What's next?

Well, since I'm going to get caught up... I guess the honeymoon is next.

It was tons of fun. After our reception we drove to St. George and stayed the night. The next morning we went to the temple there and I got some good pictures.

Then we drove to Oceanside, CA. It was a long drive, and it was nice when we actually got there. I got to see my good friend Carlie Frame!!! I hadn't seen her since spring of 2009! Crazy. Love her to death.
Monday: We got up early, got our 'compass cards', and got on the train going south. We went and spent the day in San Diego. We went to the temple, we ate out at Islands... really good place with a view of the temple :), we went to the beach. It was a great day.

On the train to San Diego

Waiting for the bus to go up near the temple.

San Diego Temple. It's become one of our goals to visit as many temples as we can. It was a Monday and the temple was closed, or else we would have gone in to do a session.

The view from where we ate lunch.

Eating at Islands. Gotta have a root beer float. :)

After spending the day in San Diego, we spent some time at the beach in Oceanside when we got back. Jared's first time being at the ocean. :) It was fun. We turned in early because we had a long day of driving ahead. 

Tuesday: We spent the whole day driving from Oceanside, CA to Carson City, NV... where Jared's family all live. They had planned a get together dinner so I could meet them and so Jared could spend time with them... first time for him to see them since he was 11 years old. It was a long day of driving through the desolate California desert... this was before Jared could drive a manual transmission so I had to drive the whole way. 10 hours. Bleh. So we arrived in Carson safe, and spent the night at Jared's grandmothers house. 

Wednesday: We spent the morning hanging out with Jared's grandparents. The gift that his grandparents gave us was a two night stay at Harvey's hotel at Lake Tahoe. So we went up there in the early afternoon the check in, we headed back to Carson for dinner. It was a fun night meeting and hanging out with all of Jared's family. Dinner was awesome and they also had cake and ice cream for us. :) It was yummy. We headed out relatively early so we could go back to the hotel. It was a really nice casino/hotel. The room was huge, king bed, sitting area by the window, awesome room service. It was nice to just sit and relax.

Thursday: We slept in. Spent the afternoon wandering around town and getting funny souvenirs. Just hanging out. It was really nice. Went swimming at the rooftop pool... sat in the hot tub. It was nice. 

Friday: We packed up and headed for home. It was another long drive. 11 hours. We made it back to my mom's house... where we got to open our gifts. Jared was really excited.. :) Because we had no way to get all the gifts to our house in my car... we stayed at my mom's and enlisted the help of my dad and his big truck... we had just bought a loveseat, and my parents had a washer and dryer for us to use so we were bringing everything down. I had previously moved all our furniture and everything else down. So we spent Saturday picking up the loveseat, and packing everything up in the truck, then taking it down. Thanks to my parents, and Julie and Jared for coming over and helping us finish getting things settled. 

All in all it was a fun week. And to be home and completely settled is nice. Now to relax and get ready for Halloween. :)

Much love, 

Rachel Lynn

Where does the time go??

So by now we all know how much I suck at staying up to date on my blog... But I've recently found that I have A LOT of extra time on my hands, so I figured I'd get started on catching up... Bear with me though, there is a lot.  It might take me a few posts to fit in everything. So much has happened in the last 5 months... just to highlight: the wedding!, the honeymoon, starting work, enjoying the holidays to the maxx, finding out we are PREGNANT, trip to Arizona to see Katie, Paul and the kids, more work, crazy fun adventures, more work, trip to Reno... SSSSOOOOOO much. So to get started on the catching up... It might take me a while, and just a disclaimer... this post is going to be EXTREMELY long. sorry! :) I promise it will be worth it.

First things first. I realize that I never told my engagement story... and seeing as how that was forever ago... I'll make Jared get on here and tell that when he is home this weekend.

