So I wrote this post a couple months ago and didn't get around to posting it until now. But here it is!
Costa Rica October 2010
Five years ago this February, my dad passed away. For those who do not know, he died at age 55 from adrenal cancer, from which he fought for about a year and a half ish.
A lot has happened in the last five years that I wish my dad had been here for. Meeting Cameron. Getting married. Graduating from BYU. Moving to Kansas. Having our first baby, Henry Dirk. And so much more.
To honor my father this week, Cameron and I (and Henry, of course) celebrated "Dirk Day!" We spent the entire day doing things that my dad loved to do. We started the day off with his favorite meal of the day: breakfast! We had scrambled eggs with cheese, fresh hashbrowns, sausage links, and juice. It was delicious. Growing up, my dad always made a big breakfast on Saturdays, just like this one. He would usually add hotdogs to the scrambled eggs, but Cameron says that's gross, so we forewent the hotdogs and stuck to cheesy scrambled eggs. :)
In the afternoon, we went on a "hike". Let's just say it was a Kansas hike. But the weather was incredible and it was the perfect hike for our family. Not too long or hard. It was just right. My dad was very outdoorsy and loved going on hikes. He also loved camping, rappelling, fishing, canoeing, and anything else outdoors. So a hike was fitting for Dirk Day.
After our hike, we picked up some ribs from Chili's for dinner. My mom said my dad always got ribs whenever they went out to eat, so we thought of him every delicious bite! I don't think I had ever ordered ribs before and I don't know why- They were fantastic! Messy, but so yummy. :)
Henry loved the ribs, too
Henry seemed to enjoy his first Dirk Day, where he got to eat like grandpa and hear stories about grandpa all day long. We look forward to teaching Henry more and more about who he was named after and what a great legacy he left behind.
My dad was the most spiritual man I have ever known. His testimony and example has been such a strength to me, even though he has moved onto the next life. He was such a caring, generous, upstanding, respectful, and kind soul. I look up to him every day and I am grateful for the time I had with him. I wish he were still here on this earth, but I know I will see him again and I cannot wait for that reunion. And I also can't wait to introduce Cameron and Henry to my dad.
I love you, Dad. God be with you until we meet again.
Anna
First, thanks for reading our blog! Second, I am terribly sorry that I never post. I'm hoping once I graduate that I will be more inclined and hopefully have more time to blog.
We are finally in April and I couldn't be more excited. I love the pretty snow, but I love the hotttt sun SO much better!
Let me try to catch you guys up with what we have been doing the past few months of our lives....
For those who don't know, my family went on a big family cruise for Christmas! We went on a 5-day to Cozumel and Progreso, Mexico. It was so nice to enjoy the sun and relax at the beach and in the ocean when Provo was experiences negative degree weather! It was a much needed break. My family is so spread out that we don't get to see each other very often, so this time with them was highly valued and we made sure to make the best of it.
Here are just a few pics (maybe a little more than a few):
boarding the ship
like the turban?
Mexican coke! Cam's fave
nice and sunburned
our nightly activity... games!
after the kids are in bed.
We had such a fun time and can't wait to do that again in the future. We love you guys!
Next, we had February! February is my favorite month because we have Valentine's Day AND my Birthday! For Valentine's Day, Cam surprised me with an explosion of love notes, along with a dozen donuts from Krispy Kreme. For dinner, we went to Applebee's for half-off appetizers! :) Such a great day. For Cameron, I baked a Strawberry Rhubarb pie- from scratch. crust and all. It took ten years. But he loved it and it was delicious :)
BYU Phantom of the Opera- SO good.
Before...
After!
Valentine Surprise!
For my Birthday, I turned 22 and Cameron made me a REALLY nice dinner for me all by himself. He also gave me several gift-cards to some of my favorite places. He is basically the best husband ever.
Bruschetta?
Happy Birthday to me! :p
Well, that's all I can think of right now. Also, I'm going to try to start blogging more. I know I say that every time, but I really want to blog more than once every 6 months.
Wow, we are down to less than a week when Anna and I will be reunited from being thousands of miles apart for the past few months. Anna in Romania and me in Texas. Next Wednesday (May 18th) we will be meeting back up at the Salt Lake City, UT airport. This will be a great day to say the least. Will it be a little bit weird? Maybe. Awkward? Possibly, since my parents will be standing right next to us. Awesome? ABSOLUTELY.
