Blessings just keep on coming!

 I recently moved in with Cody's family up in Highland for convenience as Trina (Cody's Mom) has been helping me plan for the wedding, and so I don't have to drive to Provo every night at midnight. Cody also moved up here because he sold his contract and had nowhere else to go. ((But don't worry. We're not going to do anything dumb. We're chaperoned at all times, and we're not about to mess up now that it's less than a month away)) Anyways, we were all just sitting in the front room, decorating the Christmas tree when all of a sudden, someone knocks on the door very loudly. The whole family except me goes to the door to see who was there (because I don't know anyone in Highland, so of course it wouldn't be for me), and instead of a person, there was a huge present that said "Don't open until Christmas" and then a little envelope on top of it that said "Open Now" and they were both for Cody and I. So I walk over to the door, not knowing what to expect, and just joking around I said.. "It better not be anything special, cause I already have a headache and crying would make it worse!" Well, Cody opened the envelope to find $300 in cash! Yeah, the tears started flowing! How amazing is that?! And who knows that we're both living here? We just moved in at the beginning of this week, and didn't really even tell anyone! And on the big present, there was this little note..

I'm speechless. I don't know why we deserved this, but I am soo grateful for all of the sweet people in this world.

And, to top this day off, Cody's old employer who owes him a ton of money, called him up today and said he had $300 to pay him. So we got a total of $600 in cash to help out with everything.

We are loved, and it feels so wonderful (:

Do what's right, and you'll be blessed (:

I mentioned Cody's new job a while ago, where he's getting paid $12.80 an hour. That was doing excavating and drilling.. Well the last job that he was put on right before Thanksgiving was expected to last from the beginning of November all the way through January. Which would have been AWFUL!! He was in Delta for the first week (2 hours away from Provo) and then in Milford (3 hours away from Provo) for the next week! And on top of it, he had to be there for a week straight, and in Milford, he didn't have cell phone service!!! So every night he called me from his co-worker's phone for about 10 minutes, if I was lucky. So by the time Thanksgiving week came around, we were SOOOO excited to be able to see each other every single day, without work interrupting at all! Well, as fun as that was, when we got back and Cody was expecting to go to work the next day, his employer called and said that they didn't have any more work for him because he worked too fast on the last project. So day after day, hour after hour, Cody filled out so many applications for jobs he wanted, jobs that looked interesting, and jobs that he knew he'd at least get paid for. Well after two weeks of doing this, his stress level was out the window, and was so worried about paying for our wedding and supporting me and our new life together. We were praying our little brains out, but still no job. I'm still working at Pizza Pie Cafe, but not getting very many hours, so I was supporting us for a while on my $400 every two weeks, with a mere $0.36 in Cody's bank account :/ Alas, after the craziest job application that required a million extra things to be done then all the others, Cody got a job interview!! It was with a company called Ludvik Electric and he was interviewing for one of the apprenticeship positions. At the end of the interview, they told him to go into another room while they discussed, and after just a short while, they offered Cody the job and told him that he was one of the highest scoring interviewee's in the applicant pool and they wanted to make sure they secured him before he got another job!!!! So he went in two days later for orientation, and he is now an employee for Ludvik Electric!! He works from around 7-3 Monday through Friday, it's a 4 year apprenticeship, and here's the best part.. He starts out making $15.40 an hour, and after the 4 years, he'll be a certified Journeyman and can get AT LEAST $25 an hour!!!

And if that wasn't good enough, let's count all of our other blessings that have been given to us in the last week.

-Cody sold his contract!! He moves out tonight!
-I successfully finished this semester, and somehow managed to pass all of my classes!
-Mine and Cody's parents are super helping with paying for wedding stuff
-Cody's family offered their Great Grandma's house for us to live in after we get married!!
                    -And we're actually making progress in cleaning it!
-My good friend's aunt offered to make my bouquet!!
-My dress is almost done being altered/ having a bolero made for it!!

