Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind

There have only been a handful of movies that have had an impact on me. The film "Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind" was definitely not one to disappoint. Austin and I watched this movie the other night and when the credits started rolling, we both sat there silently. When I looked over at him, he had tears in his eyes which, of course, made my eyes start to water. We just cuddled for a while and reflected on how much the film had effected us. Without giving too much away, the film is about two people who are dating and start to lose faith in the relationship. The woman decides to have a procedure done that will enable her to erase all recollection and all of the memories that she had with this person. Devastated to learn that she actually went through with this, her boyfriend decides have the procedure done as well. While he is in this deep sleep, he is able to relive every moment that he has had with her. It starts from the most recent memory, which, shows the rough waters of the relationship and suddenly, that memory is gone. He is then brought to an occasion that is much more uplifting; a good memory of them just cuddling and talking to one another. As he goes to touch her face, she vanishes and is erased from his memory. The film continues like this and gradually, he tries to savor every memory that he has with her. The sudden realization that he is losing her and that she will be gone forever, frightens him and he begins to run with her.
The moral of the story is that yes, every relationship has its rough patches and those moments when you just can’t stand the other or help but think, “What am I doing with him/her?”-are really a small fraction and do not take presidence over the goodness of the relationship. This film made it clear that although, it’s frustrating at times when you have different strengths and feel that the other is lacking in important areas; you would take those small flaws over losing the whole package. This film was a great reminder to cherish the things that we have and be grateful for the people in our lives. I never realized how precious memories are and that when we do leave this life, it’s all that we will have. I’m sure that this sounds way cliché but this movie really moved me and I would highly recommend it. It just made me realize how much I love Austin and that although, we are going through the newly married transition, that I wouldn’t trade being with him for one more semester of being single with my friends or being able to travel like I have always wanted to. Being with him is right where I want to be and I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father everyday for blessing me with the most amazing best friend and the sweetest husband I could ever ask for.

A Cluster of Memories

I feel terrible for writing about this so late but hey, better late than never right? Well, now that Austin and I are married, we have a new anniversary but September 10th was our official 2 year Anniversary of when we finally became exclusive! I just can't help but think back to that day and marvel at how far we have come. I still remember the exact thoughts and emotions that I had that day when he asked me to be his girlfriend! (A little bit elementary but still so cute) We had been spending almost every day together since July and I was about fed up with just being the kissing buddy! It was that weekend that I decided to cut him off for good if he did not decide to make things official! It was Sunday and we had had a wonderful weekend hanging out in Provo; going on midnight walks to the stadium, making dinner together and attending the BYU football games! We were cuddling when he said, "Ask me how many dates I went on last week!" So I asked and he answered with "None!" I could not help but feel a tad bit special and extremely relieved that I did not have any competition at the moment. He then said that he would like it if I were the only girl he dated....I played dumb and asked what that meant because I did not want there to be any confusion! So, he said that he would like me to be his girlfriend. I remember being so excited! He threw me for such a loop and was by far, the hardest thing that I ever had to work for...which made it all so much more worth it! We had so much fun together through our courtship! I remember all of crazy dates from taking pictures in a freezer, sliding down the hill on dumpsters, getting chased by scary ax murders and then having sweet sentimental time when we would take our fun late night walks together. I am so grateful for Austin and for the wonderful blessing that he is in my life. He is my best friend and always keeps me on my toes. Everyday is a surprise with him. One day he is snuggling up to me being cute as ever and the next he is chasing me around the house saying" I'm a monster...I'm going to bite your fingers!" Austin is so much fun and I am so excited that I have the rest of forever to spend more time with him and learn to love him even more!

