Meeting the Shaffers!

I visited the Shaffers two weekends ago!! And no, none of my nightmares came true :)

I could rave about my trip for quite a while (so yes, that means I think it went well!), but instead here are some pictures for you to enjoy...

I was greeted with beautiful flowers and my favorite treat, wasabi peas in the guest bedroom. The Shaffers could have won my love with this act alone :)

It was so much fun to see Curtis wrestle his two younger brothers, Trevor and Casey.

Notice how Curtis is on the bottom of the pile in this picture...

Look where he is now... yeah, that's my man!! (Well, I did tickle Casey a little to help, but he has got some skills!)

Both Trevor and Casey were so much fun and so funny!

While in Nevada we got to go to two of Trevor's basketball games. He is a champ and I surprised myself with how into the games I got!! They were way fun.

We went 4-wheeling and none of us died :)

Creg, Casey and Curtis got to feel manly chasing wild horses (can you see the horses?!).

Amanda and I chilled at the top of the hill hoping that the men wouldn't chase the horses our way and unintentionally cause us to be trampled.

Later Creg and Amanda hunted down the wild horses on foot while Casey, Curtis and I chilled by a mud hole and Casey found a meteor rock.

On Sunday Curtis and I drove up to Lake Tahoe. The water was really clear and the drive was beautiful!!

And the pine cones were all huge! Pretty sure those could knock someone out if they fell on you. Watch out coconuts, you have some competition!

All the Shaffer kids and I played Just Dance. The men impressed us with their skills and basically won every game. Don't worry Amanda, we'll get them next time ;)

During church Amanda graced us with her drawing talents. Notice the pictures of Curtis below...

...And the picture of me. Man, how did he get so lucky!! ;)

Our awesome parting picture from Amanda :)

The trip was so much fun! The Shaffers are coming to Utah this weekend and I am so excited to see them again. Drive safely :)

Valentine's Day Two

Luckily my friend Cara is a better blogger than I and a better picture taker. I stole some more Valentine's pictures from her blog.

Curtis and I doubled with Cara and her husband Andrew the Friday before Valentine's Day and went out to eat at Brick Oven. Thanks for the invite and idea, Carandrew!

After we went to a 20s-themed big band dance. It was so much fun!

We ended the day with me sobbing to "The Notebook."

Yay for more Valentine's Day awesomeness!

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is a day that some people look eagerly forward to and other people complain about for weeks in advance. I think Valentine's Day is great whether you are single or not. It is a day about remembering those you love -  significant others, family members, and friends.

I am so grateful for Curtis and how he goes out of his way to tell me he loves me.

I am so grateful for my family and how loving and supportive they are. I have learned so much from their examples and am grateful that they are interested in my life.

I am so grateful for friends who keep the commandments and strive to uplift me.

I do want to share a little bit about Valentine's Day, but not too much, because a. it is a day that was so special and I want to treasure it, b. I don't want to get shunned for the next couple weeks by all my friends who fall into the category of not liking Valentine's Day :)

Curtis went out of his way to make Valentine's Day spectacular this year.

Just a couple of highlights from the day:

Curtis and I usually go to the gym at 5:15 AM. Curtis texted me at 5:00 and told me to stay in my pajamas. He came to the door with a beautiful, single red rose and surprised me with breakfast instead of the gym!

We made on the best breakfasts ever! Home-made "Pitcher's Mounds." Biscuits, scrambled eggs, sausage, hashbrowns, gravy, cheese...

We were able to spend the whole morning together (5:00 - 7:15). When we go to the gym we see each other when we drive to the gym and when we drive home... this was a great improvement!

Later that evening Curtis came over with a full bouquet of roses. What a stud. He knows the way to my heart.

He then gave me a very sweet card, including pictures of select text messages from when we started dating. These meant so much to me!! It is amazing how much our relationship has grown from when we started dating to now. It is evident from the text messages that he has cared for me all along :)

We then "made" (yay for frozen pasta meals!) a yummy dinner and watched The Princess Bride.

Oh, and we made red velvet cheesecake brownies for dessert. http://sweetpeaskitchen.com/2011/02/01/red-velvet-cheesecake-brownies/

I would recommend.

It was a perfect day. I really enjoyed just spending time with Curtis. I also enjoyed talking to my parents on Valentine's Day and am so grateful for their examples.

