The Gift :)

Click on this to listen to my parents song for inspiration while reading :) then you might actually understand the title of this post ;)

  

(ok. They didn't have a song a long time ago and all of us were appalled. They would always listen to this song and sing it. They decided that it was their song a while back. I think it reminded my dad of my mom)

I thought for Valentine's day I would share the story of how my parents met. :)

When my mom was 17 she started working at Macey's. My dad was a manager at the time. I asked her what she thought when she first looked and him and she said- "Wow. He's really cute, and he's really well dressed." I thought that was kind of hilarious thing for my mom to say. 

She tried to get to know him but he actually transferred to Smith's. He would come visit his friends occasionally so she didn't see him too much. My mom's friend knew him pretty well and she told my mom that whoever he would marry, he would treat her like a queen. 

All my mom could think was- I really want to be treated like a queen. 

Look at that stash!

From then on she tried really hard to get to know him, but she knew that she was too young for him (they are 8 years apart). 

She said that my dad told her his friend told him that he should ask my mom out because she was really cute. My dad was a little bit shy when it came to those things so he didn't right away. His friend and his girlfriend were going to go to Lagoon in a couple days. They wanted my dad to ask a date so he could go with them. His friend finally convinced him to ask my mom because he told her that she REALLY liked him (everyone could probably tell. It's my mom haha she doesn't hold anything back). 

The sad thing was my mom had just barely agreed to go on a date with one of her friends on the day he was going. She was distraught because she had been waiting for him to ask her out. She told him that he better ask her out again, even though she knew he probably wouldn't because he was so shy. So a few days later she found out that her sister Karla was having a Lagoon day with her husband Jack's work. She asked my dad to go with her right away (I think this is hilarious because he had just asked her to go there so it was kind of perfect). He said that he would love to, but he didn't want that to be their first date so they went on another date to dinner and a movie before Lagoon. 

This was before my mom cut all her hair off ;) Look how cute they are in this blurry picture

A little while later (I really mean little though... after they "officially" started dating 3 weeks later they were engaged) my dad took my mom to our annual Flaming Gorge trip.

I love this picture for 3 reasons. The tie-dye. My grandpa.  And the love beaming from their faces ;)

A couple days later he "proposed."

Here is that story-

They were walking around the Provo Temple and had stopped to sit on the grass and talk. 

*My mom had mentioned in conversation earlier that this was the temple that she wanted to get married in. It was special to her because her grandmother had worked in it, and it had a special place in her heart. 

But just a a couple days before they were driving home from Flaming Gorge and she told him that she didn't want to get married until she was like 25. She was 19 at the time (they got married 2 months after she turned 20). So I bet she was surprised when my dad said this to her. 

He told her this story about a boy growing up and finally realizing what he needed and wanted (or something like that... I can't remember. It had to do with getting back to Heavenly Father though). After the story he looked her in the eyes and said, "Kristin, you are what I need to get back to my Heavenly Father." 

So he didn't "really" propose.... well not a "normal" proposal anyways. It was perfect in every way. The main one being that it was inspiration. My mom says he wasn't even planning on saying that at the time, but it was perfect and was meant to be through inspiration (I think my sisters and I just aren't patient enough. We knew what was going to happen and we wanted to get down here as soon as we could;)). But that is why he didn't have a ring or anything. It was simple and sweet. Which is exactly like my dad :) plus, this is the girl that didn't even want a reception. The proposal was perfect. 

A few months later on February 14 1992 my super hero duo were married and sealed for time and all eternity in the Provo Temple. 

21 years later here we are :) and still going strong!  

I am so glad that I had the opportunity to have the best pair of parents anyone could ever even dream of. I am who I am today because of their examples and kindness. They showed me who I could become, and how I could get there. Giving up on my dreams was never an option, and I always knew that. 

I wish I learned how to do my makeup and hair just a little bit sooner... 

Nothing in this world makes me happier than knowing that I get to spend eternity with my family. :)

Couple side notes... 

How cute! I think it was on the napkins or something

I love that they put their kid pictures on the invitation

This is just hilarious and super cheesy but SOOOO my mom! Especially the theme... isn't she just brilliant? 

Letter to me

There is a song by Brad Paisley called "Letter to Me." And before I go on, I think you all need to listen to it. It is truly awesome. Here ya go.
But I was listening to it and I was like ok if I could write one of these letters. Number one, it would not be as good as this one. But number two I have no idea what I would actually put in it...

I'd probably say to pay more attention to the road when you are driving Emily's car. I wouldn't mind going back to fix that. I have learned to pay a LOT better attention to the road from that. But I wouldn't call the cops so I could have saved 200$ and an hour of my life from traffic school.

