Happy New Year!

I never feel like writing a new blog post! I think school has made me hate writing. Haha. SinceI've had a sufficient break from this semester, I found the strength to write ;)

I had to change my blog heading with my new family addition...my husband! Haha. After our wedding and honeymoon my life was crazy making up for the two weeks I was gone, but it was definitely worth it. My wedding day was perfect! I had so much family there and it was just what I wanted. All of our families helped out SO much and we're both so thankful for everything they did. My mom was able to have all her sisters there for the weekend and they were all a big help to my mom. We also had an Open house in Boise the weekend after we got back and my mother in law worked her butt off to make it such a nice night.

Ben and I went to Maui for a week for our honeymoon and we had a BLAST! It was the happiest week of my life with my best friend :)

It so weird having everything we could possible need in our apartment, I love it! My kitchen is finally complete and all my stuff instead of a bunch of random things from every roommate.

After the wedding and honeymoon it was back to real life and we both weren't looking forward to it.

We got a little weekend off when we went home to California for my brother Tyler's mission farewell. It was fun to hang out with my family during Christmas time since we went to Boise this year. Tyler gave such a great talk and I'm so proud of him. He flew into Salt lake the Wednesday after and I picked him up and went to breakfast and then dropped him off at the MTC! IT was sad but I'm so excited for him! He's going to be an AMAZING missionary.

I was SO HAPPY when this semester was over and we had such a nice Christmas in Boise. It was fun hanging out with the entire family and I'm thankful to have married into such a great family!

Even after all the stress of school I ended up getting three A's and one B, not too shabby! I was pretty surprised.

Ben is still working on the job up in Ogden and unfortunately really doesn't like his job. We're both hoping for something better to come along soon before he has to drive up and work on a job in Dugway which is two hours away. YUCK! I feel so bad for him...BUT I am thankful for all his hard work for us :)

Well not much else is going on. We went up to Sundance to eat and hang out with a couple other couples for New Years eve. I love that I have a definite new years kiss every year now ;)

Tonight we made Goals for 2011. It feels great to have goals and I'm excited for this year and my future with my husband!

Life is good!

Here's a few pictures from the wedding day and a couple when we were in California

The time has finally come

This is my last night in my apartment. I leave tomorrow morning for California and when I get back I will be a married woman! AH! We found an apartment and I'm so excited for me and Ben to have our own place all to ourselves! Living with a bunch of girls for the past 4 1/2 years has come to an end...

Blog posts to come of all the wedding shananigans :)

Crisssssp Fall time

I wish fall took over all of winter. It's such a short season, but by far my second favorite ;)

On Sunday, Ben and I along with his brother Jeff and his wife Courtney (my future brother and sis in law!) AND new baby Brock all went up to a secret spot in Sundance for a picnic. It is so pretty up there! I love hanging out with Jeff and Courtney. I'm marrying into a great family! Here's a few pictures I took. I sometimes forget I have a camera, and when I do remember to bring it along for something I end up taking so many pictures. Jeff was a little worried and asked Ben as I was snapping away, "Does she always take that many pictures?" Haha! Guilty ;)

The Countdown Begins!

It is crunch-time now until the big day. I will say it has been a little(possible very) stressful. With work, school, and planning the wedding, homework has been the hardest thing to find time for! That being said I am soooooo excited. I CANNOT WAIT for me and Ben to finally have our own place together. Speaking of Ben, he really is amazing and I love him so much. When I stop to think of all the little things he does for me I feel so lucky that he is mine :) He is so smart, creative(even more than me I hate to admit), makes me want to be the best person I can be, would help out anyone in need, and I have no doubt he will always treat me wonderful! There is so much more to him then meets the eye and I knew that from our very first date. He is my best friend and I'm so excited to start our life together and make it through all the ups and downs.

SO...we're getting married Saturday October 23rd and I drive out to California the Tuesday before. Ben will be flying out on Wednesday and stay at a hotel in San Diego with his family. Thursday night is my big wedding shower which will be so much fun. My mom has invited tons of people and all her sisters are coming as well so it'll be a party :)

Then on Friday all the family should be getting into town and we'll be staying in San Diego. I'm so excited to hang out with everyone that day. All of my family and Ben's will be getting together to eat at a park and then some of us are going to do a bonfire by the beach afterwards. It'll be so fun to hang out with everyone before the wedding.

And then Saturday! We will be Sealed in the Temple at 3pm and our reception is at 6 afterwards. Ben is still working out the details of where we're staying on our wedding night, but we do know that we're going to Maui on our Honeymoon...SO EXCITED! I went to Maui with my best friend Amanda for 3 weeks after I graduated Highschool and it was the best trip ever. Now I get to go again with my Best friend Ben! Haha. Maui is so pretty and I can't wait to dive into that warm crystal clear water...ahhh a vacation will be SO needed by that point.

As for now, we just finished getting invitations all put together and they should be going out shortly. My dress is in the process of being made and I can't wait to see it. We still need to find a place to live which is tough because we don't know exactly how long we'll be in Utah and most places are a year contract, so we'll see how that goes. I could add a lot more to this list but I'll stop. I would however, like to give a big shout out to my Mom who is so busy getting everything taken care of. She's the best and I'm so thankful to have her help and to have such an amazing mom! Love you!

