Time with Mom

My mom is awesome!!! (Exclamation points courtesy of Travis). She took 4 days out of her Christmas break to visit me in Florida and help with wedding preparations. I loved it and always hate to see her go. We made some fun memories. I'll share a couple:

We went to the night church I go to since I work during the day. After convincing her that she could go in the Chapel even though she forgot her dress, (most people just get off work and are in their Disney costumes) we got to sing Mom's favorite Christmas song, Away in a Manger. We both were holding the hymnal and I noticed Mom stopped singing. I looked at her and found she was crying. Apparently feeling the need to explain it to me, she swung the hymnal up to cover our faces and knocked me hard on the forehead.... not very subtle! :) That just made me laugh harder, so we were crying and laughing in the back row. Not much singing went on the rest of the song.

Mom also got to see me try on my wedding dress during the alteration process. It was a part of the experience that I was missing and it made it seem more complete having her there.

Our main Christmas present from Mom and Dad was a new bed. I get to sleep on a real bed for the first time in over a year!!!! My parents are are definitely the best! I love that I don't ever need to worry about my parents supporting me. Between a wonderful family and handsome, sweet man (Trav wants me to clarify the handsome, sweet man is him), I am a very blessed woman.

Engagement Pictures

Today we woke up early (well, one of us did) and we drove down to Miami to get engagement pictures taken. Travis' sister Sarah has a wonderful friend named Dario (darioendara.com) who is a professional photographer and he took our pictures for free. Originally he was going to be in town this weekend and was going to take them for us here, but those plans changed and so yesterday we scheduled today instead. Talk about last minute running around to get the "perfect outfit"! We shouldn't have worried about any wardrobe changes because we were late and didn't have time for any :) Surprised? I wasn't....
He took us to South Beach and we took pictures on the streets. Exactly, we drove all the way to Miami to get pictures and didn't even get one on the beach ha ha. But I am very excited to see the pictures in a couple days! He is obviously an extremely talented photographer and knew exactly what he wanted from the quick photo shoot, which made it so much easier on us.
Only a week and a half until my mom gets into town.
Only 2 weeks until Christmas.
Only 5 weeks and 2 days until our wedding.
So many exciting things in the next 2 months!!

You've all been waiting...

Travis proposed to me using a game we like to play after we (His mom, sister and cousin were there too) ate Thanksgiving dinner. It is called Munchkin. Basically, it is played like this:
You draw a card on your turn, if it is a Monster and you defeat it you get to draw a Treasure card. Whoever gets to 10 first wins.
When it was my turn I drew a Monster card. I could tell it was homemade only because it smeared a little when I touched it :). It was "Bridezilla." Alone I could not defeat Bridezilla and had to have Travis help me. Upon defeating it I got to draw a Treasure card. The Treasure card ended up being a picture of us at the Salt Lake Temple printed on the card with "Happily Ever After" written on the top. He then got down on his knee and gave me his cute and slightly awkward proposal. It was very sweet! I think Sarah might have some more pictures/video of it somewhere. Oh, and I can't forget to mention that with beating Bridezilla, I won the game... Thanks Travis!!! :)


Side note:

Thanksgiving morning did not bring the snow and Turkey bowl that I am accostomed to, and since Travis was still at his house asleep, I was productive and made an apron from some fabric I had. I think it turned out really cute. I especially like the drawstring neckline and frills on the bottom...

A day for giving thanks.

The closer picture of the ring everyone is requesting.....

Travis did a good job of being creative with the proposal. I'll tell the story when I don't have to wake up early the next morning. Yay!

I have a lot to be thankful for today :)

Change

Change makes me emotional.
I hear songs on the radio and I cry.
I blame my mom.

Perspective

Today I'm feeling a little frustrated, ungrateful and sick. I was inspired by my mom's blog to counteract that......

I'm grateful for.....

Smells of fall. Even though it doesn't look or feel like fall here in Florida, I enjoy the apple cider spice air freshener from Bath and Body Works every time I walk in my room. It makes me happy.

