2009 in review

January

--Went on my third date with Stephan, and that's when I decided I was going to keep him

--Stephan invited me to a mission farewell for his brother Brent. This was the day we made our relationship official. This was also when I met his entire family. No, seriously.

--During this month, I was also trying to distance myself from my ex "boyfriend" Andrew (now I give you his name, and if you recognize it, yes this is *the* Andrew...long story). 

February

--When I cut Andrew off for good, after receiving word from a very reliable source that he had been dishonest with me about a lot of things. I will not go into detail.

--I introduced Stephan to members of my extended family. 

--The first Valentine's day I ever had a boyfriend. 

--Stephan said "I love you" for the first time on Valentine's Day :)

--Draper Temple open house

March

--Stephan proposed to me with a wooden ring he made himself

--Stephan and I kiss for the first time (right after he proposed, yes he held out that long)

--One of my roommates eloped

--I get the most beautiful diamond ring ever :D

April

--Went to General Conference with Stephan and my brother

--My cousins threw me a bridal shower.

--Wedding planning truly begins

--I finished my last full semester as a college student

--Bought my wedding dress and veil

May

--Spring term

--Apartment hunting

--Continue wedding planning

--My brother Scott got his mission call, and we were glad that he would be able to come to the wedding.

June

--We found an apartment!

--We saw "Beauty and the Beast" at the SCERA

--I finished the editing minor

--Summer term started, and I only had one class to take (my final class in college)

--I got my first job interview at Close to My Heart, but unfortunately I didn't get the job.

--We went up to Logan to look at our honeymoon cabin, and to select a quilt made by Stephan's grandmother

July

--I was loving my "Language and Literature" class. Best class ever!

--My mom finally finished altering my wedding dress at the end of July and I finally got it! 

--Stephan's birthday :)

--We were working on wedding invites at this point. FUN!

August

--Kathy threw me a food storage/kitchen shower.

--I had my bridals taken

--My mom and brother came up before the rest of my family.

--I received my endowments.

--At the very last minute, my brother Paul was able to come to the wedding!

---I graduated :)

--THE WEDDING!!!!

--Moved into our apartment officially

--School started back up for Stephan.

September

--Still settling in.

--Job hunting.

--Bought a washer/dryer off craigslist.

--Car accident.

October

--I got a rental car a week after the accident

--The body shop called me at least twice a week to update me on the repairs.

--Had two job interviews. One of them never contacted me after the interview...grrr.

--We house-sitted for Stephan's parents while the family went to Disney Land.

--Midterms. Enough said.

--Stephan's work schedule changed so he had to work until eight p.m. on Mondays. I was not happy about this.

November

--FINALLY got the car back!!!!

--Spent Thanksgiving with Stephan's mother's side of the family in Grace, ID.

December

--Drove in snow for the first time

--I somehow survived Stephan taking finals. So did he.

--Traveled to Houston for Christmas

--Here we are :)

Happy New Year!

My first Christmas as a wife

We flew to Houston last Saturday and we will be flying back to Utah on Monday.

Monday and Tuesday were spent changing my name on my Social Security card and my Driver's License. We were going to do both in one day, but when we saw the lines at DPS, we changed our minds. After a long debate in my head, I decided to drop my middle name and keep my maiden name as a middle name. I did this purely for genealogical reasons. Some people have wondered why I didn't just get a Utah driver's license. Here are my reasons: (a) I do not know how long we'll be living in Utah, so why get a Utah license if I'm only living there temporarily? (b) I have Texas license plates on my car. (c) I do not want to take a test. Texas already knows I can drive. (d) I have Texas pride.

