Life is Beautiful ~ The movie

It was a year ago today that Dane and I exchanged our first Christmas gifts. Dane had asked me to have lunch with him because I was flying out the next morning. We had tomato soup and cheese sandwiches. Over lunch the topic of our favorite movies came up. We found out that we both really liked the movie Life is Beautiful, and that we both had been meaning to buy the movie. That afternoon I went down to FYE and picked up their last copy of the movie. I wrapped it up, and I was going to try and get Dane’s roommate Chris to give it to him on his birthday. That evening I invited Dane over for dinner… he was a little late. After dinner we went to Dane’s basketball game, which they won! We got back home and after a shower Dane came over and… surprise! He had bought me a Christmas gift! (cutie!) I pulled out the DVD Life is Beautiful from the gift bag! After thanking Dane I went back into my room and brought out Dane’s present. He unwrapped it and was pretty shocked about the whole situation. Turns out he was late for dinner because he ran to Best Buy and picked up their last copy of the movie. It was meant to be! ;)
That Christmas break he started texting me "buon giorno principessa."

Favorite Jeans…

I think there is something fulfilling about wearing a pair of jeans right into the ground. I feel like I really got my money’s worth out of them, and sometimes that’s a hard feeling to really get. The only problem is the moment of realization… realizing that the pants were “spent” and probably spent longer then you knew about it. I had this lucky occasion while I was packing my bag for Thanksgiving. I went to grab my jeans and I noticed there was a tear in the bum! I knew the last time I wore those pants was a day that I was working at the coin shop… So there were probably a few people that had the unique opportunity of seeing that “side” of me. So after a picture, into the garbage they went. On to the next pair!



I’m also remembering another time I had a tear in the bum. I had gotten in a wreck and was pretty torn up. There was blood dripping down my arms and onto my pants. This time it wasn’t jeans… it was a pair of tan plaid Capri’s. I had been racing my dad down the alpine slide in Park City, and let’s just say my competitive nature got the best of me. When I was sitting at the first aid station my family (and extended family) had gathered around to watch the guy wrap up my wounds. At that point my cousin Brynnley, who was probably 6 years old or something, yells to her brother Conor, “Look Con, you can see her butt!” My Little brother Daniel, probably 11, covers the hole and gives Brynnley a dirty look and says “Don’t look!” Yeah!!! What a brother!

Victory!!!!!!!

I finally found a full-time job! Miracle of miracles! After months of prayers and I don’t even know how many applications I will be working in the admissions department for a local college. I had applied to this college back in August and I even interviewed with them… Then I wound up shooting myself in the foot by telling them that I would rather work at the campus closer to my home. It all worked out for the best though since a position opened up at the closer campus. I went in and interviewed with someone I had met during round 1. He recognized me, which was a great sign. We went through the interview process and he said that he wanted to start getting a background check on me since it would take a week and a half. As we were getting wrapped up he asked me if I had a little more time. For someone that has the power to give me a job… you bet I have time! I sat down with four team members and they went down the line asking me questions and giving their two cents. Once they had their fill the original guy came back in and asked me if I could come back tomorrow for a second interview. Then, the next day I got a job offer! Victory!!!

Intramurals

Dane and I have been participating in the intramural program at BYU. So far I have yet to see this bring out the best in people. Camille, my mother-in-law described it best, she said that it’s just a bunch of athletes that used to be good at one point in their lives… and they’re not anymore and they’re mad about it. This past week in intramurals gave me yet another insight to this truth about burnt out athletes. Of course the added pressure of it being tournaments didn’t help. Dane and I play on an Ultimate Frisbee team. This week we had our quarterfinal game. The game started out a little slow on our end, which got the other team pretty excited. They thought they were going to skate through us. At half time with the score at 6-4 (them) our team kicked it up a notch. We came back and got the lead. They were pretty physical, and even laid out one of our players, twice. It was getting pretty intense at the end and we were neck and neck for the W… at the beginning of the play this player runs by us on the sidelines… (I was standing with the girlfriends of other players) and tells us that “we’re bringing it right now…” ! Really! This was also the player that bent the Frisbee in half earlier by stomping on it. I mean really… is that completely necessary.
Then Friday night I had a soccer game. What I lack in skill I make up for in aggressiveness. This one girl and I were going after the ball, and I kicked hard for it. Unfortunately, I missed the ball and kicked her shin. She started swearing under her breath as I yelled sorry to her. Then her supporter on the sidelines calls out “kick her back!” She yells back to him “I’m going to!” I call over to her, from several yards away, for the second time, that I was sorry. At that point the ball had gotten near us again, and she starts charging me… literally sprinting straight at me and breathing really hard since she was still fired up. Luckily my teammate was closer to the ball and got it out of there so I didn’t have to deal with this psycho… or so I thought. Once the ball is back up field she turns around, face tightened and jaw clenched, and says to me, “I am going to HURT you!” I’m now more worried about my physical well being then anything else. I start having mental pictures of running my errands on crutches. No good. I try to diffuse her by offering my sincere apology. I said firmly and honestly, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” I avoided her for the rest of the game. After we lost in overtime and were slapping “good game” she went straight back to junior high as she avoided my hand while going through the line. There are just some people that need to grow up and get over themselves.

