Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Bridal Pictures!

So, I've been married for 7 months, but I finally got a CD of my bridal pictures! Yay!
Just to let you know... I intended to take my bridal pictures at the Magnolia Plantation just outside of Charleston. Unfortunately, when we got there we found out that they charged $150 to take bridal pictures on their property. That's complete crap. It was late afternoon and the good sunlight would be fading soon. We were about 20 minutes from Downtown Charleston (my other choice) and so didn't have time to get down there and find parking, etc. So Grant, my photographer, knew of a cheap park only 5 minutes. It was a cool little spot, but not nearly as pretty as the plantation or downtown would have been. Oh well! My pictures still turned out amazingly beautiful. They were taken by Grant Gibbons, good friend of my family and amateur photographer (hoping to go pro soon), the same guy who did our wedding day and engagement pictures. I just wanna say this: my pictures were free and they are every bit as beautiful as people who spend $2000 on their pictures. Grant did such a good job!! So here are some of my favorites. Warning: there's lots.





































Thursday, December 20, 2007

Well, excuuuuse me!

So Punkin (aka Megan) may not have a good excuse for not updating her blog, but I do. I'm in finals! In fact, I'm studying for one (three?) right now, in the library at 11:30 pm. I'd take a picture but I didn't bring my camera. Plus, I don't have that kind of time. I have 4 finals tomorrow... only 1 by choice. Yeah, when I realized I had 3 on one day I thought, "Well, my day sucks already, why not add one more to the mix?" So tomorrow will be fun. Very fun.

On the bright side, they post my graduation tomorrow. Hahaha! So the whole day, while tired and slightly stressed, I will be happy knowing that as of tomorrow night at midnight, I will be a college grad.

Oh, and I went snowboarding today. Oh hallelujah for snow, mountains, boards, and ski lifts. It was a wonderful 2 hours on the hill (that was all Kurt and I had time for, but it was oh-so worth it).

After tomorrow expect posts on: St. Kitt's (finally!) and our future plans (dun dun dun!!)

Monday, December 10, 2007

There are some things money can't buy...


3 foot fake Alaskan Fir tree: $7



One set of white twinkling Christmas lights: $1.50



Various Christmas tree ornaments: $4



Your first Christmas tree together as a married couple: Priceless

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

A little Christmas spirit

Some fun clips from one of the cutest (if you take out all of the bad bad stuff) movies ever: Love Actually. Just as a set up, Hugh Grant is the British Prime Minister. That'll make it funnier.








Saturday, December 1, 2007

Two Funny Stories

Life is never boring. Not when you know what is interesting.

Story One:
We had an LOL show on Friday night. I decided to announce this great news in my Linguistics 450 class (the one with the crazy teacher.. see my first post ever for reference). So I got up at the beginning of class and told them all of the details. Next, another student got up and announced that her A Capella group had a performance the same night at the same time. After she had sat down, one of our fellow students raised his hand.
"I think they should arm wrestle and whoever wins, that's whose show we'll go to."
My teacher, being crazy and awesome, said, "Okay! Sounds like fun!"
So I arm wrestled in class, in front of the entire class. The girl I arm wrestled was... not small, and so everyone expected me to lose. But lo and behold, I won! Looks like my weight lifting has paid off.

Story Two:
On Friday while at work, I got an e-mail concerning our LOL show that night. It was from "Justice Walters." My first thought was, "Justice.. that's a weird first name." I responded to "Justice Walters" with the information they needed.
About thirty minutes later, I got a reply. However this time, the writer had signed "Justice Sarah Walters." "Holy crap!" I thought "She must be a judge! That's why she signed her name that way."
So I was really excited. I mean, we had a judge coming to our humble improv show! I told the people who were letting the audience in and they said they'd save seats for Justice Sarah Walters and her husband. Also, they told me they would tell me who she was. See, we performers had decided it would be really fun to have her emcee a game that has a court room theme to it. "This will be such a fun volunteer slash publicity stunt!" we all said.
Right before the show, Erica, our emcee (and a member of LOL) came over to the rest of us.
"Guys!" she said, trying to contain laughter. "Justice Sarah Walters is not a judge; she's a student like us! She's young and really pretty! Her name is Justice!"
I obviously felt very stupid (but laughed, because it was pretty hilarious) as Erica explained how she took Justice Sarah Walters to her reserved seats in the front, at which gesture Justice Sarah Walters was obviously confused.
We still had her emcee the game, and told the story to the 800+ audience in attendance at our show. I was laughing so hard I almost needed my inhaler.
Turns out Justice really is just a weird name.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Miei genitori

I know everyone's waiting on pics from St. Kitts, but that's gonna take a while and I really want to post this. Just to warn you, it's way more serious that any of my other posts. Okay, you've been warned.


