I was born on Christmas Day

It's true. I'm a Christmas baby. Whenever people find out that I am, they usually say any of the following:

"That's a terrible birthday!"

"How does that work?"

"That must have been a GREAT day for your mom!"

"Ooh, extra gifts? That's cool!"

I will elaborate upon my response to these statements.

That's a terrible birthday!


I understand that there are people who don't wish a Christmas birthday, or even a December birthday upon anyone because it can get overshadowed by the holiday season.

It annoys me when people say about a baby born close to Christmas, "Oh, be glad you didn't have him/her on Christmas!" I actually know someone who was induced a few days before Christmas for that very reason. Maybe it doesn't occur to them that there are indeed Christmas babies in this world.

My parents have always tried to make my birthday as good as possible. Yes folks, I get a birthday! Celebrating my birthday is part of my family's Christmas tradition. The only bad thing about my birthday is that I've never had a birthday party with my friends. And the letdown afterwards (double whammy).

But mostly, I love my birthday. Everyone in the world celebrates it (ha ha) and my husband has absolutely no reason to ever forget it. I also think it's a special day--the day we celebrate Christ's birth.

How does that work?


When I was born, my parents vowed that I would always have a birthday. Like I said, my birthday just happens to be part of my family's Christmas tradition.

How does this tradition work? The first half of the day is devoted to Christmas. We open Christmas presents in the morning and have dinner sometime in the afternoon. Then after digesting dinner, we celebrate my birthday with cake (or cherry pie) and I open my birthday presents. Stephan intends to keep this tradition going.

That must have been a GREAT day for your mom!


Well, I was my mom's only drug-free birth, after a fairly hard pregnancy. Not planned, but I was born too quickly for her to get anything. I was my mom's 45 minute special.

Also, my mom didn't get pregnant that easily, so she wasn't one of those mothers who has the luxury of "planning" what month they want their babies to be born. I hate those mothers.

But it was a good day for my parents because they finally got a girl, after having two boys. They had been wanting a girl for a while. So, their Christmas present that year was a baby girl. And my mom said that if I had been a boy, they would have stopped having kids. After me, they decided to try for another girl...but got a boy instead.

And folks, she didn't have to cook! Although she did get fish head soup...(I was born in Japan).

Ooh...extra Christmas presents! That's cool!

I get a few extra gifts for my birthday, yes. Yes, I get birthday presents.


So, please do not disparage Christmas as a birthday. After all, we celebrate Christ's birth that day. Don't hate on us Christmas babies.

Day 20: A Hobby of Mine

I crochet. In fact, I'm part of a local knitting/crocheting group that meets at the Barnes and Noble cafe every week. My group was featured in the Provo Daily Herald last month.

I took up crocheting about four years ago, when I decided to make a scarf for a friend who was going to serve his mission in Canada. Until I found this group, my crocheting was off and on.

My crocheting skills are still developing, and one day, I would like to become good at knitting too. And someday, sewing.

Day 19: A Talent of Mine

I play the violin. People tell me I'm talented, but I'm very out of practice at the moment (I'll change that someday). I started playing the violin just before I turned 11, and I'm nearing 24. Thirteen years? Wow.

This is a sonnet I wrote for a creative writing class I took my senior year of high school. Please keep in mind I was 17 and writing this for a grade, so disregard how juvenile it may sound.

Me and My Violin

I have played violin for many years
Practicing difficult music and scales
And keeping short my growing fingernails
I suppose it is something cavalier.

But I really do love all the music
It fills my heart and soul with great delight
To play music good composers write
You must know: learning is not at all quick!

Practice and listen to some strict teachers
And practice with the stupid metronome
It seems easy to compose palindromes
Tough teachers often teach you a lot better.

Before you take up any instrument
Mind you that it is not an ornament. 

Day 18: Wedding Day

Brace yourselves for a long post folks :)

We were engaged for five months. By Mormon standards, that's a long engagement, as most couples in our religion tend to get married in the 2-4 month range. Crazy, I know. The only reason we were engaged for that "long" was because the first free day for a wedding wasn't until the day after my college graduation. We figured since my family was already coming up for the graduation, why not have a wedding? By the way, those five months were torture.

I decided that we would be married in the Mount Timpanogos Temple. This seemed to surprise both sides of the family. My in-laws were expecting to make a trip to Houston, since that's where I'm from. My parents were expecting me to choose Salt Lake, since that's where I originally wanted to get married and because it seemed to be the family temple.

I always knew that I would be married in Utah, because that's where most of my relatives live, or thereabouts. When it came time to decide where the wedding would be, Mount Timpanogos Temple just felt "right." Plus, my mom's Uncle Herschel is also a sealer there, so we were able to have him to perform the ceremony.

My decision later proved to be inspired. About a week or so before the wedding, I found out that there was going to be a protest around Temple Square on our wedding day. It wouldn't be fun to try taking pictures when there are angry protestors just outside of the gates. We would have enough snags on our wedding day as it was...

Looking at this picture, what time of year do you think this was taken?

Would you be shocked if I told that we were married in the middle of August?

It had rained a lot that summer, so I was crossing my fingers that it wouldn't rain on the big day. When I woke up that morning, it was windy and there were dark clouds in sky, threatening to rain on my wedding day. I prayed that the rain would be stayed until after the ceremony and after pictures had been taken!

