Bachelorette Party!

Sharon Hagel my fabulous roommate and my first councilor in the relief society presidency was so generous in giving me a bachelorette party. Now there are few people that I would trust with that job. I knew Sharon well, and knew that she would make it an appropriate LDS party. It was and it was sooooo much fun. I haven't had that much fun with a group of girls in it seems like forever. Sharon was very secretive about it the whole process. Not telling me anything about her plans until just this Tuesday when I came back to the apartment to help clean up the mess. On Tuesday she let me know that after all the fun we would be going to Red Robin to have Virgin Margaritas. Oh and at that point I got to chose were I wanted to go eat dinner. I decided on Burgerville in Newberg. I've only eat'n there once before but they had a yummy fresh strawberry shake that won me over. :) mmmm....so good.

The party was last night and was to begin at 6pm. We were to meet at Fred Meyers in Newberg. (The common meet up place for anything that went further North.) Stephanie and I arrived a little late because Steph had to go into Dollar Tree to find what I found out later to be a terra. Then we arrived in the parking lot and all the girls who were able to make it were already there. Yeah! Let the party begin.

From Fred Meyers we went to Burgerville which was a little busier than the first time I had gone there. I tried this fabulous chicken sandwich and a fresh strawberry lemon aid. Can you say Yummy!Even at this point in the festivities I didn't know where we were headed next.

Paige Lasko and I.

Sharon Hagel and Michelle Pardee

From Fred Meyers we went to Burgerville which was a little busier than the first time I had gone there. I tried this fabulous chicken sandwich and a fresh strawberry lemon aid. Can you say Yummy!Even at this point in the festivities I didn't know where we were headed next. I'm not sure why but I don't have pictures of all the ladies at Burgerville but they were all there.

Next we were off to Wilsonville home of wait for it,....wait for it. Oh wait I didn't have to wait for it. When we got in the car to leave Tanny Ottley accidentally spilled the beans. LOL! Sharon doesn't know that, at least not yet. I wouldn't be surprised if others mention it to her later. Gotta love Tanna. Oopsy!Oh wait I still haven't told you. Hehe! You feeling the suspense yet. No, not really. oh, darn it. Well I was thrilled when I found out that we would be going to Bullwinkles. A place that Sharon and I had discussed months beforehand that we should go together sometime. It sounded like it would be a blast and let me tell you it was!!!

I was trying so hard to be the tallest. LOL!
From left to right: Sharon Hagel, Paige Lasko, Me, Ashton Leigh Waechter, Tanna Ottley,
and then down below Michelle Pardee.

Gotta have a yellow ball. :)

Ashton's 'crazy eyes'

Paige's attempt at 'crazy eyes'

First ball stuck...sad face.

Ashton's ball gets stuck but bumps Michelle's down.

See the little orange ball that's Michelle's ball. 3 balls got stuck in that exact same spot. Lol.

First we started off we did some mini-golf. I was kind to all my ladies and warned them that I was a dangerous mini-golfer. Telling them of the first time I ever mini-golfed when I was a kid. Being naive and having only seen golfers swing on tv. I tried to swing in that exact manner. Thankfully I missed the ball sadly though a boy who I sort of had a crush on was standing near by and I got him right in the face. I cried more than he did that day. Thankfully now I can laugh about it. Last night was a much better experience for everyone I was with. No one got clubbed of even hit with a ball. It was loads of fun, but the game seemed to drag on and on. My back even behaved itself until about the 7th hole. I was thinking there was only 10 all together so I was good, but NO there was 18 HOLES. Holy crap that was a ton especially for a girl who's back was screaming at her. The pain shooting down my back and legs was causing me to have blurry vision and feel a little sick and dizzy. I think I covered up the pain pretty well though. At least I'd like to think so. Thankfully near the 12th hole we realized we needed to hurry so that we could get some Laser Tag in before it closed. Hurrying through the last 6 holes helped a little bit.

