Fall Break

Ahoy, friends!

This coming week is my fall break from school so Jake and I decided that...We're going on a cruise TOMORROW!! We leave from LA and cruise to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta (Mexico)and then back to LA all in 7 days. Jake and I have never been on a cruise, but we're told that it's addicting, the food is amazing, and the ship is full of fun entertainment. We both can't wait!!! I'll let you know all about it when we get home next week:) (I'm going to miss our pets, though, but Uncle Josh, Jake's twin, will do a great job babysitting!) Here are some pictures of each of the ports that we'll be visiting. Bon voyage!

Mumu Mama

I literally have not laid eyes on our blog since May, maybe even earlier, which also means I haven't laid eyes on anyone else's. Sorry:(

Translation: I am way out of the blogging loop.

I also realized that Jake is so sweet and wrote an adorable note about how we met, something I could have thanked him properly for if I actually read our blog! Wink, wink:)

I know I say this every 4 months or so, but I'm giving this another shot and trying to be good at it; no promises, though... I write a "Bell Broadcast" family newsletter every month, though, for us to keep in a book I'm making, so maybe I'll just post our monthly updates for you all to read and keep things easy on myself. I don't know how all of you super women find time to do this! I'd rather lounge around in my mumu on the couch after a rough day at work! That's right, I said a mumu, and I have one (African-esque) and wear it daily!!

Peace, love, and hair grease,
MEK-A-LICOUS

The Beginning (Jake's version)

I was making brownies for my home teaching families when I received a call to help Mekell bring some patio furniture from way up north. I was told it was pretty far away, but I didn’t care. I had the chance to hang out with Mekell! I was so excited that I offered to leave that moment to bring the patio furniture, but we re-scheduled to pick it up the next day.

Even though I was extremely nervous to go with her I was the most excited I had ever been. I was thinking the whole day “what are we going to talk about?” “what if she thinks I’m shy.” Then I realized that I just needed to be myself so that she could see who I really was. The night was great. We loaded her furniture in the back of my truck, then we headed back to her house. She bough some Dairy Queen as a treat, then we hung out afterwards. I was excited that I received that phone call because that was the start of our journey together.

We started a Scary Movie Marathon that September. This allowed us to hang out and get to know each other a little better. We were instant friends.

We had a ward campout in mid October 2007 and Mekell and I were up until 2 am talking with our friends. The next day my brother and I took a large group of buddies from the ward to go shooting, and when I came back Sprint’s cell service area (which isn’t great btw) I saw that there was a left message in my voicemail box. I was thinking to myself, “self, who could have called me. I normally don’t get a lot of calls, so who could it be?” I listened to the message and it was Mekell asking me to call her back when I got back from the trip.

I called Mekell back as soon as I could. I was excited. I had no idea what she was going to ask me. I was nervous to call, but the excitement overcame the nervousness and so I called her back right away. She asked me to go to the Stake’s Luau which is held once a year. I immediately answered YES!

Our first date was great, and so were the rest. The day after Mekell found her bubba lubba, Smudge I became really sick. I was sent to the hospital for 3 days after having an infection penetrating my heart cavity. I sent Mekell a text message saying “My heart is full of love for you.” I sent that to her hoping that she knew I was really saying that I love her with all my heart. Sometimes my wording doesn’t make sense even though it makes sense in my head. Ha!

Mekell found out from her friend, Joylyn that I had been sent to the hospital to recover from this attack. Mekell came over the first night I was in the hospital to check in on me, and it was when she was there visiting me that I knew that she really cared for me, and I knew that I had really cared for her with all my heart.

Through the month of December I had a leave from work so that I could recover from the sickness that had entered my body. I decided to make Mekell a quilt. She was always cold in the house that she was living at on Jentilly, so I thought she would really appreciate it.

While I was making the quilt I was thinking quite frequently about all the pieces of Mekell that make her great. She is the most selfless person that I know, she is always serving, she always is there for her friends, she had become my best friend. Patching together the quilt had given me the chance to realize that I truly did love her with all my heart. I prayed about it, and the response was almost instant and I had to tell Mekell how I felt. That night, we watched The Office and I told her how I felt. I told her that I loved her and that I had been praying and I felt that she is the one I was to marry. I didn’t expect her to feel the same way right away.

New year’s day we went to Sedona, and she says that while we were there that she found out that I was the one that she was to marry. I was extremely excited, it was the best news that I have ever heard!

Since then we have gone through so much together that have truly helped us grow as people. But I wanted to write this to thank my sweetheart for her perfect example to me. She is the one that picks me up when I am down. She is the one that can ALWAYS put a smile on my face. She is the one person that I trust with all of my heart!

