I got proposed to....TWICE!

Last thursday I said YES to the biggest venture of my life.. Becoming Mrs. Brian Frausto! We'd been praying and making pro/con list for a few months. Was it too soon? We've only been together for a few months, is this for real or just mushy love? It was only a few weeks until I knew I was in love with this man and there has never really been a "what if" but more so a "when. So that being said I left WA on Wednesday October 19 to go to CA hoping we were getting married in Feb, but knowing he was unsure still, knowing he was leaving the following weekend for a month of training and knowing he still hadn't talked to my Dad. all that being said here is how the story goes...

While in CA I got a text from Brian asking me if I wanted to go out to celebrate our 8 months before he left, of course it came to my mind that he might propose but I still couldn't figure out how he talked to my dad and bought a ring within a week. So... Thursday,date night, came along and I was pretty sure it was happening until I went to Brian's apartment to drop something off and there was a box for Bed Bath and Beyond on his doorstep. I asked him was it was and be said not to worry about it.

That threw me off... He bought me a present not a ring, whatever!

So after spending a good two hours getting ready, picking an outfit and making a last min change my prince charming arrived with a beautiful bouquet of Purple flowers. We got in the car and headed off. He wouldn't answer my questions, but he was so calm I knew he wasn't asking me to be his wife. He drove me to a place That overlooked the water in Tacoma, we got out of the car and all I saw where logs... So I asked if we could play on them. Real mature huh? Being ever who calm he held my hand as I enjoyed it. Then he said "hey look over there" I looked over and saw this

(pictures I took before the toast!)

A Romantic picnic for two under a canopy over looking a beautiful peninsula. As we walked up I saw a pink basket sitting on my chair, wine glasses and beautiful red flowers. We sat down (in our new chairs) and started pulling out our picnic dinner (from our new picnic basket, which was in the bed, bath and beyond box that threw me off). He pulled out a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, champagne, cheese and crackers and chocolates from Godiva. He opened the cheese and crackers for me to start nibbling on while he opened the champagne (which I made him shake up to see how loud we could make it pop, how far the cork would go and how much fuzz we can make fuzz over). He poured our champagne and said he wanted to make a toast to us.
This was the first time he got nervous and that was when I knew what was going on...for real! I started tearing up and trying to take in everything that he was saying! After trying to remember what he wanted to say he pulled out his toast that he wrote and read it to me. He said some amazing things and then explained our dinner and our relationship...
"You and I have a cheesy (cheese and crackers) yet quirky and fun relationship. We go together like PB&J (sandwiches) . Our strength make up for eachothers weaknesses. An like the finest most expensive chocolate our love is a sweet indulgence (Godivia) . So take up your glass and celebrate with me because 7 is the number of completion and 8 (the number of flowers on the table) is the number of new beginnings."
he then walked over, stood in front of me and said, as he got down on one knee,
"Sarah Bethany Trout, will you do me the honor of taking my hand in marriage and living out this crazy life together?"
I said YES! I kissed him and he reached in to get the ring and as he opened the box, his face dropped and he looked panic as he said "Babe, the ring isn't here"... now having the cheesy relationship that we do I thought he was joking, but not he was not. He started frantaically looking on the ground to see if it fell out and in his pocket then he said "Oh no I grabbed the wrong box" and without saying a word he RAN to the car... as I yelled "Run BABY RUN!!!!". He ran back, got down on his knee again and said "Sarah, will you spend the rest of THIS crazy life with me"
With laughter and great joy I said "Yes!" again.
So, January 28,2012 I am marrying the man of my dreams and living out the rest of this crazy life with him!

Our friend Chuck was in the bushes trying to take pictures of the proposal, unfortunately it was too dark, but we were able to get post engagement pictures. So much fun!

My eight flowers that symbolize the 8 months that we were starting

The pink box on the right is a box full of engagement things that Brian put together for me.. it had two bridal magazines, a picture frame, a new wine glass painted in a wedding theme, tick tacs, lip gloss and the movie 27 dresses. I love that he put that together for me.

