3 Years

In preparation for our 2 year anniversary ( tomorrow! ), and coming up on 3 years since we met, I thought I would recap on how we met, and how far we have come!

The first part of the real story is that The college my dad was director of when I graduated high school, had a 1 year nursing program. I had been planning on going there, and it would be paid for. Sounds good right? Well, I had a feeling I should go to BYU I, So I did….. and the first weekend I was at school, guess who I met?

This guy.

This picture was taken on the first night we met. There is no explanation other than, he was joking about something, and somehow a chair ended up on his head, I only remember that we were all laughing pretty hard…

I was roommates with Hans’ cousin. On the first Friday night we were all at school, she decided to text him. For lack of anything else to do, we went over to Hans’ apartment and watched a movie ( I am Legend) with him and his roommates. I don’t know if he was just in a really funny mood that night or what, but he was cracking jokes left and right and he had us all laughing the whole time.

Well, on most of the weekends after that, my roommates and I would end up doing fun things with him and his roommates.

We went to a dance and met all of them there. This is a picture of us before we went to the dance.

We also went bowling with them on another night

After a few nights, Hans asked me on a date. Our first date was to pita pit!

We kept doing things together and with other people after that. Of course, we didn’t take pictures together for a while though :) So here are some, that we took when we were together, but not actually taking picture together :)

He tried on someone's glasses… he doesn’t actually wear glasses.

Before our first date, I remember calling my mom and telling her that I was going to go on a date with a 23 year old! She said “ok” I was surprised at her reaction, so I said “ Aren’t you worried?? he’s 23 and a returned missionary!” then she said “ Steph, just because he’s 23 and a returned missionary, doesn’t mean you are going to get married…”

HAHA.

Obviously after our first date we started really liking each other, and we were going on dates and hanging out A LOT.

2 months after we met, we were watching general conference together in October. He attempted to put his arm around me, but I was stiff and very unsure about it. I had been getting really worried about things getting too serious and I felt that I was too young for marriage.

Well, Hans sensed this, so he took me out to lunch the next day, and we talked about things. I told him that I wasn’t ready to get married, and so we decided that we would date other people if the opportunity arose, and that we would still see each other, but not seriously.

hmm… that didn’t really go as planned. We started seeing each other more after that :)

It took him almost 4 months of seeing each other every day before he kissed me… :)

We did break up one other time, for about 1 week, but that didn’t work out too well for us…. We were just meant to be :)

That is not snot… by the way…

My first year of college came to an end…. and we weren’t engaged yet. Still undecided. I left to go back to Colorado for the summer, and Hans stayed up at school in Idaho. We both have our own stories about how things happened from here…. but to make it short, after a week of being away from each other, Hans decided he didn’t want to date other girls, and he couldn’t live without me….  ;)

And this started our long distance relationship.

He proposed to me on May 1st 2009, about 8 months from when we first  met. He drove all the way to Colorado for the weekend, to propose to me.

What most people don’t know is that I didn’t keep the original ring. I got a different one. It’s true.

This is the original

This is the one I wear today

We were away from each other. He took a picture of what I wanted to someone, who made the ring. It didn’t turn out right, so I got a new one :) They look fairly similar.

In the end, we had to endure a long distance engagement…

But we made it through!

And we were married on August 15, 2009  :)

We have been married for 2 years now and we love each other more than ever!

And that’s our story! :)

Frugal Friday

Frugal Friday will come back!

I finally got out my coupon binder that has only been touched 1 time at the beginning of the summer. We are preparing to pack our stuff up again.

Since we are trying to save, this means that we are getting rid of the excess stuff, to make room for other things that we have acquired while we have been here. Seeing as we don’t want to have to buy another bag, or be charged because one of our bags is over 50 pounds, getting rid of things we don’t really need is necessary.

So, when I got out my binder, I had to get rid of almost everything in it. Almost all of the coupons were expired, and I haven’t been adding to it at all. I hate to have wasted so many coupons! But you gotta do what you gotta do….

Oh joy. This only means that I have to start all over again.

I do wonder If things will be difficult when we get back to Idaho. I was listening to the radio the other day, and they were talking about “extreme couponing”. They were having people call in about stealing newspapers. You won’t believe how many people were calling in, talking about how they were stealing papers… and they were so proud about it! People were talking about stealing their neighbors Sunday newspapers! What is wrong with people?!

