the greatest love story is your own.

this is going to be the ultimate "because i am blessed" post. why? because i get to marry my very best friend and for that reason alone i am truly blessed. kimball andrew hicks proposed last night and i said yes! well..actually i said "of course" but, same thing :). SO from the start! last october kimball and i met for the first time at a halloween ward roller-skate/dance party. it was just a small exchange of names with thoughts of "he/she is cute" running through our heads. the following months found us running into each other at random activities and soon we became friends. each of us went home (virginia and arizona) for the christmas and returned for the winter semester. we continued our friendship and he even tried to set me up with his best friend but, that same night, realized he might want to keep me to himself. we went on our first date soon after and from then on it was a blur. pretty much every little thing was done with one another. i went home for spring and he was home in july but we quickly reconnected in late july after a ward dance party (i can't seem to stay away when he busts out his moves...j/k) after that we were literally inseparable. during the break, before the fall semester started, we both went home and told our families all about each other. it became evident to them that this wasn't a little college fling. upon returning we told each other we loved each other! lets rewind a bit...a few days before we went home for the break we spent the day in salt lake city around temple square. that night we went to a meteor shower (pictures of that in a prior post). we later figured out that that night was the night we both realized we loved each other :) on the same night!! are we not the cutest thing!?!?!? back to now..or last night rather, i had THE worst day yesterday so kimball suggested we take the night off and just relax. he strategically told me to shower and get into something cute to make me feel better. after doing so he suggested we go up to the canyon to star gaze. we took some blankets and made our way up to the spot we fell in love. as we snuggled we discussed why we loved each other and how we would bring our kids to this spot and tell them this is where we fell in love. after a bit he mentioned his feet were freezing and off the blanket. i got up to straighten the blanket out when kimball asked me if something was out in the distance. being extremely scared of the dark (and it was pitch black) i immediately turned around to see what he was talking about. not seeing anything i told him that was mean and he knew it would scare me! i turned around to my beautiful boyfriend kneeling down. "i want another reason to bring our kids here, will you marry me?" i immediately started bawling and kneeled down with him as we hugged and kissed through the tears. finally, i calmed down enough for him to actually put the ring on my finger. so there it is ya'll! i get him, forever! december 30th my best friend and i will be sealed for time and all eternity in the mesa, arizona temple :) because i am blessed.

dunkball.

kimball and friends gathered together on this blessed labor day morning to partake in some dunkball. you don't know what dunkball is!? it's okay, neither does the rest of the world. but to these boys..i'm sorry, men, dunkball is not only a sport, its a way of life. (that may be a bit too dramatic.) let me explain, or try to.. there is a mental health hospital near byu (comforting, right?) with a court with hoops that adjust in height. i'm not positive when they figured this out but they did and someone came to the conclusion that if they lowered it enough they could dunk on it just like the crazy 7 foot 3 inch men in the NBA. kimball not only attends and dunks but he continues with the theme and dresses the part (as seen in the pictures). i think the basketball shorts and utah jersey (hahahaha) accompanied by the do rag(i know that is probably spelled wrong, don't patronize me), chains, watch, sweat bands and baller hat truly help him with his skillz. as you can tell I am not so much a thug with my jean hat, vans and all-american get up but he loves me just the same. there really is no point to this post except to show all of you how legit kimball is and brag about how blessed i am. of course, thats sort of what my blog is about :)

us making a valiant effort at being "thug" and failing miserably. (i should speak for myself)

kimball looking thug while not even trying.

thug love.

the final count down..

kimball and i have officially been away from each other for eleven days. leaving us with two days to go..the countdown begins. (as if the countdown hasn't been going from the moment we were away from each other) the first three days he was in virginia his phone was dead and he had no charger. we went primitive with his house phone at night until he got a hold of a charger that fit his phone. oh blesses technology, how lost we would be without you. so basically he stays up super late (he is 2 hours ahead of utah time and 3 ahead of az time!!) so he doesn't ruin any of my plans at night (which without him are usually really lame) and then we talk, on average, for 2 to 3 hours. yes, we still find things to talk about. quite easily actually :) and as grateful as i am for phones to talk on i just really want him back. the first few days it was like can't wait to see you! but now it's just annoying. i find myself literally saying "please just come home" almost every night. i sound like a sob story and so overdramatic and i agree that i am a bit over the top but for those of you who know me i am not a dramatic person. i'm kind of just ready (really ready) for him to come back so we can do everything together again. we never realized how much we loved doing even the mundane things together until we weren't there to do them together. kimball makes everything better just by being there. i feel a disclaimer coming on; i looooved being home! i always love being home! i am so glad i had time with my family and kat. between sewing and sister outings and lunch with various friends i was loving arizona but i am very happy to be back in p-town. tomorrow will be oh so fun as i carry boxes that are way too heavy for my weak little arms out of kimballs apartment and into my new apartment in the quad (i'm sad to be leaving the street..) but after getting settled in it will only be a matter of hours until kimball is back! and then we can continue in the fun, i feel a dance party will erupt soon after his arrival. thats generally how we roll (see corresponding picture). so happy to have someone that makes me so happy :) because i am blessed.