Work that at least pays the bills (well, some of them). I don't love it and it's not where I want to be for much longer, but it's teaching me humility. Even if I am an awful learner. And it offers insurance, which will come in handy when I get married to a man that doesn't have any insurance and has some obsession with needing surgeries. No, that's not an announcement :)

Eternal Families. One of my favorite Hermanas (wasn't my companion, but lived with me for several months) from my mission had the funeral for her 3 week old baby boy today. If that isn't something to put your own problems and issues into perspective, nothing can. I'm grateful for the family I have now, the sacrifices they make to help me, and for any future additions I'm hoping to have in the coming years.

The Three Important Envelopes

Today Travis spent my lunch hour with me and at the end of it pulled out 3 yellow envelopes. One labeled 1, another 2, and the last 3. He told me that each envelope had a date in the very near future and that the envelope I chose would have a very important date I would want to remember. Each envelope had a different date, so talk about PRESSURE! I chose #3. Now I know he is going to propose soon, but I don't know exactly when.... I'm glad he put thought and planning into it. Travis compared it to a game show... Let the game begin! :D

Me? Sensitive?

While finishing up my root canal today:

Lindsea: (raises left hand to indicate a lot of pain)

Dentist: You are quite sensitive.

Lindsea: You aren't the first one to tell me that.

Thanks to my sensitivity he had to change the game plan and I have to wait another week for my crown. Oh well. At least it gets done right and he listens so I don't have to beat him over the head with his drill.

Another Year

As I was out running today I felt impressed to take a picture of a fountain by my house. I realized that I had taken a picture of it before, but it has been over a year now. Crazy how time flies! I have been living in Florida for 13 months now. On top of that, I got moved into Lost and Found/Dispatch full time! Yay! That means no more housekeeping for me!!!! Maybe now I'll get around to cleaning my own room..... yeah. It was a nice thought.

Travis has had an eventful year moving from Housekeeping Manager at the Boardwalk to Front Desk Manager at the All Stars and now Front Desk Manager and Fort Wilderness. I'm proud of him and all his hard work to achieve his goals. We are praying that these opportunities will turn into a permanent gig so we don't have the stress ever 3-6 months of where he will go next.

He also took me on a romantic date a couple weeks ago. He took me to lunch around the world at EPCOT. They are having their Food and Wine Festival so have food from dozens of countries in kiosks. We had German pretzel sausages and apple cobbler, Mexican tamales and tacos, Chinese pot stickers, Belgium waffles with berry topping... I know I'm forgetting something... It was all delicious though! Then we stopped by Japan where he let me pick out an oyster, and have it opened to find my pearl. We picked out a necklace setting for it and now I have my first piece of jewelry from my sweet man. We took a quick but fun boat ride past Morocco, Japan and Germany. That night we went out to dinner and then walked around Downtown Disney. Travis thought it would be fun to try to sneak into La Nouba (Cirque d'Soleil, or however you spell it lol) so walked us right up to the door. I was starting to get embarrassed because there were people behind us and the ticket person was definitely not going to let us in without tickets. They are about 45 bucks each with our cast discount! Then at the last second Travis pulls out the tickets and we enjoyed the show from the 3rd row :) It was a very fun and sweet surprise. I LOVE that show! He was the leader of Concierge so got the free tickets that day. Gotta love connections. Thank you Trav!

Finish Line Pictures!!!

Yes, I know these are small. I am supposed to buy the pictures, but they are too expensive for me. Put on your glasses and enjoy! This was in Hollywood Studios. No, this is not a flattering outfit on me, but it made me happy, thus, I wore it.
And here is the finish line! As you can see, Trav pulled out in front of me and went down. I'm laughing in this picture if you can't tell by my triple chin....

Yeah, that's me. Running PAST my downed boyfriend at the finish line... laughing! Such an awful girlfriend I am!
Once again laughing while Trav is on the ground... Seriously... tell me the truth.... am I going to burn in fire and brimstone??

We Finished!