Look I'm finally tall enough. LOL!

L to R: Paige Lasko, Tanna Ottley, Michelle Pardee, Ashton Waechter,
Me, and Stephanie Bailey(maid-of-honor)

Bullwinkles Baby Yah!

L to R: Sharon Hagel, Paige Lasko, Tanna Ottley, Michelle Pardee,
Ashton Waechter, and me

Right after we finished our golf game which Ashton won by one point by the way, we headed up to Laser Tag. I was super excited about this adventure since I have heard time and time again how fun it is and as far as I can remember had never experienced it for myself until last night. We waited about 20 minutes in line to finally get through. You only got to play for 6 minutes which was a bummer cause it went really fast, but it was super fun. My advice to those who have never played before. 1. Listen closely to the intrustruction at the beginning. 2. You have been hit if the numbers on the front of your gun has disappeared. 3. Pay attention to the voice on your chest gear it helps you out. 4. Most important in my book, don't wear and pink terra when on the green team. (In the game it glowed in the dark looking red, so my own team was killing me.) This fact made the game a little frustrating, but even then I was the second highest pointer on my team and to make it even better the brides team won. Whoot! Whoot! Yup, even when I was gimping around my competitive nature kicked in. Mom would have been proud!

Red Robin.

My hand, Stephanie Bailey's under, wearing Spencer's engagement ring, though no one but me at that party knows they are engaged, and then Sharon Hagel's hand. Use to have a promise ring on it, hopefully she will be able to get a ring similar to mine when her missionary comes home.

Ashton's fake sad face. I can't remember why the long face though.

Michelle must have said something mean. ! ?

Steph and I

Virgin drink anyone. Mines the yummy yellow Mango one in the middle. It was super sweet though, I could only drink about half of it and we were there for over an hour.

Cherry stem knot tied

Another cherry stem knot tie

Bad combination of sweet potato fries and bacon sauce

Sharon attempted the sweet potato fries and bacon sauce as well. Michelle I'm not sure what she's doing. LOL!

Enjoying our Virgin drinks. Yum!!

Once we left Bullwinkles we headed to Red Robin, conveniently close by. This is were the real fun began. Just kidding! Well it was super fun, but we had a blast through the whole night. The sad part is we all acted drunk though all of our drinks were VIRGINS. We even sang loud and off key, and couldn't remember the words. I have a small video of it but I'm still trying to figure out how to get it from my phone to on here. We had a blast. I absolutely love these girls. I only wish more could have been there especially my new sisters to be. I can just picture them taking me down in Lazer Tag. ;) The night ended with a bang. Today I have been exhausted and taken it easy. It's been a long week and wedding prep and parties. I can't wait till this time next week because I will be Mrs. Jacob Ray Seward!! WAAHHHOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Bridal Shower

My bridal shower was so much fun. I love the woman here in Oregon. I've never been one that connects with a lot of woman, but here and with my calling as Relief Society President that changed. I wish more of my girls/woman could have been there but it was truly a blast. Lets see how well my memory is and see if I can remember everyone that was there. Let's see the was Dottie, (Randy Seward's sister) Grandma Fern Seward, Stephanie Bailey (my maid of honor), Kassi Haslem, Kristi Haslem, Brenda Brady, Charmaine Cooper, Ashton Waestcher, Alyssa Boston Duce, Tanna Ottley, Michelle Pardee, Sandy Hinmon, Amanda Seward, Tiffany Bell, Sabrina Huntley, Mom Seward, Robyn Boyles. Um... I think that everyone. Hopefully I will have pictures to post soon so that I can be sure I didn't forget anyone. 

