Chivalry

If anyone out there thinks Chivalry is dead, they haven't met my boyfriend. He opens every door for me, carries bags of groceries or boxes, makes me dinner and the kicker.. takes off his jacket on the Disneyland Tram and covers me with it so I don't get cold on the way to the car.


I have a big slight independent side and some of this was hard to swallow at first. I kept the " I can do it myself" attitude for a while but it is slowly going down the tube. I have to say though... I kind of like that. I like being taken care of and I feel like he shows how much he respects me by doing these not so little things.

Sometimes I feel like we become complacent in our relationships. This is simply an observation. I am by no means an expert on dating or relationships. After a long time together, doors don't get opened, bags don't get carried etc. Why do we eventually stop doing these little things for eachother? I hope Jared always opens the door for me and carries bags for me. Not because I am incapable of doing those things or because I feel like he should be superior over me but because I feel respected and taken care of.

I hope I can always show Jared respect. I hope I never stop picking up a random packs of his favorite gum, stocking my refrigerator with his favorite soda, making him dinner or rubbing his back. I hope I can always think beyond myself and do something nice for him every day. Nothing extravagent. Just simple things that remind him how appreciated he is and how thankful I am to have him in my life.

So, dear readers (all 3 of you) I challenge you to pick one person in your life and do/say something nice to them every day over the next week. That may or may not be buying gifts for someone. An extra hug, a card, a random "hey hope you're having a good day" text or voicemail will do the trick. Give it a shot. Look beyond your busy life, your bad day and your pride. It's hard but it can be done. I've already chosen my person.. how about you?

Daniel and Sarah

There are some people that come into your life that become friends. Others become more like sisters and brothers. During high school I was blessed with a group of ladies that will forever be like sisters to me. Today I watched, teary eyed, as one of those women got married.

Sarah. Sweet, funny, creative, passionate, loving, beautiful Sarah.

The day was more beautiful that anyone could have hoped. Sure it was sunny and warm but what made it truely breath-taking was the love that filled the air. Love between friends, family and most importantly, Sarah and Daniel.

With tears streaming down their faces, the bridesmaids looked on as their friend marrried her love. I personally was thankful for the cover of sunglasses so no one could see my nearly overflowing tear ducts slightly watery eyes. The vows were heartfelt, the officiant was funny and nothing was traditional. Everything about the wedding fit Dan and Sarah's style.

It was even a high school reunion of sorts. Most of the ladies from our "group" were in attendance. A couple were missing but they were there in our hearts. It was great catching up with these women. They are absolutely amazing and I am thankful they are still part of my life.

I have yet to go to a wedding where the flower girl doesn't try to steal the show. This little one decided the flamingo decorations were pretty nifty. Especially when she plucked it off of its legs. Do not fear my readers, it was a fake flamingo. NO live animals were injured during the wedding events.

I am a sucker for the Bride and Groom's first dance. Regardless of who it is, the knot forms in my throat and I have to keep myself from breaking down into joyful sobs. You can see just how much these two love eachother. It does my heart good to see Sarah so incredibly happy. Dan is a wonderful man and treats Sarah like the treasure she is.

I am so thankfulI was able to be part of this epic event. Congratulations Dan and Sarah! I love you both very much.

Wild Animal Park

A few weeks ago Brian, Katie, Peyton, Jared and I went on an adventure to the Wild Animal Park.
First stop was the petting zoo. Those animals seemed a lot bigger when I was younger. Poor Katie was just trying to get food so Peyton could feed the deer like creatures but said creatures were just too impatient and ate it right out of the machine.


We saw the Lorakeets which I clearly loved. Can't you tell?

We got a great hike in while looking for the elephants. Unfortunately my brother is a man and didn't listen to his little sister. Instead of looking at the map at the top of the hill, he waited until we were at the bottom to see if we were going in the right direction. I'm sure his very pregnant liked that part. Of course to get to the elephants we had to go up the path that everyone else was walking down. I'm pretty sure every single one of those people walking down were thinking " haha suuuckkkeeerrrs!". regardless of the hike we saw the most adorable Baby Elephant.

Of course we saw Lions and Tigers and... oh wait, wrong story. We just saw the lions.

And what place isn't fun without a small area to let your kids run loose and get soaked.

Peyton was all about seeing the giraffes, and the gorillas and.. well, you get the point.

Of course they have photo spots through out the park so brian, katie and peyton climbed behind one for their kodak moment. Peyton, being the 2yr old that she is took it quite literally when brian told her to put her head in the hole. She quickly put the top of her head in the hole. With a little direction, she finally put her face in the hole.

