Halloween!!!

So for Halloween this year, Ben and I went to a party for Ben's work, YHA (Youth Health Associates). What this means is that we spent Halloween chaperoning a party with troubled teenagers. Surprisingly enough, it was actually fun!!! One of Ben's friends, Matt Romney, is also a tracker (mentor of the boys), and so we were able to spend most of the party with him and his wife, Hillary. Because we had friends there, the party was bearable, and went by much faster than we expected!!! Especially since Dave, Ben's boss, didn't tell us the party was outside until AFTER we got there and hadn't brought our jackets.....haha... I guess that's what we get!!! Anyways, since it was required for the employees to dress up (according to Dave), Ben decided to go as a ninja, and I went as a geisha. We found the costume cheap in the little girls' section; it's actually supposed to be long sleeved, and go all the way to the ankles, but it isn't on me! Oh well, it fill well enough. We actually didn't realize exactly what a geisha was until after we had bought the costume, and looked it up on google....oops... :) We decided to go for the nice definition: a geisha is a Japanese woman who is trained in entertaining men with singing, dance, etc. It's actually a very respectable career for women in Japan, but it can be taken to extremes that are less respectable, which Ben and I found out. So, I went as a geisha and Ben went as a ninja....it works right? Well anyways, here's the pictures to illustrate our party!!! Enjoy!

The party was at a group home in Draper, UT. See that red barn thing?They had goats in the back!!! They were cute little ones :)

Here's Matt and Hillary as Audrey Hepburn and Carey Grant. They had to tell us before we could figure it out....haha. The funniest part was everyone kept asking Matt if he was a church-goer :)

This picture's a little better.... I was trying not to laugh in the first one, cause Ben decided we couldn't smile....haha So yeah... the geisha!

All the staff from the homes and other proctor programs around UT who were at the party

These are all the boys and trackers that Ben works with personally

The trackers that came from the Provo office. There's Krista, Ben, Matt, and Dave.

Ok so... the staff at the group home who planned the party had all the staff participate in this contest where they had to eat a chocolate/strawberry syrup coated doughnut off of a string without using their hands. It was hilarious!! The kids had waaayy too much fun watching and laughing at them haha... :)

So this is Ben and his coworkers getting ready to start

Go BEN!!!

Ben gave up, and started helping Matt so that Dave wouldn't win :) Although Dave ended up winning anyways....

Happy couple!!! If you notice, I'm wearing a coat....remember how I didn't bring mine? Well Dave felt bad that he didn't tell us it was outside, so he lent me his jacket for the night. I felt much better after that!!

College isn't ALL hard work and no play...

In my Child Development class, we learned about what's called Classical Conditioning. This is when a neutral stimulus is repeatedly paired with a meaningful stimulus. When this happens, the neutral stimulus comes to elicit the reaction originally made only to the meaningful stimulus. For example, a dog salivates when it smells food. If the sound of a bell ringing is connected with the dog getting food, it can be classically conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell, although it doesn't yet smell food. To clarify the meaning of this, my professor, David Nelson, showed this video clip from the TV show The Office. It is hilarious!! Enjoy!

- The most amazing videos are a click away

New Mexico Adventures

This last weekend, Ben and I drove to New Mexico. Thursday we drove all day to Albuquerque, where we stayed at a Super 8 near the Temple. We got to see Matt, Josh and Laurel that night and visit a little bit before going back to our hotel for the night. The next morning, Matt and Hillary got married at the Albuquerque, New Mexico Temple; it was so fun to be able to go inside for the wedding! Josh was actually about to mention how Laurel and I would have fun outside when he realized that I would be going in! It was fun :) The luncheon was at Tucanos- I don't know if any of you have been there, but it's an all-you-can-eat Brazilian restaurant with excellent meat- it was really good! After the luncheon we headed down to Las Cruces, New Mexico which is about a 3 1/2 hour drive. Since it was such a long trip, Matt and Hillary decided to stay in Albuquerque that first night and then drivce to Las Cruces for the reception on Saturday. It was nice to be able to go back and relax Friday night. Since it had been raining the last few days before we got there, it made the air extremely humid, so we were very grateful for the Romney's swimming pool!! We stayed at Matt's grandma's house who graciously took Josh, Laurel, Ben and I in for the two nights we were there. We spent Friday night and Saturday getting to know Matt's family and spending time with our friend Krista, his sister. Saturday we went to lunch at a Mexican place in town, and then went to the mall to kill some time before the reception. Saturday night was the reception and then games with friends, and Sunday morning we left for home. We actually realized while in NM that Joseph City, AZ wasn't far out of our way so we decided to stop at Ben's family's house and have lunch on our way home. We ended up staying a little longer than we had anticipated, but it was a very nice visit :) We got home at about 2 am, seeing as Ben got sick on our way home and we had to stop for him to throw up and rest for a while both times. I wasn't feeling so well either, and I think it's because we decided to skip dinner and just eat our snacks in the car, which probably included a bit too much candy... :/ next time we'll be sure to take care of ourselves better!!! Well, I know most of you probably don't know Matt and Hillary, but I'll post a few pictures just so you can see where Ben and I went!!

