New blog!

Alas, I am married now. I am submitting to becoming one of those married people who has to share a blog with their spouse. There is no hope for Anthony creating a blog, so I feel obligated to keep the world informed of his life too. Actually, with Anthony's input this new blog should be much more entertaining... so check it out: www.AnthandMaris.blogspot.com

Hello Marriage!

Much thanks to Jenn for the clever title.

Anthony and I are enjoying life down on south state street in a tiny 1 bedroom apartment. The list of Thank Yous to write and boxes to unpack our diminishing. Furniture,kitchen appliances, and other important household items have been appearing. The buzz of a professional kitchen aid is frequently heard, and a panini press often appears on the counter. School books are often scattered on the couch. But, alas, the kitchen is clean and the dishes are done!

Life is wonderful! It's so nice just to be together. :) I miss you and love you all though!

Goodbye Singlehood!

I am copying Jenn, and completing a condensed version of "Things I look forward to list." I only have 3 days to wait!
--Never having to say goodnight on the doorstep in the cold
--Keeping a clean, uncluttered apartment, especially the kitchen
--Becoming independent of my parents and dependent on Anthony
--Starting my own family
--Cuddling in bed
--Sharing my life with someone, or better yet, having an eternal companion
--Giving 100% (This is one of Jenn's comments, and I never understood it until I became engaged.)
--Receiving my endowment
--Being sealed for time and all eternity in the St. George temple by Anthony's Grandpa
--Six days of stress-free bliss that I get to spend with Anthony alone and enjoy his company


I am so excited to be sealed for time and all eternity, and begin my life with Anthony. This is what I have been preparing my whole life for--getting married in the temple! I couldn't have asked for a more perfect man for me than Anthony. :)

For the record...
Because of Anthony's good memory, here's a timeline of our time together:
February 28th--Anthony and I met country dancing
1st weekend in March--our first date
April 13th--Anthony gave me flowers for my birthday
April 17th--Anthony and I held hands for the first time while watching Australia
April 26th--Anthony and I's first kiss and the night we made things official
Summer--Anthony and I had lots of fun and go to know each other.
October--I love you
October 15th--Set the temple date for December 22nd
October 17th--Anthony proposed in American Fork Canyon
December 22nd--MARRIAGE!!!

I'm still alive!

It may seem as if I have fallen of the face of the Earth, but in reality, I am just engaged. I am getting married December 22nd! Woo hoo! That's in 22 days in case you wanted to know... So, yes, sorry, I have been extra horrible with socializing and communicating with people. I still love you. I am so freaking busy. Everything is falling into place though, and my future mother-in-law and my mom are both awesome. Geez, I am so ready for my wedding to just be here. I am so excited! I was worried our engagement would be too short. haha

Thanksgiving was fabulous. I have so much to be thankful for. Anthony and I went to Panaca of course. I love my future-in-laws. Lauren came too, and she likes my future-in-laws too.

So, that's all for updates now. There is lots I could say, but I have a 10 page paper due Wednesday morning, and I have like 2 pages written... cool... But I didn't want to let November go by without a post, and I wanted to let y'all know that I still love you. I will be better... if not this semester, definitely next semester.

Check this out!

I don't spend much time on the internet these days, including the blog world and facebook (in case you didn't notice...). However, my cousin Danae told me about this site. You will enjoy it. There's some funny stuff. Who said the average life is boring?

Sweet Home Alabama

That reminds me of my very first Sunday at BYU... Middle of Relief Society and my phone goes off: "Sweet home Alabama..." It was awkward. I didn't even know the caller. Lame. But it is a great story.


So I got work off the first two weeks of August (I work at the Creamery on 9th... in case you didn't know), and I headed home. However, this time I brought two people with me... Anthony and my 8-year-old cousin Brynna.

First off, that provided funny experiences at the airport. I will let you use your imagination...

We had a blast of course. We rock climbed, ate real Southern barbeque in a real Southern manner (put sauce, beans, and coleslaw on top of the pork on a bun b/c it makes it more moist), swam, ate good home-cooked meals, saw my sister perform in "the King and I," saw my brother's soccer games, met people..., and played lots of games of course.

Anthony and I taught my family how to play Hand and Foot. My family taught Anthony how to play Five Crowns, Perudo, TransEuropa, Killer Uno, Chicken Feet (a dominoes game), among others.

Perudo was definitely the fave of the trip--It's a liar dice game. Everyone has their own set of 5 dice and a cup. After shaking your dice, you keep your dice hidden from everyone else and bet on how many of a particular number have been rolled. Highly recommended.

There were a lot of people who wanted to see me. Actually they really just wanted to meet Anthony. ha

My aunt and her 5 little kids came to visit for a couple days. That was fun... and crazy. My cousins liked to call Anthony their "future cousin." They liked him... obviously. They teased us a lot. ("Do you kiss him????")

My family liked Anthony a lot. (Who doesn't?) I think my mom feels a lot better having met him now. Fortunately, she had heard good things about Anthony from my extended family who he has met. Now my parents know firsthand that Anthony is a really good guy who treats me well. My mom especially got a kick out of Anthony and I when we teased each other, especially when he teased me... Even Kyle liked Anthony. I think Anthony earned bonus points with him for teasing me. Kyle (Mr. Fashion Conscious) had only one complaint--Anthony wore jean shorts.

I don't know why I am using past tense. My family still likes Anthony. Both my family and Anthony still exist. No worries there.

Anthony enjoyed meeting my family. After all, when you meet someone's family, you understand him or her a little bit better. Anthony claims I act a little differently with my family. My family and I tease each other quite a bit, and I hold my own quite well--Anthony enjoyed it. Except with my dad. I always lose with my dad.

So, the second day we were home, we went rock climbing and had to take two cars for the 1.5 hour drive. Boys rode in one car and girls in another. It was my dad's suggestion. Anthony survived though... happily even. I would have killed Anthony if he had done that to me. Grant it, I met his family after we had been dating for only two weeks. Slightly different... (We now call the beginning of our relationship our "shaky stage." haha I was... umm... flippant...)

My family hits the sack at a decent hour. So, Anthony and I had some good late night chats too...

Then Anthony left. And it was sad. We spent nearly a week apart. But he brought me flowers. And bought me chocolate.

That's all. Kinda random and rambly. And long. Hopefully this appeased any burning questions within you. Probably not... but this is all you get on the Internet. ;)

Cleanliness

News Flash! I have always enjoyed cleanliness over messiness.

Those who have known me during high school or the beginning of my college career know that I did not always keep a clean room. I began to keep a cleaner room out of respect for my roommates. Then I began to realized how much I like things clean--I finally saw the light!

As it turns out I saw the light most of my life... it just dimmed for a little bit. When I was home, my mom reminded me that I used to always have a clean room (until high school). I thought... and thought.. and thought... and remembered! I used to keep my bed made and room spotless believe it or not. (Then I hit high school...) When my sister and I played together, particularly Barbies, I used to make us play in her room. That way it was her room that got messy... hahahaha I am definitely back to normal. I love things clean.