Engagement Anniversary???

After a long anticipated weekend in Boise (two years ago) I finally got my ring (well my fake ring. My real ring was not done, and stayed that way till 6 months? after our wedding). The wedding date may or may not have already been set, the temple called, and the arrangements already on the go, but I did not have my official proposal until this day (two years ago).

We had gone up to Boise for the weekend. I had my ideas that this trip was going to be special (Sam told me during an argument a few weeks before because I was frustrated he had not proposed yet and we had everything else in place.) I kept trying to guess different circumstances where he would pop the question, but as the weekend continued to fly by, none of them panned out the way I had planned out in my head. Sunday night we were getting ready to drive back to Utah, and to say the least I was really disappointed in him. I just decided to go to bed early (possibly scratch the whole wedding) and get ready for our morning drive.

Monday morning I was awakened by a text message from a secret source telling me to check my bag. There was a video recording of a mission I was supposed to complete (being a secret agent is my life long dream). I had to get showered and ready (because he knows I would not go anywhere unless I was), then check the mailbox. The mailbox told me to pack up my bags (all liquids inside) and then start walking up the street. As I started walking, I rounded the corner and a strange man (Quinner Binner) took me to breakfast, then dropped me off at the airport. Super confused, I roamed around the airport until I ran into a Jana Banana, who gave me my plane ticket. I checked in, she walked me to the gate, then we gave our hugs and said our goodbyes. I found Sam at the gate who told me we were headed to Seattle for the next four days!!!

Sam tried to be super sneaky by calling my work and trying to get the days off for me, but knowing my work, of course I was scheduled to work every single one of those days. I called in kind of nervous and prepared to quit, but within a half hour all my shifts were covered, so we boarded our plane, flew for a half hour or so, and then we were in our Seattle adventure.

Not the cutest picture, but the only one of the plane ride.

When we arrived in Seattle we hung out at the airport for a few minutes...

took weird pictures in front of bars, then Sam's Aunt Sage came and picked us up.

We hung out with her, ate some lunch, talked a bunch, and then she dropped us off here...

at Pikes Place, where we handed our camera to strangers so they could take our pictures, and walked around the market place.

After walking around for awhile, Sam led me toward the harbor, and onto a ferry ride across the bay...

here we are boarding

And heading across the river for dinner

Sam with his picture perfect smile

and me, just proud of myself that I kept my eyes open

even if the rest of my face is squished.

Now, it was on this boat ride back that Sam had originally planned to propose. It was perfect. I was full from dinner so least likely to be grumpy, the sun was setting, the Seattle sky line was our front view, but of course Sam left the ring in his luggage, which was in the car at his Aunt and Uncles house. He told me what he did, we had a good laugh, I only rolled my eyes a little at Sam for pulling a Sam, and then I forgave him because everything else had been perfect.

The next morning he asked if I wanted to go "on a walk"

I skeptically agreed because I knew what he was doing and I wanted to make him more nervous than he already was (I know, I am mean).

We walked along some back trails, everything was green and pretty, he took me to a park, we sat on the bench overlooking the water, he got down on his knee

and gave me this, my fake ring which did not really fit, was kind of what I wanted, but which I took with a smile because I finally was officially engaged. (Oh he may have said some other stuff about loving me a lot and wanting to marry me.)

Here was the first shot of us engaged

No strangers this time. Just the camera timer and the seemingly fake background.

The rest of the week was spent touring Seattle, having fun and enjoying the weather. It did not rain once when we were there.
Oh, we also found The New Sam...

And a little bit of The Old Sam

And a lot of The Crazy Sam

There were some bad smells that I inevitably found


We ate dinner with Sam's Uncle David and Aunt Sage in the restraunt on top of the Space Needle

It was delicious and the best spinning view. A great way to watch the sun set.

And then, unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to this cute house and Sam's cute Aunt.

We were off to the airport and back to real life in Utah. Maybe one day we can go back. I'll probably add another Seattle trip to my ongoing list of presents.

So May 14th should have been the date, but the ring fiasco officially turned it to the 15th, so maybe I will just claim both days...

Happy Engagement Anniversary Sam.

Orange you glad they all aren't Grapefruit?

So when life (Mama Galeria) gives you lemons (way more oranges than you can eat yourself), before they go moldy, you should make the best orange juice ever.



And when you have two grapefruits left, and neither of you like their bitter taste, you should juice those also. So that when you decide to make your next bet, and the loser is declared (its usually sam) you can force him to drink it.

A Merry Cody Birthday

Nine is a magic number in the month of May; it is the anniversary of the day that Cody was born. Cody is my older brother, who I always looked up to when I was little.

I would dress like him...