After going to dinner, where we didn't take a picture, we wen to see Brian's friend Felicia and tell her the fun story and thank her for all her help coming up with ideas we spent some time there and then went back to Brian's apartment to finish our champagne, change our facebook status' and relish in the fact that we were going to spend forever together...

annnnd there might have been a little wedding planning done as well! :)
(he's just so handsome!)

I am one positively absolutely lucky and blessed girl! :)

Dating from Afar....

******* This is not a blog something I have mastered, that I claim to be good at or wish upon anyone, however, if you have any more suggestions I'd love to hear and learn from them*******

As you probably know from reading this blog... my boyfriend lives far away... far, far, far, far, far awaway... 2,884 miles away to be exact! The other day someone asked me advice on dating long distance. Unfortunately, I have no advice... I hate it, a LOT!! I cannot wait for Oct 5th when I fly down to Oakland for him to pick me up. However, there are a few things that we have figured out.

The FIRST piece of advice that I was given was that you have to communicate your emotions and feelings. Even as hard as it would be to tell someone over the phone that your having a hard day or that your grumpy or something of that sort.... its good because they are able to cater to your needs. Just as if they were home and were able to see you tear up or see your facial expressions. It IS hard and IS some times awkward because they can't hug you or physically comfort you, but you will BOTH be able to communicate better. In the long run it will be helpful and during your time apart it will help you both a lot. (I may have butchered that explanation, but I hope it makes sense)

Okay.. so here are some of the things that we have done, that have either helped or at least preoccupied my mind in order to pass the time....

- Before he left for VA I wrote him letters and put them in a box, some of them I dated, some of them I labeled like "for a bad day"..... that way even if I get busy with life, he can be encouraged and know I'm praying for him.

- We wrote letters our first month apart, very intentional letters... we found a list of questions and discussed them in written form. It was amazing to get letters in the mail, they are the best, but it also allowed for great discussion in letters.

- Intentional conversation is important, we have found that it gets really easy to sit and talk about how much we love each other, miss each other and can't wait to see each other. That's doing nothing to further our relationship, but instead its just making the whole thing worse. Its okay to have those moments, but not EVERY conversation.

- We facetime.. a LOT and we're goofy, not everything has to be serious. Seeing each others face makes it feel as if we just hung out the other night, its fun :)

- We text... I find it fun to text him before I go to sleep because its a three hour difference, so when he wakes up there is a message from me.

- A package is NEVER a bad way to go... we're cheesy so we write cheesy notes on all the items. It's my favorite and is always fun to get a surprise package in the mail, even if the items are pointless and ridiculous (although, maybe one important item is good)

( My awesome package I got at Fuge!)

- sometimes its okay to just sit and vent, for the first month we either didn't want each other to know how much we were missing each other... or maybe the first month wasnt that hard, but as time passed it got harder. Sometimes we just sit and talk about how we can't wait to see each other and how much this sucks. I think it is important to state that sometimes... your both thinking it, so why not talk about it.

(However, the biggest part is that you can't dwell in that... yes, it sucks, but it'll pass)

- Make sure to inform each other of what is going... its kind of nice to be able to feel like your with each other... send a text or an email about the dinner you hand with a group of your friends... with LOTS of detail. If you have text, text DURING the event something funny that happened, you may think it'll make them miss home more, but really they already miss home at least they will feel like their part of the joke if it gets brought up later.

- One of the things I have loved is reading the same books or listening to the same pod cast... your lives are going to be SO different, its nice to have something you two are doing that is the same... even across the country.

- Be creative... one of my friends whose girlfriend lived in Africa while he lived in America planned movie nights and skype dates together. They would watch a movie and watch it "together"... we're trying it tomorrow, I can't wait.

- I might insert more, but thats what I can think of now, its more fun the more creative you can get.

however please, please please do NOT Don't become the bitter "my boyfriend lives far away girl", its almost as bad as the "pitty me I don't have a boyfriend girl"... It's very rare that distance sneaks up on a person... so if you don't think you can handle that, discuss it... maybe that relationship isn't for you. Thats OKAY... thats what dating is for.

