Last Bits of December

10. Last Bits of December

We left off last time with finals ending and a list of the next weeks' events. Oh! Side note: I hope ya'll are checking out my husbands Side Two blog for a second side to our whole story! It's very entertaining and has lots of things that I forgot to include in my own account of events! Anyways, back to December. I'll try and list the event of December chronologically for this post. 

1. Home to Bountiful. 

After my last final, Chemistry, I went to the salon here at BYU and got my nails done with Angie before we met the boys for bowling. I had gotten a gift card for the manicure from my amazing roommate, Alexis. It had been part of the gifts we exchanged as a room for our Christmas party. Starting the beginning of the week for finals and ending on the last day we were all together before break, we had pulled out all of our mattresses and fit them in the living for the ultimate Mega-Bed. It was a blast! One of the days that week, we got up early and made breakfast and only after we were done with our breakfast could we open our presents that were waiting beside our paper Christmas tree on our apartment wall. My roommates, Alexis and Caroline, played on the fact that I was getting married: I got a handy wedding planning book, the manicure from Alexis (so my nails would look good when Garrett proposed! Which I thought was coming at any time at that point...) and finally, I got a package of diapers... Very funny Caroline! My roommates that are on their missions are requesting that I be in my last trimester of pregnancy when they get back so, first, they can see me like that, second, they can baby sit, and last, I can be a teen pregnancy statistic... Not sure that's happening! 
 After Angie and I got our nails done (and decided that we probably wouldn't get them done at the same place again...) and after bowling, I got home and crashed. The next day I cleaned up for my part of our apartment's cleaning check before break and then got ready to go to the midnight premier of The Hobbit. I hadn't been able to get a second ticket for Garrett that night but we hung out for a little bit before the movie and he was sweet to drop me off at the theater. The movie was amazing!! I nerded out with my also nerdy roommates and a couple other friends. I was so excited to go see it AGAIN the next day with Garrett.  
The next day I squeezed my stuffed suitcase in the back of Garrett's car and went to see The Hobbit. Right after the movie, we made the drive up to Bountiful.  Garrett was starting to realize how often we were driving up there... I feel really bad we've put so many miles on his car and not to mention the money he had to spend filling up the tank! However, every time we would go to see my family, my dad would try and give Garrett or me some money for gas or food. Garrett tried to decline the  money every time (I accepted it because I knew I wouldn't win the exchange with my dad:). My dad has a philosophy that if he helps college kids pay for little things like gas or just give them a $10 every so often, it's an investment in their future. Garrett doesn't like to take money from anyone but the times he did from my dad were very much appreciated! Even though sometimes the money didn't go right to gas, it still went towards things that made us happy and usually provided something for a date. Or a Winco candy/food trip....;)

The drive from Provo to Bountiful is actually only around an hour. But sometimes, when you're already really tired, especially after a  brain-burning week of finals, you just want to crash after you get to your destination. Both Garrett and I were pretty burned out. When we got to my parent's house I got a lot more energized with the greeting from my family members and my two cute pups that were so excited to see us. After things calmed down, Garrett and I sat on the couch and pretty soon, I could tell that given the chance, Garrett would go fast asleep. Haha, Garrett felt bad that most of the weekends that we went up to Bountiful he was so tired. For some reason that we both can't explain, Thursday nights were usually the nights where he would play Xbox late into the night or stay watching movies with Martin and Martin's brother, Duncan. 
As Garrett was starting to dose off that night on my couch, I started feeling a strong impulse to tell my parents everything. I can't tell you why I felt like I needed to tell my parents about Garrett's and my desire to get married THE night I got home from school. But... It just felt right and I was given a good opening of time. I think my parents knew too. I remember after my dad had made a comment, something about me, Garrett responded in a way that hinted about us getting married. I looked at him like, "Garrett! Why did you say that!" After Garrett started dozing, I went down the hall to my room to put some of my things away and on my way back, I ran into my dad. He gave me his amazing, "I love you and never want to let you go", hug but this time it felt more like a "I love you and I never NEVER want to let you go. Especially because I can kind of tell I might have to", hug. My dad and I have a special connection that whenever we hug, it seems like every feeling, thought and worry we both have, we can both feel it. I started to tear up and hugged my dad back just as hard. I felt then that my parents knew what I was going to tell them sometime soon. I knew they didn't want it to be true... but they still could tell. I had been feeling guilty about not letting them know about everything the whole time so I thought to myself, "enough is enough! Let's do this." 

My dad and I came out of the hallway together and he suggested to my mom that they should go to the store and get a couple things. I looked at Garrett on the couch and decided to let him sleep. I told my parents that I wanted to come with them. There was a weird feeling during that time from Garrett's comment till the night was over. I felt... protected. It's hard to explain the feeling, but I felt completely open and ready to explain everything without getting scared of my parents reaction. I felt confident. I needed to tell my parents and I felt assured that my decision, even though it may not be accepted right off at first, would be something that they supported.

