Christmas HERE I COME

Two more hours of work and then my vacation begins!! I have to go home and repack because I know I packed way too much. I won't have room to bring anything back.

I'm so excited to be flying to Bremerton to spend Christmas with Kevin's family. It will be my first away from mine, but it's still going to be wonderful.

Monday night Kevin and I celebrated Christmas together and opened our presents from my parents and to each other. Kevin spoiled me rotten.

He bought be a new Coach purse (similar to this one)



a Tiffany necklace:

Snow White on DVD



a handbag Calendar



a giant cupcake cake pan and a giant Oreo cake pan (both from William & Sonoma) so I can make cakes likes these:




and . . . an iPod Touch!!!

BEST. CHRISTMAS. EVER!

Thanksgiving

This post is so late, but I wanted to share a couple pictures from our trip to California for Thanksgiving. Kevin and I drove out a couple days before, stopped in Vegas and then made the rest of the trip to my parent's near Santa Barbara.

The weather was fantastic and we had so much fun. It is a tradition in my family to decorate gingerbread houses for Christmas, and since I won't be with my fam for Christmas this year, we decorated a train while I was at home. I think we had more fun with the landscape than the train. Note the "lumber" in the caboose, the fish pond and the gravel path.






Kevin was a Black Friday virgin, so he joined us for the 4:30 am shopping trip. He ended up spending more than my parents. I loved sharing that experience with him.

While Kevin was still trying to recover from the early bird specials, my Mom and I did some more shopping and then drove up to The Neverland Ranch. The sign is no longer there, but it was still cool to see the front gate. Since Michael Jackson's death, people have written messages on the rocks and trees surrounding the gate. I couldn't leave without writing something, so I pulled out a pen and started writing a note on one of the trees. Just as I was finishing, the security guard came out and yelled at me to stop. Seriously? I figured it was because he had nothing else to do.



Solvang is the neighboring town to my parent's and we just had to take Kevin there. They have the best pastries. Aebelskivers and a strawberry cream cheese danish. So good!




And course, we had to go to the beach too. Here are a couple pics my Mom took of us.

Color Me Mine

Kevin and I went to Color Me Mine the other night and had so much fun!!! Probably one of my favorite dates we've been on. Here are a few pics.

Kevin's mug:




My mug:


And after they were glazed:


Enjoying some delicious hot chocolate in his new mug!

The Proposal

I know many of you have heard already, but I just love saying it . . . I’m engaged!!!!

This has been a long time coming, but it has finally happened! And here is the story of the proposal:

Our Six Month Anniversary was on October 13. Kevin had to travel to Las Vegas that day for a trade show, so I decided to take off work and tag along. One of his co-workers also had to go, so he brought his wife and we all drove down together that afternoon. I worked half a day on Tuesday and Kevin stopped by about an hour before I left to being me two dozen red roses. I thought he was just being sweet because it was our anniversary.

The drive down to Las Vegas was fun, and seemed a little long. I’m guessing it felt a little longer for Kevin. He seemed a little quiet on the way down, but I thought he was just tired so I didn’t really think anything of it. He just kept looking over at me and smiling, but I figured he was just happy to be going to Vegas. Since it was our anniversary, we had planned to go on a gondola ride at the Venetian and then eat at Canaletto, a restaurant in the Venetian. We arrived in the city a little late, but hurried and checked into our hotel and changed into nicer apparel. All week Kevin kept asking me what he should wear when we went out, which I thought was a little funny, but not too out of the ordinary. ( I had told him several times that he needed to make sure we were dressed really nice when he proposed, so this was his way of making good on that promise.)

The other couple that was with us followed us over to the Venetian and over to the gondolas, which I thought was a little strange since they weren’t going to ride with us, but once again, I just brushed it off.

The ride on the gondola was incredibly romantic. Of course, I think I ruined the mood a little bit when I turned to him and said, “You know, we could have just shared a gondola with another couple and saved like $30.” He told me that it wouldn’t be special and then his voice got a little shaky. He told me he loved me and then asked me how much I loved him. I told him I loved him a lot, and started to think, “What a weird question.” Then I looked down and saw the ring I had picked out in his hand. I was speechless!! I could not believe he had the ring! He had told me just a couple days before that he would not be able to buy the ring for another couple weeks and then it would take 2 weeks for it to get sized.

I started crying once I got over the shock of seeing the ring and then he asked me if I would marry him. I said yes, of course!!