Plus all the other things that I've mentioned that we're getting for free, we know that these are all blessings because we're doing the right things in our lives (:

TEMPLE!!!!

This... IS A HUGE DEAL!! I just found out this past Sunday that I'll be able to go THROUGH the temple on the day after Thanksgiving while I'm in Washington with my family!!! This is seriously such an important thing, and I'm so excited to be able to receive all of the blessings that come with this experience! I was super lucky to be able to go through so far in advance of my wedding, but since my family won't be able to come out to Utah until 2 days before our wedding, and I'm only going to see them for a week during Thanksgiving, I really needed them to be there for this very special day! And my Bishop was very understanding and didn't have a single problem with it! I have an interview with him on the 13th of this month, and then I'll just have to meet with the Stake President as well, and then the following week, IT'LL FINALLY BE THE DAY!!!!!!! It is a bit overwhelming, and when I say a bit, I mean a freaking ton. But, I know it's the right decision, and I'll be forever blessed for doing it (: Also, I just finished the little book that I was given called "Preparing To Enter The Holy Temple" and it was AWESOME!! I'll probably read it one or two more times before the 25th just to get as much out of it as possible!

I sold my contract!!

This really is happening! I just sold my contract to one of Carly's highschool friends, Courtney! She just got home from her mission two weeks ago and wanted to move in, and I want to move out and save money for wedding things!! How perfect, right? I signed my portion of the deal today and sat there while Courtney filled out her things. Plus, the awesomest(it's not even showing that this word is spelt wrong! Is awesomest really a word?!?!?!) part was that I only had to pay half of this month's rent, seeing as Courtney will be moving in on the 15th of this month!! SWEET! She just needs to pay her moneys toward this, and it will be officially official, but I know that she's going to do that soon, so I have no worries!!

Invites? Check! (Almost)

Guess who finished designing their wedding invitations?!?!? I don't really think you need to guess, because who else would I be talking about on MINE AND CODY'S blog, other than Cody and I? Haha, well nevertheless, the task is complete! I'm ordering them from Vistaprint.com because I knew exactly what I wanted, which was just two simple pictures-one on the front, and one on the back- with our names and date on the front, and all the detail on the back. And I was able to put it all together on that site and they're only going to cost me about $0.70 a piece!

The only thing I'm waiting on is the address to the church that we're having the reception in, because we haven't picked a church yet. And I have to decide if we want to register at Bed, Bath and Beyond in addition to Target, or just Target.

We're getting there!!!

To everyone that thought I couldn't cook:

YOU'RE WRONG, SUCKA!!!! Seeing as I have a fiance now, who doesn't eat unless I feed him, I've been learning how to cook! Well, I guess learning isn't the right word.. cause all I do is read/follow the recipe that I have in front of me. But I do it WELL! I've already made pot roast (with the help and direction of Kaylee's sticky notes), tuna casserole, poppyseed chicken, chicken parmesan, chicken with dakota buckaroo marinade sauce on it with mashed taters and green beans, and most recently, chicken ceasar pasta salad(that tastes like we got it from The Olive Garden)!!!!!!

(..And it seems as though I just really like chicken!)

And it wasn't too hard at all! I just cut up some romaine lettuce, one tomato, chicken, got some parmesan cheese and ceaser dressing. Then I cooked the chicken with some butter and salt and pepper, cooked some noodles, and mixed it all together! And viola! 'Twas very yummy (: And Cody likes the food that I make, so that makes two happy people turn into two very FULL happy people! Which is always a good thing (:

One more thing off the checklist complete!

I just ordered my guest sign in book!! Because I bought my dress at David's Bridal, they gave me a coupon book for all sorts of things, and one of those things was a free 12x12 photobook with 20 pages which would normally cost $54.99, but I got it FOR FREE!! Well, I added 3 more pages, and had to pay for shipping and handling so it came to around $16, but HECK YEAH!! $16 versus over $70? I'm okay with that!! And our engagement pictures ARE AMAZING!!!!!! Cody's awesome sister Jenae took all of our pictures and I can't believe how good of a job she did!! We might just need her to do our wedding pictures too! And with a price tag of FREE, it really can't get any better than this (:

CODY'S NEW JOB!!

