some personal space please...

so tonight chris and i went on what we call a "coupon date"... its where i have coupons for buy one get one meal at TGI Fridays and then i also had a coupon for $2 off each movie ticket... it was a really good night... we had a really fun time talking through dinner and laughing... one thing that i think really works in our relationship is that we are able to laugh at one another... we both have some awesome quirks and dumb things that we do... 

chris often spills food on his shirt when we go out to dinner... and then once we get to the movie and sit in a seat after 10 minutes or so i find a reason that we need to move... with out fail every time we never sit in our original seat.... well tonight was definitely a test of that quirk... 

we arrived at the movie fairly early... there were maybe 6 other people in the theater... and then about 1 minute before it started an older man... lets say 75... came in with a blonde woman who could be no older than 40.  they decided to sit on our row... there was no one else on the row and we were off to the far left side.  keep in mind this is a large-ish theater that only contained at most 10 people... but they decided to sit on our row... they entered from the right and proceeded to walk all the way over to where we were on the left and began to sit... at first the old man was going to sit one seat away from chris and then last minute moved into the seat directly next to him... but in the process of sitting he missed the seat a bit and nearly sat in chris' lap... he told me if it hadn't been for the arm rest he surely would have sat on him... hahaha... 

by now the old man is breathing heavily and chomping down on the large bag of popcorn he had purchased... at the point i leaned over to chris and asked if he wanted me to move down one seat... and he said no! if it were me we would have moved the second he sat down... but chris isn't me.... so we stayed.  to make it all better the old man occasionally would begin kissing the 40 year old woman he was with and whisper (very loudly) sweet ridiculousness in her ear... ha! luckily the movie was very good or i may have been very annoyed.  when the movie was over we stood up and quickly left the theater as the old man and blonde began to vigorously make out.... gross right?! 

more than anything i am shocked that he sat right next to us.  i think this will always bug me when a stranger sits right next to you when there are hundreds of empty seats around.... i like to cuddle and be close to those i love... but that does NOT go for strangers... i think there should always be a courtesy space of at least one.... one bathroom stall... one seat in the theater.... one seat on a bus... one grocery cart length... as long as space permits it.... i like personal space... chris is definitely better than i am. he won tonight. 

wedding bliss...

i have finally had a chance to do a little catch up on life.  between getting our apartment all settled and changing my name and everything that goes along with that and finishing projects for school on time... i feel tonight as though i may actually be caught up on life... so i decided i would blog some of my favorite memories from the wedding day and from newly wed life...

the night before the wedding chris and i and our immediate families got together at memphis bbq and had dinner. it was great fun to get together with all the families and babies and just laugh and talk and get to know one another... and the food was fabulous!!!

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i was glad to be able to go to sleep fairly early that night... i did take a shower and put my hair in pin curls so i wouldn't have to worry about curling it in the morning... really nice. my mom showed up at about 8 am to check in with me and take a few pictures of my getting myself ready... haha they are awesome pics!!

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then chris and i and my mom headed out to the temple... it was a really special moment for my mom and i to be together right before we got sealed and she helped me get dressed... it was really neat! the sealing ceremony itself was really awesome and beautiful and i was thinking the whole time... don't cry don't cry... it was like chris and i had been waiting so long to get to that moment and then it was there and i was overwhelmed... but so was chris... his eyes were a little watery... which was really touching to me since i have never seen him emotional at all... in that way.

it was fun after to get congrats and hugs and kisses including words of love and advice... judy hicks... chris' best friends mom told me i had better take good care of him... i promised i would do my best!

then leaving the temple was surreal... walking out with everyone cheering... so many people there to congratulate us including a bunch of my young women from church...

