Sean and I are now Uncle and Aunt!

Lillian brought home a bunny Monday afternoon. It is 8 weeks old, and (s)he is the cutest thing ever!

We find out what gender (s)he is in about 3 more weeks. Right now it's name is Optimus "Crawl the Warrior King" Prime. And here are some pictures!!

Sean and I were already Aunt and Uncle. Sean's sister Kalani has a super cute son who is 16 months named Kingston.

So we have a very cute family that we will have to spoil lots!! I just can't wait till Sean and I have really kids of our own one day. We still can't decide when exactly we want to start having children, we just know that we want them about two years apart.

Valentine's Day weekend/New calling

The first Sunday in February we all learned at the Kalamazoo University Branch that President Johnson and the rest of the branch presidency was going to be released. It was a horrible day for me. The Friday before Sister Huntington had called me to say that she was getting transfered, and I was sick, and I hadn't been doing so well in one of my classes so the saying good bye on Sunday was not a good thing for me.

All during the week following I would randomly start crying thinking about my Michigan parents not being there every week at church. Planning my last dance with them was a bittersweet experience. But also during the week, Jake called me wanting to know Sean's new phone number (he's had a new number since October and still hasn't been giving it out to people or changed it on his church records), apparently Brother Done or something like that wanted to get a hold of Sean because President Anderson wanted to meet with him.

Friday February 12th came and it was a crazy day.

There were many phone calls to many different people about dance things. Then during Sean's and my relaxation time before needing to decorate and help get dinner ready, President Anderson called Sean wanting to meet with him before church on Sunday. Knowing that we were going to be getting a new branch presidency on Sunday during sacrament meeting, I was hoping that Miguel had decided to have Sean be his secretary in the Elder's quorum presidency, which after talking to Miguel before the dance started I knew that President Anderson wasn't going to call Sean to be the EQ secretary, which only left second counselor... So President Anderson said he would arrive sometime during the dance. As we got ready for our wonderful evening I tried not to think about the implications of Sean being second counselor because we didn't even know yet why President Anderson wanted to talk with Sean.

About an hour into the dance P. Anderson arrived. What seemed like an eternity later, Sean came to find me to say that he was going to be the second counselor. I had to promise not to say anything to anyone, which was hard.

I had so many contradictory feelings:

1. With Sean being 2nd counselor, I would have to be totally ok with the fact that the Johnsons were leaving and going back to a family ward in order for me to fully sustain Sean. I needed to have more faith in our stake presidency and in how the Lord runs his kingdom here on earth.
2. I always thought of the women who were married/going to marry someone in the branch or ward presidency were some of the strongest women I have ever known, and I did not feel like I could be that support to Sean or to others in the branch
3. Sean and I were planning to go to a family ward after we got married because I miss seeing families on Sundays and having little children running around. But Sean and I have been praying if that was the right move for us and I guess this is a HUGE answer of we should stay in the branch.

To say the least, I was not enjoying the dance as much as I should have been because I was thinking too much... And I was grateful that I had cleared my schedule about a month ago to spend all Saturday at the temple with Sean to celebrate Valentine's Day.

Saturday was temple day.

The temple was AMAZING! I have been going through major temple withdrawals since being back in MI. We were going to the temple about once a week when we were in California. The spirit was so comforting and it was exactly what I needed.

It was our first trip to the temple that was just the two of us. I told Sean during our drive down there that I wanted to stay in the Celestial room as long as I needed to. And we discussed our feeling of what Sunday would be like. I did not leave the Celestial room until I felt like I could be OK with the fact that PJ and Sister J were going. We were in there for about an hour just talking about our future plans and things that would not be changing, etc.

Sunday the day of change.

During sacrament meeting, it was still hard to sit there and know that everything had just changed. Well not everything, I think my writing sounds more dramatic than what actually happened, but I was extremely emotional the entire day. I was so proud of my Seanie. I was sad. I was excited for the changes in the branch that are to come. I was overwhelmed with my new role as supportive almost-wife in the gospel, which is different form a supportive almost-wife while Sean was in the police academy. I am looking forward to working to become the type of woman I feel I should be in order to fill my new role.

I have had many great examples of women who I want to be more like, in regards to supporting my husband and still being strong in the gospel. My mother, Sister Johnson, Rudi, Monique, Donna Vizzard, Becca, Sister Brooks, and many many others. I am grateful for this opportunity that the Lord has given Sean and I to improve ourselves. I know that Sean and I already have been reading our scriptures more together as a couple, and we are appreciating each other in a different way than we ever have before. I know that the Lord will bless us in the next however long Sean will be second counselor. And I am grateful for the wonderful people that He has put in my life to help lead and guide me.

I also now feel very comfortable with the idea of a new branch presidency, and as I get to know President Doot and Brother Cammack and their wives better there is no doubt in my mind that this presidency has been called of God to lead us into the next phase of Branch history.

