Survivor Man!

Well, being a fisher of fish (rather than men) doesn't have any real eternal worth but it sure does make the tummy happy! Yesterday Jason and his cousin grabbed the kayaks and set out to catch some Rock Cod out in San Simeon. Apparently it was pretty tough getting out past the break with all their gear but they were successful!!! Part of me wondered if they would actually catch something but I prayed none the less! It was really exciting to come by his house afterwards and see all their ocean loot! They were catching so many that they were throwing a lot of them back...only going for the big ones. Tonight, Jason and his family are frying those puppies up and we are going to have fish and chips! Yum, that's my favorite! Here are some pictures for your viewing enjoyment (shocker huh, that I have some visual stimulation on this thing!)

The big fat orange one was the "prize fish." I don't know why they aren't all orange. I guess there are different types of the same breed of fish. Not sure. It's also nice to know that I will never go hungry with this guy! haha. If the great depression comes again and we have no money...I'll just send Jason out to catch some supper! :-)

Today...

...was a lovely and warm day. I decorated my bulletin boards in my Sunday school room. That was fun. I also printed up a couple more variations to our invites. I wonder if I can scan them and show them to you...hmmm. We'll see about that one.

Jason and I also had our first marriage counseling today. It's so strange to be counseled on marriage. Granted, we are really excited to be married and yet...the concept, "I will marry Jason and spend the rest of my life with him," in and of itself is a little...surreal. I can't imagine how surreal it must be for someone who only dated for a few months and then got married. We talked about all the topics that are to come in future counseling sessions. Today was a kind of intro I guess.

I also met with Judi yesterday and we talked about wedding stuff, in particular the reception. That was nice. Things are moving along and I think that this thing will actually happen! :-) I can't believe it but Jason and I have been engaged for 2 months now. We only have about 4 months left! Wow, time sure does fly. It will really fly by once we get into those holiday months.

Anyways, that's the update as of now. I'm enjoying the time off! haha. Sweet quiet times in the morning, time to run errands, and read. I could get used to this life. Ok, well, it may get old eventually. I'll enjoy it for now though!!! Welp, I hope everyone had a good Thursday and I'm off to get ready for bed. Over and out! :-)

Things are a changin'...

I guess the Lord gives and He takes away. It was a bit of a shocker but...on Monday I lost my job at the business center. It's still a little...humbling. That's a good word for it. :-) I don't think that there was enough work...obviously. They also seemed to be cutting back on a lot of things because the place wasn't full of tenants like it had been in the past. I think I was a "cut back". There was a temp girl who was hired and they pay her less because she's not out of college. She wanted more hours and so I think my job went to her. I think that was the main motivation. I also feel like the boss and I butted heads a lot too. He was nice but he's quite elderly. Sometimes he was very cranky and would take it out on us. I probably should have kept my mouth shut but...if I got blamed for something that wasn't true than I would politely explain myself (and I bit my tongue and just ignored him so many times too). So...I don't think that he really liked that! I guess you live and learn huh? Being let go is VERY humbling though. It's an odd feeling to be not needed...or wanted anymore.

At the same time I am also working another job and so it wasn't quite as awful as it could be...I'm not totally income-less. I guess I wasn't in love with the job anyways. I was really just going to try to get through it until Jason and I got married and then quit. God had different plans though. Jason and I had some financial goals...I planned every paycheck to the dollar. I guess it's time to rely on the Lord and truly lean on Him fully. If what we have planned is His will He will bring it to be and we shouldn't be of so little faith. So, there you have it! I don't think that blogging will be so regular...since I'm not sitting at the computer all day. I'm very ok with that though!!! haha.

Welp, I guess you can be praying for more hours for both Jason and I. We are both in the very same boat now. Sort of funny...I guess. Crazy that's for sure. I just hope that I can rely on and trust fully in the Lord. I know that He will be faithful to provide all that we need!

The Weekend...