My next blog post will be from the new and improved LaRee Renae Poole!!! Doesn't that look nice ;)

Here's pictures I found that inspired my wedding color choices...I LOVE these light pink flowers called anemones. The black center is so cool. So I decided to do black, charcoal gray and really light pink. Basically the only light pink will be the flowers...don't want to ever go overboard on pink ;)

As most of you probably already know from facebook or my Mom, I got engaged! And I am sooooo happy and excited :)It all started with a trip to Boise on July 29th to see Ben's new niece. Allyson, my future sister-in-law, had her baby girl Harper on the 28th. I couldn't wait to see her. She was so cute and precious. Then on Friday Ben told me that we were going up to McCall the next day to ride SeaDoo's! I was so excited and asked who was going. He said just us two. That's when I started to suspect something...of course there were quite a few times when he could have proposed before and hadn't so this really didn't mean he was going to, haha.

We had such a fun day in McCall. We rode Sea Doo's for two hours all around Payette Lake. Then later Ben took me to this Lodge restaurant over looking the lake, very pretty. After dinner I really didn't think it was going to happen, Ben was very good at acting like nothing was going on. Then we walked down onto the dock and my mind started wondering... Haha. I kept my cool though and acted normal because like I said, there's been some false alarms. Then we sat down in some chairs and I felt it coming... He got down on one knee and everything. It was so cute :) and I was so nervous! I couldn't believe it actually happened! Haha. It has slowly sunk in since then and I just get more and more excited :) Wedding plans have been in full speed ahead...too much to do! We will be getting married October 23rd in the San Diego Temple. The countdown begins ;)

Here's some pictures of the latest summer events...

Summer!

So far I have had such a fun summer. I'm enjoying working in the comfort of my own room...aaaand sometimes in my bed. Haha! It couldn't have come at a better time since on my way home from visiting my parents on their trip to Zion's National Park a rod in my engine broke and destroyed my engine. It cost too much to replace the engine so after a lot of towing around, Ben has been helping me try to sell it. Hopefully I can get SOMETHING out of it. I'm so glad I have a good boyfriend to help me out with all this car stuff. He's been amazing help!

My summer trips have been so much fun. I was actually in California for over 3 weeks during the month of May and was able to work from there so I could go to my brothers wedding and my roommate Shelly's wedding. They were only two weeks apart. Ben was able to come with me for the first 5 days of the trip which was great!

Me and Ben both celebrated our Birthdays in June. Mine was June 9th and his was June 19th. He made my Birthday so much fun and thought of all the little details. He's so creative and always gives the most thoughtful gifts. First we ate up in Sundance which is beautiful and my dinner was SOOO good. Then we went to the driving range and shot golf balls which was a perfect summer activity and fun to do. Next we went out for dessert, and topped off the night with hot tubing, which I've been wanting to do forever! It was a great night. My main present was tickets to see a band called Kings of Leon that I really like. The concert is Monday, I can't wait!

For Ben's birthday we went to breakfast at this place called Tangy's that he really likes. It has a real country feel to it and the people that are they are one of a kind. Haha. I had to work that day so Ben went and did his own thing after breakfast. When I got off work we went with a big group to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. It was so good! We loved how big their portions were. After Dinner Ben and I and his friend Sean went to the Strawberry Days Rodeo. It was a fun night. I got Ben a concealed firearms permit(really it was just the application and money for it and I also set him up for the class you have to take). He's been wanting one for a long time. I also got him some 45 ammo which he always likes to get. The next day we had Jeff, Courtney, Blake and Allyson over for cake(Ben's brother and sister and their husband and wife). I made a big red velvet cake that turned out really good! One of Ben's favorites! Fun night with his fam.

The other trip I just went on was to Boise for the 4th of July. It was so much fun! Ben loves going home and LOVES Boise. It is a cool place and very pretty. We had fun hanging out with his family and going to some of his favorite places there. Me and Ben bought every couple matching 4th of July shirts from Wal-Mart, and we all wore them out one night. We looked so stupid! But really cool at the same time ;) haha! Ben also purchased American flag board-shorts which topped of the outfit quite nice. He has since then also worn them to the pool here. They are awesome. One of the things that's really fun to do in Boise is go to this place called "the gutter" it's basically a permanent wave by a damn and you jump in a boogie board for as long as you want! Or as long as you can :) It is SO much fun. You'll see in the pictures Ben was wearing a zebra cowboy hat and his American flag shorts...what a great combo...embarrassing, haha! We also went down the Boise river in tubes and a raft. I of course had to fall in on the first small rapid into the FREEZING water. Ben and his Dad didn't see me come up and thought I was drowning. Ha! Ben took over my small tube and I got in the big raft after that with his Dad. It was pretty funny. It was really fun except for the whole falling in ice water part :)

My mom is coming into town in 3 days and I can't wait!!! I love hanging out with my mom and it's been a long time since she's been to Utah. She's also driving up Tyler's car that I get to use now which I am SO grateful for. Here's a bunch of pictures from my summer trips and birthdays and other random things! They aren't in order which bugs me...haha. I don't like the uploading part of blogs! Very annoying. Anyways...enjoy!