rushley & crew

Recently, a friend of mine asked me to write a blog post on Mormon marriage, more specifically on our tendencies for a short courtship and engagement. Since this is actually something I'm kind of passionate about, I'm obliging her now :) **The following reflects my personal experience and opinions coupled with my observations. I do not claim to be laying down any sort of Mormon doctrine for short courtship/engagement, though some of what I share will be doctrine. My first date with Russ until the day I married him covered about six months. The first time I met Russ until the day I married him covered about ten months. Such a short courtship and even such a short friendship sounds like a foreign concept to those who date for at least a year, if not three to five years, right? But to me, dating for so long is the foreign concept. Mormons believe that " marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator's plan for t...

Since the 5 on Friday gals are taking a break for the summer, these two farming ladies are implementing the exact same link-up with a different name. I'm all over that! Especially because I completely love their button . . . I mean look at that! ^^ Today's 5 are all about crafting, because that's pretty much all I've been doing this week. I'm supposed to be doing things like going through everything I've ever owned and getting rid of what I never use, but instead I've been checking some things off my to-craft list. The list just gets longer and longer every day, and I've had supplies for some of these things for quite a while, so it was time. Organizing and condensing can wait, right? :) one.  A few weeks ago, I bought bottle #3 for a quarter at a garage sale. It looked kind of creepy and Halloween-y to me, so I thought I'd add it to my Halloween decorations to be a witch's potion bottle or something. Then a few weeks later, my mom boug...

As I said last week, I had a PREception --a reception the night before  my wedding--which was the best decision ever. Why? Because it meant that I got to really just enjoy my wedding day, without having any stress about trying to fit everything into one day or about something going wrong. Nothing could go wrong . . . it was my wedding day! Our wedding was scheduled for about 2pm, so I had the whole morning to get ready and make sure I had everything packed for the honeymoon. Russ and I then drove up to the Salt Lake City temple together. Our wedding ceremony was small in comparison to many. We had only our parents, our siblings (except Chantry because she hasn't been through the temple), grandparents, aunts and uncles, and a few friends. Sadly, none of my best friends or cousins closest to my age could be there because they hadn't gone through the temple, either. But two of Russ's best friends from his childhood (Brad and Curtis) and one of his favorite mission companio...

+ Having relatively smooth travel. Since Russ's dad is a pilot, we get cheap stand-by tickets, which is great for our wallets, but not always so great for our sanity. It can get rough not knowing whether or not you're actually going to get on the flights you want, or even if you'll make it to the event at all! But we got to and from Seattle with relatively few mishaps :) + The gorgeous Orcas Island. Everything was so green and I loved being near a lake! + Family everywhere! I literally have the best in-laws ever. I love every time I get to be with them! It was also great to get to know some of Russ's extended family better. I've been in the family for two years now, and I've been to every reunion there's been in that time (three of them!), and I still didn't feel like I knew very many people very well, so this time I tried to get to know more people, which was fun :)  + No cell service! Sometimes it's nice to just unplug and ...