04-13-12 ~The Beginning~

I woke up on our wedding day and headed downstairs.

I was met by my mom who began to sing to me.

hahaha

The day before, she sang,

"you're getting married in the morning!!"

So this morning, she sang,

"you're getting married THIS morning!!"

It was awesome.

I had some sweet moments with just my parents.

My mom gave me a book that summed up

me

her

and us together

perfectly

It was an interesting feeling.

I sat in my dad's office

on the floor like I had a million times before

and still felt like an 8 year old...

my parents baby girl.

It was sweet and lovely and a moment I will never forget with two of my best friends.

The morning continued on with little things to do

then it was time to get ready!

Suz, Natalie, and Matt came over to bring me my favorite drink and keep me company

and I loved that!

Then Josh got to my house and BAM we were on our way to the temple

to.get.married.

I hugged my mom goodbye and it was extremely difficult.

My dad had ran somewhere and I had anxiety that I didnt get to say goobye to him.

The next time I saw them...I would be married.

I had always dreamed of getting married in the temple

and I knew that I would...no matter what.

My parents have known that same fact since I was 16.

They were gracious, understanding, supportive, and loving about it all.

But I am not exaggerating when I say

it was the hardest thing I have ever done getting married without them.

I knew it would be hard

but I could have never been prepared for how hard.

I have never cried so hard or yearned so much for them at any time in my life.

BUT

I know that it was the right thing to do.

The ceremony was beautiful and perfect and sacred.

It was shared with people we love.

Personal words were spoken about our family by our sealer

and I couldnt be more grateful for him.

He made a point to visit with my parents, brother, and nana after we were married

and he expressed his love and appreciation for them and said extremely kind words

to make them feel more comforted and involved.

That was my favorite part of the day.

The temple was where we were reminded what was most important about the day.

Our family

Our friends

The gospel

Our new family of two

and our eternal commitment.

I met Josh in the hall to wait before our ceremony and he stood up to greet me.

We sat and waited thinking how surreal the whole thing was.

We had never been so happy.

While waiting for our sealer...

a temple worker came up to us and said to me,

"In all my time working at the temple I have only ever seen one groom stand to meet his bride like yours just did with you...and it was this morning. That is truly saying something"

It did say something.
 Like I already knew...Josh is the perfect one for me.

When I got ready after we were married I met Josh to head outside.
 But before we came out to show the world our awesome little family...
we were greeted by my family in the foyer.

I cry right now thinking about it.
It was the first time my parents saw their little girl married.

My mom and dad had the biggest smile on their faces

but I couldnt help feel bad that I had made a choice that didnt allow them to be in my sealing...

that feeling went away immediately when I was comforted to know that they had been comforted and they were so genuinely happy for us.

It was a special moment.

We then walked outside to a crowd of our loved ones

I LOVED IT!!

It was so fun to see everyone together!!

It was on to taking pictures and the rest of our day...

I guess our friends like grabbing our chins??

hahaha I just noticed these pictures and I love it!

I LOVE the faces in this picture!
wish I knew how to make these pictures bigger?

Our families

Our fabulous friends

Ohhh my girls how I love you...
Brookie baby you were there in spirit and right there with us :)

This picture will only entertain those of us in this picture
Scott and I were doing the "jellyfish"
which he so thoughtfully introdiced us to a couple years ago.
hahahaha

Wedding Dinner

Josh's parents hosted our super fun wedding dinner the night before our wedding.

It was full of yummy food

tons of family

lots of laughing

and many best friends

During the day...we went through quite a bit.

I successfully stressed out my family even more
worried Josh

cried many tears

and scared my videographer to the point he was afraid to call me

yaaaaaaa

hahaha oh its histerical to look back on now.

But I got home, rushed to get ready, pulled up to the building, saw my whole family...

and a huge peace passed over me.

This was our wedding and it only will happen once.

All of a sudden every stressful thing on my mind didnt matter anymore.

All that mattered was we were surrounded with people we love and who love us back

and no matter what we would be married the next day.

All. That. Matters.

So I get over to my out-of-town family, ecstatic to see everyone together...

and who walks up?

Suz, Matt, Karly, and Dave

Four of my best friends who made the trek for our wedding from California.

I was BEYOND BEYOND thrilled!
Then I saw Chelsey, Torrie, Kylee and Scott earlier, and Jake the next day.
I felt complete.
I had best friends from all over come to AZ specifically to see us get married.
It brings tears to my eyes thinking about it.
That is one of my very favorite things about our wedding...
Josh and I.
Family-near and far.
Friends-near and far.
I LOVED IT.

