response...

Palm Drive, Stanford CA 2011

As we return from a weekend at Stanford in anticipation of the next great adventure we'll embark on together, I feel even more in love with and even more grateful for Kylan Lundeen. Thanks for choosing me, and thanks for loving me!

So, in response to the wonderfully thoughtful Valentine's post from my sweet husband, I've chosen to share one of my own journal entries from a different part of our courtship. I'm not nearly as eloquent or emotional in my writing, but hopefully the love and excitement I felt about a certain boy from Arizona shines through.

Park City, UT 2005

Kylan, you have brought more joy, growth, love, excitement, adventure, and friendship to my life than I ever dreamed was possible. Thanks for staying on the bike!

San Diego, CA July 2004

Sunday April 25, 2004

What an incredible weekend this has been! For some reason my finals this semester were ridiculously easy and I finished last Saturday. This means that all week all I did was move out and play! On Thursday the adventure began for Kylan and I as we stayed in Hurricane with Kylan's aunt and uncle, Kelly and Tina. We ate Valentine's dinner with them in February so I already knew them and felt pretty comfortable there. They have cute kids and made us feel so welcome! By the time we left Friday afternoon they made me feel like I was already part of the family! (Their youngest daughter Chari even told Kylan she was disappointed that I didn't "have a ring on my finger yet"!)

9.11.2004

...The whole time we were driving I kept getting hit by how much I love Kylan and how excited I was to get to spend this week with him. He is an incredible person and the more time I spend with him the more amazed I am at the person he is. He is so kind and thoughtful to everyone (especially me :) ) and he's so fun! I really love him more and more every day!

...Yesterday was the best play day, but today was the best overall day so far. Church was probably one of the funniest things I've ever experienced because Whitney gave a talk last week and shared some experiences Kylan has had as he's "fallen in love". This of course meant that everyone in the ward knew that Kylan has a new girlfriend so when we came to church together the very next week, it caused quite a stir!

...We even got to go into the bishop's office for a little talk I was kind of nervous going in wondering what kind of questions he'd ask or advice he'd give, but all he wanted to do was tell me how great Kylan was and how lucky I am to have found him! (As if I needed any more convincing!) I felt so lucky to be the girl that the great Kylan Lundeen had somehow fallen in love with - I've felt that way before, but never this strong!

Then after church we watched Lundeen family videos. It was fun to watch what everyone was like when they were younger, especially Kylan! And see how their family interacts. It was fun to feel enough a part of the family to watch these videos with them and I loved getting to see what a cute kid Kylan was! I love this boy and am really growing to love his family. I have a feeling after this week there will be now turning back! :)

Lake Powell, Labor Day 2006

Sunday, August 1, 2004

What an incredible day! Church was so good today. Brother Davies spoke before turning the time over for testimonies and he really focused his thoughts on the importance of keeping records and writing down our thoughts and feelings on both spiritual matters and everyday events. Then in Sunday School Brother Douglas shared his memories of a conversation he had with his father. Skip grew up hearing his father's testimony and knowing that his father believed and lived the gospel, but he never knew where his father's testimony came from, where it was strengthened and what lessons/experiences really caused that testimony to burn. As his father thought about it he realized that his testimony came slowly, through dozens of experiences that affected him in some small way. Because he never wrote them down, he couldn't remember what it was or who it was that caused to to have such a strong belief.

This was such a testimony to me because i feel like this is exactly where my testimony came from. I've never had a "lightening bolt" experience, but I've been blessed to have many smaller experiences that have really contributed to the testimony I feel now. Some of my most treasured journal entries are from the day after EFY or Youth Conference or General Conference or the day I received my patriarchal blessing. Each one of those entries preserves the feelings I had as I experienced the growth that came with the specific experience, and gives me the ability to go back and almost relive the emotions.

Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica 2010

In a lot of ways that's how I feel about my relationship with Kylan...every day I'm with him and the more i get to know him the more I grow to love him and feel like the luckiest girl in the world.Looking back on the way we met and the development of our relationship has convinced me that the Lord's hand was and is in it. I am completely confident that besides the fact that I love him like crazy and can't wait to be with him, the Lord is pleased with us and will continue to bless us.

...I love everything about him and look forward to our future together with such excitement and anticipation! He is such a strong capable person in the gospel, in school, in work (and in any random project you ask him to do!) but mostly in the way he loves me and the way I know he'll take care of me.

He is so good at expressing his love for me and that's is one thing I want to be sure to do also - let him know every single day how much I love and adore him!

PAIN TRAIN, Division 1 Champions 2004