I'd also probably tell myself to be a better girl friend to Austin. I know I know. Bear with me. I was horrible to him. In my small defense he was my first, but I just never learned how to be a good girlfriend for the whole year. You'd have thought that I would have figured it out by then. But I do nto regret actually going out with him. Mainly because I learned SOOO much about myself, friends, and relationships. It was a HUGE learning experience, and we had a TON of fun! That, I wouldn't take back.

I would have warned myself to pay a little better attention in Math and Astronomy. My first 2 C's were in my Junior year in those classes.

As of right now, I really can't think of anything else. But As you can see, it is hard for me to think of really anything huge that I would have changed in my life. Some people would think I would like to warn myself of my dads brain tumor earlier so maybe they could have done more. Of course I would give anything right now to have my dad with me. But you know what, I do. I get to have my dad on my mission with me. That, really is a true blessing for me. But really- I don't have any real regrets.
I have learned so much in my life from my mistakes. They have made me who I am today. If I were to change anything, I wouldn't have as strong of a testimony, or as good of friends. I wouldn't have as much knowledge about the "real world" either. Heavenly Father has a plan for all of us. It is meant to try us and help us grow, because sometimes their aren't any other ways to learn things than by making our own mistakes. Although those times can be extremely rough, if we come out on top with our Heavenly Father's help we will grow more than we ever even thought possible. And that is why looking back I don't have any real huge regrets, because I would not be the person I am today without them. :) and that's how life is designed to be. (I still love you Brad Paisley)

The sequel to- If you play with fire you will probably burn something (or someone this time)

Here is the sequel to If you play with fire you will probably burn something

We seriously do not know how to jump a car. Here's the story:

Karly is still kind of learning how to drive the stick. My mom has started making her drive it every single day to school. 

She drove the whole way to school with the emergency break all the way on... I don't know how someone could do that, but she said that she was too distracted to even notice. Ashley even had to tell her to turn on her lights... that one is understandable though. Our other car has automatic lights, and I guess you don't have to put on the emergency break hardly ever either. I asked her if she noticed the bright red light that said break on it... she said again that she was too distracted. 

So they made it to school... both of them said that it smelled SO bad... (the tires were like burning of course).

But Karly left the lights on. 

The car died.

We had to come and jump the car for them after Ashley and Katelyn were done with practice (Karl rode the bus home). 

I called Brock because... well... he was a boy and thought that he could help. I had jumped a car before, but I couldn't remember how to do it exactly. He said that he hadn't really done it except for once a while ago, but we could figure it out.

We got there... started hooking chords up, but the last one sparked so bad Brock couldn't even clamp it. 

So then he called his mom and she said that we were doing it right. We had the Mazda on and were hooking them the right way. So- we did it again and it worked. 

Brock's mom said to let it sit for a while. We did before turning on the dead car. But we wanted to sit in the car because it was really cold outside.
30 seconds later I see Lexi, Katelyn, and Ashley just sprinting from the car... I looked and saw that the chords were smoking!!

Here is it smoking... (Yes, we were taking pictures the whole time. Just like the candle incident )

We ran out there but didn't know what to do because they were hot but we needed to get them off! Brock found a sock and got one sort of off... but it burned through right away... I scrambled and found an ace bandage (don't know why that was in the car...) he wrapped it thick and then got the other chords off. 

They had melted all the way down. Almost all the plastic was off the chords... 

We called our mom. She didn't believe us for a while. 

Brock burned his thumb from when it had gone through the sock. It smelled of beef ramen noodles... 

Then we tried to push start it. 

We pushed it up and down the parking lot at least 5 times. We were so tired! It almost worked twice... then as we were about to go up the hill again a nice man (I think he was a principal or something) asked us if we needed help. We asked him if he could jump the car. 

He had a huge truck and all he did was hook the chords up the SAME way Brock did, but he didn't have his truck on. It started right up and was fine.... 

The reason that the chords melted was because our Mazda had too much power with the car on. Plus it had a bran new battery sooooo that's why the chords melted.

Stuff like this always happens when we hangout with Brock ;) 

It worked :) 

If you're wondering how my mom felt about this... it was also the same as the candle incident... she laughed. Hard. She thought it was hilarious that we almost blew up both cars and could have potentially killed ourselves (if we want to go that far ;)) 

We just know how to have fun I guess... haha 

13 things you might not know about my dad...