My mom and I left for the temple, met Stephan and his dad there, got the details of our marriage license squared away, and then I was taken to the bride's room. This is where I changed into my wedding clothes. Looking back now, I think I should have just worn my temple dress for the sealing. I'll explain.

After I got dressed, I was reunited with Stephan and we were taken to the Celestial Room, where we would wait until the sealing room was ready. As we walked into the Celestial Room, Stephan stepped on my dress and ripped one of the bustlings out.

For those who aren't familiar with temple sealings, if the bride's dress has a train, it must be bustled for the ceremony. I had a very long train (I wish my mom had taken more off), and it had to be put into a "French bustle", meaning three bustlings instead of just one. I was pretty annoyed with Stephan for stepping on the dress. Not a good start to a marriage. I should have just worn my temple dress and that would have been avoided. Or else I should have been more insistent on my mom shortening the train even more...she didn't want to.

Instead of basking in the peacefulness of the Celestial Room, Stephan was trying unsuccessfully to fix my dress. Finally, a patron offered us a safety pin. That did the trick. But then it was time for us to go to the sealing room.

Was I nervous? Surprisingly, no. Stephan has since told me that he was terrified up until the altar.

The sealing room was filled almost to capacity when we showed up. We booked the largest sealing room, which holds about 55 people. Most of the people there were family. Shows how big our families are.

The ceremony began. Apparently Uncle Herschel gave us some very good counsel, and those who were at the sealing told us in cards to always remember it.

Unfortunately, we don't. Well, except for the "go to the temple often" part. I wish someone had written down the counsel he gave. A friend once said that the counsel must be more for the people who are attending the sealing, rather than the couple, because the couple is too caught up in the moment to really remember.

Then sealing itself took place. It was very short. Almost anticlimactic considering how much it is emphasized and celebrated in our religion.

After the sealing was done, we were taken back to the dressing rooms (well, bride's room in my case), to remove the ceremonial clothing, and in Stephan's case, change back into his suit. Then we made our grand exit:

It was raining when we came out. Although I didn't get my wish for the rain to stop, it was a light rain (mostly). So, we were able to get a decent number of pictures taken at the temple, even though there were some shots I wanted that we didn't get.

I'm very glad we hired a professional photographer. He had plenty of experience shooting during inclement weather. And dealing with stressed-out brides.

One of my favorites :)

We had an afternoon reception at Le Jardin in Sandy, UT. It's a greenhouse. Indoors. And incidentally, it was sunny there. Grr.

And a lot of people didn't get the memo that our reception was in the AFTERNOON.

Why did we have an afternoon reception? Well, it was cheaper and it was the last spot available for that day. Not kidding.

But we still had a lot of people come to the reception.

I have no idea what my mom is doing here.

Can I just say how much I hate receiving lines? Especially while wearing high heels. I was so glad to sit down.

I believe Le Croissant did the catering for the reception. Our wedding cake was made by Stephan's mom :)

Some people thought it looked highly unusual. Was it the coloring?

We also had a string quartet at the reception.

We had a celebrity cellist, and didn't know it.

Then my dad jumped in and played "Sunrise, Sunset" with them.

We had the bouquet toss. My cousin Kerstin caught the bouquet.

 Then we had a boutennier (sp?) toss. No garter toss. My brother Paul got it. He'd better be next.

Then we made our getaway. Certain people were determined to decorate our car, but my brothers were so kind to hide it in the neighboring cemetery. The car decorating is one of those wedding traditions that I really don't like, along with cake smashing, the garter toss, gifting the bride with lingerie, etc. 

Although Stephan's scooter didn't fare so well. 

We've now been married for approximately 16 months, and we're still happy. I don't ever want to go back to single life. Never. Not even with all the bumps in the road we've had. Stephan is still my favorite person in the world, and I'm pretty sure he'll say the same about me. At least, he'd better ;)

Okay, this entry took like a week to write. Whew. If you're reading this last sentence, I congratulate you for having the energy to read the post all the way through.

Day 17: An art piece

I like Degas. I have one of his ballerina paintings (a print, of course) in my living room. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the exact one in my online search, but here's the next best thing :)

Day 16: A Song that Makes You Cry

I haven't posted in a really long time. Sorry folks.

Josh Groban's rendition of "I'll Be Home for Christmas" brings tears to my eyes every time I listen to it. Listening to those recordings of some of our soldiers serving in the Middle East wishing their families a Merry Christmas is what does it to me.

I know that some of my friends are opposed to the war in Iraq, but I think we can all agree that it would be incredibly difficult to be separated from your family and friends during the Christmas season.

Day 15: My Dream House

We actually talked about our dream house as a Family Home Evening activity once. I'll see if I can remember what we decided ;)

My dream house will have a spacious kitchen, with cupboard and counter space galore. My tiny kitchen can be a pain to cook in at times...

And also, a dishwasher. But that goes without saying. 

Stephan wants to have a "media room" of sorts, which is basically a room with a top notch sound system and good acoustics. It would be for watching movies, listening to music, etc. It could be where our kids would hang out with their friends and such. 

I don't think it would be quite like this, but we're on the right track ;)

We would have a nice master bedroom, of course who doesn't want one of those? I would love a bay window, with a balcony, and a nice view.