The gondola guide could tell what was going on, and so he announced “She said yes!” And everyone that was walking along the water started clapping and cheering. Then, Kevin told me that Jay and his wife and been taking pictures of us the whole time. They had been hiding behind signs and other objects so that I wouldn’t see them. I will post the pictures as soon as I get them.

The guide was nice enough to take some pictures for us. They turned out way better than the ones that they take when you get on the boat and try to get you to buy.









After the boat ride we went to dinner at the restaurant right by the canal called Canaletto. The food was really good.

I don’t think I could have asked for a more romantic and perfect proposal. I absolutely love my ring and I love my finance!!!

Dropping the Weight

Dating certainly has its perks, but there are also a few downfalls. Like feeling the need to eat out all the time. Though this is a nice idea in theory, my waistline does not agree. I have someone to keep me warm this winter, so I don’t need to be packing on the extra liner of fat this year. Therefore Kevin and I are starting a new program this week. No it’s not some weird diet with hormone shots, we have an exercise plan and we are going to start keeping a food diary. Self.com has a really good program that helps you lose 8 pounds in a month. Basically, you workout for 350 minutes a week, which equals just less than 60 minute sessions 6 times a week. You also calculate what your calorie intake should be and stick to it.

I really think this will work if we can maintain it. I like the idea of the food diary because it really does stop me from snacking on unhealthy options. If I think about grabbing a cookie I think, “I really don’t want to log that,” and I don’t pick it up. It is going to take some effort to make my workouts more creative so I don’t get bored, but I look forward to it. Having a partner will be good too.

If any of you are looking for a way to lose a couple pounds, you should totally jump on the bandwagon! It’s good to start now before the holidays are upon us!

Power Outage and Conference

There was quite the storm last night, which left our office with no power this morning. Of course, that left me with nothing to do, so I left and ran some errands. The power wasn’t supposed to be turned on until 10:30 am, but of course Rocky Mountain Power was working hard and was able to restore power just after 9:30 am. Much to my disappointment of course. I had just gotten to Kevin’s office to visit him when I got the call. I did get some things done though and I got paid for it, so that’s nice.

Conference weekend was bliss. Friday night Kevin and I stopped by a wedding reception and then headed up to Salt Lake for his parent’s mission reunion. It was so good to see his parents. They are so cute. His mom made a ton of delicious soup, and I ate more than my share I’m sure. After a moving presentation and cleaning up, we all went back to Kevin’s and chatted for a while. His parents are just so sweet and welcoming.

Saturday morning I stopped off at Shirley’s on the way to Kevin’s to pick up some cinnamon rolls and wheat rolls. SO GOOD! Kevin’s parents stayed for the first part of the morning session and then we spent the rest of the day being lazy, sleeping in between and after the sessions. Kevin went to priesthood and I took advantage of my free time and caught up on some of my shows. When he returned we had to continue his tradition of going out for pizza after Priesthood session. I chose California Pizza Kitchen, one of our favorites. I even ordered a slice of Red Velvet cake. AMAZING!

Sunday was another lazy day. Lots of Conference and lots of napping. We ended up watching Marley and Me and we both bawled like babies. Kevin blames it on being so tired. Yeah, right! ;-)

It rained a lot, and I kind of liked it. Things are cooling off and it really feels like fall!

Computers and Reading

I do not like waiting. For anything. I know many people can attest to that. My dilemma this week: I decided to order my laptop direct from Dell because my Dad gets a killer discount. The only problem is that they have to build it and then ship it 3-day. Meaning I won’t get my laptop for at least another week. It’s amazing how thrown off I am without a computer at home. My morning and nightly routines are all awry now. Going almost 24 hours without checking Facebook isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I just hate not being able to watch Hulu and Google random questions that I have.

I know, I know, you should all feel so sorry for me. I am so much worse off than those starving kids in China or where ever children are starving these days.

In the meantime, I do have several books checked out from the library that I am trying to read. Right now I am working on “The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold, “Freakonomics” by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, and “The Choice” by Nicholas Sparks.

Interestingly enough, I was just googling to see who the author of “The Lovely Bones” was and discovered that they are filming a movie based on the book and it is set to release in January. And Stanley Tucci is playing the murderer, which I am way excited about. I love him and I can totally picture him playing the part.

So far the books are good. I just need to find more time to read them.