BIRTHDAY BOY!!!

Happy birthday Benjamin!!! 27 years old TODAY!!
I have been SO excited for this day to come. I've been brainstorming for a while about what to get Ben for his birthday, and thinking about the blog post I'd do for him on his special day! To express my love for Ben, I've thought up 27 of my favorite things about Ben! And to show a little of his life...here are some fun cute pictures!!!

The day Ben graced the world with his presence...

This kid had the most AMAZING blue eyes! I hope our babies inherit this trait!

I love the big cheesy grin in this picture...and the dirty face. Classic!

I did this exact thing a lot as a little girl...

Ben has such a great head of curly hair that is DEFINITELY apparent in this picture!!!

This picture was taken exactly 23 years ago...I was only 3 1/2 months old here!

We then take a giant leap forward into Ben's adult life...the lucky guy got to live in HAWAII for three years!!! I LOVE this picture of him. I think he's looking into the distance...looking for his future wife. Ok gag cheesy...but he really does look handsome here.

Ben at his BYU college graduation with his sister and mom. I'm SO proud of him!

Ok now for my 27 things...

1. Ben is the most sincere person I've ever met. He truly cares about the things he says and does. He makes people feel at ease.
2. Ben has the easiest sense of humor-he laughs at everything I do-even when I don't realize I'm being funny!!!
3. Ben is the GREATEST cook. I much prefer his cooking to mine! He has a good tongue for flavors and can decipher what is in a lot of foods. He almost went to culinary school...
4. Ben honors his priesthood. He gave me a blessing on my first day of work. I can always feel the difference in our home when he's not there with his special spirit.
5. Ben is one of the HARDEST workers I know! Even though his job is unrewarding at times, he still works his hardest to get things done.
6. Ben is VERY smart. He graduated from BYU Hawaii with honors!
7. Ben never lets me stay mad at him. It's hard to even BE mad at him because he has the sweetest demeanor and isn't someone you can be angry with for long. He has never raised his voice at me either!
8. I love his laugh-and the voices we do together. I can always be silly with him!!!
9. I love how he tickles my back nearly every night before I fall asleep
10. I love that he takes the dog out every morning without fail, and almost all the other times throughout the day.
11. Ben gave me my FIRST puppy ever, a dream come true for me!
12. I love LOVE his blue eyes. Sometimes when the light hits them just right it takes my breath away.
13. Ben still gives me butterflies when he looks at me in that special way that I know is meant just for ME.
14. Ben is an amazing son to his parents. He respects his mother SO much and talks to her nearly every day on the phone! (And yes-I DO love it)
15. Ben has NEVER judged me for any of my shortcomings. In fact he's the least judgmental person I know.
16. HIS VOICE. Speaking, SINGING, or even whispering he has the best voice I've ever heard.
17. Ben flew to Utah last year JUST to be with me and SING with me for my grandma's funeral.
18. I LOVE Ben's kisses
19. I love Ben's SMELL...
20. I love the way he uses his hands when he talks...they move a LOT when he's really into a story! :-)
21. I love that Ben is a provider and I'll never have to worry about him not taking care of me. He takes his responsibility as a husband VERY seriously, and that's comforting to me!
22. He understands the significance of a hug and how much it can make an emotional wife feel TONS better at the end of a hard day!
23. Ben loves my family and they love him SO much.
24. I love watching Ben hold babies...I can hardly wait to see him as a father!
25. Ben is the BEST listener, he knows when to JUST listen, and when to help me solve my problems.
26. He's the SAFEST driver I've ever driven with! He has saved us from a lot of near-accidents!
AND...
27...He's my dream come true. I look at him sometimes and see the man I dreamed about as a little girl. He is the most handsome, talented, smart and interesting person I've ever known. I have never been as in love with ANYONE as I am with him. He makes me fall in love with him everyday and I feel like the LUCKIEST person on the planet to call him my husband!!

I LOVE YOU BENJAMIN!! HAVE A HAPPY 27th BIRTHDAY!!!!

LOVE, KIRSTEN

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Well I have a pretty heavy heart right now, I'm fighting back the tears with all my might...because my closest friend just got on an airplane to go back home to St. George!...That's right, my mommy. The hardest thing about living in California is being SO far away from my mom. We are best friends and tell each other EVERYTHING. I believe with all my heart we were best friends in the pre-existence and this was Heavenly Father's way of keeping us together throughout eternity.