We would go camping at Silver Creek together...

We got the same kind of presents from Grandpa...

We even went through our chubby stages together...

Apparently Cody escaped that chubby stage quicker than I did, but he was still my friend.

Here is the proof that he did in fact like to play with dolls in his younger days...

but we will choose to overlook the cabbage patch kids since he also enjoyed micro machines, legos and hot wheels.

Here is Cody wearing my favorite blue shirt. I say "my" because I always knew that whatever he was wearing would be mine before long.

I will never forget all the fun we had together playing doubles. And now, after all these years of playing, I am happy to announce that I am the best tennis player in the family (besides my Dad who is still amazingly strong and athletic for a man so experienced in years) :)


We hope you had a Happy Birthday Cody! We love you!

Funny Friday

Our nice visit with Young Elder Quinnton stirred a not funny at the moment but funny afterward memory that sometimes I wish I would forget. It happened maybe three and a half years ago, and it was definitely before we were married or engaged (it's a wonder we still got married).

It all started at 3 am, after a few hours of sleep, on a Sunday morning. The previous morning Quinn decided he wanted to go on his choir trip (probably because there was a cute girl he liked); so being the fools that we are, we agreed to do his blasted paper route (which unfortunately happened to be the longest one in North America).

At the time I was pretty naive to paper routes. I knew my parents had one when I was little to help supplement the income, but I also knew that I did early morning seminary for four years and I was pretty sure I could handle one early day, but boy was I wrong. I should have told Sam that I changed my mind and did not want to help when we pulled up to the curb to load the papers and saw thousands of the Sunday ads, coupons and newspapers lining the sidewalk. Or the fact that it was raining which added one more step of bagging the papers to the list of passing them out. Or the fact that it might as well have been snowing, because that is how cold it felt. That morning was the biggest suck that ever sucked.

We were the last car there by a long thirty minutes or so trying to load all of the papers into little brown. The trunk, back seat, passenger foot space, and my seat were all full to the brim of the stupid Idaho Statesmens'. After we miraculously got them all loaded we were already an hour into our adventure (funny thing, Quinner Binner tricked us. He told us the whole thing would only take about an hour and a half). Then we were off to start the actual paper route, pouring rain and all. I started bundling up the collection of papers and shoving them into the bags (which can be equated to trying to shove a large person into size zero pants, ya, its that hard. Especially when your hands are numb). And that is how our morning continued to play out, hour after hour after hour.

Next thing we know the sun is rising and we are only half way done, even though we have been at it for a good four hours. We are working hard, I am trying to not cry (aka kill Sam for getting me into this mess) when Quinn calls. He is heading back from the choir retreat to make it on time for 9 am church. Unfortunately it is looking grim for us on the whole making it to church thing because it is well past 8 am, we are handing papers to angry people in bathrobes, and we are only half way done. It is at this point we begin to contemplate how bad it would be for us to just give up and go home (only would have cost Quinn is job which, at the time, did not seem that bad, and probably seemed like more of a favor).

Lucky for Quinner (and the longevity of his life), he came to relieve us of our duties when we were just barely over half way done with the route, so we could return home to get ready for church. Fifteen minutes after we had returned home and barely thawed off who comes walking through the door? Quinn. Yes its true, he did in ten minutes what took us five (plus) hours to do. That's a pretty good self esteem booster if there ever was one.

Something I learned from this incident? I will never, ever, ever have, participate in, help or do a paper route ever again. I will be homeless first.

And for your viewing pleasure, the one and only picture that documents the awful occasion...

...the reason there is only one picture you ask? Probably because I threatened Sam so badly with his life that he did not dare take another.

Return from the Road Trip

We are back from our fun, five day get away to Thousand Oaks. We did not want to come back, but someone has to pay the mortgage.

We had fun watching dance concerts (but not working at them), surviving earthquakes (4.4, so scary, I didn't feel it because I was at the concert surrounded by dancing girls, but Sam was brave and pulled through it), sneaking into jv volleyball games (too bad it didn't work), driving around looking at huge mansions, picking a bunch of fresh off the tree oranges and grapefruit, not studying for the mcat, and eating lunch with our favorite missionary.

Here are the cute brothers. It was Quinner Binner's p-day and transfer day so he got to wear regualr clothes and blend in with the rest of the Costco patrons.


Of course they did their traditional "stand on their toes to see who is taller" picture.


And the four of us standing in line for our pizza, hot dogs, and berry smoothies.


Unfortunately we didn't get too many pictures of this trip, but we made sure to document this. It's kind of blurry, but can you believe there is an 80 mph speed limit sign in existence. We were both so shocked we spent so much time trying to get a picture of it that we forgot to drive faster. Bah humbug.


