One more to go!!

I have one month to go before I am officially Sarah Martin. One month before I join the masses of Sarah Martins that are sure to exist, one more month to sleep in the center of the bed and move around as I please, one more month of kissing my one and only good night and getting in my car to drive 40 minutes home.

I can't believe after almost 31 years in a matter of weeks I will be married, eternally sealed, a wife, a homemaker. I am so excited! Through all my planning and preparing it hasn't really sunk in until now that I am REALLY getting married. I love Josh more and more everyday. Wedding planning has been fun, but the best part is, that in a matter of weeks I won't be going home to another house anymore, I will have to share the bed and be mindful of what's on the other side, and that I get to join the masses of Sarah Martins.

Can't wait!!

Bienvenido A Tucson!!!

I'm here!!! I finally made it through fall semester, holiday travel, packing and the long drive down to Tucson. The trek ended up being a lot of fun. I stopped and saw a few friends in Utah (thanks for the crazy dreams Amy loved it), hit up Vegas to see my cousin Amanda, staying up till 3 am talking is always a good time. Then last Tuesday I finally made it back home. It has been so nice seeing Josh on a regular basis, organizing "our" house, and feeling the warmth of the sun on my face.

Now that I am down here I am fully immersed in wedding details. We got our engagements done on Saturday and can't wait to see them. My next order of business is finding a job, but I'm not going to lie it has been nice not trying to do 100 things all at once.

My Elf

I love "Elf" the movie. I don't know what it is about seeing Will Ferrell run around in tights that makes me so happy, but it does. It totally gets me in the mood for the holidays. One time I had a dream that when I picked Josh up from the airport he was dressed like Buddy the Elf. It made me laugh all day and I told Josh about the dream. It may or may not have been a good idea to tell him that. Last month when I went down to Tucson I couldn't find Josh as I was coming down the escalators. Well..... that's because this is who I had waiting for me. Oh life will never be boring with this man.

It's Official

So last weekend Josh and I got officially engaged. Some of you had known for a while that we are planning on getting married. But we had tried to keep it on a need to know bases until he actually proposed. There are lot's of details from last Saturday and right now it seems like too much to type out. Here are some highlights: flowers, a fancy dinner at the Hyatt resort in Scottsdale, a gondola ride with a serenade followed by a violin serenade once out of the gondola, and finally the proposal. The story is actually fun to tell. So if you really want to know I'm sure I will be happy to oblige.

It was the most perfect evening ever and Josh was amazing. I am such a lucky girl to have found such a wonderful man to spend eternity with. The wedding stuff has been interesting and I am excited for our big day, but I'm most excited for the day after when we really start our lives together.

Incase anyone is wondering, we are getting married March 12 in the Mesa, Arizona Temple. Could it be more perfect that, as it turns out, my eternal companion has been in Tucson this whole time and I get to move back home and get married in the Mesa Temple.

Unfortunately I had most of my flowers facing me instead of the camera

Crash & Burn

I crashed on a scooter last weekend. I'd like to say that it was someone else's fault, but since I crashed into a parked car I guess I can't. To be honest I'm not sure what happened. I have driven scooters hundreds of times, even all over Hawaii. It was having trouble starting so the only thing I can come up with is that when it finally started I had the throttle turned too much and it just took off. Unfortunately there was a pesky SUV parked on the side of the road not too far away and I didn't have time to correct or gain control of the scooter. But I must have been going pretty fast because I got it lodged pretty far under it. I remember as I was going down trying to protect my head (don't worry there was a helmet on the back just not on my head) that someone once told me that for every inch you slide on asphalt you remove a layer of skin and I was hoping that I wasn't going to skid too far. Luckily my neighbor had come out to assist me in starting the dumb thing because the scooter was pinned under the SUV, on my leg, motor running, gasoline pouring out all over my leg. He ran over asking if I was ok, which of course at the time I replied, "sure could have been worse can you get it off my leg." I turned off the scooter and as he lifted the SUV I pulled/ pried it out from under the SUV. We assessed the damage on the scooter, uh oh, and on the SUV, stupid thing didn't even have a scratch, then myself. Everything seemed to be intact, maybe a slight scratch on my elbow.

I called Josh in tears, the scooter isn't mine, it's my boss'. She was letting me use it a few weeks ago when my Explorer was in the shop and I was planning on returning it that evening. What had I done? He kept asking if I was ok and I went on and on about the scooter. He finally very sternly made it clear he didn't care about the stupid scooter, but was I ok. I finally assessed the real damage; very cut up elbow you could see deep grooves from the asphalt, badly already bruising hip, cut up foot (how did that happen I was wearing jeans, socks, and shoes?), bruised shoulder, and cut up knee. Ok so maybe not that great. This was not my first fall, so I knew how to clean out the wounds. But what about the scooter? I don't have money to repair, let alone purchase the scooter. Josh cheerfully let me know that he has always wanted a scooter and that it would be great to ride around in Texas, but my priority needed to be myself. I love that man.

