both feet

The rumors are true.

I'm engaged!!! (!!!!!!!!!!)

To this handsome fellow:

I love him.

Ok so maybe there aren't any rumors.  But I really am engaged.  And I definitely do love him.

He proposed last night.  And it was perfect.  Nothing went as planned, but it was perfect.

There will be a video and lots of pictures coming sometime soon [tricky-tricky, Tim], so I think I'll tell the whole story then.  But let me assure you:

It is a story worth telling.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with this:

The Precious.   I never stop looking at it, I swear.

And this:

And I never stop smiling, I swear.

It took quite some time for me to feel ready for this step.  But I am ready now.  And I'm jumping in with both feet :)

Oh and one more tidbit of information...

We're shooting for August 6th.

Here's to a month-and-a-half of wedding planning!

[im]mature

Sometimes I like to be mischievous and take pictures of Tim when he doesn't know I'm about to.

For example, we'll be cuddling and I'll randomly bring up the camera out of nowhere and take a picture really fast.  Sometimes he pretends to be offended, but I know deep down, he really, really loves it.

This is him working on homework in front of his computer.  I have a short attention span for such things.  So sue me.

Him realizing what I'm trying to do.  ["Katie, stop!  I'm trying to do homework!"]

This one makes me giggle.  So much.  [Seriously, giggling even as I post it.]

So then he tries to get me back.  But he's not very sneaky, because heck, I just did it to him, so I obviously know what he's about to do.

Me trying to hide behind his arm.

Already giggling before he even takes the picture.  ["Stop it, Tim, I already know what you're about to do."]

Still giggling.  [I do this a lot.]

So then one night, his roommate Travis came downstairs and saw us being silly with the camera.  He told us about a really cool trick for taking really weird pictures.

Directions:  First, let your lips become as loose as possible.  Next, blow [a lot of] air out through your lips.  Then, have someone take the picture mid-blow.  Last, giggle profusely.  Warning:  This could distort your face so that you may look absolutely nothing like yourself.  Ok, definitely won't look anything like yourself.

Trying to get it right, but we didn't take the picture at the right time.

Hahahahaha.  Ha.

Tim and I both trying.  [p.s. Tim's mouth looks hilarious.]

Tim trying by himself.

And me by myself.

Well, there you have it.  The escapades of a recent college graduate.  [Maturity level: high.]

camping pics

And FINALLY....for the long-awaited camping pictures:  [don't even pretend like you don't care]

Isn't it ironic that my dog ralphed in the car right as we were driving by this animal hospital?  [Good start, I know.]

My little brother Eric always makes the most intelligent faces.

Oh heyyyy...

Tim took this on our hike.  Very nice, eh?

I was cold the first night...

....and even colder the second night.  [Pansy.]

Sometimes Tim has trouble keeping his eyes open for pictures...

....and it makes me giggle.  Really hard.

Aaaand a fairly normal picture :)

My dad in deep thought.  [Wait no, not possible. ;)]

Well, for rude.  [Apparently they have a thing against my family in those mountains.]

Some Grand Canyon love.

Jeff, me, and my dad at the old canyon.  [Like my little Alfalfa hair?  Yeah, me too.]

Tim-oh-thee

Tim built this "awesome" bench whilst camping.  [Give it some love, people.]

And if you persevered through all the pictures, you get to witness the evidence of my pansiness with a lantern.  [Don't judge.  Especially the part where I pull my head back and have a triple chin.]  It's maybe not that funny to anyone but me and Tim and mi familia.  But watch if you wish.  [p.s. Tim especially likes the part where I say "pouf."]

Well, there you have it.

Have a great day, kids.

kicks and giggles

I know, I know...I still need to post the camping pictures.  But gimme a break.  I was out of town again this weekend.  So instead of finding the time tonight to get them off Tim's camera and put it in blog form, I will post two pictures from my phone.

In California, we went to this awesome soda shop.  It was made 256 times more awesome by the fact that it sold this brand of soda:

Totally appropriate for this blog, right?  I loved it.  Mucho mucho.

And another, just for kicks and giggles:

I've never been so scared to go to the bathroom in my life.

I wouldn't wanna get locked up in there.  Just sayin.

That's all.

Kthxbye.

it's great except for...

Ok...at the risk of losing more than half of my readers [so all two of you...haha jk, I see my stats!]...I would just like to say:

Don't go see X-Men: First Class.

See what I mean?  You're probably already getting ready to leave this page.  But just hear me out.

The second half of the movie was EPIC.  Amazing.  Exciting.  Had me on the edge of my seat.

But the first half?

Chalk-full of scantily-clad women in bad situations.  [But let's face it, scantily-clad women usually cause - or at least hover around - bad situations.]

Does seeing immodestly dressed women affect me very much?  Not really.  Other than a general lack of the Spirit which seems to accompany them.  But it does affect the men in our lives.  A lot.  A lot more than we'd like to think.  And even if they're trying to have clean thoughts, scenes like the ones in X-Men: First Class will make it 1,267 times more difficult.  Scenes that would have been R or even X rated not so many years ago.

Am I a prude?  I hope not.  But maybe.  If being a prude means that I don't want to put good men in situations where they have to fight for their thoughts then maybe I am.

I could look up a thousand quotes from prophets and apostles about why movies like that aren't good for our spirits.  You know I could.  But I won't.