Finals are over!! To celebrate Kimball, being the sweetest guy ever, planned the rest of the weekend :) of course my camera came everywhere we went....

kimball found out i had never been to cabelas and was determined to "fix" that :) we thought about getting this one but settled for a old school one costing around 25 grand..just kidding.

bees game!! kimball and i both LOVE baseball and luckily there was one more home game we were able to grab tickets for. it was, obviously, really fun despite the bees loss :( but it was okay because they played nola (the new orleans team) which is my nick name! p.s. notice the alternating black and white..i may have also had a yellow cardigan with me :)

so last winter i took a bowling class..yes a bowling class. you'd think this would make me amazing, right!? wrong. i got worse! since then kimball and i have gone a few times and i taught him a couple things i learned. of course it works for him; he demolishes me EVERY TIME. so much for a semester of practice!

my favorite :) there was a meteor shower lasting all last week that was supposed to be amaaazing. we drove up to vivian park and soon found many others had the same idea (oh college towns) so we set up our blankets among the other awed students and watched as the sky fell down. it was just cool enough for jackets and blankets; i can't believe i'm about to admit this but i'm excited for fall and winter. i've had a wonderful summer but i know how much kimball loves his winters so i suppose it's his turn. plus, i love fall clothes :) so, back to this night.. i, being me, wanted to take a picture..in the dark..in the middle of a bunch of other people trying to watch stars. kimball laughed (as he should have) but flattered me and took one..it turned out HORRIBLE. so we tried again, sending a huge flash, yet again, out over the masses. again, the picture was no bueno. third times a charm? hahah i was praying! we were laughing so hard as we snapped this third picture and decided it was cute enough to stop there :) such a beautiful night full of wish making.

so grateful for such a beautiful person in my life who takes such good care of me and never fails to make me smile.

because i am blessed.

prancing through fields of flowers..sort of.

on the way to the manti pageant a few weekends ago we passed by mona, ut where we saw a sign displaying a 5K that would occur on the 10th of july for the Young Living Lavender essential oils. sarah, jasmine and i automatically knew we wanted to participate. a few weeks later the race popped into my head and we looked into it further. making a dream a reality we all registered (but did no prior running in the week hah) and got our race packet all picked up the night before. waking up at 5 30 am we got dressed, stretched and made our way to mona. the race started at about 7 and we were off RUNNING THROUGH LAVENDER FIELDS. glorious? i would say so. there were over a thousand people and the spirit of the race and the smell of lavender surrounded us. upon finishing we devoured the most delicious blueberry cinnamon muffins (i will be googling that recipe). the left picture is me looking like a mom with my capri spandex and jacket tied around my waist before the race. to the right is during the race with the beautiful sun coming to say hello (of course i took pictures while we ran) the top photo is right before the start of the race, just getting excited(and trying to fully wake up) and the bottom is right after we finished; feelin' good and strong :) it was an awesome experience and felt so good to be up early and out in nature with two people whom i love so very dearly. i've made it a goal to participate in more of these kinds of things and dare i post this, i want to do a 10K and ultimately a half marathon. that is my limit i am afraid and even a half i'm not sure is doable with my old woman knees. but we will see :) i feel so blessed to have modern medicine that enables me to participate in experiences like these. because i am blessed.

patriotic people.

so i look extremely vain by posting these pictures BUT i just had to and laugh because here in provo july 4th was ALL weekend. saturday, sunday AND monday were a holiday here. hence the three different outfits. for a girl who doesn't own much red i did fairly well. (i had to rock the old navy overalls at the parade; it's like a sin to not wear old navy around the 4th!) saturday was the stadium of fire, sunday people camped out (picture above) on university to get good spots for the parade (and just because it's a fun adventure to do so) and then monday was the parade. the whole weekend with my roommates and friends was exactly what i needed. so grateful for them and for the caliber of people who surround me. because i am blessed.

first friday art stroll.

so my buddy nathan told me of this art stroll thats going on all year long down center street. different businesses get involved and every first friday of the month they open their doors to artists and pedestrians who wanna come check it out! it was extremely interesting and there were so many different, amazing pieces. i love that i live in an area where things like this happen all the time and have friends who are artsy fartsy like me :) because i am blessed.