A Few Bridal Pictures

Here are my favorites from my bridal session. :)

A Few Wedding Pictures

I have a few pictures from the wedding...I will post more when I get them!

My Fantastic Surprise

My second year of college is all done! I loved attending BYU-Idaho because of the wonderful experience it was to learn on a campus where you can feel the presence of the Holy Ghost. I had amazing teachers that are truly chosen to teach at such a great university. I haven't found out for sure, but I think I got A's in all my classs! It will be the first time ever in my life.

I'm finally home!!!! I am already so so happy to be back with my family and I'm especially glad to be with Brian again. I have missed him so much! I told my family and Brian I was coming home on Friday...but really I came home on Thursday! I'm so sneaky. ;) So Thursday evening, I showed up at home and my parents were so shocked to see me! It got me excited for what Brian's reaction would be.

I drove over to his house as calmly as possible..but I was so nervous! I can't explain why, I just was. I got to his house, rang the doorbell and waited. When he opened the door, he saw me and rolled his eyes thinking "How did you fool me?" Haha! It had worked! He was so surprised! Even though he was completely not ready for me to be home yet, we had a lovely evening together. We've already done so many things this weekend! Yet there is a huge list of things we want to do...we gotta make up for time we've spent apart! ;)

Only 41 more days til the wedding! So excited!!!

The Five Love Languages and My Love

The best part of being in love, is that you grow even more in love every day. There are so many things that Brian does that make me love him more and it literally makes my heart feel good when I think about these things. He has brought me so much happiness to my life that I don't even know how I considered myself happy before.

There is a book called The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman and it has become very popular in the last several years. There is an assessment that anyone can take so that they can discover what their main love lanuage is.There is Qualtity Time, Words of Affirmation, Gifts, Acts of Service, and Physical Touch.

I took the assessment and I actually have two...Quality Time and Physical Touch. This works great because Brian's main language is Physical Touch but his second is Quality Time. Although that is his main language, Brian shows me he loves me in so many ways. I can't help but have a wide smile when I think about all the wonderful things he has done in the last six months.

Since Brian and I are apart, the only way we can truly keep our relationship going is through technology. We have developed a wonderful habit of talking on the phone for almost an hour every night. And every weekend, we have at least one Skype date. Our favorite thing to do has been to get frozen yogurt and then eat it together on Skype. The time that we spend talking really lets me know that he loves me and I appreciate the effort he puts into our conversations.

During the day, Brian and I text message each other and he is just so sweet sometimes. He says the nicest things and gives me wonderful compliments that make me feel so good inside! We've also written letters to each other and I save every one from him and read them every once in a while because I love to see the words that tell me he loves me.

Our relationship began in December, right before all the gift-giving holidays, and Brian has given me wonderful gifts. I appreciate them so much because I like having something tangible to remind me of him. Of course, all my fantastic shoes were gifts from him and I love all the great compliments I get when I wear them. And oh my goodness...the beautiful rings I wear constantly are reminders of him every day. <3

Brian has come to see me twice while I've been in Rexburg. It is so amazing that he is willing to take time off of work and drive several hours to be with me for a weekend. (Not to mention, he doesn't complain when he gets stuck in Wyoming on the way home.) The first time he came up, he'd been there for just a little bit, but he got up and started doing my dishes while I was doing homework! It was so sweet of him! He is always doing little things that ensure that he is a keeper. :)

Let me just tell a little story...
We drove back to Rexburg with a friend a couple weeks ago. It's a 9-10 hour drive, but it turned into an all day trip because we were stuck in the Teton mountains for a while. (Snow?? At the end of May?? Ridiculous.) So anyway we were driving and Brian willingly held my hand almost the whole way! It was so wonderful! I kept on waiting for him to say that he didn't want to hold my hand anymore but then he would reach over and want to hold my hand! It is so difficult to be so far away sometimes because when I'm struggling or need a shoulder to cry on, Brian isn't there. I know that if he was here, his amazing hugs would comfort me and calm me down. Soon, I'll get to hug him all the time, every day and I can't wait! Oh and have you noticed all the kissing pictures of us? Yeah...that's because we love each other. Get used to it. ;)

The best part of all this is I know how Brian is, and I know that he's not going to stop doing all these things to show me he loves me. This isn't just a show that he's putting on and after we're married, he's going to stop. Nope, every day he'll be doing something to show me that he loves me.