I say all that to say this... It doesn't matter what you do or don't do if your hope is in your boyfriend/girlfriend. If your hope is Christ it wont matter where you are or your significant other is your joy will be ever lasting.

"²⁰ We wait in hope for the LORD;

he is our help and our shield.

²¹ In him our hearts rejoice,

for we trust in his holy name."

Psalm 18:20-21

Country Traveler...

Almost every summer since about Jr. High I have not been home, because I was blessed enough to travel. In Jr. High a lot of it consisted of camps and family, soccer camp, church camp, grandma's house... etc. In High School I spent a month in Europe, two weeks in China and endless weeks at camp. In College I haven't been as privileged to travel, but this summer was a traveling experience like i've never seen before!
It started on a very early, very dark June morning as I boarded a plan from Ontario to Dallas. If you know me you understand that flying is not my favorite thing, but flying from Dallas to Tennessee was a totally new experience. After a long ride to Dallas, a tram ride and a slight fear that I might miss my plane I boarded a three row plane and headed for Knoxville, TN. There I was greeted by Stacey, who quickly became one of my favorite staffers. I hoped in a car with Thad, Brandon and Samantha and headed to Jefferson City, TN to start life as a.... Fuge Staffer!
Fuge was amazing, but very challenging. I spent my first week learning how to run Rec, how to teach bible studies and how to cater to students and situations I may come into contact with. We also spent a lot of time bonding as a staff, it was definitely challenging, but very fun. Getting use to the weather, the culture and the students was more of a challenge than I thought, but It was well worth it. Week one there was a little boy that I feel in love with, his name I can't remember, I just called him "Bear" because he had longer surfer hair and looked like a bear. It'd been a rough week and I was trying really hard to get everyone ready for Mega, when Bear ran up to me and asked if he could tell the group something. Now, if any of you have worked with 6th graders you know that getting them all together, but I did. Then Bear in front of everyone shouted "Tonight I became a Christian". That was the highlight of my summer.
The next few weeks I learned a lot, met a lot of cool people and I'll be able to blog randomly, but when I think about it, thats what matters, is the little kids that go home and get to say "I'm a Christian".

(These are my ladies, I miss them a lot.... Jenny, Dee, Jennifer, Nic Nak, me and Leah)

Oh lordy my staff, and if you look carefully my horrible, horrible tan line :) (Jennifer, Brandon, Jenny, Danny and Jon)

(Me and Sam on the hottest part of the summer!... this was day one of registration)

Once upon a ponder...

I left home a on June 2nd for Tennessee... It's currently July 20th and I haven't been home.
I have meet 20 amazing staffers that have changed my life, I have gone on my dream vacation with my mom, I am currently sitting in a room provided by my amazing boyfriend and am getting ready to go visit my high school best friend and meet her new little
Wow!!
Te craziest thing is I might be returning to the west coast, but things are no going back to "normal", I'll be going home to say good-bye, pack my things and head up to WA to start my post graduate life. What that consist of, I'm not quit sure, but I'm stoked for that adventure! So far fit means I move in with Miss Becca Fliant, then in November my best friend joins me.

Some of the plans/dreams/hopes thus far:
- Thursday night Jersey Shore nights with Becca.... With a cheese and wine theme to honor their Italian setting
- decorating an apartment... Or two (HGTV I will represent you well!)
- buy kayaks
- become a runner
- become a morning person
- have Saturday morning adventures in Seattle

This adventure is scary, but exciting. I've learned that I'll have to say goodbye, miss important events and even the not so important ones, but I can't wait to see how God orchestrates it for his glory.

