Engagements Part 1 -Marriage Here We Come!

Me- Dress: Bohme // Extensions: Laced Hair // Mitch- Button Up: American Eagle // Pants: h&m

PHOTOS: Cecilia Harvard Photography

Oh. Ma. Goodness. You guys, we got our engagements back and I am obsessed! Cecilia shot them for us and wow she did an amazing job! The only set-back from our session was that I got an INSANE poison ivy rash from our trek through these greens. I'm talking up and down BOTH legs. I was freaking out for a whole week thinking I had some form of herpes or something, haha. (Google is not your friend when you're trying to search for causes of hideous rashes) Thankfully, it was just poison ivy and I am now on proper medication that has brought down the swelling and itching. Yippee!

Anyway, I originally wanted to post the story of how Mitch and I met for this post but I'm currently working on getting a website up with wedding details and such that will include our story so for this post I will just get all sappy and talk about how flipping excited I am to get married! 

Love is such an interesting thing. You talk about it basically all of your life but you never really know what it feels like or how you will react to it personally. It's such an incredible thing. One minute you're bopping around in life just doing whatevs and having a blast and then next thing you know you're head over heels for someone you've basically just met and planning out the rest of your lives together. Crazy, right? I think I find it so interesting because I'm such a slow-going person that I'm shocked that I was all for it and that I'm so insanely confident about it. Just blows my mind, haha. 

Also, this last week was just such a wonderful testament to me that I chose the absolute BEST person for me. Mitch came to serve with me in my calling as a ward missionary and it was so great to have him there with me, working alongside me. I don't know, something about seeing him working to reach out to others just floored me and seeing how he so happily rushed over right after 8-hours of work to help me with my calling just gave me such a wonderful vision of what our married life could be like serving in the Church together. 

We also had such a great experience at Target, the other day. While we were waiting in the checkout line I got a phone-call that I had to take so I stepped away for a while and left Mitch in line. When I get back to him he's checked out but holding a cart and chatting to an older aged woman. I come up to him and with a big grin on his face he tells me, "I offered to help her take her groceries to her car and load them up for her, is that ok?" Of course I say it's more than ok and we head over to the older woman's car. As we're chatting we find out that her name is Helen, and apparently while I was away, Mitch had told her that we were engaged so she was enthusiastically asking us about our wedding plans. Anyway, we load up her car give her a warm goodbye and head on over to our car. As we're about to back out, though, we notice that someone's parked right behind us. Before we get a chance to even start wondering about it there's Helen at the driver-side window, handing Mitch a Target gift card and saying, "Thank you. Happy wedding!"

It's just moments like those, when I get to see Mitch's character shine that really just make me fall more in love with him than ever. He isn't perfect, no one is, but he is perfect for me. I read a talk on lds.org once that said that when we focus on the good of our spouse (or future spouse) the not so good things become less evident. I truly believe that. As I see all the ways that Mitch is the best choice for me, our little differences don't seem as important or as big a deal anymore. But hey, what do I know? I'm not even married yet, haha. Anyway, yeah, love, it's amazing!

Much love!

Carnival Days - Fourth of July Activities in Utah

Our shoes totally don't match, ha! His look so fancy and mine look so casual. :)

You can call him the horse whisperer, haha.

I don't know about you guys, but nothing says 'Summer' to me more than a good Carnival. I'd been wanting to go to the Strawberry Days Carnival for the last couple of years but I could never wrangle either of my sisters into coming with me. This year, though, I have a fiance! Which basically means I have a built in, 'come-with-me-to-all-my-random-activities' partner! ;) Heeheehee. I'm telling you guys, this night was so much fun. We had to wait in line for about 15min to get on the Ferris Wheel but it was well worth the wait because by the time it was our turn, we got to watch the sun start to set as we went around and around. PURRRRRfection.

Also, I have never EVER been much of a ride girl. I just always felt like they gave me way too much whip lash to be worth it and I just never really enjoyed the sinking stomach feeling, ya know? But I didn't want to have dragged Mitch all the way to this carnival with me and not ride any rides with him so I told myself I'd warm up with the kiddie rides and then we could try a few of the 'grown-up' rides that I knew he'd be dying to ride. I have to say, I'm pretty proud of myself for pushing myself out of my comfort zone, haha. I will say, though, that surprisingly the kiddie dragon ride in that last photo was the most terrifying. It was so jolty, and rickety. Not to mention, it was straight up like the ride that never ended. We went around that thing, no joke, about twenty times. I seriously started sobbing, haha. At first because it was sort of funny that it wasn't ending but by the end because I was seriously starting to panic that it was never going to end. 