From veranda interiors

A spacious master bathroom. 

A comfortable living room is also in order :)

Image via Veranda Interiors

If we start saving now, maybe we'll be able to afford a house like this in...forty years. But a girl can dream, can't she? ;)

Day 14: Favorite Shoes

Honestly, I think my favorite shoes are ballet flats. They're comfy, and very versatile because they can be worn with casual or dressier clothing.

I only have one pair of ballet flats right now, because my other ones wore out. I want to find more, preferably in neutral colors.

The pair of ballet flats I own right now....

Are purple.

I'll post a picture eventually--I'm lazy ;)

Day 13: Favorite Outfit

I'm pretty sure the outfit I wore for my most recent pictures is one of my current favorites.


That is all.

Day 12: Something I'm OCD about

I couldn't think of anything from the top of my head, so at first I thought, "Oh, I'm not OCD about anything!" But then I asked Stephan if there's anything I'm OCD about, and he said.....

"Being on time."

*sigh* He's right. I blame it on my dad. You see, he was a bishop for almost six years and he always reminded us that the bishop's family should be on time for church every Sunday. Set a good example, you see. But, his idea of being on time is arriving ten minutes early.

And that has become my definition of on time. I hate being late. A lot. I don't like the awkwardness of it all. I know there are people who don't care, but I do.

Of course, this is bad when I'm part of a religious culture that has MST, which stands for Mormon Standard Time. What is Mormon Standard Time, you say? Ten minutes late.

So there's my OCD tendency.

Day 11: Photo taken of me recently

Well, I guess it's a good thing our wedding photographer had "charitable shoots" last month.

Here you go :)

Day 10: Picture of me taken over 10 years ago

I was about eighteen months old or so in this picture. You can't tell, but I was a grouchy kid that day. In my defense, they were taking way too many pictures and it was taking too long. This is according to my mom.

See those ringlets? Yep, natural. I was the reason for the perm trend in the eighties and nineties. *laughs* That's probably not true, but a lot of mothers at church started perming their daughters' hair to look like mine!

Day 9: Picture I took

I'm not much of a photographer, but...

Day 8: Picture that makes you angry/sad

I have a huge pet peeve with sweatpants that have words written on the butt. Seriously. Do you seriously want guys to have more reasons to stare at your butt? Because that's what they'll do. I thought the feminist movement was about getting men to take us more seriously? You aren't going to be taken seriously when you have writing on your behind. Sorry. If I have offended you, I do not apologize.

With that said...

This angers me.

Day 7: Picture that makes you happy

From our engagement shoot. This was my favorite of the bunch, and it still is.

Day 6: Twenty of my favorite things

In no particular order...

(1) Stephan

(2) Babies (someday we'll have them)

(3) My violin (I need to practice more often...heh heh)

(4) Crocheting

(6) Reading

(7) French

(8) Christmas 

(9)  Japanese food (especially sushi)

(10) My family (every side)

(11) Music

(12) My faith 

(13) Chocolate

(14) Texas

(15) Cooking/Baking

(16) Curly hair

(17) Homemade cherry pie

(18) Purple

(19) My washer and dryer

(20) Cuddling

Day 5: Favorite Quotes

I don't know if this is word for word, but here we go.

"Everything will work out in the end. If it hasn't worked out, then it isn't the end."

--Gordon B. Hinckley

Believe me, I've been clinging to that quote lately.

Day 4: Favorite Book

Only one favorite book? Asking me for one favorite book is like asking me to choose a star from the heavens (I stole that from Ever After). 

I love reading. Let's just say that instead of a "shoe fetish" like some young women have, I have a "book fetish" (as much as I hate that word). My brothers and I all love to read, and have expansive libraries of our own. A trip to Barnes and Noble was like a trip to an amusement park. Okay, not *that* exciting, but you get the meaning. My mom used to complain about spending a fortune there, but then someone told her that she should be grateful that the money was being spent on books. 

Oh, and our idea of a fun date is going to the Orem Public Library. Yes, we are nerds and we are not ashamed to admit it. 

What I'm saying is, I don't have *a* favorite book, I have many. 

Day 3: Favorite TV shows

One problem with this one: we don't own a TV.

But that's not to say I've had some favorites ;)

Let's see...

What Not to Wear

I didn't really get into "What Not to Wear" until my second year of college, when my roommates were watching it. I had zero fashion sense then, and watching this show actually helped me find more flattering clothes for me. This show isn't about dressing fashionably, it's about valuing and taking good care of yourself. Without becoming vain or snobbish, of course.

Home Improvement

Hilarious and heartwarming at the same time. We've been renting it lately :)

I admit, "Golden Girls" has been a guilty pleasure, since some of the humor is uhhh....yeah. I keep the watching to a minimum.

Very witty, and very well-written. And of course, the funniest dog ever.

Ah, M*A*S*H. Truth be told, I liked it better with Col. Potter, BJ, and Winchester.




And I think that's all for now.

Day 2: Favorite Movies

I have a few of these as well, and I don't know if I can say if I have an absolute favorite movie of all time. But here are some of them:

Hands down, this is my favorite version of Pride and Prejudice (besides the novel of course). Yes, it's six hours long, but it is six hours well spent. I really didn't like the Keira Knightley version (don't hate me), even though I wanted to. It lacked the character development that this version has. There were a lot of other things I hated about it, but I'll spare you. I love this movie so very much, and I recently converted Stephan to it. 