Next: The week leading up to the wedding.
It was a long and hard 11 days of waiting for Jared to be done with work and finally come to Utah. Even with the great technological benefits, texting, skype... all that, I had a really hard time not thinking about him every second of every day. I tried to keep busy with all the last minute planning and details for the wedding. I kept taking pictures of everything I was doing and sending them to Jared so he could laugh at me... it made me feel better. I don't know why.
I have to say something. I have the most amazing family in the entire universe. Because we were trying to spend the least amount possible on the wedding, we had recruited lots of help from my family and also from wonderful friends from the good old 8th ward. Everyone was so willing to help with whatever we needed.
My wonderful cousin Tylyn did our photos, and her sister-in-law did our cake decoration. My mom and I made the cakes... I had to have 20 layer, and Jared wanted a carrot cake. Of course my wonderful mother and my amazing sisters did most of the hard planning while I was still in Alaska working... the flowers, the plans for the luncheon, the decorations for everything... I only had to give my input once in a while when my mom needed me to make a choice. By the time I got home all I had to do was meet with Tylyn and Susie about photos and the cake, and to pick up the last minute things like a garter, ties for the men, the cake knife and server, shoes... all that jazz.
The day Jared was coming was soooo crazy. It was a Tuesday, on Sunday I had a fever and had no voice and I figured it was a cold... but I wasn't sure. I felt like crap all day Sunday and Monday. I was trying to take it easy and I was basically shooting up Vitamin C, but nothing was making me feel better. I spent the whole day being so crazed about seeing Jared finally. The time finally rolled around for me to head to the airport, and I was sooooo ready. Had things gone as planned, I would have only had to wait about a half hour after I arrived... but I got a text right after I got there that Jared's plane had not yet left Seattle!!!!! I was so peeved. So I got to sit in the terminal alone, waiting for 3 extra hours... BAH. It was horrid. So I put my Angry Birds to good use while I was waiting. When his flight had finally landed... I had checked the status board, and instantly got butterflies in my stomach... I felt like a silly little girl. But when I finally saw Jared coming down that escalator, I started bawling. I couldn't hold back the tears. I was so happy to see him, and knowing that in just a few short days we would be married for all eternity... it made me so emotional. He made it down the escalator, although I almost ran up it just to get to him sooner... and I got the biggest hug ever. I never wanted to let go.
Jared was super nervous about meeting my family for the first time, and the whole ride home he kept asking me questions about everyone. Of course everyone was excited to meet him and he had no reason to be nervous, I mean if my family didn't like what they learned about him so far we probably wouldn't be getting married... Anyway, by the time we got there it was after 11pm, but most everyone had waited up so they could meet him. Of course my parents were on the loopy side because they working like crazy all day and they never stay up that late... but everyone was glad to finally meet him. Needless to say it was nice to know that for the next few days Jared would be in the same house... rather than 3,000 miles away. And in just a few days I wouldn't have to worry about saying goodnight and going our separate directions...
The next few days were a lot of fun. on Wednesday my wonderful Aunt Burnetta and cousin Vanessa arrived from Missoula, MT and it was so good to see them... the first time to see Burnie in at least 3 years and Vanessa since 2006. Thursday we did a bridal session with Tylyn. Jared's brother and his family arrived that evening and it was SOOO much fun meeting Emily and the kids. I LOVE THEM! Jared's grandparents drove up from Texas as well, and it was fun to meet them. The are amazing people. Friday my sister Katie and adorable niece Hannah flew in from Arizona. First time I'd seen them since leaving in May. And Hannah had gotten so big... of course she was barely a month old when I left. Annie and Spencer came to stay the night, Tyler came up for the weekend from Richfield, and Megan had made it down from Rexburg.  It was a blast to just hang out with my siblings. I missed them all so much over the summer.
Friday night was a lot of fun. Halie and Kayla kidnapped me and took me to dinner. We went to Los Hermanos, one of my favorites. We caught up from summer crazies and just had a good time laughing. It was so surreal, I was getting married the next morning.
Jared got to spend the night with his family, and he loved every second of it. He hadn't seen his grandparents in like 20 years... or longer.  And other than the weekend meeting with his brother in Anchorage in July, he hadn't seen his brother's family for like 4 years... I don't know how he does it. I would go completely nuts.
When we both got back from our evening activities, we ended up staying up for a while just hanging out and chatting with everyone. But we called it a night at a decent hour and headed to bed. And for the last night of my life I would sleep alone as a single lady. As I said my final separation goodnight to my man, I couldn't help but be emotional. I just am an emotional person. I can't explain to anyone how much I love Jared. And to have found him, and to have such an amazing relationship, knowing that the next morning it was going to change in the most amazing way. It was awesome. But we said our goodnights, and went to bed. I don't know about Jared, but I had a hard time sleeping. I woke up ready to get this day done and be a married lady. Kim did my hair, and we got done right on schedule with plenty of time to get dressed and drive to the temple. Driving to the temple with Jared was awesome. We just soaked in the moment and were both so excited to be married.
The Sealing ceremony was perfect. I'll never forget the amazing feeling, and the words of advice that were shared with us by our sealer. He is an amazing man. The most amazing part was seeing all my family and my closest friends there in the room supporting us. It was PERFECT.
After the ceremony in the Provo Temple, of course we did photos. The congratulations from everyone who was there overwhelmed me. I'm so thankful to have such amazing examples in my life.
The luncheon was fantastic. My daddy gave a mushy gushy speech that made me cry. The food was amazing, done by Josh Zonts and his family, my AMAZING mother made the dessert. And it was nice to just relax and visit with everyone who was able to come. We had a few hours to kill between the luncheon and the reception so we headed back to my mom's, and I took a much needed nap.
The reception was beautiful. With all the help from my family and friends everything looked amazing. My dad had built this platform for me and Jared to stand/sit on while people came to say hi and give their congratulations. It was so good to see so many people who have had an influence in my life. Old leaders, old friends, and all my cousins. It was awesome.
To say the least it was a PERFECT day. It was THE perfect day. The whole week was great, minus the waiting for Jared to finally get to Utah. Other than that I didn't stress about anything. It was just a good week with family and friends. Even with being sick up until the wedding day, it was awesome.
The funny thing is, the whole reason this all happened was because I randomly decided to go spend a summer working my butt off in Alaska. Of all the places to meet the man I've been looking for. It just took me traveling 3,000 miles to find him.