Day 12

Today is day 12 of my amazing journey with my mom. Twelve days is a lot of days for anyone to travel, but for us the one preceding today almost did us in. There were no extra steps taken, extra sights seen or anything out of the ordinary, but for some reason day 11 was a hard one. We went to bed early last night in order to start our day off early today. That didn't happen instead is started with a lazy morning, with a mid afternoon starbucks stop.
With a text from the boy that said "Hope today is the best ever"... we were on our way.
We started at the American History museum viewing Julia Child's Kitchen, Dorthy's Shoes and the Muppet's, but I'm finding I'm not a huge fan of this like that, but instead desire the hard facts (which I will later talk about my trip to the Newseaum...). After a lot of "ooohing" and "awwwing" we made our way over for our 1:45 appointment the Holocaust museum.
When I was in High School I visited a concentration camp and WW2 has always been fascinating so to visit our countries national museum was a privilege. We walked in an went up the elevator, watched a movie about propaganda and then started our venture, but I was in for more than I'd expected.
There was an older lady and a younger lady walking together the older lady was explaining the pictures and translating the signs and as I heard her say "Those signs were anti-Semitic they read 'I only date German Girls' and those say the same about boys". (Now I have a theory that if you follow old people through a museum you learn more, so as I heard her speak I began to follow). After about 5 mins of trying to stand in the back and not ask questions a man, loud and abrupt, asked who she was. The younger women answered and said "this is my great aunt, she's a survivor and you may join our tour if you want"... then she looked at me (who had though I'd been so smooth is staying in the shadows) and said "You may as well if you'd like". This began a two hour tour of the Holocaust Museum being escorted by Ms. Margit Meissner.
She would describe the pictures and then tell of how her story fit in with what the museum had depicted. She was part of a 2,000 people escape that a man whose last name was Fry helped execute, it was during the time they were trying to take the elite and intellegant out of the Nazi run areas in hopes of saving people such as Einstein. Her and her mom were able to escape (I believe from Austria or maybe Paris, but I got a little confused on the part trying to hear over people, I'll tell you when I'm done with her book) they rode our with 1,998 other people on bicycles the day before Hitler invaded the town they were in.
She was such a small fragile women with so much history behind her, I got her book, a picture and a signature and look forward to sharing more about her.

Margit's Story
Margit Meissner

Two more "Ventures" down!

Well, here I am a college graduate AND a military girlfriend.

On May 7th, 2011 I, Sarah Trout graduate college. Something that no one thought would actually happen. It took a lot of people to get to this point and for all of those people I am forever grateful. For Mr. Lindamen who stayed an hour everyday after school for three years while I learned how to read and spell, to Ms. Baily who told me I could graduate even when I figured I never would, to my Mom who proofread and to Emily who listened to me complain, to Amanda who always worked a step ahead of me so I always had someone to catch up to, to my cousins who went before me who were inspiration, to my nieces and cousin I hope to inspire,to the brother who was blue in the face (and still is) trying to get me to apply for real jobs and real majors, to the teachers who bared with me and the friends who encouraged me, to the boyfriend who listened to me cry and bought me a load of Panera during finals... this yellow/gold/lancer yellow tube with nothing in it, as well as the diploma, (which I have yet to pick up because my class didn't transfer in time, HOWEVER did get there before the deadline so I am a legit college graduate for realsies...)
Yep... my brother is a stellar photographer... but he and my uncle together are dangerous... My uncle decided that i needed a laffy taffy necklace, but that I needed it DURING the ceremony. So I have three little cousins, one of them is bound to run over and give it to me right... right! So, as I sit cheering my friends on and being excited to hold this tube in my head this occurs..

If any of you know my uncle... or my brother you know this is not surprising. The last picture there is a lady in a green shirt... she was in charge of all of us and I got so nervous when she walked up. Oh the joys of my brother and uncle!

Well, I also mentioned I am not a military girl friend... yep! May 14, 2011 my wonderful boy friend was commissioned into the army and I was lucky enough to attend the ceremony. I loved every min of the day. If you know me at all you know that I am one of the biggest fans of the military and history and politics. Wow it was amazing to be able to see how the boys get commissioned in. Its been fun being able to meet the men that Brian worked with for the last three years and I've grown attached to a couple of them, such a joy to be able to share this special day with them.

Picture #1 we have to very similar to that... I love them and no matter what he says I'm not complaining, his cheeks were hurting and I was laughing at him :)
Picture #2 Scott said this one was cute, thats why I put it on here... I think all of them of us are cute :)
Picture #3 Thats Mark, but I was introduced to him as Graham and then I found out his real first name is James... so in conclusion... that's Brian's friend... he's great, he's in AZ and doing things top secret. Although he acts like he doesn't like me, I know I'm his favorite!