The fun all began without me, well sort of. Kassi Haslem was in the middle of doing my hair. It took longer then planned and so I arrived about 20 minutes late for my own bridal shower....oops! My new sisters and Mom did fabulous. It was soooo much fun! I can't wait till I have some pictures to prove it. :) Some of the games we played I actually won. Yeah! Which Jake loved because I gave him my yummy chocolate I won since this bride doesn't need to gain weight before next week. One game was if someone caught you saying my name then you had to give them one of your clothes pins. You started out with 4 clothes pins the one with the most at the end of the night won. Yeah! I didn't lose one pin and I got 5 others. Whoot! Whoot! Another game I totally bombed at. Yeah it was embarrassing. I don't know how to explain it really except that I was blindfolded and trying to move cotton balls with a spoon from one bowl to another. Needless to say after a minute of attempting I only got 4 cotton balls out of a hundred in the other bowl. The other girls showed me up big time. LOL!

There were a couple of purse games, one was how much your purse weighed the other was how many specific items were in your purse. So even though mine wasn't the heaviest I still had the most items in my purse that was called. A whopping 27 items. I won by having a safety clip. LOL I have no idea why I have a safety clip in my purse except that I slipped it in there when I was in the middle of moving everything.

I got tons of gifts. Most of which had to do with me cooking. Which I'm grateful for because honestly Jake and I have pretty much nothing right now. We have been borrowing items since he moved in so at least he could eat something at home. Lets see again how well my memory is since I dont have the list or the items around to look at to tell the fun gifts Jake and I got. 1. cutting board and 2 knives 2. dish set, cooking utensils, organized cutting boards, bin, silverware 3. cupcake cook book 4. cook book 5. cooler bag with matching plates and cups 6. matching ovenmitt, towel and apron 7. homemade soap and bowls with lids 8. canisters 9. langera 10. condoms and prego test, oh and I toaster. I think thats everything but knowing me I probably missed something. Most of all I was just grateful that I got to spend time with my ladies. I love them soooooo soooooo much! How I will miss them all!

Almost There!!

Jake's 1st temple recommend!



Sunday was a wonderful day for Jake and I. We are doing so well, Jake especially! I am so proud of the steps that he has made to recieve this recommend. The atonement works! The best part is, is that Jake feels worthy to step into the walls of the Lord's house. What an incredible blessing it will be to watch him get his endowments. I can't wait till the 7th when I get to watch him make those covenants with the Lord. I'm especially excited to pray next to him in that room. I can't wait to see him in the celestrial room. I know the tears will come, much like the tears came when I opened the letter that said I could be sealed to Jake for time and all eternity. Miracles happen! Jake is one of my miracles! I can't wait for the 9th. I get to be Mrs. Jacob Ray Seward. I get to be his forever and ever!! What a blessing! I thank Heavenly Father everyday for ledding me to Oregon to find my Mr. Right!

Jake's apartment...soon to be Ours!!

Bedroom

Huge King Size bed for my man!

bathroom

look at all those guns, i have so much to learn about my man

dinning room, thanks Sewards for the table and chairs

living/family room

kitchen (has the oldest stove I've ever seen, lets hope it works)

 This is it. It doesn't look like much. This is actually after most of the boxes have been unpacked. We don't have much. It doesn't feel very homey right now, but hopefully once we get some wedding gifts to fill up the emptiness and do a little more decorating it will feel like home.Hopefully we will be able to tone down all the brown.

 We were blessed to be able to get a king size bed so that Jake could actually sleep on the bed without having his feet hanging off or having to sleep diagonally. For the next couple weeks Jake will be sporting this apartment on his own. Live it up bachelor because I'll be there soon to womanize the place! ;) Jake feels a little bad that he couldn't give me everything I wanted, but honestly I can find myself being completely happy in this brown kitchen. The noise shouldn't bother us to much! ;) It will be a place to find a little bit of heaven on earth. I cant wait to share it with the man of my dreams.

I'm Fffrrreeeee!!!