Coming out to greet our guests after the sealing.

My favorite kiddos in the WORLD.

Love my Grandparents. They are an amazing example to me. They've been married for 60 years!!!

Two of my best friends in the world.. :)love those girls.

The best neighbor in the universe. Love you Elizabeth.

Jared's brother and his family. :)

Aunt Burnie and Vanessa. Love you two. Thanks so much for coming!!!

My super fabulous parents. Love them to death. Thanks for all the love and support. 

Love him. :)

Dessert at the luncheon. Chocolate pie dessert stuff. :) 

My dad giving his mushy gushy speech. Love him.

Jasper, Erin, and Lorin

I LOVE my sisters. They are the best.

Miss Pearl. 

My Brothers. 

Miss Halie. Thanks for everything woman. I love you to death. 

Marcy, I owe you a lot. Thanks for being an amazing friend. And thanks for marrying my cousin so we are now family. Love you and your boys!

The yummy cake. :)

My baby sis... Can't wait for it to be her turn to get married.

This family are some of the most important people in my life. I don't know where I would be without them. These kids have brought so much joy and love into my life. Love the Jepsens. :)

It was the perfect day. The perfect start to my forever.

Much love,

Rachel Lynn Prescott

UTAH!!!

It seems like I never have the time to get on here an post an update... but here goes.

I finally finished my crazy work in Alaska! Spent a week packing up my and Jared's life there... (as we are not going back...) and left.

I flew home on Friday, Sept. 30th!!! It was a bittersweet moment... Jared took me to the airport and I had a really hard time saying goodbye. But I had to... and it would only be 11 days until we saw each other again... and then a few days after that I have ETERNITY with him. But it was still hard. I got home that night... weird to be back in Utah. Still is.

But I'm HOME! I'm happy to be back, and I got to spend the conference weekend with most of my family so it was really nice.  But I miss Jared A LOT!

Have a lot to do in the next 11 days to be ready for the wedding and everything. But I'm so excited!

In 11 days, I'll be here:

With my best friend and the love of my life to be married for ETERNITY! 

Been waiting my whole life for this moment... and it can't come soon enough! 

I'll post again soon. Right now I gotta go Skype with my Man. :)

Much Love,

Rachel Lynn

A day off....??? What?

So today is my first day of in nearly 3 weeks.

Hooray. I love my job.

So in the time that I have not been working... which is not a lot, I've been attempting to plan a wedding... and I really have no idea what I'm doing. On top of that Jared and I are trying to decide where we are going to live... We had previously planned to stay in Fairbanks, but Jared is really ready to get out of Alaska and I really don't want to be 3,000 miles away from my family any longer that I have to... 70 days left til I go home to Utah! Although I LOVE my job... and I really do, I'm not just being sarcastic... I miss my family so stinking much. Just ask Jared, I've had a few meltdowns... I think I freaked him out a little bit.
So aside from all the headaches from working so much, and not getting enough sleep because I work so much... I'm enjoying my time here in Alaska. I have today off (July 21) and I have the rest of the weekend off too! I'm going to Anchorage with Jared and his parents to see his brother who is up from California for work! I'm really excited because Jared and I are riding the train from Anchorage to Fairbanks... it'l like a 12 hour ride. It will be fun! My first ever experience on a train... YAY! So we're looking forward to a long and relaxing weekend. Then it's back to the grind.

With that said, how about a few photos...

This is what I do... :)
See how big that thing is... and this is one of the SMALL ones... :)

This is Jared... and me of course.

And again...

And, this is my dress... :) I'm so excited!

Much love,
Rachel Lynn

ALASKA!

