Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Two Years Ago

Two years ago, it was a Saturday.

Kyle's Grandpa Hanson's funeral was in the morning, followed by a luncheon, down in Price. After that, we drove up to the Draper Temple, where I was able to go through the Temple and receive my own endowment. It was really special to be able to go through the Temple, with a family member's funeral the same day, to witness just how important the work we do in the Temple is.

(and since it's been two years, K and I went in to get new temple recommends on Sunday - crazy!)

And, in two days, I get to go back to the Draper Temple, to witness the sealing of my best friend Dani! I'm so happy and excited for her and Mich. They are such a great couple :) And I love them both! 

Evan and Holly (Kyle's parents), K and I, my mom, Alan, Nate and Mel, and Blaine (Kyle's three brothers and one sister-in-law) were all able to go through the session with me. My mom and Kyle's mom were both my escorts. This picture was taken after coming out of the Temple.

K and I :)

Sunday, April 22, 2012

A Couple of Current Favs

More Mumble Jumble

Yesterday, K and I woke up and were to the stake center by 8 am. We met with the youth and youth leaders in our stake, waited around for instructions for about half an hour, received muffins and bottled water, and then drove over to the large cemetery west of campus to rake leaves. It was the annual regional youth cemetery clean-up, and it was great to be apart of it. We raked leaves for 3 hours. We raked leaves not just on flat grass surrounding gravestones, but also raked leaves on the hills surrounding the cemetery, knocking them out of bushes, fences, etc. It was hard work. Luckily, it was a nice day, and we finished before it got too hot. It felt great to serve. Although, today, K and I are really sore. But it was worth it. I'm sad I didn't think to take any pictures while we were there, it really was a beautiful day, and the piles of leaves were staggering. 

In other news, we went and saw The Woman in Black last night. Oh my scary! I probably only watched about half of the movie. The other half was spent with my face buried in Kyle's shoulder. The storyline was quite interesting, and it was well done. Daniel Radcliffe was pretty great (and I could almost take him seriously...) I highly recommend it if you enjoy scary (jumpy, not gory) movies. Also - a couple of fun facts about the movie - in the 1989 version of the movie, the main character was played by Adrian Rawlins, who plays James Potter in the HP movies. Also, the little boy who plays D Rad's son in the movie is his godson in real life.

Also, this week is a three day work week! Yahoo! However, it's going to be a very busy three days. Kyle has 4 papers to finish and turn in. I'm going to work a long day tomorrow so that I can get in a few additional hours since I'll be missing two days. Tuesday is the YW camp fundraiser - which is a taco bar, dessert auction, and silent auction - basically a ward party. I'll have to go there straight from work to help finish set up and finish cooking all the food. It starts at 6, goes 'til about 8, and then it will be clean-up time. Wednesday will be a usual work day, and then we'll be driving down to Utah. Wow. But this Utah trip will be so fun! I'm so excited.

That's about all I've got... Sorry for the lack of pictures, again! :)

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Mumble Jumble

Last night I got my hairs trimmed. My hair feels so pretty and soft right now, I love it! I had a dream the other night that I cut it up to my shoulders, and was not happy about it. So obviously I am still loving it long right now!

GUYS. I am an adult. That still freaks me out. I have a college degree, I've been married for two years, I live in a different state than I grew up in, I have a full time managerial job with benefits. (I even fired someone last week....) HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? It's bizarre.

K might get a job this summer, hopefully. We might also buy another car.

We got to California for our Hanson family trip in 3 1/2 months.

K is almost half way through his masters program!

Tomorrow is Friday.

I have a scratchy throat. And really wish it were warmer in my office right now.

I finally joined pottermore. It's pretty cool. My wand is cherry and unicorn, and I'm in Gryffindor. I didn't even cheat! I'm so proud of myself.

Next week is BFF Dani's wedding!!!!

I had Subway for lunch. Yum.

.... And .... That's all.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

A Weekend in Review

Wow, what a weekend we had!

We drove down on Friday, and made it to my mom's in time for dinner.
We played with Charity, did laundry, and started preparing food for Dani's bridal shower which was the next day.
Saturday morning we got up, got ready, finished up laundry and food. (Oreo truffles and chicken salad were myf food contributions to the shower, yum!)
We left my mom's around 10:30 am, and stopped by Milanne's baby shower in Provo for a few minutes. I was so glad I got to see her, she is such a good friend of mine, and I am so excited for her and Matt! I also got to see my bestie Dani Jones from Independent Study, and my other good friend Sarah, also from I.S. I love them! (I'm sad I didn't think to snap pictures with them too!)
Me and Milanne! 
Then it was off to Dani's shower.
It went really well, and we had a fun time!
Three of Dani's (future) sister in laws came, as well as Bonnie, Rachel, and Ayisha. And me, and her sister Gabi. We had a great time eating and chatting and playing games and opening presents. 
I love my Dani so much and I am so excited for her and Mimi to get married!!