This is Brian's amazing family. They have been so welcoming to me and so kind to me. I am super blessed to have been able to spend time with them for the last few weeks.

Well, there is a SMALL update on my life and everything that has been going on.
A week from yesterday I leave for TN and start my "venture" as a camp counselor, but I have a couple cool things that have happened in between all this so I'll be updating more this week.
Thanks for reading! :)

Small Update

Well, I wrote this blog because there are a list of things that are coming my way that I've never done before and I thought it'd be fun to write about them, the first thing that was new to venture on is my relationship, but you've all heard enough about him and that mess, but I just realized that my other adventures are right around the corner.

In three days I graduate

One month from right now I'll be in Tennessee

Two months from today I'll be in Boston

Three months from right now I'll be living in Gig Harbor Washington

I tend to fail mesireably at change, I cry a lot and freak out, but I'm not scared of any of this stuff. God is good and HERE WE GO!!

come one Gig Harbor...

Last week my friend Becca text me and said that she looked at apartments for us in gig harbor... I got more excited about going to garage sales and restoring furniture than I did about the move. My excitement gets bigger ever day and so does my community, I'm excited to start anew in WA and decorate... with a little bit of spray paint :)

Best Day of the year!!

Dear Hunter, Kendrick and Trout,
I'll see you next Friday, glad you are back in town!
-Sarah

yes please!

This was a blog on head boards... but i think this should have been a post about pillow cases.

Wallpaper

I grew up with my grandma having wallpaper in her house, its green plaid. Its very classy and very much like my grandma, but I never thought of it much.

The otherday I took the boy to my grandmas house and he pointed out the wallpaper, apparently there is wall paper in the kitchen as well, but its small flowers, I dont remember it being there, but I assume its been there since they had the house juuust like the green plaid one. The flowers where also classy, but just not memorable.

So, in the process of procrastinating and getting ready to graduate, I have been googling wallpapper and needless to say, I AM IN LOVE WITH IT.

So dear blogger world... or at least the three people who read this blog, I am proclaiming that if I ever have a home. It will have fun wall paper. Maybe not as classic as my grandma's, but it will still be classy.

That is all.

Apartments...

Today I called my dear friend Becca and asked if she might be interested in getting an apartment together in the fall... I'd be in Washington St. I don't know if its going to happen or if its just us hopin' and a dreamin' but we were both estatic with the idea.

Now I'm sittitng at work decorating our apartment that we only talke about for about two mins, hope she's up for fun colors!

Strengths....

PLEASE CONSIDER BEFORE YOU READ

I will be referring to "that girl" in this post, i hope you see the apology of categorizing instead of being upset at the categorization. Thank you!

In the last two weeks I have been humbled a lot, the things I never thought I'd do in college I have done... with about 2 months before graduation I have slowly become "that girl", the girl that I have tried so hard not be in the last three years at Cal Baptist. However, I've realized the reason I didn't want to be that girl was not because I was against the things that "that girl" did or had, but because I didn't have it so I talked myself out of it and made it ridiculous so that I didn't yearn for it. So, I have become the girl who stands outside my apartment with a boy after 11 because he cant be inside, I've been become the iphone addict tweeting, fbing and instagraming all day long and now.... I have become the "strengths finder" person. I think I took it once last year, but I can't tell you what my strengths where or what they meant, but last night I took the test and then read the meanings.... it was FASCINATING!!

1. Woo

• You enjoy the challenge of meeting new people and getting them to like you
• Strangers are rarely intimidate you, but to the contrary, strangers can be energizing.
• You are drawn to them. You want to learn their names, ask them questions, and find some area of common interest so that you can strike up a conversation and build rapport.
• Not only are you rarely at a loss for words; you actually enjoy initiating with strangers because you derive satisfaction from breaking the ice and making a connection.
• There are new people to meet, new rooms to work, new crowds to mingle in. In your world there are no strangers, only friends you haven't met yet -- lots of them.

