Leap of Faith

As some of you may know, I started a job recently selling air filtration and purification. I thought this would be a great opportunity to make some extra money and save up for what life will be like after October 7th. It has now been three weeks, tho it is not an ideal job I really wanted to stick it out. I do not particularly agree with the way they conduct their business, a lot of their practices are misleading. I tried to stay positive and tried to ignore what I didn't like about the job, my managers, and the owners. This week the job has taken a tremendous toll on my attitude, emotions, and body. It was difficult for me to come to the realization that the company I had agreed to work for did not intend to follow through with their promises regarding compensation. They made sure to tell me things a certain way to make them sound good, but also leaving themselves room to make excuses and create loop holes. Through thoughtful prayer and advice from some of the people I respect the most in life I decided to quit this job and focus on my own business, TradeMARK Massage.

This may seem irresponsible. Here I am, getting married in 9 weeks, 5 days, 18 hours, and 22 minutes (I have an app on my phone, I did NOT calculate those numbers myself) And I am leaving a full time job that has promised me X amount of dollars, for a job that is no guaranteed paycheck. On one hand I feel like a fool and a failure for not seeing this in the beginning, I just tried so hard to be positive:( The problem is, they can't give me the appointments they promised. I can't get paid unless I do appointments. But I am expected to be on call all the time in case they have an appointment for me, leaving me hardly any time to pay attention to TradeMARK or continue to build up my clientele.

On the other hand I know that I am a daughter of God, he has blessed me with so many things in life and I know he will make sure I get taken care of somehow. Whether it be with random side jobs for extra money, or an increase in my clientele at the Salon.

So this is my big leap of faith. Supporting myself by doing what I love the most, Massage. Though it may not seem like a big deal to you, it is a big deal to me. I am scared of not knowing what Heavenly Father has in store for me, my business, and my life for that matter. But I trust him with all my heart. He has blessed me with so much in life, including a wonderful man that I will be spending the rest of the eternities with. Josh has always been so supportive of me, my decisions, and my business. His support means so much to me I don't know how I could do this without him, I am just glad I don't have to:) Whatever path the Lord leads me to, I know that I can venture it. Whatever challenge he gives me, I know that I can conquer it. And whatever he continues to bless me with, I will be eternally grateful.

Bear Lake Bear Lake Bear Lake!

The annual Bear Lake trip! Every summer the whole Mark clan gets together for a Bear Lake adventure. Activities include, but are not limited to; soaking up the sun, relaxing in the hot tub, playing on the beach, and renting wave runners for the day. This year was especially fun because everybody was able to come, including the two people who will become official members of the family this October.

It all started Friday morning. Josh and I had to drop our dogs off at the sitters. Penny was staying with Josh's mom, and Stella with my friend Amber, and her two weiner dogs:) We made a pit stop at Beez Cafe in Roy. Mmmmm Mmmmm good was the breakfast we ate their. If I were to ever have a Cafe of my own it would be yummy like Beez, and the decor would be cute like Beez.

We made it to the resort safe and sound and decided to go to the beach and cool off. Unfortunately it was a lot 'cooler' than we would have liked, after a lot of personal pep talk, and people threatening to throw me in I decided to just go for it! People say that you get used to the water if you keep swimming around and keep your body moving. However, I have found personally, that the only time the water feels warm and/or refreshing, is when its splashing me as I drive the wave runner. LUCKILY we all survived the cold water! (Even Cozette, the Arizona girl) Saturday we had the wave runners for 4 hours. Years ago, those 4 hours would fly by and we never seemed to have as much time with them as we wanted. Now that I am reaching the ripe old age of 21 my energy level just isn't what it used to be. When our time was up, we were all more than ready to crash back at the condo and take a nap. We continued our fun with some Bache (spelling?) Ball, and of course Bear Lake FAMEOUS shakes!