I have the most amazing parents. Ever.



My mom is so beautiful. She has got to be the strongest person in my life. She works full time, runs my brother and sister to soccer games and practices all over the state, bakes the most amazing cakes, and is finishing up her undergrad degree long-distance from BYU. That's just with two kids at home--imagine how busy she was when all 5 of us were home! My mom is so smart and I just love that. She loves to read and growing up she'd always discuss books with us at the dinner table. She discouraged me from reading mindless stuff like The Babysitters Club and instead encouraged me to read classics like Watership Down. "I think I'm turning into my mother." I hope that's true!!



My dad is the funniest guy around! (And boy does he know it ;) ) He is so goofy and fun--he always makes you laugh. Usually my mom had to get him in control as well as us kids. He's also so kind-hearted. He's got this really gentle way about him--which you wouldn't expect with his goofy side--and he's such a comforting presence. My dad is a server. He will never hesitate to serve someone in need. Unless there's already two other cars stopped, my dad will always stop to help someone on the side of the road. In my stake growing up, when I would tell people who my dad was they'd say, "Chris Cooper? He is such a good guy." And it's true.


My parents are so in love. After almost 30 years of marriage they still kiss and dance in the kitchen and cuddle when they watch movies. They are more in love than ever and they show it so us kids know it. They're also best friends. They do everything together, and I mean everything. I don't think my mom has gone grocery shopping by herself in years. They're always talking about stuff, just about everything but mostly smart stuff.
I've always paid close attention to the advice my mom has given me on marriage. Obviously it's good advice and their marriage is a model that I want Kurt and me to follow.

So to my wonderful parents, thank you for everything! I love you!!!



(On a light note: wasn't my dad's fro totally awesome? Yep.)

Monday, November 26, 2007

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Real Quick

Alisse! Here's my Halloween costume! I'm sorry I didn't get a better pic of it--I was so incredibly tired that day and totally forgot. I also forgot to get a pic of Kurt, although his friends did. So I guess I should have them e-mail it to me. Anyhow!

My Halloween costume: Betty Crocker. It would not have been possible without the generosity of my lady lesbian lover, Alisse T! One of these days I'm gonna take all my ugly pics from freshman year up to the library and scan them and post them on here! Then everyone will know how completely ugly we were! Until then....... I love you! :) And Kurt and I will see you tomorrow night at Sky Harbor. ("So here I am, above palm trees, so straight and tall....")

I've Got 2 Tickets to Paradise!

This is not meant to be braggy, but it might come out that way. I just can't wait!

Tomorrow night at midnight, Kurt and I are leaving on our second honeymoon to St. Kitts. "Wait a second," you say, "y'all have only been married for 6 months! Why do you need to go on a second honeymoon already?"

Well, I'll tell you. But after the pics. It's a very long story. And also, we'll actually do stuff on this honeymoon. 'Cause let's be honest, no one does as many activities on their honeymoon as they should.

So, St. Kitts is actually the nickname for St. Christopher, a small Caribbean island located in the Leeward Islands. Together with Nevis, it makes up the country of St. Kitts and Nevis. We are SO stoked to get out of Provo and into paradise.
So here are some pics as a preview for you and me.

Our hotel, Timothy Beach Resort. It's cute!



Ooooooooooooooh baby, the beach. Mm-hmm!!




You just can't beat that sunset!




Nevis is only a boat ride away!