So, I’m a little nervous about how things will be for me when I try to start couponing again. I have a bad feeling about it, but I guess we will have to wait and see!

There are always other ways to be frugal :)

I am ready for a fresh start.

One Week!

Exactly one week from today, we will be on a plane, headed home.

I can’t really say that our time here has gone fast, but it has been a good summer. It was fun, but a learning experience as well.

I will be going back to Idaho as a more patient person, with the knowledge that sometimes, making plans is pointless,  I have more faith that the Lord has a plan and even though I have no idea where we are going, or what we are supposed to be doing.... things will work out in the long run. I also now have the confidence that no matter where you live, you can be happy. Not to mention that I’m probably a more aggressive driver….

Some things I WILL miss are:

The Westergards. Aunt Sylvia, Uncle Allen, Alisa, Bill, Kaitlin, Megan, Liam, Plus their dogs Cheyenne & Maddie, even though I'm not usually a dog person. Cheyenne lived to be almost 17 years old, and she was loved!

I will miss the people in the Program that are staying here and not going back to Idaho.

I will miss my hair and nails growing faster, the rain and thunderstorms, all of the fun things to do, and food getting soft and not hard when you leave it out…

Some things I will NOT miss are:

The horrible drivers, the heat and humidity, never having a good hair day, I will not miss the metro, and the millions of people everywhere.

When we get back to Idaho we will have exactly 9 months until Hans graduates. That can not come fast enough.

Hans isn’t very excited to go back to school, he would rather work… but what can you do?  I get to go back to work, which is good! I’m excited to see all the girls at work, I have missed them.

So, one more week here, plus one week in Colorado, then back to Idaho!

So, I can’t do a post without a picture!

Yesterday we had dinner with Alisa and Bill, and we had a lot of fun! We love hanging out with them. We ate dinner, played some games, and went to feed the turtles and fish at a pond by their house :)

Give me the Camera!

I’m pretty sure my hair has grown 2 inches since I got it cut.

And there you have it!

A Weekend at the Beach

On Saturday we decided to pack up our stuff and head on down to the beach. Originally we were thinking about taking a weekend trip to New York, but the beach ended up being an easier, and less stressful idea, so we went with it. It was also nice that we had enough points from our credit card to get 2 free nights at an extended stay hotel :)

It was supposed to be a 3 hour drive, but the ride there ended up being 6 hours, because of traffic ……

As soon as we got to our hotel, we went to Costco to get a pizza…. and some muffins.

We attempted to take a picture in our room..

When we looked at this picture, we thought it was a little odd…. Hans is so bright, and there is a little orb ( ?) in my stomach. And obviously that means there is a baby in there… right…. So Hans wanted to see if he had one too..

Nope. I don’t think so.

So that night we went to the beach!

Of course, no matter which beach you are at, it is so good to see the ocean, to walk on the sand, and to feel the water!

Within the first 15 min we found that there are almost too many people there on the beach for comfort…..  The sun doesn’t set over the ocean….. and the water is almost as warm as a bath.

The biggest surprise to me is how warm the water is! I was so amazed! It actually felt too warm for me. I would prefer it to be a little colder, especially when it is so hot outside, but Hans loved it!

The whole beach is lined with hotels, and shops on the other side.

After sitting on the beach for a little while, we decided to walk down “beach street” and look at some of the shops.

A lot of the shops we went into had hermit crabs in cages for you to buy. At first I didn’t know what they were because they just looked like shells. But I was as close as this picture is, and when I looked up I was a little surprised. So I took a snapshot.

So many of them!

I should’ve bought that…. it’s my motto! ;)

It seemed like the crowds on the beach dispersed at night, so we walked on the beach after all the people were gone.

There were lots of sideshows on the beach that we watched, and we even ended up finding a free magic show going on, and we got to watch it. It was actually pretty cool!

This guys was doing tricks with balls of fire.

The next day, after we went to church and had some lunch…. and after the huge thunderstorm stopped, we went down to the beach again. Hans found a little beach that was right in the bay and had fewer people.

It was nice to enjoy the beach with less people around.

There were a lot of ships over by where we were

Our little camp.

A sweater because it was raining.

When we got back to our hotel, a crock pot dinner was ready :)

We had dinner, watched a movie, and ate some desert. It was a good day!

We drove home today! All in all, I’d say the trip was a success, and well worth the drive and preparation :)

Less than two weeks left here, and after this summer, I think we both feel like well traveled people… at least in the united states :)