Moment of Truth

Sunday was the first day of church for Austin and me! The people were incredibly friendly and we were fortunate enough to get an interview with the bishop right after church. The purpose of the interview, of course, was an opportunity for the bishop to get to know us so that he could find the right place to stick us for callings. Towards the end of our interview, he asked, "Are there any strengths that I should know about?" All at once I blurted out that Austin was a great teacher and he retaliated by saying that I was good with little kids. All at once, my most mortifying child-involved memory came racing back to me.
The last time that I was called to serve with children was when I was living back home in the Spring with my family in Maple Valley, WA. My dad is actually the bishop of my home ward, lucky me. (not) Which means that every Mother's Day or Father's Day, I am asked to speak in Sacrament and usually every other time I visit home. Well, when I was visiting, I was called to the Primary as a floater, which meant that I was the lucky one that got to help out in all of the rotten classes...and the nursery. It just so happened that on this particular Sunday, I was helping out in the over sized Sunbeam class. The girl that was teaching, literally had her head buried in the book while reading very monotone. The children lost interest, of course and started to look elsewhere for entertainment. As I was observing the class, one small boy caught my attention. He had located the outlet placed on the wall beside him and was attempting to wedge his finger into the tiny socket. Stunned, I immediately got his attention and told him not to do that. He gave me what was the worst glare I had ever received, folded his arms stiffly and gave me the cold shoulder. I continued to glance around the class and make sure that everyone else was in order, while staring at the boy with my peripherals. He looked twice to make sure that I was not watching before he went at it for the second time. I'm not sure how, but this time, he had a paperclip in hand. (this kid must really have a death wish) Mortified, I literally flew across the room and grabbed his chair before he could kill himself. I dragged his chair across the room, with him screaming bloody murder the whole way. I placed him beside me and out of danger. (the teacher was still oblivious) I looked back over at the small boy, hoping that one day he would think me a hero for saving his life. His lip started trembling and all at once at the top of his lungs, while pointing his finger at me he yelled, "I DON'T LIKE YOU!" The class went silent and all eyes were on me, I felt like I had just entered my high school cafeteria naked. I was absolutely mortified.
I flashed back to reality while sitting in the bishop's office and couldn't help but laugh to myself. Although I love children and am going into that field as my career, I can't help but be a little skeptical of what my next encounter may be like.

Happy Birthday Makayla!

My sweet little sister Makayla, just turned nine yesterday! Sorry, so late! For those who do not know Makayla, she is quite an amazing little girl. She is currently on the Trampoline and tumbling team at her gymnastic studio and boy, can she flip! Ten minutes cannot go by in our house without Makayla asking if you can count her handstand, which usually last more than 30 seconds or count her back handsprings (close to 5). She is extremely athletic and is possibly the sweetest girl in the whole world. She does a wonderful job of fitting in with her 3 older sisters and always seems to leave us laughing.
One of my favorite stories about Makayla occurred when my family was vacationing down in California. We were fortunate enough to stay in a beautiful little townhouse that had enough room to accommodate the seven members of our family plus Nana. My siblings and I, 3 sisters and 1 little brother, were in one of the bedrooms talking when someone brought up the subject of $1,000,000 and what would you spend with it. My silly sister Courtney went off about all of these "interesting" things that she would by when Makayla interrupted her with wildly open eyes and exclaimed "If I had money, I would go to Wal-Mart and buy jeans!" We burst into laughter. It was the most random thing that I had ever heard come out of her mouth. This was confusing because she had never bought jeans from Wal-Mart! It was just so funny to see her face light up about Wal-Mart jeans...I guess she is easily pleased.
Makayla is so sweet and so full of life. She really is the little burst of sunshine in our family...which is nice, considering we live in Washington and it is always rainy! (haha that was an Austin joke) She is so smart as well. Whenever I am home, I will quiz her on random facts that I had taught her on my last visit and she remembers everything! Whether they are questions from the year the Magna Carta was written to Presidents in order. She is such a smart girl!
Makayla is also a wonderful dancer! I was fortunate to choreograph a dance for Makayla and her friend for the Primary Talent Show. It was a Hannah Montana routine of course! What do you expect from eight year old girls? I received so many compliments in addition to many disapproving glares from many mothers, for Makayla's "hip shaking and attitude." (a tactic she learned on her own)
Most importantly, Makayla is very sweet and tender hearted. Whenever I call her up to say hello, she always closes the conversation by saying "I love you more!" I am so lucky to have such a sweet sister! Happy Birthday Mickie-K! Love you most!