Oh man, oh man. I can't wait. And here's the story behind this trip:
For all those who don't know, Kurt and I started off our wedding with stress and near disaster. I'll start with two weeks before the wedding: My passport still hadn't come in, though it was supposed to. I called the Passport office and was told that they were very busy but they were gonna expedite my password and there was no reason it wouldn't be there by our wedding day (we were leaving on our honeymoon the day after our wedding). Originally we were supposed to go to an all inclusive resort on Cozumel island right off the coast of Cancun, Mexico. Right around this time, also, Kurt started to get a toothache on a tooth on which he'd had a filling replaced right before leaving Provo.The next Wednesday Kurt's tooth was hurting him so bad that my mom made an emergency dentist appointment for him... he found out he needed a root canal, and thankfully they were able to get it done that day. But we didn't know if he'd be able to get a crown before we left on our honeymoon... Thursday we started decorating for the reception. I called the passport office again that morning because my passport still wasn't in and they said it still wasn't done and to call back later that night. In the afternoon Kurt found out he was able to get a crown put on his tooth that day, so phew! But he wasn't feeling very good that night, not even 48 hours before the wedding.I called Thursday night and found out that my passport was finally finished and they were gonna overnight it on Friday and that it should hopefully get to me on Saturday. If not, we'd have to schedule a new honeymoon... It didn't come. Between my ceremony and reception I cried as I finished packing my suitcase, because as far as I knew, we weren't gonna have a honeymoon. Kurt reassured me that he would book a new one the next morning and that we would still have a honeymoon. It doesn't end there. First off, we weren't able to get a getaway car in time, so my parents took us to the hotel... two hours after the reception ended. We were stuck at the cleaning up of our own reception. And we lost the guest book. The next morning we rushed to the airport an hour before our original flight to cancel it. Then we went back to our hotel while I crashed (running on about 10 hours of sleep for 3 nights) and Kurt booked a new honeymoon. He got lucky and got us the best room in probably the best hotel of Key West, The Gardens. The last night of our honeymoon we stayed on a key further north, at a sweet cottage village type thing called The Moorings. Amazing hotels. Key West is fun. But when we got to the airport to fly to Key West, we found out we could only have one checked baggage each, and we each had two. (The Key West airport has a short runaway and wouldn't be able to stop with too much luggage; sweet). So an hour before the flight takes off we were taking stuff out of our suitcases that we wouldn't need on the honeymoon and had my dad come back to get it. See, we had to move from Charleston to New York, while making stops at our honeymoon, other reception in Washington, and training in Atlanta in between. We finally got to Key West and had an awesome time at the best hotels just about ever. We stayed in The Gardens Hotel in Key West and The Moorings Village in Islamorada. Seriously awesome hotels. Anyhow, so we flew out of Miami on Friday. It took as an hour to get across Miami because of traffic. Then we sat in the plane on the gate for about thirty minutes after boarding. There was a tropical storm coming across Miami and when we looked out our windows into the rain we saw all of the luggage for our flight on the tarmac, nicely covered with tarps except a few suitcases... ours. Our suitcases--containing my wedding dress and Kurt's tux--already had puddles of water on them and we watched for 20 minutes while they sat there on the tram, completely uncovered. We connected in Charlotte and took off an hour late there because of catering. When we got into Phoenix (second connection on the way to Spokane) everyone on the plane had missed their connections... including us. It was already 9:30 pm and there was nothing else leaving that night. We got put up in the ghetto Clarion motel and, on top of that, we were told we weren't going to be able to fly out of Phoenix the next day until 10, which would put us getting into Chewelah (where the reception was, an hour from Spokane) until 3:30... and our reception was from 1 - 4. We were going to miss our OWN reception. When we got to the airport Kurt looked up flights to Spokane on Expedia and found 6 flights that would get us there before the reception.. US Airways had lied to us. Finally after he was on the phone with US Airways for an hour they agreed ("out of the goodness of their hearts", bullcrap, they should've done this in the first place) to get us on one of those earlier so flights. So nice.... >:O Also, at this time we started to get to bed and found out that a bottle of ibuprofen I had in my suitcase had opened up and since my suitcase got wet, the pills had disintegrated all over my clothes. My clothes were all stained, my blow dryer was soaked through. The only good news was, although my wedding dress was soaking wet, it wasn't in that suitcase and so wasn't stained. We got about 3 hours of sleep before heading to the airport. We got to our reception in Chewelah 5 minutes after it started. My dress was wet, my hair was in some style I invented in the car the hour from Spokane to Chewelah, and Kurt's tux was wrinkled. But we made it!
It doesn't end! That night we set to washing all of my clothes, and thankfully the stains came out of most of my clothes, but not my favorite pants or shirt. That sucks. At 11:30 we were still doing the laundry (had like 2 more loads left) and Kurt decided to check on our flights to New York for the next day. He discovered that United had booked the flights for the day he actually booked them on. Some sort of glitch. He called and they couldn't fix it right then. We had to scramble to find flights 6 hours before they left. We finally got one for 6 the next morning, which meant we had to get up at 3... I still had laundry to go, so I got about an hour of sleep. We were exhausted. When we got to the Spokane airport we discovered that Expedia hadn't sent our reservation to the airline and five minutes before we needed to be checked-in, Kurt was on the phone with Expedia getting a confirmation number. We got to New York and headed over to the Marriott we were staying in. It was like 5 in the afternoon but we were so tired we just wanted to crash and not wake up until the next morning when we had to fly to Atlanta (to get reimbursed by Kurt's company for his flight, we had to fly from New York to Atlanta). But at the hotel we discovered that Expedia hadn't sent them our reservation again and it took 30 minutes to get it straightened out. I was falling asleep with my head on the front counter during this whole time. Finally we got it figured out and were able to go sleep. The next day we flew to Atlanta.... and discovered Kurt's sunglasses, which he left in the hotel room but called about them about 10 minutes after we left, had already been stolen. I gave those sunglasses to him for Valentine's Day. Awesome. So we got to Atlanta, and everything was fine there, mostly. Except I had to spend all day by myself in a hotel room while Kurt was at training. Oh well. On Friday we were supposed to fly back to New York and stay there for good, thankfully. However, that day there was some computer glitch in the national air support office thingy and we got stuck in the Atlanta airport for 6 hours before boarding, and then on the runway for 45 minutes before we finally took off. When we got to New York we got in a taxi and drove through Harlem to get to our apartment building. Our apartment building is basically in Harlem. We got to our room to see a bare, non ac'ed room. It was dirty. It was hot. We opened the windows, and could hear people fighting outside and the subway going by every 10 minutes. Our bed was actually two twins pushed together... I wanted to cry. But we managed to make it a home and had a great summer!