It was a very fun day. I leave you with a few more pictures for your viewing pleasure.




I think someone had an extra fun (and tiring) day.

Uncertainty

I hate not knowing what the future holds no matter if it is the near future or distant future. The planner in me wants to have every step of my life planned out so I know exactly what to expect. I highly dislike the uncertainty of not knowing what will happen. All to often I depend on myself to figure life out and God is the after thought. How does that order get so messed up over the years?

As a teenager you life a carefree life and figure by this age, I will do this or that for a job, live in this community and be married with this number of children. You assume you will have life figured out by the time you are 21 or so. 21 rolls around and you're still clueless. 25 comes and goes and you have more questions than answers in some areas. 29 hits you and you still don't know what the heck is going on. So at what point in your life do you figure it all out?

Never.

I'm learning it is not my job to have it all figured out. It is not my job to plan out my future and fill God in on what my expectations are. It is not my job to try and make things happen.

It is my job, however, to trust. Trust that the God of all creation does have it all figured out and He knows what He is doing.

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Love

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres" 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

How does one love like this? How do I get to a place where I can love fully without my own selfishness or lack of patience trying to throw things off track? I would like to think that I live up to the standards God has placed before us in the scripture but I know I don't. I fall short, as do many. But why? What causes us/me to do this? Besides the fact that we are human and we are not perfect.

Oh how I wish I could love others the way God loves me. I am most certainly a work in progress. Any chance we can speed this process up, Lord? It would be much appreciated.

The Biggest Winner

The Biggest Loser has inspired people around America to get off their tushies and lose weight, eat better and exercise. I never really got into the show until last season when a former classmate from Vanguard University, Shay, was on the show. Although I am not close friends with Shay, I did chat with her a few times. I was inspired by her story.

Weight has always been a struggle for me. Last year I embarked on a weight loss journey and lost 34 pounds. Not too shabby if I do say so myself. I have to admit though, I gave up. Towards the end I hit so many plateaus that I became frustrated and disappointed. I've since gained back 10 of those pounds and I feel down right.. yucky. I am still (mostly) ok with how I look but my body just feels a little off. I feel a bit sluggish and I am tired a lot.

A couple weeks ago I noticed a friends Facebook Status update was asking if anyone wanted to be part of a 6 week fitness challenge. The challenge is through my gym, Ramona Fitness Center. There are teams made up of 5 people each. The team that loses the largest percentage of body weight will win $2500.

I quickly jumped at the chance to be on the team. Sure, it would be nice to have $500 awarded to me but what I am really looking forward to is the motivation. This isn't just me now.. I have 4 other people depending on me. We have a facebook group where we leave comments/posts to eachother, encouragement, accountability. I am looking forward to this new challenge. So, first weigh in is today. I am nervous. I don't know why, but I am. I guess the scale at the gym is a little more intimidating than the one under the sink in my bathroom. Not to mention a whole lot more public. Yikes!

So, here's to a new journey with my team:
Weapons of Mass Reduction~
Bonnie
Charisse
Crystal
Summer
and trainer, Michael.

Karate Kid

A couple weeks ago my nephew, Justen, had his first karate Tournament. THIS auntie was beyond proud of him. This is the first thing in Justen's life that has put the spotlight on him in a good way. He has faced so many health problems in his short life and it was so awesome to see him so exxcited about this.

In the first round the did some moves and got scored based on how well they did them. There were two other kids in his group. He got the highest score out of all three of the kids. When he realized he won a gold medal in his first competition, he was beyond excited. So was I. I thought it may be rude to yell out "that's right ladies and gents...that MY nephew with the gold medal". Is that poor sportsmanship?:)

He had 2 more sections to do. One with weapons and one trying to break a board. He ended up with Silver medals from both of those competitions.
I loved watching my brother, Jim, with Justen. He got down and looked Justen in the eye and reminded him to stay focused, do his best but most of all had fun.

At the end, he wasn't able to break his board but he looked at us and said "but I had a lot of fun."
Hang onto that attitude my little man! You made "Tee Tee" very proud.

Valentine's Day

Say what you want about this day.. a commercialized money maker type day that the greeting card industry lives for, it's about girls, it's dumb... whatever your opinion, you are entitled to it.

I honestly have mixed feelings about it. It isn't my favorite holiday but I always sorta hoped I would have a valentine someday. Call me a hopeless romantic. I chalk it up to watching endless hours of Romatic Comedies like 27 Dresses, Never Been Kissed or The Holiday.