Halloween!

Regardless that we didn't have a single trick or treater... We still had fun dressing up for a ward party. Now I still have a bag of fun size snickers, and I'm not sure how to get rid of them. Maybe over ice cream... :)

Married student life

I had a realization that Dane and I are living the epitome of married student life. Yesterday I was running errands, and I knew Dane was out of class and was probably hungry since he only brought two sandwiches to school that day. I also knew I wouldn’t see him for another five and a half more hours unless I visited him on campus… So there we were, having our little family dinner, by florescent light, in the “fish bowl” of the Benson building. Married student life is also accompanied by scheduling social events around tests. Dane also has an organic chemistry test at the beginning of next week, which means I won’t see Dane much until next Wednesday. I’m looking forward to that time in about 10 years when Dane won’t have to study, or be out until the testing center closes. My friend Krystal told me, “you either struggle through a few years of school, or you struggle your whole life.” I’m “finding joy in the journey!”

Dane’s blog post

So when Dane and I first created this blog (back in April) it took us a while to actually write anything on it. I was dragging my feet, and Dane agreed to type our first post. The next two paragraphs are what Dane had to say. He wrote it as if I were talking! ☺

Dane is the sexiest man on the face of the planet! I am so in love with him and driving to California was probably the most romantic 12 hours we have spent together.

We headed out to San Jose for the week after graduation. I graduated with my B.S. just short of a half-decade after I received my A.A. at BYU-I. Dane served his mission in San Jose so he has just been ecstatic over the last couple of days. We’re staying with some of his closest family that live in San Jose and we had a chance to go to Hollister yesterday and see some people and the terrain down there. We went on a short hike through Pinnacles National Park and saw some of the wildflowers that were sprouting on random hillsides. We’ve spent a lot of time with people that Dane taught while he was on his mission, and we’re looking forward to going to the beach today! Hopefully we don’t get sunburned too badly. We’re here for a few more days and then back to the joyous life in Utah. I love my fiance.

It’s not an addiction.

Shortly after Dane and I got married he started telling me that he was feeling very anxious every night as things were starting to wind down. He couldn’t put his finger on why, but with out fail every night he would start to feel anxious. About three weeks ago he mentioned it to me again, and it hit me! Every night he wasn’t able to watch sports center to wrap up the evening! I told him my diagnosis and after thinking about it for a bit a smile crossed Dane’s face and he agreed with me. He was having Sports Center withdrawals.
We had cable installed last Friday.

The joy of moving.

We’re finally moved into our new home! After being displaced for a couple weeks after our wedding, we were able to move into our apartment. We flew back into Provo the day after Nikki and Sean’s wedding, with the plan to move into our apartment the next day. Our land lady knew we were planning on moving in that day, so we called her first thing Monday morning to see if we could come pick up the key… While we waited for a call back we loaded up the car with stuff and sent my dad and Dane over to the drop off stuff in the parking lot of our apartment. They returned with the key the previous tenants had left inside the apartment. Good thing Dane is practiced in carding doors! So we got moved in that day! We called our landlady again on Wednesday, and had our call returned on Thursday.

