"Open When" Letters :)

Happy Holidays!!! :)
I've been working on these Open When letters for a couple weeks now. I had about 15 ideas written down but I only ended up doing 8 because it's finals week and the end of the semester is just too busy. And I'm such a perfectionist and if I know I don't have the time required to make them as good as I want them to be, I just won't even try haha. With that being said, I can't believe it's the end of the semester already! My mind is blown. Time flies. Is anyone else wondering how the heck this semester went by so quickly? Christmas is in 20 days!! I get to (hopefully) be there to Skype my sweetheart in only 20 days! And then, I leave for Hawaii in 27 days! I've been counting down to those two dates so much lately that I haven't even looked at my Jared countdown. I've found that counting down to little events along the way helps soooooo much. 

Anyway! Here are the letters I did for this package. Keep in mind, I will be sending more eventually :) 

Open When...

1. You get this package
2.  You're going to sleep
3. You're bored
4. You need to be reminded how much I love you <3
5. You need a laugh :)
6. On New Years Eve!
7. You're sick
8. You had a hard day/Need motivation

I also put some items inside the envelopes along with the letters. If you want to see some of the cool stuff I put in the letters, you can watch this video :)
I'm really excited for him to open them :) I'll be posting soon about everything I sent him for Christmas. 

 

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! :)

6 MONTHS DOWN!

Wooohoooooooo!!! :D

I am so freaking excited. I'm writing this post a bit late, but I still figured I'd write it. On September 20th Jared hit his 6 month mark! Finally. It's about time. It definitely feels like it has taken forever to get to this point, but I'm just glad we're finally here :) I can testify that the first six are by far the hardest. So if you are in the first 6 months right now, just remember to look up, and know it will get easier :) I promise! So in my opinion, this is how the timeframe has broken down for me.

Months 1-3: 

So slow. So hard. But I at least got letters during the first two. I really struggled with learning how to live without him during these months. But can ya blame me? It's a major adjustment to make.

Month 4: 

A definite change from months 1-3. Went a lot faster and I finally starting learning how to be okay and happy without him here. My testimony also grew a ton during this month.

Month 5: 

Fastest month yet! I couldn't believe how fast it went. This month I realized and learned how to turn being sad, and missing him, into something positive. If any of you would like me to write a post about how I did that, let me know. I also realized that this time is about him, not me. It's all about him. And when you put it in that perspective, you won't be as sad about not getting letters or emails. But ultimately, month 5 has been the fastest and easiest yet :) 

Awesome stuff that's happened during these 6 months:

• Jared has his first baptism in his first area! :) 
• Jared was made District Leader in his second area :) 
• He was able to meet Elder Ballard 
• He has been able to become (in my opinion) completely fluent in Italian. Sometimes now he struggles to speak English... :) 
• I was able to spend the summer teaching English in Italy and Austria
• I received a calling as Sunday School teacher and I love it!
• I finally bought a nice camera and have started developing my passion for photography :) (a good thing to do while your mish is gone is develop talents and passions that you've always had but never done)
• My family moved to Provo :) (right across the street from the MTC)
• I got accepted to return to BYU-Hawaii in January :)
• I've met some amazing people who have made this wait such an easier process :) Ya'll know who you are ;)

There's a lot of other experiences I've had these 6 months that have just strengthened my testimony, and  also my love for Jared. I wouldn't change a thing :)

Here's my 6 months celebration video :) 

(don't judge the cheesiness of it. I'm a cheesy person, what can I say)

Airport Phone Call from Jared!!

Girls, today was the big day. The day Jared got to call from the airport! :)

I'd by lying if I said I wasn't totally freaking out. I seriously could not sleep last night. I woke up at 5:14, 6:30, 7:02, 7:15, 7:45 and my alarm finally went off at 7:55. I guess you could say I was like a child on Christmas Eve. The stressful thing was that I had to spend my morning studying for a geology final. My final started at 11:00 and his plane was scheduled to leave at 11:15 so I was hoping he'd call me before my test. I was freaking out because by 10:30 he still hadn't called me. Apparently Heavenly Father is still trying to teach me patience. Basically.. Just watch this video and you'll see :)

We only got to talk for three minutes because there were so many missionaries who still needed to call their families. But it didn't matter, just hearing his voice tell me he loved me was all I needed to hear :) I'm just so excited that he'll finally be in Italy! I feel like these past six weeks he hasn't even really been on a mission. I feel like the mission really beings when they start teaching :) I can't wait to hear stories about the people, culture, investigators, his mission president, the wards, the members, and the FOOD! I know he's going to put his whole heart and soul into serving the people of Italy. He already has such a deep love for them and he's not even there yet <3 Like I mentioned, he left this morning at 11:15 and flew to Chicago where he arrived at 3:15 their time, and then he had a flight to London at 5:15. So as I type this, he's flying over the ocean and will land in London at 6:50am and then he'll have one more flight leaving at 8:35 for Rome where he'll arrive at 12:05pm :) He's going to be one tired missionary.  I just love him so much and can't wait to begin the next part of our best two years :) 

<3