...What's happening in the single's ward? Here are the best parts!

We have officially been in the singles ward for a few weeks now, and here's what we are experiencing. I'm going to put this in a list form, just for the heck of it. I'm tired of lonely paragraphs.

1. Everyone is SOOO cute! Okay, so I'm one that doesn't fit into the normal girly click. I stand on the outside and usually just watch and judge. I like it there. I'm most comfortable there. I found there were a lot of people in my old wards that I just didn't like. This ward is totally different. I love everyone! I think it's because I'm not competing with the women, so I only see the best in them, and I am not looking to date the men, so I'm not categorizing them into groups of date-able or not.

2. Reed conducted for the first time last week and he tried to say "will be accompanied by..." and said "will be accomplaced by..." (yes, that's an original by Reed).

3. The ward heart-attacked our door and left us brownies! WAHAHA! It was amazing!

4. We got asked to teach Temple Preparation and forgot that today was our first week, until Papa Allred said last night, "So how's your lesson coming for tomorrow?" Both of us gasped and I covered my mouth and let out an "Oh crap!" Yeah, winged that today...

5. BTW, today was also the first time I've taught a Sunday school lesson besides Primary, and so not preparing was awkward.

6. I sat down by myself today in the back, and a guy ended up sitting next to me... Talk about the most awkward 1 hour and 5 minutes of my life! All the awkwardness you can imagine just bundled up into that much time. It was terrible, and we didn't even say a word to each other. I just kept folding my hand on my lap with my ring on top. 

7. Reed had a bishopric meeting at 7 AM this morning. At 6:35 I woke up, looked at Reed, and yelled "You have to go now!" (the only thing that came to my mind). I hopped out of bed with him, gathered his clothes and tried to help him get ready, as he just kept saying "go back to sleep, it's okay." 

8. I got told that I was awesome because I wasn't a "fake Utah Mormon" who was "standing at the door saying 'welcome to my home', and trying to impress everyone at FHE". I'll take that as a compliment. Unless that means that I'm just not friendly.

9. Reed got asked to pass the sacrament today. Guess he blends in a little TOO WELL. He was like- "I can't, I have to sit up there." I'm pretty sure that guy felt like a moron. 

10. I got asked if I was visiting... Yes? Sorta? Maybe?... No. Definitely not visiting. I'm here in this ward probably longer than you will, babe ;)

11. That awkward moment when everyone knows your name, and you don't remember anyone's?... Every time. Blast. 

12.  The other bishopric's wives carpool and are friends and sit together. They have each other. I'm 30+ years younger... I come alone, and sit by random people. 

13. Got a sweet text last week from a girl making sure I knew about the RS activity this coming week. She wanted me to be there. These people make me feel more loved and accepted than I've ever felt before. It's been 3 weeks, and I have already received so many blessings from being in this ward. 

All in all, very adventurous. These are just the highlights of our time so far. The good news is, I think I still see Reed more now than I did when he was scoutmaster. And I get to go to all the activities with him. Looking forward to the year ahead of us. :)

A New Adventure for The Allred's...

When Reed and I got married I expected us to go to church, get thrown in nursery or something, and just slide under the radar for- like- 5 years. That didn't happen. Reed was instantly made scout master after expressing enthusiasm for scouts, and I was asked to be a girls camp adviser, and recently asked to serve in the Primary presidency. 

Then we got a phone call...

On September 20th we met with a stake presidency over a BYU young single adult ward, and Reed was asked to serve as the second counselor in the bishopric. We have been married 8 months, and we now have a HUGE adventure ahead of us! (for the next year, at least)...

And in case you wondered, that phone call created the worse 30 hours of my life. The anxiety was overwhelming. While Reed was at work I had to call Katelyn just to calm myself down. After originally skipping breakfast, I skipped lunch too. Couldn't eat with that much anxiety.

How do we feel now? I was completely mortified after hearing what the stake presidency asked of Reed and I. This is a little judgmental, but sometimes when people in the ward are on the stand speaking about how humbled they are that they got a calling, I think "You may be humbled, but I can see in your face that you know you're the best person for this job..." Maybe I should be embarrassed that I admitted that I think that. We're all friends, right? Ha! Anyway, I honestly think that this is the most humbled I have ever felt. All week I have thought about every bad thing I've done, and that I do, and how I have so many things to work on before I should be someone that is looked up to. 

Reed loves serving, he loves people, and if I didn't think he was the most amazing man in the world, and wasn't perfect for me, I wouldn't have married him. He is. I truly believe that. But I can think of a hundred couples more qualified than us to fill this calling. All I know is that ward is going to teach us a lot.