We have seriously been so blessed every single day! Cody was working at Computune as a car mechanic for quite some time, but the jobs that he had to work on were getting sparse and less expensive.. Meaning he wasn't getting paid very much money at all. And since he was getting paid on commission and no one was bringing their cars in, there were days when he averaged a solid $2 an hour.. AH!! How were we supposed to plan a wedding on that salary plus my $8 an hour, 35ish hours a week? Yeah, we were stressed. Well, Cody had 2 interviews on the 6th of October, one that was offering him $12.80/hr for the first two months and then back down to $8/hr after that, and the second offer offered a starting wage of $15/hr, and have the opportunity to get $1/hr raises. So Cody quit his job a Computune, thinking the $15/hr guy was ready for him right away, only to find out that this particular job wasn't going to be ready for another 2 months, and Cody had already told the first offer that he had a better offer!! JOBLESS!! So Cody was stressing from Monday - Wednesday thinking that he'd have to start working at a call center, or even go back to the dreaded Computune.. Then on Thursday morning, he got a call from the first offer saying they really wanted him to start working for them just for a couple of months!! So Cody now works for an excavation company clearing out contaminated soil and operating big huge tractors and trucks and he ABSOLUTELY LOVES IT! And he certainly is loving the $12.80 an hour!!

I love surprises!

But unfortunately, I'm really good at guessing my surprises most of the time... Like when Cody was trying to tell me that he wasn't going to buy the ring when it was on sale, and I used logic to figure out he was lying.. well, that happens a lot. But one day, he had left his car in Lehi because I picked him up for work. So the next day when he didn't have work and I did, he came by and asked if he could borrow my car to run a few errands. And of course I'm not going to guess anything from that, but when I got home, he had flowers and an adorable note on my bed! I swear, this guy spoils me! I've never gotten so many flowers in my LIFETIME!!

He's so amazing!

Honeymoon...

BOOKED!! We're officially going on a 7 day cruise to Mexico that leaves on the 22nd!

5 dates in one night!

Seriously, it was awesome! We're usually way too tired or lazy to actually get out and go do stuff, so we end up doing our registry online, or watching a movie, or taking naps.. Not last night! We decided to go see Harry Potter 7 (Part 2) since it was now in the dollar theater and I still hadn't seen it!! It was so so so good! Such a good way to end this amazing series! Then we went bowling at Miracle Bowl and our first game scores were 100(mine... SUPER GOOD!) and 125(his.. even better than mine!) Then our second game, I only got like 75? Maybe? That might be pushing it.. and he got like 153. Yeah, I'm pretty dang good at bowling. After bowling, we went to Subzero Ice Cream and got smoothies that were DELICIOUS, which then made us want Red Robin. But we didn't want to sit in the restaurant, so we called our order in while we were driving there, picked it right up without having to wait, and then came right back home. While eating, we watched The Office, and then we watched a movie and fell asleep! Such a good, fun day! And I don't really know what I was thinking when I didn't take a single picture.. My bad!! Oh well, next time I will!

FINALLY!

Isn't he just so adorable?! I don't know why he looks so excited though, we were just watching football!

We have been engaged for 2 weeks today!! Although, it feels like it's been forever!! And THAT is awful, because we still have a little less than 4 more months until we get married. BUT! We are actually making plans and are in the right direction toward this whole wedding/reception thing!

• We called the temple and reserved the room and time, (January 21st, 11:00am)
• We may have found our reception hall?! We have to go check it out and figure out all of the details, but it's at the Provo Library!! Who would have known, right? And for only $500!!
• We figured out all of the details for our HONEYMOON!!!!!! If everything plays out how it's supposed to, we're going on a 7 day cruise to Mexico!! So cross your fingers and pray REAL HARD that everything works out for that!
• We're getting our engagement pictures taken on Friday (His sister Jenae is taking them.. for FREE!)
• I might already have an idea of what I want my dress to look like? But...
• I'm going wedding dress shopping today (with Trina((Cody's Mom)) and Kaylee((My Sister))) and on Friday with Carly!((Roommate/Bestfriend))
• One of Cody's neighbors offered to do the pictures, and possibly even the film, for our wedding, the entire day, FOR FREE!!!!!!
• Cody's grandma makes wedding cakes, so we'll be getting that FOR FREE!!