My dad's mission picture and him a little bit before he passed away :)

I know that I have a lot of post about my dad... but it's a good way for me to remember him! You really don't have to read it- it's just for my own benefit :)

A Million things you might have not know about my dad:

1. He loved the Savior and the church more than anything else and he would show it in the way he lived his every day life.
2. The only thing that comes as a really close second to the gospel is my sweet mom. He cherished every moment they had together and would always hug her close and tell her how much he loved her. Even if it grossed us out.
3. He was the greatest dad in the whole entire world. I never had any doubt that he loved me more than I could ever comprehend. He would always hug me and would tell me that he loved me without fail every single day. And it never got old.
4. He had hair. And lots of it. Yep. I know it's a big surprise to most people, but he actually started shaving his head before he even had cancer.
5. He was neighborhood wide known as THEE "tickle monster." We would all run and hide from him while he ticked us to death.
6. He could make anybody laugh. Especially my mom. I think I've already said this in a previous post, but he REALLY could make my mom laugh. He would just start laughing really hard and it would get them both going until neither could breathe.
7. I know some people don't believe in "true love" or "soul mates" or even just the thought of someone else loving someone more than anything else. But that's what my parents were. And I never doubted it.
8. My dad made an impact on every single person he came in contact with. He loved everyone and never said anything bad another person.
9. We would always pray together. He would gather us around and we all knew our night of the week and he would ask us to say the family prayer. Then we would have a big family hug.
10. He loved his family. I don't mean just us, I mean the whole extended family. He loved and treasured his mom and always treated her like a queen as he did my mom, and he loved to do everything and anything with his dad. He loved all of his siblings more than anything. Especially his brother, best friend and partner in crime Dale. They did everything together. They even literally had the same job- just at different stores.
11. He was amazing at every single sport. Especially basketball.
12. He was super competitive.
13. He served an 18 month mission in Tulsa Oklahoma (18 months because literally for like 2 years they tested the 18 months out... and he just happened to serve at the same time)

Hahahahaha I'm pretty sure that I have said all of those already... oh well!

Memory #8 & #9

#7 is my first fight with Christina. It was the dumbest thing ever. I found a new friend- M'kenna and I thought that I couldn't have 2 best friends. So, I wrote her a really mean letter. The mornings on the bus would go with me avoiding her and then she would usually punch me when she got on as I was sitting with M'kenna. We made up like a week later when I decided that I could have two best friends. That is the only fight I have ever had with one of my friends. Hahaha I'm glad we got over that. We are still best friends to this day.
#8 One day on a Sunday after church I think.... I taught Ashley, Christina, and Jackie how to drive a stick shift. It was in my dads really old Toyota. It was super fun and easy to drive. I don't even think Christina or Ash had their license. But ya...

When we thought that was cool...

Remember all of those silly things that we thought were so cool... whether it was fashion of the time, foods, or even just simple things that when you are a kid are just pure awesome?

Those poncho things that looked like weird grandma sweaters...

Or when the super long jacket knitted other grandma things were also cool...

We aren't going to even go into game boys, pokemon cards, pencil boxes, the glue bookmarks from the pencil boxes

In my 6th grade class hot Cheetos had just come out and everybody loved them... it was the biggest and probably cheapest auction item when we would auction off our points we had been saving for months. The person who won the Cheetos was basically crowned a hero.

Walkman's that skipped the disc when you walked.

DVD players in your car.

Automatic car doors on your van.

The fast drying nail polish.

Going into the teachers lounge.

Being able to skip class.

How the tables folded up in the lunch room.

Jumping the farthest off the swing was the coolest thing ever.

That huge colorful parachute thing (ok, let's face it... we all still want to do that again)

The one kid who would eat paper.

Making those long paper chains for events that seemed to take years not just months or days.

When driving in your moms lap was soooo fun.

When you are the first on the bus, at the bus stop, or get the very back seat.

Gel Pens.

Putting olives on your fingers.

Robin Egg lip stick.

Being able to make those paper fortune tellers.

Memory #7

This one just came to me as I was reading my patriarchal blessing tonight. I remember the day I received it perfectly. I had fasted all day and was anxious to receive my blessing. I go knock on the patriarchs door, and he answers. Apparently he wasn't expecting it because he was in casual clothes and looked very surprised. I told him who I was and he said ok can you give me like 20min? I just need to prepare. So my mom and dad and I drove around for a little bit just talking and having fun spending time together.
We came back and I remember how strong the spirit was. Their home felt like a temple. We sat down, talked for a bit. He got to know me and my parents. Then I received my blessing. I remember listening to the patriarch and hearing my Heavenly Father through him perfectly. There was something in my blessing that stood out to me... a part talking about how I will teach and lead others. As we were getting into the car I told my mom and dad that meant I was supposed to serve a mission. They both agreed and explained that things can have many different meanings and we may not see them until we are right in the middle.
It's funny to look back and see that even me as a little weird 15 year old listened to the spirit and I knew what I was supposed to do. I have thought of that moment a lot, especially when I read my blessing. I always thought that I would get married before I had that opportunity, or that I was just being crazy when I thought that I could serve a mission. Well folks. Here I am, preparing to serve, and I couldn't be happier. :) :) :)

