the Provo Mall.

We then went over to a YSA dance :)

We ended our night at Ihop where creeper friends took pictures of us ;)

Phew, now that I'm somewhat caught up, I can finally start blogging again :) 

It's Been 2 Years..

In the back of my mind, I've been telling myself I need to write this blog post. I just haven't been able to do it yet. Today is February 10th. Yesterday, two years ago, was the hardest day of my life. It has officially been two years since I said goodbye to love of my life at that time. I'm putting together some videos and thoughts because I can't seem to find the words to write. So be patient with me and I'll have a blog post coming up soon all about my feelings, and his feeling and where we stand right now. I want to thank all you girls for reading my blog and all the friends I've made because of these wonderful two years. I want to specifically thank my amazing waiting buddy, Jane. February 9th will always remind me of her and our little celebrations. I want to keep writing.. But I mustn't. I need to save it all for the future blog post. I just wanna end by saying I love all you girls. Keep waiting! And believe in good things to come :)