It all started Friday night when, at 8:30 P.M...we decided to go to Utah on a whim, for the weekend! So we threw our laundry into the trunk, packed a small bag, and in 15 minutes we were on our way. We stayed in Primm that night because the hotel was only 38 dollars, and they are pet friendly so we could take Figaro...he had his own bed because instead of giving us a King bed, they gave us two queens...idiots. oh well, Figaro appreciated it! So the next morning we got up at our usual time.... 5:50 A.M...because I work so early and our bodies are used to the early hour. We had gotten about 5 hours of sleep, but once you're awake, you're awake right? So we hopped in the car and finished out the drive. I LOVE to surprise people so my family of course had no idea we were coming! We walked in the front door to find Desi eating breakfast with her friend, and my mom digging through the freezer. Desi's eyes popped open big, but she didn't say anything, she let my mom be surprised herself! And yes...she was surprised. She couldn't believe we were standing right there! Lady and Inka flipped out when we walked in with Figaro so that was what alerted her to even look over. My dad eventually wandered out from cleaning the bathroom because of all the commotion and was just as surprised! I LOVE surprising people...like really I do. It's one of my favorite things! :)

So after a fun short weekend in St. George which was spent doing laundry and going shopping (I got 12 boxes of cereal and 6 boxes of oatmeal for 18 dollars...you people living in Utah don't know how good you have it...that would have cost 50 dollars here!!!) and going to Swiss Days where it was SO flippin hot. I honestly forget what dry heat feels like until I go back! That's one thing I don't miss! I got to see some old friends and enjoy seeing some aunts and cousins too! It was a real quick visit but I was missing my Lady so what was I supposed to do!?
Um this was the head on a stick that scared everyone about a hundred times all weekend.. it looked SO real!!! ha ha

Yeah don't worry...I may not like my husband kissing someone skinny as a stick, but since she IS a stick it's all good.

Lady got a hold of a piece of lettuce and went wild with it. Have I mentioned how much I love my dog???

Haha she saw Figaro's piece I gave him and would NOT accept that...so she eyeballed it and eventually stole it back! haha


Well Sunday rolled around and as we were planning what time to leave my mom said "Hey why don't I drive down with you and fly home later?" Long story short Lady wanted to come too, but my mom was the one who got to come! It was SO fun stopping at Primm for 20 minutes to shop and getting to Cali by 11:15 that night! I have such a great husband that just loves my mother and doesn't mind the visitors I have all the time!!!

So we enjoyed the week together, mostly shopping at my mom's favorite stores here at South Coast...H&M and Coldwater Creek. We also went to JC Penney and got some GREAT deals with their 70% off sale! My mom is SO good at finding a bargain! We went out for dinner on Monday to Souplantation..yum. Then we spent the evening just hanging out and watching TV. Sorta lame but whatever. Tuesday my mom came to my office and surprised me with a Blue Rasberry Icee...my new favorite treat. She got to meet all my bosses and co workers and got to see me in action! She was blown away at the stuff I have to do at work. I loved making her proud :) My boss even told her she'd done a great job raising me, and I know she was bursting with pride to have so many people admire her first born daughter :)


My mom took me grocery shopping and got us lots of good stuff at Henry's, a cute little market with really good prices on produce. I appreciated her so much, helping me come up with good dinners to make and getting my ideas going. After more shopping we got home and I found my apartment cleaned so SO nicely! My mom is a clean freak and as I've gotten older I've only come to appreciate how meticulous she is! I know my clutter drives her crazy, but she knows she can't change me haha.

We spent another night perched on the couch because I had bought 4 seasons of my current favorite show, REBA...so that was fun! My mom understood that since our days here start so early, we're burned out after dinner. I promised to have a fun night the next night though!!...


This is a Betsy/Kirsten funny moment we had...we were following this car for a while, and then through the McDonalds drive thru. They had such a HUGE dog in the backseat it looked like a werewolf! HAHA! So we were narrating for the dog saying things like "Did you guys get me anything? What'd you get? I got the nuggets...dang" hahaha my mom and I have the stupidest humor and you really have to know us to get us, but we have a great time :)


SOOO as promised I was able to have such a fun night last night with my mom, Ben and my boss, Chris! Chris found out my mom was in town and offered to take us on a harbor cruise in his Duffy Boat! It was SOOO much fun! He showed us around his house that he is fixing up, which is right in Newport Harbor, and then loaded us all in his boat and we cruised for about 2-3 hours!