Opening presents!
So excited!



Ayisha, Me, Dani, Rachel, Bonnie

After the shower, Ish and I drove up to City Creek for some quality best friend shopping time. It was so great! And I was so excited to go to City Creek :) I love my best friend. And I love shopping. Thanks, Ish, for driving, and letting me drag you into all the stores! :)
K met up with us after we were finished shopping, and we ate dinner together.
Then it was off to Nate and Mel's for K and I.
The kids were just being put to bed as we arrived, and after they went down we watched Miss Congeniality 2, which was surprisingly quite funny!

Then, this morning we got up, and went to church together.
After church we just spent time together as a family, and of course snapped some great pictures.














Now we are home, and gearing up for another week!

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Our Story

A few weekends ago we went to a couples work shop held by one of Kyle's professors, and a few 2nd year counseling students. We had a great time. One of the activities we did was sitting together as a couple with a list of questions and some paper, and writing down "our love story" with as many details/experiences we could remember. It was a lot of fun to laugh together and think about the beginning of our relationship.
We decided the word to describe the beginning would be "awkward" - and this is definitely more because of me than because of Kyle.
I haven't shared the full story on this blog before, so I thought I would today.
(Warning, it will probably be long!)

K and I met, as you probably know, in our singles ward. We lived in the Riv (Riviera), while going to school at BYU. I has moved in there in August 2008, to start my sophomore year. K had moved in in June of that same year, and was set to start his junior year. The first time I remember seeing Kyle was on the first day of church. I was sitting by my bff Dani (who was my roommate) in Sunday School when two tall, blond guys walked in on the opposite side of the room. I remember leaning over to Dani and whispering something like, "now those are two cute, tall guys!". Those two cute, tall guys turned out to be Kyle and his best friend and roommate Jay.
Now. Before this story goes on, it is important to note that my high school boyfriend has just left on his mission in July. And I was set on waiting for him.
Kyle's first recollection of me was talking to me at ward prayer (probably in September), and he remembers I had a wristband on that said "Elder A's Girl" on it, and I was excitedly showing it to everyone. I was not shy about the fact I was waiting.
K and I quickly got to know each other. He was assigned to be my home teacher. We were in the same FHE group. One of my roommates had been in the ward that summer and was really good friends with (and was crushing on) one of Kyle's roommates. We were thrown together all the time. And I liked it. Kyle and his roommates were all great guys, guys that I felt safe around, guys I knew that were there for me.

That school year I dated, cuddled, flirted a lot. I took "waiting and dating" seriously. I spent a lot of time with Kyle, as friends. At times, off and on through out that year, I had brief thoughts of dating him, but quickly replaced them with thoughts like 'we're too good of friends,' 'I'd hurt him,' etc. I think a little part of me knew, deep down, that he was the one for me, and would be the one to make me make a choice that I didn't want to make. So I stuck with dating boys who I knew I wouldn't become a competition to my missionary, as it were.
And Kyle and I became best friends.




I did still flirt with Kyle, though. On St. Patrick's Day 2009, we had a party at his apartment. We stuck in a movie (Far and Away) and most people drifted out during it. K and I stayed for the whole thing. And I did the whole lean-my-head-on-his-shoulder move.
Also funny to note is that I went on dates with a couple of his roommates, cuddled with one once, and I always wondered why Kyle was not asking me out! (I was dumb.)

We went on a group camping trip to Bryce Canyon in early May. It was an awesome time. I was starting to fall for Kyle more and more....




First date story: Happened some time in late May or early June.
I wanted to go see the play "The Giver" that BYU was putting on. I wanted to hang out with Kyle. So, I sent him a text (he thinks I called? who knows!) that said something like, hey I want to go to this show, if I buy tickets will you come with me? I tried to be totally casual. He said he would! Yes! That night he took me out to Arby's before the play, we went to the play, then we went and got Baskin Robbins and walked around BYU campus for a while. We had a really good time together. I remember kind of being embarrassed that he had made it into a date, when I was trying to be so casual, but I was also happy that he had! So many feelings.... :)