Every person I've met has been so amazingly sweet. The girls have all told me not to be afraid, and that they are all excited for us to be here. I have missed BYU wards. The testimonies, the strength of the young adults, the charity... it's all inspiring. Yes, they are already teaching me . 

On a less serious note, we went to interview with Reed having a face full of scruff. Yesterday he walked in with a clean shave, and the stake president mentioned twice how great he looked. Also, during our interview the stake president also asked me to sit by all the women, but please not the men. He then told Reed again yesterday, "Make sure that the elders quorum knows that she is your wife so that they don't ask her out." I'm flattered ;) I guess we are all basically the same age here. That won't happen. I'm taken for good.

Well I'll be sure to update you all on our adventures throughout this next year with this new calling. I'm very excited about all of it! Guess it's time to take Reed to hike the Y now, right?

Am I an Allred Yet?....

Am I an Allred yet?....

Turns out I married into an adventurous family! Which I guess I knew, but didn't see the full extent of until I spent the 4th of July with them, and went dirt biking and shooting with them. I'm not even going to get into the 4th of July right now. Dirt biking and shooting... WOW! Okay, so in the last few years I've discovered I've loved being on the back of a man's motorcycle. Now I only ride on the back of Reed's. But when I found out this guy could ride, he became 10 times hotter to me! Now I'm not saying I wouldn't have married him... but... ha! No, just kidding, I still would have fallen in love with him. He's a charmer. 

Okay so let's start at the beginning... 
We were going to rent a bike from some place in Salt Lake, but then they turned out to be super sketchy-sketch and I literally told the guy "No way, we are not doing this!" in a very firm voice after he asked how much we had in our bank account, while holding our debit card. Anyway, so that just meant that the Allred men had to share bikes a little more so that we could still come. With me marrying in, it kinda messed up the bike situation a bit. 

We had previously decided to spend the night at the senior Allred residence to save us time with the weekend. By "senior Allred" I mean the parents. Not an old folks home... seriously, stop thinking that. Anyway, we spent the night there, mom and dad make us breakfast in the morning and as we were eating, Papa Allred decides to inform me that there are no facilities for bathrooms anywhere near where we are about to go. I stopped dead in my tracks... "excuse me?" Yeah, maybe I was seeming more hard core than I actually am? I don't know, but I DON'T do no bathrooms. Like- at all. So my goal for the day was to just not drink water, even though I know it's completely unrealistic. How can you go without water and without using the bathroom within a 10 hour period? Yeah....

Oh! Oh! Oh! I forgot the best part!  Well when we got to senior Allred residence we tell them our story and they magically whip out this Honda Trail 90, I think? Okay, so it's this tiny adorable little motor bike, and they ask if I want to ride it out at the salt flats. So we took it out to the church parking lot for my very first motorcycle riding lesson. And yes, Reed was overprotective of my sensitive head (5 concussions), and made me wear a massive helmet for a 10 minute riding lesson. Okay, so this is me... AH! so cute! 

and Mom, I know you're reading this, so just know that we were very careful with this.

Okay, so we load this bike up and take it to the salt flats. Fast forward to us going. Whew! So here we are, I'm riding like 15 miles an hour, basically mortified of crashing. Not that this little bike would smash me at all or probably even hurt me. It's a cute little baby! So grandpa lets Reed take his single passenger bike, and poor Reed (grandpa boasts about his excellent riding) is being so patient and dealing with going super slow. We drove out to the salt flats from our parking spot and I felt so bad that he had to deal with me that I was ready to go back and let him party. I'm just a way better passenger than rider. I'm happier that way too, because that means I get to go fast and have fun with Reed. So the family sacrifices a lot, and they switch all their bikes around so we could ride together the rest of the day. 

REED IS FAST!
 Honestly I was a  little bit scared for a while there.

That boy is born to ride. I wish I could give him a motorcycle. He needs one. It's his calling, seriously. 

So the day keeps passing, and we head back to the canopy where other family is chilling, and I've had to go to the bathroom the whole time. I would look at Reed and hope that my puppy eyes would convince him to drive me super far out to use the bathroom, but it totally didn't work. After our aunt and cousin went in the wilderness I decided I needed to suck it up and brave it. So I did. I think walking to a spot was seriously some of the worst anxiety I've had in a long time. Yes, you heard it, I had anxiety about going to the bathroom. Laugh while you can. but I had a successful endeavor... (with the help of the husband man). And I told myself it would not happen again the rest of the day.