Happy Monday friends!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I definitely did...good but busy. On Friday night Jason and I had our date night and went to Klondike's for pizza. It was a splurge. We have been doing cheap, low key things for our date night since we became engaged to save money (i.e. Costco for dinner!). We pulled into the Costco parking lot to get our slice of pizza and Jason said, "Let's go to AG and get Klondikes!" Yay! I'm the one that usually tries to "cheat" on my budgeting so it was kind of fun to have Jason be the one to suggest it! hehe! So, we ate pizza, played pin-ball and pac-man, and also saw Julie N. She was having a going away party there because she left for Australia on Sunday. She's going to try to live there permanently! Very cool.

On Saturday morning I met Jason at his house. We went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to register. We got there at 9:30am and left at 1:15pm. Wow, that was tiring. It was also a little annoying at times. We were asked if we needed help about 10 times...literally. When we were looking at pots and pans I could kind of understand it. I guess there are things about those worth explaining. But, when we're looking at dish towels...give me a break people. After the 5th person I think that we were getting pretty annoyed. Also, what is up with the pressure to register for china? I don't even know how many workers there pressured us into getting china. We really don't need china. China is nice...it's pretty...but it's not needed. I'm not a fan of having things packed away that you pull out once a year or so. Anyways, by the time we use it...10 years down the road...our taste will probably be different and we won't even like it all that much. Funny stuff! We finished the registry though. When we printed up the list at the end the guy said, "Oh, you only registered for 104 things...you'll want to come back." Um, no thanks. We're good! We didn't tell him we were registering other places too! ;-)

Jason described the process well. First it was weird. (How often are you given a scanner to walk around scanning things for you future home together?) Then it was fun. (We got into the groove of it and really had fun with some products). Then it was tiring. (Not sure if we actually wanted some of the things at the end. I'm sure we'll get one of them as a gift and say, "Why did we scan THAT?" haha. Oh well.) A few things that we almost put on the registry as a joke were, an ash tray, a fuzzy leopard comforter, a potato brush that had a creepy potato with a face as the handle, and a plastic hippo pot holder. We weren't sure if other people would think it was funny though. Soooo...that's the B,B,& B story!

The rest of the weekend was great. Time with the Jeffreys, Fall Kick-Off...it was very nice. Crazy how the town feels like it's bustling again. Cal Poly is definitely back in session. This is the first fall I haven't gone back too. That's weird. :-)

Thursday happenings...

Welp, no blog yesterday. I went to do one, started typing, and then just changed my mind. I didn't really feel like writing. So...there you have it!

Ok, so the dress is set in stone...or in money! $$$ I went yesterday with my good friend Autumn to try on dresses (for her). She made an appt. for 2:30pm and my appt. was for 4pm. She tried on a bunch of different dresses. She likes the silhouette dresses...the one's that look like a mermaid. I'm not a fan of those so much but I will say that she pulled it off really really well. There was one in particular that I liked. It was a bridesmaid dress. Isn't that funny. If she gets it her dress will only be a little over $300. That's pretty nice!

So, when we went in today, the lady that helped me wasn't there. I liked her. The lady that helped us was nice but...she seemed like she had better things to do than hang around us. She didn't seem as into helping Autumn as the other lady was for me. When it was time to get measured too I asked her if I could try the dress on one more time before I give the OK and put down money. She said, "Well, we don't normally do that but I guess there's time." Come on, this is the largest purchase I have ever made in my life (seriously)...I can try it on one more time. Sheesh! haha. The lady that I met with on Saturday said that she wanted me to try it on again before I do the final ok. There's some mixed messages there!!! :-)

I also asked the lady about the "Diamond White". She had me try a dress on in Diamond White by Maggie Sottero. I liked the color. It's definitely not stark white but it's not quite as dark as ivory...although you can only tell them apart when you put them right next to each other. It really is very close to ivory. It seemed to look fine on my skin tone. Then I put the actual dress on one more time and yes, I really do love it! Yay! So, I put half the money down and in 10 days I will call them so that they can give me an estimated arrival date! Another small blessing...being proportional!!! haha! So, she measured me and I was pretty much the same size across the board. My waist was between the size that the rest of my body was and the next size up. The back is lace up though and so there is apparently a 3" flex room because of that. Hopefully it won't have to be taken in at all on the sides. I just want it to fit perfect except for the hem (I expect to hem that)...please Lord! :-) I would love to not have to pay a ton in altering. We'll see though.