We finished the 1/2 Marathon through Disney World very early this morning. 1:25 to be exact. I think I enjoyed this run more than any other race we've had. Might be because we took it a little easier and stopped to take pictures. We took pictures with the characters from UP, the Osborn festival of lights (I can't think of the right name...), Timon and some dancers, every mile sign and some at Animal Kingdom. We also saw Darth Vader! We couldn't take a picture with him because he had to use the evil little boys room. I kept telling Travis that I wanted to stay within a certain range of happiness and enjoy the run, and that he could run ahead if he wanted to do it for time. He was sweet and stayed with me, but every one should know he could have beat me by 15-20 minutes. As it turns out, we were 400 yards from the finish line (did I mention I was dressed as Tink?) when there was another Fairy costume! I heard a yell from behind me say, "Don't let that other fairy beat you Tinkerbell!!" I looked at Travis and told him, "I think I was just challenged. I have to beat that other fairy." So we took off and ran hard the last little bit. Travis was running so hard at the finish line (Did I mention there were A LOT of people there? And professional photographers too?) He pulled out in front of me right at the finish line sprint and then, the man was at my feet! I don't know if it was the costume, or the wake from my running, but he went down hard. Poor guy. We tied, even down to the second. I can't wait for those pictures to become available! ... I love you Travis! And yes, of course I beat that other fairy :).

Then it was the long trek to picking up our bag, getting out of EPCOT, skipping the after the run drinking party and getting to the car. Travis throwing up goes in there somewhere. A few times. He drove back to his house until he couldn't drive anymore, puked, and I drove the rest of the way. Talking with my mom and Aaron on the phone gave me a little lift so I didn't feel quite so bad. Then I came home and crashed. And today I'm sore. Ice will be my friend :) But it was my favorite one by far and recommend running a Disney World 1/2 Marathon for fun instead of time. There are so many fun things to do along the course that we usually just run past, but not this time. Lots of memories were made :)

1/2 Marathon!

This morning we picked up the packets for the 1/2 Marathon we have tomorrow. It is the inaugural race and seeing everything got me excited to race... in my fairy costume! :) I hope you are all jealous you will not be there!

Oh, Show Me The Way To Go Home

I know it sounds very negative, but it is hard for me to feel at home in Florida, even after a year and a month. Between issues with the landlords, work and roommates, I feel like an inconvenience rather than someone people want around. It does not make me feel welcome and comfortable and more today than any other time in the last 13 months I have been here, I really, really wanted to be home. I am hoping that this is just a temporary test and soon I'll be able to live somewhere that I feel at wanted. I told you it was going to sound negative, but it has been my underlying feeling for awhile and circumstances today brought it to the boiling point. Thank goodness Travis was there to give me hugs and talk things through with. He even dressed up in my 1/2 Marathon costume to try to cheer me up.... Yes, I have a picture, but to save his dignity, I'm banned from ever showing anyone. He's a good boyfriend.

Deja Vu

I think I have said this recently, but we have a 1/2 marathon this Saturday....

Sad that I haven't updated my blog since the last one! Obviously we survived it (barely) with only a few harsh words (I think you can guess who said them... NO! Not me! Ok... maybe) spoken out of pain and agony. I think I'm glutton for punishment. But I'm so glad we got to run it and most of all, spend time with the family. I miss them. My nephews are adorable! Easily the cutest kids ever (until I have my own, but that will probably be awhile, so don't worry Rock and Ryker, you get the title for a long time!). Other than losing my iPod touch, it was a very happy and needed trip.
This half marathon is here at Disney and is called the Wine and Dine. We run through the theme parks and end up at EPCOT for the festival they are having, and the best part is, it is at night. Thanks to the lessons learned from the SLC 1/2 marathon, I trained more for this one. So I'm hoping the hard work pays off. I'm not expecting a great time, just to be able to beat my SLC time. That's all I ask. Too much? Ok, I just want to be able to finish without wanting to beat someone up.
I'll keep you posted!

Uh- Oh!

We have a 1/2 marathon in SLC this Saturday. Not only do we have altitude and elevation working against us, but the 15 pounds I've put on since the last marathon won't help me at all! It will be interesting to say the least ha ha ha. Oh well. It's a kick in the pants to get my butt in gear again. And I'll be Mormon cursing my sweet tooth and inability to stay strong against it the whole 13.1 miles.
Oh fun times. :)

One of My Favorite Things

Travis and I have opposite shifts pretty much, but thankfully we have the same days off most weeks. We push back against this inconvenience by seeing each other during our lunch breaks. No matter how awful or stressful my morning, I feel better knowing I will see him for an hour in the middle of my day. One thing we have recently started doing is reading the scriptures together every day. Since we don't have much time together during the week, I keep a set of scriptures in my car so we can read those 6 pages together during lunch break. It has become a highlight of my day.