The sad part is that I really did like the second half.  It was really epic and amazing and spectacular and exciting and all of those other positive adjectives.  And I just love the comic book movies in general.  It's the romantic part of me that secretly wants to believe that superheros actually exist.  [In the old sense of the word romantic, naturally.]

But, prude or not, I simply cannot get past the first half.  I wish I would have left at the very first hint of a bad scene.  But I didn't.  I sat through it all.  And felt sick inside.

I know X-Men: First Class isn't the only movie out right now with scenes like that.  And it certainly won't be the last.  [Our poor children.]  It's just the only one I've seen recently.

Feel free to disagree with me.  I promise this isn't some sort of judgement passed on all of you that have seen it and liked it.

What are your thoughts?

oh roxy, you're still foxy

So I still don't have the pictures and video from the last post, but I promise I will post them soon.  I just need to get them off Tim's camera before I can do it.  He's at work.  [Rude.]  I'm also at work.  [Ruder.]  Ok, technically, I'm on my lunch break.

But.  I have a sad story to share.  Today, I was parking my car in a parking lot near my work, and I hit another car as I pulled in.  I've never done anything like that before.  And I'm usually so careful.  But today I slipped up.  Thankfully, my car has minimal damage and theirs only has a small dent, but I felt so bad.  I left a note on their car with my number and called my insurance.  But seriously, it's a sickening feeling.

Here is the dent on their car.

And some of their paint on my car.

Lame that I have pictures of this but not of my oh-so-fun camping trip, eh?

Is it bad to say that other people's similar stories made me feel slightly better?  [coughTIMcough.]  

Oh well.

And now for a clichéd letter:

My dearest Roxy,

I am so sorry for ramming you into another gargantuan metal object.  I wasn't thinking, and it was extremely insensitive of me.  Thankfully, you are basically ok - minus some additional paint on your fender - and you are still, as Tim would say, my "Foxy Roxy."  I will fix you ASAP.  Oh, and give you another bath.  Because you deserve it.


Please forgive me.


Your sheepish owner,
Katie

camping & general pansiness

Ok kids...I'm back!

Wait, what?  You didn't notice I was gone?  I'll just pretend I didn't hear that...

Have you ever spent day after day at work, sitting at your desk, staring at your computer, taking deep breaths, and repeating to yourself that you can get through just one more day?  And your eyes start to water and your head starts to hurt and you feel like you're going to suffocate if you stay in the city even one more day?  I know, this is starting to sound like an infomercial...

Well, that's basically where I was at last week.  I needed out.  And camping was absolutely the perfect distraction.

Before I go any further, let me explain something: I am a pansy of epic proportions.

When it comes to the weather, at least.  Cold weather, to be specific.

I tried talking my dad into going somewhere that would be in the eighties during the day and fifties at night.  I felt this would be a plausible compromise since I still think fifties is way too cold.  However, my dad thought this would be way too warm during the day (and he doesn't indulge my pansiness), so we ended up in Williams, Arizona.  Seventies during the day (I'm telling you, burr) and forties at night (double burrrr).

Long story short, the first night I was freezing.  I avoided complaining too much since the last time I went camping and I was super cold at night, I ended up crying in my sleeping bag in the middle of the night.  And my dad still teases me about that.  Don't judge.  It actually is pretty funny, looking back.  


But the second night, I came prepared.  Here is what I took to sleep:


long johns
a sleeping bag
two blankets
two Hot Hands...things (seriously, I think these things were made for me)
two hot water bottles
two wool socks
two jackets


Let me tell you...I slept like a baby.  And no, I didn't cry this time.  Or wake up multiple times throughout the night.  Maybe "baby" is a bad simile.  Let's try another one: I slept like a man-in-a-coma.  Or woman, I suppose.  The point?  I slept really well.


And the whole camping trip was so fun.  Including (but not limited to) that part where we hiked up Bill Williams Mountain, that part where we went to see the Grand Canyon, that part where we shopped in the Grand Canyon Village gift shops (fun for me and no one else), that part where we let my dog swim in the lake, that part where we took another shorter hike, and that part where we cooked all of our food outside [including the s'mores...duh].  Seriously, so fun.


After the hike up Bill Williams Mountain, I walked like an old lady.  [Which actually is a good simile this time.]  The hike had been so steep for so long that my knees pretty much killed me the next day.  They hurt so bad that I could barely walk (which was bad since we had another two days camping).  But on the plus side, I did look really funny.  I couldn't help giggling as I walked.  It went something like this:  pain-hobble-wince-giggle-pain-hobble-wince-giggle.  You can ask Tim.  It was pretty ridiculous.


Let me explain something else.  I am also a pansy of epic proportions when it comes to bugs.  [Except for butterflies.  I kind of like those.]  So when I was about to get into my tent one evening and a bee flew right around my head for a minute, I was not a very happy camper.  Quite literally.  So I screamed very loudly.  This caused Tim and my dad to think that I might be being attacked by a bear or a mountain lion, so they looked over at me, ready to spring into action if necessary.  As soon as I saw the worried looks on their faces, I felt very foolish.  I said, very sheepishly, "............bee."  After which they made fun of me for the rest of the trip.  


Perhaps I am always a pansy.


I have lots of pictures and even a really funny video of me being scared of a lantern [pansy], but I don't currently have them.  So I'll post them tomorrow.  Or sometime...other than tomorrow.  But soon.


Who knows if any of you will actually want to see them (I do look pretty ragged and my hair looks sicknast), but I'll post them because I don't write in my journal or scrapbook very often.  [Aka: never.]  


Here's to posterity!