Ok, so for something fun. I have had some people ask me to post a picture of the dress. I won't do that but I will give you the website. haha! If you can guess what dress I bought than I will tell you whether you are right or not! Which one looks like something I would buy??? Obviously this is only for people that have time on their hands! I love so many of this designers dresses and it's just fun to look through them in general! (Although some are...hmmm, a little too much). hehe. Ok, if you should choose to....happy hunting!!! http://www.maggiesottero.com/

Finally, a little story. Autumn and I were leaving downtown AG and she started to drive past the on-ramp. I said, "Uh, that was our on-ramp," as we were pretty much already past it. Then out of nowhere she cranked the steering wheel and turned onto it. Uh, yeah, I fully screamed...from the time she started the turn until the time that we were about on the freeway. I couldn't believe that one, she WENT for that turn, and two...that we were still alive. When I asked her (more like screamed), "Are you insane?" She said, "I only took that turn at 30!" I definitely laughed hard and said, "Oh, you're right Autumn...what's 30mph when you're taking an almost 90 degree turn??" It was truly a funny moment. Granted she has this low, zippy Scion that handled the turn really well. She was aware of the capability of her car. :-) I freaked though because if we were in Jason's truck...or her old Explorer...yeah, we would've been rolling on the side of the road from that maneuver. Good times though! Kinda makes me want to take her car for a spin!

What do you think?

Jason and I met with a photographer yesterday evening and...long story short, photography is now a priority for us. We are willing to cut back in other ways to have it. Everyone has been telling me that photography is the one thing you will always have. The flowers will die, the food will be eaten...but with the photos you, your kids, and grand kids will look at for a life time. Jason loves photos too. He likes albums and looking through them. So, a photo package it is! We were maybe going to "rent" the photographer for 3 hours and just do her $200 an hour fee. You don't get anything with that though. We were then going to see if we could talk a friend into taking pictures for the reception. Anyways, if we in fact go with this photographer we will receive 5 hours of photography, 2 photographers, an engagement session with 50 5x7 pics, 3 month password and online viewing, black and white, sepia, color, and cross processing, a $200 photo credit for prints, and the digital negatives of the wedding on a DVD that are printable. Phew. Honestly...I feel REALLY good about this move. I was kind of stressing over the photos but was just going to settle and be ok with what we can afford. It comes at a price though...we need to cut back in other areas.

So, here's where your opinion comes in. We were going to do an open wedding and reception...but still send out invites. In order to afford the pics we are going to have to cut back on the reception (It would be an appetizer and cake reception). This can happen in 3 ways:

1. We make it an open wedding, but don't have everyone come to the reception...so the reception would be "closed." This way we can have the quantity and variety of food that we were planning on but with less people so we can afford it. Thus some people would be invited to the ceremony and not the reception.
2. Have the ceremony and reception be closed but cut down on the numbers all together. Everyone that would get an invitation then would also be invited to the ceremony and reception. This would also allow us to keep the food the way we were planning on it.
3. Have both the ceremony and reception be open and cut down on the variety and expense of food. There would be less of a variety...it probably wouldn't be as fancy.

So what do you think? The problem that I see with #1 is the fact that the reception is in the MC which is right across from the sanctuary. It seems like it would be weird for some people to get to go and others not. I'm mean what do you say at the end of the ceremony..."There's a cake reception for those that were invited." It's not like it's a dinner reception where that would seem almost more acceptable...since those are so pricey.

Also, being that this is a very thrifty wedding...we aren't really keen on having people that we don't really know attending. We wanted to do the open wedding and reception though because it's Grace...and it just seemed right with all the people we know there. I wonder though if we would really have that. It doesn't seem like people would come that we don't know that well...or at least I think. :-)

Finally, obviously you can invite more than you plan on coming right? There's going to be a percentage of "no's" on the rsvp's. How do you plan for that? Hmmm. So many questions, none of which I know the answer to. Maybe you do...! :-)

Not much To Say...