West Side Story will always be one of my all-time favorite movies; I was raised on it. Stirring music, good acting, and a powerful message at the end. Not to mention the choreography.

I know some people will find this controversial, but I don't care. The only thing I didn't really like about it was that the costumes were historically inaccurate. Other than that, I loved it. If you're wondering, I think Christine did the right thing by going with Raoul. 

I was introduced to Star Wars when I was about five years old, when my older brothers begged to rent it. After that, I was a fan. If you're wondering, I like the original trilogy better than the prequels, but I do not hate the prequels like some people do. 

Beauty and the Beast is my favorite Disney movie. I can really identify with Belle, because people often think I'm odd. And the relationship between Belle and the Beast reminds me of mine with Stephan. It wasn't love at first sight (for me), but as I got to know him better, he grew on me ;) 

These are just a few. Hope you enjoy!

Day 1: Favorite Song

My favorite song changes depending on my mood, really.

"You Are Loved" by Josh Groban. I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety when I was a junior in college, and I listened to this song a lot during that time. It reminded me that even though I was feeling crushed by the weight of the world, God still loved me. This song was one of the things that helped me to continue on, even though I was miserable. I listen to this when I'm having a bad day.

"When I Fall In Love." This was originally performed by Nat King Cole, but has also been performed by Rick Astley and Karen Carpenter (my favorite versions, by the way). Stephan decided after listening to the Rick Astley version (after we were married) that this was *our* song. I originally heard the Karen Carpenter version when I was a teenager (my mom raised me on her songs), and I decided (as the song says) that "my first love will be my last." Stephan was my first true love, and I intend to keep it that way ;)

"Honesty" by Billy Joel. I'm sad this isn't more popular, because it's a really beautiful song. I like it because it echoes my sentiments about the world. Honesty really is a lonely word.

"Bring Me to Life" by Evanescence. I can't really put my reason for liking this song to words. It's very powerful, and I know that Amy Lee (the lead singer) wrote this song about her husband.

"What Love Can Be" by Charlotte Church. This is from the movie "A Beautiful Mind", and it has a beautiful message.

There are many others I could share, but I don't really remember them all right now.

Get to know me...for thirty days!

So, my cousin Jacey is doing this on her blog, and since I've been having some writer's block lately, why not? Stay tuned.






day 1- Your favorite song
day 2- Your favorie movies
day 3- Your favorite TV show
day 4- Your favorite book
day 5- Your favorite quote
day 6- 20 of your favorite things
day 7- A photo that makes you happy
day 8- A photo that makes you angry/sad
day 9- A photo you took
day 10- A photo taken over 10 years ago of you
day 11- A photo of you recently
day 12- Something you are OCD about
day 13- Your favorite outfit
day 14- Your favorite shoes
day 15- Your dream house
day 16- A song that makes you cry
day 17- An art piece
day 18- My wedding/future wedding/ past wedding
day 19- A talent of yours
day 20- A hobby of yours
day 21- A recipe
day 22- A website
day 23- A youtube video
day 24- Where I live
day 25- Your day in great detail
day 26- Your week, in great detail
day 27- Your worst habit
day 28- Whats in my handbag/purse
day 29- Hopes, dreams and plans for 365 days
day 30- A dream for the future

It's been a while

Hi...does anyone still read this?

As you can see, it's been a while since I last updated. I haven't had much to say, mainly because last month was a pretty bad month for us. It goes without saying that being laid off the first Monday of the month was not such a great start. Then midterms happened and Stephan was very busy with that. I also started watching a neighbor's four-year-old son a few times a week (with pay), which means going over at 6:30 right as she leaves for work. Thankfully, he's a pretty easy kid to watch. And he likes Star Wars.

And there were plenty of emotions. And arguments to go with them. Oh joy.

But don't worry, we're doing fine now. Stephan doesn't have anymore tests for now, just homework. And he has to register for next semester's classes. I'm still looking for work, until further notice. Please do me a favor and don't ask me how the job hunt is every time you see me. Thank you.

I don't really have much else to say. Just thought I'd update.

Later.

10/15

The last three weeks have been pretty rough around here. School has gotten crazier for Stephan (are midterms here already?) and he's stressed about being the main breadwinner all over again and trying to do well in school at the same time. It's really hard for me to watch, and I'm doing what I can to help him out.

I *sort of* have a job. Last Friday, I decided to go see one of the women I visit-teach, partly to set up an appointment. We got to talking, and my layoff came up and she asked if I would like to baby-sit her son while I'm looking for another job. She's divorced and obviously has to work, so she really wants good childcare for her little boy. I actually watched him today, and he's a fun kid. The pay isn't very much, but every little bit counts. 

And I'm starting a homemaking blog. I'll provide more details another time :)

Update

I am actually doing much better now. Sure, I wish that I hadn't lost my job, but what's done is done and it is time to move on. How did I get to this point so quickly? I let myself mourn instead of wasting energy on trying *not* to mourn, if that makes sense. 