The Proposal

Over Labor Day weekend, Sean decided that it was going to be our weekend. I had suspected that he was going to propose sometime around then anyways. We had been thinking about marriage a lot, and we would set aside time to not be together so we could think about if getting married really was what we wanted to do.

During the summer, I had been in California doing research and spending time with my family. This meant that I had tons of time to reflect on the goals what I have set for myself, the direction I wanted my life to take, church talks that I had read, and what friends have told me about their marriage experience. I came back to Michigan with no doubt in my mind that I wanted to marry Sean.

Anyways, back to the story of the actual proposal (if you want to know more of the thoughts, feelings, soul-searching, etc that went on call me). Due to issues with moving in to my apartment, I was staying at Sean's house. He was going to the police academy and I was working a lot on my senior project... let me rephrase that, I was ONLY working on my senior project.

Sean's mother, Jo, asked me earlier in the week what Sean and I were planning to do over the weekend. I didn't really know except for going to South Haven -- Michigan claims that South Haven is their "Little piece of California." Jo, knowing that Sean had already purchased the ring over a week before, knew that that was where he was planning to propose to me. She had also been telling us since our first month of being together, "Why don't you two just get engaged already?" It's great to know that your future mother-in-law totally loves you and can't wait for you to be a part of the family. Then it was Friday of Labor Day Weekend, and Jo asked me if we were going to South Haven that night, and I said no because Sean was tired, and then she said, "Why doesn't he propose already? He's had the ring. I could have never waited this long if I were to propose to someone!" So then I knew that going to South Haven meant that I was going to be engaged.

Later that day Sean comes over after the academy and knowing that if I persuaded him enough that we would actually go out to the lake that night... All my cuteness and charm could not get that boy down to the beach that night, only later to find out that he still hadn't asked my parents' permission, which is really important. So later that night he calls my parents and they said yes.

Then Saturday morning my mom calls. She starts asking me all of these questions like "Do you want to marry Sean?" and "How do you think your life would be like if you married him?" and "Have you really thought about what you want?" So I knew that my parents were a little hesitant with letting their Christy-girl go. But after I reassured her of all the plans and everything that I had spent 3 months thinking about, she was happy for me, and said, "Can't wait to hear from you tonight!"

After the past 24 hours, I knew that something was going to happen that night. Sean took me to Clementine's which is a nice restaurant in South Haven, and then we walked down to watch the sunset. Once we found a part of the beach that we wanted to settle down on, Sean said something to the effect of "Let me take a picture of you with that beautiful sunset behind you." And me, loving the beach, was just looking over the landscape until Sean said that he got his camera out and was ready. When I turned around for the picture that he was supposed to take, he was on one knee with the most beautiful ring and asked me to marry him. I was rather embarrassed because he was almost the same height as me AND everyone around us was staring. I said yes, and it was amazing. We had both been super awkward on that date because I was trying to act like I didn't know what was going to happen that night and Sean was so nervous.

The drive home was amazing. We talked about our future children. plans. What lies in store for us. Then that night we both could not sleep because we were so excited, and we ended up watching at least 3 movies just holding each other tight the rest of the night. And we totally forgot to fast for testimony meeting the next day. But I think God understands.

The Beginning

Hello Everyone!

We decided that we should start a blog out together as a couple to keep people informed of what's going on in our lives. But first I think we should start at the beginning...

How we first met:

When I was on study abroad, Lillian (my best friend since starting college), suggested that Sean and I be friends on facebook. I sent the request and then realized that his last name looked very Hungarian -- for those of you who don't know Szekely means Transylvanian in Hungarian. Anyways, I sent him a message asking what origin is he is last name. Then we started messaging back and forth until I got to Michigan. On February 8, 2009, we met in person for the first time... it was a little awkward, but it was so nice to see each other face to face.

How we started dating:

Sean and I had been interested in each other since the time we first started messaging each other, but circumstances kept us apart. I had to go back to California for a month, and then I was so busy with school, and Sean was busy dating Lillian's roommate that we never really got to talk. Well, that all changed during a temple trip in April.

We were at the Chicago temple waiting to do baptisms. Sean sat right next to me, and we started reading the scriptures together (which lead to great conversation after the session was over). We were eying each other the whole time. I really admired how much he enjoyed being in the temple. He was a witness, and just seeing him smile the whole time... I was hooked! Sean says that he couldn't keep his eyes off me when I was in the waiting room sitting on a couch by myself.

Later that night we went to a pizza joint as a branch. I managed to get lost and arrive late, so all the seats around Sean were taken. By the end of the evening we were able to talk some and we decided that we should get together. He was supposed to call me and never did, but Lillian, being the awesome friend that she is, suggested I text him. We decided to go out later that week.

We went to Panera bread for what Sean calls our first date, I don't consider it that because HE specifically said he did not want our outing to be a date. We ended up talking for a LONG time. Then we went out later that week to a movie and the rest is history!! And we have now been dating for 10 months.