Lots of tears and discussion were shared by all during that grocery-shopping trip. My parents had slightly different reactions than I thought they would have. My dad was surprisingly calm which was really awesome and made me feel more steady too. It broke my heart a little how my mom cried more than my dad did (I now believe that my dad was under shock and therefore didn't cry very much:). My mom is rock and doesn't cry that often but when she does, you feel your heart ache too. I do admit that I was a little scared of going home after telling my parents and what my dad might do to Garrett in his helpless state of sleep on our couch... But I felt that it had all gone better than I had thought it would. I knew that I would have to keep explaining Garrett's and my intentions and plans in the next days and months. It would all work out in the end however. 

My parents and I talked a little more and then they decided that they were pretty ready for bed. I was pretty darn tired too! Crying and emotional stress can take it out of you pretty quick. But I wanted to tell Garrett about what had happened. I needed to wake him up anyways so we could make his bed for the night. I sat on the couch with him and told him what had happened and he was pretty shocked! He asked me the details and I told him that it had gone better than I had expected and no, they didn't want to hurt him. I went to sleep that night realizing that this was it. This was the real deal and I was getting married at 18... I was OK with that. I felt that Heavenly Father trusted me in my decision to move forward and that he had provided this amazing opportunity to me at this time for a reason. I prayed really hard that night for my parents to feel good along with me about this decision. I felt that things weren't going to be easy but they would all be OK. I think the love that my parents and I share and our relationship brought me the most confidence and hope to move along with my decision. 

2. Trip down to Provo for the Interview and Meeting Garrett's family.

Garrett left the day after I talked with my parents so he could get home and get enough sleep for work the following day. One thing that I absolutely love and appreciate about Garrett is how hard of a worker he is and how he takes almost no thought for himself about it. I know that he will always work for the benefit of our family and for others. I say this because during the winter break, where a lot of college students take the break off from work and worries, Garrett was up on roofs from dawn till dusk in the cold and snow earning money for school and for a certain Christmas present for me. 

Even though I was going to miss him, I was actually looking forward to the time I was going to have with my family. And I did enjoy the time we had even though it was sometimes tense. I wanted to be open about the subject of marriage and not make it a Taboo thing. I got annoyed when my parents treated it as a "not to be named" thing but I'm pretty sure I would do the exact same thing on their end! I wanted to be understanding but I also wanted them to just be happy about it. Haha, that's a lot to ask for so quickly I know! But we had a good week and I was able to see my other family from my mom's side. For the weekend I had already decided that I was going to go back down to Provo to interview for a job I was interested in and also to see Garrett's family. I left on a Friday afternoon and had arranged it so Garrett could pick me up after his work at the train station. 

The train ride was pretty interesting! I sat down and put my head phones right in and kept to myself. On one of the stops, an older looking gentleman boarded the train and walked down the aisle slowly trying to find a seat. I looked up and smiled nicely, cordially, and after walking past me a little he turned around and sat down across from me. I was turned away from him a bit and still had my headphones in when he started to talk with me. I hurried to take out my headphones and I chatted with him for a little bit. He was very nice! He asked me what I did for work and if I was a model. I laughed and told him no, but he kept being very complimentary and flirty in that old-man way. He asked me if I had a boyfriend or if I was married, and I told him that I did have a boyfriend and I was actually going to visit him that day. He told me that if I would've been single and he would've been younger he definitely would be trying harder to flirt with me! I smiled and laughed with him. I kind of thought at this point that our conversation was over but just as I was putting my headphones back in, he started telling me about himself. I tried to be attentive and respond in the right way for the rest of the ride. He lived a very full and exciting life! Even though it was fun to talk to him I was pretty happy to get to my bus stop. I waited for a little bit for Garrett then I learned that he had just been sitting there in his car waiting for me to notice him! 

I had scheduled my interview for 5 and by the time Garrett picked me up it was cutting it pretty close. We got to the BYU campus and I hurried to get my heels and nice jacket out of my bag in the car trunk (why I decided to wear heels is a mystery...) I rushed in as quickly as I could in my heels which was much slower than usual on account of the ice that covered the concrete. Yeah... I was pretty terrified I was going to slip on my toosh right in front of Garrett sitting in his car! I got to the building I needed to in one piece however and got to my interview. It went really well! I was informed that my job uniform would be a bikini and I was actually pretty excited! Yay! An excuse to get a new swimming suit! Oh! Sorry, to explain: I was interviewing for a job as an art model for BYU art department. I had realized that for next semester I would need to earn a little more money for school as well as for my prospective wedding. So I had been looking for jobs on campus and had already had had contact with the director of the art department modeling. You're supposed to have some crazy experiences in college right? I thought it would be fun to try out being an art model: something I'd probably never do anywhere else! I was given the job but after some thought I decided that the hours and being on-call for the job would be hard with my school schedule. I felt that I would be given another opportunity for a job later. 