Ingird Michaelson says it all: "Don't you worry there my honey, we may not have any money, but we've got our love to pay the bills."

We're so ridiculously in love. :)

Books, numbers and grades...what about the wedding?

When I think about it for a minute, it is so amazing to me that I have been in Idaho for almost six months and I am practically done with my sophomore year of college. Where did that time go? Everything was so fast! But at the same time it's been so slow! I have never been counting down days more in my life. Every day I have a number in my head that gets me through the day...it's the number of days left until I move back to Parker FOR GOOD! Today is 42..tomorrow 41....and then only 40!! It's kind of a weird obsession, I know, but it helps me. As much as I love school, I don't have my Brian or my family here to make life complete. That will all change, though, in a short time and then I won't ever have to complain about it again.

I went home for Zachary's graduation a couple weeks ago, and that was fantastic. I flew out of Salt Lake on Tuesday and then on Friday, Brian and I and a friend drove back to Rexburg. Brian was able to stay with me for the rest of the three day weekend and it was perfect. We needed that time together! The day he left, I started having weird cramps that would occur after I would eat. I didn't realize it was only after I ate, so I kept on eating normal. I got to be so miserable that I decided to go to the doctor. He couldn't diagnose me with anything and just said I had some sort of digestive virus. But he gave me an IV while I was there and I got two liters of saline put in me! My roommate told me later that I had looked like I had gained a few pounds...I didn't even notice! All I knew is I felt better because I wasn't dehydrated at all anymore. But still, the cramps didn't stop for a few days and I missed some school because of it. So between going home and then being sick...I got a behind in a couple classes. So much so that I had to drop piano lessons and choir so I could have more time. (And because I hadn't practiced piano or been to choir rehearsals in two weeks.) But I'm okay with it because I have so much more time now! I'll for sure be able to keep my grades up and make this semester a successful one.

Also with all this extra time, I discovered the McKay library and I have started to remember how much I love to read! It's such an escape for me and it brings me so much joy. Last week I read The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands by Dr. Larua Schlessinger and this week I'm reading Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. I also am reading Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. As you can see, my interests are varied. :) I would LOVE to have some book suggestions from anyone and everyone.

Brian and I had our engagement pictures taken while I was Colorado! My wonderful sister Jenny took them and she has been working away at editing them for us. We are pleased with how they turned out and I can't wait to share them all on Facebook. Other than that, not much has happened with the wedding...I may or may not be avoiding all the stress it causes for me and for others. I kind of just hope it will plan itself! Of course, I'm soooooo excited to be married, and I do want a beautiful wedding, but I just don't know how to do so many things. And so I don't know what to tell people when they offer to help. Like I said...I'm just waiting for it to all come together on it's own. :)

I love him so much! He is everything I ever wanted.

My way of celebrating Cinco de Mayo

Well Cinco de Mayo doesn't mean that much to me, but I decided to make delicious Mexican food to celebrate!

I have been wanting to make a "fake guacamole." Which is guacamole with asparagus instead of avocado as the base. I found a recipe from my favorite website eatbetteramerica.com. It's called Almost Guacamole. Brian already teased me about the name, so I don't need anyone else to do so... Haha! It is my new favorite thing I think...it was soooo good. I used plain Greek yogurt instead of mayonaise and I used cholula for the red pepper sauce. And I used red onion instead of white. Limes were on sale so I bought several limes instead of bottled lime juice. My roommates and I will be having limes on everything for the next few days!

I also wanted to make a salsa, but it turned out to be more of a salad. I found a recipe for Corn and Black Bean Salad, also on eatbetteramerica. It had cilantro and red onions like the Almost Guacamole and it had fire-roasted tomatoes which sounded just too delicious to pass up!

Instead of buying tortilla chips, I took the hommade tortillas my roommate made the other day, and some more healthier corn tortiallas from the store, sliced them into triangles and then baked them with a little canola oil. I squeezed lime over them and sprinkled some salt and oh man.. were they delicious.