Have a great week! And don't hate on Valentine's Day lovers too much!! :)

Monsters & Mormons

I was in the UVU Bookstore today and saw this book. My only question is, why not?

Front of book.

Back of book.

Happy Friday!

Geico Caveman at UVU

Just in case your wondering, the cousin of the Geico caveman goes to UVU.

I saw him in the library today at a computer near mine. Sadly, I am not sneaky and couldn't figure out a good way to take a picture of him.

But if you happen to see a man that looks like this at UVU (but with a little shorter hair and a beanie)...

...know that I saw him first! Maybe you can be more sneaky and take a picture.

Anyways, it was awesome, but very distracting while I did homework.

That awkward moment when... you are in public and can't stop laughing about something you thought about.

I was in the UVU IT office today and one of their techs was working on some internet connection issues on my laptop.

My internet started working and one of my bookmark links on my browser is to Pinterest, so he clicked it.

The first picture on my page was of photobombing. The IT guy clicked on it:

And we both started laughing hysterically, even though I have obviously seen the picture before. (Notice the awesome photobomber in the back).

We went on to talk about other things and then he went on to talk to another customer. I thought of the picture and just starting laughing...

I then proceeded to walk out of the IT office and up the stairs and behind a couple women. I thought of the picture and just starting laughing...

I then proceeded to go to the women's restroom. The picture was still in my mind and I had to stifle a laugh (because laughing in a restroom stall is much more awkward than just laughing while walking up the stairs).

Afterwards I walked to my next class. I thought of the picture and displayed a large smile while letting a few laughs out.

I got to class early and so sat down in the hallway. I thought of the picture and just started laughing. I quickly pulled out my laptop so it would seem to others like I wasn't crazy and just laughing at myself. My computer was off... so maybe there was, in fact, more reason to think I was crazy.

Sigh. What a good day. Obviously I was in need of a laugh. Hopefully I will be able to make it through my last class without thinking of the photobomber. I don't know if my professor would be as forgiving as random strangers.

P.S. I decided that a good photobomb would be smelling your armpit while someone was taking a picture. A guy did it blatantly during one of my classes the other day. A lot more sly than this one, but it would be so brilliant.

And, oh man, I thought of the picture again. Laughing hysterically. Have a great Friday!

Stop the Nightmares!!

I am soooo excited to meet Curtis's family in 16 days!!! I have been looking forward to this event for months now (even though the plan tickets have only been booked for about a week or two).

Curtis is absolutely awesome... a wonderful, amazing man. I have met his brother and sister-in-law, and they are the same. It is very obvious to me that Curtis's family is wonderful and amazing as well, or else him and his brother wouldn't have turned out like they did.

I have talked to Curtis's mom/family a couple times while Curtis has been on speaker phone... they seem so much fun and welcoming!! Honestly, I am so excited to meet them!

I am especially excited to meet Curtis's mom. She stole Curtis's phone and sent me a few texts while they were at a basketball game of one of his younger brothers. Honestly, that was a great day in my life! The mother of the man I love texting me and asking me when I was going to meet the family... what could be better?!

So really, I am so excited to meet them!... but also a little nervous... which I think is natural. I think I am a great person, and their son loves me, so I am hoping they will too :)

Regardless of my excitement towards meeting Curtis's family soon, my subconscious enjoys taunting me with nightmares about the meeting going awry.

Two nights ago I woke up from a particularly horrible one...

Curtis brought me over to meet his mom, only his mom turned out to be the mom of one of my ex-boyfriends. Somehow she was the mom of both men (dreams don't need to make sense, right?). She happened to have bitter feelings towards me due to the ending of the other relationship (btw, that guy broke up with me, so I don't understand the bitterness in the dream...).

Well, I was still excited to see her and wanted to make a good impression, so I hugged her. She semi-hugged me back in disgust... sad day.

Then I met Amanda, Curtis's younger sister. The only problem, is she wasn't quite the Amanda I was expecting... she was the younger sister of yet another ex-boyfriend of mine. She happened to have bitter feelings towards me as well and basically thought she was too cool for me. Well, needless-to-say, that bonding didn't go too well.

Curtis's dad was the last member of his family that I met in my dream. Honestly, I don't remember him being particularly impressed with me either, but at least he wasn't the dad of yet another one of ex-boyfriends!!

Anyways, I hope these nightmares stop and better dreams of me holding hands with Curtis's family and prancing through wildflowers replace them... Or... at least just the meeting going well :)