Well, I am here. And I am alive and well. The hard part is finding time to walk or bike down to the Library to use the internet to give you an update! Well, after a 10 days I finally found some time!
Things here are fantastic. Training is going really well so far and it only continues to get better. In no time I will have my CDL done and I'll be hauling loads of people all over Fairbanks, and down into Denali too.
Here's a basic run down of what's been going on since I left Utah:
Both my flights were FANTASTIC. Which probably isn't saying much because it was my first time flying. But, I thought they went really well, and it was TONS of fun. Flying into Alaska was the coolest thing ever, because once you get over the state you come down to a lower cruising altitude and you can see the mountains really well. And it's COMPLETE mountains from the shoreline to Fairbanks. It's crazy. But super cool. My flight got into Fairbanks about 10:30pm local time on Sunday May 15th... which is 12:30am Utah time. The weirdest thing was I could see out the windows of the airplane and airport... because it was not dark. It doesn't get dark here in the summer. The sun 'sets' at 11:45pm. It rises at 4:15am. Between those times it's not really dark because the sun never drops low enough below the horizon to make it dark. So when it's 12:30am the light level is comparable to when it's 7:30pm at home. And it's like that for the 5 hours of 'night'. Once the sun rises it's back in full force, and it's bright by 5am... so bright that you need sunglasses. It's super weird. And my body and brain are still not used to it... but we're getting there.
Anyway, I spent the next couple days getting settled in. Grocery shopping... on bikes, when Wal-Mart is 2 miles, across town... it's difficult. Luckily there is a Fred Meyer's; or 'Freddies' as the Alaskans call it, just about 1 mile from my house. I also went to work to check in with my boss and get set up for training and got that all worked out. Then started training that Wednesday... it was an all day in class session, which was hard. But I learned A BUNCH of stuff that I never would have thought about before... :) That's the point of training right? So since then I've done some behind the wheel training out on the skills course (in a BIG parking lot). And it is A LOT of fun. I love it so much, and it may just be that I am so small; officially 5' 1", I found out at the doctor for my DOT physical... :) Yes, I continue to break records! I love driving big, huge, monstrous, behemoth size vehicles. It makes me feel like I have just a bit of power. Ha.
Anyway, so training is going well. Other than training I've mostly just been catching up on sleep, because for some reason I'm really tired all the time... which is only going to increase because I will be working 70-80 hours a week. YAY... But that also means I won't have a whole lot of time to go out on my own to do things... which I think is okay. I will be going out to Denali enough that I will be able to get lots of photos. And I'll be around town enough that I'll be able to go out once in a while and do fun stuff... like bowling, movies, etc.
Anyway, Sunday... YAY! My favorite day... and it just keeps getting better everywhere I go. :) Church was AWESOME! My branch... yes branch, (singles branch at that) is a little over 70 people. I would guess, I mean it could be less and it certainly could be more. BUT, it was fantastic. I met a lot of really cool people and a lot of the people I work with are in my branch. So it's nice to see some familiar faces in a sea of unfamiliar. All the talks were really good, and very much inspiring (which I was in desperate need of). The lessons in both Sunday School and Relief Society were also very good, and spirit filled. Which I LOVE! Anyway, the I went to Branch Choir practice. :) haha, I know it sounds funny... but we are doing some really beautiful songs and I'm excited for it. Anyway, despite the fact that we meet in the Institute building which is a good 3 miles away... one way,  we bike to church. In our skirts and all... :) Fun times. I'll have to take some pictures of it sometime. But, I think I am going to really enjoy going to church. (I'm not saying that I wouldn't anyway... just saying...)
This week has also been full of training and getting the hang of checking in at work, and the logistics of pre-tripping a coach, and the details of filling out my log book... etc. It's been a crazy roller coaster, and I did have a day where I completely fell apart (just ask Audrey!)... but I got through it and I'm feeling like gold! :)
So the rest of the week will be more training, and going out and shadowing (following another driver) to all the different destinations and learning all the routes... that is what I'll be doing for the next two weeks... It's crazy fun.
Other than that! I hope this has been an adequate update... I might not get the chance to get another one up soon, so don't fret if you don't hear from me! I'll be taking A LOT more pictures in the coming weeks, so be prepared for those.

I'll leave you with a couple photos from my flights. :)

Mt. Timpanogos on the way to SLC airport on Sunday May 15th at 2pm. GORGEOUS!

Sunset at Sea-Tac Airport, from  my window seat on the airplane. :)

And this is what flying over Alaska looks like. :) Mountains, and GIANT rivers. It's gorgeous.

More info and updates to come as soon as I can get to it. :)

Much love,
Rachel Lynn