This is Chris, driving the boat. Isn't he such a nice looking guy?

Ben and I on the boat

We really live in one of the greatest places...you can see why it's overcrowded. Who wouldn't wanna live by the ocean?

I captured a funny awkward moment as Chris got all chummy with Ben! We stopped at Blue Water, docked the boat and had happy hour appetizers! We got clams, calamari and burger sliders. We got it all for like 2o bucks, but if you eat there for dinner you'll end up spending about 120! Thanks Chris!

A bit blurry, but you get the idea...

As we were pulling away from the restaurant Chris pointed out all the jellyfish! OH MY GOSH!!!

My beautiful mother and me. I love her so dearly.

Ben keeping me warm...don't know why I wore my swimsuit. Oh well...

Chris cruising us around...what a great guy eh? We had a lot of fun last night and really loved the tour! We've seen everything from the street but never from the water like that!

Today was my mom's last day with me. She came into my office for the last hour then we thought of something to do to for our last hour before she had to leave...we were going to get frozen yogurt but saw the sign for a 12.99 pedicure! So we went in and pampered ourselves! It ended up being 26 dollars when all was said and done...haha five dolla more? hahaha but still worth it!

I managed to capture a quick picture of our toes as I dropped my mom off at the airport. We are such late people, my mom BARELY made her flight!!! She's landing in two minutes and I've been blogging the whole time she's been in the air!

Take a minute or two to appreciate your mother whether she is far or near...especially those of you who are lucky enough to live close to your moms! You don't realize how good you have it! I'm so grateful my mom gave me some good tips and advice while she was here, cleaned so nicely and left her sweet spirit in our home. I'm so lucky to have her in my life and to know we can be together forever as an eternal mother and daughter!!!

#1 Lady!!!

Happy Birthday to the SWEETEST BEST DOG EVER!!! Lady is one year old today and I'm simply heartbroken that I'm not with her! For those of you who don't know, Lady went to live with my parents about 3 1/2 weeks ago. It was really REALLY hard to let her go, but I know it was for the best! She was too cramped in this small apartment with far too little running time in her schedule. She's lots happier in St. George with a backyard and big house to run around in! she also has fun with Inka, my mom's dog. They've been friends since puppyhood so they get along great! I can't believe how fast Lady grew, we've had her in our lives now for about 9 months and she has been the light of our lives! My family just LOVES her and say she brings a little piece of me with her. It helps them not miss me as much cuz she reminds them of me...which I actually DO take as a compliment cuz Lady is so sweet and funny! She was my first puppy EVER and I've loved learning things from her, such as patience, innocence and FUN. Look at what a cute puppy she was!

She grew up WAY too fast and has us all wrapped around her little paw. Those sweet puppy dog eyes melt my heart everytime.

The night before Lady left us we had a little pretend birthday party since I knew I was going to miss the actual day. I DID get to talk to her on web cam though and she STILL just can't figure out where in the heck I am and how come she can't crawl through the computer to get me! :)

Our favorite Lady position. She has always plopped down like this and we love watching her little nub tail wag!

Lady enjoying a day at the beach. Believe it or not, once the sand dried she was perfectly clean!

My last day with my sweet Lady. I miss her SO much!

Lady was the biggest mooch and would eat ANYTHING you gave her (except rice. I had to give it to her once cuz she was sick and she wouldn't touch it!)

Lady can be a bit of a spazz sometimes, but it's part of her charm and we LOVE IT!

We found out she's not a big fan of Opera (sorry Ben) when we took her to Opera in the Park...haha snooze fest!

And finally...Lady was a CHEWER. We never could break her of the habit. She chewed off Figaro's collar, then his harness, then proceeded to chew off her OWN harness...leaving what looked like a thong dangling around her bum! haha. Her teeth are SO crooked from always chewing with the same side of her mouth! Her lip always gets stuck on one tooth that sticks out a little too far.

I know this may seem fruity of me to have an entire post dedicated to my dog...but all dog lovers will understand the special connection between a dog and it's owner. I love Lady SO much and I'll be devastated when she dies someday. I had dreams about her for a week after she left us and it really was VERY hard to deal with! She was truly my best friend as I adjusted to living here in California. She was there for me when I cried and when I was bored and lonely. Ben and I laugh at how much her personality resembles mine, and Figaro's resembles Ben. Lady was fearless and social with EVERYONE at the dog park...and Figs is a bit shy and reserved. We imagine our children may be the same way...one like me, and one like Ben. They have been good training for us to be parents!!!