And another bonus for me, Sam wanted to bring a pair of shoes that I hate. I tried to talk him out of it, but to no avail. I told him if he brought them I would gift them to Elder Quinn. He decided to not let that threat worry him, until the morning of visiting Young Quinnton. He hid the shoes from me (apparently pretty well). I forgot about them, and so did he. Since they weren't lying around when we were packing up to leave they remain hidden in his really good hiding spot. Hurray for me!!! Now I don't have to try to bribe him out of wearing them!!! Sorry Sam. He was pretty close to tears when we got home and he remembered.

I was super sad to leave. But the thing that made it easier? The neighboring High School got shut down because some girl has the swine flu. Icky.

And I think I am going to add another trip to TO to my list of things that Sam owes me someday. But maybe next time we will fly. I hate that drive.

Dancing in Thousand Oaks

After finals were taken and the paper got written (a little bit late) I made an impromptu decision Thursday morning to get all my shifts covered. I told Sam he needed to come home after he was done shadowing his surgeries so we could drive to California. We got on the road a bit late, and were tempted several times to pull to the side of the road to sleep, but we pushed through and made it in at 1:30am California time. (I think we have learned our lesson, although there are not as many cows roaming Cali as Idaho)

We have had a relaxing few days so far. We have slept, eaten delicious food, sat around, studied for mcats, talked, and laughed.

The highlight of the trip so far you ask...?



Last night I helped my mom on door security at my little sisters high school dance concert. Surprisingly the high school kids were very obedient and super nice, but the parents were the most obnoxious, rude people I have come across in awhile. (and that is saying something because I work at sumo)

1. We were yelled at by several people to shut the doors so that people could not sneak in.
2. We were yelled at by several others to open the doors because it was hot in the gym.
3. I told a lady she could not go through these doors because it was for the dancers only and she told me, "I don't care what you say" and then walked right past me. I just shrugged my shoulders okay.
4. I told a seven foot tall man that he could not go out the doors and he just glared at me as he walked past me. I just shrugged my shoulders again.
5. We got yelled at by one of the dance team mom's for not stopping people from going through the doors. We shrugged our shoulders again.
6. My sister yelled at us for not doing our job very well. We fought back a little on this one.
7. A guy came up to me and yelled at me for a solid minute. He told me the fire department was going to come and fine me thousands of dollars because it was too hot in the gym, but I wasn't allowed to have the doors open due to a lighting issue. I fought back for awhile, felt like punching him in the face, but referred him to someone in charge of the show.
8. Another team mom came and yelled at me because I did not let some random girl come in through the back doors. (I thought that was the main point of my job) I rolled my eyes as I shrugged my shoulders.

Maybe I had an invisibility cloak on that I was not aware of, and my voice was on mute. I am not sure, but what I have decided you ask? When I have kids I will refuse to do anything remotely close to this job.

Funny Friday

It had been a long weekend in Boise, and we had a late start getting back to Utah. We were both pretty tired (especially Sam) and since we were in brown, (Wade's nickname for Sam's old accord that broke down) which is a stick shift, there was no trading off drivers. (I can not drive a stick. Sam tried to teach me once and it was not pretty.)

We got about half way home, when Sam decided there was no possible way he could drive any longer. He decided to pull off to the side of the road to take a quick power nap. (aka a full nights rest) We pulled off the freeway into the middle of nowhere, I prayed that our night would not end in a horror movie, and then we were fast asleep.

Who knows how long we were out before I woke up to a shaking car. I looked over at Sam, who was fast asleep, and then tried to figure out what was going on. I heard some rustling noises outside the drivers side window which grabbed my delirious attention. I looked outside and saw the outline shape of a ginormous creature. My adrenaline started pumping as I decided to wake up Sam.

It took a second before he was coherent enough to talk, but when the car shook again it got his attention pretty quick. I told him he should look outside his window. He could tell that whatever was about to eat us was inches away from his face so he slowly turned his head, then jumped and grabbed the steering with both hands, as he saw the giant eyeball peering at him. The look of terror was inevitable on his face, and I could tell his mind was reeling with ideas on what to do. I started laughing hysterically. (probably because the thing was on his side so I knew he would die first)

As various ideas for a solution slowly came to us, Sam decided to turn on the headlights to see what was out there, and that is when we saw the big, black, fat cow head. Apparently when stupid cows don't know what something is they rub up against it, hence the car shaking. We waited for, what seemed like forever, for the cow to keep walking past the front of the car, and then we drove off and didn't look back.

Needless to say, after the incident Sam had enough adrenaline pumping through his veins to make it the rest of the way home without falling asleep at the wheel.