Love

A continuation of 'Firelight'

My heart was thumping as fast as a rabbit's that just escaped a fox. 

Was it going to happen? 

Was he going to verbally tell me those three special words?

 Our eyes, full of emotion, carried the conversation back and forth. Under our diamond like sky, amidst the crackling fire and in the great outdoors Izac pulled me even closer and whispered with great affection in his voice: 'Joslyn.... I love you....'

I started melting right there in his arms. But before I completely melted away in bliss I replied back: 'Izac... I love you too... You are my best friend...'  

'And you mine Joslyn...' he muttered as he pulled me closer and I nestled in under his chin, 'And you mine...'

What ever part of me wasn't melted before was now completely a puddle of sheer happiness. I had never enjoyed being in a puddle so much. 

He held me in a hug for a brief minute before pulling me back to tenderly look in my eyes and pull me in for a kiss that just spoke what we had verbally confirmed. My puddle of happiness evaporated with his delicate kiss into a cloud of bliss. I was on cloud nine with Izac.

I never thought a love between two people could be so real, so full, so exciting, so honest, so wonderful, so worthy, and so absolutely fantastic. After the last few men that I had dated I really thought that I was going to have to settle on something or another...

But with Izac...

There was no settling... He was EVERYTHING I had ever hoped and dreamed for and more... He made me want to be a better person and aspire to more than I thought possible. I had that mental checklist of what I wanted my husband to be like and he fit every single one of them. How was such a beautiful love happening to me, Joslyn Waters? (Well, at the time it was 'Waters'  ;-) )  

At times when we were dating it often seemed to good to be true. I wrote frequently in my journal how I was scared or nervous that it was too good to be true. Guys like Izac just didn't exist. They were too stuck up.  They were too short. Too horny. Too young. To old.  Too concerned about money. Too not concerned about money. Too weird. Too much of a jock. Too... Too... Too...  But here was my 'perfect' man holding me close in a serene romantic setting and telling me that he loved me! Was I blessed? or lucky? or both?

We made our way over to a wooden picnic table that was nearby and laid side by side to enjoy the perfectly clear night, hand in hand. No words needed said for the moment. I didn't want to let go of his hand. I didn't want to leave his side. I wanted to be by him forever. Every waking and sleeping moment. I wanted to be there for him when he was sick. When he was happy. When he had good days and bad days. I wanted to enjoy my life with this man and spend the rest of eternity with him. I. wanted. to. marry. him. I wanted to be his wife and eternal companion. I knew it, and I was going to try my hardest to have things continue between us. 

'Izac...' I whispered quietly 'I have never told a guy that I loved them at the same time they told me... You are the first that I have told it to at the same time.' To me, that was another confirmation that what we had going was special and wonderful. It meant a lot to me for some reason. 

For me love was (and is) deep. It wasn't something that you just spouted off to anyone on the second date. It was a lot more than that to me. It was spending time with someone, learning of their likes and dislikes, their passions and pains. It was loving them for who they were and wanting to spend time with them. It was more than just the outward appearance or the physical attractions. It was spirituality and display of self control. It was honesty and virtue. 

Love. 

That is what Izac and I knew was blossoming between us, no weeds were going to choke us off and destroy us. At that moment in time lying by his side on the picnic table, that is how I felt. Like a big giant sunflower blossom.

I got the picture from here: http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/pictures/20000/nahled/two-sunflowers-110661299854746a5r.jpg

Firelight

A Continuation of 'Biking Idaho Falls'

It was the weekend of the Waters Family Reunion and Izac was coming with us to meet the extended family and have a good weekend camping. The weekend consisted of a horseshoe tournament, floating the river, hiking, playing mafia and food. We were in the great outdoors and more than happy to be able to spend some extra time together.

Saturday evening the fire was crackling as we exchanged glances from each other, to the fire, and to the clear night sky. The air that we breathed was nothing but fresh mountain air, our minds were clear of homework, school and work. We had played hard enjoying mother nature and building relationships with my side of the family. We were alone watching the fire dance shadows across our bodies. The wind was calm as a retired man relaxing on the porch. The stars gleamed and shone as bright as diamond earrings in the summer sun. My heart was full of gratitude for the beautiful earth that the good Lord had created for us. The weekend had been phenomenal thus far and I didn't see how it could possibly get any better.