Happy Birthday Lady! I love you with all my heart!!!

Success!

So Ben and I would be very ungrateful if we didn't post about our blessings of success that we have achieved in the past few days. Ben and I have been wondering what to do with our lives, like where to settle for now and where to go to school and such. We both really like it here, but Ben wants to get his MBA and we were trying to pick the best route. We've been praying about it for a while and the other day it seemed we had our answer. We really thought at first that BYU was the right choice (and who knows-it could be still) but the more we prayed we realized that we had a lot of reasons to stay here in California! The first example being that I was awarded a REALLY nice raise at my job. 10% this month, and another 10% next month! I will be making as much as Ben made before he got his 20% raise which goes into effect in two weeks! So we are making more money than we ever dreamed we would make here in OC. We are paying off all our debts and getting financially fit for our future! It is SUCH a blessing to both love our jobs! I added the first pictures because they sorta remind me of what life between married people is like. Your are mostly on your own when it comes to making choices, but it's WONDERFUL to have each other and to do things as a team. I will ALWAYS feel safe in Ben's care because of the man he is and the friend he has always been for me.

I really feel like in the picture below we look like two people who trust each other COMPLETELY and will be able to conquer the world as long as we are together...

These are two of my three bosses. I took their picture cuz they looked so slick before a big meeting in LA

This is me excited about my big raise! We celebrated at Red Robin!

I had a little victory rasberry limeade! MMMM

Then there's Ben's awesome job that gets us into a lot of REALLY cool events. For example, tonight we spent about 6 hours at "Opera Under the Stars" in Laguna Beach. We got to mix and mingle with some SUPER wealthy people. I really loved people watching at this event because people REALLY do get treated WAY differently when they are rich. But at the end of the day they are JUST people. Even the ones who own a house so big it covers two zip codes, and 2 747 airplanes the use for their "personal jets" and the biggest yacht in Newport Beach. Whatever...haha But really I was SO proud of Ben tonight. He was the official "bouncer" for the VIP party. He looks so cute when he's working. I was so impressed with him all night...

Ben working the entrance

Ben has worked SO hard to get to where he is. He has a boss, Dawn, who really appreciates his hard work and looks for his potential. She has helped him to really grow in his job and gave him a GREAT promotion in February. He spends extra time at the office just to get ahead and I know he is turning heads based on what I heard tonight at the event. He's SO talented!

Like I said...this man is talented. Ben designed this cake top. He did the whole thing in photoshop and I heard SO many compliments on his work! I was like a proud parent tonight with everyone ogling his fancy cake! It was Puccini's 150th birthday so in honor of him the entire second act of the show was devoted to his works such as "La Boheme" and "Madame Butterfly".

Ben with his fabulous cake!

As well as designing the cake, Ben also designed all the posters found around the venue. I heard his bosses praising him to several people, and was so excited to see how many people addressed Ben by name and talked to him like an old friend. He's SO good at his job!!! Also, I had my first jealous moment tonight! One of the singers in the show was wearing a VERY busty dress that made her boobs the automatic center of attention in the room! I was commenting on her earlier, and about 10 minutes later saw that someone was hugging Ben. I thought "Oh that's nice!" then she pulled away and I saw the BOOBS! How dare that boobalicious woman hug MY husband! I'm the only big breasted woman who gets to do that!!!! hahaha. I was totally jealous and very flustered after the moment passed. It felt good though...to feel so protective of my husband. We don't get out a lot and Ben's usually so shy that I don't get the opportunity to be jealous :-) It was good jealousy..not the type that made me mad...just...protective. haha. Needless to say there were no more hugs that night!

I'm grateful for my job and the opportunity I have had to learn SO much. The first weeks were VERY overwhelming...but I have really come to appreciate the whole business and feel appreciated for the hard work I do. Anyone who has experienced this knows what a good feeling it is to be praised and rewarded! For anyone who doesn't know I work for Great Pacific Securities as an Operations Manager. We are a brokerage firm dealing mostly with the bond market, and a little with the stock market. I do EVERYTHING from making sure trades clear, to setting up a new email network for the office. I'm IT, Admin, Accounts recievable and payable...and the all around support of the whole firm! It's been AWESOME and I look forward to every day!