Sweetheart, in my eyes the beginning of our life together was perfect, and has continued to be perfect since then. I am grateful for all that you do, and I am eternally grateful for that phone call that started it all.

I love you forever, sweetheart!



Love, Jake

7 Things

Seven Things I Can Do:
1. Make friends and keep them forever.
2. 30 man push-ups in a row.
3. Stand up for my beliefs and passions, & I have many!
4. Debate & Write—expressing myself with words, verbally and written, is my forte.
5. Laugh out loud loudly! And make others laugh, too.
6. Believe in myself and my potential.
7. Host a party—I love planning and socializing, and parties are my fave!

Seven Things I Can't Do:
1. Kill a living creature. It’s not in me, and I never want it to be.
2. Stay quiet when I want to express my opinion.
3. Finish my to do list. It keeps getting added to!
4. Anything involving heights and ledges, just thinking of them makes my pulse race.
5. Litter-- my biggest pet peeve.
6. Stop coming up with new projects to complete—I love staying busy.
7. Be mean to animals. I love them, period.

Seven Things I Say Most:
1. “NO!” We have a 4 month old puppy, enough said.
2. “I love you.” Jake and I say those 3 words more than any others to each other.
3. “Are you kidding me?!” Working with juvies elicits that responds quite frequently.
4. “Yes, my eyelashes are real.” Seriously, people ask constantly.
5. “I know I’m tall.” People are so weird, they state the obvious daily.
6. “I want to go back to Spain!” I long to go back…
7. “I’m so blessed.”

Seven Goals for the Year:
1. Become a runner, which is not my favorite thing, but I’m working at it.
2. Go on a cruise too!
3. Read more novels.
4. Graduate with my Master’s in May!
5. Eat healthier.
6. Go to the temple once a month with Jake.
7. Save more money.

Seven Reasons I fell head over heels for Jake:
1. He's an eternal optimist.
2. He can do anything he sets his mind to.
3. He’s a gentle giant.
4. He’s freaking buff and the tall, dark, and handsome man I always wanted! (Plus he’s the offensive lineman football player my dad always wanted!)
5. He loves to serve and never complains.
6. He’s open minded and non judgmental.
7. He loves me more then I ever thought a person could love me.

Seven things I love to Eat!
1. Burrito bowls!
2. Starbuck’s ice cream.
3. Smoothies.
4. Meatball subs.
5. Red vines.
6. FUDGE!
7. Diet Pepsi and H2O!!


I TAG YOU ALL! GO DO ONE!

About Time!!

It has been far too long since I've updated our blog, but since today starts my week of lovely freedom fom my juvies (Spring Break), I figured I'd update you on our lives the quickest way I know how, adding pictures! I hope you are all doing well and happy and healthy! Enjoy the pics!






Some of the fun things we've done this year, as you can see from the pictures, are travel to beautiful Sedona for the new year and again for my birthday, celebrate my B-day with family and friends, went to a monster truck rally, say David Copperfield's magic show which was spectacular, celebrate Valentine's Day with an eventful day of pedicures, a picnic on top of South Mountain, and dinner at Tiburon next to a 60,000 gallon shark tank, and also getting a backyard makeover with new patio furniture and artificial lawn that we love and is really popular in AZ because it is very earth friendly. That's what we've been up to!

Elephant Sanctuary

I love animals, in fact, for the most part, I think they are far better than humans in almost every aspect that I deem important. They love unconditionally, regardless of race or breed and even if I wake up grumpy or have a bad hair day, they forgive and forget and never hold a grudge, and they always seem to know exactly when you need a friend and someone to just sit by your side to love you. Here is a beautiful example of that and how we can all learn a lesson from our friends, the animals. Click on this link, watch the video, and take a lesson from them...

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4696315n

Personality Test

Many thanks to my friend, Jody, for doing this on her blog so I could steal it and put it on mine!

Seeing how one of my passions is psychology and discovering intriguing, new insights about the individual is what I love to do, I am going to post a Personality Test on here to see how many of you take it and to hear about your results. It is one of the most accurate I have found, and you'll be shocked like we were, I'm sure, at its findings and how funny it makes you feel that it can read you so well!!

Here's the link to the test: http://similarminds.com/embj.html

Here's the link that tells you what your results mean:
http://www.personalitypage.com/portraits.html

Mekell is an ENFJ, "The Giver."
Jake is an ESFJ, "The Caregiver."

Tell us what you are and what you think of the results!