Well, things are coming along. This week and next week the following is happening. Oh wait, before I go on. So, my dress...I looked it up on the website and they don't carry it in true ivory but in "diamond white". Now apparently this is a light ivory...whatever that means. I have been told that the color that looks good on my is ivory. I don't want a true white gown because it makes me look kind of washed out...I think. Did anyone...by any chance...wear a Diamond White gown? If so...what does it look like? I'll ask the wedding peeps on Thurs. for a sample but I just thought I'd ask y'all! :-)

Ok, so this week we are planning and planning. We seem to have waves of it. The first month we didn't think much about the wedding and didn't really do any real planning...except pick the date. Today we are meeting with a photographer and then sometime in the next week we will meet with the "Cake Lady" as Jason's family calls her. We also have a consultation at The Cakery this Friday. We'll most likely go with The Cake Lady though because she is dramatically cheaper...but hey, why not try some free cake samples??? Thursday I will be putting money down and getting sized for my dress and on Saturday morning Jason and I are going to register at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I think that we also may have the flowers that are being "made" by a florist lined up...I think.

Some of the major things that we have left to figure out are bridesmaid dresses, tuxes, where to buy un-arranged flowers, and invites. That seems like the bulk of it. It's great having a simple wedding. It makes it a 100 times easier to plan! Yay! Things like food are left until the week before once we have a good head count. I also think that we are really close to a design for our invitations. Now I just have to go utilize my 25% off for a WHOLE PURCHASE at Michael's to go buy all the paper! Oh yeah! That means that our invitations will cost $85 total...and we're sending out quite a few (that doesn't include postage though). You know, they seem pretty darn cool for homemade too! :-) hehe. It will be much more labor intensive but way worth the money saved!


What else to say? Oh, so my body is slowly healing from the fall. I was beat down and tired on Sunday from it. It felt like the whole left side of my body had been ran over. Uggh. The wounds just keep weeping too...blah...I just want to be healed and not in pain. My poor legs have bruises that I didn't even know I was capable of (I'm not a bruiser). Every time I take a step I feel the one on my quad...ouch! Oh well. I guess it's the price you pay. I hope I don't lose my confidence on downhill because of this. I was getting pretty gutsy there and I think I'll be a little more cautious now for a while. What can you do...?

Ok, until tomorrow bloggey homeys!

Jason the Teacher

Well, I said that I wouldn't blog BUT...I lied. Did you actually believe that I wouldn't? Hmmm. Probably not.

So, I haven't said much about Jason and his new job but he is working at the Central Coast Language Academy teaching Korean students English. I will say one thing...I am really proud of him! He's certified to be doing it but really he went into it on a huge leap of faith. The Lord opened the position at the perfect time but it wasn't the ideal amount of hours. He had very little experience under his belt but he really is doing an amazing job. It's so cool to see him with his lesson planner all out and him grading papers. When he's with people of different cultural and ethnic backgrounds he is totally in his element! It's really fun to see. And...what a handsome teacher he is!!! :-)

If you think about it you can pray that he gets a few more hours of work. Right now it's a part time position. It's hard to just trust the Lord with this when there are so many expanses coming up. The kids that he's teaching right now will be going back to Korea and we're hoping that some more hours become available. So, we will sit back and give this to the Lord...let's see where He takes the Jase man!!! :-)

Oooh, a Saturday Blog!

Well...today I went dress shopping. I will say that it was VERY fun. The store was great and the lady that worked with me was fantastic. She had a very good eye for what I would like and did not bring me anything that was over my budget. So, I "think" that I have found "the dress". I say think because I'm sleeping on it and seeing what I think. If I still like it as much as I do now I will go there on Tues to put the deposit down and order it.