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Rise and Shout, the Cougars are Out!

I LOVE Cougar football. Growing up my parents would wake us up by running around our rooms while singing the fight song. My siblings went to BYU, my parents went to BYU, some of my aunts and uncles went to BYU, and my mom's parents went to BYU. It's in my blood.

Thursday night was Kurt's and my last home game as students, so we really enjoyed ourselves. We were so excited to be there--we had to miss the last 2 home games due to illness and midterms. AND, we're not going to be here for the Utah game (gasp!) which is on my birthday (23!) because we'll be on our second honeymoon (oooo, ahhh).


Oooo, look, we scored! Take that TCU!


Scored again! Hiiiiiyah!! The army ROTC does push for however many points we have every time we score. We scored a lot this game, and there was a chick in the ROTC. She could barely keep up.


Half time! The band, as usual, "entertained" us. Kurt was excited, you can tell.

But here's the thing about the band. One, they usually play really lame songs. And two, they only face the alumni. So watching a bunch of band geeks' butts isn't very much fun.

Thursday night was pretty cool though cuz they had one WWII vet from every area of the armed service on the field and they played the songs for each corps. So it was nice and patriotic.

Kurt left and returned with the most beautiful sight: a HUGE bag of Kettle-Popcorn! YUM!!

And then came our beloved Cougs back on the field! That's an even more beautiful sight!

There isn't much more I love than those uniformed men, lol. Throughout the rest of the half, we STOMPED TCU's behind! We are hardcore fans!!


Well, they scored a few times, but whatever, cuz we won! Everybody charged the field!! Okay not really. I wish we could but they have events staff out there. Bummer. But the teams charged the field!


And time for one more resounding rendition of our wonderful fight song (See that score? Yeah baby!)


Rise all loyal Cougars, and hurl your challenge to the foe!
You will fight, day or night, rain or snow!
Loyal, strong, and true! Wear the White and Blue!
While we sing, get set to spring,
Come on Cougars, it's up to you!
So Rise and Shout, the Cougars are out!
They're on the trail to fame and glory!
Rise and Shout, our cheers will ring out
As you unfold your vict'ry story!
On you go to vanquish the foe for Alma Mater's sons and daughters!
As we join in song, in praise of YOU our faith is STRONG!
We'll raise our colors high in the Blue,
and cheer our Cougars of BYU!
Rah rah rah rah rah!
Rah rah rah rah rah!
Rah rah rah rah rah!
GOOOOOOOO COUGARS!

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Asians

So in case you didn't know, I love the Japanese culture. It beautiful and crazy at the same time!

My brother sent me this video... I think I may love the Koreans as well.


And if you thought Koreans were crazy, then you need to see this. It's my proof that Japanese are the craziest suckas out there. But I love them.
And don't be afraid--they are NOT naked.


PS- I promise I'm gonna post something pertinent to my life... eventually.