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after we took a few pics and left the temple chris and i made a stop at arby's cause i was starving and didn't know if we'd get a chance to eat at the reception... then we went to my mom's to vege out for a minute.. it was nice to sit down. i can't say i totally felt married yet but we were.. ha!

then we headed for the reception... it was beautiful!!! the whole gym looked amazing!! peacock feathers every where... purple and turquoise bows... little lights... more feathers... it turned out so beautiful and the food looked amazing!!! i never did eat any that night... but it looked amazing! along with my awesome purple cake~!! sarah prince of Sugar Prince  did an amazing job and it tasted AMAZING!!! super rich and moist and left everyone with purple lips!!

we did do a little ring ceremony before that my unlce dave did for us... he gave a few words on the importance of temple marriage and some other things and then chris' mom read some beautiful scriptures on love and then chris and i shared some words about each other that were sweet and funny... i was nervous but it worked out really well!! then we exchanged rings and kissed... it was a sweet moment for us :)

we decided that just chris and i would stand in a line to greet guests as they came in and we stood so that they would walk right into the food line.. it was fun to say hi to everyone as they came in! then we cut the cake... amanda was soooo excited for the cake she stood right by my side the whole time! it was too cute! she just wanted to be a part of it. we had a blast dancing and i surprised chris with a song. he had asked me to sing but the week of i told him it was stressing me out to think about singing... and then i got the brilliant idea to have my family join in so i wouldn't be so alone... we sang "happy together"... after we just danced the night away until chris and i decided we were ready to leave.

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we walked out to the car which had writing all over it... just married etc... and on the back they tied full cans of pop so they exploded as we drove away. on the inside there was confetti everywhere!! in the air vents so it blew in our face when we turned on the car... there were also balloons all over and other things..

then we spent the weekend at the encore which was a beautiful hotel room and awesome view on the 57th floor. the only problem i had with the room is the toilet was too tall and my feet didn't reach the floor... i also neglected to pack any shoes for the weekend so i had to wear chris' flip flops all weekend.. we were going to buy some in the souvenir shop but they were $90 for something you could buy at walmart for $5... ha! it was overall an amazing weekend!!! i'm so glad i got married and even happier i married chris.

wedding photo book

http://www.mypublisher.com/?e=OHm3Q8zJl3TyhqLlh2OUGjP_42-SW1S_&showForm=true

here was a book i created with all my favorite wedding photos that my cousin (and AMAZING photographer) took for me.  Jennie Slade Photography http://www.jennieslade.com/index2.php#/home/

my husband likes stitches...

i keep meaning to write about the wedding, but i have been super busy this week and have a project due for school at midnight tonight... but i had to blog about last night so i dont forget... it was bizarre to say the least.

in the past chris has gotten many... and i mean many stitches on his face... all acquired as an adult... he dove into some rocks at lake tahoe and then split his chin sledding... well tonight's adventure started with a basketball game.  chris and a couple friends from the dental school signed up for intermural basketball out at unlv main campus.  it started last night.  the game was supposed to be from 8:30-9:30.  i stayed home to get things done, but at about 8:50 chris called to say he was on his way home... and needed to get some stitches over his left eye... what?? apparently with in the first minute of the game... and i mean minute... some guy on the other team rammed into him with his head... so head to head and chris' exploded.  split right open a gash about an inch long and in the shape of a y.  bled a lot... needless to say the game was over for him.  

i called my mom to find out where to go... but she was too asleep to totally comprehend what i was asking (she goes to bed at 8pm)  but she did say to call my uncle david who is the family doctor... his phone was off... so i texted my aunt joan and she said to try an urgent care by our house... chris got home and we left... the saddest thing that happened when we left was i left my coat on the couch... meaning i froze the rest of the night... it was only 30 degrees outside... which is too cold for me and the sweater i was wearing.  we got to the first urgent care center at 9:30.... after waiting in line for a while... we find out our insurance isn't accepted there and it would be $600... so we left and decided to try umc quick care... so we headed for the ghetto... which was the closest location to us... and realized we badly needed gas... stopped at one place and eventually realized they had no gas.. just weirdos gambling inside... and then the second one was full of people getting off the bus.. chris ran in to pay and i stayed in the car... freaked out of course cause i'm afraid of the dark... especially in the ghetto... we got gas and drove to the quick care... which was shut down... not in operation.  awesome right? so we decided instead of driving forever to find another one we went back to our neighborhood to go to umc emergency room... 