As I anticipate our reunion, I can't stop thinking about so many great memories that Anna and I have already had even though we have been together only a year. I thought I would list eleven of them. Why eleven you ask? I don't know, I just think the number eleven is pretty cool and it's one of the easiest numbers in the multiplication tables.... except for one, ten, and definitely zero. Well I guess it's easy until you get into multiplying eleven with double digits, then it gets flat out confusing. Rambling.
Here's my top eleven favorite memories with Bananas in really no particular order. There are a lot more but some of them are more personal than others. ENJOY!
1. Synthesis
Our second date together was to a BYU concert featuring, Synthesis, an incredible jazz group that can really get down. Although it was one of Anna's longest school days, we had a great time. There was great music, interesting people to look at, fun things to yell at the band, and well, I had Anna by my side so of course it was a fun experience. The highlight of the night is when we conspicuously played footsie while watching the concert but didn't acknowledge it all, tehehe. This night was definitely a memorable one and here are some pictures to remember it by.
We'll see how long this pic of Anna stays up.... tehehe.
2. Walmart Excursions
As most poor college students in the Utah Valley we near worship Walmart. Not only is this apocalyptic retail powerhouse great to buy sub par produce, killer deals on electronics, and Mcdonalds, but it also makes for great dates with a significant other that shares the enjoyment of people of watching as much as me. Who needs Netflix when we have all of the entertainment we need at a local grocer? I deeply cherish Anna and I's late night Walmart runs to ease frozen pizza and Sour Patch Kids cravings. Many laughs were shared in the aisles of that store in Orem. Here's a picture from one of our adventures there. I'll let you draw your own conclusions.
3. First Kiss
I will never forget our first kiss. Anna had this thing about our first kiss being in an interesting and exciting place rather than in a boring apartment or in my mini van (which I think is pretty sweet). Thus, I planned an evening where I blind folded her, took her to Rock Canyon Park, hiked up one of the inclines to a small cave (yes, still blindfolded), and in that spot revealed to her the beautiful view of Provo and Utah Lake with just the moon lighting our surroundings. You would think this would be enough right? Wrong. It took about the next twenty minutes for Anna to be able to kiss me. This twenty minutes included laughing in my face, sitting and talking about it, and just standing there and looking at each other. Yes it finally happened and yes it was amazing. As ridiculously frustrated as I was at points during that evening, I loved it and I wouldn't trade our first kiss story for any other one. I'm getting all gushy just thinking about it.
4. Zoo
I loved our trip to the zoo. One day when we were off of school and work, we both dressed up as zoobies and ventured into the heat of the Utah summer to see the beasts the local zoo had to offer. I will spare you the details but it was so much fun being a kid again with the gal I love and adore like none other. We saw things from elephants and giraffes to even my ancestors, monkeys (yeah, I am hairy). I think we were the only adults there without kids but we didn't care, we just had A LOT of fun.
Zoobies for life!
We're T-Rexs, just in case you couldn't tell.
5. Four Wheeler
This past fall, we visited Anna's grandparents quite a few times for Sunday dinners. Some good home cooking food in that home. Her grandma makes THE BEST banana milkshakes. One of the times we found ourselves up there Anna and her grandpa thought it would be fun to pull the old 4-wheeler out. We both hopped on with Anna driving. I was thoroughly impressed with Anna's abilities to maneuver that thing. She was cruising! I also must say that it was pretty dang hot seeing Anna hauling in complete control of the four wheeler and with her hair whipping in the wind. Somewhere down the road we may need to purchase an all terrain vehicle.
6. Temple I will not say much about this one, but I loved attending the Provo LDS temple with Anna. To see her in white and doing such eternally significant things for others was amazing. I find it so attractive to see and be with such a spiritually well rooted gal. A gal that knows who she come from, where she came from, why she is here on earth, what she needs to do here, and where she will be going after death. I am grateful for her parents, Dirk and Laura, for setting her on the right path and I am so grateful and humbled for Anna's commitment to continually become spiritually stronger.
