Sunday, February 27, 2005

Ring shopping :)

James and I are rascals . . . we stayed up talking and cuddling until 6:30 am on Friday night. It's a good thing he's going to Hawaii and we won't see each other for two weeks, so we can both catch up on some sleep (well, at least I will, he'll probably be playing too hard) :) It's just so hard to say goodbye, and so easy to just keep talking and enjoying one another's company. Especially knowing that when he comes back from Hawaii we will be moving into a new phase in our relationship, to help him prepare for a mission. This means lots of talking, and no cuddling, hugging, etc. (We already stopped kissing after New Year's day, as the first step). It's going to be a hard change, but I think it will be good in some ways. And for James to be ready to serve a good and focused mission, it's definitely necessary. (It will also be good for our parents' blood pressure, since an earlier curfew will also be in effect once James returns) :)

At my request, James bought me a little pinkie ring (in conjunction with our one year dating anniversary) . It's very simple but sweet, it has a heart with an arrow shot through it. We went shopping for it last night. And he patiently went with me from store to store to find just what I wanted. He sure is wonderful!

Monday, February 21, 2005

Sunday Fireside

My grandparents are old friends of Elder and Sister Robert D. Hales and as a result they were able to help arrange a special fireside for their stake and requested Sister Hales to come and speak. She did so and her husband accompanied her and gave some brief remarks as well. She spoke about the various events that prepared the earth for the Restoration of the church and then shared funny experiences she's had in associating with general authorities. It was fun to hear some down-to-earth and humorous things about our leaders. Even though they are prophets and apostles of God, they are still human. It's nice to know that God uses every-day people to accomplish amazing things. One doesn't have to perfect, or even extraordinary to be able to accomplish the work of the Lord!

Then Elder Hales shared a brief and strong testimony of Christ and the truthfulness of the Church. When it was over my grandparents took us all up to meet them. I felt somewhat silly, but it was nice to have my grandparents there introducing us. Elder Hales informed us (including James), "We love your grandparents."

Afterwards James and my brothers enjoyed the refreshments. They felt obligated to sample all of the most chocolate-y items, using excuses such as, "I have to make sure it's not poisoned," "But it's chocolate!," and "Only one? But I keep losing count." They also enjoyed watching me nearly spit out my water and then choke on it instead when James made me laugh while I was taking a drink. I love hanging out with my brothers and James; they are so funny!

Saturday, February 19, 2005

Nothing much

I have been fighting a cold for the past two weeks. I imagine if I tried getting a little more sleep I might get over it a little faster. And speaking of sleep, I feel like a princess and sleep like a log in my new bed. I wake up feeling more rested even when I don't get eight hours of sleep. It is wonderful! And speaking of wonderful, James gave me a fabulous massage last night. After I returned the favor, we again stayed up talking until my mom called to make sure I hadn't died. I felt bad for making her worry and headed home soon after that.

This morning I went to Women's Conference in our stake. Sister Cheiko Okazaki spoke. She is funny and inspirational, so it was great! She shared some really interesting things about the importance of reading 20 minutes a day to children. She shared some studies and statistics, as well as personal experience, that demonstrated the extreme importance of making that a priority. She also reminded us of the importance helping individuals, especially difficult children, feel loved and full of worth. And she told us to lighten up! We always say, "To err is human," but we all feel that we are the exception to that statement. We sputter and fume over our mistakes, wasting time getting frustrated with ourselves when things don't go according to plan and when we forget something or make a mistake. She just said that we need to learn to laugh at mistakes and take them in stride. (That's an area I could really improve in!)

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Happy Valentine's Day!

This was a wonderful Valentine's Day! My first with a boyfriend, and not just any boyfriend, but the most wonderful boyfriend in the world! I wasn't in the best mood early on, but he put up with me anyway and even managed to put me in a good mood by the end of the night. We went to see Polar Express with my family. It's a pretty cute show, but nothing spectacular. After that we went back to my house for family scripture study, prayer, and then dessert. Then we just sat on the couch and talked until about 3:00 am. Those are my favorite times, just sitting there basking in each others company and talking about anything that comes to mind. James, with his usual thoughtfulness, noticed that I have been complaining about my matress and wishing I had the money to get a new one, so he got me a nice matress and box springs for Valentine's Day. Isn't he great?! It was a very special day all around!