Moving in was great! Learning the quirks of the place is even greater. Here’s the run down of our apartment. We are in the upstairs apartment in a “converted attic.” It’s really fun. The second bedroom slopes down to the farthest corner, making it a convenient spot to store balls. There was some sort of weird goo on the walls and windows, which wouldn’t come off with regular cleaner. Don’t worry we got it off with a razor blade and extra scrubbing with a magic eraser. The master bedrooms’ ceiling slopes down with the shape of the roof and our bed fits snugly between the slope and the opposite wall. Our storage space includes the old stairway that leads to the downstairs apartment. When we moved in there was an old kitchen cabinet and a couple big cans of old paint and food storage. The closet in the master bedroom is sloped so I can stand if I’m in just the right place. Dane definitely doesn’t fit, so I claimed it as my own. We share the control for the swamp cooler with the lady downstairs that must be having hot flashes all the time. I’ve taken to wearing sweatshirts and socks most days. I can’t do dishes while Dane is in the shower or I’ll freeze him, and I can’t flush the toilet either or I’ll scald him! The walls were gross, covered with dust and dirt. So after much scrubbing and two and half gallons of paint our apartment is looking great. (All the credit for the painting goes to Dane!) We are finally settled with the furniture in place and things hanging on the wall. It is close to campus so Dane walks or takes his bike every day. Brett and Jessica, our cousins, live 3 blocks away. Things couldn’t be better! We love it. Now if I could only find a job!

Dane’s honesty

I have the most honest husband on the face of the planet. When Dane is thinking it usually just comes out. For example we were waiting in line at the pharmacy and it’s taking forever! We were standing there for at least a half hour. We finally move up to second in line… only to wait there for another 10 minutes! So there we are just feet away from the pharmacists and the cashiers and Dane proclaims “I’m Bored!” The pharmacists and the cashier look up to see what adult would belt out a declaration like that! There we were… in all our glory. Laughing.

On our honeymoon Dane and I got to go to Disneyland! We decided to go on the Buzz Lightyear ride. Neither one of us had been on the ride before so we didn’t know what was in store. As we are waiting in line Dane turns to me and says, “I hope we get to shoot stuff.” Luckily Dane’s hopes were rewarded. We got to “shoot stuff.”

Time flies? Says who… ?

I never knew time could move so slowly. As Dane and I approach our wedding date time seems to be playing a trick on us. I was on the phone with my soon to be mother-in-law talking about how the wedding was just around the corner. It was funny to hear her perception of time. She was saying how quickly it had come up, and how time is just going to fly right by. However… the trick seems to be on me! Being the one that is waiting to get to the altar, time in my world just crawls by. I’m sure this is a familiar story for those that have done that whole marriage thing… and they have given advice that marriage requires a lot of patience. I may add to those that come after me that actually getting to the temple requires patience as well as determination. So here we are with marriage license and recommends in hand, in the starting blocks, waiting for the gun to fire. We’ve taken care of wedding flowers, tuxes, and tulle. Now it’s just a plane ride and a Sox game away. We are excited to get married and start our lives together!

Dane and Aimee’s story

Once upon a time in a land far, far away… Ok. Just kidding Provo, Utah isn’t a far away magical kingdom. I’m going to introduce the Aimee and Dane situation, which just so happens to have started in… Provo, Utah. We met in September of 2008. Dane and I remember our first “real” conversation on the “grassy knoll” in between our apartment complexes. After we started dating we confessed that conversation was the beginning of interest on both sides… Good thing we were on the same page there. During that conversation we established that we were both employees of the Missionary Training Center. There was an upcoming zone party and I asked him if he was going to go… he said he was. Really, I was just looking for an opportunity to spend time with this cute guy that had peaked my interest… So I said that we should go together. We continued to date through out the semester, and have fond memories of volleyball games, basketball games, movies, ice cream, and studying in the Harold B. Lee Library. Over Christmas break we were calling and texting every day. We both beat our personal records for longest phone conversation. Winter semester rolled around and we continued to have fun with more basketball games, weekend trips to Ouray CO, (with 8 other couples!) and Anaheim CA (with my family), BYU basketball games, concerts, plays, intramural basketball, inner tube water polo intramurals (we were both on the team), my soccer games, city league basketball, more movies, parties, and tons of fun. We got engaged over Easter weekend in Grand Junction Colorado when Dane arranged with the Easter bunny to have an extra special egg hunt! We are so excited to get hitched in August! In reality the next two and a half months are going to fly by, and pretty soon we’ll be dropping “or soon to be” from the title of this blog. ☺