Cutie Roomies

So these pics were taken a few weeks ago but I thought I'd show off my roommates! These were taken the first Sunday I was able to go to my ward (which was two months after moving in... such is the life of a nurse).

This year Bree left us for a change of scenery but she's still a roomie in our hearts. We made her get in the pics too. Aubrey was one of Katie's friends from AZ and we loved her from day one! I feel super blessed to live with these lovely ladies.

Bree, Trish, me, Aubrey, Katie

In other news, I'm starting wedding plans! Advantage of a forever-long engagement is that I didn't really have to start planning until a month after we got engaged. Current issues are figuring out how to get my dream dress without spending obscene amounts of money and picking colors. I know after reading a library of wedding magazines over the last few years (thanks mom! and yes I said years...) I should already have some things figured out but I don't. Also I'll have more on Halloween later... oops.

Nurse Dorothy

So I'll post more on Halloween later but here's a little about my Halloween at work with the kids! I scheduled myself to work on Saturday so I could experience the Halloween festivities at Primary. My coworkers told me everyone dressed up for work that day and the kids sometimes wore their costumes too. So I hurried and asked my mom to mail me a costume. Pretty sure my 2nd grade Dorothy costume made by my dear Grandma Olson still fits! Before you get too amazed by that I guess I should say "fits" is a loose term. If I want to inhale any oxygen while in costume the waist zipper has to stop about halfway up. I threw on a long white shirt to maintain modesty and I was set.

I got up extra early to braid my hair, tie a ribbon on Toto, etc. By the time I got up to Primary I was pumped. However, my excitement dissipated pretty quickly when I started walking in. Everywhere I looked there were older nurses dressed in plain, old scrubs! They smiled at me like "Aw that's sweet a little naive nurse in her silly holiday get-up." I remembered my scrubs I had thrown in the back of the car and came pretty close to throwing in the towel. Luckily, I decided just to sprint-walk to my unit to see if anyone else had any Halloween spirit or if I would feel like a fool all day.

I showed up and found almost all the nurses and techs dressed up! At lease one new nurse embarrassing moment was avoided. Here I am with allmy festive pals.

I think my patients' parents were more excited about my costume than my patients. Granted I had three little boys... I don't think they knew or cared why the heck I was in a blue plaid dress caring around a stuffed animal dog in a basket. However, when I bribed the "Batman" nurse to visit them I got a few points. I've never seen a little boys eyes light up like one little one did when he saw those pointy ears and ripped foam chest. Maybe Wonder Woman next year??

ps just a little shout out to my Grandma Olson. She's the one who made the cute dress (and all my other cute costumes from back in the day) and also the one I received the middle name "Joyce" from. She's one of the most wonderful people I've ever met and I love her so much! Here's a picture her, my mom, and me a few years ago. Isn't she cute?

I've got the magic....

The week after the big proposal my roomie Trisha made plans to go to a B.o.B/Jason DeRulo concert at UVU. She said it could be our girls night engagement celebration of sorts. Luckily there were still tickets available the day of! It was so fun and surprisingly, they both were actually pretty good live.

On my long drives to work I sometimes resort to listening to the radio to keep me entertained (or awake...). Most of their songs are ones I've heard over and over this summer and fall. :)

Trish and Badash

B.o.B

Ash showin off some MDT moves and Lisa the creeper!

Ash and me

These girls keep me young :)

Here was my favorite from the night...

We're engaged!

This is quite possibly the most exciting post I've ever written. Justin and I are engaged! He proposed last weekend in Park City and I said yes! Crazy right?

Here's the story.....

Justin told me we were going to visit his roommate

who was staying at his family's cabin in Park City.

He handed me directions that said the cabin was on "Memory Lane".

Following the directions, we turned onto a street that overlooks Park City

and just happened to have a temporary sign, "Memory Lane" posted on it.

At that point I kinda suspected something. :)

Here are some pictures of the view of Park City...

and "Memory Lane"

At the end of the cul-de-sac, Justin had set up a projector

to watch a video of all our dating memories

and pictures from the last five years or so.

Then he told me there was something across the ridge he wanted me to see.

Down in the valley I saw an area lit up with Christmas lights.

I later found out Justin and Ashley had had a busy and cold afternoon getting this contraption ready. A couple hundred feet of Christmas lights, some bamboo sticks, and a few rolls of aluminum foil later...

I turned back and Justin was on one knee. He popped the question and I said yes!

We are such zoobies in our Cougar blue!

We celebrated afterwards with dinner down on Main Street in Park City and then headed home for a photo shoot courtesy of Mom and sparkling cider!

I love that now we both have new accessories on matching fingers.

Hopefully, though, he gets to take his off soon.