After my interview, Garrett and I went back to his house. I got in comfier clothes and we made a grocery-store run. I love grocery store runs! We have fun going to stores and checking out the sales. I often have to try and keep Garrett from buying too much food... I usually love what he cooks with the things that he gets however! I was unable to keep him from buying some Monster energy drink this time and then laughed as he got more hyper and bubbly as he drank it. We got back home and just relaxed for the rest of the night. I fell asleep watching It's A Mad Mad Mad World, much to Garrett's dismay, but after that I was ready for bed. The next day we were going to be cleaning up the house and getting ready for Garrett's family to get there in the afternoon. In the morning, Garrett came to wake me up (I slept in Martin and Duncan's room while they were back home in Delaware) and we went up stairs to get some breakfast. I got help/learned how to make yummy french toast from Grandma. I got a little nervous when Grandma left me to make the rest of the batch (A big batch!) and Garrett and Grandpa went to go fix something in the house. After burning myself a couple times I'm happy to say I successfully made some good french toast! Even if no one else had liked it, the fact that Grandpa Facer did was enough to make me proud! 

After Garrett and I cleaned up breakfast for Grandma, we got to work on cleaning/arranging the house for his family to get there. I was down stairs vacuuming when all the sudden I heard a whole bunch of voices up stairs and then right after that I head the door to the top of the stairs open. Just a second later Garrett's two younger brothers were right there and without even a thought I went over to them and gave them hugs. Hugging is kind of my default when I get surprised to see people. I was worried for a second that I wouldn't remember their names but they popped out of my mouth when I hugged and said hi to them. It was crazy! It felt so right to hug them and act like I'd known them forever. I'm so happy to have little brothers now!! I always wanted one growing up and now I have two. James and Cannon are both really fun and were really awesome to get along with right off the bat. I went up stairs to see who else was there and saw Garrett's parents in the kitchen. Again, after saying hi in my characteristically high voice, my default/instinct and went over to give them both a hug. I was surprised by how tight Garrett's dad hugged me back! It was the best! After hugging both of them and talking for a minute we started getting everyone all settled. I stayed over that night in the same room and Andelyn, Garrett's younger sister, slept in the bed next to me. OK... I was really nervous to meet Andelyn! She and Garrett are best friends and she is a very important girl in Garrett's life. As a little sister myself, I know that a little sister's opinion of their brother's girlfriends are very important! It was also a little intimidating that we were pretty much the same age (Yeah... that freaks out Garrett whenever he thinks about that:) But the first night we slept in the same room, we had girl-bonding time. Nothing like talking about boys, relationship and romance for a night of girl-bonding! I had really missed having girl talk like that. We talked for quite a while and when we finally got to sleep, I remember smiling and feeling again that it was very natural to talk to Andelyn like she was my sister. 
The next day we all went to church with Grandma and Grandpa Facer. Hansen and Angie came too and we all together took up one pew. It was fun to be all together and to enjoy the Christmas program in sacrament meeting. The choir sang beautifully! Afterwards we went to all the meetings and in Relief Society when we were asked to introduce ourselves, Mandy, Garrett's mom, got up for all of us and introduced us. I felt really good to be included as a part of the Facer family. 
That evening we were all together in the family room when I got a call from my dad. We talked for a little bit and then he told me he was on his way to come pick me up... I just kind of sat there and asked him where he was. He told me that he was half way to Provo by the point of the mountain. I asked him why he was coming to pick me up and he told me that he had understood that I was having a hard time finding a time for the train to go back up to Bountiful and he thought he'd just come get me. Well... OK. I laughed a little and said I'd see him in just a bit. It was hard to act annoyed-surprised because he had sounded happy!  I hung up and Garrett was looking right at me and he guessed pretty quick what was up by the expression on my face. He asked me almost immediately, "You're going home aren't you?" I just nodded. I was bummed! We had planned on going to play games and eat dinner at Garrett's aunt's who was a really good cook! But at the same time I felt kind of OK about it. When I told Garrett's parents who were sitting across from us, Garrett's dad and Garrett's uncle who was sitting next to him both said that they would do the same thing if their daughters were in my position. Pretty soon my dad got there and I started to get excited to introduce him to Garrett's awesome family. I thought that maybe meeting them would help him see a little more getting married to Garrett wasn't such a bad idea! I introduced my dad to everyone and the Facers invited him in to talk. I was smiling across at my dad as he chatted with Garrett's parents and then with Grandma and Grandpa Facer. My dad loved talking with Grandma Facer. She is such an angel and my dad immediately saw the same thing and loved talking with her. After a little bit I could tell that we needed to go. I was still bummed.... I wasn't going to see Garrett for a whole week (said sarcastically;) and I was still perturbed that my dad had come to pick me up. I felt a little like a kid who's parents came to pick them up early from a fun party...

But I tried not to let myself get too annoyed. I did understand why he came. I also felt loved. 

When I got home I could tell my mom was ready for me to be upset that my dad brought me home and I was a little, but I didn't want to make it a big deal. I'm sure I said something about it so she knew how felt (Silly...) but it was alright. I was going to be seeing Garrett that following weekend after Christmas to say goodbye to his family and I was starting to wonder exactly when I was going to get my certain Christmas present... 

*I know I said I was going to tell the engagement story this time around! But I feel like it deserves it's own post! 

*Also! I apologize for the length of this entry! A lot of it is for me to remember the little things. It's like my journal... But you're invited to read and relive these things with me!