I also have come to a possible conclusion as to why I lost my job, but I will not share it here on such a public medium ;) However, if I am asked personally, I will give my answer. I will say here that it was through no fault of my own.

In all honesty, I have no regrets about this job. I know that I was supposed to work there and that Heavenly Father guided me to it. I know He has a plan for me, even though I have no clue what it is right now. And even though I have no idea how we are going to make ends meet with just Stephan's income, I know that we will be taken care of. Heavenly Father will not abandon us; he hasn't yet. 

Thank you everyone for your kind words and support. We really appreciate it! Please keep them coming, because I don't know how long I will be unemployed and I know that there will be discouraging times ahead of us. 

Unemployed...AGAIN!

About an hour after arriving at work, my supervisor asked me to meet him in the conference room. I did, and he was in there with one of the company owners. I was told that they had evaluated my position and that I was no longer needed. It sounds like they couldn't afford to keep me on. So, my supervisor then took me back to my desk so I could gather everything, he wished me the best, and that was the end.

It's easy for people to say, "Look for another job!" Do you have any idea how long it took me to get this job? I had been out of college for almost a year before I found it. Now I have to start ALL OVER AGAIN. So now we have to live on Stephan's income, which really stinks because he is only working 14-15 hours a week. This really sucks. 

Maybe this is a sign that I shouldn't work and that I should do what all good Mormon women should do: stay at home and pop out babies. 

But you were born in Japan...

For those of you who don't know, I was born in Japan and lived there until I was eighteen months old.

I also have a desire to travel to different countries. I want to visit Japan, for obvious reasons. France is another country I long to visit, so I can practice my French. If I don't make it to France, then Quebec would suit me fine. Then there's England, Scotland, Israel, and others.

But if I say anything in conversation about wanting to visit these countries, or even about wanting to travel in general, people who know I was born abroad will almost always say:

"But you were born in Japan!"

As if that exempts me from ever traveling outside of this country again, or even wanting to. In many cases, people somehow think I'm culturally superior to the average American because of it.

I talked about this with Stephan, and he gave me a possible reason for why people will remind me of my foreign birth when I express my desire to travel. His theory is that these people want me to feel that because I was born in Japan, I am equal to those who are well-traveled, therefore I really have no right to want to travel.

The reason I want to travel is because in some ways, I feel cheated because it seems like I did all of my world traveling before I could even form a complete sentence. I have absolutely no memory of living in Japan, and yet I'm supposed to be satisfied with the mere fact that I did.

I love that little contradiction.

I really hope this post doesn't sound whiny. That is not my intent. I just wanted to point out the contradiction I've been dealing with for a long, long time.

Getting older can be a good thing...

A little while ago, we got a check from our insurance company. Cool, we thought, but what for?

Stephan called our insurance company today, and we found out that because he is now 23, the premium for the coverage he has for his scooter has gone down. By a lot. We're saving about 300 big ones a year! The check they sent was a refund. 

Now, if they would do it for our health insurance.... ;)

The Stephan and Laura Story: Part II

It took a while for our first date to happen. Sometimes I wondered if it would ever happen. I think it took about five weeks for it to happen, after I decided that I would meet him. 

I knew very little about Stephan going into all of this. Well, I knew a lot more about him than he did about me, which isn't saying much. I knew (from what Jenny and Andrew had told me) that he apparently looked like he could be my brother, was tall, played video games, was recently home from his mission, and he had a motorcycle. So from all this, I imagined a shy, dark-haired, dark-eyed, tall, skinny nerdy guy with glasses who wore a leather jacket.

Boy, was I dead on.

The date finally happened on November 8, 2008. It wound up being a double date with Jenny and Andrew (not the Andrew I dated, mind you), because Stephan had been too shy to call me. I didn't really have high hopes at this point, but for some reason, I was very anxious about my appearance that night. I think I changed clothes three times, and fussed with my hair too much.

Andrew and Stephan were late, but we did manage to get to the De Jong concert hall on time (we went to a BYU Men's and Women's Chorus concert). Before the concert started, I made some conversation with Stephan. I found out that he was born in Logan, was studying Math at UVU, had served a mission in Everett, Washington, and had been back for a year. From that, I assumed that he was about a year older than me.

Then, right as the concert was starting, something in me said, "Guess what? You're marrying this guy!" I was confused, and thought, "What?! I barely know him!" I shrugged it off and went on with the evening.

After the concert, we went in search of ice cream. That was a fun trip because in Provo, just about every place closes at nine. I tried to make more conversation with Stephan, but he wasn't really being conversational, which annoyed me.

We finally found a gelato place on Center Street that was open after nine. We had to park a little far away and walk there. While walking to Maestro's (the gelato place), I think the subject of birthdays came up. His was July 30.

"Oh," I said. "you're 22 then!"

"Actually," he said. "I'm 21." This meant he was younger than me, but not by much.

I tried to do the math. He had been home from his mission a year, and yet he was only 21? Huh?

He then told me that he had come on an honorable medical release for depression, but that he was fine now.

"I like seeing the look on people's faces when they try to figure out the math," he added.

I was thinking, "Oh great, not another Andrew." My opinions on early returned missionaries would drastically change as my relationship with Stephan became serious. In fact, my opinions on missionary service in general.

