Engagement Pictures

I don't have the actual engagement pictures yet, but I wanted to talk about it. I'll post the pictures later.

So, if you're living in northern Utah currently, you'll know that it's been raining on and off for all of May. I was hoping by all means that on Saturday, May 23rd Mother Nature would bless us with a little bit of slack and calm the skies for us, but no such luck. (I was not going to reschedule because I guess I'm stubborn, impatient and I wanted to feel like I was accomplishing SOMETHING in regards to wedding plans.) So while we were taking pictures, it was cold and wet. It wasn't raining that bad, most of the time it was just sprinkling and really cold.

Anyway, back to the important stuff. We took our pictures in Ogden at Union Station and down 25th street. I couldn't tell you how pleased I was about it. At first I wanted to just do something in Logan so we wouldn't have to go very far, but I could not for the life of me find a place in Logan that I really liked. And everyone who's lived in Logan will probably say, "What are you talking about? There are so many places in Logan you could do it!" Listen... Everyone and their sister loves taking "rustic" or "nature" pictures, but honey, have you met me and Jason? We're not really the "camping, outdoors, countryside, trees, grass and dirt" kind of people. And we both hate country music. Just saying. So that whole idea made me uncomfortable. "I'm sure there are other cool places in Logan that aren't like that," you might say. I would reply, "I dare you to find some." All of the pretty spots in Logan are nature-y. Moving on.

Our photo location, but the water fountain wasn't on

I told my photographer that she could have creative control over the situation. So we met at Union Station. She and her helper - her husband, were so nice and she was so easy to work with. If you know me well, you'll know that there are certain things that I like being in control of, and some that I don't. This was one of those times when I did not want to be in control. (As far as the poses and stuff goes.) It worked out so well because I told her the few things that I didn't want and then she took it and went with it. She told us how to pose, where to pose, and we were obedient models. It was perfect, and completely stress free, so much fun.

If any of you are wondering how I found such a perfect photographer, I used Aneisa Calder of Calder Photography, and I found her using thumbtack.com. Great place to find any photographer for any occasion. And if you're looking for someone who will take quality pictures at a reasonable price, I absolutely recommend her. 

Wedding Registry Weekend

"What am I doing?" was my first thought before we started scanning on Saturday, May 16th. This whole thing was getting kind of real for me, but Jason and I had SO MUCH FUN! Jason was very excited to be in charge of the scanner ;)

He was all smiles and laughs the entire time!

So we walked into Target, created an account, and grabbed the scanner. It was a pretty quick and easy process, which I was very grateful for. We had a drafted list of good things to register for, courtesy of Jason's wonderful sister. We eagerly got scanning and we pretty much just walked through the rows of home goods down the store. A couple times. Several times. Back and forth. For a while. What? We had to make sure our towels matched the shower curtain and that our plates and cups and silverware matched! ;)

Our next adventure was Bed Bath and Beyond. The process to start scanning was a little bit slower, but it turned out fine. It just so happened that there were three other couples also registering at the same time that we walked in. It wasn't a big deal though. The staff was super friendly. We went around that store a few times, too. All in all it probably only took us three to three and a half hours between the two stores.

The way it was divided up initially, was having all the bed and bath stuff from Target and all the kitchen and home decor and etc. from BBB. However, it didn't really stay that way, but I don't really live life to an exact plan. I'm flexible. We set up a good start to our registry and I'm very excited to start getting more wedding plans done and out of the way!

Saturday morning, the 23rd, is our engagement photos appointment! So stay tuned! ;)

Don't we look so excited?

P.S. Here are the websites to our registries, if you're interested! Target and Bed Bath and Beyond

Thanks for reading!

The Genesis of it all (Jason's perspective)

Without going into my whole life story of how I was even in a situation to meet Cara, I will sum it up by saying I was going through a rough time in life. It was my first semester at college, I came in between semesters and everyone already knew everyone and I was the new kid. I prayed for friends, and luckily my roommate was extremely friendly.

I lived in the Towers up on campus. For those of you that don't know, the Towers are the cheapest housing at USU, and there is one tower that is all men, and another all women. My roommate introduced me to all of the men that lived on my floor, and I had a group of friends in a time I really needed them.

I don't want to talk down about any of the men, they are definitely my friends, and I enjoyed my time with them, but none of them were members, and I wanted to find a group of friends that I could have the gospel as a part of our friendship.

Funny how the spirit will make things happen.

