"Are you spending too much time together?"

I love this picture! Thank you Crystal. You might think it looks a little funny, you might think "it looks like he's leaning." Well, he is. We are both fans of the movie While You Were Sleeping and we both quote it constantly (maybe him more than me). Sean loves to quote it while he emphatically leans towards me. The two of us have a million inside jokes and while visiting my family my Dad asked me "Are you spending too much time together?" I love my Dad. The three months before he married my Mom they spent practicing a long distance relationship (he spent the summer at his mothers house in Arco ID, and she spent the summer at her parents house in Eugene OR. Each working and saving money). My Dad didn't even see my Mom again until the day before they got married. That time apart was hard, but good for them, he said. They weren't tempted to go further than they should. So my Dad asked me "Are you spending too much time together?"

I grant you, it is like we practically live together (about 90% of my things are over at his place, even my clothes). And yes I'm already changing my address because I'm pretty much more at his place than my own (and I should refer to it as our place). I also have all of my food over there, and none of it where I live. So shouldn't I be more careful than I am, after all this is a long engagement and it gets no less easy to wait. To that I say, you are absolutely right. It is not easy. That's why Sean and I together took precautions, so for anyone who is worried maybe this will give you some comfort.
A long time ago, about the time that Sean and I got engaged, we decided that we were not going to let a Temple Marriage escape us. So we made a list of things we were going to do to prevent that from happening. I'm not going to share the whole list but I will share a few things. One thing we do (it's more forced upon us than by choice) is that we have a 10:30 curfew. That's right, early, not even my youngest sister has a curfew that early. But it has helped parting before it gets too late. We always plan our time together ahead of time, so we never find ourselves bored. We attend a Marriage and Family Relationships Institute class, where we are constantly reminded to stay clean. Also on this list is a bunch of other No's and No longer than's that I won't insult your intelligence by listing. But the most helpful thing that we have decided to do is to Pray together and read our scriptures together every time we do get a chance to get together. This one thing has amplified our relationship in ways that I never knew was possible without being married. Wee have gotten to know each other so well and i don't think it would have been possible without that one act every time we are together. I'm also amazed to find out just how good we are for each other. We still have not had one fight, not one. For those of you who really know me, you know this is not an easy thing to accomplish, and I've tried to start a fight. We have so many goals and ideals in common. You'd think my jaw would stop dropping open every time he tells me what he thinks about one thing or another. I love Sean so much, and one of the reasons I love him is because every time I look at him I see evidence that God lives and he loves us. Our relationship is no coincidence. Two people so made for each other don't just "happen" to get together on their own. I love Sean so unconditionally, and I can't wait to marry him (but I will).

Pictures courtesy of Envision Image Photography

A.K.A Crystal Rocks

A Spring Break Well Spent

So this past week Sean and I got together and we were looking at ways to cut back on some of our bills (we have a goal to accumulate 8 months worth of income and put it in savings, yea, not an easy task). So as we were looking at ways to cut back we decided that we would go to a low minutes phone plan which means no more long conversations on the phone with friends and family (not that it happens so often, but it was nice to have it as an option). So I realized that in order to really keep in touch with Friends and family it would have to be through the Internet. So, yet again, I am resolved to blog more (yea, yea, I know I've said it before, what ever). So I'm going to try to do a post once a week letting you know what's been going on with me for the past week.
So for me this past week was spring break and I decided to take full advantage of it. It's been hard to balance school along with everything else. So this week I practiced being completely unbalanced and didn't study one bit this last week. On Monday I decided it was time to post my room for sale and my phone has been going crazy since. It's nice to have a room that's so cheep, everyone is interested in it. But it is a mess. Ever since I moved most of my stuff over to Sean's (I felt a whole lot safer with it over there, plus I'm over there all the time) it's looked like complete chaos in my room. So I decided it was time to move the rest of my things over to his place, and so i did.
Also later that night I got together with Nancy and we went to see The Marriage of Figaro, and I dragged Sean along. I was so excited to see it, I've been wanting to see it for the past 10 years and haven't gotten a chance to. It was so great and so fun to go see, even Sean liked it and most guys can't stand the opera.
Tuesday I spent at work, meh. Then Wednesday through Friday I spent up at my Dad's place helping Britta to finish the table runners for the wedding reception, and got a great many wedding to do's taken care of. Who knew that cutting school out of your life could make you so productive.
Then on Friday evening Crystal drove down to SLC and she took our engagement pictures. I honestly didn't know that having your pictures taken could be so much fun, and I can't wait to see them. I don't usually feel very comfortable having a camera pointed at me, but I had so much fun. Crystal, you're the best!
And at last on Saturday my Dad came down to SLC and took Sean and I to Ikea to get our bed frame and headboard. I told my dad when Sean and I first got engaged that if he paid for our bedroom set, that I would pay for the wedding and reception. He seemed to think I was being generous, but in reality I just didn't want to hear any complaints about how much everything costs. Unfortunately he'll be in for a big surprise when one of my other sisters gets married. After Ikea, Bed Bath & Beyond, and lunch at Pei Wei (Pronounced Pay Way, as if that lack of knowledge hasn't embarrassed me before) Sean and I put together the bed. It was fun working on a project together, even though we realized there was something else we were supposed to get (how was I supposed to know that the center beam for under the bed is sold separately), we had fun. I am kind of jealous now though because now he has this queen size bed, with memory foam on top and a down comforter, pshaw!
Later that night Sean took me with him to his bosses house and we had dinner with his co-workers. There is a lot that you can learn about your fiance from his co-workers. Turns out he's just as bad at spontaneously making small remarks into songs as Carolanne, he doesn't do it around me. He also has a song that he sings when he's about to go around collecting some documents from everyone. I guess putting together these documents is an annoying thing to do so he sings a song to make everyone think it's really better than it is. I'm not sure it works. In all it's been a great week. I wish I could remember to take pictures of things so I could post them, oh well.