If the door's a lockin' don't come a knockin'...

Parental Guide Advised...
My husband and I were fortunate enough to stay in an absolutely beautiful resort on the beach of Cabo San Lucas for our honeymoon. The only problem that we seemed to have with this resort was the courtesy, or lack there of, of housekeeping. Whenever we would put the "do not disturb sign out on the door, housekeeping would ignore it and attempt to come in. Well, one of these disturbances occurrred when we were in our room, tending to some newly wed business, when we heard housekeeping come through the door. We both shouted for them to leave immediately! Unfortunately, one little lat did not hear so well, so sadly he had to see what happened next. Austin saw this little man mopping away on the deck and without thinking twice, Austin went out to talk to him....in his birthday suit. He stood behind the counter, only to reveal his bare chest and called out to the man. The man did not speak any english and looked at Austin confused. Austin attempted once more to tell the man that we were on our honeymoon and did not want to be disturbed, hence the sign. The man still looked at him puzzled. Austin then came around the corner, bare bum and all and demonstrated a very vulgar hip thrusting motion while saying once more, "we are on our honeymoon"...in a very dirty tone. All at the once, the light turned on in the man's head and he quickly gathered his things while rushing quickly to the door. Austin followed him awkwardly to the door, only to find that the slip we had placed on our door read "Do not disturb" on one side and "Please come clean" on the other. Sadly, we had placed the wrong side up! Whoops! Well, Im sure it gave that guy something to talk about....

How we met...

Austin and I were married on the very popular date of 08-08-08, after two amazing years of dating!
It all started when I was on a date with some kid name Berrie. Off to an interesting start already I should say. I was wanting to pull my hair out because of how truly awful this night was going. I usually consider myself to be a polite person, so what I did next was definitely out of character for me...I asked him to take me home. Call it inspiration or just simply wanting to get out of a horrible date. To my surprise, I didn't even fake sick. I told it like it was..."I'm not having a fun time, I don't see this working out, so could you please take me home!" Shocking I know. So, he took me home and I called up my friend DJ and asked what he was up to. I remembered that our friend Bryan was having a huge get together at his cabin and that that was where DJ was headed. Again, I did another thing out of character. He was about 20 minutes out and I asked him to come back and get me! A while later we arrived at the cabin and to my disappointment there were no interesting or good looking people. As the thought was jumping around in my head, some kid walked in. He was incredibly good looking but loud....very loud. He sat at the end of the couch, opposite of me and was talking to some girl but did not break eye contact with me. It kind of bugged me for some dumb reason so I automatically decided that he was annoying and that I did not like him. Again, one more thing that was very out of character for me! The group of us migrated upstairs to play "so you think you can dance," per his sister's request. I sat down in a big chair and this kid comes walking in all smug and sits on the arm of the chair. He had some of his other friends there who acted like he was their God and laughed at everything that he said. I'm not sure why I was so bugged by him, he was gorgeous! So, being the snot that I was, I got up and went and sat across the room. The look on his face was priceless, he must have thought that I was the biggest brat...but he looked intrigued. The competition began and we went around drawing slips of paper out of a hat indicating the genre of dance and if were to go solo or with a partner. It was his turn first, he was partnered up with Bryan's sister to do some Egyptian type of dance. They started out somewhat on the same track but then when this kid did not receive the audience response that he was hoping for, he broke out into some crazy and outlandish dance. I'm not even sure what you would classify it as...booty I suppose. That had kind of a funny effect on me. I started cracking up and suddenly found him intriguing as well...but of course, I could not let him know that. My turn was next. It was clearly improvisation but having been in dance for 16 years, I thought that I was on familiar territory. I did some form of hip hop routine and was fortunate enough to win the contest. Afterward, the kid came up to congratulate me, I said thanks and then turned to walk away. He followed me downstairs and caught me off guard when he asked if they guy that I was with was my boyfriend and if that was why I would not talk to him. I disgustingly protested that he was just my friend and that he was dating my roommate. (A whole different story)I separated from him for a while and was sure that he left after a few minutes of not seeing him. I went back downstairs and saw him sitting in the corner chair reading his scriptures. I walked in and accused him of staging this so that I would think he was so sweet and spiritual. He was immediately embarrassed and claimed that he had not done his reading that day. I was way bugged with him and started to leave the room when he asked me to sit and talk to him. So, I did. Four hours later his friend's came down wondering where he had been. I couldn't believe how much fun I had had talking to him. He was beautiful, bright and fun! So, for the next few hours after that, we spent the remainder of the night prank calling people with his friends and before I knew it, he asked me for my number so that we could go out for a real date. Precisely Two years, one month, one week and one day later, we were married in the Salt Lake Temple. Some loud kid that I met at a cabing turned out to be my very best friend and the person that I love more than anything!Sometimes, life can surprise you!