Izac stood and grasped my arm to pull me up next to him. His arms slid around me in a soft embrace. Being there in his arms next to the warm firelight made me realize how much I really cared for him. He was everything that I wanted and thus far he seemed as attracted to me as I was to him. He pulled me just a little bit closer, bringing me back to earth and where I was standing, gazing into his chocolate brown eyes. His eyes were full of admiration, but I could tell that he was nervous. I hadn't picked up that he was nervous until that moment. I was curious but decided to let the moment happen and wait to find out what was on his mind.

His whisper was deep, soothing and full of emotion.

'Joslyn...

I love being with you...

I love spending time with you....

And being around you...

At this moment in time my heart rate had accelerated. He was everything to me. Here we were in this romantic setting next to the cracking fire, and under the diamond like stars and my best friend was telling me that he really loved being with me and spending time with me. I was on cloud 9 far away from some of the devastating realities of life. After enjoying the complements he had given me I replied with added emotion in my own voice.

'Izac...

I feel the same...

I love every minute with you...

I love that you are active and love the outdoors...

I love that you are a worthy priesthood holder....'

I let the words hang, tears trying hard to escape my eyes. We just stood there letting our eyes confirm the words that we had just said to each other. The affection and admiration in the air was so thick that you could cut it. The best thing about it was that it was a mutual affection and admiration in every sense of the word. Things were going great for us. Little did I know they were about to get even better...

Spring Break

This is why I haven't written for a while...

Izac's spring break from school was this last week. Last summer it was one of our goals for Izac to get his Pilot's licence. It was all set and on track until our baby boy decided to come in June instead of August. We spent countless hours in the hospital while our baby was there for a month and a half. When we did bring our little one home it wasn't an easy adjustment for me and Izac tried to be around as much as he could. This did not allow him time to finish his pilots licence before winter snow's set in. 

Over the winter his instructor moved to Mesquite... In March his flight instructor offered to let us stay with them and build some hours during spring break. We considered it and decided that we were going to go for it. Ryker and I were able to go with him so we made a family vacation out of it. 

While Izac flew, Ryker and I put miles on the stroller and spent some time wandering around Mesquite. It was an enjoyable time but also extremely hot down there. One day it reached 95! We spent time in the pool, on walks and Izac and I even were able to watch the first 'Indiana Jones' (I haven't seen them yet..) while Ryker napped one day. 

 Izac flying high in the sky

My man and the plane he flew while in Mesquite

After one of Ryker's naps we found him like this. :)

Family photo at a park that had turtles in the pond. Our son was skeptical about me taking the picture... :)

To end our vacation off we decided to hit Zion's National Park. Izac had been there before and really enjoyed it and he wanted to show it to me. The both of us really enjoy being our in nature so I was pretty excited for this adventure. We planned to do Zion's on Friday so that we could surprise my family (They weren't expecting us to get home until Sunday, because the original plan was to go to Zions on Saturday) and get home on Saturday in time for my little brother's Eagle Scout Court of Honor.   

Zion's was STUNNING! I tried so hard to capture the beauty of it in a picture but none of them did it justice. It is just one of those things that you have to see for yourself to appreciate the true beauty of it. To begin our journey we drove through this LONG tunnel that people had made through it years ago. It was at least a mile long. I was in awe the whole ride through it. 

When you are driving through the tunnel there are holes of day light that they have carved out. This is one of those holes. :)

I really thought that the half circle, cave looking thing was cool!

WOW!

When we got our map, we found a few shorter hikes that we wanted to do. I think we ended up doing five in total. Our little boy hadn't had a nap yet that afternoon and at times on the trail he got a little fussy. He really wasn't as bad as he could have been though. Izac did a good job at carrying him and keeping him entertained. Ryker is not the kind to fall asleep in your arms... He only will fall asleep in his crib or sometimes in the car seat. He had his moments but we all survived and had a real good family time hiking. 

