And just like that, I'm Mrs. Christensen.

So the last time I blogged was in April. 

Let's just say that between April and November, a lot has happened.

Basically the most life changing few months of my life. To say the least. 

I can't believe where my life is at right now.  Again, if you saw me a year ago, and told me that in 365 days from now I would have been married for 5 months to David Christensen, I wouldn't believe you. 

But I am so, so stinkin happy. All I can say is that LIFE HAPPENS. Whether you're ready or not. 

Here's the break down of life since MAY 2012.

#1 - I got to go through the Temple for the first time on May 25th, 2012. This has been a day I have prepared for my entire life. Many (not all) of my very close family and friends were there, as well as the love of my life. It was a glorious day that opened the doors to many amazing blessings ahead.

#2 - May 31st, 2012, No big deal, just the day I married prince charming in my castle. Seriously the best day of my whole wide life. Never been happier to be sealed for time and all eternity to Mr. Christensen. Remember that post about how "I found him" well, I wasn't lying, cause we tied the knot. For eternity. Not only was it 78 degrees with the prettiest blue skies EVER, but I got to be in the Salt Lake temple with a lot of amazing people that meant the world to me, as they witnessed me bawl my eyes out as I agreed to be Mrs. Christensen forever.

#3 - June 1st - June 22nd. First time out of the country. My partner in crime, Mr. Christensen, took me on the greatest honeymoon in the history of forever. We spent a couple weeks in the Caribbean. We visited 11 different islands. Unfortunately I still came back white, but that's OK. I just listened a little bit too closely to my grandmas advice of making sure I had a lot of sunscreen on. I have many, many stories of our adventures in the Caribbean. Anywhere from running over toads, to talking my way out of a ticket to a cop that didn't speak english, to loosing our rental car keys and costing us $1500. The list is endless. But all in all, it was a glorious, some days hectic, 3 week honeymoon. Details later. Promise.

#4- We spent 2 weeks in California with the Christensen family. We got to stay in the family condos for a reunion in Lake Tahoe. SO beautiful. But so cold. I inherited 5 new nieces and nephews that I'm stinkin crazy about. Cool how over night I become an aunt to not just 2, but now 7 woooo! We also Got to visit Seattle and see all of my favorite people that I grew up with. And they got to finally meet the Hubs. Thanks for the many people that supported, or bunked us in your house.  Sorry for our inloveness. But not really that sorry.

#5 - We spent our first month back from our honeymoon living with my parents. Fun, awkward, cramped, and awesome. Love my parents, so grateful for a month of free rent, love my mothers amazing cooking, and my dad's weird stories, but it felt like I was trying to live with my boyfriend in my parents basement. Not the norm.

#6 - August 25th we moved into our first cute little home! 2 bedroom 4-plex on the South side of Provo. I love being a wife, love decorating (Mr. Christensen comes home to decor changes almost daily), and cooking for my husband that eats more than the average man, times 2. Or 3.

So this is our happy little life so far. On Halloween we celebrated our 5 month anniversary. Marriage is a blast. I'm learning so much about myself. How to grow up, how to love, serve, agree to disagree, and enjoy this life together as a team. 

On May 29th I was Loriel Jenson. 

24 hours later, I'm Mrs. Loriel Christensen. So cool how that magic works.

I'll update this thing more often now. I promise.

LETTERS: Glasses, Dresses, & Lovers.

LETTERS OF APRIL 10th 2012. Glasses, Dresses, and lovers.

Dear Love of my life, I really like how you look in your cute little glasses. You remind me of superman. 

Dear Mom and Dad, I hope my marriage is as beautiful as your guys'. Thanks for your example on how to love your best friend. 

Dear Jake and Kelci, I like you guys. And you make beautiful babies. Kelc, you chose a good one. Ps, thank you so much for the wings. It made my mouth on fire. Sorry for spilling your Mango lemonade. It was your baby's fault. I swear.

Dear Rebecca O. Roundy, My 20 minute conversation with you today made me laugh. I hope that your husband isn't color blind. And I hope that this "Party" you're planning for me has something to do with poles, or a different version of pin the "tale" on the "donkey". 