By the end of the date, I had decided that I never wanted to see Stephan again because he OBVIOUSLY wasn't interested in me, since he didn't speak to me very much. But to my surprise, he asked for my phone number when the date ended. I gave it to him, thinking that he would be too chicken to ever call me.

Jenny and I went inside, where Amy and Jessica were, and they proceeded to ask about the date. I basically said that I didn't like him, didn't want to go on another date with him, and that I was sure he would never call back. Of course, they teased me about it, because Jenny went on about how we were so right for each other and all that.

I went about the next several days, convinced that Stephan would never call and that I didn't like him at all. But just over a week after the date, I was checking my phone as I was leaving orchestra and noticed that I had a voicemail, so I called it.

"Hi Laura, this is Stephan...." said a nervous, but familiar voice in the voicemail.

My thoughts were, "NOOOO!!! He was supposed to chicken out! Maybe he won't leave his number..."

He left his number in the message. This meant I had no excuse to NOT call him back. But I was determined not to. 

An actual update

I haven't given very many updates lately, mainly my menu plans and the first installment of our "how we met" story. I don't know how many people are so interested in it, but I actually really enjoy reading about how couples met.

Stephan started school on Wednesday, but had a training meeting on Tuesday for the Math Lab. Yep, he's still working at the Math Lab. In the past, Stephan has worked about 20 hours a week (in a normal fall/winter schedule), and every year he has gotten a small raise. He's still getting the raise, but his hours have been cut down to 14. Bummer. He thinks the time cut is due to how many more tutors they have hired this semester. And I thought that there had been a budget cut? Hmmm. Anyway, he told me this via text message while I was at work, and I told my supervisor about it (he works right next to me). He asked me right then and there if I wanted to increase my hours! It took me a couple of days to decide, but starting next week, I'll be working 30 hours instead of 25. That should make up the difference. And Stephan is tutoring one of his friends once a week for a fee (the friend insisted on paying him), so we should be fine in the money department.

So far, Stephan really likes his classes. He's taking an iPhone programming class, which is great because he's been trying to get into iPhone programming for a while. One of his favorite professors is also teaching it, which  is also a plus. He is also taking three math classes: Complex Variables, Number Theory, and Statistics. Only one abstract class, which means the others are more problem-solving.

After this semester, Stephan only has three classes left to take, and then he'll graduate in May! I hope it all goes according to plan :)

Menu Planning: Week 2

I didn't really do a "menu" last week because our schedule was highjacked by our trip to Cedar City, so this week is officially week two with a plan.

Monday:

Spaghetti
Broccoli
Bread

Tuesday:

Chicken and vegetable stir-fry
Rice

Wednesday:

Sloppy Joes (with ground up carrots in them)

Thursday:

Pasta with shrimp
Salad

Friday:

Burritos with the fixings

Saturday:

Homemade Pizza


Since we ate out so much while we were in Cedar City (didn't have much of a choice), menu planning will hopefully guarantee that we won't be eating out for a good while :)

The Stephan and Laura Story Part I

I got this idea from another blogger who chronicled her courtship and eventual marriage to her husband. And since we just celebrated our one-year anniversary, I thought this would be appropriate.

Most of the time when people ask us how we met, we tell them, "Blind date." Occasionally I'll add that my roommate and a guy in his ward set us up. Even our wedding website only gives the Cliff's Notes version of it.

If you hate long blog posts, I suggest you stop right here.








Still reading? Okay, but you can't stop now ;)

Our "how we met" story wouldn't be complete if I didn't include the story of Andrew. I met Andrew my freshman year of college in the non-audition orchestra at BYU. We became good friends, and I soon developed a major crush on him. It wasn't reciprocated, which was okay because he was going on a two-year mission for our church. While he was on his mission, I wrote him friendly letters and sent him a few things to cheer him up whenever he was having a hard time. But just nine months after he left for his mission, he suddenly was home for medical reasons. I had little contact with him when he came home, and I decided that since he wasn't exactly trying to contact me much, that it was definitely time to move on with my life. There was also a passage in my Patriarchal Blessing that I thought indicated that I wasn't to marry an early returned missionary. It said that my future husband would have "fulfilled" a full-time mission, and I took that to mean all 24 months.

Six months after not hearing from Andrew, I randomly ran into him. He kept talking about how we needed to do things together and he got my phone number (he had lost it). I fully meant to be friends with him only, but over the summer, he seemed to want more. He called me a lot, came over to visit, and took me to events with him. These are things that guys do when they're interested in a girl...or so I thought. I started liking him again, even though I had a very deep, sick feeling about him that I couldn't put my finger on.

At the end of the summer, I went home for a couple of weeks and then moved into my new apartment in Provo before fall semester started. This is when things started to unravel with the dear boy. He started calling less, for one. Deep inside, something was telling me to end everything with him, but I was denying it. I no longer had issues with the fact he came home from his mission early; I decided that he had completed the mission that he could complete.

With the new apartment, I had brand new roommates. They were all wonderful. One of them would be instrumental in my meeting Stephan. Her name was Jenny, and she was casually dating a guy named Andrew (not the same one). One Saturday evening, she went up to his single's ward activity up in Pleasant Grove. That's where she met Stephan, and determined that he was perfect for me. She and Andrew approached me with the opportunity to meet him, but I declined because (a) I was "dating" Andrew, even though I knew deep down that it was about to end and (b) I wanted to be the one person in my family who didn't need a blind date to meet my spouse.