Like all good times, the end must come.... Sunday afternoon we packed up Josh's Mazda and ventured home. The dogs were happy to see us. Penny more so than Stella. Stella is a lot more independant than her sister. Penny wouldn't know what independance was if she was slapped with it in the face. Once we got the girls in the car, Penny wanted nothing more than to love on her daddy:)

My baby girl Stella is six years old today!

Six 'Stella'isms

1. her little waddle

2. jumping on my lap just to roll over so I will rub her tummy
3. wining at the bottom of the furniture if she cant jump up on her own
4. running to the 'petting couch' as soon as I get home
5. curling up in a ball to take a snooze in the mid day sun

6. giving kisses

Ever sense the day I brought her home she has always been the sweetest and most precious girl! We love to go on walks together, take long naps, and wag our tails. OK OK so I don't have a tail but if I did, we would wag them simultaneously. Where would I be without Stella? Who knows... But what I do know is that my life is so blessed to have her be a part of it.

Wedding Update!

Hello fellow bloggers! Just wanted to give you an update on the plans we have set for the wedding. We officially have all of the basic stuff arranged. I say arranged, but what I really mean is that the basic stuff has been promised to be arranged for us on our special day.

• The Bountiful Temple will be reserving a room for us at 11:15 A.M.


• Tt's have been crossed, and the i's dotted with the owner of The Victorian for the reception to be held.


• We have signed a photography contract with Hollie Kippen from Unique Photography. She has a beautiful portfolio, and her pictures are absolutely breath taking, check her out at www.uniquephotographybyhollie.com. She is extremely talented and very reasonably priced!


• Josh's sisters have kindly offered to plan the wedding luncheon that will be held after the ceremony. I am not sure what all will be involved but I know that if its something they are planning, it will for sure be fun and VERY tasty:)

Some days it feels like October 7th will never come. But as plans are made, it begins to feel more and more real:) Stay tuned for more of our stories and adventures!

My Love for July 7th

WARNING WARNING!!!! MUSHY LOVE STUFF!!!!

On July 7th, 2009 I heard the three most precious words as they rolled off of Josh's tongue. "I love you." Simple words? Yes. However, that day changed my life in a way. I was never a non-believer of love, I just never thought it would feel so real and mean so much to me to know that he loves me.

We have always had so much fun together, our laughter is contageous, and our love is real.

I love and cherish every moment I get to spend with Josh. I can't wait until we are husband and wife and we get to be together all of the time. I can't wait for him to come home to me every night after work.

I can't wait to be his, officially, no questions asked, no exceptions, never ending. Josh means the world to me. He is my best friend, my favorite goodnight kiss, and my future husband. What more could I ask for?

If you are reading this and you haven't found your own 'Josh' I promise you that he is out there. Waiting for you. The journey of life is long, try not to endure it, but try to embrace it. I have had a truly blessed life.

I consider Josh to be one of my greatest blessings. We are not perfect, but we are perfect for each other.

Josh has taught me so much in life and I can hardly wait for what the future has in store for us.

Getting Closer!

Ok we are officially getting closer to making a decision with where the reception will be held at. I took my mom the the Victorian today and she thought it was absolutely GORGEOUS! But who wouldn't?! The other option is the Farmington Community Center, which is also a very beautiful place. We are still trying to figure out if we will be able to save money by reserving the community center and hiring our own caterers and decorators. So we are waiting to hear back from a few contacts and we will hopefully make a decision by this weekend.

We have also been getting lists together. Josh's mom has been so sweet to diligently contact family members and friends that she wants to invite and get their addresses. I myself have been a slacker! But in my defense I do have a file that lists the names and addresses of the people we invited to Matt and Aarons wedding, so I am not a total slacker because I have taken a glance at the list:)

Saturday I have a fitting for my wedding dress and afterwards Josh and I are going to go ring shopping for him! It will be quite the adventure I think, when I ask Josh what he wants, "I dunno babe just whatever is fine." Haha boys boys boys, can't live with them, can't love without them. And THAT ladies and gentleman is a Britany Mark (soon to be Cronen) original quote!