I forgot to mention that Ben was a groomsman!!! So yeah, he was a groomsman, one of three, along with Josh Bowler and one of Matt's old mission companions (Sam?? I'm not sure on his name.... he was cool though).

Bridesmaids! Krista is the one on the far left; she went to BYU and we used to hang out with her all the time. But now she's transfering to New Mexico! Sad day! We love Krista.

Groomsmen! We've got Ben, Matt (the groom), Josh, and mission buddy

The Romney's and the De Jesus's :) We are excited for them to come back to BYU!! Hillary is actually transferring, but Matt will be coming back :) Ben actually found out (after they were already friends) that Matt and him are 3rd cousins! How cool is that!

All the guys :) These are Matt's friends and mission companions that came to support him.

Well I hope you enjoyed the post! Until next time,

Me :)

For Time and All Eternity

On May 26,2009, Ben and I were sealed for time and all eternity in the Mesa, Arizona Temple. It was so beautiful. The day before, we were able to take some pictures on the grounds with our photographer when people weren't coming in and out of the temple. It was fun! It actually felt a little weird at first having Ben see me in my wedding dress before the day of the wedding.....but in the end it just felt right :) I love knowing that I'm doing something right, it feels good. So that night I was so anxious and excited I could hardly sleep!! But in the end, I was so exhausted from all the planning over the past 5 months that I slept pretty sound :) I woke up the morning of the wedding at about 5:45. I really didn't need that much time to get ready, but I get stressed pretty easily, and I wanted to be able to relax through my morning. I slowly woke up, showered, ate breakfast, and finally started getting ready at about 6:40 ish...so I was taking my time. Getting ready just felt kind of like a dream, and it didn't feel like I was actually getting MARRIED that morning...I was still in denial a little bit. But then as I put on my jewelry, got my dress and brought my bags to the car, it started to sink in and I just got really excited! Then my daddy gave me a blessing :) it was so special, I love my daddy so much! He was really pretty emotional that day, since his little girl was getting married. After the blessing we drove to the temple. Ben was already there, and I was just so anxious to get married! The funny thing was, even though I'd had my reccommend for about a month already, it STILL wasn't activated....I thought they'd at least activate it by my wedding day!! I'd already gone to the temple about 4 times by then, and the morning of my wedding, I sat there anxiously at the desk waiting for the temple president to approve my entering the temple....it was so nervewracking, although my mom kept assuring me that it would be ok :) Come to find out, my reccommend was activated sometime between the luncheon and the reception haha....it was pretty funny. But then we went in and signed the marriage certificate and everything, they changed my name with the church and on my reccommend, and it was so fun!!! Then we got married, and it was so beautiful it made me so happy!! I just loved walking into the room filled with our friends and family that love us so much, and just feeling the Spirit there. After the ceremony, Mommy helped me get into my wedding dress and we went out for pictures!!! The rest of the day was just like a dream, it still feels like a dream just thinking about it. Since I was a little girl I've thought and wondered what my wedding day would be like....it was perfect!! Our photographer was amazing, and the reception hall was absolutely beautiful. And the luncheon was the perfect rest, and a great place to mingle with everyone that had been at the temple. Not to mention the delicious food!!! Thank you Grandma Bev and Yvette and everyone who helped!!! Seriously, everything about my wedding day was just so perfect, and it was the best day of my life. I am so happy to be sealed to my sweetheart forever. He is perfect for me in every way and I'm glad we can share our lives together. Well, as I'm sure you're all waiting for, I'll post some of the pictures from our photographer!!! Enjoy!!