There were a TON of people there doing the same thing that we were doing and hiking the park. Five or Six times there was a traffic jam in the path. And can you guess what everyone was looking at? ...Squirrels... I see squirrels quite frequently and found it comical that everyone was so fascinated with them. After seeing like three or four of them, I just had to get a picture to prove that I had seen a squirrel at Zion's National Park. I probably could have picked this little guy up. He wasn't scared of me at all. 

Family photo. I can't remember which hike this was on but they were all BEAUTIFUL!

 If you can look past my handsome boys, you can see how beautiful it was there!

Breath taking.

At the end of our last hike. Sorry I recorded it at the wrong angle... Just tilt your head to the side and it will be like normal ;-)

Family photo on the shuttle that took us up the Canyon and then back to the car. This was on the way back after having a great day hiking! 

My sister and her husband also were here, from California, for my brother's Court of Honor and for the weekend and we have some pretty fun stories with them that will be for another blog. :)

I did post a new blog continuing our love story, it is found here if you are interested: Firelight

Biking Idaho Falls

A Continuation of 'Rattlers'

Finally, Izac got back from Yellowstone. I was anxious and excited to see my man. I wanted to know what happened, what they did, what he liked about the vacation, but most of all I wanted to see his face and hear his voice. It had just been a few short days but I had frequently thought about him and wondered if he was alright. He didn't get good cell service where he was at so I didn't get to hear from him much at all.

When I saw his number pop up on my phone the excitement instantly swelled. He was ok. He was safe. He was home. And best of all he wanted to see me :) ! He told me that he looked like a mountain man because he hadn't shaved at all while they were in Yellowstone. He said that he wanted to shave and clean up and then meet up with me. It was decided that we were going to meet at freeman park and go for a bike ride. We each had Specialized bikes and were itching to ride them.

I arrived at the park before Izac did. I assembled my bike (I had to take the front tire off of it to fit it in my car) and walked down by the river. The coolness of the water urged a shiver across my arms bringing little goosebumps to the surface of my skin. The water made me think of Ryker and Emma and how I missed them. My thoughts lingered on the short lives that they lived almost bringing tears to my eyes. I didn't want to have a tear stained red face when Izac got there so I changed my line of thought to him. He was wonderful. He was cute. He was tall. He was older than me. He was a gentleman. He was a redneck. He was spiritual. He shot guns. He had served a mission. He was a hard worker. He loved to ride bikes. He had a Bronco. He had only ever kissed one girl. Me. Everything about this man attracted me to him. I glanced at the time and hoped that he would be arriving soon. I was one anxious gal.

A short time later he pulled up in his Bronco that we had so many memories in. A smile crept across my face in anticipation of seeing him. I couldn't hide it and didn't try to stop it from completely filling my countenance. At first glimpse of his face I knew that something was different. It didn't take long for me to noticed that he had trimmed his facial hair but had left some hair. I had never seen him with facial hair. I liked it. I liked it a lot. He was tanned dark brown from spending time in the sun on their vacation. His dark skin, his brown hair and the way those brown eyes looked at me held me speechless with a huge smile. How was I so lucky to have 'the package'?

My heart raced as he pulled me into a hug and kissed me. He told me that he had missed me. I was twitter-paited to the top of the scale. I told him that I missed him also and we began talking about our adventures while getting on our bikes. He enjoyed my story about shooting and the rattler, and I enjoyed his story about taking his sister's dog down a trail that had a sign that said 'No Dogs Allowed'. (I guess it was an accident, they didn't see the sign till they were done.) It was so good to catch up with him and just be with him.

We rode all over Idaho Falls. We rode the Greenbelt, to Tautphas park, to his grandparents house, and then to Snake River Landing before heading back to our cars. The breeze that rushed by as we rode was so refreshing. The physical activity was refreshing and being reunited with Izac was refreshing. In the back of my mind I questioned whether it was too good to be true?