So, I tried on about...7 dresses. There really weren't THAT many that were in our budget. The one that I ended up liking though happened to be the designer that I pretty much love and it was something that we could afford. Kinda funny. I tried on a lot of dresses of various styles. Some A-lines, an empire waist, strapless and strapped. Some with satin fabric and some with taffeta fabric...and some with lace. My mom and Rebekah commented on how many different styles I picked out. I guess I didn't have a real clear image in my head of what I wanted. At first I was sort of surprised because I was drawn to the dresses with more *bling*. I felt like I would go for something more simple. In the end though I chose a strapless dress that is an ivory satin (not super shiny satin though) and it doesn't have any sequins. It will be altered to have a sweet heart neckline. It really is gorgeous. Although it has no sparkly stuff it doesn't come across to me as super plain. I don't know why...I guess it's the way the fabric lays on it. You purchase it with this weird sash and bow though. Once I get it...if I get it :-) I have the choice to keep it on or off. The bow is taking a hike for sure but the sash may stay...not sure. It's an easy fix either way. So...I may have a dress. We'll see. No pictures or anything though. Jason reads my blog sometimes and he certainly can't see. It's fun to have it be a surprise for everyone else too.

Ha! Oh yeah. So Jason and I went on a ride today before trying on dresses. We were riding up the mountain and I thought to myself, "Oh man, I shouldn't fall. It would be terrible to go try on dresses all bloody." Well, I got to the last part of the downhill and fell not once, but twice. The first one wasn't so bad but the second one worked me pretty good. I skinned my side and my elbow. I have scratches on my left leg from my ankle all the way up to my hip. I have two large swollen bumps on my leg. One above my knee from when I went over the handle bars and caught my leg on my bar. The other one is on my hip and it's really puffy and blue. I pretty much caught my body on that one point I think. Hmmm. It really wasn't all that bad when it happened. I mean, I had a huge wave of pain that went through my leg when I hit the ground but I just figured it was because I scraped some skin off. Once I got cleaned up though all the swelling came alive and I realized that the pain at impact was not from the scrapes but from how hard I hit the ground. I can say one thing too at this point...I am so SORE!!! So, I went to the bridal shop all bandaged. They were nice about it and said that there will be NO mountain biking starting 2 weeks before the wedding. Hmmm...I didn't think about that. I guess bandages aren't a very good accessory to a wedding dress.

So, I finally got my good fall where I bled and was battered. Funny how I almost felt like I was missing out on something because I hadn't achieved that. Although I will confess that it does make me feel a little card-core, I think I really could do with out the pain! :-) So, hope you enjoyed the Saturday post. There probably won't be a Monday one becuase of it!

Oh, Friday! *SiGh*

Yes folks, it's Friday. So, I am now in the house that I will probably be living in for the next 7 or 8 months. I moved there last night. hmmm. That's a nice feeling.

So, the Jeffrey's have this super cute little kitten. It is has the coolest colorings that I've even seen on a cat. It's also very friendly and wants to be with you all the time. It pretty much followed me around every where. Last night I went to bed and decided not to shut the door. It came in right off and tried to sleep by my head. So I scooped it up and put it at the end of the bed. It stayed there when I did that so I figured that it would be fine. Well, it slowly migrated to the top of the bed. I woke up in the middle of the night because I rolled over onto it. I was sleeping on my side and it had snuggled up right next to my back. Well, I went to roll on to my back and *sQuIsH*. Oops, sorry Jeffreys! Your cat is fine though, I'm happy to say. So, it moved on it's own obviously. Then I fell back asleep and woke up with it pressed to my face. So, I put it on the floor. It jumped back up and tried to take it's spot back. We did that a couple of times and then I put it outside of the room and closed the door. It cried outside for a minute and then got bored. :-) Then I slept!!! It's VERY cute but even as a kid I couldn't take it when our animals slept on my bed. I can handle it being at the end of the bed but that's about it. I like my space!!!

Well, I'm off to "work" now! I hope everyone has a marvelous weekend!!! Adios!