 Two of Josh's amazing cousins

More of the Fig and Heywood clan

 My new brother-in-law, is he not adorable!
Truly the best behaved and sweetest kid around

 ^ all my loves v

 Thanks to Suz for all these pictures :)

Missing Scott and Jake in this picture.
Scott was out of the state for a day...hardest worker I know,
Jake flew in the next day.
But loved seeing their faces in the temple!

Onto the roast.
We watched our amazing video by Farnsworth Videography,
then Cody, Josh's brother, had a surprise for us.
The curtains opened on the stage and 2 chairs sat waiting for us.
Josh told his mom the only thing he wanted was a roast
So he got it.
hes the prince in the family.

For those of you who are wondering what exactly that is...
Its where friends and family get up and tell embarssing/funny stories about you.
I was laughing so hard I cried.

After Cody finished
he is histerical
when I met him I told Josh he was my favorite Figueroa
because he always has me laughing.
Anyways
He said,
"Now remember folks, this is a roast, not a toast"


So Josh's friends and family got up and told stories
about his mischevious days
when him and Seth were "indecent"
when he constantly played pranks on his friends
etc. etc. etc.
There wasnt a face in that place without a smile


Then my friends got up and instead of roasting...they were toasting
I cried
each and every time one of them spoke.
They mostly told about how social I am
and how I never studied...just was a 5th floor regular at BYU
ummm slightly embarssing
but completely true.


It was so fun, loving, histerical, kind,
and my sweet miltary-never seen him cry-dad...
got choked up.


It was a night to remember and one we will never forget!

Helllllo New Life...

...and what a wonderful life it is!

Josh and I sealed the deal on Friday the Thirteenth.

Of April.

Yes. You heard right. Friday the thirteenth.

When we were engaged people either said...

oooohhhh good luck and looked at us weird...

or thought it was cool and didnt believe in superstition so it didnt matter!

Naturally, we were the latter.

It turned out to be the perfect day.

Im not going to lie...it came with many bumps in the road.

No matter how many times someone told me that things will go wrong you just cant help it,

I didnt believe them.

I thought, if I do everything in my power to make it run smoothly, it will.

Wrong.

Hahahahahaha

ohhh was I wrong.

BUT

that is for me to write in my journal and not on here.

Because no matter the set backs it was THE.PERFECT.DAY

 

 

The weather:

I showed up to Josh's house on Easter morning (the sunday before our wedding) bawling.

Like reallllly bawling.

He now has a ruined shirt.

I had just checked the weather for friday:

60 degrees and rain...

and for an outisde wedding you can imagine my fear.

But after countless family and friends texted me all week with good weather reports ,
(amongst the continuing bad ones)

and I prayed and fasted like a mad woman for good weather,

It all worked out.

It was amazing.

The day was beautiful and sunny but NOT hot at all.

Then the wind kicked up a ton before the reception...

but right before friends family showed up for pictures it just stopped

and didnt come back until the end of our reception.

Amazing.

 

 

So moral of the story:

Heavenly Father sure answers prayers and sure loves when two people come together forever in the House of the Lord.

More breakdown of our day coming soon :)

Until then here are some pictures for me to swoon over.

 

 

~

For now we are nestled into our new home. Together. And truly loving every minute.

Life is busy with work, school, family, and responsibility.

But I must say, as cheesy as this sounds, I have never felt more like where I am is exactly where I am supposed to be.

I feel huge joy and excitement for my new role and my new responsibilities.

I hate laundry...

but other than that I love it all :)

~

Isn't he handsome?

We got married!!

04-13-2012

More on our perect day later...

P.S.

I have now enetered back into the blogging world

Im determined to be fabulous at it

Stay tuned :)



MARRY ME?

Popping the question...such a big deal in a person's life huh?
I think back now and
(two short weeks later)
wish I would have taken it in just a bit more...
I think I was just in shock and so excited it all just whirled around me!
Anywho...it was the most perfect proposal...for us.
I loved everything about it.

So here it is:
We knew we were getting married
(I know I know such a mormon cliche...o well)
But for a number of legitimate reasons I didnt think we'd be getting engaged for awhile...im talking early January at the very earliest.
Therefore saying I was majorly surprised is an understatement...
but it was just the way I liked it :)

For a while we had talked about doing a hay ride/caroling outing with friends before Christmas.
So on wednesday (Dec. 21st) we planned to carry this out.
When I say "we" I mean Josh and his guy friends...haha
We met up, had a bunch of good friends there, and caroled the night away
in really really bad tone
poor neighbors...