Ketchup. Catsup. Catch up.

I have a lot to catch up on! Almost a month ago now my mom and sisters came for a visit and we stayed at a condo together. Thankfully I was able to get the time off and Trav had 2 of the days off so was able to play as well. Sarah got us on the Segway tour in EPCOT (thank you!) and it was fun to see mom go from very unsure to saying, "I want one of these!"at the end. We also got to ride the big rides and spend a day at Harry Potter World at Universal. I loved it and the butter beer was amazing! We also went to Cocoa Beach and chilled at the condo watching Castle and My Boys. Spending time with the girls and my mom was exactly what I needed. They are so much fun :) After church and lunch with Trav's family, I had to take them back to the airport. Seeing people leave is always the hardest part of having people visit. Thankfully my friend Chrystelle and her husband flew in a few days later and stayed for 10 days. We partied it up after work and they took us out to eat a couple times. It was awesome to have people here almost every day for 2 weeks.

Now the big thing to look forward to is seeing the family in Salt Lake City the first weekend of September. Trav and I are flying out to see every one and run the 1/2 Marathon. No, we have not been training. It is too hot. Yes, we are going to die. But we will finish!

Work is moving forward. I work in an office more often than not, doing dispatch and I will be training for Lost and Found soon. I like the variety.

There is a quick update on what's been going on here. Pictures will be coming soon! :)

Hug

My mom sent me flowers yesterday. She is wonderful and it was the next best thing to a real hug :)

Elephant Poop

My parents gave my sisters and me journals made of elephant poop for Easter a couple of years ago. Not being able to bring myself to use it, not because it was "disgusting" but because it was a beautiful journal that I didn't want to ruin and regret later, it sat with my books for me to admire. Today it was grabbed on the way to church since my other journal was lost in action. Telling Travis, as we were sitting in the pew, what it was made of he said, "And you brought it to church?!" Laughing, I told him it was clean and he didn't have to worry about the germs.

Listening to the talks about pioneers enduring their trials well, I thought of my elephant poop journal. The pages evidence of the elephant's travels, unique. I thought of the creator of the book that took some discarded waste and had a vision of turning it into something beautifully useful. It had to be strained, washed, boiled, pressed, formed and dried. A long and difficult process with several steps. Each part vital to the completed product, creating something that I cherish out of something most would have avoided.

Now, it is providing me with a wonderful function, which is reminding me of the cleansing power of the Atonement, every time I use it. He has the power and vision to press, wash and form us. Our experiences, where we have been in life and lessons adding to that unique result. If we let our Creator into our lives, he can turn those parts of us we would like to avoid, into something beautiful, with purpose.

And yes, I did get all that from elephant poop. :)

Such a great weekend!

It started at 12 am on Trav's birthday... The midnight showing of Eclipse! Believe it or not, it was his idea. We went to the midnight showing of New Moon as well, so I'm hoping we are starting a tradition :) One of our favorite things to do is to people watch. As you can see, there are a lot more men than you would expect.

The lines for the women's bathroom were ridiculous. But hearing the girls going crazy made me laugh enough, that it was ok.

One thing I don't have a picture of is Captain EO. Travis and I got to go to the Cast showing of Captain EO (Michael Jackson) with the media at 8 in the morning. Yes, we stayed up for the midnight showing of Eclipse and then woke up 4 hours later to go to the show. Happy Birthday Travis! You get only 4 hours of sleep! ha ha We were interviewed and even got to hold the big microphone :) Captain EO is one of the only rides I remember from the first time we went to Disneyland. I remember KC trying to grab the flying bat thing and how enthralled I was by the dancing... yeah.

After trying to nap a little, we rode Trav's bike over to Daytona Beach. It was a beautiful ride and I enjoyed it. Being in the sun for 2 hours wore Travis out, but he was a good sport. We had his birthday dinner (his second one, since we went to Ragland Road with Sarah on Monday to celebrate) at the Outback. we had some good bread and food.

This bridge had an incline so made it fun to ride on. Florida is very flat so I'm not used to hills on the bike. Also, it was very pretty to see ocean in both directions.