Oh and p.s....my name is changed officially now :) I have a social security card and an official driver's license that both say Natalie Elizabeth De Jesus.... :) so yeah...just thought I'd share that

haha.... :)

Before the Wedding: May 25, 2009

Husband and Wife: May 26,2009

Mesa, Arizona Temple

There are WAY more pictures from the temple, but I think I'll put the pictures from the reception where everybody is all in their wedding clothes :)

The Wright House Reception

WHEW!! Hope you liked all the pictures!! I almost feel bad that there are so many..... it's just I have over 300 pictures from the photographer and it's just so hard to choose! And there's so many things that happened that day that I want to share!!! I just laugh at myself that all this time I've been blogging I've always just clicked and dragged my pictures down and down and down....over and over again till they get to the bottom, and I never even thought about this: CUT and PASTE!!! It's like my new best friend!!! I love it!!! Time and energy saver!!! Haha... well love you guys, hope you enjoyed what is now officially my longest post ever :)

The Joys (And HORRORS!!) of the Music Education Major

Ok so, again I am at work in the Marriott Center Office with absolutely nothing to do.... so I'm going to post about my class, Music 176, Careers in Music Education. I just barely started this class Monday, June 22, and it'll be done this Thursday, July 2! It's a three hour class on Mondays and Thursdays, so I only go 4 times and I'm done! The scary thing is, this class is like a 12 hour "audition" for the Music Education Major. All of the work we do for the class goes into the decision making process.... :/.... so then, this last Thursday they tell us that there is a new part to this class that they've never done before....an audition. Here I was, thinking that I'd already auditioned this last December/January, and now I find out that doesn't count anymore!! So I'm like CRAP!! I haven't had voice lessons in two months!! The worst part is, they told us that auditions could be as early as this FRIDAY....yeah, so in like less than a week....hmmm.... and that's besides the fact that we have this HUGE closing assignment due by July 20, AND an interview due by August 3. I was hoping that we could have the interviews earlier and find out about our admission into the program by mid-july, but after seeing the requirements for the closing assignment, I understand why everything happens so late :)
I know I've mentioned a lot of the stress, but all-in-all this class is actually really fun. We do really interesting assignments that actually have to do with music education! Imagine that! hahah.... but really I find myself actually enjoying myself while doing my assignments. Even though this class is titled "Careers in Music Education," it actually talks a lot about other music careers as well; so we get to read about things like Music Therapy and Music Psychology. Our teacher's wife came in yesterday and talked about free-lance musicianship; she is an amazing woman!! It is interesting to think that someone who has a degree in opera and oratorio can make her career singing jingles and commercials for TV and radio stations! I love that this class is all about finding what's right for each individual person and making sure that everyone is suited for being a music teacher. It really is a noble career and a tough one at that!! It is important that everyone is ready for the challenge, especially since people will be putting their children into our hands at some point and expecting us to do our job, no questions asked!! This class is actually meant to "weed out" or kinda scare off people who aren't committed or sure about this career, but honestly for me this class has just shown me even more how much I want to be a choir teacher; I want to be able to influence people's lives and make a difference. Because I can make a difference and I can do something good in this world by being a teacher. I am so excited!!! I hope I get into the program, but I think I can do it!!! Wish me luck!