Jenny did essentially try to talk me into breaking it off with Andrew. She told me that I deserved someone who would be crazy about me and who I wouldn't have to worry about not calling me. My other roommates, Jessica and Amy, pretty much said the same thing. I could tell that they didn't think highly of him.

Not long after I declined Jenny and Andrew's offer, they amicably stopped dating. And not long after that, I told Andrew that I wasn't dating for the heck of it anymore. He admitted that he wasn't interested in dating me...he was just being friendly and didn't realize that what he was doing could be leading me on! Yes, he was clueless. His parents had to tell him that he was leading me on. I've often thought about sending his parents a thank-you note for that.

We stopped going on dates (well, he thought we were just hanging out), but he wanted to stay friends and I agreed (I was too emotionally shot to say no). I sulked about it for a week, and I feel sorry for my roommates who had to put up with it. Even though I sulked, that sick feeling had gone away and I was at peace again.

The week after my break-up was General Conference and we roommates spent part of it with Jenny's family in South Jordan. As we were driving back Sunday evening, I half-jokingly said to Jenny, "Gee, it's too bad you aren't dating Andrew anymore. You could set me up with Stephan!" Jenny said, "Actually, we're still friends. Do you want me to talk to him about it?" I told her yes, having decided that I had nothing to lose and that I wanted to get back in the dating scene. This was my chance to get started.



To be continued....

Our Anniversary

As of Sunday, we have survived our first year of marriage! It's gone by so fast I can hardly believe it. Our first year was no bed of roses by any means. Personally, I think those people who say that the first year is the easy and blissful year are liars. Before I scare any of my unmarried friends, let me tell you that marriage is absolutely wonderful, but it is a lot of work. Our trials were mainly in the financial sector because I was unemployed for most of our first year and then at one point, we were both unemployed. There was also the car accident, health problems (mainly on my part), on top of learning how to be married. 

To celebrate, we drove down to Cedar City for the Utah Shakespearean Festival. We stayed at a bed and breakfast called Amid Summer's Inn, which was wonderful and we highly recommend it. The hosts were very hospitable and accommodating; the breakfasts were tasty; and our room was very comfortable. Plus, it was walking distance from the festival. We saw two plays at the festival: Pride and Prejudice and Much Ado About Nothing. After seeing Pride and Prejudice, Stephan decided to download the novel onto his iPod and he has agreed to see the six-hour A&E series in one-hour increments. Of course, I have to agree to read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as part of the deal. Yay?

I really wish we had been able to stay in Cedar City longer, but I had to go back to work today. Employers should give their employees a week off for wedding anniversaries. We had so much fun in Cedar City that we might make this an anniversary tradition. Yes, we're nerds, but we're cultured nerds. Ha!

What are the plans for our second year of marriage? The one we're definitely shooting for this year is having Stephan graduate from college. He is determined that he will graduate in 2011, one way or another. Hopefully, he'll have a job when he graduates, and it may very well mean that we will leave Utah. We shall see what this year brings.

Menu Planning: Week 1

I have made it a goal to plan out our meals on a weekly basis, so I don't get frustrated when the day starts drawing to a close and I STILL haven't decided what's for dinner, and so we're not tempted to just go out to eat. Last night, I came up with a tentative dinner plan for the week:

Monday:

Chicken Piccata served over pasta
Salad

Tuesday:

Black Bean Soup (new recipe!)
Corn
Watermelon

Wednesday:

Chicken Teriyaki
Stir-fried vegetables
Rice

Thursday:

Tacos with meat, rice, vegetables, beans, etc.

Friday:

Alfredo
Salad
Bread


Of course, I might make a few modifications. We just finished dinner, and it was really nice not stressing about it all day because I already knew what we were having! I'm optimistic that this will work out for us :)

So, what do I do?

I don't know how many of you are curious about what I do at work, but I'll tell you anyway.

My job title is "Marketing Assistant". One of the main things I do is look for blogs and other websites to put a banner ad on, contact the website/blog owner to see if they are interested in having our ad on their site, and go from there. Essentially, I get paid to surf the web, which is a pretty sweet deal. But I make sure to only do work-related web surfing. I waited a long time to get this job; I don't want to lose it over personal web surfing! But it's not like my web surfing is boring. That couldn't be further from the truth; it's a lot of fun.

One of our main advertising targets are food storage and emergency preparedness blogs. There are only so many of those that we can generate a lot of traffic from, so I've been branching out in my blog/website search. I don't know how much information I can share because I signed a non-disclosure agreement and I don't know how many of you are going to start rival food storage/emergency preparedness companies ;)

I do other "administrative" duties, if you will. My department is pretty new, so we are working on getting things organized. And because I have a background in writing/editing, I am often called on to edit things, whether it be articles to go into magazines, letters, website articles, etc. I have also done a little copywriting.

So, that's what I do and I really enjoy it. It's not a lot of pay, but it doesn't matter that much to me. I'd rather do a job I love and get paid less than work at a job I HATE and get paid more.

Adjusting

Yet again, I haven't updated much. Oh well.