Ahh... I love it. We stayed 4 miles to the left. Also on the beautiful beach. One of my favorite parts of the trip was sitting out on the beach that night. It was a clear sky, lots of stars but no moon. Talking with Travis, the ferris wheel lit up down the beach, the whitecaps and the roar of the ocean, it was perfect. I wish a picture would have done that justice. A lot of my time was spent watching the ocean, which is one great thing about living in Florida.

One thing we didn't know (yeah, there is more than one thing we don't know...) was that the Daytona 400 was the same week we were there. We saw the trailers and semis all set up for it. Quite the experience! Maybe next year we will be able to go ;)

Since Destination Daytona (the Bruce Rossmeyer Harley Davidson complex) was close by we rode over there and spent time looking at bikes and accessories.

Posing with the bike on our way home. You will notice that I am wearing my swimsuit. It was my beach weekend attire. Traveling on a motorcycle means you have to pack LIGHT.

And here is Travis holding his new helmet. It matches mine, except for where mine has scratches all over it. I guess Travis couldn't tell them apart and felt the need to make them more easily distinguishable...

It was a great weekend. Even with Trav's phone mix up which led to him having no service. I can't wait to do more bike trips, but maybe next time we will have some cool seat cushions :)

My Travis, the Marine, Return Missionary, Disney Cast Member

I love Travis. He has accomplished a lot in the past 3 decades. I'm blessed by those experiences because they have shaped the type of man he is now. It was his birthday on Wednesday and we had a lot of fun celebrating his 32 years. Yeah, he is that old!! :) Happy Birthday!

Christian Romance Novels Have Messed Me Up

Christian romance novels have messed me up.

 

Guy meets girl. Guy likes girl. Guy wooes girl. Guy and girl are an official couple. Guy and girl have some fight or peril. Guy and girl overcome said obstacle. Guy and girl get married. Guy and girl live happily ever after.

 

And this all happens within a short period of time and all faults and weaknesses are seen as adorable or endearing. Why does reading books mess me up? Because it makes me come to think of relationships as formulaic. I know generally what will happen next in the book and still thouroughly enjoy reading it because I like that make believe place. The break from reality. Unfortunately, reality and make believe collide and tend to clash in parts.

 

Sometimes guy meets girl. Girl likes guy but guy isn't interested in girl. Months later... Guy likes girl. Guy woes girl. Guy meets girl in person. Months later.... Guy and girl are an official couple. Guy and girl have some fight or peril. Guy and girl overcome said obstacle. Year later.... Guy and girl still an official couple.

 

This is in direct contrast to the pattern that the Christial romance novels I have read and enjoyed my whole life have shown me. It creates the need to readjust my expectations and realize that my life would be boring if it followed such a formula. It keeps me on my toes when it strays from the expected and I need to learn to appreciate and love that. One day I will have my happily everafter. In the mean time... I'm going to go read :)

Running with Travis

Running in Trav's subdivision, watching the Magic Kingdom fireworks started out fun, even in the 10 pm 86 degree weather. After I thought we had run 2 miles:

Lindsea: Travis, how far are we planning on going?
Travis: At least 2 miles.
Lindsea: What?! Haven't we run 2 already?
Travis: Nope. We have only run 1.14 miles.
Lindsea: UGH. I'm out of shape!

We ended up going 2 miles total (Trav would have gone farther but I ignored him and refused to add in the extra turns) There is a long road ahead of me but I'm determined to get back into shape and lose 12 pounds before the Salt Lake 1/2 marathon in September. I'll keep you posted.

My Pa

My dad is pretty awesome.

Who else could handle being the father of us six kids??

Flying has been a passion of his and it has blessed us with fun opportunities like the yearly fly in.

He encourages and helps us reach our goals.

He was a smart man and picked a beautiful, wonderful bride (mom for us!).

He is always willing to have fun and joke around with us.

And then takes care of us when we are hurting.

He is as good of a grandpa as he is a dad.

He teaches us compassion and charity by example.

And will go through hours of work so we can all enjoy the end result!

I don't remember more than a couple games my whole time growing up where I didn't have a parent at a game. Dad would always work things out to be there for us. Something that I took for granted at the time, but with 6 kids in various activities, I realize it required much sacrifice.

My dad is pretty awesome. I think it helps that he had a great example to follow.

Happy Father's Day!

