Belated Valentine's Day

Well, last weekend (the 14th) Matthew had his son Derrick, so we decided to reschedule our Valentine's Day till this weekdend. We are kinda getting used to this as we had Thanksgiving a day late and Christmas late. Plus, you can really save on all the holiday stuff buying it after the fact. So, my dear sweetie drove down Friday night, getting stuck in all sorts of crappy traffic and arriving at 10pm with flowers and gifts in hand. He had brought me a dozen red roses, a Willowtree angel holding a heart, a heart-shaped box of Lindt milk chocolates (so yummy), and a cute little stuffed "love bug". Well done, my dear. I was totally surprised and happy. He got a red, pink, and white glittery heart card that I put my heart and soul into because he said he really wanted one, and an awesome (if I do say so myself) foot rub. We stayed up talking and just enjoying being together.

The next day we were kinda lazy in the morning. It took us awhile to shake off the late night and get in gear. I always feel so peaceful and happy when he is here. All I want to do is lay around cuddling and just being together. 124 days till we can do that all day (wink wink). But - we did have a lot to get done, so up we got and out we went. We went to Target to register for the wedding. A lady walked by and stopped and looked at us and said, "Oh, are you registering for your wedding?" And I said, "Yeah" and she got this big smile and said, "That's so fun!" and I thought for a second and said, "Yeah, it really is!!" and that made me realize that it was fun to walk around Target and decide on things we wanted to have in our "theoretical" house. Like: What do you want for bathroom one? Hmm, lets do these cool chocolate and light blue towels and this toothbrush holder with this shower curtain and trashcan. Never have I used so many brain cells on picking out kitchen colors (red and yellow) and then being so happy to find that many kitchen appliances come in red!! We are sticking with my green and yellow for our bedroom and bathroom and throwing the dark brown in for a manly touch. Hee hee. It was a blast to do this.

So, another funny thing happened while we were registering. If you haven't ever registered at Target, they give you this price gun to scan things, but they tell you to scan the item and not the tag on the front. They make this very clear and tell you like 5 times. So, Matthew bends down to pick up this big box of glasses so I can scan the bottom and as he is lifting it, the whole bottom falls out, the glasses come tumbling out and hit the ground in the loudest sounding crash I have ever heard. It was like as if an elephant ran through a hall of mirrors. Within seconds, literally, 3 employees come running over and a security guard. They are all looking at us like we decided to just take glasses out and throw them on the floor. I'm standing there with the price gun poised and Matthew is standing in ankle deep glass and we just start laughing. Matthew says, "This was a set-up huh? You insist we pick it up so you can get us, where's the camera?" Mind you, the workers are not laughing, they are like all tough and saying, "Put the gun down and move away from the glass". And I'm like, dangit, I need to scan it and come heck or broken glass I will scan the product. So the guard guy moves in and gets the scan for me and shoo's us away. Then we moved around to another isle, still chuckling. A semi-crowd is gathering to see what made the ruckus and so we say, "The things you will do to get some help around here!" ha ha

Matthew and I get along so well. It is cool how we tend to think the same about things and can also disagree about things and not get offended. I have heard horrendous stories from guys and girl friends who say that blending the "stuff" is one of the hardest parts of getting married for older people who have a lot of "stuff". Luckily for me, Matthew was ready to get rid of a lot of his old stuff and willing to take on my stuff. He is really good about that, and I feel I am not too demanding about things. I could be wrong. He did tell my dad that he already knows that "yes, dear" are the two magic words in a marriage. I told him it's also the best way to get a "yes, dear" for what he wants most in our marriage. :). . . a home-cooked meal of course, what were you thinking? ha ha

So, speaking of meals, we went to an Italian place called Carolina's in Garden Grove to taste some of their food to cater our reception. We met with Tim and he was really cool; giving us good advice. Then he cooked us up four things to taste, our two favorites are chicken pesto with pine nuts, and chicken marsala (stewed veggies). They were really good. The prices were good, and even though he never brought us the water or bread he promised (hey it was free food, so I can't complain), he did bring us some spumoni ice cream that was really yummy, and we are thinking they will be good to cater our reception.

We are planning on doing the reception at my home ward church, the Westminster building. It will be close, we are planning on getting married in the Newport Beach Temple, and it has the tables and kitchen readily accessible. We are still figuring out all the details, but I am feeling good about this. Originally I didn't want to do it at a church, but then I realized, as we looked at different venues, that although very beautiful and probably a lot less work for us, they were all very expensive. And to be honest, our budget is really small, and I would rather spend that money on a fun party and our honeymoon!

Anyway, we spent the rest of our "Valentine's Day" eating dinner at Chili's (Steak Fajitas tasted so good!) and then going to see Twilight at the cheap theater in Huntington Beach. It was a good, though cheesy movie. Matthew was a trooper to see a chick flick with me. We stayed up again that night talking about life. We are working at spending just as much time planning the rest of our life as we are planning the wedding and reception. Well, I guess there is no way to plan the whole rest of your life, but it is good to ask some of the tough questions and have good, honest talks about hopes and fears and such. Those are the times that make me feel the most love for this man that is so willing and able to talk about the tough stuff and enjoy talking about the good stuff to come. Life is good, except when we have to say good bye. Yeah, that really sucks. He is on his way back home tonight. But before he left he gave me the best Valentine's gift, he got tears in his eyes, hugged me really tight, and then looked at me and said, "How did I get so lucky?" Wow. I guess I am pretty lucky too. Then we had a goodbye kiss that would make Edward and Bella envious.

New Date!

Well, we have our new date set. JUNE 26th! It's a Friday. We will be sealed in the Newport Beach Temple. I am so excited. Things are FINALLY falling into place. I guess the Lord needed to give us a little more time to work things out together. Before we were just so busy trying to do what was best for ourselves. We were both very worried about leaving our jobs and trying to find new ones in this trying economy. But, when we finally started thinking (and praying) about things as a couple and as a future family, our goals became much clearer and we got answers we previously weren't getting. Amazing how when you turn things over to the Lord in faith, He really does guide you. So, the new plan is that I am taking a 6 month leave from work and moving to Northern California after we are married. He will get his 20 years in October from Safeway and then we will return back to the South. We are also hoping to get full custody of his son this summer. His son really wants to be with us, so I think that will be good. His daughter, I doubt, will want to stay with us permanently, she and her mom are like two peas in a pod: a moral-less, ruleless pod. What teenage girl wants to give that up? *sigh* Then, he will work part-time and go back to school to finish his degree and I will go back to teaching. Then we can find him a better job, that he will be happier at, and he can resume taking care of the family so we can (fingers-crossed) start our own family. So, the wait still sucks, but at least there is a light at the end of the tunnel. =) Thanks for everyone's help and support!