Memory #6

Since Halloween was yesterday and I was planning on writing this earlier this memory is about costume contests. I kind of like winning. I think anyone that knows me... or has even met for for 5 seconds knows that about me. I'm super competitive... about everything. I get that from my dad.
 Combine my favorite holiday and competitions is a bad idea.
I have won 3 costume contests in my life.
The first one was when I was 15 I think. I was Giselle from Enchanted. I don't even have a picture of me that year. Which my mom and I are still mad we didn't take. Although- I looked pretty awesome (I know you are wondering... I have been all of the red heads... Viona from Shrek, Ariel... Giselle... is that is.... ok not that impressive. I plan on being the girl from Brave when I get back from my mish... crap... here I go again thinking about it.)
The second was when I was a senior in High School. Andrew and I dressed up as old people. He actually shaved his head. I had my grandmas old wig and the drama teacher did our make up. We had so many people fooled. We actually acted like old people. That was the funny thing. When we went up for the contume some people were surprised because they actually thought we were real old people. That was a really really fun one.

Third was actually last year my family dressed up as the incredibles. We won that at our ward party. 

Memory #5

One of the times my dad had surgery he was in the University of Utah hospital. There was this bridge thing connecting from the U to Primary Children's. We would walk over there to get ice cream or food from Primary Children's every time we were there. One time we decided that we would have a wheelchair race... I would like to clarify that this was the sidekicks idea (my mother). 

We were so excited. We went up and down a couple times before getting in some pretty big trouble (probably because we were ACTUALLY with an adult). I just remember my dad laughing and us just having a good time while we were there with him even though he was in the hospital. 

Just make the best of whatever situation you are in and your life will be a lot more enjoyable. :) 

Elder Miller.

I can't believe that it's time for Austin to leave! I still don't think it has hit me yet. Austin has been one of my best friends for a really long time. I moved in when I was in 4th grade. He was in my Sunday School class and I immediately had this huge crush on him. He was cute and super flirty. At this time I was just figuring out boys, and figuring out that I liked them. So that made it even worse. We were in the same Sunday School for the rest of the time when we were youth. We talked a little bit here and there, at combined activities and ward parties and stuff. Just because we were the same age we saw each other a lot. I remember a point when I thought that he actually like me. It was when I was 15 and we were at our youth conference. We call it the "special" youth conference. For reasons that can be left unsaid... He flirted with me and Amanda a ton. What I didn't know, is that he really liked Amanda. The next summer in 2008 we started hanging out. Me, Ash, Christina, Amanda, Andrew, and Austin. That was a really fun summer. None of us had jobs or even a care in the world. It was a blast. We would talk sometimes all day on my porch. We got to know each other so well. We also would do fun things like go rafting down the canal, or walk to walmart plus a lot more. We all say that it was one of the most fun summers we have ever had. Austin and Amanda were really close... not really "going out" but ya know. Andrew and I were sorta really close too... but I still liked Austin a LOT. I hadn't stopped liking him since I was in 4th grade. But all of us just had fun. Especially when we had youth conference in Moab. Then once school started I kind of drifted away from Andrew, and Austin started dating someone else. We were still way good friends. But I was kind of sad. Mainly just because he was my friend, not really because I liked him. Homecoming... that was a disaster on my part. Zach asked me, and I was a jerk to him because Austin was in our group and I still really liked him. I was a little jealous. So I butchered that date. Then he broke it off with his girlfriend and he told me that he liked me. I got my first C ever in Astronomy because he was in my class. Plus, our teacher hated us, and we got in trouble a lot. I remember him telling me that he also liked this other girl and it was kind of between me and her right now. He started going out with her for a little bit, and then broke it off. After that we first held hands at Jeff's farewell party and had our first kiss in the parking lot after my sisters game. We started officially "going out" the next day at combined mutual. You can see from the pictures all the fun times that we had together. And those aren't even all of them. Now I'm not going to go into detail about how many times we broke our relationship off and things like that. I hardly remember how many times it was or for what reasons. But really, it doesn't even matter. I just know, that we had so many good times and moments. Every day I remember learning something new about relationships, love, friendship, myself, and him. But I was for sure not good at a relationship and ruined that. We broke it off after about a year. It hurt me more than I can even express. I regret ruining that relationship. I still believe that everything happens for a reason. But I know it was for the best (plus, this post is not my sob story, it's just a summary of our friendship). We have just been really great friends for the past year and a half, and I'm totally loving that as well :) a lot less pressure, and not as much fighting. He is just an amazing person. He will make the people of Georgia so happy, and will make a really lucky girl amazingly happy someday. :) I feel so lucky to be able to call him one of my best friends, and to be able to have spent so much time, fun, and laughs together. I am going to miss him more than I can even explain. But I know with all my heart that he is doing the right thing and I could not be more happy for him!

These pictures are not in order by date or anything. They are actually super random, sorry about that!