There's a trail that the boys go on every year to the power poles at the top of some mountain, and I was being a brave girl and refused to be left behind. So a few of us went up there, it's about a 40 minute drive there... It was pretty! The switch backs and cliff areas were horrifying, but as I gripped Reed's shirt I would remember what grandpa said before we left. Wouldn't let some of them go up because they weren't experienced enough for the trail, but Reed was such a good driver that he knew Reed would be fine with a passenger. So I faced a fear there as well... BOO YEAH! Reed drove perfectly. I didn't get a scratch on me with those tight, steep switchbacks. I'm also a talented passenger though ;). That could be thanks to my friends with motorcycles in the last few years. 

Here we are at the top of this fun little mountain:

In between it all we played with our cousin's adorable baby, and sat around chatting, and I avoided liquids. 

Finally a million hours later we got to start shooting! I'm all about shooting. Hand guns scare the crap out of me and always have, but I do GREAT with a shotgun! I had a lot of firsts today...

I hated Reed's gun though.... way too strong...

Here I am with a gun that I'm most experienced with. I had talked myself up a bit, so I was nervous to put one back in my hands after it has been about 6 years since I shot one, but...

I hit 12/14 of what I shot at. That's right! I'm bomb with a shot gun! Here is where all you men get upset that you don't have a wife that can naturally shoot that well. Reed was impressed with my shooting skills. He had no idea! 

All in all this was an extremely successful day. I had an enormous amount of fun!! I only wish we had our own bike. 

So I ask you... am I an Allred yet? 

The Engagement

So back in September, Reed had a work trip he had to go on (I think I previously mentioned that). It was a hard 2 weeks, I missed him like crazy! We had already picked out the ring, and put a downpayment on it. As far as I knew, it was just waiting to be picked up. So the whole time he's gone, he's got me back at home asking when we were going to be official, and he kept saying, "when it's right, it will happen, but it won't be right after I get back." All I took from that was- 'wait- is he going to back out of this? Is he changing his mind?' I was so worried that he'd leave me. I was hooked to him. 

The day he got home from Wyoming, I stayed up in Salt Lake because it was so late to be driving home. He lived with his parents, so it wasn't sketch, people, just so you know. The next day I was getting ready, and he claimed he was going to pick up the ring because it was done being sized and stuff, but nothing was going to happen. He even planned the whole day with me to lead me away from thinking that the engagement would happen. But as we all know, girls are pretty suspicious of like- everything, so I was hoping and thinking it would still happen. He disappeared for about 40 minutes while I was getting ready, and then came downstairs to see what I was up to.

We had planned a picnic in the park, with a motorcycle, and a walk through the park. That was what I wanted to do. Well he packs us a whole lunch in a backpack, and then comes downstairs... and paces... No joke, he'd come in the bathroom, say he loved me, kiss me, then go and literally pace the hallway. That's when I knew it was going to happen. He claimed he wasn't nervous, but come on, he totally was! 

Well we go to the park on the motorcycle and all I thought was- 'this park sucks... there's no way he'd propose here... it's loud, it's by a busy road, and there's a weird track around it...' I mean- I was hoping it wouldn't happen there. Well then he says we are going to take a walk at a different park, so we take the backpack back to his house and drive down to Liberty Park in SLC. We get there and I'm scanning the parking lot for his friend's car. ...but i couldn't find it (I figured if I could find her car, I'd know that this was happening). We park and he's suddenly like- "I have to make a phone call." I'm a brat, so I responded with- "to who?" he says, "my friend". Then I kept saying "why?" Well he turns away, so I turn away and pull out my phone and text one of my besties and all I say is "I think it's happening now! Stay tuned!" 

So we turn back around and he gets off the phone and whips out this neon pink bandana, and all I think is, 'oh honey, don't wear that, it's so tacky and doesn't match your outfit!'  ...then he walks over and puts it on me... yup. Duh.

So I'm blindfolded in this park I have never been to, and he's walking me around and I'm killing the moment by saying things like: "Please don't let the geese get me! I hate geese! I don't want to be attacked by a goose!"
Reed: "You're not going to be attacked by a goose"
Mel: "do you plan on pushing me in the water? because I hate getting wet."
Reed: "no, why would I push you in?!"
Mel: "If I fall in the pond, promise you'll save my phone!!"
Reed: "Your phone? I'll save you!"
Mel: "well my phone is really expensive"

*starting to climb some ridiculously steep hill*

Mel: "this is a big hill... is this a big hill or does it only seem big because I can't see anything?"
Reed: "It's a good sized hill"
Mel: "I don't like it."