7. Proposal
Bananas and I spoke about marriage early Fall. We both concluded to jump into this relationship head first. Although after this decision we weren't officially engaged because she wasn't wearing a ring yet but it pretty much definitive. Anna was not aware that she was dating the king of surprises and catching people off guard; you would have think she would have known due to the fact that my birthday is on Halloween (I'm not sure how that has anything to do with it....) ANYWAYS, I thought it would be fun to surprise her in two different ways: her ring and when/how I was going to propose with it.
Her mother graciously offered us a very generous gift of her wedding ring. Anna had no idea. That was surprise number one. Surprise number two came on the first game of the BYU football season where we beat Ole Miss. Leading up to the game I had her mother call her and invite us up to Salt Lake City for dinner later that evening. I had this "brilliant" idea of going up about an hour before the dinner and "wander" around temple square together. Anna totally bought it as just another fun date with Cam Cam rather than a proposal. Little did she know, I had a photographer in a disguise taking pictures of us (see below) the entire time as well as her mother hiding in the bushes close by watching us.
As we were wandering around I just spontaneously knelt down and gave her a romantic shpeel about how incredible she was then asked her to marry me. She sadly didn't hear any of these sweet nothings because she was telling me to "shut up", to "stop it", explaining like this "isn't real," and covering her mouth. It was so cute. She said yes.... thank goodness, and I slipped her mother's beautiful ring on her finger. Then to top off the night her, myself, and her mother all went out to eat together afterward. This is one of my fondest memories with Anna thus far.
Keep in mind all these photos are in the moment with our disguised photographer, not staged. Thanks Shane!
Anna is going to kill me for putting this kissy one up.... but it's pretty dang cute huh?
8. BYU football Games
Yes, Anna and I are big zoobies. We bleed blue like no one else and thus attended all of the home football games. Although we had some tough losses and some cold weather, we loved every minute of it. I think my favorite part about the games is having my adorable fiance clinging to me trying to keep her tiny little body warm. We look forward to waking our kids up with the fight song and completely smothering them in BYU apparel.
9. Haunted Forest
This past Halloween Anna and I thought it would be a great idea to go to a local haunted attraction on a double date with her brother Luke. This turned out to be a fantastic decision. We had a blast. It was so much fun being the manly man for my fiance to cling to when creepy things crept out from the trees along this haunted trail. Little did she know, I was just as terrified as her. GREAT memory. You can read more about this one on an earlier post by Anna.
10. Birthday Dinner
Anna was so cute with my birthday dinner this past Halloween. She asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I told her a nice dinner cooked by HER and a movie. This I guess turned into one of THE most stressful times of her life. First off, she couldn't decide what she wanted to cook and then when she finally did she lost the recipe or something. Long story short, it was hectic for her. Thankfully, she had a wonderful roommate that came to the rescue to assist in cooking a lovely sweet and sour chicken dinner with delicious peanut butter cookies. Everything turned out great but Anna was just a little maxed out, cute, but maxed out.
11. Honey Bunches of Oats
For the morning of our last day in Utah together Anna thought it would be a really nice gesture and romantic to wake up SUPER early and make me breakfast before I left that day on the long road trip to Texas. For those that don't know me that well, I love food and thus I find these types of gestures EXTREMELY romantic. The night before, she bought all of the things she needed to make me some breakfast tacos. The morning came and we'll just say that sleep got the best of my Anna and pushed her to run late. She sadly didn't have enough time to make me the breakfast she intended BUT she did pour me a huge bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats and ate it with me. I fell in love with her all over again that morning.
CONCLUSION!
In short, I love Anna to pieces and I am so grateful for all of the big and little memories that we've shared together. Those "little moments" as Brad Paisley put it (see below), that makes me fall in love with her all over again without her even knowing it. I look forward to making even more memories with Bananas as we venture together as husband, wife, and best friends. Till next time!
We haven't posted in awhile, and for that I apologize... but half-heartedly because I am in Romania and I keep up with a blog for my internship. (Which, if you're interested, can be found at myromanianinternship.wordpress.com) And Cameron is very busy working full time, while traveling to interview for Graduate Schools, and finishing planning for our big day! Well, let me rephrase that. I plan out what I want and Cameron makes it happen. I'm better at ideas and he's better at logistics, so it works out perfectly!
