As of Monday, November 10, Dallin and I have been married for six months! Crazy! How time flies when you’re loving life.
We had school on Monday, so we didn’t really get to do much during the day, but Dallin did have a nice surprise waiting for me when I got up:
He was already up and working extremely hard to get a lot of work done so he could take the day off with me on Tuesday, since the bank would be closed for Veteran’s Day. Plus the flowers and a sweet card… don’t be too jealous.
That night, we went to The Cheesecake Factory, since someone gave us a gift certificate there for a wedding present. Mmm…love that place.
We actually ended up having 25 cents left on the gift card and no cash to tip the waitress…we gave her a gift card to American Eagle with a few bucks on it…hope she likes that store!! (who doesn’t, really?)
Tuesday was a fantastic day! Seriously, it will be doubly hard to go back to work after being able to have such a great day with my hubby. We got up, had breakfast, met with a couple dentists about advice on my wisdom teeth, picked up our projects from As You Wish (I didn’t get pictures from our visit there, but you will see our projects soon enough!), and then…we went Christmas shopping!! For ourselves!! We are now the proud owners of a lovely, 7 ft tall (cough-fake-cough) Lucas pine tree! Woot!
We also got ornaments and lights for it, after much discussion about colors, shapes, sizes, and wiring. Man, Christmas is hard work…but so worth it.
After obtaining our Tannenbaum, we decided to take advantage of the lovely day and go walk around Tempe Town Lake. It really was beautiful outside!
Our location by the fountain, plus the wind direction soon proved to be a bad combo, so we eventually relocated…
After our nice walk, we were a little tired, and I had some online homework to do, so we went back home and watched Pirates/did homework. Then we went out to do some browsing for Christmas presents, before coming home and eating our cheesecake that we brought home from the Cheesecake Factory. Yum.
It was pretty much the best six month anniversary ever.
I’m so grateful for Dallin. I’m grateful for all he’s taught me since I met him, and for all we’ve learned together since we’ve been married. I’m grateful to have such a wonderful best friend, someone that lets me pick the movies, cry on his shoulder, talk about my problems. He is hardworking and diligent, and he loves his job, but he would never put it before me, his family, or his church responsibilities. He takes care of me - he does the dishes when I don’t want to, calls the dentist when I tell him my teeth hurt, and kills the bugs in our apartment. He respects and appreciates me, and has made me feel more beautiful and more loved than I ever have before. He’s my Superman - how could I ask for more?
Ti amo, bambino.
Ah, November 4th. What a day.
Dallin and I had to get up early to vote. We wanted to miss the lines, plus we weren’t even sure if we’d have a chance to go later, so 5:30 am was pretty much our only option. Yes, that’s correct - 5:30. It was early. And cold. And there was still a line…but it wasn’t nearly as long as the line there was when we left at 6…yessss. We came back home and went to bed again before getting up in another hour to go to work. Thankfully, I saved my sticker so I could wear it to work, thus providing an instant topic of conversation for me and my bank customers. Unthankfully, I did not get a picture of myself wearing said sticker. So you’ll just have to imagine it.
After work, Dallin and I got a generous invitation from our friend who works on the campaign for one of Arizona’s congressman. He invited us to go with him to the election party the congressman was having at the Biltmore. Cool-ly enough, this was also where Senator McCain’s shindig was. Of course, we didn’t actually get to go into McCain’s par-tay, and of course, it wasn’t much of a par-tay since he lost, but hey, we were on the premises. And the congressman whose party we DID go to DID win, so yay!
I was still feeling rather sickly that night, so I wasn’t on my top game as far as picture taking was concerned. Not even close, in fact. We have one usable picture from that night, and it is of me and was taken by Dallin.
Love that red coat. Possibly my most favorite article of clothing that I own. But I digress.