For James's perspective check out his blog: http://j2jensen.blogspot.com/

Sunday, February 13, 2005

Anniversary

Yesterday James and I celebrated our one year anniversary of dating. We had a fabulous day! My grandparents took my family (including James) out to the Golden Corral for lunch (this was to celebrate my grandma's birthday, not in honor of James and my anniversary). We then returned to my house for a surprise party for my grandma.

We had planned to have an elegant candlelight dinner at his dad's house, but we were both still so full from lunch that we decided to just have an elegant candlelight dessert :) I made a carmel brownie cheesecake for our anniversary and got to enjoy watching James eat it.

We received free tickets for the symphony tonight so Dad, Ricky, James, and I went. We were, unfortunately, late, but got there in time for most of it. We then went back to my house and enjoyed reading The Anguished Bride of English, a book full of bloopers and faux pas of students, doctors, lawyers, and so on. I found it on sale at BYU last week and we have been enjoying it ever since.

We then stayed up talking till 4:00 am, not intentionally, it's just so easy to talk to each other that one thing leads to another and before we know it three or four hours have passed.

Wednesday, February 09, 2005

Stranded

Wow, what a weekend! James and I headed up to Logan to go to a big dance with Frankie Manning (he's 90 now and has been swing dancing for ages--he knew and danced to Glen Miller's orchestra, and even danced with Ella Fitzgerald). Just as we got out of the canyon and had slowed to a near stop to turn off for Hyrum our car started making horrendous noises. After checking for a flat and finding none we decided we'd better head to the gas station across the street and see what we could find. We called our parents to let them know we probably wouldn't make it home tonight and then after calling various people to try and find a ride to the dance I got hold of my cousin Pam. She sweetly agreed to come out and drive us to the dance and also to let us crash at her house afterwards. While we waited for her James jacked up the car and discovered that the bolt that holds the caliper in place on the rotar had fallen out so the brake had fallen down and was grinding against the wheel. Heavenly Father sure was looking out for us! He kept that bolt in place until we were going slow enough that nobody got hurt and close enough to a gas station that it caused minimal damage to the car!
Pam got there quickly and we loaded all valuables into her car and took off for the dance. Unfortunately by the time we got there most of the dance portion was over. We did get to hear Frankie tell some great stories and then got to watch a fun competition, but only got to dance three or so songs.
The next morning we tried to find some place that could fix the car, but Logan is a very Mormon town and no carshop was open. So we gave up and made arrangements to stay until Monday. We went to Pam's ward. Testimony meeting was wonderful! James bore his testimony; it was beautiful! We also went to the CES fireside. Elder Nelson spoke on the importance of keeping an eternal perspective as we make our decisions right now. It was a great talk and quite humorous as well.
After hanging out at my cousin Nate's house to make cookies, Pam and I headed back to her house. James spent that night at Nate's. We finally managed to get the car into a shop today, but it took until 5:00 to get it back. So we met Pam on campus for lunch and watched Better Off Dead at her house while we waited. We finally got back to Salt Lake about 7:00, to our parents relief. What a weekend!

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

The trouble with cars

I went to get my car emission-ed and inspected Monday. I figured it would take about an hour or so and cost about $70. Boy was I wrong! Five hours and $317.54 later I began to wonder if having a car was really all that important. Unfortunately it was a little late for me to change my mind. So I won't be buying anything new for a while.

Also this week I have discovered the wonders of insurance. I've had a nasty sinus infection which seems to have moved into my lungs so after a week of misery I finally decided to set up an appointment to talk to a doctor. Thanks to James I remembered that I do have BYU insurance, and as it turns out, I should only have to pay $10 for the doctor visit, which is good since (as mentioned above) I'm a little short on cash right now.

On the bright side, I have been given another editing assignment for my internship job and this time I get to edit content as well as grammar and work with the author (this may not sound exciting to you, but believe me, it is!). This will be a good chance to find out if this is what I really want to do or not.

Well, I'm supposed to be working on a huge presentation for tomorrow, so I think I'll go get started on that now. (Also thanks to James I have a ton of pictures to use in my presentation--isn't he wonderful!)