Dear White Dress, I bought you and took you home today. This is really happening....

Easter Letters

Dear DRC, Thanks for walking around the beautiful temple with me today. I love you. and I love Easter with you. Here's to lots more. Can't wait to play easter bunny with you. Hop Hop. Dear Mom, Thanks for making the MEANEST easter meal in the whole world. I hope I inherit your cooking skills... Dear Tulips, You take my bref away. I want you in my wedding. Dear girl who sang "His Hands" in Sacrament, You sounded like an angel, and you made my eyes leak. ALOT. That's one of my favorite songs.Thanks for reminding me of the true meaning of Easter.

Sincerely,

                                 Loriel Charlyn.

One thing I must add: I am so grateful for my sweet Savior, Jesus Christ. Because of him I can feel whole again. Because of him I can feel happiness everyday. Because of him I know what love is. I know that he lives. I know that he loves me, and that he died for all of us. 

I love his work, and I love this Gospel. 

If you want to know more about why I believe this, watch this very powerful video.

Letters to my favorite people (and things) #1

I decided that this blog is adorable, and the way she writes letters about everything is brilliant. So she inspired me to do the same. And the picture above was a letter I woke up to after I fell asleep. He's cute. You'll most likely see a letter to Mr. Christensen everyday, and to inanimate objects or random people, places, or things. I think it'll be a great way to journal things.

Here's to MY VERY FIRST LETTER. WOO!

Dear Mr. Christensen, Today I didn’t get to see you until 10 minutes before midnight. Thanks for texting me and telling me that I’m your best friend. And thanks for talking to me until 2:28am over the phone last night. I asked you why you were being quiet for a long time, and you said you were taking notes on how to be better for me.You're my favorite boy on earth.  Dear Snow, I try to love everyone, but right now I don't love you. It's April, go where you belong (Antarctica will accept you) Dear New Phone, I'm really excited for the rest of our life together. I'm sorry in advanced for dropping you on your head. I'll do everything I can to protect you. Dear Roomate Shan, thanks for waking me up to the smell of your banana bread. You're so domestic. Dear David Ryan, (YOU GET TWO LETTERS) I met your parents last night. And they said that they could tell you were in love with me. This melted my heart. You're my best fwend.

Sincerely,

Loriel Charlyn

Not Ordinary.

“Noble and great. Courageous and determined. Faithful and fearless. That is who you are and who you have always been. And understanding it can change your life, because this knowledge carries a confidence that cannot be duplicated any other way.”
                       -Sheri Dew

We are all incredible, incredible souls.
I believe that every soul born into this world has the potential to change the world, and do something great. 
Alot of us throw that potential away. 
Why? Because we don't realize where we came from, or who we are.

"If you really knew who you were, you would never feel inferior again."

I sincerely believe with all of my heart and soul, that I am a child of God.

And so are YOU.

Just my thoughts for this beautiful beautiful day.

HAVE A GREAT ONE :)

Guess what? I found him.

WARNING: This is mushy gooshy. And I'm a passionate person so it probably sounds super cheesy, but I JUST DON'T CARE :)

                Read if you want, leave if you don't :)

 

My life has completely changed. Shockingly changed. Beautifully changed. As in if you would have told me a month ago where my life would be right now, I would have laughed at you for about an hour, and secretely wish that it were true. But sure enough, in just one month, my life has come alive. My soul has found it's light, and my heart has been opened. This brings me to my conclusion. I am in love with the most incredible man in the entire world. I have found him. HIM. The LOVE of my LIFE. That one guy who will be my best friend, who will travel the world with me, cry at the marvels of this earth, hold my heart when it wants to break, and hold my hand when we're old and gray.

Oh you want to meet him? Ok that's cool. Here he is. Mr. David Ryan Christensen.

How did we meet: February 11th, 2012. (Wow Loriel, You're insane, that's not even a month ago) Yeah I know. I'll explain how I have had some incredible answers from a higher source telling me that this is right. Remember that.