Anyway, as far as the elections go… results were rather bittersweet, in my mind. I do not understand Obama-mania at all. I think people just bought into his abstract ideas without really thinking about what they mean or what it’s going to take to get them done. I wasn’t exactly sporting a McCain-Palin bumper sticker, either, but I still think people are setting themselves up to be pretty disillusioned with Obama.
On the other hand, props 102 and 8 passed! I think 102 in AZ was a given, but 8 was a surprise, to be honest. It just breaks my heart to see the reaction of those people that opposed it. My general thoughts are 1) The vote was taken. You lost. Stop whining. 2) You are showing more “hate” towards the people that supported this proposition than any of its supporters ever showed towards gays. 3) You aren’t going to accomplish anything by protesting against Utah or the LDS Church. What exactly would you have them do?
Anyway, I think the whole thing is pretty sad. It’s been on my mind a lot lately, and Dallin and I have been following the news on it and talking about it quite a bit, so I feel like I’ve expressed my opinion millions of times, and don’t really need to do it on my blog…I’m guessing most people reading this know how I feel anyway.
So that was our election day/time experience. How was yours?
(In other news, my sickness continues…we’re thinking mono. I also need my wisdom teeth pulled…or I need to get a teething ring (Dallin’s solution). I still dislike the bank intensely. School continues. Christmas is coming! And our six month anniversary is tomorrow!)
Hello all!
Well since Katie couldn’t make it to the airport open house, I was put on camera duty. That’s too bad because all I had was my phone. And I’m not in any of them because I was taking them. Sorry to disappoint! But really you shouldn’t be sad at all. The airplanes were phenomenal and I had a stellar time.
Hello all! I trust everyone had a fantastic Halloween. We did, anyway, On Thursday we went to our ward’s Halloween party dressed as Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, as seen here:
Unfortunately, Dallin didn’t have a whole lot of time to spend on his costume…so he ended up looking more like a priest than a Cuban band leader from a 50s show. But what can you do? Hopefully my brilliant ensemble saved it.
Anyway, it was a great party! It was fun to see everyone dressed up, there was good food including…
a cotton candy machine! Woot! Of course Dallin had to try his hand at spinning his own cotton candy. The results were…less than perfect.
Yeah, he should practice more. But hey, it was still very sugary and turned our mouths purple, so the true purpose of the cotton candy was fulfilled. We also did pumpkin bowling…Dallin bowled a strike right away but I wasn’t so lucky.
I just couldn’t knock those bottles over! Oh well…I can still beat Dallin at real bowling.
After the party, we went over to my parents’ house to carve pumpkins! Our pumpkins were slightly lopsided since we waited till the last minute to buy them and so got the runts of the litter, but they still worked… we just had to stand them upside down, since they wouldn’t stand right side up. Hey, don’t dis our pumpkins!
Wouldn’t want anything to happen to our pumpkin in transit, especially since Dallin apparently gave birth to it…
The pumpkin carving stations. This is serious business.
The rest is all a little fuzzy, since I went to work carving my own pumpkin. I had to take a break to get some homework done, and by the time I finished Dallin had already finished and was fast asleep, so I didn’t get to take any pictures of him with his pumpkin, but here it is!
Groovy, no? And now for mine. Prepare to be amazed!
Mm hmm. No holding of applause is necessary; just let it all out. Oh yeah, my mom’s pumpkin was really good too:
Hers was actually Halloweeny, which gets her extra points, I guess. Did I mention the excellence of my pumpkin?
I’m so proud.
Anyway, that about does it for the pictures, which means I don’t have any actual pictures of Halloween night, which is sad because it was awesome! I had to work all day (grumble grumble) and then I met Dallin at my parents’ house. My mom’s side of the fam gets together every Halloween, so we got to see everyone. Cute costumes, great food (including homemade caramel apples- yum!), and good times. Jacob and Serenity came over, and it’s always great to hang out with them. I was completely exhausted by the end of the night, and consequently did not make it through “Night of the Living Dead,” but Dallin still pretended to be a zombie when we got home, probably just to make me feel included. So sweet.