Work is good, although I'm still trying to adjust to it. I know, it's pathetic, because I only work five hours a day when there are people who work a lot more than that. Then again, I was working zero hours before, so I guess anything is an adjustment at this point. I also don't really see much of Stephan during the day because he leaves for work before I do and then he goes to class about fifteen minutes after I get home from work. So instead of blogging, I actually try to spend evenings with him when he doesn't have a huge program to do.

There's also trying to keep a house clean. Yeah, that's become quite the challenge. I can't spend as much time on housework as I did before, so now I have to do it in smaller pieces. Like, putting in a load of laundry right before I head out to work; procrastinating the bigger chores until the weekend; doing some chores before going to bed; and of course, delegating more chores to Stephan. He's been very helpful around the house lately, for which I am truly grateful. He did help around before I got this job, but he's been even more helpful now. It makes life easier for everyone involved.

Then there's cooking. I'm loathe to admit that we have been eating out more than we usually do and buying more convenience foods. I am making sure that this is temporary, especially since I do work for a company that promotes provident living :)

So....I guess that's all for now. This has been a boring post. I promise more interesting ones in the future.

Introducing...

My current guilty pleasure:

This blog

For those who already frequent this site, you're probably thinking, "You've just found it now?"

I've actually been visiting it for a few weeks. I just happened upon it in my blog-stalking (don't tell me you don't do it too).

For those who haven't visited it before...

Don't take it seriously.

Who are you?

I have to say, I have been enjoying my little live traffic feed. It's interesting to see where my visitors come from.

However, I'm interested in knowing who exactly reads this. Now, I'm not too worried about stalkers because I know you can't find this blog in a search engine and I don't share that much information anyway.

So, if you could post a comment telling me who you are, even if you are just casually stopping by, please do! I like knowing who my visitors are.

And apologies for the lack of updates as of late. I just started my new job last Friday and I'm adjusting to the new schedule that comes with it. So far, I'm really enjoying it. More details to follow when my energy levels are more stable.

The girl who defied all odds Part 1

This is something I don't talk about very often for various reasons, the main one being that I don't want to present myself as some sort of martyr and have people feel sorry for me. But I have been trying to reconcile this for a long time, and feel that writing about it will help me accomplish this.

I have mentioned a few times here that I didn't learn to talk until I was 3 1/2 years old. This is the story behind it.

My parents thought I would be an early talker because I said my first words as a seven month old baby: "Ba ba da da" (translation: Bye bye dada).

As the years wore on, I was developing every way a normal child should, except at age three, I still wasn't talking. Since at that time, the experts said that if a child wasn't talking by that age, it was time to seek medical attention. Thus began the series of specialists and medical tests. Not to mention I had my first eye surgery around this time too (I was cross-eyed).

Some specialists didn't even take a good look at me before (incorrectly) diagnosing me with autism. Others performed silly tests on me (giving me blocks and then pretty much taking them away from me, for example). There were also those who would snatch me out of my mom's lap for examination. Since I pretty much thought that they were kidnapping me, I gave them hell, for lack of a better term.

I got a series of bizarre diagnoses, that I was an emotionally disturbed child (with autism) who would never lead a normal life and would be institutionalized by the time I was a teenager. Of course, my parents didn't believe them, despite being told they were in denial. They continued on.

Then there were the tests I went through in order to qualify for Katy ISD's Special Education services. One of them was a verbal IQ test. Needless to say, I bombed it because duh, I couldn't talk. There were also ones that the speech therapist and Special Ed teacher at my zoned elementary school did. They both said that I was doing everything normally, except talking.

As an act of desperation, my mom took me to my pediatrician: Dr. Fotouh. I personally think this should have been the first stop in all of this, but I digress. My mom told her to pretend that she didn't know us, and that she (my mom) had brought in this little girl who wasn't talking. Dr. Fotouh consented, and performed a physical exam on me.

I believe that during this exam, a hearing test was performed, and I wasn't doing well on it. Gasp! I couldn't hear! She took a look inside my ears and found the worst ear infection she had ever seen in her entire career. The diagnosis: multiple ear infections.

Further hearing exams confirmed an 80% hearing loss in one ear and 50% in the other.

Now, why hadn't there been any kind of complaint from me of ear infections? Surely I must have been in pain! I had had these infections for so long that I was basically used to living in pain.

After the diagnosis, I was pumped full of antibiotics. Now the natural living folks might cringe at this because most ear infections are viral and do not need antibiotics. I had multiple ear infections, which are bacterial, thus necessitating the antibiotics.

My hearing improved as the antibiotics started working, and I started talking to a limited degree.

When most kids went to preschool, I went to Early Childhood. What's Early Childhood, you say? Preschool for special needs children. In other words, I was in Special Ed. Yes, you read right. And I did ride one of those little school buses that the Special Ed kids rode. I also started what would be several years of speech therapy, to help me catch up with my peers if you will.

I would later become a poster child for Katy ISD's special education program. I was the first child with verbal IQ test scores as low as mine to start mainstream Kindergarten ON TIME. A later verbal IQ test would show that I had an "above average" IQ. So yes, I defied many odds.

Of course, how I was treated throughout my time in Katy ISD, is another story, and this post is already long enough as it is.

I should conclude by saying that the experts have reduced the requirements for "talking" age to two. They changed it while I was going through the testing procedures at age three.


To be continued....