We were at a little event in Provo, called "The Pink Party." I saw this beautiful man wearing a blue ford shirt. I liked his bravery. I walked passed him, grabed his shirt and said "Hmm, I like ford trucks. Good choice." Then I kept walking. Mr. Christensen didn't like that. So he grabbed my arm and said, "Where do you think you're going?" Then I said "INTO YOUR ARMS FOREVER" 

Just kidding that's weird.

So we talked for a little bit. He asked for my number.

He texted me and said "I want to see you. Sooner, or later?"

I texted back "Sooner." 

Sooner as in he thought he should ask me out for our first date on Valentines day. The day of lovers. Romance. Forever. But... it felt right. I agreed, and it was planned. I was nervous. What was I thinking? I'm going on a date, [not a big deal,] Im going on a date on valentines day, [wasn't expecting that] I'm going on a first date on valentines day. [What?]

 First Date: February 14th, 2012. 

From 7:22 pm until the time he arrived, I sat nervously in my hall, taking pictures with my roomates and making sure my hair was perfectly curled. And in my nervousness we came up with poses like this (on the right, taken literally 3 minutes before i met HIM)

7: 36pm. He knocked on my door. I saw his face and I thought, oh wow, I forgot how attractive you are. Happy Valentines day to me. Then he walked me to his car. I won't tell you what it was, but it was beautiful, and fast. So we drove to a hole in the wall Chinese restaurant in down-town Provo, China Town. I love food. everything about food, and I'll eat anything. This little place was darling for our first date. The first hour and a half of our date we stuffed our faces with food and talked about our lives. I liked him. I liked his smile, his loud, booming laugh. I wasn't swept off my feet though. But wait, he ended up sweeping me right off. The last 2 hours of our date were spent sitting in his car talking about the Gospel. We talked about our passion for God. Our passion for life,and the way we viewed the world. This was the moment where something sparked a light in my soul telling me that this wasn't any ordinary man. I have never in my entire life met someone who knew more about the Gospel. This man is obsessed with it. He loves it, and he knows it well. The most important person in his life is Jesus Christ, and I've never seen a more beautiful relationship. Yes I was attracted to him, but I have never felt more attracted to someone's soul before, or felt more connected to someones heart. Yeah, I know this sounds cheesy, but shoot world I will give you super cheesy because I am in love. 

So to round things up a bit..... we fell in love in 48 hours. Wow really Loriel, you're one of those girl?. I used to make fun of girls like you and shake my head in disbelief. But world, I cannot explain to you how I felt a spiritual prompting, and burning in my soul, that It was right to be in love with this man. It definitely came as a surprise. By the second day I couldn't believe this guy was real. I kept on having this feeling that I was falling in love with him. My mind would fight with my heart and say "Loriel You're insane. There's no such thing as love at first sight. You don't even know this guy." But my heart was saying the complete opposite. In my heart I felt peace, I felt assurity that this fast moving love was ok. It was scary, it was fast, but it was good. I never thought I would feel the spirit with love. I never thought I could feel like this. But it happened. On February 16th, David looked at me and said "Loriel, It's hard to believe but I have fallen in love with you in 48 hours." I could believe it actually, because in my heart I felt the exact same way. So after we said it, I giggled like a little girl (and he did too) and we realized our lives had forever been changed. 

The days that followed were filled with some incredible experiences that are too sacred for me to post online. But I can tell you, that I know that this is right, this is good, and this is inspired. Yeah it's fast. Really fast. But world, let me tell you, when you know, you know. When the Lord has a plan, he will let you know, and you have the choice to be faithful and enjoy the ride, or back down with fear and lose something that would have been incredible.

Please, call me crazy. I know. I understand that to the world it is shocking, weird, scary and unreal. But I promise you, I have felt the things I've felt, and I have never been happier in my entire life.

The moral of the story is that it is important to center our lives in Christ. He has a plan for you. An incredible, unbelievable plan. It might seem like a crazy fast plan, but you need to trust in the one that created you. 

Hold on tight heart, cause it's gonna be an adventurous ride.