Ben and I are TRULY blessed and we thank Heavenly Father for all that he has blessed us with. We are SO happy and can't wait to spend at least another 4 years here in Orange County! :)

WARNING-LONG POST!!!

The past couple of weeks Ben and I have had fun recalling "anniversaries" of ours. For example "it's been a year since we met online!" and "It's been a year since our first date weekend!" I thought I'd post the VERY long story of our meeting and first date weekend...and I pulled this from an email I wrote to my friend Lauren the day after Ben left. So it's from my point of view...fresh from right when it happened. I apologize for the amount of cheesiness and girly stuff that will appear in this story...but hey. I fell in love! And this is how...


Ben and I met online on August 18, 2007. We met on ldschat.com…and we both weren’t expecting any romance that night. We were both just bored. I had been stood up for a date (sorta) and Ben was ignoring a group of people hanging out downstairs, and opting for conversation with the crazy people you find in chat rooms! ☺ Little did he know, he was about to find the craziest of them all….
We talked for almost 6 hours that night. I fell in love with the person I met online…and knew that night that I was going to marry this man. I even put his number in my cell phone as “Ben Hubby” (It still says that, to this day). Ben knew as well…but being that he hadn’t had any other relationships he was being careful to not let his feelings get too carried away. It took 4 days for him to call me on the phone, (he insisted on texting and chatting on msn…how funny) but since that day we have NEVER gone a single day without talking. We would talk all night sometimes…and we learned as much about each other as you possibly can over the phone. But eventually we would HAVE to meet in person to know if this was all for real. So after only a week Ben bought a plane ticket, and the next weekend he flew to Vegas to meet me! We met face to face on September 1st 2007. It was a very strange moment for us both—meeting someone we already felt so much love for, for the FIRST time! That first hug was so special...


I remember thinking in that moment…”wow this is probably the first hug of many! He’s going to be my husband someday!” So my mom and sister had been at the airport with me to wait, and it was Ashlee who shot the picture of our first hug. My mom was there eager to meet the guy I had SWORN to her I was going to marry! It was sufficiently awkward…and then finally we were on our way to get to know each other for REAL.
After almost crashing leaving the airport parking lot (that didn’t make Ben nervous at all) we went to the Galleria Mall. The doors we walked in just HAPPENED to be where all the jewelry stores camped out in the mall. So in one corner, Fred Meyer, the other, Jared’s…and so on and so forth. AWKWARD! But we wandered around and then finally Jake and Lauren met us at the mall to eat at Chevy’s restaurant. It helped to have extra conversation starters. Jake and Lauren ALSO sorta met online, so I think they could relate a bit. The rest of this story is told from my point of view to Lauren…because I wrote her three VERY long emails after Ben left for the weekend. Pace yourself…and prepare for corny.
Ok so that day we left you guys and I drove him past my old house where I grew up mostly in Vegas, then past my old elementary school, and then we tried to find the discovery museum but just ended up driving all the way to the strip. He just said well lets just walk around, there's plenty we can do before the show later! So we parked at TI and walked through to Venetian, then just wandered along the strip. It was really awkward between us for a while, I mean we were surrounded by people, smoke, and noise so we couldn't REALLY talk, and he didn't dare hold my hand! So it was weird. But finally we hopped on the monorail to beat the heat when we knew we needed to go to Mandalay Bay there was NO way we were walkin! So we went there, and as soon as we got there we walked to the Starbucks and got water and lemonade. We sat down and chatted for a while and that's when the awkwardness finally started to wear off.We were finally seeing each other as the people we had been talking to for 2 weeks. We took some funny pictures and then after we had been hydrated again we went to the shark aquarium. It was SO pretty. I actually liked it more than the Waikiki aquarium! More creative setting, don't ya think? So yeah, we took some more cute fun pictures there, and I was noticing he dared touch me more. When we would take pictures and my arm would be around him he wouldn't move away fast...oh my it was electric!
But I was having a hard time knowing what was going to happen cuz he was SO shy! SO yeah, I knew he probably liked me, but I couldn't tell totally. It was WEIRD!
So anyway, we went to the show, and- haha after having 5 hours to kill we still didn't have time for a sit down dinner. It just took us longer than expected to get back to the Venetian. So he picked up our tickets that cost 115 each! AH! I had this look on my face like holy crap, and he saw it and said "don't worry about it! you're worth it!" and that was the beginning of it all.... :) So we ate at the food court upstairs then went to the show. It was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good. I mean the set was AMAZING. So when that first chord hits for the music I just got chills and reached over and wrapped my arms around his arm. He was SO nervous! haha it's so cute.
So yeah, the show was amazing, and we got a backstage tour after! TOTAL backstage! the cast was gone by the time we got to the dressing rooms, but it was still really cool to see how they do it all, all the trap doors and such. So we left Vegas at like....12:30? and we had to get gas so we left at one...which was 2 my time. and we got home at 4 utah time, and boy was I TIRED. I had struggled to stay awake, but you know how little sleep I had gotten the night before! So he was driving and I started to doze off right before the gorge, and then woke up, and then dozed a little bit later. I was laying on his shoulder...and I loved it. It was so comfy.
So the next morning the poor guy was in my house, and I was asleep in Ashlee's room, so he woke up and went into the bathroom and my mom came in was like "WAKE UP! IT'S AWKWARD! He probably feels dumb!!!!" hahaha what a dork. She had gotten his bed ready in the spare bedroom the night before with a note, a towel and washcloth, a bar of soap, and a peppermint on his pillow! haha! We laughed so hard...oh betsy.
So anyway... I woke up and got dressed and I wasn't fast enough cuz he introduced himself to my dad and they had started chatting before I came over.... but nothing to awkward there, my dad seemed to like him!