The two roommates that were here to eat everything with me are still complimenting me on everything! We all really enjoyed everything. I'm definitely keeping these recipes around!

Tonight...I'm going to make a Strawberry dessert that is strawberries, sweetener, and lemon juice. I'm thinking of added some Greek Yogurt to it, too!

Best. Chicken Pot Pie. Ever.

So my roommates and I started this new thing where we make dinner for everyone, once a week. Since there are six of us, we have dinner together six nights a week! It's only been a couple days so far. Amanda made a great Chinese Chicken Salad on Sunday. And she made a healthified version of Pretzel Salad (one my favorite things...ever) to go with it! Last night, Angela made a delicious Taco Soup and cornbread.

Tonight, I was late for dinner because I had my voice lesson, but I came home to food just waiting for me! I bee lined for the glass pan on the counter, I lifted the saran wrap...and discovered that it was Chicken Pot Pie...and it was a "healthified"! I was so excited. I started eating......and it was soooo good! I wish I had taken a picture of it before I ate the last of it but it was just so tasty. I'm definitely saving the recipe for the future. Tiffany had also put together a strawberry spinach salad with almonds and raspberry pecan dressing. What a great meal!

This is going to be a great semester of delicious food...I can just taste it. :)

I think I'm becoming a foodie...

Well I just love food. I have developed a habit of looking up "healthified" versions of everything and I have found some great things. I also make things differently just with my own ideas. So! Today, my roommates and I wanted to have fruit pizza, but I lamented about how unhealthy it could be. We were also talking about making cookie cups....You make cookie dough, but instead of putting them on a cookie sheet, you put it on an upside down muffin pan.

I combined the ideas and I said we should make sugar cookie fruit cups, put yogurt in them (instead of cream cheese mixture like on fruit pizza) and put fruit on top!
I found a healthier version of sugar cookies...they have whole wheat flour!
I'm a HUGE fan of greek yogurt. Especially Chobani Greek Yogurt. I buy the plain one and then add sweetener and flavoring. Or I use it in recipes like banana bread or a baked french toast I made a few weeks ago for General Conference. You can use the plain yogurt instead of mayonaise, sour cream, and make a million things.
We sliced strawberries, used honey to sweeten the yogurt and we got these!

My roommates loved them!

I will definitely be making these cookies again. And they all loved the greek yogurt! It was a delicious dessert.

I'm always looking for new recipes to try that are healthy or "healthier" versions. Send me any you may have! mcpherson.jamie@gmail.com

   

Wedding Update!

Well I should update everyone....

I bought my dress! It's white. And beautiful. It was in my budget, too! I'm so excited.

I have a make-up artist scheduled to do my hair! Her name is Chantelle LaCouture and I hear she's amazing! Brian and her are good friends and that's how I know her. www.couturecreate.com

Another friend of Brian's, Jenna Daniels, is doing my hair! Wedding hair/up dos are her specialty so I'm going to be well taken care of.

I have Affinity for Music for my DJ. The owners are Melissa and Tom O'Malley who are really good friends with my older brother Corey. I just have great connections! www.affinityformusic.com

Rebecca Reynolds will be my photographer the day of the wedding. She's another good friend of Brian's. www.rebeccamariephotography.net

The reception will be at the Newlin Meadows building. At first, I wanted it outside somewhere, but I didn't have a good venue and I know everything will be easier and less stressful if it's inside.

As our wedding favors, I'm making mini shoe boxes and I'm making shoes out of chocolate to go in them. I found a mold  for shoes on Amazon.com and it should be here on Wednesday. Hopefully their easy to make so making hundreds won't be too difficult!

My color is purple, and more of a dark purple. Brian and I both love that color so it's perfect for us.

Things to decide on soon!:

Invitations
Food for reception

The Proposal!

It's been two weeks since Brian proposed and things have been oh so wonderful!

I figure a lot of people would like to know the proposal story so here it goes....

