monday evening ramblings.

Things I learned today:

• I still cannot look at pictures from my most recent trip to Honduras without crying.
• God watches those who are faithful and blesses them with really quick Boston marathon finishing times that were nowhere near close to the time of the explosions. So thankful my adopted mom is okay!
• Niffer's mexicali dip might just make Mondays completely better. 
• No matter how hard I try, I'm just not going to clean my room tonight. 
• I'm still getting married even if I skip a day of workouts.

I've been really, really beyond frustrated lately. People are getting to me. It's not necessarily things they are doing that directly affect me, it's more just like actions in general. People in general. The human race has to be such a disappointment to God. We think we're the biggest, when really we're the smallest. We think we're the most important, that our way is the only right way, and that we are invincible. We aren't. No one understands this. No one fully grasps it. We're a never-ending cycle of selfish beings...until He changes us.

Two of my best friends were married this weekend. Through the roller coaster of emotions that we all faced the past few days, happiness was the greatest (although exhaustion was a close second). This weekend restored my faith in humanity. It reminded me how important friendships are and that college friends are your family for the rest of your life. This weekend meant that today, I am exhausted, but my friends are happy and anything that happened Saturday was completely worth it.

Beautiful Sarah getting ready!

Bridesmaids' Luncheon

We did what the bride wanted...

Friends at the wedding!

The ceremony.

Trey, the picky eater.

First dance...

...last dance.

Best fiance in the world.

asking the littles.

Yesterday, I asked two of my favorite littles to be flower girls in our wedding. They were pretty excited! I have a feeling they'll be bragging to all of their friends at school tomorrow :]

john lucas- a taste of what's to come.

adios, 2012.

Well, it's over. I'm not feeling terribly great right now, which also means I'm not very sentimental right now. Regardless, I knew I'd regret it if I didn't recap my year. Via pictures, of course. 

In 2012 I...

rang in the new year with my favorite boy.

visited my people in my heaven on earth.

watched some of my favorite people graduate from Auburn & grow up.

saw some of my best friends get married.

studied abroad in Spain and left a piece of myself there.

took a side-trip to Paris for 36 hours.

celebrated with my sister as she married the love of her life.

started working at the ACSC.

burned sparklers at Lauren and Steven's wedding.

celebrated my best friends' engagement.

saw the Avett Brothers for the 3rd time.

watched Auburn's season go down the drain...

...with the best roommate God has blessed me with so far.

got engaged to the most wonderful man I've ever known.

and spent Christmas with my absolute favorite families. All of them. 

I'm beyond thankful for the life with which God has blessed me. I pray each day that I am living to the full potential He has for me, and that I can continue serving Him this upcoming year. He's given me so much to look forward to... more blessings from the ACSC, bridal showers, a trustworthy minister to do our premarital counseling, graduation from an amazing university, beginning a marriage to the most incredible man, relocating to a new town, and...only He knows what else. What an incredible God we serve! Happy 2013!

landfillharmonic.

"A community like Cateura is not a place to have a violin, in fact, a violin is worth more than a house here."

While I see the significance of sustainability and recycling in this video, and agree with how frivolously we throw things away, my heart goes to the children that have to make their instruments out of other people's trash. No one should have to live like this.

stuck in my head all week.

the story.

So, unless you've been living under a rock for the past week + 2 days, you know that Reed and I are engaged!

He proposed last Friday, and it was absolutely perfect for us. The Monday before, some of our friends had planned to go to the drive-in (in Harpersville, on the way to Birmingham from Auburn). Perfect! I thought. Reed told me he had a conference in Birmingham that day, so he could just meet us there (Farce #1). I invited some of our other friends who wanted to hang out with Reed that weekend, not knowing that they were already in on it. Literally everyone I'm close to knew what was going to happen!

The week went by pretty normally. I was so excited to see Reed...it had been the longest five weeks since I'd seen him last! Friday seemed like the longest day. I had two classes with a two hour break between them, during which I hung out with plenty of friends. Every one of them knew, and didn't say a thing! I met one of my friends from high school for lunch, then headed home to get ready. Originally, I planned to wear jeans and a sweatshirt; we were just going to the drive-in! Sarah sent me a text asking if I was going to "look cute." Krista was wearing real clothes when I came home. Dang it, I thought. I have to look cute.

I got dressed, kissed Piper goodbye, and headed to the ACSC with Krista to meet up with everyone. Looking back, I should have known something was up. Everyone looked nice, and Casey was "trying out" the video on her new camera. Krista and I rode to the drive-in with Rebecca, Sarah, and Emma. We stopped at Subway on the way, but ate in the car to avoid smelling like bread. (I hate smelling like restaurants. Hate.) I couldn't eat, I was so excited to see Reed! He was there when we pulled in and brought a bunch of pillows and blankets to make the bed of his truck more comfortable for movie watching.

Once again, I should have noticed a lot of little things that, thank goodness, I didn't pick up on. A car pulled in that looked like my sister's husband's car, and as soon as I caught a glimpse of it, Krista threw a blanket over my head and Reed pushed me towards his truck. Good grief, they're mean tonight, I remember thinking. Stinkers.

Reed and I got in the bed of his truck, but no one else did. I immediately felt awkward. Then, he kept trying to make me lay down. "Reed! No. That's so inappropriate. All of our friends are here. I'm not doing that!" Little did I know that actually was my sister and her husband that pulled in, and Reed's parents and my parent's were on their way. He wasn't trying to be sketchy by making me lie down, he was trying to avoid me recognizing their cars!

We watched Trouble with the Curve, which should have been awesome but was actually really cheesy. After the movie, our friends were taking pictures and goofing off, when my family walked up. Anne Marie asked me what I was doing here, and I literally couldn't say anything to her. Reed's family came up from the other side, and I just stared at Reed.

He smiled at me. "So, you should know what's going on by now. I've already asked you this question once, but I'm going to ask you again." He got down on one knee, and I just covered my mouth with my hands. He asked me to marry him, and I said, "Okay! I mean, yes!" He put the ring on my finger and everyone clapped. Reed hugged me and the turned around...just as Luke and Russell started shooting off fireworks in the woods! It was perfect. Absolutely perfect.

 
 
It meant the world to me that our families were there, and that all of our friends were there! The ones that had to work were given a play-by-play via text and knew precisely when it happened. On the way home, Reed told me all of the secrets. There was no conference in Birmingham; he was in Auburn Thursday night and Friday. All of our friends knew. Both of our families knew. People that weren't in on it knew! Russell and Luke already had the fireworks when I invited them to come with us Friday. Reed had arranged everything with the man that owns the drive-in and cleared the fireworks and everything. He found tickets for my sister and her husband, and they stayed in Auburn the whole weekend! Reed outdid himself. He knows I love surprises, so he took this and ran with it.

This past week has been such a blessing. It's incredible to see how many people care about us and are genuinely excited about our engagement. We're going to be married on July 27, 2013 in Huntsville. I can't wait!