After cleaning my wounds I made the dreaded call to Janey and she handled it very graciously and also wanted to make sure I was ok. A few scrapes and sores, but sure I was, I had to go to the Boise State game.

Fast forward to the game where I realized I was in more pain that I thought and it hurt to be touched/hugged. Fast forward past the great win and dinner at Chilis where I discovered I really really hurt, felt cold, and it killed to move or breath. I have a wonderful friend, Katie, who was so willing to take me to the ER even though she had to work all day Sunday. An x-ray, shot for pain in the bum, drugs for nausea, more drugs for something else, me barfing in the hospital's handy little bags, oh and the crazy guy that I found very interesting as he walked around with a bottle of Pinesol ( I was trying to figure out if he had drank it) and it turns out I had very bruised ribs.

I was sent home with even more drugs and a prescription to take it easy. That is exactly what I have tried to do for the last week. Today is the first day I have worn something other than sweats. Who knew bruised ribs could be so painful. Everything you do causes pain, and hiccups are the worst things ever invented. Well there you go, this is my story of the day I crashed and burned on a scooter.

Tucson

I've been waiting for my camera that I left it at Josh's, but since he missed his flight last week, I have to wait two more weeks, so guess I'll blog with out any new photos. Anyways, I went to Tucson obviously to see Josh, but also to meet with an advisor at the University of Arizona. I am planning on moving back after this semester and when I found out they have my program there I assumed it was meant to be. But after meeting with the advisor I felt very torn. Their program is very different from the one at Idaho State. Some classes would transfer some wouldn't, I'd have to go back and take 2 more semesters of a foreign language, um no thanks, isn't that what a mission is for? You add in the fact that I would possibly not get in state tuition and you're looking at the cost of a new car......per year. So needless to say I felt frustrated, confused, and with out direction after the meeting. Poor Josh had to deal with me stewing about it the rest of the night. Do I move and not finish school, do I stay in Idaho, do I find something else to do? That night when I got home it was still bothering me. I had felt very strongly that Heavenly Father had directed me to the Clinical Laboratory Science program and we had talked about my near future plans in length a few years ago. Soooo, if he knew what was ahead of me why were things not working out the way I thought they would. Now that should have been a clue right there, the way I thought they would,have I learned nothing? I got down on my knees and had another chat with Heavenly Father expressing my frustrations. He assured me that he did in fact know what was in store for me and that I was to continue with the original plan, going to ISU. Of course in my simple little mind that meant I had to return to Idaho State next fall for my last year. I talked to Josh about all of this and although I know he didn't like it he trusted that I had received my answer.

The rest of the weekend was wonderful. I was staying at the Brown's house. Sheri and Brent, whom I love dearly, are the parents of my best friend Matt. I lived with them before I went on my mission. I had really missed them and loved being able to catch up. My favorite part of the weekend was church on Sunday. Josh was called to be the Young Men's President in his ward and it was so cool to be there when he was set apart and to see all the moms tell him how excited they are that he will be working with their sons. I know he will do an amazing job. After church he made some really yummy Pad Thai, it honestly was so good. But sadly our wonderful weekend came to an end and I had to come back to Boise.

Two days later I had an appointment with my advisor at ISU to make sure I was still on track, since it looked like I would be finishing school there. As Sonja and I were talking I mentioned that I was thinking of moving to Arizona. To my amazement she informed me that I could finish the last year in Tucson. What???!!! She said I could watch the lectures online and find a hospital in Tucson to sponsor me, which means they would sign a contract with ISU to teach me all the laboratory skills I would be learning in the labs at ISU. Ha, I'm sure Heavenly Father was chuckling a little at that.

Long story short, still love Josh, Tucson was great, I plan on moving back, and Heavenly Father always has a plan.

Love Him!

This is my favorite person Joshua Todd Martin, I think he is the cat's meow. Lucky for me he thinks I am too. He's in Arizona, I'm in Idaho, so what do you do? Travel, lot's of traveling. In the last month in a half we have been to Utah, North Carolina, and Texas. Next up, Arizona and Idaho. The hometown dates, haha can't wait. I'm in bed sick with a nasty cold, so maybe more details later. But wanted to at least post this. Oh and the fact that we did not meet on the internet if any of you are wondering. We also suck at taking pictures, so we're going to have to take what we can get.