So, that’s about it for our first Halloween as married people! It was a whole lot of fun. I’m still a little sickish, mostly exhibited by extreme tiredness. Hopefully it will go away soon…it’s really annoying to just want to sleep all the time.
HAPPY NOVEMBER!
Drum roll, if you please…
Yes, this is my second post two days in a row! I’m so proud. Unfortunately, the reason I even have time to do this is because I’m home sick today. No work, no school - just lazing around in my pjs trying to feel awake enough to do anything! I’ve got an annoying throaty stomachy heady thing, but mostly I’m just insanely tired! It’s the weirdest thing. Hopefully it’ll be gone in a few days (it’s already been here a few days), and hopefully I don’t pass it on to Dallin. The last thing he needs is to get sick!
Anyway, the real meaning of this post is to tell you all about this past weekend, when we hit up the AZ State Fair! We went on Saturday night, and even though my illness had really started to hit hard that morning, we were still able to have a great time. We had to go that weekend because it was the weekend of the Demolition Derby, which is Dallin’s favorite. Something about cars smashing into each other and breaking down and catching on fire must be enjoyable to boys. Hm. Ah what the heck I thought it was fun too!
Ready for the main event! (It was impossible to get a good picture, what with the lighting and all).
Our view from the grandstands.
These cars were literally stuck together. They would catch fire whenever they tried to pull them apart. A real crowd pleaser.
Dallin got some sweet video of the whole thing. Let me see if I can get this to work…mov02872
Well after that we made our way around the rest of the fair. We met up with Tiffiny and Caleb, which was swell. Super swell, in fact, because Tiffiny and I rode an elephant! Check one more off the “things to do before I die” list!
Seriously good times, right there.
TJ and Lisa won the junk food prize, with their enormous cheese fries. Congrats, guys!
Dallin also won a prize (and so did I, by extension) by winning a ripoff carnival game! We are now the proud owners of a huge, as-yet nameless frog that is taking up a ton of space in our family room! YES!
Oh yeah, people were jealous.
We finished off the trip in the best way possible, by playing Rock Bank on a stage in front of millions hundreds dozens about a dozen people. They loved our rendition of Weezer’s “Buddy Holly” (is that really the name of that song? Who cares? ROCK ON)
We had a great time! Best of all, we missed the fiasco that was the ASU Oregon game! I mean, GO DEVILS and all that, but I’m glad we missed that embarrassment.
Love the fair.
For those of you that have never spent more than five minutes with me or aren’t very perceptive, let me share something about myself with you: Disneyland is my second home. I mean, seriously. Love that place. We went to the Happiest Place last weekend with another couple in our ward, who appropriately described Disneyland as “Katie’s cocaine.” Sure, I’ll go with that. Let’s modify it a bit, Seriously So Blessed style: “Disneyland: like cocaine, but cheaper, legal, and not against the Plan.” Ok, so I don’t know about the cheaper part, but the rest really works, don’t you think?
Anyway, D-Land was all decked out for Halloween. Seriously, October is like one of the best times to go, in my professional opinion. It’s never incredibly crowded, the weather rocks, and the Halloween decorations are fun. All around Disney goodness. Anyway, here are some pictures from our fantastic trip! (btw, these pictures are made possible because of the miracle finding of my camera charger. Thank you, Sarah!)
After Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, which really is very scary, you know.
All ready for the new Toy Story ride, which completely ROCKS. love it.
Let us all notice whose hands are the only ones in the air in this picture. Such a good ride!
here’s your sign.
Indiana Jones! I finally saw the hidden Mickey ears! BAH!
At the entrance- a great example of the Halloween decor!
Well before I get too carried away and post all our pictures…I’m gonna say that’s a good stopping point. You should at least get the idea that it was a fantastic trip! The rest of the pics are on Facebook if you really want to see. Until next time, Disneyland.
Don’t worry about the fact that September just didn’t happen on this blog. It’s an overrated month anyway.