I let the sun beat me.

I was armed with my new iPod and 78 degree weather when I started my run, only to have it heat up 14 degrees while I ran... thank you sun. Not. I let the sun beat me at mile 2. I'll try not to be made of sissy stuff tomorrow :)

Accountability

Tomorrow I am going to run 4 miles. Anyone wanna join me?

The end.

Honesty

I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of this Florida heat and humidity. It gives me a headache working in it every day (yes Mom, I'm making sure I stay hydrated :) ) and makes me feel sorry for the people having to be around me. I smile and put on a happy face, but inside I'm frustrated and tired. And on top of that, it's coming into hurricane season....
Ok. I think I'm done venting. For the most part anyway.
Now I need to think about the things I do like about Florida.... Travis is here. That is the main one. The beach is another reason I like it. The short, young palm trees always make me laugh. And it's nice to go to Disney World whenever I feel like it.
There. That should make up for my bad attitude about the heat.

Trav's surgery

This is a long journal entry... you are warned...As most know by now, Travis had his surgery a week ago to have 1/2 of his thyroid removed. I sent him off to the operating room (after being able to write on his neck, nurse approved!) at about 12. The Dr. told me it would take anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half and that he would come let me know how it was going when Trav's thyroid was removed and sent to the pathologist. Going off of that information I took the hospital pager and ran next door to Walgreens for some grub and hurried back. Books were supposed to keep my occupied and I had my amazing and wonderful new Kindle that my parents gave me for my birthday, but I kept getting distracted, hoping the Dr. would come through the door. at about 3:00 pm, still no word. Yes, 3 hours later! And the cute little old lady that had been manning the desk had to go home, so we had to answer the phone ourselves. Working on my day off! Eventually, at about 4 I was able to find someone to inquire about my seemingly lost in the shuffle boyfriend. It was starting to worry me but I was told he was still in the O.R. and that the Dr. would be out in 15 to talk to me .... no, that did nothing to ease the worry. Finally, around 5:00 pm the Dr. came out and took me to a back room, something none of the other Dr's in the last 5 hours had done with the other family members, so my concern took a steep hike. Turns out once they got into Trav's neck they saw how one side was growing up and curving around the cartilage by his voicebox and the other side was also a lot larger than what they expected. Continuing on the unexpected train, his whole thyroid was covered with a "massive" blood vessel community. Thus, the whole thyroid needed to be taken out. That's my man, taking something the Dr. said should be a chip shot and turning it into a 5 hour difficult surgery, making the Dr. really work for his money! The big thing in all of this was that Travis had said numerous times he didn't want the whole thing taken out because then he'd have to take a pill every day for the rest of his life, in the morning, an hour before eating. I knew he would be very disappointed and frustrated by the news and did not relish being the one to tell him. Thankfully I didn't have to do it right away since Travis decided on taking 4 more hours to sleep ha ha. When I finally was able to tell him, he took it like a champ, though he was very out of it and groggy, to say the least. I explained everything the Dr. told me and just sat with him for a couple hours. It was not fun to see him so un-Travis-like and in pain.
Throughout all of this a big storm hit the area and trees were falling, power going out (thankfully not in the hospital!) and I wasn't looking forward to the hour long, in good weather, drive back home, especially since I was exhausted and didn't want to be so far away from the hospital. My mom, the amazing and intuitive woman that she is decided that a hotel room was a good way for me to feel her hug me from across the country. I spent the night only 4 minutes away from the hospital. It felt great to relax while watching TLC and eating pizza and breadsticks, trying to distract myself from the fact that Trav was in pain and there wasn't anything I could do about it. Did I say yet that my mom is AMAZING? I was able to take Travis home the next day and had fun driving in the weather. While we were stopped at one light, lightning and wind hit a box half a block down that knocked out power to the stoplight I was at. Crazy!! It was wonderful to make it back in one piece. I'm happy that Travis is feeling better now after a week of recovery, and feel that having slept 11 hours two nights in a row, I am mostly recovered as well :)
It was a good learning experience and I'm blessed I was able to be there for him. Now if I can only get a Dr. to look at his head.... no, really, he has a bump he needs to get removed... ha ha