Wednesday, we did some Christmas shopping. Thursday, my mom cooked all day and then we went to Yia Yia Mary's for dinner. Friday was Christmas/my birthday. It was good. I got some nice presents: some perfume called "Haiku"; a new camera (from my hubby, who got a good deal on it); some prints from London (my parents went to London a few months ago); socks; more Mary Kay cleanser; various books and DVDs; a "shirt dress", etc. We had some elders over for dinner, as well as a few friends from church. After dinner, I slept, and then later on we had my birthday. I had cherry pie for my birthday cake (mmm!!!). For presents, I got a necklace, a pair of purple shoes (unfortunately too large, but my mom will get a size smaller for me); and a new mineral foundation brush. Oh, and my mother-in-law gave me part of my birthday present: a gift card to Seagull books. Oh dear, do I really need more books? Stephan is already complaining about my immense book collection.

Today, we didn't do much at all. The biggest thing we did was go to our favorite Mexican restaurant (Don Carlos, mmm). Stephan had never been there before, and he really enjoyed it.

Stephan has pretty much been sick this entire trip. Finals basically destroyed his immune system--it was a rough semester. He's better now, I guess, but he's coughing up a storm. I want him to get better :(

Basically, all of us were home for Christmas except Scott, who's in Brazil. We got to talk to Scott on Christmas day, and he wished me a happy birthday in Portuguese.

Oh yeah, we also saw "The Blind Side" earlier this week. Very good movie!!! It's touching without being overly sentimental. And Sandra Bullock's character is my new role model....lol.

Sorry if this has seemed scattered at all. I've been writing as things have come to mind.

Why I love Houston...

(1) There is no snow.

(2) I hardly ever have to wear a jacket (or long sleeves for that matter).

(3) The sheer variety of food you can get here. Not to mention the tasty Tex-Mex. I'm sorry to say that Utah hasn't quite gotten it yet; say Cafe Rio and I will smite you. Okay okay, it's not bad, but it shouldn't advertise itself as Tex-Mex. It's as Tex-Mex as Pizza Hut is Italian.



But I am not liking the construction workers tearing up the street in front of my parents' house.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I'm getting so bad at updating, and seriously, who reads this?

Thanksgiving was fine. We went to the middle of nowhere, also known as Grace, ID. It's a really tiny town in southeastern Idaho, and basically if you blink, you miss it. I felt really out of my zone--I am from the big city after all. Stephan's grandparents were um, really excited to see me again. Two people thought I was Stephan's sister Heather. Hah! It was all interesting because Kathy's family is very similar to my mom's. Both families have three adopted children and a foster daughter. Kathy and my mom are the oldest in their families and both had to take on a lot of responsibility at a young age for various reasons. Stephan has an Aunt Karen and I have an Aunt Karyn (both were adopted too). There are differences of course, but it is all quite freaky when you think about it.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I drove through Napoleon Dynamite's hometown of Preston, ID. A very tiny place.

We stayed in Grace for a total of a day and drove back after Thanksgiving dinner was finished. The day after Thanksgiving was spent sleeping in, going to the temple, eating Subway, and getting a sweet Christmas tree (pre-lit too) for $25 at Target (you almost never hear me say this, but hooray for Black Friday!).

Stephan already has purchased TWO of my Christmas presents and I have yet to get him one...whoops. I'm really having a hard time deciding what to get him (he never knows what to ask for), so if anyone has ideas, let me know.

Officially, we are spending Christmas in HOUSTON! I'm pretty excited about this. Now to convince my parents to take Stephan to our all-time favorite Mexican restaurant while we're down there. But I have converted my darling husband to spicy food.

It has snowed here and now I'm learning how to drive in snow. It's not my favorite thing to do, needless to say. But the only really scary part is our parking lot, ironically. Yeah, I'm pretty sure some people are making fun of the little Texan who didn't learn how to drive in snow. Um, blame Mother Nature for that. On that note, it snowed in Houston on Friday...two days before it snowed here!!! And it was substantial snow too. When I told Stephan, he called the Houstonians a bunch of wimps. Then I had to tell him that Houston getting a substantial snowfall is like Arizona getting a torrential rainstorm. It just doesn't happen! Kathy was much more sympathetic, but that's because she served her mission in Dallas.

Not much else to share. Here's to hoping Stephan survives finals and that I survive having him study for and taking them.