He met the fam and we had breakfast together, which was quite eventful. My mom kept being so shocked by what Ben was allergic to, or didn't like. He's gonna be hard to cook for! So anyway, we ate and then got ready for church, and he came with me to my parent's ward. It was really nice to sing with him during the hymns. His voice is just...oh wow. So ya...church and after sacrament he met Keith and Christina and they loved him, and then we went home after. We were just chilling talking on the couch and my dad came home and talked to us for a while and Ben was totally daring to be closer to me. He was almost cuddling with me. So my mom got home and we all talked and then my mom and dad went to take a nap and left us there to chat. We talked for a while and took some pictures haha. Then my sisters got home and we still just laid there and then I asked him if he wanted to go sing at the piano. The rest is history haha. We started out with him playing while I sang some pretty churchy songs. Then we ended up singing "The Prayer" by Josh Groban and it was SO pretty...I mean together our voices just BLEND. So yeah, we did that and then a song from Phantom, and my mom ended up taping it (of course). It was really sweet. I loved it. Then we went over to the main street house and Ben met Jessica first, who was SO hyper it was hilarious! he loved her. then Danelle and Wes showed up and met him. We chilled for about an hour and then went home to my mom's for dinner.... which was nummy! haha I need to leave out some details!
So we were at my parents for a bit longer, we took a nap on the couch, then we went in and talked in the spare bedroom. we were talking about kissing and I wanted to kiss him SO bad. I was saying I didn't know what to expect from him! and he said that he was just getting used to everything, trying to let his emotions catch up with his mind and stuff...so I totally didn't expect that we'd kiss till maybe the next day. but I wasn't sure! it was just a silly awkward conversation talking about kissing each other. haha.
Anywho, we finally left for Cedar later on and it had started to rain. It was really pretty, a total lightning storm in the sky. We were holding hands...sorta...it gave me butterflies cuz I put my hand on his and he entertwined our fingers just ever so slightly. It was AMAZING how such a small thing did wonders for me! haha...
So we got to Cedar and went to my grammy's first and sang for her and her husband JAck. It was the BEST reaction! after we sang one song she threw her hands in the air and said "oh my hell! That was gorgeous! I wanna call somebody! who can I call??" hahaha it was so cute! So she made sure we promised to come over the next day to sing for more people! haha...
So after that we drove to my apartment and he was driving (this is the cute story! ) we got to my apartment and it was raining outside. So I'm looking all over for my keys and can't find them ANYWHERE. so I call mark cuz he has my spare and it goes straight to voicemail, call my mom to see if the keys are there and they're not. So I found them in the back on the floor after a while of looking. I was so excited to find them so I said totally without even thinking "I think we should kiss now!" hahahaahahaha. So he said ok.... and leaned in for the kill!!! I could tell he was nervous, but it was so just BAM! out of the blue that he didn't have time to be TOO nervous! so we kissed a few times...nothing major and I was just reeling. It was soooo cute. So we got outta the car and I was dazed. We went in the apartment and I showed him around and then we sat dow n on the loveseat and were just talking and then I got nervous to kiss him again! hahaha...but we kissed a few more times and then he wanted to do something fun, so we put in King of Queens, my fave show and watched a couple episodes. So yeah...then we went to bed cuz it was getting a little late and we were both tired. He "dropped me off" at my bedroom door and kissed me goodnight. So we were in bed and I noticed more lightning out my window so when he texted me to say goodnight dear, and I said yeah I'm tempted to drag you out of bed to take a walk with me to watch the lightning. He said ok I'll get dressed! so we took a walk around the block and I just LOVED it. of course! haha. the lightning was SO gorgeous!
So we finally went to bed and the next morning I set an alarm, got up, showered and we both got all ready for the day and left for breakfast. we went to ihop and shared an all egg white omlet and I had pancakes. haha way to tell details eh??? So we ate and then went to my grandma's but she wasn't there so I took him to the park by the creek and we wandered around in the creek and then when Kirsten fell into some mudd and covered her feet and shoes we decided to stop hiking around down there so close to the water haha.