Road Trip

Wednesday was practically perfect in every way. In the morning Travis decided we needed to drive to Jacksonville so he could show me his old haunts there. I saw his old house and the place he used to work at, which had go-carts and games. I dominated at Dance Dance Revolution, kinda ironic since I inherited Grandma Helen's two left feet. And after I convinced Travis that the photo booths don't cost $10, we took some classic photos. Oh, and I beat him around the track a few times :)

We drove home via St. Augustine + Travis pulled out the 'Amazing Boyfriend' trick = we climbed to the top of the lighthouse there! That means we have 2 lighthouses crossed off our list, though I would love to go back to it. Being on top of the lighthouse was as close as I can get to being on a mountain in Florida. I loved being able to see so much of the ocean, city and beaches. We both decided we would have to spend more time in St. Augustine.

Then we went to Daytona. I didn't know they had such a cool motorcycle shopping area, but DUH! It's Daytona. It shouldn't have surprised me. We will go back there again (preferably when the shops are open this time).

Overall, it was a relaxing, spontaneous and enjoyable day. Random road trips are something I always love doing so it is exciting that Travis is up for them too :) We had some good talks and just enjoyed each other's company. A good day!

Contemplating the First Year

May 21st is a significant day for a couple reasons. The first is my big brother Aaron's birthday. Happy birthday Aaron!

The second reason is the anniversary of me being a semi grown-up in a semi mature relationship for a whole year! A lot has happened in that year.
Timeline:
May 21, 2009: Travis asks me to officially be his girlfriend while we had a non DTR at Squaw Peak. Yeah, we broke with tradition and actually talked up there, unlike most other couples...

Editor's addition: We met up with Beckie, Doug, Aden and Grandma and Grandpa Christensen so that my mom and dad would be able to feel better about this "mystery man" their daughter was going all over the country to see :) We went out for ice cream and had fun. I love my family, even the one's Travis was scared to meet at that time ha ha ha

June 30, 2009: Trav's birthday and I graduated from college :)

September 2009: Dad and I drive across the country, hit 2 skunks (dad hit them both) and I moved to Florida!! Talk about outside of my comfort zone. Mom said later that she was expecting me to call back wanting to go home for the first couple months. Can't say that I blame her. Change isn't my forte :)

October 2009: I got hired by Disney World to work in housekeeping. Mickey gave me my nametag... I bet your job isn't that cool!

November 2009: I called Travis and my dad crying because I didn't think I could do housekeeping. I hated it and it made my body ache all over. I dreaded work and hated going.

December 2009: I realized I can make work fun (thanks to my Dad for pulling out the old pioneers guilt trip, it worked) and start earning some good money as a housekeeper.

January 2010: Travis and I ran the Disney World Marathon together. It was one of the most intimidating things I have ever done, but I knew there was no other option but to finish. I'm not so sure Travis believed I was going to finish ha ha.

May 3, 2010: Travis meets the family and they like each other thankfully! (not that I had any doubts.)

May 21, 2010: Yes, Trav forgot it had been a year... I even made him dinner, but the poor guy still didn't get it. I made a point of putting all important dates (birthdays) in his iPhone to save him from future mishaps :) But we are still going strong and working towards our goal of eternal marriage. We have learned a lot about each other and how to communicate effectively. We have come a long way together and as individuals. He makes me smile, laugh and feel loved.
I also wouldn't have been able to make the changes and leaps of faith in my life this past year if it wasn't for my family supporting me. I am blessed with amazing parents who sacrifice to help me grow. This work in progress is keenly aware of the joint efforts of loved ones. Thank you!

Budget Bath Makeover

The pictures uploaded in the opposite order as usual, but hopefully you can tell which ones are the redo ha ha. I needed color and style. Sorry the pictures don't do it justice!

Ever since I moved in I've been wanting to decorate and make my apartment feel more like home. The college/mission life decor was outdated in my own life a couple years ago! Thanks to some birthday/pity money from my Dad and Mom I was able to create a budget and a bathroom makeover (because the bathroom is the cheapest part I could completely re-decorate). If this was my bathroom and not one I rented, there would be more changes happening. My landlords bought this house after the upstairs (where I live) was burned and they remodeled it. The bathroom is the only existing part after the fire, and it has burn damage on the sink, tub and tile. They aren't dirty spots this housekeeper missed!