Anyway, with the Fourth coming up this weekend I thought I'd simplify your lives a bit with a list of local carnivals/activities by city. You're welcome. ;)

Holiday: 

When- July 4, 6 p.m. 

What- Food booths, concessions, Crash Pontiacs, Salt Lake Symphony, fireworks, 

Where- Holliday Elementary, 2300 E. 4600 South, 272-9450.

Murray: 

When/What- July 4, 6:30 a.m. Lion's Club breakfast; 7 a.m. program with Murray Concert Band and Donal Snarr, Murray Park Amphitheater; 8 a.m. 5K race; 8:30 a.m. parade, Fashion Place Mall; 11 a.m.-4 p.m. food, games, military exhibits and entertainment, Murray Park Gazebo; 8:30 p.m. Remembering the Fab Four Beatles Tribute; 10 p.m. fireworks, 264-2664.

Riverton: 

When- July 3, 6:30 p.m. 

What- Parade followed by Jazz Band concert; movie in the park, food and drinks, 

Where- 12800 S. 1400 West. 

When/What- July 4, 7 a.m. 10K race and fun run, chuck wagon breakfast, bike ride; 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Tour De Riverton bike ride, men's softball tournament, food, vendors, games, ATV Rodeo, 7 p.m. Mark Owens Band country music, dusk, fireworks. 208-3101.

Salt Lake City: 

When- July 4, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. 

What- Liberty Days

Where- This is the Place Heritage Park, 2601 E. Sunnyside Ave., 582-1847.

Sandy: 

When- July 4th, 7 a.m. -6 p.m. 

What- 5K fun run and 10K Sandy Classic; booths, rides, activities, live music, arts; parade; concert by Eclipse, followed by story-teller Sam Payne, fireworks at dusk. 

Where -Centennial Parkway at 10200 South, 801-568-2900.

Sugarhouse Park: 

When- July 4, 10 p.m. 

What- fireworks, 467-1721.

West Jordan: 

When/What- July 1, 2, and 4, Western Stampede Celebration, see www.jordan.com. July 4, 10:30 a.m. parade, 7000 S. Redwood Road; all-day events with craft booths, inflatable rides, kiddie rides, games, pie-eating contest, arts, crafts, BMX Tricksters and stage performances from bluegrass to country to rock 'n' roll, plus a special performance by the Phoenix Rising Tour, featuring Pat Tucker, fireworks at dusk, 569-5100.

Hope the list helps some of you find some fun activities in your area to celebrate the Fourth!

Much love!

Uh Huh, Honayyy

Romper: c/o Tobi // Hat: Etsy // Shoes: Converse

Summer is here, school is over, and wedding planning is in full swing. Or at least it should be, haha. Guys, I have to be honest, I am THE worst planner. EVER. I hate it and I'm pretty dang awful at it. I've picked out a dress that will be custom made and I'm in LOVE, we've settled on a venue and just need to book it, and that's basically all we've got planned. AH! I'm in like major stress mode now because we only have FOUR months left. ACK! How have we been engaged for 3 months, already? I honestly have no clue. Time flies like no other and let me tell you right now I'm really kicking myself in the butt for being such a procrastinator. Seriously, I need to finally learn to quit putting things off till the last minute. If any of you lovely readers are good planners or have suggestions for budget friendly florists, cake vendors, and caterers I would appreciate it SO stinking much. Trying to plan a wedding on a budget feels insanely hard. I mean, I know people do it seriously all the time but I feel so overwhelmed. GAH. 

Anyway, though, let's talk about this cute romper. With the weather FINALLY heating up this romper is such a good piece. It's relaxed but fun! And this hat? I'm in love. I bought it for Spring break and I've seriously had so many questions about it every time I wear it! Apparently it's very similar to a hat once sold at Brandy Melville but I got this bad boy from a shop at Etsy. Seriously, got to love Etsy! 

Hope you have all had a great Memorial Day weekend and seriously if any of you are or know great wedding vendors, email me! allexis3192@gmail.com :)

Pop the Question

So, in true Allexis fashion I'm not posting about important life events until about a thousand years after they've happened. Whoops. Anyway, guess what?! I'm ENGAGED! Most of you probably already knew that from instagram, though, haha. Seriously, though, I am so excited and this was by far the most perfect beyond perfect moment of my life thus far.

