July

So... It's been a while.

Life has been so, so great I haven't been able to think about blogging about it all. So sorry!

But something exciting happened and there is no way for me to put into words how incredibly happy I am about all of it. He couldn't have surprised me more or done it more perfectly. I love Chase more than anything and am so so excited to share my life with him.

Quickly after we got engaged I was lucky enough to coach the BYU lacrosse camp. I had such a blast getting to work with the girls that came out. Lacrosse is easily one of my favorite things to do, and I got to hang out with great teammates and a bunch of girls that love lacrosse too!

The 4th of July was during this week so we celebrated that night by watching my cousin play in a pick up game called Lax of July then got to watch Stadium of Fire fireworks from the lacrosse field. It was so much fun to play with cousins and to just hang out after playing lacrosse and being outside all week.

Pretty soon after that we left for my family's annual trip to Lake Powell. I've said this before but Powell for me is heaven on earth. I couldn't love it more. I had so much fun showing Chase something that I've loved for so long and trying new things with him like cliff jumping and double skiing. It couldn't have been a better week in my opinion.

Driving the kids on the tube and Beckham fell asleep on my arm haha

The one time I jumped off the cliff

That's Chase in the middle doing a backflip

Cutest cousin award goes to...

Skiing together

Rainbow bridge!

Love him to death

Sidenote: Julia managed to get more ugly pictures of me this week than I've ever had taken in my life. I think it's hysterical, but in all honestly didn't know I could make my face look like that.

Right after we got back my whole family went to Airborne (the trampoline place). It was a lot of fun, but most exciting was that I finally learned how to do a backflip. It took being talked into quite a bit and getting over my nervousness, but I was so glad I did it!

The very next day my whole family and I went wedding dress shopping. It was so great to have all of them there. I loved getting my brothers' and dad's opinion about the different dresses I tried on and to have my mom and Julia help me in and out of them. I actually decided on the very first dress I tried on in less than two hours. Way easier than I had anticipated and I LOVE it. Here's a picture from the dress shop (with me in my dress)

The next week it was Chase's birthday. I had struggled for a while trying to figure out what to get him when I finally decided to take him skydiving. He had never been, but had always wanted to go really bad and I loved seeing the look on his face when I finally told him the surprise I had been keeping. We had so much fun and it was great to celebrate with him doing something I knew he had wanted to do.

Add to the list of the reasons why Chase is the best ever: on his actual birthday he let me go to a concert with Julia instead of staying and celebrating with him. Julia is now one of his biggest fans ever, because it wasn't just any concert he let me go to. Julia and I had tickets to go see One Direction. Not normally the music I listen to, but Julia might actually be the biggest fan they have that I've ever met. I seriously had such a blast. Julia cried and that was so fun(ny). There was more teenage girls screaming in a room than I ever thought I would experience, but they're actually really entertaining and it was so awesome to see Julia so, so happy. (I have no idea where my pictures from this went. Maybe they're actually on Julia's phone and not mine, but they were good haha)

Before we knew it, it was time for us to leave for Mexico with Chase's family. Before we got all the way to Mexico we stopped in Arizona to meet and spend time with some of his extended family that wasn't going to Mexico with us. I also met most of his siblings for the first time (after a very long 11 hour drive - and I'm pretty sure I was half asleep, oops). I don't think that I have ever met that many people in such a short period of time, but everyone was so welcoming and nice and made me feel so comfortable.

Mexico was a dream vacation. We played volleyball, skim boarded, body surfed, played on the beach, buried Chase's siblings in the sand, rode four wheelers through sand dunes, and played all sorts of board games (I even got roped into singing a song for karaoke). I seriously couldn't have asked for a better vacation to get to know his family. I'm so excited to be a part of it in less than 2 months!!

I can't believe how fast this summer has gone, but oh my gosh it's flown. I feel so blessed and seriously feel like I've been living in a dream. In fact, here's something I wrote in my journal the other day that I think sums up how I'm feeling pretty well:

Essentially this has by far been the craziest and probably the best month of my life thus far. I've tried a lot of new things, met a lot of new people, gone to a couple new places, spent time with the people I love most, been to some of my favorite places, done some of my favorite things, and fallen further in love every day. What more could I ask for?