For those of you that just HAFTA know what happened…um… school. work. church. sleep. eat. repeat.
Happy, September lovers?
And now, on to the present.
School is ongoing and tireless, but actually pretty interesting. Dallin always has some new fun fact about the mysteries of the world to share from his biology class. If you want to know how deserts are made or how bees communicate the location of food, he’s your man. I, for one, have been introduced to some…interesting… new short stories in one of my classes, and to some…interesting… italian films in another. And I’ve had the chance to write a bit on some fun subjects, which is always good. I have a couple online classes but I’ve got plenty of free time in between my on campus classes, so I get most of it taken care of then.
In honor of another recent experience I have had, I concocted a little something. Enjoy!
Katie hates big tests that cause stress. However, Katie loves Double Stuf Oreos. The LSAT is a big test that causes stress. However, you are allowed to take Double Stuf Oreos into the LSAT testing room.
The above statements, if true, most strongly support which of the following conclusions?
A) If Katie takes Double Stuf Oreos into the LSAT testing room, then she will enjoy the LSAT.
B) Even if Katie does take Double Stuf Oreos into the LSAT testing room, she will still fail the LSAT miserably.
C) Katie will eat Double Stuf Oreos in large amounts before and after taking the LSAT.
D) Double Stuf Oreos have no impact on a student’s LSAT score, otherwise they would not be allowed in the testing room.
E) Katie should not have taken the LSAT. What a dumb idea.
Choose your answer. I’ll tell you in three weeks if you were right.
This is what I subjected myself to. I took the LSAT last weekend. And yes, I did take Double Stuf (yep, one F. I checked the pack in my pantry) Oreos into the testing center with me for my break-time snack. Unfortunately, none of the questions dealt with Oreos, no matter what amount of stuffing, or maybe I’d be feeling better about the whole thing. But it’s OVER, which brings me immense relief. Now I just have to wait for three weeks (well, two now) to see my score, and that brings me immense anxiety. *Sigh*
In other news, I got a new job! I’m now a teller at Bank of America. It’s great…other than the fact that there are a million things to learn that I feel like everyone expects me to already know. And the fact that I could get robbed at any moment. And the fact that the branch I’m at is forever away. And the fact that everyone hates the manager. And the fact that the stupid vacation rules just might ruin our wonderful holiday plans. And the fact that I have to wear stupid business clothes (and SHOES) that are crazy uncomfortable. But you know, other than that…great.
Yeah, yeah, whine whine. I still have hope for the bank though. Everyone there says they hated it when they first started too, so hey, maybe it’ll turn out all right (skeptical noise/face).
Well, guess that about covers it. We’re going to Disneyland this weekend with another couple in our ward (I know, right…again? I love it there), and we’re still nailing down Halloween plans…and costumes…ideas? Last year Dallin was an interactive Facebook (you could write on his wall) and I was interactive Sudoku (you could fill in a number). Best *cough* last minute *cough* costumes ever, right? How will we top them?
-Katie
p.s. Also, we know ASU football sucks. We really don’t have to talk about it. Sadness.
Am I retarded for giving my post that title? Shut up, I thought it was funny.
So we are down to our last few days of summer before school starts. It’s like a dark cloud is hovering in the distance, just waiting to come and downpour on our perfect homework-free picnic. But we’ve been doing stuff to make sure we make the most of our remaining time (does that sound like we’re dying?)
Most importantly (drumroll please) I turned 21 on the 15th! Hooray! But that was not the most exciting part (sidenote: turning 21 is not a big deal for a Mormon girl. Horizontal driver’s license…thrilling). The most exciting part was our trip to Disneyland to celebrate! Ah, what a great day. The lines were not too long, it was not swelteringly hot, and I got wished happy birthday by about 60 Disney employees thanks to the Disneyland birthday button I sported the whole day. Yesssssss. I think Dallin is running for some kind of “ultimate husband” position. And he’s doing great (the trip was his idea)
What else? There have been a couple wedding receptions of really good friends (love weddings, love friends… good times); I’ve seen “Mamma Mia!” twice and can be found making a fool of myself dancing/singing to the soundtrack of said film in my car; I’m looking for a new job; I just got an awesome over-the-door pantry organizer, which I’m so excited about you’d think it was singlehandedly solving all life’s problems; and my Grandma is starting cooking classes for her daughter/daughters-in-law/granddaughters, the first of which was last night, and it was fantastic!