Things I am Looking Forward to:

I don't have too much to say so I thought that I would put some things that I'm looking forward to:

1. Living somewhere for longer than 6 months.
2. The Amazing Race :-)
3. Seeing Bella Fugler in real life.
4. Dress shopping this Saturday (I'm excited now).
5. Mountain bike riding this afternoon (it's been a week now...ugh)
6. My next hang-out with Shannon....man, I forget how much I miss that looney lady!
7. Chopping my hair off (it will be one of the first things I do after the honeymoon)
8. Dinner at the Evangelista's
9. The moment Jason and I figure out what we are doing the first year of marriage.
10. Um...February 7th! :-)
11. Also, Febraury 7th because then I will live in the same house as Jason's camera. Then I can use it all the time and actually post pictures with all my boring posts! haha.
12. Summer. Hehe. Summer is leaving us (not the human Summer! haha). Jason tells me he "feels" it. So...I look forward to summer coming back. Although, I like the weather switch for about a week...change is always nice. Then I'm always ready for it to go back to the warm weather.
13. Seeing the Jeffrey's kitten! haha. That makes me very excited!
14. Checking things off of my to-do list.
15. Upgrading a few more parts on my mountain bike with the Art's gift cards I got for my birthday!
16. Payday!
17. Maybe some snowboarding this winter...? Probably not though.
18. Maybe getting to go up to Washington to see Jason's sis and baby #3.
19. Registering at REI! Yes Please!!!!! (Thanks for the idea Jenny and Travis!)
20. The weekend!!! Woopee!

Wednesday Nothings...

Well friends...first, thanks to all of you who wrote me! Amazing! If you haven't heard from me yet...an email is coming. I will reply back to each one of you! There were quite a few though so it's taking me a little bit of time.

On a completely different note...I really like the chili cheese fritos. haha. We have them at work and I keep trying to resist them to no avail. It's funny because chips aren't all that tempting to me unless it involves guacamole and salsa. I like these one's though. yummy.

So, what else to write about? I think that we are getting close to picking invitations. Basically, I make them, then I show them to Jason, then he tells me what he thinks. We've done this a few times. I have two favorites that I just recently made so we'll see if he picks one of them! :-) Oooh, and I also feel like we are accomplishing more lately. This Sat. I go try on dresses, hopefully next Tues. we meet with a possible photographer, and the Sat. after that we register at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Oh yeah. Now THAT is progress. :-) Now I just have to figure out how to get Jason to the tux place to get him measured. haha. I'll bribe him with sweets most likely!

Otherwise, no news here. I hope everyone has a great Wed. though. Until tomorrow...probably.

Is this weird to ask? Maybe...BUT, I'll ask it anyway

So, this will be a short post but I have a small request to make. A some what odd post yet I'm curious... :-) I have a hunch that more people use this then I know. So, if you wouldn't mind, I would love for anyone who practices NFP (who is willing to share) to email me some of their experiences with it. No need to have a full convo about it on this thing....that could be a bit weird. But, I'm reading and learning about it right now and Jason thought that it would be a good idea to get other people's ideas behind it and experiences (thanks Olivia!). So, if you would like to share...and don't think that this is TOTALLY weird...or crude for me to request...feel free to shoot me an email at a.maria.lyons at gmail dot com! I would love to know why you like, don't like it, whether it works...or doesn't, think it's God honoring, think it's stupid, and etc. :-) haha. Thanks friends!

PS: I really hope this isn't innapropriate. Is it? I just want to be educated. I have read lots of things but sometimes real experiences are good ways to learn too. Sorry if this is awkward.

Monday...

Well, I'm back after a lovely weekend. I went to the Church Campout with the Evangelista's this weekend. I would have gone with my parents but they decided at the last minute to not go...they had way too many time conflicts with the weekend. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The highlight: wakeboarding! I wakeboard once a year. I learned how to do it 4 years ago and then have gone once a year since. That doesn't leave much room for progression. Jason and I went with the Iunker's on their boat this weekend. It gets kind of boring just getting pulled behind the boat so I asked Jason and Lance how to jump. They explained it to me and I tried going at the wake from the right side and it was ok. Then they told me to try to do it from the left side...since I'm regular footed. SUCCESS!!! We aren't talking big air here but the board was leaving the water and I was landing them. SO fun! The Iunker boat was great to learn how to jump on because their boat creates such a tall wake and they have the tower. Very fun! Jason was very studly too!!! Bustin' jumps left and right! :-) Another highlight of the trip...and I think Jason would agree...watching LANCE IUNKER wakeboard! Crazy kid! You wouldn't have guessed that he just broke his back. God is so good and has healed Lance in amazing ways. It was so cool to watch him!