we got there at 10:30 pm.  signed in and got initially checked out... by 11:45 nothing had happened except that we were surrounded by homeless and scary drunks... and random people who had a cold just hanging out... it was bizarre... and people were mad and yelling... or just plain crazy.  the place was packed!  but at 11:45 a nurse came out and told us we could go to the trauma center and they would treat us... yay! she asked if we had been waiting long and i was like yeah since 10:30 tonight... she laughed and said people had been waiting there since 10 am... oh.. woops then no it wasn't that long.  in the trauma center they took chris right back...and i had to wait in the waiting area with the security guards... they were funny teasing me about beating my husband and said next time because of his size i need to use an iron skillet and hit him when he's asleep.. i laughed and said i hoped we hadn't gotten to that point in our marriage yet considering we had been married like 2 weeks.. ha!  i then sat there and watched the history channel that was all about how greek gods... from the iliad and odessy were actually aliens... and that they had spacecrafts and motherships... it was bizarre... it even said that enoch from the old testament was an extraterestial... because god took him away in a chariot of fire.. meaning a spaceship!!! awesome right?  

chris badly wanted to take a picture of the wound before stitches but they wouldn't let him use his phone in the trauma center... but she told him he could go to the bathroom ;)  so he took this picture:

the cut took 9 stitches.  there were other people in the trauma as well... one guy who was drunk on his motorcycle and crashed... he left in handcuffs with a cop... and another guy who was smoking hooka with his wife and got dizzy and fell in hit his head on a coffee table splitting his forehead and chin... ha!  the whole ordeal was definitely an adventure and bizarre night... we left the hospital at about 1:20 am... i was freezing and when we got home chris showered and went right to bed... i of course could not go to sleep i was wired and freezing so i stayed up till 3 am relaxing and warming up while reading a book... i didn't get to sleep-in much either as my mom called at 8 am to get the full report of the night... ha! my accident prone man... now he will have another scar on his face and make his stitches count on his face over 30... go chris!

new family!!!

i have created a new blog to go along with my new family!  chris and i finally got married on january 22nd! woo hoo. it was beautiful and amazing.  i will post a whole blog about it later but for now just wanted to say hello to married life :)

photo by jennie slade

tis the season...

a lot has been going on!! busy busy busy... i can hardly remember what we have been up to.  so thanksgiving was really nice this year... its way more enjoyable with someone to sit and hold your hand... :)  we were originally planning on going to reno to see chris' family, but 2 weeks before my sister decided to get married the day after thanksgiving, so sadly we didn't go even though i really wanted to see the family and reno... we went to my aunt joan's for our traditional dinner where i only ate stuffing, sweet potatoes... which i made and puts LOTS of marshmallows and brown sugar in (yum!!) and rolls... oh and ham.  chris loves ham so i made sure my family got one.  i'm glad to because i dont love turkey.  after lunch my brother and chris watched some football.... ?? and my mom and i made a bouquet for my sister. the next day we drove up to st. george.... it was a little cold but what a good day! i was totally emotional.... being there with my sister getting sealed in the temple for eternity was awesome... huge confirmation to me that chris and i did the right thing to wait... i was totally crying by the end and i am not a cryer.... but it was really neat and emily and greg were so happy... it was a good day...

the rest of the weekend was pretty chill.... and then our world got all crazy again!  my uncle is the bishop in my family ward and he called me thanksgiving weekend to come meet with him... and he asked me to be the new 1st counselor in the young women's presidency... whoa!  so chris and i left the singles ward and are now attending the family ward.  its really nice.  i love the other leaders i am working with.. they are amazing women and i feel there is so much they can teach me!! and i really love the young women!!!! they are all beautiful amazing girls!! i get to work with the girls that are 14-15... and each of them are awesome! but all the girls are so fun.  i am really excited to be in there with them.