So that might be all that’s going on with me at the moment. As for Dallin, he’s working, being a sport as I drag him to stranger-infested receptions or ditch him for a while to hang with in-from-out-of-town girlfriends, and dreading school even more than I am. He’s a fantastic husband who takes excellent care of his wife! We’re living the good life, indeed.
-katie
Bummer that I don’t have ANY pics to include with this post…Oh well. Use your imaginations 
Hello!
I was just looking through my old blog posts (memories!), came across the one I wrote about finding a modest wedding dress, and thought “Hey, that was fun. I should do that again sometime.” Well, my friends, sometime has come.
I thought I’d focus a little more this time on how to find the right wedding dress for the right price. Every aspect of a wedding, from the pictures to the food to the flowers, is going to be pretty darn costly. It can be a hard thing to do on a budget.
But budget you must! Seriously, that’s the only way you’re going to have everything just the way you want it, for the right price. And it’s the first step when you’re considering how much you want to pay for your wedding dress: budget and prioritize. If your dress is the most important thing in the world to you and your perfect day, make sure you can allot the cash to get it. If you’d rather focus on stunning flowers or a top of the line reception location, cut back a little on the dress. Figure out what’s most important to you, and put as much of your budget as you can towards it.
Once you’ve decided how much you want to spend on your wedding dress, check out your options. If you’re working on a tight budget, don’t be afraid to think used! Relatives, close friends, etc would probably be very willing to let you borrow or buy a dress from them. If you just want something pretty to wear, and don’t really care for the nostalgic thing, it’s really a great option.
If you really want your own thing, though, you can still get a good deal. David’s Bridal, especially, has really good sales very often. If you’re not too picky, you can definitely find something that will look great and fit your budget! Keep in mind that you’ll probably need it fitted, and you’ll probably have to have sleeves added on to it. But even that will most likely be cheaper than holding out for a pricey gown.
If you’ve got a little more to spend, I recommend Latter Day Bride or Beautifully Modest. Especially if you’re shopping for a modest gown outside of Utah, buying online is a good option. And it isn’t as scary as you might think, especially if you order early (which gives you plenty of time to get it shipped, and time to take care of problems if there’s anything wrong with it). These sites have dresses from several price ranges, and their styles range from simple to extravagant. Take the time and look! Even if you find something you love that is out of your price range, you still might at least get a better idea of what style you’re looking for, and then you can hunt down a cheaper gown in that style.
Just don’t give up! It gets overwhelming sometimes, thinking about how much everything costs (even if your parents are picking up the tab, wink wink), but that doesn’t mean you have to settle. Know what you want, and do what you can to get it. Take the time to look around. There’s plenty out there!
Well I thought that the idea to list out these “ideas for a fun date” was such a good one that I’d make an entire site dedicated to it.
Being a web designer, it really isn’t hard for me to throw a web site together, and ideasforafundate.com was availalbe so I snatched it up. After a quick wordpress install, the date ideas are now posted there for all to see.
I don’t plan really on maintaining the site. It’s kinda an experiment to see if people will use it. Google shows that 250 people every day search for “ideas for a fun date” so we’ll see if I can help any of those people. If it goes anywhere, I’ll let you know.
But for now, check it out if you’re looking for a fun date idea. You can sort them by using the tag cloud to dates that are cheap, short, day time, night time, romantic, better suited for groups and any other classification you can think of. Bookmark it, too (or add it to your RSS reader) because as Katie and I think of new things, I’m sure they’ll get posted there.
Dallin