Engaging News! ;)

Well, folks! The long awaited post has finally arrived! There are big changes coming just around the corner for the Wakefield family. A few weeks ago, on September 27th, Johnny and Andrew came down to Puebla! One reason that I've taken forever to get this post written, besides the fact that I have been SO BUSY, is that there's quite a few pictures to wade through!! The guys stayed for a week and with everyone taking pictures, by the end of the trip we had way more than we ever could have wanted!!

There's nothing like watching your loved one come through airport security!

This is the look of pure joy haha. 

We got the guys settled in for the night, and so the week began!

So like I said, the guys came and stayed for a week. We had really been looking forward to their visit... Me, for obvious reasons haha, and also because these two put together provide the most hilarious entertainment! We spent the week wandering around downtown, going to different church services, going to Africam, and just having a good ol' time! Here's a few random pictures...

Africam

Xalapa, Veracruz

Andrew preached at Elder Wakefield's in the morning and at our church in the evening!

We had a little celebration for Beth's birthday

Getting ready to fly back home!

 I have to say though that the best part of the trip was on the last day... Yes, the last day of a trip is usually not the favorite for long distance couples, but on the last night of Johnny's time down here, we went to the Estrella de Puebla, the large enclosed ferris wheel here in town. We laughed and talked and admired the view as we went up and around. But then, when we got right to the top of the wheel, code words were spoken, a hidden bouquet of roses was whipped out of a bag, and Johnny got down on one knee!!

Needless to say, I was SURPRISED!!!

Now, what was my response?--  "Really?? Are you serious??"

LOL. See, this is not the first time in our relationship that this guy has gotten down on one knee!

Charades...

"Tying his shoes" hahaha

Such a tease ;P

After what seemed like forever (in reality only a couple seconds haha!) for a very nervous Johnny,

I said YES!

Thanks to these two, all of Johnny's plans were pulled off seamlessly!!

Ya done good, guys!

And the second part of this special surprise was that all of my family was waiting at the bottom of the ferris wheel ready to meet up with us afterwards! Much hugging and crying ensued. Haha!

This girl right here... We are going to be lost without each other, that's for sure!!

I have been quite busy these past few weeks! I wanted to get this post up ASAP, but it just did not happen that way! And now we are in the thick of wedding planning and so very busy. We are currently sending out the save the dates! To our faithful readers, who we appreciate and love, if any of you would like to receive a save the date and invite, please leave your name and address in the comment section!! If your comment contains an address, we will not publish your comment! We'll be getting married on February 17, 2017 in Twin Falls, Idaho. And because many of my loved ones here will not be able to participate in my American wedding, we'll be celebrating with a second wedding on the 8th of April here in Puebla! You all are very welcome to come to either or both haha! ;P For more details, you can visit our website: theknot.com/us/wakefieldcollins.

-Nicole Wakefield, soon to be Collins ;)

Happy Birthday Bethany!

Today is the birthday of one the one of the sweetest, most amazing, and best girls in the whole world! Am I biased? Yes. Do I care? No. LOL. I'm sure the audience reading this agrees with me anyways! Haha.

 Hope you like this pic hahaha!

 (Those are the beautiful hills of Idaho behind us, in case anyone's wondering! ;P)

 XOXO Love you Beth!! XOXO

-Nicole

P.S. Oh this poor blog. We have really being doing badly these past few months!! We have been SO busy. But I'm working on a post right now that will contain HUGE NEWS! (News that may affect the amount of new posts ha!!) Keep you eyes peeled. LOL.

Heritage 2016

Heritage was great this year! Beth and I really don't even know what to say about it-- that's how great it was! ....Or is it the fact that it's been TWO MONTHS since it happened??

This is going to be a candid and openly honest post from Nicole. Bethany is such a slacker and refuses to post, so here I am, Nicole Wakefield, humble servant here to serve. Serve a post. But I'm not feeling much inspiration and definitely no chills, so I'm just going to type, and whatever flows from my fingers GOES! No backspacing today! Come what may... Lawd help us.

Okay, on a serious note, Heritage really was amazing this year. It always is. 

God moved in such a special way in every single service.

The church was packed out from day 1!

Bro. Dunlap preached the first night

This picture was taken on Friday night. Elder Dudley preached the last service and the altar call was so powerful. We saw TWO different people holding up these "polio" canes. We don't know the back story on these two happenings, but ya'll can put two and two together like we did. Heh heh. Beth help me out here.