I arrived at my house in Parker, CO at 11:15pm. I had already arranged weeks ago to go see Brian as soon as I came home. I said hello to the family and then bolted because I wanted to see my man! :)
I walked into his house and there on the floor was the ring!!! No, just kidding. :) One of the blue shoes was on the floor with a note.

There was a royal blue string that led away from the shoe into the kitchen. I followed it and found an Eeyore keychain that I had asked him to get me! I wanted to match. ;)

The string then wrapped around the kitchen to the living room where there were like 10 bags of Dove chocolate! This is because of the countdown idea Brian had previously....We eat one piece of chocolate together on the phone every night and we put the wrappers on a big calender we bought. This has been really great so far!

The string then led upstairs and outside Brian's room was this HUGE bouquet of gorgeous flowers. This is one of the times I almost cried because he hadn't bought me flowers before! He said he wanted to get me quality flowers and he wanted it to be special. He said in the note with the flowers that he thought this was a special time. :)

*Note: I somehow didn't take a picture of the flowers with my phone. My mom has several pictures though so this will be updated later.

NOW! You need to understand that there had been some things said between me and my sister earlier this day that made me start thinking about when he would propose. I considered he might do it as soon as I got home, but I didn't want to expect it and then be disappointed! So this whole time I was thinking this was a "welcome home" thing. And I loved it! But then it got better. :)

I woke up Brian, like the final note told me to, and then he wanted me to try on the shoes! I put on one of them and then I turned to get the other one from Brian and he was on one knee! This is another time I almost cried. He had the ring on the heel of the shoe and he said "Jamie, will you marry me?"
I took a moment to smile and bask in the wonderful moment and then I said "Yes!" in my high pitched "Ohmygoodness" voice. :)

I couldn't get over how beautiful the ring was...I knew he had designed it but he hadn't told me if it had turned out the way he wanted! Apparently, a lot of people had already seen the ring, too! My sister Ellie had asked forever ago to be the first person I called after he proposed. So even though it was midnight, we called her and she got to hear the joyous news first.

We then sat down together and picked a date! I thought September 1st was a great day and because it's labor day weekend, Brian was convinced when he realized we would always have a 3 day weekend to celebrate our anniversary. :)

SO. 133 days from now, I will be sealed to Mr. Brian Frerichs in the Denver LDS Temple and I just can't wait. :)

Here's a close up of the ring. If you see Brian, ask him to explain the symbolism with all the designing choices he made. :)

I'm Getting Married!

Well it's only a matter of time before I'll be the new Mrs. Brian Frerichs! Brian proposed to me last Friday and everything has just been wonderful since. I finished my first semester at BYU-I on Thursday...it turned out to be a pretty good semester. Zachary and I left Idaho Friday afternoon after his last final and then we made excellent time on the drive home. I said hello to my parents and Riley and then I headed over to Brian's and that's when he proposed. I knew it was coming but I didn't know it would be within an hour of being home! I loved it. We're planning on being married in the Denver Temple on September 1st!! That gives me 144 days to create a wonderful wedding day that will be full of lovely memories.

A few things already planned...
There will be no wedding party, but my nieces and nephews will be flower girls and ring bearers.
Our color will be royal blue, but it will be more of an accent color because a lot of things will be white.
I would love an outdoor reception filled with white candles, white lights and white flowers. The venue for this has yet to be determined.

September 1st is on labor day weekend which may be inconvenient for some people but the marriage between Brian and me is the most important part so I'm not worried. I can't wait to be sealed to the love of my life for eternity! I couldn't be happier. :)

A Valentine's to Remember

Valentine's Day 2012 was a couple weeks ago. And although the actual day was the most emotional and stressful day for me because of school, the weekend that followed was one of the best ever.
Brian drove all the way up to Idaho to see me for a few days and we had a wonderful time together. To celebrate, we got dressed up and went to dinner at Olive Garden (the best option for us, seeing as I live in Idaho...). We did a little shopping afterwards as well.
Brian bought me amazing purple heels for Valentine's and I wore them that night. It was quite the experience...haha!