Cameron has been accepted into BYU's MFT graduate program!!!! We are very excited that his first interview went well and that we already have one acceptance. We still have 3 more schools to interview at and hear back from and then we will have to make a decision! Woo big decisions that come along with marriage! (Do you like all the "we's in that paragraph? I can't wait to be a WE!)
The wedding plans are coming together quite nicely (at least as far as I can tell from thousands and thousands of miles away...) We are working on flowers/bridesmaid outfits/groomsmen outfits currently. And probably lots of other things that I don't know about, which is great, too! Spring clothes are finally out and going on sale! This makes shopping a lot easier than November/December when everything was dark winter colors.
Cameron says the Honeymoon is all planned out and he's getting everything booked away. I'm excited to finally see what he's been planning for forever! I'm sure it will be a blast, especially since it will be with the most fun husband ever! I know we are going to Orlando, FL which will include the beach and Universal Studios, but that's all I know! I'm super stoked.
Which, while we're on the subject... We are selling 2 one-week long time-shares the same time we are staying in Orlando. Check out the details here: http://tallahassee.craigslist.org/vac/2770855774.html. No, we would not be making this a double-date-like vacation... it is our honeymoon. We will see you when you check in on Saturday and when you check out. So, no worries about that :) And please, if you know of anyone who might be interested, pass along the information to them. That would help a lot! Thank you :)
On a different topic....
I (vicariously through my mother) bought Cameron's wedding band!!! My mother and I visited SO many jewelry stores during Christmas break... It was a bit ridiculous. I would venture to say we went to maybe 15 different jewelry places (and that doesn't include our 2-3 multiple visits to several of the stores) ... to name a few: ShaneCo, Fred Meyer Jewelers, Morgan Jewelers, Sierra West, Zales, Wilson Diamonds, Losie Diamonds, and the list goes on... We didn't end up going with any of these stores. What had happened was.. We were on the lookout for a particular jewelry store (I don't remember which one) and we pulled off to the side of the road because we were lost and couldn't find it. Coincidentally, we had pulled into a different jewelry store parking lot. What the random? Where did this store come from? It's worth a shot! So we went in and found an "estate ring" that we loved! Long story later.... we bought it! Yeah! It still needs some work, so it's not completely ready, yet. But when it's finished, it will look so FINE! I'm excited! Now the question is.... Do I let him see it before the wedding day or do I wait?
Pros for letting him see it:
He can decide what kind of finish he would like best
He can wear it for our Formals that we're getting done the Monday before the wedding
Cons:
Wedding day surprise is somewhat ruined? But not really since he didn't help pick it out and it would only be 2 weeks prior to wedding day... And this is my only con. But since I am horrible with surprises I was thinking this would be ONE thing I could surprise him with..... Suggestions?!
Either way, I just hope he likes it. And if not, he will never tell me. So win win! ;)
We decided that we are celebrating OUR Valentine's Day when I get back. He says that it's already planned out, as well. He's really great at making sure I always feel important and that I am his #1 priority. It's fantastic :)
If you're wondering how we are handling long distance that is 8 time zones apart... let's just say it's been an adventure. And it makes us appreciate email and skype. I also look forward to the day that we are finally together again! And then we will never have to be apart from each other :)
This would be my desktop background. He's keeping my ring safe and sound :)
PS 2 months and 13 days until the wedding! Less than two months until I come home! Bittersweet indeed. So many things to look forward to!!
PPS Please leave comments on the wedding ring surprise dilemma... :) Thanks!
I spent 3 weeks in SLC with my mom and then 10 days with the Browns in San Antonio, Texas.
Christmas was fun- it was just me, Luke, and Mom. New Years was also fun. I was able to spend it with my Provo friends and we had a grand ole time :)
During break I was able to get my wedding dress, buy a wedding cake, and do miscellaneous wedding to-dos. Very productive!
Texas was super fun! I got to spend some much needed time with Cameron. And I was also able to visit one of my best friends, Kelly Rogers! She leaves for her mission in a few weeks, so I was really excited that I was able to see her before the departure.
