First Christmas

Tyler and I went to Tucano's for his birthday.  We only go when we have the free meal for a birthday.

We spent our first Christmas in California.  It was delightful weather if even some may say it's not a white Christmas.  We returned on Christmas day to Provo as I had work early the next morning.

Who needs a snowman out of snow when you can get one out of plastic?

Tyler's mom gave us there pajamas.  Tyler was super excited about a matching outfit because usually if we match I go and change my clothes.

Before we went back to Utah, we hit a pinata to celebrate clarice's birthday.  Tyler smashed that pinata like I've never seen a pinata get smashed before.  Please notice the amazing amount of tone in his forearms.  No wonder he knocked that pinata into the next day.  What a man I married!

Moving Forward (and Away) from the Single Life

A few pictures from our wedding in Los Angeles.  It had been raining all week, but we lucked out with beautiful California weather.

The Tomato Thief

Everyone always wants to know how so-and-so proposed, so here is our story: 

The ring--Some people like surprises for any and everything.  I admit, I am not that type.  I don't mind a surprise here and there, but I most definitely did not want  my ring to be a surprise.  What if I didn't like it?  Then I would be stuck with it.  Once we decided to get married Tyler asked if I wanted to go ring shopping.  My response, "Uh, I don't know."  You can see the excitement in my answer.  I had always thought I would want a simple ring such as a solitaire or even a band.  I also liked rings with an antique look.  I went looking at rings by myself at first to get an idea of what I liked since I knew Tyler and I have different taste.  Tyler was invited to come once I got a feel for what I liked.  Some beautiful rings under glass didn't seem to look as nice on my finger.  Tyler and I found a ring we both liked that was different, but I didn't want to commit to that ring because I wasn't sure if I would change my mind about it.  Eventually a ring was selected and agreed upon.  I love it--It is sparkly!                

             

       

The proposal--Once we picked out my ring I knew it was just a matter of time before he proposed.  Some people know the day it's going to happen and dress for the occasion.  You can tell from the pictures that I was caught off guard.  It was a normal Wednesday, so we went to institute.  Institute always has some sort of treat afterwards and upon seeing the food I filled my plate up and started eating away.  Tyler wanted to show me a place in Provo for potential engagement photos.  I wasn't really sure why we were going there as we had already agreed on a place for pictures.  While I usually don't let people drive my car, I made an exception and let Tyler drive.  This would allow me to continue eating my full plate of food.  Tyler got lucky on that one.  He started driving us to the spot, but then got lost getting there and had to call a friend for directions.  At this moment I wanted to go home.  What was the point driving around lost when we had already selected a photo location?  Upon getting correct directions Tyler began to drive up this hill that had multiple no trespassing signs.  This is the second time he was lucky because if I were driving I would have turned around.  We finally arrived and were walking around the amphitheater when I noticed someone had a tomato plant hanging from a tree, which just happened to look like my plant!  Upon closer inspection there was a note in the plant.  Being the nosy person I am I decided to read the note.  Upon readying it I realized that it was for someone's proposal.  Tyler had written 2011 on it (there were lots of dates inside), but I thought the 2 was a Z and thought the letter was for someone named Zoll.  I turned to tell Tyler that I thought we were intruding on someones proposal when I saw him down on his knee.  Upon further reading of the note I saw my name at the very bottom of the page.  Turns out that Tyler had someone steal my plant while I was at institute. Someone was fortuitously taking bridal shots for a different couple that happened to be there and took a few pictures of us when she realized what was happening.  Then we went up some stairs where Phil Pare was playing the violin for us.  After the violin Tyler sang me a song while Nik Day played guitar.  Then Tyler and  I were off to dinner at PF Changs, a favorite of mine.  Too bad I wasn't hungry as I had eaten so much food at institute.  We ended up getting dessert--Banana Spring Rolls (Six warm, crispy bites of banana served with coconut-pineapple ice cream and drizzled with carmel and vanilla sauces) and The Great Wall of Chocolate (Six rich layers of frosted chocolate cake topped with semi-sweet chocolate chips, served with fresh berries and raspberry sauce).  PF Changs was a great place to go because lighting really made my ring sparkle.

The Hand Game

This was taken in Park City.  We went on a double date with Lauren's roommate, Jayrin, and her hometeacher, Ty.  We went to the World Skiing Championships--something that I thought was a really good idea for a date.  Lauren and I had been seeing each other for some time by now and I was ready to make a move.  That's right, people, I was going to up the ante, and hold her hand.  I picked the day carefully, a date when we would be out in the cold winter night.  It was February 5, 2011, and it was a cold night at a very high altitude which made it colder.  We obviously both arrived for the date all bundled up, but I also had the foresight to bring a blanket.  I figured we could share it and that maybe I could hold Lauren's hand under it.  

On our way to Park City Lauren was telling me about a new book that she got called The Birth Order Book.  As we talked about it she informed me that according to the book, middle children should not marry people who are also middle children.  Her bringing that up wasn't a good sign for my plans to hold her hand, but I looked past it.  We arrived at the ski resort and headed up.  As we stood there watching the athletes I pulled out the blanket and asked a question that should have had an obvious question given how cold it was outside, "Do you want to share this blanket?"  Her response was equally cold: "No, I'm okay."  I told her to let me know when she wanted in the blanket and I would let her.  By the end of the evening she couldn't take the cold anymore and asked if she could share the blanket.  I threw it around her shoulders and kept my arm there around her.  I thought it was a good sign that she would let me put my arm around her and would transition well into hand holding later, but it was not to be.

On our way home hand holding came up in the car conversation.  Lauren and I were sitting in the backseat while Jayrin and Ty were in the front.  When the hand game came up, Lauren asked what it was.  All of us were a little surprised that she didn't know what it was, but I was more than willing to explain it as I anticipated playing it very soon and needed her to know the rules.  One person puts their hand on their thigh if sitting down, or swing it by their side if walking--the idea is to make the hand very accessible.  The other person then reciprocates by putting their hand out to show that they also want to hold hands.  It is a done deal from there.  As I finished explaining Lauren proclaimed emphatically, "That's dumb!"  I shrugged, but I still figured that now that she knew she would have to recognize the signs when I put them out there.  Wrong again.  We ended the night by all going back to Lauren and Jayrin's apartment and watching an episode of a TV show that we like, Psych.  Our couch was perpendicular to direction of the TV and Lauren chose the end of the couch that was furthest from the TV and then proceeded to recline back away from me.  I had no chance.  I finally got to hold her hand on Feb 10 when I verbally told her that I had been trying to hold her hand for a week without any luck and asked if that resistance was reflective of how she really felt.  It wasn't, she had just decided not to play the hand game and had never noticed my signals.  She also admitted that she was very frustrated that I hadn't made a move yet.  

BYU book festival.

This is at BYU's summer book/reading festival.  We went for the day and had a great time.  We saw a production of The Taming of the Shrew done by little kids which was great.  The whole day was very memorable.  After it was over we went back to my apartment and I made us quesadillas and we also snacked on some fresh cherries.

Here we went camping with a large group of friends and then hiked the Narrows.  The water was extremely chilly.

I really like this picture of Lauren!

Spending time at Provo Canyon.