Mexican Honeymoon

Ok so I've been waiting for pictures from my wedding so I could post those FIRST, but seeing as I don't have any and don't want to steal anybody elses, I am posting about the Honeymoon first. I just couldn't wait to get something up here!! So, the wedding was great!! It was picture perfect, and then we went off for the honeymoon. The first night we spent at the Hampton Inn and Suites in Phoenix, near the airport. It was a really nice place! Then the next morning we flew out to Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico to the Decameron Resort. It was so much fun! The airport was a little nervewracking since I'd heard all kinds of stories about people having to throw things away, etc. And filling out all the paperwork just to get off the plane....!!! But in the end, all we threw away was apples. I guess they were afraid we were trying to use their land to grow fruit and sell it in the US or something... hahaha. So we made it to the hotel, and to our room, which wasn't necessarily the NICEST room, but it was cute :) We were in the building closest to the beach, and we had a FANTASTIC view of the ocean, it was absolutely beautiful! Because of all of the Swine Flu scare, there were hardly any Americans there. The hotel population was probably 80% Mexican!! And due to the fact that I was traveling with a part Puerto Rican who speaks Spanish, they thought I was Mexican!! Apparently there are many Mexicans in Puerto Vallarta that are quite pale. I got really good at answering in English to questions given in Spanish :) It was really fun! The weather was perfect; it was in the 80's the entire time we were there. And it was humid, but the breeze from the ocean made it so it felt absolutely perfect. Since it was an all-inclusive resort, we had all you can eat Mexican food all day long!! And they had other nice restaurants for free with reservations!! They also had pools literally on every side of our building, as well as an "adult only quiet pool" which was nice so that we didn't have all the little kids throwing balls and shooting squirt guns all around us all the time :) All in all Mexico was a great honeymoon and we are very glad we went! Here are some of the pictures to share with you the fun we had :) It really was beautiful!

This is our room :) It really didn't have much more to it than a balcony and a bathroom, but it was great for the trip!!! We loved it!

The view from our balcony :)

Me and my sweetheart at sunset

I had to take quite a few pictures with our inexpensive camera to get a picture with color like this, so I had to post it!! Puerto Vallarta is a gorgeous place :)

The beauties of Mexico :) They even had banana trees! And coconuts, and pineapple....yeah. Amazing.

All around our hotel they had little Mexican things, and I liked this one haha... :)

At the beach!! We went every day. They had boogie boards, and stuff we could use whenever we want!!! We also got 50 min massages for 30 bucks each!! That was amazing. The water was perfect too.

We went to a fiesta! One night they had a live mariachi band, and people dressed up in authentic clothes with vendors, and games and music going on it was fun!

We dressed up to go to dinner :) I love Ben!

One of the many fountains at the hotel :) This picture is one of my favorites

This is at the Brazilian restaurant. Our waiter took it for us.

The beach again. We tried writing our names in the sand, but it didn't quite fit in the camera. And then they got washed away!! Sad, but it was fun anyways :)

Outside the Japanese restaurant. Look!! It's Buddha!

At the beach again, enjoying the sun :) Except this time we went up on the higher deck so we didn't get sand in our eyes every time the wind blew, haha..

Our last night in Mexico, we took a walk on the beach and thought we'd take one last picture at sunset, although you can't see the color in this picture.

Mexico was a wonderful, needed vacation. Life got so stressful before the wedding, this was a necessary break from the craziness of life. It was so much fun!! 5 nights there were great, and we had lots of fun souvenir shopping and even saying no to all of the vendors that roam the beach all day long!! It was fun. Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Love Love Love

Love is a beautiful thing :) I know it's been a long time and I haven't written, but school has been crazy and planning a wedding even crazier!! This past week I've finally gotten home and Ben and I had an open house in Washington on Friday. Then I went through the temple on Saturday, it was beautiful!! I don't have pictures yet from the last two events, but hopefully I can steal pictures from my mom sometime soon and make some more posts :) 

Anyways, what I do have pictures for are engagement pictures!!! And a little message (or whatever, I don't know what to call it haha) about love. You know, there is more than one type of love. There's the love when you "think" you're in love and then realize later that you really weren't, you were just excited and happy for the attention; it was nothing that lasted very long, it was only temporary. Then there's the love that is lustful love.... not much is needed to be said about that. Then there's the love that lasts forever, the love that everybody longs for. How do you really know when you're really in love? This true love is hard to come by, and hard to recognize. I myself have mistaken love before and had that temporary "love" I already mentioned. But now, being truly in love is so much different, and it makes me so happy! There is such a difference once you experience this kind of love, but you can't know it until you're in it! So my advice to those who have not yet found their forever companion is, really be careful with the words "I love you". They are really special words; save them for the person you really know, is for you, your TRUE love. Love is sweet, love is special, love is forever. It makes a princess into a QUEEN!!! haha so yeah..... I love love :) 

Anyways, here are some engagement photos. We took them next to the Provo River by Raintree Apartments on University Parkway :) We took them in the middle of March, and Ben actually has mono!! But the pictures turned out great, and we are so cute!! It makes me so happy!!!