The Wedding Day!

08-08-08
Since the time I was five, I believed that my wedding day was supposed to be the most perfect day of my life. However, everyone fails to mention the incredibly high level of stress that there is. I, of course, did not sleep at all the night before my wedding. It seemed so unreal to me that I was actually getting married. Although I was up at the crack of dawn, it still did not feel like there was enough time to get ready. My best friend as well as my whole family stayed over at our new apartment in Holladay. I figured that since it was 3 mintues away from the luncheon location and only 15 away from the temple, that we couldn't be that late! My family has quite the reputation for being late, so we figured that by sleeping closer, we would beat the odds. Sadly, we were a half hour late to the luncheon! However, everyone was so sweet when Austin and I walked in hand in hand to the luncheon. All of our family and close friends were in attendance. The program was wonderful! Diane and Gene started off by welcoming everyone and then allowed my Dad to introduce all of the members on my side. The program started with the slide show of Austin and I. It showed pictures of us growing up side by side. I was lucky enough to have my uncle put the whole thing together and it turned out beautifully. We then started on the meal and then had the sibling baskets. Each sibling comes up with a few items that are for the spouse of their sibling. These items are essentials and will help the spouse better care for their sibling. It was such a wonderful idea! It was so fun to hear all of the funny stories that each sibling told about Austin growing up. It helped to me to get to know him a little bit better. We then had the other wonderful food courses and then had some down time to walk around and visist. I took advantage of this time to take pictures with as many people as I possibly could! We then closed the luncheon by showing our wedding video that had been created by David Perry. We had so much fun making the film and the outcome was so beautiful. It still makes me cry everytime I watch it. We then ended with thank you's and headed out with both of our parents to the temple. I could really feel the stress settling in about this time as it became more real that I was actually going to be a married woman.
We arrived at the temple and to no surprise, there were a parade of brides running around temple square. I guess that's what happens when you pick the most popular day of the year to get married. We went into the temple and were welcomed by all of the sweet temple workers. This really helped to put all the stress at ease. The ceremony was beautiful and I will never forget how wonderful it was to look around the room and see my parents, all grandparents, my best friend's parents, all of my uncles and aunts and all of my soon to be family on Austin's side. After the ceremony was over, we were able to hug and talk with everyone in the room. It was so nice to hug my new sisters and brothers. Throughout the whole ceremony Austin looked like he was going to throw up but as soon as the ceremony was over and we were standing around hugging our close friends and family; his whole face changed and he looked so much more peaceful. I went back to finish getting ready with my mom and new mother in law! They were both so sweet to help my touch up and make sure that everything was absolutely perfect. As soon as I was finished with the last bit of mascara, I walked down the hall and saw Austin sitting at the end waiting for me. His face lit up immediately and he came towards me with his hands stretched out. We walked hand in hand to meet our photographer. She snapped shots of us as we walked outside and our family cheered for us as we kissed as husband and wife. For the next hour and a half we took tons of pictures with our family and had the best time! The stress was now over and now it was just all fun! When we had finished taking the last picture, we went to change into regular clothes. We gave my family one more hug goodbye and drove off to start our honeymoon!! :)



My beautiful mom!




Sweet little sister Makayla as my flower girl!

labor day

I made a blog!!!