I have always loved Disney movies. It's a softer way of teaching about the good and evil of the world. That the good always wins in the end. Well this ending clip of Aladdin has special meaning to me now. Well sort of. I used this clip, or one very similar to this one to announce to my friends and family here in Oregon that I was free. Free of what they didn't know. I couldn't tell them at the time until I got the ok from President Brady. On May 9th I got the best letter I have ever received....EVER!! I got my letter from the first presidency of the church declaring that as of May 7th I was no longer sealed to Daniel. I am finally free from a man who tore me down everyday of my life with him. My family still does not know what happened behind closed doors with Daniel and I and maybe they never will. If they ever knew what really happened in my marriage they would definitely think twice before ever letting him see his boys again.

It is hard at times to think about the reality of the past. My choice of Daniel was a terrible one. It cost me greatly. It cost me my boys. My family still praises Daniel for staying with me after I got sick and we chose to give up the boys. Little did/do the realize the complete selfishness that was made in that decision. He didn't want to be a father. Didn't want the responsibilities, yet my family thought I was the reason why...Sigh! Daniel could control me, do whatever he wanted with me. With the boys he lost his temper frequently. I am so grateful that they do not have Daniel as their father roll model. Statistics show that if you come from an abusive family that you are more likely to be abusive yourself. Well in Daniel's case he became one of the statistics. My family may never know the struggles that I dealt with in those 7 long years of marriage. It's a time in my life that I'm ashamed of.

Thankfully my Heavenly Father gave me the courage, strength, and the ok to get away from that unhealthy atmosphere. It was just over two years ago that I packed up my things and left Daniel. It was a very scary time in my life. Everyone around me wanted me to try and make things work out. I knew that I had made the right decision for me. I am so grateful that I stuck to my guns and filed for that divorce. I  remember the day I got my divorce papers in the mail. The state had set me free from this awful experience. I was grateful and continued to start to move on.

This past week in getting the letter from the first presidency with all their signatures on it was a healing experience for me. As I read the letter I fell to my knees in gratitude. It was a humbling experience and even though I knew I had made the right decision in leaving Daniel and moving on with my life and planning my wedding with Jake it was so beautiful to see those signatures. It was like another witness for me that the Lord was pleased with my decision then and He is pleased with my decision now. So as of May 7th I have been a free woman. Even in the eternal perspective of things. Now I knew that Daniel at least at this point in his life would not be in the celestial kingdom, he doesn't have a current temple recommend. I wish I could explain to you the relief in knowing that my choice back then my huge mistake....that I will not be stuck to that decision for the eternities. That the Lord has given me a second chance and that I can now be sealed to Jake for time and all eternity in the walls of the Lords house in June.

I am a freeeee lady! Well at least for a month, but even then I will still be free. I will just have someone to share my freedom with. I will actually be married to someone who truly wants the same things that I want. That will uplift me as I uplift him. " I chose you!! I chose you" 'Jake'!

Feeling Old Yet!

Yesterday was a day I have been dreading to come for over a year now. I turned the big 3-0!!! Ahhh! I'm so old! I think I feel even older now that I'm with someone that is so much younger than I am. Jake just turned 24 this past February. Some funny facts with our age differences.

I was baptized when Jake was 3 yrs. old.

Jake was baptized at the time I was first wearing a training bra.

When I went on my first date Jake was still in 6th grade.

When I graduated High School Jake just started the Young Men's Program.

When Jake turned 16 I just had my first child.

When Jake graduated High School I was going to college for a second time.

So...that was supposed to cheer me up and make me laugh....well maybe it will in the future. Maybe.

THE COLOR RUN - The Happiest 5k on the Planet

The goal is to be able to walk/run this 5k in September in Portland with Jake. Even after feeling the pain this past week after walking in the March of Dimes this past weekend. I still want to do this. It maybe just because I can be like a little kid again and get as dirty as possible. It's a little spendy but I'm hoping Jake will register for it for my birthday. I might have to have him actually read this post to get how badly I want to do this....or maybe I'll just tell him myself. (It's cheaper if you register now hun!)