**Update! I just found out that this picture is when a girl got healed from Multiple Sclerosis!! Thank you Jesus!**

 

______ morning Bro. Nathan Morton preached.

Seating was CRAZY. I think last year we came a couple hours early to get good seating. This year we lived on the edge and just showed up on time. Most nights this surprisingly worked out. This night pictured was one night that we didn't get too good of a seat. But it did make for a good picture!

 

Steph voxing with her adorable dog, Stetson. Cuteness!

 

Andrew's attempt at keeping us fed.

bacon

Afternoon lunch at Chili's!

Cara, Nicole, Bethany, and Danae

Thursday night was the lock-in at the Olympic Training Center. They had a total of over 700 youth there! It was hoppin. Much fun was had, and Nicole also temporarily lost her hearing after being smacked in the head with a volleyball. #excitement #youneverappreciatewhatyoudadtillitsgone

Aaand here we are in front of the cutest little pizza restaurant!

 

Guess what we did here? YES. We ordered. (Beth uploaded these pictures. I guess she liked this place. No idea why else there'd be so many pics of this place)

The Group. Plus one unknown man, who I just noticed. Anyone want to claim him?

There is never a dull moment with these two. And by these two, I mean Shalay and Stephanie. There is many a dull moment with Nicole. -Nicole

 

Really, there never was a dull moment. From Wooten's slide to burning ourselves on hot lasagna... We never stopped laughing! One morning I awoke from a typically short night of sleep, and stumbled into the bathroom to put in my contacts, only to find my case dry and empty. I was quite confused and thought that perhaps this was actually Beth's contact case... So I called out to Beth and asked if she had put her contacts in?? Had she put MY contacts in?? Where were my contacts? Had someone sneaked in and stolen them? No. 

Exhibit A. My contact case. 

 

Exhibit B. Shalay's contact case.

This is not EXACTLY her case...but its the closest I could find. They were pretty close in resemblance.

So yeah...Turns out Shalay and I wear almost the same prescription! She stumbled into the bathroom before me and stole my contacts. Hahaha.

Thank GOODNESS I always travel with a backup pair of contacts!

 You'd never know from the outside of this place what treasures are to behold on the inside! (A little dingy on the outside for some reason... Maybe this is meant to depict the parable of the ____________? Couldn't think of one.)

The girls. All single but the one on the left. Start calling some pastors guys!

You're welcome girls.

Cherie, Bethany, and Nicole with one of the sweetest and cutest gals in Pentecost! Vivian!

This is the part of the story where the group posed in the middle of the basketball courts for a picture. I was searching high and low for these people half of the night! Turns out they were in a huddle in the middle...

Notice how Nicole is not in the picture? 

Well, this very well could be the exact moment in which I was being mauled by a volleyball. All alone...fending for myself. Half deaf...

 

You know who you are.

 This picture has significance that most you all will not understand. Bethany and I hardly get our picture taken together, so every rare occasion that it happens, we are overjoyed and must document it.

 Oh yeah. And Bobby. LOL.

P.S. If the maid from Room 1424 is reading this, I left my purple flats in the room. If you have them and want to help a sister out, email me for my address! I'll trade them for the clippers I found last year.

Also, if anyone reading this is missing ONE size 6.5 black flat, Cherie Marchbanks has it. Crazily enough, out of 5 girls, its none of ours. Unless Shalay is still wearing my contacts and can't recognize her shoe.

~Bethany~
Yours Truly, and unedited,

Nicole Wakefield

Odyssey

After our morning trip to Pike's Peak in Colorado Springs, we headed over to the Focus on the Family headquarters and Whit's End. We went straight to Wooten's slide. Some of us had never been before and it turned out to be quite an experience. We made memories we will never forget! 

After going down the slide, we went and visited the ice cream shop.

Wooten + Penny :D

I got a Raspberry Ripple!

A Wod-fam-choc-sod and a Raspberry Ripple

About to enter the wardrobe and visit Narnia... :)

Of course we visited the Little Theater...

Sammy, Steph, Shalay, Cherie, Cara, Denae, me and Keith

Leaving Odyssey

Whit's End held much fun for us! Each year we make more memories there. Thank God for good, clean fun with forever friends! And I don't mean just Wooten, Liz, and Mr. Whittaker. The other people in these pictures have been just as great friends to us!

~Bethany~