Westpoint is for lovers

Well, I really should be doing some homework right now. But, I don't want to. So I am going to give a little update.

Yes, we are going to Italy next year!!! And yes, I am so excited. People have been asking me if I am scared. I am not really scared, mostly excited, and I am ready for an adventure. Living in

Italy will be an experience unlike any other, I am sure. I am already determined to learn the language and of course learn to cook authentic Italian food. I am especially excited about that (I love to cook already, and Italian is my favorite type of food). But most of all, I am excited to have so many amazing adventures with my sweetheart. I hope we will be able to travel lots throughout Europe. I have been so excited, I have been watching all the Italian episodes of the Rick Steve's travel show, scouting out all of the places I want to visit.

I know its not always going to be fun and games. I am sure there are going to be a lot of things I am going to miss about America. But it's not like I am never coming back! We will probably only be in Italy for two to three years. I have heard from many that living in a foreign country as a couple brings you so close together and I have also heard that if we have the chance to do this, then we should take it. So we are taking it!

In other news, I flew out to New York to visit Dallin over Valentine's Day weekend. It was lovely. I flew out on Thursday and Dallin picked me up from the Newark airport. We drove to Highland Falls and had some Mexican food and then Dallin took me to Sister Johnson's house. I slept at her house over the weekend. We hung out around Westpoint for most of the weekend. We have gone into the city so many times we don't really have anything else to do there and we decided to save money.

On Friday I went to Dallin's game theory class and his international economics class. Game theory went totally over my head. I now understand why Dallin hates that class so much. International economics was fun though, because I took that class last semester and I could actually follow along with it. And his professor kept putting me on the spot. It was embarrassing, but funny. After class, I went to lunch with Dallin in the dining hall. That place will never cease to remind me of the Hogwarts dining hall. After lunch, Dallin went to his skiing class and then we went into a little town-- I can't remember the name of it-- and we got pizza for dinner. It was delicious! Then we saw the movie Valentine's Day. I wouldn't recommend it. It wasn't that funny, kind of just an excuse for Hollywood to collect some money from people who wanted a Valentine's date.

On Saturday Dallin and I went to Men's Wearhouse to pick out his tux for the wedding and the tuxes for the groomsmen as well. So exciting! I can't believe how soon the wedding is. It really is creeping up on me. I have just been so used to it being so far away. But we are finally on the verge of spring and soon June will be here!

Anyways, after picking out the tuxes, we went to a car dealership and checked out some cars we are thinking about buying. We are looking at BMWs and VWs because the army has a sweet deal with those companies and we can get quite a discount on one of those cars. After looking at cars Dallin and I went to Bear Mountain State Park. It was so cold!!! But still a lot of fun. We walked around the park. It was very peaceful with the white snow on the ground and not very many people around. Dallin of course tried to push me in the snow. But I prevailed. We went to the zoo there. We saw so much fauna: bears, coyotes, porcupines, bobcats, frogs, and fish. After exploring Bear Mountain, we came back to Westpoint and changed and then went to a nice Italian restaurant for dinner to celebrate Valentine's Day.

Sunday we went to church at Dallin's ward and then we went to Sister Johnson's house for dinner and hung out there. She had a bunch of people in the ward over for dinner.

Monday was our last day together. We went to Hoboken, New Jersey in search of Carlo's Bakery from the show, Cake Boss. We got in the huge line to go into the store, but it was hardly moving. We decided we would rather spend our last few hours together doing something else, so we just peeked through the window and took a picture outside.

I really enjoyed Hoboken. It is a cute little town that is just across the Hudson from New York City. We took a walk and saw some great views of the New York City skyline. The town has the feel of residential New York City, with a lot of quaint, brownstone apartments, lots of cute shops and restaurants, and not much traffic. It was fun to spend some time there. Dallin bought me some beautiful Italian leather boots for Valentine's Day and we ate lunch at an Asian restaurant.

Then, unfortunately, we had to start driving to the airport. Every goodbye just seems to get harder and harder. Dallin and I are so glad that these goodbyes are almost over.

Dallin is coming to visit me in eighteen days! I am already counting down. But then again, I am counting down for a lot of things. Fifty-seven days until I am done with school and then 102 days until the wedding. Before I know it, this abnormally long engagement will be over, and I will be sealed to my sweetheart for eternity. Can't wait!