So, the week is just beginning. Jason and I are starting to realize how fast this wedding is going to be here. We now have less than 5 months left. Where in the world did that other month go? Hmmm. It's kinda exciting though!!! :-)

Had to Post This...

It made me laugh but Palin, according to the most recent poll, is viewed more favorably by America then both McCain and Obama. Hahaha! My goodness. She goes from a near nobody in Alaska to a woman who is rockin' politics! What a crack up! She's killing Obama's VP nominee. He has a 33% approval versus her 59% approval. Interesting stuff. Before Palin...I really felt like Obama may win. But WITH Palin...I think McCain just may have a chance!

Weekend!

So I loved all the comments and ideas for making a wedding cheap! I'm really excited because I think that we can really accomplish our goal of staying with in the budget. I keep hearing from people, "Oh, you'll probably go over your budget." We're going to prove them wrong! haha!!! :)

Anyways, so after work we are going to head on up to Lake San Antonio for the Grace Camp Out. That should be fun. My parents were going to come but decided that it would be too much. That's too bad. Jason and I might come back to SLO on Sat. night. Either that or right after church on Sun. We stayed last year until Sun. evening. I'm also trying to figure out whether I will ride the infamous "Taco" driven by Tim. Last year I did it and man...it was SO fun! Jason kept telling him to go faster...that I really could hold on...to drive like there was a guy back there. HAHA! I rode it for a while. It kept going up on it's side. I kept thinking, "Ok, it's going to kick me off now!" Finally, I lost it and I pretty much skipped along the top of the water for a little distance. What a rush! As soon as I hit the water it felt like I had pulled my groin though. I didn't, the pain went away after a few minutes. Anyways, Jason is NOT doing that this year. The guy held on FOREVER last year. Tim worked him (Tim is an INSANE boat driver...it's great!) Jason's shoulder is just now starting to feel better through physical therapy and that would certainly not be good for it at all. It think it will be hard for him to say "no" to stuff like that. :-) You know, it's the "Man Complex". Haha! Hopefully we can wake board still without any pain!

Well, I hope everyone has a great day and weekend! I shall be chatting with you all later!

LoVe is in the air...or maybe it's in the water???

So, another person I know is engaged! Crazy stuff!!! It's funny because all of the people...ok, so there's 3 of us (that's a lot though to me...for a one month period) have been dating for over 3 years. Jason and I...about 3 1/2 years, Kayla and Andrew...about 3 1/2 years, Autumn and Craig...I think a little over 4 1/2 years. Whoa mama!!!

It's funny because Jason and I have been asked the question, "When are you guys getting married?" starting at the 6 month mark. I DREADED the question at that point. I usually answered awkwardly, "Um, uh, we'll see what the Lord has for us." I always thought, "Give me a break people...6 months? AND I still have 2 1/2 years of school left!" After the one year mark people started asking us while we were together, "So, when are you guys going to get married?" One word: AWKWARD! Haha. I look back on it now and think it's funny...but when it was happening...not so much! I think people were VERY confident that we would be together forever...even though we weren't totally. At about 1 1/2-2 years we did start to talk about marriage off and on. At that point we were both still in school. Jason had a year or so left and I had about 2 years. We talked a little about whether it would be smart to get married while in college. I knew I wanted to finish school no matter what. I had already invested so much time and money into it that I wanted to finish my degree. Anyways, long story short...we waited until both of us were out of undergrad school.

I think it was smart for us. I know plenty of people who got married in college and it worked for them. The Lord has a different path for each of his children. The Lord also knows what we can and can't handle. I was actually thinking about it this morning. For those of you who don't know...I'm not exactly the perfect diligent student. I really liked going to class, learning, seeing my fellow phil majors, being on campus, being a part of a "community" but I really was not good at doing the other major part of school...homework! I mean I did fine in school but I definitely received a few too many C's. Once I got home I would take any excuse possible to not read or study (ask Autumn...or Jason!) I was really bad at Cuesta. I shaped up a little at Poly since there is less time to "catch up" on reading and the such and because I had started dating Jason (he is VERY diligent and probably got one C in his college career in some hard science class, darn smarty.) Anyways, if I had even been engaged in school, HA!, that would have been a baaaaaad quarter. Wedding planning would have taken over.