So, my cute boyfriend (now finance, heehee), Mitch, popped the question on my lucky day, March 15th! The story of how, though, starts about a month prior to this. In February, after we'd been dating for about four months we finally had the "marriage" talk. Truth be told he'd been ready to have this talk for a while but I was just too chicken and unsure of myself to talk about it yet. I had even asked him once that if it weren't for me wanting to take things hyper slow if he would already be ready to get engaged, and he said yes. Anyway, a weekend early in February we went up to Logan with family, and after some much sought after and needed spiritual confirmation it just fell on me like a ton of bricks that he was the boy I could and wanted to spend the rest of forever with. The morning after a night of swimming, card games, and all around laughter, I woke up feeling completely confident that I wanted to marry him. And I told him so. Via text, haha. I know, so lame of me, but he was still sleeping when I woke up and I just couldn't wait to say it, type it, whatever. Anyway, the whole drive back was full of "Ahhhhh. We want to get maaaaarriiiiiied!" giddiness. 

Anyway, after about a month of not really talking about it again and me dropping hints left and right trying to figure out what was going on and just waiting, and waiting, and waiting for it to go down I started wondering if it was ever going to happen and if he still even wanted to marry me. As I was planning my outfits for Spring break, though, my sister was like, "That's what you're bringing? No. You need to bring at LEAST two cute dresses." That was my first hint, that MAYBE just MAYBE it was going to happen over our Spring break trip to Cali.

Fast forward to halfway into our trip and it's my lucky day, March 15th. Seriously, though, ever since my 15th birthday, March 15th has been my lucky day. For whatever reason, good things happen to me on March 15th. And this 15th was by far the luckiest one yet!

That morning my sister, Allison, told me I should wear one of my dresses, so I got all extra cute and put on my new dress. As a group, we had also planned to make the drive through Highway 1 and visit a remote off the map beach called Pfieffer beach that day. I kept thinking to myself, "Today must be the day. TODAY must be the day." We started the scenic drive through Highway 1 and about a mile into the drive pulled over to a cliffside teaming with fresh blooms. As we meandered our way through the cliff, Mitch broke off from the group and came back a few minutes later saying, "Allexis, I found this cool trail. Come look at it with me!" As soon as he said that I was like, "Oh. My. Gosh. It must be happening, now. GAH." Except that it totally didn't. We went to the cliffside, admired the spectacular view and walked right back to the car. I was so disappointed, haha. In my mind I thought since it hadn't happened then it wasn't going to happen today after all.

After giving up on the idea that it was going to happen that day, though, I totally relaxed which ended up being so great because the whole rest of the drive to the beach ended up being FULL of obstacles and Mitch and my girlfriends (who were in on the fact that the proposal was going to be happening on Pfieffer Beach) were stressing hardcore that we would never end up making it there and he'd have to propose on the side of the road, haha. Anyway, we get to the beach and let me tell you, it was DIVINE. Probably the most breathtaking beach I've ever been to. After about a few minutes of Mitch and I walking around seemingly aimlessly, one of my girlfriends called us over to take a photo of us. She kept telling us to scootch because we were blocking the view. As we scootch and scootch we finally reach a point were Mitch had had my friends hide a glass bottle. When we get to the spot Mitch says, "Hey look, what's that?" Being the space-head that I am I didn't know what he was talking about and he literally had to grab my shoulders and point me in the right direction. I remember looking in the sand and thinking it was just a PVC pipe and thinking to myself, "It's just a pipe, why does he want me to look at garbage?" Anyway, he tells me I should dig it out so I do. I pull it out and lo and behold it's a little message in a bottle. I open it up and inside is an aged looking piece paper telling me to turn around because someone has a question for me. I look to my side, and there he is on one knee being all cute and asking me to marry him -IN SPANISH. Honestly, I can't even remember what I said because I was so surprised, but Mitch tells me I said, "Of course".

And there you have it, WE'RE ENGAGED!!! Our date is October 12th and I am so excited to be sealed to the guy that treats me like a princess every single dang day, is always up for wasting gas looking for random mountains and cliffs with me, writes me love notes almost on the daily, lets me tickle him all the time even though I don't let him tickle me, and watches the Vampire Diaries with me.

Space Suit

SWIMSUIT: Mr. Gugu & Miss Go via ASOS (nebula print is sold out but this flamingo print is EVEN cuter!) // HAT: Etsy

So, this nebula print swimsuit is by far THE best one-piece I have EVER owned. EVER. I like to call it my "space suit" because of the galaxy print on it. Also, the fit made me feel like I was a gymnast in a leotard and made feel like I looked fitter than I actually am, heehee. ;) Also, don't mind the fuzziness of some of the shots, I forgot to set it to auto-focus when I handed the camera over to my sissy to take photos so she forgot to focus. Anyway, these are some shots from one of our favorite beaches in Pacific Grove, Lover's Point Beach Cove!
Really, this day was a dream. Relaxing at the beach with some of my favorite people. Can't really ask for more. 

Much love!