Annnd, that's all that we've done so far. But that's pretty good for just doing all of that within the last week! Plus, like I said, we aren't getting married for another 4 months. So we've got time (:

Lined Paper.

Wedding planning makes Cody say funny things. Well.. everyday makes Cody say funny things. But we were looking at invitations the other day on etsy.com and we weren't finding ANYTHING!! We got 40 pages in before I finally gave up on the whole thing and got super frustrated and told Cody that we're not going to be sending out invitations. We're just going to write on lined paper all the information that everyone's going to need and send that with MAYBE a picture of the two of us.. MAYBE! I might just end up drawing two stick figures and call it good.

ANYWAYS, back to what Cody was saying.. Whilst browsing the web of numerous invitations.. Cody said "Yanno.. there are a lot of people in this world who, for some reason, like really ugly things.. I really don't get it"

I was just very happy that I wasn't alone in that thought. We walked away from the computer, got some food, and the next day went back on the computer looking again. And don't worry, I think we may have found something (: No lined paper after all!

The Engagement Story!

On Tuesday(yesterday), we went to our Building an Eternal Marriage institute class, made some delicious hamburger helper for dinner, and we were about to eat some Oreo's with milk when he suggests that we go climb on the roof of Pizza Pie again and play card games. So we drive over there, and for some reason I start to get all nervous about getting caught while climbing up the ladder. Plus, there were still some employees in the restaurant that were cleaning up, so if they heard us, we might get caught by them too! Well, Cody talks me into thinking that we'll be fine. So we go toward the back of the restaurant where the ladder is, and the gate that's usually locked and covering the ladder is open. Now I really think that we are going to get caught because if the gate is open, that means that someone is up there, meaning that we can't be sneaky. He again tells me that it's okay, so I start climbing up the stairs. We get up there, and I start walking to where we sat earlier in July to play the card games! Well, that place wasn't good enough for Cody.. Neither was the next place, or the next, and we just kept walking around the entire roof. He finally tells me to walk on top of this wall thing and go to the other side of it, so I do, and when I get there, I see it! There's a ton of roses (2 dozen to be exact) in a bucket, some rose pedals on the ground with a CD on top of it, and a CD player right next to that. Then on the corner of the roof, there's a video camera, and that's when I realized that we probably weren't going to be playing card games.. He picks up the CD, says something witty, then puts it in. He asked if I could hear it, which I couldn't, so I listened closer and realized it was Cody singing! He freaking wrote me a song! So of course the whole time it's playing, I'm freaking out, realizing that this is the night, and he starts getting nervous, and I'm just going crazy with happiness. The song's called How Do I Describe, and it talks about how he can't ever find the words to describe how he's feeling, so he'll just have to settle for saying I Love You. The very last line of the song says "How do I find the words to tell her how I feel? I'm gonna ask her if she'll marry me tonight." Right after the song ended, he knelt down on one knee and said "Shaylin Dewey, will you marry me?" AHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes of course I will!!!!!!!!

His sister was there taking pictures the whole time, so I'll be getting those soon (:


We're engaged! He's my fiance.. and I'm his fiancee! WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!!!

