Day 1

Breathe in.
Breathe out.
In.
Out..
Whew!!
Here we go.
The love of my life is now in the MTC.  What a crazy mix of emotions.  I am so very proud of him!! He is the first of 5 in his family to serve a mission.  What a great thing to choose to do with his life.  I know he will serve the Lord with honor and bring so many people joy and peace with the gospel he will be teaching in Australia.
Eh.  Australia.  8009.5 miles away. For 3 weeks he will be literally blocks from me. And after that....8009.5 miles... It's a good thing too.  I know if he was in the US I would probably find a way to see him.  But Australia is good.  It's far away. Far. Far. Far away.  And pretty safe.  I don't have to worry if he'll get some strange disease or anything like that. Mail takes 3-4 weeks. So not too bad.  A letter sent every week should be good...
Australia is so far away.
But I can do this. 730 days. 96 weeks. 24 months. However you choose to look at it.  One of my little cousins gave me the idea to make a fleece blanket for Thomas.  Every month tie on another square.  So by the time he comes home he will have a full size blanket.  Cute, huh?  And I have a list of 22 Temples to visit in 24 months.  Also there is a blog with ideas of something to do for every month.  Plus going to school is going to help.  Kaylee and I are training for a few races this summer so that will be good too.
Every post I write about waiting for Thomas I'll add in a little story or a favorite memory from our time together.
I guess I should start off with the night I met him.
December 3rd 2011
My girl friend, Raven, had the biggest crush on this guy from her work and she wanted my stamp of approval. She found this dance at a local apartment complex that was a masquerade dance and she asked him to it.  Her other girl friend was coming to give her stamp as well.  Raven had to drive and her friend, Lindsey had a dress so large that she had to sit up front.  That left me in the back.  The entire time I was kinda not happy.  I really did not want to sit next to Raven's crush.  He lived somewhere in Provo and we couldn't find his house!  Raven's GPS didn't work nor did Lindsey's.  Only mine worked which I still find odd to this day.  We pull up to his house and he's standing there waiting for us.  He climbs in the back seat and Raven begins to introduce us to each other.
Raven : "HI!  Are you having a good night? Well this is Lindsey and that's Becca."
Raven's crush : "Hiya! Thanks for picking me up guys!  Nice to meet you Lindsey and Becca.  My name's Thomas.  So... how old are you guys?"
Lindsey : "I turn 20 in June!"
Me : "I'll be 21 in April..."
Thomas : "Wow..... you're old...."
Me : 0_o "EXCUSE ME???  Don't you know you should respect your elders?"
How rude right?  Well for the rest of the drive Thomas and I sat in the back seat of Raven's car just talking, teasing and kinda flirting.  I'll never forget the feeling I got when he climbed into that car.  I was ready to give attitude and make this kids night awful.  If my friend was crushing on him, I had to make sure he was worth her love.  But just a single moment with him and it was like I was falling through the air.  I had a hard time breathing, it was like my lungs forgot how to work.  I had goose bumps all over my body.  And yet, through all of that the biggest thing was that I felt peace within me.  When he would look over at me I couldn't help but smile.  And I was just myself.  Nothing else.  It was like the mask I have worn my entire life meant nothing to him because he could see right through it. He could see straight to my heart and at that moment my heart was his.

What Now?

Tomorrow is the start of my 730 day countdown.  I'm going crazy here!!!  Most of my homework is done for the day and I even started/finished homework that isn't due until next week.  Clothes are in the wash, dishes are done.  What do I do now?  I have no letters to write. No one is home to distract me.  I've read every possible blog about waiting for missionaries and that helped a lot but it's only 4 p.m. Time is going by so slow today!!  I need to be busy.  But there's nothing I can do today. I wish I could just sleep away these next 2 years.  Yeah, that would be great!! And then I could wake up to my true loves kiss.  Awww!! :)
Ok I need to stop watching princess movies...
Maybe it's time for a horror movie night.

Living In A Barbie World

Kaylee and I currently live in the awful world of Barbie Land.  Our 2 roommates are barbie dolls.  I always knew there were high maintenance girls out there but man, these girls put others to shame.
Our fridge is full of diet foods and other scary things that make my milk smell funny.  One of the first days we were living together I walked past the bathroom vanity to see our roommate, Brittany, doing her hair. But half of her hair was on the counter!! It took me a minute to realize that they both have extension that must be clipped in at the start of every day but still! It was a shock to my system.  They spend hours in front of that mirror getting ready every day. It amazes me every time.  At least when I get married my husband wont wake up that first morning wondering what happened to my face and hair.
Yes Kaylee and I do have boyfriends and will both be married fairly soon so we couldn't care less how we look and this fact drives Julie insane.  All we eat is junk food. For example Breakfast is two bagels, Lunch is some pasta, Dinner is chili and ice cream is a little snack we have about every hour.  Since moving in I have lost over 17 lbs (not on purpose mind you. stress and being anemic is an awesome diet). Julie has gained my weight.  She gets so upset when Kaylee and I sit on the couch watching wedding shows eating a bucket of ice cream and she's nibbling on a carrot.
The first time Julie tried to make us attend FHE we had just finished a hard core work out and were still sweaty and gross.  Julie promised she would dress down so we would feel more comfortable.  20 minutes later she comes walking down the hall in a Nordstrom hoodie, skinny jeans and toms.  Kaylee and I laughed and walked back into our rooms with a wave.  We live on such different worlds than these girls.
Julie currently has eight boyfriends who all know each other and enjoy staying at our apartment until curfew almost every night.  Brittany only has three boyfriends but one of them is a player and likes to hit on me and Kaylee which makes things so very enjoyable the next morning.
We have silent battles in this apartment.  No word is ever spoken to the other side but lines have been drawn and crossed.  I've had it here some days.  For example, our counter for the bathroom is shared between all four of us. One big mirror and two sinks.  The right side belongs to Kaylee and I, the other, Brittany and Julie.  1 morning I plugged in my flat iron and walked back to my room to get dressed.  When I returned my flat iron was unplugged and moved under the counter while Julie and Brit were getting dressed.  Umm no.  Not ok. I have to get ready too.  Even if I only take literally two minutes to put on make up IF I even put it on I still expect you to respect my things. Easy enough right? Wrong.  There might come a day that their flat irons, curling irons and 3-barrels just maybe end up in the trash.
One other thing.  I don't care if it's just Kaylee and I watching a movie or if we have friends over or if our boys are over.  We're watching a movie.  Don't kick the door in, turn on all the the lights and talk as loud as possible.  If you must make food, make it quietly. And then leave.  You are aloud to eat in your bedroom.  You are not a part of our date night so buzz off or the next time you have boys over you're gonna miss the nice, quiet, random girls you live with.
Well my ranting is over the time being but I would like to leave on a happy note!
I'm not sure how many know but I am getting married May 2nd, 2014.  Yes I know, I meant to put 2014.  The man I'm going to marry is named Thomas Elder.  He leaves to serve an LDS mission in Australia Sydney Mission next Wednesday.   Crazy huh?  We have the wedding planned out for the most part and everything else I can take care of until he gets home.
He truly is the love of my life!  I cannot wait to spend the rest of time with him!!  Now just to get through these next two years.  Here is a photo of our 'pre-engagement'.  It's one of my most favoritest pictures ever!!

And this photo melts my heart every time I look at it.  We got to spend a short amount of time falling in love together and now we have to cross the bridge in front of us that is going to take two years but after that our path takes off into the unknown for all time.

Only 798 days left until I become Mrs. Rebecca Elder!!!