At the end "we" decided to head over to Luke's house,
(Josh's best friend/other boy at slip n slide whose name I "forgot?")
carol to his family, and call it a night.
Sooooo we jump out of the truck and onto the tractor ready to carol.
At this point everyone is standing around instead of sitting (clue 1)
and the house lights are all off (clue 2)
So I am standing on the hay with Brooke and I think Kenz?
and have my arms around Josh below me.
Our friend Spencer gets his video camera out (clue 3)
and says he wants to video us singing really awesomely...haha ya right.
Spencer and Josh are literally staring at eachother and not saying anything with words (clue 4)
Then Josh grabbed my hand slowly while he said something to Spencer.

At that same time his voice changed a little...like he sounded nervous (clue 5)

I STILL HAD NO CLUE...amongst all the clues...this girl was clueless
get the picture?

All of a sudeen I looked over and saw Luke bend down and plug something in.
This is what turned on on top of his roof:

Want to know what I did?
Thought to myself:
"Cool they wrote something in lights on the roof!"
then...when it clicked...I looked behind me because there was no way this was for me!
haha retarted Im aware. but all who really know me shouldnt be surprised :)
At the same time Josh had turned around, opened the box and said,
"Katelin, will you marry me?"

Now, these are the best parts...

-I was so tall on the hay he couldnt get down on one knee
-Add together extreme excitement/shakyness/shocked+really clumsy...I fell onto my kness and onto the hay
-At that time he quickly got down on one knee after (I told him a long time ago I wanted a "kneee proposal"...sweet he remembered) he had asked me and I had yet to answer...poor kid
-As I am repeatedly saying "are you serious"..."are you kidding me"
-He sweetly says..."Please say yes"
I then say "YESSS" and knock the ring and box right out of his hand!
naturally
But it is all good because it stayed in the box
he put it on my finger
and BAM we were happily engaged!

It was the happiest day of my life thus far as I know it will be topped by our wedding day.
He worked for three days to build the massive contraption with Luke and tried really hard to surprise me and make it exactlty something I would have loved.
Two of my best friends were there
We now have pictures
We have it videotaped
He literally got me my dream ring
AND best of all:
He made me the luckiest girl by asking me to spend forever with him! I should have been on my knees begging him because I know im getting the better deal but I thank my lucky stars regardless!

APRIL 13TH here we come and you ALL are invited!

Pics of the lovely event :)

the sweet boys who made it all possible

soooo happy they were there!

haha just thought this was funny

I debated putting this up...but its my journal so hey! I gotta. The picture does not do it justice let me tell ya!

Story time

So Im engaged...can you say weirdddddd

YUP

But I have never been happier!

So here is my version of our tale (journal time so beware)

enjoy...or just skip along to the end since they'll be lots of words

:)

In may I had graduated from BYU and had come home for a couple weeks.

I had every intention of going back up and figuring out the life I would live for the next year. In Utah.

So I am sitting at church that first sunday and everyone is bearing their testimony about how it is important to do what the Lord wants you to...even if you dont want to.

The thought pops in my head

"you havent even prayed about moving home...you need to"

ummmmm ya right

the thought pops in some more

ummmmmm ya right

again

and again

o and again

(you get the picture)

So then I thought alright alright I really should...

but mind you I was NOT moving back to mesa.

IT WAS NOT HAPPENING.

I was set on that.

So I prayed anyways because my testimony of knowing what I should do of course ended up overtaking.

I immediately felt like moving back home was the right thing...

ummmmmmm ya right.

I remember telling my dad and he added to the idea and said he thought that all along.

(granted this was me making his dream come true)

I told no one else.

I continued to pray and reflect and think...

the answer was strong and hard to miss.

I pretty much got hit over the head with a bat that said

MOVE BACK HOME NOW.

So I told my family and friends.

The ones here were ecstatic,

the ones in ptown...not so much.

I cried, and cried, and cried a whole bunch more.

For some reason this decision and major change became one of the hardest things I had ever done.

Everything ended up working out perfectly as far as hours for certification, an incredible learning opportunity, living situation, friends...you name it and it worked out.

I was given tender mercies

ALL.THE.TIME.

Heavenly Father knew I needed them.

So July 10th I said goodbye to the place that shaped me more than any other experience

I said goodbye to many best friends

I said goodbye to my school

my ward

my comfort

my home for the last several years...

and cried my way back to mesatown

while my mom drove and my dad led us along.