Our story

Cody and I met in July 2011 while playing Ultimate Frisbee at Carterville Park which was organized by a couple of people from both of our wards. We said a few things back and forth, but nothing more than that. On July 13th [Wednesday], we started talking more than just a little bit. I realized that he and his roommates and wardies were super nice and we should start hanging out with them! We invite Cody + Friends to play with us that Saturday up in the mountains at our glow in the dark badminton tournament, so I give Cody my number so they can get more information. Right after we left ultimate, Cody invited us to come play volleyball at his apt complex. Then he invited me over the next night to watch a movie. Then we hung out Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.. etc. On Wednesday, we watched an outdoor movie at his apt complex and he put his arm around me for the first time! When the movie was over, we went on a walk, held hands, and somehow ended on the roof of Pizza Pie Cafe [my workplace]. We were up there for at least 2 or 3 hours just talking and getting to know each other, and really started to like each other. That Sunday, I went home and met his family. Cutest family ever!! Then on Monday, the 25th, we were watching Enchanted and he said to me.. "So.. a couple of people asked if we're dating.. and I just told them that you're my girlfriend.. Is that okay?" FREAK YEAH IT IS! I was ecstatic! Everything just fell into place, and it still continues to do just that! We were indiscreetly talking about marriage before we were even dating for a week by saying things like "Well.. I'm starting to think SUPER long term with you.. Maybe.." On my birthday, he gave me 21 roses throughout the day with 4 of thee cutest love notes you've ever read. After all of the festivities, he told me that he wanted to spend some time with me alone, so we drove up to the bottom of The Y and talked for a while, until we were getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. So we went to Carterville Park to try and star gaze, but the grass was completely soaked.. So we went on a walk around the track. Once we made a full circle, he said "Well, I actually had something set up for us.." Which is when I looked to the middle of the field and see a blanket set out with more roses and a teddy bear with a shirt saying "You are amazing" on it. We walked out there and he said a few cute things followed by "I hope this is okay to say.... I love you." FINALLY! I'd been wanting to say that forever! (Hah, we have only been dating for exactly a week at this point.. But for real. I felt it!) The next week, we started talking a lot about getting married, and then we went to 2 wedding receptions which definitely made us talk about it even more.

A couple weekends later, he and his family invited me to go to Missouri and Illinois with them. BIG DEAL! His older brother was planning on getting sealed to his wife and baby. While we were there, we had some really amazing experiences, and it was also there that Cody told me he was going to start praying a different way, and rather than asking if it was okay to marry me, he was going to say that he wanted to marry me, and if God didn't want that to happen, He should intervene somehow. Neither of us had gotten a real concrete answer, but everything felt so right the entire time! We got home from Nauvoo on the 1st of Sept, and the next weekend we decided to go ring looking. I don't say ring shopping because we only wanted to get an idea of what I liked and prices and such. Well, we went to three different stores, and I ended up finding the ring that I completely fell in love with at Fred Meyer Jewelers.. Turns out they had a sale going on that ended on Monday. Remember.. This is Saturday. That meant, if we wanted that ring, and that sale price, we'd have to purchase it within 2 days. Holy serious slap in the face! We needed to figure out if we really really wanted to get married, because $2000 is a lot of freaking money. We started praying our little hearts out all night and through the day on Sunday. We went to his parent's house Sunday night and Cody got a Father's Blessing, in which Heavenly Father directly told us that we already knew that we were supposed to get married and that we SHOULD get married. He said versions of that 3 times in the blessing. Okay! Talk about an answer!! Yes yes yes yes yes!! Needless to say, Cody went and bought the ring the next day (: It had to get re-sized though, so I knew I was going to have to wait a little while until he'd propose. We were planning on going to St. George that weekend so that he could meet my Mom, and I so thought he was going to do it either Friday, Saturday or Sunday.. Well, when he didn't do it then, I was completely baffled! Then he told me he wasn't getting the ring in until Wednesday, so that made a little more sense. Monday, we went to my sister/brother-in-law's house for dinner, and when we left, I just wanted to go home, take a shower and go to bed. I was definitely being Mrs. Grumpy Pants. Well, his sister was having car troubles, so he wanted me to go with him. We get there and he's messing around with the car, while I'm just sitting there wanting to go home. He couldn't do anything about the car right then without the parts for it, so we just went back to my apartment. Yeah, apparently, he was trying to propose, but it just didn't work out.