This year was different though.. I actually had a Valentine. I tried to play it off with " eh we don't have to do anything to big". Jared didn't buy it though.

Of course I had to work on Valentine's Day so we celebrated on Saturday. We spent a few hours at the zoo, checking out the sites. I have to save my favorite exhibit is the Tigers. On this trip we got up close to the Tiger. She was perched on a rock but decided to grace us with a closer look by moving in front of the window.

The plan (we all know how much of a planner I am) after the zoo was to eat at the Corvette Diner in Point Loma. We were both pretty hungry so when we arrived and saw the crowd, my heart dropped. We got the little buzzer thing and found out we had a 40 minute wait. We headed outside to discuss if we wanted to wait so long and I promptly burst into tears. This was not how my plan was supposed to go at all.

Jared, being the amazing guy he is, wrapped his arms around me and became my voice of reason. As I stood there in tears,trying to be okay with the delayed plan, the Sesame Street theme song started to play. We both started laughing and decided 40 minutes wouldn't be so bad. We ordered the largest appetizer I have ever seen. I mean, this was a meal all in itself. It was soooooo good.

In addition to the ginormous appetizer , we both got burgers. Jared got the "Rory". It may sound gross but it had crunchy peanut butter, bacon etc on it. Honestly it was de-li-ci-ous. Trust me.

Sunday we met up for church like we usually do but before we grabbed our usually coffees, Jared made me close my eyes. When I opened them I was greeted with a card and these:

Gorgeous! Of course I got all teary eyed ( I refused to cry due to the water works from the previous evening). First of all, I have never been given flowers from any guy. Second, I love red roses. They are my absolute favorites. And three.. A beautiful card from a guy who isn't so into cards. it doesn't get any more special than that.

We had a simple afternoon watching tv and I headed off to work. About an hour or so after I got to work I got a text from Jared that said " can you come outside for a minute". I did and there he was with a big smile on his face. He had a big box of chocolate covered strawberries from Shari's Berries. As if the weekend hadn't been amazing enough, he had that one last little surprise.


It really was an unforgettable Valentine's Day. The gifts were wonderful but what I really love the most is having Jared in my life, having the incredible family that I do and have friends that are more family than friends. Sure we should show love every day of our lives but having one day that shows a little extra love isn't so bad. :)

Unwelcome Guest

There I was sitting in bed, reading and minding my own business, when I thought I felt something on my hair. The natural reaction to that feeling is to sorta shake out your hair a bit. I didn't see anything around me so I figured it was just my hair tickling my ear.

I thought I felt something sort of crawl on my back but I assumed I was overthinking it. Usually once you think something is crawling on you, the feeling stays for a while. But then I felt it... a little prick or bite or something along those lines. I felt around in the back of my shirt and felt nothing so again, I just thought it was all in my head.

A minute or two later I swore I felt something crawling on my back. I knew there had to be something. This couldn't have just been my mind this time. More crawling then two more little bites or pricks. I flung my blankets to the side, jumped out of bed, ran to the bathroom and peeled off my shirt in probably 10 seconds flat. I shook my shirt and there it was on the floor. A pincher bug.

My work shoes were laying on the bathroom floor because I was too lazy to put them away conveniently in the bathroom so I grabbed one and beat the living daylights out of this pest. I'm sure it was dead after the first blow but I beat it repeatedly just to make sure the job was done.

Pincher Bugs, Earwigs.. no matter what term you use, I hate them. Maybe hate isn't the right word. Loathe. Despise. Detest. Any of those will do. It was creepy and gross and just thinking about it again gives me the heebie jeebies.

Yuck.

Disneyland

Part two of Jared's birthday gift was a day at Disneyland/Disney's California Adventure. We stayed the night at the Hyatt then made our way to the Happiest Place on Earth Thursday morning.

The day couldn't have been more perfect. Sunny with some clouds and in the 70's or so. We waited maximum 5 minutes for most rides and maybe 15 minutes for Peter Pan. I can't even put into words how much fun I had.. seriously.

I was so excited to see "Burt" from Mary Poppins. I wanted blurt out "It's a jolly holiday with you burt.." But I refrained.

No trip to Disneyland is complete without experiencing the world famous Jungle Cruise. meet our tour guide, Jerry...

My Strong man workin it in Toontown..

We happened to run into Goofy at one point and took a picture with him for Peyton. She was so excited when she met Goofy the first time she went to Disneyland.

The last picture of the day.. with the Big Cheese, himself. We were tired but in a good way. And yes, Mickey does have ears. We both just happen to be tall enough to cover them :)