Here are the fruits of the photo shoot! Justin was a good sport.

More pictures Mom took...

Naturally, we used the reindeer glasses for our celebration with the family.

Ash was Justin's accomplice the whole day setting everything up.

We owe her big time!

It feels crazy to be engaged after dating for so long. Marrying Justin was always in the back of my mind but now I just feel like I'm letting everyone in on the secret. Plus I have a pretty, shiny something on a finger! If you had told seventeen year-old Allie, drooling at "math boy" in AP calculus that I was going to marry him, I would have died of happiness. He was my dream boy then and he's still my biggest crush!

Tonight I'm celebrating with my girls... Jason DeRulo and B.O.B. concert at UVU!

PS Thanks to Mom for letting me steal her blog post :)

Football and the moonlit ride

So the cougs' record may not be too impressive this season but I'm no fair-weathered fan. The games have still been fun even though they are having a rough time. I'm glad the Washington game was at home so we could see them win! Here's some pics from that game and the not-so-lovely Nevada game.

We look like such zoobies in this one! But check out my sweet alumni t-shirt...

In other football news, Justin started playing on an intramural flag football team with some friends! Being the good gf that I am, I showed up with fruit snacks and animal crackers for the whole team. After a few plays, Justin comes over to the sidelines and says "I think something's wrong with my finger". Being a good nurse, I quickly assessed the inflamed, distorted finger. A trip to the local instacare and an xray later we find out he broke the tip of this left ring finger. Amazing how he played six years of tackle and never broke a bone but ten minutes of intramurals did him in. I guess his intramural football career just wasn't meant to be. So now Justin is sporting a lovely new accessory- a fatty finger splint. Luckily this poor boy had a sweet nurse to administer ibuprofen and change his splint every few days!

I don't think I have any pictures of the splint but don't worry I'm sure it'll make appearances in future photos. It's hard to miss!

Totally unrelated but the other night we went with Trisha and Brent to do the moonlit ride at Sundance! Ty and Sonya did this for their first date and Trish and I have been itching to go for a while. It was soooooo cold. Seriously. so. cold. There was a long line and I was really wondering if it was worth it. Don't worry, it was. It was strange to be riding a lift with no snow but pretty in the mountains with the full moon. Made me excited for ski season... and wearing my warm ski gear.

Summer update because it's already fall...

So I officially started my job as a nurse! I am almost done with my training and will have my very own patients soon! The drive up to SLC is not my favorite but once I am there I love it.

Summer was lovely. Here is a recap of events:

Ty got married!!! Thanks to yours truly. Well at least I did some of the introducing then Ty worked his magic. I love Ty and Sonya so much! The wedding was beautiful and so fun. You can now get updates on these Okie lovebirds at their very own blog (don't worry they are much better at updating than I am!).

The "Holt girls" just missing our newest addition!

I went on a pioneer trek!! Yes you read that right. I never got to go as a youth so I was pretty excited when I heard my BYU ward was going to do a trek. Then, I was asked to be our ward's first aid person and I knew I had to go. I couldn't turn down a chance to live out my childhood dream of becoming "Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman". Each trekker was given a pioneer name and mine was Dr. Quinn, naturally. Unfortunately we didn't run into any rugged, indian-clad men a la Byron Sully....

The Macobinson family!

Here we are after a day of trekking. A little less enthused. My roomies will probably die when they know this pic is on the world wide web.

Other summer activities: picnic with the bffs

Celebrating the 4th with Carrie

Hikes with spotting scope in hand...

Timp caves

So I had this goal to celebrate one Pioneer Day 100%. I was a tad fanatical about it. I promised Justin this would be the only Pioneer Day I would celebrate. I figured I had to do it once while living in Utah. The day's activities started out with an early morning drive to SLC for the Days of '47 Pioneer Day Parade! It was a little hot but otherwise a lovely way to get into the pioneer spirit. Next up I dragged Justin over to a pioneer museum in Provo. We watched a blacksmith, looked at a pioneer schoolhouse and home, and then got free pioneer candy! He was a good sport. :) To top it all off a group of us went down to Spanish Fork for a fireworks show! Quite the Pioneer Day. I'm kinda relieved I don't feel the need to ever celebrate that holiday again....

Such a good bf supporting my pioneer day obsession

Helping all the parent-less Utah children play with dangerous years-old stilts- now that's the pioneer spirit!

Roomies at the fireworks

Bobsled ride in Park City for Mommy's birthday

Roadtrip to CA with a car full of boys for Caitlin's baptism!

Outdoor movie at the state capitol

More hiking- this time Stewart Falls.

I think that's it for summer! Next time I'll try updating more than once per season. :)