So we come to June. I had come to grips with the fact that my feelings for Kyle were not going to go away any time soon. I had conversations with myself where I tried to decide if I should say something to him, as I was pretty sure he maybe liked me too. I would make the decision that I wanted to date him, then turn it around before I talked to him. It also became apparent to me that perhaps another one of our friends liked him as well. This caused me more inner turmoil (dramatic, but true).
June 14, 2009 - a Sunday. We went to church, as usual, and sat by each other, as usual. We had plans to get together with his brother and his girlfriend later that night for dinner. He texted me right after church, and asked if he could come over. I thought that was odd, as we already had plans, had just seen each other, and we usually would just come over to the other's apartment without invitation anyway. But I said yes. And started getting a little nervous.
He came over. We sat on my roommate's love sac. We made awkward small talk for a few minutes. And then he told me. Our other friend (mentioned earlier) had initiated a talk with him the night before. She had told him that she liked him, and wanted to know what he thought, and she wanted to see if they could date. Here, he paused. And it was all I could do to keep from bursting into tears. I just knew he was going to say he was now dating her. I had lost my chance. I would forever regret my hesitation. But then, he told me he replied to her with something along the lines of that he liked her, but also liked me, and had liked me longer, and wanted to speak with me. My heart stopped. I was frozen. I didn't know what to say. What I had dreamed about was happening. And what did I do? I made no commitments. Even though I knew that if I gave this up I would regret it, the only words that came out of my mouth were, "I don't know." K reassured me that I could take my time, that we would always be best friends, that nothing would change. He also told me that he did not expect me to give up writing my missionary. (He is wonderful!) Still, all I could muster was an "I don't know."
He left. I called my two best friends (Emily and Ayisha - Dani was in Africa!). I freaked out. Emily, bless her heart, said something like, go for it! Kyle's a great guy, and even if you do break up, he'll be totally cool about it and you'll still be friends. I knew I wanted to date him. I kicked myself for not telling him so before he had left. I was going to tell him that night what my decision was. And I was going to tell him the next day. And the next day (which happened to be my little sister's birthday, and he came with me to celebrate, and that was awkward since we weren't actually dating yet....). Finally, the 17th, 3 days later, we had this conversation.

Me: Hey... Remember how you said you wanted to date me?
K: Yes....
Me: Well, I think, I mean, I want to, date you, if you still want to?
K: Yes, I do.
Me: Oh, ok. So, um, we're dating?
K: Yes.
Me: Ok.. Bye. Have a good time at work!

Like I said. Awkward.
The next few weeks were also a little awkward, as we transitioned from best friends to boyfriend/girlfriend. We didn't kiss for the first few weeks we were dating. My fault. I was nervous. Dreadfully so. But it was fine. We ended up having our first kiss on the Fourth of July. I also still had pictures of another guy (aka, the missionary) around my apartment. That was awkward for Kyle.
But after those initial few weeks, things went wonderfully.
I knew I had to make a choice. I was falling too quickly and hard for Kyle to keep playing with both boys' hearts.
And so make a choice I did.
And it was the best choice I have ever made.
But that is another story.

And now, some pictures from when we were first dating:






(There are also some other fun stories that I keep remembering, but maybe those will come some other time.... But most of the important stories are in this post.) :)

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Happy Easter

I am the Resurrection and the Life
He that believeth in me
Though he were dead,  yet shall he live.
John 11:25

For I know that my Redeemer liveth
and that He shall stand in the latter day upon the Earth.
... yet in my flesh, I shall see God.
Job 19:25-26

But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory,
and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ.
Mosiah 16:8


I know this is a bit late, but I just wanted to share some of my favorite scriptures about the Resurrection. 
While Kyle and I didn't do to much to celebrate, we did enjoy a great church program, and we were able to read the story of Christ's death and resurrection together.
How grateful I am for a Savior (and a brother!), who cares about and loves me so completely.
I know He loves me.
I know He loves YOU.
I know that He lives.

Happy  Easter.

Monday, April 2, 2012

(This post was written on 3/26)

It's a rainy day today.
Which is strange, because when I was driving to work this morning, there was blue sky and sun. And now it is gray and rainy.
Which means I really just want to be in bed.
Or curled up with Catching Fire.
And drinking hot chocolate - and eating some other warm food.

We saw The Hunger Games this past weekend. And it was fantastic.
I have a few drafts unpublished again.
I have been a terrible blogger.

It's Kyle's spring break this week. I had forgotten until yesterday!
I guess four years at a spring break-less BYU, and then working a "real job" has ruined me, haha. What is spring break? I'm glad he gets a break though, he has been working hard.
Hopefully he (and I, when I'm home) can spring clean our apartment. It's been kind of a wreck lately.
It is also Kyle's BIRTHDAY on Saturday. Which I am so excited for. I love giving him presents :) And we'll go out to eat, of course. And it's also General Conference, which I am so excited for. I love General Conference, and I love the "jump start" it gives to the next 6 months.

Work has been going fine. It's really not a bad job. I can't complain, that's for sure!

April is going to be a busy month - starting with this week, I guess. With Kyle's birthday, and General Conference.
And in April, there are so many YW activities: the re-broadcast of Saturday's meeting, a leadership training, two service projects, I have a lesson to teach, our big camp fundraiser. And it's also Dani's wedding, the last week, and two weeks before is her bridal shower that I'm throwing. And it's Easter. Plus normal activities.
It's going to be an awesome, but busy, month.

I also have a headache.