Late in March 2014 I was really looking for that new group of friends. I was eating in the Marketplace, a dining place on campus, waiting for my roommate to show up so we could go do something. He was talking with someone just outside and I finished my meal and was heading out to meet up with him.

I saw a table full of women in my ward, and Cara was one of them. My initial thought was "Hey, a group of beautiful women and I know one of them (not Cara, but a mutual friend). I should go talk to them." and my second thought was "Oof, I don't want to be that creepy guy that just sits down and barges into the conversation."

The second thought won, and I walked past to meet my roommate. Lucky for me he said he needed to eat something and I said I would find a table for us.

I got the strongest feeling to sit with this group of girls. It hit me like a ton of bricks, and I couldn't ignore that feeling.

I walked back in, sat down, and instantly hit it off with all of them. We were all laughing and joking, and I loved all of them. God had lead me to a wonderful group of friends that I am still close with today, and ultimately lead me to Cara.

Whether the spirit was prompting me to meet a good group of friends, or to meet my future wife, I'm not sure. All I know is I was suppose to meet them at that time.

How Jason Proposed

How Jason Proposed!

The first thing everyone wants to know is how Jason proposed. It comes with the territory. ;) 

Once upon a time... Just kidding! So Friday May 9th, Jason and I went to breakfast at Herm's Inn and then we decided to go for a drive. Jason works for Cache Valley Road Construction or something like that, and they have different jobs going around Cache Valley. One day for his job, they went down to this place called Porcupine Reservoir and had to trim the trees and bushes from the road. 

So we drove down to this area, which is near Avon and Paradise if anyone is familiar with the area. We were driving through these rolling a winding hills and it was so gorgeous. The area was so green and beautiful! It reminded me of home a little bit. Also on the way, there were these farms and we could see so many baby animals! They were so cute! 

We're driving some more and we come to the reservoir and it's gorgeous! A huge body of water and everything is so green! It was fantastic! So we pull over and get out and we're just looking at the view, when Jason goes to get something out of the trunk of his car. It's the ring! So he hugs me and gives me his little speech and gets down on one knee and asks, "Cara Heath, will you marry me?"

Of course I said, "yes!" ;) 

And yes, I did cry!

Our History

 Jason and I started dating April 6th 2014. And I want to share with you our story, because it's kind of cute. 

  Back in March of 2014, when I was living in the Towers, (dorms on Utah State University campus), I had a friend named (I'm not going to put real names down) Jennifer, who was at the time sort of interested in a boy who was also friends with Jason. So Jennifer and Jason became friends and she introduced Jason to our friend group and me. We started hanging out quite a bit, and one night in particular, I remember thinking,"Wow he is SO funny! And really cute!" Plus, he was taller than me, which is not always the case. ;) That night I told Jennifer to give Jason my number. 

  Thus begins the adventure. The weekend of General Conference, (a weekend where the top leaders of our church speak to us on behalf of Heavenly Father for those of you who are not LDS), Jason and I were texting A LOT, but what was very uncharacteristic of me was that I was being extremely forward, and for those of you who knew me in high school, I had a hard time talking to guys, nonetheless flirting with them. Sadly I did not save any of those text messages, otherwise I would definitely share them.

  On Monday April 6th 2014, I invited Jason to hang out with me that afternoon and we watched some of Jason's favorite anime show, Fairy Tail, which I thought was absolutely ridiculous at first, but slowly got sucked into. After that we started hanging out and became very close :)

 One thing I have to admit is that when we started dating, neither of us planned to be together very long. We both had the mindset of, "This is just a fling, and it's only going to last a couple weeks." In fact, my friends love to laugh about it with me because I declared to them that Jason and I were nothing more than a "flirtationship." But I think God had a different plan ;)

 Jason and I then started to realize how much we had in common and also how similar we were in the way we thought and did things. It started getting a little creepy how alike we were. If you ask either of us where it started, we would both say "watermelon" because we first agreed that watermelon is definitely the most superior fruit. 

 It would take me too long to tell you EVERYTHING that happened from our first week of dating until now, so I'll just sum it up for you. We kept seeing each other and you could say that two or three months into dating we started loving each other. If you asked me when I started "falling" for him, or however you want to phrase it, I know exactly the moment. Our friends and us were having so much fun at a karaoke night, and towards the end of the night he was singing "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz. It was so sweet. 

 So we've had many ups and a few downs, like most relationships do, and here we are over a year later. We have grown together in so many ways and we have so much love for each other. Now that we're engaged, our love is only going to continue to grow. Thanks for reading this super long post!