 I wanted to give Brian something that would remind him of me, every day. I thought of the very first time we went shopping together...we were at Target around 1:00AM on Black Friday morning and I almost bought red heels that we picked out together. That was when I discovered that shoe shopping with Brian was better than with anyone else. So when I was out shopping for Valentine's, I was at Target and found red heels! There weren't the same exact ones, but they were similar enough. I then had inspiration to write a shoe poem!

The Valentine’s Shoe

Roses are red, violets are blue,

I have a thing for shoes and I’m pretty sure you do, too.

A lovely way to dress up our feet,

You have a collection that is sure not to be beat.

Comfort, fashion, or just because,

Shoes are definitely a love between us.

Shiny, smooth, leather, or suede,

Some have buckles, bows or lace.

A right and a left, each shoe has a pair,

A companion, a partner, kept together with care.

There are plenty of styles, colors, and shades,

Every person has a specific love or taste.

But even if they’re old or brand new,

Shoes can fit any day, or any year you choose.

Now, Brian, let me tell you—

If you were a shoe, I’d definitely pick you,

To be with me all day, stuck on me like glue.

This shoe is shiny, red and new,

Just like our love, just starting to bloom.

I’ll keep the left shoe, and you keep the right,

Let’s keep them around to always be in our sight.

And we’ll think of the day when the pair will meet,

To finally be put together, ready for feet.

And from this we’ll remember our first Valentine’s,

But tell me, my dear, will you be mine?

Here's a picture of my shoe:

I know it may seem a little corny and silly to other people, but the fact that Brian and I bought shoes for each other for Valentine's is just totally us. :)

While Brian was here, my roommate Becca took pictures of us and I absolutely love them.

Okay...that is one of the silly ones. Here's one of the more serious ones...

This one is my favorite. :)



Brian likes these ones a lot, too. :)

Tomorrow is our three month anniversary and I am happy to say that it has been an incredible three months of my life. Brian is so perfect for me and as my roommate just told me, we match very well. I can't wait to see what the future months bring. :)

I am sorry, I do not understand...is it really Friday again?

My goodness, I don't think time has moved faster than it has the last couple weeks! I can't believe it's Friday again! I have a bunch of tests coming up...of course my teachers plan them all around the same time. I am still struggling to find more time...I guess I have too much to do in one day! Maybe one of these days I'll figure it out. I have a couple more years still.
This week I had a dance test and a piano test and they both went very well. I wish every thing was that easy!
I also went to Zumba last night. Oh my goodness. It was so fun! I loved it and I hope I can find time to go as often as possible. What a great workout!
Brian comes to visit me next weekend and I'm oh so excited! It will be the first time together since I've been at school and I'm looking forward to showing him around campus and around Rexburg. We'll be celebrating our first Valentine's that weekend while we're together, too. It's going to be wonderful. :)
Time can definitely keep moving fast until Brian's here, but then I need it to slow down. So. If any one has invented the time machine to control that for me, I'd love to borrow it for a while. ;)

I Did Exactly What I Said I Didn't Want To Do...

I know, I know, I haven't posted in a while. But here we are now, starting again. ;)

Let me sum up the last few months...
I met Brian. He's the love of my life and my best friend and my life is so much better now that I have him. :)

I finished up my temp job at CU Boulder. It was a great job for many reasons; I got to be with my big brother Corey, I got to work in a professional office, and I got paid well so I could save money.
With some of that money, I went to the Metabolic Research Center and started a plan to lose weight. To date I have lost 18 pounds and I feel so great! I am proud of myself that I finally lost the weight I wanted to lose and it has really shown me that if you really dedicate to a diet, you will have great results. I plan to continue to eat healthy so that I may keep the weight off. I haven't needed to exercise to lose the weight, but I plan to soon incorporate exercise into my super busy week.

Speaking of busy week...I started my first semester at BYU-Idaho a month ago and it has been a crazy month! I have nine different classes, plus piano lessons and voice lessons. Literally every moment of my day is scheduled. It's crazy and insane and somehow I really enjoy it!

I have a calling in my ward...I'm the compassionate service leader for my Relief Society. I have met most of the girls and I'll be in charge of birthdays each week among other things.

I'm so happy with my life right now, the only wish there was a few more hours in the day to get everything done!