See ya in 2!

See ya in 2 Elder Elkins. You will be missed. I love you! 

Follow his blog:

www.elderelkins.blogspot.com 

Farewell-

Okay, weird. Today was my brothers farewell. Seriously, it's weird. Didn't Shawn just have his farewell and leave me for 2 years? Yeah well now that's my 18 year old brother. WEIRD. He did so good on his talk. SO good. We all bawled when he said his 'Thank You's' to each one of his siblings, brother in law, cousins, grandparents, grandparents that passed away, to my parents, and so we all cried. Especially Tyson. For those of you who don't know Tyson, he's my 8 year old brother. Broke my heart to see Ty cry so hard. Like-the ugly cry. :(

Now we are dropping him off on Wednesday at the MTC which will suck. I didn't drop Shawn off because it's way too hard. So now here we go, dropping off my little brother! CRAZY! I'm so excited for him to serve tho. Watching Shawn go through everything was incredible and I'm so excited for my brother to go through it all. He's going to love his mission. Especially the Netherlands. Beautiful!

Now I'm blogging his whole mission. So if you want to follow that one too, you should. I'll make it a fun blog to follow.

www.elderelkins.blogspot.com :)

Thanks Lauren Conrad

K this is going to sound completely silly but all morning I've been watching The Hills. I absolutely love the show and it's totally got me thinking. I watch all these girls dating and having so many problems with guys, especially Heidi and Spencer. (poor girl) and Poor Lauren, Such a sweet girl but all these guys treat her like crap. After I watch all these shows, I'm suuuuper grateful for my marriage.

I was watching an episode where Lauren really likes this guy named Brody but one of her friends, Jen, hooks up with him thanks to Laurens so-called-best-friend Heidi. And they get in a huge fight and Lauren now hates Jen and blah blah blah. Quality TV right? And for some odd reason it got me thinking about kissing Shawn. And that led to our first kiss. I was laying on my couch thinking about our first kiss and out of no where I just started laughing to myself because the story is so cheesy. Sometimes I wish my life was on TV. It would be super entertaining to people.

The First Kiss

So I was a junior in High School and Shawn was a senior. I asked Shawn to the Christmas Dance and I was super nervous. Before the dance we hung out a couple times and there was a definite connection. I totally had the hots for him but I wasn't so sure what he was thinking. He's a guy. Do they even know what they are thinking? -haha- The night before the dance, Shawn and I, including the other people in our group, went to Temple Square in Salt Lake City. We went on a carriage ride and walked around in the cold. I mean I can hardly remember details but of course I remember the best part. It was time to leave and so I grabbed Shawns hand and said, "K lets go!" (and I started leading him to the group ahead of us to catch up) and he pulled me back and said "Not yet". He pulled me in closer to him and hugged me. A really long hug. and I kept saying "Shawn, lets go! They are leaving!" but he would not let go of me. But to be honest, I didn't care. I loved being in his arms. After what seemed like forever, I said "Are you ready to go now?" and he said "No." and I said "Why?" and then he lifted my chin and kissed me. Then said, "That's why." We caught up to the group and we were both smiling SO big and everyone knew we totally kissed. 

Now I'm sitting here thinking, Wow I'm married to that cute boy who was so nervous to kiss me. I love thinking back to our dating years in high school and how adorable of a boyfriend he was. I was so lucky to have him in high school. Having a boyfriend like him was so rare. People always asked me, "Are you going to regret having a boyfriend all through high school?" and I always said NO. Because I knew I was going to marry him someday and this was just the start of the memories. I absolutely love that I married my high school sweetheart!  He's amazing in so many ways. 

I love being married to him and I love days like today when I think back to so many great memories. 

Alright, before I continue blogging, let me inform you that I've been on my blog for the past hour messing around with the title. I'm so frustrated that it doesn't blend in with the background. So if there is anyone out there that can help a girl out, pleeease let me know!

So, I got my wedding day pictures back and absolutely love them. My photographer did a great job. It was so fun looking at them with Shawn. but it kind of made me-sad. I never thought I would say this but..

I miss planning my wedding.

I'm crazy! That was so stressful! But when I think back, it was so much fun and went by so fast. All the crafts, the countdown, engagement pictures, showers, ya know-all the fun things that come with planning a wedding. Two of my very best friends are getting married. One next week, and the other middle of August and I'm attending both of their bridal showers this week. I wish I could do it all over again. I wouldn't change a THING but I just want all the excitement of counting down again. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love being married, but you get my point. I'm so excited for my friends. I'm now standing in my married friends shoes when they were helping me plan a wedding. It's exciting watching your friends prepare for the best day of their life!

Jess & Kelsey,
I'm so proud of you. I'm so excited for you. Being married is the biggest blessing and it's so much fun. Waking up to your best friend every day, having a sleepover every night, making dinner together, decorating, all of it, is great. Even the sucky stuff, like saying goodbye in the morning or little arguments, in a weird way it's still the best. Because saying goodbye, but counting down the hours til you see him again is exciting. fighting and then watching him try to make you laugh is hilarious (even though you just want to stay mad so bad). I'm beyond excited for you two and I'm so happy that I get to be by your side through it all. My best advice to you while you're coming to the end of planning:

Have fun. Laugh. Make crafts together. Walk away from the stress because this is the moment you've been waiting for your entire life. and you only get to plan a wedding once! (hopefully) but you two have great guys and you are amazing girls so I know that this is for eternity. I love you both and just have so much fun because it does go by so fast. You'll be married before you know it!

Love, Em.


Here are some pictures from the best day of my life.

Jess                                                    Kels