(sidenote: I sound so dramatic im aware. forgive me. those who have done this understand)

So 10 short hours later I rolled back in to my home sweet home.

No clue what was in store

BUT beyond thankful for the assured knowledge that

this was Heavenly Father's plan for me.

It was where I was supposed to be

and therefore it would all work out perfectly.

Well it did...better than imagined.

And let me say, I think Josh is a HUGE part of why I was supposed to be here.

I dont, however, think it was the whole reason.

This job has allowed me to share the gospel many times,

Ive been able to travel and grow,

Ive been able to be with my family more

and spend time with friends that I need more than ever.

But let me go on to tell you the best story of all...

OUR STORY

Exactly two weeks after I moved home Brooke and I ventured to a combined fhe-a slip and slide

hahahahaha

Anyyyyyways we decided we needed to be outgoing and meet some new peeps.

So we were walking along and here comes two boys:

one I recognized from highschool

one I thought way wayyyy cute

Ya but dont worry he didnt look at me...not even a glance!

He was set on that slip and slide...so sad.

So a little later we are standing around with a bunch of our guy friends.

We had not accomplished our goal quite yet.

BUT if you know me at all you know I have NO problem going up to someone new...

and this time my sights were set on those two boys.

I kept making awkward eye contact with the cute one

and finally decided to head on over!

I promptly went up to the one I recognized, told him so, and asked him to remind me his name.

No worries I totally remembered his name but I couldnt look like a creep now could I!?

SIDENOTE:

Josh says the following:

"I saw you and thought you were hot (Im gonna go with "cute" since it sounds better) but you were surrounded by a bunch of guys so I couldn't...plus you kept catching me staring and I was awkward"

hahahaha o sweet Josh...

So we chat.

About how they are step brothers

lie

About how old they are

lie

and about some more lies...

Then they told us they were in a church movie

actually true.

They were funny I will admit

and I kept on thinking...dang this "josh kid" is cute!

Welp we said nice to meet you and headed out.

I thought to myself

"we'll see them again"

I was not worried.

Fast forward to that sunday where Brooke, Kenz and I are at Kenz's house.

I get a friend request from someone named Josh Figuero(a)?

Yes we thought it was figuero...and naturally all three of us started singing

FIGUERO FIGUERO FIGUERO!!!!!

After we got that out I looked and squealed,

"OH my gosh its that Josh kid, Brooke!"

We couldnt believe it.

How did he find me?

And better question...

how did he know how to spell my name??

Well he had messaged me too and invited me to a game night

I was gonna go so he got my number...

then we bailed.

Oops

BUT lucky for me he was persistent.

He invited me a couple days later to a friends dinner party thing...

I couldnt go.

Oops

Soooooo third times a charm!

We planned on getting icecream on thursday

(the night before I got surgery and would be down for a week)

The date was awesome.

We chatted and chatted till they closed.

I got surgery on friday and we texted that night.

We talked on saturday.

We talked on sunday...

and we have talked every day since.

He came to visit me that week

(I had on oversize sweats, greasy hair, hadnt taken a shower in days, no makeup, and was on major pain killers...yaaaa still dont know how hes around)

Its an understatement to say we hit it off quickly.

We continued to talk, hang out, date and get to know eachother.

8 weeks later he told me he loved me in good ol California...

and December 21st he asked me to marry him!

I count my many blessings for him and thank Heavenly Father every day!

He knew I needed him and will forever need him.

He balances me in the exact ways I need him and treats me like a queen...in return

I keep his life entertaining, haha yep, all im good for pretty much :)

We're excited and cant wait for APRIL 13TH!

More on the proposal later!

Best part of 2011...

So I vividly remember coming home after ringing in the new 2011 year and writing in my journal in the wee hours of the morning. I knew...I just KNEW that this year (last year) would be my best one yet. I knew it was going to have lots in store for me and that it would be amazing. Sure enough I was right! Let me recap...

-started my last semester at BYU and lived up every minute
-met new friends and enjoyed every minute I could with old ones
-graduated from BYU
-moved back to AZ
-traveled a ton
-got surgery
-got the first job I applied for
-began life as a speech teacher in the real world

AND the very best part...I met a cute boy named Josh Figueroa in the summer. We dated, fell in love, experienced a lot in our short 5 months of dating, then on December 21st he asked me to marry him! I of course said yes :)

I can't even tell you how shocking this year has been to me. I still can't quite believe all I've learned, grown, and experienced...but I could not be more grateful!

So here's to 2012 and becoming my new "best year yet". Now on to wedding planning...wish me luck!

more on the story later :)