wedding stuff hasn't been too crazy but we are getting so much done! everything is booked... and invitations are out!! that was quite the process but i'm a night owl and actually had a really good time putting them together... by the end... putting them in the mail felt like a huge accomplishment!  my mom and i now just have to work on the wedding dress... my mom is really good at sewing so we are making the dress ourselves... its exciting and kinda special.

this is becoming the longest blog ever!! sorry!!! but there's more... haha

my family got tickets to the NFR!!! the national finals rodeo... its in vegas and vegas puts on a really good show.  chris hadn't been to a rodeo in like 10 years... so i think he really liked it.  plus it was really fun to spend the time with my brother sam and his wife meesha.  the most exciting part is always the bulls!! but they terrify me and i get scared with the guys getting hurt and chris' face after the first guy getting bucked off was priceless!! my brother couldn't stop laughing.. haha but its always fun being surrounded by the crazy hick cowboys who have had several beers during the 2 hour rodeo.. haha

chris had finals this whole week and i took on the task of helping my sister move so on saturday chris and i packed up all her books and other things she hadn't had a chance to move and then monday movers came and took it to her new house... on tuesday my mom and i worked to put together the furniture in her guest room and decorated the house and christmas tree (its tradition we decorate together) and wednesday we went out to my sister's and then unpacked everything for her and put what we could away... and put together more furniture... haha lots of intense labor... thursday we decided to run around and do errands... we bought a crib for my moms playroom for the grand babies...and then put it together... all insane!! i feel like i haven't rested in a week! but now its all done and chris is on break!!! he did so good on his finals too!!! all a's and b's!! so proud  of my dentist! now onto the next task... making it through christmas and getting married january 22nd!!! woo hoo!!

of course it is...

chris and i got engaged the end of june... and ever since it has been a hilarious adventure... i can say hilarious cause looking back at everything it is... but it was not funny each time something new had come up.  we had originally set the date for the end of august... but we had to get some paperwork approved first since chris had already been married in the temple of our church.... he had to fill out paperwork to get approval to get married again in the temple.  mid july we got word from our church leader that the process was going to take longer than he originally thought so august was out of the question.... then we thought ok... maybe october... and then he told us it would actually be more like january when we could get married.... that was a huge blow... but we decided it was ok and worth it to wait and be married in the temple... it was (and is) really important to us so we thought ok we can wait.... it took a lot longer than we thought to actually get the paperwork mailed off... now we are in the last couple weeks of receiving the approval in the mail... maybe 2-3 weeks.

 little things keep creeping up here and there and we have to change our plans... so we thought... lets plan on january 15th.... it would be a fun date since my birthday is the day before and the day before our 1 year anniversary of our first date.  last night while waiting in line for harry potter (which was soooooo good!!!) my wonderful awesome friend informed me that the temple is closed the first 2 weeks of january for maintenance and cleaning (they do it every six months)  normally they do it the 2 weeks around christmas but they changed it this year.... i had a moment of panic... i had already set me caterer and decorator... and reserved the place for the reception.... so i called my mom and asked her to call a few people and everyone is available for the next weekend... so everything was fine, but it was a little moment of panic....  

i fianlly called chris to let him know the temple is closed on the 15th  and he replied "of course it is..." hahaha i just had to laugh.  even with all the little set backs that aren't the end of the world... i'm so excited to be getting married... and so many things seem so unimportant now... i have had the chance to be excited about being married to chris and not worrying about putting on the perfect wedding... cause that part is not my main focus... i just want to be together with chris forever.... and that is what we are waiting for... i know its cheesy.... but this time we are waiting is nothing when you think about being together forever.... we have had the chance to get to know each other even better and have learned that we get along perfectly... we can support each other and work together as we wait to make things official.... i just loved his response... "of course it is"  bring it on.... whatever else may come up we can handle!! haha