So we sat under a tree in the park and called his best friend Kennessa for her birthday and both talked to her. She was saying that Ben is just not one to give his heart away lightly, and that I must be a really special girl if he's made such huge moves to come out here and meet me. She said it just says a lot about me for him to be so brave!
So we left there and went back to my apartment and hung up some decorations in my apartment. So after that we just sat there and talked and I was just TOTALLY overwhelmed. I knew right then, cuddling with him, talking to him, that I loved him. I almost couldn't hold it in, but I was patient. I wanted the moment to be right and I've always had a rule that HE say it first ya know? So we fell asleep for a while, like 20 minutes maybe. Then we were talking a little bit more and he leaned over and whispered in my ear and said guess what? I said what? and he said " I think I'm falling in love with you" and I said....yeah so am I. and then he kissed me for a bit and then just looked at me and said it. I Love you. I told him I loved him too!


Then we went for a walk a little while later. We walked from my apartment around the college campus and I showed him where a few of my classes were. We walked all the way down the street to this gas station that has a little donut shop in it, so we bought some stuff and sat down at one of the tables right by the window and talked. I told him a little bit about my divorce and I just remember how he had this look in his eyes, almost as if he were feeling physical pain for what I went through. I realized then that he really DID love me, I mean I knew it before, but I could tell he truly cared for me, and he told me he was sad I’d ever had to go through what I did. It was a big moment for me, I just knew he was going to be someone I could always trust and depend on to be understanding and honest with me. So we finished our chips and frazil and water and walked back to the apartment, hand in hand. We went to my grandma’s again because she had made an appointment to see us and have us sing. She ordered food from Quizno’s for us, and we had some salads. We sang for Ed and Shelly, Barbara and Gibb, and her granddaughter, Diane and Garth, and it seems like maybe someone else…but that’s all I remember. It was so fun, my grandma was so proud. She just loved and adored Ben from day one! So after eating and singing, we finally left and drove down to St. George. Ben had told me how nervous he was to be around my mom now that she knew we had kissed! ( Ben had texted Kennessa right after our first kiss, and I had texted my mom lol!)
So we got home sorta late, and wanted to wait for Michelle to come over so we could sing for HER. So we just chatted and whatnot for a little while. I totally horrified Ben I’m sure….by stating to my parents that we were hoping for a Feb. wedding hahaha…GREAT news for them for a guy I had known two weeks! But I just KNEW. So anyway…Michelle finally showed up, and tired as we were we sang for her as well. It was fun, and she really like him too. Then we made it to bed finally, after cuddling. We were so sad that the next day he would have to leave!
The next morning I drove him to the shuttle pick up in St. George at 4:45 a.m, and dropped him off with a really sad goodbye. I had just fallen in love and had to let the man of my dreams get on a shuttle and then a plane to be hours away once again! It was really hard. After I drove away, I headed back to Cedar to get a few more hours sleep before work and school. I was sad and had a heavy heart the whole way home. I couldn’t believe how sad I felt after just our first meeting.


Ben and I dated for 3 months--long distance and on November 19th we got engaged.


5 months after that we were married for time and all eternity in the St. George Temple!



I can’t believe how much my life has changed in a year! We are SO happy together, and look forward to what this next year together will bring us!