Blessings of Being Sick

What a whirlwind! As of tonight, it'll be one week that we've been engaged. I feel so lucky. Jonny is going to be a great husband. And he got another opportunity to demonstrate that this weekend when I woke up early Sunday morning with some sort of stomach bug. He did a great job of taking care of me (even typing my lesson plans for today while I dictated them to him last night).

We have set the date! Our wedding will be at 11:30 on December 27 in the Jordan River Utah temple. As of now, we're planning to have a luncheon afterwards and then have our reception on January 2 or 3 (depending when we can get the building reserved for). I'll continue to post updates as decisions are made. We welcome any suggestions, though! :-)

One benefit of being home sick is the opportunity to catch up on things that I've been slacking on (the things I meant to do on Sunday but instead slept the entire day!) like writing on the blog. I'm trying to read the whole Book of Mormon during my engagement (to go along with a challenge given to us in Relief Society at church).

Here are some thoughts from my reading today:

1) September 22 (today) was the day the plates were given to Joseph Smith. I feel so grateful to the Lord that he preserved this book for us to have today! I wish the whole world would read it.

2) 1 Nephi 2:12-- Laman and Lemuel have such a reputation for being complainers (murmuring). And in this verse we understand why--because they didn't understand what God was doing. So many times this happens in my life. I get frustrated or upset simply because I'm the one who isn't clued in to God's plan for me. All it takes is some faith...and prayers... I have a feeling I may have to learn this lesson again and again. Its a humbling one.

3) 1 Nephi 3:7-- This is a classic one. The Lord will not give us a commandment without providing a way for us to accomplish it (even though it might seem challenging or even not logical....He always knows more than we do).

4) 1 Nephi 7:12-- God can do all things for his children if we have faith. So let's have faith! :-)

I love my life! I am so grateful for my wonderful family. My mom and my sister, Myrica, (and her adorable son Aiden) came with my roommate and me to go wedding dress shopping on Saturday. I'm so glad they're so close by and so supportive through all these decisions to make! So blessed!

P.S. Even though we won't have invitations out for a while yet, I am starting to make our address list, so if you could send me your address, that'd be great! Thanks!

Breaking the news...

Today was fabulous! As soon as I got to school I found every teacher I could to tell them about my big news. There was much screaming throughout the building (much more than is usually heard on a Tuesday morning at 7am). I decided that I would just wait and see how long it would take my students to catch on. About 9:30 I got impatient and when we were talking about our vocabulary word "ecstatic" I told them that I was very ecstatic and they started guessing why. Eventually someone noticed the ring and I said, "I'm ecstatic because I'm getting married!" The students started screaming and jumping up and down. We spent the next thirty minutes talking about the wedding. My sixth graders want to choose the wedding cake, be the flower girl/ring bearer, ride in our limo, come see me get married, choose the colors, etc. My favorite was the kid who requested we do a fake wedding in our classroom (with me in my real wedding dress) in case they couldn't come. It was really fun! I've also had lots of fun text and voice messages (sorry if I haven't gotten back to you yet...its been a bit crazy! But amazing). I feel so blessed and I can't wait!

p.s. and supposedly I was on Fox 13 news (for having allergies of all things tonight). Random. Fun day!!

I'm Engaged!!!!!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen...the day has finally come! Jonny asked me to marry him last night and I said YES! We're very excited to be engaged. :-) More details to come... happy happy life!

Miss Forsgren will be Mrs. Maloney! (Jonny said he'd help me relabel the hundreds of books at school with "Miss Forsgren" inside. ;)

We feel overwhelmingly grateful and blessed! We're thinking December/Jan...I'll post when we've made any decisions.

My list of reasons for not updating my blog

I fully admit it. I am 100% fully and completely pathetic at updating my blog. So sorry friends. I didn't realize anyone was looking at it. I've been called to repentance....so I'll try again.

Life has been crazy and wonderful.

Here is my list of reasons for not updating my blog:

1) Since my last post my roommates and I got in a dramatic car accident on I-15 going to work....good times for all. We're just barely back to 100% and almost done with rehab (this week!!). But out of adversity come good things....

2) Now I'm dating my adorable next door neighbor Jonny. He's fabulous to me and we have tons of fun together. :-)

3) This summer my dad and I were privileged to go to Uganda with Reach the Children (http://www.reachthechildren.org/). It was AMAZING! Check out our pictures at www.picasaweb.com/RTCUganda2008 and www.picasaweb.com/UgandaRTC

4) Also, I started teaching sixth grade again at Meadowlark Elementary. I have a great class and I love my students a whole lot! They're helpful and hilarious. I just wish I could be a better teacher for them...but I'm working on it. It's so amazing to have a job I love so much!

5) My old roommates moved out and new ones moved in...they're fabulous! Four teachers in one apartment is just asking for trouble....

6) We joined the gym and I'm working out with a personal trainer (wish me luck....I was so sore the first day!!). It feels great to have my body functioning (after the accident) and want to keep it that way.

7) My nephew Aiden is back (and his mom and dad) in Utah (living in Ogden). He's the cutest thing ever and I love it when I get to see him!!! ADORABLE!!!! Love that kid (even though I can't hold him very long because he's so heavy....and even though he's a U fan).

8) We don't have cable so I just watch things on my computer instead of writing on the blog...

9) Hmmm...I'm really disappointed in myself for running out of excuses before I got to 10...oh wait! I'm a procrastinator.

10) need for sleep??

Okay, there you have it! It's an excuse list AND a life update all in one. And they said it couldn't be done....

And along with the excuses comes a promise that I'll *try* to be better about updating this more often because I love finding out how other people are doing so I should do the same for all of you!

You can also find me online:

-on my facebook site

-at my business website www.marykay.com/haileyf (I'm having a sale!! Email me!!)

Thanks for reading!!

Hailey