Then we get down and get to his friends and I can hear him talking to so spurt out "I hear you talking! come back!" So he comes back and claims he told me we were about to walk onto a dock, but I TOTALLY didn't know, and about had a heart attack! So I'm freaking out because the ground is moving, and I'm thinking- 'I know this will probably be romantic, but he'll probably still push me in". Well it takes him a while to get me down there to the end, because I'm being stubborn about walking on a moving ground, but finally we get there. By the time my blindfold is off, he's on one knee with the ring...


The only thing is: when he proposed, I guess I just assumed he'd know I was going to say yes, so I'm not saying anything because I'm a bit frozen and I'd imagined this my whole life, and here we are! So after a few seconds, I spit out- "yeah! yes!" Then there was hugging, much kissing, and as I turn around, we have an audience. Yup, people were filming, taking pictures, and just standing around clapping. It was like an awkward movie... things like that actually happen! haha! My life is an awkward movie, I love it. Oh, and in the background on a large bridge was a massive sign that said "will you marry me?" 

So, yes I guess I knew it was coming, but it was more of hoping it would come. And it was pretty darn amazing! :)

Reed and Melanie- Our Love Story- Part 2

Reed and I texted every day, almost all day. Although we lived an hour apart, it didn't keep us apart. Ever. We took turns driving to each other's houses every day that he wasn't working nights at the arena. I'm not sure who knows this, but Reed is extremely romantic. I on the other hand, am an awkward duck. I always want to be romantic, but when it comes down to it I get all embarrassed and uncomfortable. Well I am not going to go into details about our first kiss, but let's just say there was Park City, a resort, a ski lift, and a tree with our names carved in it. It was adorable.

Reed said he loved me really quickly. I had never said that to anyone, so I had a really hard time saying it out loud. I knew I loved him really quickly, but at the beginning he would text me and say things like- "love ya" and with my roommate by my side I'd say something like- "yeah, right." Finally she said- "why do you keep saying that?!" It was like a light bulb. Why can't I admit that someone loves me? Why can't I just accept it and accept my feelings? Bam. There it was. There was one day that Reed said, "I love you." I don't remember my responses, I think I just sat there and smiled... he'd then say, "you don't have to say it, I can see in your eyes that you love me." It was true.

Never did I believe it was possible to love someone so quickly! I'm a Psychology major and I've learned all about infatuation, and how it can make you believe you're in love, but really it's not love... it's infatuation. I was really worried about that. We decided after about 3 weeks, I think, that we were meant to be together. I don't remember how it came up... we might have been joking about marriage one day and it just made sense? I really don't remember, but it was definitely him. I was really scared, but we went for it. We both had been praying about it all, and it all felt so right. We talked about waiting until March so that people wouldn't think we were crazy, but for some reason we felt we needed to get married as soon as we could. Besides, I don't care if you all think we were nuts, in the end it was about us, not everyone else.

One day after a nice win at the RSL game, we went ring shopping. We didn't tell anyone. We even bought a ring and didn't tell anyone. About 4 weeks after our first date, he asked my parents if he could marry me. I was terrified. I imagined the worse possible scenario. Them both saying that we were crazy, not thinking, and needed to think about it more, or something. All my parents said was, "why are you asking us? It's yours and Melanie's decision." I couldn't believe it. Then my mom added how excited she was that she got to be a part of the asking. (my mom is adorable, in case you didn't know. If you don't know her, you're missing out).

Later when Reed had left I asked her what she really thought. She said I was 25, and smart, and capable of making the right decision. She added that she trusted that decision. Well there it was! Approval... from my parents, at least. I think we waited a few more days before talking to his. They were a bit more shocked... :)
My favorite was after telling my little sister, she said "the first day I met Reed, I knew you guys were going to get married." (not exact words, but pretty close). That made me pretty ecstatic.

Between our "engagement" and our actual engagement, Reed had to go out of town for work. All I could think was that if I was in fact infatuated, or wrong about this all, I would definitely know in the 2 weeks that he was gone. Would I miss him? Would I care? I couldn't imagine that I'd get happier when he left, because I was already so happy every second that I was with him. Well he left, and I'll be honest, I was a wreck. I spent two weeks moping around, wrapped in his blanket, wearing his gym shorts, and his hoodie. I think my parents thought I was insane. I didn't hang with friends, I just followed my parents around wrapped in Reed's blanket, not wanting to get out of bed some of the days. We facetimed every night, talked on the phone every night, and still texted all day long. I don't know how people do long distance relationships. Respect, my friends. That was not fun for me.

The night he came home was a Friday. It was 11 at night, I drove up to Salt Lake to be there when he got home, and I just wanted to hug him all night long. I didn't ever want him to leave me again. I knew needed to marry him, I knew I needed to be with him for eternity...