Anyways, not sure why I rambled on about that. I don't really have anything else to write about...so there you go! Oh, Autumn can't go dress shopping with me next Sat. I think she was so busy thinking about her wedding that she forgot about the one she's supposed to go to that same weekend. Oh well. So, I'm on my own. Bummer! Having a friend would have eased the awkwardness. Is it just me or is "wedding dress trying-on" awkward? You try on a bunch of dresses, half of which you don't really like. Then you go and stand on a little podium while the whole store stares at you. To top it off you have a random store clerk cinching the dress down on you trying to make it "fit" in a way that you can "picture it". Hmmmm. Sounds awkward to me. A friend who is stuck in the same sitch. would have been fun. Oh well. I'm going to bring a bridesmaid with me instead and she can laugh with me! :-)

Ok, a little weird...

Well, I was surfing around on a wedding wholesale site when I found this:
Is that funny or what? At first I saw my name and then I did a double take and realized that it was Jason too. Ha!

Hmmm...what to write about???

Really, there isn't too much happening. The hustle and bustle of moving is thankfully done! I'm at the Week's house for the next week and half and slept on the most comfortable bed EVER! I forgot how comfy Seth's old bed was! :-) That probably sounds weird! I have stayed in his room (he's in the Army and doesn't live here anymore) before because I usually stay with Rebekah for the Week's when her parents go out of town. So yeah...I slept HARD! I have been really tired the last few days because I have been staying up so late and getting up so early. No bueno.

So, I think I'm going to part of the Grace Camping Trip. I was so pumped for it last year because I love the lake and wake boarding/tubing, etc. For whatever reason this year I keep forgetting about it and just realized that it is THIS weekend. Crazy. I haven't had a "normal" weekend in a while. Two weekends ago I was up camping with my family, last weekend was the crazy moving weekend, this weekend is the camping trip, the weekend after THAT will be kind of normal...except for the 2:30 appt. to try on wedding dresses. haha. I guess that's not particularly normal. That's ok. I still get to go on a ride and probably get Linnea's lattes!!! :-)

Well, I have rambled long enough! I think I shall go and surf the net for wedding invitation ideas. We are making our own!!! :-) Anyone want to have an "assembling party" in a month or two!?!?! Don't resist the urge...you know you want to. hehe

*Sigh* Basically...DONE!

Welp. This last weekend was a whirl wind of a weekend. Friday after work I went straight home and started packing up everything. Jason and I snagged some Costco pizza and then moved all of my furniture to his parent's garage for the yard sale that we were going to have on Sat. morning. It took us two loads in his little pick-up.

On Sat. morning I was supposed to wake up at 6am. I had a couple more things to put into the truck for the yard sale, I was supposed to get coffee for the two of us, get change for when people purchased those small items, and put up the last of the signs. Well, at 7am I jolted out of bed. Yeah, that's the time that the garage sale STARTED! Um, I was slightly panicked. Jason moved all of the stuff out of the garage himself. I arrived at his house at 7:20 and only with the change. He was incredibly gracious. So after a panicked start, the garage sale ended up being a success. I sold all of my large furniture and only had some clothes and books left. Yay!

After the garage sale I went back to my house and organized and packed all of the things that I wanted to keep. Jason's parent's were so nice to let me store most of it in their attic. That will save me quite a bit of money!!! I was just going to get a storage unit. I'm staying at the Week's house for 11 days and then moving to the Jeffrey's after that. So the things that I need for that 11 days will be at the Week's house and the other part of my stuff is now at the Jeffrey's! Wow, moving is ummm...fun? No, no, that's not the word. I meant LAME! haha. Well, it's nice to be done, that's for sure! So, that was my weekend in a nutshell! Hope you had a good one!!! Today's Labor Day...so I'm not at work! Yippee!!!