Temple Day!

I had a very big day yesterday!

usually for most LDS girls the drill goes: meet a boy, get engage,d and get married in the temple. Going through the for first time just kind of fits in with the getting married part. for some girls they decide to go on a mission,

then there is me

i guess i just tend to do things in my own weird way, completely different than everyone else

i promise dont plan it this way! it just happens...

just to be clear, no i am not getting married OR going on a mission!

I have been considering this a lot over the past year.

its been a very hard year for me. lots of tears from a girl who normally doesn't cry. hopefully it has made me stronger, a better person, and more focused on living life in the moment {and not just waiting until school is over}. on one of my many visits to the barton home to see brynns family debbie and i talked about them doing brynns temple work for her. long story short, we decided that since i was thinking about it anyways that it would be a really magical experience for me to do mine at the same time as brynn. i announced it to my best girlfriends at emmas valentines party and started getting to work to sort out a few things to get ready to go. after attending a ward in orem for a while, i was not very happy sitting all alone at church by myself and i though it was maybe just because i was alone. i decided to give it one more try and check out the ward that whitney's house was in salt lake before i just went back to my home ward. BEST. decision. ever! the second i walked into the building of the Madison ward i knew i was home, it was where i was supposed to be. every lesson was exactly what i needed to hear. its like they knew!! i have never felt like that. i was excited for church every week. there was a bishop change right as i started at the new ward so it took a while before i was able to get in and talk to him and work everything out. the bishop at my ward is great! i really enjoyed talking with him and he helped me so much with everything i have been through this year. after i got my recommend from the bishop and skipped out of the appointment and immediately called to set up the meeting with my stake president. since he was out of town i was lucky enough to meet with his counselor, who happened to be the old bishop that was switched when i moved in. he was amazing. walking out of meeting with him i was so happy i felt like i might burst! he was sweet and made me cry {like a baby} tears of happiness. everything had worked out so great i was just holding my breath for something to happen that would mess everything up and we would have to wait longer.... it never did! 

{image via google....dont remember where!}

i really wanted to go through the draper temple. brynn, jelissa and i had gone to the open house and i loved it! we figured that since brynn had actually gone to that temple before and we were doing it together it would be fun to go back to that sample temple. the date was set and i had 3 weeks to wait until July 28th 2012!

Erin Goodman gave me a book to help prepare me for going to the temple. I loved reading it and i like to think it helped me, but i dont know!

Emma was my escort. she did just a fab job showing me how to do everything and trying to explain. there was so much going on i didnt even know where to begin asking questions
My mom took me shopping for everything i needed, which was overwhelming!

Debbie and i got to sit by each other while we waited for the first part, and we talked about how brynn was there with us, dancing! {i dont know why but all day i just pictured her dancing, so happy} Brooke did the second part for her. it was so fun to get to see her do that for her sista. i sware that when i looked at her one time during the session that it was brynn standing there in brookes spot. I know they are sisters and look a like, but it was brynn!

Lauren was able to make it up from vegas so that she and sean were able to be there to support me along with so many others. i am one lucky girl to have so many wonderful and amazing people in my life to help support me. i could have never survived this year without them!

the lovelies that were able to make it included:

debbie and jeff barton, brooke gatti, kristy and bill beck, megan beck, lauren and dan rupper, emma and isaac westwood, sean and lauren fowler, erin goodman, suzie cushing, joshing cushing, brooke gatti, dave and judy fox, dave fox jr, jenny cushing. my mom, whitney and mike met us outside to celebrate! 

{the only jumping pic that my new g's are not showing :( ill have to work on that!}

after the festivities at the temple we went to brio at fashion place mall to celebrate the big event of the day for brynn and i, and debbie's birthday. 

it was such an incredible experience! i feel like i was only able to take in a small amount of everything going so i cant wait to go back and do it again. i just hope brynn was as excited to be doing it with me as i was to be doing it along with her.