2. Communication

• You like to explain, to describe, to host, to speak in public, and to write.
• You want your information -- whether an idea, an event, a product's features and benefits, a discovery, or a lesson -- to survive.
• Your word pictures pique their interest, sharpen their world, and inspire them to act.

3. Developer

• People strong in the Developer theme recognize and cultivate the potential in others. They spot the signs

  of each small improvement and derive satisfaction from these improvements.

4. Adaptability

• You don't see the future as a fixed destination. Instead, you see it as a place that you create out of the choices that you make right now.
• This doesn't mean that you don't have plans. You probably do.
• Unlike some, you don't resent sudden requests or unforeseen detours. You expect them, n some level you actually look forward to them
• You are, at heart, a very flexible person who can stay productive when the demands of work are pulling you in many different directions at once.

5. Positivity.

• People strong in the Positivity theme have an enthusiasm that is contagious. They are upbeat and can get others excited about what they are going to do.

Developer and positivity are smaller descriptions, but its weird how much I relate to them... its a 30 min test that can totally call me out. Weird.

Thankful for this information.

My grandparents are the best

My grandma just said

"Every-time he walks into the room your heart should pitter patter and that should never change"

I asked

"Did grandpa do that to you all the time?"

She replied

"Yep, I don't think that ever changed, I loved seeing him walk in the room and I was always so thankful that he did"

50+ years and he still made her heart pitter patter, I love my grandparents.

Welcome to my last two weeks!

"Gee your eyes are gorgeous... even when they are red"

Day 7

In the last seven days....

I've become quit smitten over this boy.

I've enjoyed holding his hands

I've enjoyed kiss him

I've enjoyed the butterflies and the giggles

I've enjoyed that we just laugh and laugh together

I've enjoyed it all

.... the best part its only been 7 days.

I've turned into "that girl"

the... its 2am and we're outside my door, I just want to talk about him all the time, hopelessly pathetic sounding girl and wow he's great!

dear world...

I'm officially "one of those girls" and I'm a bigger fan than I thought I'd be...

I freaked out all day

I made a lot of obnoxious noises

The UP men sang "One Less Lonely Girl"

He brought me roses

Then bought me coffee

He let me freak out

I asked a lot of questions

I made more obnoxious noises

I have a boyfriend

He prayed for us

We talked

Then we played words with friends

I like him a lot...

tonight....

is one of my favorites...

that has been preceded by other favorite nights, but this one...

this one is my absolute favorite one!

.... Talk about "unchartered ventures" ... here we go!

One of my favorite life moments...

One of my favorite moments in life... Candelstick park, walk off homerun to win the world series!

- You text your mom during church

- I asked why you didnt like me any more

- You confirmed that you did and you not talking to me had nothing to do with you not being my friend

- It was a sunday

- I gave you a hug

- We watched the Laker Game

- We joked about you not coming to my wedding

- I swore you broke my ear

- You tried to talk me into folding your laundry

- We drank Coffee with your dad

- I sat with you as you smoke Cig

- You made parallel park my car, even though I begged you to

- We planned to go to the Angel/Sox game together

- I told you I was moving to Boston

- I told you about my dream and you told me you'd never come to my wedding

- I gave you a hug and you squeezed hard like you usually did

- Then I said "welp, see you in a few weeks"

- You didn't walk me to the car like you usually do, you were in the laundry room and you just smiled and said "see ya Trout"

- I wanted to take a picture with you

- If I knew that'd be last time I saw you I would have hugged you longer or spent more time there, I would have just grasped it all a little more.

- You'd think three years would be easier, but its not.

- I miss talking baseball with him, I miss getting random emails and texts from him, I miss spending Christmas Eve playing ping pong.

- I have been blessed with a friendship that I miss every day, but I know will be united for eternity!

Saturday in pictures

Then I got my morning Coffee!

Then I got my favorite breakfast... one of this suckers!

Then I went shopping

Now for the rest of the day.... I'm going to try and get some of this done....

while watching....

then a photo shoot with this girl

THEN!!! We're having the ultimate girls night consisting of....

&