California, part 2

On Sunday of our CA trip, after church we went to the beach for more pictures. One of the "props" we had were kites. This was a very unfortunate choice of props because they were too fun. Chris and I probably spent about 2 hours flying them. We have a lot of pictures of us with the kites. Eventually, Laura was like "well, do you want an pictures that aren't of you flying kites?" and we decided it was probably time to put them away. We blew bubbles (fun prop, but so much less exciting than the kites), took pictures with our dance shoes left behind in the sand, and took pictures dancing in the setting sun. It was really fun, and the pictures are pretty awesome.

Funny story: we were flying our kites, and I looked over at the plastic grocery bag I had our dance shoes in. Seagulls were tearing the bag apart! I was surprised since there wasn't any food in it, so I went to chase them away. The bag was completely useless and the shoes were sitting in the wet sand... BAD SEAGULLS! I think our shoes will be okay though.

California, part 1

For the long weekend, Chris and I drove down to California with our good friend Laura to take engagement pictures and visit with his family. We really had a blast! On Saturday (our first "real" day there), it rained a lot - we were prepared for this - but we went out to get pictures anyway. Surprise! We got out of the car at Victoria Gardens and the rain stopped immediately. Two hours (and many photos) later, we were hungry and tired of taking pictures, so it started raining again. Hahaha.

We ate at Johnny Rockets, a classic style diner. It was yummy! We had a great day.

Laura wants me to keep the pictures a secret until she edits them, but I will post some soon!

Valentine's Day - Part 2

So on Valentine's Day (recall we celebrated halfway the day before V-day) we finished our celebrations. I gave Chris his other two presents - the first Indiana Jones movie (he didn't have it... weird huh?) and some stuff to make Kool-aid. Because he likes Kool-aid and always wants to make it.

But he definitely one-upped me. He brought me flowers in class, and then after class he cooked some steaks he had marinating, and mashed potatoes and peas, and brought me to a place we used to go when we dated the first time - anciently long ago! And we had a little picnic. He also brought sparkling cider to drink. Way to go Chris!

By the way, the food he made was really yummy. Now I know he can cook!

Here's the flowers he brought me:

Dance video

Just thought I'd post a video of my dancing for two reasons:

1) I'm better at dancing than I was last time I put a video up here of me dancing, and

2) I have a way better video camera so you can actually see me dance. Thanks Mom and Dad!

So here's a video of me dancing with Josh. This is the "International Dance Lab" of winter 2011, which basically means it's a mock competition for everyone in the ballroom and latin dance classes, and you get randomly paired up with someone instead of choosing a partner. My partner and I practiced together once outside of class for about 1/2 hour... and we made it to semifinals! So here is the video.

A place to live!

A few days ago, I thought I'd start looking for apartments for when Chris and I get married. I had something very specific in mind: in our price range, in my current family ward boundaries, and with good timing for the contract. That's why I started looking so early. Actually, though, the first time I looked I found something that fit all three categories. I was like "CHRIS!!!! Come look!" and so I called the people and we went over and saw the place. Although the posting had only gone up that day (on KSL), we were, I think, the 7th couple to look at it. CRAZY!

We were interested, so they sent us the housing application forms.

Chris had to take a leap of faith this weekend. He generally likes to take his time making decisions - like for where to move, where to work, when to propose, etc. I'm usually opposite - I know a decision needs to be made, so I make it and move on with life. The only time we were actually flip-flopped was when it came to deciding whether to marry each other - he felt right about it several weeks before I figured it out. But back to the story. I was hounding him with housing forms, panicked because I knew it was going to get snapped up! Anyway, he was unsure about whether we should go for it since it was so hasty and the first place we'd seen and everything, but when it came down to it, there really couldn't have been a more perfect place for us. And if there was, I'd suspect something was amiss! So he took the leap of faith and filled out the forms with me and signed them. I knew I had to send them in today or the place would be gone. So I called the property manager this morning and asked whether the apartment had been taken (she had some forms already but they were still accepting more) and so I asked what's the fastest way I could get the forms to her, and she said I could scan and email them. I scanned them and in the email I included a note about why we really wanted to live there. I wrote that it was in my current ward where I want to stay, that the timing for move in and move out is just right for us, and as a side note, my best friend is also renting from them - the house next door to the apartment we want!

So I was good and sent it off, and a few hours later they called... WE GOT THE PLACE!

All I can say is Heavenly Father does have His hand in our lives.

The shirt off your back

When I hear the phrase "give someone the shirt off your back" it almost always reminds me of this moment:

My brother (Ben) was probably 15 years old. Somehow, my family had become some sort of "church parents" to some Vietnamese kids. The kids' parents wouldn't go to church, but the kids got baptized anyway. I think that's discouraged now, but it happened then. So this one boy, after he got the Aaronic preiesthood, the next Sunday he came to church and he didn't have a white shirt and tie. Well, my brother knew that he wanted to pass the sacrament since he could now, so my brother went in the bathroom and traded shirts with him. Mind you, this guy wasn't my brother's best friend or anything. I'm not sure I would have done it. But Ben did.

So that's what I think about when I hear that phrase.

I have a valentine!

This is my first Valentine's Day actually having a valentine to share it with. I think it's Chris' too. Tonight was really fun. We made dinner together - pasta and sauce. It was great because he actually did help me, and didn't just watch me cook. Then I got out a bottle of sparkling cider and two tall candles and we ate our yummy dinner by candlelight. I gave him two of the four presents I got him. One was a little "kit" - he loves always being prepared and frequently says "man, I wish I had a razor with me" or something to that effect. So I got him a little plastic box thing that snaps shut and filled it with good stuff: razor, toothbrush/paste, lotion for dry hands, hair gel, cologne, and stuff like that. The other thing I got him was kind of silly and small, but it was something he needed. He has this game, Illuminati, and it has little teeny tiny pieces of "money" but with different values. Think monopoly money shrunk down to an inch long by less than 1/2 inch wide. And get this: the game doesn't come with a container for you to keep the different valued money separate! So I got him a pill container to act as a kind of bank/money holder. I've also separated all his money for that game for him using plastic wrap, so it'll be an easy job for him to put it in there :)

Of course, we played a game...or three. We played Munchkin, which works surprisingly well with 2 players and is much faster than usual. We played with a bunch of expansions, including dungeons. It was great :) One of the dungeons required us to switch genders, choose an opposite gender equivalent to our real names (Chris was Christina, and I was Heath, like Heath Ledger) - and if we called each other by our REAL names (as opposed to the altered one) we lost a level every time we did it!

I finished off the night making sugar cookies while he did some administrative stuff on the computer. All I can say is, sugar cookies should always be made for Valentine's Day. Yup!

So we sort of celebrated Valentine's Day a day early. Tomorrow he apparently has a surprise for me, and I have two more presents to give him (one silly, one more awesome). Yay!