Leaving for Romania was a lot harder than anticipated... but I just have a lot of faith that this is where I am supposed to be right now!
If you want to follow my blog for Romania, go here!
I won't be posting in this blog during my trip.. and I doubt Cameron will be either, but I could be wrong!
The semester is officially done. Seeing as this might have been our last semester at BYU, it was a little bitter-sweet... but mostly sweet. We are SO done with Provo traffic :)
The past few weeks our lives have been absolutely crazy, but it's been fun. We definitely made the best of it! A few notable events:
1. Dinner and a show with Dave: Dave (Cameron's Uncle) took us out to see a parody of It's a Wonderful Life, which is one of my all time favorite movies (as it was my Dad's, as well). It was very corny and we had such a fun time! We got this chicken, bacon, and ranch pizza, and it was divine. And we got some garlic cheese bread that was fantastic- and made our breath smell just as great ;) During an intermission, the announcerman called out Cameron and my names and asked us to dance for the audience because we had been newly engaged.... I wonder who told them... Dave... ;) It was very funny and I was thoroughly embarrassed. The best part was at the end when he told Cam to plant one on me and I turned away because I hadn't heard him... whoops ;)
2. The Brown Family Christmas Party: A couple of Sundays ago, we went to Cam's Fam Christmas party. It was very fun! Those Browns sure do know how to cook! Food, company, songs, white elephant gift exchange (you should ask Cam what he got...;)), baby Max throwing up on Cameron 18 times. Oh, it was a party. I can't wait to join this clan :)
Cameron's second oldest niece showing off her goodies from fishing!
Cameron's oldest niece sporting a white elephant gift!
3. Lights at Temple Square: Cameron and I did as all Provo couples do and went up to Temple Square to look at all the pretty lights. We didn't get a picture together, which kinda defeats the purpose, but we had such a fun time and we able to visit my mom for a little bit, too. We cannot wait to be sealed at the Salt Lake City Temple. It is absolutely gorgeous- we LOVE it.
4. Brighton with the Father-in-Law: The Wednesday during finals week, Paul (Cam's Dad) took me skiing up at Brighton! It was the highlight of my finals week.. as you can imagine. It was fun to be able to have some one-on-one time with my future father-in-law and also to be able to snowboard for the first time this season. He didn't make me feel too bad about my pathetic snowboarding skills... ;)
5. Finals: Finals were... finals. That's all I have to say about that. Just kidding. I did surprisingly decent on all my finals, which is great. And of course Cam nailed all of his. He's a smarty-pants.
6. Goodbyes and Moving out: Saying goodbye to Cameron for 3 weeks was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. I blame my emotions on birth control... or stress from finals... or maybe I just miss him, okay? And then there was moving out. I swear I hate moving. I don't know how it happens that I move around a lot. It seems like I move out every semester (I don't recommend it). But this was the first time I didn't have anyone to help me. Roommates were all out busy and Cam was partying in Vegas and then there was just me and a room full of CRAP that I should have just gotten rid of. It was a very long Friday night and even longer Saturday day, but eventually I got everything out. Thank heavens. I am currently living with my mom in her one-bedroom apt in SLC and we're having a great time!
7. Wisdom Teeth: I can't exclude that I got my wisdom teeth out on Monday! All 4 were little babies that were not ready to come out, but because I wanted to get them out while on my mom's insurance, we thought now was better than never! Recovery has been great! The first day was pretty rough (the lortab make me sick and i threw up all of my shake), but after I stopped taking that, I haven't had a problem. Swelling hasn't been bad. A little puffy, but not more than a little.
8. Christmas: Not much to report seeing as I haven't done any Christmas shopping yet. Good thing I'm not a mom or else I might be super stressed. I just have to get presents for my mom and Luke by Christmas day, seeing as those two people will be the only ones I will actually see. I will get everyone else's presents during all the sales :) Win. Win.
That's all, folks.
Thanks for reading. :)
PS. 2 weeks until I fly out to San Antonio and see Cameron and his family!
PPS. 4 months and 12 days until our Wedding!!
PPPS. I still need to sell my housing contract for Winter 2012- if you know anyone looking, PLEASE let me know. Here's the link to more info: $259 Winter 2012 BYU Approved Housing THANKS :)
